Diversity Day photo slideshow • elestoque.org
More room for technology in the classroom • Page 7
online
opinion
Softball player embraces cultural background on the field • Page 18
sports
elestoque
Group explores art of breakdancing • Page 19
entertainment Overwhelming stress Students struggle with different types of pressure • Page 11
Volume XXXX • Issue 7 • Monta Vista High School • Cupertino, CA
Dancing Dream
Service project to hold dance showcase by Samved Sangameswara
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or any person that believes that a small idea born in the minds of high school freshmen cannot amount to anything, Cupertino High School begs to differ. On April 18, Cupertino High School’s Kenya Dream project will be holding Kenya Dance, a benefit showcase of various dance crews, many of which appeared on MTV’s America’s Best Dance Crew including season two winner Super Cr3w. The event will be held at the San Jose Center for the Performing Arts, which seats over 2,500 people. Kenya Dance is proof of the considerable growth in Kenya Dream. For a project that began with giftwrapping at Barnes and Noble, Kenya Dream has grown exponentially. In May 2007, the CHS Class of 2010 unanimously decided that instead of raising funds for prom and other class events as tradition dictates, they would throw themselves into a project that had a bigger impact on the world, and thus came Kenya Dream. Kenya Dream is the brainchild of the Class of 2010 council at CHS. Partnering with the Cupertino Rotary, the class pledged to donate 100 percent of money they make to Nthimbiri Secondary School in Kenya.
April 8, 2009
Hooked on
Electronics
With smart boards, remote writing tablets, and Bluetooth keyboards, technology enhances the classroom learning experience
by Aileen Le
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here’s an invasion in sight: electronic devices are starting to take over classroom by classroom. Whether out of personal preference, as in the case of math teacher Scott DeRuiter, or for an enhanced learning experience, such as Gov Team’s new requirement for all students to use laptops in class next year, teachers are incorporating the use of technology into more and more of their daily lesson plans. DeRuiter made his own unique device because of his interest in technology. “I’m a bit of a geek,” DeRuiter said. However, his inner geek has driven his creativity. DeRuiter’s gadget consists of a graphic writing tablet and Bluetooth
see KENYA on page 3
keyboard, both of which he purchased for approximately $200. They are held together by a snare carrier, a frame for drums, which he received from music teacher Jon Fey. This device is connected to both the computer and the projector and is wireless, allowing DeRuiter to type and use the mouse as images are projected onto the screen. With his gadget, he has the ability to walk around and travel anywhere in the room because his invention has a range of over 50 feet. “I didn’t want to be fixed [in one place],” DeRuiter said. “I wanted to still be able to walk around and hit kids on the head.” see TECH on page 6
Alice Lee | El Estoque Photo Illustration
Every 15 Minutes: “It’s a collision, not an accident” Two day school-wide event illustrates dangers of drinking and driving driving under the influence. MVHS holds Every 15 Minutes once every hen it comes to drinking and four years so that each class experiences it driving, the coordinators of Every once during their high school career— the 15 Minutes are adamant about last time occurred in May 2005. Through one thing: there’s no such thing as a drunk the efforts of former Dean of Students Travis Hambleton, MVHS was placed on the driving accident. “They don’t call them ‘drunk driving waitlist for Every 15 Minutes last spring and officially taken off the list accidents,’” senior and student coordinator click it: elestoque.org in June 2008. Planning for this year’s event Ryan Satterlee said. for coverage and photographs of both began in September 2008, “They always call Every 15 Minutes assemblies, behind the spearheaded by Moore them ‘drunk driving scenes set-up, and student response in collaboration with collisions’ because it Satterlee. After over half a wasn’t an accident that you were driving—it was a decision that you year of planning, MVHS hosted the Every 15 Minutes program this week. made.” Herein lies the crux of the Every 15 Minutes program that was held on April 7 Two days of the ‘living dead’ Two assemblies were respectively held and today, April 8. “It’s about more than just driving, then drinking,” Dean of Students and on April 7 and 8: the first, a highly realistic program coordinator Denae Moore said. “It’s crash scene involving the arrest of a “drunk” about trying to impart upon students to make student driver; the second, the funeral for good decisions.” The program strives to open the three students who had “passed away” in students’ eyes towards the consequences of the context of the program. Though the four
by Alice Lee
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Daniel Stenzel | El Estoque
PLAN IN PLACE Dean of Students Denae Moore met with Sheriff’s Deputy Pete Robinson to discuss Every 15 Minutes on April 1. Moore coordinated with multiple agencies, including the Sheriff’s Office, for the event. students involved in the crash were neither drunk nor dead, they played characters that were, portraying the real-life dangers of drinking and driving. see EVERY 15 on page 6
School’s out for summer Budget deficit results in summer school changes by Varshini Cherukupalli
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ummer school has always been the fallback for students who need to make up or redo courses. This summer, however, the FUHSD summer school program will be changed drastically. Due to the recent budget cuts by the California state government, the district has had to face decisions about which programs to eliminate from the schools’ curriculums. According to Principal April Scott, the district is planning a modified program that will only be offered to students deficient in credits. No enrichment courses will be available this year. “A popular route is taking Geometry in summer school to go directly from Algebra I to Algebra II [during the school year],” Scott said. “But courses like that won’t be available this year.” Other changes will take place as well, including a change of location and a decrease in MVHS students classes offered. who took “The most summer school dramatic change classes through will be limiting FUHSD in 2008 summer school According to to one site located Assistant Principal Marianne Hew at Cupertino High School with a reduction in the overall number of sections offered to our students,” FUHSD Director of Student and Community Activities Mike White said in an email to district employees. In a February memo to the FUHSD principals, which can be found at the MVHS website, Superintendent of Schools Polly Bove encouraged the staff to spread the word about summer school to motivate students who are currently failing their classes, in case budgetary deficits cause another change in the program. Students who are failing classes are not the only people affected by the change in summer school. Junior Vaishnavi Vaidya, who moved from India this year, must find another program to make up her required World History credits. “I will probably make it up at De Anza [Community College],” Vaidya said. “However, I only get eight units at De Anza, so I have to make up the other two units during my senior year.” Students who want to take classes for enrichment purposes can register with either the De Anza or Foothill Community Colleges or other private institutions. As Guidance Counselor Sarah Freeman said, “[Students] need to know that they shouldn’t depend on summer school this year.”
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