Eye of the Tiger (Issue 10, Volume 18) by Eye of the Tiger

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PAGE 2 · NEWS

EYE OF THE TIGER ROSEVILLE HIGH SCHOOL 1 TIGER WAY ROSEVILLE, CA 95678

EYEOFTHETIGERNEWS.COM · MAY 20, 2019

INTERVIEW: One on one with Dr. Richter BY DANIELLE BENNETT d.bennett@eyeofthetigernews.com

EDITOR-IN-CHIEF Cam Medrano NEWS EDITOR Danielle Bennett FEATURES EDITOR Nicole Khudyakov A&E EDITOR AJ Welker Jackson Young SPORTS EDITOR Elena Bateman ESPAÑOL EDITOR Lizeth Preciado Czarina Monroy PHOTO EDITOR Megan Huber ONLINE EDITOR Jordan Del Valle Tonoian FACULTY ADVISER Bobby Ritter 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 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 editorial board. Eye of the Tiger offers advertising opportunities available in our newspaper, biweekly news broadcasts, livestreams and on our website. For any inquiries or questions, contact our staff at ads@eyeofthetigernews.com.

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Last week, over the course of two interviews, Richter shared his past experiences and goals for Roseville High School moving forward. Below is a transcript of these two interviews. What initially drew you to have an interest in Roseville? Well, Roseville Joint Union High School District is a great district to work in. You’ve got a great community. It’s a very stable district. You’ve got a lot of high performing schools. The more I looked into Roseville High School, the more it fit a lot of the things that I felt I could bring. I was a huge AVID proponent. I’m bilingual, so I know there’s a population here that we could definitely reach out to. Also, when you look at the history, being at a school that’s got a long history is something that I’ve experienced throughout my career. And I enjoy that history because you can tap into it. And you can really help students relate to where we’ve been in the way we do things. And then you can start focusing that towards the future. I know that you have worked closely with dual enrollment before. That’s something that’s very new to our district and new to our school. What would you hope to do to further that in our school? Well, dual enrollment is one of the areas that I think is the one of the New Horizons in K-12 education – really, it’s going to start becoming K-14 education. And I think that as soon as our high schools and our districts start to realize the opportunity we can offer students – if I told you right now, free college, you will kind of perk up and go ‘yes, how do I do that?’ And there’s a way that the community colleges and high schools can partner up where we can offer students a free college opportunity and both of us stay cost neutral. The benefit to the students and the benefit to parents and community is just incredible. So it’s definitely something that’s on the horizon that we can explore. And my last high school [that I worked at] was an early college high school. An early college high school by the way is a high school that has all of the dual enrollment integrated within the curriculum. What are you hoping to do to be able to connect with students and build that relationship in your first year here? The biggest thing is to go out and meet them. The biggest thing is to do things like this, where I get to meet the students that are doing it. I enjoy walking the campus and being in classrooms – I hope it doesn’t freak out the teachers, but I’ll be in and out of classrooms all the time, shaking hands [and] introducing myself. Watching students do the things they do – sports, drama, the dance productions. I’ve already been invited to a dance production. So those are the kinds of things with seeing students just become their own people. That’s the way you connect with people. What approach are you hoping to take your first year here? The first thing I think that

JORDAN DEL VALLE TONOIAN EYE OF THE TIGER

Above, Dr. Nicholas Richter meets with members of the RHS community in the JB Gale Theater after his presentation last week. Below, Richter meets with RHS AVID coordinators to discuss the future of AVID during his tenure at RHS. He will officially assume his role as RHS principal on June 1.

needs to be done is to learn and understand and really get to know Roseville High School and the school community and students and see those things that we’re very proud of and see the areas that we want to continue to improve in. There’s so many great things going on. I really want to understand how that works. We build on the things that work well. And we try to strengthen things that aren’t doing as well for us. I know you are bilingual in Spanish. When did you initially learn Spanish? Are you native speaker? I’m not a native speaker. I started taking classes in high school. And I met a young lady [Veronica] who I ended up marrying. We’ve been married for what will be 20 years next week. And for her parents and her grandparents, the only language they spoke was Spanish. So even though I started taking the classes in high school, I had kind of a personal motivation to continue to learn. So I actually ended up getting a major in Spanish when I was in college. And then as a teacher in California, I’ve worked with a lot of ESL or ELD students. And in my current job, we’re 94% Latino community. And so basically all of our parent meetings are conducted in Spanish, all of our letters and newsletters that go out to parents are in both languages. [At RHS] I had a parent come tonight to the meeting tonight. She said she wanted to really find out if I was really bilingual. So she asked me a few questions in Spanish. She said I passed. At RHS we have a fairly large number of students for whom English is not their first language and their parents do not speak English at home. There’s a lot of people who speak Spanish. Do you anticipate situations here where you will be able to do the same thing as you did at Williams? Absolutely, and one just happened [at the Parent’s Club meeting] when I introduced myself to parents and she started talking to me in Spanish and we started having a conversation, and it was just wonderful. And I think her sons were a little surprised. I may not look bilingual but I am and it just shows you can learn anything. When do you find that it’s the most helpful to be able to communicate to someone in their native language? Any situation where face to face conversa-

CAM MEDRANO EYE OF THE TIGER

tion is important, because when you’re able to talk to someone directly instead of through a translator it makes the communication so much more personal. And I think that really goes a long way especially when you have situations where they might be tense and it’s nice to be able to communicate directly to someone so that they really feel like you’re hearing them. And I think that’s really important for a lot of our community - that you make sure that everyone is feeling heard. And what has been the most exciting part about meeting the people you are going to work with? You know, for me, having such a large team is just super exciting. I’m currently working in a very small school, and to have as much support staff and teachers is really exciting and what you can do with the group, with that much experience and that much expertise. It’s just really, really exciting. What inspired you to go into education? The initial thought of when I wanted to be a teacher was at this memorial service [after the shooting at Lindhurst High School] for this teacher who was my neighbor [named Robert Brenz]. And there was a quote by Henry Adams. It says a teacher affects eternity. They can never truly tell what their influence is. And that struck me in the number of people who were there. And my grandfather [Ralph Stessen], and he’s still with us. He’s 89 years old this year. He was actually a high school Spanish teacher, believe it or not. And he was an administrator and then went back to the classroom. He also has his doctorate. And he’s one of those guys that has an addiction to learning as well, kind of like I do. And he was very inspiring to me to continue my education and to continue being an

educator. In looking for a new principal, a lot of teachers felt it was important someone was very familiar what a classroom environment looks like. So what would you say to those teachers about how your teaching experience has influenced you as a principal? I think it’s at the heart of everything I do. I think the lens that we have to look at everything we do is through the students’ eyes and learner. And the classroom experience is the basic unit of measure of our high school, of our schools in general. Because if we really want to affect long lasting change, or we want to inspire deep learning, it happens in the classrooms for the most part. And I think that understanding that that’s where really learning is occuring, the magic of what we do is occurring in the classroom with students and our own with our teachers, that should be at the core of all of our decision making. What did you take from your time as a math teacher in your later positions? My learning was it wasn’t about the math it was about the people. You don’t teach math you teach students. You just teach students math. And that was a huge learning for me. As an assistant principal your classroom changes. You’re teaching something different but you’re still always teaching. And as a principal again my classroom has changed. But it’s still about teaching. So over the last couple of days, you’ve spent some more time with us at RHS. I was wondering if you can tell me about what has been like to spend a couple days on our campus and what

you have been able to learn about RHS. I’m just more and more excited the more I get to know people, and the more I learn about the high school, and what I’ll say is that I feel this incredible welcome. I feel so much just people reaching out and being very, very welcoming. The people that I’ve met so far have been so dedicated to Roseville and the students. And I’ve been very overwhelmed and impressed by that and I just am very much looking forward to working with more of the staff and then I can’t wait to get a chance to meet students. I still haven’t yet had the opportunity just to walk around campus and introduce myself to students. So that’s going to be a lot of fun when that happens. In these first couple weeks knowing that you’re going to be our principal, how have you been able to connect with some of the staff within our district and on our campus? I’ve been trying as much as I can to make connections and keep coming to campus. I met all the department coordinators – I think I’m going to get quizzed on their names later. I took lots of notes and studied. That’s the other thing about me, I always do my homework. What do you find the differences between working in a smaller school versus on like RHS? It’s the size of the team. You really have a lot more people to be able to work with, bounce ideas off of and you get a lot more momentum too and that’s one thing I’m really looking forward to as a we get our momentum going. It’s going to be pretty exciting.

For the full transcript and video of Richter’s interview, visit: eyeofthetigernews.com/richter

NEWS · PAGE 3

MAY 20, 2019

RCSD eliminates homework grade BY LOGAN BRALEY

l.braley@eyeofthetigernews.com

This year, Roseville City School District switched to a new grading policy for evaluating middle school students in which academic grades will be based entirely on summative scores that reflect student learning, including tests and projects. Other learning behaviors, including homework completion, will be rated separately on a scale of rarely, sometimes or consistently completed. This means that homework will not factor into grading. RCSD serves as a primary feeder district for RJUHSD schools, including Roseville High School. In the transition from middle school to high school students will now also undergo a transition in grading practices. According to assistant superintendent of curriculum and instruction Jess Borjon, RJUHSD has no specific policies as for the weight attributed to different types of assignments in classrooms, though in 2018 the district did develop a grading guidebook to serve as a “best practice” guide for teachers. In the development of this guidebook, RJUHSD looked into research around grading and assessment, including “mastery” learning, which would emphasize test and projects and minimize - or eliminate - the degree to which homework would factor into grades. This, however, is just a guideline and the district determined that requiring a certain approach, rather than suggesting one, would not work with the variety

of content covered at a high school level. “Questions around how a theater arts teacher might grade versus a science teacher would vary because the performance tasks required in each may look very different,” Borjon said. “We recognized there are many similarities when measuring acquisition of knowledge and skills across content areas, but we were not prepared to address the differences that also exist.” Middle school courses have less variety in their structure, so it can be less difficult to conform to a particular grading policy. Teachers at Cooley Middle School within the RCSD school district, however, are now seeing the impact of the new policy on their students. RCSD had already granted less weight to homework, weighting summative scores as 90 percent and formative as 10 percent the total grade. Cooley history teacher David Cales notices that giving less weight to homework can be detrimental to his students that do not have the intrinsic motivation to study material. “Ever since the phase into things like formative, I have seen students who don’t have the study skills and the discipline to actually do things at home… struggle and not be ready to perform at a high level,” Cales said. “Accountability is very very important and one of the ways we keep students accountable is keeping them on track with what they do off campus.” Because RJUHSD will still have grades for homework, incoming freshman will have to readjust to having homework affect their grades. Cooley sci-

BRIAN NUEVO EYE OF THE TIGER

Above, teacher Darcee Durham speaks to her science classes. Durham believes homework should contribute to overall grades to hold students accountable. Below, a student works on an assignment in class. With the new RCSD grading policy, homework and other “learning behaviors” will be evaluated seperately to overall grades.

ence teacher Audrey Ball believes that students may start to see the correlation through studying and how it affects their grades in middle school, but those who do not will face a major change in high school. “I think it’s going to be very difficult,” Ball said. “They might start making a connection, but it’s already hard with grades for students to see that studying affects their grades. I think it might be a big reality check once students get to highschool and it does start to matter.” At RHS, science teacher Darcee Durham believes the contribution of homework to the overall grade is a necessary motivator for students in her classes. “Well honestly I think homework holds students accountable to make sure they are getting those concepts,” Durham said. “They

WELLNESS: Focus on long term

CAM MEDRANO EYE OF THE TIGER

Students work in the Wellness Center during lunch earlier this year. Since its implementation, the RHS Wellness Center has set up a sign-in system for students to take a break when they feel overwhelmed at school. CONTINUED FROM FRONT

data driven - to be able to identify those students who have needs who are not reaching out for help.” With furniture finally placed, students are now able to enter the Wellness Center either for a break or an individual appointment. “Taking a Break” is available for any student who may feel overwhelmed in a class and needs to step out for 30 minutes or so. Using a sign in system, the Wellness staff is able to figure out who is taking a break and how often they are using it. Dobon-Claveau feels that this system is an essential step when it comes to assisting students. “We know that students need breaks. It’s a great way within an allotted amount of time to reset in a safe space, and get back

to class,” Dobon-Claveau said. “We strive to find a balance between having a warm and welcoming space for student who need the breaks, but also monitor those who use it to avoid certain school tasks.” For Dobon-Claveau, the most important thing when it comes to helping students is making sure it actually leads to long-term improvement over time. She feels that it will become more obvious in what aspects the student has changed “We have seen personal growth in many of the students that we work with. The therapists do a pre and post test called the Behavioral Emotional Rating Scale when students start and finish their wellness intervention,” Dobon-Claveau said. “It has been really rewarding for students and therapists to see the growth the students have

made in their time with Wellness staff. But success in therapy is very subjective so it may not be as clear cut as having an impact with grades. This is a process that can take a while to see the more objective growth.” Although she feels that the Wellness Center has been incredibly successful in helping students, DobonClaveau feels that working with the Peer Helping program can help students even more. “Mrs. Erb and her Peer Helping program are truly a district gem. No other school in the district, or in the county, has a more robust and successful peer support program,” DobonClaveau said. “We rely on her program to provide that peer support and connection on campus that adults cannot provide because even research says peer support is most successful.”

