Issue 5, 2014

Page 1

epitaph

the

HOMESTEAD HIGH SCHOOL

VOL. 51

ISSUE 5

Special Coverage Every 15 minutes someone dies due to an alcohol-related collision

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THURSDAY, MARCH 6, 2014

21370 HOMESTEAD RD. CUPERTINO, CA

To leaf or not to leaf Debate over removing iconic tree causes controversy among students and staff By Priya Sodlapur In light of the new cafeteria and quad being redesigned, an uproar of students have been protesting the destruction of the tree located in the center of the quad. According to Sophomore Emily Hering, “The tree is an important part of Homestead, it’s iconic and defines Homestead’s social interactions.” However, with the construction and leveling of the quad, being able to keep the tree alive was not possible. Tara Grande, assistant principal, explained that “if we were to just do it [reconstruction] around it [the tree] that would expose so much of the root that the tree would go into shock and die.” While administration is sad to see a part of Homestead go, they

are also really excited to usher in the new design and create a new quad to represent Homestead. The overall quad has a focus on the future and an environment that will be sustainable for a maximum amount of time. Greg Giglio, principal, explained, “the quad has served its purpose for the last 50 years, we’re looking to design it for the next 50 years and keeping it [the tree] has caused more problems than not.” Administration has also expressed how the redesign of the quad is happening to benefit the Homestead community as a whole. The new cafeteria will allow for new classrooms and more space for the growing student population. Also, Grande noted that “part of the reason the cafete-

Political turmoil brews in Ukraine

ria is being redesigned is [to accomodate] new ADA laws for wheelchair accessibility.” The new quad will be more open and easily accessible for Homestead students. In response to the tree being cut down, Hering set up a petition on change.org asking people to sign in order to save the iconic tree. The petition gathered 432 signatures as well as a series of comments from students defending the tree. While the petition was not brought to administration, Hering noted that “It was pretty successful; it reached a ton of people I wasn’t expecting, which was more than I thought.” Students around campus have been defensive towards the tree when asked their opinion on it being taken done. Junior Tin-

gyee Chang said, “It’s sad to see the tree go because it is an icon of the Homestead campus for a long time and I am going to miss it, the shade, the memories.” Sophomore Ryan Hartley agreed. “It’s the only life on campus,” he said. However, Senior Haruna Aridomi defends administration by saying, “I can see why administration wants to [take the tree down]. After everything it just seems to be causing more trouble.” According to Hering, the solution to avoid cutting down the tree was to have “waited till it died ‘officially’ and just preserved it until then or replaced it with another.” However, in previous years this same tactic had been used to preserve the old oak tree in front of

the library, and Grande notes that “we have this void and we want to make sure that doesn’t happen again, so we’re trying to plan not just for the next 10 years, 20 years or however long the tree is going to live, we’re trying to plan for the next 50 years and make sure the quad functions for everyone for the extended period of time.” While students were worried about a possible lack of shade, Grande assured that “there are actually going to be a lot of new trees in the new quad design. There is going to be a lot of cool seating and really cool trees, and there’s even an opportunity to put some really cool shade structures [...] there’s definitely going to be shade for the quad.”

FBLA wins Bay Section By Rachel Hildebrand

By Laura Tang

tion “on the brink of civil war.” Shortly thereafter, Russia sent This past Monday, March troops to flood the peninsula of 3, Russian forces surrounding Crimea, and currently shows no Ukraine’s Crimean military inclination of backing down debases gave ultimatum to the spite world leaders’ urging RusUkrainian navy, urging sur- sia to do so. render. This conThe conflict raises flict began significant when the “Russia’s actions are implications U k r a i n i a n childish, and perfectly for the Unitgovernment illustrative of why Rus- ed States, as accepted Ukraine is Russia’s of- sia is only a first world r e q u e s t i n g fer for a $15 nation in the loosest support from billion bailNorth Atsense of the term” out in place lantic Treaty - Artem Jivotovski O r g a n i z a of a trade deal with tion (NATO) the Europewhich coman Union, giving rise to violent prises 28 sovereign countries, protests and riots throughout including the United States, Ukraine. The government re- which would be directly insponded by enacting a series volved in a potential military of harsh anti-protest laws, intervention. Additionally, which further triggered pro- world leaders as well as Ukraitests and anger among Ukrai- nian civilians fear that Russian nians. Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovych, who was Continued on page 2, ousted and fled to Moscow, described Ukraine as a na- Ukraine Turmoil

No doubt we’re in a drought California’s worst drought in decades explained See page 6

PHOTO COURTESY OF NITSAN ORR

PHOTO CAPTION: This year competitors for Homestead’s FBLA charter finished first at Bay Section for the seventeenth year in a row, beating out the second place Lybrook High School. On March 1, Homestead’s Future Business Leaders of America (FBLA) hosted the Bay Section Leadership Conference, a competition for 950 members from 27 local charters to competed in 34 competitive events. With almost 300 members, the Homestead charter is one of the largest, and represented well. Homestead finished first for the 17th year in a row. Fifteen Home-

stead students finished first, more than any other school competing. In total, 68 members qualified to move on to the state competition later this year. Homestead accumulated 561 points, where first place is ten points, second place is nine points, and so forth. Homestead beat second place Lynbrook by 271 points. The HHS charter has been the top in the nation for the past

Prom season promises new trends

Colors, styles and more See page 9

13 years. This past summer, 53 Homestead students attended the national competition and combined for 157 points, more than any other of the nation’s 8,000 charters. This year, Homestead expects to do the same. “It gives them a little more motivation to really learn,” said

Continued on page 2, FBLA

Inside:

Lifestyles

8

News

1

Entertainment 9

Opinion

4

Sports

10

Spread

6

Last Word

12

PAGE DESIGN BY EUGENE CHENG AND ANTHONY GARCIA PHOTO ILLUSTRATION BY NANCY ZHOU


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