Issue 2, 2013

epitaph

CONNECTED

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HOMESTEAD HIGH SCHOOL

VOL. 51

ISSUE 2

A Social Media Issue

See SPREAD page 6

THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 7, 2013

21370 HOMESTEAD RD. CUPERTINO, CA

FIELD HOUSE OPENS AT LAST

After nearly two years of preparation and construction, Mustangs are ready to step foot into the completed athletics building

By Camille Miller The long-anticipated grand opening of Homestead’s day, and is now open for school use.

Fremont Union High School District (FUHSD) Superintendent Polly Bove referred to the construction of renovations to take place at Homestead. There are currently plans for quad and cafeteria renovations, as well as the addition of three new science classrooms to the S-building.

Members of the school administration, dance team, former principal Graham Clark, attended the opening event.

Principal Greg Giglio commenced the ceremony with a speech that gave a special thanks to Assistant Principal Tara Grande for organizing the implementation of the building.

After a performance by the Equestriettes and Homehelmet to determine which attendees would shoot the district board members.

Toward the end of the ceremony, the courts were free for recreational use to anyone who attended the event.

Inside the field house, Senior Brandon Sutton attempts to make a shot from the three-point line.

PHOTO COURTESY OF GUSTIN KLINDT

Homestead says goodbye to Gabrielle Horwege

By Camille Miller

the Fremont Union High School sistant to Associate Superintendent of Administrative Services Graham Clark. Brooke Martinez from the Cupertino Union High School District will replace Glenny as AP Secretary starting on Nov. 12.

The position for Clark’s assisJanuary. Due to the lack of support within his department, it

PHOTO COURTESY OF EDMOND KWONG

Gabrielle Horwege plays her part in the administrators’ skit during last December’s staff holiday breakfast.

After a decade of employment as Homestead High School’s executive assistant, Gabrielle Horwege passed on the reins of her role to the Assistant Principal’s secretary Christine Glenny last Monday.

schedule and tasks involved in the job on his own. When an assisit became a possibility of relief for Clark, as well as a timely opportunity for Horwege. “I thought this probably was what I needed just to energize myself and keep going until retirement,” Horwege said.

Within her new job, she will be assisting Clark in his involvement with the district’s Human Resources Department, technology and safety regulations, emergency

BRING BACK THE PAPAYA Marching Band defends iconic school tradition

See page 2

as teacher unions. “I’m a person who loves systems and processes, and that is Mr. Clark’s style so it works well,” Horwege said.

Horwege worked with Clark when he was an assistant principal at Fremont High School prior to becoming Homestead’s principal, and has known him for nine years now. “You can’t have a more hardworking, conscientious, and organized person,” Clark said.

Here at Homestead, Greg Githat Horwege worked with. “She had this habit of always saying ‘Do you want my honest opinion?’” Giglio said. “She always approached a problem or situation looking at it in a big-picture kind of way to In regards to his transition into that “she, out of everyone, gave me the most training and information about Homestead.”

Continued on page 2, Goodbye to Horwege

Marching band ranks first in WBA competition

By Donnie Denome

said. “We never thought we could beat Logan.”

On Saturday, Nov. 2, HomeSenior Won Park, who plays stead’s Mighty Mustang March- alto saxaphone, agreed. “[Winning] was a new feeling. All four Dublin High School Irish Band years, I accepted that we couldn’t School Show. beat James Logan.”

With a score of 87.05, the band While the achievement is cerbeat longtime rival James Logan tainly monumental, it does not High School, change how the band sees place in per- “We never did it before. itself. cussion, gen- We never thought we “It’s just the reward of could beat Logan.” music and sechard work,” - John Burn e x p l a i n e d ond place for color guard. senior Carl They are Huang, a drum major. The victory comes Band Association (WBA), which after countless hours of practice. includes bands from California, The hard work will continue in Nevada and Arizona. preparation for the band’s Home Music Department Chairper- Show on Nov. 9, a competition son and band teacher John Burn’s at James Logan on Nov. 16, and reaction was one of shock and joy. the WBA State Championships in “We never did it before,” Burn Fresno at the end of the month.

The T is not silent Students speak up about what it means to be transgender

See page 5

Inside:

Spread

6

News

1

Entertainment 9

Opinion

4

Sports

Lifestyles

5

The Last Word 12

10

PAGE DESIGN BY CAMILLE MILLER

2

news

Thursday, November 7, 2013

Marching band protests ban on timeless tradition

By Laura Tang

Ridiculous. Entertaining.

Sacred. These are all-too-common descriptors of the Homestead marching band’s Papaya Cheer tradition that has been ongoing for the past 40 years. This year, however, it has been banned by the administration due to a new rule that prohibits shirtlessness on campus.

The “Go Papayas” cheer has been an integral and ever-evolving tradition for the marching band since its inception in the 1970’s, originally a parody of the cheerleaders’ “Go Bananas” cheer. In 1982, the band student leading the cheer fell out of the stands and onto the track, but kept the cheer going as the crowd went wild.

From then on, “Papaya Guy” would fall onto the track during the cheer.

“Papaya Guy” subsequently became tacking each other with pieces of the ripe fruit dressed in costume; one election year, the Papaya Guys dressed as presidential candidates and threw papayas at each other in a humorous mock presidential debate. In later years, costumes were replaced with just underwear, and with the recent addition of the turf, papayas were replaced with wet sponges.

The ban has sparked disapproval among the marching band members, who view the tradition as an invaluable part of the band.

Daniel Bauer, junior, said, Guys, I knew it was something I wanted to do. I was outraged when I heard about the [ban].”

Senior Henry Greco said, “When I started marching band

my freshman year, Papayas were people that we as a band looked up to, not because they were throwing fruit at each other, but because the seniors who participated had the courage and audacity to do something as seemingly stupid and riotous as removing their outer clothes in front of the entire football crowd and chuck pieces of papaya at each other.”

“I have always enjoyed this tradition ever since I was a 6th grade r

years, the band has grown in size, quality and professionalism, making the cheer odd and incongruous compared to everything else the band does,” said Burn.

Despite the shirtlessness regulation, marching band members are more than

Goodbye to Horwege, continued from page 1

Greco shared their sentiments and added, “With that said, I believe that the tradition should remain the way it has been and it will evolve into something new on its own.”

“The band could still do the

Glenny said that she will miss working with the Guidance counselors. “Although I’m only down the corridor, I won’t be a part of that team anymore.” time at Homestead, Horwege said that her most memorable experience as a Mustang was when she accompanied the marching band to New York two years ago and watched the students preform.

In regards to leaving the school, Horwege stated that she is going to miss the energy of the students. “The district is a lot quieter place,” she said.

visiting Homestead to see my brother perform in the marching band,” said senior Irfan Faizullaboy. “It is most comparable to watching your favorite TV show with your family on Sunday nights. It brings the ‘family’ together.”

John Burn, director of marching band, fully supports the administration’s decision. “Over the

willing to compromise by participating in the cheer while remaining fully dressed.

“All the freshmen are missing out on a key experience,” said Faizullaboy. Bauer commented, “If someone had a problem with [the tradition], they would’ve spoken up. I just want to see the tradition continue.”

cheer in the stands, but the ‘performance art’ element has justly ended,” said Burn.

