Issue 8, 2016-2017

MARCH 17, 2017 VOL. 15, ISSUE 8

the

Nexus

Artists Association paints a mural for local business Ocean Palace.

See Mural, page 4 Tonia Jaroszewska

Westview High School 13500 Camino Del Sur, San Diego, CA 92129

wvnexus.org

CELEBRATING CULTURE

Ophelia Jacobson

Ophelia Jacobson

Tina Joshi (10) pins a marker connecting San Diego with India and the Dominican Republic on the Westview's Origins Board. The board showcased student diversity at Westview.

Ophelia Jacobson

ASB merges Culture Week, No Place for Hate in attempt to unify students Neek Azar

Staff Writer

Ophelia Jacobson

Top: The South Asian Experience club performs its high-energy Bhangra dance. Middle: Ines Cerf (11) performs a swords dance on behalf of the American Chinese Culture & Education Foundation club. Bottom: The Vietnamese Student Association presents a traditional dance with fans.

Thunderous applause shook the gym March 10 as motivational speaker Tyler Durman concluded the day’s assembly, capping off the newly intertwined No Place for Hate and Culture Week. “[With this assembly] we’re trying to get people to realize that our differences are a beautiful thing,” Durman said. “I wanted to tell personal stories that people could identify with and understand, to get people thinking about their own lives and their own stories.”

Typically, ASB holds different events at different times for No Place For Hate Week and Culture Week, as they don’t tend to relate to each other. No Place for Hate Week in the past has focused on topics from stopping cyberbullying to increasing suicide and mental health awareness. This year, however, to celebrate Westview’s diverse background and in light of growing divisiveness

Inspired by grandfather, Miller visits elderly centers Kristina Nguyen Staff Writer

The face of Kara Miller’s (12) grandpa always lit up when she visited.

“I would tell him how my day was and what’s going on,” Miller said. “I can just tell it made his day. His face would light up and he would smile.”

All of a sudden, the room wasn’t so bland anymore. Usually, it only contained a bed and TV set, and occasionally, the footsteps of nurses entering the room. But on Wednesdays and Sundays after church, the room was filled with something different, a mixture of happiness and comfort, familiarity and warmth.

Miller was very close to her grandpa, who lived in a nursing home for several weeks.

Nexcerpts

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a quick capture of what’s inside this issue

We should take a maple leaf out of Canada's checkbook.”

The U.S. should emulate Canada and emphasize financial literacy in school.

“

See Personal finance, page 8

It is the ebb and flow of history.”

Some of Trump's seemingly controversial decisions mirror those of past presidents.

See Trump criticism, page 10

Her grandpa had survived a battle with cancer, but the chemotherapy treatment he received damaged his liver. In 2015, during Miller’s sophomore year, he passed away.

“It was really hard on me because my grandma passed away in 2001, so I didn’t really know her,” Miller said. “After that, my aunt told me how my grandpa made an effort to take me under his wing, in a way, to make sure I still had that grandma kind of person in my life.”

Because of their close relationship, Miller’s grandpa was a large part of her inspiration for working towards achieving a milestone in her life: her Girl Scout Gold Award.

Miller began her Gold Award project, “Making Memories,” last summer. She was aided by a project advisor, who helped her find centers at which to volunteer and the

people she should target. “[My project] was about how there are elders and senior citizens living in nursing homes or senior citizen centers and feel isolated,” Miller said. “They’re alone; they feel lonely because a lot of the time, people don’t come to visit them, like friends or family.

So, to me, it was an issue that no one should feel that way.”

After her proposal was approved, Miller started her project. Her goal was to complete 20 visits while accompanied by other volunteers, and to interact with multiple residents during each visit. She reached out to her junior year AVID class, church group and Girl Scout troupe members, asking for volunteers. At times, asking for volunteers was

from theTwittersphere KERRY WANG (11) @KerryWangg

See Gold Award, page 6

around the nation, ASB decided to emphasize the theme of “know better, do better.” Adopted from a quote by Maya Angelou, the theme is “based around the ideology of cultural inclusiveness,” according to ASB President Nathan Xia. With the theme focusing on Westview’s diversity and preventing ignorance when it comes to diversity, No Place for Hate Week and Culture Week seemed a logical combination to Xia. “Even though we're all different and we all come from very different backgrounds and ethnicities, we’re all the same as Westview students,” he said.

“Just seeing differences in a positive way and understanding a cultural helps to stop the spread of ignorance, because by knowing more, you can do more.”

Starting the week with a homeroom video that explained the week’s theme, the rest of the week’s activities included the “End the R Word” Campaign, student-run TED Talks, the Culture Rush, and the assembly to finish the week.

The TED Talks, hosted by the Westview TED-Ed Club and delivered by club president Isha Date (11) and vice-president Monet Gonzalez (11), continued the theme of acceptance, with one speech focusing on racial stereotypes and the other on the unequal treatment of those with mental disabilities.

“I was extremely ecstatic when I learned [TED-Ed] could host this event during No Place for Hate Week,” Date said. “[The club] goes out of our way to make Westview a happier place by understanding and accepting differences and similarities within our student body.”

In addition, for the March 9 event, the Culture Rush, ASB invited various cultural clubs to set up booths and share the traditions of their homeland, with performances from the South Asian Experience (SAX), American Chinese Culture and Education Foundation

See Culture Week, page 4

Syndicate forms independent robotics team, competes in FTC super regionals Kevin Lu

Staff Writer Team Syndicate had put hundreds of hours into their robot, and it came down to this moment. With the teams tied 1-1, the final match was underway. As the time for the First Tech Challenge (FTC) Regional Championship match ticked down, members of Team Syndicate counted every single whiffle ball going through the center goal.

On the game field were Syndicate’s alliance partners, The Ducks and The Clueless, who were also playing Rise of Hephaestus and the RoBowties for a spot in the FTC West Super Regionals Competition. The buzzer

sounded. With both yoga balls capping the center goals, it looked extremely even and way too close to call the score. The judges stood on the field, doing their final calculations with each other. The final score on the screen showed the opposing alliance partners, Rise of Hephaestus and the RoBowties as the winning champions, 246-220.

“We knew we had fought an extremely hard match, and we were proud of what we were able to accomplish,” Syndicate member Kieran Gregg (11) said. “However, after around five to 10 minutes of discussing, we noticed a possible scoring error.”

See Roguebotics, page 5

tweet us @wvnexus

8:32 PM | March 14

Ah yes, Pi day: the day I can tweet that I know 61 digits of Pi, and the only day knowing this information is ever useful ASHLEY BUI (10) @yikeashley

9:58 PM | March 6

Someone told me to be grateful that God created me & when I said I'm Buddhist she said “be grateful he lets you believe in other things” KATHY DANIELS (12) @negat0ry

9:26 PM | March 12

Almost stepped into the shower with socks on...gonna be a great day

Graphic Design presents to MLS investors Designing teams meet former U.S. soccer star Landon Donovan.

See Graphic Design, page 4 Yuchen Zhang

theNexus

2 News

March 17, 2017

Theatre builds black box for student shows Lina Lew

Staff WritEr

Tonia Jaroszewska

Olivia Williams (11) cycles away from Silverset Park in Poway with her mom, preschool teacher Lori Williams. The two bike each year for an annual event called "Tim's Ride," which they created to honor Olivia's late father Tim Williams.

Students, teachers bike to honor Williams Alice Markman SportS Editor

Waters, bananas, and purple bandanas were handed out to a sea of people, all dressed in biking gear. Westview students, including Olivia Williams (11), teachers, and local policemen all came with bikes by their sides and smiles on their faces.

The crowd had one thing in common: every single member present had been touched by their late friend, husband, or father, Tim Williams and had gathered to celebrate his life.

On March 5, Olivia’s mom, Westview preschool teacher Lori Williams, hosted a bike ride in honor of her late husband, who passed away on March 4, 2015 from an arrhythmia that stopped his heart while he was biking on the CA-56 bike path.

Teaming up with her children, Olivia, and Westview graduates Lauren Williams (‘09) and Jefferson Williams (’14), Lori decided to honor him by inviting locals to celebrate his favorite pastime. They settled on the location of Tim’s tragedy, hoping to complete the bike path he didn’t get a chance to. Their goal became the name of the event: “Finish Tim’s Ride”.

This has since become an annual tradition.

“This was the same bike route he was on when he had his accident, and it just means a lot for us to do that same bike

route,” Olivia said. “It’s like we’re finishNow that it is an annual tradition foling his ride.” lowing its inception last year, Olivia said The route started at Silverset Park in that the bike ride is something she looks Poway. Participants hopped on their bikes forward to, as it brings to light the countearly in the morning, ready to embark on less memories and the positive impact their route, positive memories of their late that her father had on the community. She friend on their minds. cherishes the opportunity to honor these After participants exited the park, they memories with her loved ones. rode across Ted Williams Parkway, fol“It’s a good way of remembering,” she lowing the route that stretched along the said. “We wanted something special to do CA-56 bike path. because he was Their beloved such a funny guy memories of Tim He was such a funny and had so many remained in their friends, so it’s a minds, pushing guy and had so many friends, nice way for them them to keep going, so it’s a nice way for them to to always rememas their finish, acber [him].” cording to Olivia, always remember [him].”

Members of the is “what he would San Diego Pohave wanted”.

Department Olivia Williams (11) lice Biking had an inalso attended the tegral influence on event, honoring Tim’s life. Given it was one of his most his many years of service as a San Difrequently practiced and cherished hob- ego Police Detective. As a member of the bies, Olivia said that she and her family SDPD, Tim was able to change the lives view the annual bike ride as the perfect of members of the community, specialway to honor his memory. izing in child abuse, domestic violence, “It’s a really special way of remember- vice, homicide relief, juvenile services ing him because he loved to ride his bike, and internal affairs. he loved exercising,” Olivia said. “We alAs participants continued along the ways find comfort in the fact that he died bike path, they were reminded of these doing what he loved, so that’s what we moments as they passed a particular tree want to continue doing for him.” next to Tim’s tragedy. As a way of remem-

“

bering happiness he created for his friends and family throughout his lifetime, Lori compiled a list of his favorite expressions and memories, titled “Timisms,” that was stapled to the tree. Along with the list was a large purple bow honoring his favorite color. The tree was surrounded with bouquets of flowers and posters, all in purple colors. As participants passed this tree, they stopped and smiled at the “Timisms,” reminded of the countless positive memories. The top of this list states its plan, “to accomplish [Tim’s] daily goal… to make people smile.”

Through this event, loved ones are given a chance to share the countless beautiful memories they have with Tim. A poster on the tree reminds passerbys that “those we love don’t go away. They walk beside us every day. Unseen, unheard, but always near, still loved, still missed, and very dear. Always on our minds…. Forever in our hearts.”

Olivia said she considers herself lucky to have so many loved ones to share these memories with, and each year, this event reminds her of them.

“I really enjoyed spending time with the people that showed up, and I’m really fortunate to have those quality people in my life,” she said. “They make the tough times more bearable and the happy times more beautiful.”

When theatre director Robert Townsend first walked into the theater’s green room, he saw stacks of choir and band risers, hundreds of abandoned chairs, miscellaneous set pieces and one single light. As he took in the scene, a light in his head turned on as he envisioned the room as it was intended to be—a performance room, or a black box, that theatre students could call home.

Since the start of third quarter, Townsend has undertaken the project of renovating Westview Theater’s green room into a black box, or an additional performing area behind the main stage set up with black curtains on all sides and risers to seat a smaller audience. Townsend said that the intimate setting of a black box would help him as a director observe an actor’s techniques more closely and thus critique actors more effectively.

“It’s very helpful to have a black box here where they can perform, because I can really see their faces close up,” Townsend said. “It makes the critiques more powerful and more insightful.”

Because the black box requires less set and fewer props, it lets students share their work with a smaller audience of 50 friends and family without the large costs of a mainstage production.

“It’s more for the students, their ideas, their producing, their concepts, all coming together in a small space,” Townsend said. “That’s why I wanted to make the black box an actual performance space; it lets the students do cool work that they’ve always wanted to do.”

For years, theatre has shared the stage with other performing arts groups, such as choir, band, orchestra, and dance troupe. As a space devoted entirely for the theatre program, the installment of the black box aims to restore the theatre company’s sense of ownership from other groups on campus, providing a place entirely for the purpose of acting.

“The drama room has not been a true drama room for a long time,” Townsend said. “I just want the students to have an extra space that’s really their home.”

Townsend still faces other technical difficulties during the renovation, the biggest being the lights and sound board. The lights and sound systems are only connected to the main stage, making it extremely difficult for students to design lighting for a black box show. While bigger equipment is not necessary for black box performance, lighting would still need to be wired specifically for these smaller, more intimate types of productions.

Currently, theatre receives no funding from the district, making significant reconstructions like these very costly and prolonged.

“We’ve made some progress, but we’re also delayed by budgetary restraints and facility usage,” said Townsend.

Still, Townsend says he plans to pay for all the new lighting and sound board equipment.

“It’s important to me. I want this facility to be as interesting and as optimal as possible, so I’m going to try to do it myself,” said Townsend. The black box is like my little baby that I want to make happen.”

Lack of staff, funding cause district-wide failure to detect, repair leaks Alice Markman SportS Editor

After a series of unusually large storms, Westview’s maintenance and facilities faced a problem. The flood of rain hit the classrooms, leading to a sequence of internal damages to the buildings.

According to Chad Koster, PUSD Director of Facilities, Maintenance and Operations, the district has seen more than 100 leaks as of two weeks ago, 27 of which have been at Westview. Currently, PUSD has only one roofer employed to repair the damage from detected leaks, oftentimes translating to prolonged delays due to a shortage in staffing.

As the most prevalent consequence arising from these storms, these leaks have accumulated throughout the district. According to head of facilities at Westview, Art Wolfe, these leaks are a recurring problem, especially as they often go undetected, unacknowledged, and ultimately, unfixed.

“It’s hard to nail down leaks, with the type of roofing that we have,” he said. “It’s a corrugated roof type, so it’ll come in in one area and it can travel 100 feet, before it’ll come out somewhere else, so it gets a little hard to nail them down.”

Leaks alone pose a danger to students as they can inflict considerable damage to the roofing, namely by causing ceiling tiles to collapse and water to enter the classrooms, as happened in L-101 two weeks ago. Leaks

can lead to further damage as well, including the flooding of classroom floors.

According to Wolfe, there has been flooding under the gymnasium floor since the school opened, and the issue has yet to be addressed. The most severe damage from this year’s series of storms was done to the theatre Feb. 27, when flooding hit the green room and the shop, defacing students’ projects, including costumes, wood, and props.

Though the architecture of the building is structured to avoid serious dangers in the electricity room, the leaks reached other parts of the building.

When leaks go undetected, the moisture will often lead to mold. This year, the problem struck ceramics teacher Hayley Filaski, who reported mold in the windows and a rotting ceiling around the windowsills. According to Wolfe, students are susceptible to illnesses from this mold.

“What you get is people that get sick, especially if they’re sensitive,” Wolfe said.

“Chronic headaches, sinus issues, if you get around certain types of mold you’ll get congestive issues, and you cannot have that.”

These problems aren’t new. Some of the leaks have been recurring for years, many of which have yet to be fixed.

“Probably about half of the leaks that we have are habitual leaks,” Wolfe said. “We have them year after year, so we’re really trying to get people to do a better job of repairing [them] when they find [them].”

According to Wolfe, a major reason behind this is the lack of funding PUSD receives from the state. A few years ago, the state redesigned their budget structure to fit the Local Control Funding Formula (LCFF), and instead of supplying schools with referred maintenance dollars, the state provides a pool from which to pull all sorts of funds.

The majority of the funding is directed towards teacher salaries, school programs and classroom equipment. Maintenance falls on the lower end of funding priorities.

“There’s a lot of draws on that pot of money,” Koster said. “It’s the same one that’s paying teacher salaries, and running the district.”

The funding level also varies from school to school, depending on demographics and socioeconomic status. Furthermore, older schools, such as Poway and Rancho Bernardo, have a greater priority in the eyes of the state. “[Funding] is on a requirement basis,” Koster said. “So we try to look district-wide and prioritize where the biggest issues are.

Ideally, the newer schools should have fewer problems. [However], there’s still basic maintenance you have to provide, even to new schools.”

According to Koster, regardless of when the school was built, new roofing is given a lifespan. However, after that lifespan ends and the time comes to replace it, the repair is often deferred due to its capital expense.

“It’s hard because the state really doesn’t think that we need money because we’re too new,” Wolfe said. “New or not, these buildings need attention.”

As of now, the district has employed three maintenance workers and one roofer; the rest of the workers are part-time tradesmen.

Wolfe believes that an increase in professional workers on the job would help address the complication properly.

“It makes a big difference when all you can do is put down a band-aid fix and not get something done completely right,” he said.

Since the rain has been unpredictable, it is a challenge to track reported leaks.

“The [leaks] each stand on their own, so there’s not a NO. 1 issue that is across the board,” Koster said. “But because of the restricted funding, there hasn’t been an aggressive preventative maintenance program in the roofing. We’ve had a lot of dry years, so the issue hasn’t been highlighted.”

