Bear Witness - May 2019

SPECIAL SENIOR ISSUE

AND LEAVING SOME TRACE BEHIND

MICHAELA EDLIN Editor-in-Chief

Drawing on some inspiration

K

ids spend hours coloring and drawing pictures. Some of us continue to experiment with doodling, but most of us stop. Our artistic habits can be an insight into who we are.

Senior Abrielle Terzian never stopped drawing. which has grown her artistic skills and identity. She started young, like most of us do, and was encouraged to make art as a child by her mom.

“We (Abrielle and her siblings) always had outside projects, where we would take cardboard boxes and paint all over, spray paint on doors and other stuff,” Abrielle said. “So my mom was always having me and my siblings involved in arts and crafts.”

She started to seriously draw in fifth grade because she was drawn to Japanese manga and the mechanics behind the artwork.

“I started copying what it looked like,” she said.

SEE INSPIRATION • PAGE 6

SENIOR SELF-PORTRAITS ROW 1: Brianna Morgan, Abby Lang, Franki Torres, Zack Johnson, Ami Narckiewicz, Miross Morales, Abrielle Terzian, Nicholas Griffith, Ellie Price ROW 2: Darby Cable, Clarabelle Walkup, Elizabeth Jenkins, Jeffrey Gong-Sue, Frances Hunceker, Azura Gutierrez, Reese Rosenberg, Brittany Finney, Drake Hultquist ROW 3: Nick Orozco, Avi Arora, Iris Vukovic, Claire Wilbanks ROW 4: Anthony Truong, Sophia McGee, Alyssa Moore, Noelle Huget ROW 5: Carlos Vela, Mia Voss, Hana Tzou, Bella Glass ROW 6: Henrik Vantigem, Katrynah Broer, Garrett Peake, Brenden Del Bosque ROW 7: Anastasia Langner, Shanice Musungwa, Jordyn Osby, Sara Escobedo, Blake Kroeger, Ariana Renteria ROW 8: Jacob Low, Joey Perez, Nathan Niu, Benjamin Shoemaker, Brittany Balak, Isabela Dumo ROW 9: Julia Peterson, Lindsay Mullins, Lucy Breitweiser, Kyra Bouchereau, Lucca Lafever, Heidi Ross ROW 10: Nicole Sweeney, Emily Pacini-Carlin, Emmalyn McCarthy, Arden Bui, Chloe Luo, Lily Cushman ROW 11: Allison Tanner, Chase Owen, Milo Ford, Daniel Sanders, Doreen Yu, Carlos Castaneda ROW 12: Jonathan Vo, Hunter Beck, Adam Barrett, Aaron Rosales, Cecila Andreotti, Nathan Ahman, Sierra Vaughan, Amanda Miller and Jose Valdovinos

Key: Summa Cum Laude | NHS ^ | Biliteracy " | President Education *

Butte College Payton Connelly

Camden Post Secondary Academy & West Valley Jonathan Fry

Caifornia Polytechnic Ponoma Katrynah Broer *^

California Polytechnic San Luis Obispo Frej Koch- Matthews *< Allison Tanner *

Carrington College Lizette Reynoso “

Chapman University Gina Aboul- Hosn *^ Jade Raynon *”<

CSU Channel Islands Michelle Del Toro “

CSU Chico Alexis Bibo * Luis Mejia Jayden Miller Jacob Ortbal *

CSU Fullerton Carlos Castenda Morfin *” Kahlila Mudarri Spencer *” Jamie Walls *

CSU Long Beach Adam Barrett * Leila Zonoobi *

CSU Maritime Academy Derek Pearson

CSU Monterey Bay Julia Bozzo Brianna Morgan ^ Madison Ribeiro

CSU Northridge Chloe Luo *<

CSU Stanislaus Ten Sanchez

Cuesta College Sam Rocheville *” De Anza College Natalie Bacilio “ Madison Berry Douglas Brown * Mia Coleman Dylan Davenport Trang Dinh Annalise Freimarck * Drake Hultquist * Jacob Izor Lucas Lafaver Lide Liu “ Monique Lopez *” Ryan McCarthy * Nate Montero Miross Morales Escogico “ Conner Ngo *^ Chase Owens Alfonso Perez Jaiden Pickford *< John Puma *” Aaron Rosales *^ Vincent Scrivens Alex Shaheen Abrielle Terzian Summer Votaw * Alissa Vugdalic “

Cole Wilson * Mikias Yohannes

Foothill College Emily Klevchuk

Galivan College Alexandra Bergantz *^

Grossmont College Alyssa Moore * Los Medanos College Sophia Corini

Loyola Marymount University Avi Arora *

Minerva Schools at KGI Allie Yusim *^”<

Mission College Isabella Glass *”<

Sacramento State University Nayeli Morales “

San Diego State University Lucy Breitwieser *”< Matin Faghany Sofia Garcia Rivera *” Jeffery Gong Sue *^< Drew Moore *< Renee Owens *< Ava Schroeder *^<

San Francisco State University Uzordinma Awuzie Gal Dragomir * Dominic Polito

San Jose City College Melina Antillon Christel Cernardo * Raymond Espinoza Reyes Sheyla Paredes Ramirez

San Jose State University Aaron Brink * Sophia Gibson *” Iliana Karbowski Andre Nassar Bella Phan Jessica Silva *” Dylan Staud Lauren Suiter *< Jennifer Vangelisti

Santa Clara University Nicole Sweeney *<

Sonoma State University Nikita Oryall *<

UC Berkeley Anmol Dhaka *< Evan Gao *^”< Ben Shoemaker *^<

UC Davis Zoe Boomershine *< Juliana Nahida Amireh *^< Jim Fein *^< Griffin Hom *^< Farzaan Khan *< Katarina Knezevic *< Casey Smith *< Claire Young *<

UC Irvine Brittany Balak *^< Cole Gillis *”< Sharlin Prasad *^< Hannah Styer *^”< Milton Tang *< Anthony Truong *^”< James Wateska *<

Ken Yamashita *^<

UC Los Angeles Alice Chang *^”< Aric Cutuli *^”< Saul Gutierrez-Sandoval *^< Katie Lang *^< George David Vestushko *^”<

UC Riverside Taylor Wong *

UC San Diego Nathan Ahmann *<

UC Santa Barbara Ben Brigham *^ Jonathan Dang *< Kylie Delaney *^< Jocelyn Franklin *^< Robert He *^”< Nathan Niu *”< Garrett Peake *< Jocelyn Pierce * Jonathan Vo *^<

UC Santa Cruz Lucy Bentley *” Gabreel Burrows * Samuel Garcia * Lexi Janosik *< Riya Kapoor * Jacob Low *< Sasha Mariniuk *< Ruben Movseyan* Kenneth Owyang *^” Noah Rushing *< Timothy Vemeersch * Iris Vukovic *< Matthew Peglow *

University of Redlands Elizabeth Jenkins *^<

University of Southern California Kesha Srivatan *^<

Westmont College Alexa Gatiss *^<

West Valley College Omar Abahneh * Laylani Atkins Craig Brown Tara Carrillo *” Bohdi Carroll David Ciprian Michael Citrigno Penelope Clizbe “ Mackenzie De May * Jacob Dressler *< Eduardo Echeverria “ Sara Escobedo “ Neil Fujitani Jocelyn Gil * Jackelyn Gonzalez Arciniega “ Calvin Hoffman *” Guadalupe JimenezTorres “ Sabrina Jones Tiffany Kroum Lindsey Langan * Aaron Lenz *^ Miko Lopez Jacob Maniscalco Aidan Manley * Brandon Manriquez “ Jorge Mayoral-Velez Sophia McGee *^< Kailey McWilliams Emily Moore Amy Narkiewicz * Julianna Nevares Lance Northup Gabrielle O’Neill * Kaitlyn Palermo Troy Richards Connie Rodriguez Daniel Sanders Nicholas Scadden Matthew Stifanos Balazs Tamas Troy Pesavento Wyatt Pflueger * Reese Rosenberg *”< Heidi Ross *

Justin Sinn *” Franki Torres *< Noel Torres Nataly Torres-Mejia *”< Henrik Vanitegem *< Helen Vu * Ming Hin Yeung “ Joseph Atalig * Kim Tran *

Whittier College Kirstin DeMarquez

William Jassup University Alex Winford

Arizona State University Nick Orozco Madisen Perez Esperanza Ruelaz *

University of Arizona Maddie Smith *^”

Grand Canyon University Austin Simmerok

University of Northern Colorado Karlie Henderson *<

Florida Ringling College of Art & Design Minho Kim *”

Montana State University, Bozeman Mia Voss *^<

New Jersey Stevens Institute of Technology Joey Perez *

Monmouth University Molly Taylor

Cornell University Danika Cho *^<

St. Bonaventure University Arden Bui *^<

New York University Laura Marques da Silva *”

University of Nevada, Las Vegas Zachary Johnson “

Boise State University Natasha Mills *”

Parkland College Kimberly Jenkins

University of Chicago Alex Masegian *^<

North Carolina Cape Fear Community College Faith Grandey *<

Surry Community College Taylor Fowler *

Kenyon College Anastasia Langner *^<

Purdue University Ryan Ashe *<

Northeastern University Noelle Huget *^<

Tufts University Hana Tzou *^<

University of Michigan Sarah Kim *^<

Oregon Lane Community College Izaias Cruz

Lewis & Clark College Michaela Edlin *”< Ryan Lau

Oregon State University Isabel Herrera Rivera *” Nora Vu *

University of Oregon

Derek Hogan * Meagan Kiefer *”< Skyler Miller * Jackson Mota Julia Peterson *

University of Portland Laura Heffernan *

Baylor University Doreen Yu *”

Abilene Christian University Isabella Dumo

Prairie View A&M University Jordyn Osby

University of Utah Ryan McBride *<

Brigham Young University Ryan Haight *

Virginia Virginia Military Institute Clarabelle Walkup *^

Washington Seattle University Lindsay Mullins *^<

University of Puget Sound Emma McCarthy *^<

University of Washington Zachary Hom *<

Western Washington University Rose Gipstein * Sophia Passarelli *^<

Washington, D.C. Georgetown University Lauryn Ping *^<

George Washington University Bridget O’Shea *<

Australia Hillsong College Emily Wilson

University of Edinburgh Julia Marques da Silva *

Mission Trip Milo Ford *”<

Gap Year Jesus Amador Flores Genevieve Liu *

U.S. Navy Evan Bartlett Vinh Bui * Andrew Camacho-Madrigal Ephraim Qalo

Art Claire Young “Claire is highly gifted and bright and fun, and has been bright light for Ms. Prates in the art room.”

Jessica Bender

Department Awards

Culinary Art Raymond Espinioza-Reyes

Drama Iliana Karbowski

Dance Kylie Delaney

“He consistently risies above and beyond expectations, and he is a dedicated team player.”

Jessica Bender

“She is an invaluable asset as an actor, stage technician, designer, and director.”

Jennifer Sorkin

“She is fun to work with, works hard, takes notes and criticism to improve herself and is beautiful all around.”

Barbara West

Leadership Conner Ngo

Journalism Michaela Edlin

English Anastasia Langner “Both her academic and creative work is engaging, reflective, and demonstrative of true talent and deep insight.”

Carl Ponzio Science: Physical Ben Shoemaker

French Sophia Gibson

Social Science Danika Cho “She not only achieves academically in our department but also encapsulates the values we tried to instill.”

Kirk Selfridge

Music: Vocal Ten Sanchez

“He is focused and disciplined, with a strong dedication to the advancement of his craft.”

Barbara West Math Sarah Kim

“Resilient. Hard working. Trustworthy.

Dependable. He is someone other seniors in the program admire.”

Christina Hillman

“Michaela is the heart, the soul and the brains of the Bear Witness, one who has set the bar high.”

Fitz Vo

“Ben does not hesitate to provide support and assistance and always find time to explain” Ioanna Theodosopoulou

Music: Instrumental Ken Yamashita

“ He has a tremendous voice, is a wonderful musician, and is a great student conductor and leader.”

Barbara West Physical Education Nicole Sweeney “She has worked tiredlessly to be the best person and athlete she can be. She is a vocal leader.”

Christie Henebry

“Sarah was chosen for her strong sense of math concepts, and willingness to help others.”

Jen Brady Mandarin Milo Ford

“Sophia has taken four years of French, including AP, and she has really flourished as a French student.”

Laurel Garceau

Spanish Cole Gillis

“Milo demonstrates a commitment to language learning and is working very hard to achieve great strides.”

Laurel Garceau

“He has demonstrated an appreciation for the language and culture from day one.”

Laurel Garceau

Yearbook Hana Tzou “Hana consistently took on way more work than was required, completed it, then asked for more.”

Jessica Bender Science: Biological Casey Smith “This student is a very responsible, motivated, and passionate person coming to school every day.”

Juan Fernandez Photo Minho Kim “Minho is constantly pushing himself to improve in his ability to draw freehand and integrate skills.”

