Aquila February 2019 (Vol. 8, Issue 1)

Volume VIII Issue I February 12, 2019

Aquila

University Preparatory Academy

Chicago, 2018

I

From the Editors

n the 2017-18 school year, we published the first issue of Aquila’s newsmagazine and launched the online publication, social media pages and broadcast channel with a team of 10 student journalists. This year, Aquila continues to break new ground. Now, with 37 student journalists split between two class periods for the first time, we have made headway expanding and diversifying the content included on the website as well as on the Aquila News YouTube channel. In December 2018, Sports Editor Dylan Ziegler and reporter Tobenna Nwosu hosted the first installment of the “Pick & Roll” podcast—a first in Aquila’s history as well. We continue developing our social media presence, with the creation of a Facebook page (UPA Aquila) in September 2018.

This school year so far has been nothing short of exciting, and we aim to continue building on our different media.

Another first that deserves special recognition is the staff’s journey to Chicago in early November 2018 for the National High School Journalism Convention; the three conventions we had attended before were in the spring. The goal behind attending the convention in the fall was to motivate our staff before we started any production and to give them an idea of the expansive world of high school journalism. We were overjoyed to hear our peers share ideas and brainstorm excitedly about all they wanted to do for Aquila upon The front cover illustration, by Janessa Ulug, focuses on cyberbullying, which has become a major part of the social media climate and causes teenagers to go to extreme measures of self harm. See article on page 10.

MISSION STATEMENT

our return home. On Nov. 3, Aquila demonstrated its work at the national level when we, as EICs, presented our own session at the convention. We spoke candidly about our experience with the redesign of Aquila from a newspaper to a newsmagazine and also about founding the after-school Freelancers club in 2017.

The session was live-streamed through our Instagram page (@ UPA_Aquila) and watched by teachers and students back home and by viewers from other schools and states.

Inspired by what high schools across the nation are covering, reporter Vrinda Vutukury decided to investigate the issue of cyberbullying. She went to the extent of speaking with the father of a young girl who died by suicide after being cyberbullied at Los Gatos High School. Her article on page 10 presents the harmful effects of cyberbullying on the teenage mind not only for students at UPA, but students everywhere.

Although it is a topic seldom discussed openly at school, Vrinda spoke with several UPA students who have experienced cyberbullying before, bringing the issue close to home. Aquila has granted those students anonymity and would like to thank them for sharing their story.

Emily Hung and Nicole Rendler Co-Editors-in-Chief

Aquila is a student-produced, student-edited high school newsmagazine. It serves as a designated public forum for student expression.

We aim to reflect the diversity of our community and build unity through true and accurate reporting, in hopes that each of our readers will find an article they can connect with.

Aquila Staff Emily Hung Editor-in-Chief

Nicole Rendler Kristian Crowther Ishan Madan Web Manager Editor-in-Chief Multimedia Manager

Janessa Ulug News Editor

Pallavi Rajani Opinions Editor

Arielle Rose-Finn Copy Editor

Katherine Nguyen Copy Editor

Alexandra Rozmarin Features Editor

Greg Haessner In-Depth Editor

Luca Scarra Social Media Manager

Rasleen Saran Publicity Manager

Rory Dhanota Arts & Culture Editor

Dylan Ziegler Sports Editor

Rafael Castillo Managing Editor

Jenna Plasschaert Fun & Games Editor

Vrinda Vutukury Chelsea Nguyen Geraldo Castro Jack Grzegorzyk Tobenna Nwosu Reporter Reporter Reporter Reporter Reporter

Paolo Dimacali Isabella Bronner Reporter Reporter

Akhil Vemuri Reporter

Mya Mowatt Reporter

Farah Noor Reporter

Jacob Villareal Reporter

Emily Magallon Reporter

Colin Joshua Nguyen Updyke-Welch Page Designer Reporter

Julia Wong Page Designer

Joe Shem Page Designer

Grace Pham Page Designer

Desiree Parker Page Designer

Evelyn Ramirez Page Designer

Betty Nguyen Page Designer

Jenica Pham Graphic Designer

Laura Gordon Reska Adviser

TABLE OF CONTENTS 05

01

News

10

Opinion

13

Features

In-Depth

17

22

Fun & Games

Arts & Culture

News

MINIMUM WAGE WITH Photo by Betty Nguyen

Photo courtesy of Chloe Meyere, Communications Officer of Team Liccardo Mayor Sam Liccardo gives a speech at the annual State of the City Celebration in February 2018. At right, San Jose City Hall, located off Santa Clara Street, symbolizes the city as a place for opportunities for San Jose residents.

MAXIMUM BENEFITS

By Betty Nguyen

have to manage my own money now and have my own bank account.”

This year, the San Jose minimum wage increased from $13.50 Not only can minimum wage jobs provide teenagers with more an hour to $15 an hour. economic opportunities, but it can also provide them with meanThe minimum wage increase opens up more economic oppor- ingful experiences. tunities for student workers, said Jim Reed, Senior Russo Hernandez has a minimum Mayor Liccardo’s Head of Staff. wage job as a costume giver at Party City, which “[Mayor Liccardo] thought that we should “It allows teenagers to he applied for in October 2018. have a regional solution to minimum wage,” understand the world Quickly promoted to a sales associate, HerReed said. “The mayor felt it was important nandez gained an experience that he said became around them in a that minimum wage workers be guaranteed more valuable than money. wage increases that would enable them to different way, so the “My favorite part was giving children these mayor does believe costumes and seeing them run around the store at least have a chance of being able to keep up with increasing housing and other living that employment for pretending to be someone else,” Hernandez said. costs.” youth is inevitably a “It was pretty great and heartwarming.”

The minimum wage yearly increase posAs a father with a 19-year-old son who used good thing.” itively affects adult minimum wage workers, to work a minimum wage job, Reed recommends and also allows more students the opportunihigh school students take on a minimum wage —Jim Reed, ty to get minimum wage jobs. job so they can have the opportunity to expand Mayor Liccardo’s In 2018, junior Aixa Quintero took a brief their perspectives on life. minimum wage job at PacSun, managing the “It’s about the value you’re able to provide, Head of Staff store’s fitting rooms. and it’s about serving people,” Reed said. “It al“I just wanted to help out my family, but lows teenagers to understand the world around I also wanted to get things that my family can’t always afford,” them in a different way, so the mayor does believe that employQuintero said. “Also it teaches me a sense of responsibility—I ment for youth is inevitably a good thing.”

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By Colin Updyke-Welch

logue has changed with people regarding us as the bad guys.”

