March 2015

Students create “A Titan is” blog

Staffers work on selfimprovement

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THEORACLE Henry M. Gunn High School

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Monday, March 16, 2015 Volume 52, Issue 6

780 Arastradero Road, Palo Alto, CA 94306

Students voice proposals to increase mental health aid Grace Ding Reporter

This school year, Principal Dr. Denise Herrmann has been working with students who wish to bring positive change on campus. Specifically, she is helping the Student Wellness Committee implement three proposals, including anonymous referral boxes, the Youth Empowerment Seminar (YES!) program and a mental awareness campaign. “In response to some of the mental health needs, some students have approached me about wanting to have more input on things we can do to reduce stress and improve overall wellness,” Herrmann said.

The Student Wellness Committee was formed in Nov. 2014 by four students— sophomore Chloe Sorenson, juniors Sarah Reich and Cole McFaul and senior Rose Weinmann—whose goals are to involve more students in decision-making processes and help students by making largescale and small-scale changes around

campus. “After Cam died this year, Ori Herschmann who was a class president in 2010 to 2011 came to talk to [the Student Executive Council] (SEC) about things we can do to help the community, and

he was what gave me the extra push to do something,” Sorenson said. “I talked to a few other kids and we came up with three solid proposals, and we brought them to Dr. Herrmann, and she got the ball rolling for us.”

One of these three proposals is the referral boxes that are in the guidance office and the SAC that allow students to anonymously refer a friend to see a counselor. Many students appreciate this proposal for its emphasis on anonymity. “I think it’s a really great idea to keep things completely anonymous and accessible for students without having to worry about the stigma of getting your friend help,” senior diversity commissioner Danny Golovinsky said.

The committee’s second goal is to introduce the YES! program at Gunn. This program will teach techniques for stress management and reduction through four to five weeks in freshman Physical Education classes. According to Sorenson, the SEC has done a pilot of it, approved it unanimously and is aiming for the program to begin next year.

Finally, the committee is in the beginning stages of launching a mental MENTAL HEALTH—p.2

Andrew Shen

If you or someone you know is suffering from a National Anxiety Disorder Hotline: 1-(888)-269-4389 mental disorder, you can reach out to these sources for help: 24 Hour Nationwide Crisis Hotline: 1-(800)-273-8255

Debate teams qualify to state tourney Lawrence Chen News Editor

Two Gunn debate teams qualified for the California High School Speech Association (CHSSA) State Tournament. This tournament will be held at Vista Murrieta High School from April 17 through 19. Gunn took two of the eight available spots for policy debate.

This is the second year in a row in which Gunn has qualified students to the state tournament.

The two policy debate teams—juniors Kush Dubey and Ajay Raj and sophomores Andrew Shen and Matthew Hamilton—won their spots at the Coast

Forensic League (CFL) Parliamentary State Qualifiers at Westmont High School on March 7 and 8.

Each team competed against individual teams from Bellarmine College Preparatory, Leland High School and Archbishop Mitty High School. Both of Gunn’s partnerships qualified for the elimination round with three wins and two losses, and beat teams from Archbishop Mitty and Leland in the final round.

Raj believes this achievement is especially important to Gunn as the team lacks a coach as well as many of the resources competing schools have. “We don’t have a coach or debate teacher of any sort like every DEBATE—p.4

Gunn hosts first on-site hackathon Emma Chiao Reporter

The first ever Gunn-hosted hackathon, run by the United Computations club, was held on March 14 to 15.

The event brought together about 150 students from over 30 schools to code and create projects such as apps, websites or hardware. “Hackathons are a great place to get started with programming and meet cool people who are willing to help you learn,” sophomore Kartik Chandra said.

Hackathons were started back in 1999 and were mainly used by companies to encourage employees to work. Only recently have they also become student-focused. Student participants in the hackathon were placed in a room for 24 hours starting at 2 p.m. on Saturday. During that time they worked in teams to program, code or design a project

of their choice. At the end of the hackathon, there were judges who award the best team project.

Many Gunn hackers were looking forward to this event.

Freshman Kevin Frans, who has been attending hackathons for two years, shared his excitement. “It [was] a good experience with a bunch of smart minds from all around the area making products to inspire others to hack,” he said.

The organizers of this event were unsure of how it was going to turn out as this was the first hackathon at Gunn. Chandra along with the three other coordinators junior Justin Yang, junior Jonathan Zhang and sophomore Nicholas Littau had been making preparations since November. According to Chandra, organizing a hackathon was no easy task. Booking a venue, finding sponsors and spreading the word were all part of what HACKATHON—p.2

Sports teams close out seasons with strong records in CCS—p. 17

Wrestling and boys’ basketball photos courtesy of Butch Garcia.

Girls’ and boys’ soccer photos by Alexandra Ting.

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News

THEORACLE

International Week

SNAPSHOTS

“I liked the activities at lunch; the taiko drums were really cool.

I think that International Week is a time when a lot of people realize that other cultures don’t live up to their stereotypes.”

—Eric Her, 9

“It’s cool to see the amazing diversity we have at Gunn, especially since it can be h a rd t o re co g n i z e i t d ay to day. International week gives us a chance to see how diverse [students] really are.”

—Emma Bers, 11

“I love different cultures’ foods. I love it and I think it’s a great opportunity for the staff to get together and see the parents of our students that we see every single day.

It’s nice to have a face to face contact with parents more often.”

—Chemistry teacher Elana Zizmor

“The food was excellent and it was nice to see parents and students volunteering and taking good care of us.”

—Social Studies Teacher Ariane Tuomy —Compiled by Lena Ye

Staff Appreciation Lunar Lunch

Gunn hosts hackathon Bell schedule, homework policy discussed HACKATHON—p.1

needed to be done. “We [did] this with a lot of help from [Computer Science teacher Josh] Paley,” he said.

