Volume 42, Issue 5: Feb. 7, 2012 by El Estoque

ESTOQUE

Monta Vista High School

Issue V

Volume XLII

elestoque.org

February 1, 2012

The race to college

Students feel the need to hide their ethnicity on university applications NEWS Page 4

Hit the ground running Two freshmen enter varsity soccer, make strong impressions SPORTS Page 42

One time

New funding resources are key to success for FUHSD OPINION Page 15

and

C I S U M

the

D N I M

d, e k n i bly l ted. a c i tr a Inex ably rel it inev â&#x20AC;&#x2122;s how. 4 e ge 2 r a e P H rt epo cial

Spe

11 6

Fake IDs across campus and the students who own them

There is no $ in team Why there will be no Government Team next year

10 2

Budget worries

The district plans a budget for a future it cannot predict

Affirmative action

11 17

Measuring students by socioeconomic rather than racial background

The dog days are over

LMU lawsuit

Student to teacher ratio

Why the debate over football lights should be old news

If class sizes are too big, teachers should seek other ways to keep students engaged

The Simmons family fosters dogs to get them ready for adoption

Above and below

A look at the high and low views of the Cupertino landscape

Musical minds

Columnist Soumya Kurnool goes to the rally and decides there are better ways to show spirit

Exploring how music is more than just a melody and the way it affects our minds

18 30

Wanted: a pair of earplugs

SPORTS

A&E

OPINION

Playing the cards

SPECIAL

ESTOQUE

NEWS

Tuning in memories Discovering the memories certain songs take us back to

Music and its distractions The difference between music as a distraction and music as a buffer against distractions

A family team

Gender imbalance

The Jennings family shares their common love for sports

As a crowd forms at the Lynbrook boys basketball game, girls discuss their scant audience

Sports flash From boys soccer to Intramural Volleyball, here are the upcoming seasonâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s highlights

EL ESTOQUE

ESTOQUE

21840 McClellan Road Cupertino, CA 95014 mv.el.estoque@gmail.com Editor-in-Chief: Karishma Mehrotra Managing Editors: Christophe Haubursin, Yaamini Venkataraman, Ashley Wu, Sara Yang Copy Editors: Karen Feng, Nona Penner, Lisa Zhang Webmaster: Akshay Agrawal Photo Editors: Kevin Tsukii, Elvin Wong News Editors: Akshay Agrawal, Aafreen Mahmood, Anushka Patil Sports Editors: Dickson Tsai, Patrick Xie Entertainment Editors: Yimeng Han, Pooja Ravikiran Opinion Editors: Smitha Gundavajhala, Kiranmayi Methuku, Laura Yang Special Report Editors: Cynthia Mao, Daniel Tan, Amelia Yang Business Editors: Rachel Lu, Albert Qiu Public Relations Editor: Emma Courtright, Angela Wang Community Editor: Emily Vu Staff Writers: Rachel Beyda, Nellie Brosnan, Carissa Chan, Stephanie Chang, Simran Devidasani, Amrutha Dorai, Kevin Guo, Gisella Joma, Megan Jones, Soumya Kurnool, Howard Lee, Forest Liao, Margaret Lin, Angela Liu, Jacob Lui, Alexandria Poh, Morahd Shawki Adviser: Michelle Balmeo, Jay Shelton Credits Some images in this publication were taken from the stock photography website sxc.hu. Mission Statement El Estoque is an open forum created for and by students of Monta Vista High School. Opinions expressed in this publication are those of the journalism staff and not of Monta Vista High School or the Fremont Union High School District. The staff seeks to recognize individuals, events, and ideas and bring news to the MVHS community in a manner that is professional, unbiased, and thorough in order to effectively serve our readers. We strive to report accurately, and we will correct any significant error. If you believe such an error has been made, please contact us. Letters of any length should be submitted via email or mail. They may be edited for length or accuracy. Letters cannot be returned and will be published at El Estoque’s discretion. We also reserve the right to reject advertising due to space limitations or decision of the Editorial Board that content of the advertisement conflicts with the mission of the publication.

FEBRUARY 1, 2012

I CAN LISTEN TO THE SAME SONG

OVER & OVER & OVER & OVER

AGAIN

Christophe Haubursin| El Estoque

can sing it at two decibels too high. I But the hard part was not the decision to choose can sing it three notes off key. it as our February Special Report. A couple months ago, senior The hard part was choosing which aspect of Kevin Tsukii asked me if I regretted this huge, ambiguous subject we should discuss and never learning a musical instrument. show you. Sure, I can’t distinguish the different It ultimately came down to bringing you a new instruments in a song, and musical window into music’s effect on the high school notes might as well be foreign words. brain. We all know that certain songs bring us back But I know music still has a certain to certain moments in our lives but juniors Cynthia effect on me despite my lack of Mao and Kevin Guo discover exactly how our brain musical talent. Even as I write this, the makes those connections and how many adults make music playing from my iTunes has some effect on musical associations with their high school years. my brain, altering some Seniors Ashley Wu and part of my neurological Daniel Tan explore music pathways and inspiring as both a distraction and different words to enter a buffer against them. the page. And junior Alex Poh and Karishma Our reporters came senior Elvin Wong show to a consensus that that music may heighten music does have some, your high school abilities perhaps unknown, in mathematics. effect on each and The music that I belt everyone of us. Whether out and listen to over the conversation is about the idiotic aspects of and over — it enters my brain, provides nostalgic dubstep or how all these white rappers have taken memories, stimulates my mathematical side and over, people get involved when the conversation is makes me concentrate. It doesn’t matter that I can’t about music. And as a staff, we knew that music tell the difference between tuning instruments and attaches itself to everyone, whether it is those playing instruments. with professional musical training or showersinging training. k.mehrotra@elestoque.org

MEHROTRA

NEWS

CHECK ALL

Colleges ask students to mark Are those responses taken into by Margaret Lin

whether she should select white or Asian or both, since she is of mixed race. “I’m not sure right now but I’ve heard that marking white would give me the most advantage, so if they only allowed me to mark one ethnicity then I would mark white. But, if they allowed more than one, then I would mark white and Asian,” she said.

enior Megan Parry marked “white” as her ethnicity on her college applications this year, even though her mother has Latino roots. Since her mother was adopted from Bolivia and brought to America at the age of 18, the ethnicity on her birth certificate was changed Affirmative action Acccording to the Stanford Encyclopedia during the process of her adoption. Instead of stating that she was half white and half Bolivian, of Philosophy, “‘affirmative action’ her birth certificate now only states that she is means positive steps taken to increase the white. Parry chose not to select “Latino” on representation of women and minorities in her application under the assumption that she areas of employment, education, and business would have from which to re-access they have been of students know someone who has changed their ethnicity on a histor ically her mother’s college application original birth excluded. students do not know someone who has their ethnicity on a college application 83% ofchanged When those certificate to *515 students responded to this survey prove Latino steps involve ethnicity. preferential “[Colleges] selection really try to attract [Latino] people and it — selection on the basis of race, gender, or really makes a difference versus just putting ethnicity — affirmative action generates ‘white female.’ I strongly believe that on your intense controversy.” In other words, college applications, there should be no box for affirmative action serves to make sure public race,” Parry said. “You’re never going to break businesses and schools stay ethnically diverse. through the stereotyping ... if they are judging However, the part that brings the most controversy, is “when those steps involve you based on your race.” An anonymous junior is starting to feel preferential selection — selection on the basis the pressure as well. Since she is applying to of race, gender or ethnicity.” This issue goes past just college admissions. colleges next year, she’s begun thinking about

17%

In an AP report by National Public Radio, Kara Miller, a former Yale admissions officer, noted that Asian-Americans were held to a higher standard when admissions officers looked over their SAT scores. “Asian kids know that when [admissions officers] look at the average SAT for the school, they need to add 50 or 100 to it,” Miller said on the show. “If you’re Asian, that’s what you’ll need to get in [to college].” Senior Pin-hsi Chen feels that this preferential selection is unfair. He wouldn’t go so far as to outright change his ethnicity since he is purely Asian, but he feels that others may use this selection to their advantage. “[It’s possible that people could consider changing ethnicities because it] would give someone a higher chance if they didn’t really care [about integrity],” Chen said. “If you have the abilities [to get in to a college], ethnicity doesn’t matter because we’re all different.” In a survey conducted by El Estoque with 515 respondents, 17 percent of respondents knew someone who had changed their ethnicity on their application due to their knowledge of affirmative action. However only six percent of seniors confessed that they had changed their ethnicity. Senior Zachary Ota faced a different issue entirely. Since he is half Japanese and half Persian, Ota belives that he could be seen as half Asian and half white or just Asian entirely. He could put either of these options and still be EL ESTOQUE

ethnicity edge // fake IDs // Gov Team funding // FUHSD budget

THAT APPLY: Akshay Agrawal, Margaret Lin and Anushka Patil | El Estoque Photo Illustration

their ethnicities on applications. consideration during admissions? telling the truth. “For the apps that let me choose multiple ethnicities I put half Asian and half white because my dad’s Japanese and my mom’s Persian, so that’s sort of white,” Ota said. “For the ones that only let me put one ethnicity, I put Asian because Japan and Iran are both a sort of Asian. Prop 209 According to California’s Proposition 209, which was passed in 1996, affirmative action is illegal in public colleges. However, Proposition 209 does not apply to private colleges. University of California Berkeley media specialist Dan Mogoluf thinks that the ethnicity issue in colleges goes well beyond just affirmative action, since there are many factors to look in to when it comes to diversity. “There are those who are concerned that some elite universities [underrepresent] minorities,” Mogoluf said. “A lot of [the problems] are [caused by] pipeline issues [which means] the kind of schools that [minorities] come from are socially or economically disadvantaged ... [which] may be hindering their opportunities to attend better universities, thus impacting the diversity of the student body.” Sophomore Alexis Page, who is half African American and half Japanese, thinks that because African Americans are a minoritiy in colleges, she would probably only select FEBRUARY 1, 2012

African American if she was only allowed to experience,” Mogoluf said. “There’s [also] select one ethnicity. diversity in terms of geographical origins. All However, affirmative action won’t help of those things are part of what makes a great someone from an underrepresented ethnic university a great university.” minority with an unqualified application beat As for the anonymous junior, she feels that out someone from an ethnic majority with a in the end, marking both races would give her qualified application. Miriam Taba, Career the most advantage since being mixed would Center liason, says that colleges tend to look make her the “minority of minorities”. at their application as a whole more than just “I feel like being half white and half Asian whether or not they are part of an ethnic gives me an advantage because I could be majority or minority. seen as white or Asian or even both which “Colleges want a good mix of students makes me even more different,” she said. “So ... [but] all colleges are looking at them I would be the minority in comparison to any holistically,” Taba said. “The most important race so I would mark white and Asian.” part is their transcript, what types of classes In addition, Taba also mentions that [they’re taking], colleges are and patterns of always looking of seniors have not i m p r ov e m e n t . for something heard of Prop 209 [Regardless of different 23% of seniors have heard of Prop 209 ethnicity] all every year. *139 seniors responded to this survey students are Sometimes, it measured by the may be tuba same scale.” players, if many of their tuba players are seniors who are graduating. Other times it A broader definition for diversity may be students from an ethnic minority, if Even while attempting to diversify, many of their students who are from ethnic however, many colleges contend that race and minorities are also graduating that year. ethnicity are not in any way the only markers “Since there’s nothing students can do of diversity. about [their ethnicity], they should instead “When we [at UC Berkeley] talk about focus on figuring out who they are,” Taba said. diversity, the thing that makes this university so great is that there is diversity in educational interests, departments, knowledge and m.lin@elestoque.org