BRIAN NUEVO EYE OF THE TIGER

might not otherwise practice.” Though integrated math teacher Paul Stewart already sees the impact of not doing homework on students

within his classes, where homework does not significantly impact the overall grade. “The kids need to participate to be good on the

tests,” Stewart said. “The homework is already only ten percent of the grade, but the students who don’t do the homework always do worse.”

NEWS · PAGE 4

MAY 20, 2019 · EYEOFTHETIGERNEWS.COM

AP: Additional study sessions fill gap CONTINUED FROM FRONT

course have a five month gap from the time they finished the course to the exam. According to assistant superintendent of curriculum and instruction Jess Borjon, RJUHSD looked into the issue a several years ago to determine if the block schedule may have a potentially detrimental effect on AP test scores of students who took the fall course. However, Borjon found that there were while there were some inconsistencies across certain content areas in the AP exam, students with fall semester courses were not prone to having a lower score. So overall, students who take an AP class NICK PROVENCAL EYE OF THE TIGER in the fall are not likely to have a lower AP score, but AP Human Geography and Psychology teacher Marc Andreatta feels that the district should pursue an A/B block schedule in order to eliminate the five may need to study more than month gap between fall AP classes and AP testing in the spring. those in the spring. For students not enrolled in the AP course and Composition, to make go to the review sessions,” have to study as much for To provide additional at the the review process easier. Jenness-Hobbs said. “So I the two I’m in right now help time of However, these review have to [study] on my own because it’s pretty much both to the test, courses aren’t always an which is hard because it’s like I’ve been studying this students Although I agree teachers option for students. Junior easier with a teacher.” entire term.” from fall the proximity to the encourRebekah Jenness-Hobbs Jenness-Hobbs took AP AP Human Geography courses test appears to be a age finds it difficult to make it Chemistry and AP Lang and Psychology teacher and students distinct advantage in the to review sessions while still during the fall term and is Marc Andreatta encourages spring, to take balancing extracurricular enrolled in AP Spanish and students – especially those teachrolling block, the sheer advanactivities, which adds to the AP Stats for the spring term. taking up to four or five ers offer amount of academic load tage of stress of her already busy When it comes to studying, AP tests – to consider their review the study would be a downside to the sessions, life. Jenness-Hobbs has her own ability to juggle each exam sessions schedule. “I know I have to study plan to cope with all of her and the studying along with as could provided a lot. There are review sesAP classes. it when they decide which be seen -Assistant superintendent of by teachsions that I can go to, but “I have a lot of work for tests they are going to take. this curriculum and instruction ers and for someone that’s super the AP classes I’m in now, “If you have an AP class year in Jess Borjon the utiinvolved – because I do so it’s hard to study for my in the spring that you are courses lization sports, and I’m in clubs and other two on top of that,” taking now you have got to like AP of the ROAR intervention I tutor as well – so it’s hard Jenness-Hobbs said. “But at say ‘well I’m in that class Psychology, AP Human Geperiod for extra help. to find the time to be able to the same time I don’t really right now so it’s kind of my ography and AP Language

CTE: Programs focus on real world skills CONTINUED FROM FRONT

pletion of programs… CTE has been integrated into that,” Crockett said. As CTE operates through a series of pathways typically comprised of three tiered classes - introductory, to concentrator, to capstone - students are encouraged to build up their skills by going through the full system of tiered classes. Completion of a pathway also results in a higher Dashboard ranking. Crockett believes a move to direct students to follow the order of the classes, rather than take one individually, is imperative to achieve success and understanding of the skills presented and learned from each specific pathway. “The idea is to build skills and scaffold the skills that they need to become successful,” Crockett said. “The three course pathway allows me to scaffold those at appropriate levels and keep adding more and more strengths to the students as they grow.” The pressure to continue through a pathway limits students’ ability to take classes in an alternate area of interest. Junior Jazzy Kittle chose to prioritize continuing the PLTW Biomedical pathway over the possibility of taking several AP classes she was interested in prior to beginning the course. “I definitely had to pick and choose which ones I wanted to take this year because I know there were quite a few AP classes I wanted to take,” Kittle said.

“I know I want[ed] this class first so I’d have to choose between [those],” Kittle said. Culinary Arts CTE pathway teacher Angela Ash feels that improving CTE performance and visibility is a long-term goal both the district and CTE teachers share. “We feel like if we can get students to take at least one class, they’ll see the value of completing and earning certificates,” Ash said, “...[Things like] real world experience, talking with adults, and marketing themselves, producing quality products in a group situation.” Teachers have contributed to efforts to popularize CTE and champion CTE classes available for students through more than word of mouth. Many school activities and showcases reflect the CTE push by presenting the variety of available programs to prospective students and their parents. Events such as the Elective Showcase or presentations held at middle schools that funnel into high schools within the district advertise themselves. Smaller CTE branches find it difficult to continuing growing. Crockett must strive to market his class to students. “Getting the word out is definitely tough,” Crockett said. “A lot of word of mouth but the word of mouth revolves in small circles.” In order to interest students, these courses frequently emphasize the ex-

change between taking the class and earning real world experience. For example, students within the culinary pathway receive a food handling license as part of their midterm. The licenses are required by law for anyone planning on handling food in the context of their job. Additionally, students in the PLTW [Project Lead The Way] Biomedical pathway experience trial medical labs and go through a variety of career options related to the medical field. While teachers try to appeal to and keep students interest, they understand that not everyone will continue their level of interest, nor will they move to look for a career in that respective CTE field. Culinary CTE teacher Jaime Jackson believes that while not all of her students will go on to work in the hospitality business, they still benefit from the skills taught in the program. “There’s very few that actually want to go into the food service,” Jackson said. “For the most part these kids just leave that pathway with having really great career skills and workplace skills.” For students who are unsure of what they’d like to do in the future, Jackson believes CTE courses offer a risk-free opportunity to “test the waters, see what you enjoy.” “Even if this isn’t a pathway that you are necessarily interested in pursuing as a career, you build those skills - those networking skills, those group collaboration skills - that you need for any career,” Jackson said.

focus and do I have the time, the energy, and the will to study getting ready for the class I took in the fall,’” Andreatta said. Andreatta believes the solution for students in the fall term is having a rolling A/B block schedule to eliminate the five month gap. The rolling A/B block schedule includes taking all eight classes year round and switching off every other day – a schedule certain AP courses, like AP European History with Honors English and AP US History with AP Lang, already use. But from looking into it, Borjon worries the rolling A/B schedule will overload students with too many academic courses to focus on at once. “Although I agree the proximity to the test appears to be a distinct advantage in the rolling block, the sheer amount of academic load would be a downside to the schedule,” Borjon said. For the students who enrolled in the fall term, Borjon believes that employing any free time any student has to studying can be useful when it comes to preparing for the AP exam. “The AP teachers really work hard at utilizing intervention period for added review and added support,” Borjon said. “I would encourage both teachers and students to use that embedded time during the day as an added support for AP success.”

NEWSINBRIEFS RHS hosts Academic Merit Awards, honor sophomores and juniors STAFF REPORT

news@eyeofthetigernews.com

RHS hosted the Academic Merit Awards for sophomores and juniors. Students received medals ranging from bronze to double gold to celebrate academic achievement. Interim principal Suzanne Laughrea, assistant principals, counselors and parents alike attended for the awarding of medals.

Counselor Philomena Crone organized this year’s event and hopes that it will encourage students underclassmen to strive for their best. “I hope that it will influence students who are going on with all different plans,” Crone said. “Our goal is to celebrate all seniors, all graduation plans - military, vocational training, two year community colleges and four year universities.”

Yearbooks sell out, frustrate students, staff STAFF REPORT

news@eyeofthetigernews.com

Seniors celebrate at annual college signing day BY RILEIGH SHULL

r.shull@eyeofthetigernews.com

Last week students participated in college signing day, where many seniors went to the amphitheater during lunch to celebrate and get recognition for their post-graduation plans.

Yearbook distribution is next week, and unlike prior years, yearbooks have sold out. Yearbook pick-up is this Wednesday after school in the cafeteria. Students must have their student ID. “Usually they have more than they need so you should definitely be prepared to sell a surplus,” senior Jace Doyle said. Students unable to pick up their yearbook on Wednesday can retrieve them after school in room 916.

Construction impacts location of second blood drive this year BY LIZZIE PELZMAN

l.pelzman@eyeofthetigernews.com

RHS’ next blood drive is May 23 hosted by Vitalant, formerly Blood Source. According to junior Miki Yomogida, this blood drive will be smaller than previous drives, partially due to the construction of the Auxiliary Gym taking over the lot where the drive buses have parked in the past. Where some years may have featured donation busses, this year, those participating in the event are to report to the library. Junior Finn McAnlis believes the blood drive is a great event to partake in. “The blood drive is just a really beneficial event, you save babies, you save people who just don’t have the opportunity to have all of the same health benefits we do,” McAnlis said. “It’s a very easy thing to do” Students can sign up in the cafeteria or Senior Square. Students 16 and 17 must have a signed parent consent form.

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FEATURES MAY 20, 2019 · EYEOFTHETIGERNEWS.COM

PAGE 5

Freshman sculpts with sweet treats BY TANNER BEASOM

t.beasom@eyeofthetigernews.com

Sculpting is seen as one of the most tedious artforms, as sculptors spend hours upon hours finely chiselling their hyperdetailed piece of art. In order to make this process less monotonous, freshman Ivan Kovalchuk found an unorthodox solution to mix up the artform: chocolate. Chocolate sculpting is a difficult task, considering its quick melting speed. Kovalchuk tenderly cares for his medium throughout the whole process. With experience, he’s found that each piece can be carefully crafted, with the opportunity for many different outcomes. Kovalchuk got his start with chocolate through simple gifts for friends and family. Over time, he’s found more and more enjoyment in the process. “It’s such a diligent work, and it expands my creativity... I learn every time I do it,” Kovalchuk said. Nowadays, Kovalchuk is looking to the future and his chocolate art is coming up often on the horizon as a possible career of sorts. Kovalchuk has made art inside and outside of school, for both friends and family, and his process is quite an interesting spectacle. He will cook chocolate, chisel chocolate, and even essentially paint with chocolate in order to perfect his finished product. By cooking chocolate, Kovalchuk can double his chocolate as a sort of paint, and he even mixes it with

food colorings in order to get this desired effect. Chiseling his chocolate doesn’t require the sharpest blade, but simply something that can cut through it like butter, allowing him to chip away at the block and slowly shaping it into his statue of sorts. His friends and family’s reactions to Kovalchuk’s chocolate art have been overwhelmingly positive. It’s not every day a friend of yours finds something else to do with chocolate, other than eat it. While painting, sketching and even digital art are talents by themselves, the concept of chocolate art is unique to Kovalchuk and the people in his life can’t help but just be intrigued by the concept. “You have these different mediums with pens and pencils that are just a dime a dozen... but Ivan makes art out of food, which is really cool because if he doesn’t like a piece of art he could just eat it,” sophomore Barritt Balestrini, a friend of Kovalchuk, said. Within his household,

CAM MEDRANO EYE OF THE TIGER

Freshman Ivan Kovalchuk sculpts miniature statues with chocolate as a medium. Kovalchuk must work carefully with this delicate material. According to Kovalchuk, he has produced works as gifts for friends, family and neighbors.