Regardless, the marching band members-particularly the upperclassmen who have witnessed the famed Papaya Cheer throughout their Homestead years--will continue this respected and long-running tradition.

“When something such as papayas becomes a tradition as long as it has been, it becomes something much greater than all of us,” said Greco. “There have been those before that have tried to put down papayas. It has, and always will, endure.”

AP Spanish students lend a hand

Tutors interact with native speakers

By Nancy Zhou

opportunity to improve these statistics in coming years. “[The] priority is to target [the ELD] students,” Arevalo said. As a second language learner, it is dif-

AP Spanish students this year have been given the opportunity to help native Spanish speakers who are struggling in their academic classes.

AP Spanish teacher, Paco Arevalo, decided to try something new, and set up a tutoring process that allows native Spanish speakers to be tutored

by AP Spanish students not just in Spanish but other subjects as well, including math and science.

According to the California Department of Education’s Dataquest, in the past year, only 40 percent of the 1,762 Hispanic students at Homestead testthe CST English-Language Arts test and only 11 percent tested eral Mathematics, Algebra 1, and

Horwege’s replacement, Glenny, is excited about “getting in there and learning something new.”

Glenny previously worked for a police force in Scotland before coming to Homestead, where she has held her position as AP Secretary for 11 years. “I really like change but I loved it here and that’s why I just stayed,” she said. Upon

keep up with their classes. These tutors can assist them with any questions they have, in any subject.

The only concern Arevalo has is with time management. The tutors and tutees meet up during tutorials and lunch time. And for many already busy students, this is a commitment that may be Arevalo hopes that this tutoring will provide more

Geometry.

With these statistics in mind, this new tutoring

program will give Homestead’s Spanish-speaking population an

help to ELD students, and that by next year, honors students may be able to tutor as well.

Jerry Brown approves Smarter Balanced Test

By Shiri Huber

Last month, California’s governor Jerry Brown signed Bill A484, which suspends STAR testing for the 2013-2014 school year and authorizes a ized test called Smarter Balanced.

The Smarter Balanced test aligns with the educational reforms introduced by the Common Core State Standards, a set of new nationwide school standards that were introduced this year. The biggest change from STAR testing is that the Smarter Balanced test asks questions that require application. “Its not just multiple choice and memorized answers,” says Tara Grande, Homestead’s Assistant Principal in charge of testing.

According to the California Department of Education, the will take place between March 18 and July 6, 2014. Deborah S. Delisle from the U.S. Department of Education says that the help the test developers evaluate whether the tests, individual items, and the technology platform work as intended beministration.”

In comparison to the STAR tests, the Smarter Balanced tests have more open-ended type questions,

Continued on page 3, Smarter Balanced

ILLUSTRATIONS BY LAURA TANG AND NANCY ZHOU PAGE DESIGN BY LAURA TANG

news

Smarter Balanced - continued from page 2

and include a “performance task,” an hour and a half-long set of questions that are not multiple choice but written response. One performance task is taken in English and one in math. In addition, the tests are taken entirely on a computer and are adaptive, meaning that each question a test taker gets is based on how well the student performed on the previous question.

However, the bill only authorizes a practice Smarter Balanced test, which will not be adaptive.

Complete tests will be given starting in the 2014-2015 school year, with the full implementation of Common Core.

It is still undecided whether California students will be taking the Math or English Smarter Balwill be the only students taking the tests, as Smarter Balanced tests are taken annually from

Thursday, November 7, 2013 third to eighth grade, but only once in high school, in eleventh grade.

A problem that comes with administering the Smarter Balanced tests to 600 juniors is the lack of available computers. Grande reported that juniors will be taking the tests over the course of a couple days. This has aroused concerns over the possibility of cheating.

“It probably won’t be a problem,” Grande said. “When the

be able to show your work rather than just picking a letter answer, which gives a lot of options,” and thus less opportunity for cheating Taking the tests on a computopen-ended questions along with computer grading that will speed up the grading process. The performance task, however, will be hand graded.

Students who want to see what the new test looks like can take an example Smarter Balanced test on the Smarter Balanced website.

will be adaptive, so the tests adjust to your level. You also have to

Homestead participates in annual code red drill

By Matthew Chow

On Tuesday, Oct. 29, during tutorial, Homestead High School underwent an annual code red drill.

This drill, along with the recent ShakeOut Earthquake Drill on Oct. 17, have raised awareness of potential disasters and how to properly respond in the event of an emerergency. However, there is “no connection between the drills,” Dean Chris we have no say in that.”

As teachers and students rushed to barricade their rooms, Homestead administrators and deputies from

“It’s a very eerie feeling walking around, knowing that there are 2600 people hidden,” said Moore, who is also the liaison between Homestead and law enforcement.

As the drill progressed, administrators and deputies knocked on doors, asking teachers to open up and show their barricades. However, many rooms responded with silence.

“Those teachers were just following

procedures with teachers and students.

is the scariest part,” said Assistant Principal Denae Nurnberg. “You can hear all the desks scratching on the

the code red drill. “We decided that we didn’t need to practice the evacuation, because we have had plenty

the doors.”

Then there was silence.

Moore said.

epitaph

the

STAFF

Editors News

Laura Tang

News

Camille Miller

Opinion

Greg Schrader

Features

Eugene Cheng Anthony Garcia

Entertainment Sports

Khalil Bourgoub

Editor in Chief

Matthew Chow

Production Team Emi Kamezaki

Business Manager

Grace He

Design Editor

Reporters Dipshikha Kandel

Nicole Chung

present the code red procedure every year in October, so teachers know how to respond in a real situation.”

When teachers did open their doors, deputies gave brief advice on

split up and moved to evaluate class-

3

Marissa Lee

Donnie Denome

Andrew Reyes

Michelle Fuller

Priya Sodlapour

Rachel Hildebrand

Nancy Zhou

Shiri Huber

Adviser

Natalie Calderon

epitaph

the

The Epitaph is a non-profit publication at Homestead High School, 21370 Homestead Rd, Cupertino, CA 95014.

The Epitaph is a forum for student expres-

ABOVE: English teacher Gary Yoshida’s class piled overlapping desks in front of the door.

sion and not subject to prior review, in accordance with Education Code 48907. The staff is comprised of Homestead Journalism students. Views expressed do not necessarily represent views of the school, its staff, or the district. Editorials are opinions of the editorial board.

LEFT: In Sridaya Komar’s math classroom, students constructed an inner barricade by stacking up desks on top of each other in a semi-circle.

The Epitaph welcomes all letters to the editor but reserves the right to edit all submissions. Letters should be limited to 300 words. Include contact information.

Unsigned letters cannot be published, but names will be withheld upon request. Send via Homestead.Epitaph@gmail.com, or drop letters in the newsroom or the office mailbox.

If The Epitaph has made an error, please

The two faces of Bitcoin

By Greg Schrader

Silk Road, a site infamous for trading illicit goods and activities that range from credit card theft to hitmen and military grade weapons, was shut down by federal agents who seized $28 million in the form of the digital currency known as Bitcoin this October according to the Guardian.

Many thought this would be the death of Bitcoin, the internet’s best known digital currency.

However, a week later, Bitcoin’s value had only dropped by around $5, a relatively small change for the volatile currency.

As it has before, Bitcoin seems to have survived its latest crisis.

The question now is will Bitcoin means of exchanging goods and services, or will it be relegated to the darkened corners of the internet?

