Volume 40, Issue 8, 5/21/09

2

elestoque

news

recount

in numbers

ATTENDANCE

175

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newsflash

in brief

Benefit concert raises money for FHFSN

The Community Leadership class is hosting a benefit concert on May 30 in the auditorium.

Proceeds will go to Friends Helping Friends with Special Needs, a volunteer-run organization that was formed nearby.

FHFSN helps children with autism to express themselves through creative means, such as music or art. The organization includes many high school and middle school volunteers, who guide the participants through the activities, or, in the case of upperclassmen, lead activities as well.

The concert will showcase around 20 musical acts. Performances from all genres are scheduled, ranging from piano to strings, guitar to vocals, rock bands to dance groups. Solo groups from all grade levels will be performing. Also, the acts are not contained to the MVHS population – groups from outside organizations, such as local orchestras, have also agreed to perform.

Tickets are $8 in advance, and $10 at the door.

They can be bought from any commissioner and will also be available at lunch in the Rally Court.

‘La Pluma’ to release second issue in May

After a little over three months of brainstorming, editing, revising and compiling, MV Published Writers is planning on releasing the next issue of its literary magazine, La Pluma, during the last week of May. “We’re hoping to come back bigger and better,” junior and co-president Somel Jammu said.

In its early stages, this issue received over 80 CX GcldXËj e\ok `jjl\ pieces of writing and over 40 pieces of artwork and photography, making it the biggest publication this year. The compilation will be around 40 pages, twice as long as the first issue released in December. Starting the 2009-2010 school year, it plans to release issues on a biannual basis, in December and May. Copies of the group’s “Diary of the Subconscious” can be picked up in any English classroom, and will also be available in ASB and the library.

District administers student survey

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Along with the rest of the district, MVHS will be administering a survey on May 21 regarding students perceptions of their school experiences.

The survey is 65 questions, and will be taken during tutorial, immediately after second period.

This survey is an opportunity for the district to get feedback on a range of topics, from students’ opinions on their classes to their comfort level of being at school. The data will be compiled and made accessible to all schools, who can then use it to implement changes on their respective campuses. The survey is completely anonymous, and administration hopes that studentswill see this as a justifiable reason to feel comfortable providing honest feedback.

“I think it’s great that we’re in a district where the student voice is an important part,” Assistant Prinicipal Dennis Plaza said, “and the school board wants to be sensitive to their opinions.”

Perspectives organizes Disability Awareness

The Perspectives class recently organized Disability Awareness Day, which they presented at lunch on May 8. Spectators were encouraged to tour the posters and were offered free otter pops upon demonstrating knowledge of the topic.

In conjunction with organizing the event was Ohana, a club on campus that pairs up special needs students with other mainstream students. Ohana meets at monthly organized ;`jXYc`kp XnXi\e\jj gfjk\i social activities.

Para-educators Heather Jones and Ashley Stephenson, who coordinated the event, hoped to educate students about disabilities, raise awareness, and allow Perspectives students to interact with the rest of the community. Ohana is currently recruiting members for the next year.

FBLA organizes walkathon, promotes health

On the morning of May 23, Monta Vista FBLA’s Healthy Life Campaign will be hosting a walkathon at Jollyman Park.

The Healthy Life Campaign started two years ago, and has been active on campus since. HLC is responsible for the monthly-distributed health newsletter, H2Go. Participants will be following a route based on the sidewalk of Jollyman Park. Other aspects of the event include games, a silent auction featuring celebrity signed memorabilia, and a raffle, the grand prize of which is an iPod Shuffle and accessories.

Students from Lincoln Elementary School are also working on art pieces relating to health to display.

The HLC Committee hopes to promote a healthy lifestyle, through walking as well as educational display boards, while raising money for a healthy cause, the American Heart Association.

Preregistration will take place every day in the Rally Court starting next Monday, May 25.

Registration is $6, and the first 100 registrants will receive a free event t-shirt.

Vierra named State Coach of the Year

For this school year, coach Don Vierra was named the California Coaches Association State Coach of the Year for girls swimming. He coaches varsity girls swimming and varsity girls water polo at MVHS. The award will be celebrated at a banquet in Los Angeles.

Vierra’s goal since arriving as a coach has been to build a complete aquatics program, that includes both swimming and water polo as well as studentathletes that excel in both athletics and academics. He wants for both teams to be able to strongly compete with any in the area.

Vierra feels that his team has inspired him to be a better coach.

“I’ve always considered myself a student with swimming,” Vierra said.

“I’ve learned so much from :fXZ_ ;fe M`\iiX [these girls].”

Looking ahead and moving beyond Yp Aileen Le and Samved Sangameswara

S

ometimes things just don’t go as planned.

When we started planning our paper for the 2008-2009 year, we were all really excited to cover one issue in particular, MVHS’s 40th anniversary. However, as we slowly began the planning process, we ran into a problem: MVHS had its first school year in 1969-1970, not 1968-1969.

This not only dissolved our plan for an anniversary issue, it also pointed out a glaring flaw in our newspaper:our front-page reads Volume XXXX. That’s 40 volumes in 39 years.

We stood there in disbelief at first and then laughed it off. This wasn’t the first time that we made mistakes, and there would be many more to come. From the day we entered staff as reporters we embraced the mistakes that we made. They helped us grow, but it made it easier to know that we weren’t the only ones.

Mistakes are universal, and that means that no one is exempt. The MVHS staff began the year determined to make up for the 4.5 million copies they made during the 2007-2008 school year. With the goal of reducing the use of paper at our school, our staff began to take noticeable steps toward a greener future. Still, like us, someone, somewhere along the way gaffed and

the staff actually made an additional one million copies this year.

They could have just given up and pointed fingers at one another, but instead they let it go and made the best of what they had. Instead of deciding to look to the past, they decided to look to the future and what they could do.

It’s the idea of moving beyond the past and the mistakes that have been made that really resonated with us. Seniors Brittany Hopkins and Lauren Parcel recounted the stories of two girls who had very close encounters with suicide; two girls who came very close to making a permanent decision based on what happened in the past, but instead chose to change their minds and adjust themselves for the future.

And that’s exactly what we should do. Mistakes come and go with the tide of life, but they also come with second chances. The choices and mistakes that we make are a part of who we are and they have become a part of our newspaper and staff. That Volume XXXX will always be on our front page, we can’t go back to the past and change that, but we can always laugh about it. Moments like this are what we remember most... they make us human.

outlook

editor’s letter

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elestoque Saying ‘Bonjour’ to baby

news

May 20, 2009

?fc[`e^ fe kf dfk_\i_ff[ [i\Xdj# C\ D\li$M\ebXk X[fgkj Z_`c[ Yp Kanwalroop Singh

F

rench teacher Sylvie Le Meur-Venkat boarded the flight from San Francisco to Washington to Dubai to Mumbai and then drove three hours to Pune, India, culminating her 36hour long journey with fever and a sleepless night. The next morning a fierce determination took hold and she willed herself to get better—she would not miss this. With boxes of candy, a stuffed sheep, and one small dress loaded in the car, Le MeurVenkat heard an orchestra of horns and screeches as she and her husband, Srikanth Venkat, weaved through streets on the way to the orphanage.

When they reached it, the palm fronds, white walls, and triangular arches reassured the anxious beating of their hearts.

Inside, Le Meur-Venkat’s eyes fell upon a whiteboard on which was written, “Venkat family visiting on Tuesday.”

Relief crept into her soul.

The director greeted them and then led them through a corridor of windows behind which were cribs, beds, and playing children: one of whom saw them and waved. They walked and worried and reached the room and waited and worried some more, and then they saw the caretaker holding the child.

They laid eyes on Emma, and nothing else mattered.

Taking care of babies had always been second nature to Le Meur-Venkat. She had been the go-to nanny, the “little mom”, and the romantic notion of motherhood had inflated her heart to such a degree that when it burst, she could not bear the aftermath.

After in-vitro fertilization did not succeed, Le MeurVenkat struggled to steady the pendulum of emotion rocking

CHRISTINECHANG

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You’ve only got 10 minutes

T Courtesy of Sylvie Le Meur-Venkat

PEEK-A-BOO Sylvie Le Meur-Venkat and the baby she is planning to adopt, Emma, share an intimate moment during Le Meur-Venkat’s visit to Emma’s orphanage in Pune, India over spring break. her heart.

“Growing up, I was meant to be a mom. Not being able to be a mother until now seemed cruel,” Le Meur-Venkat said. “I felt that it was a big injustice in my life.”

Le Meur-Venkat and her husband knew adoption was their plan B, so they got in touch with Bay Area Adoption Services and attended an overwhelming orientation where they found that a social worker would inspect their house in a homestudy, they would receive a binder of specific instructions, and the whole procedure would cost around $16,000.

The social worker arrived shortly afterward, delved deep into their past in hours and hours of interviews, and wrote reports that documented each rise and fall in their lives.

They were to collect financial documents, police clearances,

reference letters, immigration papers, fingerprints, proofs of employment, and then notarize all of them and send them to Sacramento to have them reviewed and apostilled.

“It’s a grueling process in every aspect, but you have to go through it,” Le Meur-Venkat said.

BAAS justifies their process by claiming in their mission statement, “The child’s welfare is our primary concern.”

After compiling the dossier of documents, Le Meur-Venkat and her husband indicated their preference for a 0-12 month old baby, but the wait for younger children could be anywhere from eight months to a year.

“I was torn,” Le Meur-Venkat said. “I had to wait, but I really wanted the youngest possible.”

It took two months.

“How lucky were we?” Le Meur-Venkat said. “I’m thinking maybe it’s just meant to be her. After so much suffering,

sometimes I do feel like I deserve it.”

But the suffering is not over.

Le Meur-Venkat must wait for word from the orphanage.

Until the remaining forms are complete, and the orphanage invites her back to India, she cannot see Emma.

She is caught in the worst stage of the process, stuck behind bullet proof glass through which she can see her future daughter but cannot reach her.

All she has to sustain her now are a couple of pictures snapped in a flurry of excitement, and a video taped by her husband whom she had forgotten about completely. She recalls feeling embarrassed. She was so engrossed with Emma that everything else seemed to fall away. She laughed and played and cooed and loved. And then she cried.

Emma had fallen asleep in her arms.

CRIME: Cupertino safety ‘bubble’ burst by violent acts continued from page 1

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be as prepared as possible if an emergency does happen.

“Unfortunately, in the world we live in, there are school shootings, but we have to prepare for them as best as we can so that in case something does break down, we have some strategies to go about,” Hicks said.

In addition, the administration asserts

life in panic-mode,” Scott said. “The drills are to prepare us for the rare scenario.

According to Morrissey, who has worked Being prepared will help us stay calm in Cupertino as a deputy for a long time, and to know the necessary steps to keep MVHS students do in fact go to school in a ourselves and our students safe.” “really safe community.” The homicide that To ensure that the campus is safe, occurred on Berry Ct. was not a random act according to Scott, there are certain but was caused by a relationship between things— vandalism, fighting, weapons, suspect and victim. and thefts—that “Assaults with deadly are zero tolerance weapons—they don’t happen v i o l a t i o n s too often. You don’t have to established by the È@ [f k_`eb n\Ëi\ i\Xccp Yc\jj\[ k_Xk n\ worry about people driving by Education Code that and assaulting you,” Morrissey will not be tolerated c`m\ `e X m\ip jX]\ Zfddle`kp# p\k n\Ëi\ said. “The sheriff office has on campus. If a taken steps for the safety of the student chooses efk X YlYYc\#É Gi`eZ`gXc 8gi`c JZfkk jX`[% members of the community.” to break those ÈI\Xc c`]\ X]]\Zkj lj Xe[ i\Xc c`]\ jX[cp X]$ Principal April Scott thinks rules, the students MVHS is safe because of the ]\Zkj g\fgc\ `e fli Zfddle`kp% @ k_`eb n\ will be removed preparation for emergencies from campus— _\Xi XYflk `k jf iXi\cp k_Xk n_\e `k [f\j through practice drills by possibly resulting doing things proactively in suspension— _Xgg\e# `k iX`j\j fli XnXi\e\jj%É instead of worrying about it to ensure a safe reactively. Dean of Students campus.