Jessica Bender

Other Awards Gina Aboul-Hosn Chapman Grant, Hesperian Scholarship, On-Campus Housing Grant Nathan Ahmann PLTW Scholar Melina Antillon Kiwanis Turnaround Scholarship Avi Arora PLTW Scholar, SVCE Ride to the Future, LMU Achievement Award Ryan Ashe PLTW Scholar Uzor Awuzie Campbell Country Woman’s Club Scholarship, Delta Sigma Theta Scholarship, Santa Clara County Alliance of Black Educators Leadership Award Natalie Bacilio Campbell Country Woman’s Club Scholarship Adam Barrett PLTW Scholar Aaron Brink XILINX Scholarship, PLTW Scholar Arden Bui Valedictorian, Cully Plant, St. Bonaventure Presidential Scholarship Bohdi Carroll Kiwanis Turnaround Scholarship Carlos Castaneda Morfin Citizenship Award Alice Chang NHS Scholarship ROTC Cadet of the Year Danika Cho PTSA Scholarship, Social Science Department Award Aric Cutuli Elks National Foundation Legacy Award Kylie Aileen Delaney Dance Department Award Michelle Del Toro Para La Raza Scholarship Jacob Dressler Scholar Athlete,Citizenship Award Michaela Edlin Journalism Department Award Raymond Espinoza-Reyes Culinary Arts Department Award, Para La Raza Scholarship James Fein Citizenship Award

Milo Ford World Languages: Mandarin Department Award Jon Fry Citizenship Award Neil Fujitani PLTW Scholar Evan Gao PLTW Scholar Alexa Gatiss Sports Booster Scholarship, Westmont Augustinian Scholarship Sophia Gibson World Languages: French Department Award Cole Gillis Sports Booster Scholarship, Athlete of the Year, World Languages: Spanish Department Award Emma Gipstein Citizenship Award Isabella Glass Santa Clara County Alliance of Black Educators GPA Award, California Promise Grant Jeffrey Gong Sue PLTW Scholar Saul Gutierrez-Sandoval Herb Alpert School of Music Scholarship Karlie Henderson Scholar Athlete Isabel Herrera Rivera Golden State Scholarship, OSU Tuition Grant Griffin Hom PLTW Scholar Zachary Hom PLTW Scholar Noelle Huget US Rowing Scholastic Honor Roll Alexis Janosik BHS Music Boosters Choir Scholarship Elizabeth Jenkins BHS Music Boosters Choir Scholarship, University Achievement Grant, On Campus Grant Iliana Karbowski Drama Department Award, Campbell Country Woman’s Club Music Scholarship, Choir Four Year Scholarship, CUHSD Theatre Fest Scholarship, Latinx Scholarship Farzaan Khan

PLTW Scholar Meagan Kiefer UO Summit Scholarship Minho Kim Visual Art: Photo Department Award, California State Seal of Biliteracy: Korean Sarah Kim Math Department Award Katarina Knezevic Sports Booster Scholarship, Athlete of the Year, UC Davis Grant Katlyn Lang UCLA Department of Music Scholarship Anastasia Langner English Department Award, BHS Music Boosters Band Scholarship, Bobette Bibo Gugliotta Memorial Scholarship in Creative Writing, Crain and Hazel Reed Baumeister Scholarship, 2019 AFSCME Family Scholarship Aaron Lenz Robbie Deauville Award Monique Lopez Campbell Country Woman’s Club Scholarship Alexandra Masegian PLTW Scholar, California State Seal of Biliteracy: German Emmalyn McCarthy PS President’s Scholarship, Puget Sound Grant Sophia McGee Intuit Scholarship Skyler Miller UO Summit Scholarship Drew Moore PLTW Scholar Lindsay Mullins Seattle University Merit Scholarship Andre Nassar PLTW Scholar Conner Ngo The Deputy Sheriffs’ Association of Santa Clara County, Leadership Department Award Nathan Niu PLTW Scholar, Cully Plant Gabrielle O’Neill WVC Community Grant Sophia Passarelli WUE Scholarship

Garrett Peake PLTW Scholar, SVCE Ride to the Future Alfonso Perez Kiwanis Turnaround Scholarship, Agnes Porter Award: Truck Mechanics Joseph Perez PLTW Scholar, Edwin A. Stevens Scholarship, Stevens Grant Troy Pesavento PLTW Scholar, Citizenship Award, SVCE Ride to the Future Julia Peterson Minds Move Mountains Scholarship Jaiden Pickford PLTW Scholar Lauryn Ping NHS Scholarship, BHS Music Boosters Band Scholarship Jade Raynon Chapman Merit Scholarship Samantha Rocheville College Grant Reese Rosenberg AMIOA Scholarship, NBVA Scholarship Noah Rushing PLTW Scholar Ten Sanchez Music: Vocal Department Award Vincent Scrivens PLTW Scholar Alex Shaheen Kiwanis Turnaround Scholarship Benjamin Shoemaker PLTW Scholar, Physical Science Department Award, SVCE Ride to the Future, UC Berkeley Regents and Chancellors’ Scholarship Jessica Silva Citizenship Award Casey Smith Biological Science Department Award, UC Regents Scholarship Madison Smith CommonWealth Central Credit Union Scholarship Keshavan Srivatsan PLTW Scholar Dylan Staud PLTW Scholar, XILINX Scholarship Hannah Styer PTSA Scholarship

Lauren Suiter CUHSD Theatre Fest Scholarship Nicole Sweeney Optimist Club Award Winner, Senior of the Year, Physical Education Department Award Milton Tang UCI Grant Francesca Torres Citizenship Award, California Teacher’s Association Award: Forensic Science, CCGC Scholarship Noel Torres Citizenship Award Hana Tzou PTSA Scholarship, Yearbook Department Award Jennifer Vangelisti Campbell Country Woman’s Club Scholarship Henrik Vanitegem WVC Community Grant Timothy Vermeersch PLTW Scholar George David Vetushko Salutatorian, UCLA Grant Mia Voss Citizenship Award Nora Vu ASVAB Career Exploration Scholarship: Veterinary Science, Golden State Scholarship Award Clarabelle Walkup Robbie Deauville Award, NROTC College Scholarship James Wateska UCI Grant Cole Wilson PLTW Scholar Ken Yamashita Music: Instrumental Department Award Claire Young Visual Art: 2-D Art Department Award, UC Regents Scholarship Doreen Yu California State Seal of Biliteracy: Chinese Lang, Provost’s Gold Scholarship Aleksandra Yusim Daughter’s of the American Revolution Good Citizen Award

DUBIOUS HIGH SCHOOL ACHIEVEMENTS

Here are some odd achievments that seniors have made throughout their high school career

Zero the Hero Scoring a zero percent on his chemistry final, based on a challenge from science teacher Juan Fernandez.

Evan Gao

An Immoral Medalist Most obscene comments during her English class Taylor Susewitz

A Mouth Fit to Fist Shoving her entire hand in her mouth, despite objections.

Kyra Bouchereau

The Tardiest Title-hold-er Being late to a majority of her first period classes.

Bella Glass

UZOR AWUZIE STUDENT LIFE EDITOR

An achievement fit to print n an afternoon in February 2018, I’m sitO ting in my Journalism class. My strained eyes skim over my Black History Month spread

on the computer screen one last time to finalize everything. I print it out for my adviser to check.

After hours of editing, writing, and designing, the remaining students turn in their finished pages, say their goodbyes and head out. Before I leave, I stop and take one last look at each finished product. The paper is done.

Now, because of that spread, I can proudly refer to myself as an award-winning journalist.

Writing for the Bear Witness gave me a completely new outlook on Branham. Each issue, we strive to cover the most relevant issues in unique way, even if it means interviewing every single involved person. It is exhausting at times, but when I walk down the hall and see a Latinx student reading the latest news on immigration, or seeing curious upperclassmen learning about the candidates of the latest election, I know our hard work is worth it.

The first time I considered joining Journalism was when I was approached by my adviser and chemistry teacher Fitz Vo, in my chemistry class. After admiring the artwork I had done on an assignment, he suggested I draw for the school newspaper. Drawing wasn’t really my passion, but I joined anyway, thinking it could be something new. I found myself drawn more to staff writing, as it was an opportunity to share and inform others about your passions.

I was assigned my first spread, and we decided that it would be about Black History Month.

Initially, I struggled with the angle of the spread. Students already have a general idea of what Martin Luther King Jr., Harriet Tubman and W.E.B. Du Bois all fought for, so how could we broach a unique angle that the Bear Witness could call its own?

That’s when my adviser brought my attention to the black students around campus. Each student has their story regarding their race or their culture. We scouted black students on campus and captured how they felt as a person of color on campus. We took those students’ experiences, some statistics and other facts about Branham to assemble a full-page spread. I remember excitedly running over to the first stack of newspapers I saw to look at my work in print. It felt like the first masterpiece that I could call my own, but I wasn’t expecting much out of it.

Fast forward nine months, and win third-place for Design of the Year 2018 from the National Scholastic Press Association. I couldn’t be with my reporters in Chicago to accept my plaque, but I felt their excitement, as well as pride in myself, because I knew my hard work paid off.

Even if it isn’t the field I go into,journalism and the class that introduced me to it will always hold a place in my heart.To know that thousands of people across the country know the name Uzor Awuzie and recognize the work I call my own is undoubtedly the biggest achievement I’ll have.

Illustrated by Laura Heffernan and Elizabeth Posey

FAVORITE YEAR? Save the best for last. 53.2% of seniors said that this year was their best.

REJECTED FROM DREAM SCHOOL?

For 78.4% of Branham seniors, the answer is yes.

For example, only 8 Branham students have been admitted to Stanford and Cornell for example in the years that Branham has used Naviance to track college statistics.

LAURA HEFFERNAN ARTS EDITOR

Confessions of a caffeine addict

EVER BEEN DRUNK?

have an addiction.

I Every morning I wake up at six and make my way over to the

dark corner of the kitchen. I open the cabinet above my head and pull out a filter and coffee grounds. I take the coffee pot and fill it with 10 cups of water before pouring it in the top of the coffee maker. I go back to my room and wait to hear the three beeps. I drink my first two cups of the day.

My caffeine addiction started in Mr. Lei’s fourth period English Honors class. That class always involved reading a book, which did not go over well with my sleepy mind first thing in the morning.

I would always be on the verge of falling asleep during that class. I knew that if I didn’t want to get yelled at, I would have to change that. I always made coffee in the morning for my dad, so my solution was simple. I would just make more coffee every morning and drink it during my tiring English class.

Seeing that this was helpful in keeping me moderately responsive in the mornings, I was encouraged to keep drinking more and more coffee. Coffee would continue to get me through every first period class.

As I began to like coffee more for the taste, I would drink it when I got home from school as well. My warm cups of coffee would soothe me while I tried to make my way through my piles of homework.

Journalism was one of these classes that would indirectly encourage my caffeine addiction. My dad would make jokes saying that I couldn’t be a journalist if I didn’t drink coffee and I would jokingly respond, “Guess I’ve got to drink more, then!”

Deep down, I secretly liked fulfilling the coffee-drinking journalist stereotype. I guess I know who to blame for all of this then: myself.

When I say that I am addicted to caffeine, I am not exaggerating or being dramatic. Days when I try to go without caffeine are both mentally and physically difficult. Mentally, I want the coffee. The taste of the extra dark french roast satisfies me in the morning while I am getting ready for the day. Routine is crucial to me and coffee is simply part of my routine.

Physically, I need the coffee. I am fully aware that high amounts of caffeine, or anything for that matter, is not healthy. For this reason I try to cut back or go without coffee on certain days. Cutting back for a day is bearable, but going without it is painful.

I go through withdrawals. A couple hours after my scheduled coffee time, I begin to get a headache. By the middle of the day that headache has turned into a migraine, and I begin to feel nauseous. When I feel this way, I get very irritable and all I want to do is spend the entire day in bed. Not good.

So why don’t I just wean myself off coffee? Simple. I don’t want to. Not yet, at least. I am willing to cut back to two cups per day - maybe - but I don’t want to stop drinking it. I don’t want to give up the relaxing feeling that it brings me in the morning.

Coffee provides a time for me to just sit down, ready to start my day.

Maybe one day I will find an alternative way to be able to relax in the mornings. When that day comes I will make the great attempt to stop drinking coffee. Until then, I am going to stick to my four cups of coffee a day.

EVER SKIPPED CLASS?

For 41.3% of Branham seniors the answer is YES. Drivers aged 16-20 are 17 times more likely to die in a crash when they have a blood alcohol level of .08% than when they are sober.

Only 45.6% of seniors have admitted to playing hookie.

According to the New York Times and a Johns Hopkins survey, up to 15% of American high schoolers are chronically absent.

BEEN TO A FOOTBALL GAME? 93.6% of seniors have cheered on our Bruins in person. Go team! Beat the other team!

BEEN IN A RELATIONSHIP FOR 2+ MONTHS? Love is in the air. 62.6% of seniors have been in a relationship lasting longer than two months. That's older than some sweaters. For 42.7% of seniors the night choice during homecoming week is to attend the night rally.

DO YOU HAVE YOUR LICENSE? 69.6% of seniors had the drive to get a license before they graduated In 2015, according to a Pew Charitable Trust survey, 71.5% of high schoolers will have had their license by the time they graduate.

EVER BREAK DOWN IN MIDDLE OF CLASS? Stress from school can often lead to breakdowns. For 52.6% of seniors, those breakdowns have occurred during class.

HOW DO YOU FEEL ABOUT HIGH SCHOOL ENDING?

SMOKED POT?

46.2% of seniors are happy to move on from Branham

42.7% of seniors have used the devil’s lettuce According to a National Institute on Drug Abuse survey, 37.1% of high school seniors used marijuana in 2017.

LIED TO A TEACHER? EASIEST GRADE?

Pants on fire? 73.7% of seniors have lied to teachers about schoolwork.

While junior year was viewed the hardest seniors chose freshman year as the easiest.

PHONE OF CHOICE? Apple phones appeal to 88.3% of seniors Of the 223 million smartphone users in 2017, over 90 million owned an iPhone.

CAFFEINE ADDICTION? 23.4% of seniors require at LEAST one cup of coffee to get through the day Doctors recommend that teenagers only consume 100 mg of caffeine per day, about one cup, in comparison to the three to four cups that adults can have.

HAVE YOU PROCRASTINATED? Like 97.7% of seniors I’ll just answer this later A study from Studymode revealed that when procrastinating, 62% of students chose to watch TV.

FIRST THING YOU DO WHEN YOU GET HOME? Food on the brain. 59.1% of seniors eat as soon as they get home.

HOW MUCH TIME DO YOU SPEND ON YOUR PHONE? Nomophobia much? 56.1% of seniors spend 2-4 hours on their phone each day.

According to a 2018 Pew Research Center study 78% check their devices regularly

DO YOU STAY UP LATE WATCHING VINE COMPLILATIONS? Vine compilations, 49.1% of seniors love you.

5 Vines are Tweeted every second.

BEST PART OF HOCO? WHICH DO YOU PREFER? 56.1% of seniors prefer the always erasable pencil to pens.

For 42.7% of seniors, the Night Rally was tops during Homecoming Week.

The Class of 2019 is diverse, and they’ll let you know it WHICH TEST IS WORSE: AP, finals or the SAT?

DID YOU ENJOY HIGH SCHOOL?

43.3% of seniors agree: AP tests, finals, and the SAT are all equally bad.

For 82.5% of seniors, high school was a happy experience.