Since Bitcoin’s inception, critics and regulators have warned

that Bitcoin was at best a ponzi scheme and at worst a threat to the integrity of the global economic system.

Meanwhile, the

privacy aspects are hotly debated. Bitcoin’s supporters declare it to nomic transactions, free from gov-

ernment oversight and control. It is slowly becoming mainstream as more businesses support Bitcoin sales – one Finnish develcalled SC5 is even offer-

ing t o p a y employees salaries with Bitcoin.

But what exactly is Bitcoin?

According to The Economist,

send corrections to Homestead.Epitaph@ gmail.com. The corrections will be published in the corrections box for the next issue.

Bitcoin is a decentralized open source digital currency, whose production simulates the mining of a commodity, like gold. Bitcoin Bitcoin computer clients, which anyone can run, solve cryptographic puzzles. As one’s client solves puzzles, they receive the new bitcoins with ever decreasing frequency. This computationally intensive process has prompted some people to build more powerful computers, and even sometimes illegally hijack others in an attempt to farm Bitcoin faster.

The maximum number of Bitcoins available for mining is around 21 million, thereby preventing a bank from issuing new Bitcoins and devaluing the currency. In 2009 the exchange rate for dollars to Bitcoins was $1 to 1,309.03 BTC (Bitcoins). Today, the value of a single Bitcoin is hovering around $200.

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PHOTOS BY MATTHEW CHOW, ILLISTRATION COURTESY OF WIKIMEDIA PAGE DESIGN BY GREG SCHRADER AND DONNIE DENOME

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Thursday, November 7, 2013

Warning: offensive to all

By Anthony Garcia

Since the release of the highly anticipated video game, Grand Theft Auto V (GTA V), the Internet has been a-buzz about the sexism-related controversy surrounding the game’s content. Critics across the Internet have ranted about how GTA V portrays women in a negative light, and while their arguments are valid, some reviewers have failed to review the game as a whole, claiming that developers are being vindictive to a single group of people, rather than understanding the game to be a satire of contemporary America.

One reviewer in particular, Gamespot the misogynistic references littering the game claiming, “GTA V has little room for

women except to portray them as strippers, less girlfriends and goofy, new-age feminists we’re meant to laugh at.”

Upon personal review of the game, I initially agreed with Petit’s views: GTA’s portrayal of women is both misogynistic and One of the earliest female characters encountered in the game is the feminist aunt of main character, Franklin. A feminist character might appear to be a positive portrayal of women in the game, but not when this character’s sole purpose is to be laughed at.

Another female character players will encounter is the wife of former bank rob-

Ask.fm promotes cyber bullying

By Priya Sodlapur Ask.fm is one of the many new social media sites that has attracted millions of teenagers around the world. This prominent website allows account users to be asked questions in which the questioner has the choice to remain anonymous. Sophomore Julia Verbrugge, who joined the website one year ago recalls, “Everyone was talking in on the news.”

But Ask.fm has fostered a reputation for encouraging bullying through the anonyMany users have been mercilessly bullied consistently, to the point where they have been forced to remove their accounts. leaves people to continually add bullying questions/comments. On Ask.fm the questions can all be asked anonymously, which is a variation from most social media sites.

According to a PEW Internet and American Life Survey, 33 percent of teenagers have been victims of cyber bullying. As suicides and mass cyber bullying become more prominent, teenagers around the world are social media site.

Ask.fm does virtually nothing to prevent anonymously sent to people. The protection provided on Ask.fm is the suggestion to avoid responding to abusive questions.

This social media site controller remains idle by not removing any of these vulgar, Whitney Lieberman recalls from posts on her own Ask.fm, “[people have ‘asked’ things like] you’re ugly.... no one likes you.”

With Ask.fm not taking action, students are enduring merciless bullying from their peers when all they were looking for in the Ask.fm looks to its users for blame, but if the website was shut down, I believe that

crease. In fact, Mark Terebin, the creator of Ask.fm explains on his own Ask. fm page that it’s the users of the site that are at fault. In a response to a question regarding his lack of action against the issue of bullying on Ask.fm, Terebin blames the lack of moral values in teens as well as mass media.

It is the ability to remain anonymous that allows bullies to continue their behavior. Another issue is that there are no repercussions for posting anything inappropriate on the website. Unlike other social networks, there are virtually no privacy settings, and inappropriate posts are not regulated or removed by the website. Without consequences, bullies have no incentive to behave kindly to their peers. There are no consequences for the actions taken and therefore cyber bullying continues prodigiously. If questhem reign to bully continuously without consequence.

The bullying from Ask.fm has taken a serious toll on teenagers across the globe. According to BuzzFeed, nine victims of bullying on Ask.fm committed suicide, allegedly as a result of the constant harassment. As suicides and mass cyber bullying start to surface, teenagers around the world are beginning to see site. Account users have attempted to either ignore the comments or stand up for themselves. Verbrugge notes, “Instead of stood up for myself.”

While standing up for yourself is one way to defend against bullying, ultimately, removing the source of the bullying is the better answer. Ask.fm should be removed or have its anonymity policies revised in order to eradicate the cyber bullying resulting from the website.

ber, Michael. She is an ex-stripper who cheats numerous times on him throughout the course of the game. Every time she makes an appearance, she yells at Michael for being a horrible husband, encompassing the stereotype of a “nagging” wife.

Michael’s daughter is not exactly the poster child for a fair lady, either. She has a lower-back tattoo and wears nothing but revealing clothing. Throughout the game, she tries to become famous by appearing on the reality show “Shame or Fame,” which portrays a negative stereotype of young adult females.

This is just a small fraction of the women negatively represented in the game; there are also numerous strippers and prostitutes featured repeatedly.

By the end of a twenty-plus hour gameplaying experience, it’s clear that Petit is dead-on in her observations: the developers have created an extremely negative representation of women; however, what Petit fails to mention is that developers have created a negative portrayal of male characters, as well.

Take, for example, Michael’s son, Jimmy. Jimmy does nothing all day but play video games and smoke marijuana. Jimmy is extremely disrespectful towards Michael. throughout the game’s story.

In addition, there are characters such as Simion, a scamming car dealership owner, Beverly, an intrusive paparazzo who takes scandalous photos of celebrities, and Wade, a mentally impaired friend of another main character, Trevor, who takes excessive drugs, and joins Trevor on killing rampages.

The three main characters of the game get no mercy from the ruthless ridicule of the developers, either. Michael is portrayed as a murderer, cheater, liar, traitor

opinion

and horrible father. Trevor is a psychotic murderer, who kills people indiscriminately, and Franklin is quickly corrupted by Michael when he is sucked into a life of crime.

Each of these negative stereotypes is intended to act as an exaggeration of people in our own society. It is a harsh satire, and goes over the edge many times, with its extremely crude humor. The creators of GTA V, Rockstar Games, could take a more profemale approach to the games, possibly by introducing a lead female character, but this still wouldn’t solve the problem. The bottom line is that every character in the game is represented negatively, and a female lead won’t change that. Rather than being a stripper or prostitute, she would be a ruthless killer. The world the developers have created is purposefully intended to be full of crime, violence, prostitution, drug abuse and theft.

The developers have fully warned coning the game “M for mature” due to intense violence, blood and gore, nudity and more.

