The Lowell January 2012

■ Sleep-deprived students

miss out on glimpses into their unconscious and opportunities to control their dreams.

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Success step-by-step ■ Make these commonly

overlooked changes to your daily life to preserve your sanity this year.

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Award nomination recognizes school’s high achievement

Sassy songs

By Deidre Foley and Michelle Hwang

Ribbon Award. “We have to hit our Academic Performance Index and he school was nomi- Adequate Yearly Progress goals in nated by the state to receive order to be applicable for the award,” a national award for high Ishibashi said.

The AYP is a series of academic academic achievement. goals specific to each school deterPrincipal Andrew Ishibashi announced the school’s nomination to mined by the state, while the API is students and staff via the PA system a number between 200 and 1,000 reflecting a school’s performance during Mods 14-15 on Jan. 10.

Ishibashi was phoned by and level based on standardized state later received a letter from state testing.

Ishibashi superintendent commended of public instruction, Tom We ... teach, chal- s t u d e n t s , teachers and Torlakson, nolenge and support f a c u l t y f o r tifying him that Lowell was one a l l s tu d e nt s to twhoerikr . h“aMr dy of 35 schools learn and grow to personal viin the state to is to debe nominated become successful sion velop a comfor the annual munity where National Blue citizens.” we care, beRibbon Award.

The NaANDREW ISHIBASHI, lieve in, teach, tional Blue Ribprincipal challenge and s upp or t a l l b on S cho ols Program acknowledges public students to learn and grow to beand private elementary, middle come successful citizens,” Ishibashi and high schools based on either said.

Two years ago, Lowell was recoghigh performance or considerable improvement compared to nized as a California Distinguished previous years, according to the School, which determines eligibility National Blue Ribbon Award Pro- to receive the Blue Ribbon award gram’s website (www.edu.gov). based on API reports, according to With no more than 372 schools the California Department of Edunominated nationally in 2011 and a cation’s website (www.cde.ca.gov). mere 315 winning the honor, Lowell is by no means a shoo-in for the Blue A version of this story first appeared on www.thelowell.org

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In the news In the news

Today

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eady to bust your vocal chords? Wear your red and white, don your war paint and cheer on the Cardinals as they sink three-pointers at the Battle of the Birds.

With both basketball varsity teams currently in top standing, the Eagles will have a true battle with the competitive Cardinals.

Get ready for four back-to-back matches launched by girls’ JV at 3:30 p.m., charging through to a final stand-off with varsity boys’ at 8 p.m. Head on over to Kezar Stadium today after school and get ready to root for the best birds in town.

Backpage

Spotlight

Lowell High School, Cardinal Edition, Vol. 217 No. 1, January 27, 2012, www.thelowell.org

Lowell The

Z, z, z... just hit ‘snooze’

daniel green

Jazz Band singer sophomore Rachel Levin belts out a rendition of “Respect,” a song popularized by R&B artist Aretha Franklin, at the annual Jazz Pops concert on Jan. 13.

Security catches repeat trespassers

Students from Lincoln High School loiter and trespass on school property, Lowell and Lincoln administration collaborate to take action against suspects ■

By Cooper Logan

After the janitor told the students to stop runfter chasing a group of four stu- ning, the students fled the school with security on dents on Jan. 11, security caught two their tail, according to dean Ray Cordoba. “That’s freshmen from Lincoln High School, when the game of cat-and-mouse started,” he said. who were then detained by the police for tres- As school staff were tracking the students around the neighborhood, they split up and two of the passing.

The students were making noise and trespass- four were caught. One was caught near Ocean ing on campus on the first floor of the science Avenue at 25th Avenue, and one was caught near wing, when a janitor called security. “They were Middlefield Avenue and Ocean Avenue, according to Davis. being really loud and During the 45-minchasing each other in the hallways,” custodian KenThat is the last official ute chase, security made of the golf cart and neth “Kenny” Tsui said. warning that they will use assistant principal of ad“When a student here does something not alreceive, and if it hap- ministration Michael Yi’s car. “Without the lowed in the hallway and pens again, they will be cart, none of the students you tell them to stop, they have been caught,” usually stop and apoloarrested and/or fined.” would Yu said. gize because they don’t Administrators were want to cause trouble. I RAY CORDOBA, instrumental in helping thought they were outsiddean security catch the stuers, so I called security to dents. “One was caught by me and Sierra Two, investigate.”

Their presence in the school was taken seri- [the walkie-talkie codename of Yu] and the other ously by security. “When outside students can was caught by Ishibashi and Yi,” Davis said.

As soon as the administration was alerted, the walk around in the science wing, they are physically dangerous to Lowell students,” security of- police were called, and the officers arrived and ficer James Yu said. The technology equipment in detained the students five to 10 minutes later. the science wing also poses a potential reason to “The students were detained for trespassing, and apprehend trespassers quickly. “Since they’re in the police might want to do some investigation the science wing, I think they are after the com- to see if the students were connected to a car puters, laptops and other equipment,” Yu added. vandalism,” Yi said.

A What’s What’s

Inside

News

Pages

1-9

■ Founder of city bluegrass festival and class of ‘51 alumnus passes away ■ New English department rules set to prevent plagiarism ■ AP students by day, become entrepreneurs at night

Sports

Pages

11-13

■ Wrestlers take early lead in AAA League, easily pin down opponents in first two matches

Columns

Pages

16-17

■ “Tik Tok” v.s. “Baby One More Time”? Pop stars’ Top 40 hits win hearts of reporters

Opinion

Pages

18-19

■ Reporter believes Natural Defense Authorization Act infringes on Americans’ rights

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The Lincoln students’ reasons for being at Lowell are unknown, though they may have been meeting up with friends, according to Davis.

“They told the police they used to go to school with students here, but they wouldn’t say who.”

A teacher had sighted the students loitering around the school on Nov. 18, the day when SDCLP teacher Claire Puretz’s car was broken into (See “Rise in thefts leave faculty and students vulnerable,” The Lowell, Dec. 2011) and several more times since December, according to Davis. “We have seen this group of outside students hanging around at around 3 p.m. before,” she said. “There used to be three that we noticed hanging around, but now there are five total.”

However, there is no evidence that the detained students were responsible for the car vandalism. “I don’t believe they’re the ones who broke the window during the rally,” Davis said. “They have been hanging around causing trouble, but there are lots of other people that are causing trouble in that parking lot.”

The Lincoln administration has taken punitive action against the students, since the police discovered the identities of all four students from the two that were caught. Lincoln and Lowell have worked together on the case, so Lincoln staff sent Cordoba a follow-up letter on Jan. 24. “I received a copy of a letter admonishing the four students,” Cordoba said. “That is the last official warning that they will receive, and if it happens again, they will be arrested and/or fined.”

2 NEWS

January 27, 2012

Lowell High School

NEWSBRIEFS

Psych teacher switches to PE

When you walk down the stairs to the girls’ locker room and peer into the window of the teachers’ offices, you will see a not-so-new face sitting at a desk.

Former Advanced Placement Psychology teacher Cambria Bower-Gersten returned this semester after having gone on a maternity leave April 15 to welcome her healthy baby boy, Ezra. However, she has switched departments and is now a Physical Education teacher. “I enjoy being outside,” Bower-Gersten said. “P.E. is like any other academic class. You have goals and you push yourself to achieve those goals.”

In college, Bower-Gersten majored in history and minored in athletic coaching and music. Afterwards, she taught P.E. at Marshall High School for one year part-time in the morning, and in the afternoons, she taught Modern World at Lowell. She started teaching full time at Lowell, teaching AP Pyschology for the past three and a half years. Bower-Gersten describes herself as a nerdy jock. “I love the intellectual stimulation of AP Psych, and the physicality of P.E.,” Bower-Gersten said.

But being a P.E. teacher isn’t Bower-Gersten’s only job — she works as a part-time teacher, but she’s also a full-time mom. “I miss leaving Ezra for five hours a day,” Bower-Gersten said. “But I love the students and I love the energy of high school.”

Bower-Gersten works from Mods 11-20 with two second-year P.E. classes and one first-year P.E. class. “I love the freshman, They’re so cute!” Bower-Gersten said. “They’re still taking everything in. I like it.”

Due to her versatility, she can apply her AP Psychology skills to any playing field that she chooses. According to Bower-Gersten, when someone’s arousal level is increased, for example by raising one’s heart rate, there is a chance they will misattribute it for attraction. “We used to experiment on the P.E. classes with my AP Psych students,” Bower-Gersten said.

“It really works!”

— KT Kelly

Speaker solves education issues Last month, the school hosted a San Francisco Unified School District speaker who discussed methods to improve education.

At the Jan. 7 seminar, Mike Schmoker, a former school administrator, offered his solutions to improving the current education system. Over 200 teachers from SFUSD attended the event at the Carol Channing Auditorium, according to assistant principal of administration Ellen Reller.

A doctor of education and speaker/consultant, Schmoker has written five books and a number of articles on improving education for various journals and newspapers. He came to San Francisco from his home in Arizona to showcase ideas from his latest book Focus: Elevating Essentials to Radically Improve Student Learning, published in January. Schmoker emphasized that in order to advance education, a school system must add a more coherent curriculum that guarantees student growth and supports authentic literacy through more reading and writing. Schmoker has held seminars for over a decade and consulted for various school districts across the nation. “In most schools and districts, there still is considerable room for improvement,” Schmoker said.

Many current curriculum objectives are vague and misunderstood, and must be clarified, according to Schmoker. “We can’t just make a list and say that we’ll teach the students,” he said in his speech.

“We have to keep track of what we can teach within several weeks, and make adjustments for a teaching plan that works.” Schmoker also advocates simpler and more consistent methods to ensure a school has a cohesive curriculum. “By using reading and expository and persuasive writing across the disciplines and soundly structured lessons, we will improve our education system,” he said. His presentation labeled “Clear Learning Targets” and “Teacher Modeling for Students” as ways to create better education.

Alice Flores, an administrator for a teacher preparation program called CalStateTEACH, also attended the event. She agreed with Schmoker’s ideas for improving the education system. “I have been teaching since 1970,” she said. “Students have changed. The way we deliver education today has to change with them.” Flores emphasized the importance of integrating multimedia into the educational experience.

— Arlen Pan and Audrey Yu f o r t h e c o m p l e t e v e r s i o n s of stories, please visit

The Lowell on the Web

www.thelowell.org

photo courtesy of cindy Zhou

photo courtesy of caroline scauso

Cindy Zhou relaxes at the picturesque East Lake, in her hometown of Wuhan, China. (Left). Caroline Scauso enjoys the customary Argentine drink, mate, from a traditional gourd while on the beach in Uruguay. (Right).

Student teachers are inspired by cultural experiences worlds away

By Melinda Leung

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hat do you get when you combine quirky traveling experiences with a strong passion for your culture? In language classes, a jumpstart into the life behind the languages. Two educators with connections to two cultures both work toward one common goal, to spread their knowledge of “cultura” and “chuan tong” to students using unique methods. At the beginning of the fall semester, these teachers-in-training began shadowing teachers in the world language department.

Caroline Scauso

Caroline Scauso became a student teacher for two Spanish classes through San Francisco State University’s Credential Services Teacher Preparation Center, a facility that facilitates placements that fulfills the student teaching requirements for current SF State students. She currently handles two levels of Spanish classes as a teacher-in-training, Dr. David Lipman’s Spanish 2 class and Cristina Ballbe’s Spanish 4 class.

Lowell hosts teachers-in-training on a regular basis, both to support people entering the profession and to bring in the enthusiasm and ideas of teachers who are actively studying pedagogy. Some students think having a student teacher is a good experience, because they often are sympathetic and experimental while teaching the curriculum. “I enjoy having a student teacher, because unlike a normal teacher, she understands the students more and how we can learn better,” Spanish 4 sophomore Lauren Taylor said. “For example, she makes us speak constantly when we are in class, which helps me learn a lot.”

Scauso has experienced both sides of the podium, which helps her understand how to break the language down for student learning. She grew up in a small town, Walnut Grove, on the delta south of Sacramento and studied Spanish at Delta High in Clarksburg for four years. She participated in an exchange program in Argentina for one year after graduating from high school, and then stayed in Argentina for an additional five years having taken the culture to heart by marrying an Argentinian and living in the city of Villa Maria in the province of Cordoba.

Argentina was Scauso’s first experience in teaching, making it a valuable time for her to learn. With limited materials, Scauso had to create many of her own lessons from scratch, which taught her a lot about lesson planning. “I learned that collaborative work is very important while teaching a foreign language, because it gives students an opportunity to learn from their peers and to practice conversational skills,” Scauso said. “Also, exposing students to authentic material is extremely important. For example, an article from a Spanish newspaper or an email from an exchange student provides students with a deeper understanding of the language.”

Her travels enabled Scauso to incorporate Spanish culture into her curriculum. “Culture implies everything from music to art to traditional foods — basically every aspect of life,” Scauso said. “Twenty-five percent of their grade will be based on writing projects in the target language. All writing projects will be about cultural topics where students will be given the opportunity to learn more about the countries that speak Spanish. For example, a topic students could research is about regional dances such as the tango.”

Scauso’s experience across the world motivates her to teach her students to be globally aware. She has traveled to Mexico, England, Scotland, Italy, Spain, France, Turkey, Sicily, Canada, Alaska and nearly every country in South America. “My traveling experiences have opened my eyes to understanding and respecting differences,” Scauso said. “Leaving your environment is important because you learn that there are many beautiful and surprising things in our diverse world. I hope to teach this message of tolerance and respect for things that we might not understand to students. I was once told before leaving on my exchange program, ‘It’s not right, it’s not wrong, it’s just different and different is ok.’”

Even with prior experience teaching, Lowell was a change for Scauso, as her classroom time had varied from classes of ten students in a private school to the challenge of being a substitute

in public schools in the River Delta Unified School District in Sacramento County. “The main difference in the schools was that Lowell is a lot larger,” Scauso said. “However, now that I have my own classes, I enjoy getting to know my students. I find it important to know each and every student and to keep an enthusiastic attitude.”