According to Clendaniel, even though there is stigmatization Fake news—deliberate disinformation—has existed for a very toward journalists, it comes down to the responsibility of the news long time, with everything from yellow journalism to muckrakers. organization to make sure it’s fair and balanced.

The last few years have ushered in a new time: an era of “Fake Journalists need to listen when someone claims that something News” for journalists. is fake news, but it becomes much harder to do that if that topic has There have been claims against prominent news organizations already been proven to not be fake news. such as CNN, BBC and the Huffington Post, accusing them of “Take climate change [for example],” Clendaniel said. “The spreading fake news. The claims started to become more prevalent Los Angeles Times has stopped publishing letters to the editors that as a result of President claim that climate change Donald Trump’s candiis fake news. We don’t dacy and presidency. But have that policy for that in smaller communities, approach, but we’ve talked minor news organizaabout it.” tions have less problems.

Fake news is not just “We don’t get [the spread from journalists, it fake news claims] as also comes from everyday much here at The Mercitizens. cury News because, if “There is ‘citizen jouryou know anything about nalism’; people who don’t [Silicon] Valley, you have all the facts and know that it’s probably spread propaganda instead 65-70 percent Democrat of actual news,” Borenor liberal,” Ed Clendanstein said. “But they have iel, the Opinions Edibeen the result of the Intertor for the The Mercury net.”

News in San Jose said.

Social media may be Although The Mercuthe main reason citizen ry News might not regujournalism exists, but that larly experience accusashould be expected. tions of fake news from “Any new type of forms Illustrations by Kristian Crowther and Ishan Madan readers, they have had to of technology, you’re gochange certain aspects of ing to see a use of them in what they do with the claims. good ways and bad ways,” Clendaniel said. “Our ability to use “There has been a lot of talk of how we should respond and do technology is always ahead of our ability to sort of regulate or to things differently” Clendaniel said. “For example, every time the establish principles for how it should be used.” president tweets, it’s news. Now, should we or shouldn’t we pubThe difference between newspapers and social media sites is lish a story everytime he says something?” what the former allows to be published, and even though there is a The East Bay Times has another story. It has a larger problem cycle of false information in media sites, there is still hope. with fake news claims than The Mercury News.

“We will not publish a letter with a fact that we know not to be “More people see [journalists] as the enemy lately,” Daniel true,” Clendaniel said. “Facebook does it every day. I expect, over Borenstein, Opinions Editor at the East Bay Times said. “The dia time, things will get better, and people will be more responsible.”

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Precautions to Pr

I

Three new security measures to be

By Emily Hung

n August 2019, the incoming class of 2025 will walk onto a campus surrounded by a fence. They will participate in fire, earthquake and lockdown drills announced through a wireless intercom system, and they will not stand outside of a building during class until a campus supervisor becomes available to unlock the doors. But they will not know the UPA that was once considered a “safe campus” without the addition of such precautions.

In light of shootings and safety incidents affecting schools across the nation, UPA has adopted new safety measures to ensure the protection of its students and staff. After an incident on campus on Nov. 16, 2018, Executive Director Daniel Ordaz voiced his concerns on the subject of school safety in his “Message Regarding Safety,” an email sent to students, parents and staff.

“We will continue to monitor what we do regarding campus safety,” Ordaz wrote in the email.

“Students and our employees need to feel safe in order to maximize learning and parents need to feel their students are safe at school.”

In response to Ordaz’s call for heightened security around campus, UPA recently ordered an Aiphone IS Door Security System and expects to have it fully installed and functional by mid-February.

“The directors had been at a California Charter Schools Association Conference where we saw the [Aiphone IS] product two years ago,” Ordaz said, “and we thought that it might be something we could use here.”

The purchase of the door security system received unanimous approval at the Board of Trustees meeting on Oct. 18, 2018. According to Agenda Item 7.3 of the board meeting, the door security system will include a master control system, door camera/bell units and provide “remote locking and unlocking of UPA main doors, as well as video recognition of the person requesting entrance.” In order for the doors to unlock, a student will press the silver button on the wall next to the door to request access. Then, the security camera above the button will capture the person requesting access. If they authorize entry, attendance clerk Dorene McClung or Ordaz will push a button on the phones in either of their offices to electronically unlock the doors.

“I’ll know when someone is at the door when I see a picture of the person pop up on the screen,” McClung said as she pointed to a second, new phone with a screen on the counter at the front office.

Only McClung and Ordaz will have the ability to unlock doors once the new system is fully installed, but eventually, campus supervisors will also be able to unlock doors from anywhere on campus using the app, IX Mobile.

3 Illustration by Kristian Crowther

otect Our Campus

implemented regarding school safety

The Aiphone IS Door Security System is the first of three plans that have received approval and funding from the board. By late April, the installment of a wireless intercom system will allow Ordaz to make announcements to the entire school, as needed, regarding emergencies such as lockdowns. Currently, students and teachers listen to such announcements through the public address (PA) system on the phone in each classroom. On occasion, teachers are not able to hear them depending on the volume of noise in the classroom.

“The purpose of [the new intercom system] is for me to be able to get on the PA system and say, ‘We have a dangerous situation,’ and everybody hears it,” Ordaz said. “Because when you have a lockdown where you have an intruder on campus, I need to get on the phone and on the speaker system and announce that so everybody’s inside. And if you can’t hear, you have problems.”

With this system, Ordaz will also have the capability to set bells marking the start and end of each period, but he remains indecisive toward that possible change.

“I kind of like not having that kind of environment here,” he said, “because if you go to a typical public school, the bell rings and everybody’s marching. This is a little bit more casual, and it’s kind of nice to have that environment.”

Along with the door security and intercom systems, UPA is partnering with the Cathedral of Faith to fence the perimeter of the school—along Masonic Drive and Curtner Avenue—during the summer. Currently, the school does not have control over visitors who walk to the church on Wednesdays and Thursdays to the Reaching Out Center. Nor does it have control over activity at the low-income houses at the intersection of Curtner Avenue and Canoas Garden Avenue, or the development of housing for the homeless near Almaden Expressway, just steps away. As a result, UPA is working to adapt to changes occurring in the vicinity of campus.

“It’s not going to be cyclone fencing,” Ordaz said. “It’s going to be a black rod iron that kind of comes up and curves out. Actually, most schools have that kind of fencing.”

The fence will also work in the interest of protecting My School Preschool as well as the rest of the church.

“You know the landlord, they don’t just like anything; it has to be looking good,” he said. “They also have the same concern. This is a church, after all.”

