Eye of the Tiger (Issue 6, Volume 14) by Eye of the Tiger

Read more at eyeofthetigernews.com.

page 2 | news

Eye of the Tiger ROSEVILLE HIGH SCHOOL 1 TIGER WAY ROSEVILLE, CA 95678 EDITOR-IN-CHIEF Marc Chappelle NEWS EDITOR Mikayla Stearns FEATURES EDITOR Rachel Barber OPINION EDITOR Andrew Smith ENTERTAINMENT EDITOR Sophia Cook SPORTS EDITOR George Hughes ONLINE EDITOR Nikolay Lubko ESPAñOL EDITOR Madeline Furdek PHOTO EDITOR Amy Adamson Zachary Cheek Nikolay Lubko FACULTY ADVISER Bobby Ritter STAFF WRITERS Albina Bassarab James Bateman Clay Boyd Austin Daly Alexx Doolittle Marina Efstathiu Elizabeth Hillman Gabrielle Hutson Kale Jibson Destine Kyubwa Jake Littlejohn Samuel Mailey Tommy Morin Johnny Mulligan Claire Oertly Hunter Rhode Delaney Rhodes Cesar Sanchez Kaden Schmittner Zachary Seminer Joshua Solso Eduardo Sotomayor Natalie Tran Victoria Wilkinson

december 14, 2015

AP GOV: False advertisement of credit misleads AP students CONTINUED FROM FRONT

anyway,” AP Gov teacher Dana Dooley said. “And that also means that [AP Econ teacher Kevin] Fagan is going to incorporate more of a Macro focus, to kind of be like ‘Yeah, we’re doing Macro.’” According to Dooley, AP Gov has no such loophole. “There isn’t a governmenty, five credit, AP level course that we aren’t already teaching at this school that we then could pair with Gov on record to make it look like students are taking a fourth ap course to get AP credit,” Dooley said. RHS assistant principal Jason Wilson visited the Government and Microeconomic classes to explain the credit conflict to the students. “We are only allowed to allocate five credits of a weighted bump, and the second quarter of instruction is only to be allocated a 4.0, or the regular grade point,” Wilson said. According to Dooley, staff is looking to change the policy holding back these courses throughout the district for the coming year. “The easier but still difficult route is the one that we are seeking to take: it is to get the district to recognize and approve AP Gov as a ten credit course instead of a five credit course,” Dooley said. “And then that should help the other courses in other districts be-

cause that opens up the possibility for them to extend their AP Gov content as well.” In years past, seniors taking AP Government would, on record, be enrolled in AP Government for their first quarter and in CP Economics for the second quarter. Dooley incorporated mostly AP Gov work and some economics into the 18 weeks of the semester, in the years before RHS got an AP Microeconomics class. These changes to the course selection and opportunities for a grade bump will have to be adjusted on students previous transcripts. AP Gov students Assata Baker and Nilab Habib began a petition in the second period Gov class to urge Roseville Joint Union High School District to help the classes be approved as ten credit courses. “Let’s go the school board and start a petition, so maybe that can affect change, I don’t know for this year but maybe for next year,” Baker said. “Me and Nilab wrote what we wanted to change, our mission statement and from there we went on with getting signatures and hoping to go to a council meeting and a school board meeting and affect change in that area.” Dooley advertised the petition to her other upset periods of AP Gov. “I’m not going to be the one who leads and does anything with the petition,” Dooley said. “I’m going to say, ‘Hey you guys are in this class learning how to affect

change, I’m excited to see how you’re going to affect change in this.’” At these meetings, students expressed their concerns with updating their college applications, where Wilson also recommended that students send out individual letters with their applications. “We were really upset, not just because of our impression that we would get twenty credits, because we thought we were going to get twenty credits for college apps, but for the late notice for when we were filling out college apps, we had to go back and do twenty percent of our app and we had to implicate to UCs and CSUs that it had changed,” Baker said. “And some people had already sent in their apps and then they had to call the school and tell them what happened.” Senior Makenna Vulgas, who will be enrolled in Gov next term, felt that this situation needed to be addressed with students earlier. “It’s just kind of upsetting that all of this is happening three or so weeks from when the actual term ends,” Vulgas said. Vulgas also feels as though that students were misled by enrolling in the AP class. “It’s not the students’, fault but I feel like we are being penalized for a mistake that our school made and they never should have implemented this program if they didn’t get the proper approval,” Vulgas said. “They should have known it would backfire.”

TOYS FOR TOTS

Comments? Criticism? Story idea? We want to hear it. Write to us at info@eyeofthetigernews.com

DEC 14

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CRAM NIGHT 5:00 p.m. - 8:00 p.m. All grades welcome to study for finals. There will be food, prizes and tutors.

DEC 16

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DEC 15

WINTER CONCERT 7:45 p.m. After RHS band’s annual pasta dinner in the cafeteria, visitors can listen to holiday pieces in the Patti Baker theater.

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FINALS Students will go to their third and fourth periods on Thursday, and first and second on Thursday.

DEC - JAN 19 4

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CULTURAL SPEAKER SERIES 6:30 p.m. The third installment of the series will be held at the OHS theater.

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TEACHER WORK DAY School not in session.

DEC 17-18

WINTER BREAK School not in session.

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JAN 4

COURT: New titles challenge tradition

CONTRIBUTING CARTOONIST Viktoria Barr Taysia De Mesa The mission of Eye of the Tiger, a news-gathering organization run by Roseville High School students, is to inform, entertain and serve as a public forum for student expression. We will accomplish our goals by reporting unbiased news while offering student perspectives in our columns and editorials. This includes, but is not limited to, prominent issues, changes and events that have an impact on the students and communities of Roseville High School. We will strive to report with depth, accuracy and timeliness. It is not our goal to evoke controversy or sensationalize issues. We do not push moral values or political agendas. Views expressed in the opinion and entertainment sections, columns and letters-to-the-editor are those of the individual author, and do not necessarily belong to Eye of the Tiger staff, this publication or Roseville High School. All letters-to-the-editor must be signed and are subject to review by the editorial board before inclusion in the newspaper. We reserve the right to edit submitted work as needed for space limitations and content. Nonattributed editorials reflect the opinion of the staff and must be approved by the entire editorial board.

UPCOMINGEVENTS

CONTINUED FROM FRONT

AMY ADAMSON EYE OF THE TIGER

Above, an elementary school student gives Santa Claus their Christmas list. Student Government students volunteered with the Toys for Tots program last Thursday, serving as Santa’s helpers and interacting with the kids.

time.” Honorees would be allowed to walk with anyone they chose, and not be assigned to another court member for the rally. “[Walking partners] could be a teacher, or a staff member, or a parent or a friend,” Parker said. “We’d have ten intros.” The nomination process will not be altered, other than the addition of a rubric on the nomination sheet so students can see what requirements the nominees should meet. The rubric categories will include service to the school, service outside of school, GPA, extracurriculars and overall character. Nomination forms can now be filled out and submitted online. “We are going to put together an actual rubric,” Parker said. “It’ll be on the actual nomination form. So when you’re nominating your friends, you can see exactly what the teacher is going to see and how the teachers are going to pick.” According to Gori, the change was motivated by the need of the

student body. “A lot of groups on campus have expressed a want for a change in court,” Gori said. “We’ve seen that, so we thought we would take that into consideration.” Senior Bryen Mariano doesn’t see the point in the dance court changes. “I think the changes weren’t really necessary,” Mariano said. “I liked when there was a queen and a king. I don’t think it needed to be changed but I guess if they’re trying something new it’s not a bad thing.” Fellow senior Logan Lambrechtsen believes the new plan for the honorees is an unconventional approach by the school. “Yeah, I think it’s lame because we always talk about how we are a school of tradition and now we are changing traditional things,” Lambrechtsen said. For Toj Davis, apathy overcomes the preference for the old court system and titles. “Yeah, I like the five boys and five girls better, but I’m not really tripping,” Davis said.

COURSE: Depts. combat student confusion with revisions

CONTINUED FROM FRONT

Many classes are currently offered in the course selection guide, but some of them are not potential classes due to either a lack of interest from students or lack of having a teacher to teach those classes. For example, Accounting and Sports and Entertainment Marketing are likely to trimmed from the business class selection offerings. According to Patricia Leong, VAPA department head, within her department there will not be major changes. In the ceramics program’s higher levels there is discussion for the classes like

3D printing and Sculpture to be formed into one class. Classes such as art, guitar and dance will not be seeing changes due to their popularity. The new music class – beginning Piano Lab – will be taught by band director Mark Toffelmier in the spring. “There are additions as well as subtractions to the course catalogue and just simplifying what the offerings are,” Leong said. Leong believes that electives are important to help students express themselves and also to give them insight into what the future could be like for them. “When a kid comes in and doesn’t know what to take it helps

to have a better description,” Leong said. “If you have a descriptive thing that is a little more inviting it’s easier for them to be brave enough to take that class.” According to business department head Ron Volk, classes such as Computer Apps are in jeopardy of being pushed out of curriculum because of an administrative push for AP classes. “They need some good electives,” Volk said. “The whole idea of electives is to give students ideas and thoughts about what they might want to pursue.” Volk’s classes have potential to be cut even though they are meant to give students a better idea of

what they have planned for their future. He also thinks that electives are important to take stress off students who take many difficult classes. “The core classes are gonna be filled and there is no way they are gonna eliminate a core class,” Volk said. “The ones that are of most concern are the elective teachers because they could decide not to put kids into the class [they teach].” The English department has three electives in the course selection guide, Film and Lit, English Magazine and Speech and Debate. All of these classes will be kept in the book and will be

taught if enough students request to be in the class. “We have electives on the books that we don’t really have any intention of offering,” Mowrer said. “We talked about eliminating that from the course selection guide because it is misleading to students.” Due to the CAHSEE being discontinued, the Critical reading and Writing class is no longer available because it was meant to prepare students for the CAHSEE. “We did some language cleaning up for our intervention course and some cleanup for our electives,” Mowrer said.

page 3 | news

december 14, 2015

Course additions to begin in spring term PIANO LAB BY JOHNNY MULLIGAN

j.mulligan@eyeofthetigernews.com

Band director Mark Toffelmier will begin teaching the new VAPA class Piano Lab next term. According to Toffelmier, the class came as a surprise. Over the past years, Roseville High School administration has attempted to offer a piano class but insufficient enrollment held it from becoming a class. “This was one of the few cases where enrollment caused this class to happen,” Toffelmier said. “We have been wanting to have a piano class for a long time.” Woodcreek, Granite Bay and Antelope High School all offer piano classes, and Toffelmier hopes to imitate their system with a beginner, intermediate and advanced piano class. “Piano is where the music theory came from so there is that, and the piano playing part, the music reading part and depending on how it works we may do some music history,” Toffelmier said. According to Toffelmier, principal David Byrd told him that if enough students enrolled in the class, administration would ensure that there would be pianos to use. “Mr. Byrd and Mrs. Leong cobbled together a lot of leftover money and found enough to afford and buy the pianos,” Toffelmier said. The school purchased 30 P1-15 Yamaha keyboards with weighted keys to function more like a real piano. Students will also use headphones so that students can play without being interrupted by the other keyboards in the class. “We can have different levels of students playing because they play through headphones,” Toffelmier said. Senior Philip Derochers enrolled in the class because he was interested in learning a new instrument and the piano intrigued him. “It will be fun and it will be easy,” Derochers said. “[Toffelmier] was saying it will be a very self-paced class, you'll have a week to prepare something at

CONTINUED FROM FRONT

Above, 30 keyboards sit in P-31 for the spring’s new Piano Lab course. Band director Mark Toffelmier will teach the course alongside Symphonic Band and cease teaching at Oakmont once Piano Lab starts. Toffelmier hopes to teach an intermediate and advanced piano class after a successful first term of Piano Lab.

heads wear out, so we didn’t really incur any new repair costs. We are making repairs maybe quicker than we would in the past.” The maintenance department placed signs encouraging neighboring houses of Roseville High School and RHS staff to communicate with the maintenance office if they see: water running on the concrete, broken sprinkler heads or flooded areas. Any measured rainfall exceeding one inch will stop irrigation for the following week. “I anticipate that the current watering restrictions will remain in place until April or May,” Knapp said. “At that time, based on the actual amount of snow and rainfall we receive, the restrictions will be adjusted up or down.”

your own level and then play it for him.” Toffelmier will no longer be teaching photography classes at Oakmont and will be a full-time band teacher at RHS once Piano Lab begins. “[He helps] create the music and marching drill for our field show,” Drum Major Amanda Lopes said. “He conducts us in class and at concerts and [stays] after school for about an hour and a half and he’s always willing to help.”