Kovalchuk’s family has been struck by his sudden display of chocolate talents. With such a unique method of sculpting art, watching him complete these art pieces is an inspir-

ing sight. Ivan’s mother, Marion Kovalchuk, believes the most impressive aspect of his art is his creativity. “What is inspiring for me is that if he has an idea

in his head he can make it,” Marion said. For the people in his life, watching Ivan create a chocolate sculpture from scratch is a jaw-dropping experience. The most diffi-

cult task of this entire process is on the person who receives the chocolate art. Does the person eat the art, or do they keep it? Ivan’s art really makes them think twice before consuming.

Exchange students experience life as American teens BY RILEIGH SHULL

r.shull@eyeofthetigernews.com

Nearly two years ago, two European citizens decided to leave their home country at the chance of living in the United States for their junior year of high school. Both Luana Bolliger and Esther Vallez began their journey as foreign exchange students in the summer of 2018 as they moved into their new homes for the next year and have continued to live here for the past year. Before beginning the transition as a foreign exchange student, Bollinger was originally from Switzerland. With coming to America, Bolliger wanted to experience new things with coming to a new school in America. “I just wanted a change in my life and wanted to meet new people,” Bolliger said. On the flip side, Vallez is a foreign exchange student coming from Spain and is no stranger to travelling. She wanted to a chance at trying new experiences and to meet new people across the world from her home country. “I enjoy to travel a lot and I wanted to see outside of Spain,” Vallez said. “I

wanted to discover new things, along with meeting new people so I decided that I wanted to come [to America] for a year.” Although Bolliger and Vallez both had different motives of what they wanted to gain from their move to America, both participated in a couple sports to achieve their pursuit of their personal goals . Both girls’ previous schools did not have athletics teams, so coming to a new country and trying the various sports at Roseville was ideally a part of living their ‘teenage American experience.’ For Bolliger, her host family inspired her to take up her own sports for this teenage experience - both swim and water polo. “My first host mom told me about school sports here in America,” Bolliger said. “My school in Switzerland did not have any type of school sports. So, I really wanted to try something new and meet new people, so that’s what really interested me into being a part of sports.” Caroline Mason, Bolliger’s swim teammate and part of her former host family, saw her progression through sports, and Bolliger’s personal growth as she connects to the American culture and the

people around her. “At first, [my family] had some influence on helping her by introducing her to new people and getting her involved in some sports, but over time she started to make her own friends and become her own person in America,” Mason said. “I saw her grow through the sports obviously with her skill level, but also I saw her connect with a lot more people through being involved in the sports, so it was really cool to watch.” Vallez had a prior involvement in both dance and swim team before coming to America and joining these RHS teams, and it influenced the steps she took when deciding her course in extracurriculars. “I used to dance in Spain and I wanted to keep doing it, and I used to watch movies about cheerleaders and I thought to myself like ’woah I wanna do something like that’ so since I never had the chance to do that, I tried out here,” Vallez said. “With swim team, I did swim when I was younger, but a long time ago, so I decided to do it again.” Vallez’s boyfriend Nathaniel Santos saw her personal growth through both dance and swim team, and believed it has helped

RILEIGH SHULL EYE OF THE TIGER

Above, Lunar Bolliger and Ester Vallez recieve their varsity letters for their respective sports. As exchange students at RHS, they found themselves becoming involved with sports as a way to integrate with the community.

her to form new connections. “The way she was able to be a part of being on the dance team and the swim team made her meet a lot more people, especially in a new environment like this,” Santos said. “I know she was really social in Spain, so I think it was an opening to it. I think being a part of [these teams] was very beneficial for her.” Now as Bolliger and Vallez finish up their year living here in America, both girls have spent almost the past year embracing and learning from their own personal American lifestyles. Bolliger and Vallez feel they have ac-

complished what they set out to do and grown as individuals over the last year. Bolliger first began her time in America not knowing anyone or anything about the environment and the sports she was getting herself into, but as she continued to progress over time, she appreciates her time spent in the United States. “Before coming here I didn’t even know [water] polo existed,” Bolliger said. “In the beginning [of the water polo season] my English wasn’t very good and it was really hard for me to understand what we were supposed to do, but

[as the season continued] I got into it and the people were super friendly and helped me… so it made playing water polo and swim team super fun.” For Vallez, she feels her time away from Spain helped her gain a greater sense of herself as a person. “I have learned a lot from this year, just through how to become more independent and doing things by myself, since I don’t have anyone here like my family and friends,” Vallez said. “So it was just something new that I got to start over again, and have learned a lot from doing that.”

PAGE 6 · FEATURES

EYEOFTHETIGERNEWS.COM · MAY 20, 2019

30 years teaching and coaching, Grove retires BY RYLEY METTEN

r.metten@eyeofthetigernews.com

After a 30 year run, this year marks the end to social science teacher Ron Grove’s time working at Roseville High School. During his years at Roseville, Grove has managed to reach various niches of the school, from his time as a girls’ volleyball coach, to announcing for football home games and even advising student government. Grove first stepped foot in Roseville High in the fall of 1983. He began his career at RHS as a substitute teacher, before swiftly moving on to become a JV basketball coach and a swim coach. But, after spending some time at RHS, Grove fell in love with the campus culture and decided to make his stay more permanent. Through trial and error, Grove was able to figure out a balance as a teacher, as a coach and as a person in his time at RHS. “Coaching is teaching, and I coached varsity girls’ volleyball for 30 years and it’s all just the same thing with different subjects,” Grove said. “Teaching is teaching.” For Grove, it was the

people he worked with that made him decide to set his roots at RHS. Grove found himself connecting increasingly with the students he coached. Looking back, Grove said those were some of the best years of his life. “I have formed lifelong relationships with those kids, and they come back [to visit], so it was very rewarding,” Grove said. Junior Laurel Bane is used to walking into Grove’s classroom and being greeted with a the positive classroom atmosphere, which sets him apart from many teachers. “I don’t think many teachers make class as fun or as energetic as he [does],” Bane said. “He’s very good at teaching history while also making it fun.” In Bane’s eyes, Grove taught her many important lessons, in both history and life. “He has taught me to not let other people’s problems affect you as much,” Bane said. “I feel like he always tells us that there’s only certain things you can control and if you always keep worrying about those things you can’t move on.” In his first year at RHS, Grove took over announc-

FILE PHOTO EYE OF THE TIGER

With a lengthy legacy as a former student government adviser, football announcer, girls’ volleyball coach and many other positions, social science teacher Ron Grove left his mark on RHS prior to retirement.

ing football after the previous teacher retired, becoming a quintessential part of Friday night home football games for the RHS community. “I’ve enjoyed being with everybody, and it’s the best seat in the house to watch the game so I really enjoyed it,” Grove said. Football player and student Ethan Joseph agrees that Grove’s years of experience allow him to offer a unique perspective when it comes to teaching.

“I think he’s a character,” Joseph said. “He’s a really great teacher, he has his own way of teaching and I personally like it a lot. He has had a really big impact on me and many others in the class.” After years of announcing football games, Joseph thinks of Grove’s anchoring, constant presence as positively impactful on the football team. “I think that just from him being there it makes us feel a lot better, because

I know there are certain schools that don’t have good commentators and him being there every year and being the same person, we know the person,” Joseph said. In every aspect of his time at RHS, Grove has made connections with the people around him. Whether it was working alongside his peers to coach and teach, or becoming involved with the general happenings of the school through student

government. After all the time that Grove has spent at Roseville, he believes that what he will miss most about the school and its atmosphere is one thing: the people. “I’ll miss the people the most no doubt about it - seeing all the kids everyday, seeing friends on the staff everyday and just being part of the school,” Grove said. “It’s the people that really brought me here and it’s the people that I’ll miss the most.”

Senior inspires young athlete with disabilities

COURTESY ELISA RUDGERS

Senior Kyle Barnes coaches Ryder Rudgers in soccer and in keeping his cool. The senior and Rudgers began their friendship as part of The Outreach Program, which focuses on impacting the lives of people with physical and mental disabilities. BY MEGAN HUBER

m.huber@eyeofthetigernews.com

According to the National Federation of State High School Association, “Effective coaching runs deeper than wins and losses. It also includes reaching athletes on an individual level.” Senior Kyle Barnes has learned how true this statement is during his time coaching his buddy and close family friend, Ryder Rudgers, in the art of soccer. This coaching opportunity requires Barnes to meet Rudgers at his developmental level, but it has also created a lasting

friendship that has fueled Rudgers’ success as a soccer player. Rudgers has cerebral palsy and autism, which can make it difficult for him to move around as fluidly as his peers. However, Barnes and Rudgers both play soccer together, through an organization, TOPSoccer, also known as The Outreach Program, which aims to provide the chance for anyone who has a mental or physical disability to learn and practice skills, but also allows them to enjoy playing the game of soccer. The program sets up seasons for play, each having five sessions that al-

low the opportunity to play in either a full game, or one-on-one with a buddy. Rudgers’s mom, Elisa Rudgers, feels that playing soccer has improved more than just Ryder’s soccer skills. It has also had a positive impact on his emotional health. “He would have... meltdowns, he would cry, he would not want to participate, or he would just want to be on a ginormous soccer ball and roll upside down. And he couldn’t run either,” Elisa said. “Now, he’s actually running... he can hit the ball with his head. He can run from point A to point B. He can

focus long enough to get done what they need to get done.” Barnes is grateful for the time he gets to spend with Ryder and the determination his friend shows whenever they play together. “He’s always wanting to learn new things and he’s always really improving his game every session that we go in,” Barnes said. “He went from having trouble running and walking to now he’s full sprinting and he’s really enjoying the sport and enjoying the time out here.” Ryder feels that Barnes’ patience has been a bless-

ing during the time both boys spend mastering the sport. “Kyle has an incredible amount of patience, Elisa said. “It might come from his upbringing. It might be because we know each other so well. It might be from observing...other people around him. He has that ability. And it’s really hard to find.” On top of patience, Rudgers believes there is something special about Barnes. “Kyle is an extraordinary human and by extraordinary I mean..he always does that little bit of extra,” Elisa said. “He just paid

attention a little bit more than anybody else would and he notices things that other people might not notice. He has been an inspiration to my son. It’s nice to have a positive and inspiring role model to work with on a regular basis.” Barnes sees the relationship as mutually beneficial and recognizes that spending time with Ryder and helping him is a continual reward. “Just to see the enjoyment of him being out there and enjoying the sport and many others,” Barnes said. “It just always brings me back.”

HUMANS OF RHS I really connect with nature because I don’t like being inside and being closed in. I really like the outdoors and sitting in the grass and drawing. I’m a song-writer and I’m artistic, [and] I like combining those two [aspects] together. With my songs, I like to create stories -- almost like fantasies. I feel like everything in nature has a soul and...I just love to go outside and appreciate what I have in front of me. All that beauty in life inspires me to be optimistic.”