Michael Hicks, who is in “I do think we’re charge of setting up drills, really blessed that plans a minimum of one of each type of that students will have to be more alert we live in a very safe community, yet drill—Code Red, Fire, Earthquake—for each about the harsh reality of our seemingly we’re not a bubble. Real life affects us safe and invulnerable community to better and real life sadly affects people in our school year.

According to Hicks, the drills practiced protect themselves. community,” Scott said. “I think we “I think it’s trying to be as aware of hear about it so rarely that when it does in school are important because an emergency simply cannot be planned. By possible situations, any potential situations happen, it raises our awareness like, ‘oh practicing drills, students and faculty can without being hysterical—trying to not live my gosh, this isn’t Disneyland. It is real.’”

en minutes to show the world. Ten minutes to change your life.

Go. That, above, is the shortest complete sentence in the English language. The shortest, and possibly the most monumental sentence that exists.

I imagine it crossed Susan Boyle’s mind last month as the portly 47-year -old stepped onto the stage of “Britain’s Got Talent,” the English equivalent of “America’s Got Talent,” faced with skeptical audiences and a scoffing panel of judges. She sported all the Hollywood taboos: a prominent double chin, pug-like nose, and grandmotherly curls that sat atop her head like a graying hairnet. Her cheesy but confident selfintroduction was far from appreciated, met only by knitted brows and dubious stares.

Upon a quick evaluation of her appearance, everyone clearly expected this middleaged woman to bomb the internationally broadcasted show.

And then, she sang.

Her voice rang with a mesmerizing sort of confidence, despite the negative responses she’d received earlier. People stood up, gaped, applauded. There was an exhilarating rush of life that seemed to permeate her performance as the music swept through heartfelt cheers. It contained an astonishing beauty—beauty that nobody had expected.

“When you stood there with that cheeky grin and said, ‘I want to be like Elaine Paige,’ everyone was laughing at you,” judge Piers Morgan said after Boyle finished singing.

“No one is laughing now.”

But perhaps even more incredible than her voice was the fact that Boyle did not waver once. She did not even hesitate when people mocked her, when she could have easily backed out. She ignored the sneers, the doubts, the disapproval. That woman stuck all the way through with one very bold sentence in mind: Go. And more than anything else, that’s something we can always learn from. In less than a month, whether we’re transitioning from high school seniors to college freshmen or underclassmen to upperclassmen, we’ll all be graduating to the next level of our lives. With this graduation come new opportunities that may seem daunting or implausible. Some of us will be faced with a new field of possibilities, or even careers that people will tell us to turn away from because we’re not good enough, because we’ll hit a wall. We might try to follow dreams like Boyle’s, only to be bashed by those around us.

But look what happened. Boyle succeeded, because once she stepped onto that stage, she never stopped. She never turned back.

Just as I’ve learned since joining El Estoque, journalism isn’t about lounging in front of computers simply waiting for news to come. The newspaper you hold dearly in your hands didn’t hatch magically from the depths of our beloved printer. Journalism requires reporters to actively carry out their jobs, because there’s no time for stalling. Go out there and get those stories. Go and meet those deadlines.

Go. Stop. Turn back. Go. The choice is yours. Boyle only had 10 minutes; you may have a lifetime. Whether that lifetime is spent waiting behind the curtains or stirring an audience onstage is entirely up to you.

elestoque

May 20, 2009

news

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by Jonathan Chan

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paperwork. There has been an increase in clubs and regulations for clubs, which all add to the paper consumption. Our school is like a bureaucracy, and bureaucracies require paper.”

According to Pelkey, the law inhibits environmental friendliness in the classroom as well.

“If I want to use copyrighted material with my classes, I can make a class set of 30,” Pelkey said. “But if I post that material online for my students to view, that’s in violation of copyright law because anyone can access the internet.”

From their experiences, teachers have many suggestions on ways to reduce paper consumption.

“Making resources more accessible online or on the computer is a good idea,” McMillion said. “But at least in the English Department, it’s difficult because not every teacher has a projector.”

Even in a class like American Literature Honors, which by nature uses paper for reading and writing, McMillion has done her share of helping the environment.

“When students have to annotate the literature, I have to give them handouts,” McMillion said. “But when I can explain the concept to them, I avoid passing out paper.”

Pelkey recommends that teachers leave their beginning of the year greensheets online, along with smaller assignments, instead of handing out printed copies.

“This was a great wake-up call on the resources we use every day,” Scott said. “Paper is the cost of doing business at a school, but it’s important to keep an open conversation, as teachers and students alike have wonderful ideas.”

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ne million copies, or 40,000 pounds of paper. The cost? Eighty-five trees, $8,000, an unreached goal, and a high school community wondering why.

After administration announced to staff members in September that they had made 4.5 million copies during the 2007-2008 school year, they set a clear goal: think before you print.

Yet seven months later, with a new copy machine continually breaking down, administration contacted the school’s printing representative, only to discover that the printer was making more copies than it could handle.

Not only did MVHS miss its goal to reduce paper waste, staff and students made one million more copies this school year than last year, bringing the total paper consumption to 5.5 million pages.

“When we presented the numbers to the faculty, their response was the same as ours,” Principal April Scott said. “They were shocked.”

That shock may have come from teachers who felt they had reduced their paper consumption this year. Print Center Technician Maria Ricardo claims she has seen sseveral teachers make changes in their printing habits.

“They reduce the print size to fit two pages of content onto one page,” Ricardo said. “They also make double-sided copies and use email more often.”

Despite the intentions of teachers to lessen their environmental impact, Scott said that it is easy for staff to lose track of the amount of copies they request.

“Teachers sometimes make 20 copies

and think it’s not too much,” Scott said. “But when they pass out 20 copies to 80 students, the pages add up really quickly.”

Next year, Scott said that each teacher will be assigned their own printing password. That way, they can now be informed of the amount of paper they are using throughout the year.

“It’s about increasing accountability, not pointing fingers,” Scott said. “It’s easy for teachers to underestimate the paper they use every day, so the awareness factor is really important.”

But why did MVHS make an additional one million copies in the midst of schoolwide efforts to use less paper? That question puzzles Scott as well, but some teachers think they know why.

“When I first taught [American Literature] Honors last year, I made copies of all the material I handed out,” English teacher Mikki McMillion said. “Now that I’m in my second year, I can pass out my handouts from last year.”

McMillion notes that new teachers often make copies when it is their first time teaching a class, and MVHS had several new teachers join the staff this year.

Economics teacher Pete Pelkey believes that the increase in the number of AP classes this year has also contributed to paper consumption.

“AP classes by their nature use more paper,” Pelkey said. “There’s outside readings, text supplements, and scholarly readings.”

Not all the copies being made are for educational purposes either.

“Every time I go to the print center, I see stacks of copies for clubs and administration,” Pelkey said. “Classes are also taking more field trips, which requires a lot of

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news

DEAL: Teacher to retire continued from page 1

wonderful time teaching the class and was happy to get to try teaching something completely new to her.

“She always treated us more as friends than students,” Community Leadership student senior Irene Sheh said.

“She knew exactly when to be a friend, but when to be a teacher too.”

While Deal loved her time teaching here, she feels it’s time to retire and take on new endeavors.

“I am very sad for us and very happy for her,” Principal April Scott said.

Scott and Deal have become very close over the last few years, and even found out they live in the same neighborhood.

“It’s funny how fate brings people together,” Scott said.

“I feel like I’ve known her for more than four years.”

Scott especially enjoys Deal’s fabulous sense of humor, energy, positive spirit, and great wealth of creativity.

“She brings the love of teaching to what she does,” Scott said. “She brings a spark to the profession; it’s a gift.”

Deal predicts that she will miss the staff, students, and friends she has made during her time here the most when she retires at the end of the year.

One friend she will greatly miss and has stayed close with since her first days at MVHS is Sullivan. “[Deal] is one of the most organized and efficient teachers I have ever worked with,” Sullivan said. “She’s tough—and I like that. She brings that high level of expectation, but is also realistic. She’s dependable.”

But what Sullivan will miss most is Deal’s sense of humor and great storytelling.

While Deal will miss all her friends here, she is also looking forward to spending her retirement relaxing as well as learning new things.

“I have a house in Hawaii that I plan to check up on frequently,” Deal said.

She also plans to take up baking, learn Spanish, and become a master gardener.

Deal will be starting off her retirement with a trip to England for a wedding at the beginning of summer vacation, and then plans to start work on her new set of post-MVHS goals.

While Deal has an ambitious future, she also plans to keep in touch with MVHS. She hopes to maintain the strong relationships she has made over her years of teaching, and of course, keep attending MVHS book club meetings.

May 20, 2009 elestoque Going back to school K\XZ_\ij ^X`e mfZXk`feXc \og\i`\eZ\ k_ifl^_ k_\ @@JD<

PRE-AP Physics teacher Jeff Trevarthen is one of the teachers who spends his summers working in industry. Trevarthan has been working at Lockheed Martin and at the Silicon Valley Leadership group.

by Jeremy Lee

T

hese days, it’s not just students looking for summer jobs.

In order to gain industry experience, some teachers are turning to a nonprofit organization called Industry Initiatives for Science and Math Education (IISME) for summer fellowships. “[The organization] started with some nonprofit groups in the Bay Area looking at education and realizing that there was a real need for improvement in science and math,” AP Biology teacher Debbie Frazier,

who has actively participated in the program over the years, said.

According to the Web site of IISME, the nonprofit was founded in 1985 by a group of Bay Area companies along with the Lawrence Hall of Science at UC Berkeley “to transform teaching and learning through industry-education partnerships.” The organization offers summer fellowships of approximately eight weeks in length to teachers. Successful applicants are placed either in a technical field—in an industry job such as working for Yahoo! or NASA, or at a college such as Stanford University.

Physics teacher Jeff Trevarthen held fellowships with IISME during the summers of 2006 and 2007. During both of his sessions, he worked on planning conferences sponsored by each of his business organizations, Lockheed Martin and the Silicon Valley Leadership Group.

“I really liked it because it was a definite change of pace,” Trevarthen said. “To get out in the summertime and do something completely different that I’ve never done before was refreshing.”

Frazier finds her work with IISME invigorating as well. Her first fellowship with IISME was at a stem cell research company, a subdivision of the global pharmaceutical company called Novartis. She developed computer programs to analyze data the company was generating from its research of genetically modified viruses on chicken cells. ”It’s fun all summer to bounce around ideas with other staff and

think about how to make teaching more exciting and education more interesting,” Frazier said, “and then be a part in building a rocket or be a part in coming up with a new therapy for cancer.”

Last summer, math teacher Brian Dong worked at Lockheed Martin in the military communications satellites program. His projects ranged from studying satellite orbit dates to working on Microsoft Excel for a fuel estimation analysis for one of the company’s orbiting satellites.

“I met some great people, really smart people that know a lot about engineering and rocket science,” Dong said.

After completing their fellowships, teachers have a wealth of resources available at hand. Lockheed Martin and NASA offer classroom speakers, and NASA has given away chairs, desks, and other office supplies to numerous schools. Companies such as Intel have given teachers computers, microscopes, digital cameras, and other equipment for use in the classroom.