He hopes the fence will serve as a deterrent to intruders and decrease the chances of them entering school premises without a student, staff member or campus supervisor quickly noticing. Although students might feel more restricted, safety is the top priority for Ordaz.

“I have a responsibility for almost 680 students on this campus, for their safety,” he said. “There is a correlation between some people that are in that homeless situation and crime and dangerous situations like use of drugs and fighting. A fence might seem like a jail, but on balance it’s not to lock our students in as to keep outsiders out.”

Campus supervisors will act as monitors by the gates to grant specific people such as parents and official visitors access to the school.

Ultimately, UPA aims to provide students with a safe environment to learn and study, where parents can drop off their children every morning without fearing for their child’s safety. And while students worry about their grades, Ordaz continues to worry about safety and the policies he needs to enact to protect the students and the school.

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OPINION

Support Young Women.

Period.

By Emily Hung

Sometimes when I wait in line in the three-stalled restroom in the Learning Center, I play with the shiny, silver knob of the feminine hygiene dispenser.

Last time, I placed a quarter in the knob’s slot and cranked it to the right, but the machine swallowed my money without dispensing a pad or tampon.

In the restroom, I have overheard girls call out for sanitary napkins, and if they were lucky, someone would toss one over the stall door. I know of others who would rather make due with the resources they have in the stall than face the embarrassment of asking everyone for a pad or tampon.

Although all of the women’s restrooms at school are equipped with a feminine hygiene dispenser, a survey taken by 142 female students revealed 53.5 percent of respondents know someone who unsuccessfully used the machines.

It creates an uncomfortable and stressful atmosphere for a girl who is unable to turn to those machines for help when she needs it.

It is another issue female students must handle when they could be focusing on academics and other school-related activities, and having pads and tampons available in restrooms would help ease their worries.

Spanish teacher Aimee Verapinto acknowledges that having usable machines would save girls from needing to ask other people.

“It’s equipping our young women for the needed materials for a successful day, free from worries,” Verapinto said. “It would cut down on anxiety and the level of awkwardness girls feel when asking others, and [reduce] the time it takes for girls to run around tracking [a pad] down.”

Ignoring this issue is insensitive to young women, especially if they forget or run out of sanitary products and have to bear the consequences at school.

Senior Alina Torres believes the failure to have working machines and easily obtainable resources in school continues to promote the stigma of periods.

“I see girls hide their pads and tampons when going to the bathroom,” Torres said. “But menstrual cycles are a completely natural process; it’s nothing to hide or be embarrassed about.”

Currently, 52 percent of UPA’s student population is female and school records show that from 2015 to 2018, females made up 53 percent of the student body, according to Executive Director Daniel Ordaz.

With such a large population of young women on campus, this means that on any given school day, someone is experiencing their menstrual cycle. And because UPA does not have a school nurse,

“But menstrual cycles are a completely natural process; it’s nothing to hide or be embarrassed about.”

—Alina Torres 5

Photos by Evelyn Ramirez girls can be forced to struggle silently through the day either without the proper resources or with menstrual cramps.

According to the Women’s Health Concern Organization, about 80 percent of women experience cramps at some point in their lifetime, but in five to 10 percent of women, the cramps are so severe it interferes with daily activities.

Based on survey results, 95.8 percent of female respondents believe it would be beneficial if UPA provided them with free sanitary products. In an ideal situation, the school could provide both pads and tampons to fulfill the needs of each individual, as well as a cot for girls to lie down on while they are experiencing cramps.

True, it would be costly for the school to directly fund sanitary napkins on campus. Yet if every person—including males on campus—donated one box, this would show young women they are not alone facing an issue they have been unsupported with in the past.

Of 192 survey respondents who were both male and female,

60 percent said they were willing to donate a box of pads or tampons. Since the resources are donated, they would not need to be charged for as that would present another barrier for a girl if she lacks the right amount of money or is unable to pay for it.

Placing reasonable quantities of pads and tampons in the feminine hygiene dispenser in each bathroom, instead of at the front office, ensures easy access in the case of an emergency.

“Some might fear having them be free would provoke people to take them even if they weren’t on their cycle,” Torres said. “But I think that if it was known that pads and tampons would be in the bathrooms at all times, it wouldn’t make girls want to take them because they know they’ll always be there. There would be no need to take and ‘stock up’ for later.”

UPA should start a tradition where girls are provided with the necessary materials to do their best in school. This not only includes support for academic success, but also toward their physical and emotional well being.

Photos by Emily Hung

6

IN-DEPTH

How Random is ‘Random’?

Travelers question whether TSA screenings are driven by stereotypes

By Janesssa Ulug

7

Illustrations by Janesssa Ulug

A

student takes out her laptop.

Her shoes.

Her phone.

She puts her bags on the conveyor belt and goes through the metal detector, expecting the process to take half a minute at most. Then, she can grab her items and go to her gate. But, instead, a Transportation Security officer pulls her bag aside and motions for her.

She’s been selected for a random security check.

For eighth grader Emma Fulton, this is a reality almost every time she flies. Fulton is a frequent traveler, flying approximately ten times per year. During one instance in February of last year, Fulton’s bag was checked at San Jose International Airport when it contained only clothes, books and a toothbrush.

“It was not only irritating me but the people behind me, because what am I going to do with a book and a paperclip?” Fulton said. “And it was also kind of embarrassing because—and I think it was something that had to do with my race—everybody ahead of me was a lot lighter. And then there’s me, recently tanned, going through security, and apparently looking suspicious.”

Fulton has experienced these situations while going through security with her family as well, causing her to believe that race comes into play.

“My brother didn’t have a problem with [security] because he

has lighter skin than mine,” she said. “My mom definitely didn’t have a problem with it because she’s Caucasian, and then it came to me and they had a huge problem with it. The few times that I’ve traveled with my dad—who is black, by the way—he got the most flack for it that I’ve ever seen.”

A survey taken by 26 percent of UPA students reveals mixed opinions regarding the randomness of checks. While some students, like Fulton, believe they are racially motivated, others believe that Transportation Security Administration (TSA) checks are truly random.

Senior Andy Barde has never been randomly checked and believes that racial profiling does not come into play.

“Most TSA and airport security officers just want to keep things moving and usually random checks occur through a random choosing,” Barde said. “If someone is targeted, it is more than likely that the person was exhibiting some behavior that an officer believed warranted a check.”

On the other hand, sophomore Rohan Manian has had his fair share of experiences with random checks. He admits that stereotyping is a possibility, but not necessarily an unfounded phenomenon.

“I read in a book that stereotypes are like an incomplete truth,” Manian said. “Seeing a person and randomly checking them is definitely not a good thing, but like I said, stereotypes are based on some truth.”