77%

playing

THE CARDS

Students risk consequences in obtaining fake IDs for drinking underage

by Emily Vu and Lisa Zhang

e found out about the IDs through a MVHS alumnus who specializes in the distribution of fake IDs, $140 a piece. But, with some luck, he was able to obtain an ID for a much cheaper price. So he decided to use it. The first time, he placed the ID on the counter and took on the fake name, address and age. The cashier took the ID, scanned the bottles and handed him the alcohol. 6

The first shot The male MVHS senior, who hereafter will be referred to as “student one,” obtained the ID during the first week of Mid-year Break and has been using it twice a week to purchase alcohol. Having never drank alcohol before receiving the ID, he now feels pressure from his peers to buy and consume liquor, even on school days. “The first time I used it, I was really scared, nervous and unsure whether it would work or not,” student one said. “I was worried about how sketched out the guy would be, but then right after it worked, I was really relieved and realized there was really nothing to worry about.”

Another male MVHS student, who hereafter will be referred to as “student two,“ received his fake ID in December 2010 from his friend’s older brother, who acted as a middleman. He was able to recieve a group deal of three IDs for $150 after referring two of his friends to the same dealer and splitting the cost. As a senior, he uses his fake ID about four times a week to purchase alcohol, tobacco and marijuana. He states that many students, mostly seniors, have requested fake IDs from him over Mid-year Break. “They saw how [having the fake ID] increased the quality of my life dramatically and they wanted to emulate that,” EL ESTOQUE

ethnicity edge // fake IDs // Gov Team funding // FUHSD budget action because he didn’t want to deal with the cops,” student one said. “I didn’t suffer any serious consequences, so I just decided to keep using it.” As a result, both students agree that having a fake ID requires a sense of personal responsibility. Because they no longer feel restrained by the law by partaking in such illegal activities, they themselves determine the frequency of their ID use. “You’re going to have the ability to buy alcohol and drugs, but you have to know your limit,” student two said. “I mean I know my limit, but other people get it and drink [until] they die — this one kid we knew, his heart just stopped. That’s not chill. You need to know your limits.” According to Metheany, students should help their friends make the correct decision regarding the usage of illeigal substances. He believes that students having conversations with parents, peers and other supportive figures about the substances will increase their awareness about the effects of alcohol and drugs as well as the consequences. “People need to say, ‘This is not right, this is not safe and as a friend Close calls I’m not going to let you do this,‘“ Both students have faced very Metheany said. “[Teens] need to sticky situations with their fake of students know: Be careful. You IDs. Student two once have used a fake ID before are not invincible, and we accidentally handed don’t want you to get his fake ID to a hurt.” police officer and On the other hand, was relieved when for student two, a misunderstanding knowing these limits with the officer is a personal decision. caused the officer Contrary to Metheany’s to return the ID opinion, he believes without checking that it is ultimately its validity. Though an individual’s own student two is not responsibility to make aware of anyone sure they have all bases who has been covered when using caught using fake their fake ID and face IDs, he has heard the consequences that of students who ran into trouble with the of students have of students feel it is arise on their own. considered manageable to “God forbid I got law. getting a fake ID obtain a fake ID into into a car and died. “The person I I wouldn’t want you actually got it from to feel that it was your got caught by the police and went to jail,“ student two said. responsibility [that] I was [stupid] and [got] “But it happened in a manner that [the police] into a car drunk,” student two said. “[It’s not my job] to make sure [other people] don’t get didn’t find any of the clients’ information.” Student one, whose actual ID was seen into the car drunk; it’s their responsibility.” by the cashier as he purchased alcohol with his fake one the first time he used it, does not feel very affected by the incident despite the possible repercussions. “[The cashier] didn’t take any further e.vu@elestoque.org | l.zhang@elestoque.org school, administrators provide the Sheriff’s Department with a list of the dances they may choose to patrol. Consequences for attending school events under the influence of age-restricted substances include suspension, referral to the Sheriff’s Department and loss of the privilege of attending all school dances occurring within 365 days of the offense. According to Metheany, in previous years, there was a mandatory 20-hour diversion program about underage usage of illegal substances for students after the first citation that is no longer available due to lack of funding. Yet MVHS continues to educate students regarding the effects of alcohol and drugs at the Every 15 Minutes assembly, which occurs once every four years. “There are constant reminders so individuals can make the right decision for themselves,” Metheany said. “I don’t think I need to say anything to them. They’re doing something inappropriate at school. That is not the right thing and there are consequences.”

Kevin Tsukii | El Estoque Photo Illustration

student two said. “But they take all the responsibilities at hand once they buy it.” The repercussions The responsibilities that these individuals undertake, according to Assistant Principal Brad Metheany, include repercussions for partaking in illegal activities by purchasing or providing others with age-restricted substances. Violating the Zero Tolerance policy could also result in expulsion on the first offense. Metheany stated that although alcohol is not a large problem on campus, it may be in the surrounding teen community. In terms of enforcing of the Zero Tolerance policy at FEBRUARY 1, 2012

15%

38%

NEWS

Thereâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s no in team

by Carissa Chan and Simran Devidasani

Budget cuts on national level mean no competitions â&#x20AC;&#x201D; and no Gov Team Angela Liu | El Estoque Photo Illustration

ethnicity edge // fake IDs // Gov Team funding // FUHSD budget

or those who are part of the MVHS longer has a unique and effective purpose. student Government Team, there are FUHSD funding will no longer be allocated to no formal assessments or exams, save Gov Team as of the 2012-2013 school year; for one short quiz at the beginning of this year’s Gov Team, led by Otto, will be the the year. There are only competitions — local, school’s last. state and national. For most high school Gov “These changes have had a significant teams, the most prestigious competition is impact on the overall quality and administration the annual program called We the People: the of the [WTP] program,” Otto said through an Citizen and the Constitution. But what if there email statement to El Estoque. “Taking these were no competitions? factors into account, the decision was made to remove the Government Team program from Then there would not be a Gov Team. We the People: the Citizen and the MVHS’ course offerings for the 2012-2013 Constitution, founded in 1987, is a nationally school year.” Altering the Gov Team curriculum to fit recognized student government program that is open to upper elementary school students the typical classroom standard was not an all the way to those in high school. MVHS alternative either — it would be too similar to 2009 and 2010 Gov Teams attended the annual already-offered courses like Government and competition under former advisor Christopher Economics, Clausnitzer said. And according to Chiang and qualified for the California State their principals, none of the other four FUHSD high schools offer a Gov Team, so FUHSD will Finals both years. According to Robert Leming, 25-year lose its only Gov Team as well. “It’s honestly quite sad that this is director of the WTP program, the competitions happening this i n v o l v e year,” current Gov law yers, Out of 413 surveyed MVHS students, Team information professor s, technolog y educators director senior and even Hemanth Kini said. members that there will no longer be a Gov Team “I feel terrible for of Congress current juniors and as judges, as competitions are held as Congressional all the [students] who won’t get this wonderful hearings. With over 30 million participants opportunity … [MVHS] is losing out.” since its founding, WTP has become one Gov Team has been a popular choice for of the most popular programs for student incoming seniors in the past; out of over 60 Government Teams, including the MVHS Gov applicants last year, 32 were chosen to be part Team, to compete in. of the team. Without the MVHS Gov Team, But, Leming said, the federal government juniors now have four senior science course withdrew funding from dozens of civic options — none of which are applicationeducation programs in April 2011 in an attempt based classes. to cut spending. WTP, previously funded under “I was looking forward to taking Gov Team the Education for Democracy Act, thus lost its next year,” junior Ankita Tejwani said. “[Even primary funding source. without competitions], the class should have ... “I don’t think it’s the case that members of still stayed.” Congress don’t like the program — they do, Although the news came as a surprise to but it’s a political storm, and we got caught up many students, Gov Team has been losing in it,” Leming said. funding for a while — most recently, the An article published by the newspaper 2011 team could not participate in the WTP Education Week revealed that WTP has an competition because of financial difficulties. annual budget of $21.6 million, which, Leming Gov Team members had even hosted a says, is used mostly to run the competitions community sale in an attempt to clear their and provide schools with textbooks that serve debt, but the budget continued to dwindle, as competition guides. Various schools have and the loss of stable competitions like WTP raised enough money for the 2012 national ultimately brought about the final decision. competition to stay in place, but Leming and “Certainly, there [will] be some current MVHS Gov Team advisor Eric Otto say disappointment,” Clausnitzer said. “It is that the program’s future remains grim. unfortunate … but [budget cuts] are part of And without competitions like WTP, our world now. We have to be thinking about MVHS Assistant Principal Ben Clausnitzer what’s best for students and budgets.” says, administration believes that Gov Team, c.chan@elestoque.org | s. devidasani@elestoque.org a competition-centered application class, no

89% did not know

FEBRUARY 1, 2012

Gov Team and We the People in numbers $21.6 MILLION

Amount of money, per year, it takes to run the state and national WTP competitions, which are held as Congressional hearings

BILLION Amount of funding the federal government withdrew from civic education programs like WTP in April 2011

Number of students on the 2011-2012 MVHS Gov Team; there will be no Gov Team after this year

MILLION

Number of students who have participated in We the People: The Citizen and the Constitution since its 1987 founding Angela Liu | El Estoque Photo Illustration

NEWS

Making do with limited dough The district buffers the budget for a future it cannot predict by Nona Penner

Money, money, money While the district does have ongoing sources of money such as parcel and property taxes, those simply do not provide enough money when the state is taking from the education system. To stave off cuts, FUHSD has drawn money from its reserves as well as from one-time sources — lump monies given to the district from the state. The district is spending short-term funding received from the jobs bill, a federal bill passed by Obama in 2010, which gave FUHSD $2,292,068 to save jobs. The money can be used, according to State Superintendent of Public Instruction Jack O’Connell, for such things as covering compensation and benefits, retaining current employees and hiring new ones. FUHSD must spend the money by September 2012. “There are various things like that, where money shows up somewhere. But if it’s not 10