While travelling abroad is not typical of the IISME fellowships, teachers are not confined to laboratories for their research. According to Frazier, one teacher was paid to travel to Sweden and speak at a conference and teach physics. Fellows have travelled to Yosemite to research on the geysers in the area.

“There are some amazing teachers out there, and they can do some amazing things in just eight weeks,” Frazier said.

opinion

7

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uring cancer. Providing clean water worldwide. All this, with one goal in mind.

Extra credit.

Octagon’s Cure Cancer Cafe and Interact’s Showcase 2009 were incidentally both held on April 11. Both events were held to promote and raise money for their respective cause, but the true reason why the majority of the MVHS student population came to either was for an entirely different reason. As was evident by the discussion on the Class of 2011’s Schoolloop page, what students were primarily concerned with was which event had more teachers giving extra credit.

In fact, this grades and point-driven mentality has become a stereotype of students, but is the fault really theirs?

What about the teachers, who offer to give extra credit in the first place? It is true that teachers do this to meet student demand, but if there was a uniform policy where teachers were not allowed to give extra credit for such events in the first place, then students would also eventually quit asking.

For example, although CCC and Showcase were not related to math or science, almost half of the teachers offering extra credit for attending the events taught these subjects. It may seem trivial at first, but this is the root cause behind Monta Vista’s academic stereotype.

By offering their students a chance to accentuate their grades by simply sitting through a performance and eating dinner, teachers essentially give students an impression that there is no real need to understand the material being taught.

Instead, students may just wait for an opportunity to make up the work in an entirely different, unrelated way.

Only a handful of teachers actually make the effort to incorporate these events into their class objectives, by requiring students to do a supplementary assignment after attending the event such as writing a review or narrative, in order to earn the full extra credit.

What all of these teachers still overlook, however, is the admission price to such events. The admission price for Showcase was $15 at the door and was $20 for CCC. For students who may not

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be able to afford such high prices, teachers provide no alternative. It is not right to assume that just because Cupertino is regarded as a wealthy community, money is not a problem for anyone. As crude as it sounds, students are simply allowed to pay for their grades.

In addition, there seems to be a consensus among teachers that such events allow students to learn about problems in the world, but in reality, most of the time is spent watching simple entertainment that does nothing to in-

form students about current events. Instead, if teachers would really like students to be more informed about the world, they should either make an effort to teach current events themselves or offer an alternative for students who may not be able to attend fundraising events due to financial constraints.

Finally, what students end up learning from this experience is something that they probably should never have learned at all: take the easy way out, and you’ll be just fine.

Dilemma of summer reading: Should students hit the books?

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by Kunal Bhan

W

ith the end of school drawing near, students are looking forward to planning out their summers: going on vacations, hanging out with friends, taking SAT prep classes. At the same time, they are also grudgingly planning out how to work in their summer reading. True, the whole summer reading part may seem tedious and a waste of time to some, but it is still important and should continue to be an integral part of classes, including both AP U.S. History and AP English Literature.

From the first day of school, these classes with summer reading or homework begin with the list of all the units, tests, and upcoming essays. Teachers try to ease in the new group of students as much as they can; but at the end of the day, it’s a college class and there’s always going to be an overwhelming amount of work and stress, regardless of what teachers do.

As a result, summer reading makes the course easier since students have an idea what to expect when they start class on day one. Accordingly, they can plan out what to do and what not to do while in the class: how much time to give to the class and how much studying they need to do, for example. So rather than scrambling to find their study plans during the year, they have them chalked out when they walk into the classroom. Similar study habits will help students when they go to college, so they’ll be able to deal with the pressure and rigor of courses.

Summer reading helps because teachers don’t necessarily have time in the classroom to cover most of the material. Teachers have a little over seven months to teach a year’s worth of information in preparation for the AP exam in the first two weeks of May. With the presence of such a time crunch, teachers need to ensure that the students are well-prepared and have been taught all

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the material in time for the AP tests.

But because four hours a week for roughly 30 weeks’ worth of material isn’t sufficient time to accommodate all the necessary lessons, teachers are forced to assign summer reading. With an assignment, the students will be able to learn some of the material themselves.

That way, when school resumes, students can ask questions on the material they don’t understand. As a result, the pace of the class will move more quickly, allowing the teacher to focus on a few important points while working towards finishing the material, with some time to spare for final review, AP preparation, and end-ofyear projects.

Summer reading is indeed necessary for students. Though some may pass it off as tedious and useless, as it detracts from the purpose of relaxing over summer, summer reading gives students the opportunity to not only chart out how they will take on each class, but also go over educational material ahead of time so that they may be able to finish the coursework within the prescribed time period, in time for finals and the AP test. Summer reading makes avail of the ample free time over summer, thus making this vacation a more productive one.

Summer, contrary to popular belief, is not sacred. Of course, it’s a time of relaxation when stress should be avoided, but it is also a golden opportunity to get a head start on the next school year. Summer reading assignments are beneficial and should continue.

It will be tough, annoying, and hard to understand at some point or the other.

But in the end, its like medicine: it’s hard to swallow but, after all, works wonders for the patient.

by Derek Wong

S

ummer’s almost here and that means plenty of poolside tanning, trips to the shopping mall, and late nights hanging out with friends. Summer break is supposed to be a time away from academics and studying. But for many students, the summer months also come with ridiculous amounts of summer reading assignments.

The classes that currently require summer reading are AP U.S. History and AP English. The summer after sophomore year, students who have enrolled in the APUSH class are assigned to read 12 chapters from “The American Pageant” textbook. With only a few directions given in the ending months of sophomore year, the students must somehow coordinate their own reading schedule during the summer break.

More so, students are tasked with mastering information that spans hundreds of pages, because within the first two weeks of class, there is a summer reading test that covers content from 12 whole chapters.

Similarly, the AP English classes require a substantial amount of summer reading for prospective students. A.S. Byatt’s massive work, “Possession,” is an immensely challenging novel intended for university students that English AP students attempt in vain to comprehend.

Included in this summer assignment are a number of critical essays that analyze the literary merits of “Possession.”

But these works are complex papers intended for and written by literature professors. Considering that the majority of this material is so far above the level of a high school student that it requires the guidance of a credentialed teacher, it makes

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little sense to force this material on students during summer break. More importantly, if students are able to fully understand the summer reading independently, then there really is no reason to have class.

Before making any broad and misplaced assumptions, one should first analyze the basic reasoning behind summer reading.

These long-term assignments are forced upon students during their summer vacations. Instead of being able to fully enjoy the freedom of summer, individuals are required to sacrifice their time to read, study, and memorize material for the coming year.

Essentially, teachers are creating studytime where none should exist; after all, there is a reason as to why the school year ends.

Some may argue that the extra work is necessary for success in the class for the rest of the year. This statement is particularly applicable considering that the classes that require substantial summer reading are AP and Honors level classes, which do require a certain level of discipline from the students taking them.

However, this view is rather shortsighted.

As correct as this argument appears, it is important to remember that the level of study for each AP class is relative and varies with each student’s own ability.

It is improper and unfair to require students with different degrees of dedication to be forced to commit to such an overwhelming and time-consuming task.

More so, it’s not even a point worth disagreeing with that there will always be a significant number of individuals who elect not to complete the summer reading.

So instead of burdening students and teachers alike with unneeded work and stress, it would be a much more rational and equitable decision to change summer reading from a required evil to a recommended option. In the end, students should have the freedom to decide.

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8

elestoque

opinion

Letters to the editor Letters of any length should be submitted via e-mail or mail. They become the sole property of El Estoque and can be edited for length, clarity, or accuracy. Letters cannot be returned and will be published at El Estoque’s discretion.

Seriously? El Estoque’s article on stress levels at Monta Vista [“The Psychotic School” by Kanwalroop Singh, Apr. 8] makes us all out to be programmed machines living in some future dystopia.

We’re not all manically overwhelmed and not all of us have thoughts of suicide and inhalants. I felt that the article crossed into the realm of being sensational, serving only to expose the maddened depths of some students’ overcrowded lives.

Perhaps the truth in the article is that people who fill their schedules to the brim and overload in hard classes without truly enjoying what they do are the stressed and suicidal ones. I’m here though, in the midst of this school, and I’m still relatively untouched. My friends too, although some are freaking out, are keeping high GPA’s without becoming machines.

I hope that future articles from El Estoque are able to provide a more balanced view of students’ lives at Monta Vista. junior Laxman Dhulipala In Derek Wong’s column “Finding Life’s Value Menu” [Apr. 8], he clearly states that his idea of being cost conscious is refraining from going out to lunch at Chipotle during the school week. What ever happened to the days when going out to eat was a treat saved for special occasions? Going out to lunch every day puts a serious dent in your wallet and a hole in the Ozone layer.

With regard to your wallet, consider this: the cost of a Chipotle burrito ($6-7) multiplied by 5, plus gas — probably around $30-35 per week. Now, take your average sandwich you made at home ($2-3) and calculate the weekly price ($10-15) without adding the cost of gas. Which option sounds more enticing now?

With regard to the Ozone layer, consider the carbon footprint each student driver leaves as they zoom out of the MVHS parking lot for a “lunch run.” The pollution created by each car diminishes the air quality of Cupertino; air that we all breathe. Poor air quality contributes to respiratory problems such as asthma. Pollution from cars also contributes to global warming. The costs as-

sociated with poor health and global warming go way beyond mere dollars.

If every student in all the high schools across America decreased their “lunch runs,” they would also be decreasing their carbon footprints. If you stay on campus and simply walk to the cafeteria, this would help keep all those nasty car fumes where they belong.

So next time you want to go out to lunch, think of how you are not only handing over that green paper, but you are also contributing to the decline of your planet. Before you put the key in the ignition, close your eyes and imagine your burrito burning a new whole in the ozone layer — then ask yourself — is it really worth it? freshman Jonathan Arzeno I agree with Brittany Hopkins’ article “Chronic Problems of Sizism affects all females’ [Apr. 8].

There is nothing wrong with women that have a larger size than others. What matters is that they are healthy!

I think she wrote a beautifully organized article, especially when she also mentioned examples of things in our school. For example, MVHS’ fashion show this year had a lot of skinny models.

She resolves this by suggesting not talking about how weight affects the way someone looks.

The weight problem comes not from a diet, but from a mental fix that tells teenagers they need to be skinny. Thanks so much for your article. freshman Younha Kim Any dream should be worth following. I think that Samved Sangameswara’s article “Dancing Dream” [Apr. 8] makes a clear statement that anything can be possible. It is truly amazing how this one person’s dream made such an impact on the world.

Sangameswara did a fine job describing how outstanding Kenya Dream came to be. Though sometimes words can’t always express the magnificence of such deeds, I know that our minds are on the same page.

A dream isn’t just worth dreaming, a dream is worth proceeding — like the founder of the Kenya Dream project, Justin Li, says, “no matter how crazy it is.” freshman Mary Kim

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Y\ kXb\e flk% ways want to change To level the playing based on their perfield, teachers should ceptions of which come to a uniform but either way, it is unfair. Students teachers have the agreement on the who want to read and discuss the subject curriculum. harder curriculum, which is not novel in class may not be able to, substantial enough of a basis for While small variations such as while others see it as more work. If overnight assignments or different change. This judgment is, no doubt, teachers are to be fair, the materials class discussions do not add or desubjective, but how can students taught must be uniform. make this judgment when teachers tract from a class, the inclusion or In AP classes, these distinctions exclusion of an entire book most of the same courses are teaching difpose an even greater problem. Al- definitely does. No matter what the ferent material? thuogh AP classes should not be subject, all teachers must come to While teachers must follow geared towards only the AP tests in an agreement on a curriculum that guidelines and cover certain topMay, it should be a common goal. best fits the course. This can potenics, the school year’s curriculum is While all classes teach AP material, tially eliminate unnecessary hassle ultimately up to each individual students with different teachers may at the beginning of the school year teacher. However, with this flexibilhave different levels of preparedness. and stress caused by the classes ity, students enrolled in the same While some AP teachers will give throughout the year. course leave the class with very dif-

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ferent academic experiences. The greatest loss comes when students are skimped out of material simply because they got a different teacher.