Cindy Zhou

The second enhancement to the world language department is student teacher Cindy Zhou. Zhou is excited to experience her first time teaching in an American school; she will be teaching Brian Danforth’s Chinese 2 and Jing Liang’s Chinese 6H students. Last semester, the student teachers mostly spent their time observing the master teacher. They also had a three day solo where they taught the students by themselves. With a family background in education, Zhou knew at a young age that teaching would be suitable for her. “My dad was a teacher and he influenced me to follow in his footsteps and become a teacher as well,” Zhou said. “I enjoy teaching and I want to impact others in a positive way.”

In China, Zhou taught Chinese to students in public schools.

After immigrating from China two years ago, she obtained her master’s degree in Chinese from SF State. She gained additional experience in teaching when she became an after-school tutor at AP Giannini for half a year. Zhou looks forward to bringing aspects of the language’s country of origin into the classroom, particularly Chinese history. She has told her students stories similar to Three Kingdom, a story in which rival states fight against each other. “I think Chinese history would be interesting to teach in class,” Zhou said. “It would provide students with a deeper understanding of the Chinese culture and make learning more enjoyable.”

Another way Zhou ties in culture in class is by assigning projects. Students recently did a project that involved plans to build their own restaurant. The students presented their plans using pictures to discuss the where, what and why of their creation. “Students not only learn about Chinese food, they also will teach the class about it too,” Zhou said. “For example, students could feature a Buddhist dish for monks in ancient China called luo han zhai. Everyone in the class will benefit, because everyone learns a little more about Chinese history.”

Zhou uses her experiences traveling to Hong Kong, Korea, India, Japan, Macau, and many cities in China to enhance learning in the classroom.“I like to tell stories about my experiences to help students learn about the class topics,” Zhou said. “I definitely plan to visit more Asian countries and use this to make class interesting.” According to Zhou, the Lowell community provided her with a sense of belonging. “I can see a change in the different cultures,” Zhou said. “In China, the average number of students in each class was around 50.

However, students would experience mostly lectures and skits were not part of learning. Students here are more active and work better with one another.”

photo Courtesy of scauso

Caroline Scauso pets llamas at the famed Macchu Picchu site, home to ancient Inca ruins, in the Cusco region of Peru.

The Lowell

January 27, 2012

NEWS

5

Scheduling problems Administration searches cause students déjà vu for missing LCD projector

By Deidre Foley

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he school’s scheduling system was down for approximately two hours on the first day of the spring semester, Jan. 3.

This was reminiscent of a similar problem for the spring semester, 2011 (See “Computer problem delays student’s spring schedule change,” The Lowell on the Web, Jan. 2011). However, last year the problem was not fixed for two days, this year — two hours.

As the counselors began work the morning of Jan. 3, they immediately saw the San Francisco Unified School District’s schedule system, the Student Information System, was down, according to counselor Tony Lee. Someone in the counseling department immediately contacted the SFUSD office to inform them that they could not access the student’s records to correct the usual scheduling issues of the first day of school, according to counselor Candace Boran. “We continued checking if it was fixed,” Boran said. “Once it was, we logged out of the system, uploaded a new version and then were finally able to access the system.”

The system crash inconvenienced many students who went to make schedule changes on the first day. “When I got my locator card, three of my classes were missing,” sophomore Wesley Yee said.

The classes on Yee’s locator card were what he signed up for but he had filed incomplete at Arena. “I went up after reg and waited an hour and a half because the computer system was down,” he said.

Some students also had the unpleasant surprise of receiving an incorrect schedule, even when they filed complete at Arena. “When I got to reg and got my schedule, I was shocked when I saw that instead of my seven classes that I signed up for there was only one class, and it was Advanced Dance — I didn’t even sign up for Advanced Dance,” senior Kendrick Kwok said in a Facebook

message. “At first I laughed about it, but when I visited my counselor I realized it was no joke when they told me that I might have to switch my classes because the ones I signed up for were all filled.”

Due to the difficulty of scheduling without computer access, Kwok was told by counselors to recall the classes he had signed up for and just to go to them, even though he was not yet officially enrolled. “After mods and mods of standing in line and talking to my counselor, Mr. Ishibashi and other counselors, plus having several schedule changes, things worked out for me,” he said.

As the school did not know how soon the system would be restored, Lee asked students waiting in line outside the counseling office for their names and cell phone numbers so he could contact them when the system went back up. “I did it so the students wouldn’t have to waste time standing in line,” Lee said.

“I got about two dozen students’ phone numbers and called all of them — except four who didn’t pick up — when the system came back up just before 11 a.m. I wasn’t really concerned about disturbing class because it was on their cell phone, and if they didn’t pick up I just left a message.”

After Arena, counselors enter students’ schedules into Scheduler. These files later need to be converted into SIS mode; if an error occurs, SIS cannot read students’ information — last year’s issue.

The administration is unsure of this year’s cause, though the circumstances are similar. “The system we’re using now is pretty archaic,” Boran said. “It can’t really communicate with other systems, so they’re trying to create something that can communicate and is more technologically advanced than the one we have now. The district is in the process of making a new system called Genesis, but it probably won’t be out for another year or two.”

A version of this story first appeared on www.thelowell.org

By Henry Hammel

with the frenzy of finals week, and had expected it Liquid Crystal Display projector to arrive during the first or second week of Januwent missing from Room 154 between ary. “It was a super busy week,” Swett said. “I get Dec. 13 and Jan. 9, according to the school notices all the time and I go down and get them as soon as I have time.” administration.

When school resumed, Swett was reminded of According to administrative assistant Rhondi Schmidt, two LCD projectors for the science de- the delivery. “On January 9 Mr. Johnson brought partment were delivered on Dec. 13 to Room 154, up one of the projectors to me, which made me where mailed packages are stored for teachers to think ‘Oh, they’re here, I’ll go get the other one,’” pick up. However, when science department head Swett said. “But when I went down on January 10, Dacotah Swett came to pick up her package on the other one wasn’t there.”

On Jan. 13 Schmidt filed an incident report, Jan. 10, she found that one of the projectors had a report to the district that describes an unusual gone missing.

The administration is looking into the circum- event. “The district might be able to tell us who was scheduled to be here workstances under which the ing over break,” Reller said. projector disappeared.

The science department “We know it is missing It’s sad that someone still has need of a second and only hope that somewould take something projector, so they will have one took it by mistake,” purchase another. “The dean of students Ray Corthat belongs to the to science department does doba said. “It has been reported to the School school. It’s like stealing have a budget and we are planning to replace it,” Swett Resource Officer.” from your family.” said.

Assistant principal According to Schmidt of administration Ellen the projector cost $550, not Reller hopes that the proDACOTAH SWETT, including the expense of jector was taken by acciscience department head shipping and tax. dent. “I’m still hoping that According to Cordoba there have been suspisomeone saw it and thought they could use it and cions of theft from Room 154 before, but there was that now they will return it,” she said.

Room 154 is usually locked, but many people never any evidence. “We know things have been have access to the room, according to Reller. missing in the past and as such have been declared “Some security, all administration, all custodians stolen, but no person or persons have been caught and even some district people have keys to the at this time,” he said.

Reller has advice to prevent items from going room,” she said.

However, it is also possible that the door was missing. “Before long breaks everything should left open, by accident or because it was being be locked up and extra care should be taken by actively used at the time. “We try to maintain a all staff who have ordered packages,” Reller said.

Some departments have procedures in place to security blanket in light of security personnel shortage, an open campus with many access points maintain their security. “During the weeks before and a mod schedule that makes it difficult to moni- winter break, I sent out an email to my department tor foot traffic in the entire campus,” Cordoba said. encouraging them to secure their valuables in After orders arrive at the school, textbook clerk their classrooms and the office, room 133,” English Suzette Magsanay notifies the person who placed department head Bryan Ritter said. “Including the order. “When it arrived on December 13, I sent items considered valuable for sentimental reasons, an email to Ms. Swett’s SFUSD account and also or technology.”

“It’s sad that someone would take something CC’d it to her personal account,” Magsanay said.

Unfortunately at this time finals were in prog- that belongs to the school,” Swett said. “We’re a ress and Swett did not pick up the two projectors public institution, everyone works together for the immediately. Schmidt had even requested to have greater good. It’s like stealing from your family.” the package delivered after break to avoid conflict A version of this story first appeared on www.thelowell.org

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4 NEWS

January 27, 2012

By Elijah Alperin

Lowell High School

Copy That

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Vivian ton

Students and teachers alike examine what many consider to a growing epidemic at school: cheating.

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espite penalities in place for academic dishonesty, cheating and plagiarism remain a significant part of the school atmosphere. Now the school is taking steps to curb the behavior.

punishment should be more severe. “I think kids should be kicked out after plagiarizing at Lowell,” English teacher Jennifer Moffitt said.

“It is a competitive academic school, and other kids would love to get in.”

Some English teachers have resorted to Plagiarism: Getting in trouble for alternate teaching methods to discourage something you didn’t do. plagiarism. “I set up my class so students can Plagiarism in all departments has always discuss essays in groups, ask their friends and been taken seriously. If caught, your grade is have time to write in class,” Innis said. “I try to likely to suffer and you are liable to receive a give them time in class so they don’t go home referral. For honors and Advanced Placement and say ‘I don’t know what to write’ and copy students, however, the English department’s off someone else.” spring semester crackdown on plagiarism has Innis even changes the structure of her asupped the ante for students who are thinking signments to prevent cheating. “There is tons of about misrepresenting their assignments. stuff on the Internet about the traditional texts In response to an increase in school-wide we read,” she said. “I try to give assignments plagiarism, and especially academic dishonesty with different topics than the standard essay.” amongst honors and AP students, the English Other teachers, such as English teacher department voted unanimously to implement and advisor for The Lowell Sharn Matusek, a stricter plagiarism policy this semester. The teach mini-units on plagiarism to convey to new policy states that if a student in an honors students how passing others work as your own or AP class is caught plagiarizing, that student can have serious repercussions, and how to will be removed from the course and placed work more authentically. “I have students do in a regular English course for the remainder research about plagiarism in the real world, of the year, according to English department and it really brings it home that when people head Bryan Ritter. plagiarize, there can be serious consequences, Students who are removed from the course such as losing a book contract or a Pulitzer may reapply for honors or AP placement the Prize,” Matusek said. following year, provided the course does not In an effort to discourage and avert plagiarequire students to have taken the previous rism, the school pays $5,000 annually out of year of honors or AP, according to Ritter. the technology budget for the anti-plagiarism Because of the necessary prerequisites, sopho- Web service Turnitin (www.turnitin.com). mores who are removed from the 10th grade Lowell teachers began to use the resource in English honors course will not be eligible 2008 to check students’ work against content to take AP English available online Language and Comas well as other position as juniors. previLowell has created an atmo- writing However, they can ously submitenroll in English sphere in which students ted to the site. teacher Cathy In“With access to have lost their passion for billions of Innis’s AP English Language and Composisource learning and replaced it with ternet tion, an open class, documents, as seniors. Juniors a perfect-grades-no-matter- students can who are penalized cut-and-paste how-I-get-them mentality.” entire written for plagiarism may rejoin the AP Literapassages in secMIA KALO, onds,” accordture track as seniors.

However, their acsophomore ing to the webcess will be depensite. “Turnitin’s dent on how they perform on the English OriginalityCheck helps instructors check stuhonors placement exam, as if they were first ap- dents’ work for improper citation or potential plying for English honors, according to Ritter. plagiarism by comparing it against the world’s The policy also affects regular English most accurate text comparison database.” students, who if caught plagiarizing in their Many teachers, particularly from English, classes, will not be allowed to apply for the social studies and science departments who honors and AP English track. The ban will used to spend time double-checking for be in addition to the established penalties for sources students might have used to falsify plagiarism in all classes, which include parent their work, welcome the help. “It’s hard to hide contact and a visit to the dean. from this program,” Ritter said. “Plagiarizing Ritter, who has taught at Lowell since 1998, in a way to make it look clean would be more says that while the new penalty has been long work than just writing the piece on your own.” due, it was sparked by a rise in instances of plaBesides searching the Internet for sites that giarism during the fall 2011 semester. “From students may have plagiarized from, Turnitin last year to this year, there’s been a marked keeps track of all essays ever submitted to increase,” he said. “We had 14 confirmed its database, so work from other students or cases, five of which came from honors and AP from Lowell graduates can also be flagged for students.” All 14 students received F’s on the dishonesty. plagiarized assignments, and one student who Although the school pays for a schoolplagiarized twice was removed from the hon- wide license, not all teachers use Turnitin, ors/AP English program after teacher discus- and so plagiarism may still go undetected in sion under the past policy, according to Ritter. some cases, according to Ritter. He hopes to At least one English teacher feels that the work toward integrating the Web service into

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chemist, nor will I ever develop a sudden love for the subject. So I don’t feel guilty copying the homework,” a fourth student, who also requested anonymity, said.

The same student who opined that there was little teacher enforcement also felt that being dishonest in less enjoyable classes was more acceptable. “I do so much busy work that is completely useless, so I have no problem cheating in classes that have no value to me,” a student who requested anonymity said. The student explained that more involved assignments would impact the inclination to falsify Cheating: An Underside of School work. “I’d prefer more projects and interactive Culture learning,” the student said.

While new technologies have recently In addition to academic pressure, the uncovered high levels of plagiarism, cheating modern student must constantly compete has been an issue impacting the school’s aca- with the temptation that, in today’s world of demic atmosphere for much longer. Students, spontaneous information transfer, the answer faced with pressure to perform well and the could be just a couple of clicks, texts or taps temptation of quick and easy ways away. According to to cheat, may turn to academic a May 2010 survey dishonesty as a way to stay afloat. from the Pew InterYou can’t cheat net and American According to the results of January 2011’s Student Body Council your whole life.” Life Project, 82 persurvey on stress and its impact on cent of Americans students, Lowell students are no 13 and over have THEODORE JOHNSON, a cell phone, and exception. Only a slim 7 percent biology teacher 38 percent of moof seniors, 15 percent of juniors, 20 percent of sophomores and 37 bile phone users percent of freshmen said they had never cop- use their phones to access the Internet. The ied homework or cheated on tests. SBC gave survey also stated that 54 percent of teens text the survey to all students during their English daily on their phones. classes and based its results on 100 randomly A different student spoke of a scenario selected from each grade. where a group of students decided to take Currently, instances of academic dishonesty advantage of being allowed to use cell phones, are dealt with according to the official academ- in place of calculators, on a final exam. “We ic honesty policy, which is attached to a packet were set up in rows and beforehand about 15 on student behavior that incoming freshmen people agreed to text each other the answers,” sign. The policy outlines the consequences of the student who requested anonymity said. cheating on a test or homework. The severity “The teacher walked by my desk several times, of punishment depends on the student’s past and failed to see the ‘one new message’ sign record, and with each successive instance of flashing on my ‘calculator’. It was basically a academic dishonesty the repercussions become group final.” more serious.

