Arroyo High School | Volume 59 Issue 2 | Dec. 18, 2019
Looking Back
Photo | David Ye
Senior Roan Quinn played Blackstache in the AHS Drama Club production Peter and the Starcatcher on Nov.15.
Photo | Christopher Yalung Photo | Vivian Liu
Concert band performed at the Winter Concert on Dec. 13.
Finals Schedule
1/15 Period 0 Period 1 Lunch Passing Period 4
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6:55 - 8:55 9:20 - 11:20 11:20 - 11:55 11:55 - 12:05 12:05 - 2:05
1/16 Period 2 Lunch Passing Period 5
9:20 - 11:20 11:20 - 11:55 11:55 -12:00 12:00 - 2:00
1/17 Period 3 Lunch Passing Period 6
9:20-11:20 11:20 - 11:55 11:55 - 12:05 12:00 -2:00
Letter from the Editor Dear DGG readers, Four years ago, if you had told any of us that we would be working on Volume 59 Issue 2, we would be in disbelief. Because four years ago, DGG had not existed. I was lucky, just like a few of my fellow staff members. Three years ago when our magazine had just been revived, we went through the prolonged process of filling out applications and doing interviews to be chosen as the first group of the newly-revived journalists. Three years ago, the five of us had been the youngest and the least knowledgeable journalists out of the entire staff. Three years later, we are running the news magazine together as editors. When our journalists from the class of 2018 and 2019 left the group one by one, we finally realized how quickly high school flies by. Now, it is our turn—the original members of the journalism club—to leave. We have only been here for four years, but even we have felt the changes at AHS in the form of friendships, classes, and policies. With 2020 and the end of the decade approaching, the special feature digs deeper into the changes seen by the long-time AHS staff members.
Trinity Mai Editor-in-Chief of the Dry Gulch Gazette
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TABLE OF CONTENTS CAMPUS
4 - Vaping 6 - Guardian Angels 7 - Sub Shortage 8 - AHS Alumni Return
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COMMUNITY
10 - Winter Activities Guide 12 - Celebration Canceled 13 - Manor Bowl Closing 14 - Holiday Charity Giveaways
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A CLOSER LOOK
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16 - AHS Through the Years
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OPINION
20 - Keep AHS Vape-Free 21 - Get Involved
ARTS & CULTURE
22 - Recyclable Train 23 - New Mural 24 - Holiday Food 26 - Winter Holiday Celebration
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SPORTS
28 - Weightlifting for Women 29 - Winter Sports Preview
COLUMN
32 - Speak Up, Open Up
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CORRECTION: SLZUSD Director of Secondary Education Renee Lama’s name was misspelled. (Issue 1, pg. 11) Cover Photo Illustration | Trinity Mai and Samantha Wang
CONTENTS
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In Plai n Sigh t
Stud e the nts and issu e of admin By Elt is vapi on W ong ng o trators disc n AH uss S.
Photo Illustration | Yves-Sebastian Lopez
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enior Travis Xu is one of a number of AHS students who has been greeted by an unpleasant surprise in an AHS bathroom: vaping. “I walked one time and saw him vaping. I became slightly annoyed, but I decided to continue with my business.” said Xu. After that experience, Xu returned to class thinking about what just happened. The smell of vape still lingered in his nose. It was definitely an awkward situation for him having caught someone doing drugs on campus. He decided to just make a mental note of going to another bathroom next time. “I feel slightly annoyed that I have to smell the vapor in the air, so I just go somewhere else to do my business.” said Xu. Sightings of high school students vaping is not limited to AHS. A 2019 report from the National Institute of Health found that around 20 percent of high schoolers vape across the U.S. This number is estimated to continue to rise, and more schools will be affected by this new “wave” of teen drug users. Schools across the country have adopted new measures to combat oncampus vaping, and the AHS administration is starting to become more aware of this new issue. “We noticed students have been brought in for vaping, and [it is] becoming a real problem,” assistant principal Kristian Hinz said. To address the vaping that is happening on campus, the administration has implemented systems to prevent usage during school hours. “We are doing regular bathroom checks, and we also close the bathrooms whenever there is a vaping situation,” Hinz said. Although these protocols are set to decrease vaping in schools, it is the students themselves that are affected by regular
“The closures are preventing me from using the bathrooms and I usually have to walk to other ones; vaping at school is really annoying because I have to go in and do my business under the smell of vape.” - Senior Geovanni Mojica
bathroom checks and closures. Senior Geovanni Mojica expressed his frustration about the issue of bathroom closures due to vaping on campus. “The closures are preventing me from using the bathrooms, and I usually have to walk to other ones; vaping at school is really annoying because I have to go in and do my business under the smell of vape.” Mojica said. As freshmen, most students are already familiar with the health risks that comes along with vaping because of the vaping unit that is part of the freshman health curriculum. “Vaping can contain major health risks that even science [is not] caught up with it entirely. It’s bad for your lungs, it’s bad for your heart, and it’s addictive.” health teacher India Rogers said. Still, there continues to be students who vape on the AHS campus. An anonymous AHS senior who vapes believes that people vape on campus due to self- control issues. “People have no self-control sometimes so they decide to do it on campus instead of doing it at school,” anonymous said. On top of educating students on the numerous health risks of vaping in health classes, AHS will continue to use their standard policies to prevent vaping in schools. “We request that students don’t leave classes without a pass and stay inside for the last ten minutes of school,” Hinz said. Ever since the establishment of these new protocols, their effectiveness have been shown to be beneficial. “The administration is handling this problem very well, we gotten less people vaping this year than last year,” Hinz said. •
Photos | Elton Wong
“It’s really messed up because the bathroom closes, [so I] can’t go anywhere else to change. They close down the girls bathrooms as well, which is just unfair.” - Senior Flora Wu
“It’s inconvenient for me because I have to go across campus to use the restroom while the one closest to my first period is closed.”
“I feel like vaping on campus shouldn’t be on campus because I don’t want to smell the vape residue when I use the bathroom.”
- Senior Jasmine Sanchez
- Senior Albert-Josh Luna CAMPUS
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AHS Angels
New Guardian Angels aim to support student emotional well-being.