Therefore, complaints due to the game’s offensive content seem silly, since the game has a list of reasons why it is intended for “mature” consumers, ages 17 or older.

In short, GTA V does contain misogynistic content, but the developers are not simply singling out the female demographic and demonstrating hatred toward them.

Quite frankly, they are demonstrating hatred toward all demographics.

I do not agree with the representation and portrayal of the characters in the game, but I do defend Rockstar’s rights to consumer action and simply not purchase the game.

Students sacrifice sleep for success

By Emi Kamezaki

Modern society’s emphasis on future achievement is causing the younger generation to not value the necessity of sleep.

According to research by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), about 70 percent of high school students are getting less than eight hours of sleep, the recommended amount for school nights, which demonstrates students’ inability The CDC explains that the lack of sleep “may be due to… everyday activities, such as employment, recreational activities, academic pressures, early school start times, and access to technology.” Clearly, participation in such activities and sleep-cycle changes are academic achievement, and maintaining a healthy equilibrium should be a priority for all students.

While shortcomings in ones’ levels of rest can lead to participation in various other unhealthy activities, they can also limit the amount of learning done in school due to a lack of concentration. Poor performance in school, however, is only one of the myriad of problematic behaviors that stem from students’ deprivation.

With so little value placed on personal health, the Americanized ambitious mentality can prove detrimental to one’s health. The Child Development journal published a study of sleep patterns in adolescents, reporting that “students with

short school-night sleep reported increased levels of depressed mood, daytime sleepiness, and problematic sleep behaviors in comparison to longer sleepers.”

However, hard work does prove helpful when “educational and psychological strategies [are] developed to decrease high school students’ burnout and hopelessness levels and to increase their work engagement,” according to the Canadian Center for Science and Education.

While determinants of satisfaction vary, sleep is a basic necessity for human beings.

In order to prevent the slew on health issues that accompany sleep deprivation, students must learn to balance their life-

PAGE DESIGN AND PHOTO ILLUSTRATIONS BY KHALIL BOURGOUB

lifestyles

Thursday, November 7, 2013

The T is not silent

5

LGBT: Lesbian, gay, bisexual and....transgender?

By Emi Kamezaki

You are browsing through racks of male clothing at a popu‑ lar retail store, when the sales clerk approaches you. “Get out of here. We don’t want people like you buying clothes here,” she says, because you were born as a female, but identify as a male.

This has been the experience of one Homestead student who identifies herself as a transgen‑ der, the final letter in the acronym LGBT. It is a minority group that frequently faces prejudice and ig‑ norance due to gender identity.

According to the 2011 National School Climate Survey, 63.9% of transgender students felt unsafe at school because of their gender expression. The Gay Lesbian and Straight Education Network’s (GSLEN) research has shown that “experiences of harassment and assault in school are related to poorer psychological well‑being for LGBT students.”

“I think a lot of people have this very wrong view of [transgen‑ der people] because in media, the only kind of trans folk we see are very flamboyant. It’s just this very strong perception that they are kind of disgusting and wrong,” one anonymous source explained.

“A lot of people, when they think of LGBT, they’re kind of just like, ‘Oh that’s sexuality, the orienta‑ tion of who you’re into.’ People don’t really realize that.” A lack of understanding of the difference between sexual orientation and gender identity causes miscon‑

PHOTO ILLUSTRATION BY NANCY ZHOU

ceptions about the transgender community as a whole.

For this Homestead student, the process of discovering her gender identity was complicated.

“I’ve kind of discovered it over the past year and a half or so,” said the source. “I mean it’s always been an issue in my life,” she said.“I just never really knew a word or a term for it until about one and a half years ago.”

As she began to question her gender identity, the source began

looking into options to change her sex, including surgery, testos‑ terone shots and cross-dressing.

While the source is currently con‑ sidering these options, she said “I wish I was more gender fluid be‑ cause I’m not at all androgynous, so it’s kind of hard.”

Homestead senior Haden Dean has already begun the pro‑ cess of transitioning into his male gender identity. After coming out during his sophomore year and receiving “nothing but support,”

Dean began visiting with doc‑ tors, finally receiving an implant to stop the production of estrogen in his body. Leaving Homestead for his junior year, Dean opted to take online courses to give him‑ self time to transition. Currently, Dean must inject himself with tes‑ tosterone shots every week.

While feeling that the Home‑ stead staff has adequately been able to assist Dean in his transi‑ tion back to campus for his senior year, instances of prejudice with

more conservative family mem‑ bers have proved challenging.

However, Dean remains optimis‑ tic. “Going through this [made] me more mature, and open[ed] my mind to respect what people want to be called,” he said.

Making the monumental deci‑ sion to change one’s sex includes the decision itself, as well as men‑ tal and physical struggles. The anonymous source says many members of the transgender com‑ munity often feel dysphoria, de‑ scribing “the feeling of discomfort with your body or appearance.”

“I’ve been a tomboy my entire life, and I’ve always had conflicts with my parents over what girls are supposed to do. I’m not out to them and not going to be, because they are extremely conservative,” the anonymous source said. “I don’t share a lot of stuff with them so it’s kind of like just another thing to keep away from them.”

The “T” has a different feeling for senior Gabi Soleimanipour, whose father transitioned when she was eight years old. She re‑ members witnessing the scars on his chest after his mastectomy.

While her father’s transition has been relatively smooth, she did experience some derogatory com‑ ments about her situation as a child.

However, from her experi‑ ences, Soleimanipour knows that “gender is this incredibly fluid thing, but people have yet to really understand that.”

PAGE DESIGN BY NANCY ZHOU AND DIPSHIKHA KANDEL

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spread

Thursday, November 7, 2013

CONNECTED

A SOCIAL MEDIA ISSUE How many hours do you spend on social media every day?

Thursday, November 7, 2013

What personal information do you publish on social media sites?

Real name

83.5%

Birthdate

59.8%

Email

44.8%

Phone number

9.7%

Photos of yourself City you live in

By Andrew Reyes

33.7%

Which social media platforms do you use?

Less than an hour 28.6% YouTube 92.1%

Facebook 88.2%

Student and staff videos gain popularity

72.7%

Over five hours 7.6% Three to five hours 14.1%

Picture yourself on YouTube

Instagram 51.6%

Snapchat 45.9%

Twitter 22.2%

YouTube has played a huge roll in social media since its founding in 2005 by three former PayPal employees, Chad Hurley, Steve Chen, and Jawed Karin, and has been the springboard to success for many international superstars, such as Justin Bieber, Karmin, Austin Mahone, and Cody Simpson.

But move over, Bieber. Some Homestead students plan to use YouTube to launch successful careers of their own.

One such YouTube group is known around Homestead as the “CA News” group. “CA News,” which actually stands for “Chris and Andy News” is a YouTube channel founded by three current seniors, Alex Nagase, Chris Chao, and Andy Lee, who started the channel in their freshman year.

The idea for the group was conceived on November 6, “Bridge movies.” Since then,

One to three hours 49.7%

DATA COLLECTED FROM A SURVEY OF 307 HOMESTEAD STUDENTS

Tumblr 17.5%

Reddit 16.1%

Ask.fm 14.7%

Google+ 13.3%

Pinterest 7.9%

have been created.

They initially started making videos simply for fun. “We wanted to go around campus to see how their day was and to

Videos gone viral

By Dipshikha Kandel Viral videos are burning up the Internet and causing social media sensations across the nation.