Some may have heard of the saying “When Another student spoke of how the pres- you cheat you are only cheating yourself.” sure at Lowell changed the student’s views In reality, dishonest students also negatively on acceptable behavior. “In middle school I impact their teachers due to their difficulty of was totally against cheating,” the student who dealing with students who break the academic requested anonymity said. “But at Lowell, I honesty contract. Honest students also suffer work so hard but I’m still in danger of getting side effects. “I don’t give take-home tests anyB’s, because of those few assignments I just more, because I gave one two years ago where couldn’t get done or a couple of unfair tests. So at least 30 percent of my students had the now I copy some work and occasionally cheat answers from the other test version,” physics because I have to get an A.” teacher Bryan Cooley said. “All students have A third student agrees that the high now lost the opportunity for that kind of test.” pressure at Lowell exacerbates the problem.

Many teachers attempt to discourage stu“Lowell has created an atmosphere in which dents from sharing information about tests students have lost their passion for learning with classmates in later periods by penalizing and replaced it for a perfect-grades-no-matter- the whole class if there is a discrepancy behow-I-get-them mentality,” sophomore Mia tween its average score and that of the later Kalo said. class. “I always curve to the higher score,” Sinn While math teacher Wilson Sinn acknowl- said. “So if the later class scores much higher, edged that the competitive atmosphere at Low- the kids in the earlier class do not get as much ell might accentuate the problem, he attributed benefit from the curve.” the levels of academic dishonesty to an overall Biology teacher Theodore Johnson said that decline in ethics. “It’s not just a teenage phe- although he sometimes catches students cheatnomenon, but part of an entirely new culture,” ing, he tries not to let it affect his classes. “It he said. “We cheat from the bankers all the way can be a huge stress for the teacher to try and down to the students.” figure out which students are cheating, and it’s Some students assert they cheat in selected unfair to honest students to have the teacher classes because they feel that the morality of not trust you,” he said. “I just figure that you cheating depends on their commitment to will be caught and pay the price eventually. You the subject or assignment. “I will never be a can’t cheat your whole life.”

all English classes at Lowell, and that more teachers schoolwide incorporate it into their practice.

Ritter acknowledged the possible use of in-class essays as a method to discourage dishonesty, but said that while they are valuable exercises, the standard take-home analytical essay is a skill that all students must learn. The new plagiarism policy and Turnitin, he says, make him confident that students will submit their own work, regardless of the availability of online analysis.

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The Lowell

January 27, 2012

NEWS

5

Scheduling problems Administration searches cause students déjà vu for missing LCD projector

By Deidre Foley

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he school’s scheduling system was down for approximately two hours on the first day of the spring semester, Jan. 3.

This was reminiscent of a similar problem for the spring semester, 2011 (See “Computer problem delays student’s spring schedule change,” The Lowell on the Web, Jan. 2011). However, last year the problem was not fixed for two days, this year — two hours.

As the counselors began work the morning of Jan. 3, they immediately saw the San Francisco Unified School District’s schedule system, the Student Information System, was down, according to counselor Tony Lee. Someone in the counseling department immediately contacted the SFUSD office to inform them that they could not access the student’s records to correct the usual scheduling issues of the first day of school, according to counselor Candace Boran. “We continued checking if it was fixed,” Boran said. “Once it was, we logged out of the system, uploaded a new version and then were finally able to access the system.”

The system crash inconvenienced many students who went to make schedule changes on the first day. “When I got my locator card, three of my classes were missing,” sophomore Wesley Yee said.

The classes on Yee’s locator card were what he signed up for but he had filed incomplete at Arena. “I went up after reg and waited an hour and a half because the computer system was down,” he said.

Some students also had the unpleasant surprise of receiving an incorrect schedule, even when they filed complete at Arena. “When I got to reg and got my schedule, I was shocked when I saw that instead of my seven classes that I signed up for there was only one class, and it was Advanced Dance — I didn’t even sign up for Advanced Dance,” senior Kendrick Kwok said in a Facebook

message. “At first I laughed about it, but when I visited my counselor I realized it was no joke when they told me that I might have to switch my classes because the ones I signed up for were all filled.”

Due to the difficulty of scheduling without computer access, Kwok was told by counselors to recall the classes he had signed up for and just to go to them, even though he was not yet officially enrolled. “After mods and mods of standing in line and talking to my counselor, Mr. Ishibashi and other counselors, plus having several schedule changes, things worked out for me,” he said.

As the school did not know how soon the system would be restored, Lee asked students waiting in line outside the counseling office for their names and cell phone numbers so he could contact them when the system went back up. “I did it so the students wouldn’t have to waste time standing in line,” Lee said.

“I got about two dozen students’ phone numbers and called all of them — except four who didn’t pick up — when the system came back up just before 11 a.m. I wasn’t really concerned about disturbing class because it was on their cell phone, and if they didn’t pick up I just left a message.”

After Arena, counselors enter students’ schedules into Scheduler. These files later need to be converted into SIS mode; if an error occurs, SIS cannot read students’ information — last year’s issue.

The administration is unsure of this year’s cause, though the circumstances are similar. “The system we’re using now is pretty archaic,” Boran said. “It can’t really communicate with other systems, so they’re trying to create something that can communicate and is more technologically advanced than the one we have now. The district is in the process of making a new system called Genesis, but it probably won’t be out for another year or two.”

A version of this story first appeared on www.thelowell.org

By Henry Hammel

with the frenzy of finals week, and had expected it Liquid Crystal Display projector to arrive during the first or second week of Januwent missing from Room 154 between ary. “It was a super busy week,” Swett said. “I get Dec. 13 and Jan. 9, according to the school notices all the time and I go down and get them as soon as I have time.” administration.

When school resumed, Swett was reminded of According to administrative assistant Rhondi Schmidt, two LCD projectors for the science de- the delivery. “On January 9 Mr. Johnson brought partment were delivered on Dec. 13 to Room 154, up one of the projectors to me, which made me where mailed packages are stored for teachers to think ‘Oh, they’re here, I’ll go get the other one,’” pick up. However, when science department head Swett said. “But when I went down on January 10, Dacotah Swett came to pick up her package on the other one wasn’t there.”

On Jan. 13 Schmidt filed an incident report, Jan. 10, she found that one of the projectors had a report to the district that describes an unusual gone missing.

The administration is looking into the circum- event. “The district might be able to tell us who was scheduled to be here workstances under which the ing over break,” Reller said. projector disappeared.

The science department “We know it is missing It’s sad that someone still has need of a second and only hope that somewould take something projector, so they will have one took it by mistake,” purchase another. “The dean of students Ray Corthat belongs to the to science department does doba said. “It has been reported to the School school. It’s like stealing have a budget and we are planning to replace it,” Swett Resource Officer.” from your family.” said.

Assistant principal According to Schmidt of administration Ellen the projector cost $550, not Reller hopes that the proDACOTAH SWETT, including the expense of jector was taken by acciscience department head shipping and tax. dent. “I’m still hoping that According to Cordoba there have been suspisomeone saw it and thought they could use it and cions of theft from Room 154 before, but there was that now they will return it,” she said.

Room 154 is usually locked, but many people never any evidence. “We know things have been have access to the room, according to Reller. missing in the past and as such have been declared “Some security, all administration, all custodians stolen, but no person or persons have been caught and even some district people have keys to the at this time,” he said.

Reller has advice to prevent items from going room,” she said.

However, it is also possible that the door was missing. “Before long breaks everything should left open, by accident or because it was being be locked up and extra care should be taken by actively used at the time. “We try to maintain a all staff who have ordered packages,” Reller said.

Some departments have procedures in place to security blanket in light of security personnel shortage, an open campus with many access points maintain their security. “During the weeks before and a mod schedule that makes it difficult to moni- winter break, I sent out an email to my department tor foot traffic in the entire campus,” Cordoba said. encouraging them to secure their valuables in After orders arrive at the school, textbook clerk their classrooms and the office, room 133,” English Suzette Magsanay notifies the person who placed department head Bryan Ritter said. “Including the order. “When it arrived on December 13, I sent items considered valuable for sentimental reasons, an email to Ms. Swett’s SFUSD account and also or technology.”

“It’s sad that someone would take something CC’d it to her personal account,” Magsanay said.

Unfortunately at this time finals were in prog- that belongs to the school,” Swett said. “We’re a ress and Swett did not pick up the two projectors public institution, everyone works together for the immediately. Schmidt had even requested to have greater good. It’s like stealing from your family.” the package delivered after break to avoid conflict A version of this story first appeared on www.thelowell.org

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6 NEWS

January 27, 2012

Lowell High School

Need some extra cash? Two seniors explore unconventional ways to showcase their artistic talent while venturing into entrepreneurship.

Oneflow

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s if its cutting-edge designs were not enough, Oneflow, a startup clothing brand, is likely to surprise customers in more than one way: the company’s CEO may very well sit next to you in physics class.

Oneflow is a clothing line headed by senior Avery Nicastro-Aikman, though it was originally started by Avery’s younger brother, senior Towers Nicastro-Aikman.

Towers had the idea of starting a clothing company in December 2010, and a week later Oneflow was born.

The company purchases new plain clothing in bulk from a wholesaler, and tweaks each item, adding either the company name or the company’s logo, a penguin drawn in graffiti style. The logo was the inspiration for the name Oneflow, since the design can be created essentially in “one flow,” a common graffiti term for a design that can be drawn without lifting one’s pen.

For the first few months after the start of the company, Towers was in charge of creating designs, selling merchandise and ordering supplies. But as the product line expanded, transitioning from t-shirts to hoodies, to zip-ups and crew necks, running the company became increasingly time-consuming for Towers. “I started helping, trying to make more people aware of the business,” Avery said.

After Oneflow ran into debt because revenue was being used for personal expenses, Avery invested funds to clear

the debt, then bought the rights to both the name Oneflow and the penguin, both of which had been copyrighted by Towers. Besides conceiving new products which compound either the name Oneflow or the company logo with more complex designs, Avery’s primary responsibilities became managing the money in a dedicated bank account and company credit card. Enough funds are reinvested into Oneflow to keep it turning a profit.

When it comes to finding inspiration, the Nicastro-Aikman brothers need merely open their closet doors and peek at their own wardrobes. “I’m mainly basing Oneflow off of companies like Stussy and Huf,” said Avery, who is a fan of both businesses which also re-brands clothing with a single logo or name only.

Both of those companies started small, but eventually grew to have stores in cities across the world. Although Avery doesn’t anticipate Oneflow reaching the status and prominence of either well-established businesses, he plans to keep it going in college, though not as a career.

Now, however, he admits to enjoying the feeling of seeing his product being worn. “The best thing is when I see someone I don’t know wearing a Oneflow shirt in the hallway,” Avery said. “My goal is that one day I can walk around San Francisco and see that.”

$ta$h that

Ca$h

By Elazar Chertow and Mara Woods-Robinson

Wallets

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ooking for a unique way to stow your cash?

Something that’s funky and functional? If so, senior Nicole Gee’s colorful duct tape wallets might be just the answer.

Gee started making wallets during the summer of 2010, when she found an old homemade wallet in her room. “I had tried making a wallet before when I was in middle school, and it didn’t really turn out,” Gee said. “I used too much tape, so the sides were really thick and it couldn’t fit in your pocket when it was folded. I decided to try again, and after I made a couple they started turning out nice.

I looked at some pictures of wallets on the Internet to get ideas, but I basically just taught myself.”

At first, Gee just made the wallets for herself, but with her friends’ encouragement, she began branching out into entrepreneurship. “After a while, friends started saying, ‘Oh hey, that’s cool, could you make one for me?’” she said. “I made a few at first, but I had to buy materials and the wallets were pretty time-consuming, so I decided to sell them.”

Gee’s wallets come in two different styles: a basic bi-fold wallet, which sells for ten dollars, or a bigger letter wallet, which sells at fifteen. She uses two contrasting colors of duct tape — sometimes more if the order is customized — which she folds over and cuts with an Exacto knife to create a distinctive combination of patterns and pockets for each wallet.

“It’s pretty tedious sometimes, and it takes about an hour and a half to make one,” she said. “But after I finish a wallet and give it to someone, it’s really rewarding to see them use it and know they like it.”

Senior Kenny Leung bought a wallet from Gee last September. “The personal style she incorporated into the design made it really unique,” Leung said. “The front of the wallet features two bold, blue-and-white athletic stripes, as well as neatly stacked pockets and a personalized coin compartment — Nicole knows I take the bus too often. She definitely puts a lot of thought and effort into making every design special.

I love my Nicole Gee wallet!”

Even though she has not advertised much, Gee says she’s sold about twenty wallets since she began, enough to fill her own wallet with a bit of spending money. “I made one post on Tumblr about it and got a few orders from that,” she said.

“But mostly people just ask me for them and I make them.

It’s pretty informal.”

The wallet project isn’t Gee’s only artistic venture. As the class of 2012’s former public relations officer and current class president, she has honed her skill in graphic design while creating numerous posters and flyers for school dances and events.

Just before winter break, Gee started fashioning rings out of artistic wire after seeing pictures of wire jewelry online.

Using her fingers, she shapes the wire into a variety of different designs — one ring features an infinity sign, which she achieved by wrapping the wire around a pencil. “I’m proud of my designs,” Gee said. “I haven’t sold any yet, but I’d definitely be open to that if people are interested.”