AcaDeca competition remains in Sacramento

NIKOLAY LUBKO EYE OF THE TIGER

FILM AND LITERATURE BY JOSH SOLSO

j.solso@eyeofthetigernews.com

This spring, English and drama teacher Ashley White will be taking over the Film and Literature class that was previously taught by former Roseville High School teacher Paige Powell.

The class will be separated into thematic units of film. Inside those units there will be various genres of film that will be analyzed by the students in the class and integration of the vocabulary that is needed to be able to understand certain genres of film. According to White, her passion for film and literature was cultivated by her college experience and simultaneously teaching drama. “Personally it is something that I personally love,” White said. “When I was in college I took numerous film classes and I am an English major so it is right up my alley, especially with drama.” The first week or two of the class will focus on building up the students’ knowledge of the world of film before actually beginning to analyze film. “We will be looking at film and literature through a lense of adaptation and criticism, and then from there we will go into these thematic units,” White said. Film and Lit is only available

BY AMY ADAMSON

a.adamson@eyeofthetigernews.com

NIKOLAY LUBKO EYE OF THE TIGER

First-year RHS faculty member Ashley White will revive the Film and Literature class this spring. White currently teaches English and drama. Her interest in both fueled her decision to take up the class. every other year, so the Class of 2015 would have not been able to take the senior-year-grade course last year. RHS senior James Provins is currently enrolled in the course

during the spring semester and is looking forward to what the class has to offer. “Yeah, I’m pretty excited about it,” Provins said. “It sounds like it will be a pretty fun class.”

Faculty trades textbooks for electronics resources

BY SAM MAILEY

s.mailey@eyeofthetigernews.com

As Roseville High School experiments with online curriculum programs, departments continue to receive hard copy textbooks whether or not teachers rely on them for their curriculum. Last year alone, Roseville Joint Union High School District spent $700,000 on textbooks, with RHS accounting for roughly $153,000 of that spending. Because of constantly emerging technology and the desire to keep curriculum current, many teachers scarcely use these textbooks in their classes. Geography and World Cultures and AP Human Geography teacher Cari Oberreuter uses free online resources such as Ted Talks, newspaper articles and the CIA world factbook to maintain a current curriculum surrounding world events, an aspect that textbooks don’t offer. According to Oberreuter, physical textbooks’ inability to remain current limits their relevance in a classroom setting. “The textbook isn’t always current, even if it’s brand new it’s still a couple of years old,” Oberreuter said According to Oberreuter, online resources cater to different learning styles as well. “Everybody has a different learning style, so sometimes reading isn’t enough,” Oberreuter said. “If they can watch or see or bring in relevance to current events.”

DROUGHT: Rainfall, hours limit irrigation for district

Denise Weis, co-chair of the English department at RHS, uses the English textbooks sparingly if at all, and focuses on a curriculum around novel reading rather than textbook chapters. In Weis’ 27 years at RHS, the English department has updated textbooks twice. According to Weis, updating the textbooks isn’t a direct or immediate need, considering the general lack of textbooks’ presence in her curriculum. “I would be ticked off if all of a sudden we had to go buy new textbooks for all of our levels,” Weis said. “Because we’re not using them.” Still, Weis is anticipating another textbook update once a Common Core standardized edition is published - but notes that as of now, no textbooks have been considered. Integrated Math 1 and 2 teacher Levi Fletcher partially relies on the new consumable textbook that was issued with the implementation of IM 1 and 2, replacing a hard copy textbook. The consumable textbook is available online, where Fletcher also focuses aspects his curriculum. According to Fletcher, consumable textbooks’ online/digital capabilities are a solution to the portability of classic textbooks. Fletcher uses the textbooks in class, but not without the assistance of online programs such as Geogebra.org and Desmo.org, which increase classroom efficiency in comparison to white-

NIKOLAY LUBKO EYE OF THE TIGER

Above, unused piles of textbooks crowd the downstairs hallway of one of the 900 buildings. Alternatively to textbooks, RHS teachers utilize online resources for subject-specific activities, such as Khan Academy, TEDxTalks and Geogebra. board writing by digitalizing otherwise handwritten equations and graphs. “The electronic side really opens a lot of possibilities into exploring math,” Fletcher said. The new angle of exploration that the new IM textbooks present encourage lesson plans to deviate from bookwork to physical interaction with materials. “Actual using of the textbook is probably less, it definitely has changed the way lessons are presented in allowing students to

explore through them,” Fletcher said. However, some teachers still feel that textbooks have an important role in many disciplines. Chemistry teacher Robert Mahlman believes in the necessity for using textbooks in class, as they help students practice comprehensive reading skills. “The idea of reading out of a textbook or reading the text and understanding how to decipher the information in a text is important,” Mahlman said. “Whether

it’s out of a textbook or out of an online version.” According to Mahlman, however, digital assignments hold an advantage over physical textbooks because they tend to be more engaging to students. “Sometimes they seem more into it when they’re on the computer. I could have two kids sharing a textbook working on an assignment or I could have two kids on a computer,” Mahlman said. “And they would seem more into the computer work.”

This year, the Roseville High School Academic Cecathlon team will once again compete at Sacramento County meet. The Roseville team will still only vie against the two other Placer Schools – Rocklin and Western Sierra Academy – to qualify for the state meet, but all schools will take their tests at at Inderkum High School at the Sacramento County meet. Placer County is unable to host its own competition because of the limited number of schools participating. “There has been a Placer County meet since the mid 1980s and at one time there were about 10 schools competing in it and over the years for various reasons, sometimes lack of district support financially, sometimes coaches retiring and not finding a replacement, the number reduced to three,” Roseville High School Academic Decathlon coach Bobby Ritter said. Instead of only having three teams compete against each other, Placer County Office of Education officials decided for those three teams to compete in the Sacramento Academic Decathlon, where they will be up against about twenty-five other schools. “My understanding is that if we had gotten one more team to compete in the Placer County region, we could have competed in Placer County,” Ritter said. According to PCOE community affairs director Kindra Amalong, this switch is a good idea and will really benefit the students. “It's actually better for our teams because there are a bunch of different teams and it's a really neat environment, the field is more competitive and it is a bigger event than when we were only having three teams,” Amalong said. Even though the decathlon will not be in Placer County, the PCOE will still pay for the winners to compete at the state meet. “There has always been a fee to compete, but what we pay for is the opportunity for their scores to not count against the Sacramento County scores, their scores are just competing against the three Placer County teams so that we can still send a Placer County team to the state championship,” Amalong said.

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NOTICIAS Mixup de clase AP Gobierno conduce a la frustración para los estudiantes POR MIKAYLA STEARNS m.stearns@eyeofthetigernews.com

La secundaria de Roseville actualmente matriculada en el curso de Advanced Placement gobierno y microeconomía AP sólo estará recibiendo un golpe de grado para el primer trimestre, con créditos para una clase de gobierno preparatoria College en la segunda mitad del curso. En los últimos años, personas mayores tomar Gov AP, en el expediente, estar inscrito en la clase de Gov AP para su primer trimestre y en la economía de CP para el segundo trimestre. La profesor de Gov AP Dana Dooley incorporadas las 18 semanas del semestre, en los años antes de que el lado derecho tiene una clase de microeconomía AP algunos economía y trabajo de Gov AP. “Cómo Gov AP trabajó originalmente antes de este año es estudiantes se quedaría conmigo para el término completo de 18 semanas y luego en registro demostraría que el cuarto uno tendría el crédito de ap y la protuberancia de la AP”, dijo Dooley. “Cuarto de dos, porque estaban todavía conmigo dos de esos cu-

artos sería CP Econ.” “En realidad, lo que va para abajo es que no estoy haciendo nueve semanas de Gov AP y nueve semanas de Econ CP, es sobre todo Gov AP, pero necesitamos para cubrir Econ para hacer la marca de graduación,”, dijo Dooley. Macroeconomía AP también se reemplazó el segundo cuartos de microeconomía AP para cumplir con la política del distrito y dar a los estudiantes un plenamente ponderado diez créditos. Estos cambios en el curso de selección y oportunidades para un bache de grado tendrá que ajustarse en las transcripciones anteriores de los estudiantes. La posibilidad de créditos para el Gov AP y economía era nueva en el lado derecho este año, pero finalmente no fue aprobada por el Consejo Escolar de Roseville Joint Union High School District debido a un número máximo de créditos ponderados que fueron permitidos para distribuir. Anterior la semana pasada, asistente RHS Principal Jason Wilson visitó las clases de gobierno y microeconómico para explicar esta situación a los alumnos. Según profesor de Gov AP Dana Dooley, busca personal para cambiar la política de retener es-

tos cursos en todo el distrito para el año que viene. En estas reuniones los estudiantes expresaron su preocupación con la actualización de sus aplicaciones de la Universidad, donde Wilson también recomienda que los estudiantes envían cartas individuales con sus aplicaciones. El estudiante en su final año Makenna Vulgas consideró que esta situación debía abordarse con los alumnos a principios de año. “Es triste que todo esto sucede tres o más semanas de cuando termina el término real”, dijo Vulgas. El gobierno estudiantil incia cambios de corte para la danza de Casaba POR MIKAYLA STEARNS

m.stearns@eyeofthetigernews.com

El gobierno estudiantil de la escuela secundaria de Roseville está considerando cambios importantes en el proceso de selección de corte. La clase es desarrollar un plan que eliminaría el título de “rey” y “reina” a favor de la “realeza” y hacer la relación de los niños al líquido de chicas, que ya no requieren una corte de cinco niños y cinco niñas. Un mínimo de dos chicas y dos chicos sería los únicos requi-

sitos para el tribunal de diez estudiantes. podría ser Con el nuevo plan, los ganadores de la realeza del corte podrían ser una combinación de géneros: chica y chica, niño y muchacho, o el tradicional niño y niña. Según el asesor de gobierno estudiantil Lindsey Parker, el método permite más opciones e individualidad. Los miembros de la corte sería permitidos caminar con alguien que eligieran y no ser asignados a otro miembro del corte para el rally. “[Los miembros que están caminando] podrían ser un maestro, o un miembro del personal, o un padre o un amigo”, dijo Parker. “Tenemos diez introducciones”. El proceso de nominación no se verá alterado, excepto la adición de una rúbrica en la hoja de nominación para que compañeros puedan ver qué requisitos deben cumplir los candidatos. Las categorías del rúbrica incluyen servicio a la escuela, servicio fuera de la escuela, GPA, actividades y extracurriculares “Vamos a armar una rúbrica real”, dijo Parker. “Así que cuando que estás nominando a tus amigos, puedes ver exactamente lo que el profesor se va a ver y cómo los profesores van a recoger.”

el 14 DE DICIEMBRE, 2015

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EVENTOSFUTUROS Sostenimiento de lac cultura, fortalecimiento comuunidad altavoces serie 6:30 p.m.

DEC 15

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DEC 16

CRAM NIGHT - Venir a estudiar a la cafeteria con los tutores 5 - 8 p.m.

Concierto de Navidad para la banda de RHS 7:45 p.m. en el teatro de Patti Baker

DEC 17-18

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DEC 14

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Los finales para todos los clases 1 y 2 en Viernes y 3 y 4 en Jueves

VACACCIONES DE INVIERNO

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DEC 21 JAN 4

NOTICIAS

REPORTAJES El exposición de arte combina temas de máscaras y el efecto de drogas POR CLAIRE OERTLY

c.oertly@eyeofthetigernews.com

Los estudiantes en sus finales años Kyle Smith y Rainee Rocamora ha mezclado sus estilos artísticos similares y crearon un espectáculo de arte compartida para su final en la clase de arte 3. Este año, debido a estilos de Smith y de Rocamora malla bien juntos, los dos decidieron crear un espectáculo combinado en medicamentos y máscaras. Profesor de arte Rocamora y Smith Patricia Leong, considera que exposiciones de arte son una buena manera para los artistas jóvenes a poner su arte en exhibición para el público. "El arte muestra una buena experiencia para los estudiantes que trabajaron durante el semestre", dijo Leong. Smith tomó el control de las máscaras para el espectáculo, que van desde máscaras de superhéroes clásica más-

cara veneciana. Utiliza las máscaras para expresar su creatividad y pensamientos acerca de ser su verdadero yo. Me gusta expresar mi creatividad en la lona. "Arte una manera muy buena para expresar su creatividad, sino simplemente ser uno mismo, dijo Smith. Rocamora transmite su estilo artístico a través de escrituras de las drogas y los efectos de diferentes fármacos en diferentes personas. "Básicamente lo que una persona siente cuando están en eso [medicamento]," dijo Rocamora. Los dos entrelazaron sus estilos que dio lugar a una forma nueva y creativa para ejemplificar su arte. "Cuando miramos a nuestro arte, parece que es al mismo tiempo", dijo Rocamora. Según Rocamora, su muestra de arte enmascarado fue absolutamente con éxito y recibieron elogios y ofertas en su arte. "Hemos tenido más gente que otros programas, pero creo que es porque está en un contenido más profundo," dijo Rocamora.