Nature is a close friend to junior Alani Garcia. With her self-made music leading her, and nature as her inspiration, Garcia uses her words to connect herself to the natural world. Garcia’s appreciation of nature shines through her lyrics and the unique nature of Garcia’s artistry, creativity, and unleased passion for the world around her combine to create a positive outlook on the world. -Nicole Khudyakov NICOLE KHUDYAKOV EYE OF THE TIGER

OPINION

MAY 20, 2018 · EYEOFTHETIGERNEWS.COM

PAGE 7

Homework: To grade or not to grade BY RYLEY METTEN

r.metten@eyeofthetigernews.com

Students learn selfdicipline and valuable study skills

ith Roseville High’s feeder middle schools switching to a system that does not count homework towards overall grades, it has sparked the debate on to whether or not to get rid of homework grades, for they are deemed as the less valuable grade. However, in my experience, homework grades actually become one of the most important grades, for they help students in many ways. Some teachers may discount homework grades and seem to only favor test and quiz grades, but factoring homework into students’ grades ultimately results in higher test scores as well, giving students an overall higher grade in the class. For instance, if there wasn’t a grade for homework, I and many others

would probably not do it. This may not seem to be a problem for many people, but homework actually is what gets people to study and know the material in the course for the test. If we only learned material and practiced it during school, more people would be failing the tests. Homework provides extra practice and often models the material on the test. The grade for homework provides people incentive to complete it. Additionally, a homework grade often boosts many people’s grades in the class. Those whose test scores are poor often use their homework grade to help raise their grade in order to pass the class. In my personal experience, a homework grade in math classes is what keeps my grade from completely failing. Many see homework as an obligation and a waste of time, but it

as early as grade school and it has become a routine. But for those who have not fallen into a rhythm, homework can feel like a burden. It can become a chore if students want to make it one, and fail to create a routine for it, but going into homework knowing that this is practice and extra help before a test definitely will influence their motivation to do it. Homework also teaches students self-discipline and the mentality that they can get the grade for which they earn through their work ethic. Overall, although I do agree that homework grades may not necessarily be “necessary,” homework does provide a great opportunity to practice before a test and give students knowledge of the subject prior to the test with a few bonus points added to the overall grade.

becomes more of a principle of self-discipline over time. The majority of us have been doing homework since

BY JAYDEN MILLER

jl.miller@eyeofthetigernews.com

Homework does not accurately represent mastery or skill

lmost everyone can agree that a student’s grades are one of the most important factors of school. Colleges look at them, sports teams look at them to make sure you’re staying on the right track, and you even need to get-

ting passing grades in certain classes to graduate.

Some may even go as far to say that these letter rankings that show up on report cards evaluate if you know the material that teachers taught and mastered it by the end of the class. However, with the current ways teachers break down their grading, that statement is false. Due to “homework” categories being evaluated in the gradebook, there really is no proper way a letter grade can evaluate how much a student has learned since the beginning of the class. High test scores and inclass assignments can only take your grade so far when a homework category is set in the gradebook. Making a percentage of your grade a repeat of what you were taught in class is just not fair. Homework sheets and practice should be available to any struggling students, but everyone should not be held accountable for it. For students who already know and understand the lesson, it is unfair to force upon them a repeat of everything they learned in class even though they understand the topic. And it’s even more unfair to harm their grade for not completing it. If I were to evaluate two different students based on their letter grades in a class, I wouldn’t be able to tell who knows the material more. Student A passed the class with a 96% or an “A”. Student B also passed the

class but with a 85% or a “B.” Now if someone had to decide which student understands the material more they would most likely pick student A. But the thing is, you didn’t know that student B averages 95% on all chapter tests while student A averages 74%. The reason why student A has a higher grade was because he did homework when student B did not. Letter grades do not properly show the student progress. This education model ranks students based on how much you can follow a direction, not mastery of content. If we were all made to be put into factories and work the same job, then so be it. But we are made for more. We motivate ourselves by learning about things we care about. So when we need help we have no problem with going the extra step to practice at home at our own discretion. When students are forced to do homework it creates an environment of dread and hatred of school. But if we take away the homework grade and instead encourage kids to get help during ROAR, or Tiger Tutoring, or even in their AVID class, it creates motivation to strive and a sense of ownership in a letter grade. Instead of students saying “I made it through that class,” we should have them saying “I mastered that class.” All we need to do is take the homework grade away.

Muting bells for AP represents false gesture

BY ALEX MULLAN

a.mullan@eyeofthetigernews.com

nyone at Roseville High School has known about the obvious disruptions of the construction on the new gym these past few weeks. Those at RHS also know that due to AP testing, the bells throughout the school were turned off the past two weeks so testers were not disturbed by the noise. Yet, the loud construction has continued - in an area adjacent to Moeller Gym, where much of the testing took place. The construction continuing completely contradicts stopping the bells because of the noise. This makes no sense to me whatsoever and is a bit annoying. In an effort to avoid disrupting test takers they turned of the bells, which is a disruption to the hundreds and hundreds of students not taking AP test. Yet they did not stop construction which is likely to cause more of a disruption to test takers than the bells would have.

JASMINE LUNAR EYE OF THE TIGER

Roseville’s new gym construction has been going on for more than a month now and every class around the area has had to pay the price. It is constant noise and interruption in classrooms that no one can really pre-

vent.

I do think it can be paused, but also agree that it wouldn’t be necessary to pause if with nothing important going on inside the school. However, the past month has many important test

days and weeks where a pause on construction during school hours would greatly decrease the interruptions in classrooms. Even though I’m not an AP tester, I have been a tester for CAASPP testing that I couldn’t have avoided.

All the juniors here have experienced the pain of having to test all day with the construction in the background while they are trying to think of that complicated math problem. The funny part is that the work started a single day

before the testing started. How hard would it have been to delay it three days and leave the testers to test in peace? Now that the AP tests have started, which kids and parents have to pay for, they decide to turn off the bells as a interruption solution. Because somehow a tiny bell increment that everyone is used to is very disrupting to the AP testers, but the giant, loud machinery working is not? It just doesn’t make any sense. As well it being annoying, the bell change is also unfair to non-AP testers. The bell schedule is really helpful to kids just having a normal day. When it’s a part of someone’s everyday school life and you just take it away, it’s interrupting to them. It’s also obvious that some teachers aren’t fully aware of when every kid should be in class and when to start to teaching. If the school is going to turn off bells, make the workers pause the construction too. Or just turn back on the bells. It’s not that hard of a problem to fix. Even though AP testing is over, this can be used for next year if the construction of the new gym is happening. There’s no reason annoying problems shouldn’t be fixed when it’s this easy.

PAGE 8 · OPINION

EYEOFTHETIGERNEWS.COM · MAY 20, 2019

Spouting the truth Drinking fountains are used widely by all students around campus so their quality is of utmost importance, but not all water fountains offer the same experience. In order to help students decide where to go when it is time to quench their thirst, I assessed and rated the four most commonly used fountains on campus. Below are my scores and a summary of the experience each fountain offers. BY LOGAN BRALEY

BY DEAN EFSTATHIU

l.braley@eyeofthetigernews.com

d.efstathiu@eyeofthetigernews.com

West 900’s Building

Temp: 4/4 Pressure: 2/4 Buttons: 4/4 Quality: 4/4

Admin Building

Temp: 4/4 Pressure: 1/4 Buttons: 4/4 Quality: 2/4

Overall

3.5/4

The drinking fountains in the 900’s West Building are used by many students and, therefore, have a huge impact on the campus. They are located in the northern stairwell of the building. There are two drinking fountains right next to each other in the building, one higher up than the other. The taller drinking fountain is closer to the mouth, eliminating the need to bend over and awkwardly drink. But this perk is overshadowed by the fact that the water pressure button placement are abysmal. The second machine, although lower, isn’t too hard to drink from, thanks to the supreme water pressure. This machine is older, but what I’ve found is that most of the time the older machines have better temperature and button placement.

Overall

2.5/4

In my testing, the most surprising fountain was the fountain by the admin building. The only thing that I could criticize them about is the button placement but even that could be forgiven because they are more to the side of the machine. The water is lukewarm, but if it’s a hot day, it’s not good. It’s worth settling for when you’re too lazy to walk to one that would be better, particularly the 900’s fountain across campus. The pressure of the fountain is relatively acceptable but isn’t anything special. The machine is fairly dirty and looks generally unappealing. Given its mediocrity, this fountain doesn’t attract long lines like the ones in the West 900’s Building. So if you need to quench your thirst and you’re nearby, stop here.

Senior Square

Temp: 0/4 Pressure: 2/4 Buttons: 4/4 Quality: 1/4

Overall

1.5/4

The Senior Square fountains are arguably the most used fountains because of the amount of students from P.E. classes and students during lunch, but their quality is lacking. The water pressure in taller drinking fountain, the one on the left when facing the spouts, fluctuates resulting in a difficult drinking experience. Another knock on these fountains is the button quality and locations. They are old and right in front of where the water comes out. On the plus side, however, the temperature is tolerable. Another problem is the trees above. Often times, especially during spring and fall, leaves fall into the fountain. It makes it harder to drink water when there is debris and dirt falling right into your eyes.

500’s Building

Temp: 0/4 Pressure: 0/4 Buttons: 1/4 Quality: 0/4

Overall

0/4

The 500’s fountain has been a center of controversy for a while, stemming from the discovery of the water being yellow when a student filled up their water bottle. Still, I took the risk of drinking from them and the experience was horrendous. The fountain on the right’s nozzle was completely broken and water couldn’t even come out. The fountain on the left had water that almost tasted sour. The pressure and the temperature of the water was fine, but going here for water is not recommended in any scenario. No one ever drinks water from these fountains and it’s no question as to why. We as students understand what quality water tastes like and this isn’t it. Especially after the yellow water incident. An episode like that could never be forgiven.

Moeller Gym not the answer for AP testing

BY NICOLE KHUDYAKOV

n.khudyakov@eyeofthetigernews.com

ooking back to my sophomore year, I realize that I was spoiled and I took everything for granted. Over a year ago, I took my first AP exam in the comfort of a small classroom, surrounded by peers my age. It was a comfortable setting and I was able to get through the exam without losing my head or my sanity. In comparison, this year’s AP exams have been singu-

larly the most dreadful and hazardous part of my year. Some of the blame can be placed on the general tragedy of life as a junior. Some of it is down to the stress of studying for exams. Most of the reason for my stress is down to geography. Testing in the Moeller Gym might be convenient, but it’s also uncomfortable. It requires a different set of rules compared to regular AP testing. Normally, armoring up for AP exams includes not showing weakness. Rule one: don’t be absent. You’re sick? Bring tissues and hope for the best. Constant sniffling is usually a little distracting, but it’s also not difficult to ignore. But in the gym, what

starts as a whisper of noise turns into a symphony amid its echoes. The acoustics can only be compared to something an opera hall might envy. The sounds of nervous, quaking AP testers practicing their sniffling solos in the company of tens of other testers dominated the room. It was a deafening symphony of noise. Thus, rule one changes into: consider faking your death and taking the make-up AP exam instead. If that doesn’t sound academically inspiring, then the unending squeaks of our chairs, which harmonized well with the snif-

fling, certainly will. Visually, their dull, brown exterior doesn’t inspire anything beyond apathy, but over two hours of sitting in those squeaky monstrosities made me nostalgic for

the plastic chairs that populate our classrooms. Rule two: dress like you’re taking a trip to Antarctica. Your testing area is a different environment with its own set of rules and unique regulations. Part of those regulations must be that the temperature must remain somewhere between chilly and a light snow day in Tahoe, because it was freezing. On one hand, the cold is a distraction. On the other hand, I definitely didn’t feel sleepy because I was too busy shivering.