RENEE OWENS NEWS EDITOR

ARE YOU SEXUALLY ACTIVE? INTROVERT OR EXTROVERT? 56.1% of seniors prefer their own company According to a study by Harvard university found introverts have more grey matter in their brain. This matter is in charge of making decisions and critical thinking.

47.4% of seniors have put their sex education classes to use. According to the Guttmacher Institute 79% of females aged 13-19 use contraceptives the first tome they have ses.

WHAT IS YOUR POLITICAL PARTY AFFILIATION?

IN ANY CLUBS/EXTRACURRICULARS? 49.6% of seniors support the donkey party. 200,000 Californians aged 16-17 have pre-registered to vote in the past two years.

There's no such thing as too much of a club thing for the 71.3% of students who joined clubs and extracurricular. According to the National Federation of State High School Association, 7,980,886 student participated in a sport in 2018

FAVORITE PET?

HAVE YOU EVER CHEATED ON A TEST? You might be in the dog house with 70.2% of seniors if you don’t like dogs.

According to the Insurance Information Institute 193.3 million freshwater fish are owned nationwide.

65.5% of seniors have gained an unfair advantage on an exam. The Josephson Institute Center for Youth Ethics found that approximately 1 in 3 high school students said they have used to internet in order to plagiarize an assignment.

FAVORITE DANCE? Worth the wait. 50.9% of seniors agree that prom is their favorite dance.

HAVE YOU EVER BEEN CHEATED ON? Just when I cheated you most. 24.6% of seniors say they have been cheated on. According to Psychology Today,. cheating rates for men and women are about the same with 30-35% of men and 10-15% of women.

HAVE YOU EVER VAPED IN CLASS? 18.1% of students have D.A.R.Eed to use banned substances in class.

According to a report from the Surgeon General in 2016 the use of e-cigarettes has grown 900 percent in recent years (JUUL launched in 2015).

PULLED AN ALL-NIGHTER Desperate times call for desperate measures. 49.1% of seniors have pulled an all-nighter studying.

FAVORITE THING ABOUT HIGH SCHOOL? 71.3% of seniors get by with a little help from their friends.

CRUSHED ON A TEACHER 22.8% of seniors have liked class a little too much.

MOST ICONIC DUO? 87.1% of seniors dare you to name a more iconic duo than social science teachers Kirk Selfridge and Brett Johanson. They are so close-knit that they take bathroom breaks together. This isn't a joke.

LIED ON THIS SURVEY Be honest, only 11.6% said that they lied on this survey.

ARE YOU LGBTQ+?

Gay is okay. 19.3% of seniors identify as LGBTQ+ and 29.2% have questioned their sexuality.

The FAIR Education act mandates schools to provide information about LGBT figures in history and the curriculum was updated to include more LGBTQ+ history.

Data compiled from a survey of 236 seniors.

Lost?

Show up and shut up

how up. Shut up. It’s not everyS thing, but taking these two steps is a fantastic way to get ahead and

succeed in life.

Just over two years ago, I was standing in the pouring rain on Leigh High School’s football field, awkwardly clutching my borrowed field hockey stick. I didn’t know how to hit, how to pass or even what to do with the stick when I wasn’t in active play.

A year and a half later, I joined Branham’s varsity field hockey team and ended the season as a starting player.

This change did not happen overnight, however. It took two years of vulnerability, losing against players better than me as I worked towards their level. How could I ever succeed when everyone else has more natural talent than me?

What I’ve found over the last four years is that anyone can be successful in new situations if they use the rule of “show up and shut up” to get started.

“Show up” is one of the easiest things someone can do to get ahead, but it makes a huge difference in the learning opportunities one is exposed to.

Field hockey practice was only required once a week, but I signed up to practice three times. I tried to notice small ways the more experienced players set themselves apart, like keeping their hand low on the stick and keeping their head up while playing. If I lost my focus and tried to push forward without learning how to play properly, I would never have been a decent player; I needed to learn first, build up confidence in my game, then strike my path forward.

This is precisely why, in new situations, it’s helpful to “shut up.”

“Shut up” does not mean “keep your head down,”“keep quiet” or “fit in.” Everyone has a lesson to teach others, and in order to grow as a person, you have to pay attention and listen to all the lessons you can learn from the others who came before you, who know more than you.

I wouldn’t be who I am today without the lessons I learned from the people around me. One of the greatest parts of life is seeing what other people are excited about, deciding to try it out and realizing, “Oh, I like this, too.”

I was terrified when, in my junior year, I decided to try out for Branham’s performance of “Almost, Maine.”

Although I have appreciated drama for my whole life, I knew very little about the technical aspects or how stressful it is to be onstage, the lights blaring down and the world painfully silent.

The creativity of those around me allowed me to pull through. Just a few months later, when I helped stage manage for “Little Shop of Horrors,” our lighting technician would sing along to the show over the headsets.

Learning from others doesn’t have to mean learning information; often, it means learning a love of something you hadn’t fully appreciated before.

His joy while working on the show was contagious, and those on headset spent the evening smiling.

On that field, I was soaked to the bone and embarrassingly bad at playing.

Frankly, I didn’t want to be there. But I knew that I wanted to get better, and I knew that the only way to do so was to pay attention and put in the time.

Many of the things we learn in life come from our superiors, and many more don’t. Many things we learn in life come from a book, but many more don’t. Usually, life doesn’t tell us to pay attention, that “this will be on the test later,” until after the fact. We have to pay attention all the time if we want to grow.

“Show up and shut up” means “try new things, put the time in and pay attention.”There are a hundred new lessons to learn today from a hundred different people, and this is one lesson I used to get started.

Inspiration | Those who never stopped doodling From Page 1 “And then from then on, I got better and created my own style.”

Abrielle learned a lot about herself in this process; she found her inner artist. What’s key to learn about her experience, is that though many criticize children for interest in manga, it’s a valid interest that she used to start drawing until she eventually developed her own style.

To make something distinctively your own, whether it be art or otherwise, often takes replicating the processes and works of others, until you have the skills to make something entirely yourself.

My art habits as a kid also reflect a lot about who I am now and what I learned in high school. One of the most important things though, I started to doodle again.

When I was a kid, I always colored in the lines with appropriate, logical colors. I would meticulously color all the way up to the line and mind the streakiness of my crayons. If I was coloring Ariel from The Little Mermaid, which I definitely did, you could bet that her hair was firetruck red and her seashell bra was purple.

Describe it as you will, I have been the epitome of a Type A person, a Virgo or perfectionist since childhood. That was part of the reason I stopped doodling and sketching things; I never thought my doodles were good enough to keep doing them. But the point of doodles is not for them to be perfect, but to have fun and encourage creativity, not that it mattered to me at the time.

However, if I drew my own creations, I was much more inventive with them. I didn’t feel constrained to color things as they typically were in real life, because I colored them the wacky ways I had imagined. For

The point of doodles is not for them to be perfect. some reason, coloring pages set me on a definitive path, one set on order, but I still had the capability to be imaginative, a capability I like to think I still have.

Eventually though, I stopped doodling, sketching and even coloring. It took me a while because my dream in elementary and middle school was to become a fashion designer, so I drew design after design on croquises, but I stopped by the time I was in high school.

For senior Tara Carrillo, she also stopped drawing in this same time period. She took art her freshman year, but soon found she was too busy to continue, even though she enjoyed it.

“It was a great stress reliever,” Tara said. “And when I was drawing, I got away from the real world for a little bit” She saw art taking her far at the time, but one day she just stopped. She may return to it eventually, if she can find the time for it, but it’s not one of her priorities now that she’s going to college.

Her experiences when she was younger still have an impact on who she is today. She cites much of her creativity now and her expert poster making skills to the art foundation she built in her first 14 years of life. It also allowed her to keep calm and persevere in life.

It’s OK to stop doing a passion of yours, it’s OK to change like Tara did. People aren’t static, we are bound to change. Those experiences still reflect positively on your character, and you can always pick up old hobbies once more.

That’s exactly what senior Julianna Amireh did. She grew up experimenting with art like everyone does, but stopped until she picked it up again this year.

“Once we got into middle School, we were asked to put all that away and start using calculators and to do science and English,” she said. “Art was put on a pause.”

Julie pressed play this year, when she started Art 1 as a senior. She describes coming back to an old hobby as a great experience, one where she can finally learn art in a more formal sense, even though it was awkward at first being one of only a few seniors in her class.

To come back to a new hobby, to learn something new has been inspirational to Julie.

“You’re so caught up in your family, and you don’t really have time for yourself, so anything that like relieves stress or makes you happy, especially something new, it gets you going again,” she said.

Even though Julie stopped, she came back to it. Hobbies are never lost, and she was able to learn a lot from her new experiences. We never stop growing and learning, no matter how old, so it’s important to reflect that reality by continuing to seek out knowledge and skills, whether it be for fun or for a specific reason.

For me, it wasn’t until I took journalism that I began to sketch and doodle again, whether it be a page design or a rough idea for a visual. I even began to dabble in vector art, something I wouldn’t have done if there wasn’t a need. It didn’t remind me of being a kid at the time, but looking back now, it’s clear that I still approach casual drawing in a similar way—precisely and whimsically.

That’s why sketching and doodling has become so important to me now: I’m not great at it, but if I let go and let the colors mix sometimes, I can learn a lot and come up with something neat.

Outside and inside my comfort zone, in journalism and sports y first time visiting Branham, my M mom did most of the talking. I was an eighth grader setting up my freshman year schedule with Mr. Hayashi.

I was a quiet and intimidated middle school student, and wouldn’t talk to teachers unless I was forced to. During the meeting, Mr. Hayashi recognized that I needed to be more willing to open up and communicate better with others, no matter what growing pains I would go through.

Long story short, as my old self began to fade away, my communication skills gained a considerable upgrade through my four years in high school. Soon, I will go into college as a communications major.

Journalism forced me to go out of my comfort zone and talk to different people.

The more I talked to students and teachers, that aspect became less of what seemed like a dire situation and into an everyday thing.

The best part of journalism was the writing. Even though I was always under pressure to finish things faster than humanly possible - I almost never met initial deadlines (including for this one) - I liked putting facts and information together.

I wrote for every section, but really shined when covering sports. It was my opportunity to follow Branham’s teams and beat out everybody as the expert for all of them.

If there was a game, I was there, often with a camera which, to most who didn’t know me, became an iconic figure.

I surrounded myself with sports so much that I arguably became part of the teams.

I showed up hours early and traveled so much it felt like I was racing across America. In the fall there would be Thursday night volleyball at Branham and a quick turnaround for Friday night football over at Independence or Gunderson. Spring would bring days where I bounced around campuses for volleyball, baseball, and badminton, to name a few.

For certain sports I showed up to every game, home and away. It would have been easier if I had those portals from “Super Mario World,” but it would never have been as rewarding as the grind: going back and forth between sites, game recaps, photo uploads, staying up past midnight.

Through all of the games that I’ve been to, I always wanted to experience more of it. All of it was exciting and enthralling, and it was never enough for me. I always wanted to do more, a welcome sign from everyone involved, from athletes and

RYAN MCCARTHY SPORTS EDITOR

coaches to viewers alike, who all loved it themselves.

When ball becomes life Perhaps my best experiences at Branham were sports-related, though not through journalism.

Playing high school basketball gave me the chance to meet many great people with whom I became friends. I got to witness a lot of memorable moments from all of the games we played together, like Jacob Dressler beating the buzzer against Saratoga, the crazy dad from Piedmont Hills, and winning this year’s CCS second round game at home — on my birthday no less.

Practices were always fun, and also had its moments. I owned little Avichai Cooper in 1-on-1 games to 21, shut down Erik Sanchez in scrimmages, and hit impossible jumpers over Henry Wright III, which became my legacy among the team.

But it all started freshman year. The freshman team squad that lasted all the way through senior year, Jonathan Vo and Aric Cutuli, were my longest tenured teammates in high school basketball. They made fun of me way too much, but they were great people to play with. They were the ones who helped pick me up after mistakes in practice, and who pushed me to get better, on the court, in the classroom, or anything else. Cutuli literally pushed me sometimes. To the ground.

I’ve known Cutuli since elementary school. I’ve always known him as the nerdjock hybrid that I only thought could be created in a lab. He knows Tony Stark-level math, and can also lift weight comparable to compact cars for fun. He got into UCLA off the waitlist, and he deserves it.

They’re also the ones who begged me to come to their CCS run last season while they played volleyball. That turned into the catalyst for my coverage for football, soccer, and baseball, as well as doubling as a player and reporter for basketball.

My basketball teammates were the ones who gave me the in for what I do now: reporting on sports around Branham, and going on to do the same in college.

They said that they will tell their families they used to remember me from high school when they see me hosting SportsCenter one day. They can come by any time.

(Still wish someone would have filmed that shot over Henry. It really did happen, and it was awesome).

We asked seniors to write a note to someone who has helped them throughout high school. Here’s what they wrote and are sharing.

To my teachers, I will never be able to thank you enough. In my most difficult struggles and weakest moments of this year, I have portrayed a terrible version of myself I never knew existed. I became an awful student, a horrible teammate, and an unreliable friend. Yet, through it all, even when I gave up on myself, you ever gave up on me. While I felt so worthless, you showed me my worth. I can honestly say you saved my life. To

Mrs. Correll, thank you being the first to reach out.

Before you helped me sort out my day one morning, I remember sobbing in bed before school thinking: “What’s the point?” At the end of that day, everything worked out, and it was the first moment I started to believe in myself again. To Ms. Freschi, thank you for making me feel welcome by greeting me with a warm smile each morning. Thank you for telling me you were happy to see me, even when I thought I was in-

visible. But most importantly, thank you for teaching me it is okay to be vulnerable because everyone is. To Mr. Vo, thank you for your positive words and being the one I could share my story to. Thank you for asking if I was okay and for asking how you could help. To my teachers, thank you for saving my life.

Anonymous

ANNALISE FREIMARCK MANAGING EDITOR

A letter to my past self remember when I was in elementary school, I in line for hot lunch. It was pizza day, and I was so excited because that meant that we would get pizza from Domino’s instead of the rectangle pizza we usually got that tasted like cardboard. I remember the distinct smell of the cafeteria, a mix of sweat and dust, and the pizza smell wafting over to me. As I got closer to ordering, I remember feeling my palms sweating and being shaky, afraid that I was going to mess up when I was talking or that I was going to drop my money and embarrass myself.