Recently, the video commercial for the product, “Poo Pourri” has exploded, receiving more than 18 million views and threatening to break viral video records.

“Poo Pourri” is an odor-masking product, which covers the stink that lingers after the use of the toilet. The commercial was YouTube and went viral soon after its release.

Due in part to the “perfect” and the “perfect” script written by Joel Ackerman, the video is one of many examples of videos that go viral for seemingly no reason at all.

Consumers of the product, most of whom purchased it after viewing the video, were surprised that it actually worked. While the

video is humorous in nature, the purpose of the commercial – to sell a product – has appeared to work. Poo Pourri has been reviewed by over 800 customers on Amazon.com, and has received an According to YouTube’s statistics listed on the website, 48 minutes of videos are uploaded to YouTube every minute. Out of those videos, only a few go viral.

Viral videos have many things in common. Many are funny, include new revelations or are adreplaceable, which separates them form the thousands of videos uploaded everyday. These characteristics make viewers want to reach out to the public and share the videos with their friends, who want to share them with their friends, and so on.

Videos like “The Fox” by Ylvis and many Vine videos have gone viral due to a number of factors,

• such as shares on social media, promotion by widely known public mographics.

The average viral video receives about one to two million views in a week or even a day, depending on the topic and the source of the video. Many viral videos are created solely for entertainment, which is why they become popular so quickly; but they only stay trendy for a short period of time.

Viral videos don’t only provide entertainment, but also modernize the daily lives of their viewers, by ent ways of talking, and popular trends.

7

•

The Fox (What Does the Fox Say?) by Ylvis Over 190 million hits on YouTube.

Peaked at number six on the Billboard Hot 100 (highest charting song since the song Take on Me by the band, a-ha).

Chao.

• • • •

students litter YouTube, inStyle Mob Dance” a video posted in the summer of 2012, and last year and shown at the Homecoming Rally.

Homestead High School band performance are a regular occurrence on YouTube, as well as class Homecoming videos and a “Harlem Shake” video The use of YouTube on the Homestead campus isn’t simply limited to making and posting videos; the majority of stuout what’s happening in pop culture, or, simply, to watch videos of their favorite YouTube personalities.

With thousands of channels available for viewing, the options are endless. Junior Andrew Osuga frequents the “LetsPlay” channel, which features videos of people playing video games. “Some of the videos on the LetsPlay channel are really entertaining,” Osuga said. “And that’s why I watch them.”

Homestead s top hits: • •

Girls Don t Poop The advertisement started appearing in fall 2013.

Viewers watched the two-minute spot over 15 million times.

Poo Pouri is a blend of essential oils that virtually eliminates bathroom odors!

The company plans to create four more videos to promote their product.

But “CA News” members aren’t the only ones making use of YouTube. A simple search for “Homestead High School” on YouTube brings up numerous results.

Videos featuring past and

• •

HHS HS Harlem Shake The City of Tomorrow : Homestead High School at TOB 2013 HHS Staff Video - Call Me Maybe Energy Playa - Science Rap

PAGE DESIGN BY EUGENE CHENG, ANDREW REYES AND MATTHEW CHOW

6

spread

Thursday, November 7, 2013

CONNECTED

A SOCIAL MEDIA ISSUE How many hours do you spend on social media every day?

Thursday, November 7, 2013

What personal information do you publish on social media sites?

Real name

83.5%

Birthdate

59.8%

Email

44.8%

Phone number

9.7%

Photos of yourself City you live in

By Andrew Reyes

33.7%

Which social media platforms do you use?

Less than an hour 28.6% YouTube 92.1%

Facebook 88.2%

Student and staff videos gain popularity

72.7%

Over five hours 7.6% Three to five hours 14.1%

Picture yourself on YouTube

Instagram 51.6%

Snapchat 45.9%

Twitter 22.2%

YouTube has played a huge roll in social media since its founding in 2005 by three former PayPal employees, Chad Hurley, Steve Chen, and Jawed Karin, and has been the springboard to success for many international superstars, such as Justin Bieber, Karmin, Austin Mahone, and Cody Simpson.

But move over, Bieber. Some Homestead students plan to use YouTube to launch successful careers of their own.

One such YouTube group is known around Homestead as the “CA News” group. “CA News,” which actually stands for “Chris and Andy News” is a YouTube channel founded by three current seniors, Alex Nagase, Chris Chao, and Andy Lee, who started the channel in their freshman year.

The idea for the group was conceived on November 6, “Bridge movies.” Since then,

One to three hours 49.7%

DATA COLLECTED FROM A SURVEY OF 307 HOMESTEAD STUDENTS

Tumblr 17.5%

Reddit 16.1%

Ask.fm 14.7%

Google+ 13.3%

Pinterest 7.9%

have been created.

They initially started making videos simply for fun. “We wanted to go around campus to see how their day was and to

Videos gone viral

By Dipshikha Kandel Viral videos are burning up the Internet and causing social media sensations across the nation.

Recently, the video commercial for the product, “Poo Pourri” has exploded, receiving more than 18 million views and threatening to break viral video records.

“Poo Pourri” is an odor-masking product, which covers the stink that lingers after the use of the toilet. The commercial was YouTube and went viral soon after its release.

Due in part to the “perfect” and the “perfect” script written by Joel Ackerman, the video is one of many examples of videos that go viral for seemingly no reason at all.

Consumers of the product, most of whom purchased it after viewing the video, were surprised that it actually worked. While the

video is humorous in nature, the purpose of the commercial – to sell a product – has appeared to work. Poo Pourri has been reviewed by over 800 customers on Amazon.com, and has received an According to YouTube’s statistics listed on the website, 48 minutes of videos are uploaded to YouTube every minute. Out of those videos, only a few go viral.

Viral videos have many things in common. Many are funny, include new revelations or are adreplaceable, which separates them form the thousands of videos uploaded everyday. These characteristics make viewers want to reach out to the public and share the videos with their friends, who want to share them with their friends, and so on.

Videos like “The Fox” by Ylvis and many Vine videos have gone viral due to a number of factors,

• such as shares on social media, promotion by widely known public mographics.

The average viral video receives about one to two million views in a week or even a day, depending on the topic and the source of the video. Many viral videos are created solely for entertainment, which is why they become popular so quickly; but they only stay trendy for a short period of time.

Viral videos don’t only provide entertainment, but also modernize the daily lives of their viewers, by ent ways of talking, and popular trends.

7

•

The Fox (What Does the Fox Say?) by Ylvis Over 190 million hits on YouTube.

Peaked at number six on the Billboard Hot 100 (highest charting song since the song Take on Me by the band, a-ha).

Chao.

• • • •

students litter YouTube, inStyle Mob Dance” a video posted in the summer of 2012, and last year and shown at the Homecoming Rally.

Homestead High School band performance are a regular occurrence on YouTube, as well as class Homecoming videos and a “Harlem Shake” video The use of YouTube on the Homestead campus isn’t simply limited to making and posting videos; the majority of stuout what’s happening in pop culture, or, simply, to watch videos of their favorite YouTube personalities.

With thousands of channels available for viewing, the options are endless. Junior Andrew Osuga frequents the “LetsPlay” channel, which features videos of people playing video games. “Some of the videos on the LetsPlay channel are really entertaining,” Osuga said. “And that’s why I watch them.”

