Volume 46, Issue 2, October 21, 2015

NEWS

The refugee crisis brought home

OPINION

Destigmatizing depression

ENTERTAINMENT

‘Back to the future’ revisited

SPORTS

How sports saved my mind

MONTA VISTA HIGH SCHOOL ELESTOQUE.ORG OCTOBER 21, 2015 ISSUE II, VOLUME XLVI

Religion explored.

A & E / 17

14

NEWS

Welcoming arms

Holding onto memories

04 Family’s struggles dealing

Syrian refugees need to be relocated to Muslim-friendly areas

with relatives left behind

06

On the other side Students and parents atttempt to cross the cultural divide regarding depression

15 16

How do you feel

17

Disappointing gun show

The role of religion is an individual one

The elephant in the room

Helping hands

Students disagree with aspects of their religion

Flashback to the future

The difference between the predicted 2015 and reality

Horror Story

28 Students recall ghost encounters

Beginner’s guide to

29 fanfiction

A how-to on understanding the world of fanfiction

30

Opportunities debunk Limitless starving artist palette myth

Exploring the progression of faith and its influence on individual lives

Bobby Jindal walks into a

10 dandiya

Out of the blue

Redefining the stigma We should evaluate and be aware of depression

20

Faces of faith

students helping students academically and socially

12

26

Students should collaborate more

08 Different aspects of

A turn of faith

A&E

A joint effort

Special

Opinion

25

23 24

Figures of faith

Investigating religious trends and perceptions

Matters of faith

Students discuss significance of religious objects

Costume complications

32 Musical musings

21840 McClellan Road Cupertino, CA 95014 mv.el.estoque@gmail.com Editors-in-Chief: Alina Abidi, Kristin Chang Managing Editors: Maya Murthy, Malini Ramaiyer, Sharon Tung, Vanessa Qin Copy Editors: Daniel Lin, Sanjana Murthy Webmaster: Itay Barylka News Editors: Amanda Chan, Avni Prasad, Andrea Schlitt, Caitlyn Tjong Sports Editors: Kalpana Gopalkrishnan, Pranav Iyer, Karen Ma, Aditya Pimplaskar

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Entertainment Editors: Meghna Gaddam, Neha Patchipala, Ilena Peng, Anushka Tyagi Opinion Editors: Pranav Jandhyala, Tal Marom, Isabel Navarette, Emily Zhao Beats Editors: Aditi Desai, Dylan Tsai Visuals Editors: Fatima Ali, Om Khandekar, Justin Kim Graphics Editors: Elizabeth Han, Hannan Waliullah

Business Editors: Tal Marom, Ilena Peng Public Relations: Shriya Deshpande Staff writers: Ananya Bhat, Vijeet Chaugule, Ada Chen, Jennie Chen, Bill Cheng, Vivian Chiang, Ankit Dua, Aanchal Garg, Sneha Gaur, Sandhya Kannan, Aditya Krishnan, Emma Lam, Stephanie Lam, ZaZu Lippert, Amita Mahajan, Akshara Majjiga, Nanda Nayak, Issra Osman, Renee Pu, Chetana Ramaiyer, Priya Reddy, Sarah Robinson, Zach Sanchez, Derek Shao, Andy Tu, Miloni Vora, Kingsley Wang, Devika Watave, Jessica Xing, Sebastian Zhang, Grace Zhao Adviser: Michelle Balmeo

Sports

33

36 37

Skate of mind

Students discuss the role of skateboarding in their lives

Playing the price A comparison of the costs of fall sports

How sports saved me from myself Athletes discuss sports as an outlet for their anxiety

39

The time I met a famous athlete Students share experiences meeting celebrities

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.

Letter from the Editors Today is the future. When Marty how much of his desire to see 2015 was McFly stepped out of his time-traveling out of fear? Of not knowing what will DeLorean in 1985 in the second Back to happen tomorrow? the Future movie, he stepped into 2015.

Reporters sophomores Elizabeth Wednesday, Oct. 21, 2015, to be spe- Han and Amita Mahajan, on page 8, cific. That’s today. And as junior Han- explore how we often reach out to our nan Waliullah explores on pg. 26, some friends and classmates in times of unaspects of the future didn’t quite live up certainty. It’s easier, somehow, to ask to our expectations.

Expectations are one way to procrastinate. Flying cars? Hoverboards?

Alina abidi A time-traveling machine? Maybe Kristin we’ve spent so much time anticipating Chang change that we haven’t really gotten around to making it happen. At this Letter from the rate, who knows when we’ll be able to editorS zip from the A building to the cafeteria with our rocket-fueled backpacks?

Maybe the problem is that we’re always talking about the future like it’s a for help from someone who’s shared place. Back to the future. Implying that your same timeline, someone whose every moment in time is a set location, idea of the past and present align with and we can conveniently skip from time yours. And that’s usually when we realto time in some checkerboard version ize that imagining the future can someof the continuum. And in that process, times be a little counterintuitive. With we’ll eventually land in that elusive idea our heads bowed in prayer or over textof future — where all our expectations books or the latest science fiction novel, go to live, somewhere far enough for us that one with highways in the sky and to ignore them in the present. total religious acceptance, we can catch On page 20, when students discuss the slightest glimpse of what Marty McIslamophobia and what it means to be Fly was trying to tell a confused teenMuslim in America, they show us how ager for nearly two whole hours: past prejudices persist in the present — That tomorrow starts today. in fact, they were never in the past in High school is one of the clearest dithe first place. How religion is chang- viders of time: where we live, who we ing now has us projecting onto the fu- meet and how we spend our time deture yet again: as Christian religiosity fines our childhood. We have a scheddeclines and ule and rules to follow unaffiliat e d and tasks to tick off. And p opulat ions after that, when we’re on increase, our own for the first time, sp e culat ion comes our present and our REJECTED over whelm s future.

HEADLINES FROM the conversaThe first part of our tion.

What paths, and maybe a lastTHIS ISSUE will change? ing part of our future, are What will the beliefs we inherit at happ en? birth: along with our last pg. 10: BOBBY JINDAL What won’t names and our eye colIS THE WORST happen? Even ors, we pick up religiousfear takes on ness or a lack of it from pg. 20: ME AND MY the future our parents. And now, in HIJAB tense.

We our present, we decide remember which traits we’re going pg. 33: ROLLIN’ WITH Marty McFly to stick with and maybe as the comic, pass down to our kids and THE HOMIES upbeat fronwhich traits we’re going tiersman, but to leave in the past. pg. 36: Moneyball

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MINGJIE ZHONG l EL ESTOQUE ILLUSTRATION

HOLDING ONTO MEMORIES Syrian family copes with distance from relatives and shares their journey to America S T O RY B Y A N D R E A S C H L I T T A N D S N E H A G A U R

T

HE DISTINCT SCENT OF JASMINE FLOWERS FLOATS ALONG w it h t he Middle E a ster n bre eze a s t he c all for prayer sounds t h roughout t he cit y.

T he ma rket of Ja z mateya is small but lively, t he st alls line d w it h a my r iad of different desser t s. Pe ople roam t he st re et at any t ime of day, g re et ing e ach ot her w it h t he fam ilia r words: A s-s alamu ala k um. Pe ace b e w it h you.

A sm ile slowly spre ads across senior Radwan Hamw i and sophomore Hadi Hamw i’s mot her Eman A lt ay yeb’s face a s she rememb er s her home.

T his wa s Dama scus, Sy r ia’s c apit al, b efore A lt ay yeb left and b efore t he civ il wa r er upte d in 2011.

It’s on t he news almost ever yday, and yet, liv ing 7302 m iles away, it’s difficult for us to under st and t he fe a r ref uge es live w it h, t he terror s t hey face. A lt hough it may b e like t his for many, A lt ay yeb’s p er sonal jour-

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Number of refugees in California counties from 2010 to 2015

ney f rom her hometow n ha s t aught her to cop e w it h le av ing b ehind her fam ily and t he count r y she consider s pa r t of her ident it y.

ALTAYYEB WAS BORN and rais e d in Kuwait, a count r y by t he Per sian Gulf, but f le d to Sy r ia when an inva sion by t he for mer P resident of Iraq, Saddam Hussein, b egan. A lt hough she wa s b or n in Kuwait, she consider s Sy r ia her home. For A lt ay yeb, Dama scus wa s a ver y lively cit y. Walk ing t h rough a st re et or neighb orho o d wa s like walk ing t h rough histor y. T he sense of com munit y and love in t he cit y is somet hing A lt ay yeb st ill a sso ciates w it h Dama scus, and what she m iss es after 25 ye a r s of living in A mer ic a. “[T he ref uge es] eit her lost t heir money, houses or fam ilies, so what els e a re t hey going to lose?” A lt ay yeb s aid. “T hey’re left w it h not hing, but when I

data from California Department of Social Services

left Kuwait I had ever yt hing.”

W hen A lt ay yeb c ame to A mer ic a f rom Sy r ia, she wante d to st a r t a new life.

However, t he differ ing cult ures made it ha rd to adjust.

“I st ill m iss my cit y, t he p e ople, my neighb or s, t he

way we t alk and t he way we g re et e ach ot her. It ma kes me fe el like [Sy r ia] is my ident it y,” A lt ay yeb s aid. “I like where I come f rom, I like who I am.

Her fat her, Mahmoud A lt ay yeb, face d a sim ila r sit uat ion when he c ame to

A mer ic a to esc ap e t he dan- one m ile f rom where her ger in Sy r ia. He didn’t want sister live d. to apply for a g re en c a rd, “[My sister] wa s cr y ing but he did so for t he s a ke of b e c aus e she didn’t k now his s afet y. what wa s going on since she In Sy r ia his brot her just he a rd b ombs,” Eman and sister were just a shor t s aid. “Once you he a r t heir walk away f rom his home. voice, you fe el [a sigh of His neighb or s relief]: t hey would affe c t ion- “I’M STILL a re alive.” ately c all him Te a r s silent“uncle.” W hen LIVING IN ly ran dow n he left Sy r ia, he SYRIA. I’M her face a s left t he com mushe rememnit y and so cial HERE AS A b ere d t he suflife t hat do esn’t fer ing s e en GUEST.” ex ist here in in t he me dia: Cup er t ino. For t he drow ne d Mahmoud, hubb Mahmoud Altayyeb, Sy r ian b oy, alwat an m in father of Eman t he ref uge e al’iiman, or lovc amps and ing his nat ion, is Altayyeb t he dest r ucpa r t of his fait h. t ion of t he W hen a ske d once b e aut iwhat it wa s like liv ing in f ul cit ies.

Sy r ia, he laughe d.

“I stopp e d watching t he “I’m st ill liv ing in Sy r ia. news, but st ill you c annot I’m here a s a g uest.” re ally pull yours elf away,” Eman THE SYRIAN CIVIL WAR s aid. “Nowadays I officially b egan in Ma rch c an’t s e e t he pic2011 when P resident Ba sha r t ures of t he pain, al-A ss ad ordere d gover n- of t he k ids.” ment forces to op en fire on ant i-gover nment protester s O R G A N I Z A in Da raa, spa rk ing v iolent re- TIONS LIKE t he sist ance across t he count r y. Inter nat ional ResEman’s sister applie d for cue Com m it te e an A mer ic an v is a but wa s were founde d to reje c te d. Despite liv ing in help t hes e ref uDama scus, one of t he s af- ge es, w it h lo c aest cit ies in Sy r ia, her sis- t ions t h roughout ter faces v iolence ever y day t he Unite d St ates. and must live w it hout cer- According to Igor t ain resources. Most days Radulov ic, t he she do esn’t have ele c t r ic- c a s ework co ordiit y and c an’t he at her wa- nator in t he San ter — on ot her days, she Jos e office, ref udo esn’t even have water. ge e relo c at ion “T here’s a lot of che ck- st a r t s w it h t he p oint s and t he reb els want A mer ic an Emba sto fight t he gover nment so sy and t he leng t hy t hey t h row ro cket s. One pro cess of che ckday [my sister] told me t he ups. Once t hey s e cond t he t a x i she wa s re ceive t he ref ur iding in move d, t he ro ck- ge e st at us, t he et lande d where t hey had ref uge es a re s ent just b e en pa rke d,” Eman to live w it h t heir s aid. “She wa s so luck y.” fam ily, if t hey Eman’s wor st night ma re have any here. IRC s e eme d to come t r ue when pick s up t he ref uIsrael b omb e d an a re a nex t ge es f rom t he airto t he Ba sha r palace, just p or t, helps t hem

acquire housing and do cument s all of t heir pap erwork. W hen ref uge es b egin to lo ok for employ ment, IRC prov ides t hem w it h cla sses and helps t hem lo ok for jobs.

“We’re k ind of like a mom, a dad or a whole family to t hem for a while,” Radulov ic s aid, “Ever y t hing t hat t hey do, we’re here to help t hem.”

Eman’s son, s enior Radwan Hamw i, rememb er s play ing so ccer or ba sket ball w it h t he ot her k ids in his g randfat her’s apa r t ment building. However, t hos e k ids t hat he us e d to b e f r iends w it h a re now force d to enter adult ho o d f rom an e a rly age b e c ause of t he civ il wa r.