However, Manian believes that stereotyping is less prominent in the U.S. “The airports that I’ve been to here, specifically California, like San Francisco, San Jose, L.A, nothing bad has happened to me,” Manian said. “I think it’s pretty good over here. And I’ve been to the Midwest as well where a little bit of more racism is prominent...”

Manian thinks that taking offense to being randomly checked can be justified if it happens all of the time, but he believes that this is rarely the case and that searches are necessary.

“I think [random checks] are necessary because there’s plenty of ways to get past security and checking someone and obviously the x-ray,” he said. “It’s just reassurance that you know everything is fine because it’s the job of airport security to keep people safe.”

A number of people in online forums have shared their experiences with random checks, speculating that they were racially profiled, but the majority of them are not certain. However, research on a program implemented by the TSA in 2007 could support this idea.

According to the Department of Homeland Security and the news outlet the Intercept, Screening of Passengers by Observation Techniques (SPOT) was launched to identify potential terrorists by a set of 92 criteria detailing the signs of fear, stress and deception. The program immediately came under fire when it was launched for its lack of a scientific basis. The American Civil

“They’re not all white.

You can’t attest it to a skin color [as] evil never comes in one color.”

—Edie Kern

8

Liberties Union sued TSA for access to documents relating to the program, claiming it enabled Behavior Detection Officers trained in SPOT to racially profile travelers. An article published by Lawfare as recently as Dec. 3, 2018 states that SPOT is still in use today.

However, TSA spokeswoman Lorie Dankers disputes the idea that SPOT is still used in airports at all.

“The SPOT program and Behavior Detection Officer position are no longer part of TSA security operations,” she said.

Dankers confirmed that SPOT is no longer in use across the U.S. and she does not know when it happened, which could mean that these checks are purely random.

“Officers are constantly training,” UPA registrar Edie Kern, a former transportation security officer who worked at the San Jose International Airport from 2007-2016, said. “It is a very thorough process; nothing, and I mean nothing, is left to chance.”

The common misconception among people going through airport security is that security officers themselves are choosing who to randomly check.

But, according to Kern, this is not the case.

“The alarm [on the metal detector] sets them off,” Kern said.

“It doesn’t seek you out. It only depends on when you go through;

Visit Aquila’s website at upaaquila.org to take our poll about your experience with airport security!

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it is purely random.”

The metal detector, or MAG, will beep if it detects prohibited items or signals that a traveler has been selected for a random check. Travelers might also be randomly selected if they were traveling frequently, outside of the country, or if they bought a ticket at the last minute, in which case there might be a Secondary Security Screening Selection (SSSS) printed on the boarding pass.

According to Kern, it is against the law to target certain cultural groups more than others. In her experience, TSA officers are a diverse group of people coming from different cultures with a vast variety of experiences.

“The officers are all from different walks of life,” Kern said.

“They’re not all white. You can’t attest it to a skin color [as] evil never comes in one color.”

Trigger Warning: Suicide, self harm, body image

CYBER EPIDEMIC

Online harassment takes a toll on its victims, often leading to dire outcomes

By Vrinda Vutukury

Photo illustration by Kristian Crowther and Pallavi Rajani

10

S

Illustration by Janessa Ulug

Editor’s Note: Given the sensitive nature of the topic, names have been changed to protect UPA students’ identities. he groaned at the sight of her brother: empty food a foundation where people ride bikes to raise money for mental bags and soda cans around as he lay on the couch health counseling. blankly staring at the television. He told her that he Naber lost his daughter, Jillian Naber, to suicide after an embarwas feeling depressed. rassing photo of her was leaked on social media.

She told him that it was just an excuse.

She was a freshman at Los Gatos High School.

A week later, she found him dead.

“She became more solitary, and she was typically a very greHe had slit his wrists. She was in shock. garious person,” Naber said. “She became more introverted. One A few months prior, he had shared that he was being bullied on night, actually a few days before her passing, she stormed out of social media. the house and she would never do that.”

She had told him to ignore it and move on with his life.

Due to lack of support, many victims of cyberbullying resort to Incidents such as these are com- drastic measures. mon occurences in today’s social “There were times where I really starved myself. It made me media driven society. feel like if I looked better then [the cyberbullying would] imAs it continues to evolve into prove,” Fatima, a UPA student whose name has been changed to a global platform where people of protect her identity, said. “I thought, for all these people who look all ages interact, it has become the perfect, if I try to fit in with them and look perfect too, it would first choice for communication and help out.” networking.

Afraid of judgment, victims generally restrict and blame themWhile there are positive im- selves. pacts, what is unspoken and un“I lost being in touch with myself,” Ivy, another UPA stuacknowledged is a darker and dent whose name has been changed, said.“I just focused on the negative side that is silently on the bad things about myself. I sort of fell into that low self-esteem/ rise—cyberbullying. low self-confidence thing. I was too scared of what other people This has become a serious threat thought of me than to actually be myself.” to a society where vulnerable teenVictims often feel alone and targeted, and continuously blame agers struggle and are unable to themselves. cope with it.

“No one really understood me or what I was going through,” Dr. Rob Naber, a physical thera- Laila, whose name has been changed, said. “So, you kind of vicpist, founded Jill’s Ride for Hope, timize yourself quickly and immediately. ‘What did I do?

What did I do to deserve this?’”

Out of 50 UPA students surveyed, 16 have been cyberbullied, 31 have witnessed cyberbullying and 3 students did not encounter either situation.

Out of the 16 cyberbullied, only 4 were willing to speak about it while 12 said they were afraid of judgment and a recurrence if they were to share.

“Most of the time [victims of cyberbullying] hide it and keep it inside,” Dr. Mitra Taheri, a family therapist with an educational specialist degree, said.

Dr. Taheri works with teenage clients who suffer from severe cases of depression, anxiety, emotional abuse, and low self-confidence.

11

Illustration by Jenica Pham Her clients are often not ready to talk about their experience with her or any adult.

“They don’t feel safe when they go to school or their home,” Dr. Taheri said. “Because if they are bullied on social media, it doesn’t matter where they go. The safeness is not there.”

Cyberbullies use social media to harm others because of the confidence they gain on a digital platform rather than confronting the person face to face. Cyberbullies use offensive jokes as a way to put others down, and in some situations, other teenagers join the bandwagon and exacerbate the bullying.

“They thought it was a joke and thought it was funny to continue with it. Most of them felt pressured to be part of the group. Like even if people didn’t do anything, they’d still not say anything against it,” Fatima said. “It’s easier for them. They can do it in secret and behind a screen.”