Gee says she’d like to keep working on projects like her wallets and rings in college and beyond, but she’s not too serious about it as a business. “I’m not trying to make it into a career or anything,” she said. “I actually want to go into the health sciences. I like art, but it’s mostly just for fun.”

joe

Illustrations by Vivian tong and hoi leung

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The Lowell

January 27, 2012

NEWS

7

Seniors offer no-cost Philanthropic Class of ’51 test-prep alternative alumnus passes away

By Adam Chac

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any students cannot afford SAT preparation programs and therefore are disadvantaged in comparison to those who do take those classes. However, one group of seniors is providing free SAT guidance to give these students a chance to succeed.

Seniors Victor Eng, Andus Kong, Darion Lee, William Liu, Dickson Lui and Jesse Luo, all of whom scored above 2200 on the SAT, started the SAT Scholars Program last June, according to their website (satscholars. com). The tutoring program serves as an alternative to expensive test preparation by corporations, and is purposefully free.

“We’re trying to give everybody a little bit of guidance and an opportunity to do really well on this test,” Lui said.

The seniors were inspired to start the program after their friends approached them requesting individual tutoring. “A lot of our own friends had been coming up to us and asking us if we could tutor them,” Eng said. “We thought it would be more feasible if we did a program and helped everyone in a class setting, instead of having to run across the city to each person’s home to give them one-on-one tutoring.”

Using the same basic strategies as in the summer, they continued their volunteering into the school year as the SAT Tutoring Club from August to November, sponsored by physics teacher Scott Dickerman, when the tutoring was put on hold due to the college application season. The class sizes averaged eight to ten people. Their methodology is modeled after Elite Educational Institute’s SAT 2100 class, which five out of

the six seniors had taken. “We administer a practice test on a Saturday or Sunday, and by the following Friday, we would grade all the tests and go over them in class,” Liu said.

Randolf Arguelles, director of Elite’s San Francisco Irving branch, allowed the seniors free use of a room at the Elite building to administer tests on weekends, according to Lee. Arguelles also advised the seniors on which subjects they should focus on teaching. Classes were held on Fridays after school, usually in room 212 from 3:30 to 5:00 p.m.

The tutors try to provide practical tips.

Students overlook simple strategies that can apply to the SAT, according to Luo. Kong emphasized the importance of staying focused during the test, which is almost four hours long. “Just be more concentrated, and take an effort to look at everything,” he said.

“Some people are lazy when they’re looking through it; they use half of their concentration.”

But the most improvement comes from students’ hard work. “What we learned from Elite was that it was basically all just practice,” Liu said. “It isn’t about knowing a specific trick.”

The “student teachers” have seen score increases of two to three hundred points for the participants. However, the students’ test skillbuilding is dependent on their commitment — to come to every test and every class. “It may be difficult for students to stay with us due to other afterschool activities, but we have noticed that the ones who are committed to coming to every class are the ones who see the biggest improvements in their scores,” Eng said.

By Melinda Leung

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amous Lowell alumnus Warren Hellman, a philanthropist who has made many numerous contributions to the San Francisco community, passed away in December.

Hellman, co-founder of private equity firm Hellman and Friedman, died of complications from leukemia on Dec. 18, 2011.

Hellman, Class of ’51, has financially helped the Lowell community. Over the past decade, he has donated a combined total of more than $200,000 to the Lowell Alumni Association and Lowell Sports Foundation, according to LAA executive director Terence Abad.

Abad said that one time when he visited the school, Hellman explained passionately that public schools were critical in society since all elements of society interact within them.

Those who had made his acquaintance said that Hellman was a man who did not care about being lauded for his generosity. “Hellman didn’t care about having public notice and just wanted to do good work,” Abad said. “However, I thought it was really nice that when he was informed that his portrait was going to be put up, he was really glad and bragged about it.”

Principal Andrew Ishibashi said that he admired Hellman’s humility. “Warren Hellman was an outstanding man who has done much for San Francisco,” Ishibashi said. “I remember sitting next to him during a luncheon; it’s not often that you get to sit next to a billionaire. He was a humble man and I have a lot of respect for him.”

One of Hellman’s most notable contributions to the San Francisco community was founding the San Francisco Hardly Strictly Bluegrass Festival in 2001 and funding it since

then. The Bluegrass Festival is a free outdoor concert held annually in Golden Gate Park.

Over 20,000 people attended the inaugural event, according to The Huffington Post. Last year, the festival brought in a crowd of 800,000 over three days. Hellman also participated in the festival by playing the banjo in his band, the Wronglers, to entertain the audience.

Many students have been attending the event for years for the festive atmosphere and various group performances. “I have attended the Bluegrass Festival for three years already and I plan to still go with my family in the future,” freshman Kirk Jensen said. “I really enjoy hearing the small bands play and the food is great.”

The Bluegrass Festival will take place this year on Oct. 5-7, as Hellman has left money for the festival to continue for at least fifteen years according to the festival’s website, (www. strictlybluegrass.com).

Hellman also co-founded Matrix Partners, another private equity investment firm.

Hellman contributed to local journalism by founding The Bay Citizen, a Bay Area nonprofit news organization. He also spent much of his wealth towards pension reforms, the UC Berkeley aquatics program, the Mills College cross-country team and the Jewish Community Endowment Fund, according to The Bay Citizen. In memory, Speedway Meadow, home to the Bluegrass Festival, was renamed in honor of Warren Hellman on Dec. 15, 2011. Originally to be named Warren Hellman Meadow, park commissioner Mark Buell came upon a more suitable name. “Hellman Hollow seemed more fitting to who Warren is,” Buell said, quoted from a Dec. 15 article from the The Bay Citizen.

“He’s a little more whimsical.”

8 NEWS

January 27, 2012

Lowell High School

Jazz Pops! all photos by daniel green

Clockwise from top: (Top) A group of bassists perform Just One of Those Things

by Cole Porter. (Bottom right) Junior Ivan Chau and others in the cello lineup draw their bows in sync. (Bottom left) Senior Karissa Tom makes melodies on the trumpet. (Middle left) Sophomore James Uejio rocks out on the guitar.

January 27, 2012

The Lowell

PROFILES

9

Drum Corps march pride and glory into school

Photo Courtesy of Luyi Cheng

LDC1 members - sophomore Andrew Chen, senior Gary Tam, senior Luyi Cheng, senior Johanes Ivan, junior Justin Luk and sophomore Karla Liwanag rejoice with their trophy after placing first at the annual Fall Liberty Championship on Nov. 16.

By Samantha Wilcox

reason people are drawn to the team is the sense of family that ou hear them drumming every day by the basket- is gained,” Chen said.

Usually seen performing at rallies and fundraisers, the team ball courts. The clash and echoes of percussion instruments played with power, spirit and to the sixteenth specializes in invigorating the crowd, never failing to stimulate note (a short musical note) — your heart can’t help but tremble school pride. Lowell Drum Corps has also performed at more public venues for much larger audiences. At the Veteran’s with excitement. At rallies, the sharp sweet Day Parade, people lining the street clanging of a xylophone keeps time with the viewed the team’s annual perfordrums, along with enthusiastic shouts from the drummers. But who are these individuals Our daily practices mance as they energetically marched down Market Street. in the crisp, white uniforms that stare straight are grueling, but Parades are not uncommon for ahead with stern expressions? That would be the team. Members have nailed down the Lowell High School Drum Corps, known totally worth it” making their routines different for as LDC1. A drum corps is a marching unit each event. “We pull beats from all containing many different brass and percuspast routines, and combine them sion instruments, similar to a marching band.

LDC1 members are disciplined individuJACOB HAGEN together for the parades,” Chen said.

Although they are similar to a als within our school community who regard freshman traditional marching band with its their team duties with extreme dedication martial music, as teens their musical and honor. It is a co-ed branch of the Junior Reserve Officer Training Corps, more commonly known among muses are current tunes. “The music we listen to every day greatly influences and inspires our routines.” Chen said. HowLowell students as JROTC. Being on the drum corps is a unique way for students to ever, some members have a less conventional way to think of feel pride for the school and themselves. According to Team beat patterns. “Video games inspire me to come up with beats Commander and drummer senior Luyi Chen, these two things for performances,” big bell player senior Simon Zheng said.

Behind their precise playing and structured performance is are exactly what bring in recruits. “The more public parts of Drum Corps are the performances for school, but another the groundwork laid by constant practice, rain or shine. “Our

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daily practices are grueling, but totally worth it,” freshman drummer Jacob Hagen said.

At the annual Fall Liberty Championship on Nov. 16, the Cardinals took home the trophy, confirming a stellar performance of their self-choreographed routine. “LDC1 has performed outstandingly at the fall competition,” drummer Snare Section Leader sophomore Andrew Chen said. “However, we’ve come a long way since the spring by improving our playing.

We’ve also grown closer.”

The values of JROTC are embodied by all seven of its branches. According to the JROTC website (www.usarmyjrotc.com), the organization has a tradition of loyalty, patriotism, leadership and the will to improve which fosters cadets’ efforts towards school, work and their future. Lowell alumnus William Hewlett, co-founder of the Silicon Valley giant Hewlett-Packard, was the JROTC battalion commander in 1930. Hewlett went on to improve his country with his knowledge of modern-day technology.

Tryouts for LDC1 are rigorous, but help the team assess prospective teammates for musicality and dexterity. “We are given a set of beats, and whoever can memorize and perform them quickly is accepted onto the team,” drummer freshman Cory Wong said.

Behind the crisp white uniform and drum is not just an ordinary person, but someone who can turn on a dime, pound out a beat and entice thousands, all while making it look effortless.

Two reporters break the boundaries of reality to explore the vast world of subconscious DREAM INTERPRETATION: ANALYZE WHAT IT ALL MEANS

Lucid dreaming: DOMINATE your dreams

By Campbell Gee

emergency supplies, instead of my record player and bulletin board camouflaged with fashion clippings from Vogue. I panicked and tried the door to what I thought was the bathroom, only to find my spacious family den complete with couches and the home theater. Before my dread built to a newfound nightmare, a thought popped up and I pieced together what was really happening. I had finally entered the endless world of dreaminduced lucid dream, or DILD. I gave myself a reality check by carefully studying my hands, as one DILD fact from the The Lucid Dream Exchange, is that during a dream a person may have an odd number of fingers, or

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reaming within a dream, as in the film Inception, may still seem fictional— but the power to control your dreams may have become a reality, and without the risk of being stuck in Limbo. For those who really dare to dream, a technique usually practiced as a form of meditation called lucid dreaming can bend otherwise uncontrollable dreams to our will.

Lucid dreaming has a longer history than you might imagine for something that sounds so new age. The term “Lucidity” was coined by Frederik van Eeden, a Dutch psychiatrist in the late 1800s, and is described as being “when a dreamer either enters dreaming fully aware, or becomes aware within a regular dream,” as defined by the Lucidity Institute on their website at (www.lucidity.com).

According to the Institute, this unique form of dreaming arises during the rapid eye movement sleep. R.E.M takes place around 90 minutes into the restful state as brain activity is heightened.

The eyes move erratically and the body becomes immobile.

Consciousness within dreams is achieved with patience and persistent practice and only happens when the dreamer acknowledges that their dream is merely a contoured image of reality. Robert Waggoner, the co-editor of the online magazine, The Lucid Dream Exchange (www.dreaminglucid. com), shares tips for those trying lucidity for the first time. “Start by creating a dream journal, and keep it by your bed,” said Waggoner. “With good dream recall, you take the first step towards becoming a lucid dreamer.” Once at the R.E.M level, lucid dreams are broken up into two types — dream-induced (when the sleeper realizes they are dreaming in the middle of a normal dream) and wake-induced (in which the dreamer goes straight into lucidity from consciousness). After a dreamer enters the wonderful world of lucidity, the possibilities are endless. “When you realize that you are lucid dreaming, you often have a sense of ‘lucid euphoria’ knowing that you exist in a dream and can do basically anything. You can fly, walk through walls, or breathe underwater! It’s magical,” said Waggoner­ — who has had over 1,000 lucid dreams since his junior year be able to drive in high school, when he learned how to dream a finger straight consciously. He also explains potential benefits through their opof lucid dreaming, “You can also attempt to heal posite hand. To yourself while lucid and seek out information my s u r pr i s e , from the subconscious mind. For those with as I tried to spiritual ambitions, Naropa the Indian Buddhist push my right master calls lucid dream yoga one of the six paths t h u m b i n t o my left palm, to enlightenment,” he said.

A few weeks ago I delved into the world of it went straight lucid dreaming, in an attempt to be able to con- t hroug h. For trol the events and outcomes of dreams I usually the first time I witnessed powerlessly. I imagined myself creating can remember, a dreamscape to achieve impossible feats such as I found myself flying or living out my wildest fantasies, like a in control of the date with Joseph Gordon-Levitt. After relentlessly dream environment.

Google-ing tips and tutorials on the subject, I Though in a subcongave lucid dreaming a shot by playing soothing scious state of sleep, binaural beats (a collection of music and tones I set off to see what I used to increase brain activity) before bed. I tried could do. First I rescindvarious lucid dreaming techniques including ed the nightmare by “Nap-Induced Lucidity” from an online tutorial rearranging the placefrom a website (www.induceluciddream.com). ment of rooms until “Nap-Induced Lucidity” is a rigorous approach they matched up which involves setting an alarm clock to go off with my reality2-5 hours before normal waking time, then, based expectations.

Then the power of my lucidity reminded when startled into a semi-wakeful state, diligently reminding myself to dream lucidly before falling me I could create new rooms. So, I conjured up back into a deep R.E.M sleep. Although my abil- an image of my “perfect” bedroom — I’m a teenity to vividly recall the details of my unconscious ager, after all — complete with a walk-in closet, king-sized bed and dreams quickly improved, I the humungous print went weeks without a single of “Campbell’s Soup breakthrough in my quest It felt as real as all Cans” by Andy Warfor power over my subconthe other dreams hol that I have always scious mind. wanted. Sure enough, After much perseverI had experienced, I re-entered the bedance, however, one night my room door to discover although my brain luck changed. After slipping my dream boudoir, but into a deep slumber, the eventually sensed before I could explore dream took place in a familthis luxurious girl-cave, iar setting — my own home. something odd.”