I didn’t know it then, but those symptoms were the beginning of my anxiety. It got worse as I got older, until the point in seventh grade where I was avoiding hanging out with my friends because I was worried that I would only disappoint them or that I would say the wrong thing.

I rarely spoke in class, and I was sinking into depression as a result of my own self-deMental health terms: structive tendencies.

Anxiety I was diagnosed a nervous disorder with panic disorder, social anxiety, general characterized by a state anxiety disorder and of excessive uneasiness major depressive and apprehension, disorder in seventh typically with compulgrade. These diagnosive behavior or panic ses felt like the scariest things that the attacks. therapist could have said to me. I worried constantly about what Major Depressive Disorder was wrong with me, and I didn’t know a mental disorder how to cope with my characterized by a own thoughts.

I eventually started persistently depressed mood and long-term to take back control loss of pleasure or of my own life as I went to therapy interest in life, with and was prescribed other symptoms, such anti-anxiety medicaas lack of sleep tions, but that dark time in my life still affects me daily.

Now, as a senior about to graduate high school, reflecting back on those years, I have a few bits of advice for my past self: It is OK to not feel OK. It is OK to need to seek help. I know that you’re scared, and that anxiety is controlling your life, and despite what your therapist tells you, no, it does not get any easier. Mental illness does NOT get any easier, no matter what meds they have you on, although they do help to ease it.

Anxiety is not easy to have, when it feels like everyone around you is judging every terrible thing that you’ve done or said. However, you will learn to channel it into a burning curiosity that pushes you to do things you never dreamed were possible. You are a journalist now! Can you believe it? You interview people every month, on topics ranging from teachers’ low salaries to immigration. You’ve traveled to Dallas, San Francisco, Chicago and most recently Anaheim to national journalism conferences and the paper you work for is one of the best.

I know what you’re saying: “That is impossible. I can’t even talk to my own teachers, let alone interview people every month on difficult topics.” But you can, and you will!

Because of your struggle right now, you understand the importance of empathy more than anyone, and listening to others’ stories of injustice spurs you into action, pounding away at those keyboard keys, eager to share the struggles of others so that awareness is spread.

You can and will give a voice to the voiceless.

Right now, every single day is a battle, and to be honest with you, it still feels that way, with my head spinning a thousand miles a minute and my breathing short; but, I can tell you that this battle is worthwhile and so are you. Your stories have impact on people, in a way that seemed always out of reach. Your dreams of finding a passion are coming true as we speak.

And yes, your hands still do shake before interviews, and you do still have to force yourself to open the door. That will most likely never go away. But I can tell you that, while things seem like the end of the world right now in a very dramatic teenager-y way, your anxiety has allowed you to do so much more than you know, and I know you can handle whatever life hurls at you.

Air conditioning: During the 201516 school year, there were a series of hot days where school was canceled because of the high temperatures and lack of air conditioning.

Beat Leigh: The first time that the Class of 2019 saw Branham beat Leigh in football was senior year. Previous years resulted in losses and the our win wasn’t expected as they lost three straight games before Leigh.

to

Cindy: Cindy is a beloved mannequin that Branham students dressed up in spirit gear for the football season. She participated in Blue Crew.

by Julia Marques da Silva illustrated by Reese Rosenberg

Eighties: This totally radical decade was the class of 2019’s homecoming theme junior year.

Greek Gods: This was class of 2019s homecoming theme. Our god was Poseidon and everything that our washed away the competition to take second in skit.

Kehlani: WILD 94.9 had a contest for Kehlani to perform at a high school in the Bay Area. She was unable to perform the end of the 2015- 2016 year but came back the next year.

Outside in the rain: The class of 2019 has been caught in the rain multiple times due to fire alarms sent off by chemistry teachers.

Second Place Skit: Most of the time, freshmen place last in homecoming events. The 2019 class surged to place second for skit during their freshman year

What’s your why?: P.E. Teacher Christine Henebry started the program during the class of 2019’s senior year.

It focused on helping students find a purpose for everything they pursue.

Hydroflasks: This trend wasn’t always present at Branham until the school year of 2016-2017. During the school year, everytime when someone dropped their hydro flask, a lot of students would yell “hydro” and ask if there were any dents on the bottle.

Lorax: A tree was cut down in Hallway M and an unknown student put a Lorax paper cut out on the stump a student snapped a picture and tweeted it. This tweet went viral and even ended up on some instagram meme pages.

Pasteface: A band made by Branham seniors consisting of Gabreel Burrows, Milo Ford, and Vincent Scrivens

Triathlons in P.E.: Freshmen were required to make teams of three, for each leg of a triathlon and participate in the triathlon competition where each team received a time. Based on who was the fastest in each heat, they would participate a second time to find the fastest team out of the grade.

Xilinx: Local company that supported Project Lead The Way through grants and scholarships.

Inside of classrooms: Because of the local wildfires air quality reached a whopping 200 AQI during the Camp Fires resulting in students staying inside to avoid the unhealthy air.

Morp: ASB would host a dance for any student who didn’t/couldn’t go to prom that year. The last one held was during the 2015-2016 year on the football field. There was food trucks, games, and face painting.

Quiz in WHAP: Class of 2019 had their own cheating scandal with a quiz in AP World History and it resulted in getting their quiz scores canceled.

Under construction: Most the years spent at Branham for the class of 2019 were spent under construction

Youth justice: The class of 2019 has led the March for Our Lives rally for the past few years at Branham and helped organize the rally in San Jose this year.

Dress code: The dress code was a huge debate between administrators and students at Branham. During the 2017-2018 school year, a petition was started by a student to change the dress code resulting in a new dress code being implemented in the 201819 school year.

JULIA MARQUES DA SILVA DESIGN DIRECTOR

Before I kick the bucket s high school comes to a close, I have started A a new bucket list for what I want to do in my first decade of being an adult. I have already made one of the biggest decisions in my life by planning to attend an university in September of this year.

Frozen yogurt: The cafeteria use to sell different flavors of frozen yogurt for lunch. During hot days, students were found eating the yogurt throughout the campus.

Personal • Speak my mind more often: I have a tendency to keep my thoughts in my head rather than voicing them. Using my voice more often would help get things off my chest that might be concerning in me in certain situations.

• Become more content with myself: Self love is hard for a lot of people and I recognize that I need to be nicer to myself and be happy with what I’m doing with my life. Become more proud of the woman that I am.

• Stop saying sorry all of the time: I have a bad habit of saying sorry without any reason. I don’t want to be so apologetic when I get into my life as an adult.

Jaws theme song: To fight against tardies, the administration played the jaws theme song to reduce tardiness.

Students knew that when they heard the infamous “Dunnn dnn” they had five minutes to get to class or they would get detention.

Living in Edinburgh for college • Visit The Royal Mile Gallery on the Royal Mile: This is a store that is filled with antique prints and maps. When I visited the city, this was one of the stores on the Royal Mile that caught my attention, but I never got to go in.

• See the sunset at Calton Hill: This is one of most iconic sights in the city of Edinburgh and was featured in the film One Day, a sad romantic film, that’s one of my favorite movies.

• Have a picnic in the Princes Street Gardens: There are two public parks that are adjacent to each other that are nearby the Edinburgh Castle.

In the summer, a lot of people have picnics there on the lawn.

No parking: If you’ve been in the parking lot after 7:55 you know.

Romance: Love was in the air for the class of 2019’s sophomore homecoming.

Volleyball CCS Championships: Some of members of the class of 2019 were able to win CCS Championships last year for Boys Volleyball. The finals were on the day of prom, so they were late to take pictures and go to the dance.

Zeitgeist: Every AP Lang student should know what this word means.

Education • Graduate from college: High school was a rollercoaster. I’m assuming that college is going to be a bigger rollercoaster ride, and I want to survive it.

• Get a graduate degree: I think it would be fun to pursue a graduate degree to improve my knowledge in my major. It’s something that I considered while choosing my school.

• Study abroad: Although I’m might be going out of the country for college, I still want to study abroad to a different country so I can experience different cultures. This is one of the few opportunities that I can pick up everything, leave and come back.

Professional • Find a job that I love: You can tell when someone is passionate about what they do when they do it. I aspire to be that person in the future when I pursue my career.

• Help people through my job: I coached gymnastics for a while during high school and it was a pretty rewarding job. I hope that I will be able to find a job where I can help people’s lives and make an impact.

• Have a balance between work and personal life: I want to be able to enjoy the fruits of my labor every once and awhile. I believe to have a good life, you need a balance of both.

Fun • Buy myself a diamond ring: This was inspired a lot from “Parks and Rec” with the saying “Treat Yourself ” by Tom and Donna. I believe that if I could buy myself something as expensive as a diamond ring, then I have become an independent woman • Travel to Florence, Italy: Ever since my history teacher sophomore year taught about the Renaissance period, I have wanted to go to Florence to see all of the artwork with my own eyes.

• Find a favorite plant: My grandmother loves orchids and has over a hundred of them in her garden. My mother loves succulents and has many of them throughout the house. I just want to find a plant that I can obsess over.

••••••• A lot of these on my list have been inspirations from my high school career at Branham and chances I took. I wouldn’t know about Edinburgh without attending The University of Edinburgh meeting in the College and Career Center.

I wouldn’t be able to learn what I need to work on myself without going through all of the things that high school threw at me. I had a small bucket list coming into high school and I’m excited to see what the future holds for me.

SCIENCE AND HEALTH

Vaccinated?

A new law mandates it for public school students.

Pg. 6

THE TEACHING

ARTS AND ENTERTAINMENT

Prates to retire after 20 years at Branham.

You think teaching is a game?

Well, it sort of is, since we made a board game of it.

Pg. 7

BACK PAGE

Pg. 7

BEAR

WITNESS BRANHAM HIGH SCHOOL

MAY 31, 2019

“

I went to the bathroom and one friend would always go. (I felt) not safe at all.”

Editorial: Administrators need to rewrite sexual harassment policy with clear-cut examples.

Page 3

BHSBEARWITNESS.COM

INCONSISTENT PROTOCOLS TO DEAL WITH HARASSMENT ON CAMPUS

School handles harassment cases unevenly

Monique Lopez, senior

Inside

ANNALISE FREIMARCK Managing Editor

n her freshman year, senior MoI nique Lopez said she was stalked and sexually harassed by a male junior student. She said that he constantly followed her, from class to class, and even to the bathroom. Lopez said that he would approach her and say lewd comments.

She said that once when she was talking with a male friend of hers, he pushed her friend and said, “She’s mine, back off.”

Tired of the harassment, Lopez reported the incidents to her counselor, who then pulled in the student and his parents to reprimand him and tell him to stop. She said that despite being told to stop, the student continued to follow Lopez and harass her.

Lopez reported him a second time, but he still did not stop. Lopez said the harassment continued around three times a week when she saw him around campus, until he graduated her sophomore year. She blames the repeated incidents on a lack of action from administration.

The constant harassment made Lopez paranoid to see him around campus.

“I was never alone,” she said, as a re-

STILL UNDER CONSTRUCTION

sult of her anxiety. “I went to the bathroom and one friend would always go.

(I felt) not safe at all.”

Branham has spent thousands of dollars on wrought iron fencing, and has implemented monthly lockdown drills, to practice how the school would protect its students and faculty in case of an active shooter.

However, along with Lopez, many SEE HARASSMENT • PAGE 2

TEACHER CONTRACT OK'D

A LONG WAIT FOR NEW CLASSROOMS

More than two years in, new buildings have yet to be occupied

New deal factors in cost of living expenses CHANDLER ROBERTS

T

Elizabeth Posey/Bear Witness Measure AA, passed in 2016, has been a boon to Branham and the district. Issues with PG&E and other delays have meant that most students enrolled when it was passed won't get to see the new buildings.

ELIZABETH POSEY Art Director

he Measure AA construction and T its delays were a “necessary evil” for English teacher Melanie Vega and many

others on campus, but as the school year comes to an end, returning students and teachers are excited to put the new facilities into use.

For Branham’s construction, few obstacles proved more serious than the delay of the pipe removal for which PG&E was responsible. The wait that began in December 2018, according to Principal Cheryl Lawton, and cost the school thousands of dollars, preventing progress in the completion of the new buildings.

Vega was inspired by her sophomores to create an assignment to write argumentative letters to PG&E to hasten the pipe’s removal. The classes faced disappointment multiple times as they and Vega were promised to move into the new rooms but were notified that the pipe had not yet been taken care of.

“I’m highly, personally annoyed, knowing that aspects of the construction were delayed specifically due to them not coming out,” said Vega.

Three weeks ago, her English two classes were in the midst of their Animal Farm unit, studying rhetorical devices.

Students in Vega’s class saw this as an opportunity to write letters to PG&E and the idea quickly developed into a lesson in argument writing to address a specific audience.

“How do you make sure someone at PG&E is actually going to start reading your letter and be like ‘oh wow’ and en-

INSIDE

@bhsbearwitness

Campus briefs.................................2 News.............................................. 2

gage with it?” Vega said.

While they used differing examples, students urged the ultimate message that PG&E’s failure to replace the gas line was a disruption and a disappointment to them.

Sophomore Sean Lim explained how the noise of construction was unwelcome while his grade took the PSAT “While taking this crucial exam, we were forced to pack into small rooms where we were disrupted by the cacophony of construction noises booming outside our window,” he wrote in his letter.

Megan Nakagawa, another sophomore in Vega’s class wrote that “the delayed construction is affecting Branham’s educational environment. It affects students.

It affects teachers. It affects administration. It affects parents. It affects other schools.”

Once done, Lawton emailed the letters directly to the Branham PG&E correspondent. According to the principal, PG&E responded quickly but with a defensive message, listing excuses and preoccupations that prevented their work at Branham. Nevertheless, this was a positive step considering that, previously, PG&E had given Lawton and those involved what Vega describes as “radio silence.”

Andrea Ciplickas, CEO of the CUHSD Education Foundation, also hand-delivered these letters to the PG&E building.