Los estudiantes de necesidades especiales deslumbran en muestra anual de danza POR EDUARDO SOTOMAYOR e.sotomayor@eyeofthetigernews.com

El programa de danza de la escuela secundaria de Roseville dio a estudiantes con necesidades especiales la oportunidad de realizar con los bailarines avanzados durante su programa de invierno, vacaciones “Dancin’ Feet, Feat. Fete”. Este año los estudiantes con necesidades especiales bailaron de una canción de la película The Polar Express junto a sus compañeros de danza socios. Según bailarina en su segundo año Alex Suba, era un señal lista para los estudiantes interesados en ayudando en el danza. “Creo que es grande podemos compartir un amor común por el baile, baile les da la oportunidad de ser ellos mismos y divertirse”, dijo Suba. “Muestra que son sólo capaces de como somos”. El objetivo de la actuación era crear una sensación de inclusión absoluta.

“Creo que muestra los otras escuelas que no puede juzgar un libro por su cubierta. Si quieren [los estudiantes de Balsano] entrar en una clase de baile o cualquier otra clase deben ser capaces. Debe ser aceptados que estes estudiantes no están diferentes en comparación con nosotros,” dijo la profesora de los estudiantes con necesidades especiales Christine Balsano. Según el estudiante en su segundo año Lupita Loza, su parte favorita del espectáculo de danza fue hacer nuevos amigos durante sus prácticas. “Me siento feliz cuando llego a subir y bailar,” dijo Loza. “He hecho un montón de nuevos amigos durante el baile.” El programa de danza ha sido como estudiantes de las necesidades especiales de un programa en el invierno que representa para los últimos tres años. “Creo que va ambas maneras, de que nuestros estudiantes y el especial necesita estudiantes salir mucho trabajando juntos,” dijo la instructor de baile Sally Cofield.

POR JAKE LITTLEJOHN

j.littlejohn@eyeofthetigernews.com

Este año, la escuela secundaria de Roseville ha añadido un nuevo deporte a sus ofertas para el invierno. En un esfuerzo por completar su condición como un atleta tres deportes para cuatro años después no hacer la lista de baloncesto de niñas este año, senior Marina Efstathiu recurrió a personal administrativo del lado derecho para proponer la idea de la adición de esquí a la lista de deportes a RHS. Efstathiu contacto el principal de RHS David Byrd, el Subdirector Jason Wilson y director atlético Emily Dodds primero en sus esfuerzos de crear un equipo. Byrd y Wilson consiguieron en tacto con el Presidente de la sección de Sac-Joaquín para ver en la creación de un equipo. Placer es actualmente parte de una liga de esquí que incluye otras escuelas secundarias en California. Otras escuelas incluyendo Davis, Del Oro y Colfax. Según Dodds, los atletas pueden comenzar a practicar ahora inde-

REPORTAJES

MARC CHAPPELLE EYE OF THE TIGER

El estudiante en su final año Rainee Rocamora crea los pinturas que representan el efecto de varias drogas. Ella les móstro con sus obras con pinturas del estudiante en su final año de máscaras.

DEPORTES El estudiante en su final año crea un equipo de esquí para el temporada de invierno

AMY ADAMSON EYE OF THE TIGER

El gobierno estudiantil planea cambiar el sistema de corte de la danza para cambiar los titulos “Rey” y “Reina” a “homenajeado superior” para eliminar la reputacion de un concurso de popularidad.

pendientemente, pero es difícil de practicar en un grupo porque las pistas hasta ahora están lejos. Según Efstathiu, Dodds será el contacto para el equipo de esquí, y el equipo del lado derecho será entrenado por el entrenador de esquí de Placer. “Tendrán slalom carreras, que es un curso programado alrededor de banderas y esquí de fondo, donde de esquí para una larga distancia,” Efstathiu dijo. Ella espera eso esquí como una opción para los atletas hará más fácil para ellos tener para alcanzar el estatus de atleta de tres deportes para cuatro años. El equipo de baloncesto de ellas parece un buen temporada POR CESAR SANCHEZ

c.sanchez@eyeofthetigernews.com

Casi partida en vacaciones de invierno el equipo de baloncesto del varsity de las muchachas está llevando a cabo un registro de 1-2. El equipo que estamos viendo este año es completamente diferente del equipo que el entrenador Errecart había entrenado el año anterior. Este equipo es más pesado en

el lado de underclassman como el equipo sólo contiene a cuatro adultos mayores en el equipo, dando el equipo menos jugadores con experiencia de baloncesto desde el nivel del varsity. “Tener una gran cantidad de underclassman definitivamente tiene un impacto el equipo ya que ahora tenemos más jóvenes en el equipo frente a experiencia,” dijo el entrenador Errecart. Además de ayudar a los jóvenes compañeros de equipo los seniors están ayudando a y guiarlos como la mayoría de los jugadores nuevos no están familiarizada con el nivel del varsity. “Tenemos un gran número de underclassmen este año en el equipo que no hemos visto el año pasado,” dijo Errecart, “aún cuando son jóvenes son talentosos y guiándose por los seniors con varsity experiencia.” Aunque los estudiantes de los primer dos año de la secundaria ses muy jóvenes, no lo hacen no poseen habilidades. Los jugadores más jóvenes tienen mucho talentos en el juego, para ellos fueron traídos a este nivel para ello. “Los jugadores jóvenes son pequeños para el nivel de equipo

pero sin duda son todos calificados y muy talentosa, dijo el estudiante en su final año Ari Cassidy.

DEPORTES

El equipo de baloncesto de los muchachos parece mejorar POR JAMIE BATEMAN

j.bateman@eyeofthetigernews.com

El equipo de baloncesto de los muchachos varsity está tratando de recuperarse de una temporada difícil el año pasado con un récord de Liga de 2-12. Edad del equipo actual demográfico es única como no personas mayores, 12 jóvenes y un estudiante de segundo año. Granucci sabe que él y los muchachos del equipo tendrá que hacer algunos ajustes para cómo juegan para adaptarse a su situación actual. Él se siente que hay desventajas y ventajas a esto. “Esto es una experiencia de aprendizaje para mí también”, dijo Granucci. “Ha sido un interesante inicio de temporada hasta el momento, así que podemos empezar a ser un poco más consistente.” Aunque el equipo no tiene ningún mayores, seis de los jugadores del equipo este año jugaron con el equipo el año pasado

GEORGE HUGHES EYE OF THE TIGER

El estudiante en su segundo año Joe Cirrincione dispara un tiro libre en partido de la semana pasada contra Woodcreek. Como el sólo atleto en su segundo año, se ha demostrado un fuerte atleta. - los estudiantes en sus tercer años actuales Brandon Del Rosario, Jason Russell, Tommy Edwards, Jimmy Jaggers, Zack Mancha y Grant Baer. Del Rosario se siente como la exposición al baloncesto del varsity como estudiantes de segundo año les permitirá a sus actuales compañeros de equipo que son nuevos en varsity adaptan a la velocidad del nuevo nivel esta temporada. Uno de los jugadores que es nuevo a varsity y que todavía

está haciendo la transición es el segundo año sólo del equipo, Joe Cirrincione. Granucci siente Cirrincione, a pesar de adaptarse todavía a varsity, aporta mucha energía y talento al equipo. “Joe jugaba baloncesto varsity durante el verano y creo que ese derecho ahora todavía está ajustando a la velocidad.” dijo Granucci. “Cada día se trastorna y aporta energía a nuestro equipo y todos los días veo mejora.”

Features

december 14, 2015

page 5

VAPA ends term, highlights artistry Seniors mix meaningful inspirations by CLAIRE OERTLY

c.oertly@eyeofthetigernews.com

Roseville High School seniors Kyle Smith and Rainee Rocamora have mixed their similar artistic styles and created a shared art show for their final in Art 3. In the past, each art student has created their own art show – a gallery of their favorite works. This year, because Smith’s and Rocamora’s styles meshed well together, the two decided to create a combined show revolving around drugs and masks. “For Art 2, the final is do[ing] a group art show in the Admin hallway,” Smith said. “For Art 3, it’s a step above that, it’s individual art shows and it can be [almost] anywhere on campus. But we just decided to do a conjoined art show. Our art is kind of dark.” Rocamora and Smith’s art teacher Patricia Leong, finds that art shows are a good way for young artists to put themselves and their art on display for the public and have the opportunity to sell it to those in attendance. “The art shows are a good experience for the students who

MARC CHAPPELLE EYE OF THE TIGER

Seniors Rainee Rocamora and Kyle Smith combine their Art 3 final, theming it around substance abuse and masks to schowcase their individual styles. worked so hard throughout the semester,” Leong said. “[They] finally get people to come in and see them [and] celebrate all the art they’ve done.” Smith took control of the masks for the show, ranging from superhero masks to classic venetian masks. He uses the masks to convey his creativity and thoughts about being one’s true self. “I like expressing my creativity on canvas,” Smith said. “Art’s a really good way to express your creativity but also to just be yourself. When you’re in public, around people, you kind of put on a mask. But with art, you don’t have to do that, you can just be your true self.” Rocamora conveys her artistic style through examples of drugs

and the effects that different drugs have on different people. “[It’s] basically what a person feels or how that person becomes when they’re on that [particular drug],” Rocamora said. The two intertwined their styles, which resulted in a new way to exemplify their art. “When we look at our art, it looks like it’s in unison,” Rocamora said. Smith also saw how their work complements each other. “Since she’s showing the effect of drugs on your life, it’s like putting a mask over your real self by putting those drugs in your life,” Smith said. Leong is pleased with the work they have done. “They’re both really talented and I believe it [was] just all

MARC CHAPPELLE EYE OF THE TIGER

around amazing to see their artwork,” Leong said. Rocamora pulls inspiration from different sources and allows herself to practically be one with her art. “I usually take [from] personal experiences or someone else’s experiences and my hand just moves,” Rocamora said. “And then something happens.” Smith’s inspiration comes from his ability to channel the part of him that brings him the most enjoyment. “I usually just pick things I enjoy,” Smith said. “My main theme is masks, so I have things from the movie Mandela, Star

Wars, Batman franchise and I bring those things I really enjoy, nerd topics, and paint them because I’m a fan.” According to Rocamora, their Masked Art Show was successful since they received compliments and offers on their art. “We had more people than other shows, but I think it’s because it’s deeper content,” Rocamora said. Senior art student Jacob Murphy was impressed by Rocamora and Smith’s overall presentation. “I thought their art was actually really cool, it was really clean and really well done and I think they just did overall a really

good job,” Murphy said. According to Leong, people were somewhat puzzled as to what the topic of the paintings were, but were able to appreciate the art more after they read the descriptions. “Some were confused with what the subject matter was about,” Leong said. “As far as somebody doing something on drugs and masks, she was talking about the negative effects on the person and the families, so I think when people came in and read what the artwork was about there was a deeper understanding and they saw it in more of a positive light than a negative.”

Band members recieve state distinctions by ALBINA BASSARAB

a.bassarab@eyeofthetigernews.com

Juniors Olivia Clouser, Sarah Melchner and Bailey Neumiller recently attended the American River College Capitol Section in Sacramento on Dec. 6. Clouser will also be attending her second, live audition for All State Band early next year. Capitol Section consists of students around the Sacramento area, whereas All State Band consists of students from all of California. The auditioning process for All State Band begins with a recording sent to the All State Band management, who determines which musicians have the opportunity for a live audition later on. “The band director Mark Toffelmier, picks a few of his students that are advanced in comparison to the rest of the band class and believes that they are qualified to be in [All State] Band,” band student Neumiller said.