“Somet imes f rom what I se e online,”Hamw i s aid, “I t hink mayb e I met [t he ref uge es] b efore when I v isite d [Sy r ia] when I wa s

NEWS younger, or mayb e t hey’re somehow relate d to me and now t hey’re de ad.”

Eman st rongly b elieves t he imp or t ance of e duc ating t he younger generat ions ab out t his issue. A s her fam ily memb er s face const ant danger, she fe els t he injust ice of her k ids liv ing t he luxur y and pr iv ilege in A mer ic a. T hat f uels her pa ssion to sp e a k out and encourage ot her s, esp e cially t he younger generat ion, to ma ke a change.

“You a re t he blo o d, you a re t he p ower, you a re t he energ y,”Eman s aid. “We ne e d to stop t his, and t hat [resp onsibilit y is on] your generat ion.” e

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On the other side

Crossing the communication divide on student depression STORY BY MAYA MURTHY AND CAITLYN TJONG

S

HE WAS TOLD THAT SHE WAS fortunate to have beautiful, flawless skin. She was told that those who’d been in accidents had no choice with their scars, their burns, their disfigured skin.

But she couldn’t help cutting now, couldn’t have helped picking at her scabs when she’d been a little girl and her mother had frowned on it, even then—and she couldn’t help if she didn’t want to see the look of disappointment on her mother’s face if she knew.

This was when the junior girl who, along with other sources will remain anonymous for her own well-being decided to keep her cutting—and her depression —a secret from her parents.

As depression is often regarded disgraceful in cultural stigmas and more traditional views, students refrain from openly admitting to their parents their depression for fear of rejection and disapproval—yet this is partly due to misunderstandings between parent and child.

scribed as emotional emptiness to the extent to which those who are depressed barely function due to lack of motivation.

“I know I have my own time. I have a ton of freedom, so I just put [work] off. ‘Oh, it’s not too late. I still have a lot of time,’” the anonymous junior girl said. “These days I’m sleeping at two or three...I procrastinate for hours and hours.”

THE FIRST TIME THAT she’d cut herself, it hadn’t been because of academic stress or the pressure of pushing herself too far.

It’d been for her mother’s disappointment.

She had been on the computer when she shouldn’t have and her mother, angry and disappointed when she had caught her daughter, shut herself off and ignored her—and it’d hurt her.

“I’m really close to my mom...so I was just really disappointed in myself for not listening to her and making her feel bad,” she said, “and WHEN I GET REALLY SAD, then I decided to cut.” it’s just...I feel really heavy,” Students like the she said, “and [I] just sit there.” anonymous junior are According to the Mayo under the impression Clinic, depression is a mood that admitting a mendisorder that causes a contal illness will make stant feeling of deep sadthem even more of a ness and loss of interest; disappointment in the ALUMNI PARENT it can affect how people eyes of their parents.

HUNG WEI feel, think and behave as Hung Wei, a parent of well as lead to several emoMVHS alumni, two of tional and physical probwhom were depressed, lems. Currently, depression is believed to believes otherwise. be caused by a combination of genetic, “This stigma of shame, it’s that [parpsychological and environmental factors. ents] are really ashamed of themselves, Factors like divorce created an envi- not of their kid,” Wei said. “I think teenronment where the anonymous junior boy agers don’t know that, they think [their felt alone. He sought warmth and affec- parents] are ashamed of them, but I think tion outside the family he no longer felt most parents are ashamed of themselves, he knew—and this was when it all began. and feel like they did something wrong.” “[My mother and sister only] knew The National Institute of Mental Health me as the kid who came down for states that 2.6 million adolescents, rangdinner...I didn’t feel comfortable in my ing from 12 to 17 had at least one maown house,” the anonymous junior boy jor depressive episode in 2013—around said. “I didn’t feel like I had support.” 10.7 percent of the adolescent population.

Depression, though stereotypical- Of this group, 10.4 percent were Asians. ly equated with sadness, is better deBut mental health issues are difficult to

THE STIGMA OF SHAME, IT’S THAT [PARENTS] ARE REALLY ASHAMED OF THEMSELVES, NOT THEIR KIDS.

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address in Asian American communities due to cultural d i f f e r e n c e s.

Ac c o r d i ng to the National Alliance on Ment al Illness Mult icult ur a l Health Center, cultural perceptions may cause Asian A m e r i cans to feel shame or e m ba r-

rassm e n t when it comes to experiencing mental illness.

“In Asian culture having a mental illness problem means you are a loser, that means you are a psycho,” Student Advocate Intern Ya-Huei Chi said. “There is no gray area.”

According to Wei, denial is a common response of Asian parents when initially confronted with their child’s mental illness. “[There’s this idea that] we’re a good family, we’re good parents so that [mental illn e s s ] would neve r

RENEE PU l EL ESTO

happen to us, which is absolutely not true,” Wei said. “And if it happens to us there’s something wrong with us, which is not true either.”

Because of this, some parents at MVHS, when forced to face a depressed child, do not always respond in an understanding, or forgiving, manner. When the junior boy’s family found that their “happy little boy” had been depressed and was c u t t i ng , they met h i m w i t h shout s.

“They s c re a me d at me for an hour and threatened t o disow n m e , ” he said.

In contrast, Wei said that most parents raised in the U.S. are more willing to entertain the idea that their child i s mentally ill, and more willing to accept counseling.

“My general impression is that [they] are more open to counseling, it’s not a surprise to them,” Wei said. “[But] they still don’t know how to communicate with their kids in a way that they [kids] feel safe.”

According to Wei, most parents with depressed children are now aware that they are struggling on some level; their stumbling block is that t h e OQUE ILLUSTRATION

parents don’t know how to help.

“Less and less parents are not reacting, most parents know that something is wrong and they really want to ask for help,” Wei said. “That’s the problem with every parent —I love my kids too much, I don’t know what to do. Even [if] they know something is wrong, they just don’t know what to do.”

BRIDGING THE CULTURAL DIVIDE, though difficult, is possible. While an anonymous sophomore’s parents took time to come to terms with their daughter’s depression, they were eventually able to offer her the help

“I got hospitalized,” the anonymous junior boy said, “and they’re starting to get better with [my depression]. They’re trying to help right now.”

Chi says she emphasizes working as a pair in order to avoid placing the blame solely on either side of the equation.

“Parents always believe that it’s all [their] children’s problem. And children say ‘no, it’s my parents’ problem’.” Chi said. “[About issues], I will say that some belong to parents, and some belong to children, so if you want to fix this here we have to work together and people have to own their part.”

ZACH SANCHEZ l EL ESTOQUE ILLUSTRATION

and encouragement she needed. Wei counsels families to go to therapy as a unit, in addition to sending their child to therapy alone.

“For teenagers, sometimes you don’t want to talk to your friends, and you don’t want to talk to your parents, but a counselor can be very helpful,” Wei said. “I try to tell parents: counseling is a communication channel. It’s not ‘you’re crazy, I’m crazy’ or ‘what did I do wrong.’ It’s a safe communication channel.”

Unfortunately, the language barrier is an issue for families that may be open to counseling, but are unable to access resources in the language they are most comfortable with.

“A lot of them are comfortable in their mother tongue and not in English, so it’s very hard,” Wei said. “Counseling is already very hard but when you’re communicating in a second language, it’s even harder.”

Parents who take longer to accept their child’s mental illnesses are at times forced into a decision by circumstance. Two days after his family responded with shock and disappointment to his depression, the anonymous junior boy overdosed on his medication.

Wei cautions people who believe that therapy or medication can be quick fixes to a problem that may otherwise take years of work to resolve.

“I work with a lot of parents and they still want a type of miracle medicine, like my child is in trouble but let’s go see this doctor and he should be fine the next day, or the next month,” Wei said. “I try to explain that there is a process, but there is hope.”

For Chi, acknowledging depression and mental illness as not necessarily negative and shameful is a way for parents and students to bridge the cultural gap. She hopes that people will begin to regard depression as a time in which someone loses themselves and, perhaps, finds themselves again — and a more profound understanding of who they are. “[Depression] is the elephant in the room...and maybe the core issue is that people think it’s something bad,” Chi said. “It’s just something to point out the direction in our lives.” e

NEWS / 7

HELPING HANDS

Students help each other both academically and socially S T O RY B Y E L I Z A B E T H H A N A N D A M T I A M A H A J A N

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TUDENTS FILL THE LIBRARY ON A Tuesday lunch, chemistry textbooks and history papers scattered across the gray tables. At one table, two students tackle an algebraic formula. A pair nearby checks their papers together for reassurance before an exam. These sights of peer support — students helping their fellow students — are prevalent across MVHS. These are the stories of Biology club, Honors American Literature writing coaches and Peer Counseling.

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peers than adults.

“The people who want to help others are oftentimes people who suffered themselves,” Liou said. “They know how it feels and want to help others who potentially went through the same [experiences].”

This tendency is reflected throughout the club’s existence. Liou recalls a clubwide sleepover a few years back. At one point the members began a game revealing facts about themselves. The simple game took an emotional spin, as the feeling of security presided over the supportive peers. Stories were told, tears spilled and camaraderie strengthened.

“I remember [one] girl. She revealed something really personal regarding abuse when she was younger,” Liou said. “Everyone was taken aback and we all started crying for her, comforting her. It was one of the most raw experiences I’ve ever had.” e

In a survey of 326, 335 and 289 students (left to right)

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ABE

AS TEACHER ASSISTANTS FOR a freshman Biology class last year, seniors Ashley Chien and Kinnari Shah noted many struggling students hestitant to seek help. Fear and embarrassment contributed greatly, according to Shah.

Hence, Biology Club was founded, holding tutor sessions between former and current Biology students during lunch.

ACADEMIC STRESS MAY BE alleviated by tutors, but emotional strain is often unaccounted for. Peer Counseling club provides support from fellow classmates, who undergo special training to become a student counselor.

“We’re not so much counseling as our name suggests,” said Peer Counseling president senior Candice Liou. “We’re more of a student support [group]. The student counselors [do] not act like they’re above the students that they’re counseling.”

The main benefit of Peer Counseling stems from its comfortability, according to Liou. Peers can be easier to open up to than adults. In a survey of 313 students, 81 percent stated that, as they prefer to confide in

ELIZ

WRITING COACHES ARE NEW TO Honors American Literature classes this year.

Former students are the tutors, each taking on about 10 students to give preliminary feedback on drafts before going too far into an essay with apparent problems. The resulting paper has a greater variety of perspectives. “[The coach’s] feedback is as valuable as the teacher’s,” junior Mohini Banerjee said. “They were past [Honors American Literature] students, so they’re aware of the expectations.”

Though the coaches offer valuable peer help, students want more. According to writing coach senior Jasmine Zhang, the online feedback often inhibits the coaches to help to the best of their abilities.

“Sometimes when I write a comment, I feel like it comes out too harsh,” Zhang said. “I could explain a little more [with offline meetings].”

A solution is on its way. English teacher Mark Carpenter plans to implement student-coach sessions soon, increasing opportunities for further improvement.

“There is a really good side to feeling a little more free,” Carpenter said. “[Students] can be experimental without the fear of harming their grade.”

“I was really scared to talk to someone about my grades and what I was lacking in,” sophomore Varsha Sateesh said, remembering her time in Biology last year. “My grades were pretty bad, and I didn’t want anyone to know about it.”

Since she joined the club, her understanding deepened. Her tutor further clarified material from the fast-paced lessons in class.

Sateesh now joins the group of tutors, who outnumber tutees in most meetings, despite the Biology teachers’ re ccomendations. However, an influx of students come in for practice quizzes and study guides before tests, disappearing once more until the day before the next test. Chien and Shah face personal challenges as well. Both students were hesitant to dissect a pig, yet they pushed through for Biology Club.

“So that was one thing that we learned,” Chien said. “How to cut up a pig.”

201 5

SAT winter

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Elite’s SAT Winter Boot Camp is an intensive preparation course held over 8 days during the two-week winter break, followed by two weekend sessions in January leading up to the Jan. 23rd exam. In this program, students take a full-length SAT practice test and then attend three classes (Critical Reading, Writing, and Math) every day. The WBC offers an excellent opportunity for students to finalize their preparation for the last administration of the current version of the SAT.

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Winter Boot Camp will run during the two weeks of holiday break. Please contact your local Elite office for specific program dates and details.

TUITION Please contact your local Elite location for details. Also ask about the $100 discount for early registration by early December and for all returning summer students.