By David Ye and Sarah Amani
Photo | David Ye
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e’re like a neighborhood watch, but [we’re] watching for emotional well-being,” English teacher Kay Zimmerman said. Zimmerman believes that students should care about themselves, as well as their peers. This year, she formed the Guardian Angels, a Future academy service group dedicated to spreading this idea throughout campus. Members include AHS seniors Evelyn Engen, Natalie Garcia, Bethel Dagnu, Viviana Jimenez, Jessica Lewis, Corey Dial, Jessica Thompson, Miguel Peña, and Kisyah Kim. The group meets once a week to discuss subjects such as how to boost group outreach. Aside from all being part of the Futures SLC, Zimmerman picked these students to be part of the group because they had a common goal: to keep supporting students through their struggles. “After what happened with the Wellness Center this year where it wasn’t really clear if anyone was going to be running it all the time, we decided to become a standalone group for the Future academy,” Thompson said. “It represents us and what we believe in as an academy, and now we’re able to offer support to students.” Zimmerman based the group off of a similar group of the same name that was active in the past, when she was a child. She was inspired by them to create a group that helped the student body, similar to how the
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the past Angels acted as a neighborhood watch. “[The past Angels] had a slightly different job; they were adults who believed that the streets of the cities were not safe enough and there weren’t enough police doing their jobs, so [they] would go out on the streets with red berets and sashes on,” Zimmerman said. “They would actually check to make sure people were safe.” The group was formed to assist the student body with common issues such as schoolwork help, stress, and friendship complications, but each member has their own specialties. “One of the things we do is if we see somebody in need...Our job is to comfort them and go to them to see what they need or maybe they need somebody to talk to...” Dagnu said. “We’re just here to be a peer support system.” Zimmerman chose these students because in her DPA class, they learned skills that could be used to help other students, such as meditation and self-care techniques. “We had to go through a class in order to be able to be part of this group,” Engen said. “Like Ms. Zimmerman was talking about; how we all know breathing techniques, and we’ve all taken a class in which we studied the psychology of adolescents. “ However, the current members being all seniors brings problems that get in the way
of their group’s goal. “There are only so many of us and at the same time, some of us have to handle our own responsibilities such as getting our homework done or maybe doing college applications,” Engen said. Despite these barriers, their goal remains to create a more empathetic campus. “We created this group to change the culture at the school so that it starts to become normal that people are looking out and trying to help and support each other,” Zimmerman says. “We hope that that’ll become the new normal at our school. Yes, the teachers can promote that, but I think it has to come from the students.” This year, the Angels foresee increased success with the group and other students as the school year progresses. “The more we advocate for our group, throughout time, we’ll accumulate more popularity and spread awareness of our group,” Engen said. Through interactions with other students, they hope to shift the culture of Arroyo. “In future years, I hope the culture will really shift,” Zimmerman said. “...if we can build our program and get more and more students involved and using our services, I think we can actually create a more inclusive campus.” •
Providing Substitute from Two Sources ESS controls our substitute system, but teachers still have to contribute. By Nanda Bean
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eachers at AHS take turns getting called to substitute a class that is in need to be taken care of. A typical day for a teacher who has to be a substitute during their prep period is unbalanced, making the day feel longer and it prevents a teacher to prepare a lesson for the next day, catch up on emails, or and correct quizzes. During the first six weeks of school, English Teacher Mark Giller sometimes got called on once a week, to be a substitute for a certain class, which frustrates him since he is unable to use his prep time to correct papers or create the new lesson plan. “It really makes the day longer and it really makes you miss out on key planning time ” Giller said. According to AHS Office Manager Donna Fuller, five to seven substitute teachers are needed at AHS every single day. These substitute teachers come from ESS (Education Solution Services), a company that manages our substitute shortage and are in charge of hiring and receiving substitute teachers for the district. “It’s an outside company that basically recruits and ensigns subs from their entity. They’re not San Lorenzo Unified School District related.” Fuller said. “The company has taken over the sub system and required that anyone who was working in the San Lorenzo Unified School District to become a part of the ESS system, why I do not know but this is what they’ve done. So they basically taken all of our subs and put them all in one pool and they pass them out as they see fit.” Absence Control Specialist Alexis Neideffer adds that even though substitute teachers are under ESS now, it doesn’t affect them in any way and they still work and teach in the same schools, they have worked with before. “The substitute teachers themselves are the same people who used to work for the district (along with a few others who were onboarded more recently). When we contracted with ESS, those subs were onboarded with them” Neideffer said. This situation leads to frustration towards Fuller as well because she points out that we do not pay enough of our substitute teachers, which is why we do not have enough in the district. This impacts her because sometimes things do not run smoothly as expected when fuller asks her fellow colleagues to “go places.” “There’s not enough subs in every school in the district. We have a shortage of subs going on right now and I believe that it’s
because we don’t pay our subs the top money.” Fuller said. “It impacts me because I ask people to go places and they either forget, sometimes they forget and don’t go to the class, sometimes, they’re not on time, sometimes they move slower than other people, and sometimes, it’s just as simple” Fuller said. Giller, who feels overworked when he is asked to substitute a class because he can not get work done and has to spend his own time to catch up with his workload. “It adds on to your additional duties, you know you teach five periods and then you get one more period, so I would say everytime you feel overworked because you miss out on your prep period and then you have to make that hour up, so it’s always like adding on extra work.” Giller said. Although he is aware that, his frustration and anger is at the problem itself and at the district and not at the people who are doing their job. He always thinks about how could this issue continues to happen and how can we fix the system. Out of all the troubles the school and the district have to go through, to hire substitutes and regular teachers to give students a qualified adult to facilitate and teach their class. This goes to show that it is part of a bigger issue of expensive housing is leading to teacher shortage. It is still a national issue that we have a teacher shortage, especially in California, where a huge factor to why, is because it is expensive to live in this state, especially around the Bay Area. Neideffer believes the best way to resolve this problem, is if we vote to fund public schools since teachers working in public schools are government workers. “The reality of the situation is that less and less people are becoming teachers and substitute teachers because it is getting increasingly expensive to live in California, and teachers wages are notoriously low. The best thing anyone can do to help solve this issue, because public school teachers are government employees, is to vote to fund the public school system,” Neideffer said. •
On Subbing
Two teachers weigh in on the current substitute shortage.
Photos | Nanda Bean
“It is an opportunity for me to help out a colleague in need, though it is frustrating that we still are unable to fill classrooms with qualified substitutes.” - Social Studies Teacher Andrew Eckloff
“Well, it’s frustrating; I would like the district office and the people in charge of hiring subs...hire more subs.” - English Teacher Mark Giller CAMPUS
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Photo | The Arroyan 2000 Illustration | Vivian Liu
Some of the new and returning AHS staff share stories about coming back to AHS. By Christopher Yalung and Dorothy Huang
Debbie Pierstorff, Class of 1976 “There was a position open, and I knew that coming back here, my attendance would be much better than it was when I went here.” Photo | The Arroyan 1976
Tom Grace, Class of 1981 “I learned to really enjoy this campus and the students that I teach and the environment.”
Photo | The Arroyan 1981
Mike Saenz, Class of 1981 “I’d always wanted to coach football, so I came back to coach. Then I ended up getting a permanent job at the distict as a result.” Photo | The Arroyan 1985
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Assistant Principal Nicole Sandoval returns to AHS a fourth time.
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ssistant Principal Nicole Sandoval didn’t originally want to return to Arroyo again. As an AHS student in the graduating class of 2000, she viewed teachers that had been educating for years, and thought that they should be going out to experience more. “A lot of my college experience was just about that; going out and seeing the world,” Sandoval said. As she traveled throughout the Bay Area though, she realized something about the community she had left. “I really liked [the San Lorenzo] community. It felt like home; the families there were supportive, and also very trusting of the teachers and the people here. It was something I wanted to be a part of.” As a result, Sandoval got into teaching, starting at Bohannon Middle School. She bounced back and forth from BMS to AHS for 15 years before finally becoming an administrator at AHS, which has become another reason for her to stay in the community. “This is where I’m raising my children; they are going to go through these schools, and I want to have input into what kind of schools they’re going to.” Sandoval believes that there’s a reason for why so many alumni come back to work at Arroyo. “[AHS] is a family; there are a lot of alumni who keep coming back. It speaks to some respect for the people who educated us, and it speaks to our fondness for the opportunities that are provided. Coming back to San Lorenzo, even my role as an AP, that was a choice; because I wanted to be a part of this family again.” •
Angela Cirimele, Class of 1985 “It just happened to be that my cousin who worked at the district said, ‘Hey, they’re hiring for a finance lady at Arroyo!,’ and I thought , ‘Okay, I know banking. I went to Arroyo, let’s go back.” Photo | The Arroyan 1985
Photo | The Arroyan 1999
India Rodgers, Class of 1989 “I had a really good experience here at Arroyo as a student and that helps me when I teach here because I would like to provide that experience for students,”
Class of 1999, physics teacher Brian Glaze finds himself back at AHS two decades later.