RHS’ band teacher Mark Toffelmier nominates students based on both their skills and interests. “I nominate students who show an interest, can handle the parts and who I feel will follow through,” Toffelmier said. Although all three of the students play a variety of instruments, they each have their specialty. Clouser plays the clarinet, Melchner plays the trumpet and Neumiller currently plays the tuba. “My favorite part about [Capitol Section] was meeting new people, seeing the competition that I had and also seeing how I could grow,” Neumiller said. According to Melchner, she enjoyed playing music composed by the conductor of the band and loved going with her friends, Neumiller and Clouser. “It was fun to go with them, and I’m really glad that I went,” Melchner said. Aside from attending the ARC Capitol Section Band, Clouser has also successfully auditioned to be apart of the All State Band

and will have her last and final live audition in early January. “Ever since sixth grade I’ve been in that Capitol Section Band, but then my freshman, sophomore year I didn’t have the chance to audition for it,” Clouser said. “So this year I decided to pick it up again.” Clouser is excited to be a part of the All State Band being in high school since her attendance in the band was deatained ever since middle school. “I’m really excited because middle school is really fun but high school is just another step up and it’s gonna be so fun and I feel like I’m gonna learn a whole lot,” Clouser said. Clouser enjoyed her previous appearance in the All State Band and is looking forward to it this year. “l like being surrounded by a lot of people that love to do the same thing as me and taking it seriously but having fun with it as well,” Clouser said. “It’s definitely hard work but it’s really worth it.”

MARC CHAPPELLE EYE OF THE TIGER

Above, junior Olivia Clouser furthers her clarinet skill to prepare for her upcoming All State audtion in early January. Along with Clouser, juniors Sarah Melchner and Bailey Neumiller all performed in Capitol Section on Dec. 6.

AMY ADAMSON EYE OF THE TIGER

Sophomore Lupita Loza (right) performs alongside her advanced dance buddy during dance’s winter schowcase.

Special needs classes show individual expression during dance holiday show by EDDY SOTOMAYOR

e.sotomayor@eyeofthetigernews.com

The dance program recently gave special needs students an opportunity to perform with advanced dancers during their winter show, “Holiday Dancin’ Feet, Feat. Fete”. This year the special needs students danced to the theme song from the movie The Polar Express after receiving training from their advanced dance buddies. According to sophomore dancer Alex Suba, there was a sign up list for those interested in being a buddy for of the special needs students to help them dance. She signed up and worked alongside other volunteers to teach the new dancers the choreography. “I think it’s great we can all share a common love for dancing and I think dance gives them an opportunity to completely be themselves and have fun because we are all just there for a common goal,” Suba said. “It definitely shows that they are just as capable as we are, because they’re definitely as much of a

part of our school as we are.” The goal of the performance was to create a feeling of absolute inclusion and to make sure the students feel as though they are an equal part of the entire production. “I think that it puts it out there for other schools that you can’t judge a book by it’s cover if [my students] want to go into a dance class or any other class they should be able to,” special needs teacher Christine Balsano said. “[They] should be accepted and should not be looked at differently.” According to sophomore performer Lupita Loza, her favorite part about the dance show was making new friends during their practices. “I want to be in the dance show again next year,” Loza said. “I can’t wait for dance.” Loza’s favorite part of the show was when everyone cheered for her and her friends. “I feel happy when I get to go up and dance,” Loza said. “I have made a lot of new friends while dancing.” Senior dancer Abi Laster

practices with the special needs students to get a feel of working with the individual students. “I think that it is not so much the dancing but the bonds that are made, because we have had practices every week, and dancing helped make us friends,” Laster said. The dance program has been including students from the special needs program into their winter shows for the past three years. Each year, the advanced dance students take the lead in the coalition. “I think it goes both ways, that our students and the special needs students get a lot out of working together because it helps build meaningful relationships,” dance instructor Sally Cofield said. Along with improving their dance skills, the special needs students’ performance built up their confidence and social skills. “As well as improving their dancing and motor skills, I think that they gain from it because they get to make a friend and experience the show like we do,” Laster said.

page 6 | features

december 14, 2015

Eagle Scout projects aim to improve theaters by ALBINA BASSARAB

a.bassarab@eyeofthetigernews.com

Freshman Garrett Smith is currently improving Roseville High School’s theaters in order to become Eagle Scouts. Eagle Scout is the highest rank attainable in the Boy Scouting division. The Eagle Scout Project is the opportunity for a Boy Scout to demonstrate his skills, while performing a beneficial project for his community. “It pretty much completes being a Boy Scout,” Smith said. Smith will be painting the J.B. Gale theater in order to make it a black box theater. According to Smith’s dad Scott Smith, Garrett Smith wanted his project to coincide with the campus. “Garrett wanted to do his Eagle Project for an organization he was a part of, one that he worked with daily,” Scott Smith said. “RHS immediately came to mind because it’s a high use facility that always needs improvements.” Fellow sophomore troop member Kaden Schmittner also made improvements to the RHS campus for his Eagle Scout Project. He has fixed up elements of the Patti Baker Theater’s stage for the dance shows two weekends ago by painting and building custom shelves. “The reason that I chose the

MARC CHAPPELLE EYE OF THE TIGER

Freshman Garrett Smith (left) and sophomore Kaden Schmittner (right) work toward an Eagle Scout rank by painting the Patti Baker and JB Gale Theater. RHS campus for my project is because I am proud of my school and want it to become a better place,” Schmittner said. Schmittner’s friend Brandon Walker, appreciates what Schmittner is doing for RHS. “I think it’s great that Kaden is doing a project that benefits a place that he attends and it’s helping the community because he’s allowing the community to basically be lifted up,” Walker said. “He is improving the quality of the area that he lives in and I think that’s awesome.”

According to Smith and Schmittner’s assistant scoutmaster Lynn Boughner, there are new responsibilities that come with the position of an Eagle Scout. “This means that they will be required to uphold the meaning of being an Eagle Scout which is based on the three aims of scouting: citizenship, personal fitness and character,” Boughner said. Smith says his journey in Boy Scouts has taught him many important skills and lessons. “I learned a lot of different skills while being a boy scout,”

ZACHARY CHEEK EYE OF THE TIGER

Smith said. “[Some include] leadership, public speaking and camping.” Holding the title of ‘Eagle Scout’ also opens doors for new opportunities in their life. “Being an Eagle Scout is very beneficial, since I want to go to a military school and it looks really good on your résumé, if following that route,” Schmittner said. Boughner has seen strong leadership qualities in Smith. “When tasked to lead others, he can always be counted on to do

the job,” Boughner said. Schmittner’s dad Michael Schmittner takes pride in his son’s achievements and is excited about his upcoming promotion to Eagle Scout. “We are so proud of him already and the fact that he’s pursuing his Eagle [rank] is very exciting,” Schmittner’s dad said. “He has always been a hard worker, and we would love to have him join the small group of individuals who are Eagle Scouts.” Boughner highlights the ef-

fectiveness of scouting and how both Schmittner and Smith have made an effort to benefit their community. “The beauty of scouting is not only seeing young men change as they grow, but to also see them experience many things they might not if they were not in scouting,” Boughner said. “Roseville High School is very lucky to have these two scouts on its campus and to have them want to give back to the school that means so much to them.”

Rec Admin class bridges age gap 90s mom by day, 80s FASHION: JUNIOR JORDAN EATON

rockstar by night

by VICTORIA WILKINson

v.wilkinson@eyeofthetigernews.com

Roseville High School introduced a new class last year called Recreational Admin where RHS students have the opportunity to teach Spanger Elementary School PE classes. PE teacher Melissa Stevens and PE/Rec Admin teacher Emily Dodds approached Spanger Elementary School’s principal Joshua Joseph in fall 2014 about collaborating for this program. “The program is amazing,” Joseph said. “We love being able to partner with our senior high school and just being down the street, it’s a great community.” Last year, Dodds observed the PE leadership class at Woodcreek High School in order to create a similar curriculum at RHS. Dodds had a big interest and wanted to have success with the class at RHS. “I am hoping to build off of that momentum to allow Rec Admin to thrive and eventually have the ability to reach out to more surrounding elementary schools,” Dodds said. The class spends the first term creating a list of games to play with the kids and basically learn how to teach. In the second term, the students go to Spanger during second period four days a week and teach PE classes in groups. “It all pays off in the second term when students spend four days a week at Spanger in their co-op teaching groups,” Dodds said. “Besides seeing the elementary school kids flourish in their abilities, I enjoy watching our high school students take on leadership roles and grow in

by Gabi hutson

g.hutson@eyeofthetigernews.com

Who are some of your biggest fashion icons and why? I base my style off of people like Reese Witherspoon and Jennifer Aniston in the 90s because I’m attracted to high waisted pants and baggy, vintage sweaters.

NIKOLAY LUBKO EYE OF THE TIGER

Recreational Admin students like senior Kayleena Gonzalez (right) travel to Spanger Elementary School to teach PE classes and games to kids to gain administrative experience while creating bonds with the Spanger students. ways they don’t even realize.” Dodds favorite outcome of this class was when RHS alumnus Ben Judd approached her at a football game and conveyed to her he will be pursuing teaching at an elementary level because of taking the class. Dodds hopes the class will inspire other students like it did Judd. “Hopefully more students are able to find a passion for teaching, mentoring and/or working with our youth through Rec Admin,” Dodds said. Rec Admin student Corey Carstens took the class as an opportunity to acquire some new skills for his future. “I wanted to take it not only for me to teach kids [but to] learn how to work with the next

generation,” Carstens said. The relationship between Spanger students and the RHS student teachers has grown since they first began teaching. “I think it gives [Spanger students] great role models to look up to and it also gives them an opportunity to learn how to interact with other adults outside of our school,” Joseph said. According to Rec Admin student Delyndon Rhodes, the kids were tough to teach at first because of of a lack of cooperation, but as time went on the kids warmed up to their new teachers. “The kids all love us, we all get along, sometimes they have a little attitude,” Rhodes said. According to Carstens, one elementary student even knows

him on a first name basis and seeks him out during class to say hello every day. Carstens as well as others enjoy switching the roles and them being the teachers for once. “I get to go out there and kind of be the teacher, you know, instead of getting taught all day I get to teach someone,” Carstens said. Rhodes signed up for the class because it was recommended to him by seniors last year and enjoys teaching kids specific activities. “I think it’s cool being able to teach kids how to play certain games especially for me since I’m a basketball player, I like teaching them basketball,” Rhodes said.

How would you describe your aesthetic? My aesthetic is whoever I want to be that day. If I have my hair down with bangs, I rock the 80s rocker chick look. I’ll go for your classic 90s mom look, I’ll wear the typical athlete look. I dress as whoever I wish to be that day. What inspires the way you dress? I get inspiration from a lot of girls on Twitter. I get outfit ideas from them and I also raid my mom and dad’s closet for clothes

they wore in the 90s and 80s.

What made you want to dress the way you do? I dress the way I want to because I like being unique, I like being able to express myself as whoever I want to be. I don’t like to conform to society’s definition of “trendy.” I rock my own personal style with certain generational influences.

What are some staples in your closet? Some staples are high-waisted pants, large puffy jackets, large oversized sweaters, an abundance of boots, heels, sneakers in all sorts of colors and backwards ball caps. Where are your favorite places to shop? [My] favorite places to shop are my parents’ closets, Pacsun, Urban Outfitters, and thrift stores.

ZACHARY CHEEK EYE OF THE TIGER

Junior Jordan Eaton’s style is influenced by the 80s and 90s aesthetics.

Sophomore finds new home with varsity basketball family by VICTORIA WILKINSON

v.wilkinson@eyeofthetigernews.com

Sophomore Joe Cirrincione has been pulled up to play varsity basketball straight after freshman, completely skipping JV. He was on the freshman team last year and proved to be the kind of player RHS’ varsity team needed this year. “He’s a great player,” boys varsity basketball coach Greg

Granucci said. “If he wasn’t, “I got some time to get to he wouldn’t be on varsity. He know them and they were really works hard. He’s nice about bringing me into high energy, so the team,” Cirrincione said. he does a good According to teammate job for us.” junior Tommy Edwards, Cirrincione the team welcomed practiced and Cirrincione and think played games with highly of him as a the varsity team in player and friend. the summer creating “He’s actually fitrelationships with his ting in really well,” Cirrincione now teammates. Edwards said. “We all

get along. He works hard and is a great player.” Cirrincione is excited to be on varsity to be able to improve his skills and gain more experience. “It’s definitely more challenging and a faster paced play,” Cirrincione said. According to Granucci, Cirrincione getting to play with experienced players is the benefit of a sophomore being on the varsity team.

“His ball handling has gotten better and I think he’s working hard on his shooting and that’s getting a little better too,” Granucci said. “He is improving quite a bit.” Edwards thinks Cirrincione being added to the team will not only help improve his playing but the team as a whole. “He just brings the energy up on the team,” Edwards said. “He’ll definitely help us because

he’s just good enough so he can really help us throughout the season.” Although Cirrincione’s old teammates are proud of him, they feel his absence on the court and wish he still played with them now on JV. “He was one of the biggest players on our team last year and it really hurt having him pulled up,” JV basketball player former teammate Blake Beaman said.