In literature classes, there are obviously certain books all teachers must cover. However, the lesson plans are left up to the teacher, and while one class may read an extra book, such as “The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn”, the other may not. This can be seen either as a pro or con depending on the student,

May 20, 2009

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by Sasha Degtyar

elestoque

May 20, 2009

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opinion

9

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Do you think that there are enough APs offered at MVHS?

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“

Learn to look at the bright side

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A serious case of amnesia

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by Bhargav Setlur

There’s a huge double standard here. On the one hand, many of us talk about how it’s everyone’s responsibility to cut back on wasteful activities, like driving a half-mile to school. Yet everyday, the number of cars behind and in front of school is staggering.

And as we sit there in our SUVs and luxury sedans, we listen to solemn NPR programs

trash around or driving short distances with the goal of ruining the environvery year, the passage of Earth Day ment. It’s an issue of carelessness, which serves as a reminder of the environis an easier problem to fix than a hatred mental consequences of our actions. of the environment.

It’s a day during which people are once The point is, as a student body, we again made aware that our one and only must decide what side of the fence we planet is still reeling from our way of life. will choose. Will we recognize that our We’re not altogether oblivactions don’t measure up ious about climate change to our words, and stop and the consequences of our lofty talk of fightour actions. But it seems Kf glk `k Yclekcp# fli jZ_ffc `j kiXj_p ing pollution and global that when it comes to savWill we change j`dgcp Y\ZXlj\ jkl[\ekj [feËk ZXi\ warming? ing the environment and our actions to finally put making responsible choicsome weight behind our \efl^_ kf [f k_\ i`^_k k_`e^% es about what we consume words? The choice is and how, we all turn into ours, and let us hope that amnesiacs. we choose the latter. encouraging reduced driving as a means of Soon after the Earth Day posters have lowering emissions. It’s shameful.

All it takes is a small change of prioribeen taken down, it’s hard to discern any There are a lot of easy changes that we ties. We don’t have to go to great lengths. real change in the behavior of students can make to dramatically reduce our im- All we have to do is be more conscious at MVHS. Sure, the water bottle tree was pact on the environment. For one, stop us- about what we use and how much we a good visual, but it doesn’t seem to have ing plastic water bottles. Bring a reusable use it. A little diligence and responsible actually influenced students. We continue bottle made of metal or hard plastic, and behavior can go a long way. to throw plastic bottles and other refuse in the amount of plastic waste you produce Living in Cupertino, we aren’t forced the trash when it should be recycled — or will plummet. to see the effects of our lifestyles - the worse, we just toss it onto the ground. On Also, most students live within walking piles of trash and the polluted waters. windy days, leaves of plastic swirl around or biking distance of school. It wouldn’t kill But just because we can’t see it doesn’t on the ground. To put it bluntly, our school to leave the car at home and walk or pedal mean we don’t have a serious problem is trashy simply because students don’t care to school. on our hands. It’s time to make some enough to do the right thing.

Granted, no one is maliciously throwing tough choices on our way of life.

E

I

t’s true. Monta Vista does suck. Within four years, the ultra-competitive environment that the school seems to epitomize sucks the life and inspiration out of all incoming freshmen. Every day is a torturous daze characterized by feigning that you have the energy to sit up and pay attention in class. Eyes dart toward the clock on the far wall that never seems to reach 3 p.m. But amidst the endless hellish days at school, I saw the light.

From freshman pig dissections and sophomore chemistry labs, to late night APUSH “study” chatrooms and my terminal bout with senioritis, school has been a time of crazy ups and downs, to say the least. Looking back, it’s quite easy to spot the highlights and milestones, and even easier to remember the sheer exhaustion from actual, hardcore studying.

Reading about the millions of impoverished children in Mexico, I almost laughed to the brink of asphyxiation when I read that these kids would give up everything to go to school. Then I thought, for the first time in my life, how fortunate I was to go to a school like Monta Vista.

My sudden spark of maturity led me to appreciate the academically-focused culture and the advantages that this school has granted me. For one, I now relish in the fact that I can walk to lunch and back without fearing that I will be stabbed or robbed, and left bleeding in the streets. I love how there are no senior “bullies” that stuff small freshmen into lockers. After all, you can hardly fit all your textbooks into those lovely little spaces (of course, seniors don’t have any lockers to put the kids in anyway). There are no legitimate gangs at Monta Vista. We create study groups. There are no metal detectors. We even have to impose rules and form lines to keep order in front of the library.

There really are no well-defined niches that separate “jocks,” “Goths,” and “nerds” like the stereotypical high school, because everybody studies together. Teachers spend extra hours to host study sessions for our benefit, doing their very best to make sure that we get fives on our AP exams. We have no food fights in the cafeteria because we’re allowed to leave campus even as freshmen, thanks to our lenient open campus policies.

Are we so myopic as to fail to see just how fortunate we really are?

While other schools in the Bay Area have to cut their marching band to have enough funds to pay teachers, we receive enough funding to build a beautiful new pool and support a huge number of sports teams. Classrooms in other parts of the world have no lighting and still use chalkboards, but we’re blessed with amazing technology and top-of-the-line facilities.

Rooms are equipped with air conditioning units so effective and powerful that we can make rooms so frigid on the hottest of days that we might need to turn on the heater.

Our hardworking teachers who may actually, believe it or not, care about us are given the very best to teach and inform. And yet we complain.

Of course as adolescents we seem to see the negatives in everything that is established. But for once I encourage you to stop complaining about the piles of homework that you have and the seven tests you have on Friday. Instead just appreciate the fact that you, for the most part, don’t have to worry about putting food on the table, and all you have to do is learn some stuff out of a book.

10

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elestoque

May 20, 2009

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Foreign exchange students experience a new lifestyle in school

by Christine Chang

A

ugust 12, 2008, marks the day sophomore Anna Warnking took her first steps on American soil. She’d arrived to the Bay Area as a foreign exchange student from Vechta, Germany, eager to spend the year in a country that was so popularized by the media.

But Cupertino turned out to be nothing like the “High School Musical” life she’d seen on television. During Warnking’s short stay at Lynbrook High School before transferring to MVHS, she was unexpectedly approached by Asian students who seemed mesmerized by her entirely blond hair and asked to touch it.

That was a far cry from the shades of America she had imagined.

But Warnking, who is staying with junior Jessica Simmons for the year, has gained invaluable experiences as a foreigner to the cultures of Cupertino, which differ starkly from her life in Germany.

Similarly, sophomore Stephanie Fischer, who is an exchange student from Sion, Switzerland, has expressed surprise in the steep social learning curve that she’s had to overcome at MVHS this year.

“The pressure here and what parents expect of their kids is like...wow. I’m shocked. I’ve started to appreciate my life [in Switzerland] so much more after seeing all the stress students go through here,” Fischer said.

Although European students still excel in academics, Warnking and Fischer describe the compe-

tition there as a lot “less intense.” According to Fischer, maintaining perfect grades and test scores are usually not the average high school student’s priority in many European countries.

“Where I come from, if you ask students what they’re doing over the weekend, they’ll probably tell you they’re partying or going out to the movies or hanging out at cafés with friends,” Fischer said.

“Schoolwork is probably one of the last things they’ll mention. But here, the first thing people say they do on weekends is always homework or studying.”

Warnking and Fischer have gradually adapted to MVHS’ academic-heavy environment, but they are still not fully accustomed to the pressure placed on students. The overwhelming emphasis on academics at MVHS as opposed to that in Europe is perhaps the greatest change they have experienced over the course of this year.

“In Germany, everybody has a social life. At MV most people just talk about school. Everything is about school. The social life feels a lot more limited here compared to [that] in Germany,” Warnking said. “But I also learn a lot here because I see everyone working so hard and doing so much around me. There is just so much motivation and spirit. When I’m at MV, I want to do more. I want to try this and that. I want to be creative.”

Though Warnking’s experiences in the Bay Area have been a novelty to her, they have guided her in growing psychologically. One of the most challenging aspects of spending a year as an exchange student is

the fact that Warnking has to handle living in a new place, with new people.

“This is the first time I’ve been so far away from home and my parents, which is so different from anything I’ve ever done before,” Warnking said.

“But you gain so much self-confidence after living on your own in another country. I think this year has brought me more learning than I’ve had in my whole life.”

Both Warnking and Fischer agree that their time spent at MVHS has been one of the most valuable experiences of their lives in terms of becoming more mature and gaining perspective on a completely different culture. It has been a year of adjusting and transitioning and learning they will not soon forget.

“It’s a whole different lifestyle here. I can go back and tell people, ‘Oh this happened, that happened.’

But you really have to deal with it to understand it,” Warnking said.

So while MVHS may not resemble the High School Musical lifestyle Warnking and Fischer were expecting, they still admire the unique sense of involvement and character that permeate our student body, as the European schools Warnking and Fischer attended did not share this same kind of exuberance. “[MV] rallies are amazing. The first time I went to one I was like, ‘Wow. No way!’ I had never seen this before in my life,” Fischer said. “I really love it here. I will definitely miss all the school spirit.”

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Last year, four new classes were added: Government Team, Humanities, American very year, students at MVHS scramble Studies, and AP Music Theory classes. to change their scheules before school Government Team, often referred to as starts. As much as they enjoy seeing Gov Team, was brought in by social studies their own schedules changed, students also teacher Christopher Chiang. Although like to see changes in the classes being many were at first unsure about the class, offered. With the addition and deletion of the success has now made it very popular. classes, what exactly determines how a The class was passed class is added or chucked? primarily because it fulfills all Assistant Principal state mandated Government Michael Hicks said that ÈPfl j_flc[ e\m\i Z_Xe^\ jfd\k_`e^ ]fi and Economics classes. this has to do with many “When we all joined the factors, such as how high k_\ jXb\ f] Z_Xe^\% K_\i\ j_flc[ XcnXpj class, we didn’t know what the student demand is and Y\ X i\Xjfe%É we were getting into,” senior how the budget will look for Ç 8jj`jkXek Gi`eZ`gXc Ameya Ganpule, a Gov Team the following year.

Despite the statewide D`Z_X\c ?`Zbj student, said. “It has completely changed my views. If you are budget cuts that have been politically apathetic, Gov Team made in public education will change that.” for the 2009-2010 school “I advocated for the class year, the administration has been able to add two new classes for the be able to take this class next year, regrets because I wanted there to be a project and community based class,” Chaing said. “We upcoming school year: AP Environmental having to stop at Photography I. “It’s not fair,” Lohith said. “Why do all want the class to be really diverse.”

Science and Photography II. Now, the class has become so popular Students now have the option to choose the good classes come when I leave? I wish that only a select number of students, AP Environmental Science on their course I could take it.”

Lohith looks at this class as something chosen by an application and interview selection forms. process, are allowed to take the class.

“Students here love to take science great for the school.

Clearly, adding Gov Team was one class Junior Melody Chiang, who will be taking classes,” Hicks said. “Also, I guess it’s because Photography II next year, looks forward to change that students appreciated. we finally had some room in the budget.”