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hen he graduated from AHS in 1999, science teacher Brian Glaze, couldn’t see himself coming back to AHS as a teacher. “It was always in the back of my mind but I never really expected I was really going to come back,” said Glaze. Glaze started his teaching career at Barnard White Middle School teaching 7th grade science. He continued teaching at other schools such as Tennyson High School and James Logan High School where he taught physics and, not only did he teach, he was also an activities director. This year is Glaze’s first year working back at AHS. After years of working in other districts, Glaze has decided to come back to AHS. While working at other schools, Glaze said the persuading of his old teachers, like physics teacher Jeff Jorgensen, had drawn him back into working in the AHS community. “A lot of my old teachers reached out to me to come and continue my teaching here,” Glaze said. When Glaze’s old teachers reached out to him, it held some sentimental value. “It weighs a little bit more. It doesn’t matter what they say it’s them reaching out to you,” Glaze said. Glaze believes teaching at Arroyo is a way of showing his gratitude and a way to give back to the community. “It’s like giving back to what our teachers gave us,” Glaze said. •
Photo | The Arroyan 1989
Andrew Eckloff, Class of 2000 “I thought it would be nice to teach at my old high school; I know the culture, I know the students, and I know how things are done. Then [AHS] brought me back. Then they fired me.” Photo | The Arroyan 2000
Brian Ortiz, Class of 1999 “I told myself if I was going to teach I would come teach at Arroyo because it meant something to teach and give back to the community.” Photo | The Arroyan 1999
Cecilia Adams, Class of 1983 “I love the students here, I love the staff, I love the environment, everything about it I just really enjoy.” Photo | The Arroyan 1983
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Events in the Bay Area to enjoy over the winter break. By Andrea Lomeli and Claire Ramos
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he holidays are times of celebration and festive cheer, as well as gifting and spending time with family. Whether you celebrate Christmas or not, winter break provides all of us with much needed leisure time to spend with family, friends, catching up on sleep or working, at times it feels like we have too much free time. This guide provides fun, affordable events to explore with family and friends when you can’t think of ways to spend your time!
Holiday Hounds
Bay Street in Emeryville will offer pet adoptions on Dec. 21 from 12 p.m. to 3 p.m. In addition to the adoptions, games and treats for your dog are available throughout the afternoon. Unique food trucks will be present, at staggered times, during the event. If you are interested in a day of shopping and spending time with your dog, or getting a new one, this is a good event for you.
ZooLights From Dec. 7 to Jan. 6, celebrating the holidays at the Oakland Zoo is a great event for families and friends to enjoy. The Oakland Hills will feature a view of the Bay Area skyline from the perspective of festively-lit gondolas. Food is available as well as new attractions, such as the penguin playground and music in motion laser light shows. Animal structures will be decorated with twinkling holiday lights and a candy canethemed ride will be available.
Illustration | Crystal Yeung
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Winterfest
Christmas in the Park
Great America’s Winterfest is one of the most immersive holiday events of the Bay, as it is magically transformed into a winter wonderland and a holiday festival. Christmas activities include magnificent displays of lights and decor, viewing spectacular live holiday shows and experiencing more than 60 rides and holiday attractions. The winter scene and Christmas celebration is dominated by one of the Bay Area’s tallest Christmas trees adorned with thousands of twinkling lights accompanied by giant toy soldiers greeting guests.This amazing event features millions of lights, creating a Christmas event for the entire family.
Christmas in the Park is a great holiday event for people to enjoy traditions of lights, music, and exhibits. It is a chance to enjoy hot chocolate and walk around the Plaza de Cesar Chavez park. To celebrate 40 years of tradition in the park, a parade will be held this year. The parades will showcase the arts and culture that make up the community and its neighborhoods. Although it is free to attend and enjoy with family and friends, donations towards the event production are welcomed through purchase of food and drinks at the event. Christmas in the Park is currently open and remains open through Jan 1st.
Holiday in the Park Many theme parks in the Bay Area have their own way to celebrate festivities in the park. Holiday in the Park at Six Flags Discovery Kingdom in Vallejo offers halls with thousands of star-bright LED lights, filled the streets with lush Christmas trees and wreaths, and invited carolers sing holiday classics. You can gaze your eyes upon a beautiful 30 ft. Christmas tree, entirely decorated with lovely poinsettia flowers. Holiday in the Park will be open until January 5th.
Union Square Everyone in your group will enjoy ice skating in the iconic plaza of Union Square. From family to friends. Spending the day in San Francisco’s Union Square allows you to shop, eat, and skate. In addition to ice skating, pet adoptions through Macy’s are on-going through Jan. 1. This San Francisco holiday tradition in the heart of Union Square is accompanied by lights and festive music, appealing to even the most difficult person to please.
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District Explains Elementary School Halloween Parade Cancellations Multiple factors that lead to the cancelling of parades at some schools. By Jeneen Doctor
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n Oct. 3, a community member posted a question on the San Lorenzo Community Facebook page stating that the Halloween parade at Hesperian Elementary School had been canceled. The post got 33 comments, many of which expressed frustration and the belief that this was due to new district policy. One comment on the post read: “The school board has gone down the path of no holiday references/celebrations just seasonal. We can’t have Halloween parties they must be called Fall parties. We are not supposed to dress up for any holidays or make reference to religious aspects of holidays. This is why you won’t see parades it certain decorations anymore. Certain schools walk the line and certain schools choose not too. Want that to change? Bring it to the school board’s attention. I know the students don’t like it and I’ve heard the same from many parents.” SLZUSD Director of Elementary Education Kimberly Noble explained how it wasn’t only one thing that affected the Halloween parade being canceled.
“Multiple factors were taken into consideration such as maximizing instructional time, issues of student exclusion, issues of financial equity, wanting to avoid staff helping students with dressing, etc,” Noble said.
Bay Elementary School Teacher Stephanie Scarper
Grant Elementary School Teacher Jennie Gasmin
Grant Elementary School Teacher Cordelia Lim
“With some classes or with some groups, it can be distracting. I think there are some teachers who really pushed because they weren’t able to have a school day, and then it affected the whole school.”
“We still do some Halloweenthemed art. That’s not really Halloween but more just the season-themed.”
“Multiple factors were taken into consideration such as maximizing instructional time, issues of student exclusion, issues of financial equity, wanting to avoid staff helping students with dressing, etc.”
SLZUSD Director of Elementary Education Kimberly Noble said
Despite the actual reason for the cancellation, many community members were still upset about the lack of a parade this year. The Facebook post featured comments like, “That’s the most ridiculous thing! Those are most kids beast memories from school days,” and “It’s my opinion that we need to back off on destroying all these little things. Little parades and events like this bring the community a little closer.” Noble believes that much of the frustration around the parade is from people believing misinformation spread on Facebook and avoiding the spread of misinformation will help avoid future situations like this. “There is new research constantly coming out that discusses how social media can magnify the spread of misinformation. When there is something shared on social media that causes someone concern, I encourage them to do their own research by checking with multiple sources to seek clarification,” Noble said. •
Elementary school teachers share opinions on cancellation of Halloween parades.
“I have mixed feelings, but for the most part I feel that it’s apporiate but it needs to be district-wide. Some schools shouldn’t be able to do it, if not all the schools. It’s either an all or nothing. You can teach about holidays, but not necessarily celebrate them.”
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Photos | Jeneen Doctor
Manor Bowl reaches the Last Frame Manor Bowl will close before the end of the school year.
By Sebastian Lopez
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ince 1960, Manor Bowl has served the community as a place of leisure and for pros and amateurs alike to share the exciting joy of bowling. After 60 years of operation, Manor Bowl has decided not to renew their lease and close their doors as of May 5th 2020. Tex and Pam Phippin, the couple that owns Manor Bowl and Castro Village Bowl, decided that if anything were to happen to one of them, the remaining person would sell one of the properties. Due to the death of Tex Phippin, Pam Phippin decided to sell the Manor Bowl property. The city of San Leandro was given proposals to use the lot that Manor Bowl is on to build low income housing. Lajuana Young, the day and weekend manager at Manor Bowl knows that Manor Bowl has served as more than a bowling alley for the local community. “We’ll miss the place...I grew up in here, my family grew up in here, my son grew up in here, so you know it’s just a family place,” Young said.
“[Manor Bowl] provided entertainment; just somewhere where families can go to have fun.” Young said. Likewise, Manor Bowl has also been a place of importance to Math Teacher Dean Ironside who used to be an avid bowler and worked at Manor Bowl for six years.
“There’s so much nostalgia for me. That was the first time I went bowling, I used to go with my family, that’s where I had my first date...I’m sad that it’s closing.”
“Growing up, I had nostalgic memories connected to my grandparents who would go there often and were in the league, so as a child I would go there and hang out with them.
- Junior America Armenta
“Lot of families I know there moved or separated from the area.”