Opinion

december 14, 2015

page 7

EYE OF THE TIGER’S VIEW

Court changes risk female majority

hanges to the court selection process meant to promote equal representation of the student population could potentially be the start down a slippery slope toward a femaledominated court system. One of the most prominent revisions to the existing dance court system includes a discontinuation of the five boys and five girls ratio. A minimum of two girls and boys will have a guaranteed spot on courts, but the other eight students can represent either gender. Although Student Government aims to allow both boys and girls an improved chance of getting on a court while simultaneously moving away from the heteronormativity of a “king and queen” title, this change could possibly lead to an influx of girls on future dance courts while leaving less boys on court with smaller odds at winning the revamped title of “Top Honoree.” While 43 girls submitted their court nomination packets to be on this year’s Homecoming court, just nine boys turned in theirs, clearly displaying a disparity in interest across genders. While this change carries the intention of de-emphasizing gender in court selection, these statistics show that even though the potential for a male-dominated court is there, the interest is not. Thus far, girls have demonstrated greater interest and dedication in being chosen partake in a dance court than boys. De-emphasizing gender and focusing on the merit of the individual could entice more boys to pursue court nomination in theory, but it seems

TAYSIA DE MESA EYE OF THE TIGER

obvious that this trend could be difficult to change. We’re skeptical that a court selection change like this one could reverse the long history of girls’ greater aspirations and lobbying for honoree titles. To us, it seems as if the odds are stacked against male students. Although it’s true that boys have equal chances as females who apply, it’s clear that female interest simply outmodes that of boys. If the boys of the student body don’t buy into Student Government’s modifications, their revised system allows the floodgates to open to the huge percentage of female interest – disregarding historical prevalence of male involvement. The history doesn’t always repeat itself, espe-

cially in the face of change, but it often informs the future. With the previous five-tofive gender ratio, boys still were assured a representational stake, whereas now there’s a real possibility they may not stand a chance among the droves of their female counterparts. We believe that while the new dance court system theoretically offers an opportunity for more boys to receive the honor of being appointed to a court, the lack of an equality-ensuring structure will ultimately discourage boys from applying due to the inevitably female-dominated dance courts. At the root of any male-andfemale equivalent court system, there is simply the intention of

offering a school-run opportunity for students to represent their class, as well as their gender. Taking away the guaranteed equality that was evident in the old dance court system seems like a setup catering primarily toward the female interest, and a complete disregard a dance court’s main purpose – to give students both male and female a definite chance at school-wide recognition for their contribution to RHS. A shift in labels from “King and Queen” to “Top Honorees” requires a serious commitment on the part of Student Government in enforcing the new set of semantics to tackle the persistent common perception among the student body that the court system is a face-value popularity contest.

If two students are still chosen as winners by their peers, does a change in title really alter the fact that it is still, to some extent, a popularity contest that puts students on a pedestal over others? While Student Government’s efforts aim to quell student backlash, certain aspects of the court changes may work against their goal. By changing the royalty title and replacing crowns with ornamented sashes, Student Government successfully chip away at the false connotations of a royalty title being based solely on one’s social status, but also rid the school of a recognizable tradition. As facts about these court changes began to emerge from students in the Student Government class, there seemed to be a lapse in communication between classmates, as we received widely varied responses early on from people in the class concerning both the changes as well as the class’s ideas on when, if and how to share the information concerning the dance court changes. Student Government also failed to release a statement regarding these changes in the weeks leading up to their announcement, contributing to widespread rumors and speculations throughout the student body. On a topic as sensitive as the dance court system, it seems vital that there exists an accessible, reliable and consistent method for distributing information that can dispel uninformed students’ fallacious and incendiary claims. (This article represents the views of the 2015-16 editorial staff.)

Time to move past Value experiences over social media physical textbooks BY NATALIE TRAN

n.tran@eyeofthetigernews.com

BY ALBINA BASSARAB

veryone nowadays feel the pull of our cell phones and the urge to get updated. Almost every facet of our lives is connected to our phones in some respect and this need to check it makes sense. This becomes a larger problem, though, when we are more concerned with “capturing the moment” with our phones instead of actually just living them. You always see people Snapchat, Instagram or tweet what they’re doing/up to. We think by filming or taking a photo of the things we are doing we’re going to cherish these moments because we get to look back on them. But really these are just for social media and honestly how much are you really missing by not recording a trip of you going out to eat lunch some weekend? I find that it’s a daily routine for me to check my phone right when I wake up in the morning and I even scroll through my phone before I go to bed just to be up to date with everyone and everything. A recent study has revealed that the average person spends 90 mins a day on their phone. That may not sound like a lot but that amounts up to 23 days a year and 3.9 years of the average person’s life is spent staring at their phone screen. That’s just the average person. I definitely exceed the av-

a.bassarab@eyeofthetigernews.com

VIKTORIA BARR EYE OF THE TIGER

erage of spending 90 minutes on my phone so I can’t even imagine how much of my life is spent on my phone. Social media is really just meant to document “good times” and pushes people to try and give off a perception that their life is perfect, just based on the photos they post. It’s all about making your feed look good and taking the “right picture.” People use social media to impress others and they only record certain things to look good not for themselves, but for others. When you go to a concert watching your favorite artist perform you see people pull out their phones to Snapchat and document their experience all through the camera lense instead of enjoying it with their own eyes. While social media does have its benefits, there’s always a time and place for it. I watched my friends Snapchat stories of them being at a Weeknd concert and I can see the whole

crowd Snapchatting and filming him sing. There was even a picture that I saw comparing a photo of people at a concert in the 60’s having their hands in the air living in the moment, compared to crowds nowadays. Social media has taken over my life and probably yours too. I can’t help but wait anxiously to go on snapchat just to use a new geotag when I’m in a different city or state for the picture on my story. It’s almost absurd how we look forward to geotags or the new Snapchat filters. We are so obsessed with our phones we freak out when we can’t find it or we run to the nearest charger because our phones are running on 1%. We almost even fight and compare our percentages of our phones with friends just to get ahold of that charger. It’s quite ridiculous how we let technology take control of our lives. Nowadays life is always about how many likes you get

or Retweets or even how many followers we have on social media accounts. Why do we let those things define us? A number shouldn’t reflect you as a person and it definitely shouldn’t matter. It’s almost inadequate that we wait to post photos at “the right time” to make sure we get the most likes possible. It seems that we let the likes get the best of us. People nowadays even comment “#likeforlike” on popular accounts to promote their accounts. Going out to dinner with family or friends is meant for quality time. My mom has made it a rule to take away all our phones so we socialize with one another. It’s almost sad how my mom has to force us to talk with one another and socialize instead of it being a natural habit. Whether you like it or not, social media is here to stay in this world. It just depends on how you manage it in your life. You can control how you use it, or you can let it control you.

t has come to really bother me coming home each day to a pile of textbooks gathering dust and knowing how pointless they really are. For about half of my classes, most textbooks are hardly touched throughout the school year. Some of them are far outdated, too, which obviously can teach false or outdated lessons, which is likely driving teachers away from using them for reliable teaching sources. One would think that in a world with such technological advances and additional resources that might be more beneficial to classroom efficiency that textbooks might be more obsolete than they are now. It seems that there are plenty of online resources that could replace textbooks that aren’t being used to their full effect or potential. I understand that textbooks are still relevant and necessary in school for students who don’t have reliable access to a computer or the internet at home, in the case of online assignments, but there is little excuse for textbooks to still be used in a classroom setting, especially considering the extensive opportunities that online curriculums offer. It is interesting that everything about schools has evolved over the years. From desks to boards

to writing utensils, everything about the operation of schools has changed with the times– except textbooks. They have been around for centuries and once upon a time were cutting edge in education systems. Now, though, their relevance is devaluing in classrooms that have more reliable and efficient way of having students learn information such as powerpoints or Khan Academy. Speaking of online resources, I think that a replacement of physical textbooks into an online version would be much more efficient than our current system. Though it would not save much money due to the fact that digital textbooks come with a license that needs to be renewed often at full price (more often than the rate at which physical textbooks are replaced), I think that if this whole “renewal system” would be changed, we could substantially change the system of the textbooks, marking the next step in our school systems. Even when we do use textbooks, the material in the chapters are often outdated since they’re updated so infrequently. Considering the fact that the renewal of textbooks is based on site need and curriculum changes, when the time comes for them to be replaced, they are already useless. In my personal experience, more than half of the time my textbooks go completely untouched throughout the school year and I am only reminded of their existence once I am required to turn them back in at the end of the school year. I think we can all agree that the days of grabbing four textbooks at the beginning of each term should rightfully be numbered.

opinion | page 8

december 14, 2015

Holiday generosity popular for self gain BY ALEXX DOOLITTLE

a.doolittle@eyeofthetigernews.com

lthough good deeds are often done by good people, I’m starting to notice that kind hearts and generosity are more of trends and tedious obligations to younger generations than a social responsibility. Something I recently learned in my psychology class and seeing it in action around the holiday season incites my attempt to chastise the lack of meaningful generosity and to inspire, or bring out, your sense of social responsibility. The social exchange theory states that some social behaviors are motivated solely by the expectation of something in exchange – the opportunity to gain maximum benefits for a minimal cost motivates these behaviors. The recent canned food drive caused school-wide controversy

due to the teachers’ generous offer of extra credit, homework passes, and other perks to students in exchange for their charity. At least with all of the classes that I’m in, I noticed that there was, in fact, a lack in heartfelt charity. Psychology teacher Mark Andreatta’s constant remarks about society, politics, the woes of highschool drama usually serve to keep me engaged in discussions of psychology when my morning cup of coffee wears off. Though his recent satirical comments about the canned food drive were entertaining to say the least, they were also eye-opening. Andreatta refused to offer something in return for his students who brought in canned goods. In fact, because of his lack of offerings, he told us that he didn’t expect to raise anything at all. He shared to us his realization that he couldn’t compete with his colleagues who were offering something in return. And when the drive was over, he announced in disappointment that none of his three classes raised a single can. Whether Andreatta’s tone of

TAYSIA DE MESA EYE OF THE TIGER

disappointed revelation was intentional or not, my class had our own moment of guilty realization after we witnessed firsthand social exchange principals our colleagues and ourselves had acted upon. We told ourselves it was okay because “hey, at least we donated

something.” We repressed the idea that the only reason we were doing the generous deed was for our own benefit. The teachers inciting this obviously had the best intentions in offering a motive for students in exchange for canned goods, and it obviously worked.

However, had no teachers offered a beneficial exchange, many students wouldn’t have taken time of their day or money out of their hard-earned paychecks to donate. The recent can-troversy was what brought this idea to my attention and it was amplified by seeing the social exchange theory

in action. The “reciprocity norm” is the tendency to expect that people will help, not hurt, those who have helped them. This reciprocity norm is nothing new, especially in the realm of young adults looking to make it into college. “Honey, I signed you up to feed the homeless this weekend because it will look good when you apply for your colleges.” Some use this season as the basis for their reasons to contribute to their communities. They know that sooner or later, they will have to do something for the good of society, for the good of their college applications. And what better time to do this than the holly-jolly holidays? If this doesn’t show false generosity, then I don’t know what does. We continue to tell ourselves that we’d feed the homeless population any day, that we’d cancel our lunch dates in our summer time off and our plans to support the fall sports, from the kindness in our hearts, but who really would? Who would sincerely reach out and help solely for the others in need rather than for your own benefit?