Other classes like Gov Team, such as Another reason why the class was passed expanding the focus of photography from was because teacher Chelsea Crawford had darkroom photography to the digital. The American Studies, were also welcomed. taught the course in the past and was eager class ciriculum will be split to include both What made this year’s American Studies class different from previous years is photograhy forms. teach the course at MVHS. “I’m on the photography stadd for the addition of their field trip to some of “The class created more options for seniors,” Prospective AP Environmental yearbook this year, so hopefully it will America’s southern states.

by Dipika Shrihari

E

Science student Junior Charles Huh said.

“Plus it has the ‘AP bump.’”

The other class, Photography II, is also a result of popular demand. Hicks said that Brian Chow, head of the Art department, has been trying to get this class for some time now with intention of taking photography “to the next level.”

One senior, Sahaja Lohith, who won’t

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15

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In Need of a Home Turf Will work for track.

Home?

TRACK TEAM (from left) Akhil Ragu (11), Christina Aguila (9), Michelle Young (12), Allison Win (9), Annie Ho (9), Mara Spelick (12), Alex Cheng (11), Chris Chui (11), and Ryan Chui (9) Daniel Stenzel | El Estoque Photo Illustration

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by Sharanya Shankar

Y

esterday the track team practiced at De Anza College. Today they were kicked off that track. Tomorrow they are driving far away for a “home meet.” It’s tough being homeless.

The track team does not have a home. Because of the lack of facilities, they are left to sacrifice their time and go in search of a new home. Most of the team practices at De Anza, and sometimes when De Anza track is off limits, they are left homeless, truly homeless.

“If our facilities were updated, we would have a bigger presence on campus,” coach Jeff Payne said.

Track and field isn’t even known on campus because their practices at school are irregular, and their ‘home meets’ are held anywhere from Palo Alto to Los Gatos.

“As far as I’m concerned, we’re 10 years behind in facilities,” freshman Kevin Bishop said.

The facilities are outdated in every aspect. The track is a dirt track versus a rubber track, the high jump pit is old and moldy, the shotput pit isn’t long enough, the measurements are in yards not meters, the jumping pits are curvy, there are no markings on any of the equipment and the list

goes on and on.

The track team is banking on the one promise made to them: Measure B. The measure, voted through on the December 2007 ballot, guarantees to make all renovations from new stadium lighting to an Astroturf soccer field.

With the addition of these new facilities, the track team feels as if it would remarkably change their lives, as far as athletic ability; they feel as if they can start over again on a new turf.

“When we do get the new facilities, our track team can have the presence that they now don’t have. They’ll even gain a new sense of confidence and be proud to host meets at our school,” Payne said.

“If measure B gets implemented, we can practice here and not waste valuable time,” junior Alex Cheng said.

Not only will the team have new facilities for themselves, but the rest of the school will benefit from it as well.

As Payne said, they will also get to host home meets for the first time.

Finally, when Measure B is completed, the team will be satisfied. It’ll take some time to adjust to the new facilities,.

But they will have, as junior Kranti Peddada said, “pretty much everything.”

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ometimes it isn’t about the team – sometimes it really is just the players. Tennis isn’t like your average field or gym sport. If you aren’t playing on your own, you’re playing with a partner and nothing more. That means a great deal of weight is placed on individual skill and personal prowess, and in junior varsity teams’ cases, the skill they receive as freshmen come in.

For the first time in history, JV boys tennis pulled all the right cards and capped off the season with not just a league-title, but one earned without defeat. Skill has clearly been moving up from middle school to high school.

Taking a team of 18 instead of her usual standard of 14, coach Mia Onodera gave a lot of credit for their perfect record not to strategy or tactics, but simple individual

skill and courtesy. a solid three individually undefeated players, “I could sit out a player here and there, a few of which were freshmen. Not to menand I would ask them, ‘Do you mind if you tion JV’s losing a couple freshmen to varsisit out?’” Onodera said.“But they were very ty-a hard feat in tennis considering Onodera willing “never to sit out even a match sees” ÈFZZXj`feXccp pflËcc _Xm\ fe\ gcXp\i freshso someone else m e n n_f ^f\j le[\]\Xk\[#É ZfXZ_ D`X Fe$ could varsity f[\iX jX`[% È9lk kf _Xm\ YXj`ZXccp Ôm\ p l a y get the opporbegcXp\ij n_f ^f le[\]\Xk\[ `j gi\kkp ers, tunity to cause play.” they ^ff[%É And gent h a t e ra l l y was the s k i p sweetness of the victory—even against junior varsity. major rivals like Saratoga, which has gone “Occasionally you’ll have one player who undefeated in past seasons, the team was goes undefeated,” Onodera said. “But to have able to give weaker players a chance to basically five players [the top doubles team play harder opponents while maintaining lost only to an opponent planning to move

onto Division 1 tennis] who go undefeated is pretty good.”

After about half the season, the team was confident that being undefeated was an attainable goal.

“After about half the season was over and we’d won all our matches, we were talking about going undefeated and we were pretty confident [it could happen],” sophomore Kevin Jiang said. “I think one of the things was that every time we were up against a hard opponent we’d have to play them again, so sometimes it was hard to stay focused.”

With individual skill also comes individual pressure, even for the most successful team members.

“Representing your school is the biggest pressure of all,” freshman Amogh Changavi, who went 16-0, said. “You’re representing the whole of Monta Vista.”

And represent us they did.

16

elestoque

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EMBARRASSING

MOMENTS

IN THE

SEASON RECAPS

1

May 20, 2009

ZONE 2

3

“The other team served to me, I backed up too much, and I spun 180 degrees and landed on my face.”

—senior Michael Wang, varsity badminton

“It was my very first time running the 300 meter hurdles relay in my freshman year.

I was running varsity and so I was scared, you know. I was running fine. Then, at the second to last hurdle I stepped on the post with my lead leg and the hurdle rolls over and falls on my back. I ended up on crutches for a month. rehab for six months.”

5

4

—junior Catherine Shieh, varsity track and field

“[Senior] Brendan Dinh swung his racket for a smash shot and it hit my chin and it broke— well it was hanging open—and I had to get stitches.”

—senior Kathy Zheng, varsity badminton

“At Palo Alto I missed the sector twice. Both times it flew at the Palo Alto throwers and one of the throws hit the football goal post, very loudly.”

—senior Michelle Young, varsity track and field

“I was practicing my dives one day and standing near the edge of the pool. [Senior] Molly [Karleskind] pushed me into the pool and I screamed.

As a result, our coach yelled at me for being immature and got mad at me.”

1 Varsity Boys Baseball Senior Justin Rahn attempts to strike out a Cupertino batter on May 7.

by Sharanya Shankar

T

he coach signals senior Dave Orvick as he taps his arms with two fingers. Immediately Orvick nods in approval and assumes his position as catcher. Orvick was one of the few seniors who contributed to the win against Cupertino on May 7.

Senior Justin Rahn pitched powerfully, determined to strike out the batter. The team won with a final score of 5-2 at the end of their final seventh inning.

Their win on qualified the team for the next round of the A-league bracket. They won their game on May 12th as well. If the MVHS team wins their next few games they will qualify for CCS.

2 Track and Field Senior Anita Crumlin finishes second in the 200 meter sprint at the leaguesmeet at Los Gatos on May 7.

3 Varsity Volleyball Jason Hodges, hitter and blocker, is consistent in hitting strong on May 7 against Mountain View.

4 Varsity Girls Softball Senior Meagen Perkins winds up her pitch to the opposing Mountain View player on May 7.

5 Varsity Badminton Junior Henry Yang dives for the birdie during his doubles match against Gunn on May 7. MVHS won.

by Alice Lee

by Sharanya Shankar

by Alice Lee

by Alice Lee

T

O

et’s go, baby V!” shouted senior Ashley Vernazza’s varsity girls softball teammates as she stepped up to bat during the first inning of their senior game. Though the team’s record stands at 13-13-2 their season has been marked by the enduring spirit of the team.

On May 7, the girls varsity softball team concluded their season with a match between against Mountain View HS. Though losing the game, the team celebrated their seniors’ four years playing softball as Lady Matadors with posters, t-shirts, and banners for the players.

“L

B

hough the track and field team moved down from the De Anza League to the El Camino League this year, their final showing at the league meet saw records shattered as members qualified for SCVALs. Senior Jean Feng placed first at league in the 3,200 meters with a time of 11 minutes, 21 seconds, 6 seconds off her personal record. Feng, in addition to distance runners freshman Kevin Bishop and juniors Kranti Pedada, Peter Feng, and Akhil Raju, ran in last Friday’s SCVAL finals to vie for a qualifying position at CCS trials.

n May 6, the varsity volleyball team fought and lost their final game, with a score of 3-0 against Mountain View High school. The team ended the season with a 2-9 record. During their last game, the seniors were unable to attain victory.

As a mis-match for Mountain View’s consistent and strong team, the Matadors sadly hung their heads.

Mountain View’s defense and hard hitting was something the Matadors couldn’t control. Leading players Jason Hodges, Andrew Ng, and Dennis Co strove to keep the ball out of their court.

oth the varsity and junior varsity badminton teams stand at the top of their leagues in first place.

Junior Henry Yang and partner junior Michael Huang, both junior varsity one players, won their first game, 15-8, and their second, 15-6, for a 2-0 win over their Gunn opponents.

Lead by captains and seniors Jeffrey Lu and Ethan Lin, the varsity team has enjoyed a season of success as the undefeated champions in their league, while the junior varsity team is currently tied for first with Lynbrook.

JGI@E>JE8GJ?FK Junior Anirudh Venkatesh is nicknamed “chess vanquisher” by his friends because of his superb chess skills off the badminton courts.

Freshman and junior varsity cheerleader Alyssa Gager can fit her fist in her mouth, but has shown this unique talent to only her closest friends.

Senior Jason Kearns wears eye black during baseball games. He started this tradition in his junior year, but is the only one who still does it.

Freshman Alan Nguyen is the smallest player on the varsity tennis team. He says that one drawback of being short is that people don’t always take him seriously.

At the Palo Alto swim meet this year, diver sophomore Danny Yusem messed up on a dive he was supposed to do and ended up falling flat on his back.

Junior Jackie Schadle’s friends say that she has a very distinct laugh. Schadle, also a dance team member, is said to laugh at even the smallest of things.

—sophomore Nikki Danese, junior varsity swimming

“One time I went back for a fly ball and crashed into the fence.”

—junior Nick Utley, varsity baseball

Top: 1. Sharanya Shankar 2. Stefan Ball 3. Sharanya Shankar 4. Alice Lee 5. Alice Lee | El Estoque Above: Dipika Shrihari | El Estoque

elestoque Driving one out of the park May 20, 2009

sports

DIPIKASHRIHARI

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by Samved Sangameswara

W

hen senior Jiin Park was selecting a college this past spring, she was looking for more than a prestigious school name and a high ranking; she was looking for a chance to be amongst the nation’s best in her passion: golf.

This fall Park will enroll in Washington State University not only as an incoming freshman but also as one of the newest members of the school’s golf team.

An avid golfer since she was 11, Park has chosen to follow her passion and play collegiate golf. Park has been recruited by several different colleges since her junior year and chose Washington State just last month.

“I picked Washington State because it’s in the Pacific-10 Conference,” Park said. “I’ll get to play against the girls that I’ve looked up to and I think that will humble me and help me build up my game.”

Park started golfing just six years ago at the urging of her parents. She took a few lessons in her early years but cites her father as the person who really helped develop her game.

“My dad was my own personal coach,” Park said. “He was with me everyday in the summers. We would practice for almost 10 hours.”

As Park moved into high school she only got better as she joined the MVHS golf team, making varsity as a freshman.

Senior Akinori Toyoshima,

who has been a teammate of Park’s for four years now, has noted that her dedication to the sport is what makes her stand out.

“She works really hard for golf,” Toyoshima said.