“It's really important, whether someone's going to listen to you or not, to actually take the chance and do it, because not acting and not saying anything guarSEE BUILDING • PAGE 2

Editorial..........................................3 Bulletin Board.................................3

Building blues For an assignment, English teacher Melanie Vega had her sophomores write a letter to PG&E complaining of their delays. Here are some excerpts.

Science and Technology..................4 Science/Tech Briefs.........................4

Tiffany La, sophomore

Eliza Ford, sophomore

Kendall Pangburn, sophomore

Kimberly Coke, sophomore

Mike Long, sophomore

Student Life....................................5 Mini Reviews..................................7

Copy Editor

he district teachers union has negotiated new contracts for next year with the intent to improve language from the previous contract to help with their compensation and class sizes.

“We were working towards completing the bargaining before the end of the school year, which hasn’t happened in a long time, if ever,” said district bargaining chair Meredyth Hudson.

They started negotiations in March because their current contract is expiring over the summer. The contracts in the past have only lasted a single school year but there was a tentative agreement that this new contract would end in the 2021-2022 school year.

One primary change in the new contract is compensation for cost of living.

This was one of the most contentious issues that was discussed, said Nick Cortez, special education teacher and bargaining co-chair.

“It’s harder and harder from teachers to get by in the Bay Area on the salaries that we’re given,” says Cortez, “so compensation is always the top concern.”

There is a three-year plan to increase compensation. The first year and second year will have $4,000 and $5,000 off-schedule payments implemented into paychecks. The compensation in the third year is dependent on the passage of a parcel tax. Teachers will get on-schedule compensation in their third year regardless, but the amount varies from $4,000 without the tax and $8,000 with the tax.

Some teachers aren’t entirely happy with this deal, citing where the money is going.

“They call it off track [off-schedule] and it doesn’t go towards retirement,” said CHSTA organizing chair Mike Dickey, “then they would turn those $4,000 dollars into actual money that goes into the retirement system, as retirement track (on-schedule) money.”

There were multiple changes to the contract in regard to special education. Language was added to limit teachers to teach two subjects per class period. On top of that class sizes have been restricted, too. Core courses such as English, math and science have a cap of 15 students while academic support has a cap of 18 people.

Teachers believe that it solves many problems they had been facing and the district is proud of the achievements made this year.

“There are a lot of items within that contract warrant good conversation,” said Hudson.

Sports.............................................6 Sports briefs...................................6

Arts & Entertainment.....................7 The Back Page................................8

2

BEAR WITNESS

NEWS

|

MAY 31, 2019 |

BHSBEARWITNESS.COM

“Teachers don’t like change, and any time there’s any proposed change someone freaks out.”

English and AVID teacher Rachelle Burnside”

Campus roundups Assistant principal heads to Del Mar; school promotes longtime counselor to position Longtime guidance counselor Loan Hong will be Branham’s new outgoing assistant Principal Larry Lopez, who will become Del Mar’s new principal. Lopez came to Branham in 2011 as its activities director, introducing the yearly tradition of Winter Wishes to the district.

District parcel tax survey To combat increasing fiscal hardship, the district is considering a second parcel tax measure for the 2020 election. They conducted a survey in late April to measure constituent opinion of the measure, which would tax land within the district either $120 or $365 a year. The results were favorable toward the measure, and respondents indicated that the funds should go to hiring, training and retaining teachers.

California approves new sex ed framework California education officials have approved a controversial new sex ed framework in accordance with the 2016 California Healthy Youth Act. The framework is not mandatory, but provides a information for teachers to use in curriculum. It covers a wide variety of topics including LGBTQ information, consent and HIV prevention.

Trustees adopt new district voting system Trustees announced their intent to switch to

Some teachers embrace grading policy District-led change aims to bring consistency

The 'uber' F Old policy F grades ranged from 0-59%, which make it difficult for some students to catch up.

SARAH SABAWI

T

Staff Writer

he new grading policy coming next year will change how Branham students are graded and what they are graded on.

The policy aims to target inequity in grading by establishing a standards-based grading system across all classes in the district. Among the changes: 1.The system will be rubric-based and grade students only on academic mastery subjects.

2.Behavior will no longer be able to affect a student’s final grade.

3.Homework will not be able to count for more than 20% of one's overall grade.

This policy will be applied across all ` sites sometime in the next few years.

“It’s less confusion, it’s more universal, and it’s easier for incoming students to understand and adapt to,” senior Clarabelle Walkup said, a student board member.

In the past, grading systems have varied between schools, between departments, and even between teachers. English teacher Rachelle Burnside, one of the teachers on the planning committee for the policy, said that this variation was a point of concern for the district.

“A kid should earn a grade because they’ve demonstrated academic mastery of the subject, not because in one person’s class this is what mastery looks like, and that’s a different standard than in a second teacher’s class,” Burnside said.

The policy was initially proposed in order to end what is jokingly referred to around the dis-

New policy F grades will range from 40-59%, which make it more likely for students to pass.

Fitz Vo/Bear Witness Math teacher Dennis Hong goes over the previous day's homework with his third period class. trict as “the uber F”—the fact that 59 percent of the standard grading scale is an F, while other letter grades are about 10 percent each.

“That’s a disproportionate amount of failure,” Burnside said. “The uber F is not statistically appropriate, so it can no longer be used.”

Not everyone is in favor of the policy, however. Upon its announcement, Westmont High School filed a grievance against the district, claiming that it did not have the right to impose grading policies.The committee claims that

these arguments are based in misconceptions.

“I think that a lot of teachers feel very emotionally attached to their grading system,” Burnside said. “Teachers don’t like change, and any time there’s any proposed change someone freaks out.”

Science teacher Juan Fernandez, who is also on the grading committee, supports the change.

“I believe there is a misconception that students get a grade for not doing anything,” Fernandez said. “The other one is ‘well, we’ve been grading like this for 150 years, what’s wrong with it?’ And there is still a lot of things that are wrong with it”.

They also want to make it clear that the policy will still let teachers grade how they want. Although the policy does put certain regulations on grading, it will not force all teachers to follow a specific scale.

The district is focusing on training teachers to grade accordingly.

“It’s a long process that’s going to take an enormous amount of support and communication from the district and the teachers,” Burnside said. “They’re going to have to invest a lot of time and resources into supporting teachers to do it well.”

Building | District says delays cost $600,000 From PAGE 1 antees you will not get a response,” said Vega.

Whether or not PG&E responded, Vega considers this lesson a success for her students in exercising their ability to confront issues that affect their lives and the community.

The company was scheduled to remove the pipe May 17 after a long waiting period. While this pipe was a source of frustration for those involved in Branham’s construction site, teachers and administration alike are relieved to put the struggle behind them and move into the new rooms.

A brief history of Measure AA Although the recent year’s construction was burdensome to students and administration irritated by the delay of the pipe, the Measure AA funded construction began on a much more hopeful note.

Since the idea’s conception in the summer of 2016, district construction funding gained tremendous support in the community.

When Principal Cheryl Lawton was hired in 2016, worked closely with teachers, students, and parents to address the needs of the campus through the measure AA bond.

The original goal for the bond was to provide money to construct new buildings, improve the safety of existing buildings and provide updates that allow students to remain competitive in the area. Now, some of these ideas have become realities on campus. From the beginning, there was little doubt that CUHSD would not receive the funds.

“By the time it passed, we already knew what type of buildings we were looking at. We had a whole general plan in place,” Lawton said.

That fall had been a busy one for the recently established Facilities Committee. In August 2016, teachers, students, staff and community

members from all sites of construction in the district met for a preliminary discussion of wants and needs for each school.

Lawton hoped that Branham would receive greater funding than other sites in the district.

Because of the school’s shut down in the 1990s, updates had been made to other schools in the district leaving Branham’s facilities to remain the more outdated ones across the district. For this reason, more bond money was originally allocated to Branham’s budget.

“We didn’t get everything we wanted, unfortunately,” Lawton said. “There was a lot of pushback” on behalf of other schools in the district.

Eventually each school’s funding was distributed in nearly even amounts, Branham still given more to update its facilities.

in these new buildings” said Pfeiffer “And that's what caused the most frustration, because we had every intent for them to be able to experience that and we were just not able to.”

One crucial tool that allows school sites to compensate for the bond money lost is a safety net of $2 million in case of unforeseen conditions. PG&E was covered because of this contingency; however, Pfeiffer said that the district is currently filing a claim with the company to recover some funds. She is unsure if the plan will end in success, considering that PG&E is filing for bankruptcy.

The contingency has helped in other cases as well. Setbacks when finding sewer lines during pool construction also required Branham to dip into its $2 million.

Money, money, money According to Nancy Pfeiffer-Torres, the district’s Assistant Superintendent of Business Services, Branham lost a significant portion of its land after Highway 85, completed in 1994, split the campus. For one of the fastest growing schools in the district, Branham has the least area and class space to hold its students.

The two-story classrooms — costing nearly $45 million, the most expensive component of Branham’s campus renovations — allow higher density learning environments to accommodate the increasing class sizes. This will also create more common spaces for students.

Construction, however, did not go on without some obstacles. The district claims that the misplaced gas line PG&E promised to remove and replace took a two year request and $600,000 in loss for the company to finally fix the situation.

“Some of our seniors that are graduating won't be able to experience taking classes

Looking forward Although significant progress has been made on the facilities with Measure AA funding, Lawton foresees more changes down the road.

Administration hopes for another bond measure to be introduced in 2022, allowing schools to make more necessary adaptations to accommodate student needs and class sizes.

Among many possibilities for growth, Lawton imagines a student union in the area of the cafeteria including meeting spaces and a media center, saying that architects are already drawing new plans for a renovation to the cafeteria space where she predicts the union would go. She believes that this may give an incentive for community members turn out at the polls like they did in 2016 for the most recent bond.

At this point, most proposals for the future are speculative and depend on how pragmatic choices may be prioritized as they did for this round of funding.

Editor-in-Chief Michaela Edlin Managing Editor Annalise Freimarck Design Director Julia Marques da Silva Art Director Elizabeth Posey

Editors News: Renee Owens Opinion: Julianne Alvares Science and Health: Shlok Gore Student Life: Uzor Awuzie Sports: Ryan McCarthy Arts and Entertainment: Laura Heffernan Copy: Chandler Roberts, Anastasia Langner Staff Writers Jessica Berton, Jasmine Nguyen, Sarah Sabawi, Caitlyn Schlaman

a by-trustee-area system of voting for board members, a shift from the current at-large system. In California law, the at-large system is legal as long as it does not lead to racially polarized voting. In an at-large system, everyone in a district votes for either two or three candidates from the whole district. In the by-trustee-area system, Board members must live in a designated trustee boundary and residents of that area vote for one trustee for their boundary.

— Compiled by staff

Harassment | Nearly one-third say they've been harassed at school From PAGE 1 students report not feeling safe within campus due to harassment from other students.

In the 2017-18 school year, 33% of freshman, 32% of sophomores, 29% of juniors and 29% of seniors reported to have experienced any kind of harassment, from sexual harassment, to bullying, according to the California Healthy Kids Survey, an anonymous survey that assesses school climate and safety. Also included in the survey, 9% of freshman, 10% of sophomores, 8% of juniors and 10% of seniors reported to have had sexual jokes, comments or gestures made at them four or more times throughout the 2017-18 school year.

Sexual harassment is defined as “making unsolicited and unwelcome written, verbal, physical, and/or visual contact with sexual overtones, or continuing to express sexual interest after being informed that the interest is unwelcome,” according to the Branham student handbook.

In comparison with other forms of harassment, Branham’s sexual harassment policy and definition is vague. Under the bullying section of the handbook, there are lists of examples of what constitutes bullying, and a direct procedure on how bullying should be handled, whether via the Internet or in person.

“We have to follow California’s ed code, it doesn’t matter what the handbook says,” said principal Cheryl Lawton.

California education code 212.5 defines sexual harassment/assault as unwelcome sexual advances, requests for sexual favors, and other verbal, visual, or physical conduct of a sexual nature, made by someone from or in the work or educational setting.

However, despite following this definition, among school administrators, there are discrepancies in how allegations of sexual harassment are handled, ranging from how administration flags sexual harassment cases, to students being forced to self-advocate when dealing with harassment.

Inconsistencies in current protocol As old administrators leave, and new administrators come in, protocol changes for how to handle these kinds of allegations and how they are processed because each person handles things differently. For example, assistant principal Rick Hayashi and Lawton believed that the counselors kept a notebook with names of students that could not be placed in the same class as each other due to sexual harassment, but counselors said there was no notebook and that they keep that information in the school computer system, Aries.

Administrators acknowledge these inconsistencies.

“This is what we’ve done in the past (for protocol), (but) this is what this person does, and it turns out, that’s not what someone else does,” Lawton said.

When a student comes to their counselor or an assistant principal with an allegation, they are told to confront their alleged harasser and ask them to stop if they are comfortable. If they are not, the administration will directly deal with the student. Each allegation is noted in the alleged victim’s file when administration knows of problem, in order to keep track of the allegation and its progression Hayashi handles these cases and their documentation.

“We say, if it’s not written or documented, then it didn’t happen,” he said.

However, until the allegation is investigated fully within the school and if needed, with the police, it is classified under categories like bullying or disSEE HARASSMENT • PAGE 5 Adviser: Fitzgerald Vo

Mission Statement The Bear Witness is committed to providing accurate, timely coverage of local and world news while connecting these events to the lives of our diverse student body.

Website: www.bhsbearwitness.com Phone: (408) 626-3407 Email: bhsbearwitness@gmail.com

BEAR WITNESS

| MAY 31, 2019 |

3

BHSBEARWITNESS.COM

OPINION

“Go back to your own country.” words told to Julia Marques da Silva’s father

Editorial The opinion of the Bear Witness editors

I

UNCLEAR PROTOCOLS FOR HARASSMENT CLAIMS

Revisiting guidelines for sexual harrassment

n the light of the #MeToo movement and changing attitudes towards sexual harassment, it is unacceptable that Branham still has no efficient and consistent protocol regarding sexual harassment allegations on campus.

Branham’s current harassment protocol lacks the details and organization to properly protect students, as there are no detailed guidelines on how to handle reports of harassment.