EL ESTOQUE

Score Name 2400 Donhee Han 2400 Sungho Park 2400 Jayanth Bharadwaj 2400 Nicholas Zhang 2400 Claire Li 2400 Nathan Lee 2400 Joseph Hong 2400 Bhavya Malladi 2400 Ravi Bethamcharla 2400 Harman Brah 2400 Jihan Yi 2400 Smitha Nagar 2400 Cynthia Chang 2400 Chris Wang 2400 Alyssa Zhao 2400 Katherine Chen 2400 Fendy Gao 2400 Jeffrey Wang 2400 Titus Wu 2400 Hanah Lee 2400 Augustine Chemparathy 2400 Monami Mukherjee 2400 Andy Zhang 2400 Ashima Katakwar 2400 Bethany Hung 2400 Bhavesh Patel 2400 Cari Gan 2400 Catherine Tu 2400 Derek Feng 2400 Erica Hwang 2400 Harsh Wadhwa 2400 Kaiwen Zhou 2400 Kelsey Ichikawa 2400 Michael Prattipratti 2400 Nikitia Thareja 2400 Preetham Gujjula 2400 Ryan Sim 2400 Sara Cao 2400 Shivani Chandrasekheran

School Year Leland 2015 Leland 2015 Mission SJ 2015 Westlake 2014 Trabuco Hills 2014 Harvard-Westlake 2014 University 2014 American 2014 Mission SJ 2014 Mission SJ 2014 Mission SJ 2014 Mission SJ 2014 Washington 2014 Mission SJ 2014 Mission SJ 2014 Mission SJ 2014 Mission SJ 2014 Arcadia 2014 Arcadia 2014 Arcadia 2014 Dougherty 2014 Troy 2014 Claremont 2013 Dougherty 2013 Mission SJ 2013 Villa Park 2013 Mission SJ 2013 Almador Valley 2013 Mission SJ 2013 San Marino 2013 Dougherty 2013 Arcadia 2013 Irvington 2013 Northwood 2013 Saratoga 2013 Monta Vista 2013 Dougherty 2013 Mission SJ 2013 Harker 2013

Bobby Jindal walks into a Dandiya Internalized racism meets the Indian festival season

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O A COUPLE WEEKS AGO I WAS they deserve to lead, if they’ll only coat themsitting in the corner of the Santa selves in bleach. (All this for only $6!!!!!) In Clara convention center, and as one sense, Bobby Jindal shouldn’t be held acminds usually do, mine wandered to countable for a society that has forced him to American of Indian Descent, presidential believe that his dark skin needs to be erased candidate Bobby Jindal. You see, every year a from the political narrative he crafts. It’s not good portion of the Indian his fault he thinks he’s at his community gathers inside most attractive when he fades the hallowed convention away into the marble backcenter to while away a ground. I think Bobby would night dancing and eating have worn a purple kurta—a overpriced pizza in honor deep purple, almost black— of the festival Navaratri. though to be quite honest he We dance in circles, probably wouldn’t have atin what we call garba, retended at all. peating ritualized steps You see, that’s the problem passed down over thou- MAYA MURTHY with Bobby Jindal. He’s argusands of years. We dance OUT OF THE BLUE ably the most prominent Indiraas in paired lines as we an-American in U.S. politics, hit our partners’ sticks in and he’s used his platform to a dance style loved by the most beloved of renounce all ties with his the Hindu pantheon. We wait in line for 30 heritage. Bobby Jindal minutes to buy a Pepsi, open that Pepsi while anglicized his name, miswaiting in line, drop the Pepsi and then casu- pronounces Indian cities ally move the line divider to cover up the spill and insists that he is of before anyone else notices.

Indian descent, as if his We call it Dandiya. Which brings me back brownness is of the one to Bobby Jindal. drop variety rather than “Does he know how to garba,” I won- comprising his entire dered. “What type of raas sticks does he pre- bloodstream. fer — wooden, metal or reinforced glass?”

This is, of course, Of course, Bobby Jindal is most famous his choice. Bobby Jindal for renouncing his roots as a hyphenated can choose to renounce American. His current election tagline is his history, just as I can “tanned, rested and ready” which seems to choose to say I would avoid the inconvenient truth that Jindal is, rather stab myself in the well, ethnic. eye with knitting needles Voters just going on his official portrait as than vote for him. In fact, Governor of Louisiana, in which Jindal’s skin I frequently remind mytone best resembles the Crayola “skin” col- self of the fact that many ored crayon, might be forgiven for believing of the things I hate most otherwise. about him are the things “What color kurta top would Bobby have I hate most about myself, worn,” I muttered. “According to Yahoo! An- that the internalized racswers, dark colors make skin seem lighter.” ism he perpetuates is Racism, despite what Bobby Jindal choos- something I struggle eves to believe, is still alive and well around the eryday. I go by a shorter globe. We look at ourselves and come to the version of my legal conclusion that our skin and the heritage it name, one that fits betannounces is the obvious barrier to our fu- ter in the anglo mouths ture success. Every time I visit my grand- of authority figures. I parents, I watch the ads that promise dark ruthlessly butcher words skinned women a brand new shot at the lives across every Indian lan-

guage, lengthening syllables meant to be short and hardening my tongue to a soft consonant. One time someone told me that I was the whitest Indian they knew, and I swear that my smile could have lit up the night sky.

In short, I needed someone like Jindal to sit in front of the cameras and announce that his name was Piyush, that his family was from Punjab, that yes he was Indian-American, thank you for asking. Yes, he was proud of both aspects of his heritage. Yes, he was proud of his skin.

Do I understand Bobby Jindal? More than I feel comfortable admitting. The difference between us is that I’m a 17 year old who has identified my internalized prejudice and is working on accepting both sides of my duality.

For example, a couple weeks ago I attended a dandiya.

Bobby Jindal, most decidedly, did not.

SHRIYA DESHPANDE l EL ESTOQUE ILLUSTRATION

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Redefining the stigma We should be aware of and evaluate the culture of depression

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PPROXIMATELY 20 PERCENT of teens experience depression before adulthood, but according to Psych Central, only 30 percent of depressed teens are treated. Suicide is the third-leading cause of death for teens, with 90 percent of them linked to depression. As teenagers, we are more vulnerable to isolation. In the transition from childhood to adulthood, we become more aware of the world’s issues. We search for our identity and experience suffering. In such a highly-ranked school where 84 percent of students are attending four-year colleges, we may think that depression is not a large issue at MVHS. But it is serious and it does exist here.

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in which the person is detached and feels hopeless. Actually, a depressed student could also be extremely agitated. There are various levels of depression, and it shouldn’t be overlooked and simplified. Symptoms have wide ranges, according to Psych Central. Teens with depression may display hopelessness, social isolation, increased irritability, poor concentration or self-injury.

However, someone with depression can’t simply be characterized as socially withdrawn. They may possibly be externally outgoing and carefree to hide their depression.

One tragic case was Robin Williams; it may be hard to fathom, but even as an actor and comedian, he had depression and committed suicide.

“We tend to create categories and

stereotypes around certain mental illnesses.

That is, many people assume that teens with depression are troublemakers, loners, nerds or artsy types. But depression does not discriminate...it affects all types of teens,” Psych Central reports.

It’s about looking past the surface, recognizing peers may possibly be depressed and reaching out. It’s no question that life is often fast-paced. When we ask each other how we feel, we should look for hidden troubles.

Student advocate Richard Prinz states that often those who face depression hide their feelings in fear of burdening others or drawing attention. To help them, we have to stay on the lookout, but there comes a limit to how prepared we are to help other students.

“One problem is that there are people who really want to help... but most of us don’t have a lot of training in being a caregiver, so they get brought down too,” Prinz said. “They start losing concentration and their grades start going down.”

Getting adults involved is essential in these sensitive situations. We can report what we observe to Prinz, a guidance counselor, or our school psychologists. In some cases, the student may ask for you to keep their depression a secret. But in those situations we have a right and should break confidentiality to let an adult know. A few years ago, student Veronica Gunawan from the class of 2008 received help for her depressed friend and wrote a document titled “The Declaration of Mind of Reason”, stating our rights as students to break confidentiality and solicit help for those who are depressed and possibly self-mutilating.

“When in the course of hearing any words connected to the term ‘self-mutilation’ or ‘suicide,’ the observer has the right, regardless of his or her position, to report it to a helpful adult or any other source that can help the ‘depressed’ or ’suicidal’ individual,” the Declaration of Mind and Reason states.

If we don’t feel comfortable going to parents, that doesn’t mean we should stop trying to get help.

Find a support system that does work for us. sion or reject acknowledging depression as As peers, we can find a trustworthy adult on it may be a perceived as shameful. campus that will give support and assist the “Because the public discourse regarding student with depression. The student with depression is more prevalent in Western sodeprescieties, it sion may is more be unso cially willing to acceptreach out able to OPINION OF THE EL ESTOQUE for help h a v e or even depresEDITORIAL BOARD unk nowsion, and ing that m o r e he or she has depression; we can help them if people are willing to seek help. In contrast, we stay on the lookout and raise awareness. mental illness is often more stigmatized in Harvard Health Publications states that other cultures. As a result, people and their the neurology of depression is strongly influfamilies may deny mental illness out of enced by genetics and personality. Depresshame of being identified as ‘crazy’. Othsion affects regions of the brain such as the ers may find the label “depression” morally Amygdala, responsible for moods including unacceptable, shameful, and experientially fear and sorrow, the thalamus, in charge of meaningless. Treatment for depression may thinking and behavior and the hippocampus, be actively resisted by someone who comes accountable for memory recollection. But they also state that our temperament and willingness to seek help can be malleable.

“Cognitive psychologists point out that your view of the world and, in particular, your unacknowledged assumptions about how the world works also influence how you feel,” Harvard Medicine reports.

Part of lessening feelings of hopelessness is evaluating our definitions of success. If we solely derive our satisfaction from getting straight A’s, what happens if we get a B? If we fall behind? We could possibly disempower and strictly categorize ourselves.

Regardless of influences on our beliefs and values, there is something that cannot be taken away from us — choice. A choice to shape our temperament and have an open, accepting outlook. That outlook has more impact on our peers than we think. Achievements shouldn’t determine our happiness or our approval of each other. We may not have had a choice in feeling depressed, but we have a choice to try to tackle it. Student advocate Richard Prinz believes students should evaluate and practice looking into their emotional states.

“We might blame the school or feel unworthy, and it’s based on the idea that we have to get an A,“ Prinz said. “[There’s the idea that] if we work hard and get into a good school, then later we’ll be happy instead of we need to be happy first.”

In raising our awareness of depression, we must lessen the stigma surrounding it. Sometimes parents of depressed students may not recognize their child needs help or depression may be stigmatized in a certain culture.

Gracepoint Mental Health Foundation notes that some cultures may pathologize depres-

STAFF EDITORIAL

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out of this sort of culture,” Gracepoint Mental Health FoundaOPINION tion says.

In his parenting class, Prinz gives homework for the parents to simply observe their child’s emotions.

“This one parent came back and said that she’d never done that [observed her child’s emotions] before,” Prinz said. “I think some cultures don’t have the practice of being selfreflective or paying attention to our emotional state — how we think.”

Medication shouldn’t be stigmatized either, as it often helps the person with depression and can really improve their overall emotional state, Pysch Central states. Taking these factors into consideration, we should stay aware and realize that peers coping with depression may not be getting the help they need.

We can open ourselves to examine our feelings and how we interact with our peers.

And realize that depression is complicated.

What we can do is stay on the lookout.

In our classrooms, any peer could be coping with depression. Negative statements may leave more impact than we intend. And know that there is always another solution, even if you can’t see it right now. e

OPINION / 13

Welcoming arms

Syrian refugees should be resettled in more compatible areas

STORY BY TAL MAROM

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ILLUSTRATION BY SNEHA GAUR

IDDLE EASTERN REFUGEES are flooding Europe as a result of the turmoil in Syria, Iraq, and Afghanistan. On the other side of the globe, the Obama administration has announced that it will assist the effort to resettle refugees by accepting over 85,000 of them in the next year. Not surprisingly, the decision of nations such as Germany and Sweden to accept hundreds of thousands of refugees has inflamed Islamophobic sentiment, where anti-Muslim groups such as the Patriotic Europeans Against the Islamisation of the Occident have protested the move.

Alarmingly, this same type of Islamophobia has manifested itself in the United States within dialogue on refugees very, which is why we can’t just resettle them where space is available. They need to be placed in accepting communities, and it just so happens that Cupertino fits that bill.

In a rally in New Hampshire, Donald Trump announced that he would send refugees back to Syria if elected as President.

Not only that, but far-right groups such as Refugee Resettlement Watch and Center for Security Policy have openly warned of doomsday scenarios in which extremist Muslims come to the U.S. en masse, refusing to assimilate in order to try to establish Sharia Law. Refugee Resettlement Watch has even posted a Youtube video, with the founder of the group claiming that she “has become increasingly alarmed with the percentage of problematic Muslim refugees admitted and distributed around the U.S.” It’s more than just newsworthy incidents.

In 2013, the Southern Poverty Law Center, an organization that monitors hate crimes, estimated that 38 to 53 percent of religiously-motivated hate crimes committed in the U.S. were against Muslims, though they only comprise 0.9 percent of the population. We don’t want refugees to arrive stateside just to become victims of xenophobia. That’s why resettlement programs should place refugees, who are overwhelmingly Arab and Muslim, in cities and towns that have substantial Arab and Muslim populations.