No spring term AP Gov credit frustration justified GUEST PIECE BY ASHLEY BERTHOLF AND NILAB HABIB opinion@eyeofthetigernews.com

o be totally honest, our class as a whole is pretty upset with everything surrounding the situation regarding Advanced Placement credits in the AP Government and Economics block. Starting this school year, the seniors that opted into taking AP Government and AP Economics were under the impression we

would receive 20 AP credits between the two classes, 10 given to AP government and 10 given to AP economics. Administration was understandably trying to fix the situation with a cramped and cluttered economics class and incomplete semester of AP government. As of two weeks ago, our class was informed that this was not what would happen. Administration explained that they had offered the class to students before they received district approval in doing so. Student reaction, from a personal standpoint, was not very positive. We were all angry at the school, the School Board and we were just rightfully confused. There is a lot to be upset about. Not only did it take basically a whole semester for the students

affected to be informed but there seemed to be no sense of urgency from our administration in keeping us updated with the situation. As seniors in high school, most of us have submitted our college applications. This change will prove to be extremely problematic to all of us because when applying to colleges you have to explicitly list your senior year course schedule. If there are any discrepancies between your final transcript and your reported class schedule, your application can be subject to dismissal. Now that our transcripts will show a total of four classes rather than the intended two, and one of them losing AP credit, there is a huge issue for students that have already submitted. This is a major hassle for the students affected and their re-

spective counselors in correcting the errors. Now the responsibility of contacting our prospective college’s office of admissions to notify of them of the change will fall solely on us students. One of the most frustrating aspects of the mix up is the fact that now we are all unintentionally enrolled in a CP class. Anyone enrolled in an AP class versus a CP class can agree on the significant difference in workload. Although we have been assessed and challenged in a rigorous and time consuming course, we won’t be getting the promised credit for all the hard work we have put in, or at least for half of it. Some of the students are angry at our own administration for the mix-up, although there are some hard feelings, all the blame

cannot go single handedly to our administration. In fact, a lot of effort was exhibited in them trying to remedy the problem and work out a solution for our credit even though their efforts were futile in the end. Yes, administration did jump into this a little too quickly and may have not thought it through thoroughly, but until recently, it wasn’t a problem. Many students enrolled in these courses are extremely frustrated and created a petition to try to incite change. Originating in Dana Dooley’s second period, the purpose of the petition is to draw attention to the issue at hand from the school and the School Board and allow students to receive all 10 AP credits. This is something we are very passionate about and taking what we learned in AP

Government, we hope to legally and peacefully rally to induce a change in the school and the district. Although our class was ultimately stripped of its AP title, we still received an entire semester’s worth of an AP-level education in government. Having this time to immerse ourselves in one subject really helped us understand the coursework in a more timely fashion and we were able to focus more detailedly on certain topics because there was no pressure to push in a mini lesson of economics and take away valuable AP Government material. At the very least, our class can serve as a testament to the “proposed” restructure and help push the school board to approve the class for later years.

Road construction could solve Grade bump policies need consistency among teachers common alley traffic problem BY TOMMY MORIN

BY JOHNNY MULLIGAN

t.morin@eyeofthetigernews.com

j.mulligan@eyeofthetigernews.com

ith the fall term coming to an end, students are scrambling to get their grades together, trying to get that little bump to boost up a letter grade. Whether it be turning in late work or working on extra credit projects, everyone is grinding out their last few assignments. In different classes however, some teachers have different parameters for what qualifies as a specific letter grade. For example, AP Calculus considers an 80% an A, but doesn’t curve any of the test scores, while others keep the normal system but does still curve exams. There are also classes that drop the lowest test score, helping the students who had a “bad test day.” Overall, it appears that there is no standard way in which grading is structured. The one action that baffles me most is when students ask if their grade could be bumped in order to move up a letter grade

VIKTORIA BARR EYE OF THE TIGER

to help their GPA. Students obviously want to do everything in their power to increase their GPA, but simply asking for generosity on the teacher’s end is the wrong way to go about this. It puts both the teacher and student in an awkward position, and things can are often gray regarding what grades should deserve getting bumped. But you can’t blame students for asking this with flexibility based on its historical precedent. Having an 89.9% is the ultimate struggle for a student desperately wanting that A on their transcript, but how far away from the desired grade can the student be? An 88% seems somewhat close to an A, but it is still clearly a B. Without any written guidelines

regarding this action, the extent that the grade could be bumped is not regulated. This is where a big problem lies because there are teachers who give bumps based on “class participation,” a pretty vague term to begin with that teachers occasionally use to justify helping out one of their more liked students in the class. I appreciate teachers who explicitly say at the beginning or end of the term that they will not be bumping grades. This honesty clarifies any discrepancies between the student and teachers and gets away from the akward situations. Any policy, so long as it is uniform, needs to be adopted by the school to fix these issues.

ttending a school that is over 100 years old makes it easy to understand why the parking and traffic situation around school is horrible. There is almost no flow to the senior lot and having parents picking up their students further exacerbates the problem. The most problematic but crucial, part of this troubled system is the alley that comes out next to the Senior Lot. The alley is one of the few parts of the school’s traffic that actually works – if used properly. Many parents do not realize how important the alley is to the success of the school’s traffic problem. When they try to make three point turns in front of the gym instead of going halfway down the alley and turning left, the already messed up situation is made even messier. Then, when the alley is used, it isn’t used correctly. I play football and wrestle, so the times that I get

to go home right after school are few and far in between. But every time I do drive down the alley I am shocked with how difficult it can be to get home. The alley is full of students walking who pay no mind to the cars coming behind them. The already tight alley is packed tighter with an overwhelming number of students who occupy more than their fair share of the dilapidated asphalt. If students walked more along the dirt, there would be plenty of room for the cars to drive past. But on the other side there are drivers who decide to forgo responsibly dealing with pedestrians and fly down the alley. It is one thing to go faster down it with nobody around, but when there are dozens of students – which including elementary aged kids coming from Spanger – who are right along the edge of the small street, speeding down is very dangerous to the walking students. I drive a Ford Bronco. It is a truck but definitely not the largest one out there. I also believe I am more courteous to pedestrians compared to most and always go slow through the alley after school. I often have to slow to a crawl when walkers are taking up so much space in the alley that I can’t safely pass them. Having a larger vehicle than most can be

a slight problem but the walkers smake it hard for even average cars to drive. And when they do notice they never seem get out of the way quickly, they take their time. Sometimes it seems that the only way to get down the alley in a timely manner is to speed and make the walkers notice you. One solution that could improve the problem in the alley very easily is if the pavement was widened as wide as it could get and add a sidewalk or bike lane. Those who are not in a car would have to stay all on one side and stay in a designated area. The other side of the alley would be reserved for cars who could make it down the alley faster – because they wouldn’t have to stop for walkers – and it would almost eliminate the danger of hitting a student. Even though the alley was repaved recently, it is still not in good condition. The very edges have chunks missing and the road is not even enough to drive on. The potholes being filled in was a step in the right direction but that was not the biggest problem. A cheaper solution would be to cover the dirt along the edges with gravel, which wouldn’t force pedestrians to the street on rainy days. In the current system, a student will eventually get injured using the alley unless a change is made.

Entertainment

december 14, 2015

Winter MOVIE Preview

STAR WARS

CONCUSSION

12/18

12/25

BY ANDREW SMITH

1/08

BY JOHNNY MULLIGAN

a.smith@eyeofthetigernews.com

This Friday, the force might actually awaken with the premiere of the 7th installment in the Star Wars saga, Star Wars: The Force Awakens. The anticipation for the return of Star Wars at this point is almost palpa(tine)ble and at this point I am just ready to watch the movie. The periodic trailers have been going around just to keep people talking, but Lucasfilms really did a good job keeping these in good taste. I have walked away from each intrigued by the new developments of the series and at the same time comforted by familiar faces (where you at Luke?) But new characters were also interesting like John Boyega who was a standout with his character Finn and showed a lot of depth in the trailers with a surprising background for a lead. I was also relieved to see a film that just looked like Star Wars, and didn’t feel like it was a part of some standard Marvel movie. My biggest (new) hope is for a Star Wars that keeps fans satisfied with nods to the old, but looks to advance the series into unexplored territory.

THE REVENANT BY MARC CHAPPELLE

j.mulligan@eyeofthetigernews.com

m.chappelle@eyeofthetigernews.com

Concussion brings to light the horrors of football injuries. The movie is based on a true story in which pathologist Dr. Bennet Omalu (Will Smith) discovers the prevalence of concussions and other brain injuries in the NFL and how horrible the symptoms truly are. The doctor reveals how terrible concussions are and how the NFL has kept them hidden from the outside world. When the doctor tries to expose the NFL and the dangers of football, the league denies all of his claims, stating that he has no facts backing his accusations. The trailer prepares you for an emotionally supercharged movie that is expected to be full of dramatic moments that not only informs you of the tragedies and prevalence of concussions in the NFL, but helps you understand the atrocities of the diseases. The power of the NFL is also going to be exposed. They attempt to bribe him, threaten him and scare him into retracting his claims. As always with Smith the movie can be expected to be above average. It will be a change from Smith’s usual roles in action movies into a much more serious film overall.

Leading man Leonardo DiCaprio should be able to bolster The Revenant into something truly engaging. Early critics on Twitter say this movie may finally land an Oscar in DiCaprio’s hands. It tells the story of redemption for an 1823 American frontiersman left for dead and his vows to get revenge. I have great faith in director Alejandro González Iñárritu. Babel (2006) and Birdman (2015) went places that surprised and intrigued me. Birdman swept the most recent Academy Awards with four honors, so my expectations are set high. This being inspired by “true events” may restrict the freedom of the plotline, but as with Birdman, Iñárritu’s best moments come in making ordinary scenes extraordinary. With the precedents set for both the crew behind the camera and the cast on set, including Tom Hardy (Inception, Mad Max: Fury Road) and Domhnall Gleeson (my personal favorite, sci-fi thriller Ex Machina), my gut says The Revenant can overcome what I see as a bit of a tired concept and transform it into something worth more than an $11.50 ticket.

Adele says “Hello” to new level Bieber makes successful comeback with Purpose of emotional depth with 25

BY JOHNNY MULLIGAN

BY DESTINE KYUBWA

After teasing the world with “Hello,” Adele finally released her full album - 25 on Nov. 20. Her last album, 21, seemed almost impossible but 25 exceeded my already high expectations of Adele. Adele, following suit from her last two albums, titled the album 25 accordingly with the age she was when she wrote the songs. Between 21 and 25 Adele had a kid and suffered a vocal haemorrhage so I, along with many others, was worried that she would have lost some of her power and had to rely more on vocal enhancements. But after listening to this album multiple times and listening to her live performances I am relieved to say she did not need any help. She does an incredible job, as usual, not relying on instruments as much as many other singers do. The power her voice has is undeniable, even if she does not use it in every song on the album. The theme of this album seems to, as usual, be about relationships but in a much brighter light than others. This shows her de-

Hit pop artist Justin Bieber released his fourth album, Purpose on Nov. 13 and I am pleased to say he absolutely didn’t disappoint. His long anticipated album caught the eyes of many. The social media presence on Purpose was so significant, many expressed their new respect for him on Twitter. Many others and I would agree Purpose was considered his great comeback album. All of these songs on his album have an entirely different feel than how his previous albums have sounded. Each one of his songs held a deeper meaning of how Justin has been viewing life. It’s also shown the positivity he’s intended to spread through the lyrics. I believe Justin has made it a point to create an artistic evolution that’s one for the books. The musical variation throughout these tracks displays his talent that maybe a few of us have forgotten over the years. Some of the songs consisted of apologies meant for his ex girlfriends, apologies meant for his fans he’s disappointed over these past years and some of the lyrics were directed towards anyone willing to listen about the word of God. He mentioned how he looks for recognition through God,

d.kyubwa@eyeofthetigernews.com

j.mulligan@eyeofthetigernews.com

COURTESY MCT CAMPUS

Adele continually impresses with her maturity and vocal prowess in her new album, 25. velopment from songs like “Rolling in the Deep” (21) that is her being angry about her heartbreak. Although released when she was 27 and written at 25, her maturity has developed in the four short years. “When We Were Young” is my favorite song of the album. It starts off with the classic Adele style of slow yet powerful vocals. It then seamlessly turns into her singing at full throttle. The song describes the good times she had with her past lover similar to “Hello.” But this song doesn’t just

make you sad, it tries to teach you to remember the good times you had, even if the person you share those memories with is no longer around. Even the songs that can’t be called your favorite of the album are incredible. “Send My Love To Your New Lover” does an excellent job at lightening up the more heavy songs on the album with a much more upbeat tune. “Sweetest Devotion” is another favorite of mine that speaks about the relationship of her and her son who was born between the albums. Unfortunately, Adele knows that everyone is willing to spend $10 on her new album and thus far she has not released her newest album to music players like Spotify. It’s okay. The album is well worth it.

meaning he doesn’t need it from the millions that are watching him make his next mistake. The first song sang by him called “Mark My Words,” is personally my favorite. He not only started the album with a sentimental song but, listening to it, I could tell the lyrics are straight from his heart. All tracks on Purpose have an overall genuine feel to them. His notes on “Mark My Words” were sang extremely well that I could replay that song over and over again. The features on this album were also creatively thought out because of the results on the songs. Travis Scott and Big Sean added a good amount of musical variety to the songs “No Sense” and “No Pressure.” Both of these songs are feel good, but are dancing type of music at the same time. Overall, I don’t have anything bad to say about Purpose as a whole and in general; it was beautifully created and perfected by Bieber.

page 9

TOP PICKS

Celebrate through holiday specials

CHRISTMAS WHO? A must see for Christmas and Spongebob lovers worldwide, in this timeless television special Spongebob and Sandy discuss yuletide traditions they each participate in and about Christmas as a whole. The two share their thoughts and feelings with the rest of the occupants of Bikini Bottom, inspiring others to get into the Christmas spirit.