The core reason bullies harm others stems from their own insecurities.

“When they bully other people, they feel much better about themselves because they make other people feel bad,” Dr. Taheri said. “That gives them some kind of power.”

As cyberbullying becomes more common in high schools throughout the nation, victims and advocates stress the importance of spreading awareness and understanding the severity of the issue.

“No one talks about cyberbullying,” Laila said. “A lot of people show awareness to sexual abuse, but cyberbullying can affect someone in a very similar way. Because in these ways you’re really badly hurt and you become more withdrawn from people around you. ” In order for students to learn in a safe and comfortable environment, proactive measures must indicate that bullying in any form is unacceptable and encourage bystanders to stand up for the victims.

“Schools have a responsibility to create a safe and productive environment for their students to learn. The school has a responsibility to create a new environment where bullying is not tolerated,” Naber said. “In turn, the bystander who sees the bullying should understand that they’re going to be an upstander and not participate in it, but rather step up.”

Just as schools have a responsibility to create and nurture a safe setting for students to learn and thrive, students also have the responsibility to be part of the system and not part of the problem.

Watch what is said and written. Words have power, so realize the effects they have on the people around.

“It doesn’t matter where they go. The safeness is not there.”

—Dr. Taheri

If you are a victim of cyberbullying and need support, call the CyberBully Hotline at 1-800-829-0067.

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FEATURES

CRUELTY The Reality of Abused Animals

The sound of dogs barking and cats meowing. A never-ending hallway with windows. Behind the glass are rooms filled with animals that may not even know what it feels like to be loved. Some of them are traumatized from being abused by humans. This is a normal day at the animal shelter.

According to The Humane Society of the United States, animal abuse “includes intentional, malicious acts of harm and less clearcut situations where the needs of an animal are neglected.”

Julie St. Gregory, marketing manager for the City of San Jose Animal Care Center, has seen animals who have been brought into the shelter because of abuse.

“Animal cruelty can be caused from neglect,” she said. “But it can also be intentional. We have a lot of cases that come to our shelter all the time.”

Animal abuse cases regarding dogs and cats are the most common, but what many people do not know is that other animals get abused too.

An example of this is cockfighting, which happens in the United States. Humans take videos of roosters fighting and post them on social media, finding pleasure by watching animals fight each other.

The Humane Society’s website states that most animal abuse cases are never reported, but those that are tend to be cases with dogs, cats, horses or other livestock.

Junior Naseem Faridnia owns six chickens, three guinea pigs, a dog and a goat, and she has experience with animal abuse.

“One of my goats actually lives at a school,” Faridnia said. “We have her there so she can teach kids about goats and agriculture.

Someone got into the enclosure and they kicked her in the face.

She broke a lot of teeth, and she can’t eat anything right now, so we have to blend stuff up and feed it to her. She is pregnant too, so the babies might not make it.”

Much of the time, animal cruelty has to do with the abuser’s mental state.

“I think people abuse

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Photo by Rory Dhanota

animals because in some way they are damaged themselves,” St. Gregory said. “They probably feel terrible about themselves, and they take it out on a little critter who can’t do anything about it.”

According to The Humane Society, 71 to 83 percent of human domestic abuse cases also affect animals. Women will enter domestic violence shelters claiming that their family pet was hurt or even killed by their partner.

“Unfortunately, a lot of Photo by Naseem Faridnia animal abuse cases don’t get prosecuted by the district attorney’s office,” St. Gregory said. “They have thousands and thousands of cases that they are working on for humans. Oftentimes, they can’t get to the animals and their cases go unprosecuted.”

Getting animals spayed or neutered can help decrease the number of homeless animals, which are more vulnerable to abuse. An animal could become homeless if the owner loses them and being neutered or spayed would prevent them from reproducing and creating more homeless animals.

“Generally, we don’t put the abused animals up for adoption,” St. Gregory said. “We find rescues for them because we don’t want the people who abused them to come back and adopt them out.”

Since 2014, all 50 states have authorized animal cruelty laws in hopes of preventing abuse. The laws also include felony provisions. California’s animal abuse law is in part C of Penal Code 597, which makes it “a crime to kill, physically harm, neglect or overwork an animal.”

Humans can help decrease abuse by reporting animal abuse or an abused animal to law enforcement, animal control agencies or humane organizations when they see it.

“I think people just need to realize that animals have the same kind of rights,” Faridnia said. “They deserve to be treated right and not abused or taken advantage of.”

Sapphire the Goat and Sara the Chicken are two of Naseem Faridnia’s pets. The cat is owned by veternarian Raj Singh and lives at the Aborn Pet Clinic in the Evergreen area of San Jose.

Photo by Naseem Faridnia

By Rory Dhanota

Striving Together

By Arielle Rose-Finn Students trickle into Princeton, greeting their teacher, Nico Mendoza, as they come through the door. The students in this class will not be learning to differentiate between “ser” and “estar” or about Spanish adjective agreement—they’re learning English.

According to the California Department of Education, in the fall of 2017, 20.4 percent of students enrolled in California were English Language Learners, yet the class which teaches these students is a mystery to the rest of the student population at UPA. English Language Development

“Just to see them grow, to me, is wonderful.”

—Nico Mendoza (ELD), is a course designed for English Language Learners (ELLs), students whose primary language is not English.

Spanish teacher Nico Mendoza teaches these students in his first period class.

Mendoza, who is also the ELD Coordinator, teaches his students English phonetics, sentence structure and grammar construction while working closely with the English Department to help them keep up with their assignments.

The goal of the class is for the students to improve their English listening, speaking, reading and writing skills which are assessed on the English Language Proficiency Assessment of California (ELPAC). Potential ELLs are administered this test after they are enrolled

at school and then once yearly.

“Just to see them grow, to me, is wonderful,” Mendoza said.

“When they strive and they are able to write paragraphs that are coherent, that are easy to understand, that flow, that have flavor, like sabor in Spanish.”

Freshman Selam Mitike, whose first Photo by Greg Haessner language is Amharic, has found that ELD helped her especially in developing her En- Nico Mendoza speaks to his ELD class. glish grammar and vocabulary. She has been Mendoza often shares stories about his in the class since the 2017-2018 school year. life to his students.

“If you do mistakes, [Mr. Mendoza] will signs work that will unite them as a class explain them to you again and again and he’ll and embrace their diverse backgrounds. look at your grades and he’ll tell you what to “We laugh together,” Mendoza said. do to make your grade better,” Mitike said.

“We talk about life, we share experiAlong with developing their English ences, and by sharing experiences and skills, the students use their time in class to making connections, they are able to work on assignments from their other classes. understand the literature that we read.”