That’s where we come in. Our city has a sizeable Muslim population, with mosques and Arab markets easily spotted throughout the area. We have a Muslim Student Association on campus, and hijabs are not an

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uncommon sight at MVHS. We’re a cultural melting pot, a community of immigrants. We don’t fear more newcomers. In fact, out of a survey of 352 students, 61% of students would be comfortable with refugees being resettled in Cupertino.

Professor Evangeline Abriel, a law professor and director of the Immigration Appellate Practice Clinic at Santa Clara University, explains that the government actually resettles refugees with the help of national non-profit organizations.

“Refugees are not consulted on where they would like to go once we decide to resettle them,” Abriel said. “The government sends refugees to nine non-profit organizations who then send the refugees to be handled by contracted sub-agencies, who finally settle refugees where space is available.”

Unfortunately, Abriel also said that refugees only get 90 days of assistance from the government and the non-profit agencies assigned to them, which includes services like food stamps, housing assistance, and English classes. Given the limited assistance that can be provided, integration into American society can be tough, especially due to language and cultural barriers.

It makes sense to resettle refugees in areas with people of the same ethnicities, it would make the transition to American life much easier.

That’s why Cupertino is the perfect fit.

Our Arab and Muslim community provides a necessary sense of familiarity, yet we are also a very diverse community that still encourages integration.

There are a wide variety of options to physically settling refugees, including renting programs, a tactic that is successfully being used in Germany that matches refugees to local homes that would be willing to rent out a room. But before taking action, we simply need to start changing the “we’re half way across the world” mindset.

Perhaps the resettlement programs that are settling refugees should start sending them to accepting communities like ours, instead of places like South Carolina, before the government brings in tens of thousands of them. They fled their countries to escape fear. Let’s make sure they’re placed in welcoming hands so that they don’t have to face it again. e

A joint effort

Students should embrace the opportunity to help other students

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STORY BY GRACE ZHOU

OMPETITION. This is the one word we have all come to use to define MVHS one way or another. The competitive environment here has encouraged us to work against our own peers, because we’re all competing for that higher end of the curve, that club officer position, and that very same spot on the top.

The sight of students offering each other genuine help and guidance is a sight that has become rarer than it should be. Instead of working against each other though, we should strive to work together, and help each other more, because there are many benefits to be received from working as a whole.

Biology club, peer counseling, study buddies — these are only a few of the many organizations on campus in which students themselves offer to help, tutor or counsel other students in a wide area of subjects.

In a constantly changing environment like MVHS, it’s easy for students to fall a step behind others, and after getting off that path, it’s pretty hard to get right back on. It’s something we’ve all encountered. We just zone out that one day in class, or have too much work and clubs and tests jammed all into one week so we can barely remember the order of our classes — much less the structure of a carbohydrate the teacher went over in third period biology on Tuesday.

This is why we are provided with the opportunity to receive guidance from other students, who we might feel more comfortable with, because they can empathize more with the five APs, the three clubs, and that

26% share test

study guides with peers *From a 352 s survey of tuden ts

During a biology club meeting, senior Atharva Rohatgi tutors freshman Julia Chang. Photo by Fatima Ali one afterschool sport we all try to juggle at once. A study done by the Institute of Education from London University involving 4,000 students from the ages of five to fourteen found that the students who worked together in groups and helped each other, made rapid progress compared to those that didn’t. Student collaboration not only allows students to work more effectively, but also a chance for them to see things from a perspective like their own. When working with peers just like them, students are more open and can relate more, compared to parents or teachers.

Math and Physics teacher Sushma Bana directly experienced the difference between the interactions of students versus that of a student and a teacher. Three years ago, Bana actually took Spanish 1 along with other students. That year, Bana had a free fifth period, so every fifth period, she would go and sit in on Spanish teacher Joyce Fortune’s fifth period Spanish 1 class. She took the course for the entire year, doing everything a Spanish 1 student was supposed to do, from the

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nerve wrecking orals to the group projects to the dreaded finals. Through this experience, Bana realized that there was a lot more to students, their interactions, their stress, and their complaints than what she had only seen as a teacher.

“I could see, when I was part of a group [in Spanish], that the kids were more open with me and they called me by my first name. There are presentations, there are oral quizzes, and [during those quizzes] I could feel my heart beating so fast,” Bana said.

“It’s just as teachers we lose perspective that these kids have seven classes, and they go through test taking in all seven of those classes, with seven different styles of teaching. So going through that experience really made me more sensitive to the needs of students and really affected my practices.”

This is essentially what biology club, peer counseling and all related clubs are for — to understand and learn from others who are very much like them. They’re here so students can share their experiences with each other and then learn from those experiences.

It’s more than just a club or a 45 minute tutoring session on photosynthesis. It’s about understanding, empathizing and sharing. It’s about connecting. e

OPINION / 15

Impact of faith Religion impacts us on different levels STORY BY EMMA LAM AND RENEE PU

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N THE MVHS COMMUNITY, IT MAY BE EASY TO overlo ok t he impac t of religion among st udent s. In a sur vey of only 388 st udent s, over 9 different religions were represente d. Wit h religious organiz at ions like

t he Muslim St udent A sso ciat ion and Ro ot s Ch r ist ian Club, many st udent s at test to t he pur p ose religion ser ves in t heir lives and in t heir high scho ol exp er ience.

We a ske d five sources on how religion impac t s t hem.

HOW DOES RELIGION IMPACT US?

CHRISTIANITY history teacher Margaret Platt I’m sure there are people who are sensitive to those who may not be the same religion.

The students can choose to show their faith, and the school creates a safe environment for those who are passionate about their belief. On a weekly basis, students from the Christian club come, share their stories and pray together. That is hugely impactful, for many students look forward to the meeting very much, because it gives them stability and strength when they connect to their fellow classmates.

ISLAM

sophomore Ayesha Waqar

I don’t think religion affects students because there is a ton of diversity. People don’t judge one other for being a certain religion. Being a Muslim doesn’t stop me from participating in school activities.

Everyone can express their religion to their whole extent, as long as people don’t try to convert each other.

Religion doesn’t define people for who they are, but for their beliefs as a person.

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BUDDHISM

sophomore Mayank Singamreddy

Religion affects how you act toward others; if you treat them kindly or not.

Like the purpose of Buddhism is to make you less cynical of the world, and to give up what makes you a bad and kinder person.

Buddhism helps me become more content.

However, even Buddhism doesn’t affect my life at school because my friend group is really diverse religion wise.

JUDAISM

sophomore Roni Mayo

In a place like people MVHS, barely have any free time as it is, with school work which and all, makes it hard to celebrate religion. example, For during September and October, I know there are a ton of Jewish holidays, which is sometimes hard to keep track of because of school. Religion defines the way interpret they aspects certain of holidays and events going on around them.

ATHEISM

sophomore Kathleen Ra

As a kid, I was taught all the happy things in Christanity. But now, you have responsibilities to uphold your religion in bigger ways. I think that people around you influence your decisions about religion.

As an atheist in MVHS, people haven’t bothered me about being one. It hasn’t really impacted me about how I am at school, being an atheist hasn’t affected me as a person overall.

Disappointing gun show With another mass shooting, we are thrust into the same cycle S T O RY B Y P R A N AV J A N D H A L AYA

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of duck and cover drills from the 80’s.

Guns don’t kill people. People kill people. You’re right, but people who do kill people use guns as an efficient means of their carnage. It’s not that difficult to understand. I don’t want to live in a nation where the balance between life and death for ordinary citizens exists on the trigger finger of an over-zealous and possibly mentally unstable gun owner, and I am sure most of the American public doesn’t either. e

N BY MINGJIE ILLUSTRATIO ZHONG

GUNMAN WALKED INTO A (high National Rifle Association parade around school/movie theater/University the nation championing inaction in a time campus) with a gun, a machine built when lives are at stake every single day. The for the sole purpose of efficient blood of the innocent students who died murder, killed (insert number) children, in Umpqua, Oregon, are on the hands of (insert number)fathers, (insert number) politicians who value political expediency mothers, and wounded (insert number). over the lives of innocent Americans.

I thought it would be efficient to create Following nearly every mass shooting, a universal a subtle mantra is chanted template for by entitled gun owners the story lead who would rather turn a of the next blind eye than confront inevitable gun an inconvenient truth. related tragedy This time, it was said that befalls our outright by presidential nation. Frame candidate Jeb Bush: “Things it somewhere, happen.” Imagine if he said and keep it the same thing after 9/11. there until PRANAV JANDHALAYA These words are carefully Co ng r e s s chosen to create a sense of p a s s e s THE ELEPHANT IN THE ROOM apathy and complacency, me a ning f ul smothering necessary gun control legislation. action in its tracks. This aversion is also The issue of gun violence has a tendency responsible for a perverse victim blaming to spark highly polarizing conversations culture when it comes to gun control. that do not last long enough to catalyze After the shooting in Oregon, Ben Carson any legitimate action. With each near also took center stage to give the shooter’s month, mass shooting, we are once again victims some feedback on what they did thrust into the same cycle that occurs in wrong: “I would not just stand there and let the same setting. It is a disappointing show him shoot me.” He might be a moron, but I that takes place in the political arena. am sure he knows that getting shot isn’t a The latest mass shooting to jump start choice. This way of shifting the focus of the this cycle involved a 26 year old autistic conversation from the shooter to the victim man who opened fire on an Oregon college is more commonplace than one might think. campus, killing 10 and wounding 7. But the We live in a community with relatively no conversations have already died out in record gun culture, but we still regularly practice speed. I am ashamed to say that I wasn’t barricading ourselves in our classes to protect even surprised when I heard the news. We against potential shooters. We practice are becoming more and more desensitized these drills in the same fashion we practice to these events, which we perceive to be earthquake drills. And we have come to nothing more than inevitable phenomena. believe that mass shootings are as inevitable It’s not just occasional mass shootings and as uncontrollable as natural disasters. like these that should warrant attention. An Whether or not a gun gets into the hands average of 92 people die every day in the of a psychopath can be controlled, but United States from gun related deaths. If you instead of addressing the problem of gun don’t find that shocking, consider a recent violence, we instill a sense of fear into young statistic cited by New York Times collumnist children whose development is affected Nicholas Kristof: more preschoolers are by the realization that even our country’s shot dead every year than officers in the leaders believe that the next mass shooting line of duty (82 compared to 27 in 2013). is unavoidable. Decades after meaningful Yet, our elected officials, controlled by gun gun control legislation is passed, we will manufacture lobbyists, largely do nothing. laugh at the absurdity of code red drills the Instead, they and right wing groups like the same way we now laugh at the absurdity

O P I N I O N / 17

EL ESTOQUE

FACES O eligion. For some, it is solace and guidance. For others, it is restriction. It presents a platform for both contention and community. For climates of hostility and affection alike. As America’s religious dynamics change and religion itself evolves, so do the ideas and perceptions of faith. We explore how the shifting national landscape molds and is molded by the individual.

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of faith..

She could not tell if the red pooling around the

wreckage was blood or paint. Again and again, junior Aniqua Azad watched footage of the construction crane that had been toppled by whipping gusts of wind, crashing into the roof and entrance of the Grand Mosque, killing 107 people. As the cameras tremored, it was as if the entire world was shaking.

It happened on Sept. 11, 2015. Azad returned home from school that day not knowing if her father was one of those people.

When Azad’s father announced earlier in the year that he planned to complete his Hajj, the Islamic pilgrimage completed once in a lifetime by adults, they immediately began to ready themselves together. While Azad’s father would travel alone to the Ka’aba, the center of the Grand Mosque in Mecca, Saudi Arabia, Azad would learn new prayers to aid her father’s spiritual journey. Meanwhile, her mother scrambled to CVS and Target for tents, sleeping bags and first aid kits with medication. With over two million people participating, it would be terrible for Azad’s father to catch somebody else’s cold.

“That was [one moment] in my life when religion helped me,” Azad said. “I was patient, and I prayed.” She prayed for her father to return home safely, and he did. She believed that God had saved him.

For Azad, this is what faith is about: trust, patience and gratitude. Every day, Azad tries to give thanks to God for giving her life and for protecting the ones she loves. It’s about family above all.

And while Azad prayed for her father’s safety, junior Salma Sheriff was at home reading about the crane accident, wide-eyed as she scrolled through the comments.

“Some people thought it was karma for 9/11. Some people thought more people should have died,” Sheriff said. She paused.

“But those were innocent people.”

Sheriff knew that there would always be people who saw Muslims only as the few faces flashed on nighttime television. As the one word captioning them.

Seventh grade was the first and only time she was called a terrorist.

Sheriff was standing in the shot-put line at a track and field meet when a boy strolled up to her. That’s what she’ll always remember about him: his height, the way he tow-

During the last week of August 2015, a deluge of “God is real” Facebook posts flooded the newsfeed of sophomore Nicholas Chen. Sparked by the “God is real” posts, an official Facebook debate on the existence of God as portrayed in the Christian Bible ultimately ensued between Chen and sophomore Ryan Yang. Here are some excerpts and ideas presented in the debate on religion.