Business classes would offer valuable skill set

BY KINSEY OKELBERRY

k.okelberry@eyeofthetigernews.com

t Roseville High School we are offered no business classes. With business consistently being one of the most popular majors in the country, you’d think a school like ours would of-

Projects disappoint

fer these classes to high school students. The lack of business classes available here leaves limitation for future business pursuers. For example, the Future Business Leaders Of America club here will no longer continue going on into the next 2019-2020 school year, due to a new business class requirement for competition. We will no longer have students be part of this club just because of our school is not offering business classes. And even before, RHS

students had to compare to the other FBLA-competing schools that study and prep in business as they offer multiple class opportunities. Business is one of those subjects students can major in and go far because it grants such a wide range of opportunities. Business develops skills in multiple areas such as entrepreneurship, marketing, managing, data-basing, hospitality and many others. Many students at RHS

go into college wanting to pursue a business major but with lacking experience in even knowing what business is. Our school is to blame for this lack of experience because not it does not provide the opportunities to learn the trueness of business in all aspects. Even for students who do not want to go into business, having business classes is beneficial. It is beneficial in ways such as teaching strategic thinking perspectives and

the functions of a liberated citizen, developing the ability to work together as a team with the balance of individual working, providing communication skills, job interviewing tips, analytical tools, internship information and many others that will contribute to useful skills in the future. Students in their lifetime will need to apply business skills and giving them the opportunity in a high school education business class will prepare them for their post-high school careers.

s a senior, I have been here at Roseville High School to see a lot of renovations or restorations done to this school. I understand that four years isn’t a substantial amount of time, but with all the changes, it feels like it’s been eight years. For the four years I’ve been here, there has been construction on the cafeteria kitchen, bathrooms, and now the new gym that is in the works. These are all great ideas, but have they or will they turn out great? The restorations took months to complete and caused many inconveniences for the students attending RHS. This begs the question if these new add-ons or restorations really help RHS. The cafeteria kitchen fix took months and ran into summer to complete. While under construction the cafeteria was so cramped and there was a limited menu for the hot lunch menu. With the new renovations, I believed the menu would improve and the quality at least would improve. However, the food is the same and certain items were taken off. I was hoping that the changes would also help with long lines and wait time for those who order. What we have now is a bright white painted kitchen and the same food. For the longest time, the bathrooms here were rancid and sometimes infested with the occasional cockroach or two. The cafeteria restoration saw a redesign of the restrooms and the men’s restroom for the most part is as bad now as it was before. There is now only one stall and no urinals and this is for everyone that needs to go to the bathroom during lunch. The bathrooms over by the 500 wing took pretty long as well to complete and are quite nice. However, there is only one air dryer for people washing their hands. There is also only one or two soap dispensers in that bathroom, which makes things crowded around one sink. The bathroom that also got renovated that I am very disappointed in is the gym foyer bathroom that wasn’t as terrible as the 500 wing bathroom. The gym restroom had two medium stalls and one handicap, with some questionable urinals. After construction, we are left with decent urinals but the stalls are weird. There is one large handicap one, a medium stall and then a super small stall where you can’t even open the door if you are standing in it. With the new gym on the way we can only hope it doesn’t follow the current trend of seeming like it will turn out great but then having too many small issues. RHS has a long way to go with all the small issues it has, but we can only hope that this historic school can finally fix all these issues with the money from Measure D.

A&E

EYEOFTHETIGERNEWS.COM · MAY 20, 2019

PAGE 9 · ARTS & ENTERTAINMENT

A for Effort, F for Artistry The stroke of a brush, the click of a shutter, or the strum of the guitar. When rules and restrictions meet the rebellious nature art inherently possesses, even Leonardo DaVinci can’t survive the ruthlessness of rubrics.

DEAN EFSTATHIU EYE OF THE TIGER

MEGAN HUBER EYE OF THE TIGER

FILE PHOTO EYE OF THE TIGER

(Clockwise, left to right) First year guitar students practice with their beginning music book. An art student begins working on a piece. Dance students perform in the dance show. BY AJ WELKER

a.welker@eyeofthetigernews.com

Two plus two equals four. In every city, state, and country across the planet, math teachers have come to the consensus that any answer other than four is wrong. Objectively. There’s no debate to be had between teacher and student on whether putting three or five would suffice. Pairing the subject ‘I’ with the verb ‘is’ will result in the harsh mark of red pen from English teachers everywhere. ‘I is running,’ ‘I is excited’ and ‘I is a good writer’ are all, objectively, wrong. The line is clear. The grades are simple. The distinction between right and wrong is black and white. But wander through any museum, attend any concert, or observe any photograph, and the distinctions between right and wrong, good and bad, aren’t black and white. They are gray. At Roseville High School, and at high schools throughout America, Visual and Performing Arts (VAPA) teachers are tasked with the daunting responsibility of putting an objective grade on subjective pieces of art. While educators of the more traditional classes enjoy the simplicity of right and wrong, VAPA teachers aren’t as lucky. Art, photography, dance, drama, and guitar are just a few of many VAPAs offered at Roseville High School. Grading varies from class to class, as the criteria each teacher finds necessary to reflect improvement and eventually mastery is different. In classes like guitar, the content (and gradebook) is split, with half of student’s grades focusing on music theory, and the other half geared towards the actual playing of the instrument. According to Roseville High School guitar teacher Austin Gaesser, while music theory is a necessary part to instrumental mastery, the musicality needed

to be a good musician is what moves a student from good to great. “The hardest part above all of that, the umbrella above theory and learning the music part of it is performing,” Gaesser said. “It’s getting people to understand...most music has a message. It needs to be believed in.” The challenge for Gaesser, and all VAPA teachers, emerges when the artistic message comes into play. What is their place in dictating how much value and how much artistry each piece their students presents has? “[Music] needs to be believed in. Not just kind of graded basically on,” Gaesser said. “If you’re performing, do I believe what you’re doing? Do I believe that you enjoy what you’re doing?” While Gaesser does have a portion of his gradebook doled out for the artistry his students bring to the table, other VAPA teachers view their responsibility differently. According to photography teacher Steve Fischer, the responsibility of art teachers isn’t to reward art-

istry, but to teach

mechanics. “This is school,” Fischer said. “Our job here is to teach you, to give you a foundation to build upon, so that down the road, you can create good art.” The idea of grading specifically on the technical elements of each photograph is one way to ensure scores are as black and white as possible, and can keep students from being confused about why they earned the grade that

they did. However, this meticulous style of grading has the potential to punish not only students, but the greats for demonstrations of artistic brilliance. “Twenty years ago... we were starting to write up rubrics for art, across painting, ceramics, music and all different things... And then what we did is we took our rubric and we went back and judged what we felt were great pieces of art over the centuries,” Fischer said. “We gave the Mona Lisa a B minus.” The Mona Lisa took Leonardo DaVinci roughly four years to create, and his efforts scraped him by to barely above average. What took DaVinci four years, students are expected to do in a matter of weeks. According to art and ceramics teacher Joyce Henry, this is an issue her students face that she attempts to combat with ample time. “Great art takes a long time to make,” Henry said. “I build in a lot of extra time for students...and that’s just because some people are perfectionists, and they want

every little part of [their paintings] exactly the way they envisioned it. And that should be rewarded. That shouldn’t be penalized.” But deadlines are deadlines, at the end of the day. Like any math, English, or science class, things have to be complete at a certain date. Though VAPA classes have incredible differences from the traditional subjects, their gradebooks are nearly identical. Except for effort. In math, students don’t receive points for how hard they ‘tried’ on a test. English students aren’t rewarded for the effort put into their essays. In math,

if an answer is wrong, it’s wrong. In English, if an essay is bad, it’s bad. Hard work isn’t exchangeable for points in these classroom settings. But in Henry’s classes, the energy put forth for each assignment, regardless of artistic excellence, does warrant a point or two. “I do have a score in my rubric that includes effort, and how much time in class I saw you working. If you were working one hundred percent of the time, it’ll be a hundred percent score in there,” Henry said. “But it’s not enough to get the grade. Nobody gets a passing grade just from effort.” In classes like dance and drama, where the performances are fleeting, rather than the permanence that art and photography enjoy, the ability to grade artistry gets even harder. Dance teacher Pilar Steiner, similar to Fischer, finds that grading mechanics can aid the process in making scores more black and white. “In each class there are skill tests that start out relatively easy and get more and more complicated. We have certain markers we look for in these skill tests that help us with grading,” Steiner said. According to Steiner, the skill in dance can vary greatly due to the discrepancy in training prior to high school. “In public school, we are blessed with some dance studio kids who have been dancing from a very young age. But we also have kids that have never danced before,” Steiner said. “We start everyone from the very beginning regardless of experience and then through the first year of Dance 1 and Dance 2, I am able to observe how well they take to the art form.” In Jennifer DithridgeSaigeon’s gradebook for drama and musical theatre, one can expect to find objective grading categories like blocking, line memo-

rization, vocal articulation and modulation, as well as the subjective category of energy. “I use two major resources when grading: a rubric and my experience. The first guides me objectively and allows for an even playing field as far as the requirements for the assignments,”

Saigeon said. “The second is my experience both as a performer and a

teacher. I can empathize with the challenges that face an actor when preparing to perform because I have been there.” According to Saigeon, though assigning point values to students’ art can be difficult, it allows them to gain perspective on what they are presenting and why they earned the score they did. “Points are necessary to provide feedback to students, but those points are not the only important marker in a VAPA class,” Saigeon said. “Self reflection is very important, too.” According to Saigeon, the ‘spark’ of a performer typically comes through dedication to the material. “I think in performing arts as well as fine arts, committing to the details of a piece is where its strength is found,” Saigeon said. “A performer’s absolute commitment is much

more engaging than a lack thereof.” While Steiner also recognizes the importance of commitment and confidence to elevate a performer’s artistry, according to Steiner, this can be difficult for high school students to master. “They struggle with anything outside the peer group. Individuality is scary,” Steiner said. “Once they get over the fear, they turn into very good dancers.” Ultimately, the

work and grading criteria in VAPA courses are unique from teacher to teacher, and class to class. Though the simplicity of right and wrong isn’t there for teachers to lean on, it allows them to factor in another category that traditional subject teachers aren’t as lucky to find a place for: growth. If a student scores a forty percent on their first math exam, and by the end of the semester is up to scoring an average of sixty five percent, though they may be the most improved in the class, the gradebook won’t reflect that. The gradebook will show a failing score in both circumstances. But in art, whether it be guitar, photography, art, dance, or drama, trial and error as well as failure and frustration are necessary to finally find success. In short, excellence in the arts requires work different than that expected of a student in a typical academic class. And a gradebook that doesn’t reflect that in a VAPA class simply doesn’t reflect art. “Some people have an affinity for certain things, but just because someone is given a gift, that [usually] only gets [them] to good,” Saigeon said. “Those who become great do so through a lot of work.”

MAY 20, 2019 · EYEOFTHETIGERNEWS.COM ·

@EOTARTS

PAGE 10

ALUM DANCING FEAT FEET FETE Alumni and students alike are shining their shoes to celebrate 30 years of dance on Roseville High School’s campus. Featuring choreography from Patti Baker, the 2019 spring show adds a twist to the traditional performance.

FILE PHOTO EYE OF THE TIGER

MEGAN HUBER EYE OF THE TIGER

Left, alummi rehearse for Feat, Feet, Fete with choreography from current and former dance teachers. Right, previous performances from dance stuents who have graduated and are participating in the show. BY LIZZIE PELZMAN

l.pelzman@eyeofthetigernews.com

This year marks the 30th one of RHS’ dance shows, and in recognition the dance program will be bring back alumni to dance with the new generation of students in their spring production of Dancin’ Feat, Feet, Fete. The show is set to take place next week, and in preparation the dance alumni have returned to their old campus every Wednesday since the start of May, combining their moving and tapping talents

with those of the current students to put together one last show. But it’s not just the students who are taking one last spin on the RHS dance floor. Dance teacher alumna Patti Baker returning to Roseville - known to the current students as the teacher whose name lies on the “Patti Baker Theater.” Baker is donating her time to the school once again as she choreographs the alumni numbers and, with the help of current dance teachers Dawn Kenniston and Pilar Steiner, is crafting the dances for the cur-

rent students as well. While Baker is back at RHS, she has the chance to catch up with some of her former students in the same setting they worked together many years before. For Baker, seeing her former students in the dance room again and reuniting if only briefly has been a special experience. “It’s just so wonderful to be back and see so many of my former students. Some of them I haven’t seen in over 20 years,” Baker said.