Math Teacher Dean Ironside said
“The people were a lot of fun. It was a great job to have while I was in college I met my wife there [and] I made a lot of good friends,” Ironside said. Ironside believes that the community will have something to miss when Manor Bowl closes, but he also recognizes the change that may have led up to this decision.
- English Teacher Jorja Santillan
“I don’t know anyone that’s been there in awhile...There’s so much change; most of the families here probably never been there. Lot of families I know there moved or separated from the area.” Ironside also factors in the downfall of bowling’s popularity for Manor Bowl’s closing, especially as local teenagers stop going to bowl. “As of the students at Arroyo, I doubt many of them even hang out there anymore. It used to be quite the hangout, teenagers would go and just be teenagers. I doubt it will be noticed until they build houses on it.” Ironside said. Though Manor Bowl will soon close its doors, students and their families will have the opportunity to hang out and bowl at the alley and bask in the nostalgia of what Manor Bowl used to mean for them before closing day, May 5th, 2020. •
“It was a good place to have good times with friends, and just a fun place to have fun.”
- Junior Jesse Cazares Photo Illustration | Yves-Sebastian Lopez
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Holiday Helping Hands Organizations host toy drives for local communities.
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By Samantha Wang round the AHS community, there are several groups that hosts special events and programs during the holiday season. The Davis Street Family Resource Center, AHS SIA club, and Health and Medicine Academy work with local corporation and government agencies that donate to the families in need.
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Photo Illustration | Samantha Wang
n the past years, SIA, Students in Action club, had been running school supply drives to donate to the California Wildfire Relief Foundation. This year, however, they planned a toy drive instead to help families with small children. SIA co-president Nathalie Bombase helped arrange the drive with the Alameda Point Collaborative Shelter. Their goal is to keep giving back to the homeless a reoccuring theme. “The purpose of having drives like this is to remind students that there is always something that they could do to help those in need or give back to their community,” Bombase said. As she became more involved in such service events, she remembered the initial reason for joining a club of SIA: to give back to her community and help others. “I am involved in leadership and several service clubs here on campus, yet I find it so easy to get caught up in my own life and school work that I forget about the real reason I value service so much. This drive was a reality check to me that I’m a hypocrite. I talk about how important service is yet I do not take as much initiative as I can to help others. This drive was that initiative,” Bombase said. •
Photo Courtesy of Selina Mandel
ealth and Medicine Leadership is hosting their 9th annual toy drive from Dec. 4 to Dec. 18, working with the Alameda County Fire Department to help local families. Last year, they collected approximately $3,000 dollars of toys to give to the families. H&M co-leader and science teacher Selina Mandel oversees the drive. She believes that by running drives like this, students can feel like they are bringing the community together with a common cause. “We give [the toys] to the Alameda County Fire Department, but the fire department that’s over here...they are the ones who come over here. That’s community,” Mandel said. “They are all part of the community, and they see all the kids [and family] in this community. When there’s a hardship...the fire department is who steps up. And during the holidays, they provide some nice toys or trinkets of some sort to make them [the families] feel better.” For the first round, they collected a total of 227 boxes of toys. However, Mandel believes the meaning behind distributing the goods is more significant than the quantity. “The amount of toys people are willing to donate or even cash to buy more [are great],” Mandel said. “It’s always nice to give back to the community and to help those that are not doing so great.” •
Photo Courtesy of Davis Street Family Resource Center
very year, the Davis Street Family Resource Center supplies approximately 1,000 lowincome families with goods in the Holiday Basket and Bikes for Tykes Programs. Bike for Tykes has been serving the community for over 46 years, working with the San Leandro Police Department to purchase items from local businesses. Last year, 400 new bicycles and helmets were donated to children in need. The basic needs assistant of Davis Street Kristal Gonzalez works towards helping families feel a sense of warmth. “They [the clients] were homeless,were living in their van for about two and a half years, and have two little kids,” Gonzalez said. “They [the volunteers] got the kids some special toys that they really wanted [that] they weren’t able to afford. We had a volunteer dressed up as Santa Claus and went out to the van...The parents were crying.” These items were donated; but to Gonzalez, there are other ways that people can give back to their communities, and she is doing what she can to help families in need. “There are a lot of different ways that you can...donate, but even coming out and helping them a little bit is a way of showing your donations,” Gonzalez said. •
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SPECIAL FEATURE
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AHS Through the Years A look back on changes and milestones on the campus. By Angelina Buell, Santina Davalos, Sara Giretto, Alexis May Go, Che Munoz, Alexis Quino
In 2010, AHS combined Junior and Senior Prom together for the first time since the school’s establishment due to low ticket sales for separate dances.
Did You Know? AHS used to have a “Traditional Academy”, an umbrella academy for people who did not have a specific career path. It ended in 2012.
In 2010 as well, the TREND (Transportation, Engineering, and Design) Academy was introduced to AHS as interest in engineering from both students and teachers was prominent.
Trends Through the Years
By 2013, the hole in the admin wing was created, as well as the extensions to S hall and H hall. “We were very overcrowded [...] teachers had to move and [...] share rooms because we didn’t have enough science rooms” said science teacher Jeff Jorgensen.
Students comment on some of the top trends, memes, and games of the deca “I had no idea [why nyan cat was funny… but] I thought [nyan cat] was really adorable.” - Senior Hailey Silveira
“I remember there was a lot of hype around hoverboards and I never really got into it. Everyone was getting one and people who didn’t have it, really wanted one.” - Freshman Selena Davalos
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SPECIAL FEATURE
In the 2013-2014 school year, the Future elective Introduction to Education was brought to AHS. This elective is the 10th grade Future Academy pathway elective, and it works on developing students leadership skills and knowledge surrounding topics such as education.
In the 2014-2015 school year, the elective Introduction to Philosophy made its return to AHS. After being offered from 1998 and leaving in 2007, social studies teacher Andrew Eckloff brought the class back in 2014.
In 2014, the ice bucket challenge was an activity where a person would get a bucket of ice water dumped on their head to raise awareness for amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS). Math teacher Dean Ironside and science teacher Jeff Jorgensen both participated in the challenge.
decade.
“I remember the dress debate! I was never able to see the white and gold, so I always saw black and blue.” - Junior Lillian Luong
“I played the Pokemon [Nintendo DS] Games like Pokemon Platinum and X and Y [...] I used to play a lot like almost everyday.” - 2013 Pokemon XY - Sophomore Johnny Pham
SPECIAL FEATURE
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In 2017, AHS baseball won NCS (North Coast Sectional Championships) for the first time but it was their second time making it to the finals.
In 2016, the Dry Gulch Gazette was renewed after more than seven years of absence and was revived as a magazine rather than a newspaper. However, it was written by the Journalism Club. Journalism was not reintroduced as a class until 2017. “The previous one [written by past generations] was very school-based [...] they don’t talk much about the community [... Now] we have sections like Art and Culture, Community, Campus, Sports, and Editorials and such,” said senior Nanda Bean.
“Tiktok has a variety of content [that] people can watch on there, for example, it can be dances or funny comedy skits.” -Junior Selma Redzic
“It was very sad [when Club Penguin shut down.] I played Club Penguin [... it was my] childhood game, I had a membership on Club Penguin.”
-Junior Peter Tran
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SPECIAL FEATURE
Did you Know? AHS has had a variety of clubs over the years. Some previously offered clubs include Fishing Club, Pagan Club, SAT Prep Club, Mathletes, Science Alliance, and Sudoku Club.
At the end of the 2018-2019 school year, AHS unveiled its newly renovated kitchen and ended its contract with Burger King, all the while bringing new meal options for students “The cafeteria is very nice… it help[ed us].” Maria Buenrosdro of the school cafeteria said.
In the 2018-2019 school year, the Tech-Links pathway elective Entrepreneurship Two was introduced to AHS. Tech-Links Students are now offered the courses Entrepreneurship One, Entrepreneurship Two, and Marketing in their academy.