Homestead s top hits: • •

Girls Don t Poop The advertisement started appearing in fall 2013.

Viewers watched the two-minute spot over 15 million times.

Poo Pouri is a blend of essential oils that virtually eliminates bathroom odors!

The company plans to create four more videos to promote their product.

But “CA News” members aren’t the only ones making use of YouTube. A simple search for “Homestead High School” on YouTube brings up numerous results.

Videos featuring past and

• •

HHS HS Harlem Shake The City of Tomorrow : Homestead High School at TOB 2013 HHS Staff Video - Call Me Maybe Energy Playa - Science Rap

PAGE DESIGN BY EUGENE CHENG, ANDREW REYES AND MATTHEW CHOW

8

lifestyles

Thursday, November 7, 2013

Homestead on gaming

No

By Eugene Cheng

On September 17, 2013, Grand Theft Auto V, the newest installment in Rockstar Games’ wildly popular Grand Theft Auto series, was released, and immediately went on to break the record for the highest revenue generated by an entertainment product in 24 hours.

At the other end of the game spectrum, the smartphone and tablet-based Angry Birds franchise has accumulated over one billion downloads of its various games since its inception in 2009.

Video, computer, and mobile games

among teenagors. A report by the NDP Group showed that in 2011, 91 percent of kids between the ages of two and 17 played games in the US. The study also showed that “gaming on mobile devices” increased to 38 percent from eight percent in 2009.

Homestead is no stranger to the gaming craze either. In a poll conducted by the Epitaph, where students were questioned on their relationship with gaming, over 78 percent of students surveyed own a video game console, while 48 percent of students p l a y

Yes

No

games on computers.

Gaming “gives better hand-eye coordination... and it improves decision making,” Junior Brooks Diwu said. “Before, when I didn’t play too many video games, I was [just] this kid who couldn’t decide on two things. Now I’m like, ‘Yo, I’m gonna do that.’” spective on gaming. Other than just being dium of socializing,” he said. “[I] met some awesome people [online].” ing the online game MapleStory. However, he did not take gaming seriously until ninth grade, when he began playing Minecraft, a game that allows you to “build towns and cities.” Hsiao played on a Danish server, where he befriended other online gamers through their shared love for the game. plained. “You guys play games together, you chill, you chat. You have fun utilizing similar interests. Sounds familiar to regular human socializing? Well it should.

These people...lived in De-

ELD Ambassadors help English Learners assimilate

By Grace He

Established in 2010 by guidance counselor Wilma Wu and Grace Henson, head of the English Language Development (ELD) Department at Homestead High School, the ELD Ambassador Program pairs ELD students and mentors together in order to help assimilate English learners into American culture.

The idea behind the program was formed when Wu was in graduate school at San Jose State. She and her classmates had to create a program for a group project that would improve school relations and community building. As they all had interests in helping English learners, they created the base of what would become Homestead’s ELD Ambassador

Program. “[The project] was something that we hoped we could take with us when we worked at a school,” said Wu. Every Tuesday during tutorial, participants in the Ambassador program – ELD students who are new to the United States and their “mentors”, student volunteers who are familiar with the campus and campus events – meet and to go through the week’s upcoming events with PowerPoint presentations.

Led by the ELD Commissioners, senior Bolin Feng, junior Chau Nguyen and senior Andre Ordonez, the students and the mentors participate in a short discussion and activity. “The goal of [the activities and discussions] is not only to help the student to assimilate to American culture but also to improve their English,” said Nguyen.

The English learners are not the only ones gaining something from this program. Senior Ilina Bhaya-Grossman, a mentor in the program, said, “I had thought that it was going to be really hard that you are helping someone and you’re the friend of someone that may not necessarily have them at this school.”

Currently, the students are working on a new project that was introduced to the program this year called “Personal Book”. Using questions and worksheets given to them, the ELD students will write a mation about themselves, including their likes, dislikes and hobbies. Through this, according to the Commissioners, the students press themselves better not only to their mentors, but to other students on campus as well.

Yes

Yes

No

mark, and were some of the coolest guys ever.”

He isn’t the only one to see gaming as a social tool. A study by the Pew Internet & American Life Project found that “although most teens play games by themselves at least occasionally, just one-quarter (24 percent) of teens only play games alone, and the remaining three-quarters of teens play games with others at least some of the time.” Diwu also stated that one reason he plays computer and video games is “because my friends play.” highlighted include learning self-control, and the motivation to better oneself. When “I said... pointless, ragey things. [I] had to clean my [act] up in order to get better... [and] be more understanding.”

Although it is indeed popular, sentiments toward gaming are not universally positive. To Hsiao, society’s view on gaming is that “people use it to replace something that simply cannot compare...and a substitute for real social activity. It’s a waste cant sum of money [on games] you’re a fool.”

DAta collected from 307 homestead students

To the naypoint. “They should try something before they judge it as their stances and opinions Many people (like myself) found and developed social lives [in real life] via gaming.”

Although Diwu shared similar opinions about the public’s view on gaming (he believes that “people don’t know much about gaming”), he also acknowledged the negative consequences. “It’s kinda bad for my health,” he said. “it makes me lose track of time and distracts me really easily, and kills social life and things.”

But in the end, “I feel like the positives outweigh the negatives,” Diwu said, “Having fun is important to me.”

And to those who don’t take gaming “Play games with an open mind,” he said.

“It’s like starting a new hobby.” Hsiao also recommended considering gaming as separate from “the real world,” but rather a place free from the restriction of it.

“Oh,” he added, “and ignore the haters.”

Friend request from your teacher: accept or decline?

By Marissa Lee

While scrolling through your suggested friends on a social media website, you see your teacher with mutual friends. The internal debate arises of whether befriending your teacher online is appropriate or not. It is often suggested to keep all outside-of-school interactions between students and teachers to a minimum, especially since controversies seem to be popping up everywhere in local schools.

In recent news, there have been several instances of inappropriate relationships between teachers and students.

A Santa Clara High School teacher was arrested last month on suspicion of hava John F. Kennedy High School teacher was arrested for allegedly molesting a student.

Even at Homestead, there has been controversy in the past. Eight years ago, a well-liked choir teacher admitone 15-year-old and two 16-year-olds students and was later sentenced to prison. With social media so accessible and nearly everyone, including teachers, using it, the door for inappropriate teacher-student interactions has the potential to open even wider.

Perhaps that is why at every new teacher orientation in the Fremont Union High School District, the Director of Human Resources, Tom Avvakumovits, has a discussion with all new teachers about what is and what is not prudent behavior with students. “Think of your chemistry teacher,” Avvakumovits said. “[H]e’s got a bunch of dangerous chemicals; should he not use those chemicals with students? I’m sure if he uses them inappropriately, they can do

great damage. They could put you at risk.

They could put him at risk. However, a thoughtful, appropriate chemistry teacher knows how to use those chemical resources in an appropriate educational way. We want our teachers to use social media, if they choose to, in an appropriate way.”

Despite all the negativity that surrounds teachers interacting with students through social media, the convenience the internet provides to easily contact each other can be propriately.

AP US Government and Economics teacher, Christy Heaton, has a Facebook group with her current AP students as well as some of her last year’s students. The group provides a place where her students can ask questions and interact with former students for help and advice.