I awoke and peered at It felt as real as all the other my real-life bedside dreams I had experienced, clock that read 8:20 although my brain eventually sensed something odd about the image of a.m. Unfortunately pulled from my enthralling the house I had lived in all my life. I approached dream, I groggily looked at my usual furniture a white door covered in posters I presumed to be and piles of to-do stuff and thought, “I did it!” I the entrance to my bedroom and turned the knob; plan to continue to explore my newfound ability the open door revealed what should have been my to lucid dream, only accessible when I slumber bed, desk, and pink Ikea chair. To my surprise, I once more. for the complete version of these stories, visit www.thelowell.org saw the downstairs closet packed with coats and

By Isabel Boutiette

S

ince the times when people of ancient cultures gathered to recite dream myths and tales told in the dark of the night, people have been curious, fearful or even respectful of their nighttime fantasies and illusions.

Yet dreams have never been simple.

Whether thought to be a message from the heavens by ancient populations or means of understanding one’s mental state by modern psychologists, people have always sought to interpret a possible deeper meaning of their nightly dreams. Nowadays many agree that images can hold unique connotations to individuals, and that there can be archetypic

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images and symbols. In the last century, a few key theories have been devised to address each perspective.

Sigmund Freud, known as the father of psychoanalysis, wrote The Interpretation of Dreams in 1899, and set the stage for standard dream interpretation.

The first thing you need to know is that dreams are the passages into your desires. Freud believed the subconsciousness is fully unlocked when a person is dreaming, and therefore their deepest hopes and wishes are revealed. In Psychology, David G. Myers writes of Freud: “He argued that by fulfilling wishes, a dream provides a psychic safety valve that discharges otherwise unacceptable feelings” (pg.282).

When interpreting dreams, Freud uses several key concepts in order to find the dream’s meaning; the most famous is symbolism. Freud theorized that a thought, person or landmark is illustrated as a symbol in one’s dream. In a classic example, according to The Romanian Association For Psychoanalysis Promotion (www.freudfile.org), Freud once analyzed his own dream, which he titled “Irma’s injection.” In this dream, Freud diagnoses a patient with an infection, and injects her with a possible infected syringe. It is said that this dream stemmed from his guilt about how he dealt with one of his patients, Emma Eckstein. Eckstein was diagnosed by Freud with nasal reflex

neurosis, but her surgery turned out to be a disaster with Eckstein suffering permanent damage, connecting back to Freud’s dream indicating feelings of responsibility.

In my opinion, Freud’s wish-fulfillment theory, at least when suggested literally, doesn’t really stand. Especially since becoming a Cardinal, I’ve experienced more and more dreams having to do with stress, though the plots appear unrelated to my real-life problems. In one anxiety-dream, I am on the set of a television show, and as the director calls out “action,” I realize I not only know none of my lines, but I also don’t know why or how I got there. In another generic nightmare, I will rush to school and skitter into the classroom, simultaneously realizing that I forgot a crucial aspect of my attire in my closet — pants. In both scenarios, I spend the rest of the dream unpleasantly struggling to repair these major glitches.

According to Freud, perhaps I want to look like a fool at school among my peers, or worse, on national television. I would like to think that this is not the case, so maybe a different perspective on dream interpretation is needed to fill in the holes in Freud’s approach.

Jung believes that dreams are a place where the even deeper unconsciousness comes alive, as explained in his work The Psychology of Dreams and on the Significance of Number Dreams. Unlike Freud, Jung doesn’t believe that all dreams are based on desires. Instead, he argues that there are two ways of looking at dream analysis: objective and subjective.

Both of these techniques suggest a more metaphorical application of dream imagery to the patients’ life. In the objective approach, every character in a dream represents a person in a dreamer’s real life. When I apply Jung’s theory to my stress dreams, friends laughing at me at school would symbolize just that, and directors yelling at me to get my lines right would represent authority figures — such as adults or teachers — I occasionally feel pressured by in reality.

But in the Jungian subjective approach, every character represents a part of the dreamer.

For example, my peers teasing me represents my capacity to laugh at my glitches, and the director shouting at me represents my preference to control my surroundings.

To Freud and Jung, dreams are subconscious processes that unlock your unconscious and every dream has an individual meaning that depicts unique aspects of your own life.

Professionals like Jung and Freud may have truly grasped the psychology behind dream interpretation, but you too can become an amateur interpreter of your own dreams if you begin to observe definite connections between the craziness of your nightly dream world within your daily psychological reality.

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ht ig l 2 ht 01 ig , 2 n l 27 el y w ar Lo u n he Ja

With winter sports in full swing, the Cardinals lead the AAA league

Lowell High School January 27, 2012

Page 12

Page 11

Athlete of the Month: Taylor “T.K.” Takao

By Spencer Thirtyacre

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N A WORLD with wrestling on the rise, one player achieves the height of accomplishment, leading his team to victory time and again.

As co-captain of the squad, senior Taylor Takao is a firm leader, helping to lead the Cardinals to an undefeated start of the season at 2-0 as of Jan. 23. For post-match analysis and photos, check The Lowell on Twitter and online (www. thelowell.org). “I try to bring my teammates together,” Takao said. “I also am very determined, and while I’m nice, I still hammer everyone to do what they need to get done, so we can be at our best.

Rather than focusing solely on myself, I tend to focus on improving every single wrestler on the team.”

Head coach Colin Ikeda appreciates Takao’s dedication to the team. Having been on the wrestling team since freshmen year, Takao understands his role in bringing the less experienced wrestlers up to speed. “T.K. is one of our best wrestlers and adds a lot to the team with charisma and leadership abi lit ies,” Ikeda said.

“He helps build the less experienced wrestlers mental toughness. A lot of being a wrestler is leading by example and that’s what T.K. does best.”

Takao is working

hard to overcome an injury from last year.

He fell off his bike last November, tearing multiple ligaments in his wrist, sidelining him for the entire season. Still, he is trying not to let the injury affect him on the mat. “I’m just wrestling like I’ve always wrestled,” Takao said.

Obviously his change in mind-set has paid off, leading him to a 9-2 record, as well as first place in the Bill Martel Invitational at Northgate High School and fourth place in the Clayton Valley Invitational. However, he still is looking to develop his wrestling. “There is still a lot to learn in terms of technique, and just reinforcing certain actions I make,” Takao said. “There’s always room to improve.”

His teammates have nothing but respect for Takao, regarding him as a talented wrestler and role model. “T.K. not only shows up to wrestle hard, he also gives really good advice, and by being one of the best wrestlers on the team, he is a great role model,” sophomore Joao Carvalho said.

P l ay e r I n f o : Height: 5 feet 8 Ye a r s o n Va r s i t y : 4 Weight Class: 152 lbs

ALL PHOTOS BY Chris LEe

Junior wrestler Lorenzo Pesino butts heads against his O’Connell opponent on Jan. 10.

Cards take over AAA

By Sean Wang

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ith two team victories under their belts, the wrestling team is prepared to step into the ring and pin down the rest of the AAA. The Cardinals have had a strong start this season, dominating all their matchups by over twenty points as of press date Jan. 23.

The wrestling team confronted its second AAA meet versus Mission and won 51-24.

Mission, with a line-up of seven athletes opposing Lowell’s contingent of thirteen, forfeited possible points when they were unable to fulfill all required weight classes. Nevertheless, for matches actually wrestled, Lowell still won 1513. “Even though we’ve beaten them for the past two seasons in team score, they’ve always won on matches actually wrestled, but this year we won,” assistant coach Michael Wise said.

On Jan. 10, the team had its first AAA meet

against O’Connell at home where they destroyed the Boilermakers 66-3. The co-ed team lost one match by decision, but had an impressive total of twelve victories, five by pin, five by forfeit and two by major decision. “Part of it was their team size, O’Connell only had one heavyweight,” team manager senior David McKenna said. Lowell’s wrestling team has a total of 30 wrestlers, led by head coach Colin Ikeda, assistant coach Michael Wise and the varsity seniors co-captains Emilio Wise, Taylor Takao and Ivy Ouyang.

In their first section meet on Jan. 5, the Cardinals crushed San Francisco International, 63-24. All but one of Lowell’s wrestlers won their matches and all but one of those wins were through pins, which shows the strong wrestling chops of the team. “Even though we won almost all our matches, I felt like we underestimated them a bit and could have done even better,” Ouyang said.

The Logistics of Wrestling

By Sean Wang

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n wrestling, the objective is to pin the opponent. In order for each wrestler to be fairly matched, there are fourteen weight classes starting at 106 pounds and ending with 285 pounds.

Weight classes are measured in intervals, usually varying between six or seven pounds.

Wrestling has a unique system of scoring, which includes both in-match scoring and team scoring. Winning points for the team is most commonly done by pinning the opponent or through forfeit, but sometimes through in-match points as well. Pinning someone isn’t easy, but the team is motivated to practice hard each day to improve. “The coaches are doing a great job motivating us to work harder,” Ouyang said.

If the match ends with no pins, the wrestler with the most points at the end of the round wins three to five points for their team.

If a wrestler wins by pinning the opponent, forfeit, default or disqualification, he or she earns the team six points. Defaults and forfeits often occur when a team cannot fill a certain weight class, such as when a team lacks a player who fits the 285-pound weight class. Lowell benefits at matches due to having a large varsity line-up of thirteen weight classes.

At the end of the match, the team with the most team points wins.

In order to train for all moves and techniques, the wrestlers are first taught the moves, then they drill the moves over and over again, practicing against each other to develop strength and determination. “Wrestling is drilling,” Ikeda said. “You’ve got to drill, drill, drill, drill, drill.”

Wrestling Terminology • Pins: also known as falls, is when a wrestler forces his or her opponent onto his or her back with any part of their shoulder or shoulder blades in contact with the mat for one second. A pin is a victory and ends the round. It earns the wrestler’s team six points.

• Reversals: when the wrestler gains control of the opponent from underneath. The wrestler scores two points for a reversal.

• Escapes: when the wrestler gets away from an opponent that has the wrestler down on the mat. The wrestler that gets away earns one point.

• Near falls: when the opponent is almost pinned for a few seconds, earning the wrestler either two or three in-match points depending on how long the wrestler has the opponent pinned.

• Takedowns: taking the opponent down on the mat, but not in a fall position, and controlling him or her. The wrestler gets two points.

Sophomore Rubin Girling pins his opponent, earning six points for Lowell.

source: AAA

12 SPORTS

January 27, 2012

Standings

As of January 24th, 2012

Vars. Boys’ Basketball 5-3 standing: 1st place next game: 8 p.m. today at Kezar vs. Washington

Vars. Girls’ Basketball 6-0 standing: 1st place next game: 6:30 p.m. today at Kezar vs. Washington

JV Boys’ Basketball

Shoddy gridiron fails 49ers

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FTER A SOLID season, the Niners failed to clinch the championship title, adding to the torturous legacy of San Francisco sports. Niners fans are left fearing that the beloved football team will leave the foggy city after the stadium blacked out not once, but twice in a game against the Philadelphia Steelers. As devoted fans, we are crossing our fingers and hoping the National Football League will not relocate the 49ers.

- The Lowell Sports Staff

vivian tong

Girls build skills, gain chemistry on court

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standing: 2nd place next game: 5 p.m. today at Kezar vs. Washington

JV Girls’ Basketball

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7-0

standing: 1st place next game: 3:30 p.m. today at Kezar vs. Washington

Wrestling

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standing: 1st place next game: 4 p.m. on 2/01 at Lowell vs. Balboa

Lowell High School

nicholas fong

A swarm of lady Cardinals bound up to block an opponent’s shot.

By Michelle Hwang HOES SQUEAKED as the ball pounded the ground, in an energetic rhythm — the beat of basketball.

On Jan. 20 the Lowell Cardinals swept through and defeated Mission with a score of 39-10, adding to their current undefeated record.

Due to the team’s dedication and hard work, head coach and physical education teacher Christine Hosoda is noticing positive changes in the team both individually and as a group. “I think that we have seen many more improvements recently in terms of the team aspect,” Hosoda said.

Assistant coach and social studies teacher Matthew Magasanay also sees a

dramatic upswing since the beginning of the season. “They have improved not only in their skills, but also communication, control, and team work,” Magsanay said.

In order to improve on their defensive and offensive skills the team practices specific movements that will pay off on the court. “One technique we use is when a person is dribbling we use our feet to force them side to side,” sophomore forward guard GG Gunther said. “For offense, we’re always ready to shoot the ball and not just pass. We do shooting drills and also lay-up drills.”

Cheer the girls on at 3:30 p.m. today at Kezar as they rise up to fight the Washington Eagles, in the annual Battle of the Birds.

Lang teams are worthy competitors for Cardinals

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By Elijah Alperin ESPITE AN average starting height of five 5-foot-11 and no star offensive player, the boys’ varsity basketball team is finding success this season by controlling the tempo of the game and forcing opponents to play out of their comfort zone with compact, hard-working defense.

In the early season the Cardinals came strongly out of the gates, winning all of their first round games against Neff Division squads and establishing themselves as a heavy favorite for one of the division’s two playoff spots. Recently, however, when playing against Lang Division teams the shots have not swished through the net quite as smoothly, with 10-point losses to Marshall, Mission and Lincoln. The team will go into today’s Battle of the Birds matchup against the Eagles with

a solid 5-3 record in Academic Athletic Association play.

According to Pollard, the team focuses on keeping possession of the ball with a clockeating motion offense instead of relying on fast breaks and in-the-paint prowess (maneuvering with the ball in the key).

“We try to control the tempo of the game, instead of trying to compete in the running game with faster teams,” Ray said. chris le e In a motion offense, the team moves in a continuous rotation that ends only when a player is in position to hit a shot, as opposed to a more play-based approach, where the movement and shot are planned out beforehand, according to Ray. The style is particularly suited to

this year’s team because it does not rely on one central player to hit the big shots game after game. “The thing about our team that’s so great is that we have great depth and everyone is a good shooter, so if a certain guy is hot one night we can move the ball until he gets a shot,” junior guard Jonathan Li said.

The team’s patient offensive style is not particularly high-scoring, so to come out on top the team has to buckle down on defense, according to Pollard.