[a] continuing [source], it only helps you get through for a while, and then you still need to face the problem,” math teacher and lead negotiator of teachers Jon Stark said. The district is hopeful that property taxes will pick up in the next year and get the system back on its feet, but nothing is for certain. “If we thought the cuts would go on for an indefinite amount of time, we would make cuts instead of trying to hold on to what we have,” Superintendent Polly Bove said. Hoping for a better tomorrow Holding on is exactly what the district is trying to do. For the past three years, the district office staff has been reduced so that employees work more hours and do tasks not listed in their job descriptions. For example, the superintendent’s executive assistant left her position over a year ago and the district has not yet hired a new permanent assistant. Taking the uncertainty into consideration, the district also holds a 5 percent reserve whereas legally they only need to retain 3 percent. “Administration has no set hours, so we can ask more of them, and we do,” Bove said. “But I can tell you that our staff has been incredible. We’re doing the best with what we’ve got.” Alternatives FUHSD hopes to hold out until the economy begins to take a turn for the better. The state has taken $9.8 million from the district’s budget that teachers were expected to have for compensation. In order to cut the costs of employing teachers, the district can cut teachers’ salaries or decrease the number of teachers, or a combination of the two. When

Illu str ati on

magine walking into class on an ordinary Monday morning. Your teacher hands back an assignment from last week. The stack in his hands does not number 25, nor 30 papers, but perhaps a few sheets more. Your class size is abnormally large. This is one scenario MVHS and other schools in the Fremont Union High School District may face if they do not receive sufficient funding. For the past eight years, California’s school budgets have faced an uphill slope due to statewide education cuts; however, FUHSD has managed to stay intact by keeping a close eye on its budget. Even so, details about the future of the budget are pending. Depending on major factors such as the health of the national economy and local contributions such as property taxes, the district may be forced to begin making cuts in the future. Insofar, there have been no plans to layoff teachers or cut programs for the next couple years, including the current one. “We cannot guarantee that there will be no cuts [in the future],” Chief Business Officer Christine Mallery said. “We simply do not know enough.”

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teachers retire and are not replaced, every current teacher may take on more students. While letting the teacher-to-student ratio continue to grow is not an ideal solution, it may occur if the state continues to make cuts year after year. The board may also decide to cut some programs, but only after discussing with the community about which programs are truly necessary, and which can be let go. Another way to cut costs would be to negotiate a roll back in salaries, meaning teachers’ salaries would be reduced but the district will not have to lay anyone off. “[Rolling back salaries] is really not popular with teachers, but it’s better for all of us to have less money, than some of us to have none,” Stark said. The teacher’s union and FUHSD meet regularly to discuss ways in which the district can keep its staff and programs whole. Planning how to structure budget spending has been difficult in the past few years. This past year, when the district was supposed to make its contract decisions, the state budget was still uncertain. That forced the district to delay finalizing its budget until this fall. Similarly, while the economy is still unstable, the future of the district budget remains unclear.

n.penner@elestoque.org EL ESTOQUE

OPINION

color coded

Race preference in college admissions promotes the wrong sort of diversity

oqu l Est

ii | E

uk in Ts Kev

f you are a white applicant, you are three times as likely to get into an elite college than an Asian person is.

EL ESTOQUE

staff editorial //devil’s advocate// bottom line // commentary // letter to the editor A Hispanic is twice as likely than a white person, and an African-American trumps all, being five times as likely to be accepted than their white counterparts. In case you haven’t noticed, our school has a bit of an ethnic slant. We are made up of a student body 75 percent Asian, 21 percent white and 4 percent other (African-American, Latino, etc.). To say the least, the statistics do not bode well for most of us. Odds are the majority of you reading this have started sweating. It may seem like racial discrimination, and it is, but there is no ill will behind it. Universities are simply trying to meet a diversity quota, as they should and have been doing since the 1960s. But is racial selection the way to go? Is it really fair to make a hard-working student’s education depend on which box they check? This system practically begs for exploitation: an Asian student with a drop of black ancestry can raise his chances of acceptance by 1400 percent by checking a single box. Statistically speaking, whites and Asians applying to universities are wealthier than both Hispanics and AfricanAmericans. In fact, the 2010 census showed that whiteAmericans are 20 times wealthier than blacks. By skewing the acceptance rate in favor of the less wealthy demographics, universities help compensate for children born into poverty. If this is the case however, shouldn’t universities simply profile on a socioeconomic scale instead of a racial one?

Diversity means having a wide array of personalities and heritages. Colleges around the country, however, seem to view the issue very differently. If all the students being accepted into Ivy League schools are from the same type of rich family, then who cares what color their skin is? That is not diverse, it’s just multicolored. Universities are approaching the situation by looking at their school as a pie graph that they want split equally. Instead of approaching it like a statistic, they should approach as the university founders intended: as a pantheon of knowledge and culture that should only accept students who deserve such an environment to study in. In short, race is a poor indicator of background, as there are plenty of wealthy African-American and Hispanic families and dirt-poor Asian and white ones. By discriminating on a socioeconomic scale, all of these exceptions can be ignored, and odds are the university will meet their diversity quota. This way, less fortunate families can still have high hopes for getting their children fantastic educations, as long as those kids are hard workers. Through socioeconomic profiling, universities would be able to have the diverse population that they strive for, with intelligent and hardworking students from a variety of backgrounds. True diversity, after all, is based on background rather than skin color. Fair is fair, isn’t it?

rates by

14.3%

race

AfricanAmerican

6.5%

A look into current diversity quotas for colleges

Asian-American/ Paciﬁc Islander

12.5%

62.3%

Hispanic

Caucasian Kevin Tsukii | El Estoque

3.4% Nonresident Alien

1.0%

American Indian FEBRUARY 1, 2012

OPINION

Wrong cookie. #firstworldproblems No one likes oatmeal raisin cookies, but is it really worth the complaining?

on’t you hate it when your laptop battery’s dying but you have to strain your oh-so-tired body and walk five hundred million miles (or so it seems) to get your charger from upstairs? Or when you get that awful feeling in the pit of your stomach after you find out that your parents are too rich for you to get financial aid for college? Or worse, when you bite in to a chocolate chip cookie, and realize that it is in fact, oatmeal raisin? These are what most people call first world problems. They are serious issues that plague our day to day lives, just as malaria plagues third world countries. We try to avoid them when we can, but just like malaria, we can’t avoid them entirely. They can’t afford mosquito nets. We can’t afford personal servants. The term “first world problems” comes from the humble roots of the 1990s, back when life actually had a purpose and times were good. It was first seen in 1995 in a song by Matthew Good Band titled “Omissions of the Omen.” From there, it would take sixteen years until this concept finally got public attention in late 2011 through Reddit and Twitter. From there of course, the Internet did what the Internet does and made spin-off trends such as “third world success,” which pokes fun at what success means in third world countries, comparing it to that in scumbag America, and pointing out out how ignorant Americans are. While these issues have had their Margaret fifteen seconds in the spotlight, it’s time that we retire them. There’s a reason that respected news channels like CNN choose to focus more on international issues like Kim Jong-Il’s death. These issues are much more important, since North Korea practically has nuclear weapons pointed toward the USA ready to be fired anytime. But when it gets down to the core of the issue, the only true first world problem we’re having is me writing a column about people making petty excuses. #firstworldproblems.

Bite in to chocolate chip cookie.

LIN

m.lin@elestoque.org

OATMEAL RAISIN.

Elvin Wong | El Estoque Photo Illustration

The Bottom Line

Lynbrook-Monta Vista United ﬁghts futile battle over MVHS football lights by Forest Liao

It’s now been a year since Lynbrook-Monta Vista United first filed a lawsuit against the district in protest that noise from the new lighted field will exceed city standards, and they have an Environmental Impact Report to confirm it. LMU is clearly milking a lost cause for all its worth. Construction has started and, according to principal April Scott, the football lights will go up. They are fighting a losing battle over 14

something that has very little significance in their lives. Will the noise even be that big of a deal? It is only six Friday nights a year. Plus, football games usually go until 9 p.m. — nothing past our neighbors’ bedtimes. If residents living near the school are that bothered by the noise, they could always turn a football night into a Friday night out. They could have a nice dinner, go bowling, maybe see a movie. In fact, they should be thanking MVHS

for bringing their families closer together. The new football lights should be heralded as a beacon that unites our community through family togetherness and a violent sport in which people run into each other. The teethgnashing struggle of the LMU is an example of how a war is not worth the outcome. The debate should end. Now. f.liao@elestoque.org EL ESTOQUE

staff editorial // devil’s advocate // bottom line // commentary // letter to the editor

Examining the nuances of controversial current events

Decreasing budget, lower security As FUHSD uses one-time dollars, we must find ways to preserve the budget by Emma Courtright

BREAKING THE BANK The FUHSD one-time dollars program forces the district to use funds by the end of the year. It is our task to seek alternative forms of revenue for years to come. Kevin Tsukii | El Estoque Photo Illustration

ven as we hear about stock prices tumbling downward, and anyone to predict what lays ahead for our educational programs. California’s infinite debt, it seems that MVHS, within the It is not as if we are given much choice in the matter of our unstable Cupertino bubble, has been secure. But with each day that the future. The one-time dollars need to be spent now or they are lost. We FUHSD loses capital, our education begins to look shakier and shakier. can only hope that we are granted more one-time dollars for next year. If more money does not come in soon, students may see class sizes rise, The state has already cut $9.8 million from our district’s budget. programs cut and teachers laid off. We might have to suffer FUHSD staff members have voted to set aside half of their these unfortunate prospects in the short term so that we yearly salary surplus checks in a fund to prevent teacher leave more funding for future FUHSD students. layoffs for the coming school year. We could learn from For now, the district will be able to draw funding from the sacrifice teachers made. Because our money supply one-time sources through the end of the year. This money is draining, we all need to think of similarly innovative in state budget cuts for education serves as a reserve and in part came from the Jobs Money solutions to preserve every cent possible, while still Bill, which was passed in 2010. Is it smart for FUHSD to holding onto teachers and programs. This way we can prevent major cuts draw out money from this source? Indeed, because if the money is not to programs, and still leave a layer of security for next year’s budget. used by the end of the year, it disappears. No one likes when a class is packed, or a program is cut, but these The money will help our schools in the immediate future by are situations we might have to face if we do not think of ideas to save preventing layoffs and program cuts, but it leaves us with less money to FUHSD money. Right now we need to prioritize how and when to spend work with for years to come. If we receive more money from the Federal our dwindling reserves, and make sure to leave some money in savings Government in the near future we would not need to feel as worried for the sake of years ahead. about using all the one-time dollars now. However, it remains to be seen e.courtright@elestoque.org if we will actually receive more money soon. Therefore, it is difficult for

$9.8 million

Senior Privilege is not truly advantageous to those in MVHS neighborhoods by Smitha Gundavajhala