MICKEY’S ONCE UPON A CHRISTMAS Disney and Christmas enthusiasts will appreciate this one. Three different holiday stories are told featuring multiple characters from Disney, which brought villains and the good together as a whole. The three tales include Donald Duck: Stuck on Christmas, A Very Goofy Christmas and Mickey and Minnie’s Gift of the Magic.

A MISER BROTHERS’ CHRISTMAS This is my utmost favorite Christmas special of all time. The Miser brothers, Snow Miser and Heat Miser, attend a family reunion where their brother, North Wind, wants to replace Santa and use the day to glorify himself. Snow and Heat Miser are supposed to take care of the toy factory while all this is happening, but their brother keeps stirring the pot to make them argue.

- Compiled by Claire Oertly

december 14, 2015

page 10 | entertainment

Fallout 4 impresses with wide scope J. Cole-produced

album highlights the underground

BY ANDREW SMITH

a.smith@eyeofthetigernews.com

There is something about Bethesda’s open world titles that always seem to give them that edge over the competition. This success primarily lies not in dazzling graphics or gameplay mechanics, but in their storytelling and remarkable ability to engage players in the world they themselves have helped to shape. Fallout 4 delivers here and quite remarkably is able to meet the high expectations of fans becoming a sequel of this magnitude. In this installment, the postapocalyptic RPG-shooter travels to the Commonwealth, set in the wasteland that followed the destruction of Boston. As the lone survivor from Vault-Tec fallout shelter, Vault 111, you are set on a path to find your lost son, exploring the stretches of the wasteland. A pre-war cinematic creates a protagonist that has a unique perspective in the wasteland, but allows player development based on the decisions of the player. While this main storyline is strong enough to stay relevant it’s inevitably overshadowed in the Bethesda open world experience. And this is how it’s meant to be. I wouldn’t want a high action narrative to stray attention from the world at large, as there is so much more to offer in this title than a single storyline. The developers have put in an enormous amount of effort on the details, far past standards in the genre. This is evident in the diversity and layout of the landscape, which pushes the player forward with deep exploration. I remember first arriving at the ruins of downtown Boston, cognisant of my setting, I appreciated all that was available, with recognizable landmarks like Bunker Hill or a retooled Fenway Park made into a city/sanctuary from the wasteland. And when provided with these multitude of paths, I decided to walk into a

BY BEN FURDEK

entertainment@eyeofthetigernews.com

COURTESY BESTHEDA GAME STUDIOS

Taking place in post-apocalyptic Boston, Fallout 4 features diverse customization options and a captivating storyline, easily elevating the game to be considered a contender for Game of the Year. fairly simple two story residence cessor even for its time. Bethesda that I soon discovered was full of truly has its franchise up to the raiders. I fought them off, picked standards of the modern shooter up a few items, then pieced scene bringing much desired together a story that led through a fluidity and customization. series of tunnels to a fully voiced The crafting systems for leader of the raiders interrogating weapons and armor are done very the owner for answers to a maswell, and development with your sacre in a nearby village. character is expressed through Pacing for this game is excelyour choices here, though this lent with its transisometimes limited tions from high customization. to low action And the exand frequency tended time for  Customization of quest encoundevelopment is  Interesting faction ters, an essential really showcased for dense open with includstorylines world experi Much improved combat ing features like ences. settlement buildmechanics In these ing. areas, Fallout While buildhas established ing options are a tradition of somewhat limited  A few bugs excellence and is for now until DLC  Lack of context when where the game arrives, combinamaking in-game decisions tions are endless really shines. What was and still allow the  Average graphics for also expected of creative player a next-gen title Bethesda here, whole other side especially makof the experience. ing the jump to next-gen was to The few flaws in the game greatly improve on the simplistic are, of course, just bugs, which I gameplay mechanics of its predepersonally avoided the worst of,

WHAT TO LIKE

WHAT NOT TO LIKE

The Good Dinosaur teaches morals through sincere, feel-good storyline

COURTESY MCT CAMPUS

With lovable characters and charming presentation, The Good Dinosaur teaches about the importance of friends and family, as well as overcoming your fears. BY CLAIRE ORERTLY

c.orerty@eyeofthetigernews.com

Pixar’s movie The Good Dinosaur is cute and interesting with top-notch graphics and good use of characters. A young dinosaur named Arlo and his family – which consists of him, his parents, and his two siblings – were miraculously able to survive the extinction of dinosaurs many years ago and are living in the modern world. When a horrific rainstorm hits, poor little Arlo is separated from his family, but luckily meets a young boy named Spot who vows to help him through his journey back home. The plot was similar to other childrens’ movies in the sense that it has the theme of friendship and family intertwined, but what was new to me was the way it was presented.

Pixar, in general, has produced a lot of movies following the getting lost and needing help returning home plot, but The Good Dinosaur just had a more sincere and sweet feel to it. Comparing it to other children's movies, it mostly reminds me of the Toy Story series, simply because of how it pulls at the viewer's heartstrings because of the relationships between characters. Overall, the movie was really cute, and that’s the only word that could sum it up as a whole. I’m quite a sucker for adorable little kid movies and while typically the newer movies are not as good to me, this one had a lot of similar attributes like the movies I used to watch as a kid. Like in any movie, there has to be some kind of antagonist for the protagonist to defeat. In The Good Dinosaur, it seems

like so many things go wrong in so many ways and it was a bit too depressing, especially for children. While I was okay with it, had I been a younger age (like the age range the audience is meant to be), I probably would have been really upset. While parts of it are upsetting to watch, the morals and theme of the movie are appropriate for their audience. The movie teaches kids that overcoming your fears is crucial to survival, and the earlier you learn that the better off you will be. Another life lesson that taught is that making connections with people is important. Sure, being independent and strong are good attributes to have, but if you do not have family and friends, no one will be there to help you when you need it the most.

and a lack of adequate context given in decision making. The side factions in the game each have their own set of plans and morals that they follow which lead into their storylines. I would have appreciated for there to have been more clarification on these before you are faced with having to make a definite ‘Yes’ or ‘No’ decision. This lack of context was also present in cut down dialogue options that often didn’t give you a full idea of what your character was about to say (looking at you “Sarcasm”). Really any other critiques I have are just personal and I’ve heard some argue the total opposite. I didn’t enjoy getting access to power armor so early on, having a voiced protagonist, the almost Borderlands color palette at times, and really some pretty horrifying character models. But really this game lives up to the hype and is easily in contention for Game of the Year. No title in recent memory like Fallout 4 has made me as interested and immersed in the world surrounding a video game.

Rapper J. Cole’s label Dreamville dropped a collaboration album, Revenge of the Dreamers 2, starring rappers Bas, Omen, Cozz, Ari Lennox, Lute and features from Donnie Trumpet and Correy C. J. Cole made appearances in three songs on the album. He uses this album to put the young rappers signed to his label on the map and to help get them noticed. He accomplished this by producing it himself and having a few songs of his own to get his millions of fans to listen and get publicity to these other young rappers. These rappers are young but also extremely talented. Omen, on the song “Caged Bird,” opens up with lyrics like “used to paint a picture with a story of neglect,” and “I’m just a jazz musician trapped in a rap form.” This helps gives us a sense of his style as a rapper. He’s not just trying to be become successful by rapping about money, drugs and women with a catchy beat, like we see so much in rap today. Another stand out was Cozz, an L.A. based rapper with a much more violent and gangster flow than other rappers on this album. In his song “Grow,” he raps about his struggles early in

life and how he becomes more focused to grow into a better person. J. Cole’s rapping is always impressive, but the way he really stands out on this album is his producing. In the past, J. Cole’s beats, when produced by himself, were often repetitive and not too creative. His beats on this album show that he’s starting to develop his own style by producing slow, dream-like beats that sound like a perfect mix between 90s rap and modern trap beats. Songs that standout production wise are “Folgers Crystals,” “Night Job” and “Still Slummin’.” Even though this didn’t contain the star power and the hardcore raps that Kanye West’s G.O.O.D Music, Cruel Summer did, it is a better album in terms of lyrics and diversity of songs. This album goes from having a song like “Backseat,” that sounds like The Roots made it and then hitting us with a song like “Tabs,” that reminds us of Migos with the catchy chorus and heavy trap beat. This album secures J. Cole’s place as not only one of the game’s top rappers but also a respected producer. It will also boost the careers of the many talented but underground rappers on this album.

Sports

december 14, 2015

page 11

Wrestling experiences participation decline BY TOMMY MORIN

t.morin@eyeofthetigernews.com

The Roseville High School wrestling team has had great success in the past two years, sending four wrestlers to the Sac-Joaquin Section Masters Tournament in back-to-back seasons. However, due to a significant decline in the amount of wrestlers participating on the team this year, the path to success will be more challenging than recent years. Last year’s team included seven seniors, most of whom were on the starting lineup. In addition to losing those seniors, many other wrestlers, including key members senior Elijah Dustin and junior Hayden Simpson, are not returning to the team this year. Dustin and Simpson progressed all the way to the Masters Tournament last year, demonstrating their previous dominance and skill in the league. Many of the non-returning wrestlers are ones that have been participants in the sport for years, and some, including Dustin, felt that the sport requires too much time in a single season. “It’s a very demanding sport and [it] takes up a lot of your time,” Dustin said. As a college sport, wrestling has fewer scholarship opportunities than other sports and Simpson feels that the sport is not as rewarding as it should be for the amount of time and effort the athletes put into it. “You can’t really get scholarships for it anymore,” Simpson

JOHNNY MULLIGAN EYE OF THE TIGER

said. “It’s a lot of hard work and it doesn’t really pay off.” Although many wrestlers decided not to return to the sport this season, there have been some new additions to the upperclassmen roster, including Christian Matlock – a senior transfer from Washington who already has wrestling experience. Senior Jacob Johnson, who wrestled in middle school, also joined the team. Varsity coach Doug Ash feels that both athletes could be possible starters on the varsity team. After observing the drop in participation this year, Ash recognized that some of the underclassmen in the program are going to have to step up to the varsity level this season. Ash believes that there are some solid freshmen and sophomore wrestlers that will have the opportunity to earn quality varsity experience.

“Allowing them to jump into the varsity ranks is going to make them better for the next year and the year after,” Ash said. Current senior captain Zach Galley feels that the level of experience on the team is lower than it has been during previous years and sees this season as a learning one. Galley has been on the varsity team since his sophomore year and believes that being on varsity as a younger wrestler can be beneficial. “I hope to be able to help out the freshmen and sophomores that are going to be pulled up,” Galley said. “I hope that this will be a good learning curve for them.” The returning varsity wrestlers recognize the upcoming difficulties that might exist due to the youthfullness of the team but still hope to see success coming with the help of the underclassmen. “It’s definitely going to be a

JOHNNY MULLIGAN EYE OF THE TIGER

Seniors Zach Galley (left) and Christian Matlock (right) take on their Del Campo opponents in the team’s meet last Wednesday. Galley is a returning varsity wrestler and a captain this year. Matlock, who came to RHS from Washington state, is one of the varsity team’s new additions this year. challenge because we don’t necessarily have a star wrestler,” returning varsity wrestler junior Jackson Knapp said. “It’s a team effort to get everything done, especially at dual meets, so we just need a whole lot of underclassmen to step up this year.” As well as underclassmen additions to the varsity team, RHS teacher Shane Harvey has also joined the team as a varsity coach. Harvey wrestled throughout college and this will be his sixth year of coaching wrestling. He believes that he brings intensity and enthusiasm to the team. “I do a good job of bringing the high percentage, solid technique I have learned over the years into the room while maintaining an in-

tense practice atmosphere,” Harvey said. Harvey already has experience helping younger teams with development and feels that he is ready to take on the task of working with this year’s newer varsity team. “We are focusing on solid foundational wrestling technique and getting the team to develop the habits and commitment it takes to be successful,” Harvey said. Ash believes that even with this year being a standard rebuilding season, the team can still progress to the top of the league with the help of its younger athletes. According to Harvey, they need to take charge and demonstrate their full capabilities to do this.