In light of the staffing shortage, head custodians of school sites currently serve as liaisons between the school and the district for facilities and maintenance, sending work orders for problems they encounter. However, due to the small amount of maintenance workers, work orders can pile up, and the process slows.

“We have one in-house roofer that’s on our staff,” Koster said. “He’s definitely very very busy with 39 different schools, [so] it has been a problem.”

Locating these leaks is another problem.

Identifying the problem area poses a challenge as gutters are internal, meaning that where a leak enters the roof and where it comes out may differ greatly. Because of this, when a roof is repaired, the quality of the repair isn’t clear until the next rainfall.

“It comes out of the ceiling tile, the leak may be [somewhere else], and it will run down, so it’s hard to pinpoint where it is,” Koster said.

In order to check the theatre repair, workers do a flood test. Though this proved successful and the damage was recorded as fixed, Wolfe said that the corrigible roof types PUSD uses in order to follow California’s Safe School Act regulations sometimes act as only temporary fixes to the problem due to a shorter life span.

To remedy this, the district has plans to do a full roof reevaluation for all PUSD schools.

So far, they have inspected what Koster referred to as the “most challenging” schools: Rancho Bernardo High School, Poway High School and Mesa Verde Middle School. By inspecting the roofs and recording their weakest locations, PUSD hopes to speed up the reroofing process for when funding increases. “[The district] is really starting to turn heads now as to the fact that these buildings really do need some maintenance work,” Wolfe said. “We’re hoping that with the change of leadership down there that we’re gonna start getting a little bit more cooperation.”

N E W S S TA N D What's happening on campus...

$7

Westview Theater presents "All Shook Up" March 30 and 31 at 7 p.m.

Tickets are $7 for students and $12 for adults.

36

Graphic Design Studio is looking for 36 teams for its foosball tournament. Registration ends March 24.

28th

The Spring blood drive will be held March 28. Signups are open from March 20 to 24, and only students older than 17 are able to participate.

27th

PTSA will be hosting a free budget class March 27 and April 3, teaching students about basic financial principles.

…and around the world.

“It drives up prices. It stifles entrepreneurship and innovation.”

“They are Nazi remnants, they are facists."

“Teams who qualify for a World Cup need to have access to the country.”

“Broader public support for

SEAN SPICER, White House Press Secretary, addressing the dangers of government involvement in healthcare during his press briefing March 7.

RECEP TAYYIP ERDOĞAN, Turkish president, referring to the Dutch less than a day after Turkey's foreign minister was denied entry into the Netherlands.

GIANNI INFANTINO, FIFA President, on the possibility of the U.S. losing its privileges to host the 2026 FIFA World Cup due to President Donald Trump's travel ban.

BEN VAN BEURDEN, Chief Executive of Shell Oil, advising a shift away from oil after increasing Shell's spending on renewables to $1 billion per year.

the sector will wane.”

Compiled by Andrea Chen, Kristina Nguyen, Jacob Tao, Lina Lew

March 17, 2017

theNexus

News 3

Kim-Phelps as PUSD superintendent Month. 33, 2016 selected theNexus Kristina Nguyen Staff Writer

Following a lengthy search process, the PUSD Board of Education approved Dr. Marian Kim-Phelps’ contract as the new superintendent during the March 7 board meeting. She was announced as the selected candidate after a 3-2 vote, and she will begin her three-year tenure as superintendent beginning April 3.

“It is truly an honor and privilege to serve as your next superintendent of Poway Unified School District,” Kim-Phelps said during the board meeting.

As superintendent, she said that her plans are to analyze the needs of the district and to stabilize the budget.

“My immediate plans are to hire a chief business officer first and also to work with our employees and the board collaboratively to ensure that we have a fiscally solved and stable budget,” Kim-Phelps said. “I’m going to work with the board, the different stakeholders, and with different employee groups to find out what our needs and challenges are, and what our suggestions are, and gather [that] input as far as what’s best for the district as we move forward.”

The search for a new superintendent followed the dismissal of former superintendent John Collins.

The search process began last September.

Before reviewing the candidates’ applications, the Board met with various stakeholder groups, parents, students and staff in the community to create a list of desired characteristics for the new superintendent. An important attribute the students were looking for was a superintendent who was ready to work on several of the diversity challenges in the community.

“The students gave us that slightly different feedback than anyone else, and that was important to us, to make sure we incorporated that into our job description for our candidates,” Board President Michelle O’Connor-Ratcliff said.

The Board then hired a search firm, Ray and Associates, from Cedar Rapids, Iowa, to interview the 91 applicants from 46 states. The firm then narrowed it down to 11 candidates before presenting them to the Board in January, along with video clips of interviews for each individual. This enabled the Board to further narrow

the applicant pool to five individuals heading into the final interview stage.

“I found [Kim-Phelps] to be outstanding in a number of ways,” O’Connor-Ratcliff said. “I can’t really speak for the entire board on that, and we all saw different things about her that made us want to select her. I just think that she is incredibly qualified. Her experience is really tremendous, in areas that are really important to our district.”

Kim-Phelps has been an educator for 25 years and has received multiple accolades. She serves as the superintendent of the Westminster School District in Orange County, where she has helped establish STEAM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Art, and Mathematics) and Computer Science Magnet Schools, a GATE academy, and Vietnamese and Spanish dual language immersion academies. PUSD has introduced one language immersion program and hopes to establish more with the help of Kim-Phelps.

“She opened two schools with language immersion and I think that would be really helpful because we have Valley Elementary that does Spanish and we’ve been talking for a couple of years now about trying to get the Mandarin language program going at Adobe Bluffs Elementary,” O’Connor-Ratcliff said. “She has been able to do some of those in her current district, so if we decide to move forward with that, she has the experience to make that successful.”

Kim-Phelps has established an education technology department in Westminster School District and a one-to-one iPad program. O’Connor-Ratcliff said that Kim-Phelps’ experience in implementing technology programs is beneficial to PUSD, as schools have the technological means but not yet a set curriculum or the staffing needed to implement those programs, especially for elementary and middle school classes.

One of Kim-Phelps’ other objectives will be to conduct a tour to analyze the strengths and weaknesses of the district to create an effective plan that supports the continuation of programs that support college and career readiness.

“I am looking forward to working together with all of you as we strive to provide our students with a world-class education,” KimPhelps said.

EDUCATIONAL EXPERIENCE • • • •

Elementary school teacher Middle school teacher Vice principal Elementary school principal

• Area Superintendent • Superintendent of Westminster School District • Adjunct Professor at CSU Fullerton

AWARDS • 2016 Golden Bell Award

• •

CREDENTIALS • Doctorate Degree in

•

• Superintendent Leadership • Master of Arts in Educational Leadership • Bachelor of Arts in Psychology

by the California School Board Association for technology 2016 ACSA District Administrator of the Year 2013 Central Office Administrator of the Year 2013 Broad Prize for Urban Education District Finalist 2009 & 2010 ACSA Distinguished Principal Finalist Award

Design by Kristina Nguyen and Olivia Dealy Photo and information courtesy of PUSD press release report

theNexus

4 News

March 17, 2017

VISCOM 3-4 presents designs to MLS investors Yuchen Zhang

Managing editor Justin Davis (12) expected his group to present their project in front of two or three staff members. However, when two Poway Unified board members, principal Todd Cassen, and area administrator Scott Wild walked in, his heart began to beat faster and faster.

Just when he thought his stress levels had peaked, Landon Donovan, widely regarded as the greatest American men’s soccer player of all time, walked into the room.

For the past year, a team of investors led by commissioner Don Garber has been trying to start a Major League Soccer (MLS) team, the highest division of men’s soccer in the United States, based in San Diego. On March 3, students in Joseph Nacu’s Visual Communications 3-4 class proposed team logos and gear designs that they had created themselves to a panel of guests, which included two MLS investors.

Nacu, who said he has always been a big fan of soccer, decided to get his graphic design students involved after learning of the possibility of an MLS team based in San Diego.

“I heard that investors were still in the process of putting together a team and coming up with a name, logo, and other designs, so I thought, why not have my students work on something, come up with something, and possibly play a part in the final design of a professional soccer team,” Nacu said.

Nacu assigned his students three weeks to finish their project, which required them to create a team name, a logo for the potential soccer team, uniform designs for home and away games, fan gear, and the front page of a website.

The project culminated in eight groups of four presenting their work in front of staff members, teachers, soccer stars, and big investors.

Davis, a member of one of the presenting groups, said that while three weeks wasn’t much time to prepare, they took things step by step.

The first step for Davis and his group was creating a team name.

“Coming up with a name was one of the longest processes,” Davis said. “It took us three days alone to come up with something that we all agreed on. Everyone had their

own idea on how to represent San Diego, from the beach to the sun, but we eventually decided on the Striders.”

After finally deciding on a team name, the group worked on the logo of the proposed soccer team, once again brainstorming different designs and joining them together until they had created something that everyone was satisfied with. Because of the tight time constraints, after the logo was finished, each team member immediately began workingindependently on team gear, or anything else that needed to be designed, and when they were all finished, they worked together once again in proposing and implementing improvements.

Through the course of designing team gear and fan clothes, students based their team colors and designs off San Diego’s key characteristics. For example, the Aviators based their design off San Diego’s rich military history while the Striders based their team colors off San Diego’s flag, which is maroon and gold.

Eric Pak (12), one of Davis’ teammates, said that the project forced them to think outside the box and sharpened their creativity.

“We wanted a fresh beginning for this team,” Pak said. “No attachment to former team names, colors, or designs. It took a lot of trial and error to get it to our final product, but in the end, we were able to deliver our best.”

Although Nacu said he knew it would be a long shot, when he first assigned the project, he emailed one of the investors of the MLS team, Jimmy Fales, to inquire if he would consider viewing the students’ project presentations. “[Fales] pretty much just said it was cool that high schoolers were doing this,” Nacu said. “It was a polite reply and he said we would keep in touch, but he didn’t seem to show much interest.”

Despite the initial lack of interest from the investor, Nacu said that the project was just like any other assigned project in class, where the goal was for students to improve at graphic design, making it a learning experience for students regardless of whether the investors showed up or not to watch their presentations.

Nacu once again reached out to the MLS investors during the final week of the project, sending another email, this time with attachments of all the students finished logos and a

1

THE STRIDERS

3

2

Designs by Olivia Huang (12), Rachel Lee(12), Eric Pak (12) and Justin Davis (12)

1

2

TEAM NAME

The team decided on the Striders, because it implied both “striding” on the beach and onto the soccer field. preview of the team uniform designs.

“Ten minutes after I sent that email, [the investor] responded just saying ‘I’ll be there,’” Nacu said. “It was pretty awesome to see him go from thinking it was just a group of excited high school students, to wanting to come visit and check out our work.”

The morning of the presentations, a small amount of time was allotted for students to take pictures with Donovan and Fales. After a short introduction, groups began presenting.

Each group was given five minutes to run through all their proposals in front of the panel, and at the very end of all the presentations, each panel member gave feedback and constructive criticism.

TEAM LOGO

3

TEAM KIT

The sun is emphasized because of San Diego's weather while the waves on the right represent the beaches.

The group designed home, away, and alternate kits, using maroon and gold from the San Diego flag.

Donovan gave the most feedback, going through every group’s Powerpoint slides, complementing certain aspects such as the Aviator’s design while pointing out areas othat needed a little bit of improvement, such as the Strider’s adding more complexity to their flag.

Although Davis was nervous right before presenting, he said that his group’s presentation went well, and enjoyed the entire process of both designing and presenting everything.

“It was a fun experience being able to come together to represent the city we live in,” Davis said. “I moved here in eighth grade and initially thought I wouldn’t be able to sum up this city, but I found myself discovering what the city represented to me.”

Area Administrator Scott Wild, one of the panelists, said that this presentation was an exceptional opportunity for students to learn a set of skills and apply it outside of a classroom setting, and he hopes to keep giving students memorable experiences that allow them to grow and learn in a more concrete way.

“Ultimately, this was an experience many of these students will remember, whether they’re interested in soccer or graphic design,” Wild said. “The students were professional and concise, and some of the distinguished guests legitimized their hard work and learning. It was an awesome opportunity, and it accomplishes everything that Career Technical Education seeks to do.”

Artists Association completes first commission ASB revamps Angelica Ilagan featureS editor

Tonia Jaroszewska

Eric Pak (12) paints part of the Ocean Palace mural. The mural is Artists Association's first commission as a club.

On March 3, Artists Association wrapped up its first commission as a club—a mural sprawling the entire back wall of Ocean Palace’s company warehouse. The mural is Artists Association’s biggest collaborative project since its inception last year.

Ocean Palace CEO Stephen Huynh (’07) commissioned the mural to commemorate the opening of Ocean Palace’s new warehouse in Kearny Mesa. The money will go towards purchasing new art supplies for the club, which may be used in future projects.

“I’m really proud of our club members for working so hard to complete the mural,” co-president Olivia Huang (12) said. “It was a challenge because we didn’t have any prior experience painting on such a large surface before, but I think we did a good job. This was such a fun and exciting experience, and it really brought us closer together as a club and as friends.”

Jasmyn Huynh (12) first approached the club on behalf of her brother in February and helped conceptualize the mural’s basic design alongside club member Jackie Wiedemeier (12). On Feb. 23, Jasmyn accompanied Artists Association to Ocean Palace’s warehouse to sketch out the basics of the design. From there, they began painting the wall, coming in to work for the next four days.

Huang said that they divided the mural into several sections and worked on each part simultaneously throughout the painting period.

“We were on a grind every single day for a solid six hours,” Huang said. “We basically lived there for a whole weekend at some point.”

According to Stephen, the mural’s design is

meant to reflect the values Ocean Palace has been built upon.

The company logo, a koi fish inside an O and P, occupies the center of the mural while two waves rise outwards from the logo in opposing directions. A herd of koi fish, meant to symbolize good luck, is swimming on the right side, and a palace—a literal representation of the company’s name, “Ocean Palace”—sits on the opposite wave.

Jasmyn said that she enjoyed the opportunity to help out Ocean Palace, as both a member of the family and an artist.

“I wanted to contribute to the family company by doing something I enjoy, even if I couldn’t work through the business,” she said. “The mural means a lot because I got to explore art and feel more connected with the business.”

The mural, which covers the entire back wall of Ocean Palace’s warehouse, was finished in five days—a feat that, co-president Cindy Qiao said, exemplifies the club’s original goal of collaboration between student-artists.

“We wanted to get a bunch of artists together and work on one project, rather than separate,” Qiao said. “It’s honestly very inspiring for me as an artist, which is something I wasn’t expecting.

It definitely speaks to how much a group of high school artists can do. It’s a huge step forward in developing our club.”

In the future, Artists Association plans to look into other community centers and locations to showcase student artwork.

Qiao said she hopes Ocean Palace’s mural will set a positive precedent for the rest of the club’s projects.

“The response we got from other students and parents and teachers is so empowering,” Qiao said. “It makes me feel like we’re achieving the goal we had in mind when this club first started.”

Catalyst for Success demonstrates experiments at Expo Day Kyle Petrie

Staff Writer

Michelle Wang Staff Writer

As Michael Oanta (12) and Dan Huang (12) poured vinegar and hydrogen peroxide into two beakers and struck a match, kids crowded around the table, eager to catch a glimpse of the experiment. As the experiment began, a cluster of students gathered around Catalyst for Success’s booth at Petco Park, March 4. Oanta dipped the match into the glass of vinegar, extinguishing the flame, before dipping the match into the glass of hydrogen peroxide. To the astonishment of the crowd, the flame burst back to life. The faces of children and parents alike lit up in surprise and amazement. This sense of wonder is exactly what Catalyst for Success strives to create.

“Science is more than just something in a textbook,” Natalie Chin (12) said. “It’s something that you can actually make fun.”

Since its start in 2011, they've visited hundreds of students and performed a variety of

"magic shows" and classroom experiments.

Catalyst for Success has pushed to inspire elementary school students to pursue their passions for STEM, thereby fostering the next generation of innovators.

This concept caught the attention of the Bright Idea Society, an organization that annually honors three classes or clubs for innovative ideas in STEM-related fields.

Three groups on the elementary, middle, and high school levels each receive a $500 prize and are given the opportunity to showcase their club’s idea at San Diego Festival of Science and Engineering at Petco Park.

Catalyst for Success was provided a booth on Expo Day, March 4, to demonstrate its concept to an audience of more than 24,000 children and parents. The event prides itself on inspiring future scientists through dozens of exhibit booths exploring different aspects of STEM and featured several passionate speakers. Expo Day attracts local media attention and features booths from many notable corporations, including Qualcomm, San Diego County Credit Union, and several local radio stations.

“It was a bit unnerving at first because we were wondering if we could even compare

or be as interesting as these other huge companies advertising themselves,” Oanta said.

“But the day went on and we realized we were all there just to have fun and teach.”

Catalyst for Success President Matthew Morgan (12) received the news that his club had won the award a few months ago; he was excited about the chance to spread the club’s idea.