“Some of them I’ve seen off and on, and some of them continue to dance with me in musicals. So it’s just been like this giant reunion of about 60 of them. It’s just been fantastic.” And though all of the alumni have performed at RHS, for some this reunion is their first chance to put together a performance in the Patti Baker Theater, which was not available to them during their time in high school. “I am excited to see [the alumni] on stage because many of them didn’t dance in this theater,” Baker said.

“This theater was built after they graduated.” The current students have the chance to work with some RHS dance veterans as well as develop connections with each other. Senior Lexi Walter will perform in her very first dance show with her old sister, Ericka Austin - who is from the class of 2005. Walker is grateful that, for her first time in RHS’ dance production, she gets to take the stage in the same show as her sister. “I’m really excited to have my sister in the dance

show with me,” Walter said. “It’s something I’ve wanted to do for a long time. And the fact that [Ericka] gets to be in it, and I’m in it for the very first time is really cool.” Austin appreciates the unexpected twist that allows her to return to RHS and work with her sister in doing so. ”I am so excited to be in the dance show with my sister. [We aren’t] in the same dances, but we will be in the same show,” Austin said. “I didn’t think it would happen but it is, so it’s very exciting.”

VAPA Night honors the arts

The annual VAPA Night put RHS’ VAPA students in the spotlight. Featuring artists ranging from ceramics to band and an award ceremony for VAPA chords, the evening allowed for VAPA students to shine.

JORDAN DEL VALLE TONOIAN EYE OF THE TIGER

(Clockwise, left to right) A student’s photo gallery in the Admin Building hallway, including an introduction from the artist. First year drama teacher Jennifer Dithridge-Saigeon hugs Angelina Villamil after presenting her VAPA chord. Band performs a student composed piece based upon the video game, Skyrim. A senior recieves a chord from The National Society of High School Scholars. Senior Kylie Granno poses with an art piece on display at her art gallery.

EYEOFTHETIGERNEWS.COM · 20 DE MAYO DE 2019

PÁGINA 11

ESPAÑOL NOTICIAS

ersación, y fue simplemente maravilloso. Y creo que sus hijos se sorprendieron un poco. Puede que no parezca bilingüe, pero lo soy y eso demuestra que puedes aprender cualquier cosa. que situaciones

Dr. Richter ser nueva Roseville High School principal

POR DANIELLE BENNETT d.bennett@eyeofthetigernews.com

RJUHSD ha escogido a Dr.Nicholas Richter como el nuevo principal de Roseville High School, para oficialmente empezar en el posición el primero de Julio. Para empezar a conocer RHS, durante la semana pasada Richter ha tomada sus primeros pasos alrededor de la escuela para conocer a los administradores, personal de oficina, coordinadores departamentos, y padres en el reunión del Club de Padres. Su pasado experencia en educación incluye trabajando como principal en Williams Jr./Sr. High School, asistente principal en Woodland, Yuba City, y las escuelas de River City, y un profesor de matemáticas en Yuba City. Tambien habla dos idiomas, puede comunicarse en español. Richter, en su pasado tiempo trabajando como principal, se enfocó en programas que ofrecen crédito escolar a estudiantes en la escuela secundario. En Williams Jr./Sr. Distrito de Escuela Secundaria, Richter superviso a la escuela mientras cambio de una escuela comprehensiva a una escuela secundaria y universidad temprano - o una escuela que incluye classes de inscripción doble en el currículo. La semana pasado, durante dos entrevistas, Richter comparto sus experiencias pasadas y sus metas para Roseville High School para el futuro. Debajo hay un trascripción de esas dos entrevistas. ¿Qué te atrajo inicialmente para tener un interés en Roseville? Bueno, el Distrito Escolar Secundario Conjunto de Roseville es un gran dis-

CAM MEDRANO EYE OF THE TIGER

Nuevo principal Nicholas Richter habla por primera vez con la communidad de RHS. Richter comenzará el primero de julio.

trito para trabajar. Tienes una gran comunidad. Es un barrio muy estable. Tienes muchas escuelas de alto rendimiento. Cuanto más miraba en Roseville High School, más se ajustaba a muchas de las cosas que sentía que podía traer. Yo era un gran defensor de AVID. Soy bilingüe, así que sé que hay una población aquí a la que definitivamente podríamos llegar. Además, cuando miras la historia, estar en una escuela que tiene una larga historia es algo que he experimentado a lo largo de mi carrera. Y disfruto esa historia porque puedes aprovecharla. Y realmente puede ayudar a los estudiantes a relacionarse con el lugar en el que hemos estado haciendo las cosas. Y luego puedes empezar a enfocar eso hacia el futuro.

importante es hacer cosas como esta, donde puedo conocer a los estudiantes que lo están haciendo. Me gusta caminar por el campus y estar en las aulas. Espero que no asusten a los maestros, pero estaré dentro y fuera de las aulas todo el tiempo, dándome la mano y presentándome. Observar a los estudiantes hacer lo que hacen: deportes, teatro, producciones de danza. Ya me han invitado a una producción de danza. Así que ese es el tipo de cosas en que los estudiantes se convierten en su propia gente. Así es como te conectas con la gente.

cha. Tengo muchas ganas de entender cómo funciona eso. Construimos sobre las cosas que funcionan bien. Y tratamos de fortalecer las cosas que no están haciendo tan bien para nosotros.

¿Qué esperas hacer para poder conectarte con los estudiantes y construir esa relación en tu primer año aquí? Lo más importante es salir a su encuentro. Lo más

¿Qué enfoque espera tomar su primer año aquí? Lo primero que creo que hay que hacer es aprender, comprender y conocer realmente a Roseville High School, a la comunidad escolar y a los estudiantes, y ver esas cosas de las que estamos muy orgullosos y ver las áreas que queremos seguir mejorar. Hay tantas cosas maravillosas en mar-

Sé que eres bilingüe en español. ¿Cuándo aprendiste español inicialmente? ¿Eres hablante nativo? No soy un hablante nativo. Comencé a tomar clases en la escuela secundaria. Y conocí a una joven [Veronica] con quien terminé casándome. Hemos estado casados por lo que serán 20 años la próxima semana. Y para sus padres y sus abuelos, el único idioma que hablaban era el español. Entonces, aunque comencé a tomar clases en la escuela secundaria, tenía una motivación personal para seguir aprendiendo. Así que en realidad terminé obteniendo una especialización en español cuando estaba en la universidad. Y luego, como profesor en California, he trabajado con muchos estudiantes de ESL o ELD.

parálisis cerebral y autismo, lo que puede dificultarle a él moverse tan fluidamente como sus compañeros. Sin embargo, Barnes y Rudgers juegan al fútbol juntos, a través de una organización llamada TOPSoccer, también conocida como The Outreach Program, que tiene como objetivo brindar la oportunidad a cualquier persona que tenga una discapacidad mental o física para aprender y practicar habilidades, pero también les permite disfrutar. jugando al fútbol. El programa establece temporadas para jugar, cada una de las cuales tiene 5 sesiones que permiten la oportunidad de jugar en un juego completo o individualmente con un amigo. La madre de Rudgers, Elisa Rudgers, siente que jugar fútbol ha mejorado más que las habilidades de Ryder. También ha tenido un impacto positivo en su salud emocional, también. “Tendría ... derrumbes, lloraría, no querría

participar, o simplemente querría estar en un gran balón de fútbol y rodar boca abajo. Y él tampoco podía correr,” dijo Elisa. “Ahora está corriendo ... puede golpear la pelota con la cabeza.” Puede correr desde el punto A hasta el punto B. Puede concentrarse el tiempo suficiente para hacer lo que necesitan hacer.” Barnes está agradecido por el tiempo que pasa con Ryder y la determinación que muestra su amigo cuando juegan juntos. “Él siempre quiere aprender cosas nuevas y siempre está mejorando su juego en cada sesión en la que entramos. Pasó de tener problemas para correr y caminar, ahora está corriendo al máximo y realmente está disfrutando del deporte y disfrutando el tiempo aquí,” dijo Barnes. Ryder siente que la paciencia de Barnes ha sido una bendición durante el tiempo que ambos muchachos pasan dominando el deporte.

“Kyle tiene una increíble cantidad de paciencia. Podría venir de su crianza. Puede ser porque nos conocemos tan bien. Podría ser por observar ... otras personas a su alrededor. Él tiene esa habilidad. Y es muy difícil de encontrar,” dijo Rudgers. Además de la paciencia, Rudgers cree que hay algo especial en Barnes. “Kyle es un humano extraordinario y por extraordinario quiero decir ... siempre hace un poco de extra.” Solo prestó atención un poco más de lo que lo haría cualquier otra persona y se da cuenta de cosas que otras personas podrían no notar. Ha sido una inspiración para mi hijo. Es bueno tener un modelo de rol positivo e inspirador con el que trabajar de manera regular.” Como aquellos que han tenido la oportunidad de servir a los demás, se dice que el que da es el que verdaderamente recibe. Barnes reconoce que pasar tiempo con Ryder y

Y en mi trabajo actual, somos 94% de la comunidad latina. Y así, básicamente, todas nuestras reuniones de padres se llevan a cabo en español, todas nuestras cartas y boletines informativos que se envían a los padres están en ambos idiomas. [En RHS] Hice que un padre viniera esta noche a la reunión esta noche. Ella dijo que realmente quería saber si yo era realmente bilingüe. Entonces ella me hizo algunas preguntas en español. Ella dijo que pasé. En RHS tenemos una gran cantidad de estudiantes para quienes el inglés no es su primer idioma y sus padres no hablan inglés en casa. Hay mucha gente que habla español. ¿Anticipa situaciones aquí donde podrá hacer lo mismo que hizo en Williams? Absolutamente, y uno acaba de suceder [en la reunión del Club de Padres] cuando me presenté con los padres y ella comenzó a hablarme en español y empezamos a tener una conv-

¿Cuándo encuentra que es lo más útil poder comunicarse con alguien en su idioma nativo? Cualquier situación en la que la conversación cara a cara sea importante, porque cuando se puede hablar directamente con alguien directamente en lugar de hacerlo a través de un traductor, la comunicación es mucho más personal. Y creo que realmente va un largo camino, especialmente cuando tienes situaciones en las que pueden estar tensas y es bueno poder comunicarte directamente con alguien para que realmente se sienta como si lo estuvieras escuchando. Y creo que eso es muy importante para gran parte de nuestra comunidad: que te asegures de que todos se sientan escuchados. Así que durante los últimos días, ha pasado más tiempo con nosotros en RHS. Me preguntaba si podría decirme cómo ha sido pasar un par de días en nuestro campus y qué ha podido aprender sobre RHS. Estoy más y más emocionado cuanto más conozco a la gente, y más aprendo sobre la escuela secundaria, y lo que diré es que me siento muy bien recibido. Siento que solo la gente se acerca y es muy, muy acogedora. Las personas que he conocido hasta ahora han estado tan dedicadas a Roseville y los estudiantes. Y eso me ha impresionado y me siento muy abrumado. Tengo muchas ganas de trabajar con más miembros del personal y no puedo esperar a tener la oportunidad de conocer a los estudiantes. Todavía no he tenido la oportunidad de caminar por el campus y presentarme a los estudiantes. Eso va a ser muy divertido cuando eso suceda.