Jeff Thomas, coach of the golf team, also noted of Park’s dedication to the sport. He added that Park has always been extremely self motivated when it came to her game.

“She’s very dedicated and competitive,” Thomas said.

Thomas also noted that when it came to the college recruitment, his involvement was very minimal.

“She’s good enough that she was getting her own attention [from universities],” Thomas said.

Park did note that the college golfing experience is going to be very different from the one she has had at MVHS. “I love the team at MV, but it’s made up of a bunch of guys,” Park said. “There isn’t going to be as much joking around [in college].”

Although she isn’t completely sure she wants to try and pursue a career in professional golf, Park admits that the thought is still in her head. She is majoring in sports management, but still chose WSU primarily because of the opportunity it is giving her in terms of golf. “[Playing collegiate golf] is the best way to get your name out if you’re considering going pro,” Park said.

With her dream in sight, Park is well aware of the chal-

I

Stefan Ball I El Estoque

PUTT PUTT Senior Jiin Park practices her swing on May 10 on the green of the Deep Cliff Golf Course. Park has been a member of the varsity team for four years and intends to continue with golf beyond high school. lenge that is ahead of her and is prepared for the highs and lows that her pursuit of a professional golfing career will bring her.

“I would really like to [play professionally],” Park said.

“And even if I don’t become a professional golfer, I will still know that I tried.”

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very swim meet, the girls swim team starts at a loss. Down nearly 16 points to start, the team actually has to make up for an event that barely exists—diving.

The diving team is not its own entity. It is part of the swimming team as a whole which is formally called the “Swimming and Diving Team.”

“Diving is just one event in a swim meet,” coach Ron Freeman said.

Essentially, the diving teams participates in only one event at each swim meet, but this one event can greatly increase the overall score in the competition. Schools

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Catching the crashing waves

Together at last, swimming and diving as one

by Lauren Parcel

17

with practiced diving teams, such as Palo Alto and Mitty, have a huge advantage over schools like MVHS. While not all schools have “good” diving teams, they usually at least have enough members to gain a few points.

Based on the scoring system, first place is allotted six points, second-four points, third-three points, fourth-two points, and fifth-one point. The opposing team can gain up to 16 points that MVHS automatically loses without a diving team. While the maximum points gained is 16, even six points can be a huge help to the overall team, especially if it’s a tight meet.

In recent years, MVHS has gone without

Kai Kang I El Estoque

IN THE AIR On May 11, sophomore Danny Yusem executes a dive in preparation for the CCS diving finals held on May 16.

a girls diving team and has still managed to do quite well for themselves, winning CCS last year. However, they are still looking to fill the girls diving gap.

One of the problems the coaches have noticed is that diving is a very specialized event, unlike most other swimming events, and it often takes a different skill set than the swimmers have.

“We are always looking for girls in P.E. [to dive for the team],” coach Don Vierra said. “Especially those who have gymnastics experience.”

So far the P.E. route hasn’t broughtany luck to the coaches, but girls diving has managed to gain some new interest through other means.

“One of my friends is on the swim team and wanted me to join,” junior Ana Gash said. “I didn’t want to do swimming, so I decided to try diving.”

Gash has previous gymnastics experience and has found that very useful in learning the diving techniques.

In addition to Gash, two other girl divers have joined the team this year, and all three are working to learn the specialized dives. In order to actually compete in a meet for points however, they must be able to complete six different types of dives, and will be disqualified if they cannot successfully complete the majority of the six dives.

The girls diving team is improving, but was not able to compete in CCS this year. A member of the boys diving team did qualify for CCS however, earning his team points this Saturday at the meet.

With more work, both diving teams are looking up for next year.

f you don’t know what “hanging ten” means, it’s okay. Neither do I. However I did pick up some other nifty words, such as “wiping out” at the beach.

Surfing at the boardwalk taught me that even failing miserably can be extremely fun if it means you can splash around in the water for a bit.

After struggling into my wetsuit and carrying my oversized surfboard two blocks down to the sandy shores, I remembered my last not-so-pleasant experience here, where I tried to swim in the ocean. I was determined for this time to be different.

I was taught to surf as follows: Lay down on the board, get in a push up position, and jump up and pose like they do in movies.

Don’t worry, it was just as vague to me as it is to you.

I pictured my surfing idol, Duke Kahanamoku, and tried to match what he did. But then again, he had been called the man who could “walk on water” and has been nicknamed “the human fish.”

I was famous only for being a klutz. With the help of a friend, I managed to carry my board to the bedrock at the very left side of the beach, where the bigger dune waves had gathered.

I walked through the dirty sand water and avoided as much seaweed as possible until I was waist deep. Then I popped onto my board so that my stomach lay flat against the center of the board.

Using my hands as makeshift paddles, I swam to the bigger waves. Floating over waves was not as mortifying as I had imagined it to be. I soon learned that surfing is anything but easy like the other beach goers made it seem. Every time I saw a wave approach, I would paddle furiously towards the bedrock and as the wave bent just below my board, I would thrust into the air in a push up position. After the peak had passed, I would try to jump up and balance on the board.

I tried and tried again. Up again. Soar.

Fly. Crash.

Wiping out is not as bad as it looks.

While from a bystander’s point of view, a scream followed by a great foaming splash may sound like a painful and otherwise embarrassing experience. However, falling off felt a lot like cannon balling into a pool.

Although the taste of salty seawater was nothing to enjoy, I felt like a little child splashing around.

Since this is my last El Estoque adventure, I think it’s better if I document less about falling off my board and more on the way I soared. When it was one of those lucky times when I was able to stand successfully on the board, the feeling was incredible.

From so high up above the water, I watched as other surfers missed their waves or laid lazily on their boards tanning. And when I got too close to the bedrocks, I would simply jump off the board to save myself.

My unfailing hope that I will actually succeed made me nostalgic of my first adventure where my naivete was prevalent and I was terrified of every little aspect of nature that glanced my way. Since then, I have gradually gained a sense of adventure and have looked forward to doing something slightly dangerous and incredibly fun. As I look back at all my adventures this year, I cannot help but look forward to what lies ahead of me.

When I tired from wiping out, I swam back to the beach and laid in the warm grainy sand, devouring the heat and glowing in satisfaction. Now, I am preparing myself for my next adventure: college.

elestoque

18 Young team fights in new division sports

May 20, 2009

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by Samved Sangameswara

Another factor working against the team this season was their youth. With a team made up of mostly sophomores, the Matadors he youngest team in the MVHS were one of the youngest teams in the league. athletics department got their first “We lost a few key players this year,” junior taste of growing pains this year.

Charlie Huh said. “We ended up relying on a After a successful run last year, the lot of players that had just been brought up varsity boys volleyball team was put into a from JV.” foreign position for the coming year.

The players were not the only young people At the end of the 2008 season, the Santa on the team. The varsity boys got a new coach Clara Valley Athletic League was split in MVHS alumnus Jason McDonald. After into two. MVHS was put into the higher hearing about the program that was starting at ranked De Anza Division because of their MVHS, McDonald came in search of a coaching CCS berth the year before. The move job.

He meant playing served as against schools the JV coach with much ÈN\ k_fl^_k `k nXj ^f`e^ kf last year and older programs Y\ _Xi[\i#É ale`fi Aljk`e DXgc\ after the and teams that were at a much jX`[% ÈN\ be\n n\ n\i\ gcXp`e^ d e p a r t u r e of former higher level X^X`ejk dlZ_ Y\kk\i k\XdjÉ coach Lori than MVHS was Gragnola, used to. It was he was a move that given the varsity job. Like many of the players was a surprise to many of the players on on the team, McDonald was a newcomer and the team who didn’t expect the program to unfortunately,many of the members of the move up so quickly. team felt that the inexperience on both ends “[Two years ago], I would not have was hinderiing the team. expected us to be where we are now,” However, it is that youth that is keeping the senior Andrew Wong said. team confident for the future. Unlike the other The Matadors now faced a much schools in their league, the Matadors are not higher level of competition then in years made up of mostly graduating seniors. With past. Competing against schools like only two seniors, MVHS will be retaining most Harker and Los Gatos with volleyball of its team for the 2010 season. Despite their programs that were already established, 2-9 record this year, many of the returning the team members knew they were in for players are confident that the team will do a challenge. much better in the coming years.

“We thought it was going to be harder,” “We’ll have a much more experienced junior Justin Maple said. “We knew we team,” Huh said. “We’re going to do better were going to be playing against much next year.” better teams.”

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UP UP AND AWAY! Sophomore Shuang Xiang Shu spikes the ball in a match against Mountain View High School. The varsity boys finished the season 2-9.

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OUT IN THE OPEN One of many families who attended the Art Auction enjoy student artwork being displayed at the pre-auction viewing in the library on May 16.

Going, going, gone.

Stefan Ball | El Estoque

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by Aileen Le

R

emember the Variation’s performances accompanying the art show? This year there were none.

For the past four years, Festival of the Arts has been a celebration of visual and performing arts programs including, dance, music, drama, and art at MVHS. This year, it’s not making an appearance.

Jonathan Fey, instrumental music director, explained that the instrumental music program will not be participating due to late planning and the date and location of the event. The Festival of the Arts was scheduled to take place right after AP week, when people were most busy.

Not only were they not getting a strong enough response, since only family members of the participants attended, but the staging was difficult as well. It was awkward for drama to perform outside, partly because of the lack of a

good light system and without a good amplifier, choir did not sound as good.

“We were only lukewarm abut doing [Festival of the Arts],” Fey said.

Junior Frances Jih, who participated in the orchestra part of Festival of the Arts last year, agrees that it was not as successful as it could have been.

“We performed, but nobody really went [to the Festival], so I didn’t see any point in it,” Jih said. “Orchestra sounded bad during our performance just because of the nature of our instruments.”

However, the departments are planning to revisit this idea again next year.

“I want to see it come back next year since it’s a fun and good way to end the year,” Fey said. “Providing that we find a better time and place.”

Art department chair Brian Chow also agrees that he’d like to see Festival of the Arts return because of its value to performers and artists.

“It has been a big thing for four years and our biggest showcase,” art department chair Brian Chow said. “We’re the only school in the district that did something like this, and we wanted to showcase the artistic side of students.”

Although Festival of the Arts was cancelled, the art department along with MVHS Art Boosters planned an Art Auction and Pasta Night in its place on May 16. They continued the tradition of displaying artwork in the library and had the art show before dinner.

This event had been done when Chow started teaching Ceramics in 1997, however, when he stopped teaching Ceramics, the auction also stopped.

The auction included ceramic pieces, such as cups, vases, and bowls and photographs all created by students.

“We wanted to give away functional pieces that could also be displayed as works of art,” Chow said.

Ultimately, it’s an auction for the students with 80% of the sales going to the artist who made the piece and 20% going to the department to cover the energy and cost of the project.

“It’s an opportunity for students to show their artwork as young artists and get recognition,” Chow said. “A number of students are on track for college, so it perpetuates what it’s like to be an artist. We have all these talented art students who are recognized at local art shows and by the nation’s top art colleges. It’s a way for us to be like, ‘Why don’t you come and see that talent for yourself?’”

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he senior class is rolling out the red carpet for the MVPs—Most Voted Peoples. This year’s Senior Gala, on May 21, is modeled after an awards ceremony. Using the votes seniors submitted at the Student Brunch during CAHSEE, the class officers have picked out the top three nominees in each of the categories to invite to the show and honor the winners in every category. The superlatives include categories such as Cutest Couple and Most Likely to Make it to the Olympics.

“Every nominee will receive an invitation to Senior Gala.

Why we do this is because we wanted a lot of different groups of people to come, so we want to honor athletes and artists, etc” said Class of 2009 social manager Jennifer Lequieu.