“It definitely validates what we've been doing all this time,” Morgan said.

The club as a whole was also excited to have received the accolade, with some viewing it as a reward for the hard work they had put into the club’s ultimate goal.

“It was really awesome to see us getting recognized for reaching out to the community and inspiring kids,” Vasundhara Sengupta (11) said.

At the Expo, the club set up four experiments and activities at their table for those attending the expo to watch or take part in.

These included a game in which two participants tried to disconnect two interlinked ropes, a hands-on activity to show how birds with different types of beaks would seek out different foods, and an activity in which the person attempted to balance

as many nails as possible on a small point.

These simple activities demonstrated concepts like scientific thinking, evolution, and center of gravity.

The most popular experiment was “Light-Relight,” in which two club members rekindled an extinguished flame using only oxygen gas created by a hydrogen peroxide solution. The club members led by example and took it upon themselves to spark the excitement and wonder of STEM into the community.

While the award and the opportunity to broaden Catalyst for Success’s horizons proved beneficial for the club, the club members take more pride in inspiring the next generation of scientists.

Morgan said that while the chance to showcase their idea at the science expo was a success for the club, what the club does for the community is more than enough to leave him satisfied. The real gratification came from the opportunity itself, the recognition was appreciated.

“I’m not a huge STEM guy, but I love teaching kids and it’s really rewarding to see them learn and have fun learning,” Oanta added.

No Place for Hate Week to promote cultural diversity

Culture, from page 1

(ACCEF), and Bayanihan, among several more cultural clubs. In addition, the Westview’s Origin activity, a large map showing Westview’s students’ ethnic origins, was erected in the quad, visibly showing the diversity that exists on campus. Students were invited to use yarn to connect San Diego to the cities they hail from.

Dane Persky (12), president of SAX, has lived his whole life surrounded by diversity, learning about Indian culture from an early age despite not being Indian himself. Growing up with many Indian friends, he began to learn about the culture, eventually leading to him joining SAX during his freshmen year.

“I have some experience with the culture and it definitely is a part of how I grew up,” Persky said. “When I got to high school and learned that SAX was a thing, it was very natural for me to join along with my Indian friends.”

Participating in one of SAX’s two performances that day, performing with three other members, he helped to spread Indian culture to other students on campus during the Culture Rush, even though he is not Indian.

“After the dance, people came out and asked us about the dance and we were able to explain and teach a lot of [people],” Persky said. “[At the Culture Rush] a lot of people came out and saw all these different backgrounds that people come from. It's a very humbling experience.”

In addition to each day’s event, ASB ran a week long “Language Matters” Campaign, promoting the idea that inclusive language is critical to fostering an inclusive culture.

The campaign urged students and staff alike to use considerate language that doesn’t disparage other groups. Pictures of students and staff with messages such as “I don’t say ‘like a girl,’ because gender has no limits,” were put up around the school, encouraging students to refrain from offensive language.

"It is a sacred responsibility to respect those around you as fellow Americans, fellow students, and as fellow Wolverines," Xia said.

"We are all morally bound to a contract to respect those around us."

Xia and ASB’s Culture Commissioners, Yarah Feiteh (10), Owen Kish (11), and Tina Joshi (10), who played a large role in organizing the event, said that they hope students take the message of the week to heart and continue to practice the “know better, do better” mantra.

“I love this school, because when social issues or things that are important to them are brought up, people will rally and support what they believe is right,” Xia said. “The message is really powerful and I’m really excited to see what will happen after this week, to see how students will take action and maintain the idea that we've proposed to them.”

theNexus

March 17, 2017

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Team Syndicate, a robotics team that is independent from Westview Robotics, recently competed in the FTC Super Regionals in Seattle after advancing from the FTC Regional competition. This was their inaugural year together as a team.

Roguebotics, from page 1

Hugh Lau (10) watches his robot launch a ball into a hoop. During this test run, his team was debugging the robot’s software.

Tonia Jaroszewska

Features 5

In fact, it turned out that the referees had miscalculated the opposing alliance’s score, giving them an extra 30 points, and the corrected score was 220-216. Team Syndicate was going to Super Regionals.

“Upon hearing this great news, we were so excited, as we had not only spent this entire season working to achieve this goal, but a collective 30 years of FTC experience to finally advance past the regional stage,” Gregg said.

Last year, the Robotics team decided to drop their three FTC teams to focus on their FIRST Robotics Challenge (FRC) team because they wanted to pool all their money and resources into FRC. The FTC challenges are smaller than the FRC challenges and have smaller teams. The challenge for the 2016-2017 season was called Velocity Vortex. Each match includes an autonomous and a driver-controlled phase.

In the autonomous phase, robots are programmed to press the correct beacon button, and shoot balls into the center hoop.

During the driver-control phase, robots can shoot balls and press beacons to earn points. In the last 30 seconds, teams lift a yoga ball onto the center hoop.

After the FTC teams were cut, Ray He (11) and a few other of his teammates were unsure of what to do next.

“We didn't know what to do because we all love FTC, and we all really wanted to continue with it,” He said. “But going private really scared us.”

The former Option 16 members didn’t have the funding, materials, or members that they needed to compete.

On the other hand, Nanovirus, a private team who operated outside of school, had the funding and materials to compete, but was planning to disband as many of their members were leaving the team. Apoorv Agarwal (10), a member of Nanovirus, said that he wished to continue doing robotics despite the disbandment.

“Our team had done very well in competitions but half our team later left,” Agarwal said. “At the end of our season, some members of Option 16 approached us and

said that their program was cut since the school wanted to focus on FRC. They didn't have experience running a private team, and we needed members to cover the different roles such as building, programming and outreach. When we finally decided to do this, we came to a consensus that we should start fresh with a new name and team identity [Team Syndicate].”

However, building the new team proved to have its own difficulties. Zachary Wu (11), with He, led the team’s first meeting.

“The group was kind of split into the Nanovirus cliques and the Option 16 cliques, with [He] and I leading the meeting,” Wu said. “We mainly just did introductions and talked logistics since the team was not solidified at the time.”

But as time progressed, these cliques vanished as team members split off into their roles, whether it was outreach, mechanical or programming. Members of both teams found common interests that allowed them to work as one team.

“At first, I was a bit skeptical as to how well our team members would work with theirs, mainly because the way our teams were run were so different,” Agarwal said.

“However, everyone was open and we all knew that we had the same goals in mind.”

Syndicate’s original robot design went undefeated in the first San Diego League Tournament, yet the team felt there was still room for improvement and innovation. Motivated to make it to Super Regionals for the first time, Syndicate redesigned their whole robot.

“We were in the top of our league in competitions, but we kept an eye on the future based on what we knew we could achieve,” Gregg said. “We decided to completely tear down V1 of our robot, and we redesigned a much more functional V2, which we worked on for more than 120 hours during winter break.”

The major redesign focused on changing their tennis ball shooting mechanism to a flywheel shooting mechanism for more accuracy. They also reorganized the robot to have button pressers on either side of the robot. It made their beacon pressing much more reliable and efficient when

running their autonomous program.

The team’s hard work paid off. After winning the Regional Championships and advancing to Super Regionals, Syndicate went back to work on the robot and enhancing their outreach.

“One main thing we did on the robot was create an outer shell to protect from static and any other robots ramming into us. We also focused on was our pit area.

We did not put much emphasis in make our station very fancy or presentable, but since we are moving up to a higher level, we decided it was necessary to make ourselves look more professional and organized,” Agarwal said.

Team Syndicate ended up finishing 33rd out of 36 teams at the competition despite incredible performance from their robot.

On the first day, their robot scored 185 points by themselves, yet still lost by 15 points because of a disconnected alliance partner. On the second day, their robot broke down, with their drivetrain worn by poor maintenance and aggressive robots.

“We went into this season as we went into every prior season; we would build a robot to compete and do some outreach every now and then when we weren't busy with the robot,” Wu said. “At the super regional competition however, we realized the potential in FTC. I believe that FTC is the best way to give students that don't come from privileged areas access to the true engineering experience and our team will go into next year with a mindset of giving back everything we've learned and doing our part to build the FTC community into something bigger and better than it currently is.”

Despite not advancing to the FTC World Championships, the Super Regional Championship solidified their friendships.

“Next year is the last year for many of us, but I believe we will make it to Worlds.

None of us are sad about not making Worlds because we know that next year, we will start off on the right foot and have the greatest chance we have ever had,” Wu said. In other words, expect to see them on the international stage next year.

Shah, Troulis compete in UC Merced Hackathon Lydia Zhang staff writer

Ronak Shah (11) and George Troulis (12) had been up for the past 28 hours. With eight hours left to go and no viable project in sight, Shah and Troulis were still scrambling to find any semblance of a project idea. The two were competing in the UC Merced Hackathon, a coding convention where individuals or teams work together to design, create, and present any type of app within 36 hours. In this 36-hour time period, participants take minimal breaks and get very little sleep in order to complete their project.

From the beginning, Shah came into the competition with a vision on how he and Troulis would design an app. “[Shah] wanted to make virtual reality Temple Run, and I thought that was awesome,” Troulis said.

However after 28 hours of brainstorming and programming their initial project, Shah and Troulis decided to scrap the whole thing.

“Eventually we decided it wouldn't be very practical in virtual reality, because you would have to snap your neck to turn,” Troulis said. “We needed something that' was more intuitive, more realistic, more tangible.”

Generally, hackathons are exclusive to college or graduate students, but this particular hackathon offered the opportunity for high school students to participate as well. In order to be considered for the event, students have to apply and submit a resume and an essay. Shah and Troulis ended up as two of the select few of high schoolers chosen to attend the competition.

Shah and Troulis had taken part in similar events such as Code Day, a 24-hour competition for amateur coders, but the UC Merced Hackathon was the first time the two have participated in a event at this caliber.

After a nine-hour long bus ride to Merced, Shah and Troulis arrived at the venue at 8 p.m on Feb. 10. The first 12 hours were mostly spent meeting other coders,

brainstorming ideas and experimenting with different gadgets. Once they outlined the general idea as to how they were going to build their app, Shah and Troulis began brainstorming the type of app they wanted to use for their project.

“Mostly, we experimented with lots of different technologies, talked around with people, saw what they did,” Troulis said. “In the end, we started playing a lot with virtual reality, especially Google's virtual reality that allows you to use your phone and put in a headset like Google Cardboard.”

The new game concept they came up with was a standard flight simulator, where the user simply looks around to move. To make it more engaging, Shah and Troulis placed hills to navigate around and coins to collect. “[The flight simulator] was a simplistic idea, but it was very captivating,” Troulis said. “We would show it to people, and they would be like, ‘Oh my gosh, this is awesome!’”

At the competition, Shah and Troulis relished the chance to interact with fellow coders from around the country.

“It was pretty cool to bond with everyone there,” Shah said. “I usually felt like I was kind of alone at Westview in terms of how many people really cared about computer science.”

Hackathons generally encourage collaboration and interactions with other teams to gain new perspectives.

While at the hackathon, they met an electrical engineering CSU Fullerton student.

When Shah saw his project, he was interested in learning and helping to expand his idea, spending eight hours during the competition working alongside him to create an algorithm that used face-recognition software.

However, Troulis was more focused on gathering information for Shah and their own project. The purpose of the app was to detect faces in a group photo, and make contacts out of them.

After helping complete the photo app project, Shah and Troulis realized that they still needed to finish their own. As the clock ticked down, they frantically rushed to complete everything by the deadline.

While Shah and Troulis had worked together before in Robotics and the Software Development Club, the hackathon was the first time they had collaborated so closely before.

“Initially, it started with [Shah] proposing the idea,” Troulis said. “Without him, I wouldn't know what I would have been doing since he's the main reason I even went to the event; he's been excited about hackathons since freshman year.”

In order to get the project done in time, the two had to scramble to build every component.

“We took a map that was pre-made, we took coins, we had boxes that were pickups, we had a score counter,” Troulis said. “Even though it was a small percentage of the hackathon, it was also eight hours, and you can do a lot in eight hours, In the end, completing the hackathon was a relief to Troulis.

“You know that you remember feeling all the awesomeness and intensity, but somehow after the event, it feels like it all didn't last that long, so it's kind of an interesting experience,”Troulis said.

Although Shah and Troulis didn’t win any awards, they left with the experience and a new understanding of their craft. For Shah, the hackathon helped foster in him an even deeper passion for computer science.

“It definitely furthered my interest in it,” Shah said. “I knew coming that I wanted to do something with computer science and after this, I really want to do it.”

Not only did the hackathon cultivate a greater passion for computer science, it also provided a platform for them to be able to be exposed to new and different ideas. “[It was] kind of eye opening and inspiring to see all the people working and it motivated me a lot to work a lot harder,” Shah said.

hack Merced projects shah_troulis.exe </flight_simulator.app> created by: Ronak Shah (11), George Troulis (12) work duration: 8 hours mechanics: virtual reality; user must navigate through an obstacle course and collect as many coins on the path as possible

</gcphoto.herokuapp.com> created by: Ronak Shah (11), George Troulis (12) work duration: 12 hours mechanics: facial recognition system; detects faces in photos and adds them as phone contacts Design by Neek Azar and Angelica Ilagan

Rajgopal sings in All-State Honor Choir Olivia Dealy News editor

After reciting their notes in preparation approximately once, 300 voices, including Bella Voce’s very own Nandini Rajgopal (11), chimed together, procuring a harmonious melody whose unwavering, steady nature registered as a single voice.

Signaled by a single wave of the conductor’s baton, each pair of eyes glanced up from their sheet music, as the conductor began listing various amends to the sections of the piece– crossing out a crescendo here, increasing the beats per measure there.

As it turned out, according to Rajgopal, the conductor herself composed this very piece specifically for their performance together for AllState Women's Honor Choir (ASHC) at St. Joseph’s Basilica, Feb. 18.

“After we sang it for the first time

she said that was the very first time this music had ever come to life,” Rajgopal said. “We [were] singing [the piece] how it is meant to be sung because she was right there.”

According to Rajgopal, however, witnessing the conductor’s composition process firsthand was merely one example of the countless memorable experiences she and her peers encountered during the several days of rehearsal Feb. 16-17 at San Jose State University in preparation for their final performance.

Of particular significance, Rajgopal said that AHSC served as a tangible reminder of her progress dating back to her freshman year, when she joined choir to fulfill her fine arts requirement as she had previously been immersed in music. She eventually decided to continue with choir after gaining further appreaciation for choir during a Bella Voce concert.

“I was surrounded by sound,” Rajgopal said. “That’s when I knew that I wanted to continue with choir because it was overwhelming, powerful and emotional.”

Auditioning as a sophomore, Rajgopal joined Bella Voce, a competitive choir group for which she now serves as co-section leader, and Soul Sisters, which she said aided in refining her skills leading up to her auditions for Regional Honor Choir (RHC) and ASHC. Similar to the ASHC performance weekend, RHC members also rehearsed several days leading up their performance last November–with rehearsals at Fullerton College and the final performance taking place at the University of Redlands.

Grading participants on a scale of 100 points, the RHC audition format consisted of several sections each assessing the applicant's proficiency in

performing arias, and singing on-demand. In total, Rajgopal scored a total of 89 points out of 100, earning a spot in the southern chapter of California’s RHC program, and potentially in the ASHC program as well.

Aside from the benefits she reaped from the high standards expected of ASHC members, Rajgopal said that ASHC ultimately inspired her to continue choir in college, despite declaring a STEM major.

“At All-State we got to see a jazz acapella concert, and I realized that I have to keep singing in college,” Rajgopal said. “I don’t want to [major in] music, but I can’t let it die. I used to draw as a kid, and I stopped, but I need to keep the arts in my life. They are colorful. STEM is very black and white, but the arts are colorful. I need to keep the color in my life and I think that jazz and acapella are how I am going to do it in college.”

theNexus

6 Features

March 17, 2017

Miller completes Gold Award project

the Review Get Out Movie

Alice Markman

Courtesy of Kara Miller

Top: Kara Miller (12) plays Connect Four with a senior resident. Right: Miller poses with her grandpa, who was the inspiration for her Gold Award Project.

Gold Award, from page 1 a last-minute process, so it wasn’t always the easiest.

For the visits, Miller volunteered at two different centers: The Gateways, an assisted living facility, and The Arbors, an assisted living and memory care facility. She visited five times each week for several hours each time.

At The Gateways, Miller interacted primarily with two senior residents and played puzzles and games, such as Connect Four, with them.

But, she mostly volunteered at The Arbors, spending time in the memory care center with residents who had varying degrees of dementia. She played different games with them, such as target toss, balloon toss, and bingo. Bingo was the residents’ favorite, as individuals who got bingos received chocolates. Miller also read to them about the news and colored with them.

“Sometimes, we would ask them trivia questions [about the past] and people would say, ‘Why are you doing that?

They have dementia, of course they

won’t remember,’” she said. “But some of them actually did, because there might be that one thing that triggers their memory. Even though they have dementia, we don’t want to restrict them from learning about the past or remember something about the past because then that’s just kind of making their condition more severe than it might not actually be.”