REPORTAJES Barnes pasa el arte del fútbol a un niño con discapacidad POR MEGAN HUBER

m.huber@eyeofthetigernews.com

Según a la Federación Nacional de Asociaciones Estatales de Escuelas Secundarias, “El entrenamiento efectivo es más profundo que las victorias y las pérdidas. También incluye llegar a los atletas a nivel individual.” El estudiante de último año Kyle Barnes ha aprendido cuán cierta es esta afirmación durante su tiempo como entrenador de su amigo y amigo cercano de la familia, Ryder Rudgers, en el arte del fútbol. Esta oportunidad de entrenamiento requiere que Barnes se encuentre con Rudgers en su nivel de desarrollo, pero también ha creado una amistad duradera que alimenta el éxito de Rudgers como jugador de fútbol. Rudgers tiene

CORTESÍA KYLE BARNES

Aunque la mayoría de los estudiantes atletas se apegan a los deportes en el campus, el estudiante de último año Kyle Barnes ha sido capaz de fomentar su pasión por el fútbol y al mismo tiempo ayudar a los discapacitados.

ayudarlo es una recompensa continua. “Solo para ver el disfrute de él estando

ahí afuera y disfrutando el deporte y muchos otros. “Siempre me trae de vuelta,” dijo Barnes.

PAGE 12

SPORTS

@EOTSPORTS · EYEOFTHETIGERNEWS.COM · MAY 20, 2019

What you take away, collegiate athletics In the last issue, junior Bella Ayala explored the mental and physical costs on athletes and their families pursuing an athletic scholarship. In this article, Ayala will share the impact playing collegiate sports has had on former athletes with ties to Roseville High School. BY BELLA AYALA

b.ayala@eyeofthetigernews.com

The road to achieving the goal of playing sports at the collegiate level is different for every athlete. Likewise, their experiences and what they take away from having played at the next level vary as well. Below, six former college athletes with direct connections to Roseville High School share their experiences. Finding a career: Erin Granucci In high school, RHS teacher Erin Granucci was a four sport athlete and was offered positions to play soccer and volleyball in college. Because of financial reasons Granucci decided to play soccer at American River JC. At the same time Granucci had a job and was trying to save money so she could transfer and play at another college. During her ARC career, Granucci was a captain, leading scorer and received All Conference honors. After ARC Granucci transferred to Sonoma State University because the women’s soccer team had just won the DII Women’s Soccer National Championship and some of her former teammates went there. Her junior year, Granucci sustained a knee injury and decided to redshirt. The next two years the SSU women’s soccer team would place in the top four in the nation. For Granucci, soccer helped her figure out what she wanted to do with her life after it was all said and done. “Playing college soccer helped me decide my major,” Granucci said. “I was intrigued about how the body works at optimum and my soccer experience drove my desire and interest to understand the human body which in turn, helped with my training.” Granucci is now continuing to do what she loves and believes she is living the dream. “College soccer led to my passion for coaching soccer and my teaching career. I started as a PE teacher and moved into my passion of human physiology and sports medicine, and I am now teaching PLTW

Biomedical Science,” Granucci said. “This is my dream.” Chasing dreams: Kolton M iller After graduating from RHS, Kolton Miller played football at UCLA on an athletic scholarship. His freshman year, Miller redshirted and his redshirt freshman and sophomore seasons saw some playing time but suffered an injury sophomore year that p u t him out

MILLER the rest of the season. Redshirt junior year Miller started in all 13 games as left tackle and was named second-team All-Pac-12 Conference. In 2018 Miller declared for the NFL Draft and was selected in the 1st round, 15th overall, by the Oakland Raiders. Miller is currently the starting left tackle for the Raiders. Miller is grateful that he was able to play at UCLA and recognizes it would have been a lot more of a challenge to get to where he is today without that opportunity. “If I didn’t get a scholarship to play football at UCLA I would have gone the junior college route and it would have been a lot toughe r , ” Miller said. “ I

don’t know if I would’ve gone first round in the NFL Draft had I not gone to UCLA. It would have been way more difficult.” Building character: Shannon Granno After graduating high school Shannon Granno, mother of junior Alyssa Granno and senior Kylie Granno, decided to walk away from her soccer career and went to San Diego. Soon after, Granno realized how much she loved the game and moved to Chico as she was determined to walk on and make the team the next year. And that she did. Granno believes being a college athlete played a big role in building her character and setting the foundation for who she is today. “Being a female athlete and gaining those qualities of confidence, self esteem, and belief in myself through athletics has helped me be successful in whatever I try,” Granno said. Granno thinks that playing soccer in college and being an athlete has helped her strive to be happy and successful in life. “It helped me figure out what my passion was because I wanted to do something that I love and I think having that face of being an athlete and playing at one of the highest levels, helped me to not just settle for the average life,” Granno said. Creating academic pathways: Dahlton Blaser After graduating from Roseville High School in 2012, Dalton Blaser was drafted by the Oakland Athletics late in the 39th round, but instead of signing onto a professional career, Blaser decided he wanted to continue his education and attended Sierra College where he could play baseball and pursue an education. In his two years at Sierra, Blaser had a .332 batting average and as a sophomore was named 1st Team All Conference, Co-MVP of the Big-8 Conference, 1st Team All State, and was an AllAmerican. After Sierra, Balser transferred to California State University Fullerton to continue playing baseball, this time at the Division I level. At CSUF Blaser had a .308 batting average. In 2016, Blaser was drafted by the New York Yankees in the 8th round and played with the organiza-

BLASER

COURTESY SHANNON GRANNO

RHS parent Shannon Granno played soccer at Chico State. Granno is grateful that it gave her more confidence in herself.

tion for three years. Blaser understood that there would be life after baseball, so academics were a priority to him and helped put his family and him in a good financial situation. “Getting an academic scholarship saved me lot of money, helped my parents out, and allowed me start life after college with no debt which is huge now a days,” Blaser said.

fied the foundation by which I was able to springboard into my post graduation professional and personal life,” Fisher said. Learning Granucci

leadership:

Greg

In high school Greg Granucci was a three year varsity starter and captain on the basketball team. After high school Granucci decided to attend Sacramento State UniPreparing for the real world: versity and continue his basketball Mike Fisher career. Granucci redshirted his freshman year and after two years Mike Fisher, father of seat the university transferred to Sonior Jessie Fisher, attended Cal noma State University. Poly SLO after graduating from At Sonoma State Granucci high school, and played football. fought and competed and by his Fisher was senior year the team’s he was a quarterstarter and a back from captain for 1993-95 the team. and holds Granucci is the record very proud at Cal Poly of this acfor the complishmost career ment, and passing this role yards with has ben7,494. In efitted both 1995 alone, him and his F i s h e r players he’s passed coached. for 2,660 “Being a - Roseville High School Teacher starter and yards. Greg Granucci a Fisher is captain grateful for my senior experience year of colbecause it lege, I reshowed him how tough it is to be ally earned that, and that definitely a college athlete and helped him helped me become a good leader build close relationships. and coach and help the guys I’ve “It gave me an appreciation coached,” Granucci said. for the hard work, dedication and Granucci is grateful for all of teamwork necessary to perform at the life skills playing basketball in the highest level under pressure,” college taught him and believes Fisher said. “I also developed it truly helped him become the friendships that are some of my coach and person he is today. most cherished today.” “Playing basketball in college Fisher believes that playing taught me so many life lessons,” football at Cal Poly was the key in Granucci said. “It taught me orpreparing him for the real world. ganizational skills, commitment, “My entire college experience, unselfishness, hardwork and it including not only football, but helped mold me into who I am toalso my civil engineering program day and helped me become a betand fraternity involvement, soliditer basketball coach.”

It taught me organizational skills, commitment, unselfishness, hardwork and it helped mold me into who I am to day.”

MAY 20, 2019 · EYEOFTHETIGERNEWS.COM ·

@EOTSPORTS

PAGE 13

Tigers dominate the CVC BY COBY ESTRADA

c.estrada@eyeofthetigernews.com

This year the Capital Valley Conference experienced a loss of five schools, establishing an entirely new league for Roseville High School. This new CVC consists of seven schools, instead of previous years’ eight. Upon beginning to play in this entirely new league, RHS sports has now finished the 2019-2020 season with four league titles - boys basketball, girls soccer, boys tennis, and boys volleyball. In the winter, the boys basketball

The Tigers then fell to the Rocklin Thunder in the second round of playoffs despite having the higher seed. Although the season was over for the Tigers, the team was awarded many nominations to first team all league juniors outside hitter Mitchell Lawrence, setter Sam Angell, libero Parker

playoffs. Roseville had three players this year named MVP in the Capital Valley Conference. When an MVP is picked all the coaches from the respective sports will meet and decide who deserves to be league MVP. Senior boys basketball player Jaylen Solich was named MVP after dominating his senior season. Solich started at point guard his junior and senior year and led the team in assists. For girls soccer senior Mackenzie Gill was named MVP after playing four years of varsity soccer. In her senior year she lead the team in goals with 21 on the season. The third MVP Roseville had this year was Miles Judd. Judd led his team in blocks and kills with 35 blocks and 81 kills. Judd will attend Sierra College next year where they do not have a volleyball team, but has hopes to play club in college. Not only was Roseville home for 4 CVC league MVP’s, but it also had a number of all conference players. In the fall, a total of eighteen athletes were all conference, in the winter twenty, and in the spring, thirty-one, for a total of 69 all conference athletes at Roseville Additionally, several record were broken in 201819, starting with senior Shannon Young breaking the all time water polo goals record of 209. Young scored 210 goals to break the record.

BY THE NUMBERS THIS YEAR, ROSEVILLE HAS HAD

3 4 3 0

all league MVPs

CVC league championships BY BELLA AYALA

b.ayala@eyeofthetigernews.com

records broken

last place league finishes

Donovan Jones has broken the long jump record multiple times this year. The initial time Jones broke the record, the record stood at 6’6 ¼; Jones has now reset the record at 6’6 ½. But this year Jones has broken his record two more times this year and currently stands at a steady 6’8. Jones is the number one jumper in the section. Jones wasn’t the only one who broke a track record this year. Senior Analexis Glaude broke the 400 meter track record. Glaude set the record at 58.6 by beating the old record by less than a second. Glaude was also a part of the 4x4 team record that was broken this year. The team consisted of CC Ber-

nardy, Madison Sandle, Analexis Glaude, and Alexa Camacho, who is now replaced by Teolin McNairy. Roseville will also have several graduating athletes competing at the collegiate level next year. For soccer, this list includes Kylie Granno, Austin Wehner, Ashlyn Hernandez, and Sidney Atchinson. Jones will continue his track career, while Sadie Langlet will play college softball. Alyssa Espley is committed to play volleyball, Colton Lieburn for football, and Shannon Young for water polo. These are few among many Roseville High school athletes continuing their careers collegiately.

True, and senior middle MilesJudd. Boys tennis also won league team finfor the ished league 10-2, f i r st and split the t i m e league title t h i s with Inderkum y e a r High School. i n After not win- o v e r MACKENZIE ning a league three deGILL pennant in over c a d e s. 20 years, the This year the team was Tigers took advantage of taken over by new coaches the league adjustment. Michael Cerecedes and Girls soccer came out Terry Lacey. The tennis of the CVC without a loss, team was lead this year by ending the Cerecedes twins, both league with a 9-0-3 record who went undefeated this before losing in the first season and carried that unround of playoffs. defeated record throughout Although boys soccer and girls basketball were unable to win league, they both continued onto Division II playoffs as well, thus having all winter sports compete in playoffs. In the spring sports season there were two more league championships won by Roseville - boys volleyball and boys tennis. The boys volleyball team won the league championship for the fifth year in a row. Despite have multiple different coaches in these past five years, volleyball tends to be Roseville’s winningest sport in recent years. The team ended their league season with a 11-1 COURTESY @RHSTIGERSINFO league record, earning Above, the boys golf team following their league title win. This year, four Roseville high school sports teams came in first in the CVC. them the number four seed These teams included boys basketball and girls soccer in the winter, and boys tennis and boys volleyball in the spring. in the division one playoffs.