“If we can hold a team to 30-40 points, it gives us the best chance to win games,” Pollard said.

While the offensive styles vary year to year, Ray has always emphasized defense as the “make it or break it” factor in big games, according to Li. The team

plays a complex situational defensive approach during which they switch back and forth between the more traditional man-to-man style to a zone defense. The changeup is designed to frustrate opponents. “We want other teams to be scared to come play Lowell at our gym, because they know we’re going to make it hard for them and they won’t be able to shoot well,” Pollard said.

Although the Cardinal style may not be the most flashy, Li says that the team has embraced its reputation as a strong defensive team. “The defense often doesn’t get the recognition in high school, but we pride ourselves on being a good defensive team,” Li said. “Offense wins games, but defense wins championships.”

Come support the team at 8 p.m. today at Kezar Stadium in a Battle of the Birds matchup against the Washington Eagles.

The Lowell

January 27, 2012

SPORTS

The girls’ basketball team picked the luck from the Irish on Nov. 29, winning 40-36.

Clockwise: (Top Left) Junior Angie Ng drives down the court. (Top Middle) Sophomore Kelly Eshima blazes past two Sacred Heart defenders. (Top Right) Senior point guard Jillian Doherty eases into the key. (Middle Right) Senior center Lorna Tu’ufuli posts up on her opponent. (Bottom) Junior point guard Katarina Lum cuts through the SH defense. (Middle Left) Sophomore Kelly Wong presses against the SH offense.

ALL PHOTOS BY Daniel Green

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14 ADVERTISEMENT

January 27, 2012

The Lowell

The Lowell

January 27, 2012

PROFILES

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Girl creates lyrics and melodies to soothe your soul

By Isabel Boutiette

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hen sophomore Mia Kalo isn’t writing essays for school, she sits down with her guitar, letting music transform her thoughts and feelings into a flowing expression: songs. “When I write a song, if I start playing a melody on a guitar, words just start coming naturally,” Kalo said. “I write them down and then fill pieces in between.”

Lyrics have been swimming and forming into songs within Kalo’s head ever since she taught herself guitar two years ago. Since last year, Kalo has written and recorded eight original songs. Her repertoire includes songs such as “Quicksand Heart” and “Sea Glass,” as well as an innovative mash-up cover of Fleetwood Mac’s “Landslide” and Bon Iver’s “Skinny Love.”

Kalo’s talent for singing did not come naturally; instead she had to work for her voice. “I used to be very bad and nasally and then my mom signed me up for a choir and I got into it,” Kalo said. “Before that, my dad was in a band in Bulgaria and he used to teach me how to sing.”

Unlike most teenagers who keep their voices limited to showers and empty houses, Kalo shares her talent with a long list of about seventy email contacts who eagerly await her next song. “I like that she shares the talent that she has with us and its really interesting to watch her take her personal experiences and translate them into songs,” sophomore Kira BodonGologorsky said.”I love her lyric ‘and if you feel sad promise not to cry, because it fogs up the image when I watch movies in your eyes.’

It’s really poetic and well written,” Kalo underestimated the amount of support she would receive from her peers. “I first started sending out my music when I sent one of my songs to my friend and she sent it to some other people.

At first, I was a bit mad and embarrassed, but

I got really good feedback from friends and acquaintances,” Kalo said. “So then I sent them my other songs as well.”

Initially, Kalo began sending songs out one by one but then emailed the songs to her subscribers in the form of an unofficial and unnamed album. “I felt really honored that other people liked my songs because up until then I looked at my music as something only I could understand, but hearing other people say they liked my music and it was stuck in their heads made me really happy.”

Kalo originally recorded her music with a voice recorder on an iPhone voice recorder.

Recently, she has begun to record with a professional microphone that she received as a present from her step-dad. “When using the iPhone, I have to be very cautious of where it is placed because of the way it absorbs sounds,” said Kalo. “My new microphone is a pretty professional recording device so I can adjust the settings on it and it has an overall better sound quality.”

Though Kalo loves singing, the origin of her passion for the performing arts began earlier in theater. She has had roles in a few plays, Pygmalion by George Bernard Shaw being her most recent production at the Berkeley Repertory Theater. “Originally, I wanted to focus more on the acting spectrum of performance, because my mom signed me up for an acting class when I was eight and I fell in love with it,” Kalo said. “However, when I started writing songs I found that it was something I really loved doing. I’ve always loved poetry and singing, so being able to put those two passions together has created a great hobby for me.” For now, Kalo plans on continuing to share music with friends, but hopes to begin performing live eventually. Though Kalo’s predominant focus is on music, she still enjoys acting and is currently enrolled in the Advanced Drama

Photo courtesy of Mia Kalo

Sophomore Mia Kalo sits down to translate her thoughts into song.

class.

Whether brought by acting or singing, fame is not Kalo’s main motivation, though she sees the benefit of reaching out to others. She said her biggest ambition in life is to make an impact on others, much like the artists she looks to for inspiration. “It’s not so much the idea of being famous but really just doing what I really love to do,” Kalo said. “I admire the way the musicians I look up to touch so many people with their music and I would love to have that influence on people one day, too.”

Kalo hopes that sharing her own experiences through lyrics will calm fans on their bad days and emphasize the joy of their satisfactory ones, as listening to music has comforted her in the past. “My songs are a way of telling my own stories,” Kalo said. “Artists like Regina Spektor, Taylor Swift and Bob Dylan do the same in their work, which is why they are

inspirational to me.”

Presently, Kalo is working on her biggest project yet. Incorporating her talent for song writing and passion for musical theater, Kalo, with fellow sophomore Abby Neuschatz, plans to write, direct and produce an original musical about two circus families. The plot of the musical revolves around families competing for the title of best circus in their town. “Being able to create an entire musical and put it together with my friends would be a great experience,” Kalo said. “I also love musicals and to be able to put on a production in my high school years will be memorable.” Kalo began writing the musical in September with the goal of premiering it next summer in a theater that has yet to be determined. She intends for the musical to be entirely student-run and is forming a group of students interested in contributing to the production.

16 COLUMNS

The Lowell

January 27, 2012

Showdown of the

autotuned queens

‘More than just a dollar sign’ Ke$ha and Britney ‘the boomerang’ duke it out.

Ke$ha inspires girl to live life to max

By KT Kelly

all illustrations by Vivian Tong

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very morning, I wake up hoping I’ll “feel like P. Diddy.” Although I barely know who P. Diddy is, I worship the one who sings his name in her lyrics — Ke$ha.

My friends who have scrolled through my iPod know that nine out of the 25 most played songs on my iPod happen to be Ke$ha’s original lyrics. Surprisingly, less than a year ago, I even would go so far as to turn off the car radio the second I heard her yodeling.

As Ke$ha produced more controversial songs like “Your Love is My Drug,” similar to most of my peers, initially I hated her. But in the summer of 2011, a friend introduced me to Ke$ha’s second album, Cannibal, I grew to admire her. Eventually as I made her song “Blah Blah Blah” my ringtone, I idolized her, not only for her original rhyme and rhythm, but also for her shameless sparkling individuality.

Ke$ha is now my favorite artist. Whenever her beats come on, I automatically start tapping my foot as her infectious lyrics pound into my earphones. Her music is free-spirited and fun; she has inspired me to live every day like it’s my last. I often explore the cultural melting pot of San Francisco, shopping in the Haight,

picnicking at Crissy Fields or watching they don’t exist, she flaunts her uniqueness street performers at Fisherman’s Wharf, in their faces and even mocks herself with “‘Cuz when I leave for the night I ain’t good humor. For instance her Twitter comin back.” name is “ke$hasuxx.” She accepts herself People have wondered why I love this for who she is and won’t wash the excesautotuned queen. Part of my admira- sive glitter out of her hair for anyone. tion comes from how she overcame her Ke$ha taught me that it’s okay to poke fun self-consciousness and poverty to being at myself and not care what others think. named the “Best New Act” by the MTV Ke$ha has never changed her image Europe Music Awards. Ke$ha came from to appease others’ criticism, she has been absolutely nothing. Born in Los An- true to herself and her music since the geles, her dad very beginning abandoned her of her career. family, leaving makes her Getting the last laugh, She h e r w it h n o songs edgier recollection of Ke$ha turned all her a n d e d g i e r, him and maksuch as her ripped jeans and glitter single “C aning her family dependent on where into a million-dollar ma- nibal” welfare and she claims “I food stamps. e at b oys up, chine.”

Her mother, breakfast and a s t r u g g l i ng lunch...I am a songwriter, moved Kesha Rose Sebert and cannibal.” The content of her music has her two brothers to Nashville, following stayed radical, true to her beginnings. a job.Because of her out-of-the-ordinary Like in her song, “We R Who We R,” style of homemade purple velvet pants she gives others the self-confidence to and purple hair, the young adult Ke$ha be themselves because “You know we’re never fit in with the Tennessee crowd, who superstars, we are who we are.” made fun of her for her distinct originalDespite her constant references to ity, or, in their eyes, weirdness. partying, drugs and alcohol in her songs, Getting the last laugh, Ke$ha turned Ke$ha has a solid head on her shoulders, all her ripped jeans and glitter into a unlike other popstars. She has not made million-dollar machine, writing her own irresponsible decisions that could cause music as well as others. She has co-written unrest, like marrying someone she has every song in her two albums and has known for only three months; or being even written songs for Britney Spears, an irresponsible parent by ­­­ driving with a Kelly Clarkson and Miley Cyrus, which have all quickly turned into hits. Ke$ha, no surprise, not only has musical talent, but is a poet too.

To me, Ke$ha is more than just a dollar sign. She embraces her haters by rolling with their punches. Instead of pretending

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child on her lap while facing the wrong direction; or shaving her head bald. And to many people’s surprise, Ke$ha has never been enrolled into a rehabilitation center.

Ke$ha hasn’t hit rock bottom thanks to her rational thinking. I still hold her on a high pedestal for her responsibility.

Although her songs portray her as a party animal, Ke$ha is both socially and politically conscious. Ke$ha raises her paws in the air when it comes to animal rights. I, as an environmental activist, want to support whatever has a beating heart, and Ke$ha has already done much to aid animals all over the world.

She has protested against the clubbing of baby seals in Canada, has written to McDonald’s on behalf of People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals about the cruel conditions of their slaughterhouses and is the Humane Society’s first global ambassador for animals, according to their website (www.humanesociety.org).

Her activism inspires me to take action in my community. Because of Ke$ha, I give pets a place in my home and work to promote environmental awareness at Naturebridge Golden Gate.

Ke$ha also participated in the It Gets Better Project (www.itgetsbetter,org) by posting a video of herself supporting the LGBTQ community and people who are struggling with their sexual identity. She doesn’t just care for critters, she fosters the family of humanity.

So DJ, turn it up, because I’m ready to defend this artist no matter what!

Britney is the pop-nomena

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By Elena Bernick

Other pop singers can only follow in Britney’s footsteps.

A true trendsetter, Britney was at the forefront of the pop hen I think back on my childhood, I can clearly remember spending countless afternoons hanging music movement in the late 1990s and early 2000s. She made out with my friends in my room, my silver stereo simple beats and sugary sweet vocals wildly popular, reviving blaring my favorite CDs. Most of the music was terrible, but the teen pop scene of the 1980s. Along with her influence in one icon stands above the rest as not only being relatable to music came her influence in dance. The sharp, choreographed girls from 6 to 60, but also being the most influential — Brit- dance moves featured in most of Britney’s videos can be seen in the work of other artists, such as Lady Gaga and Katy Perry, ney Spears.

As an eight-year-old super fan, I owned Britney Barbie as well.

Over the years, I’ve moved away from listening to the dolls, shirts with Britney’s smile over-auto tuned and often-annoying and posters of her that my mom genre of mainstream pop music. The would roll her eyes at. Even though is still Britney, while she has I couldn’t sing — and still can’t — I While others have faded exception not avoided the auto tune craze, her would belt out what words I could make out while dancing around my into the background, songs continue to be just as contagious as when she began her career. When room to “Baby One More Time.” In Britney has been able to her undeniably catchy songs come on, a pre-adolescent fervor, I wanted to I can’t help but break out dancing like I be just like Britney Spears. stay in the limelight.” did with my friends in the first grade.

In my mind, Britney could do no And they come on often. Britney has wrong. Everything she did became been a successful singer ever since instantly cool: from provocative dance moves to wearing an all-denim outfit to an award show. her first album climbed the charts in 1999; and now, nearly 12 My friends and I would belt out the words to “I’m Not A Girl, years later, she’s on her 7th album that came out in early 2011, Not Yet A Woman,” figuring the song was truly about our Femme Fatale.

To me, Britney’s songs represent the true meaning of lives. I even wanted to dye my hair blond when I was in the pop — popular. They are easy to sing to, and though Britney 3rd grade, but my parents said no.

Britney is the poster child for the pop genre. She has the doesn’t write her songs, she chooses well and truly makes them quintessential look that has become the standard, and she is her own. I can’t imagine anyone else singing, “Oops, I Did it clearly the inspiration for numerous artists. Whenever I see a Again.” Through the years I, along with the rest of the world, singer — male or female — with their stomach bared, I think have seen Britney go through numerous personal struggles. Has of Britney’s scandalous style that has become typical among this stopped the princess of pop? Not a bit. Britney is like a booperformers. And hyped up gossip — before Selena Gomez and merang: the more she’s thrown away, the more she’ll come back.

Justin Bieber, there were Britney Spears and Justin Timberlake. Unlike similar pop singers, Britney’s career has survived chang-

“

W

ing times and changing music. While her struggles have been tragic, her comebacks have been inspiring.

As music has evolved, so has Britney. She has transformed herself from a typical pop singer to a true icon. My generation grew up with Britney, and her music grew with us. While others have faded into the background, Britney has been able to stay in the limelight whether by her music or her crazy antics. She has an undeniable charm that makes everyone want more from her, whether they admit it or not. That’s what makes Britney Spears a star.

No matter how many times Britney shaves her head or hits a car with an umbrella, she will always have a loyal fan base to encourage her to come back better and stronger than ever.

Regardless of how old I get, there will always be space on my iPod and room in my heart for my favorite pop princess.