But at times, there were little bumps along the road, and Miller helped the residents when they had difficulty remembering.

“There was one time, [a man] was like, ‘Can you take me home? I want to go home. Where do you live? Where do I live?’” she said. “He was confused and he was pretty new to the facility. I just had to say, ‘You’re going to stay here for now’ because you don’t want to agitate them, so you kind of say it calmly, like, ‘Oh, you’re here with all of these friends of yours,’ but he was really sweet.”

Though many of the seniors couldn’t remember her each time she visited, Miller said it was a joy to interact and be a companion for them.

“It was really fun to hang out with

Courtesy of Kara Miller

them, doing all of those things, and seeing them smile or laugh, and kind of talk to one another,” she said. “That’s kind of what my project was about, I wanted to have them make memories of their own but then also make memories of my own—that’s why [the project] is called ‘Making Memories.’”

Miller also presented her project to the Rancho Penasquitos Town Council.

“I hope that from doing this project, those families will go out to visit, even if the seniors are living in their own individual home," she said. "Or that facilities have more family days that encourage families [to visit their elderly relatives].

For colleges, there are family days, so why not have them for the seniors?”

Miller finished her visits in July and then began to assemble the final binder, which was submitted on Feb. 24. The binder contained evaluation forms from the residents, volunteers and employers; a final report; and a plan to have the project continue to benefit the community.

“Another huge part of the Gold Award is for your project to be sustainable,” Miller said. “So once I graduate here, the

AVID program is going to take it over.

They’re going to continue to work at The Arbors as a community service event.”

This project, inspired by her grandpa and her passion for helping the elderly, was an accomplishment in many ways for Miller.

“I’m a pretty shy person, and I do come in those leadership positions when it’s needed, but sometimes I’m the follower,” she said. “But from this project, being able to accomplish something and coming up with an idea, and doing all the work mostly by myself and finishing it— it made me more confident about myself.”

Throughout this project, Miller has made many memories with the residents she’s interacted with.

“What I learned is at any age, even when you’re young, or when you’re 80 or so, in that senior citizen range, that friendships are very valuable and they’re important to have, even though at that age, they might not seem to be,” Miller said. “But, for me, being present, I think they liked having someone there coming to visit them, talking to them, just being someone in their lives.”

Director Jordan Peele’s latest feature, Get Out, is a horror film that reveals to viewers a shocking evil.

However, this evil is far more terrifying than a masked figure.

Set in modern day times, the film exposes viewers to the dark makeup of the archetypical antebellum white family. It follows the story of Chris (played by British actor Daniel Kaluuya), a young African-American man living with his white girlfriend, Rose. The story opens as they prepare to head to Rose’s parents’ home in the countryside. Chris expresses his concern for her parent’s disapproval, due to their racial differences, but she responds by promising him that they’re not racist because they voted for Barack Obama—an ironic but eerily accurate reflection of modern defenses to racism. Once the couple arrives at the house—a replica of a Southern plantation owner’s home—Chris begins to notice strange parallels between Rose’s family and a slaveholder’s. After several days of being assured he’s welcome due to Rose’s father’s undying love for Obama, Chris learns dark and racist secrets about the family’s business. In a scene that greatly resembles a slave auction, Chris is unknowingly “sold” to a blind man, and his escape plan begins.

By far the most striking performance is by Kaluuya.

He carries all of the intensity from his 2011 Black Mirror performance, holding on to viewers’ sympathies until the end. Caleb Landry Jones, who plays Rose’s brother, is another standout performance. He successfully stirs in audiences a great animosity for his character, who is by far the most vile in the family.

Though the face-value horror in the film falls short, often resorting to jump scares and masks to grab the viewer’s attention, the racism motif provides more psychological depth to the terror. Despite being a parallel to the Antebellum south, the film’s references to more subtle racism (for example, a white cop asking to see a black man’s license without a clear cause) act as serious social commentary that relates to modern day. Another such instance is with the allusions that are drawn to recent police brutality cases. When approached by a police car, an innocent Chris still raises his hands, fearing that the cop be mistaken and shoot.

These themes bring attention to the inequalities that still exist, more than a century after America’s plantation era.

The writing is well-paced, emphasizing the eerie atmosphere during the most pivotal moments in the film. Every moment is gripping, rife with either strong social commentaries, or dark parallels that are bound to create extreme discomfort to viewers as strong, historical atrocities are humanized.

The film’s exploration into a new realm of the horror genre was successful, largely thanks to stellar performances and connections to contemporary events.

SADD club seeks to increase mental health awareness on campus Olivia Dealy News editor

Shouts of “free face painting!” resounded throughout the plaza during Westview’s fall 2016 Club Rush as Students Against Destructive Decisions (SADD) co-presidents Leyna Nguyen (11) and Kathy Daniels (12) eagerly extended an invitation for students to drop by their newly-erected club’s booth.

“I remember spending half the lunch period yelling, ‘Free face painting!’ [before] I realized that maybe people would be more attracted [to our booth] if they heard [us say] words that actually meant something to them,” Daniels said. “I started yelling, ‘Spread mental health,’ and instantly I saw a face in the crowd light up, and it was exactly what we were looking for. He came over to our table right away. And that kind of response is exactly what inspires me to continue doing great things for our club. We do it for those who need it, care about it and have experienced it.”

Following Daniels's and Nguyen's efforts to build a foundation for their club early last spring–namely by recruiing members and selecting an executive board–ASB established SADD as an official club this past August.

Noting the campus’ general tendency to avoid mental illness as a topic of conversation, Daniels said that she and Nguyen primarily founded SADD in order to promote mental health awareness across Westview and encourage honest, open conversations among students about their experiences with

mental illnesses.

“Westview has always been a school of immense pressure and competition, whether it is internal pressure, peer pressure, or parental pressure to excel in academics,“ Daniels said. “The more people focus on their academics, the less they pay attention to their emotional health and overall well-being.

We realized that on campus, mental health is one of the most important topics that impacts everyone, yetv[is one of] the least talked about [topics also].

Such [a] negative stigma surrounds mental health with very little education, so we wanted to create a club that could address these important issues, [educate] and [raise] awareness while also enabling students to seek the proper resources that they need [for their mental health].”

In addition to weekly meetings held in Spanish teacher Devin Ludwig’s classroom, SADD has managed to spearhead many of Daniels’s and Nguyen’s visions by offering students the option to partake in various mental health awareness activities.

Expanding beyond presentations by club members addressing various mental health issues, SADD recently also invited various professionals from Sharp HealthCare and the Alvarado Parkway Institute, a local behavioral health hospital, to further educate students on topics ranging from abusive relationships to depression.

“We want to emphasize the idea that there is absolutely nothing wrong with struggling with a mental illness or anything [similar],” Nguyen said.

“There was nothing specific on campus that really

ALUMNI TODAY: Angelica Ilagan Features editor

The business first started out in a garage. Stephen Huynh (’07) remembers his dad working 12 to 16 hours a day from their home in Linda Vista, when their family still couldn’t afford enough money to rent out warehouses or storage units. Huynh was only 3 when his father kick-started the wholesale corporation—“Ocean Palace.” Back then, he didn’t understand the sacrifices being made in that tiny garage, the long journey that would take the business from a house in Linda Vista to an 11,200-square-foot warehouse in Kearny Mesa.

He didn’t know that in a matter of 25 years, he would take over Ocean Palace himself as the company's CEO. When he graduated from Westview in 2007, Huynh would have never envisioned himself as head of his father’s company, which distributes produce, seafood, meats, and other various goods to restaurants all throughout San Diego. While he came down to help at the warehouse on weekends, he considered his “job” at Ocean Palace as something temporary, a means of simply supporting his dad and the company. Huynh ini-

addressed how to take care of your mental health, nothing that educated students about mental illnesses or what to do in certain situations.”

Aside from the plentiful resources and support currently offered at regular meetings, SADD also introduced several more new resources on mental health specifically for the entire staff to easily access.

SADD’s Mental Health Resource Center, which is found in the Wolverine Center, contains informative brochures that deal with mental illnesses, such as OCD, anxiety disorders, depression, eating disorders, and more.

To guide, advise and inform students on a 24/7 basis, SADD also provides an automated texting service, a compilation of mental health hotlines and a handful of in-depth guides containing suggestions on how students can successfully thwart the potential consequences associated with neglected mental health or similarly aid friends and family experienceing diffuculties as well.

“It’s amazing to think that before SADD even started, we had never heard anything [much] about mental health around campus at all, but now there are small things everywhere, like an announcement on the Westview home page on the Mental Health Resources Center, and administration telling teachers about our automated texting service,” Nguyen said. “There are now posters around campus about mental health speaker events. We definitely feel that we have made an impact and left a mark on Westview, and that’s what’s most meaningful to me. It means we did finally did something about it.”

Automated Texting Service X SADD's new online texting bot provides automated, anonymous mental health advice and resources on various topics. Here is just one example.

Sleep You have chosen Sleep. Here’s what you can do: 1. Evaluate the reason why you are not sleeping enough (i.e. stress/ anxiety, insomnia, etc).

2. Establish a regular sleeping schedule and work to budget time in order to get as close to 9 hours of sleep per night as possible.

3. Try to avoid blue-light for at least 30 minutes prior to sleeping and abstain from eating for approximately 4 hours prior to sleeping. found on www. wvsaddclub.weebly.com

Type something.

SEND Design by Angelica Ilagan

Stephen Huynh ('07) recently became CEO of Ocean Palace, a wholesale company founded by his dad. Huynh joined the business after experimenting with several other jobs post-graduation.

tially wanted to pursue a career in science, and attended CSU San Marcos as a nursing major.

However, as he began taking more upper-division courses, Huynh realized that he couldn’t see himself working in that field for the rest of his life, and decided to take a break from university life. From Boomer’s to Sports Authority, he took on a number of odd jobs to figure out what he felt most passionate about in life. He wanted the certainty of a career that not only panned out well financially, but would always guarantee some measure of happiness.

“I took some risks, and failed,” Huynh said. “I learned that taking risks is part of life, you’re gonna fail. You’re going to have to try and figure it out on your own and learn from those experiences.”

By the time he turned 23, Huynh found himself taking on a whole new risk: the business industry, and with it, Ocean Palace. He saw the company in a new light—both as an adult who carried a clearer view of how the world worked, and as someone who was looking at everything his family had built in that small garage in Linda Vista.

“I didn’t like helping out when I was younger,”

Huynh said. “I wanted to sleep in, go have fun, go to the park. But my dad would always take with me with him to work. Looking back, I know that he did it so that I could have a better understanding of how hard he was working.”

Huynh committed to a full-time job at Ocean Palace and enrolled in Miramar College and online courses at the University of Phoenix to further increase his knowledge of the business world. He met with various individuals in the restaurant industry, utilizing his customer service skills to build new working relations with Ocean Palace clients. Slowly, he transitioned into the role of operations manager, where he oversaw the inventory and distribution of company products.

Last year, Huynh tackled the challenge of finding a new warehouse when the company’s lease expired.

This was a turning point for him in his position at the company—San Diego’s real estate market was competitive, and if Ocean Palace were to move too far from where it was currently located in Clairemont Mesa, it would lose a significant number of clients.

“Our last option was to move to Poway, which was bad for a lot of our customers,” Huynh said. “And then

one of my real estate agents told me that there was a building in Kearny Mesa that wasn’t on the market yet and asked if we wanted to jump on that. We put in an offer, and then closed the deal with $2.3 million.”

The business officially moved into its new warehouse last November—and with the move, Huynh has stepped into the position of CEO of Ocean Palace. His dad has left the company in his hands, stepping down after nearly 25 years of nonstop work.

“He deserves a vacation after all this time,” he said.

To commemorate the opening of the new warehouse, Huynh recently commissioned Westview club Artists Association to paint a mural on its back wall. Huynh said that he wants the mural to reflect everything that Ocean Palace was ever built on.

“There’s a herd of koi fish on the right side of the mural,” Huynh said. “The koi fish has been pretty much our mascot since the 90s; in the Asian culture, it means good luck.”

For now, Huynh just wants to continue fostering the company’s growth and prosperity in his dad’s name.

“The company means everything to me,” Huynh said. “It’s my future, it’s my family.”

March 17, 2017

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8 Opinions the Nexus Westview • 13500 Camino del Sur San Diego, CA 92129 Tel: (858) 780-2000, ext. 3181 Fax: (858) 780-1584 Email: westviewnexus@gmail.com Journalism Education Association/ National Scholastic Press Association Spring National Convention 2015, Second Place Spring National Convention 2014, First Place Fall National Convention 2013, First Place Spring National Convention 2013, First Place Spring National Convention 2012, First Place Fall National Convention 2011, First Place Spring National Convention 2011, Fourth Place Spring National Convention 2010, First Place Fall National Convention 2009, Fourth Place Spring National Convention 2009, Fourth Place Spring National Convention 2008, Third Place Fall National Convention 2007, First Place Spring National Convention 2007, First Place San Diego County Journalism Education Association Grand Sweepstakes 2005-2008 First Place Newspaper Sweepstakes 2006, 2007, First Place San Diego Union Tribune Best High School Newspaper 2007, 2008 National Scholastic Press Association Pacemaker Finalist 2003, 2004, 2008, 2009, 2014 Pacemaker Winner 2003, 2008 Columbia Scholastic Press Association Silver Crown Winner Spring 2012 Silver Crown Winner Spring 2011 Gold Crown Winner Spring 2010 Gold Crown Winner Spring 2009 Gold Medalist 2010 To advertise in The Nexus, please call or go to www.wvnexus.org

Editors in Chief Meilynn Shi* Brandon Victor* Managing Editor Yuchen Zhang* News Editor Olivia Dealy* Opinions Editor Dane Persky* Features Editor Angelica Ilagan Sports Editor Alice Markman Final Focus Editor Allyson Xie* Photo Editor Tonia Jaroszewska Web Editor Jacob Tao Staff Writers Neek Azar* Evan Buckland Evan Charfauros* Andrea Chen Ophelia Jacobson Grace Kim Tiffany Le Lina Lew Kevin Lu Nicole Musano Kristina Nguyen Kevin Pert Kyle Petrie* Mollika Singh Mark Troftgruben Michelle Wang Lydia Zhang Julie Zhu Adviser Jeff Wenger Assistant Adviser Stephanie Tanaka

*Member of the Editorial Board

the Staff Editorial

March 17, 2017

FIFA expansion fosters camaraderie Neek Azar

Staff Writer As a San Diegan and an Iranian, I’ve never had much fun cheering for my designated sports teams. In San Diego, all my local teams tend to either lose or leave, while Iran will only qualify for the World Cup once every eight years, if they’re lucky.

Iran’s never made it out of the group stage of the World Cup, and has only qualified for two out of the last three World Cups, but I’ve been there every step of the way.

In 2014, Iran returned to the World Cup after failing to qualify in 2010. They tied in their first game, but Iran’s streets were still flooded that night, not with the typical protesters, but with people celebrating Iran’s return to the international stage.

In January of this year, the Fédération Internationale de Football Association (FIFA) announced that, starting in 2026, the 32-team tournament will be expanded to 48 teams. While many indignant soccer fans broke out in outrage after the announcement, claiming that FIFA was only expanding the tournament for profit, or that the tournament’s quality would be diluted due to weaker teams entering the tournament, this change has the potential to take the World Cup to a truly global level. Maybe it’s just because I’m from some of the world’s less-skilled countries when it comes to soccer, being a citizen of both Iran and the United States, but I truly believe that adding more teams will benefit the tournament, both in gameplay and international camaraderie.

Soccer, generally regarded as the world’s most popular sport, can be considered a global game, with frequent one-off international matches throughout the year—something that is rare in other sports. In many ways, the World Cup embodies the spirit of

global camaraderie, with millions of people across the world either traveling to the event or gathering together in their own countries to support their own teams and root for other favorite teams. Countries that have historically been at odds, like the U.S. and Iran, have come together when playing against each other, even giving gifts, with the Iranian side giving white roses, which are a symbol of peace in Iran. In other parts of the world, countries like the Ivory Coast have paused entire civil wars (and reached peace treaties) in honor of the World Cup, having the whole country gather for the event.

In their current format, because of size limitations, World Cup qualification rules render many teams that are more than qualified to compete within the competition unable to even reach the tournament. Expanding the World Cup gives spaces not only to those who are good enough to compete, but also to underrepresented nations, allowing them to connect to the world at large during the competition. With more opportunities to represent one’s country on the largest international stage in sports, more athletes will be encouraged to pursue soccer, accomplishing one of FIFA’s tasks—expanding the reach of soccer. In addition, when exposing the countries to the world stage, their development as a soccer country grows greatly as well, contributing to the quality of the sport in the long run.

While the format of the tournament isn’t set up optimally, with three-team groups encouraging draws, which are perceived to be more boring, these type of logistics have almost a decade to be sorted out, as this format shift will take place in 2026.

The important part of this change is that the global game is only becoming more global, and inclusion is rarely a bad thing. As the saying goes, the more, the merrier.