Although she is “friends” with every student in the Facebook group, she has two Facebook accounts: a personal account and a strictly school account. It is through her school Facebook account that she has created the group and “friended” her students.

She reasons, “students are not your friends.

Students are your students.” tra precaution when friending students on Facebook. “People are not aware of what they post,” Harris said. She does not want to be put in a position that might strain the current relationship she has with a student.

As a mandated reporter, Harris is required by law to report if she has reasonable type of abuse. So if Harris were to see a post by a student that could possibly be inappropriate, she would be obligated to report it to Child Protective Services.

So, perhaps, before friending a teacher online, you should think twice about the issues it may cause, and just wait until graduation.

PAGE ILLUSTRATIONS BY EUGENE CHENG AND GREG SCHRADER PAGE DESIGN BY RACHEL HILDEBRAND AND PRIYA SODLAPUR

entertainment

Thursday, November 7, 2013

The Fifth Estate falls flat

9

By Donnie Denome

In today’s world of constantly updating news, it is easy to see a person as sum of their actions, especially if said

trite, cliche dialog.

Overall, the movie cannot seem to make up its mind

WikiLeaks, namely Julian Assange and Daniel Berg. It ulsange’s personality. duced as a well-intentioned, if socially inept, freedom-ofinformation activist when he meets Berg (Daniel Brühl) at a technology expo. Assange and Berg later discuss WikiLeaks

cept for those in the US government are set up to do little having none of their own. When all your characters are -

R, it could have easily passed with a PG-13 if not for the profanity. There are also two scenes that involve slight Thankfully, these unnecessary annoyances never show up again.

Berg working on WikiLeaks and scenes of him not, switching just as the scene has piqued your interest. At one point,

as a scene where two men are shot several times in the the producers thinking that only adults would want to see it. While I didn’t enjoy it, I can imagine that many matter.

In short: if you’re looking for a deep character study of If you’re looking for an exploration of the documents they

excellent example of how little respect Assange has for other people. This is not a rare phenomenon: nearly every attempt to develop Berg’s character and situation develops Assange’s instead.

The strain that WikiLeaks is putting on the US government is developed through Sarah Shaw (Laura Linney).

you, don’t see The Fifth Estate. If you’re looking for a general introduction to the world of WikiLeaks, then go

completely changing the audience’s sympathies. Shaw feels acters are real people, make no attempt to act as anything

Based on the old French system of three estates, or social classes, it is the group of people who use technology to change the world.

What is the Fifth Estate?

PHOTO COURTESY OF UPLOAD.WIKIMEDIA.ORG

ABOVE: The theatrical poster of “The Fifth Estate”, which was released on October 18, 2013, features Benedict Cumberbatch as Julian Assange and Daniel Brühl as Daniel Berg.

Internet radio

Pros and cons of using free Internet radios

By Khalil Bourgoub

on your phone and on other Internet devices have made it effortless to listen to music expense free, as there are many platforms that offer free music to consumers.

As the Internet expands, more and more free, random music generators known as Internet radio have emerged.

Platforms such as Spotify, Pandora and Rdio are some of the most popular online radio programs, each with a multitude of users.

Another negative aspect of these radio platforms is that if you are interested in a song, on some of them, you can’t replay the song. On the other hand, there are also many positive aspects of these radios. If you are on the go or don’t have the time or money to download all of your new favorite music, you can look up a genre on these radio platforms and listen to your favorite music as much as you want. On some of the radios, you can even make your own playlists of artists and songs that you love to listen to.

Even though all of this music is technically free, there

to social media networks, and share music with friends. most recommended, which makes them the most popular among the technologically savvy. advanced fronts of Spotify and Rdio on. Pandora listenSpotify and Rdio are more satisfying for music conpared to that in Pandora.

is listening to an artist on these radio platforms, they might discover a new song or artist that they love and is that consumers could easily love a song and choose to download it illegally.

for a small fee. This enhances the listening experience with options such as extended listening or unlimited play. sic listening, as they offer so many useful tools that allow listeners to make playlists of their own, add features

PHOTO COURTESY OF DISCOVERSKILLS.COM

PHOTO COURTESY OF IOSICONGALLERY.COM

them legally. While there are certain Internet radio statures, it ultimately comes down to user preference.

PHOTO COURTESY OF RDIO.COM

Pantone

Colors around the world

By Priya Sodlapur

Behind the catwalk, designers strive to create new trends that will shock fashion critics and inspire people around the world.

While the designers endeavor, they must also include trending colors in the task to These trending colors are distinctively signers. According to npr.com, twice a year 10 people get together with only one focus color.

Pantone is a vastly diverse cooperation that, according to pantone.com, involves the selling of many products and focuses on graphic arts, fashion, color management, research, and more. and is now the worldwide standard for color. Pantone is the one-stop spot for exponential information on today’s trending colors.

What s HOT, according to Pantone?

HOT − EARTHLY COLORS NOT − PASTELS & NEONS MUSTARD YELLOW, COFFEE BROWN, EMERALD, PLUM, MAGENTA

LAVENDER, SKY BLUE, LIME,

NECTARINE ORANGE, POPPY RED PAGE DESIGN BY ANTHONY GARCIA AND NICOLE CHUNG

10

Thursday, November 7, 2013

Concussions in Sports:

sports

Recruit The damage goes far but occurs close and score to home

By Rachel Hildebrand

Last month, the NFL was handed a $765 million dollar lawsuit to help pay for the treatment of players with dementia, depression, Alzheimer’s, and other diseases that resulted from concussions in their career, according to the Associated Press.

Sports related concussions are generally expected at the professional level, considering the intensity of professional sports, but many do not realize that concussions can have serious effects on young athletes as well.

American Journal of Sports Medicine reported that at least 300,000 youth under the age of 18 experience concussions each year, though according to the study, the number is thought to be much higher, just underreported by athletes and coaches.

Freshman Mikayla Medin, who suffered a hit in the head while playing a game with friends, recalled, “I got very dizzy, light headed. I had double vision for a couple weeks.” Her symptoms worsened, causing her to have trouble recalling memories, concentrating, and understanding what she was reading or writing throughout the months she was recovering.

With 60 percent of high school students participating in organized sports, the long-term effects of concussions are as big of a threat as ever, according to reports Academy of Pediatrics. One report stated that until the age of 20, the brains, neck, and shoulders of youth are still developing, making them more vulnerable than those of older players.

When a concussion occurs, the brain is repeatedly jostled, causing it to become deformed. This can lead to memory loss,

dementia, Alzheimer’s, and other serious diseases later in life. “[Besides football], soccer, water polo, and synchronized swimming are also sports that sustained a higher than average amount of concussions than other sports,” said Jesse Free, the Assistant Athletic Trainer at Stanford University Sports Medicine, who diagnoses, treats, and conducts research on concussions in order to develop better treatments. “When an athlete is suffering from concussion symptoms… and a second collision to the skull occurs, the athlete has a 50/50 chance of life or death at the time of the second impact,” Free said.

Due to the high risks of playing a sport with a concussion, Free explained treatment for college and high school players is a long and careful process. After an athlete is symptom-free for 24 hours, a player starts light conditioning to see if they are ready to return. Then, he slowly raises his level of activity until he is ready to try noncontact practice. If he experiences no problems throughout the recovery, he is allowed to return to his sport. But, if any concussion symptoms arise anytime throughout the process, the athlete must wait 24 hours before starting the process over again.