Seventh grader Donovan Carpenter, who also speaks Spanish, appreciates the extra time to complete his work and the relief it provides.

“Sometimes I’m stressing and I know I have ELD, I have study hall the next day, so I’ll be more peaceful,” Carpenter said.

Mendoza incorporates collaboration in his class through group projects where the students analyze writing, or they create posters or models based on a text to present to the rest of their classmates.

With only 10 ELLs in Photo by Greg Haessner the program—whose ori- Selam Mitike (9) works on an assignment during ELD gins include Ethiopia and class. Students use ELD class to improve their English Mexico—Mendoza as- skills and do work for their other classes.

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By Alexandra Rozmarin

M

ost schools house more than 686 students.

Most schools have an athletics field.

Most schools.

Most schools do not have a nearly perfect graduation rate.

Most schools do not receive one of the highest API scores in their respective states.

Most schools do not have Daniel Ordaz as their executive director.

Most schools.

Three individuals began planning University Preparatory Academy in 2003: Jacklyn Guevara, Kurt Foreman and Ordaz.

After being turned down by the San Jose Unified School District, the charter petition was forwarded to the Santa Clara County Office of Education and UPA was approved to open for the 2006-2007 school year.

Ordaz worked as a board member before

becoming UPA’s first executive director for the 2008-2009 school year, replacing the previous principal, Phil Hophan, as lead administrator.

“At about two years we started experiencing financial difficulties,” Ordaz said.

“So the board asked me to take over as executive director. Honestly, I didn’t know I was going to last this long.”

The original rejection of the petition and financial difficulties were not the only obstacles UPA faced in its early years.

When the first state testing scores returned, they were nothing special.

“I remember telling one of my colleagues, ‘I don’t know why we did this. I don’t know why we went through all this work. Our students could have stayed at their school and scored just as high,’” Ordaz said. “I was heartbroken.”

Through tiresome work, and to the surprise of the board members, the scores in-

Photo courtesy of Steve Guevara Kurt Foreman, Daniel Ordaz, Phyllis Ordaz and Dot Westerhoff are all smiles as the 2011-2012 school year wraps up with the annual graduation ceremony.

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creased the next year and the year after that.

Ordaz challenged the staff to keep pushing and achieve higher scores than one of the top three schools in Silicon Valley at the time: Los Gatos High School.

“You know, there is no reason why we can’t be one of the best schools in this Valley,” Ordaz recalled saying to his staff.

In 2016, the school was recognized by US News as the fourth best school in the state.

This recognition did not appear out of thin air.

During a long work day that can last until 9:30 p.m., whether it be a squabble between students from UPA and an opposing basketball team or parents with concerns about their child’s academic success, there is nothing that goes on where Ordaz is not responsible. “[These responsibilities are] on your shoulders 24/7, 365 days a year,” Ordaz said.

One specific responsibility Ordaz finds particularly important is observing classrooms in person on Mondays. Directors are considered instructional leaders, so Ordaz prefers to keep familiar with life inside the classroom.

“That’s why we’re here,” Ordaz said.

“It’s not to take attendance. All that’s very important. It’s not to hold a basketball game. Very important. But if we didn’t have teaching and learning here, you wouldn’t have a school.”

In the end, the interactions with students make it all worth it.

Even during his forty-third year in education, Ordaz finds time to supervise the doors of the front office.

“I can tell you that lately, one of my favorite parts of the day is to be out there, supervising, talking to students as they go by, talking to students if they want to come through the door,” Ordaz said. “It’s good fun.”

Photos courtesy of Steve Guevara

Above: Executive Director Daniel Ordaz poses with students from the leadership class at a 2012 spirit rally. The leadership class planned school functions prior to the formation of ASB. From left to right: Kayla Genio (Class of 2017), former student Sam Hickingbottom, Jordan Miller (Class of 2017), and former student Sam Yang.

Left: Ordaz addresses the crowd at the 2015 graduation ceremony while standing next to that year’s senior gift, a colorful bookcase made by members of the graduating class. Every year, Ordaz speaks to the accomplishments of the UPA community while celebrating Golden Eagle pride.

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ARTS & CULTURE

Always Watching ‘You’

Photo courtesy of Netflix

By Nicole Rendler Editor’s Note: This review includes major spoilers for the shows “Gossip Girl” and “You.” Some of you might remember Penn Badgley’s portrayal of Dan Humphrey on The CW’s “Gossip Girl” and his stalker-like role as the outsider who anonymously posts all his friends’ secrets online while living in New York’s Upper East Side.

Well, if you thought Dan was predatory and dangerous, or simply a creep, get ready for Joe Goldberg in Netflix’s newly released “You.” In fall 2018, when trailers for “You” starting showing up on my Instagram feed and TV, I recognized Badgley immediately and was not the least bit surprised to see him portraying yet another unsettling character.

I put “You” out of my mind for a few months, but suddenly started seeing posts, tweets and articles about it all over my social media in early January.

Buzzfeed and other media outlets published reviews, the actors went viral on Twitter, and my friends posted polls asking their followers if they should watch it.

Well, I fell for the hype.

And I’m glad I did.

Badgley’s voice filled my room as the first episode began with a voice over.

His character, Joe, works in a bookstore, and the first scene follows him as he wonders about the young woman who just came in.

In the matter of minutes, Joe is obsessed.

And so it begins.

The 10-episode season, first appearing on Lifetime, follows

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the averagely attractive Joe and his fascination with the beautiful Guinevere Beck (just don’t get too attached) or Beck for short, portrayed by Elizabeth Lail, a relatively unknown actress.

Beck is a sex-positive, Tinder-loving, debt-ridden grad student studying poetry at NYU. Joe is drawn to her love of poetry as he also loves books and her carefree and charming personality (or at least how it appears online). He stalks her Instagram immediately after meeting her and discovers basically everything about her.

Conveniently, all her accounts are public.

After watching this scene, I immediately thought about deleting my social media because seeing everything he learned about her and her life in a mere few minutes made me feel so personally violated as an avid Instagram user myself.

That feeling in my gut only grew as I continued watching.

The entire first episode exposes more and more of Joe’s obsessive, terrifying nature as he only gets more and more possessive of a woman he has only met one time.

He finds her apartment, watches her constantly, follows her everywhere, memorizes her daily schedule, orchestrates a convenient run-in with her in the subway (where he saves her from the tracks and becomes a “hero”) and even researches her friends.

And that is all before they actually start dating.

Viewers might be thinking, as was I, that Beck should have been more aware that the same hoodie-wearing guy was in all the same bars as her every night, or that there was someone lingering outside her house.