The Nexus’ ‘enemies Excessive coverage of fake stories limits of the people’ give access to truth, breeds lack of awareness voice to student body Kyle Petrie

Every three weeks or so, an army of 28 enemies of the American people (at least, according to President Donald Trump) publish The Nexus.

They begin each issue by crowding around their operations room for something called an “Idea Meeting.” Having spent the previous weeks compiling them, enemies of the people take turns suggesting ideas for articles, presumably—according to the president of the United States—for the purpose of publishing falsehoods and deceiving readers, as enemies are wont to do. It is a generally uproarious event in which enemies respectfully listen to each other’s ideas and gauge whether they are fit to print, with special regard taken to the privacy of those being written about.

Once all the ideas are heard, the enemies disperse. They swarm to all corners of the campus and even beyond, likely seeking to expand their domain and assert their control over readers. Their mission is to gather intel, to talk to people, to conduct meticulous research, to seek answers, to collect and organize information that will lead to fully formed, nuanced articles. It’s truly diabolical.

Just last year, one enemy of the people interviewed a student who had recently recovered from cancer after nine months of chemo. An immigrant from Syria, she had been unable to tell her family back home of her illness since having cancer was considered shameful there. Even after she had fully recovered, she was forced to omit any mention of her condition in conversations with friends and family back in Syria, friends and family whom she missed dearly. This story that touched the hearts of many is apparently the kind of thing that enemies write.

More recently, an enemy of the people gave his opinion on Trump’s immigration ban, specifically as it impacts the sense of identity of Iranian Americans, who hail from nations that have been embroiled in conflict for close to four decades. In the days following the publishing of this enemy’s article, he was told by several of his Iranian-American peers that the article gave them a voice where they had none before.

With every issue of The Nexus, enemies of the people shed light on topics that directly affect students on campus. Many attempt to create change, such as the enemy who shed light on the prevalence of concussions in girls water polo and the lack of measures in place to address them, addressing the issue from an unbiased standpoint and giving a voice to athletes, parents and coaches.

When they’ve researched, interviewed, and written all these articles for a given issue of the paper, each time containing stories such as those previously mentioned, these 28 enemies of the people publish a newspaper. They spend hours interviewing, transcribing, designing, deliberating, drawing and writing, and when they’re finished, they do it all again for the next issue, because they’re devoted to telling the stories of students on campus, and they’ll go to great lengths to make sure it’s done well.

According to Trump, these are the enemies of the American people. If that is in fact true, perhaps it’s a good idea to keep your enemies close after all.

the Nexus Mission Statement The Nexus is an open forum for student expression that aims to provide information to the public, following standards of accuracy, truthfulness, ethics and professionalism. The Nexus aspires to be a source of news, opinions and entertainment for its readers while showing enthusiasm in depth and coverage. In reporting information, writers strive for impartiality by presenting multiple viewpoints on issues. When opinions of an individual are expressed, they are labeled accordingly. Members of the editorial board write and select the staff editorial.

The Nexus is published by Journalism 2 students, and as the official student newspaper of Westview High School, it strives to maintain the open flow of communication fostered at school. All editorial decisions are made by members of staff, with the guidance of adviser Jeff Wenger. The opinions published in The Nexus do not necessarily represent those of Westview administration, Westview staff or PUSD school board. Letters to the editor must be signed, as they represent the opinion of the individual. The editors select submissions for print based on relevancy to readers, and may be edited for space or content reasons.

Staff Writer

On Feb. 18 at a rally in Florida, President Donald Trump mentioned a terror attack in Sweden, which he explained had occurred the day before. Trump claimed that the attack had come as a result of increased immigration into Sweden. The speech dominated the news, being covered on nearly every major news channel.

The next day, Sweden sent a message to the White House, asking what Trump was talking about. As it turns out, Sweden saw no terror attack on Feb. 17. Trump’s comments were a misinterpretation of a Fox News segment on Swedish immigration.

While Trump’s blunder was entertaining to an extent, the immense amount of coverage that the fake story received was not. As a result of the President spreading false news, several other news stories during the following days were pushed from the spotlight. For example, on the same day of Sweden’s non-existent terror attack, an iceberg the size of Manhattan broke off of Antarctica. On top of this, a man in Florida was arrested for plotting to blow up Target stores along the east coast, seeking to lower Target’s stock prices so he could purchase cheap shares. Both of these stories would have benefited from more attention, but because of the in-

tense coverage that Trump’s mistake [presidential] candidates’ terms, not was given, they received very little on the networks’ initiative.” airtime.

This phenomenon is not one that It is no secret that fake news is started with Trump’s blunder over harmful. It results in a less-informed the fictional terror attack. Tyndall public and makes finding a solution also found that last year, during the to controversial issues next to impos- Republican primary season, news sible. But the neglect to cover many networks spent on average 333 minissues by real news sources is just utes per week of airtime focusing as detrimental. The selective nature solely on Donald Trump. By conof nightly news programs like ABC trast, the same networks spent slightWorld News Tonight, CBS Evening ly more than 30 minutes per week News and NBC Nightly News caus- covering other issues for the entirees certain stories to slip through the ty of 2016. Tyndall also found that cracks. news programs An article by spent nearly three Eric Boehlert Not knowing about times longer for Media Matcovering Hillary ters for America these incidents due to Clinton’s email found that vir- lack of coverage proves scandal as they tually all of the did other issues. coverage on these to be a major problem.

Due to their large news proown selection grams is devoted process, news to terrorism, foreign policy, immi- networks focus on certain issues gration, LGBT issues, police, and above others. This results in the pubthe Environmental Protection Agen- lic having less access to issues that cy. Boehlert cites the Tyndall Report, need airtime. It certainly doesn’t in which reporter Andrew Tyndall help that fake stories like the Sweden found that these news sources spend attack and the confusion that follows little to no coverage on outside is- in their wake do nothing but take up sues, including commerce, health- this airtime, which could serves as care, gun control, climate change, an invaluable tool for understanding poverty, drugs, infrastructure, and problems and discussing possible monetary deficits. As Tyndall says, solutions. As a result, certain sto“To the extent that these issues have ries do not receive the recognition been mentioned, it has been on the they need. A lack of coverage makes

topics like climate change, drugs, or poverty seem to lose their importance when, in reality, they are just as important as subjects like immigration and foreign policy that currently dominate the news media.

Not being informed of something, much like receiving false information about it, solves nothing.

For example, in the cases of the ice breaking off from Antarctica and the Florida man’s bomb plot, being aware of these events is paramount.

Not knowing about these incidents due to lack of coverage proves to be a major problem. If the public remains in the dark on issues like climate change, they will be severely underprepared when climate change does become a major problem. Similarly, without the proper knowledge of at-home terror attacks like the one that was luckily thwarted in Florida, we will have less of an idea how to prevent a future such attack.

By increasing the amount of coverage these underappreciated issues receive, we not only can improve how the public is informed but also how we deal with less well-known issues. Not being informed about topics like climate change or athome attacks only worsens the situation, and if issues like these take a back seat to blatant falsehoods, we will not be prepared for the truth when it actually arrives.

Students need education in personal finance Jacob Tao

Web editor I’ve come to the realization that I have almost no idea how to perform several important life skills.

I’ve realized that pretty much all of my transactions have been in cash, and I don’t understand credit cards. I’m not quite sure how to do taxes, buy a house, pay loans, and other grownup things of a similar nature. These are skills that I will be using for the rest of my life, and I don’t think I am alone in my ignorance of them either.

The curriculum of current economics classes focuses more on the economy as a whole, but personal finance is quite a different beast to tackle and it largely ignored throughout America. Sure, my Economics class will teach me about the market and taxes as a whole, but, from what I hear, I don’t think I’ll learn much about my own finances.

After high school, almost everyone dives straight into the world of personal finance, often with little preparation. Like birds learning to fly, we’re forced to learn personal finance by falling and hoping that we don’t die. Jae Crabtree, a student teacher who took Civics/Econ at Westview, describes her own experiences.

“Probably about six months after my graduation from college, I received letters saying I was late on loan payments,” Crabtree said. “I was like, ‘What?’ because no one had notified me of this.

A lot of stuff I learned because I thought, ‘Okay, I need [to pay loans] now and I should probably start researching what it is.’”

Fortunately for Crabtree, she was able to get a handle on her personal finances. Regardless, this initial panic caused by a lack of knowledge is an experience most of us would like to avoid.

In 2013, California passed Assembly Bill 166 to include personal finance in school curriculums.

Textbooks and curriculums would integrate “fi-

nancial literacy, including, but not limited to, budgeting and managing credit, student loans, consumer debt, and identity theft security.” Although many were optimistic about this bill at first, their optimism was short-lived. This bill unfortunately did not mandate any changes in curriculum, such as an inclusion of money management, and ultimately ended up becoming a list of suggestions for teachers. Currently, it’s up to teachers to include personal finance in their curriculums, but a 2015 poll conducted by professional service firm PwC showed that nationally, only around 10 percent of all K-12 teachers included personal finance in their teaching.

“In terms of personal finance, there’s nothing,” Civics and Economics teacher Dennis Sosnowski said. “There’s nothing in the state curriculum, or Common Core, or anything that’s come out involving economics that deals with or addresses personal finance. There is information about taxes, but there’s nothing about how to do taxes; [it’s] just about the broad spectrum of taxes.”

The PwC poll also found that 56 percent of teachers want financial literacy classes to start from a younger age.

“If I had more time, I would definitely try to incorporate a personal finance unit,” he said. “The way that it’s structured now, there’s not enough time.”

In Canada, financial literacy is promoted in school curriculums a lot more than in the U.S., and it may be a good idea to take a maple leaf out of Canada’s checkbook. Recently in Ontario, Canada, schools decided to begin personal finance classes starting in 10th grade. Some areas in Canada even start teaching financial literacy as early as first and second grade, starting with very basic ideas such as the difference

between needs and wants. By implementing personal finance lessons across multiple years, there’s less of an impact on existing curriculum.

According to the Spring 2015 Bank of America Better Money Habits Millennial Report, 33 percent of all millennials have to learn from their own financial mistakes, and seven percent learn from classes or books. But there’s no great reason for people to have to learn only from their own personal mistakes, and unfortunately, for some there is no recovery from their financial mishaps.

It’s strange to think that even though every single high school student will have to deal with personal finances throughout their lives, we don’t learn how to do it in school. I’d like to learn about how not to fall into crippling debt and collect unnecessary stress, and the best place to do that would be in high school, before I’m forced to suffer the very real consequences of the financial actions I make.

theNexus

March 17, 2017

Opinions 9

Despite political criticism, March for Science champions truth, progress

White students do not need a privilege grant

final foCus Editor

Dane Persky

Allyson Xie

The March for Science began with a Reddit comment: “There needs to be a Scientists’ March on Washington.”

The comment was a response to the deletion of all references to climate change on the White House website.

Within days, a web domain, logo and Twitter account had been made; in days, its various social media accounts attracted more than 700,000 supporters. And so, on April 22, thousands of people will take to the streets of Washington, D.C. and more than 360 other cities to, according to the march’s mission statement, champion “robustly funded and publicly communicated science,” and “call for science that upholds the common good.”

However, not all scientists have spoken out in favor of such a march.

Many believe that it may not be wise for scientists to form what appears to be a large political entity against the policies of President Donald Trump and his administration.

Some, such as University of Maryland physics professor Sylvester James Gates, say that the march will politicize science. At the annual American Association for the Advancement of Science, Gates explained that he doesn’t “want to see a march that sets science against the president.”

It’s true that the march isn’t perfect in concept. With a variety of different

goals stated on its website, from serv- a national representative sample of ing “the common good” to emphasiz- 1,235 Americans to read an “intering “evidence-based policy” to creat- view” Wilson had done with the Asing “diversity in STEM” to improving sociated Press. Within the interview, scientific funding, it’s perhaps too Wilson made six statements about scattered and broad. With so many ob- carbon emissions. Each had varying jectives, it’s hard to understand exact- degrees of advocacy, from simply disly what the march stands for. But with cussing findings of rising carbon dioxthe new president’s concerning views ide levels, to full out endorsing cutting on science and the validity of scientific carbon emissions. findings, exhibited best by his decision According to Kutcher’s study, while to appoint climate change skeptics to the volunteers did feel that Wilson political positions and his defense of was politically motivated, they did not “alternative facts,” it’s more important feel as if these statements affected his than ever to defend the value of sci- credibility. As a whole, he was seen ence and the truth as less credible to it upholds. conservatives, but It is naive to It is naive to believe this was simply believe that most that most scientific because of his spescientific works cific stance, not beare not heavily af- works are not heavily cause of his degree fected by politics. of advocacy. affected by politics.

Individual scien“The study sugtists have historgests that scientists ically taken a stand for their beliefs. may have more flexibility to engage in For example, Rachel Carson called for issue advocacy without risking their the end of the deadly pesticide DDT, standing in the public eye than they which lead to prohibition of it and realize,” said University of British Coseveral other pesticides, as well as the lumbia professor Simon Donner. creation of the Environmental ProtecApril’s March for Science, then, tion Agency. While some believe that is unlikely to hurt the credibility of scientists’ involvement in politics may scientists. Some, like Gates, fear that cause a loss in their credibility, a 2014 the protest may be perceived by both study published earlier this year found outsiders and the administration as that this wasn’t the case. a march against the president. But it In 2014, George Mason University’s isn’t likely to be a major factor for John Kutcher crafted fictional climate whether or not President Trump will scientist Dave Wilson and recruited support or defund sectors of science.

January’s Women’s March proves just this—while Trump may have signed an anti-abortion executive order, it was hardly influenced by the Women’s March, which contained anti-Trump sentiment, but rather the preconceived notions of the administration. However, like the Women’s March did for women, the March for Science will empower scientists and science-advocates.

Still, there are problems that should be rectified. The wording surrounding the march is confusing and often contradictory. The creators of the march have stated that it “is not a political protest, ” and its mission page says it isn’t about “scientists or politicians.”

Yet, it undoubtedly is all of these things.

In addition, the group needs to have a more unified goal—perhaps, three or four main goals to hammer home.

With its current conglomeration of beliefs and goals, it is too scattered, and it’s hard to exactly pinpoint what it stands for. It’s important to acknowledge the difficulty of the task of unification. It’s hard to unite thousands of strangers who may have little in common, except a love for truth and science, as well as resistance against the administration that jeopardizes the fate of both. But despite its inconsistencies, the March for Science is a resistance nonetheless, a stand for our beliefs, a partaking in a threatened democracy.

Opiate epidemic calls for stricter regulations Evan Buckland staff WritEr

Since the 1990s, pain has been considered by medical professionals as the “fifth vital sign,” along with the main four: body temperature, heart rate, respiration rate, and blood pressure. This late 20th century period coincided with the advancement of a new class of drugs to treat pain: opiates. Opiates cover a variety of drugs including morphine, codeine, OxyContin and heroin.

The primary ingredient in opiates, opium, is extracted from seed pods of the opium poppy, a plant that has been cultivated since 4,000 B.C. and dates back to the ancient Egyptians and Persians.

The ’90s saw a movement driven by pharmaceutical companies that aimed to destigmatize opiates. Before then, people knew the dangers of over-prescription and thus doctors were encouraged to prescribe opiates only as a last-ditch effort. But as more pharmaceutical companies came out with new medicines, they started to plant the seeds of deception about their products.

Starting with California in 2001, multiple states passed legislation that exempted doctors from being prosecuted for prescribing opiates in order to treat pain. This sparked a new era of medical thought in which interns and the public were taught that these drugs were non-addictive, an era in which doctors had an obligation to prescribe them to patients in need. However, in the years that followed, an overwhelming number of studies have suggested that these prescription painkill-

ers are addictive, and dangerously so.

Following this state legislation, opiates were marketed by pharmaceutical companies to primary care physicians who were not well-trained in the field. Many of these physicians were able to make money based on the number of patients they could see in a day, and pain could be more easily and quickly treated with a prescription than by listening to a patient’s questions and seeking other solutions. The prescription pad did not drain a doctor’s time, but instead padded his or her wallet.

Besides being a remedy for pain, opiates have also been shown to give a euphoric high sensation, and opium itself has been abused as a drug for centuries. In just a few short years, the over-prescribing of opiates has led to what can only be described as one of America’s most devastating addictions.

According to the Centers for Disease Control (CDC), 4,521 people died from opiate painkiller overdoses in California alone in 2015, the most in all of America.

California hospitals treat about one opiate overdose every 45 minutes. In response to the increase in opiate addiction, California passed SB 482 in 2016, a bill that requires physicians to check databases on patients when prescribing opiates. These databases provide information on a patient’s previous prescriptions, family history and other vital information necessary for doctors to recognize potential addiction. Information in these databases can include the possibility of “doctor shopping,” where a patient may be getting prescrip-

tions from multiple physicians. Today, 16 states have enacted similar laws. According to John Eadie, the former director of the Prescription Drug Monitoring Program at Brandeis University, states that require a physician to use database systems have seen a decrease in opiate prescription, drug-related hospitalization and overdose deaths. In seven states, including California, laws have also restricted the dosage that doctors can prescribe at one time.