Widely known but rarely understood, Senior Privilege is the ability for a senior to live outside the residential areas that feed into FUHSD schools, while still attending them. According to the FUHSD, it is just a matter of making “an Inter/Intra-district Transfer Request.” And when you leave it at that, what’s not to like? It would be understandable if you wanted to; after all, property values are becoming FEBRUARY 1, 2012

increasingly expensive. It’s not a matter of whether students are interested in continuing to attend MVHS. However, moving away from this area, with its high property values, would be a waste. If you’ve already invested the minimum 2 years required to be eligible, why suddenly move now? Because of MVHS, feeder neighborhoods are very, very valuable. With property values on the rise, parents

might find moving to cheaper areas while having child attend MVHS tempting, but this impatience can cost them in the long run. It’s important that seniors be able to make their last year count — without the distractions of a long commute, or distancing yourself from your peers in your last months here. Stick it out, and it’ll be worth it. s.gundavajhala@elestoque.org 15

staff editorial // devil’s advocate // bottom line

OPINION

commentary // letter to the editor

One on one versus one on none

In an age of individualization, teachers need to guarantee class involvement by Christophe Haubursin

Christophe Haubursin & Forest Liao| El Estoque Photo Illustration

SHINE THE LIGHT It’s easy to be engaged when the spotlight’s on you. Teachers need to recreate such environments with a focus on interaction.

here’s a reason you didn’t learn to walk by sitting through an 8 a.m. lecture — a reason it took time to grow comfortable with expressing yourself, a reason there’s more to riding a bike than getting on. It takes something more: it takes interaction. We talk a lot about the numbers that make us up — everything from our teacher-student ratios to the ever-looming size of our student body. But more and more, something’s getting lost amidst the statistics, and the very heart of our education is at the blade of the doubleedged sword that large-scale education has become. On one side, we have efficiency, and on the other, individualized attention. And the edge is getting sharper. Enter social science teacher Bonnie Belshe: for the past four years, students of her U.S. History classes have earned the chance to work on research presentation project. As part of the process, students come in, one at a time, for one-on-one meetings with Belshe so that she can judge work for both areas for improvement and strong points in their work. 16

Tedious? Yes. Belshe estimates extra time — they’re part of a process of developing spent in the classroom for meetings at about fundamental skills in confidence and classroom 35 to 40 hours. participation, lessons to be carried on far Yet, where we find ourselves at now, beyond the reaches of high school. Those kinds programs like Belshe’s are all we really need. of things aren’t learned within stagnant minds. Through a twisted concoction of They are learned deep in conversation, both unpredictable student on the individual and group motivation and class They’re part of a process of scales. Our students aren’t, at sizes that grow like developing fundamental their core, unwilling to learn the fatigued eye crust skills... lessons to be — at the same time that the of the sleepers at the carried on far beyond the line of students waiting to back of the room, reaches of high school. ask questions at the end of education has strayed class dwindles, by the end of from what it needs to be. What should be the 2011, tutoring had become a $5 billion dollar responsibilities of students — coming forward industry. All that’s missing is the stimulation. to meet with teachers, building confidence In terms of a practical solution, the prime through pushing for class participation — have responsibility lies in the hands of our faculty. become a misplaced teacher duty, enforced The student equation resets each year with out of their proper academic jurisdiction. each graduating class — but the teachers It’s not to say that demotivated students remain, and their strategies live on in those are a newfound phenomenon — but they’re they teach. It’s a fleeting amount of time becoming something more: as the years go teachers have with their students, at a time of on, it becomes more and more simple to slide unparalleled significance in students’ lives. under the radar in large classes, with effort and We need to make it count. engagement crawling along at a snail’s pace. Curricula like Belshe’s aren’t just a matter c.haubursin@elestoque.org of enhancing the experience of a single project EL ESTOQUE

A&E

Dog days are over Simmons family members participate in canine foster care system

“C

on Facebook, but only to show off her new foster dog, not to advertise it for adoption. ome here, Charlie.” However, the posts landed a positive response Senior Chloe Simmons reached for from potential adopters and the Simmons her nervous foster child, then scooped arranged for several open house opportunities him up and placed him on her lap. After taking a for families to come to their house and meet few seconds to settle down, Charlie relaxed and the foster dog. let her scratch his ears. About six or seven weeks after the Charlie is not a human, but an emaciated two- Simmons first took him in, Momo was put up year-old chihuahua. Before he moved in with the for adoption. Senior Cameron Yates and his Simmons, he belonged to a dog hoarder who family, who were specifically looking for a forced Charlie and four other dogs to fight for foster dog, had stopped their search to pursue food. He often lost because of his small stature. him. The Yates officially adopted Momo in Charlie suffered from malnutrition — his case December 2011. was so severe that the Simmons family had to The Yates have had him for already a clothe him in a blue and green dog sweater to month, but a few of his aggressive qualities keep him from shivering. still show despite the work the Simmons put in “When we got him, he was all bony and you to training him. could see his ribs,” Chloe said. “It was really “[Momo] barks at pretty much everybody [heartbreaking], so we’ve been trying to fatten and he’s really protective of his toys,” Yates him up.” said. “But I guess that’s just The Simmons first because of his background and became interested in what he’s used to.” PHOTO GALLERY fostering dogs about Chloe, along with her sister To view more photos four months ago, when freshman Emily Simmons, of the Simmons family’s dogs, visit the mother of the family, offered techniques their family elestoque.org. Heather Simmons, saw used to get Momo more sociable, the American Society for from showering the dog with the Prevention of Cruelty attention to gradually bringing to Animals dog fostering program. The family friends over so he can get used to seeing new was also looking for a companion for their family faces. dog, Lucky, but they did not want a permanent pet “You want to bring only one or two friends in case the new dog and Lucky did not get along. over every once in a while,” Emily said. “If “My dog started acting lonely and we decided there’s a lot of people around, the dog will just that maybe having another dog would be better get overwhelmed. for him,” Chloe said. “We thought about going Chloe explained that all foster dogs need to the ASPCA and fostering dogs because that help in varying areas, and that there is not a would be better for the community, and it would fixed formula for rehabilitation. She added, help our dog too.” however, that the family dog Lucky plays a big After an hour-long interview and several hours role in getting the foster dogs to adapt to their of paperwork, the ASCPA was finally able to new homes. confirm that their home was a safe and nurturing According to the Simmons sisters, Charlie environment. In November 2011, the family took the chihuahua still has a lot to learn. With all home their first foster dog, Momo. The chihuahua the weight he still needs to gain and shots he mix had lived in San Jose with an abusive family still needs to get, he is looking at about another (exact details are withheld by the ASCPA) before five or six weeks until he is ready for adoption. moving in with the Simmons. Due to his past However, Emily knows that her family will be environment, Momo behaved aggressively, and ready to let go of Charlie when the time comes. the Simmons concentrated on making him more “I’m excited for [Charlie] to get adopted, calm and friendly. but I am going to miss him,” Emily said. “I’ve As foster parents, the Simmons take in dogs gotten really attached to him and I’ll miss the and heal their defects to prepare for adoption. cuddles and his constant excitement.” According to Chloe, she posted photos of Momo n.brosnan@elestoque.org | y.han@elestoque.org by Nellie Brosnan and Yimeng Han

FEBRUARY 1, 2012

RUFF LIFE Charlie the chihuahua once belonged to a dog hoarder before moving in with the Simmons. He is their second dog that the family has fostered. Christophe Haubursin | El Estoque

SKYLINE - HIGHWAY 9 PARKER RANCH

ABOVE

While approaching the intersection of Stelling Road and Prospect Road, a quick turn when nearing Parker Ranch leads to an easily accessible view of San Jose from the Saratoga hills. If you have a few minutes and you’re in a car, simply drive up the steep road of Vista Arroyo Court and you’ll arrive at this notable court fence and view.

Starting from downtown Saratoga and ending in Santa Cruz, Highway 9 is punctuated with a view of the entire Bay Area that is worth stopping for during your drive. Approaching Skyline, you will see a sign that reads “Vista Point” and then a place on the road where you can pull over in your car and enjoy the view. Skyline is at such a high altitude that during some days of the winter, an inch of snow covers the ground.

a look at

STEVENS CREEK TUNNEL Many people walk their dogs and jog along the trails that follow the creek that runs beside the train tracks of Cupertino, but they are unaware of the tunnels that run below them. As the tracks cross Stevens Creek Boulevard they run behind houses and the post office; if you continue to follow them they would reach the highway walls that stand between the tracks and I-280. Going down a small slope will bring you to this tunnel. Though the light at the end of the tunnel guides you, a flashlight is helpful while exploring this tunnel.

LOS DOS COMPADRES

SCAN IT

MULTIMEDIA

To see different angles and to read students’ personal experiences at these locations visit elestoque.org.

At the corner of South De Anza Blvd. and Prospect Rd. is a small plaza where several diverse ethnic establishments, including a Mexican restaurant, pizzeria, and Asian music store, are located. You can easily spot this plaza by the Bank of America, the closest business to the street. With a climb down a moderately steep hill behind the Mexican restaurant, you will reach a creek running through this tunnel. If you’re visiting during a rainy season the water can get up to four inches high, so make sure to bring boots!

Hunter’s Point is located in the hills of Cupertino and Saratoga in the Fremont Older Open Space Preserve. Hunter’s Point can be reached via multiple entrances, but the simplest and least difficult one would be through the entrance adjoining Regnart Road. After a half-mile of winding road, Hunter’s Point is the first entrance to the trail on the left. Follow the path in the direction of signs indicating the path towards Hunter’s point, the highest point on the preserve.

cupertino by Albert

Qiu and Kevin Tsukii

VIA RONCOLE

& BELOW

HUNTER’S POINT

On the municipal borders of Saratoga and Cupertino, along the intersection of train tracks and Via Roncole Road is a small tunnel hidden by foliage and brush. The tunnel that stands at about 5 feet tall, hosting a vibrant display of graffiti. Like most other tunnels, this one is layered with graffiti artist’s work, but it also has pieces of broken glass bottles — so watch where you step.