Student creates ski team to pursue athletic goals BY JAKE LITTLEJOHN

j.littlejohn@eyeofthetigernews.com

This year Roseville High School added a new sport to its winter offerings. In an effort to fulfill her status as a four year three sport athlete after not making the girls basketball roster this year, senior Marina Efstathiu reached out to RHS administrative staff to propose the idea of adding skiing to the list of RHS sports. Efstathiu contacted principal David Byrd, assistant principal Jason Wilson and athletic director Emily Dodds first in her efforts of creating a team. Byrd and Wilson then got into touch with Sac-Joaquin Section president and Placer High School principal Peter Efstathiu – who is also Marina’s dad – to look into creating a team. Placer is currently part of a skiing league that includes other high schools in California such as Davis, Del Oro and Colfax.

According to Peter Efstathiu, the RHS team will practice alongside the Placer team and will have a total of 10 scheduled practices. Four of them will occur during winter break and the other six will occur during the season in January and February. According to Dodds, athletes can start practicing now independently, but it is difficult to practice because the slopes are so far away. The team will need an adviser to be with them at competitions and practices in order to participate in the competitions. According to Efstathiu, Dodds will be the contact for the skiing team, and the RHS team will be coached by Mark Faulkner, the Placer ski coach. The ski resorts that the team will compete at this season will be Boreal, Sugar Bowl, Alpine and Squaw Valley. According to Efstathiu, the team will compete in the forms of slalom racing and

cross - country skiing. “They will have slalom racing, which is a timed course around flags and cross country skiing, where they ski for a long distance,” Efstathiu said. As the team’s founder, Efstathiu is looking into including snowboarding into the team’s competition options in the future but cannot as of now because of the expenses that come with these sports. “Both skiing and snowboarding each have a fee, so the team is looking to just do skiing, while in the future, snowboarding might be added,” Efstathiu said. “Skiing is an expensive sport, and it will cost a lot with the lift tickets and resort fees.” She hopes that having skiing as a choice for athletes will make it easier for them to achieve the ‘four-year three-sport athlete’ status. Efstathiu expects only a small number of students to try out,

COURTESY PETER EFSTATHIU

A Placer High School skier competes in a slalom-style race in one of the team’s ski meets at Northstar last year. The new RHS team is partnering up with Placer’s team this year and will be receiving assistance and coaching from their coaching staff. mainly because of the amounts of traveling that participants will be required to do. She is still excited

about the team and looks to finish her high school career as a four year three sport athlete.

Performances of the Week NOV 30 - DEC 6 Senior Havanah Seymour drops 25 on Placer Hillmen BY MARINA EFSTATHIU

m.efstathiu@eyeofthetigernews.com

The Performance of the Week for the week of Nov. 30 - Dec. 6 was senior varsity girls basketball player Havannah Seymour’s performance against the Placer Hillmen. Seymour scored a personal high of 25 points against the Hillmen with nine of her points coming from three 3-pointers. This is Seymour’s second year

on the varsity team and last year her highest scoring game was 18 points. According to varsity coach Josh Errecart, Seymour started off slow in the first half but managed to recover later in the game. “Just the way she is finishing, she may take awhile to get in her groove but once she is there she is putting teams away,” Errecart said. “She almost single handedly did the scoring in the fourth quarter to bring us back.” According to teammate junior Isabelle Bautista, Havanah brings fundamental skills to the team’s athletic ability. “A lot of people just rely on being athletic and having athletic ability,” Bautista said, “but Ha-

vanah is one of the few that focuses on basketball techniques.” Seymour also helps bring the girls’ intensity up during games. “Once she hits her first [shot] then the whole team is pumped,” teammate sophomore Jada Kranig said.

DEC 7 - 13 JV Boys defeat Florin Panthers 81 - 22 BY MARINA EFSTATHIU

m.efstathiu@eyeofthetigernews.com

The Performance of the Week for the week of Dec. 7 - 13 was the junior varsity boys basketball

team’s 81-22 victory over the Florin Panthers. Although the Tigers were outscored in the fourth quarter they were still able to dominate the Panthers The boys had earned themselves a 34-5 lead by the end of the first quarter and ended the first half leading 53-10. Freshman Jackson Esparza led the team in points and rebounds with 17 points and 13 rebounds. Fellow freshman Bernie Graves scored the second highest amount of points, following Esparza with 10. Esparza felt that the boys performed much better than they did in their first game against the Woodcreek Timberwolves and

that the team is continuously improving. In his eyes, the team’s players took advantage of their opportunities and made more of their shots than they previously had. “Our communication was better on defense and ball movement was better on offense,” Esparza said. “Pushing the ball up the court in transition was key.” Sophomore Cooper Badley believes that the boys carried out their jobs on the court very efficiently and that this led them to their victory. “I think everybody just did what they needed to do,” Badley said. “Everybody knew their roles and executed them like they were supposed to.”

Four-year three-sport athletes deserve more praise BY JAKE LITTLEJOHN

j.littlejohn@eyeofthetigernews.com

To be a three sport athlete for all four years as a high school student is quite an impressive feat, especially considering the current level and rigor of courses that students are encouraged to take. I have noticed that over the past few years, the number of four-year three-sport athletes has remained very low. Last year’s senior class had only one person accomplish this achievement. Four-year three-sport athletes should get more recognition than they do simply because it is such a difficult feat with the combined pressures of getting good grades and getting into college to play a sport. People always talk about how students nowadays don’t put enough effort into their activities such as school work and sports. I have heard multiple parents and adults say things along the lines of “Well, when I was a kid, all of us played three sports and got through school completely fine.” Here is one thing for these people to know: it is much more difficult to take multiple advanced classes at the same time as participating in multiple sports, let alone three different ones. Another factor that makes it tougher on student athletes to complete the four-year threesport achievement are the forever increasing levels of competition in high school sports. Because most students who strive to be three sport athletes are naturally motivated, they tend to want to excel in all the sports that they play. However, to advance on to the collegiate level in a certain sport, it is almost necessary that athletes put all of their focus on that one sport. Colleges only look for elite athletes to play for their sports teams. This, plus the pressure on students to take tough classes, really limits athletes in terms of playing multiple sports. Female student-athletes at Roseville High School are even further limited when it comes to being three sport athletes because of sport selection in the winter. In this season, girls are given the choice of three sports; basketball, wrestling and skiing (which has been added to RHS’ winter sports list this year). Basketball seems to be pretty popular among girls, but in the past three years there has only been one female wrestler at RHS. Also, since skiing is new this year, many people don’t know that it is an option this winter. All of these factors make it really difficult for students to play multiple high school sports. This is why I have such a massive amount of respect for the people who manage to play three sports for all four years of high school. I feel that these people deserve a greater amount of recognition than they receive. Yeah, they get a special blanket, some cool patches for their letterman jackets and a special mention in the final school rally of the year, but people don’t seem to appreciate exactly how big of an accomplishment being a four-year three-sport athlete is.

Sports

page 12

december 14, 2015

12 juniors, one sophomore take on varsity Six juniors return for second varsity year

GEORGE HUGHES EYE OF THE TIGER

Junior Brandon Del Rosario (right) drives toward the basket in the team’s game against the Woodcreek Timberwolves. Del Rosario is one of the six boys on the team who were pulled up to varsity last season as sophomores and is using his experience to lead the team as a captain.

Edwards’ versatility leads Tiger offense GEORGE HUGHES EYE OF THE TIGER

Junior Jeffery Oh goes up for a layup in the Tigers’ game against the Florin Panthers. Oh is new to the varsity team this year, but played on both the freshman team and the JV team during the past two years. The Tigers dominated the game, defeating the Panthers 86 - 50 on their journey to improve on last season’s 2-12 league finish.

Tigers combine past experience with youth in hopes of improving from previous season finish BY JAMIE BATEMAN

j.bateman@eyeofthetigernews.com

By taking advantage of previous experience and team chemistry, the varsity boys basketball team looks to bounce back from a tough season last year that saw the team finish with an overall record of 7-20 and a league record of 2-12 in their debut season in the Central Valley Conference. The current team’s age demographic is a unique one and is very to different to that of last year’s. This year’s team includes no seniors and consists of 12 juniors and one sophomore. Last year’s team consisted of five seniors, three juniors and six sophomores. This is the first time in 15 years of coaching basketball at Roseville High School that varsity coach Greg Granucci has coached a team without a senior player. Granucci knows that he and the boys on the team will have to make some adjustments to how they play in order to adapt to their current situation. He feels that there are both disadvantages and advantages to this. “This is a learning experience for me as well. Just like I’m telling the guys, we’re just taking it day by day,” Granucci said. “There is a maturity level that comes with being a senior so I

don’t know. It has been an interesting start to the season so far with some ups and downs so hopefully we can start being a little more consistent.” Although the team does not have any seniors, six of the varsity players, current juniors Brandon Del Rosario, Jason Russell, Tommy Edwards, Jimmy Jaggers, Zack Mancha and Grant Baer played on the team last year. According to Russell, a team captain, the fact that almost half of the team already has a year of varsity experience makes up for the lack of the age and maturity level that a senior might bring to the team. “I don’t think the age of our team has hurt us as much as people think,” Russell said. “The six of us who got pulled up last year know what to expect and I think it’s made it easier on everybody else knowing that there aren’t any seniors.” Del Rosario, another one of the team’s captains, agrees with Russell and feels like the exposure to varsity basketball as sophomores not only helped the core six grow as players, but also will allow them to help their current teammates who are new to varsity adapt to the speed of the new level this season. “Last year, all six of us were able to get solid playing time because of all the seniors that got

hurt, and we got the opportunity to play against people that were bigger than us and also get used to the intensity of varsity,” Del Rosario said. “I think the six of us can help them out with adjusting to the speed of the game.” Granucci recognizes the lack of experience in his newer players and is putting a focus on helping them make the dramatic transition to the varsity level. “We have a lot of guys who don’t really have varsity experience,” Granucci said. “This early in the year we are just trying to get everyone used to the nerves of playing varsity.” One of the players who is new to varsity and who is still making the transition is the team’s only sophomore, Joe Cirrincione. Granucci feels like Cirrincione, despite still adjusting to varsity, brings a lot of energy and talent to the team. “Joe played varsity basketball over the summer and I think that right now he is still adjusting to the speed,” Granucci said. “Every day he hustles and brings energy to our team and every day I see improvement.” Mancha, a returning junior, feels like Cirrincione gives his full effort every time he plays, whether it is in a game or in practice. “In my opinion, Joe is the hardest worker on our team,”

Mancha said. “He constantly works hard at every game and every practice.” Cirrincioni has earned a place in the starting lineup multiple times this season and is enjoying playing on the varsity team. “It’s been a good step for me to get better,” Cirrincione said, “and the guys have really welcomed me into the team.” Another obstacle for the team is that juniors Jakob Hedger, Braden Triplett and Mancha are all currently unable to play games with the team. Hedger and Triplett are unable to play because of their recent school transfers from Woodcreek High School and Granite Bay High School, respectively, but will be able to begin participating in games on January 6. Mancha cannot play due to lack of academic merit and hopes to better his grades before the next grade check so that he will be able to play. Hedger feels that when the three are eventually able to play with the team, they will each be able to bring their own unique skills to help the program. “Me, Braden and Zach can supply some depth to the team,” Hedger said. “All three of us are good at pushing the ball and that’s what we are going to try to do.” The Tigers take on on the McClatchy Lions at home tonight at 7:00 p.m. at RHS.

GEORGE HUGHES EYE OF THE TIGER

Junior Tommy Edwards dribbles down the court against the Florin Panthers. Edwards plays the small forward position and, according to coach Greg Granucci, is a versatile player. As of last Friday, Edwards leads the team in points with 102 and has racked up 15 3-pointers.

Cirrincione only sophomore on varsity

GEORGE HUGHES EYE OF THE TIGER

Sophomore Joe Cirrincione is the only underclassman on the varsity team and according to coach Greg Granucci, is adapting quickly. Cirrincione has started in multiple games and says he enjoys the higher level of intensity that varsity provides for him.

Tigers currently down three players

team roster cameron anderson (#22, C)

Tommy edwards (#31, SF)

zack mancha (#23, SG)

grant baer (#20, PF)

alex gonzalez (#11, PG)

Jeffery oh (#2, SG)

JOE cirrincione (#10, SF)

sean granucci (#5, SG)

Jason russell (#12, PG)

brandon del rosario (#14, PG)

jakob hedger (#15, SG)

braden triplett (#4, SF)

Jimmy jaggers (#33, C)

GEORGE HUGHES EYE OF THE TIGER

Juniors Jakob Hedger, Braden Triplett and Zack Mancha (from left to right) are unable to participate in games with the rest of the team. Hedger and Triplett transferred from Woodcreek and Granite Bay respectively, and are restricted from playing until Jan. 6 due to the CVC’s transfer rules. Mancha is academically ineligible but hopes to be able to play as soon as possible.