Part of the problem is that the handbook lacks a clear definition of sexual harassment. It defines sexual harassment as “making unsolicited and unwelcome written, verbal, physical, and/or visual contact with sexual overtones.” This definition is vague when compared to the handbook section on bullying, which includes examples and education codes. The handbook goes on to explain different types of bullying differentiating between cyberbullying and other types of bullying along with including examples for both.

The first step administration can take to improve the process is

to rewrite the sexual harassment policy to have a clear definition with examples, similar to San Jose Unified’s approach. Their handbook details 15 explicit examples of sexual harassment and states the proper protocol that administration will follow when dealing with a harassment allegation. It states that “No more than 30 days after receiving the complaint, the principal shall conclude the investigation and prepare a written report of his/her findings,” along with steps to take after said report.

Branham’s policy lacks this depth, filing reports of harassment as bullying or other.

Because of Aeries’ limitations (which require each counselor to look at each student’s file individually to see details of a case of harassment or bullying), students can be placed in the same class as their harassers. To fix this, purported victims must go to their counselor and request adequate changes be made every time this happens. This puts the responsibility on students who feel unsafe, and can cause them to relive trauma.

To avoid these situations, Branham should adopt a protocol

similar to that used by SJUSD or the CSU system. Their guidelines call for an official report to be filed by the person whom the harassment has been reported to within 30 days of when they were notified of the allegation. Following these guidelines would allow for Branham to keep official numbers of incidents, as well as have a more organized way to investigate claims.

An official report would ensure that incidents are properly investigated and dealt with. It would improve Branham’s track record of handling complaints. It would also help with deciding the punishment of the alleged assaulter if necessary.

Along with adopting new protocol the editorial board would also like to see the publishing of the numbers of allegations in a given school year (without names attached) in an official report not every two years like required by law.

The handling of sexual harassment allegations at Branham must change.They must become more organized and professional. Student safety should be administration’s first priority and when there is not a clear system to ensure student safety, there must be change.

Exploring my gender through makeup MICHAELA EDLIN Editor-in-Chief

akeup does more than alter appearM ances. It is a tool in understanding gender and misogyny.

Elizabeth Posey/Bear Witness

As a young child, I mindlessly got into my mom’s makeup, smearing lipstick on my face. I loved the color, smell and camp of the performance. I was mimicking the social roles that my mother upheld.

Cosmetics have a strong connection to womanhood in the modern world, and can be used to interrogate subtle misogyny.

Even though this correlation is strong, the degree of separation allows subconscious bigotry to slip through the cracks.

This realization did not come to me easily.

My use of makeup has forced me to analyze my relationships to women and womanhood in confusing ways. Being nonbinary, I’ve struggled with these relationships, with makeup in the middle of this conflict.

According to studies and the Social Learning Theory by Albert Bandura, a psychologist who taught at Stanford, gender differences begin in early socialization. According to the theory, children model behavior and communication off of parents, like I had with my mom’s makeup.

Whether parents reinforce these behaviors informs a child’s socially acceptable gender behavior.

I don’t recall if my parents were irritated or amused by my makeovers, but I didn’t shy away from makeup.

According to research by Harvard, children most often label their gender by three and lose “magical” thinking of the body and gender by seven. Its seems as if I followed the typical timeline in my early years, until I later disrupted it.

I loved to pick out sheer Claire’s products for gifts. I had my kindergarten birthday at Blush, one of the tacky makeover birthday party venues of the aughts. In third grade we were tasked to create a tutorial; my supposed skill was applying makeup in the car.

Looking back, it’s clear I loved beauty and makeup, but it’s also true I

was overcompensating for the absence of womanhood I couldn’t recognize when I was younger. When I started to develop acne and gender became less performative, more prescriptive in my pre-teens, I felt the same urge, except I was able to identify it.

Freshman year I wore makeup daily and knew I was nonbinary, but still wanted to assimilate into womanhood. Makeup was an easy way to do this; by signaling outward femininity, there were less uncomfortable, awkward questions about my gender, as long as I didn’t mention it.

This later backfired when I became uncomfortable with my femininity and wanted to be clear I’m not a woman. Even though I loved makeup, I went long periods without it. At that point I viewed makeup as a creative tool, but also a tool that hurt me.

Wanting to separate myself from womanhood was expected, but through this process, it was hard to distinguish whether that separation was purely due to gender, or if misogyny played a role. It was likely both, because as I was pushing away makeup, pushing away womanhood, it was pretty easy to push away women.

But I’m not the only one who has pushed women away because of makeup. Women are often punished for using too much, too little or doing it poorly.

In 2016, Alicia Keys decided to stop wearing makeup with her #nomakeup campaign. While many were supportive, she faced substantial backlash after performing makeup-less at the 2016 MTV awards.

Keys’s experience shows how even though makeup is a personal choice, its connection to gender is evident because no men are criticized for going sans makeup.

After my own experimentation without makeup, I started using it again, but in a different way. Being more secure in my gender and having more expertise with makeup, it started to be a way for me to accessorize and be creative. No longer was I coping through my makeup.

Even though I have now allowed myself to play more freely with eyeshadow, concealer and glitter without feeling its connection to my gender, makeup will always be connected to womanhood.

Immigrant hatred moves beyond U.S. borders JULIA MARQUES DA SILVA Design Director

o back to your own country.”

G A woman told this to my father on the beach, after he picked up a crab. As soon as he

tried to explain that he didn’t want any trouble, that he only wanted to spend a nice day at the beach with his family. That was her response.

It didn’t stop there, either. It escalated to where she physically threatened him, for simply picking up a crab at the beach.

My parents came to the United States for my dad’s work for a better opportunity. They originally came from Brazil. My dad’s job took them to different locations in the world and the U.S. Before, most people would ask where he was from and they never picked on his accent if people were mad at him, but things have changed. It’s now a common insult to point out that someone isn’t American, like it’s shameful.

In the U.S., the FBI reported that there has

been increase in hate crimes against immigrants. Although some in here have always held anti-immigrant sentiments, it has become more apparent as blatant discrimination has become more acceptable.

This increase of hate crimes reflects the coarse political discourse in U.S. that enables people to openly express their hatred of other groups.

With politicians and public figures demonstrating their clear condemnation of minorities, people find it more acceptable than ever to act on their unfair biases. The newfound acceptance of hate speech and actions has proved that hate crimes are an increasingly common reality for immigrants.

According to an FBI report, hate crimes have increased for three consecutive years since 2015.

The FBI reported that about 59.6% of the victims were targeted because the offenders harbored a bias to the victims’ race, ethnicity or ancestry.

This has been an increasingly common phenomenon in our country. What we have

seen in the U.S. does not stop at its borders.

The shooter from the Christchurch attack in New Zealand credited President Trump for inspiring his white supremacy.

The world views our country as an opportunity at the end of the dark tunnel and I urge that people look back to the brighter side of America’s past and present to create a world where everyone can safely live in and this dream exists.

Many people who live in the U.S., especially immigrants, want to follow the American dream. The desire for a better life for generations to come has driven people to come to our country, despite the persecution that they may face.

The majority of colonies in the U.S. were occupied by people who wanted freedom from religious persecution and that still holds true for people who come to live in the U.S. This is the main reason why my family are here in the U.S.. They strived for the best life possible for my sister and me.

Julia Marques da Silva/Bear Witness The Marques da Silva family: Raquel, Julia, Mauricia, and Julia’s twin sister, Laura. Julia’s parents immigrated to the U.S. from Brazil. Hate crimes against immigrants have increased since 2015, according to the FBI.

4

BEAR WITNESS

| MAY 31, 2019 |

BHSBEARWITNESS.COM

SCIENCE&HEALTH Science & Health briefs Georgia, Alabama ban abortion in most cases The states of Georgia and Alabama have passed abortion laws known as “heartbeat bills” that aggressively limit legal abortion. The bills decree that once a heartbeat is detected from a fetus, abortion cannot be practiced in that circumstance. This, in the event of a deadly childbirth, can be deadly for the mother. Since 200, America has experienced a 26% increase in maternal deaths during delivery, and not having the option to get an abortion in the case of a awry pregnancy threatens to increase the chances of that happening. Protests against the bill have been organized in Alabama, Georgia, and other states in the country.

More locally, Womens’ March held a pro-choice rally in Downtown San Jose on May 21 where Branham junior Cassidy Chang spoke.

State strengthens vaccine law

Students and faculty support inoculation by large margin, though some still have reservations HOW VACCINES WORK Vaccines work by utilizing the natural functions of the immune system. Vaccines introduce the body to these viruses in a controlled manner so if someone is infected, their body is already equipped with the proper antibody formula due to the memory cells that remain in the body.

House of Reps. lifts ban on gene editing babies Until recently, editing embryos with the intention of creating a living human being was not legally allowed. The legislation that banned the editing of embyros originated from the mass of laws passed in 2016 that aimed to fund the government. CRISPR, the popular gene editing material, would be the method of editing the embryos. Now, scientists can aid individuals who cannot conceive their own with new technology to create life.

— Compiled by Shlok Gore

Antigenic determinate, the part of an antigen that is recognized by the immune system

When a pathogen enters the bloodstream, antibodies are released to combat the foreign invaders, known as antigens.

The first time a body is introduced to a virus, it often takes several days to analyze the antigens and produce enough antibodies to eliminate the virus.

Adjuvant A substance that enhances the body’s immune response to an antigen

Memory cells, upon recognizing a pathogen that has infected the body previously, the adaptive immune system responds stronger and more rapidly.

#*!#?

Unseasonable cold front hits much of California Much of California experienced unseasonably cold temperatures and rains.

Mid- to- late May saw heavy rains in many parts of the state, as well as hail in the Santa Cruz mountains. In the week of May 20, temperatures hovered around 60 degrees, compared to historical averages of 72 degrees, according to Accuweather.

The cold front should depart in time for graduation, leaving Californians with the state’s renowned sunshine and warm weather.

Pathogen attenuated

Inoculation

Measles returns to U.S. After being declared “eliminated from the Americas,” Measles has returned to multiple areas of the U.S., including Northern California in March. Over 100 individuals were infected with the disease that’s responsible for millions of deaths globally, and is known for its high rate of transmission.

Bill Nye drops “nice guy” persona to talk climate change Bill Nye, colloquially known as “the science guy” due to his children’s educational program, is known for explaining photosynthesis, the water cycle and other basic science topics. In light of previously unseen rates of climate challenge, Nye took part in a climate change awareness video on HBO’s “Last Week Tonight with John Oliver,” where he broke his PG persona and swore.

He told audiences that “the planet’s on f****ing fire,” and we need to “grow the f*** up.”

“For the kids here you have to have immunizations.

It’s just the new law.”— Michele Crescibene, health clerk

WOULD YOU VACCINATE IF GIVEN THE CHOICE? Yes: 94%, No: 6%, — 229 respondents

What’s herd immunization?

People who are immunocompromised or have some diseases can’t get vaccinated. They rely on others around them to get vaccinated to protect them from the viruses. This is called herd immunization, where the herd protects immunocompromised people.

Genevieve Liu/Special to the Bear Witness UZOR AWUZIE

Student Life Editor

tarting July 1, California will require all children S enrolled in state schools, both public and private, to have certain doctor-recommended immunizations

before they can be enrolled. The different vaccines vary by age, ranging from polio vaccines to enter child care, to the Tetanus, diphtheria and pertussis booster shots to enter the seventh grade.

This new law also means little to no leeway in the time students are allowed to attend school without their vaccinations. Unlike previous laws where students were allowed up to 30 days, students now must have their vaccinations before they can start school.

These new restrictions may have little effect on those who already received their vaccines, but those who previously used personal exemptions will have to decide between maintaining their beliefs or their right to stay in school.

Junior Jacob Towner grew up in a household with strict limitations on immunizations. While he does get the vaccinations required for school, Towner avoids any shot that the state doesn’t require necessary. Like many others, he credits his feelings toward his mother, who is more against vaccinations.

“It’s not really my own belief,” he said. “It’s just how I’ve been like living my life. I would say I’m kind of anti

Source: Live Science because I’m not really used to it.”

Towner isn’t alone. Many other parents skip out on certain vaccinations, or attempt to get exemptions due to fears of it being linked to different diseases and disabilities. The controversy began nearly 20 years ago when former British doctor Andrew Jeremy Wakefield proposed a new syndrome called autistic enterocolitis, and raised the possibility of a link between a novel form of bowel disease, autism, and the MMR vaccine.

Though he sparked major controversy with his writings, he was soon stripped of his medical licensing after failing to prove his claim. However, he still remains a self-identified “anti-vaccine activist,” and his beliefs resonate with many parents who fight against vaccination laws.

Immunizations are still required under various laws mandated by the state and the district in order to prevent contractible diseases that can be spread through saliva, germs and even human contact.

District nurse Debbie Phalen believes every student should be vaccinated, other than the rare cases where health concerns may conflict with immunizations.

Phalen claims vaccines are needed to avoid preventable breakouts in school settings.

“Everything is a communicable disease. We don’t want an epidemic or pandemic, based on immunizations that weren’t administered,” Phalen said. “We’re in such close contact, things can be transmitted so easily, even from

pencils, pens, coughing, sneezing.”

Due to the measles breakout in Northern California, where at least 131 people have been infected, according to the California Department of Public Health, schools, including Branham, are pushing harder on immunization requirements to avoid disease breakouts similar to the one in Los Angeles. Not receiving vaccinations not only impacts the individual but also those around them and vulnerability to certain diseases.

Biology and human anatomy teacher Jessica Overby explains how vaccines affect the body in her classes. According to Overby, students without immunization are more vulnerable if they do ever come in contact with those viruses, and that they don’t have the protection of their immune system to fight it off.

“Doing (vaccines), you’re introducing that virus or bacteria into your system to make the antibodies for it so that if you ever do come into contact with it, your immune system already knows how to deal with it, and you won’t get sick,” Overby said.

School health clerk Michele Crescibene fully supports California requiring students to have vaccinations, but understands the different circumstances that come with it. Crescibene just hopes for an overall safe environment for people with different immunities.

“Everyone should have their own thing, but for the kids here you have to have immunizations,” Crescibene said. “It’s just the new law.”