The post on which the debate took place was created. Chen set a ground rule for the debate: only Chen and sophomores Ryan Yang and Albert Yang were allowed to comment during the debate.

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8:47 PM

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Chen argued: “While the existence of a God cannot be [proven] nor disproven, the depiction of God in the Bible is logically inconsistent...”

Ryan argued: “...If there is no higher power than man, and we came from organisms that came from organisms that came from simple organisms that came from chemical reactions, then why do people still care about morality?”

Chen argued: “Being atheist doesn’t mean you don’t have moral values, it simply means that you derive them from a concept other than a religious text.”

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A QUESTION OF FAITH

But they hadn’t imagined the worst of it.

When Azad’s mother picked her up from school on Sept. 11, her mother carefully asked her if she’d heard about anything that had happened that day. Confused, Azad said she hadn’t heard anything.

But while she’d spent the day in class, her mother had been receiving calls from family and friends, everyone asking the same question: “Is he ok?”

Azad’s mother called her husband again and again. And when he finally picked up, she was speechless with relief. He was okay.

He had meant to travel to the Ka’aba that day, but he’d fallen asleep instead. When Azad heard what had happened from her mother, she felt like her heart had stopped.

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The teacher bent over to read the writing, asking her casually if the words meant “Death to America.”

Shocked, she turned and walked back to her seat. She held her head high, not wanting to let what he’d said make her ashamed.

Maybe it had only been a joke. But still, it stung. That word he had glanced at meant so much to her. That word meant God. She was just as astonished by the casualness with which students joked about and encouraged stereotypes.

One day in another class, while the teacher was very much present, students were

IT’S EASY TO BE DISTRACTED BY OTHER PEOPLE’S HATRED AND NOT SEE WHATS BEAUTIFUL..

- JUNIOR SALMA SHERIFF cracking jokes when one boy called out, “[Muslims] sold bombs shaped like prayer rugs. Prophets went through the roof.”

Half the class burst into laughter. But what surprised her most was that the teacher had heard it and said nothing. And while some students did protest, the reaction was weak, and Azad, surrounded by chuckling classmates, could say nothing herself. She’d wanted to scold the student who’d used the word “prophet” as a joke: prophets in Islam are the messengers of God, and to her, they certainly aren’t jokes.

She’s always believed religion to be a positive force in her life: she remembers her childhood stories, how her mother recount-

ed all the stories of the prophets. She remembers the peace that praying had granted her when she thought her father might not make it home.

“The only thing negative about my religion is other people’s reaction,” Azad said.

She believes that Islamophobia is far from fading away.

According to a study conducted by Gallup in 2011, 48 percent of Muslim Americans have experienced racial or religious discrimination, and in the same study, 60 percent of Americans believed that Muslims are not respected in Western society.

But demographics are changing: according to data from the Pew Research Center, the Christian population has decreased nearly 10 percent between 2007 and 2014, while the Muslim population, in particular, has expanded the most, with a 50 percent increase in that same amount of time. Though Christians are still the vast majority, Azad believes that Islam and other religions are sometimes seen as a threats to the traditional majority as more immigrants enter the United States.

“Racism and Islamophobia are tied together,” Azad said. When a woman refused to sell a boomerang to her father, she knew that it was more than just his religion.

It was the color of his skin.

In a traditionally Christian-dominated country, Azad, a child of Bangladeshi immigrants, knows that she will probably always be a minority — but an eventual shift from a Christian majority could mean greater awareness of other religions. It could mean a more informed generation. To her, this means that when she tells people she’s Muslim, everyone will just shrug and say, “That’s cool.”

Still, most people don’t know she’s Muslim. After all, she doesn’t wear the hijab, something that seems to be a bigger deal for other people than for her. “‘People ask me, why don’t you wear the headscarf?’” Azad said. “And [I say I’ll

Continued on next page

9:11 p.m.

9:38 p.m.

3:29 p.m

Ryan rebutted by questioning the purpose of morality without religion: “...Don’t your beliefs say that there is no higher authority than man? What is the purpose of morality if we are just from chemical reactions?”

Chen argued: “There’s definitely purpose for morality, even without a God.”

The debate ended. Others began to chime in with their own thoughts on the issue, and the post amassed 241 comments.

Sept. 2

re ed as

ered over her and said, “Terrorist.”

Stunned, all she could do was wait her turn, throw the shotput and go home.

What she was overwhelmed with wasn’t fear. It was realization.

“I was enlightened,” Sheriff said, recalling the incident. “I realized that some people wouldn’t like me because I’m Muslim.

There’s always this slight worry that something I say will be taken differently.”

After being called a terrorist, she couldn’t help but wonder: what if that was what everyone thought of her? What if it had always been in the back of everyone’s minds?

This was what her mother told her the first day she wore the hijab: that some people would not see her as an individual. That she would be judged for every word she spoke.

But she quickly decided that this couldn’t be true. She wouldn’t let it be true. Now, when people say they wonder why so many Muslims are terrorists, she is quick to say that most aren’t. The problem, she believes, is that media companies aren’t interested in reporting about the average Muslim.

But to Sheriff, the greatest tragedy isn’t when media images and stereotypes invite hatred into her community. It’s when that fear is internalized.

“Even more sad than the people who hate Islam are [Muslims] who hate themselves for being Muslim” Sheriff said. “It’s easy to get distracted by other people’s hatred and not see what’s really beautiful.”

Like Sheriff, Zayan Musa, who attends Middle College, has always found Islam to be a bringer of hope. Yet her mother also warned her, the day she wore the hijab for the first time, that people might look at her twice. At airports, security officers often eyed her several times before herding her to another room to examine her hijab.

Even Azad, who does not wear the hijab, has become accustomed to these warnings, but they have not always protected her.

Once, when she was writing in Arabic for a creative project in class, she walked up to her teacher and asked for his approval.

SPECIAL / 21

wear it] when I have enough faith in myself that I won’t take it off.”

She admits that when people imagine someone who is Muslim, they often picture a stereotype of a woman in a full burqa or at least the hijab, without realizing that it’s a personal choice. That she isn’t doing anything wrong by not wearing it because there is no such thing as “wrong.”

And if people tell her that wearing the hijab is anti-feminist or oppressive to women, she’s quick to highlight the irony.

“People think that women who wear the hijab have been oppressed by their husbands and fathers,” Azad said. “But really, people who tell women to stop wearing the hijab are oppressing those women.”

Though she admits that in countries such as Saudi Arabia, the hijab can be forced on women, she doesn’t understand why it would be acceptable for Muslim women in the United States to be pressured to do the opposite.

To Azad, these kinds of hypocrisies aren’t isolated. They’re cogs in the greater machine of falsely framing Muslims as threats. She agrees that Christians are not commonly judged or stereotyped based on violent content in the Bible, and yet Muslims are constantly told that that the Qu’ran preaches bombing and terrorism.

“The Qu’ran also preaches about how to divorce, how to do [so many] things,” Azad said, smiling. “You shouldn’t judge anything by its cover.”

Like Sheriff, she believes that Islam, like any religion, has no specific doctrine, no right or wrong way to practice. More important than following a religion is learning to question it, to research the reason behind a belief or a custom, to evaluate everything on a personal level. This is what she knows to be the path to truth.

Azad is always in pursuit of that truth.

As the secretary of the Muslim Student Association, she helps set up room A205 at lunch so that Muslim students can pray.

This winter, the five slots of prayer time will shift, meaning that they’ll need a space to pray at school. The prayer rugs they’ve brought in advance are rolled and tucked in a storage cabinet, dusty but ready to be unfurled. Every year, they prepare the same way: desks frame the room. The president delivers a sermon. The students kneel, facing the Ka’aba. Here, they are protected: from outside eyes, from light, from sound.

They stand in their rows. They dim the lights. Except for the occasional muffled voice seeping in from the hallway outside, the room is charged with silence. e

A SHOW OF FAITH

By Akshara Majjiga

Christianity evolves as religiosity declines BY kristin chang

S Freshman HIRA ALI Sometimes, it starts with a challenge — at least it did for freshman Hira Ali. When her older sister told her that she doubted Ali would be able to wear a hijab, Ali’s stubbornness kicked in, and she was determined to prove her older sister wrong.

Her mother never wore a hijab when she was growing up in Pakistan, so it was up to Ali and her sister to figure out how to wear theirs. Now, she has formed a connection with wearing the hijab and what it means to her.

“The hijab is supposed to tell people to judge you based on your intelligence rather than your beauty,” Ali said.

HIJAB (n.) - a veil or head covering worn by some Muslim women if/when they choose to

SAFETY PIN to hold the headscarf in place

HEADBAND to keep stray hairs out of her face HEADSCARF One of Musa’s favorite places to buy her headscarfs is Forever 21.

Junior ZAYAN MUSA 2 2 /E E L LEESSTTOOQQUUEE / O C T 2 0 1 5

THE AGE OF EXPLORATION enior Cynthia Shen strives to redefine Christianity on more inclusive, openminded terms.

“There are misunderstandings and miscommunications between non-believers and Christians,” Cynthia said. “Sometimes Christians come off as very self-righteous, very close-minded. Critical of others.”

Though Cynthia knows that many people believe Christians enjoy stigmatizing people, she’s seen evidence to the contrary: At an interdistrict gathering for Christian clubs, one girl decided to stand up before a crowd of strangers and talk about reconciling her faith with her sexual orientation. Shen watched as the people around her encouraged her to keep speaking. And this, she believes, is the very foundation of Christianity. Love.

When she sees conservative politicians cite Christian values to justify laws, Shen has her doubts. The line between personal belief and imposing these beliefs seem to blur and fade.

“Gay marriage, for example, has always been a hard issue for [Christians] to talk about,” Cynthia said. “What I’ve come to terms with is that even though I don’t know exactly what I believe in, I don’t have the right to impose my beliefs when it comes to the law.”

Shen would rather focus on loving everybody equally, on being part of the shifting landscape of Christianity rather than resisting change. After all, according to Cynthia, things are changing: Christianity is becoming more spiritual and less religious.

According to the Pew Research Center, America has declined in religiosity between 2007 and 2014, with a rise in the nonChristian and unaffiliated populations. To Cynthia, this doesn’t mean that Christianity is no longer relevant. Rather, it means that there is now less pressure to follow institutional rules. Instead, she believes the main goal now for young Christians is to find a personal connection with God. Formal practices, like donating to churches, no longer matter as much to her generation.

To Shen, the most obvious shift is one in demographics: she no longer believes that straight, white men control Christianity.

“This is an age of exploration,” Shen said. “This idea that anyone is welcome.” e

FIGURES OF FAITH A profile of the religious story BY TRISHA KHOLIYA community at MVHS

33%

Do you think that America has a true division between church and state?

19%

32% unsure 11% no 56%

yes

OF STUDENTS THINK THAT RELIGIOUS TEXTS SHOULD BE MODIFIED

How often students attend religious service

Of students don’t practice the same religion as their family

27% Of students have experienced religious discrimination

Other

38% RELIGIOUS AFFILIATION CHRISTIAN

JEWISH

MUSLIM

Never

27%

HINDU

Weekly

14% BUDDHIST

Monthly

11%

ATHEIST/ AGNOSTIC

Yearly

10% OTHER

17% 1% 3% 26% 4% 43% 6% *All stats from online survey of 349 students ICONS USED FROM NOUN PROJECT

S P E C I A L / 23

MATTERS OF FAITH Students share the importance of religious objects

1

3.

SOPHOMORE ESTHER CHANG Christian Sept. 28, 2014. Sophomore Esther Chang can relay that date off the top of her head. This was the day that Chang got a new bible, which contains sentiments from the church that are dear to her. But most importantly, it was the day of her baptism. This time, she knew that she was ready; she could feel it in her heart. She was even baptized at the same time as the friends she grew up with through church, which made her experience all the more special. Though others often speak of the surreal experiences that they feel come with baptism, Chang felt none of that, because, to her, this was just a realization of her faith. With her bible comes a rush of happiness from an important moment of her life. It’s Chang’s memorabilia from the special day of her baptism.

JUNIOR DANA KHODI Zoroastrian

1

junior andre becker

2.

Jewish

Buddhist

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4

2.

3.

A well-known symbol of Zoroastrianism is the Faravahar, which has a face that looks to the right at the future. There are three wings, one of which represents good reflections, one good words and the last good deeds. Sophomore Dana Khodi considers this symbol to be her mantra.

“I go by ‘good thoughts, good words, good deeds,’” Khodi said.

“That is so important to me and to every Zoroastrian because you’re not going to get far in life if you don’t have good thoughts, do good things [and] say nice things to people.”

Yet, the beauty of the symbol is apparent to others as well. Khodi says that what used to be a symbol that allowed Zoroastrians to differentiate themselves has now become somewhat of a fashion statement to others.