“[The biggest meme of the decade was] Big Chungus.” -Sophomore Chrissy Flores “If we’re talking biggest [meme], I’d like to say Ugandan Knuckles. We were all clicking our tongues, we were all united, sure it got toxic but, we all had our fun times.” -Sophomore CJ Bernados
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Vaping Affects All Students Vaping is causing a nuisance on campus.
Illustration | Crystal Yeung
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hen a student goes to the restroom, they shouldn’t have to worry if it’s closed or not. When they get to an open restroom, they shouldn’t have to worry about it smelling like marijuana or nicotine. Unfortunately, this is the reality for some students at Arroyo. When students use drugs in a school restroom, students whose class is close to that restroom have to walk to another restroom, which takes away valuable class time. The actions of students who use drugs on campus are hindering those who don’t. Restrooms are being shut down because of the students using drugs in them, which is a major inconvenience to most, if not all, students. These students need to realize how blatant and selfish their actions are, and take their drug use habits off campus where it won’t affect other students. According to Assistant Principal Kristian Hinz, restrooms get shut down for possible drug and tobacco use more than 50 percent of the time. Hinz also stated that it is part of the school’s responsibility to educate its students on the dangers of drug use. “Most important in our efforts, within
DGG Dry Gulch Gazette
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OPINION
the context of a school setting, is to provide education and awareness to students, families, and staff about vaping, the dangers and inherent risks, etc.” Hinz said. The dangers of vaping are very extreme. “It’s bad for your lungs, bad for your heart, and [is] addictive,” health teacher India Rodgers said.
STAFF EDITORIAL
OPINION OF THE DRY GULCH GAZETTE EDITORIAL STAFF
According to the 2016 U.S. Surgeon General’s Report on e-cigarette use among youth and young adults, long-term effects of e-cigarette use include stunted brain development, which can lead to other symptoms such as nicotine addiction, mood disorders, lack of impulse, attention span, and various lung diseases. Not only is your drug use hurting your peers by shutting down restrooms, you’re also hurting yourselves. Eventually, there will
be a point where your poor decision-making becomes evident. According to the CDC, as of Nov. 20, 2,290 vaping-related lung injury cases and 47 deaths caused by vaping have been reported. Putting aside the restroom shutdowns; what would bring someone to afflict themselves like this? However, it is a common excuse for drug users to say, “It’s hard to get off of it,” or “It keeps me going.” As previously stated, you should’ve known to avoid all drugs before high school. Repeatedly, you’ve been told about the consequences of drugs, and the ways to cure an addiction. If you were thinking of ever doing them, you know what’ll happen to you. If you currently do them, then you should look into things that aren’t drugs but still relieve stress. Alternatives can range from yoga to simply just laughing more. Either don’t do your drugs here, or don’t do them anywhere. Students should always be mindful of others as well as themselves. •
The Dry Gulch Gazette is an open forum for students and does not necessarily represent the views of Arroyo High School or of the San Lorenzo Unified School District. We want to provide our readers with entertaining, informational, and relevant stories that will be worth their time. We intend to produce accurate and unbiased reporting, and we will therefore work to correct any significant mistakes. You should contact us at AHSGazette@gmail. com if you can find such a mistake in this publication. You may also email us to submit a letter to the editor, but we reserve the right to edit letters for length or accuracy. Letters will be rejected or published at the discretion of journalism staff.
Giving Back
Students lack community participation.
Illustration | Yves-Sebastian Lopez
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n a time where technology allows us access to read about every single problem in the world, there are often issues in our own communities that we overlook. Yes, world hunger and global warming is important, but if we wait around for those problems to be fixed before we focus on smaller issues, too many people’s needs will be forgotten. The solution is to be more active in your local community. Community action benefits everyone: the people that community aims to assist and also yourself. Community organizations usually have the common goal of helping the lesser fortunate people, which ranges from legal advocacy to volunteering to building homes and distributing food to the poor. Participating in these community actions also allows people to grow social skills, expand their network, and develop a better understanding of the things happening around them. If there is any place in the world that needs the help of a strong community, the Bay Area is a great place to start. In 2019,
the Census Bureau recorded 1.5 million Bay Area residents in poverty. The same year, the Department of Housing and Urban Development counted more than 8,000 homeless people in Alameda County alone with even higher numbers in other Bay Area counties. Communities are important because
STAFF EDITORIAL
OPINION OF THE DRY GULCH GAZETTE EDITORIAL STAFF many of the homeless and lower-class members depend on charitable handouts and community volunteers to maintain their human needs. Some community organizations also hold resources for people to find jobs and sometimes shelter for their families. AHS already has some ways for students
Editor-in-Chief: Trinity Mai Managing Editors: Christopher Yalung, Samantha Wang, Vivian Liu Campus Editor: Andrea Marie Lomeli Community Editor: Nanda Bean Special Feature Editor: Alexis May Go
Opinion Editor: Sebastian Lopez Arts and Culture Editor: Rafael Duran Sports Editor: Che Munoz
to become active in their communities. Some academies like Health and Medicine and Future incentivize participation by making community service hours part of students’ grades. There are also multiple clubs on campus like Interact, Students in Action, and Key Club that are based on giving students the opportunities to help in their local community. What AHS can do to maximize student action is to require community service hours in every academy and also to provide more resources and attention to the community-based clubs. The reason why communities hold so much power is their strength in numbers. In order for communities to hold considerable influence and help people in need, they need young people like us who are willing to use their free time to volunteer and try to make the world a better place. •
Gazette Staff Writers: Aaliyah Montgomery, Alexis
Quino, Angelina Buell, Claire Ramos, Crystal Yeung, David Ye, Dorothy Hoang, Elton Wong, Javier Manzano, Jeneen Doctor, Jose Chavez, Joseph Licano, MarcAnthony Ramos, Santina Davalos, Sara Giretto, Sarah Amani
Staff Adviser: Samved Sangameswara OPINION
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On Track for Christmas
Local resident uses recyclables to create a Christmas-themed train. By Trinity Mai
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an Leandro resident Antonio Cardenas began engaging in creating holidaythemed displays 14 years ago, primarily with recycled materials. Initially, Cardenas created the designs and placed images of them on his website to attract customers to his business. However, after creating his first creation of a pirate ship, he realized that he enjoys the process of planning and constructing because he perceived it as another way of expressing his creativity. He decided to continue balancing the time between managing his business and constructing the displays. “It’s sort of part of my job because I actually have a business website, so when people go to look at how I made it, so people will take a look at the house[s] I have for sale. A lot of vehicles I have done, but I’ve never had a train. It was a fun one because there were a lot of things I could put in the train,” Cardenas said. In October, he designed and built a ghost train filled with skeletons to celebrate Halloween. The display mainly consisted of several wooden palettes, chicken wire, and approximately 1,000 recycled plastic water bottles that he had gathered. As the winter holiday season approached, he replaced the skeletons from the ghost train with teddy bears to create a Santa train, a concept that he had been planning since early 2019. “Designing everything with seeing everything around the house that is recyclable began with saving a bunch of empty water bottles...We used wooden palettes to put it all together,” Cardenas said. “The main goal is to not spend
ARTS & CULTURE
Photos | Trinity Mai
any money on new materials but to use whatever we already have and see if there is a way to incorporate it into your design... That is the main challenge: can you get something done with what you have?” Like Cardenas, Bohannon Middle School yearbook and art teacher Mimi Dean also uses recyclables such as cardboard and cereal boxes. In her most recent recyclables fashion show, Dean in particular used plastic water bottles. With a specialization in environmental art, she hopes that others can also reuse items to oppose the corporations behind them. “I don’t think people should be supporting all the corporations. Basically, get the water for next to nothing and drain local aquifers and sell it back to the people. I’m totally against it,” Dean said. “But since there are so many water bottles around, I do use them and I do teach my students about how these days corporations like Netflix buy stuff. They get the water for very, very cheap and sell it back to you for a dollar a bottle. So it’s really bad.” While Cardenas has no particular goals in mind, he hopes to continue creating new content during the holidays to showcase to his clients and neighbors to lift up the holiday spirit. “They like it. There’s a lot of people stopping by and making sure the holidays are shown properly,” Cardenas said. “It’s [also] for myself.” •
Painting a New Picture
Art students collaboratively paint a mural to showcase art history. By Crystal Yeung