The hope is that acknowledging such a diverse group of people will encourage a large part of the class to come— everyone will know someone nominated.

Senior Bernice Shia agrees that knowing someone up for an award would be a good incentive to attend.

“If someone I knew was nominated, I would definitely show up to support them,” said Shia.

In addition to the awards ceremony, the Gala will be catered and the awards will be broken up with various acts.

Dinner is set to be some sort of Italian food, as well as drink and desset. The senior class is scheduling bands, groups, and possibly senior speakers to perform at the event.

“I am definitely going,” said senior Brian Nguyen. “My group [the Backdoor Boys] is performing the dance we did

at Open Mic Night.”

When originally asked if she was attending, Shia was confused about the purpose and layout of the actual event.

“It would help if they would promo more,” said Shia.

Though many students like Shia are not aware of many of the event’s details, class officers and those in the know are working to spread the message. The class officers will be making announcements and a Facebook group. They hope in-class delivery of the nomination cards will create buzz.

“We [the Backdoor Boys] are creating a promo video before Senior Gala,” said Nguyen.

Originally created in 2007 by the senior class officers, Senior Gala served as a mix with their traditional Pasta Night.

Senior Gala remained an event for the graduating class, while Pasta Night was “deeded” to the class of 2009. Last year, the class of 2008 introduced the concept of senior awards, but focused more on a male pageant they called “[Big Man on Campus]”. This year, the class of 2009 is again combining Pasta Night with the Gala to create what they hope to be a relatively large event.

The event is open to all classes, so underclassmen or juniors wishing to say goodbye to the senior class can consider going to the Senior Gala, which promises to be less formal than Senior Awards.

However, the class officers are hoping to dress up the event. There is no specific dress code, though participants are encouraged to dress semi-formal.

The Gala will be held in the Rally Court on May 21 in the evening, starting around 6:30pm.

Mansi Pathak | El Estoque

Seniors Miranda Myerholtz and Scott Lory were nominated as one of the three ‘Cutest Couples.’ The winners will be announced at Senior Gala on May 8.

20

elestoque

entertainment

May 20, 2009

Ready, set, cook: ‘Iron Chefs’ show cooking skills on campus

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Daniel Stenzel | El Estoque

IN HARMONY The contestants watch as sophomores Malhar Pendse, Mohit Lakkimsetti, and Siddarth Bhargava sample foods at the ‘Iron Chef’ competition on April 27.

midst students scrambling to finish homework during lunch, the aroma of lemon cake and lemonlime chicken diffused its way throughout the rally court. Pots and pans could be seen being tossed around as student cooks rushed to produce delicious dishes for the student body.

The cause of this commotion was MVHS’s first Iron Chef Cook-Off. The event was started by Student Recognition commission and took place on April 27 in the rally court.

The purpose of the cook-off was to recognize student talents outside of athletics and academics. Any group of four could sign up for the cook-off. Each of the five teams could cook any dish of their choice, but each needed to use a special ingredient, lemon. The students were allowed to bring any dish of their choice, and were given part of the lunch period to cook enough food for at least forty people.

“A lot of students out there loved to cook and bake food in general. We felt that throwing an event to recognize this would be a fun way for other students to try food as well as the students making the food,” junior Ruby Jang said.

The diversity of student talents was displayed through the variety of dishes created lemon chicken, lemon toast, lemon cake, lemon chicken pasta, and lemon lime chicken with onions and peppers.

Many groups cooked part of their dishes ahead of time just in case they ran out of time.

“Our group made lemon chicken sauce with Pasta-roni.

We pre-cooked the noodles, and threw in the sauce,” senior contestant Brennen Duong said.

Many contestants appreciated the opportunity to participate in the event because it allowed them to both do something they loved while showing off their talents.

“My passion for the culinary experience led me to signup, and I’m glad did it,” sophomore Sai Ravilisetty said. “I love the reaction I get when students taste my food, and when they’re amazed at how good it is.”

Like Ravilisetty, the other cooks enjoyed the opportunity to show-off their skills and be recognized for talents outside of academics and athletics.

“The students that participated in the cook-off are better recognized for their cooking talents since others will know that they make wonderfully delicious food,” Jang said.

The winning team, Connie Lu, Nicki Yee, Brennen Duong, and Michelle Young, received a $50 gift card to a restaurant of their choice.

“It was kind of unexpected, because we didn’t think we had enough time,” junior Connie Lu said. “But it all worked out. I hope they have the cook-off next year because it was a successful event, and I would definitely participate again.”

All in all, Leadership thought it was a successful event, and hope to hold it again next year.

“Having free food attracts crowds in and of itself, and judging by the amount of students lined up to get food, I’d like to say that it was a success,” Jang said.

‘Get that five!’ Students create stereotype shirts for MVHS Ale`fi C`Xd E^lp\e fi^Xe`q\j Zfek\jk kf iX`j\ jZ_ffc jg`i`k Xe[ Yi`e^ jkl[\ekj kf^\k_\i

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need APUSH. Sucks to your asthmar.

Bailey is my bible.

These are a few sayings that junior Liam Nguyen was looking for when he created the Monta Vista Cliché T-Shirt Design Contest on Facebook as a fun way to showcase the school’s atmosphere, while unifying the student body. The contest features t-shirt designs submitted by students that capture the spirit of the MVHS community through phrases such as, “AP’s Survive GET THAT 5!” and “Procrastination, a deadly disease.”

Nguyen was first inspired by the idea of a t-shirt design contest after a conversation he had with a friend about their Chemistry AP class.

“We were arguing about how some

of the class’s tests were hard, and then I thought, ‘Oh psh—only at MVHS we would have this kind of conversation,’” Nguyen said. “I wanted to show how unique MVHS is and its school spirit by portraying it through a t-shirt. Plus, it also shows school spirit without the class division.”

The t-shirt design winners receive $20 and a free shirt of their design. Nguyen is organizing the contest single-handedly, however all the proceeds from the t-shirt contest will go to DECA. “I’m actually a DECA officer,” Nguyen said. “I think the profits have to go somewhere, and I really can’t take them because I’d feel bad. Well, I might get over it.”

The contest deadline was May 1, and the voting took place for one week until May 7 for the two most popular designs. The

winning designs were submitted by Nguyen and sophomore Tiffany Liang. The shirts were on sale in the rally court on May 13.

Nguyen created a Facebook group for the contest where students could submit their designs. But the contest wasn’t only limited to MVHS students.

“I noticed some Lynbrook people taking interest, so I decided to open the contest up a little and allow entries and orders from other schools within the FUHSD area,” Nguyen said. “Sadly no entries have come from them, but I believe they will be ordering shirts still.”

Although there were no entries from other schools, many MVHS students submitted designs. Junior Carissa Knipe, who designed a shirt poking fun at the minimal social life of many students, uploaded her design on

to the Facebook group. It showed Wikipedia redirecting MVHS students’ social life to ‘see academics’.

“I just made it for fun,” Knipe said. “I think the idea is cool. MVHS has its own special atmosphere to it. I like how we can have a shirt to show that atmosphere.”

Other students have also taken a liking to the contest, such as sophomore Jason Ye. Ye plans to buy a t-shirt if he sees a design that calls to his humor.

“People are making fun of the stereotypes of our school and I find it pretty funny.” Ye said.

If Nguyen’s contest turns out well, he plans to organize more t-shirt contests beginning next year with a different theme.

“It all depends on what my imagination comes up with.” Nguyen said.

elestoque Take your taste buds global May 20, 2009

entertainment

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by Sarah McKee

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t’s no secret that ethnic food is easy to find in the Bay Area, where minorities are a majority. In a place so ethnically diverse, Chinese, Greek, Italian, and Indian restaurants are hardly considered ethnic. So, when it comes to eating out, there are a multitude of choices.

Destination #1: Yiassoo Greek Food 10660 S. De Anza Blvd. Cupertino, Calif. 95014 The best way to describe Yiassoo is Greek fast food. When you enter, you see an employee at the counter behind a cash register, and above that is a giant plastic menu, complete with numbered food options and all.

That day, I decided to go with menu option number one, a Gyro.

Little did I know that I had ordered a meat beast. What I got was a piece of flatbread piled high with slices of Greek sausage. It was clear at first bite that Gyros are delicious. However, after eating about halfway through it, I had reached my meat limit. I think I would have fared better with a falafel, which is vegetarian.

For the amount of food that I was given, Yiassoo comes at a fair price. The Gyro was $8.25. The fast service and convenient location make Yiassoo the perfect place for a casual lunch.

Destination #2: Gochi Japanese Fusion Tapas 19980 Homestead Road, Cupertino, Calif. 95014 At first glance, Gochi looks like your typical Japanese restaurant.

The interior of the resteraunt features traditional rice paper walls inside and embanked seating where you are invited to take off your shoes. It’s hard to notice that Gochi combines the Spanish tradition of tapas – a meal consisting of small appetizer-like dishes – with Japanese cuisine.

The night that I went, I tried Miso Pizza. It is exactly what it

sounds like: pizza topped with miso. Miso Pizza is why I wanted to visit Gochi in the first place, and I was excited to try it. Reeling from how excellent the other dishes tasted (some of which include fried rice balls and stir fried udon noodles), I was disappointed with the pizza. The pizza consisted of some sort of bizarre mixture of sweet, saltiness, and sourness that did not agree with my taste buds.

The prices at Gochi are very steep, especially for the small portion sizes they offer. The Miso Pizza was $11.50 and only slightly bigger than a personal pizza at Domino’s. Even though the prices are high and the portion sizes small, many of the dishes (aside from the pizza) taste great and are very filling.

Destination #3: Zeni’s Ethiopian Food 1320 Saratoga Ave. San Jose, Calif. 95129 At Zeni’s, it’s time to roll up your sleeves and dig in. Food at Zeni’s is eaten in the traditional Ethiopian way—with your hands.

Ethiopian food is meant to be eaten using injera—a type of sponge like flatbread—to scoop up small pieces of meat or vegetables covered in sauces.

For dinner, my group of friends and I decided to try a vegetable combination and meat combination platter. The food was served in a huge circular dish lined with injera. Surrounding the circumference of the dish were at least nine different types of thick meat and vegetable stews. At first the portions looked small, but in reality it was a substantial amount of food.

The staff was very helpful and recommended us to tear the small bits of flat bread opposed to eating larger pieces. This way you can eat more dishes and less flatbread.

The food was very filling, but not as spicy or flavor-filled as I had hoped it would be. The entire dinner came out to be $32, but the amount of food they gave us could comfortably feed up to six people. Zeni’s comes at a good price, but the food lacks flavor.

21

The last blurb Toilet paper purpose

The importance of toilet paper is an underestimated yet undeniable aspect of comfort in the modern civil world. While it may be looked over and simply purchased in its cheapest form, a truly civilized person knows, deep inside of them (really deep down there) that settling for the cheapest is not the best option. Hotels do this, and it is infuriating. I’m sure we’d all agree using binder paper would be viable but not a pleasurable experience, so I want to ask why stop at a second rate paper of any variety when you’re already going out of your way to buy a special item you don’t completely necessarily need? Charmin, let me tell you, is the best. It’s soft like a pillow and leaves neither discomfort nor frustration post-use.

Its absorbency is great. Cardboard-like toilet paper brings a world of hurt.

Face-to-face with space

I had heard that there was a running joke among staff of instituting a new rule at dances, with the fitting punny name of “face to face with a bit of space.” Now, to me, this brings back images of the raging 1970’s and 80’s with my parents in wedding videos with hair going through the roof (And our dads with actual hair) dancing with their hands in the air and corkscrewing up and down while looking at each other with goofy 80’s smiles. The attempt to make dances more “decent” is both acceptable and expected – things happen that people don’t want to see, but 90 percent of dancers are just having fun and following the accepted norm. Times changed. Bad things happened when people danced faceto-face-with-a-little-bit-of-space, too. You win some, you lose some. People just won’t dance if they have to do it with space and face to face. You know it’s true.

