GENDER DIFFERENCES
TOP 10 Relive the last year as we rank 2010’s best in 10 categories, ranging from music and movies to video games and food.
More women are going to college, but certain fields are still dominated by males. Find out how these NEWS page 4 trends can be seen at MVHS
TIP-OFF
Both varsity basketball teams started their seasons the first week of December.
MORE THAN JUST A GAME Take a look at how the hobby of video gaming has evolved into an intense culture of its own
Boys team returns just four players
CENTERSPREAD pages 11-14
SPORTS page 18
Girls move up to new league SPORTS page 17
VOLUME XLI | ISSUE 4 | MONTA VISTA HIGH SCHOOL | CUPERTINO, CA
LGBT students struggle to tell their parents
Challenges in bridging generation gap at home
DEC. 8, 2010
G N I E P K E Students turn to energy drinks for recreation and necessity, ignoring some risks while remaining unaware of others
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ophomore Erin Dowd had been planning it for the past month, but somehow she would always manage to find excuses to back out. It was the wrong time, her parents were already discussing another subject, she was just plain too scared. However, in the end, she decided she had to do it before Twist of Hate T h a n k s g i v i ng , and while in A three-part conver s at ion series on with her parents homophobia on Nov. 17, Dowd told her parents at MVHS as casually as she could that she was bisexual. “You hear sometimes about this long monologue about, ‘Oh, I’m still the same person,’ and I knew I would just ramble on and on if I tried to do that, so I just said, ‘Oh and by the way, I’ve been meaning to tell you for a while: I’m bisexual,’” Dowd said. “It was harder than I thought it would be.” Dowd is not alone in her struggle to be open with her parents about her sexuality, and her parents, unlike many, were accepting and supported her. Lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender students in Cupertino and around the world face anxiety and difficulty as they try to reconcile their views with those of their family, religion, or culture. But even the state of California sees the potential harm for students who lack support from their families. On Jan. 1, 2011, SB 543, a bill which allows California youth to seek professional mental health treatment without parental consent, will go into effect. According to non-profit civil rights organization Equality California, “Current parental consent requirements for mental health services create a barrier to treatment that is especially harmful to LGBT youth who may be put at risk of emotional or physical abuse by coming out to their parents prematurely or without support.” see LGBT YOUTH on page 6
RED BULL 8.46 oz 80 mg caffeine 27 g sugar
5-HOUR ENERGY
2 oz 138 mg caffeine 0 g sugar
ROCKSTAR 16 oz 160 mg caffeine 60 g sugar
MONSTER 16 oz 160 mg caffeine 54 g sugar
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e drank three cans of Four Loko in a row that night. It was as much caffeine as six cups of coffee. As much alcohol as 12 cans of beer. And it only cost him $7.50. “It was a feeling of more awakeness,” he remembered. “It was pretty crazy.” He’s a senior, and he spoke to El Estoque just days after the experience on the condition that his name not be used. Not only were the drinks alcoholic, but they had just been banned by the Food and Drug Administration. “Caffeine can mask sensory cues that people may rely on to determine how intoxicated they are,” the FDA explained in a consumer update. “This means that individuals drinking these beverages may consume more alcohol—and become more intoxicated—than they realize.” The senior, who had consumed alcohol before, was well-aware of the risks. “I knew about [them] beforehand,” he said. “It was something I wanted to try...and I knew my limit. And I didn’t go over it.”
Students, teachers, community show support at board meetings
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see ENERGY DRINKS on page 3
Joseph Beyda and Jordan Lim | El Estoque Photo Illustration
District soon to decide on football lights bout three months ago, MVHS Leadership students started gathering petitions to raise support for football lights on the field to be reconstructed with Measure B money. Now, even more of the MVHS community have gathered to persuade the FUHSD board at a meeting that MVHS deserves these lights, despite the complaints from the surrounding neighbors. Speakers at the meeting focused on different aspects of the community that would benefit from the lights, showing that the advantages outweighed the disadvantages of noise, traffic, and other disturbances that would have bothered the nearby residents. Overall, the meeting was a rebuttal to the strong opposition shown in the past year to the football lights from the neighbors, a chance to show the FUHSD board the positive side of the story. The message that was pushed was the idea of unity: students, parents, and teachers coming together for a
Lucky for him. Four Loko has been blamed nationwide in recent weeks for the deaths of several people—some of them teens. Despite news of their widespread use, alcoholic energy drinks appear to be isolated at MVHS; only six percent of respondents to an El Estoque survey of 156 students admitted to consuming such a beverage. Nonalcoholic energy drinks, however, are quite common—according to the survey, the average MVHS student will consume such a beverage about once every two weeks. Even though most MVHS students recognize the fact that the drinks are unhealthy due to their high caffeine and sugar content, it seems that many are unaware of how dangerous the drinks can be in certain situations. Thirty-nine percent of survey respondents who have had energy drinks had unwittingly mixed them with another potentially lethal activity: exercise.
common cause. They emphasized how problems from the lights directly affected certain groups at MVHS and the construction of the lights would improve the environment of the school. The first speaker felt that football lights would solve many of the lesser-known problems cheerleaders faced. They had to spend personal time and money on transportation to and from games, which were farther away because they were never played on MVHS. Also, cheerleaders are always entering and exiting the fields on the opposing team’s side. This, along with the fact that cheerleaders are parked in the regular parking lot along with the rest of the spectators, allows too many opportunities for insulting, degrading, and at times, threatening comments from the spectators from the other teams who are caught up in the excitement of the game. see LIGHTS on page 6
Schools up tuition; apps reconsidered UCs, CSUs raise enrollment costs for second straight year; students react
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Jiyoon Park | El Estoque
FRIDAY NIGHT LIGHTS MVHS parent Kenneth Orvick speaks in front of the FUHSD Board of Trustees in favor of the lights, which would allow games to be played at MVHS at nighttime.
he fifth tuition raise in six years for the UC and CSU systems seems to have exhausted even the most indignant of students, shown by the lack of protesters at the last UC Regents meeting. Students must now accept and handle this raise however they can, even if it means diverting their college path to a more cost-efficient option. Beginning in fall 2011, the UCs will increase tuition by eight percent, so that students must now pay $11,124 per year—$12,150 when campus-based fees are included. CSUs are also instating a 15 percent increase in tuition, resulting in $4,884 a year total. These changes leave prospective students, seniors adding the finishing touches to their college applications, with even more to consider when deciding on whether or not a UC or CSU is worth the cost to attend. “I think it would [affect my decision to apply] because it’s kind of ridiculous,” said senior Tiffany Do. “When you get out of college, you’re so much in debt already as of now, even if they didn’t change the tuition. So now that they’ve raised the tuition up, then you’ll be in even more debt.” see TUITION on page 2