ARTS & ENTERTAINMENT

The golden age of television

The quality of television entertainment has skyrocked in the last few years

ith the new year comes TV premiere season. Most are used to the return of their favorite shows during fall,

Morahd

SHAWKI

but there is a surprising amount of series that return every winter. Although January is notoriously the worst month of the year for film, many of television’s most exciting comedies and dramas come back to dominate the small screen. People can argue that movies and music are going downhill. They may say that nobody reads books anymore or appreciates visits to the museum. But if there’s one thing they cannot dispute, it’s the quality of television today. Sure, they may be able to ridicule reality television — and rightfully so — but the caliber and quality of many comedies and dramas is mind-boggling. Some of the most compelling entertainment today can be found on channels like FX, AMC, HBO, IFC and Showtime. I can confidently say that no movie or book has thrilled me quite like AMC’s “Breaking Bad.” The show centers around an unfortunate, over-qualified chemistry teacher who resorts to cooking and selling meth after being diagnosed with lung cancer. What results is one of the most suspenseful, exhilarating and hilarious tales of transformation to ever air on television that will be remembered long after its conclusion this year. In addition to “Breaking Bad,” AMC boasts the cerebral character drama “Mad Men,” and quite possibly the only genuinely scary television horror series “The Walking Dead.” FX houses three unorthodox and hilarious comedies on television. “Louie,” “Archer,” and “It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia,” in addition to numerous solid dramas such as “Justified” and “Sons of Anarchy.” HBO is perhaps the finest supplier of drama with “Boardwalk Empire,” “Treme,” and “Game of Thrones.” What is unique about television’s status today is that it is simultaneously fantastic and terrible. On one hand, there is plenty of grade 20

Angela Wang | El Estoque Photo Illustration

A entertainment to be found on basic cable, but the major networks are filled to the brim with mind-numbing content, that might end up doing damage to your IQ instead of enriching it. That isn’t to say that they are devoid of quality entertainment. NBC, like FX, also boasts an impressive comedic catalog besides the crime against humanity that is “Whitney.” Gems like “Community,” “Parks and Recreation,” and “30 Rock” purposefully go against all comedic

stereotypes, and dare to challenge the viewer. The movie theaters will never truly leave our lives — but I often find myself more engaged with a series I have been following than any movie. The golden age of cinema might have passed, but we are in the dead center of a television renaissance. Here’s to hoping it lasts.

m.shawki@elestoque.org EL ESTOQUE

Wanted: a pair of purple ear plugs After getting my ears blasted, I think I will opt for a quieter form of fanaticism Soumya

KURNOOL

y hearing is not something I am proud of. My minuscule 1.9375 inch ears will pick up “Who are you?” as “How are you doing?” — leading, of course, to the greatest of awkward turtles. After going to the Battle at Mount Olympus winter rally (my first one!), I really wonder why the rest of this school isn’t as deaf as I am. Getting pumped up Defying common sense, I resolved to turn over a new leaf. From the start of Greek Week and on, I would come out of my shell of apathy and go whole hog with spirit weeks (rallies included). Reality strikes Friday morning, just in time for the rally, I found I had lost all my newborn spirit and regained my senile grouchiness. Quite frankly, the last thing I wanted to do was walk around like a Greek mummy in a bed-sheet — a white one, too! Did Leadership expect 2519 people FEBRUARY 1, 2012

to bring white bed-sheets to school so they could be soiled? Nuh-uh. A white shirt would have to do. Drama gods As to all things I do not deem of importance, I came fashionably late just as the rally videos started playing. Naturally, the only open space for me was next to the brick wall and behind tall heads, the best spot in the house in terms of visibility for a 5’2.5” junior. To my chagrin, I had to sneak off the bleachers to peek at the screen. I was greeted by Artemis infringing on Poseidon’s personal space at a swimming pool, following Hades to “her” candle-lit cave, and catching Zeus onefourth naked (Scandalous! His chiton only covers half of his chest!) in his Infinity G37. As the class gods got stalked to their dens, the crowd went ballistic, which made me infinitely glad that I was only surrounded on three sides by juniors gone loco. All hail the brick wall! Auditory annihilation The dreaded mike was brought out, prompting me to do three things: (1) brace myself for complete auditory annihilation. (2) curse myself for not bringing ear plugs. (3) cringe at how long half an hour could be. I was utterly swamped in the middle of a bog of blaring music, fanatic juniors, very loud

ASB officers on mics and crazy guys next to me who on several occasions nearly whacked my brains out and stomped my foot off. Looking around the auditorium, I was shocked to see the displays of class spirit. Green and blue pompoms pumped in exact synchronization, eerily seeming to control the students themselves. People screamed their guts out for poor blindfolded souls trying to find a chair in a delusional rally game. Hearts and souls, people were into this. What is in the numbers 2012, 2013, 2014, and 2015 that causes these violent paroxysms of spirit? When all else fails, try a conspiracy theory I, using my vast reservoirs of common sense and rational judgement, cannot explain the phenomena of Monta Vista rallies, so a different approach is needed to explain them. A conspiracy theory Here’s mine. Rallies are all a big conspiracy. A big distraction, something to break out of the drudgery of school. A clever way to fool the administration into allowing shorter periods. So what the heck, if it’s working, I’ll go with it because I do favor having thirty fewer minutes in class. Just don’t expect to find me at any more rallies, though. If you don’t mind, I’ll just stick to my quiet and peaceful Calculus homework. s.kurnool@elestoque.org 21

ARTS & ENTERTAINMENT

Crayons for sale; may be broken Writing utensils symbolic of childhood past

emember when you were younger? Nope, of course you do not. I am kidding of course. You obviously do remember. Remember when everyone was your best friend? Unless no one was ever your friend ... Well somewhere along the way, the meaning of friendship grew deeper and we started to form more complex bonds with each other. Tensions and bitter rivalry turned casual friendships into violent, violent wars or close to it. Well, listen closely, children, I am on my way to trying to

find out where the change happened and why. 64 Pack of Crayons Throughout elementary school, you witnessed many new forms of friendships. Whether you were the person playing handball every day at lunch, or the one who always hung out near the monkey bars, you always had your friends. Or if not friends, at least a jar of glue to eat. But even before elementary school, there was preschool, with naptime, snacktime and

any other kind of “time” you could think of. All except hammer time; what a bummer. When you were not napping or eating, it could be safe to assume that you were in arts and crafts time, where everyone had their own, personal crayola box. But those lucky few, those with the treasured 64 pack, with colors like Razzle Dazzle Rose or Tickle me Pink, were sure to be the “king-or queen of the playground.” Maybe even the evil dictator who ruled with an iron fist of hate and rage. When you had this

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art // theater // food // music // movies // proﬁle // culture // technology // gaming // fashion // books

Pooja

RAVIKIRAN SILLY LITTLE KID FIBS

box of crayons, you sure were the talk of the preschool classroom, maybe even the town. Especially the ones with the personal crayon sharpener in the back of the box. Man, those kids had it good. Apprehensions Now, however, those same coloring utensils cannot get you those same accolades. Finding a rhythm in high school is just as important as owning those crayons. As a senior, I am

forced to evaluate all my friendships by the end of this year. Wondering who will remain my friend all throughout college, who are the few I will barely talk to anymore, and the ones I will barely remember. This solemn idea is something I am dreading. But this date is coming and eventually I will have to face it. I am used to everyone here, and obviously I am not used to the general college atmosphere. For all I know it is the dark side of the moon, led by Darth Vader himself.

Something to look forward to Everyone has those dreams they make with their friends for college. That they’re going t o go to the same school and be “bestfriendroomiesforever” but most of the time it does not work out. For me though, I have evaded the odds and am looking forward to sharing my college experience with my “bestfriendroomieforever.” p.ravikiran@elestoque.org

SPECIAL

EL ESTOQUE

a mental

PLAYLIST

by Kevin Guo and Cynthia Mao

Music is much more than simple melody; it plays with our memories On Jan. 8, 2011, congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords was shot in the head outside of a Safeway in Tuscon, Arizona. The bullet passed through the part of her brain that controlled speech and language comprehension. Her skull was cracked like a sheet of glass. Two weeks later, still in the hospital, Giffords was mute. She had forgotten words like “watch” and “jacket,” so her therapists tried to coax her into remembering. But the main aid to Giffords’ recovery was something else entirely: music. Because the comprehension of music is controlled by many parts of the brain that do not correlate with language, Giffords could remember lyrics and relearn words by using the portion of her brain that was not damaged. Soon, Giffords was singing along to Cyndi Lauper’s “Girls Just Wanna Have Fun.” She began to remember more than words: Giffords recalled her and her husband Mark Kelly’s first date, the name of the waitress who worked at the restaurant she ate at the night before the shooting and the man with a gun. Now, 13 months after the shooting, Giffords can speak and walk, having overcome paralysis on the right side of her body. Her unexpected recovery is a powerful example of the hidden affects music can have. Students are constantly analyzing, creating and listening to music, but only recently has research given us greater insight into how it affects our minds. Soundtrack of my life The tinkling sound of an ice-cream truck driving by can bring you back to a specific instant in your childhood, just as the chords of a familiar song can remind you of a person in your life. Music and memories are inextricably linked together, but how exactly does the brain process music in order to recall memories? Music is, of course, picked up in the ear, where sound waves are converted into vibrations and then into electric signals. The auditory cortex in the temporal lobes on both sides of the brain receive the information. The forebrain analyzes the song, and the tune is processed by the nucleus accumbens and ventral tegmental areas. These areas, which control pleasure and are located near the center of the brain, release dopamine, a chemical that induces positive feelings in the listener. In 2009, researchers at the University of California, Davis used fMRI scans to identify the link between music and memories. They found that the region of the brain which connects the two is the medial pre-frontal cortex, which is

FEBRUARY 1, 2012

just behind the forehead. Petr Janata, the associate professor of psychology at UC Davis, compares a familiar tune to a “soundtrack for a mental movie that starts playing in [your] head.” For AP Music Theory teacher Jon Fey, songs from his high school days hold the strongest emotional connections. When he hears Journey on the radio, he remembers a girl he had wanted to date, while the song “Still a Long Long Way to Go” by Phil Collins is even more evocative of memories. “[When I hear that song,] I have very very strong memories of a girl I knew in high school who killed herself, and I really attached myself to that music, listening as I was grieving, and as I was getting through that whole situation,” Fey said. “Whenever I hear that song, I think of her, and that time of my life when I really felt like I had no direction, because here this person who was in my life was now gone.” The fact that Fey’s strongest memories associated with music come from his youth confirms Janata’s research showing that the mental associations between music and memories are strongest among children. These mental connections are also among the sturdiest of any associations, because the prefrontal cortex is one of the last regions in the brain to weaken from disuse. As a result of this, even in old age, music can evoke memories and recollections from the days of our youth. Even patients with Alzheimers, who showed signs of memory deterioration in almost all parts of their brain, exhibited signs of emotional recognition when they were played songs from their youth. Emotion control While it may only be special songs that initiate mental pathways leading listeners to specific memories, a far more common effect of music on the mind is that it elicits an emotional response. “I think we’re affected by the things ... that we listen to because they’re communicating something to us that is more personal,” Fey said. According to Fey, emotion in music often comes about in two forms: sometimes composers write music intending to evoke a certain emotional response from their listeners; sometimes, composers attempt to capture their feelings and ideas in the moment of songwriting. The reason music can create such strong emotions in the minds of listeners has two parts: the explanation is partially 25

SPECIAL REPORT Do you associate certain time frames and experiences from your life with certain styles of music?

40%

said no

% 60 said yes

38 %

more than six hours

said no

1-2 hours 4-6 hours

31 %

How many hours do you listen to music everyday?

0-0.5 hours

26%

said yes Do you play a musical instrument?