Caffeine puts some pep in athletes’ workouts SHLOK GORE

Science and Health Editor

200 mg of it sends chemical sigJust nals throughout the human body. Af-

ter it’s reabsorbed in the small intestines, your body starts to tingle, muscles suddenly feel more alive, the mind abruptly regaining clarity. The caffeine that was just ingested primes the body for the athletic action.

Caffeine is a chemical ingredient used in many foods and beverages, such as Coca Cola. For athletes, caffeine is used pre-workouts to boost one’s general alertness and energy level.

It’s a substance that synthetically increases the production of bodily stimulants such as adrenaline, ultimately leading to an increased blood flow to the muscles and an elevation in blood glucose levels. This effect is desired by athletes

for the bursts of energy that it gives. According to information presented by the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics, it’s no wonder that athletes take advantage of caffeine, since they say that it helps with sustained high-intensity training.

Junior Alan Vu, who plays football, finds that the popular pre-workout beverage C4 aids him to perform at a higher level on the field. Vu said that his energy level, like anyone’s, decreases throughout the day, and football matches are held after school.

To combat being tired prior to a game, Vu and other players on the team take the caffeinated pre-workout drink C4, with 150 mg caffeine. The typical cup of coffee contains 95 mg. Excessive levels of caffeine may range from 500-1,000 mg, which can have side effects such as anxiety and insomnia, according to the medical journal Food and Chemical

Toxicology.

“I would take (C4) because it would help me get excited when I couldn’t,” Vu said. “It made us more awake and aware of what we were doing.”

150 mg of caffeine is equivalent to an 8 oz espresso. With this amount of caffeine, one can expect a noticeable boost in both energy and alertness.

Pre-workout drinks, although some of the most common pathways to consume caffeine, are not the only way of achieving that energetic rush. Coffee is frequently used by athletes for that same purpose.

Junior Benjamin Aronson, a swimmer, drinks coffee to get an extra burst of energy before the race.

He says, “I did drink a little bit of coffee before for a race. I noticed that I felt a little energized in during warm up and it helped a little for the race.”

Mixed findings on caffeine The evidence about the effects of caffeine on high-intensity exercise is mixed. Caffeine has impressive benefits for trained athletes, but seems to have less benefits for beginners or those who are untrained.

• Two studies of recreationally active men doing bike sprints found no difference between the effects of caffeine and water • Another study looked at the effects of caffeine on trained and untrained swimmers. Again, there was a positive improvement in the trained group, but no benefits were seen in the untrained swimmers.

• In team sports, caffeine supplements improved passing accuracy in rugby, 500-meter rowing performance and soccer sprint times.

— Staff research

BEAR WITNESS

|

MAY 31, 2019 |

5

BHSBEARWITNESS.COM

STUDENT LIFE

“That just means that only the most dedicated cadets are going to be there.”

Junior Leo Golden, on traveling to Del Mar to enroll in JROTC

Low enrollment leads JROTC to Del Mar Some cadets view move as bonding time, others feel busing is an inconvenience LAURA HEFFERNAN

Ultimate Frisbee in the rain Though having rain in May left many confused, students decided to make the best of it. During lunch, seniors and a few juniors played a game of ultimate frisbee in the quad. The Ultimate Frisbee club helped gather a crowd to watch the fun and game, despite the cloudy weather.

Bear Witness staff graphic AP Tests For the first two weeks of May, Branham administered AP tests in the cafeteria, small gym, and library. Fifteen tests were held in total for nearly 600 students, ranging from AP Calculus AB and BC and AP English Literature and foreign language. The main test area was the cafeteria, while exams with more test takers extended to the small gym or library. Tests either started at 8 a.m. and ended around lunch or start at 12 p.m. and lasted past 2 p.m.

Renee Owens/Bear Witness Students say goodbye to seniors As the end of the school year nears, many students now have to say goodbye to the graduating class of 2019 in their own way.

Seniors served as club officers, class leaders, teammates, and more working with other grades. So students have held potluck meeting and senior nights to pay homage to those leaving.

— Compiled by Uzor Awuzie

Arts & Entertainment Editor

acing a drop-off in enrollment, Branham’s JROTC F program will move next year to Del Mar. In recent years, both Leigh and Branham students came

to Branham for the program. Due to low enrollment, however, the program will be moved to Del Mar High School where all three schools will meet for the program.

With around 40 students enrolling next year, Branham’s program enrollment won’t meet the minimum enrollment needs of at least 100 students. The JROTC program has to meet a requirement not only for the school, but also for the Marine Corps. Because the Marine Corps pays for the uniforms, equipment and structures, the district programs will merge.

Maj. Richard Ruiz, who runs the district JROTC program with Gunnery Sgt. Steven Mobley attributes the diminishing enrollment due to misinformation, as students may avoid joining because they don’t want to go into the military.

“This program itself was ... to give them those hard leadership skills,” Ruiz said, "not to enlist in ROTC." Freshman Antonio Lopez said some of these possible hardships include students sacrificing lunch to bus to Del Mar. “That might be why people who want to join might be affected,” Lopez said.

JROTC students and leaders believe that this transition will overall be beneficial for the program. Both access to resources and curriculum for students is expected to improve.

Junior Leo Golden expects to see improvement in the quality of commitment from cadets.

“Random cadets will decrease a little bit, but none of us really care,” Golden said. “That just means that only the most dedicated cadets are going to be there.”

Ruiz adds that the bus ride allows time for the cadets to become closer.

“They sing on the bus, they talk, it’s like a field trip,” Ruiz said. “The vibe, because of that camaraderie, is so strong and close.”

With more classrooms at Del Mar than at Branham, there is an opportunity to divide the curriculum. With three portables, the curriculum could be split up allowing different years of cadets to learn new material, upperclassmen could even be taught how to train the lowerclassmen.

The larger space for the program will also allow for it to receive more resources.

“We’re going to have a little base with pull-up bars and portables,” Golden said. “There’s going to be a little section of the campus designated for us.”

Rachel Moody/Special to the Bear Witness JROTC students during class at Branham. This upcoming school year, due to low enrollment, class will be conducted at Del Mar High School instead.

Harassment | Students placed in classes with their alleged harassers

From PAGE 2 ruption/defiance. There is no category for sexual assault or harassment within the system where incidents are filed.

Because of this, until the allegation is investigated, it is difficult for the school to keep track of harassment, as in order to see the allegation, they have to look into the details of each file, and under the categories of bullying and disruption/defiance.

In addition to having no category for sexual harassment and assault, victims are often placed within the same classes as their harasser due to limitations of Aeries, the program that counselors use to schedule.

'Finding a needle in a haystack' Within the program, when a student’s file is opened, there is a section that is labeled flag, and if there is a note that the student cannot be placed in the same class as another, there will be an exclamation mark next to it. Nonetheless, students can still be placed in the same class as their harasser because counselors only input what classes the student needs, and Aries randomly assigns their schedule based off of the credits they need.

In order to prevent this from happening, counselors would have to go through each individual case file to see the flag, in a caseload of around 400 students per counselor.

Vince Leeburn, one of Branham's four counselors, has faced this large caseload and admits that it is difficult to find the students who are flags with the time he's given.

“It's like finding a needle in a haystack for me,” he said.

Because of this discrepancy, Leeburn urges students who want to avoid being placed in a class with their alleged harasser to come to their counselor each year and let them know. This issue forces victims to become self-advocates for themselves each year when they are scheduled, which could rehash trauma of an already uncomfortable situation.

Due to these discrepancies, victims of harassment do not feel comfortable within the classroom and on campus, as they often are forced to be in the same room as their harasser or to pass by them on campus.

Despite Lopez’s alleged harasser graduating her junior year, she still faced alleged harassment in the halls, when she and her friend were followed in the halls by a group of six boys and were asked repeatedly to take off their shirts and show their nipples.

The security cameras caught the incident, and after Lopez reported it to her counselor, even with the camera evidence, she was told by an assistant principal that it was “their (the boys) word against yours.”

District-wide problem Issues with sexual harassment tracking are not only a Branham problem.

Outdated data 2015 was the last year in which harassment data was collected by the Civil Rights Data Center for the district. Among its findings for CUHSD: Eight cases of disciplinary action for bullying or harassment on the basis of sex.

Four students have reported being bullied or harassed on the basis of sex.

Source: Civil Rights Data Collection Within the district, sexual harassment and assault is often underreported in data that the district is mandated to report. For example, every other year, the district is mandated to report statistics on topics ranging from disciplinary action on bullying to SAT scores to the Civil Rights Data Collection, an organization that records instances of discrimination and inequity in schools nationwide.

This data collection also includes data on sexual harassment and assault. The latest data on harassment is from the 2015 school year, with eight reports of disciplinary action for harassment or bullying on the basis of sex and four students that have been reported to have been bullied or harassed on the basis of sex.

District director of strategy Jennifer Orlick is in charge of coming to each of the schools in the district every other year, and reporting the data to the Civil Rights Data Collection. When she collects the data, she collects both that year’s data and year before, of which the assistant principals are supposed to have kept track of.

“Unfortunately when we’re collecting the data, we’re being asked to get data from last year, so it’s really like a delay,” she said. “Sometimes we’re going back and asking questions about incidents that happened last year, so we have to trust that the people are trained to collect the data.”

These statistics reflect a problem, since they do not match with how students feel about harassment, as the Healthy Kids Survey indicates.

On top of sexual harassment being underreported,

changes in California’s education code regarding suspensions have inhibited punitive disciplinary action, and emphasized reformative justice, which focuses on healing rifts between students and faculty through the core values of empathy and community.

California senate passed a bill in April, SB-419, prohibiting “a pupil from being suspended from school or recommended for expulsion, unless the superintendent of the school district or the principal of the school in which the pupil is enrolled determines that the pupil has committed a specified act, including, among other acts, disrupting school activities or otherwise willfully defying the valid authority of supervisors, teachers, administrators, school officials, or other school personnel engaged in the performance of their duties.”

The district has to comply with this new amendment on suspensions and expulsions, and so now every suspension has to pass through the district, specifically the student services director and assistant superintendent, making the process of suspension longer and more arduous.

This new process can cause victims to remain around their harasser, alleged or proven guilty, as they await the decision on the disciplinary action.

Science teacher Juan Fernandez has experienced this delay in action firsthand with one of his students, who had told him that she had been raped and that the alleged perpetrator was still on campus.

He noticed that she had had a problem with skipping class and not doing her work. She no longer attends Branham.

“I don’t know if that’s the correct answer,” he said. “It was a very shocking confession.”

Plans to address the discrepancies In order to address these discrepancies within handling sexual harassment and assault, administration plans to begin an online anonymous tip line, where students can report harassment.

“If someone is seeing issues, they could say ‘My friend, or a person I know, is getting harassed and I was hoping you would act on it,’” Hayashi said.

In addition to an anonymous tip line, because of this Bear Witness investigation, counselors are planning to create a Google document with a list of students who cannot be placed together that they can all see, in order to circumvent the problem that Aeries creates, in placing the victim and the harasser in the same class.

Lawton plans to meet with the counselors and assistant principals over summer as well, to further discuss the issues.

“We need to sit down and say, ‘In this situation, here’s the process, the first step and the next steps,' " she said.

6

BEAR WITNESS

|

MAY 31, 2019 |

BHSBEARWITNESS.COM

SPORTS

“If we’re all in, we’re going to be fine.”

Head baseball coach Tony Pianto

PUTTING PLAYERS FIRST

New baseball coach Tony Pianto teaches his team to think of losing as a learning experience

RYAN MCCARTHY

D

Sports Editor

espite Branham’s baseball team loss in a dramatic Division I CCS quarterfinal game against top-ranked Leigh, coaching staff and players were proud of their efforts in the season.

This was the same Leigh team that outscored Branham 11-2 during their doubleheader to close out the regular season. Head coach Tony Pianto was proud that they played as a team, and fought until the very end.

“Towards the end I didn’t see our kids pressing or making mistakes,” Pianto said, “Stressing that from the beginning of the season and all the way through paid off in both CCS games, even though we came out on the short end.”

After finishing the regular season 13-10-1 (7-7), Branham earned the ninth seed in the Division I CCS tournament, beating 8-seed Salinas on the road in extra innings before losing 1-0 to rival Leigh on a walkoff single.

In his first year as Branham’s head coach, Pianto took a different approach than his predecessor.

Instead of pressing numbers and statistics as goals for each season, he preferred his team to go out and play as hard as they could.

This methodology has paid off, as the Bruins got back into postseason play for the first time since 2016.

Pianto came to Branham from Westmont’s baseball program, where he coached both JV and varsity baseball for 14 years. He won a CCS championship with Westmont in 2017, his last year at the school, before joining Branham’s staff a year later. Pianto said that the experience helped him in his current job, proving that his coaching style could be successful in the Mt. Hamilton league. He said the players learned to play selflessly for their team.

“The players learned what my ideas and priorities were, like playing as a team and being honest and playing for each other instead of themselves,” Pianto said.

“I think they got a pretty good grasp of that, and being a head coach this year, I saw that they bought into it even more.”

Pianto’s ideals and motivational tactics helped many players en-

2019 Baseball season Finished the regular season

13-10-1 (7-7) Ranked in California

371st place Ranked in league

5th place

joy every practice and game, even during a series of losses that the team endured during the middle of the season. Senior Jacob Dressler praised Pianto’s ability to keep the team from losing focus during the season’s rough stretches.

“Our goal was always to make it to CCS, but in previous seasons, during bad stretches we would lose focus,” said Dressler, one of only four graduating seniors on the team. “This year with [Pianto] we stayed on our grind and stayed focused on making things happen, and we never lost sight of it.”

Because they shared priorities, Pianto became the managerial match that the players wanted.

Pianto’s emphasis of hard play resonated well with his players.

“We got everyone on the same page, came up with consistent priorities, a commitment to consistent dedication, and I told them we just need to be all in,” Pianto said. “If we’re all in we’re going to be fine.”

“The priorities we set were come ready to play every day, play for your team, and those were the expectations. We battled in a lot of games and I was super proud of the way we played.”

The players saw a huge improvement in the team’s attitude and relationships with Pianto in charge. Senior Henry Wright credits Pianto’s approach in practices and games as the catalyst for this change.

“With (Pianto) as head coach you can really see the demeanor change within the team,” said Wright. “He challenged us to grow, and he taught us a lot from his time at Westmont to help us with that.”