These laws are often seen as protecting doctors as well as patients; however, many state medical societies have argued that these restrictions interfere with the practice of medicine. They say that doctors and patients should be able to freely balance the need to treat pain without worrying about the risks of addiction.

These are legitimate concerns; however, they ignore the enormous cost of opiate addiction to society. In addition to the overdose deaths, addiction leads to increases in crime, mental illness and lost work. Some entire communities have been ravaged by opiate addiction. This has to be addressed through legislation to control over-prescribing. The benefits of such legislation are already being felt. In the states that have passed database and dosage restriction laws, opiate overdoses and prescriptions have started to decline. For people who are in serious pain and for whom a physician cannot find an alternative means of treatment, these limitations may simply mean a few extra visits to the doctor’s office, a small price to pay for the hundreds of lives that could potentially be saved.

opinions Editor I’m a white guy. Always have been. Having lived all my life in the U.S. as a Caucasian male, these two aspects of me—my ethnicity and gender—are not things I am constantly aware of or thinking about as I navigate through life. I am not often discriminated against for these identifying characteristics, and so, perhaps unlike some of my friends who are a minority ethnicity and/or not male, I don’t find myself being frequently reminded of them. Instead, for a vast majority of the time, I can simply think of myself as Dane. And, without a doubt, that is a privilege.

That being said, some people disagree. Some don’t recognize this privilege of being white and male in the United States. With the mounting rise of radical conservatism exhibited in movements like the alt-right, more and more people are openly rejecting the existence of white privilege, or at least arguing that it doesn’t exist today. Alt-right leaders like Richard Spencer and Milo Yiannopoulos (the former of whom is a self-proclaimed white supremacist) often attempt to satirize liberals by playing up this concept of white privilege for comedic effect in their speeches, often to majority-white audiences.

In a Jan. 31 presentation to students at Cal Poly San Luis Obispo, Yiannopoulos announced that he would be taking this white privilege joke to the next level by establishing the Yiannopoulos Privilege Grant, a $2,500 college scholarship fund offered exclusively to white men. According to Yiannopoulos, “the facts say that it is young, white boys who are as educationally underprivileged as many other groups.”

“Nobody can resist the truth wrapped in a good joke,” Yiannopoulos went on to say, “and there’s nothing better than doing good while annoying the Left.”

As predicted, Yiannopoulos’ stunt received its fair share of backlash. UC Berkeley law professor Ian Haney Lopez told CNBC that “affirmative action for white men is a stunt to mock the moral and social importance of integration and to increase social strife,” and Princeton University professor Eddie Glaude Jr. called the program part of “a white nationalist agenda clearly and unapologetically.”

In theory, however, it’s difficult to criticize Yiannopoulos for what the grant is doing—that is, providing college students with funds to lessen the financial blow of their educations. In a country where the average cost of college tuition is upwards of $20,000 a year, it’s hard to blame the Privilege Grant for attempting to help anyone carrying this economic burden, even if only white men are eligible to receive it. After all, there are thousands of scholarships in the U.S. available exclusively to other ethnic and gender groups. Why isn’t the white guy getting any of this scholarship money?

Well, he is. And he’s getting a vast majority of it. According to a 2011 student aid policy analysis by Mark Kantrowitz, publisher of Fastweb.com and a nationally recognized expert on student financial aid, the claim that minority students receive more than their fair share of scholarships is a myth.

“The reality is that minority students are less likely to win private scholarships or receive merit-based institutional grants than Caucasian students,” Kantrowitz explains.

“Among undergraduate students enrolled full-time/full-year in Bachelor’s degree programs at four-year colleges and universities, minority students represent about a third of applicants but slightly more than a quarter of private scholarship recipients.” This information disproves the belief that white men are at a disadvantage to their gender and ethnic minority counterparts when it comes to receiving student aid.

The belief that few scholarships exist for Caucasians is also a misconception. Kantrowitz’s analysis lists several “whites only” scholarships, some dating all the way back to 1945. They haven’t all lasted since then (Kantrowitz explains that these types of scholarships don’t typically exist for more than a few years), but funds such as the 2008 United Caucasian College Fund and the 2003 United White Persons College Fund prove that Yiannopoulos’ Privilege Grant is not breaking new ground nor providing for the underprivileged.

With all that in mind, it’s important to recognize that people can be underprivileged in more categories than just race and gender. There are thousands of people of every background who are economically underprivileged, or who identify as a non-binary, non-majority sexual orientation, and so are disadvantaged in these regards.

But white men do not need any more money simply for being white men. In race and gender we are not underprivileged, and the attempt to create scholarship funds for us in these identifying characteristics delegitimizes the discrimination faced by actual minorities. College may be expensive for us too, but there are plenty of scholarships out there available to us for other reasons. Let’s utilize those—there is no reason for a white privilege grant.

School needs to educate student-athletes about concussion dangers Brandon Victor Editor in ChiEf

A month and a half ago, when I wrote about concussions in girls water polo, it was frightening to me to learn how few players truly recognized the potential long-term effects associated with concussions There has been a 71-percent increase in sports-related concussions since 2010, according to the Blue Cross Blue Shield Health of America Report. While to some degree this can be attributed to the newfound awareness of what constitutes a concussion, it nonetheless displays a perilous trend.

The trend this statistic portrays, however, is nothing new. In recent years, following the high-profile suicides of professional athletes such as NFL linebacker Junior Seau due to brain trauma, there has been an increase in awareness in regards to concussions.

Westview employs various methods in the athletic department to prevent and diagnose concussions.

Every two years, coaches must take a mandatory course that explains the symptoms and signs of concussions. Referees and trainers both have the ability to stop a game if they believe someone has a concussion.

In addition, if a coach asks, Athletic Trainer Christina Scherr will speak to their team individually about the signs and symptoms related to concussions, as well as the potential health effects.

But outside of the latter option, which isn’t mandatory, there is little-to-no emphasis on educating student-athletes and parents on the danger of concussions, as well as the ways to prevent them. The only place where students are directly provided information on concussions is in the athletic handbook, an 18-page document that students must sign before they can be deemed eligible to play a Westview sport.

Pages 13 and 14 of the handbook outline some of the symptoms commonly associated with concussions, as well as the potential dangers that can arise if players continue to play through a concussion. According to Scherr, most students skim over this information. It finds itself buried deep within the pamphlet, after the section outlining potential awards, following a page detailing what league Westview is in. As such, most students just sign the page without absorbing the vital information necessary on these pages.

The results of this are concerning, to say the least. Many of the players I talked to played through concussions, or returned to practice before their concussions had fully healed. Both these actions can lead to serious health complications.

Most student-athletes, especially without the proper education, simply don’t think about this.

“I felt an extra pressure as the only goalie on my team to be there for my teammates,”

Piper McCulloch (10), varsity water polo goalie, said. “I don’t ever want to let my team down.”

This mentality is commonplace with athletes, and it is this competitive drive that makes these athletes so successful in the first place.

But when the risk is potential brain damage, this can’t be the mentality. Westview needs to make educating players, along with coaches, referees and trainers, a priority.

For starters, as detailed above, the concussion information in the handbook should be made more accessible. It shouldn’t be treated like a syllabus when students’ lives are potentially on the line. On top of that, Westview should think about instilling another form of information for students: whether it be through mandating Scherr speak to each team individually, having someone else speak or showing each team a video detailing the necessary information.

Regardless of the method, there needs to be another way in which student-athletes receive this information—a way that ensures that students actually receive and are able to process it.

Westview has taken many precautions to ensure that those who watch over student-athletes are aware of the risks and symptoms of concussions. Now, it’s time to make sure that student-athletes understand.

After all, when it comes to brain injuries, the result could be life or death.

theNexus

March 17, 2017

Opinions 10

I was glad to see Westview’s Culture Week really Takeoff last week, and the festivities were not at all Offset by the speaker, Tyler Durman. My only wish is that they played music by Quavo and the rest of the Migos during lunch.

-Dane Persky

Party loyalty harms national interest Neek Azar

Staff WritEr From sea to shining sea, schoolchildren stand up each morning and recite the Pledge of Allegiance to the flag of the United States of America. Everyone pledges to the same flag, all reciting a pledge to “one nation under God.” The term “united” in the very name of our country refers to this patriotic ideal.

Many, however, have recently shunned their country for the good of their political party. This ideology, more tribal than collaborative, threatens democratic tradition.

The events of the past year, however, in light of the presidential candidates and their political views, have led to a divided union in many ways. After President Donald Trump’s inauguration, almost five million people took to the streets to participate in the Women’s March in protest of his policies, specifically those on human rights. In what The Washington Post verified as the largest ever single-day demonstration in United States history, the divisiveness of the nation is apparent.

During the 2016 Democratic Prima-

ries, Sen. Bernie Sanders, a long-time independent, decided to run under the Democratic ticket. Amassing a large base of support, he was the only candidate besides former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton who was running with a chance to win in the later stages of the primaries. When he lost, many chalked up his loss to him being less popular with Democratic voters than Clinton.

However, after WikiLeaks leaked the Democratic National Convention (DNC) emails, a collusion against Sanders in favor of Clinton was revealed. Deciding that the party stood a better chance to win under Clinton than Sanders, DNC officials prevented Sanders from gaining too much support. One email from the DNC Chief Financial Officer Brad Marshall indicated that the DNC was willing to use Sanders’ reluctance to speak on his religion, Judaism, against him, saying that “he has skated on saying he thought he had “read [Sanders] is an atheist.” Marshall even stated that “my Southern Baptist peeps would draw a big difference between a Jew and an atheist,” which could make “several points difference.” The DNC placed their party over their country,

depriving citizens of a just election.

On the Republican side, the nomination of Betsy DeVos as Secretary of Education was supported greatly by establishment Republicans. Without any relevant prior experience whatsoever, having never worked within a school or having earned any degrees or certifications in education, she has the potential to set the United States back in education for decades to come. Despite this lack of experience, only two Republican members of Congress voted against her, as many on the right seem to have felt that Republican goals would be undermined if she were to be rejected.

And so her glaring incompetence and track record of failure were ignored.

By putting the advancement of their party over the well-being of the United States, members of the Republican Party are deceiving and hurting their very own constituents from both sides of the political spectrum. The House of Representatives, dominated by the Republican Party, recently voted to conceal Trump’s tax returns. Throughout both his election and his current term as president, Trump has fielded criticism for being the first modern president

not to release this information, as it is thought by many authorities that he has evaded taxes for years.

Regardless of personal political affiliations, it can be agreed upon that a potential malicious foreign influence should, for the good of the country, at least be investigated. The mindset that it is better to have the country suffer than to allow the credibility of a Republican president to potentially take a hit is worrying, and is a perspective that hurts the United States as a whole.

In the United States, the priority of the government is to protect society for the good of the people, all people, no matter which side of the political fence you stand on. The interests of the constituents need to be manifest in the actions of their representatives. However, many politicians are ignoring the people at large, and focusing rather on their party’s hold on power, from colluding to make sure Clinton won the primary, to refusing to investigate Republicans who may have had inappropriate contact with Russian officials. These officials stand directly in the way of common sense and threaten any remaining sense of bipartisanship we have left.

I'm pretty excited about how TSA is now confiscating Facebook passwords. Maybe they’ll be able to find more friends for me.

-Jacob Tao

Does the W in the center of the quad stand for “walk here”?

-Kyle Petrie

If you’re reading this, it’s too late (for my bracket).

-Brandon Victor

I just learned that pinching people on St. Patrick’s Day is an American tradition, not an Irish one. So, pinching an Irishman on St. Patrick’s Day is a bit like ironing a four leaf clover. It’s “pressing” your luck.

-Mark Troftgruben To submit a Praise or Folly drop your submission off in room L-104. Include your name, grade level, or job title and phone number. The Nexus will decide which submissions to print based on quality of writing and value to readers. They may be edited for space or content reasons.

Criticism of Trump ignores longstanding historical precedent Meilynn Shi

Editor in ChiEf “The Crystal Ball is shattered,” Larry Sabato wrote to readers following the 2016 election.

Founded by Sabato in 2002, the Crystal Ball has accurately predicted electoral outcomes for more than a decade. In 2002, it correctly predicted 433 of 435 House races, 32 of 34 Senate races and 32 of 36 governor races. In 2008, it projected that Barack Obama would win the presidency against John McCain, 364-174. The actual result: 365-173. That year, it also accurately predicted all 35 Senate races and 11 gubernatorial races. And its record has only continued since.

That is, until it predicted that Hillary Clinton would win 332 votes and Donald Trump 216.

Trump was never meant to be president.

Flaunting a big ego onstage and a weak ego behind doors, he doesn’t mind bringing a hammer down upon the internal rifts dividing our nation and chafing tender relationships with almost every foreign nation except Russia. Every move of his has been scrutinized by Democrats, Republicans and the media.

But to what degree are the attacks on his presidency merited?

Presidents are often elected for promising change. It is inevitable that in the first few weeks of a new administration, the president will make clear breaks with past policy. And that means exploiting the unilateral tools of the executive office to aggressively advance legislative agendas and controversial platforms. The day after his inauguration, Jimmy Carter granted unconditional pardons to Vietnam War draft dodgers. Within his first few weeks, George W. Bush issued an executive order to help faith-based and community organizations provide social services.

Historical parallels don’t excuse the agendas that the Trump administration has promoted on immigration, border security, and healthcare, among others. However, they do provide valuable context. They allow for an understanding of

our presidency relative to the past, and they stop us from merely attacking Trump out of spite.

Earlier this year, Trump appointed Chief Strategist Steve Bannon to the National Security Council (NSC) and removed both the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff and the Director of National Intelligence (DNI) as regular members of the Principals Committee. And the media erupted. But Bush didn’t list the DNI and chairman as regular committee members either. And despite being regular members under Obama, the DNI and chairman did not see a need to attend every meeting, nor did they under Bush.

As for Bannon, setting aside the problems with Bannon himself, many have argued that placing a purely political operative on the NSC undermines the development of nonpartisan national security plans. John Bellinger, legal adviser for the NSC under Bush, argued that Karl Rove, Bannon’s counterpart in the Bush administration, was deliberately kept out of council and committee meetings “to send the signal that national security decision-making is not based on domestic political concerns.”

But Ronald Reagan appointed his chief of staff, Edwin Meese, as a member of the council, and presidents have included questionable officials in the past. Most of all, these assignments are only a part of the NSC’s operating manual—a paper document—and is far from as important as what will happen in practice.

Trump’s actions raise worrisome questions, but without understanding what has happened historically—without a relative comparison—it is easy for insubstantial events to become overblown. It is easy for us to criticize Trump for the wrong reasons.

Trump has been compared to John Adams, John Quincy Adams, Andrew Jackson and John Tyler, presidents who all shared his reckless temperament (and, except for Jackson, subsequently left with one-term legacies). Adams signed the Alien and Sedition Acts to punish journalists who made supposedly “false, scandalous and

Allyson Wonderland

by Allyson Xie

malicious” statements against government officials. Jackson was known as an unapologetic white supremacist inclined toward authoritarianism and violence. Tyler flung around sexually explicit language, demanded absolute allegiance from his political allies and alienated everyone in Washington. He became a “president without a party” and in 1844, had to create his own party to run for re-election.

Trump has had precursors in American politics. His campaign echoes George Wallace’s presidential bid in 1968. Both ran on a platform of populist white nationalism, articulating the fears of voters who felt overshadowed by racial minorities and attacking “elitist” judges and “biased” reporters. Wallace didn’t win the White House, but the man who did—Richard Nixon—wasn’t so different. In fact, Wallace later complained that Nixon stole so much rhetoric from him that he should have copyrighted his speeches. In office, Nixon, like Trump, brought an aggressive executive fist, a deep distrust of government officials, and a ruthless and defensive personality. Nixon also routinely went off on paranoid rants against “disloyal” Jews and other political enemies.

Extreme political polarization, populist surges, elite-bashing, anti-intellectualism, xenophobia—we’ve seen this before. Trump just “tells it as it is.” But his personality runs deep through the American presidency. It is not a singular trait of Trump but an innate trait of the archetypal white man holding office. It is the ebb and flow of history.

It is startling that someone who denigrates the institutions of our democracy has managed to capture the presidency. But if we are to take a rational approach to politics for once, it requires understanding our historical legacies. It can be fallacious to draw historical parallels—times change, and we are meant to learn from history—and there is no excuse for what Trump has been doing. But there is also no excuse for us to sensationalize what isn’t sensational at all.

the Charfaur Files

by Evan Charfauros

It’s 5 a.m. but I really need to finish this essay...

March 17, 2017

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12 Sports the

March 17, 2017

ScoreBoard

BOYS GOLF

2-1

3/13: City Cup, 3rd of 17 teams Westview's team of four finished 17 over par with a score of 305, led by Reed Orren (12)'s 3-over-par, 75.

Next Game 3/21: vs. Poway, 3 p.m. (Away)

1-3

SOFTBALL 3/11: Loss vs. Vista, 6-5

Alana Rodriguez (10) hit the team's first home run of the season, March 11.