2-4 hours

29 %

neurological and partially psychological. According to the Harvard Gazette, the neurological component has to do with the location of the parts of the brain which recognize sounds and process emotions. The auditory complex, which recognizes music, is linked with the frontal cortex, which controls abstract thought. The frontal cortex is also a gateway to numerous other regions of the brain that create emotions. The psychological component deals largely with expectations. According to musicologist Leonard Meyer, the emotional recognition of music is influenced primarily by music-listener’s expectations with regard to musical qualities like tension and stability. There are specific compositional distinctions that can affect mood. Happy music generally is in a major key with relatively quick rhythms. Sad music, on the other had, is usually in a minor key and slower. Beyond this, however, more complicated musical techniques like chord patterns, harmony and tonality can also influence the emotions of the listener. Even if we cannot notice or distinguish these compositional techniques however, they still have the power to influence us: we all feel this, and some feel it stronger than others. For junior Saee Bhide, who has been a singer since childhood and is currently a member of Variations, emotions play a large role in the appreciation of music. “Ever since I was young, one of my favorite songs ever was ‘My Heart Will Go On’ by Celine Dion. It was one of the first songs I learned to sing when I was younger and I’ve been singing it all the time. I think that song has a lot of emotion associated with it and it’s the kind of song that, even if I’m not feeling sad, I can just listen to that song and hear the words and sing along and it will make me want to cry,” Bhide said. 26

62 %

A musical education Music, memories and emotion may be intrinsically tied together, and music actually helps people remember facts and figures. “I think the learning of music exercises the brain more than just reading a book or being lectured at or being talked to or the normal course of growing up. It exercises the brain a different way,” Fey said. According to Fey, studies have shown that music students score better, and this is because of the challenges the brain faces when it is exercised in a musical way. Research conducted at the Chinese University in Hong Kong in 2001 seems to corroborate what Fey thinks. Researchers took scans of volunteers with a great deal of exposure to music and found that they exhibited enlarged left planum temporales, the area of the brain which controls verbal memory. Musically-trained subjects were also able to better recall words from a random assortment that was read to them. While simply being trained in music seems to improve only verbal memory, listening to music can create associations that can later be recalled. Memory is oftentimes tied to context. Say, for instance, you study while listening to a certain song. When you are asked to remember that material the next day, listening to the same song helps you remember what you studied. While the brain’s total memory capacity is difficult to increase, pathways from music to facts can be formed. It is easy to take music and its affects for granted: to come home, plug in some earbuds, and let the music wash over you. However, it also has the potential to invoke memories, call up emotions and even heal people. It is only by understanding the neurological basis behind these processes that we can truly comprehend why music is as important to people as it is. k. guo@elestoque.org | c.mao@elestoque.org EL ESTOQUE

SPECIAL REPORT

music to

BE SHARP?

Music’s role in improving math skills an arbitrary factor by Alexandria Poh and Elvin Wong

Music and math — could two opposite ends of the academic spectrum possibly form an unlikely didactic dynamic duo? Often times parents will claim that tuning into the sound waves while crunching numbers is a distraction, but studies may prove otherwise. According to a research report by the Stanford School of Medicine in 2007, music has a direct and beneficial effect towards the brain’s ability to learn. A convincing connection While one may not immediately be able to make out the Pythagorean scale in a Bach composition or see that the locations of the frets of a guitar in fact represent the twelfth root of two, music can serve as an educational supplement to improving concentration — a mild, acoustic Adderall. The results of the study show a direct correlation between music and how the brain sorts out events. While a subject listens to music, acquired information is processed

in a method known as segmentation, in which the brain partitions information into meaningful chunks by extracting information about beginnings, endings and the boundaries between neurological events. This sequential nature of music supports the popular belief that Mozart’s compositions enhances mathematical abilities, known as the Mozart effect. Music targets one specific area of the brain to stimulate the use of spatial-temporal reasoning, which is useful for mathematical thinking. While the study does suggest a connection between superior performance in math in subjects who listen to music when studying, it does not account for the thousands of musical genres one may listen to. The study specifically cited 19th century classical music as a catalyst for this improved brain functionality. Yet, this is only manifested in tests involving listening to music, but not playing. But junior Guhan Venkataraman can account for the latter group. Currently enrolled in AP Calculus BC, Venkataraman is doing

well despite the academic rigor of the course. He play the veena, an instrument of South Indian background; it is also similar to a guitar. Having played the veena for five years, one would expect Venkataraman to have a teacher — and he does, though she resides in India. Time allows him to visit her annually in the summer, and for the rest of the year, he polishes what he has learned with repetition and diligence, similar to his tactic for grasping concepts in calculus. This is the very reason why Venkataraman disagrees with the researchers’ claims. “I have a musical background, but I feel personally that math does not come to me. I’m a living testament to the fact [that the two fields do not correlate],” Venkataraman said. “For me, it was never intuitive, it was always hard work and putting it into practice.” Evidence backed by intuitive Calculus teacher Jon Stark, himself a multi-instrumentalist since his high school years, has often pondered the relationship between music and mathematics, citing the similarity

♭ ♭

between the pattern-examining nature of solving math problems with the structure of music. He feels that it is impossible to draw a direct correlation simply due to the sheer amount of things that could factor into one’s mathematical prowess. “It’s sort of a given that people accept [music’s influence on intelligence] without question that there’s enough overlap in most of mental processing that you’re going to find [between music and mathematics],” Stark said, “One suspects intuitively that there’s got to be some linkage.” The problem in searching for this linkage, however, is sorting out cause and effect — the cause at hand being music, and the effect being an advantage in mathematical skills. “I think there is a good correlation between people who actually do musical things and how they are adept at other things as well, but

I’ve never really been able to tell whether they came from the same cause or from one cause or another,” Stark said. Therefore, while the research conclusions may have been drawn, ultimately it is up to the musician-mathematicians themselves to determine where they stand. Venkataraman’s feet are planted firmly against the scientific results, citing his peers as evidence. “I’ve seen some people that have math skills beyond my imagining and no music background whatsoever, and I’ve seen other people that have musical backgrounds but are not very good at math,” Venkataraman said. “If you’re really gonna stick to a high school bandwidth, then you won’t see correlation. I don’t see it in people my age, at least.”

Stanford University and the Mozart effect that has popularly become accepted as tried and true, it remains a debated topic between science and first-hand experience whether the connection between music and math results in an unseen advantage for the academic field. For some, the relationship is crystal clear — for others, vigorously refuted. Whatever the perspective, the only conclusion that can properly be established is that it truly depends on the individual; if visualizing the recurring motifs in a sonata are an effective method to helping remember every theorem in the calculus textbook, good for you. And if not, taking up the violin a week before the exam on vectors is not recommended.

Verdict: The line is blurred Despite the convincing research from

a.poh@elestoque.org | e.wong@elestoque.org

fʹ(a) = lim f(a+h) – f(a) h→0

solve the following

yʹ = au ln a

∫ a

sin2x + cos2x = 1

f(x)dx = F(b) – F(a)

SPECIAL REPORT “It was my first slow dance with [my boyfriend Sanjeev] in eighth grade.” Junior Navya Cheruku (right with junior Sanjeev Ranga)

Wall to Wall by Chris Brown I remember it because [of the first time] I did KBDC [Kennedy’s Best Dance Crew]. It was the first year and we were pixies, and we did that song. I do our routine [when I hear it]. Freshman Akshay Savale (above)

With You Chris Brown

“I think about my childhood [because] when I was younger I always used to dance with my brother to Stevie Wonder. So every time I hear ‘Superstition,’ I start dancing.” Junior Alex Hsieh (left)

Sup ers by S tevie tition Won der 30

“It’s called ‘Empty Streets’ [by Late Night Alumni], and when I listen to it, it reminds me of last summer when I used to go out with my friends [and] we would listen to it in the car. When I listen to it, I get happy. We were just driving around and it was night so it was dark and the song talks about empty streets and [the streets were] empty so it was perfect.” Senior Rumi Ito (right)

Emp Lat ty St eN ight reets b Alu y mni EL ESTOQUE

“I think there [are] certain songs that you don’t remember that give you memories, and then you hear them and you remember ‘Oh, this song reminds me of my best friend who’s not my best friend anymore ... we used to love this song.’ [There were] random Taylor Swift songs that we would sing to because we were just being little girls, [so] whenever I listen to Taylor Swift songs it brings back a lot of memories.” Freshman Mane Mikayel (below)

Time by Pink Floyd “When I was really little and my parents just split up, I would go to my dad’s house and I couldn’t sleep and then my dad would put Pink Floyd on. It’s kind of creepy music to be listening to in the dark when you’re little. So even though I’m older now and it doesn’t actually scare me, I just get this weird uneasy alone feeling. That’s how I was feeling when I was little. They had a song called [‘Time’] where it starts with all these different types of clocks ringing, and it would kind of freak me out. It was kinda scary.” by Sophomore Fiona Tiene (above)

when

GBA Music from Pokemon I Ta nno ylo ce r S nt wi ft

“Gameboy Advance Pokemon music, like Pokemon Blue or Red, when I was in first grade or second grade. [They were] good times.” Senior Taichi Sano (above)

I HEAR...

by Jacob Lui and Amelia Yang

Throughout a lifetime, music finds a way to attach itself to significant memories or experiences. From as far back as a childhood nursery song to last summer’s top hit from Katy Perry, something mysterious in the relationship between humans and music allows us to make connections between a musical piece and a distinct event. To explore further, we spoke to students to discover the specific melodies that evoke recollections of past experiences. Jacob Lui, Kevin Tsukii, Elvin Wong and Amelia Yang | El Estoque Photo Illustration

FEBRUARY 1, 2012

SPECIAL REPORT

Even for music lovers, music can be a distraction while working by Daniel Tan and Ashley Wu

EL ESTOQUE

There’s a fine line between being productive and distracted. And sometimes listening to music makes all the difference. Freshman Carmelia Muljadi uses music as a buffer against surrounding distractions. When she studies in a noisy environment, her ear-buds become a barrier from the outside world, helping her focus solely on homework. “I usually do my homework in the dining room and at night, my family is always there and it’s kind of loud with clanking of pots and stuff,” Muljadi said. “I just turn on music and put my ear-buds on and [it] helps me concentrate better.” For Muljadi, who normally prefers to study in silence, music only helps her in schoolwork when it doesn’t become a distraction itself. “I usually listen to more acoustic [music] or songs that I don’t know so I don’t sing along with it,” Muljadi said. “Or [Korean pop music] so I don’t know the language.” Muljadi’s explanation of what she does is exactly how senior Shannon Lin rationalizes others’ ability to listen to music and work at the same time in her mind. “I think [that] when you get distracted, it is [because the song is] something catchy and then you start to listen to it,” Lin said. But unlike Muljadi, who listens to unfamiliar songs while studying, Lin doesn’t like listening to any music while working at all. That’s not to say she likes to work in extreme quiet — that becomes too unnerving for her, because she doesn’t want to listen to her own breathing. Ironically, it is Lin’s love of music that prevents her from listening to music while trying to concentrate. Whenever she turns on music in the background, she sings along or tries to figure out what the song is. “Sometimes, when you hear a word, you write it down instead of what you’re supposed to write down,” Lin said. And it’s not just songs with lyrics that distract her; instrumentals can do the same thing. Because she produces her own music, she is constantly on the look-out for catchy melodies to adapt into her own compositions. “For computer-generated music, it’s really interesting to Do you listen to music differentiate between different synths, basses, or like electric while studying? violins and stuff,” Lin said. When she begins to do that, her mind focuses on her music rather than her homework. Also a professional musician, music teacher John Galli runs % into a similar situation when it comes to listening to music while said no trying to concentrate on something else. On his routine walks, he often thinks of different pieces of music when he sees certain objects in nature — Beethoven Symphony No. 6 as he comes % across a stream or Vivaldi’s Four Seasons when he hears the said yes water running from a brook. He tends to pay more attention to musical aspects of the world; for example, he tends to listen to the music background in movies more closely than most people. According to him, the focus he has toward music is the reason he cannot listen to it while doing anything else. “It depends on the music you listen to, too,” Galli said. “Certain music doesn’t take a lot of focus to listen to. It could just be happy: I call it ‘supermarket music’ because you hear it in the supermarket, but you don’t [really] listen to it. It’s just there to set the mood and its background noise. If that’s the kind of music you’re listening to, then that might work.” And though Lin realizes that listening to music helps most of her friends concentrate while doing homework — even with numerous failed attempts of trying to work with music on — Lin still can’t understand why. “I don’t know how they do it. I really don’t,” she said. “[They] don’t seem to be distracted by it, and it blows my mind.”