SENIOR KENJI KADOKURA When praying, senior Kenji Kadokura uses ojuzu beads, as per Buddhist customs. In a traditional string of ojuzu beads, each bead has significance. Two beads represent parents and the rest represent friends and family, except one that represents the Buddha. Traditional strings of ojuzu beads generally contain 108 prayer beads, but for practical purposes, Kadokura uses a smaller one. Kadokura had a rough start with his first ojuzu. When he was six years old, he sat on the pews of his temple and played with the ojuzu’s many beads. Then, all of a sudden, the string of the ojuzu snapped, leaving Kadokura speechless with the beads rolling around on the floor of the church. Kadokura recalls how everybody stared at him while he sat there, embarrassed at his mistake.

STORY AND PHOTOS

BY TRISHA KHOLIYA

4

As a child, junior Andre Becker would be shipped off to Hebrew school, and, like most children who despised school, Becker didn’t like it. However, being Jewish came with the fun time of Hanukkah — a party for eight days. As a six-year-old, Becker sat around the kitchen table with his extended family, spinning the dreidel. As he spun the dreidel, Becker usually held no hopes of winning the game by landing on the right side of the dreidel, as the chance of actually winning the game is really low. But this time was different. He was all in. He placed his supply of gold chocolate coins in the center of the table with the rest of the kids.

The game used to be played with actual gold coins, but as times changed so did the game. He spun his family’s dreidel, and, luckily for Becker, he was the winner of several golden chocolate coins. e

religion as tradition

separate but equal

Two years ago, current senior Golan Gingold attended his first and last meeting of the Jewish Student Union. Apparently, the club was not tailored towards atheist Jews.

Though he drank hot chocolate with peppermint and drank holidy movies last Christmas Eve, Gingold does not believe that he is betraying his Israeli origins. Gingold’s parents are from Israel, the country created for Judaism, but call themselves less religious than the average Jewish couple. In fact, his father does not believe in God. “Israeli people are more about the culture and the tradition and less about religion and reading the Torah,” Gingold said.

He often feels distant from Jews who study the Torah closely, since he is Jewish only by name. Gingold, raised as an Israeli with a religious mother and atheist father, has always felt conflicted his logical side, which favors scientific explanations, and his spiritual side, which favors trust in an all powerful being to help alleviate the world’s suffering. However, he is critical of such a being existing because there is still much suffering in the world. He may not pray every night, but he will light the eight candles of Hanukkah this November to honor his Israeli roots.

a leap of faith

Senior Nirupama Chandrasekhar was born into a Hindu family, but attended a Christian elementary school and made many Buddhist friends. Of the three religions she found herself well-versed in, ultimately, she followed none.

Chandrasekhar believes that most religions preach good virtues, but have old cultural ideas that are no longer applicable to present day.

Buddhism sees her attachment to anything as a blockade of her enlightenment. Christianity looks down upon her bisexual orientation. Hinduism limits equality with its caste system.

However, Chandrasekhar still holds the spiritual self in high regard, disregarding only divine ordinations that belittle other beliefs and values. Whether or not they believe in greater dieties, every person can shape their own future with their spirituality.

“When your strict adherence to a religion is harming other people,” Chandrasekhar said, “I think you really have to think about your effect on the world.”

A TURN OF FAITH

rejecting religion

Persecution. Imprisonment.

Kids often adopt the religion The sound of church bells was Torture. Just centuries ago, secommon on Sundays throughout they inherit at birth, but nior Naré Mikayelyan would have senior Sierra Rodrigues’ childhood. been labeled a heretic. Thankfully, others are alienated Now, her Sundays are filled with the that’s not the case today. For years, sounds of her hiking and playing games by certain Mikayelyan, who was born into the Eastwith her friends. ern Orthodox Church, questioned whether Rodrigues used to be an active member of beliefs or not her decision to become atheist was an the Catholic Church. Now that she feels a disethical one. crepancy between what she was taught and what

By Daniel Lin and Despite her early exposure to Catholicism, Mishe truly believes, Rodrigues doesn’t find Catholicism kayelyan became alienated by the religion when she Dylan Tsai playing a big role in her life. was only in grade school.

It was in middle school, when Rodrigues started having “It was one day in elementary school when I didn’t remore activities, that she began treating religion as a lower prially understand who we were praying to,” Mikayelyan said. ority. As Rodrigues grew up, she realized some of the church’s Mikayelyan said she used to be hard on herself because she teachings contradicted her values. For instance, Rodrigues found knew Christians had to act a certain way, questioning whether or that many Catholics are intolnot she was being righteous. Yet Mierant of same-sex marriage. kayelyan could not find any evidence “I feel like sometimes peoof God. It was then that she realized ple take what the Bible says she didn’t believe in her religion. very seriously,” Rodrigues Today, Mikayelyan supports her said. “People should be able to parents by continuing to go to church. love whoever they want.”

She admits it is a bit awkward, but Nevertheless, Rodrigues is she has shifted her perspectives. still unsure whether or not she “I kind of just treat it as visiting a will return to church. museum,” Mikayelyan said. e “Some part of [Catholicism] is still with me,” Rodrigues said, “but for the majority [of time], it isn’t very prevalent.”

SPECIAL / 25

flashback< to the future> It’s been 30 years. How far has technology advanced?

STORY AND GRAPHICS BY HANNAN WALIULLAH

I

N THE 1980S, WHEN DIRECTOR Robert Zemeckis depicted the future in the “Back to the Future” franchise, he visualized Oct. 21, 2015 as a time filled with flying cars, fancy pizza-enlargers and hoverboards. But what did we get instead?

Tiny life-sucking pocket computers, the selfie stick and Donald Trump running for president. Zemeckis was wrong.

Technology has changed in the past 30 years, but the real 2015 is clearly not in the same universe that Marty McFly

and the eccentric scientist Doc Brown traveled to in their time defying DeLorean.

Although predictions like flying cars or hoverboards seen in the movies were a bit ambitious, it’s undeniable that technology has changed in the past 30 years.

SCI-NOPSIS THE ORIGINAL: Marty McFly, the protagonist, travels back in time to when his parents were in high school to save their relationship and his existence.

THE SEQUEL: Marty travels to 2015, where he accidently changes the past by changing the future.

THE OTHER SEQUEL: Marty travels to the Wild West to rescue the inventor of the time machine Doc Brown.

MOVIE UNIVERSE

HOVERBOARD The hoverboard is iconic to many “Back to the Future” fans. In the movie, The effect of the boards “hovering” was achieved by suspending wires on the hoverboard, then having the wires digitally erased later.

FLYING CARS

FAX MACHINES In the movie, cars could receive a hover conversion, as an extension to their car. The wheels would fold down, and the car would defy gravity. Cars in the air travelled on skyways, the air-bound equivalent of highways.

2 6 /EELL EESSTTOOQQUUEE / O C T 2 0 1 5

S Fax machines have become practically nonexistent in the past 15 years. Marty McFly was fired using a Fax machine, but in our timeline, the equivalent would be being fired over email or text — still a lousy way to be fired.

JOURNEY THROUGH SCI-FI MOVIES A&E math teacher Kathleen Collins “Obviously, in movies, the cinematics and graphics are better, so in a lot of ways it becomes more believable. If you watch movies made in later times, the makeup is better, the graphics are better, everything becomes so much more real-feeling and that possibility seems more real, because that visual allows you to believe it.”

sophomore Derian Theverappuruma

senior Rachel Tham

“During the 80s to 90s, there was a genre called cyberpunk, very gritty, and says how technology will advance, but will make people worse because we will give to much power. Nowadays, we have a thing called post cyberpunk, which says how we are flawed now, but with the proper guidance, we’ll be a better society in the future.”

“In sci-fi movies, the beliefs and issues of the time period are reflected in the movies, so the dystopian novels and the movies now reflect how we are worried now on how destroying earth, while ‘Back to the Future’ takes place during a time when that’s not really a significant problem.”

our universe HANDS-FREE SEGWAY In 2014, a company known as Hendo started a kickstarter campaign to make the hoverboard more that just a fictionalized fantasy.

Unfortunately, for most, the hoverboard is something that has not yet been commercialized. The closest equivalent—the hands free segway—can cost upwards of $400.

SMARTPHONES The popularization of smartphones and email has impacted our methods of communication and has made fax machines obselete. Fax Machines have not become essential for every room in the house, but hey, smart devices are used in the bathroom.

SELF-DRIVING CARS The development of cars has steered in another direction: instead of looking up into the sky, engineers are looking for convenience. Google is developing a “self driving car” or SDC for short. However, this car is not to be released to the public for at least another five years.

A & E / 27

Horror Story Students share their supernatural encounters STORY BY ILENA PENG GRAPHICS BY HANNAN WALIULLAH

I

T’S THE TIME OF YEAR WHEN THE LEAVES FALL, leaving behind the skeleton of a tree to make creepy shadows that catch people off guard. It’s the season of cheesy horror movies and scary pranks. Somewhere between the buttery popcorn and the neglected chocolate Whoppers, we realize something — these horror movies might have a glimmer of truth. The blood and gore of those movies leave eerie thoughts swirling our mind, causing us to lose sleep.

Yet some individuals know from personal experience that not everything in those horror movies is fictional. In their eyes, ghosts and other supernatural beings do exist and will forever exist.

W

hen people think of ghost encounters, they think of seeing a ghost. Sophmore Michelle Wong knows that’s not always the case. Some only feel the ghost’s movement.

“The ceiling light was burnt out so I couldn’t turn on the lights and then it felt like some sort of invisible force pulled on the towel and it dropped to the ground,” Wong said. “I got really scared and I ran away.” While her friends burst out laughing, saying that maybe she’d accidentally dropped the towel, she insistently denied it.

“I was literally just standing there and holding it!” Wong said. After the frightful encounter, Wong tried to convince herself that there must have been a scientific explanation for it. Her voice is still a little shaky discussing the incident, yet she manages some nervous laughs while insist ing that her clumsiness that her clumsiness was not to blame for the fallen towel.

PULLS FROM A

POLTERGEIST

D

uck feet are weird. Ghostly duck feet are even weirder.

When freshman Glen Chen was eight years old, he was staring at the stairs one day when he saw the ghostly apparition of duck feet.

“I saw faded duck feet coming down. It was really weird,” Chen said. “Just the feet. No body.

It just went down the stairs to the second floor where I was and disappeared.”

Chen didn’t get chills or feel scared. Initially, all he could think was “What did I just see?”

Reflecting back on it, he’s still not sure what he saw but he knows it definitely wasn’t a hallucination and still finds it just too weird to be a figment of his imagination.

DUCK, DUCK

GH ST

28 / EL ESTOQUE / OCT 2015

U

nexplainable encounters have become something sophomore Erin Carlin is no longer surprised to hear about. “[My aunt] was playing with a Ouija board when she was young and in that house she was haunted for years after that,” Carlin said. “There was banging on the doors that my cousin heard all the time.”

Carlin considers the existence of ghosts to be fact, influenced by both her families’ stories and her own encounters. Imagine waking up each day wondering if you’d see a ghost every time you looked in a mirror. To Carlin, every mirror offers the possibility of seeing a ghost, as most of her encounters have occurred while glancing in a mirror. She thinks back on a time where she saw the ghost of her grandfather in mirror at her old house in Arizona, where her grandfather passed away.

On this occasion, the image of her grandfather was one she knew. But other ghosts she has seen have not been quite so familiar to her. She has seen ghosts of complete strangers, whom she doesn’t know anything about.

“I went and looked into the mirror and I saw a blue boy standing behind me,” she said. “When I turned around there was no one there.”

Most people try to dismiss the encounters they experience as hallucinations. On the contrary, Carlin is resigned to facing the reality of ghosts and the emotional havoc it causes. Having watched the typical slew of horror movies, she deems nearly all the depictions in those movies to be stereotypes.

“It’s not like a movie,” she said. “It doesn’t get really cold when a ghost is there. It’s just I saw something, got goosebumps, turned around and nothing was there.”

MIRAGE IN THE

MIRR R

A guide to fanfiction

We all know the feeling of bitterness and frustration that comes with a disappointing season finale, tragic main character death or that OTP (one true pairing) that never quite got paired. When we can’t get what we want from the original source itself, some turn toward fanfiction. To an outsider, the world of fanfiction can seem confusing, but all you need are some key terms, recommendations and a push in the right direction to get started.