Next Game Tomorrow: vs. Vista, 9 a.m. (Away)

4-0

BOYS LACROSSE 3/14: Win vs. Santa Fe Christian, 5-4

Zach Hansen (11) stripped the opposing player with 15 seconds left to secure the victory.

Ophelia Jacobson

Next Game Today: vs. East Lake, 7:30 p.m. (Home)

GIRLS LACROSSE

0-2

3/8: Loss vs. La Jolla, 17-4 Reese Flin (11) assisted to Sydney Levesque (11), who then successfully shot a goal.

Next Game 3/21: vs. Carslbad, 5:30 p.m. (Home)

Tonia Jaroszewska (12) and Kiyomi Kishaba (12) join one another's sports, water polo and swim, respectively. After being friends for more than 10 years, the two sought to spend time together before college.

Jaroszewska, Kishaba share sports, friendship Evan Charfauros

two met in kindergarten through a mutual friend, and quickly grew close through a combination of shared walks to school, Irish dancing lessons, and a love of the playground monkey bars. Soon their parents grew close as well, and their families now share frequent camping trips and holiday dinners.

Now, Kishaba and Jaroszewska often meet on weekends, go on vacations together, and sleep over at each other’s houses.

And as of this year, they spend their time playing sports with each other.

The best friends were running together when Kishaba, who is captain of the swim team, mentioned she was concerned about staying in shape before the swim season started. Jaroszewska suggested that her friend join her in water polo during the winter season.

“It’s a really comfortable transition,” Jaroszewska said. “Kiyomi has always been an excellent swimmer, and I figured that we could use another fast swimmer on the team.”

Kishaba thought it was an excellent idea, inviting Jaroszewska to, in turn, join the swim team in the spring. It was the perfect way for the two to maximize their time together before they have to move away to college in the fall. “[We were thinking,] ‘wow, we’re going

Staff Writer

BOYS VOLLEYBALL

5-4

3/13: Win vs. CCA, 3-0 In the last set, Brett Draper (11) recorded a kill and sealed Westview's win against CCA.

Next Game Today: La Jolla Beach Tournament, 3:30 p.m. (Away)

3-1-1

BOYS TENNIS 3/14: Loss vs. Torrey Pines, 13-5

Robert Liu (12) beat the No. 1 singles player at CCA 6-4, coming back from a deficit of 3-0.

Next Game 3/21: vs. Del Norte, 3:15 p.m. (Away)

TRACK & FIELD 3/11: Bronco Invite Lewis Shine (12) raced to third place in the 300-meter hurdles, running his best time of the season, 40.92 seconds.

Next Game Tomorrow: Falcon Invite, 9:00 a.m. (Away) Records as of Tuesday Compiled by Sports staff

The first time Kiyomi Kishaba (12) shot the ball during a water polo game, it landed right in the goal. A fellow Wolverine attempted a shot that was blocked by Fallbrook’s goalie, and the ball bounced into the water next to Kishaba. As a new player on the team, Kishaba wasn’t used to shooting; she grabbed the ball and turned to pass to her best friend, captain Tonia Jaroszewska (12). But Jaroszewska had other ideas.

“I heard Tonia yelling at me like ‘Shoot the ball!’” Kishaba said. “So, I just kind of plopped it into the goal, and it went in!”

It was a momentous occasion; just this summer, Kishaba didn’t even know how to play water polo. She had never scored a goal before, so her teammates and her supporters in the stands were elated to see her improvement.

“Everybody in the crowd went wild,” Jaroszewska said. “And we went wild. The other team was probably really confused because we were [already] winning. They didn’t really understand why we were cheering so much, but it was a really happy moment for everybody.”

Jaroszewska spent four years on the varsity water polo team, but her relationship with Kishaba goes much further back. The

to college next year—what are we going to do?” Kishaba said.

“We need to make as many memories with each other as possible,” Jaroszewska added.

Though Kishaba had spent a year on varsity swim and was used to the pool, she had to develop new skills as part of the water polo team.

“I’d never thrown a ball before in my life,” Kishaba said. “So [at first], passing was an ordeal.”

The team dynamic of water polo was completely new to Kishaba. Not only did she have to pass the ball around the pool, but she had to be able to strategically position herself to most benefit her team.

Now that the swim season has started, Jaroszewska has similarly had to modify her skills. On the swim team, there is no need to position teammates or avoid opponents or block a thrown ball. Instead, the focus is on smooth starts, efficient flip turns, and stroke technique.

“I’ve really had to concentrate on what I’m doing with my arms, which I never really had to do before,” Jaroszewska said.

“Nobody’s ever told me specifically how to swim.”

But even as both girls work to improve at their new sports, they’ve had each other’s constant support. At the beginning of the

water polo season, Coach Johnny Kabaci would position Kishaba next to Jaroszewska whenever she was in the game, so that Jaroszewska could advise her on what to do. Now, Jaroszewska looks to Kishaba for guidance during swim practice.

“Did I do okay?” Jaroszewska asked after one of her recent swim sets, to which Kishaba responded with an enthusiastic “Better!” from another lane.

The support they’ve given each other in both sports has led them to appreciate each other even more than before. “[Tonia] gets up way out of the water and blocks the ball, and I’m like, ‘Wow!’” Kishaba recalled about several water polo games. “And then she gets a goal and I’m like, ‘Yeah!’ It’s really exciting to watch.”

The swim season only began recently, but Jaroszewska recalled watching her friend race at the last swim meet.

“Kiyomi was already five feet ahead of everybody,” Jaroszewska said, “And I was like, ‘Yes! That’s my best friend!’”

The two hope that the memories they make with these sports will persist through college and beyond, and that they remain friends even as they begin new chapters in their lives.

“We’re so close, even if we’re many miles apart,” Jaroszewska said. “You can’t just drop family.”

Girls make Westview history, wrestle at state championships Tiffany Le

Staff Writer Knowing she was stronger offensively, Lyric Quinto (12) continuously initiated shots in hopes of pinning her opponent down on the mat. Despite her coach’s advice to never use the head and arms throw, Quinto saw the perfect opportunity to use this technique, leading to one of her victories at the Girls Wrestling Fresno State Championships, March 2.

“My usual offense is getting low and taking a shot, but because my opponents were so short, it's kind of hard to get below their hips and blast through them which is why I felt like using the head and arms in certain situations worked.” Quinto said.

In that moment, Quinto was unaware that her successful match would ultimately not be taken into account due to a miscalculation. Because Quinto initially lost her first match, she was supposed to have been placed in the consolation rounds. However, because of an accidental name mix-up, she was put into the championship rounds for her second match. Despite winning the championship

match, Quinto was lowered into the consolation bracket tors in San Diego. afterwards.

“It was surprising because we’re used to the San DiAlthough none of the girls placed, out of 24 girls in the ego girls who tend to be shorter and wider,” Bartelt said. entire state of California, Quinto was one of the 16 girls “When you go up to northern counties, the girls are maswho made it to the second day of the competition before sively built.” being eliminated. Her teammates Devin Bartelt (12) and Bartelt, however, used this to her advantage during her sisters Claire (12) and Tori Bjork (9) matches, as the girls she wreswere eliminated the day before. tled were similar to her own “It’s dissapointing that we lost, Coming off of State, all build.

I’m so proud of our team, because “I would think about the this was the first time we won CIFs I want is to do it again just so things that worked well against and went to state, considering that or moves that could I can experience it one more myself the girls team has only been around lead to my loss, and I put that for 3 or 4 years,” Bartelt said. into effect against my oppotime.”

Even though Bartelt has only been nent,” Bartelt said. on the team for 2 years, she said that Lyric Quinto (12) Tori agreed with Bartelt, she's been able to witness the treadding that it’s key to use one’s mendous amount of growth from her team, as the girla own weaknesses against opponents. But even with this wrestled 3 hours straight everyday this season. tactic in mind, she lost 2-0.

A major factor that contributed to the tough loss of the “I got intimidated by the other girls who, for example, girls was the drastic change in the body build of their had stronger, muscular legs,” Tori said. “I’d let that get competitors in Fresno compared to their usual competi- the best of me, and started second guessing my moves and

“

not using them because I’d be afraid of getting caught.”

Despite her loss, Tori said she felt overly thrilled that she was the only underclassman from Westview who made it to State.

She said her first season of wrestling taught her the importance of perseverance, which has helped her grow into a tougher wrestler.

“I was pushed to the limit during practices, to the point where my legs would give out or I was going to throw up,” Tori said. “It showed me that I can work so much harder than I think I can.”

Whereas Tori holds high hopes of coming back to State next year, her three teammates fought their last battles on the mat at Fresno.

“After my last match, it didn't hit me at that moment that it was my last match ever,” Quinto said. “When you're done wrestling, you walk off the mat trying to catch your breath, you’re getting your heartbeat back down, and you're thinking about what you could've and should've done. So coming off of that trip and coming off of State, all I want is to do it again just so I can experience it one more time.”

Garces achieves goal of making varsity after recovery Brandon Victor editor in Chief

When Alejandro Garces (12) felt his thumb smash into the pillar, he knew it was broken.

It was sophomore year, and Garces decided to go biking with his dad and brother for some family time. But Garces, who hadn’t ridden his racing bike in a handful of years, accelerated too fast out of his neighborhood, and soon found himself out of control.

“If you lean too far to the right in my area, you’ll fall into the canyon,” Garces said. “I felt myself doing leaning, so I overcompensated on the other side and broke my thumb against a pillar.”

This injury occurred one week into the JV tennis season, leaving Garces with a decision to make.

He could either wait for his thumb to properly heal and sit out the season, or try to somehow learn to play without his dominant hand, to play left-handed.

“I still wanted to play tennis so badly, so I decided to start playing lefty,” Garces said.

Garces’ passion for tennis started from a young age. His dad played tennis in college, and taught his son the basics of the game. Pretty soon, the duo hit regularly in what Garces called “quality father-son bonding.”

“It just became a huge stress-reliever for me,” Garces said. “I went to play, and my mind would be taken off whatever I was thinking or worried about.”

Come freshman year, when Garces tried out for the JV tennis team, he couldn’t help but look over at the varsity tryouts. He looked in awe at the way they hit the ball, the way they commanded the court.

“They had a certain presence with their game; it was like seeing a celebrity walk by,” Garces said.

“I vowed to myself, then and there, that I was going to make varsity before I graduated.”

So sophomore year, when Garces broke his thumb, he knew he wasn’t going to sit out.

Every day at practice, he worked on his lefty mechanics, trying to iron out the major kinks in his swing.

“I couldn’t hit nearly as hard, and serving was nearly impossible for me,” Garces said. “I really worked on being consistent with my placement.”

While Garces wasn’t a starter, he still subbed in frequently. During those matches, he went undefeated.

“It was ridiculous; I’ve never seen anything like that in my life,” Jordan Ramos (12), Garces’ doubles partner, said. “He has so much passion and desire to play the sport.”

Garces’ injury healed after the season, and he returned to playing with his right hand, but he channeled that same passion and desire to strive to make varsity. After his junior year on JV, Garces attended private training during the entire offseason five times a week, for about two hours each session.

Varsity tryouts this season featured seven new players, including Garces, vying for five spots.

When the results finally did come out, Garces was in Massachusetts. Out of nowhere, he got a FaceTime call from his mom, who told him that she was at the parent meeting for tennis. She then said she had someone who wanted to tell him something, before giving the phone off to the varsity coach, Kirsi Kiviniemi.

“Hey Alejandro, I just wanted to let you know that you did it, that you made the varsity team,” she said.

Garces couldn’t believe it. After all his work, all the time he spent on the sport, he finally accomplished his dream.

Ophelia Jacobson

Alejandro Garces (12) sharpens his backhand during a varsity practice.

theNexus

March 17, 2017

Sports 13 Preview

Wolverines seize second straight CIF title

What to Watch For Baseball

Alice Markman SportS Editor

Previous Game

Westview: 3 Rancho Bernardo: 2

3/14: Loss vs. Otay Ranch, 4-2

1win-- loss3

Next Game: 3/20: Away at San Marcos

In the last few moments of the game, Josh Groll (10) didn’t dare take his eyes off the goal. With the CIF Championship game having gone into overtime against Rancho Bernardo, March 6, he was ready to finish the match strong. As he sped towards the goal, he was surrounded by two defenders. Determined to secure Westview’s win in the period of sudden death, he swerved in and out of the defenders and shot several feet to the left of the goal. Groll held his breath, knowing that the game was on the line, and that the success of this shot would determine either their first win against the Broncos.

The puck slipped past the goalie, and a wave of relief overcame him. The moment flashed by in an instant; he had scored the winning goal of the championship, securing Westview’s title with a score of 3-2—Westview’s second title in a row. Crowds cheered as teammates threw their equipment in the air and ran over to him for a group victory hug.

“It was just like a breath of relief,” Groll said. “All the intensity that builds up in overtime, you just want it to end, and you want to be the one who ends it.”

Despite an aggressive and fast-paced start on both ends, the sudden death period saw a more concentrated and careful strategy from Westview. Players passed strategically rather than aggressively, passing to players with optimal position for scoring a goal.

Westview started the game off slow and fell behind by two, conceding one goal in the first period and another at the start of the second. According to Groll, this was largely attributed to a slow start on the offensive end.

However, this slow start sped up after Groll scored Westview’s first goal of the match 14 minutes into the second period, assisted by Keisi Takaya (12). This goal happened minutes after the Broncos scored their second goal, pulling the Wolverines to within one, 2-1. According to Groll, watching the opposing team score helped

Wolverine Notes Fielding According to shortstop Chris Fousek (12), Westview's biggest strength lies in its defense.

"We try to pick each other up defensively," Fousek said." We work a lot on situational defense just to make sure that we're prepared in the field.

Dynamic Tonia Jaroszewska

Josh Groll (10) scores the second goal during the CIF finals match for roller hockey.

After entering overtime against the Broncos, the Wolverines won the CIF title, 3-2. boost Westview’s motivation to get back into the game. “[The start] was just really slow, but once they scored on us a few times we started to get back into it,” Groll said. “We just wanted to score back, so it helped a lot.”

After this goal, Westview regained control of the rink, as the puck spent the majority of the time near the Broncos’ goal. This newfound control helped Groll score his second goal, tying the two teams at 2-2, with one minute left in the second period.

The third period saw no goals, which led them to overtime. There, the Wolverines spent four minutes in anticipation before securing their title.

Groll largely attributes this win to the communication the team worked hard all season to develop. Communication provided a major obstacle during practices this year due to a new team dynamic. As most of the team’s top players graduated, the Wolverines didn’t expect to go as far as they did.

“Half of our team was new, and we didn’t know if we

were going to win or not,” Takaya said. “It feels great to win after all we’ve worked through.”

Their newly developed chemistry was visible on the rink. This was most evident between Takaya and Groll, as Takaya assisted many of Groll’s shots, including Westview’s first goal that placed them back into the game. According to Groll, this chemistry was built over the course of the practices. He attributes it to the long hours they spent playing together, and considers it the Wolverines’ major advantage.

Having lost to Rancho Bernardo in every prior match during the season, the Wolverines felt pride in their final victory, as it proved to them the progress they made over the course of the season.

“As a team, it was a real testimony to our success as a group this year,” Groll said. “Teamwork helped with [the win]. We banded together at the end, we put everything together just like last year in playoffs, so it helped us win this title together.”

Westview lost 10 seniors last season, but pitcher Michael Mercado (12) said this has actually strengthened the bond of the team.

"We're a lot less cliquey and a lot more tight-knit this season," Mercado said. "The seniors are really pulling together to help the younger guys."

With that inexperience, however, comes a learning curve for the younger players.

"I think our biggest struggle right now is just making sure we're hitting consistently," Mercado said. "We have big innings, but we need to score throughout."

#16

Staff WritEr

Helix: 70 Westview: 32 “In the closet!” chanted a swarm of white shirts repeatedly as the basketball team returned to the locker room for halftime. These kinds of chants towards Westview from the fans of the white and green Helix Charter High School filled the gym, March 1. As the No. 10 seed in the CIF Division II semifinals, Westview faced a talented team, the third-ranked Highlanders, who trounced the Wolverines, 70-32.

“It was shocking for all of us,” Kobe Gatti (11) said. “I wanted to get that win to get to the championship game.”

One noteworthy aspect of the game was Westview's resilience, displayed in their constant sprinting and attempts to score.

“It was a big game, so I didn’t want to leave thinking I could’ve given more,”

said Gatti. “I just wanted to at least make sure I put forth all my effort.”

During the first half of the of the first quarter, Westview’s offense remained stagnant. With four minutes left in the first quarter, Adam Chang (10) jumped high and let the ball sail through the air and into the basket for a three-pointer, Westview’s first points of the night.

“I thought we had a good chance of beating them and I came in really confident,” Chang said. “We came off a big win against Rancho Bernardo and they were seeded higher than Helix.”

Jackson Krogman (10) hit a swishing two-pointer as well with three and a half minutes left, followed by a three-pointer from Ricardo Hopping (10) 30 seconds later.