Ashley Wu | El Estoque Photo Illustration

FEBRUARY 1, 2012

d.tan@elestoque.org | a.wu@elestoque.org

SPORTS

play together,

STAY TOGETHER The Jennings are a family of athletes, pulled together by a love for the game by Howard Lee and Yaamini Venkataraman Photo Illustration by Kevin Tsukii FEEBRUARY 1, 2012

TRIPLE THREAT TJ Jennings (top) prepares for a free throw. His love for basketball has been nurtured by his parents, and he now plays on the varsity basketball team. His sister Stephanie Jennings (bottom left) began playing basketball at the age of four and continues today on the varsity girls basketball team. Christina Jennings (bottom right) chose to pursue soccer over basketball and now is playing on the girls varsity soccer team.

Kevin Tsukii | El Estoque Yaamini Venkataraman| El Estoque

Yaamini Venkataraman| El Estoque

ack when the Jennings siblings — senior Thomas “TJ” Jennings, sophomore Stephanie Jennings and freshman Christina Jennings — were younger, they would spend all of their summer afternoons the same way. Eat lunch, then head onto the makeshift basketball court in front of their house. The kids would play for hours. Sometimes, their parents, math teacher Martin Jennings and Kennedy Physical Education teacher Erin Jennings, would join them. Sometimes not. But until the sunset, playing was the only thing of importance. Even now, nothing has changed. “I don’t know,” TJ Jennings said. “I just can’t imagine my life without sports.” Ballin’ since birth The tradition of athleticism for the Jennings began at home, as the parents involved themselves beyond the point of paying the obligatory dues. Like his son and eldest daughter, Martin Jennings played on his own high school basketball team. “When I was in college, I met many people through basketball and intramural games. It’s a real avenue for socializing and I wanted them to have the same opportunity,” Martin Jennings said. “My hope in getting them involved in organized sports is that … if they wanted to play, they could play.” And play they did. From the start, all three children were involved with YMCA basketball, then switched over and played in Cupertino Hoops. TJ Jennings began at an early age; at a few months old, his dad brought a miniature basket hoop for his to play with. In sixth grade, he began playing at Cupertino Hoops, but mostly, TJ says, it was just him and his dad coaching him. His interest in sports also diversified:in freshman year, TJ Jennings also joined football, and in his junior year, began playing on the varsity football team. Christina Jennings began playing soccer at the age of four, at AYSO, and basketball in first grade at Cupertino Hoops. She played both soccer and basketball simultaneously until eighth grade, when she decided to focus on soccer exclusively. This year, she joined the girls varsity soccer team. Stephanie Jennings also began at the age of four. She too played at Cupertino Hoops and YMCA. She began playing girls varsity basketball this year. Martin and Erin Jennings not only encouraged them, but actively nurtured their talent. Christina Jennings remembers an early experience with her father coaching her in basketball at the YMCA. “He was all, ‘Christina, use your left hand!’” EL ESTOQUE

she recalled. “I never wanted to use it. I try and I would get frustrated and hate it.” “But I wasn’t unhappy [about that],” Martin Jennings interjected. “I think when she said she was frustrated, it wasn’t because her coach was yelling at her, it was because she couldn’t do it. But she was doing exactly what I wanted her to do.” Their shared love of sports also served as family time. The Jennings would often hold basketball games outside of their house. But because of diverging schedules, it is now more difficult to spend time together. A typical night in the Jennings’ household sees each child in their rooms, and the parents on their own. TJ Jennings acknowledges that life has become busier, noting that it is less common for them to dine together.

I enjoy watching my kids play ... I go through the same emotions every game — I’m screaming inside and out. When its close games — tense; bad pass and turnover — I get upset. But when it’s good, I’m happy. mother Erin Jennings

That is not to say, however, that they do not spend time together. They do — and often times at games. Fans in the stands Occasionally chatting with fellow spectators, Martin and Erin Jennings sat in on the Los Altos girls basketball game to watch Stephanie Jennings play on Jan. 10 when the Lady Mats won against Los Altos 60-48. “I enjoy watching my kids play. [At their games,] I get tense, excited, happy, everything,” Erin Jennings said. “I go through same emotions every game — I’m screaming inside and out. When its close games — tense; bad pass and turnover — I get upset. But when it’s good, I’m happy.” There is a playful atmosphere for the children watching the game, as they provide a running commentary. “Every time I go to his games, I’m always like, ‘Get the ball, TJ. TJ, drive. TJ, shoot,’” Christina Jennings said. “I’m like coaching him, but he can’t hear me. It’s also exciting when he scores.” “I just want TJ to score,” Stephanie Jennings said, echoing Christina Jennings. “Whenever he makes it, I just get really excited. He just looks good when he shoots it — when it goes ‘swish,’ I feel proud that he’s my brother.” TJ Jennings admits coaching from the stands as well. “I remember saying, ‘Christina, why don’t you get the ball, go on the field,’” he said, laughing. “And Christina’s always been good FEBRUARY 1, 2012

at soccer, so when her teammates mess up, I’m always like, “Uh, if Christina had the ball, she would’ve done something different.’” This camaraderie does not end after the games. Sports are a common language for the Jennings — even when they play different ones. Christina Jennings, as the only soccer player amongst the three Jennings children, is the subject of good-natured ribbing by her siblings. She is not hesitant, though, to poke back. “It’s always fun when Christina talks about what we could’ve done different in a basketball game,” TJ Jennings said. “The other day, we were just like, ‘Oh yeah, Christina, you can only give hints if you play.’” “They can’t compete with me,” Christina Jennings said. “It’s different, and they’re like, ‘You should play basketball because of this and it’s better,’ but maybe they should play soccer, you know?” Pulled together TJ Jennings finds his father’s basketball experience helpful in improving his own skills. “It’s nice to have that person watching you and critique how you play and say the way you could change so you could be better,” TJ Jennings said. “I feel like even though my dad was hardly ever my coach, he kind of was in a way, telling me what to work on and what type of skill-sets to improve.” Stephanie Jennings agrees her brother, believing that the family support makes it easier for them to keep on playing. “I think being in a sports family has given me some actual help with my everyday life, instead of just basketball. The teamwork is a big thing — we understand that if one person isn’t doing very well, then you need to help them,” Stephanie Jennings said. “I think I’m probably going to put [my children] in basketball or softball — something where you have a team. You get a good feeling when you work together.” “It does pull us together,” Martin Jennings said, “and I think it’s gonna continue for the rest of our lives.”

Kevin Tsukii | El Estoque

Daniel Tan| El Estoque

Kevin Tsukii| El Estoque

h.lee@elestoque.org | y.venkataraman@elestoque.org

FAMILY TIES From top to bottom: MVHS math teacher Martin Jennings, Kennedy Middle School Physical Education teacher Erin Jennings, senior Thomas Jennings, sophomore Stephanie Jennings and freshman Christina Jennings. Although their busy personal schedules prevent them from spending much time together, a love for sports, especially basketball and soccer, pulls them in unison.

Kevin Tsukii| El Estoque

CROWD ZERO Not all crowds are created equal

Gisella Joma and Kevin Tsukii | El Estoque Photo Illustration

by Rachel Beyda and Gisella Joma

t’s 7 p.m. on a Wednesday night. The varsity boys basketball team trades in their button-up shirts and ties for their purple and gold uniform as the cheerleaders’ chants of “MV is what? DYNAMITE! MV is what? DYNAMITE!” fill the gym. People flood in as friends and family arrive with enthusiasm and support, often equipped with a poster or two. And then there are the varsity girls games. There is a perpetual lack of atmosphere, audience and anticipation. There are a few parents of the girls and fans of the opposing team in the crowd. There is little cheering. There is litte hype. There is little school spirit. “We rely on each other to keep fighting,” junior basketball player Megan Tsao said. “We just do what we are supposed to do as teammates, and support each other throughout the game.”

FEBRUARY 1, 2012

SPORTS

HYPING IT UP Senior Varun Jain, dressed as Lynbrook Viking to promote the varsity boys basketball game against Lynbrook by participating in a mock fight with El Toro at the Winter Rally on Jan. 21. The girls basketball team, on the other hand, received no advertisement.