Jaylen Solich’s rise to league MVP BY JAMES WADMAN

j.wadman@eyeofthetigernews.com

This year, senior Jaylen Solich was awarded CVC league MVP for his contributions to Roseville’s basketball team over the winter. But, his success his senior year did not come easily. Solich began his first year of basketball in eighth grade when he tried out for the eighth grade basketball team at Cooley Middle School. At the time, Solich had never played basketball and his skills were just developing, causing him to earn very limited court time. Despite most becoming discouraged by not playing often, Solich took it as an opportunity to get better. “Since I didn’t start due to the fact I never played before, it made me really upset,” Solich said. “So after the season I started to

work on my skills so that by freshman year I would be a starter.” Solich decided to go to Roseville High School. After putting in a lot of work over the summer he not only made the freshman team, but he was in fact a starter and met his personal goal. Coming into his sophomore year, Solich played for an AAU team, the EBA Pharaohs, where he got to play with players who were more experienced than him, causing him again to work harder to get better. While on the Pharaohs, Solich played in Portland, Oregon and at showcase events for more college exposure to pursue his collegiate dream. Solich continued to develop during his JV season, being the leading scorer for their team while averaging 11 points a game. He helped to lead his team to a 24-3 record and a league

championship. Having watched Solich all four years of high school, teammate Tyler Edwards recognizes the incredible dedication to the sport. “He breathes basketball,” Edwards said. “When he’s not on the court playing, he’s watching it, it is always on his mind 24/7.” Solich’s senior year he helped to lead the Tigers to the playoffs going 20-9. Solich finished off strong his senior year where he averaged 17 points a game, 4.5 rebounds, 4.6 assists, and 2.4 steals. “Jaylen’s expectations are so high when he does bad it’s noticable, but if me or Bernie [Graves - senior teammate] did bad it would be as noticeable and that just shows how great of a player he is,” Edwards said. Growing up and playing against other talented people made

Athletic PE limits academic opportunities for athletes

Solich work hard to get better. At the end of his senior year Solich reached league MVP. “Obviously everyone wants to have that MVP award and it would be a blessing to be as skilled as he is and he works insanely hard and totally deserves it,” Edwards said. After his season was over Solich went to play in the Optimist Games at Sac High. The Optimist games is where best players from the Sacramento area get together for an all star game. It was Northern Sacramento vs Southern Sacramento. In the Optimist game, Solich dropped nine points in the final quarter and his team won the game. Solich plans on going

to Folsom Lake college to continue his basketball career after graduating high school.

JAYLEN SOLICH

Growing up, young athletes are taught that family and school come before athletics, but as they continue to grow, this mentality somehow shifts and athletics are put above all. We are starting to see this shift being further propelled by schools. Our school offers a course called Athletic PE which allows athletes to practice during school hours, instead of practicing exclusively after school. Currently, only the softball, baseball, and football team take part in this class. Because this class augments or is in place of practice, varsity athletes are essentially forced to take this class in order to be at practice and on the team. For players who are pulled up to varsity their freshman year, this class will take up four class spots, along with the two regular PE classes they have to take. Some student athletes could be sacrificing up to six non-academic classes, when they could be using these classes to take other academic, elective, or AP classes. Because athletes playing football, baseball or softball have to sacrifice so many classes for Athletic PE, it makes it almost impossible to be valedictorian, because it limits the amount of AP classes they take. High school is supposed to be a time where students find themselves, and if a student is supposed to take up classes for their sport, how are they able to explore different interests outside of athletics? If only about 2 percent of all high school athletes will play a sport in college, then schools should be focused on preparing the other 98 percent of athletes for life outside of athletics, and Athletic PE does just the opposite of this. If athletes are trying to play a sport at a high academic university, Athletic PE does not look good on their transcripts. I am currently going through the recruiting process for softball and I am talking to schools with high academic standards. I have had conversations with coaches recruiting me and they have told me that taking Athletic PE every year weakens my schedule. Because of this I have to load up on all academic classes next year, my senior year, and I cannot take electives that I actually want to take such as Journalism and PLTW. There is so much more to life than high school sports, and athletes should not have to waste classes that could help them find themselves and prepare them for their future on Athletic PE. All in all, Athletic PE at Roseville hinders academic excellence.

SPORTS

@EOTSPORTS · EYEOFTHETIGERNEWS.COM · MAY 20, 2019

PAGE 14

EYE OF THE TIGER’S

TOP 10 SPRING ATHLETES 1 2 3 4 5 List compiled by Eye of the Tiger sports staff.

DONOVAN JONES

LANDON WALLACE

ANALEXIS GLAUDE

MALAYA JOHNSON

MILES JUDD

Clenching the number one spot in the top ten athletes of the spring season is senior high jumper Donovan Jones. This season Jones surpassed his own school record that he broke last year at a height of 6’8” at the Stanford Invitational. With this height, Jones is ranked first in the San-Joaquin section and 12th in the state. Teammate and high jump captain Adrian Perez believes that Jones is a role model for the rest of the team. “He set the standards high because he broke a school record a few times and he just showed you can achieve your goals if you really work for it,” Perez said. “It’s really inspiring” Fellow high jumper, junior Jaheem Seay, believes that Jones helped him improve because of their friendly competition to get better. “If I didn’t have [Donovan] to compete with me I wouldn’t have the push to jump as well as I do,” Seay said.

Coming in at number two on the Roseville High School top ten athletes for the spring season is junior Landon Wallace. The catcher and designated hitter for the varsity baseball team recently commited to play Division I baseball at the University of Nevada, Reno. Wallace transferred this season from Whitney high school, and boosted the Tigers’ offense. He led the Tigers in almost every hitting stat this season, hitting a .452 with 33 hits, 2 homeruns, and 14 RBIs. Wallace has been a key contributor for the Tigers this season which led him to be awarded offensive player of the year for the Tigers. Teammate Brandon Renstrom recognizes the hard work Wallace puts in and is glad he was recognized for it. “Landon worked super hard this season, and was always putting in extra work to help him get better,” Renstrom said. “These awards are perfect fit for what Landon deserves.”

Taking the number three spot for the the top athletes of the spring season is Analexis Glaude, a senior and four-year track athlete. Glaude runs in the 4x400 relay, 4x100 relay, and the open 400 race. Not only did she break the Roseville 400 record with a time of 58.13 seconds at the CVC preliminary finals, but Glaude - along with 3 other sprinters- broke the 4x400 relay record at the CVC finals with a time of 3:59.02 seconds. This year, Glaude was also selected for the Capital Valley Conference team for girls track, along with three other RHS runners. Teammate sophomore Cierra Bernardy looks up to Glaude and hopes to be as successful by her senior year. “She has been my role model since freshman year she’s always the person that I strive to be,” Bernardy said. “She represents a good track runner because she has a strong work ethic.”

At number four on this year’s spring sports top ten athletes is freshman Malaya Johnson. Johnson is one of the starting pitchers for the varsity softball team this spring season. She led the team with a 0.94 ERA (Earned Run Average). The freshman standout pitched 96.1 innings and allowed only 13 earned runs. Johnson finished 13-4 on the season with a total of 95 strikeouts while allowing only one HR. Teammate Sophia Ayala believes a lot of their wins come from great help Johnson and her pitching. “[Malaya]brings a lot to our team. She is a great teammate and her pitching has been outstanding this year,” Ayala said. “She’s helped to get us where we are now.” Johnson is also strong on the offensive side, batting .452 with 38 hits, 31 RBIs, and one homerun. “Malaya is a great two-way player,” Ayala said. “It is crazy how she is doing this much damage as it’s only her freshman season.”

At number five on this year’s spring sports top ten athletes is senior Miles Judd. Judd is a two year varsity volleyball player at Roseville, playing the middle position. He led the team in kills with 99, as well as leading the team in kill percentage at 53.4 percent. Sophomore teammate Thomas Plakett believes that Miles is a huge part of their team and will be a significant loss next year. “[Miles] brings a lot to our team,” Plaskett said. “He is a great teammate and bring lots of energy to our team. He is huge and has a big block.” Judd also led the team in blocks with 45, being a huge part of the team’s success defensively this year. Judd led the team to the second round of playoffs where they lost to Rocklin, despite Judd leading the match in blocks and kills. “We’re going to miss him a lot next season. He’s our middle and jumps crazy high,” Plaskett said. “It’s going to be really hard to replace him.”

-Natalie Russell

-Brayden Dotoli

-Natalie Russell

-Brayden Dotoli

-Coby Estrada

MITCH LAWRENCE

MAX CERECEDES

ARTURO ZAVALA

COOPER CERECEDES

HALLIE PAPINI

Coming in at the number six spot for the top ten spring athletes is two year varsity volleyball outside hitter junior Mitch Lawrence. This year the varsity volleyball team won league and made it to the second round of the Sac Joaquin Section Division II playoffs. Lawrence played a big role in the teams success with 81 kills and an 18.6 hitting percentage. His efforts helped lead the tigers to a CVC title. Varsity volleyball coach Cole Williams believes that Lawrence’s success this season can be attributed to his high volleyball IQ. “Mitch is a very smart hitter,” Williams said. “He is always looking for the open spot or looking for the hole in the other teams block.” According to Williams, along with being a great player, Lawrence is also a great teammate and leader on the team. “Mitch is a very unselfish athlete. He is in it for the team and not just himself,” Williams said. “He is a great leader on and off the court.”

Coming in at number seven on this year’s spring sports top ten athletes is Roseville High School tennis player Max Cerecedes. Cerecedes had an outstanding varsity season this year, going 18-0 throughout the entire season. Not only did the senior have a dominating season, but he also helped lead his team to a league win and a high seed in playoffs. Teammate Christian Park believes Cerecedes is a strong tennis player and deserves the recognition of his skills that helped the team be successful this season. “Max is an incredible tennis player and definitely deserves the recognition that he’s given,” Park said. “He works really hard at practice and on his own.” Max has played tennis for a total of four years at RHS and has been able to grow and expand his skills. “He started off as a good player but as the years progressed his work ethic helped him improve to be great,” Park said.

Sitting at the number eight spot on the top ten spring athletes is golfer Arturo Zavala. From his freshman year to his current junior year, Zavala has dominated in the CVC. With his best 9 hole round as a 35 and averaging a 38, including an 18 hole round averaging an 78, Zavala made his way to the Masters tournament this season. The Masters Tournament took place last Monday and, although Zavala did not qualify for the Norcal Tournament, he was able to shoot an 83 in the 18 hole Masters round. Senior and varsity solf captain Bradley Morin believes all of Zavala’s hard work made it no surprise that he qualified for masters. “He golfs everyday,” Morin said. “He works harder than anybody else and he deserves it.” Morin recognizes the skill Zavala has, and is excited to see his growth. “Arturo’s a really strong golfer, so it’ll be really interesting to see how he’ll do next year,” Morin said.

At number nine on this years spring sports top ten athletes is varsity tennis player Cooper Cerecedes. Cerecedes had an outstanding senior season going undefeated in league at 18-0. His winning mentality helped the team succeed this season with a 11-1 league record and league title. Senior Mathew Lacy strongly believes that Cooper deserves a spot on the top ten having an amazing 2019 season. “I think Cooper deserves to be on the top ten list because he’s undefeated, and he was also undefeated in playoffs, so he had great season,” Lacy said. Lacy also believes that Cooper is a great example for the team and has a strong work ethic that helped the team be successful this latest season. “He’s always the first one on the courts and always practicing setting a good example for the team,” Lacy said. “That’s why are team did so well.”

Coming in at ten for the top ten athletes of the spring is swimmer Hallie Papini. Papini has been a varsity swimmer for RHS for all four years. Papini qualified for the Sac Joaquin Sections, competing in 200 medley relay, 200 free relay, 400 free relay, and 100 breastroke - all four events she swims. At sections, each event set a personal record for the relay. The senior was also all league in two relays and the breastroke in the CVC. Coach Paul Stewart recognizes all her outstanding work she puts in. ”Hallie is an incredible swimmer and leader,” Stewart said. “She works hard both inside the pool and out.” Though she dominates in her events, Stewart notices it’s all due to the dedication she has to the sport. “She makes the events she swims look easy,” Stewart said. “But I know it’s because she has put in all the hard work over the years.”

-Bella Ayala

-Hunter Hatch

-Kinsey Okelberry

-Hunter Hatch

-Kinsey Okelberry