Therein lies one of the problems the show is supposed to bring to people’s minds. We, as viewers, partially blame Beck for being stalked because she Geotags her locations on Instagram and Face

book or she leaves her curtains open.

Our blame comes even as we acknowledge Joe as an obsessed stalker with no sense of appropriate boundaries or social manners.

I know logically that Beck is not at fault because, of course, Joe is the one overstepping boundaries and literally stalking her, but I cannot help but think she should have been more careful.

(She later begins to blame herself after finding out about Joe’s dangerous side—she even writes to herself, “Didn’t you ask for it?”)

Throughout the show, I was constantly thrown off by Beck and how she ignored all the subtle red flags in every interaction with Joe. For example, while furniture shopping on their second date, Joe confidently tells her a certain bed could not possibly fit in her room, yet she has never taken him to her house.

He had already broken in and stolen some personal items and snooped through her laptop while she was at work.

She’s confused and a little frightened, but easily falls for his reasoning that no one in New York has room in their apartments.

Instead of being creeped out enough to end the date or cancel the next one, she laughs it off.

In fact, it took her actually finding a box of her dead ex-boyfriend’s teeth and stolen items from her own house in Joe’s ceiling to believe he was capable of this.

All because he is just charming enough.

He is just nice enough.

He is just cute enough.

The entire characterization of Joe during his relationship with Beck plays off of this “nice guy” persona.

He works in a bookstore—how intelligent. He drives an old car—how sexy. He does not have Instagram or social media— how old-fashioned and down to earth.

His previous girlfriend ghosted him— how sad and mysterious.

Joe is supposed to confuse the viewer.

They’re supposed to feel for him.

(Beck is still confused even when he holds her hostage and admits to murdering two people for “their love.”)

At first he seems normal and it is hard to remember at times that he is actually a stalker and murderer.

Even when we watched him kill a guy just a few scenes earlier.

(It was Beck’s onagain, offagain boyfriend, Benji.

Joe later also kills her problematic best friend, Peach.)

There are still moments when Joe is cute and romantic and acts like such a good boyfriend that viewers begin fall for him too.

Then viewers are jerked back to reality when Beck leaves the scene and we find ourselves alone with Joe’s thoughts, presented through his hilarious, yet sinister voiceovers and his creepy, stalker persona shows itself.

The voiceovers, while sometimes cheesy and hard to follow in shows or movies, give viewers insight into Joe’s psyche, in the scenes with or without Beck.

He genuinely believes Beck and he are a perfect match and were destined to meet, that only after a few interactions, she is the love of his life. Everything he does, he believes he is doing for love.

Once they start dating, it is almost endearing how much attention he gives her and how much he tries to be the perfect boyfriend.

He supports her writing, he does her laundry, he even befriends her obnoxious, shallow friends.

“It’s not a loving relationship between equals. It’s a young woman being targeted by a man who has no concept of love whatsoever.”

All just for her.

But here we are again.

He does all that because he is obsessed with her. No other reasons. It’s not a loving relationship between equals. It’s a young woman being targeted by a man who has no concept of love whatsoever.

And yet, I have seen dozens of tweets from girls my age who think Joe is a gorgeous example of a great boyfriend.

They praise his “dedication” and “effort in the relationship.”

Some think his abusive childhood and desire to be loved as an adult somehow justifies the abuse he projects onto the women in his life.

This concerned me even before I watched the show. And after watching the show, it concerns me even more.

But more than that, it makes me so sad.

To see that dating standards for girls my age and are so low that an obsessive stalker is considered desirable or a “goal.”

The fact that girls are drawn to him because he is semi-attractive and so willing to overlook the major issues only makes me scared for when my generation starts going on dates and meeting people.

I am scared they might believe that boyfriends are supposed to act like that.

Or that if they do not follow you everywhere and murder anyone getting in the way of your time together (OK, maybe that’s a little extreme) that they don’t love you.

It also makes me scared and upset to think that many girls and young women romanticizing Joe’s behavior could be survivors of abusive or unhealthy relationships that have conditioned them to think that obsession equals love.

So, enjoy the show. Watch it. Or rewatch it. Laugh at Joe’s jokes and the ridiculousness of the “relationship.”

Revel in the self-deprecating comments about millenials from Beck and her friends.

Be inspired by Beck and her friends’ gorgeous outfits and love for life.

Let it open your eyes.

Just don’t fall for Joe. Not on the show and not in real life.

“The fact that girls are drawn to him ... only makes me scared for when my generation starts going on dates and meeting people.”

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From Eagle to All-State

By Kristian Crowther The California All-State Band, hosted by the California Band Directors Association (CBDA), is a prestigious musical group that only accepts the best out of a competitive audition pool.

And for the first time in school history, a UPA student made the cut.

“I have made mention of AllState as an additional goal to the advanced band students,” band director Jemal Ramirez said. “However, no one until Elizabeth [Lau] was motivated to follow through.”

Lau, an eighth grader, previously auditioned for the group in January 2018, but she didn’t advance. Lau tried again in November 2018 and was accepted to play in the symphonic band at the start of 2019. “[The band] only starts in middle school, and I actually found out about it last year,” Lau said. “There is also a high school section too, but it’s separate.”

Photo by Kristian Crowther Starting her musical journey Elizabeth Lau (8) is the first UPA student to advance to the California All-State Band. with violin lessons at the age of She currently plays clarinet in UPA’s Advanced Band, and was the first student to show eight, her interest in music led her motivation to audition for the All-State Band. to join various types of bands in elementary school. After swapping lessons with my teacher in November. I just knew I wasn’t ready the violin for the clarinet and playing in a junior orchestra at age to do my recordings.”

10, Lau realized she wanted to take her music career further into In order to be accepted, an auditioner needs to play three difmiddle school. ferent scales: Chromatic, D-Major and D-Flat Major, and submit “In that orchestra I realized I like playing music, especially with them through the company’s website where judges review the auother people,” Lau said. “So I decided to keep going with that.” dio. Then, judges select the best players to travel to the California In seventh grade, Lau joined the UPA band to further cultivate All-State Music Education Conference held annually February. her talents, going as far as “All students auditioning have to have their paperwork and reElizabeth is the strongest to taking both Intermedi- corded performance pass through their band director for review clarinet player I have ever ate and Advanced Band prior to the submission process—which is also done by the school had in band at UPA or any during the 2017-2018 band director,” Ramirez said. “[Her acceptance] was well earned school year, which she and a no brainer. Elizabeth is the strongest clarinet player I have school. And I’ve had some would have continued to ever had in band at UPA or any school. And I’ve had some really really good clarinet players. do this school year had it good clarinet players.”