Forget the boat

Sarah McKee | El Estoque

freshman

Justin Maple

junior

Caitlyn Sullivan

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WE WANT TO KNOW

ON A SILVER PLATTER Combination platters featuring Ethiopian dishes at Zeni’s (right), a green tea tiramisu garnished with mint and red bean paste, served in a small clear cup at Gochi (middle), and a Greek styled sandwich, or Gyro, from Yiassoo (left).

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Forget the stupid boat, forget it now and never think of it again. I know exactly where the 2010 Senior Ball should be—on that zeppelin they’ve started flying around the bay. We’ll get them to gut out all the seats and it will be a dance floor —small, but it’ll work. Because we won’t be face to face with a little bit of space. We can rotate different groups of people if it’s still too small. But say that doesn’t work, the company that runs it—“Airship Ventures”, offers group events where they’ll host you at a fancy restaurant in the city and then give you a two hour ride - how unforgettable would that be? Let alone romantic and just plain fun. And unlike a boat, which is arguably dangerous—tsunamis, duh, a zeppelin won’t even be affected if it gets struck by lightning. Clearly this is a win-win situation. Time to board the zeppelin! Who cares what it costs. Sell your little sister.

A new motoring adventure

So, it’s the last little blurb I’ll ever write as ‘Brit Wit.’ I’d tell you it was all peaches and cream, but it wasn’t. It was really annoying sometimes. I’d write really bad ones intentionally for the first deadlines and redo them properly when it really started to matter. I incited response from my English teacher Mikki McMillion and was told that some people thought I was a girl (I’m male!) even though my name was printed right above. The column was always supposed to be a random conjunction of bits and bites from my sometimes very little brain. But one columnist’s loss is another columnist’s fresh beginning. Just like how when one car is sold, it’s just the start-line of another owner’s motoring adventure. Time to hold your breath for the next taker.

May 20, 2009 elestoque 22 DIY piercing: from earlobes to lips entertainment

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by Daniel Stenzel

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he needle stabs into one side and out the other. It is quickly withdrawn from the ear, and an earring placed so that the hole does not heal up. Blood oozes slowly until it finally crusts up. The ear has been pierced.

Three years ago junior Ana Gash did just that without the aid of a professional.

Gash remembers the process by which she pierced two holes in her ear all on her own. One of the holes had previously been pierced but had since healed over. She didnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t want to pay money again to have the hole pierced, so she decided to make it easy and do it herself. â&#x20AC;&#x153;I didnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t really measure but found the center of the lobe, and then I made a mark with a pen,â&#x20AC;? Gash said. â&#x20AC;&#x153;Then I numbed it with ice.â&#x20AC;?

The next step was to pierce a hole and insert the two earrings. Gash made sure to use hydrogen peroxide and other sterilizing agents to clean the holes, so no infections occurred. Both piercings turned out fine, without any infections or complications.

The next step Gash took was to start gauging the first hole she pierced in the lobe. Gauging is a process where over a period of time you slowly increase the diameter of the jewelry in the hole, like African tribesmen with giant disks in their earsâ&#x20AC;&#x201D;except gauging rarely gets to that size. â&#x20AC;&#x153;I didnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t go to get it gauged or anything, I just slowly made it bigger and bigger on my own, and then I got up to size four and stopped,â&#x20AC;? Gash said.

Gauging goes from size 20 which is 0.032 decimal inches, going up to a size zero which is 0.325 decimal inches and beyond. Somewhere around a size zero and beyond, gauging starts to become irreversible, but a size four normally reverses for most people. â&#x20AC;&#x153;When I was stretching it, it started to hurt and I was like, â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;Iâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;m done,â&#x20AC;? Gash said. â&#x20AC;&#x153;Now itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s back to normal.â&#x20AC;?

Senior Sarah Kim also has experience with performing her own piercings, except she didnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t pierce her earsâ&#x20AC;&#x201D;she pierced her lip. â&#x20AC;&#x153;I think it was sophomore year. [My friends and I] used to have these little sleepovers where we would cut each otherâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s hair and dye each otherâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s hair, â&#x20AC;&#x153; Kim said. â&#x20AC;&#x153;I think

Daniel Stenzel | El Estoque

PIERCED IT Junior Ana Gash displays her piercings. Two of the piercings were done professionaly, the third by herself. we were just extremely bored and so we decided to pierce my lip.â&#x20AC;?

Kim was going to attend a concert on the next day, and she had decided that the piercing would be cool to have for the concert. â&#x20AC;&#x153;It was back in the scenester days. You know, like those kind of shows,â&#x20AC;? Kim said.

Kim performed the piercings by numbing her lips with ice, placing a slice of apple in her mouth to guard her teeth and gums from being scraped or damaged by the needle, and then poking through. The difference between piercing ear and lips is that with ears, you only go through skin and cartilage, but with lips the needle must pierce skin, muscle, and then more skin on the inside of the mouth.

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â&#x20AC;&#x153;Afterward, I did all this research and they were like, â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;You shouldnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t pierce your lip on your own because it can get [messed up] so I was kind of scared, and I had to keep taking it in and out because I didnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t want my mom to know,â&#x20AC;? Kim said. â&#x20AC;&#x153;It never fully healed, and it was always painful and swollen, and I eventually took it out because it was just too annoying.â&#x20AC;?

After the two weeks or so that Kim had the piercing in and she took it out, the healing process began. â&#x20AC;&#x153;It was kind of painful, but I think it was fairly quick,â&#x20AC;?

Kim said. â&#x20AC;&#x153;I still have a little dot to remind me.â&#x20AC;?

Gash and Kim both share the general sentiment that people should be able to pierce themselves, but they should know what theyâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;re getting into at the same time.

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entertainment elestoque 23 Confessions of a teen dance queen May 20, 2009

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by Sabrina Ghaus

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Stefan Ball | El Estoque

A TWIRL AND A SPIN Dressed in a leotard and tights, junior Sarah Wells helps younger girls learn a variety of dances at the East-West Dance Studio in Cupertino.

the lookbook

junior CHRISTINE WANG

Trippin’ & Tribal Scarf: India Dress: Forever 21 Belt: H&M

onday through Saturday at East-West Dance Studio, she can be found dancing away her troubles on the hardwood floor, brown curls swept out of her face into a bun, her graceful, ballet-toned body dressed in a leotard and tights.

As she dances, her muscles easily support her pirouettes and plies. She is joined by a number of other girls and a dance director, all of whom have known her since she first arrived at the doorstep of this studio at age three.

That was the beginning of what would grow to be a lifelong passion for Wells, though it suffered a few minor hiccups along the way.

“When I was six, I wanted to quit because one of my best friends at the time was quitting dance,” Wells said. “But dance is pretty much my life. I go to the studio—I teach there, too—at 3 p.m. and I’m there until 9:30 Monday through Saturday. But it’s fun, it doesn’t seem like anything else,” she adds.

As a part of the senior performing group, Wells competes and participates in shows with her studio. Her love of performing, however, is not the main reason for why she dances.

“I don’t dance to be in the show,” Wells said slowly. “I dance for the expression of it. It takes you to another place.”

When Wells was 10, and again when she was in eighth grade, doctors discovered a tumor in her brain. Wells was devastated. Because of the surgery, she wasn’t able to dance for months.

“When I was 10, I didn’t understand why I couldn’t dance.” Wells said. “I didn’t think [my absence] would be that long, but as it went on it was just a horrible feeling.”

In eighth grade, the tumor came back. Once more, Wells had to endure giving up dance for months in accordance with the doctor’s orders.

This time, the pain was worse.

“I would go in and watch rehearsal, but just

having to stand on the side…You want to get up but you can’t. I was super depressed,” Wells said. “It is such a part of my life and not only that but a part of who I am, and when you’re told you can’t be who you are…what do you do?”

Throughout the ordeal, Wells’ friends from the studio remained pillars of support— visiting her in the hospital and even making her a teddy bear.

“They were totally there for me,” Wells said. “I had to shave my head, and the first time I only shaved half my hair, so my dance teacher changed the hairstyle for everyone to a side ponytail so I could wear it. I get choked up just talking about it.”

Even though Wells was not able to dance during and after her surgeries for certain periods of time, she still came to classes and rehearsals, learning what she could from simply watching and listening.

“I wanted to go because I was on the team and I felt like I had an obligation to not only the studio, the teachers, and the dancers, but to myself,” Wells said. “I wasn’t going to accept not going back.”

Finally, it was all over. She could return to the studio where she grew up and dance, not just sit on the sidelines. The memory of that day is still fresh in her mind.

“I don’t even think I have the words for it,” she said. “Everyone was so excited, I was so excited. It was unbelievable. I was so overcome with gratitude for being back. It was a life-changing experience I was going through, you know? You really realize how much you take for granted.”

“It was so amazing and so humbling to be able to dance again. I don’t think there’s anything I can say to ever do it justice.”

No matter. As long as there’s music, she’ll have a way to express more than her words can convey…she’ll be dancing.

Geometric Gem Cardigan: Mom’s Dress: Charlotte Russe Boots: Zappos

Pop Art Dress: Tilly’s Bag: de Young Museum Ring: Nordstrom

sophomore ALISHA DESHMUKH Rock Culture Cardigan: Urban Outfitters T-shirt: Nordstrom Jeans: Nordstrom

sophomore ALVIN KIM

‘80s revival, Cali style

With Marc Jacobs leading the way, the 1980s broad-shouldered their way in—spin the look with geometric prints, clubby dresses, and lots of brights!

senior NICOLETTE JOMA Patty Chao, Jeremy Lee, and Mansi Pathak | El Estoque

encore

KILLER PLASTIC Junior Aditi Chandrashekar holds a plastic disposable water bottle . 20.3% of people surveyed said that they brought a plastic water bottle to school.

WATER BREAK Junior Henry Yang takes a break from badminton practice to take a few gulps from his hard plastic water bottle.

all

bottled B up

STEEL SAFE Junior Surabhi Srivastava’s stainless steel water bottle provides a safe and environmentally friendly option.

Copy & design by Aileen Le and Bhargav Setlur Photography by Stefan Ball

efore, junior Surabhi Srivastava used to quench her thirst with an old, dented plastic water bottle. But in recent months, she and other students have made the switch from disposable plastic bottles to stainless steel and hard plastic bottles. “Apparently, disposable plastic bottles are bad for you if you reuse them many times,” Srivastava said. “And sometimes, bacteria can start to grow in them.”

Although plastic bottles are mostly safe, long-term reuse causes leaching, a process in which chemicals from the plastic contaminate the water. And these chemicals can cause a variety of health problems. So not surprisingly, many students have chosen to change their ways.

There’s also an added benefit to using metal or hard plastic bottles: each day, less plastic bottles are thrown away,preventing them from ending up in landfills, slowly decomposing over the next few millenia. Using reusable bottles is not only good for health — it’s also a break for the environment.

BOTTLE ONE Principal April Scott surveys the Rally Court, with a walkie talkie and metal bottle in hand. The bottle is decorated with flowers, adding a unique touch to a ubiquitous item.

IN THE PINK Junior Jessica Feng keeps her Victoria’s Secret Pink water bottle close at had in the academic court on May 12.

WATER WASTE a used disposable water bottle rests among other trash during lunch on May 12. Each year, 15 billion water bottles like the ones below are used. Only about 12% are recycled, according to industry consultant R.W.Beck.