Here at Homestead, coaches of all sports are required to go through a concussion training course online, where they learn to identify symptoms and perform basic treatment. With teens, the symptoms of a concussion are usually less apparent than they are with adults, making diagnoses even harder.

Students at some schools take pre-season tests as a basis for later concussion tests. However, Homestead is not one of them, mainly because of the cost of the tests.

Before joining a sport, students and parents are required to sign a waiver acknowledging the risks of concussions, and

the dangers are stressed at pre-season meetings.

“We can’t mandatorily make kids pay for things… and we don’t have the money,” explained Charlie Bostic, one of Homestead’s Athletic Directors.

Though the testing is available for all athletes at an extra cost, none have signed up this season.

“You can’t prevent it, but you can get enlightened on it,” said Milo Lewis, Homestead’s varsity football coach.

Recently, both the JV and varsity football teams have been incorporating better tackling techniques and padding in hopes of keeping student athletes safe.

While there have been no concussions with permanent damage this season, the threat still remains.

“The big thing is making sure kids return to play,” Daniel Usim, Homestead’s physical trainer, stressed. “Not in a quick manner, but in a safe manner.”

In the spring of 2012, six Homestead alumni founded an organization to train young bask=etball players. Christened Ballin’ Academy, this business offers coaching, clinics, and camps throughout the year and especially during summer breaks.

The six founders, Ahish Chitneni, Sanchit Gupta, Sahil Keval, Steve Kim, Todd Matsuura and Jordan Spence, who graduated from Homestead in 2012, had all worked at the local YMCA during high school. “During spring break in 2012, we realized that YMCA didn’t have any basketball camps,” Chitneni said. “We felt that it was a perfect time to create our own.”

Matsuura added: “It was much more successful than we had thought. We thought we’d go for it even if we were in college.”

However, the sextet decided to take a

such as Sports Authority and Sports Basement for deals and advertisements.

They also hosted two free basketball

ABOVE: Ballin’ Academy students and coaches huddle during their 2013 summer clinic. For more information, visit www.ballinacademy. com.

year of college. “When we got back together, we started to look at everything from a their business name and obtained their license.

An early obstacle they faced was getting exposure. “There were a lot of people in the community that didn’t know us and thought we were just college kids,” Chitneni said. “The hardest part was overcoming our image.”

To advertise and spread the word, they talked with local sporting goods businesses

ABOVE: (From right to left) Sanchit Gupta, Sahil Keval, Todd Matsuura, Ahish Chitneni, Jordan Spence and Steve Kim (not pictured) officially created Ballin’ Academy over the summer of 2013, after graduating from Homestead in 2012.

By Nicole Chung

out college applications in hopes of receiving those much-anticipated acceptance letters. Out of these seniors, a few athletes are recruited prior to their senior year and have already been accepted into certain colleges.

Homestead has its own collection of athletes who have already been accepted by a wide range of colleges. These students are not only intelligent, but athletic seniors ready to begin the next phase of their lives: college. One senior athlete, Casey Carroll, says that she is “super excited for college” because of all the challenges she will face and because she gets to continue her volleyball career at the California Polytechnic State University-San Luis Obispo next fall.

Knowing that Homestead has been gifted with such well-rounded, athletic students, many may wonder just how this process works. According to the National Collegiate Athletic Association, the general process includes four periods: the contact, evaluation, quiet, and dead periods.

During the contact period, college coaches approach a prospective athlete.

Then, during the evaluation period, the coaches begin to assess the athlete’s scholastic academics and sports abilities. Afterwards, during the quiet period, the coach may contact the athlete and set up an oncampus visit or call or write to the athlete.

Finally, during the dead period, the coach and the athlete cannot contact each other are phoning or writing. The athlete will

Homestead alumni pass on passion for basketball

By Matthew Chow

Getting a head start in college athletics

clinics as a marketing push at the end of the summer. “We had about 100 kids at each clinic,” Keval said. “Some people even came from Sacramento and the East Bay.” Another problem that has arisen is geography. The six founders, all college students, currently attend schools all around the country. “We have weekly group chats every Sunday to keep us in the loop,” said Chitneni, who attends University of California San Diego.

“It’s just a way for us to catch up and discuss ideas,” added Matsuura.

The main goals for Ballin’ Academy are organizing clinics during spring break camps over the summer. Other organized events include taking their students to community basketball games. “It’s a great way to get academy students to talk to (aspiring) basketball players in a real locker room and see a basketball game,” said Matsuura.

The founders related their inspiration behind creating the organization to their individual passion for the sport.

“I actually started playing basketball in seventh grade, which is quite late,” Chitneni said. “But that’s helped me in coaching. A lot of the kids are really young, and I always tell their parents that if they keep going, they’re going to get so much better. One day, they’ll be coaching in our camps.”

Matsuura added: “I want to see my passion for basketball passed on to others.”

will be allowed to play for the college.

Given that only a few high school athletes are contacted by the coaches, one might think that this process is not fair to other students because it seems that only the best athletes are being recruited by colleges. It may also seem that athletes have an “easy in” when it comes to getting into a college because all they have to do is to wait for coaches to contact them. This is not the case.

For the athletes, captivating the attention of the college coaches is hard enough.

Starting from freshman year, the athletes have to make records of their “best game.”

Towards the end of junior year, the athletes must often seek out college coaches on their own if they have not been contacted by the coaches yet. Another important thing to remember is “more is better,” meaning that the more attention and contacts the athletes get from college coaches, the better the chances of getting recruited.

In addition to playing their very best out on the court, athletes must also maintain a certain academic record. For example, Ivy League schools such as Harvard require that potential athletes maintain a GPA of at least a 3.0 and an SAT score of at least 2130 (translated, this is a score of 32 on the ACT). into balancing school and sports when she says, “in order to play a sport in college, it takes a lot of time and hard work that can take away from your academics.”

Simply put, athletes have to work just as hard as other students in order to get into a college. The way athletes prepare themselves for college may be slightly different than the way non-athletic students do. They stress over whether or not they have been recruited by a college, in the same way many other seniors worry about whether or not they have been accepted by the colleges that they have applied to.

PAGE DESIGN BY MICHELLE FULLER AND MARISSA LEE

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11

Thursday, November 7, 2013

12

last word

Thursday, November 7, 2013

Q: Why do you dress the way you do?

Q: One word to describe your fashion?

A: Comforlazifferenless.

Q: Favorite stores to shop at?

Store and Hot Topic.

to dress better?

ribe your fashion?

Q: One word to desc A: Classy. shop at?

Q: Favorite stores to

Q: One word to describe your fashion?

A: Classic.

Q: How many scarves do you own?

A: 25.

Q: Favorite stores to shop at?

A: Talbots and J.Jill.

Q: What inspired you to dress the way you do?

A: Project Runway.

Q: One word to describe your fashion?

A: Preppy.

Q: Favorite stores to shop at?

Q: What is your staple item?

A: My Doc Martins and my leather skirt.

Q: Favorite stores to shop at?

A: Brandy Melville and Savers.

Q: One word to describe your fashion?

A: Ravioli.

PHOTOS BY GRACE HE AND EUGENE CHENG PAGE DESIGN BY GRACE HE