January 27, 2012

Lowell High School

COLUMNS

17

Senior reflects on tradeoffs for the long run

By Jeffrey Wong

A

t Lowell, we are the master of our ship, the captain of our soul. Whatever we desire, if we set our sails, there are no impediments — no limitations.

Only sacrifices.

In these last four years, it has been my willingness to sacrifice immediate gratification for long-term success that has helped me achieve my goals: to reach athletic prowess, persevere through academic struggles and obtain notable recognition in both. But I learned over time that there was a trade-off with pursuing my goals — a limited social life.

Freshman year I was able to balanc e e ve r y t h i ng so well — friends, grades and volleyball all in seemingly perfect harmony. I remained close with amigos, even those from middle school and summer programs who hadn’t gone to Lowell. But sophomore year, as I took on more academic honors, I would be with friends in the library trudging through assignments, only to find them chatting instead of studying, preferring to finish in the comfort of home. But I had no choice; every moment was needed to check off tasks in my planner, when I should’ve been enjoying their company.

Even after 3:30, I was busy with activities, always finishing journalism articles or perfecting my passing platform at volleyball practice. I had hoped to use volleyball as a place where I could socialize and laugh with friends, and I thought simply enjoying their company was enough to feel “social,” despite not necessarily hanging out with them off the court. I devoted less and less time and energy to see them or any other

Lowellites. Even on the weekends, I was busy with schoolwork and club volleyball, and the sound of my cell phone ringing from friends making plans was soon forgotten. I told myself to be fine with these limits, prioritizing my long-term goals. But I was not fine, as I would begin to resent the cliques I saw in the halls exchanging gossip and jokes while I was in the midst of my suffering.

In junior year, I gave up my lunch period completely to continual work, though now as a wiser senior, I see I might have managed a different work schedule. Some days I would come across the courtyard and see all the “cool” kids in the courtyard laughing about an inside joke, those days I would consider the possibility of changing my priorities. I would wonder, “Is it still possible for me to be friends with them? Nah, maybe next year. After all, junior year is important, especially with all these APs.” I maintained this mentality, again devoting almost no time to socializing. But I hoped that my life would finally change — next year.

Entering senior year, I was relieved to have been done with the junior year stressors. Now was the time for my pre-planned freedom, the year to relax, have fun during lunch, truly bond with peers and enjoy senioritis. But it didn’t happen.

First semester was full of college applications and AP courses. This was another semester full of work, work, work. I looked bleakly ahead — every year would always be filled with work: high school, university, summer job, career.

I sit now at home typing this. It’s senior night at Ghirardelli Square when I of course, according to my senior year plans should have gone and bonded with my classmates

it was worth a lot. These tangible accomplishments were achieved because I remained focused on my strengths, developing a better sense of who I am — academically, athletically, intellectually. Just know that there are no limitations here.

There may be annoying teachers or “smarter” kids but you can forge any path and make what you want of your Lowell career. I chose to focus on grades and sports, and I know with the strongest conviction that I did everything in my power to do my best and it paid off. And yet I remain ambivalent. Could I have balanced earning that A in PreCalculus Honors with Mr. Li, and still have gone to that Skrillex concert with friends?

With a less relentless lifestyle, I honestly think that I wouldn’t have been as academically proficient or skilled at volleyball as I am today. But knowing that I had the emotional support of friends who liked me for Grace Sun me may have made a failed AP U.S. History test on the Reconstruction over delicious vanilla ice just as I had wanted — initially. Yet Era easier to handle. Now I enter the cream. But I feel now that that isn’t what I need — a small 10% spring of senior year, where days are to go would be pointless. compartment for friends. I wonder supposed to be relaxing and nights I hadn’t been called to go, made plans if there was a way I could have bal- full of partying (heavens no, no alcohol, of course). with anyone, so why would I have anced it betBut it starts gone by myself? But more impor- ter. I know with me. Me, tantly, why didn’t I call? t hat I b ema k ing t he I told myself to be fine In my room, I tend to lay out lieved I was effort to open on my desk or tape up on the wall always just with these limits, pri- myself up to my greatest accomplishments and t o o b u s y, memories. I love to admire my med- but I realize oritizing my long-term o t h e r s a n d forge a path als from volleyball and Honor Roll that this isn’t of friendship. goals.

But I was not fine.” certificates. They are all mementos true. There Dreams that I of the days full of perseverance was always once had may and a strong belief in my abilities. r o o m f o r not be what I I see a team photo of the 2010 USA friends. I just never made the time. really want to be left with in the end.

Men’s National Volleyball team that But on this journey, now as a I cannot change the past but can use I got after watching them crush the second semester senior when I feel it as an astrolabe as I head towards Chinese Men’s Team, and current academics aren’t as important as they and past volleyball and SAT goals once seemed, and I have all the time expanded horizons in college. I still and the processes of how I would in the world, what now? Was what I believe my dreams are right in front of me, and I can grab them with achieve them. Off to the side, a few gained worth the sacrifices?

Winterball and Junior Prom photos This is not meant to be a depress- a strong will. On my new journey lend a bit of life. My life had seemed ing story or advice to the high-strung next year, I’m sure the friend-ship in order and compartmentalized, freshman. But in some ways, yes. Yes, will set sail.

I

“

Fashionista dresses to impress herself, not conform

By Campbell Gee

I

n the summer of 2010, I was a naïve kid fresh out of Catholic middle school awaiting my entry into teen-dom.

My journey towards adolescence brought out my strong

photos courtesy of Campbell Gee

lack of self-confidence and hence, melodrama towards starting high school. However, I always did feel confident about my sense of style. Even though I had spent nine years of private school trapped in a hopelessly un-glamourous plaid skort (a “classy” combination of a skirt and shorts) and polo shirt uniform that was so drab it would probably make the designer Betsey Johnson cry, I was eager to tackle a full time stylish high school wardrobe.

Fashion was ­­— and still is — the one constant creative outlet in my life. While most of my friends worried about the impending stress of high school grades, I was most obsessed by the task of picking out the ultimate outfit for the first day of freshman year. Questions like “What is every one else going to wear? Is a dress too formal? Do platform heels make the wrong impression?” popped into my head during the final countdown before I would work the hallway catwalk. After countless expeditions to stores ranging from Forever 21 to Urban Outfitters to local thrift shops, I felt I had put together the perfect back-toschool wardrobe. I dressed to impress as I confidently strutted into the uncertain, even scary world of high school, but I couldn’t help but feel slightly like a fish out of water in my collared shirtdress, boyfriend cardigan and Marc Jacobs-inspired topknot bun among a sea of others who sported Vans and American Apparel hoodies.

I imagined judgmental mindsets radiating from my conformist peers. The next day, after receiving mixed looks in the halls, I wasn’t so sure of my choice in pairing a slouchy v-neck with my thrifted Jeffrey Campbell platform wedges, topping it off with fake tortoise-rim glasses.

Self-expression wasn’t so welcome anymore. I decided to settle for a more basic way of dressing that allowed me to go

unnoticed. The shyness towards my style impulses slid me into teenage angst similar to that of a character in a John Hughes movie. Thoughts like “No one understands me!” raced through my brain­— could I have been more cliché?! ­­ Sadly, just at a time when my pubescent awkwardness already made me feel badly about my appearance, fashion had become a cause for criticism, rather than a celebration. My wardrobe suffered a split-personality disorder. I decided to deem one double armful of my apparel as “weekend clothes” — edgier outfits saved for outings with friends. But what a waste!

The sheer maxi skirt I had recently bought was shoved way back into the depths my closet because of its lack of “practicality” at school and my proud purchase of ten-dollar Urban Outfitter heels was left untouched. I spent many nights escaping the monotonously-dressed Lowell by scrolling through style blogs and flipping through the glossy pages of Vogue editorials sighing, “I could never dress like her!”

But after a tedious day at school, as I scrolled through the fashion blog of Tavi, a fifteen-year-old fashionista who found fame with her blog (www.thestylerookie.com), a realization came to me­ — why couldn’t I be bold? Wear whatever I wanted to?

What an epiphany — worrying about the judgment of other people was a choice that I myself had made. That night, it occurred to me that one reason for my lack of self-confidence stemmed from the fact that I was settling for less than my personal style. I decided that feeling special in a unique outfit I had proudly devised was more important than the approval of my peers.

Now a year older, I’m learning to freely embrace a love for high-waisted shorts, trouser pants, and my growing collection of sheer button up shirts. I even wear skirts so often that my friends consider it a special occasion whenever I choose to wear an average pair of blue jeans to school. I realize that feeling confident in my style choices outweighs the criticism that I still might receive from my fellow Lowellites about how I dress.

Although I may not be gutsy — or carnivorous — enough to don a Lady Gaga meat dress, I’ve never been so comfortable being in my own skin.

18 EDITORIALS

January 27, 2012

Lowell High School

EDITORIALS Revised plagiarism policy sets schoolwide precedent for stricter measures against cheating

Editors-in-Chief Caitriona Smyth • Nancy Wu Amy Char • Natasha Khan

Web Tech Editor-in-Chief

P

lagiarism has been on the rise among Lowell students, especially honors and Advanced Placement students.

(See “Copy That,” page 4.) The English department voted unanimously to enact a new, hard-line policy on plagiarism this semester. Prohibiting students who choose to imitate others’ work from honors English classes may seem a harsh consequence, but we support the new policy as a necessary measure to stop plagiarism in this school.

Plagiarism is a direct violation of the principles of conduct expected of all students. To take on the demands of the honors curriculum is a privilege that many students wish for, and those given this opportunity cannot take it for granted.

Students who cheat on their coursework are not worthy of honors. They deny more deserving students places in honors classes.

The rise in plagiarism is telling of the academic culture created by peer competition at Lowell. Several students interviewed said the need to achieve good grades led them to consider cheating.

Students are under so much pressure to do well, they feel the need to lie in order to succeed.

But there are no excuses for cheating or plagiarism. Students who cannot handle the work that comes with honors level courses must reevaluate their personal limits, independent of their peers and families, and decide whether the “honors” label is worth the additional stress and risk of intellectual dishonesty.

While we welcome this stricter policy, teachers cannot overlook the potential for abuse of power. The English department must ensure due process by laying out a procedure by which students may appeal accusations of plagiarism. The department must also define standards for conclusive evidence of academic dishonesty before handing out punishment. Turnitin.com makes this easier for teachers, but they must plainly establish how much and what components of a student’s work might be plagiarized to warrant the harshest punishment. The primary object of the new policy should not be to expose plagiarizing students and publicly shame them, but to prevent students from committing future acts of plagiarism.

The English department is setting a precedent for the entire school. The administration should consider a stricter school-wide policy on cheating to send the message that the school will not tolerate cheating or plagiarism of any kind.

Aaron Pramana

Hoi Leung

LETTERS TO THE EDITOR Senior has love-hate relationship with school, grateful for prep for future

one smarter, someone better, someone stronger; this exact concept sets most of the students of Lowell High School Dear Editor, up for downfall. No matter how smart Lowell High School is a truly amaz- we are, fast we are, strong we are, we ing place not because of the teachers, are STILL compared to each other like the facilities, or even the administra- statistical numbers, weeded out, and tion, but because it is we the students placed into some numerical ranking who are good at taking tests, buying that neither represents our full acaprep-books to cram for our STARs, demic capabilities nor our talents and ACTs, SATs, APs, and any other ac- true identity. Ironically, a large amount ronym-laden tests that glorify Lowell of Lowellites end up attending City or High School as one of the best institu- SF State because of the competitive tions that has ever existed on the face nature of this very school we once loved of the planet. It is we the students who to attend. have the insatiable drive to work hard But I cannot ever forget about the and accomplish the seemingly impos- good that Lowell has given me. As sible to others. It is we the students who I prepare to head off to college and make it all possible to fuel and run this begin another chapter in my life after glorious institution.

Lowell, I can say that I feel confident in But Lowell High School is flawed. my academic, and social abilities. I am Think about it, why would you take prepared for whatever comes my way. the top students from all the middle If I can survive Lowell, I can survive schools, put them in a poorly main- anything. The best part of these past tained institution, and have them four years have, of course, been the compete each other only to be Want tpo against have your opinions printed in therelationships next issue ofI’ve Thefostered Lowell? with my felranked and labeled as normal, or even low peers and I guess that’s what makes Yo u c a n n o w s u b m i t y o u r l e t t e r s t o t h e e d i in some cases, subnormal students it all worth it. tor by email to lowellopinion@gmail.com amongst our peers? As smart as one

— Louis Wong, Reg. 1208 student is, there will always be some-

Want to have your opinions published in the next issue of The Lowell?

You can submit your letter to the editor to lowellopinion@gmail.com.

You can also deliver it in person outside of S107.

News Amy Char, Yosha Huang, Natasha Khan, Caitriona Smyth Sports Joseph Fiorello, Nancy Wu Features Jenna Rose Fiorello, Eva Morgenstein Columns & Profiles Adriana Millar, Grace Sun Opinions Michelle Wan Reporters Elijah Alperin, Natalia ArguelloInglis, Elena Bernick, Isabel Boutiette, Adam Chac, Daffany Chan, Elazar Chertow, Deidre Foley, Campbell Gee, Henry Hammel, Michelle Hwang, Kayla Huynh, Ian James, Zoe Kaiser, KT Kelly, Melinda Leung, Cooper Logan, Ashley Louie, Kai Matsumoto-Hines, Adriana Millar, Eva Morgenstein, Arlen Pan, Ying Sham, Sean Wang, Samantha Wilcox, Jeffrey Wong, Mara Woods-Robinson, Audrey Yu Web Staff Elijah Alperin, Monica Castro, Nicholas Fong, Daniel Green, Chris Lee, Gavin Li, Jason Lo Photo Editor Chris Lee Photographers Daniel Green, Nicholas Fong, Gavin Li, Jeremy Varon Art Editor Vivian Tong Illustrator Hoi Leung Business Managers Martin Costa, Rachel Hsu, Sophie Solomon

Advisers Print Sharn Matusek Web Samuel Williams

Published every four weeks by the journalism classes of Lowell High School, Room S108, 1101 Eucalyptus Drive, San Francisco, CA 94132 Phone: (415) 759-2730 Internet: thelowellads@ yahoo.com; http://www.thelowell.org. All contents copyright Lowell High School journalism classes.