FANS OF FANFICTION

STORY BY SANJANA MURTHY

fiction about characters or settings from an original work of fiction, created by fans of that work

freshman Samantha Leo

THE TERMS

First Time 11 years old

Favorite Pairing Cordelia and Sumia

Deal Breaker

(role-playing video game “Fire Emblem Awakening”)

Written in first person

CANON: elements established by the

original source material (TV show, book,

14 years old

movie, etc) like plot, setting or character development

sophomore Aastha Chawla

ANGST VS. FLUFF: contains heavy

Dan and Phil

Mature content

None in particular

Too long

(YouTubers)

emotional distress vs. happy and sweet stories

12 years old

AU: story takes place in an alternate universe, deviating from the canon

PAIRING: the main characters featured in

senior Priyanka Agarwal

a relationship within the story

ONE SHOT VS. SERIES: similar to the

12 years old

difference between a short story and a novel

SLASH: focuses on a romantic pairing

between two characters of the same gender

freshman Hadas Brooks

THE PROCESS + recommendations Visit a platform

Fanfiction.net AO3 Tumblr blogs

Pick a fandom

Avengers Harry Potter One Direction

Setting & characters

AU Canon Pairings

Choose filters

Kageyama and Bad Hinata grammar (manga series “Haikyuu”)

HAVE YOU EVER READ FANFICTION? 51% YES 49% NO

Length Genre Rating *from a survey of 330 students

A & E / 29

Limitless palette Diverse opportunities in art design debunk ‘starving artist’ notion STORY BY NEHA PATCHIPALA ILLUSTRATIONS BY HANNAN WALIULLAH

T

HE “STARVING ARTIST” IS A PERson who chooses a life of poverty in order to fully devote themselves to their art-related ambitions. Vincent Van Gogh, for example, managed to sell only one painting during his lifetime — to his older brother. Now, Van Gogh is one of today’s

most revered artists.

This notion of immersing oneself into art and completely disregarding money was romanticized in the 18th century. And because of this, the perception has remained relatively unaltered even though times have changed.

Class of 2006 alumnus Tiffany Jon knew since elementary school that she wanted to pursue a career related to art and design. But back in high school, she was From a 2013 survey of those who pursued art, only aware of the fine art indesign careers, on a scale of 1-5. dustry and pictured herself being a painter or an illustrator. Now, she is a designer.

After graduating high school, Jon attended Rhode Island School of Design. Following her schooling, she returned to California and worked a couple of jobs 33.3% before attaining her current job as a human interface designer at Apple. Jon designs 56.7% the interface and experience for the iOS, Mac OS and watchOS and has worked on many Apple products like 10.0% the iPhone and Apple Watch.

Jon strongly believes that the “starving artist” is a

Art teacher Brian Chow’s former students’ level of happiness

myth and asserts that the stigma that surrounds the myth mainly exists because people associated the word artist with starving during the 19th century.

“I would say that there are more opportunities in [art and design] than are there for people in STEM,” Jon said. “I feel like people are slowly starting to see that.

People don’t realize who designs your furniture, the culinary tools you use, the homes you live in or the cars you drive.”

Art teacher Brian Chow be-

5

4

3

Engineer Doctor Graphic Designer Other

Which job has more opportunities and provides better stability?

4%

OF 336 MVHS

3 0 /EELL EESSTTOOQQUUEE / O C T 2 0 1 5

lieves t h a t b e cause of the openendedness that accompanies the world of art and design, there is an abundance of opportunities for a student seeking a career in art.

“The idea of being an artist or designer is a little fragmented, and that is why people don’t under s t a nd it,” Chow s a i d .

“Pe ople STUDENTS t h i n k that if y o u

$46,481.

The U.S. Bureau of Labor st at ist ics states that the annual median salary for multimedia artists and animators is $63,630 and annual median salary for a web designer, for example, is $63,490.

Senior Anna Hsiao grew up i n an environment in which art was a major influence as her mother is an avid artist. And knowing that she did not want to study finance, science or math for four years after high school, she decided in her sophomore year that she wanted to pursue a career in art.

What is most important when choosing a career?

“There are so many things you can do with art. You can go into developing video games, animation, graphic design or even traditional art,” Hsiao said.

“There are a lot more pathways for artists nowadays.”

Doing what you’re She believes that while pursuing what passionate about one is passionate about may not be realistic for everyone, it is attainable for her.

The support from Salary her family along with financial stability allows her to pursue her genuine interests. *from a survey of 332 MVHS students Hsiao also says that she would rather be holds many opportunities and if one is truly unemployed in an occupation that she loves passionate about it, then the opportunities than be succeeding in a subject that she is that they have to embrace are plentiful. not very passionate about.

It’s not like everyone should be an art“[In art], you have to be extremely selfist,” Chow said. “If that’s what you want to motivated,” Hsiao said. “It’s very scary for a do, then I [would] encourage [students to lot of people because it requires a lot of hard pursue it].” e work and really good time management.”

Although an acute perception of the “starving artist” may not exist in the society 35 we live in today, senior Shikhar Tyagi believes that the “starving art30 ist” can have a positive connotation. He aspires to become a 25 product designer and looks forward From a 2013 survey of to pursuing it as a 20 27 of art teacher Brian career — his dream being to see a prodChow’s former students uct that he designed who pursued art or 15 in someone’s hands. design careers. “[The idea] does exist, but not in a 10 bad way,” Tyagi said. “A ‘starving artist’ should never be taking the situa5 tion negatively and instead should be more of an opportunist .”

0 25-39 40-59 60-79 80-99 100-114 115-129 Chow asserts that Gross annual average income bracket the concept of the “starving artist” is a $ IN THOUSANDS notion that has bled into the 21st century and it is because of the mindset not being altered. He believes that like any other career, a profession in art

60% 18%

RESPONDENTS

are good at art, you have to draw or paint.

Art and design are very blurry to the point where people are doing lots of different things.”

Although competition is prevalent in the art industry as well as in many other industries, it can be overcome. Chow, for example, believes that if one chooses to be a graphic designer, there are a lot of people who wish to pursue a similar career. However, the more specialized and well groomed a person’s skill set is, the easier it is to stand out. Specialization is the key to overcoming the unavoidable competition.

“There is somebody that I have met that works at Levi’s and her job is to pick colors.

She picks the color of a sweater for a particular season, and gets paid to do this,” Chow said. “She makes enough money to live in San Francisco, [so] she’s not starving.”

Salary is one of the many factors that job applicants consider when determining whether or not they are going to accept a job offer. The Social Security Administration reports that the average annual wage is

A & E / 31

Costume complications Deciding on costumes through Avril Lavigne’s ‘Complicated’

R

EADY FOR A HALLOWEEN barely making it out alive. Putting in the GHOST STORY? Once upon a effort to plan a costume would only add to time, I blinked. Then I opened my exhaustion. Not only does dressing up as my eyes one month later say, a zombie, take to dry brown leaves and the scent way too much work, of Pumpkin Spice Lattes. It’s now but why walk around October. feeling self-conscious For most months of the year, the the whole day? first day is the one people notice. Jan. I suppose the 1 is New Year’s, Apr. 1 is April Fools point of Halloween day. But strangely enough the last is to be able to look day of October is the most eventful: like a complete ILENA PENG Halloween. Every year, Halloween idiot without being causes me indecision. Am I too old to MUSICAL MUSINGS judged. I always trick-or-treat? Should I watch horror find myself laughing movies that will leave me petrified for along with people’s weeks to follow? And the hardest question ridiculous costumes. Even so, that voice of all: costume or no costume? in the back of my mind will still say I look Avril Lavigne’s song “Complicated” was like a fool. I can only hope that’s not what released so long ago it might as well be a everyone else sees. dead song. But its ghost still whispers in my ear, haunting me and pointing out every Tell me; why do you have to go and flaw in my thoughts concerning Halloween.

When it comes down to it, worrying about Halloween costumes is overrated.

Halloween costumes aren’t all that important. But being the perfectionists that we MVHS students tend to be, we overthink everything, including the most minor of details.

I see the way you’re acting like you’re somebody else gets me frustrated Dress up if you want. If you don’t really care, wearing a “This is my Halloween costume” shirt is completely acceptable.

And if you’re stuck somewhere in between, I feel you. Come Halloween, it doesn’t really matter what costume you’re wearing.

Stop trying so hard. As long as you can eat all the diabetes-inducing KitKat bars you desire, I promise everything will be okay. e

make things so complicated?

You’re trying to be cool Three types of people exist on Halloween. People who go all out, those who pretend it’s not Halloween and people like me, who try halfheartedly. So it’s Halloween and as usual, I’m too lazy to wear a costume. The most effort I’ll put in is wearing cat ears or something else equally lax. But I know that when I get to school, there will be a bunch of people decked out in epic group costumes, complete with props and face paint.

On the other side of the spectrum, there are people who wear jeans and a sweatshirt, treating Halloween like every other day of the year.

And finally, those who aren’t willing to put that much effort in but still want to look like they remembered it was Halloween.

Listening to Lavigne’s song, I find myself wondering if I really am trying to look nonchalant and cool or if people think…

You

look like a fool to me

To be honest, part of the reason I never dress up is because I hate being made a fool of and I’m sure I’m not the only one. School is tiring enough; I stagger through each day,

Renee Pu | El Estoque Illustration

RENEE PU l EL ESTOQUE ILLUSTRATION

3 2 /EELL EESSTTOOQQUUEE / S E P 2 0 1 5

SPORTS

Ska te o f mi n d MVHS skateboarders continue to pursue their passion despite lack of community enthusiasm STORY BY MALINI RAMAIYER AND KAREN MA

PHOTO BY MALINI RAMAIYER

O

ne day during the summer of 2014, current junior Greg Ellis had been skating the rail and stairs at Fremont Skate Park when he saw current sophomore David Truong and his friend roll in, eating In-N-Out. They sat on a bench nearby and Truong yelled out to Ellis.

“Hey, you want some fries?”

“I was so hungry at the time because I was skating all day, so I’m like, ‘Hell yeah!’”

Ellis, who didn’t know Truong then, said. “I wasn’t screaming, but I was really happy.”

“You got to do a trick if you want them,” Truong said. “Noseslide the handrail.”

“I’ll noseslide the hubba,” Ellis said.

Ellis noseslid the hubba, Truong gave him the fries — that moment at Fremont Skate Park was the beginning of their friendship.

After some small talk, Ellis found out that Truong would attend MVHS as a freshman for the upcoming year. Truong had moved from East San Jose to Cupertino on June 27, 2014 and Ellis was one of the first friends he made. Both Ellis and Truong were part of a skating culture developed by each of their groups of friends outside of MVHS — Ellis at Lawson Middle School and Truong in East San Jose. Last year, the two would skate during lunch at the McClellan Terrace parking lot. It was the most convenient spot for the allotted 45 minutes.

In a community where skateboarding is rare, skaters have their own reasons for continuing the sport. Whether it’s to connect with friends, get a ride home or learn some new tricks, they find ways to make the sport a part of their daily lives.

Photo by Malini Ramaiyer

Above: Senior Shovik Guha lands an ollie behind Party City. Right: Guha, sophomore David Truong and junior Greg Ellis prepare to skate off of Ellis’ truck.

After entering MVHS, however, the two friends found it increasingly difficult to balance academics, other extracurricular activities and skateboarding.

“Since high school, I took a lot of unexpected turns in my life,” Truong said. “I got talked into doing wrestling and football and it just consumes so much time, like now I barely have time to skate anymore.”

Ellis described transitioning to MVHS as difficult because the new emphasis on academics was different from what he had faced at LMS. He believes that if he had gone to Cupertino High School along with his middle school friends, he wouldn’t have

Art teachers Brian Chow and Tyler Cripe reminisce on the role of skateboarding in their teenage years during the 80’s and 90’s. Chow, grew up in the south side of Almaden, enjoyed building his own ramps and halfpipes, and grabbed at any opportunity to do the thing he loved.

Cripe, who grew up in Campbell, had only a Nintendo and a skateboard. However, with this transportation, he had access to many nearby attractions. Cripe reflects on changes in the sport since the 80’s.

“It lost its renegade status and became a little more wholesome,” he said. “My skateboard is still in the trunk of my car.”

FOR MORE COVERAGE elestoque.org/skate-of-mind

34 / EL ESTOQUE / OCT 2015

Photo by Aditya Pimplaskar

RETROBOARDING

Photo by Malini Ramaiyer

have developed the academic habits he currently has.

“Coming to [MVHS], I had nothing but one best friend and a skateboard freshman year,” Ellis said. “[MVHS] has made me a better student for sure. I’ve learned a lot of time management. It does get to a point where nowadays, my junior year, I don’t get a lot of time to skate anymore. But when I do, I definitely take advantage of that time.”

While Ellis and Truong no longer skate during lunch, some students incorporate skating into their everyday life. Freshman Anton Berndt throws his Loaded Tan Tien longboard in the back of his sister’s car on the way to school and lugs it around all day, occasionally rolling into class when he’s feeling restless. After school, Berndt longboards the way back home.

Berndt moved to Cupertino from Germany four years ago. His town was near a glacier and he recalls that in Germany, he and his friends would skate all the hills natural to the geography of his small town of 10,000.

Coming to Cupertino, Berndt found that the sport isn’t as common, but he’ll go to his friend’s house every now and then to skate.

They’d go up to Hunter’s Point and ride down the trails. Once while gliding down a trail up there, the skateboard slipped underneath Berndt and he ended up scarring his knee. The pain of bursitis under his kneecap was difficult for Berndt to recover from and now he admits that he takes skating easier than before.

“I was kind of scared of doing it again because it hurt a lot,” Berndt said. “I still like [skating] a lot. It’s just [that] I’m not going to try to go as hard. [I’ll] be more cautious about what I’m doing.”