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rt teacher Trenton Smith and his students are creating a third mural featuring the artistry of the students and appreciating the different cultures in AHS. “It’s about combining all of these creative visions and cultures,” Smith said. Smith and his students started to paint the new mural featuring art history and representing the cultures around campus. It adapts to famous artworks of history such as Picasso, Paul Cezanne, historical Chinese paintings, modern art, Frank Stella, and surrealist art. The new mural will be painted using a special acrylic mural paint transported from Los Angeles called Nova Color. Seven years ago, the mural featuring the Mona Lisa was painted by previous students; however, it was never finished. After Smith landed a job at AHS, he and his students finished the mural by painting a new background as it only had blocks of colors and lines and was faded. After making the adjustments, they had also wanted to paint the other side of the mural. However, the painting never began as the weather changes were a harming factor; the paint could wear off quickly. Now, because our school has the funding and the weather is bearable, Smith and his students are working to aim for their goal of completing the new mural by the end of this year. “I’ve got to get up early, I’ve got to mix up paint. Then, students get here, and they set up the scaffolding [and] put down cardboard so [the] paint doesn’t spill. Then, they put on aprons, and they start brushing off
where we’re going to paint with a kind of a handbroom to get dirt off [because] you want all the paint to stick. So, they’re brooming and then we get the paint that we mix and we get it out there, and they start painting,” Smith said. Smith shared his thoughts on the new mural as he appreciates the students choice of artworks. Smith also likes the composition of the mural. “[The new mural is] fun. I like it. I really like the artwork that the students chose, and I like the composition, the way it was put together. I think where [the artworks] got put, like the dragon above the windows [was a good place],” Smith said. Smith then shared his opinion on the already-painted mural. “We did paint that. We just added to it, and I think that one is great too. I think it’s composed really well, [but] it was kind of just lacking background and color,” Smith said. “I think it needed to be finished. It needed colors to be added to it, but that was really amazing too. It was a good framework for us to work on. It was really a good easy thing to embellish and make better.” Freshman Marcus Bautista is one of Smith’s students who have contributed to the mural by painting the backgrounds: the blues in the sky. As Bautista awaits for the completion of the mural, he is excited. “Honestly, I don’t know exactly what it is, but it looks really good,” Bautista said. With the lack of art featured around the campus, Bautista hopes to have art be taught and featured in classes other than art classes. “[We could show more art] mostly in
classrooms because [in] some classrooms, [they’re] just fixed on problems that don’t relate to anything [I’m interested in], and art gives me the inspiration to do other stuff,” Bautista said. Bautista also believes that art is not featured on campus as it is not as important compared to other subjects. “[Administrators] make us think [the subjects taught in school are] what you prepare for, but sometimes you don’t really need all that and all you need is creativity,” Bautista said. Meanwhile, Smith believes that we can showcase more art on campus by setting aside the money, as murals are costly. Furthermore, he believes that students’ motivations can aid with the painting process. “You got to just set aside the money and try to get students who are interested in helping paint and things like that. But, basically just keep doing what we are doing. But to get more [art on campus], make a mural class, but then there’s always a problem of students getting in that class. A lot of people want to paint murals and they can’t get into that class because they [have to] take another class,” Smith said. Although there are limited artworks featured throughout campus, art influences students like Bautista to feel unique and different. “Art makes me a better person because it influences me to become different because even though there are a lot of basic stuff, it’s best to be different than other people,” Bautista said. •
On Dec. 2nd, the painted bonsai leaves on the tree can be seen after the base colors were painted.
Photo | Crystal Yeung
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Four Foods for the Fourth Season Students and staff share their holiday food experiences. By Jose Chavez
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ith the beignets, [the most important ingredient] is obviously the powdered sugar because if you don’t have that, then its [not] a beignet,” Benavidez said. Senior Gabby Benavidez celebrates the holidays with her family eating traditional holiday foods, and cooking new foods that she hopes will receive good reactions. Although Benavidez is not allowed to meddle in the kitchen during the holidays, she turns to creating new foods to express her creativity when her parents allow her to cook. When cooking new foods, Benavidez always hopes to strike a reaction out of people who taste her food. “When I cook holiday foods, I like to make things [that are unique], and I like seeing people’s reaction to eating them,” Benavidez said. Although Benavidez was not so pleased with the guava cake, she was pleasantly surprised about the taste. Benavidez described the taste of her guava cake to be good despite it having an unappetizing
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e light candles, sing songs, decorate our home, and eat traditional foods that are usually fried,” Kagan said. AHS art and ceramics teacher Merav Kagan celebrates Hanukkah by following the tradition of cooking fried foods. Hanukkah starts on Dec. 22. and ends on Dec. 30. The traditional foods eaten during Hanukkah are latkes, gelt, and doughnuts, all which are made with oil. “[We eat] latkes, doughnuts...and gelt. [It is generally] fried food [that is eaten],” Kagan said. Kagan explained that in Judaism, oil is very important during Hanukkah. During the rededication of the temple of which Hanukkah stems from, a Jewish Menorah stayed lit for eight days, which was a miracle considering that the oil that fueled it was sparse. “We are trying to remember the miracle of having enough oil. For latkes, their potatoes, oil, and other things to keep it all bound together. Doughnuts [are made out of] bread, but oil is the important part,” Kagan said. Kagan says that her favorite holiday food from Hanukkah are latkes.. Kagan explained
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“fudge like consistency.” “I have made a guava cake before, so it was super pink because of the guava. When it came out, it [did not] have a cake consistency and [had] more like a fudge consistency. You wouldn’t look at it like you [would] want to
Baklava Senior Gabby Benevidez
Creol and Hawaiian descent. “Since my family is Creole, we eat beignets with traditional powdered sugar and honey. And on the other side of my family, I am Hawaiinan, so we have malasadas, which are doughnuts but not doughnuts. Sometimes you put cream inside of it,” Benavidez said. Benavidez shared that her favorite holiday food is Baklava. She explained that the process of making them is a long but worth one. “Baklava is one of my favorites, too. My mom takes hours to make it. She has to go layer by layer to make it correctly,” Benavidez said. •
eat it. But once you eat it, it’s really good,” Benavidez said. Her family enjoys a variety of pastries that mainly consist of powdered sugar, two of which are beignets and malasadas. Benavidez explains that that is the case because she is of
that the main ingredients used in latkes are potatoes, matzah meal, eggs, and most importantly, oil. The process of making latkes starts with boiling potatoes, drying them, and frying them in a pan with oil. Kagan said that the process of making latkes is a messy one but fun nonetheless. “Making Latkes is somewhat labour intensive because...there is grating the potato,
Latkes Teacher Merav Kagan peeling the potato, and using a cloth to squeeze out the extra moisture so it fries really well. Then, you use some kind of bread meal like matzah meal. You throw it in there with an egg to make it combine, and then you fry it up. Pour some oil in a pan, let it get nice and
hot, a n d then fry and fry until you have a mess everywhere. It’s a bit of a messy Photo | David Ye and experience but it’s fun,” said Kagan. Growing up, Kagan ate latkes with fresh applesauce that her mother had made. She recalled the childhood memories of eating as many as she could and the experience with her family. “My parents used to always make [latkes] when I was growing up. Sometimes, my mom would make her own applesauce, or [she] would buy applesauce. You could have as many [latkes] as you could,” Kagan said. •
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e don’t really have family recipes; we find stuff on the internet. We had this mango guacamole. It had pomegranate seeds, mangos, and guacamole. We had it with pita chips,” Maeda said. Although Maeda does not have a traditional holiday food, her family likes to try online recipes and cook them for the holidays. She eats many different foods around the holidays because she does not have a fixed food to make in order to celebrate the holidays. Junior Eun-Hye Maeda spends her holidays with family and enjoy h e r
favorite holiday food: stuffing. Maeda explains that she first found out what her favorite holiday food was through how she felt, but she also knew that stuffing would be her favorite food. “I just remember that’s the thing I always
Stuffing Junior Eun-Hye Maeda gravitated to...I feel complete, [stuffing has] a little bit of everything,” Maeda said. Maeda explained that the texture and the salty flavor merged with the taste of cranberries made her like stuffing. The
she gets mad and [then] realizes we’re just trying to help,” Iniguez said. When celebrating holidays, her family celebrates Christmas, New Years, and Noche Buena,” Iniguez said. Her family celebrates these holidays by going to Mexico usually in December. She goes with her family to church and she enjoys the singing during this time as well.