“Our philosophy is to take what they give us and they kind of compacted the paint, so the we just took the open jumpers,” Chang said.

There was one particular physical advantage that would play a major role in deciding the outcome of the game.

“They had a lot of size, so it was a tough

matchup,” Gatti said. “They made their way to the rim and took easy shots.”

Throughout the rest of the game, Helix capitalized on their size by scoring on layups, and slowly, they began to pull away from the end of the first quarter on.

By the end of the quarter the score was 14-8 with Helix leading. The Wolverines had problems with communication early on but eventually focused on fixing it, according to Gatty. “It’s okay to make a mistake but make sure you learn from it.”

By the end of the half, Helix had nearly put the game away at 34-13. As Westview disappeared into the locker room, they were followed by chanting and booing.

The home bleachers were filled with masses of students and parents, clad primarily in white clothing. From their mouths, cursing and taunting erupted like flames, making visitors or anyone that might oppose them feel uncomfortable. However, the Wolverines weren't fazed.

“All year we’ve been told it’s just noise,” Gatti said. “We might’ve gotten a little rattled but overall, I don’t think it had a huge effect on us. You have to learn to

#11

focus on the game.”

In the locker room, the tired and sweaty faces of the players stared in disbelief as they watched their season slip from their hands. They regrouped to continue to fight in the next half. “[In the room], we made sure we kept the same intensity for the rest of the 16 minutes of the half,” Gatti said.

This intensity was displayed when Gatti played point guard where he used a euro step to get around a Helix player and scored a layup with 3:17 left in the third quarter. The team was picking up pace with almost everyone hitting jumpers and layups. By the end of the fourth quarter the score was 50-25 with Westview beginning to catch up. In the final quarter, Gatti hit a three-pointer and Devon Strunk (12) made a free throw with four and a half minutes left. Even as the game came to a close, Gannon Gorman (12) hit a buzzer-beater three-pointer.

“I was really impressed with the effort our team put in,” Gatti said. “I wanted to make sure we were flying around and putting forth a hundred and ten percent.”

Pitcher

Following last year's 2.14 ERA, Mercado looks to lead a strong pitching staff featuring himself, Andrew Rueter (11), and Fousek. In 154 varsity innings, he has allowed just two home runs, thanks in large part to his 93 MPH fastball. Mercado has also added a two-seam sinker to his repertoire.

Despite 38-point loss, boys basketball fights to end Mark Troftgruben

Michael Mercado (12)

Derek Bostater (12) Center Field

Last season, Bostater led the team with a .344 batting average, but didn't start because of his defense. This off-season, Bostater focused on his defense, and has taken on an integral role on the team.

"I've always hit well, but I really put in extra work on my fielding," he said. "My arm is stronger and I read balls off the bat a lot better."

#2

Chris Fousek (12) Shortstop, Pitcher

Fousek finished last season with 115 combined assists and putouts, and a .906 fielding percentage. But that hasn't stopped him from working to improve on his defense even further. Fousek often comes to practice an hour early to work on his fielding, in particular his range.

Design by Alice Markman and Brandon Victor Photos by Tonia Jaroszewska

BLACK & GOLD

Tonia Jaroszewska

CHEVALLIER SWIM, Captain

Paul Chevallier (12) started swimming, like most do, by taking lessons as a kid. After years of doing club swimming, he stopped to join the Westview swim team and made varsity his freshman year.

Since joining, Chevallier has competed at league and CIF championships every year, becoming team captain as a junior. After four years with the team, Chevallier found a family within the sport with people who share his love for swim.

“It's a good environment,” he said. “It's a great way to stay in shape, fitness-wise, and spend lots of time with each other.”

Ophelia Jacobson

CAVENDISH BOYS GOLF, Captain

Noah Cavendish’s (12) passion for golf began with a Gamecube when he was 5.

“I had this Gamecube [game] called Mario Golf and for some odd reason, I thought it was the greatest thing ever,” Cavendish said.

From that moment on, his golf career began.

Cavendish played with the varsity boys team all four years and continued to play despite the difficulties that came along.

“I've stuck with [golf] so much because it really gives me an opportunity to push myself,” he said. “It teaches patience and endurance.”

Tonia Jaroszewska

Tonia Jaroszewska

ToniaJaroszewska Jaroszewska Tonia

Tonia Jaroszewska

BOLD

IMSON

CIEMIEWICZ

LIU

GYMNASTICS, Captain

VOLLEYBALL, Middle

LACROSSE, Goalie

BOYS TENNIS, Singles

Ever since she was 5, gymnastics has been Isabelle Bold’s (12) lifeblood. She tried soccer and dance for a while, but nothing was like gymnastics, nothing could beat the feeling of almost defying gravity.

“When you’re doing gymnastics—this is going to sound cheesy—but it almost feels like you’re flying,” Bold said.

She’s been training alongside some of the same teammates for years, and this year, she’s just excited to compete.

“We’re a big family,” she said.

“We’ve grown up together.”

And she’s going to miss them.

It was the Best of the West tournament March 10, and the game was on the line against Oak Park High School. Lorenz Jacob Imson (12) felt the team 's stress as the Wolverines missed an easy point. As a returning varsity player, Imson knew he needed to do something.

“I had to give the team reminders to calm down and that it’s just a game,” Imson said.

Imson prides himself on bringing a “chill vibe” to the team, a vibe he embraced since joining varsity junior year.

“Volleyball has that fun, laidback feel that makes it really fun,” he said.

Connor Ciemiewicz (12) started playing lacrosse in fourth grade not planning to play goalie. In fact, he began as a defender.

“I played defense first for around two years,” he said. “At the end of my second year, our goalie had to leave for one of the games so I stepped in, and it stuck. I’ve liked it ever since.”

Ciemiewicz has become a crucial part of the team, serving as the goalie and varsity captain since his sophomore year. He started the season strong, attaining his first ever full-game shutout against Granite Hills High School, March 7.

Robert Liu (12) picked up a tennis racket when he was 4 years old when his dad took him and his brother out to play.

However, after a few rounds, his father eventually quit due to their lack of focus. Four years later, he decided to take the sport more seriously, and at 9 years old, he began playing competitively.

Ever since then, he’s steadily improved, playing on the varsity team for the past four years.

Next year he is committed to playing tennis at Clairemont Mckenna College, and is looking to enjoy his final season on the team.

14 Final Focus

theNexus

March 17, 2017

Multiracial Identities

Underlying racial assumptions, cultural boundaries complicate mixed-race students' sense of self Nicole Musano Staff Writer

Tiffany Le

Staff Writer Layla (10) and Lewis Shine (12) find themselves constantly at odds with how they view themselves and how others view them.

To the white community, they are “too black.”

To the black community, they are “too white.”

The Shine siblings said that as a result, they feel the need to change their personalities to accommodate to the environment they happen to be in.

In the community of Oceanside, where Layla and Lewis grew up, they quickly noted that speaking in a grammatically correct manner was frowned upon, as if it were a sign of weakness.

“If you use proper English and you enunciate all of your wording, it's seen as a white-washed thing,” Lewis said. “[It separates] you from the black community. But [here in Rancho Peñasquitos], you wouldn't speak how you would [in Oceanside] because that's also frowned upon.”

Without approval from either community, Layla and Lewis are left uncertain of their identity.

Visibility To most observers, the Shines are African American. Tina Joshi (10) is Indian. Mattie Sanseverino (11) is white. But racially and ethnically speaking, their identity is more complex than that.

But as a study conducted by Harvard researchers in 2013 and published in the Public Library of Science’s journal found, people have a tendency to take notice of race and gender first. The researchers analyzed

a portion of the brain, known as the Fusiform Face Area, and doing so corroborated that the first thing people notice in people is their skin color.

Due to one’s inherent bias, people associate race as a defining characteristic. However, when it comes to treatment based on race, it relies more on the perception of race rather than a person’s literal racial heritage.

Ascribed race is a notion in which people assign others a racial heritage based mainly on appearance.

“With ascribed race comes privilege and discrimination, depending on who is making the assumption,” Professor of Higher, Adult, and Lifelong Education at Michigan State University Kristen Renn Ph.D. said.

Being of mixed race offers two polar opposites on a spectrum of visibility. From extreme hyper-visibility to extreme invisibility, multiracial individuals are often unable to find a middle ground.

At 13, Sanseverino realized her identity as a Mexican-American would always be diluted by the fact that she was multiracial.

An annual Christmas party revealed that her Hispanic family members excluded her from certain things under the assumption that she didn't know or understand the culture.

At 15, Sanseverino discovered that if she were going to be recognized as being mixed race, it would be under a lens of sexualized curiosity.

An innocent class discussion about race would turn uncomfortable when it was made apparent that Sanseverino was multi-ethnic, as classmates noted that it made her more attractive.

Hyper-visibility places excessive exposure on multiracial individuals for merely being multiracial. Oftentimes, mixed race individuals are reduced to being fetishized and culturally appropriated for their mixed features.

This includes seemingly harmless comments about mixed babies being desirable, and mixed race individ-

uals being exotic.

“It's hard,” Joshi said. “People just assume I'm Indian because I look mostly Indian and my sisters look mixed.”

Joshi is Afro-Dominican and Indian. However, due to her complexion, people only regard her as being Indian. Her sisters, however, are seen as beautiful for being mixed. “[People] have always come up to them and told them, ‘Wow you're so beautiful, you don't look like anything, what are you?’ But to me, people just say "Oh you're like Indian.”

Joshi said she does not feel privileged being of mixed race. Visiting family in the Dominican Republic, she recalls her sisters being praised for being “Hispanic looking,” while she was just acknowledged as looking “very Indian.” Her sisters, who have a visibly lighter skin tone, receive greater appreciation through anything from free drinks at bars to modeling offers—small gestures that, although the sisters are alike in everything but color, separate them as different.

“It's valued to be lighter around the world,” Joshi said. “It's just more valued than being darker.”

Throughout different cultures, lighter complexion has often been revered in society. Light-skinned people of mixed race are favored over their darker skinned counterparts for having both exotic and standard European-style beauty.

According to Renn, these strict beauty expectations that force people to conform “are a clear indication of racism and specifically of white supremacy, which places a higher value on people and culture in the U.S. that are most European-American, or at least which seem to be,” Renn said. “So lighter skin, rounder eyes, thinner lips and noses, straighter hair—people from many backgrounds have been conditioned to see these as more desirable.”

With a whiter skin tone comes a certain privilege, as Sanseverino can attest. Sanseverino, who is half-Italian and half-Mexican, said she feels conflicted about her racial heritage.

Hearing false assertions of Mexican’s inability to achieve success in an English-speaking society, Sanseverino concludes that “there are a lot of judgements and stereotypes that go along with being Mexican-American and I haven’t faced the same struggles that other Hispanics face because I’m mixed. People can’t tell what race I am, so they’ll just assume that I’m white.”

Sanseverino said.

On the other hand, many more deal with invisibility. This comes in many forms and most often relates to the erasure of someone’s racial identity.

“Multi-racial students are made invisible when we talk about race as though there are a set number of races in the U.S., and everyone fits into just one of them,” Renn said. “Or when we leave multi-racial students out when we are listing racial categories, or assume that everyone's parents are of the same race.”

Layla remembers going out with her mother, and strangers questioning their relation.

“They question if I'm her child; they automatically think I'm not her child,” Layla said.

“If people took the extra half second to think ‘their dad must be black,’ and put two and two together, it wouldn’t raise such hurtful questions.”

The Shines are also familiar with the prejudice from both sides of their identity. As they are both white and African American, they face discrimination in white and black communities for having ties to the other.

“Black people who are full black will always see you as white, and white people who are full white will see you as black,” Lewis said. “So you're stuck in this grey area where you don't really get to affiliate with one or the other, and you'll basically always be seen as the opposite by the other one.”

With this grey area of identity, there is also a lot of a sort of authenticity testing, that others use to assess just how authentic a person’s racial identity is.

There are some unwritten rules in the community that decide whether a multiracial person is ethnic enough based on cultural knowledge, like knowing the language, food, culture, or customs.

“Sometimes, I would say I'm Latina or Mexican-American and people don't believe me because English is my first language and I did not grow up completely immersed in my culture,” Sanseverino said.

Ultimately, a set classification for racial standards harms those who fall short of these ideal standards, and leaves them struggling with a sense of belonging and purpose.

Internal Dissonance When Joshi and Mila Stojkoski (12) are asked to define themselves, they each respond identically—American.

“When I think of the word ‘American,’ I can’t put a face to it,” Joshi said. “I think of America, and I don’t see a particular race, or even a particular gender.”

As a half-Indian, half-Afro-Dominican student, Joshi has found herself being frequently categorized as solely an Indian due to her darker skin tone.

It’s easy for other people to inaccurately categorize Joshi at first glance.

But when it comes to defining herself to others, Joshi hesitates before revealing her biracial identity.

Art by Nicole Musano and Tiffany Le

When Joshi was younger, she grew up on the East Coast, allowing her and her family to visit the Dominican Republic every summer, as it was only two hours away by plane. But after moving to California at the age of 4, her trips to the Dominican Republic became rare, her fluent Spanish whittled away, and Dominican culture disappeared from her life.

As for her Indian culture, Joshi feels disconnected from it, as her dad was initially rejected from their family.

“My dad was outcasted from his family for marrying someone that isn’t Indian,” Joshi said. “They can see that my mom doesn’t look Indian, so I feel kind of excluded [by] them.”

Furthermore, Joshi does not speak either one of her parents’ native languages.

“I only speak English, and it's really hard,” Joshi said. “I don't know what [my family is] saying. If I try to speak back to them, I’m probably saying something wrong or they already moved on to a different topic.”

Despite the strong language barrier Joshi faces between both her Dominican family and her Indian family, she is still able to find other ways to connect with her different cultures, whether it is through Hispanic traditions like a quinceañera, or through the school’s South Asian Culture club.

“It’s helped me learn the Indian culture through music and dance, and relate with other Indian students,” Joshi said.

Still, Joshi struggles with her identity regardless of cultural connections.

“Our society is still so caught up with judging people by their races, so it’s hard for people to break beyond stereotypes,” Joshi said.

In a society where race plays such a prominent factor in one’s experiences, Renn has recognized that some multiracial people simply do not regard themselves as a single identity.

“Some multiracial people say they are ‘human race’—in a genuine way of staying outside [racial] parameters,” Renn said.

For Joshi and Stojkoski, saying that they are American, rather than identifying by their specific ethnicities, is their way of saying they are the “human race.”

“I still don’t know what to call myself,” Joshi said. “I'm just an American and I think of myself as an American, not as just my races.”

Joshi said that realistically, she knows that people make judgments about her based on her ethnicity, but believes people should be defined by their character instead.

“I hope people learn to judge me based on the person I am, and my qualities as a friend, daughter, or student instead of my outward appearance,” Joshi said.

According to independent multicultural organizational development and racial identity development consultant Charmaine Wijeyesinghe, all of our identities influence all our experiences, all of the time, whether or not we ‘feel’ their presence. After numerous research studies on the topic of multiracial identity, Wijeyesinghe found that a majority of her interviewees did not feel that race is a central part of who they are or how they name themselves.

“One of my research participants said he was a Jew more than he was a multiracial person,” Wijeyesinge said. “Another said that issues of class and income were more central to who he was at the time.

Often times multiracial people are assumed to be, or portrayed as, obsessed with their identity. I am not, though I am aware of my identity.”

Similarly to Wijeyesinge, half-Filipino, half-Macedonian student Stojkoski is not “obsessed” with her racial identity—in fact, it is almost the complete opposite.

“To me, it’s hard to describe myself other than as American,” Stojkoski said. “In terms of an ethnic identity, I would say that I don’t really have one.”

Stojkoski attributes the dissonance from her two ethnicities to the fact that she has never been fully exposed to the Filipino culture and lost touch with her Macedonian culture after her parents’ divorce.

Stojkoski said that her overall lack of attachment to either culture influences why she does not believe race is an identifying characteristic.

“A lot of [people] find passion in their culture and its pastimes, but I’ve just latched onto other things, [like] theatre,” Stojkoski said. “I guess in some ways that’s become my culture.”

For many, being multiracial comes with the hardship of not feeling a sense of belonging through their ethnicities. This, however, allows them to explore who they are outside racial parameters. And in the end, Stojkoski and Joshi see themselves as one thing first—human.

Acceptance Being half-black, half-white, the Shine siblings regularly face rejection, from strangers, from classmates, from friends.

But one place that Layla and Lewis are always greeted with acceptance is their home.

Although Layla and Lewis’ step-dad is not biracial, he grew up in a white community as an African American. By contrast, their mother, who is white, grew up in a black community. “[My mom] understands both sides of the spectrum,” Lewis said. She understands how white people would think, but she also understands how the black community thinks so she can give us that double-sided view, and guide us in the right direction. We get that same double-sided view from our step-dad, but it’s from a black person’s point of view.”

The two said having a strong, supportive foundation from their parents has been the key to why they feel acknowledged in a society that is quick to dismiss anyone who seems different.

“It’s not necessarily picking one side or the other,” Layla said. “It’s being accepted.”