Elvin Wong | El Estoque Elvin Wong | El Estoque

The girls are accustomed to the the lack of student body support that is the normal outcome of all their games. They are hardly bothered by it anymore. Bottom line, the girls games get less hype than the boys games, and

it has always been that way. Many attempts have been made throughout history to try to change the fact that boys teams generally recieve more attention than girls teams. In 1972, Title IX was passed,

requiring gender equality in athletics. Though females and males now receive equal levels of resources and funding, the attention given to their teams is anything but equal. According to senior song member Ayushi

basketball // wrestling // soccer // feature // sports flash Agrawal, cheerleaders cheer at the boys games there is not a large gender imbalance at other to help support their players and attract fans. schools. The teams the MVHS girls play Like most students, she never thought much against often attract decent crowds to their of the consistent gap in hype and support games, exhibiting more school spirit. between male and female athletics. On Jan. 20, the MVHS girls played against “It’s tradition. That’s how it’s always been,” the Saratoga Falcons. Not only did the Falcons Agrawal said. “I never really questioned it.” have a larger crowd consisting of parents, Whenever there is a boys basketball game, teachers, and many friends, but they also the team comes to school dressed up in shirt had the support of their cheerleaders. The and tie as a way of promoting MVHS crowd consisted of the their game day. The girls team, parents, a couple of teachers and That’s how it’s on the other hand, have a less principal April Scott. The MVHS always been. formal approach to promoting cheerleaders only attended the I never really their game days by wearing boys sporting events. questioned it. matching sweatshirts. The boys “[MVHS] kids don’t respect senior Ayushi Agrawal also receive additional promotion the fact that the girls team is by the school. On Jan. 20 at the doing well,” Borelli said. “Or Winter Rally, an announcement was made maybe they just don’t care.” encouraging attendance at the Jan. 27 boys Junior basketball player Tommer Schwarz varsity basketball game against rival Lynbrook acknowledges the importance of having High School. There was even a mock fight enthusiastic support from fellow students and between the MVHS mascot, El Toro, and senior how it can help affect a player’s performance Varun Jain dressed as a Lynbrook High School in a positive way. viking to build excitement about the game. “It’s a great feeling to make a shot and But no girls games are advertised with such hear a reaction,” Schwarz said. “We really intensity and excitement. appreciate it.” Girls basketball coach Sarah Borelli has The girls and boys teams have had similar noticed the lack of attention given to her team, seasons so far in terms of their performance. and feels that more support could positively The girls are currently (7-9) and the boys are (8affect their performance. According to Borelli, 8). Though the girls record is similar to that of

the boys, some still find the athleticism of the boys team to be more impressive. According to Tsao, the boys team get more attention because they have much more vigorous games compared to the girls, therefore making them more enjoyable to watch. In a survey of 413 students, two out of three admitted that they would rather attend a boys game than a girls game. “Honestly, guys are usually better athletes,” class of 2011 alumnus and crowd member Zachary Lamm said. “It makes the games more interesting.” Tsao, however, feels that the girls games have the potential to be just as engaging. “It’s disappointing because our games are just as exciting as the boys’,” Tsao said. “The crowd is what gets players pumped. They are what helps us fight through and get our wins.” Borelli champions the effort the girls put into their sport and feels they deserve to be rewarded and recognized for it. “It’s always a positive vibe when there are more people [at the games] and their cheering,” Borelli said. “The girls see it as positive reinforcement for all the hard work they have been doing.”

r.beyda@elestoque.org | g.joma@elestoque.org

SPORTS

Making of a Matador

FRESH ON

LATE IN THE GAME

by Patrick Xie

reshman Marco Schwiebert’s life was not always dominated by soccer. He only started devoting his time to soccer when he reached middle school, according to Schwiebert. But all it took was a few years of hard work for Schwiebert to become an essential starter for the varsity boys soccer team. His quick journey to where he is now stems from his love for the game and the lessons taught to him by his coaches. “When I started, I just instantly loved the game,” Schwiebert said. “All the coaches are what made me a well-rounded player that I am now. I owe it all to my coaches.” S c hw i e b e r t began his soccer career by playing with the De Anza Force, where he met his first coach, Jorge Salhazar. goals Salhazar’s love for soccer and his stress on the technical aspects of the game firmly developed his basic skills of soccer. At this time, he still had not fully devoted his time to soccer, but by the end of middle school, soccer had become his life. “In seventh or eight grade I started picking my game up,” Schwiebert said. “I started focusing more on soccer than other activites and I started really putting my mind to where I wanted to go.” He decided to move forward, taking the teachings of Salhazar with him. Schwiebert joined a new team in De Anza Force league where he met his second influential coach, Sean Tsakaris. “[Tsakaris] helped me gain a better understanding of the game,” Schwiebert said. “Through technical work he helped me improve my footwork and passing. He really showed me how beautiful the game is.”

By this time, Schwiebert was quickly catching up to the skill level of other kids his age. He forgot about everything else and all that was left was one hobby he would be fully devoted to: soccer. Both his previous coaches helped solidfy the basics of soccer. When he moved to the De Anza Titans, he met his third and current coach, Fabian Garza. He gave Marco the opportunity to master all his skills and gain better vision on the field. Finally, when he entered high school, Schwiebert felt it was time to play in a level beyond club soccer. It was at this point that Schwiebert had to make a decision. The decision was to either remain fully devoted to club soccer, which had got him so far in such a short amount of time or try a new league to Assist play in. High school regulations would not allow him to play on both teams. Eventually he decided that he wanted to try for varsity soccer, leaving behind club soccer for now. Utilizing all the skills his previous coaches had taught him, he was able to grab a starter position on the school team. “I really wanted to make varsity,” Schwiebert said. “I just felt like I wanted to play at that kind of level. I’d been training a lot since I started playing soccer; I didn’t really want to not make it.” This journey all started from falling in love with soccer the moment he started. In only four years, he has made it to a level equal to the other varsity players. Schwiebert just had the perfect storm of devotion and talented coaching to get him to where he is now.

Marco Schwiebert

p.xie@elestoque.org

EL ESTOQUE

basketball // wrestling // soccer // feature // sports ﬂash

RUNS IN THE FAMILY

by Rachel Lu

occer is the most popular sport in the world, but it has yet to make the same impression in America. For freshman Brad Ohadi, his entire life revolves around soccer. His parents, both originally from Iran, brought their passion for soccer to America, allowing it to pass down through generations. “My whole family played: my mom, my dad, brother, grandpa and grandma. It’s like a disease that can’t be stopped.” Ohadi said. His older brother, junior Bobak Ohadi, is also on the team. Playing together is nothing new for the two brothers, as they have done so multiple times in the past on the Sunnyvale Alliance, De Anza Titans and Santa Clara Sporting Club. “I love [playing with Brad]. We’ve been playing together since we were little and getting older now, it’s the same thing. It’s fun and we’re used to it,” Bobak Ohadi said. Being teammates dissolves any competition between the two. For the brothers, having each other’s backs is the bottom line. “Soccer is in our veins and we can’t live without it,” Brad Ohadi said, “My mom is my number one fan. She comes out to all our games no matter where they are.” His mother, Roshi goals Nohian, has dedicated much of her time to support her two sons. Her passion for soccer remains just as strong, noting that soccer is the number one game played in Iran. Noticing Brad Ohadi’s talent, she started to develop his interest in soccer at the age of 3. From the moment he joined his first soccer team at 5, she has supported him. “We strongly hope that Bobak and Brad continue their interest in soccer. We believe that sports activities are great tools for physical

and mental development,” Nohian said. Brad Ohadi scored in the first pre-season game, and has become the leading scorer on the team with four goals in seven games. As one of the youngest players on the team, he is the only freshman to make it onto the SCVAL Leaderboard, ranking third overall in points. “When Brad goes one-on-one with the goalie, there is no doubt in my mind that that’s a goal for us,” Hajjarian said. Still, as one of the youngest players on the team, let alone the entire league, he has faced several challenges. “The biggest challenge is going up against 18-year-old seniors” Brad Ohadi said. “I had the choice to play on JV but I chose to be on varsity to take the challenge. I don’t use it as an excuse to play poorly.” With an entire family of fans and supporters, soccer and family are irreversibly linked, and thus Brad Ohadi knows soccer will be in his future. Along with his brother, he has guestplayed at multiple games: instead of being set on a team for a season, he goes to the games and plays on a team for that one game. Doing so allows him to be seen by more college scouts. “My top choice is probably Berkeley, I want to stay around my family, Assists and my cousin went there,” Brad Ohadi said. Even with big plans in the future, his family remains the biggest influence in his life. However, for now, he is focused on playing for the Matadors. “We don’t know what’s going to happen tomorrow,” Brad Ohadi said, “but I’m going to keep working hard and hopefully get a good result out of everything.”

Brad Ohadi

r.lu@elestoque.org

THE FIELD

Two freshman players hit the field on varsity soccer FEBRUARY 1, 2012

SPORTS

sports

FLASH by Dickson Tsai and Angela Wang

Yaamini Venkataraman | El Estoque

Rachel Lu| Margaret Lin|ElElEstoque Estoque

Senior Hannah DeBaets and junior Mimi Akaogi defend win their ďŹ rst Palo Alto game.

GIRLS SOCCER

On Jan. 25, junior Hadar Sachs scored three goals in the last four minutes in a 3-2 win against Palo Alto High School. As of Jan. 26, the team holds a 4-2-1 record, third place in the De Anza League. The Lady Mats play league leaders Los Gatos High School on Feb. 2.

Margaret Lin | El Estoque

Yaamini Venkataraman | El Estoque

Junior Michelle Chan blocks a shot during the recreational part of intramural volleyball.

INTRAMURAL VOLLEYBALL The MVVC 19-1s, led by co-captains juniors Atharva Fulay and James Whall, won 25-21 over Serena Is Numero Uno in the competitive bracket finals on Jan. 25. Monta Vista Volleyball Club hosted the month-long tournament, now in its second year.

Dickson Tsai | El Estoque

Senior George Geha shoots pulls up over a Saratoga defender. The Matadors won 50-43.

BOYS BASKETBALL Powered by strong interior defense, varsity won 50-43 at league-leading Saratoga High School on Jan. 20. After facing Lynbrook on Jan. 27, varsity will visit Los Altos on Feb. 1. d.tsai@elestoque.org | a.wang@elestoque.org

basketball // wrestling // soccer // feature // sports flash

BOYS SOCCER New head coach Pooya Hajjarian is leading varsity boys soccer to one of their best starts in years with a league record of 5-2-0 as of Jan. 26. In their first six games they have scored 18 goals and have only allowed three. Freshman Brad Ohadi is the leading scorer with four goals.

Kevin Tsukii | El Estoque

Freshman Brad Ohadi dribbles past a Fremont defender. The team won a decisive 2-0 victory.

The

QUIRKS

of MVHS

Parking lot boulder serves as reminder of Cupertino history

ou are exiting the student parking lot, about to drive onto McClellan Road, when you notice something significant — the stop sign on the right sidewalk corner. What you might not notice, sitting right next to the street sign, is the boulder, which stands four feet tall and bears an antiquated bronze plaque. In 1968, one year before MVHS was founded, the State Department of Parks and Recreation christened the rock as California Registered Landmark No. 800. As the story goes, Spanish explorers stopped in the area while journeying to San Francisco in March 1769. The boulder originally rested in a planter box at the heart of the student parking lot. According to assistant principal Brad Metheany, the school renovated the entire area in spring 2010 while installing solar panels. At that time, the monument was moved to its current location at the mouth of the parking lot, tilted at an angle to face the community members driving by. Music teacher John Galli joined the school staff in 1972; after he noticed the monument for the first time, he did not give it much of a second thought — until he found a similar historical plaque at the park behind his house in Los Altos. “I’m assuming it was an overnight stop for the De Anza party because there was also a creek that ran through the property here on campus … and if you’re camping on horseback you’re going to go somewhere with water,” Galli said. According to Galli, students on campus have never paid much attention to the craggy monolith. “I don’t know if the students really care about the history of the area, I don’t know if they do. They’re so busy with everything else they have to do,” Galli said. “[But] I think anytime you move into a community, and if you stay for a while, you should pick up some of the heritage, the history.” s.yang@elestoque.org

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