e and Sebastian Lopez
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enior Nancy Iniguez celebrates the holidays by traveling to Mexico to spend time with her family and celebrate traditional Mexican holidays such as Navidad and Año Nuevo. Along with celebrating the holidays, she helps out with the cooking. She assists her family with the cooking of holiday foods, which is a “family tradition”. Although her mother would yell at her, she would still have fun and find a way to be helpful with the holiday traditions. “My favorite part is when we mess up and our mom yells at us. It’s kind of funny [when]
Tamales Senior Nancy Iniguez “[We go] to church to sing and witness the nacimiento[birth]…and see Jesus [Christ] be carried around the streets,” Iniguez said. Another part of the holidays Iniguez enjoys is the food, her favorite being tamales. The reason tamales are her favorite is because
combination of those flavors is what she enjoys most about stuffing. “I like stuffing; it’s weird to say, but I like the texture because its salty but also because we put cranberries on it,” Maeda said. According to Maeda, the most important ingredients used in her stuffing consists of sweet, salty, and sour ingredients. “[The most important ingredients are] cinnamon, cranberry, pineapples, [and] lots of vegetables,” Maeda said. Maeda explained that she does not cook, but she still helps make the holiday foods. “I help make [holiday foods], but I don’t actually do the cooking,” Maeda said. However, having no family recipes or not being able to have the opportunity to cook does not stop Maeda from enjoying the holidays with her family. “[I spend the holidays with] my brothers [who] come home, and we play board games, and [then] we open presents,” Maeda said. •
they remind her the memories spent with her grandmother during the holidays and she associates tamales with those holidays. “I associated it with that time of the year [and] seeing my family together in one place [and] being really full because grandma wouldn’t let you eat one tamale; she would want you to eat more,’’ Iniguez said. Iniguez explains that the basic process of making tamales involves maza, meat, and corn husks. She starts with the most simple ingredient to get, maza, and moves on how the Tamales are rolled up and filled. “We get the maza…[we] put in the meat and roll them up [in] una hoja and put them in a big pot,” Iniguez said. Iniguez says that cooking is important to the celebration of her holidays and she believes that it brings her family together. She believes that eating the food that your family makes together is an important part of the holiday. “I feel like the act of cooking food together is part of the celebration. You get to eat [the food you made] together,” Iniguez said. •
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Celebration Across Cultures
Students talk about the different ways they celebrate holidays. By MarcAnthony Ramos and Aaliyah Montgomery
Christmas Culture In America Junior Chloe Corvello talks about the “typical” American Christmas.
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unior Chloe Corvello has celebrated Christmas every year since she could remember. She never worried about another holiday or not celebrating Christmas not one year. Corvello knows it to be a holiday that brings family and friends together around during the Winter season. According to the Pew Research Center, Christmas is the most widely celebrated holiday in the US with 90% celebrating christmas. The same research also shows that of the people who celebrate Christmas, only 46% observe the religious aspect. Corvello’s family is apart of this group who’s celebration is more cultural than religious. Corvello’s family celebrates the traditional way with presents, gathering and eating food together. “So my family celebrates Christmas and
we don’t celebrate it with any religious intent. We just celebrate it as a way to have family come together and to give gifts and receive them. Also to eat together,” Corvello said. Although we use Winter break to spend the holidays with our families, Corvello believes we also need this time off to take a break from school and work in general. “I think winter break is necessary because despite the fact that some people don’t celebrate certain holidays, you’re half way through the year nearly. Personally I feel burnt out already and I feel like there’s a need for a break whether it’s for a holiday or just to rest,” Corvello said. •
Mexican-American Christmas Eve Senior Kassandra Burciaga explains how Mexican-Americans celebrate during Christmas Eve.
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n Dec. 24 Senior Kassandra Burciaga’s house is filled with family opening presents and spending time with each other. While some people associate this scene with the Christmas day, celebrating a night early is a common tradition with MexicanAmerican families. Burciaga spends her day eating food, socializing and opening presents with family. Similar to the way Americans typically celebrate Christmas, Mexican-Americans don’t celebrate that differently. One difference that is easily identifiable is MexicanAmericans Christmas consists of opening presents during midnight on Dec. 24. This usually involves family gathering together and happiness around the household. Burciaga likes celebrating this way because of the way it emphasizes unity.
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“My favorite part is staying up until twelve and then opening gifts and before opening gifts we give each other hugs. Unity I feel like is part of Christmas a lot and just family coming together,” Burciaga said. Burciaga also said she’s interested in seeing how other families and communities choose to spend their holidays. “I wish I knew how different religions or different cultures celebrate their holidays or how they spend their break. I know it differs from the way me and my family celebrates Christmas,” Burciaga said. •
Eid at AHS
Junior Idrees Altareb sheds light on the Islamic holiday Eid.
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hen people think of holidays, the one that comes to mind for most is Christmas. This means that many other religions and cultures are often overlooked and aren’t shown as much love. Junior Idrees Altareb doesn’t celebrate Christmas and instead celebrates the Islamic holiday Eid Al-Fitr (a month of fasting and giving back) and Eid Al-Adha (a day for charity). “Eid is a day where everyone gets together as a family to go to the Mosque and pray, then after we eat and show love. I really like it.” Altareb said. This happens around summertime, after Ramadan. There’s also another Eid around Spring time. Altareb spends his Christmas day as he would spend any other day on break. ”It’s just like any other day. We don’t celebrate it. I wake up in the morning, eat breakfast and play video games all day.” Idrees opens up about how he feels
toward the holiday season and not having anything to celebrate over break. “When I was younger and growing up, I’d come back from winter break and get pretty sad when kids would flex what they got for Christmas. I felt left out,” Altareb said. •
Hannukkah Season
Juniors Hank, Sam, and Sophia Johnson speak to celebrating Hanukkah in a Christmas focused country.