While Lau is eager to participate in the prestigious event in the ­—Jemal Ramirez aligned with her schedule. While Lau was not middle school symphonic group, she is currently unsure if she will admitted into the All-State band in January 2018, she continued to continue with music as a career later on in life. But if one fact is practice with the UPA Golden Eagles and at home with a personal proven from her All-State acceptance, Lau has the skill and deditutor while patiently waiting for the next audition cycle in Decem- cation to do so. ber 2018.

“Sometimes some music is really hard or practicing feels like “You had to turn in your [audition] recordings by the it’s going nowhere,” Lau said. “But I’ve never felt like quitting end of November [2017],” Lau said. “I only started my music.”

“

“

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By Greg Haessner In 2008, a “genius billionaire playboy philanthropist” is abducted in the Middle East by terrorists. Using his intelligence and PhD in mechanical engineering, he builds a suit of armor and liberates himself from captivity. Ten years later, that same character battles the Mad Titan in space.

Iron Man, created by writer Stan Lee and artist Jack Kirby, first appeared in movies 10 years ago. The creators changed the playing field for entertainment when they began publishing their characters for Marvel during the Silver Age of Comic Books from 1956-1970. From this came the household names of Spider-man, Fantastic Four, X-Men, Iron Man and the Avengers.

“One of the keys is, and it may sound funny, talking about characters with super powers, but one of the keys is to make your characters as realistic and believable as possible,” Lee said in a 2012 interview with IGN. Stan Lee’s characters have not only reshaped the comic book industry, but also Hollywood’s film industry.

The 2012 film “The Avengers” combined the storylines of five already popular superheroes in an epic team-up to protect New York from an invading alien army. This storyline included Iron Man, Thor, The Incredible Hulk, and Captain America which drew characteristics from all the character’s individual films.

“I feel like I’ve spent my entire career being bred for this job,” Avengers director Joss Whedon said in a 2015 interview with The Guardian. “I directed TV shows and a movie about superhero teams. I’ve written Marvel comics. It’s not such a surprise to me as it seems to be to everybody else.”

Following the success of the first Avengers movie, Marvel Studios continued to produce more films starring their already established heroes. In 2014, a new team of superheroes, reminiscent of the Avengers, became a family in the “Guardians of the Galaxy”.

With the Avengers spawned the spin-off Netflix series “Daredevil” (2012) & “Jessica Jones” (2015) facing street-level crime and the ABC show “Agents of Shield” (2012).

The Avengers team hit the screens again in the 2016 film “Captain America: Civil War”. In this film, the close knit group of superheroes face a dilemma. Should they agree to the Sokovia Accords and become a peace-keeping force for the United Nations? Drama ensues as the heroes disagree and begin to

take sides.

“We watched surrogate

these characters now develop into a bit of a family with one another over the course of several films,” Civil War director Anthony Russo said in a 2016 Q&A.“We felt it was time for a family fight.”

This divides the heroes with the imminent threat of Thanos as they fight separately, which leads to their ultimate defeat.

From there, Marvel Studios produced five more movies, seven new spin-off TV shows and new seasons to already established shows.

The 10 year long journey comes to a conclusion in 2018’s “Avengers: Infinity War.” Prior to the success of the movies, the public’s perception of comics was that they were lifeless forms of entertainment. Now, these same characters have had cinematic success and have been brought to life through the silver screen. Their profound significance has made its mark on the film industry with “Infinity War” grossing more than 2 billion dollars becoming the 4th highest-grossing film of all time.

“10 years of this Marvel interconnected universe,” Russo said. er “You’ve never h t w seen this many inCro n a i terconnected franrist K by chises all successful betion a r t ing combined into one Illus film.”

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Melt it. Dip it. Eat it.

How to easily make chocolate peppermint cake pops

By Grace Pham

Ingredients • • • • • •

1 box chocolate cake mix 16 oz can vanilla frosting 2 pouches of candy melts 9x9 inch foam block 1/3 cup vegetable oil 5 regular peppermint candy canes

• • • • • •

1 cup water Small mixing bowl Mixing spoon 3 eggs Oven Cake pop sticks

Instructions 1.

2.

3.

4.

5.

6.

7.

Preheat oven to 350 F. Grease sides of the two nine-inch circle pans and flour lightly.

In a large bowl, add eggs, vegetable oil, water and cake mix.

With an electric mixer, mix until cake batter is smooth.

Pour batter evenly into the pans.

Bake for 23-28 minutes with both pans in the oven at the same time.

Check to see if the cake is fully done by poking it with a toothpick. If there is batter attached to the toothpick, place it back in the oven and set the timer for another 15 minutes for reassurance of the cake being fully cooked 8. Place cakes in a cool area for one hour after.

9. Cut up cakes and crumble into small pieces, then place in a bowl.

10. Add dollops of frosting one by one into the bowl of crumbled cake and knead the mixture until there is no more frosting left in the can.

11. Once batter is in a dough-like form, roll into 1 1/2 inch balls and place on a baking tray.

12. Place cake balls into the freezer for 15 min.

13. Place candy canes and a plastic bag sealed.

14. Smash candy canes with the back of a spoon until candy canes are brittle and powdery.

15. Open one bag of candy melts and place into a microwave safe bowl.

16. Melt in the microwave for 15 seconds, then stir. Repeat until mixture is smooth and liquidy.

17. Scatter smashed candy canes onto a plate with pieces spread out evenly.

18. Dip one centimeter of cake pop stick into the melted candy melts. (This ensures it will stick to the cake ball.)

19. Insert cake pop stick (side with melted candy melt) to the center of the cake ball carefully.

20. Dip the whole cake pop into candy melts. Make sure all sides are equally covered.

21. Dip candy-melt-covered cake pop in the plate of powdered candy canes and puncture the end of the stick into a block of foam.

22. Repeat until finished and set aside for 30 minutes. If there is no more candy melts left to dip, repeat step 15-16.

Scan this QR code to learn how to make strawberry-filled chocolate cupcakes!

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Photos by Emily Magallon and Mya Mowatt

FUN & GAMES

SP T TH E D I FF ERE N C ES

Photo by Jenna Plasschaert

Photo illustration by Jenna Plasschaert

Spot the 8 differences between the two pictures and circle them!

When you are finsihed, scan the QR code to find the answer key online at upaaquila.org.

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University Preparatory Academy 2315 Canoas Garden Ave. San Jose, CA 95125

408-723-1839

aquila@upatoday.com