Berndt prefers to keep skating as a utility

Ph

Photo by Justin Kim

Photo Malini Ramaiyer Photo by Justin Kim

but he still enjoys the daily ride back home.

“It just feels like you’re going fast. Even though you may not being going really fast, it’s just wind blowing in your face,” Berndt said. “[Skateboarding] just feels different — it’s like sidewalk surfing.”

Senior Shovik Guha also includes skating into his daily routine as a way to relax and to challenge himself. Guha, unlike Berndt, Truong and Ellis, didn’t start skating until high school. He and his friend were exploring Cupertino when they found 12xu, a now defunct skateboard shop. As a gymnast, Guha was already inclined to adventure so the decision to try skating wasn’t a difficult one.

“For every one time I land on the board, I probably fall like 10, 20 times. That’s one thing with skateboarding, it requires a lot of perseverance,” Guha said. “That’s why a lot of people don’t do it. They try it but they don’t stick around with it because they can’t handle the failure.”

Guha, Ellis, Truong and Berndt have all experienced their share of falls and they’re okay with it. Guha believes that a lot of people in Cupertino avoid skating because they need instant gratification that skating simply doesn’t provide.

“No one’s good at skateboarding the first time they try it because it’s just a piece of wood on four wheels,” Guha said. “It’s not a natural thing to be able to do. Everyone is terrible the first time they try it.”

“

FOR EVERY ONE TIME I LAND ON THE BOARD,I PROBABLY FALL LIKE 10 OR 20 TIMES. SENIOR SHOVIK GUHA

Left: Ellis performs a hardflip over a GoPro on the ground. Middle: Ellis, Truong and Guha (from left to right) skate in the parking lot on the side of Party City. Above right: Truong performs a kickflip.

Ellis and Truong agree that in Cupertino, skating hasn’t taken off because many attach a negative stigma to the sport. According to these skaters, many students pursue organized campus sports — few attempt skating in fear of injuries and even fewer continue after failing several times.

“Some people try it and they immediately fall in love with it. Some people try it and they hate it completely. They hate falling, they hate getting hurt, they hate sweating, they hate actually trying,” Ellis said. “Just fear and being afraid of something. It’s common, like jumping down a certain set of stairs or grinding a certain handrail, trying a trick you’ve never done — it’s scary.” e

SPORTS/ 35

How sports

saved

me from

MYSELF Athletes explain how their sports helped them curb depression and extreme anxiety

T

STORY BY SANDHYA KANNAN

O SENIOR ANDREW SOONG, IT SEEMED LIKE the entire court at that moment looked up at his father, who was one of the only ones standing up on the bleachers, and back at him.

“Andrew, save the ball! Don’t mess this up!” he shouted.

The ground below Soong felt unsteady and he desperately looked for an escape, but he couldn’t find one. He had the ball in his hand, but nowhere to go with it. His anxiety peaked, making him desperately and, almost irrationally, hope that he could be anywhere but that court.

“It’s this feeling where you feel like every eye in the room is on you constantly,” Soong said as he attempted to explain the instability he often feels on the court, especially during that game seven years ago. “You feel like you’re being pushed to dig a hole in the ground and just bury yourself there, out of sight and into a certain darkness.”

But then he imagined the room empty, without the people staring and the eyes burning into his back. Soong recalled remembering the practices where there was nothing but him, a cart of balls and the net. Hearing the swish of the net allowed a rush of calmness to wash over him, and everything felt natural. There were no thoughts about the day, no sadness, no walls — and the motions led to a connection that was almost spiritual.

JUSTIN KIMl EL ESTOQUE ILLUSTRATION

A Different

Student advocate Richard Prinz offers techniques to control breathing during panic attacks

TRACK TRACK

36 / EL ESTOQUE / OCT 2015 EL ESTOQUE

Yeung said, “kind of like what is “When I get on the court to shoot by distraction from his inner conflict. myself, it acts as a huge relief for me,” Soong “Social situations have always been expected in the classroom and in said. “It’s sort of an outlet, distraction, difficult for me,” Yeung said. “Track life. Sprint only at the end so you where there’s no anxiety, it’s just the ball, provided a different dynamic in some sense don’t give up at the last minute.” the net, and me.” for me in that I didn’t have to think about Yeung and Soong, students For some the motions, which made who have dedicated themselves to students, like WHEN I GET ON THE them easy.” their particular sport, both agree Soong, sports Yeung’s social anxiety that positive reinforcement from serve as a rock COURT TO SHOOT BY stemmed from an early coaches is incredibly valuable to to lean back on MYSELF... THERE’S NO age, as he went through those who struggle internally. Clay in moments of his late elementary school Stiver, the boys varsity basketball ANXIETY, IT’S JUST high stress. years attempting to face coach, reinforced this through his A l t h o u g h THE BALL, THE NET the reality of not being recounting of experiences graduated individuals able to face others. The students who went through similar with any form AND ME. constant exposure to his “I’ve had several students who of anxiety can SENIOR ANDREW SOONG track teammates along have been in positions of detrimental face drastic with the responsibility mindset in the past whom I’ve seen emotional allotted to him to manage rise up from it playing basketball,” f luc t uat ions his school and practice Stiver said. due to the stress while competing in schedule kept him busy, allowing him to “Being around the guys and their respective athletics, practicing the focus on achieving smaller, quantitative feeling like you belong, or even technical aspects of the sport have proven goals. Though he ended up quitting track just feeling the satisfaction of to be distractions from any instability in due to bronchospasms, sudden contractions making that basket, made all the emotions, especially for Soong. in the walls of the bronchioles in the lungs, difference.”

He speculates that his social anxiety his growth from the Whether it’s stemmed from his early middle school sport has remained being a part of an TRACK PROVIDED athletic family, years, but he wasn’t able to put a label on it consistent throughout until recently. He decided to follow his older the years both in and A DIFFERENT DYstriving to achieve brother’s footsteps of playing basketball out of the classroom. a common goal, or from a young age by playing competitively “In school, you can NAMIC... IN THAT just visibly seeing for both school and club teams. He believes only beat yourself so improvement s, I DIDN’T HAVE TO the constant pressure to do well on the team many times,” Yeung seeing the ball from his father and his teammates, along explained, “but in THINK ABOUT THE fall into the net or with the pressure to do well in school, paved sports, specifically watching a sprint MOTIONS, WHICH a path of certain emotional instability that track for me, you can time progressively he began to blindly travel down. always keep beating MADE THEM EASY. go lower and lower Despite the calming effect basketball your time over and have proven to be JUNIOR PATRICK YEUNG had on him, Soong’s anxiety peaked during over again. There is no enough to distract the most stressful parts of play. Still, he has focus on anything but not only Soong and had no regrets in his decisions to continue beating that number because your entire Yeung, but other MVHS athletes as with basketball. The moments that he is mind and body is invested in it.” well, from emotional roadblocks. able to eliminate his surroundings and For Yeung, the team dynamic was “I may not be sub one [minute] connect with the ball in his hand and the positive, so connecting with sprinting anymore for my 400 meter sprint, net in his sight, he claims that everything became natural in any situation. The people and I may not be in a team anymore,” disappears. who surrounded him, his teammates and Yeung said, “but suppose I do owe “I’m still scared of being judged and of coaches specifically, were sources of my life to this sport, literally, as what people may think,” Soong said, “But I encouragement and his mind on the track indirect as it may seem — there is love basketball, and I owe a lot to it. My life was always sprinting to beat the time. He no doubt about it. e would have simply been a flat road without explained that his coach in particular made If you think you have or are it.” a huge positive impacat during his time and For junior Patrick Yeung, track was his allowed him to maintain consistency in his developing any forms of anxiety and outlet, and his main goal was to constantly interests, keeping it a good distraction from need help, call Crisis Call Center; beat himself in his own game — to keep whatever else threatened to stir internally.

1-800-273-8255 setting goals to break and milestones “My coach always gave me good advice to reach. That served as the ultimate about rationing out my energy in races,”

Focus on targeting the breath in the depths of your stomach Don’t think about anything other than the next breath in queue SPORTS / 37

PLAYING THE PRICE

* Each price covers the optional cost of uniforms, equipFall sports differ in suggested or ment, travel and team recommended payment for athletes bonding. The $65 Athletic booster fee is STORY BY KALPANA GOPALKRISHNAN GRAPHIC BY ELIZABETH HAN not included.

C

alifornia state law requires that a student does not have to pay to participate in a high school sport. But being an athlete at MVHS comes with a price, or at least a suggested one. Secret sibling gifts, uniforms, equipment, competitions, cleats and team dinners may not be required, but are essential to an athlete’s performance.

Which sports require an athlete to pay more? Which require an athlete to pay less?

“NO ATHLETE CAN EVER BE TURNED AWAY” -athletic director Nick Bonacorsi

CHEER $3800 or $5300

OR $3000 new member fee fee er mb me $1500 returning graphy and music reo cho , 0] 00 [$1 uniforms 0] [$265], traveling [$100 rales

y Mo according to coach Brittan

..

letic Booster fee Cheer does not pay the Ath

DANCE $1500-3000

uniforms, choreography , traveling, competition fee s

according to coach Hilary Barron

NTRY $590

CROSS COU

00-500 GOLF $e3s, golf clothing,baslls,

0], aveling [$50 am interstate tr ], fo 0 0 -1 s [$60 running shoe 0] rollers [$5-1

on ho clubs, s and basic less ntino ts, ara Tole rb tees, ha a B h c a g to co accordin

ow ach Kirk Flat

co according to

FIELD HOCKEY $320

ats [$50-100], team dinners [$135], cle ret sibling sec 0], mouth guard [$20-3 0] [$5 l are app m gifts [$35], tea The according to senior Natalie

FOOTBALL

$100

practice jers ey, mouthgu ard, shirt, pad an d uniform re shorts, ntal, team dinners

according to co

IS $195

GIRLS TENN

rel [$90], 0], team appa uniform [$8 [$25] h Lim photography captain Sara

ach Andrew Pa

ppas

senior according to

GIRLS WATER POLO $60

game swimsuit [$60], tea m apparel [$20], practice swimsuit [$55]

according to senior Nicole Dea

con

38 / EL ESTO QUE / OCT 2015

YBALL $90

GIRLS VOLLE

ds, shorts, shoes, kneepa rel, jackets warmup appa

on

rs ach Colin Ande according to Co

5

R POLO $4

BOYS WATE

], team shirt

speedo [$25

[$20]

ifer Liu JV coach Jenn according to

met a famous athlete

THE TIME I... n of Anish Iyer

io Used with permiss

Freshman football player Anish Iyer MET: Pro Bowl San Francisco 49er s tight end Vernon Davis WHEN: Freshman Anish Iyer was with his family on just another shopping trip to Valley Fair Shopping Center when he spotted his favorite player, Davis, out of the corner of his eye. He raced over to him and started to break into tears as his favorite player was standing right in front of his eyes. Hurriedly, he took a picture and got an autograph, all before he was dragged away by his mother who had no idea what was happening.

WHEN: Senior Uma Kirloskar was eight years old and her family was living in India when they were invited to attend the Chennai Open tennis tournament where many notable players competed, including Nadal. She comes from gener ations of tennis players and her whole family has become die-hard Nada l fans over the years. After seeing him practice, they were given the opportunity to talk to speak to Nadal personally.

ma Kirloskar

l

Rafael Nadal

mission of U

MET: 14-time Grand Slam winner Rafael Nada

SAYS: “I tried not to shower that day, but my mom didn’t let me,” Iyer said.

er Used with p

Senior tennis player Uma Kirloskar

Stampolia | Flickr

Vernon Davis

Used with permission

of Flora Dong

ckr Stampolia | Fli

SAYS: “Meeting someone who is so well-known and who is also so down-toearth and genuine, inspires you,” Kirloskar said. “He hasn’t let fame get to his head at all.”

Michael Phelps

Stampolia | Fli ckr

STORY BY PRANAV IYER

ora Dong

Junior swimmer Fl

ssional swimmers, s luding Michael Phelp

MET: Several profe

inc

have competed at rld’s best swimmers wo the of d the y an m , ars ra Dong has attende WHEN: For 42 ye and Prix. Junior Flo Gr d the al ha on e ati sh ern re, Int He . st two years the Santa Clara Missy Grand Prix for the pa s, al elp on Ph l ati ae ern ch Int Mi ara Santa Cl faces including t many well known Natalie Coughlin. oppurtunity to mee Rebecca Soni and er, llm Vo na Da n, ation and ria Ad ng with their dedic Franklin, Nathan t have inspired Do tha sts ali ed m pic All are Olym drive to succeed. at you rd and you love wh t if you work really ha tha edalist e m se pic to e ym Ol nic t an jus SAYS: “It was eams of being dr ur yo ve hie ac d far an do, you can go this medals,” Dong said. ld go 18 ing nn wi and

SPORTS/39

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See skateboarders in action and teachers reminscing

Watch how anti-depressants affect the teenage brain

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Examine different student opinions regarding religion

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Workout playlist: Athletes elaborating on their practice and pre-game soundtracks