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uniors Sam, Hank and Sophia Johnson are all ethnically and religiously Jewish and celebrate all the Jewish holidays “We celebrate all the Jewish holidays. Passover, Hanukkah, Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur are just a few. Hanukkah seems to be the most popular Jewish holiday, and for those that don’t know, Hanukkah is an eightday Jewish celebration that commemorates the rededication of the Temple after it was destroyed in the second century B.C.E”. Sophia said. This is what Hanukkah looks like at the Johnson House. “We decorate the table and wait till sundown to light our menorahs and say a prayer for Hanukkah and then eat dinner, then we open presents from family while waiting for the candles to burn out, then go to bed. If it’s a Hanukkah party then there’s going to be more food and more people” Sophia said. Both Hank and Sophia agree that Hanukkah and many other holidays from
the Jewish religion are often overlooked. “I feel that huge U.S. Holidays like Christmas aren’t overlooked because that’s what most people celebrate but Hanukkah is overlooked because for example, the school year is modified to cater to the Christian holidays. For Jewish holidays we have to miss school and make up our work” Hank said. “For Yom Kippur it’s unrealistic for me to do all this homework when I’ve been fasting all day but I have to because I’m missing school for my holiday and I don’t want to be behind,” Sophia said. All three siblings express their unhappiness with the lack of respect being shown. “I don’t mind that our holidays are overlooked compared to other holidays, but at the same time, I really want more respect from others. You don’t have to celebrate a holiday to be able to respect it,” Sam said. •
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Lifting Weights and Lifting Confidence AHS counselor empowers and teaches girls to weightlift. By Vivian Liu
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ounselor Alexis Horn went from someone who did not weightlift at all to someone who routinely does cross fit, which combines weight lifting and HIIT (high-intensity interval training) movements, five times a week after work. Despite working out for six years now, Horn still remembers the first few weeks when she started to lift. “[I felt] sore, very sore. I spent the first few weeks not being able to wash my hair because I couldn’t lift my arms,” Horn said. As to how Horn started weightlifting, she explained that she went through a period of life where she felt the need to change. She tried out every exercise and got a class pass so she could go to exercise classes in the Oakland area. However, she did not start lifting weights until she met her husband. “Then, I met my husband and he was
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weightlifting. We actually go to crossfit, and he said you should start lifting weights and I said, ‘Hm, I guess so. I’ll try that.’ And that was in 2013 and I ended up being pretty good at it so I kept doing it,” Horn said. Although Horn works out regularly, she does not have a specific goal in mind. “For myself, my long-term goals are to get stronger and lift more weight every year. What do I hope to accomplish? Nothing. I don’t want to accomplish anything except being strong. My lifelong goal is to just be strong, to keep being able to do what I do. I’m not ever going to be strong enough to win in competitions. I’m never going to the Olympics,” Horn said. Horn has been training the cross country girls team since the start of their season. After asking various sports teams, she was
offered a spot with cross country. Besides training cross country girls, Horn wishes to extend her training to other girls. Ultimately, she wishes to increase the confidence in girls and create a Girls’ Weightlifting Club. “Well my goal—my dream—is to create a girl’s weightlifting class that actually would cater for the goal of get[ting] girls who can’t make teams, who don’t think they’re athletes, who don’t think they’re strong. So my goal is to get those girls who don’t know they are strong yet,” Horn said. So far, Horn has amassed donations of barbells and plates. To get legitimate tools for girls to work with, Horn is trying to raise more money. The Girls’ Weightlifting Club had its first meeting on Dec. 10 and will continue to have meetings on Tuesdays from 3:30 p.m to 4:30 p.m. However, there is a stigma surrounding women and strength training. Unless a woman possesses an immense amount of testosterone and desires to look muscular, women who weight lift will not become buff and unattractive. “Lifting weights isn’t going to make you look ridiculously large like a man. It can… but unless you get super duper into it then you’re just going to look amazing; you’re not going to look overly muscular. Some people think that looks great,” Horn said. As for advice, Horn encourages everyone to weightlift because she believes everyone can learn how. “Start weightlifting. Everybody can do it. The cool thing about weightlifting is that it’s scalable to everybody. If you play basketball… It’s a specific skill, and weightlifting, like everybody can learn how to do it. It just takes practice…You can go as light as no weight at all and just do the movements but everybody can weightlift, which is why it’s so cool. It’s accessible to every single person, young and old.” • Photo | Nanda Bean
WINTER SPORTS PREVIEW By Javier Manzano, Joseph Licano, and Rafael Duran
A glance at what is happening in sports this season.
Sophomore Agustin Dominguez Jimenez against Berkeley High School on Dec. 12. SPORTS
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Youngest in the Pact Three freshmen on varsity at AHS talk about the experiences and thoughts of being one of the youngest players on the team. Freshman Elvis Enguidanos Varsity Boys Soccer
Freshman Selina Davalos Varsity Girls Soccer
“I think [my confidence is] staying the
“Yeah I think my confindece has had a
same because I know people on JV have
boost since i’ve been on the varsity team.
the same potential as me.... My dream is
My team is so super nice , they always help
to go professional when I’m 19, I’m try-
when I make a mistake and tell me to keep
ing my best to do that and achieve that.
my head up . What drives me to do better
My relationship [with my teammates] is
is my team and it makes me wanna do
pretty good; they’re teaching me as much
good, not for myself, but for other people
as they can and I’m just learning.” •
on the team as well.” •
By the Numbers
8 Freshmen in Girl’s Varsity Basketball
“Since this [is] my first year wrestling,
I don’t feel like I have ha d a boost in
confidence. The team is very supportive
when I need help, but there is also a pressure to be as good as the other older girl varsity players on the team, but
overall my realstionship with my team is
very good. They drive me to be better at the sport.” •
1 Freshman in Boy’s Varsity Soccer
4 Freshmen in Girl’s Varsity Soccer 1 Freshman in Boy’s 6 Freshmen in Wrestling
Varsity Basketball
Rivalry Games All the home games against SLZ. All the dates and all the times to see them.
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Freshman Kylie Berkin Varsity Girls Wrestling
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BOYS BASKETBALL
GIRLS BASKETBALL
FRIDAY FEB. 14 Freshman/Sophomore @ 4 p.m. JV @ 5:30 p.m. Varsity @ 7 p.m.
WEDNESDAY FEB. 05 Varsity @ 7 p.m.
Photo | Alexis Quino
TIME’S UP
1
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Highlights of games and practices taken from the winter sports season. Photos taken from Varsity Basketball, Varsity Soccer, and Wrestling practice.
Photo | Javier Manzano
Photo | Rafael Duran
Photo | Joseph Licano=
4
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1. Senior Ryan Murray against Ygnacio Valley on Nov. 22 2. Senior Michelle Garcia against Washington High School on Dec. 3 3. Senior Justin Johnson kicking the ball 4. Senior Christopher Yalung being taken down by freshman Alan Lin at a practice on Dec 6.
BOYS SOCCER TUESDAY JAN. 07 JV @ 3:30 p.m. Varsity @ 3:30 p.m.
GIRLS SOCCER
WRESTLING
THURSDAY FEB. 06 JV @ 3:30 p.m. Varsity @ 3:30 p.m.
THURSDAY FEB. 06 JV @ 3:30 p.m. Varsity @ 3:30 p.m.
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A Highway to a Healthy Mind The winter season is here, but so is the wave of sadness that it brings. By Che Muñoz
D
uring my freshman and sophomore year, I went through a really tough time during the winter season. I didn’t know how to control how I ate; I would starve myself from the morning to the end of school, and then get home just to pig out on junk food and overeat. I remember being so low on energy, and just wanting to lay down on my couch and forget about all my responsibilities. My grades began to drop, and it only made the situation worse. I began to feel like there was going to be no end to this, this constant wave of sadness, coming home every day from school to just feel so empty inside. I knew that something was wrong with me, but I was always afraid to let even my doctor know about what I was feeling. Because I never got a proper diagnosis, I never got the help that I needed. I would later go on to learn that what I was feeling is known as “seasonal depression.” Seasonal Affective Disorder (S.A.D.), or “seasonal depression,” is a type of depression that happens around the same time every year. Most people who experience this phenomenon usually experience it during the winter season. According to Mayo Clinic,
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COLUMN
six out of every 100 people have seasonal depression. Common symptoms include oversleeping, appetite changes, weight gain, and tiredness. AHS has an on-campus Wellness Center, which tries to provide a place for students to come and feel safe in a very comfortable environment. But in order to get the benefits of the Wellness Center, you have to go there physically. I felt nervous about going into the Wellness Center; there was some sort of discomfort holding me back. The district and school should be funding the Wellness Center a lot more than it does now. Currently, the Wellness Center is only open three days a week, and the counselors only have so much time with students. Kids can’t just turn off their feelings. With proper funding, the Wellness Center could be open all day, everyday, for the benefit of the students. The way that our Wellness Center operates restricts the amount of time that kids might have to walk in and speak to someone for help, and extending the days that the center is open can really ensure that our students are not falling behind, and that they know that they are cared for and valued. As stated previously, during the winter season,
seasonal depression is common, so there are going to be a lot more students that need to see a professional. With even more access, students will be provided for, and have what they need to be successful in their finals and for themselves in general. Students need a place where they can talk, opening up about their feelings and emotions. Seasonal depression can grow within a person. At first, it can be small and not affect someone that much; but without any help, it can grow to affect a student’s appetite, social life, and energy. The Wellness Center can help students talk it out before it’s too late. It’s hard having to be alone with things like this, but our students don’t have to be alone. They have resources. •