All rights reserved.

The Lowell and The Lowell on the Web strive to inform the public and to use their opinion sections as open forums for debate. All unsigned editorials are the opinions of the staff.

The Lowell welcomes comments on school-related issues from students, faculty and community members. Send letters to lowellopinion@gmail. com. Letters must be signed. Names will be withheld upon request. We reserve the right to edit letters before publication.

2011 NSPA All-American 2011 NSPA Online Pacemaker 2009 NSPA First Class Honors 2007 NSPA All-American 2007 NSPA Online Pacemaker 2007 CSPA Gold Crown 2006 NSPA Pacemaker 2006 NSPA All-American 2005 CSPA Gold Crown

District should explore educational benefits of online learning

I

n a world of ever-expanding technological opportunities, the school district is falling behind. Across the country, online schooling is an emerging yet controversial feature in the educational world, and the San Francisco Unified School District is doing surprisingly little to embrace it.

One incident of the rising prominence of online education demonstrates the issues. Last year Idaho passed legislation requiring students to take two courses online before graduation, according to the Jan. 3 New York Times article “Teaches resist high-tech push in Idaho Schools” (www.nytimes.com). However, many Idaho teachers are opposed to the requirement, asserting that the state is intruding on their style of teaching and allocating resources away from traditional schooling, according to the article.

Now California is getting on the national bandwagon.

The provisions in the California Student Bill of Rights Initiative, a proposal for the November 2012 ballot, aims to provide all California public school students with access to courses needed to satisfy the A-G requirements, partly by making online courses available.

SFUSD should prepare itself to successfully transition into offering a variety of online coursework, as it could greatly increase educational opportunities for students, which at this point are restricted.

The only online classes currently available through the district for course credit are offered through Cyber High, which can be used to take certain courses not offered

at Lowell, like Writing for College and Sociology, but it is primarily used to make up failed classes at Lowell, according to counselor Jeffrey Yang, who directs Cyber High at the school.

One of the main arguments against online classes is the lack of face-to-face interaction with teachers to direct students and answer questions, a sentiment supported by several in the counseling office, including counselor Tony Lee, assistant principal of student support services Michael Yi and Yang.

Another potential issue is that students could get bored or distracted working alone at a monitor, without the social interaction of a classroom setting. Technology can help improve the quality of online courses, as many allow for synchronous interaction to aid learning, as with video chat, for example.

Another benefit of online courses is the differentiated instruction it provides, allowing students to self-pace and e-mail with teachers when they need help, as well as offering another option for students who struggle in the traditional school environment.

An extensive 2009 study for the US Department of Education showed that students enrolled in online courses in grades K-12 and college performed better than students at traditional, brick-and-mortar schools, according to an Aug. 19 New York Times article titled “Study finds that online education beats the classroom.”

The report studied 99 cases of qualitative comparisons

in the same course online and in traditional schools over a 12-year timeline.

Online learning can also provide greater course selection availabilities for students. According to a Nov. 23 article by California Watch (CaliforniaWatch.org), titled “Will online education expand in California?” around 27 percent of California public high schools do not offer enough sections of classes for all students to fulfill the A-G requirements during their time in high school.

According to a Jan. 12, 2010 discussion about online classes, published by The Heritage Foundation (www. heritage.org), another benefit of online classes is that teachers are not geographically limited over the Internet, allowing a good teacher can reach many more students, increasing efficiency and lowering costs.

Florida Virtual School provides courses as an online public school in Florida and is offered to students nationwide for tuition. One rationale is that offering courses online is much less expensive than traditional public schooling, over $1,000 less per enrolled student each year in this case, according to a Nov., 2007 study by Florida Tax Watch (www.floridataxwatch.org).

SFUSD should explore options for digital learning to earn graduation credit and offer more online classes with fewer restrictions. The school district should not be constrained by past practices in education and techlearning should not be limited to iPad apps and YouTube videos.

January 27, 2012

The Lowell

OPINION

Defense bill sacrifices protection of American liberties to assuage irrational fears

By Zoe Kaiser

I

n classrooms across the United States, students marvel at the enlightened ideas of the founding fathers and the ideals of liberty that shaped our society. We feel pride in the certainty that we will always have such essential rights as free speech and fair trial when accused of a crime. But we were disillusioned by President Obama’s signing of the National Defense Authorization Act for the fiscal year 2012, expanding military power by authorizing the U.S. Military to detain civilians, even Americans citizens, without trial.

The NDAA, which has been enacted every year for the past 49 years detailing the yearly budget and spending of the U.S. Department of Defense, was signed on Dec. 31 with new provisions. The newly added controversial provisions, most notably sections 1021 and 1022, authorize the Armed Forces to detain people, including U.S. citizens, suspected of supporting terrorism or being terrorists “without trial until the end of the hostilities.” The law defines a suspect as “a person who was a part of or substantially supported al-Qaeda, the Taliban, or associated forces that are engaged in hostilities against the United States or its coalition partners.”

This definition is vague — what if you befriended someone in high school who went on to join the Taliban? If you unknowingly invited him to your house for dinner after he had joined would that qualify as supporting terrorist “associated forces”?

It’s hard to exclaim “Of course not!” when the law

leaves it up for

illustrations by hoi leung

interpretation. Obama has pledged his administration will interpret section 1021 in “a manner that ensures that any detention it authorizes complies with the Constitution, the laws of war, and all other applicable law.” He attempted to clarify his feelings regarding certain provisions in his signing statement, saying, “I have signed this bill despite having serious reservations.” But the fact remains that this act is now law, and permanent, while the presidency might soon change hands to an administration that might not share Obama’s scruples.

“Innocent until proven guilty” is the foundation of the American justice system. The phrase embodies an essential value of our society­ —­­a citizen’s right to a fair trial as guaranteed in the sixth amendment. This law completely undermines that and puts the detention of suspected terrorists over the rights and liberties of innocent citizens.

Supporters of this act argue that different rules apply in wartime and take precedence over criminal procedures. “We’re not fighting a crime, we’re fighting a war,” Republican senator Lindsey Graham argued in a speech on the floor of the U.S. Senate. There is a belief that in wartime it becomes necessary to limit citizen’s rights for the safety of the country. “We’re not going to take you to a criminal court because that is not in our national security interests,” the senator said.

This opinion has been put forward in the past, when people have felt unsafe, leading to hasty decisions we hold in contempt today. The bombing of Pearl Harbor in 1941 caused an outbreak of fear that turned into hatred and discrimination against Japanese-Americans. In response the federal government forced thousands of Japanese-Americans into internment camps, many of whom had been born in the United States and had never once been to Japan. Internees’ rights relating to trials, searches, and bail were ignored, and they were denied equal protection under the law. But in 1988 President Reagan signed legislation that formally apologized for this “grave injustice” that “was caused by race prejudice, war hysteria, and a failure of political leadership.”

The September 11 attacks spawned a similar reaction. As a result of terrorism paranoia President Bush signed the USA Patriot Act on October 26, 2001, which increased intrusive surveillance on US citizens, allowing wiretapping and the monitoring of emails along with increased access to medical and

19

financial records of suspected terrorists. It also allowed “delayed notice” search warrants, warrants that allow law enforcement to search houses without informing their occupants until a later date. A Justice Department audit of the FBI on March 9, 2007 concluded “we believe the improper or illegal uses we found involve serious misuses of national security letter authorities.”

The fright caused in both above instances turned Americans against themselves, and led to laws being passed that infringe on human rights because of war terror and xenophobia. The revisions in the NDAA possess similar potential for abuse. It is vital that we learn from our history and do not repeat the mistakes of the past with the National Defense Authorization Act. From Obama’s failure to close Guantanamo to his positions on executive power and security issues, the president has already disappointed civil liberties groups. In response to his signing of the NDAA, Human Right’s Watch declared, “President Obama will go down in history as the president who enshrined indefinite detention without trial in U.S. law.”

Many of Obama’s ardent supporters are young adults with faith in the president’s promises of protecting liberty. His actions may have cost him their vote.

The freedoms possessed by citizens are a fundamental part of American society. There are many ways to fight a war, but giving up our values as the longest lasting democratic society should never have been up for debate.

Four steps

Just Do It

By participating in classes and activities you love, you can enjoy yourself more in school. “I always feel happier when I am doing something I am passionate about, rather than a class I do not feel particularly excited about,” sophomore swimmer Iam Bhisitkul said. “It’s much better to challenge yourself in things you enjoy. I think extra-curricular activities are a good thing, not only because you can compete and have goals, but you can find things you enjoy,” Playing sports in high school can coincide both with a growth of self-esteem and with increased academic achievements. According to a 2009 study for the Federal Provincial Territorial Sport Committee (www.sportsmatters.ca), students who participate in sports are less likely to take dangerous drugs, commit crimes or cut school, and are more likely to have higher average test scores, GPAs and lower drop out rates.

Sports are not the only helpful extracurricular. According to a College Entrance Examination board study on SAT results, students who play musical instruments on average scored about 11 percent higher than those who do not play music. “The satisfaction I gain from playing music is stronger than the stress added to my life from spending an hour a day playing,” sophomore viola player Michelle Tang said. “It is more relaxing than spending an hour just sitting around.”

An organized schedule can reduce the amount of “Oh no! I forgot to think of a funny example for the newspaper today” moments. However while having an enjoyable routine can ground you, it can also lead to a mind on automatic pilot. Do not be afraid to shake it up once in a while, suggests a counselor. “You should start with the small and easy, little things that take five minutes, they will add up over time,” Leung said. “Many kids fall into a routine and forget the reasons behind what they are doing. Doing new things is key to keeping yourself excited and your mind fresh.”

2012

to squash STRESS

NG

EU

If you get cold feet when it comes to more vigorous forms of exercise, walking is the answer for you and anyone else who needs a lift. “Taking a walk in nature rests your brain and prepares it for mental activities,” Advanced Placement Psychology teacher Adam Michels said. “You should avoid taking walks in busy parts of the city because obstacles like cars can disrupt you. However taking walks in places like parks, even if you don’t enjoy it, can help rest and prepare your brain. Two of my favorite places to walk are Land’s End and Golden Gate Park, although Golden Gate Park is much less crowded. There are a lot of mini-parks cropping up in San Francisco. You just need to find a natural place. Even if you are just looking at something green like a potted plant, it can help.” And what is not to enjoy in the shade of Stern Grove or on the banks of Stow Lake?

Despite the rather intimidating thought of being disrupted by a car, don’t shrug off walking as a waste of time amidst homework and studying. According to a Feb. 2011 New York Times article, “A Walk to Remember,” walking can improve your memory by expanding the hippocampus, the part of the brain closely associated with information retention. Next time you have the opportunity to trek home from school, do not hesitate to take advantage of the journey. According to an Aug. 2010 New York Times article, “Digital Devices Deprive Brain of Needed Downtime” when you walk you provide an opportunity for your brain to rest from continual input, allowing it to process the new information presented in your classes. If you spend this time sidetracked by getting news on Facebook or watching Jersey Shore on T.V., you are more likely to lose that knowledge.

life with these easy tips

Take a Walk to Remember

awesome

IL

S

tudents have been told hundreds of times that they need to get more sleep or take a walk everyday. However, how is an already overloaded student supposed to fit yet more “you’ll be glad you did” things into a day? And is being told to reduce stress just another stressor? Why bother?

Here is the quirkier side of everyday health that shows why you should rest that extra hour, or go that extra mile. You will be glad you did!

HO

By Ian James

of

Boost your quality

to an

Cat Naps Are Not Just For Cats

Although skipping a lunch period to sleep in a little is not advisable — basically it is a bad idea — finding time to sleep is key to being healthy and happy. According to Leung, students should get at least eight hours a night to keep themselves refreshed and active. However according to a 2011 survey by the Student Body Council, only 7 percent of the student body sleeps more than six hours per night. “Sleep provides you with the mental juices needed to learn and absorb information,” Leung said. “There are very few students who get enough and cutting down on sleep is actually counter-productive for students’ bodies and studying.”

Sleep also gives people emotional stability and can lessen anxiety and impatience. According to Huffington Post’s Feb. 2011 article “11 Surprising Health Benefits of Sleep,” sleep not only helps prevent depression and poor concentration, but also helps your body recover from stresses in other parts of your day, helping with emotional reliability and lessening anxiety.

Junior Jimmy Chan has a unique solution to catching up on rest; despite his busy lifestyle he utilizes spare minutes during the day. “I suggest students take more naps; it helps you forget about daily stresses,” Chan said. “I sleep on the bus and it helps me recover from all the problems I encounter at school and prepare for when I get back home to deal with any new situations, like homework.”

If your height has always been on the short side, you can no longer put responsibility solely on the shoulders of your parent’s genes. Sleep does not only keep you alert and focused — it also helps growth, according to the National Institution of Neurological Disorders and Stroke’s website (www.ninds.nih.gov). When children and young adults fall into deep sleep it coincides with the release of growth hormones in the body. So snooze for health and you might finally achieve your dream height!

Lowell’s Forgotten Class - Lunch

Lowell houses a daunting community of students who have given up their lunch for an extra class or a late start, but squeezing in a seventh class while jettisoning time to eat and relax damages one’s learning ability and information retention.

Having a first period off should not be your highest priority, even if you assume initially that more sleep is better than a free block in the day. “Scheduling a real lunch is very important, some students have a lunch that isn’t long enough for them to chew their food,” Behavioral Health Counselor Kin Leung said. “They do not have time to recuperate and it will do more damage than good in the long run. The students who do decide to take a lunch return to class not only recovered from earlier classes but reinvigorated.”

At the start of the semester, the lack of free time for lunch can go unnoticed, but the lack of good nutrition and a chance to catch your breath could take a toll as the year progresses.

According to The Guardian’s Feb. 2009 article, “If You Only Do One Thing This Week... Take a Break,” the effects of skipping lunch are cumulative, causing your fatigue to worsen over time.

So power walk to eat lunch on a rock in Stern Grove, then get rocked to sleep on the 28 bus line, and remember, all rules are made to be broken.

The Lowell Backpage January 27, 2012