Even after what he deems a successful season, coach Pianto sees no reason for his team to be complacent with a second-round

Ryan McCarthy/Bear Witness Coach Tony Pianto (left) standing on the sidelines during the Division 1 CCS Quarterfinal. The Bruins won their first round against Salinas before losing 1-0 to Leigh in the quarterfinal round.

“

With [Pianto] as a head coach you can really see the demeanor change within the team.

”

Henry Wright Senior playoff exit. With only four players graduating this year, most of the key players will be returning to the program, and Pianto sees a potential for his team to take further steps in CCS and beyond.

“Realizing one loss means you’re out is stressful,” said Pianto. “No one wants to go out after the first game or the second game of CCS. “It also makes you more determined, too,” he continued. “Our players can’t wait until next season to get better and to be more successful and to go after this again.”

Ryan McCarthy/Bear Witness Coach Tony Pianto congratulates a player at the Division 1 CCS Quarterfinal. Branham lost 0-1 to Leigh High School.

Playoff review Scores updated as of May 30 Badminton: Senior Bob He, junior Macy Fu, and sophomore Tommy Song advanced to CCS semifinal round before being knocked out of the tournament at Independence High School. Song lost to the No. 4 seed from Palo Alto, while the team of He and Fu lost to No. 2 seeds from Cupertino High School.

Baseball: Baseball won their first round Division I CCS game against Salinas before losing to Leigh in the quarterfinal round, 0-1, on May 21. The game went six scoreless innings before the walkoff single that led to the win.

Branham Stunt: The team went undefeated this season, beating SIlver Creek 17-4 in its inaugural season as a sport. The victory secured its position as BVAL champions.

Golf: Senior Jayden Miller, junior Nathan Kim, and freshmen Brad Hawkins made BVAL finals, but failed to advance.

Ryan McCarthy/Bear Witness The boys tennis did not win a match this season, and will move down to B League.

Softball: Softball advanced to CCS quarterfinals before losing to San Mateo, 4-8. The team won its first round against Fremont High School at home, 5-3.

Swim: Senior Frej Kock-Mathews placed ninth in diving at the CCS finals.

The team sent its boys team (Shlok Gore, 11; Brandon Mayekawa, 10; Ben Aronson, 11; and Sasha Mariniuk, 12) and girls teams (Lily Mintz, 9; Dakota Herndon, 10; Bailey Donaldson, 11, and Melissa Muslic, 11) in the 200 m medley relay and 200 freestyle relay teams to the finals.

Boys tennis: The tennis team struggled in the A-league, going 0-14 on the season, despite some close matches. The team will move to the B-league in the upcoming season. Coach Matt Gordon said this will put them in a more competitive position.

Track: Senior Meghan Kiefer (long jump) and junior Lindsey Gigliello (pole vault) made the state finals in Clovis. Kiefer jumped 16’11”, placing her 24th in the state. Gigliello failed to make it out of the preliminary round.

Boys volleyball: After winning its first set, the team lost to No. 2 seed Bellarmine in four sets at CCS finals May 9. In the first round of CCS playoffs, the boys team handily defeated Los Gatos in straight sets.

— Julianne Alvares

Michael Gigliello/Special to the Bear Witness Senior Meagan Keifer runs in the 4x100 relay at the CCS playoffs in Gilroy.

Aubrey Tibbils/Special to the Bear Witness Senior Frej Koch-Mathews placed ninth in diving at the CCS finals.

BEAR WITNESS

| MAY 31, 2019 |

ARTS&ENTERTAINMENT

“People are really kind and gentle, and it’s a caring campus for staff and with students,” — retiring art teacher, Cristina Prates

Mini Reviews Bite-sized opinions

TV Show “Tuca and Bertie” Netflix What it is: From the makers of Bojack Horseman, the show focuses on a carefree toucan named Tuca, and Bertie, an anxious songbird.

Each episode follows their life in the metropolis city of Bird Town.

Disliked: It can become obnoxious in the first few episodes making it difficult to get to the better episodes.

Liked: A lot of important women’s issues are mentioned each episode. The representation of a healthy, normal female relationship is refreshing.

— Julia Marques da Silva State Alabama What it is: Alabama joined the Union as the 22nd state in 1819. Now, Alabama is ranked dead last for education and second to last as a state in general, but 23rd in fiscal stability.

Disliked: Alabama recently signed a new abortion bill that will come into effect in 2020. The bill bans abortion in almost all circumstances, making no exceptions for instances of rape or incest.

Liked: Alabama is home to the Rocket Capital of the World and helped build the rocket that landed the first humans on the moon. The state is famous for training astronauts and building engines for NASA. — Jazzy Nguyen Song “Before I Let Go” Beyonce What it is: This song is a single with Beyonce’s album “Homecoming: The Live Album” that was dropped mid-April. She released it along with a Netflix film capturing her famous Coachella performance.

Disliked: The name “Homecoming” refers to the homecoming dance at Howard, one of the most highly anticipated events at the historically black university. Her album brings light to the culture of the HBCUs and made me regret not applying to one.

Liked: The song makes me reminisce summer get-togethers that never happened. Even though I was born in the bay, it gives the perfect “New Orleans bounce” vibe make you feel like you’re a part of the culture.

— Uzor Awuzie

Final touches on fruitful career After two decades of teaching, art teacher Tina Prates has seen Branham through its artistic growth

Art teacher Tina Prates guides a student through her sketching. In her two decades at Branham, Prates has introduced AP Art to the curriculum. enrolled in arts classes and the addition of a photo class to the department. “The department chairs really have an impact on that.” rt department chair Cristina Prates will retire in One key change spearheaded by Prates was the inJune after 20 years of teaching at Branham. Prates troduction of AP classes to the art department at Brahas seen and facilitated many changes on campus in her nham. Over her time of teaching, Prates has seen art time here, but she feels that in a way, notheducation shift to a more academic ing has changed. focus.

“It’s still the same as far as I’m Cristina Prates “When I was a student, I was just concerned.” Prates said. “It still learning how to shade, and then I Art Teacher has a real genuine sweetness to to teach people how to shade.

Prates has been teaching at had it. In my little world, in the art It’s gotten a lot broader,” Prates world, people are really kind Branham for 20 years. said. “Our goals are much more and gentle, and it’s a caring broad as teachers.”

Retirement campus for staff and with students.”

Prates sees these changes as a She plans to spend her retireOriginally, Prates did not plan on becompositive shift towards the future. ing a teacher. She planned to go into fine ment, starting after this year, While she sees that there are probarts to exhibit her art or into art therapy. making art with her family in lems with appropriating art, havShe was an art gallery store manager for ing an information overload and Canada. some time as well. However, she was hired isolating people as technology beto be a middle school art teacher in Canacomes more prevalent, Prates also da, where she taught for 10 years. When her finds that technology opens new doors for artists that husband was relocated to California, Prates moved here were previously closed. She uses these changes to teach and started teaching at the high school level. She was her students to succeed. the only art teacher at Branham when she started here.

“I definitely want to have a future in art,” longtime “The department definitely has grown, for sure, in 15 Prates student Ariana Renteria said. “She’s showed me years. We have a more diverse department,” art teacher a bunch of new, different ways that art can be used and Eileen Bertron said, referring to the growth of students different ways people in general use art.”

RENEE OWENS News Editor

A

Fitz Vo/Bear Witness

To Prates, promoting students’ art is the best way to advance the arts on campus. In her time here, she has worked to showcase students’ art by displaying it as much as she can.

“I appreciate the fact that she makes an effort to get the art out around campus,” Principal Cheryl Lawton said. “She always comes and puts things in the office, and she started putting the murals up on the walls to try and add some color and life [to campus].”

Having spent two decades at Branham, Prates describes feeling “terrified” about moving onto retirement because Branham feels like a second home to her.

“It’s a terrific place to work. I love every day,” Prates said.

However, Prates is also feeling excited for this next chapter. She plans on spending more time with her husband and her family who remained in Canada.

“We’ve saved up enough to now graduate [this phase of life] and start our life together again, because we’ve been working so hard for so many years,” Prates said, regarding retiring with her husband.

Ultimately, Prates is excited about having the time to explore her passion for art, which has been important to her since a young age.

“That’s where I started my life, and I’m going to go back to thinking about what it means to be human and what I can do with my art, if I can do anything positive,” she said.

Winter guard fundraises due to debt JAZZY NGUYEN Staff Writer

nless it can raise $4,000 by the end U of summer, the award-winning Winter Guard program may not contin-

Book “The Buying of Lot 37” and “Who’s a Good Boy?” Night Vale Presents

What it is: These are third and fourth volumes of the Welcome to Night Vale episode script books, written by Joseph Fink and Jeffrey Cranor.

Disliked: The new volumes took too long to come out in comparison to the first two editions.

Liked: The books are great collector items for people who love Welcome to Night Vale. The cover art inside art and notes add great value.

— Michaela Edlin

7

BHSBEARWITNESS.COM

Uzor Awuzie/Bear Witness Winter guard students sell baked goods in front of Lunardi’s to make up for the deficit from their season.

Winter guard’s financial status The team is still raising funds in summer for their debt from the winter season.

$4,000

$10,000

Amount of debt from last season

Average cost per season

$1,000 Amount from music boosters

$3,000 Amount athletes owe

ue in its current form, say officials and captains on the team.

“Having a music program is really important, especially something like guard where it’s not as well-represented,” said freshman Naia Sasano, “It’s a really good experience for people who like dance and music because it’s a good meeting point for that.”

Due to an issue with funding, Branham’s Winter Guard may not get a shot at providing that experience next year.

During the winter sports season, the team built up around $4,000 of debt.

“We have to make that up, but if we keep sucking money out of the Booster Club, they’ll have to amputate the program.” says Sasano.

This year the program had to pay for a new floor, uniforms and flags, and other necessities for the winter season. As a result of these expenses, the team had to take out a loan from the music boosters.

Winter Guard co-captain, senior Francesca Torres, explains that the boosters will not be able to fund their program for another year if the debt isn’t repaid.

“According to the boosters right now, if we don’t pay off what we still owe... It’ll show them that we’re not able to pay for ourselves,” Torres said.

The average winter guard season can cost a minimum of $10,000, and only a thousand dollars of that is covered by the music boosters. This means that the remaining estimate of $9,000 is left to the guard team raise. While a portion of that is covered by the donation athletes pay to participate, there is still around $3,000 that needs to be addressed.

The main thing that the program has struggled with was paying their instructors, who either haven’t received their salary, or received it late. The team has to be self-sufficient in order to be operational, and gets $1,000 from Music Boosters, the parent fundraising program at Branham.

“Without fundraising, we can’t pay the staff, can’t pay for the uniform, and that costs a lot,” said Juliet Ferriera, a parent and coach.

Because of the added expenses, fundraising was much more difficult this year.

If the team is not able to raise the money that is needed for their season in time, they can ask for a loan from the Music Boosters.This extends the time they have to raise the rest of the money. If the team is not able to repay the boosters, the program will be cut.

The Winter Guard team has recently had multiple fundraisers in an attempt to raise as much money as possible before the school year ends. Their next fundraiser will be today at Branham, where they will be selling boba after school.

8

THE BACK PAGE

BEAR WITNESS

|

MAY 31, 2019 |

the Teacher

BHSBEARWITNESS.COM

Joining the teacher rat race takes money, time, patience and hard work. But there are many ways to get ahead: a student finally gets it, pay raises go beyond cost-of-living expenses, longstanding friendships are formed. After polling nearly three dozen teachers, we show you how they play.

Illustrated and designed by Jessica Berton Text by Renee Owens, Michaela Edlin, Annalise Freimarck Laura Heffernan and Chandler Roberts

The hiring process The district posts jobs internally and on EdJoin. Principal Cheryl Lawton screens these applications, and a hiring panel is formed.

Get fired.

Pink slip.

First year.

Get invited back.

Second year.

Tenure!

Turnover From the 2015-16 to the 2016-17 school year, Branham lost 13 teachers. The average turnover rate for public school teachers is 16% according to an education journal.

Tenure After teachers receive tenure, they are considered permanent employees.

New career.

Move away.

Master teacher look.

Faculty musical.

Former students visit.

Last year.

Retire.

PAYDAY

Mentor new teachers.

Retirement Art teacher Cristina Prates has taught at Branham for over 20 years. For more on Prateâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s retirement, see page 7.

School tradition Branham has hosted a dozen faculty musicals, directed by students.

Dept. chair.

â&#x20AC;&#x153;Aha!â&#x20AC;? moment.

Win teacher of the month.

Credentialing For each subject they teach, a teacher must have credentials for each. Single subject credentials typically take a year and a half to complete, with multiple subject credentials are for K-8.

Teachers can test to receive additional credentials.

Admin change.

PAYDAY

Baby!

Parental leave.

Switch subjects.

Union rep Teachers Laurel Garceau, Juan Fernandez, Mike Dickey and Dietrich Lei are the site reps for Branham as part of the Campbell High School Teachersâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; Association.

Become union rep.

Win senior vs. staff game.

Teacher of the year French and Spanish teacher Diane MacKinnon is Branhamâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s 2019 teacher of the year.

District meetings

Daycare.

Student drops out.

Advise club.

Negotiate.

PAYDAY

Teacher pay Teachers in California make an average of $80,000 per year, with higher rates in the Bay Area. Teachers at Branham make under the average, but have been urging the district to pay them more throughout the year to make up for rises in housing costs.

PAYDAY

Homeownership According to the Mercury News, the average Bay Area grade school teacher earned $77,616 in 2018, enough for the mortgage payment in 16 out of 225+ ZIP codes.

Picket for contract.

Negotiations The teachersâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; union and district juast agreed on a contract for 2019-20, focusing on pay and class size. See page 1.

Eking out a win Teachers barely beat the seniors at the second annual softball game this year, 13-12.

Give grad diploma.

New tradition This is the second year that Branham teachers will be handing out diplomas to students, which had traditionally been done by the principal.

Learn new tech.

New tech Technology in the classroom provides more resources and allows students to be more productive and learn 21st century skills, according to the U.S. Department of Education. All teachers are trained in Google Education software.

Love in the clubs More than 70 new and returning clubs will be offered.

Teachers must be the advisers.