Paley had been overseeing the process, but gives most of the credit to the student organizers. “From my point of view the best clubs and programs are student run,” he said.

“They really [drove] this.”

In Paley’s eyes, computer programming is an important skill.

“Computing is an unbelievably creative process,” he said. “It’s a very intense thing. It’s about making something that could potentially impact the world.”

Frans also stressed how the hackathon could positively affect Gunn students. “The whole goal of having a hackathon [was] to see what the potential of Gunn students are,” he said.

Senior Rachel Wu was glad that Gunn hackathon was able to give high schoolers a chance to program. “It was a great opportunity to bring this kind of event to Gunn

students,” she said.

According to Chandra, the aim of the hackathon was to create a space for high schoolers to build the programming culture while interacting and sharing ideas. It gave many students the chance to make their ideas a reality. “For a lot of high schoolers, they don’t necessarily have 24 hours [to focus on hacking],” he said. “But if you go to a hackathon, that’s sort of what you’re meant to do. It’s a good way to do projects that you otherwise wouldn’t have the motivation to do.”

The aim of the hackathon was to create a space for high schoolers to be part of the programming culture while interacting and sharing ideas.

It gave many students the chance to make their ideas a reality. “For a lot of high schoolers, they don’t necessarily have 24 hours,” Chandra said. “But if you go to a hackathon, that’s sort of what you’re meant to do. It’s a good way to do projects that you otherwise wouldn’t have the motivation to do.”

Aayush Dubey Tech Editor

The administration and the Palo Alto Board of Education are working on new proposals for students in response to the recent tragedies.

According to Principal Dr. Denise Herrmann, the administration hopes to accomplish both short-term and long-term goals. One of the main focuses is helping students learn more academically while still maintaining a healthy lifestyle for themselves.

One of these proposals includes aligning to the board’s homework policy, something that Superintendent Dr. Ma x McGee hopes w il l balance a student’s level homework, tests and projects. McGee thinks that making teachers’ homework assignments more in-line with the board’s homework policy will promote student wellness in a way that helps a student’s future success. “Many nights, students stay up late to do their homework; we want to reduce that to just a few occasional nights,” McGee said. “The idea is to help students maintain a healthy worklife balance. A positive and productive balance empowers students to achieve the fullest intellectual, creative, and social potential.”

The board is also considering implementing a new bell schedule and expects to receive schedule suggestions in May from the Creative Bell Schedule Committee. One proposal for a new schedule involves extending class periods and

allowing more time for teachers to create engaging activities for students. “The board is willing to hear proposals for [a] new bell schedule, even if the current schedule may not change much,” McGee said. “There may be some options that would really enhance teaching and learning and hopefully reduce student stress.”

Herrmann believes that focusing on wellness and health is essential for students to develop inner strength. “A simple lecture on suicide [for example] won’t be very effective,” Herrmann said. “I deeply see wellness and socioemotional learning eventually being woven into our school community. I hope students gain the skills to live a balanced life.”

Accord i ng to sen ior Rose Wei n ma n n, a significant problem with currently available services is that they are not well known among the community. “We have to try find ways to get these resources more known at Gunn,” Weinmann said. “There are good things out there, so connecting Gunn kids with those resources is crucial.”

McGee hopes that these services and proposals will allow students, parents and teachers to be more vigilant to signs of depression for students.

“Being vigilant to the needs and health of others and educating our community are critically important aspects of suicide prevention,” McGee said. “We should address student problems and mental health as a community issue, instead of just a school problem.”

Students, staff outline proposals MENTAL HEALTH—p.1

health awareness campaign for the school and community. “This hasn’t exactly been visible yet but we are hoping to launch an awareness campaign that highlights causes, symptoms and resources for different mental illnesses, as well as raise awareness for overall student wellness,” Sorenson said.

Some students outside of the student wellness committee are also presenting proposals to school administrators. Golovinsky proposed mandatory ACS check-ins with every student either once or twice per year at a school board meeting open forum. Golovinsky is working closely with administrators to expand ACS facilities so that counselors will be capable to meet with all students. “It

would help students because a lot of students are looking for an outlet and that outlet isn’t necessarily being given to them or they’re not always aware that they need someone to talk to,” he said. “So this would really benefit all students because they would get the opportunity to get the help they need during school from these ACS counselors.”

Through these proposals, students are increasingly involved in decisions affecting themselves, something Herrmann encourages.

“My goal as a principal is to try and maximize the opportunities where students have choice and voice,” she said. “We all feel better about our learning when we feel in control and we all feel more part of a group when we’re involved with the decision-making.”

News THEORACLE 780 Arastradero Rd Palo Alto, CA 94306 (650) 354-8238 www.gunnoracle.com

Editorial Board Editor-in-Chief Danielle Yacobson Managing Editors Pooja Belur Klaire Tan News Lawrence Chen Kush Dubey Forum Shawna Chen Esther Kozakevich Kathleen Xue Features Lisa Hao Yuki Klotz-Burwell Ryeri Lim Centerfold Emily Kvitko Naina Murthy Sports Matthew Hamilton Hayley Krolik Arjun Sahdev Lifestyle Sam Acker Noa Livneh Justin Wenig Photo Anthony Tran Graphics Dave Zhu

Staff Business/Circulation Matt Niksa

Monday, March 16, 2015

Admin plans construction of wellness center Grace Ding Reporter

To address mental health improvement, the administration has provided a revised plan to construct a wellness center, which is currently awaiting complete approval and set to begin construction in June 2016.

The proposed wellness center will be located on the second floor of a new building to replace the Student Activities Center (SAC). The first floor of the building will include classrooms such as computer labs and production spaces, as well as large group meeting areas. The second floor will include the nurse’s office, guidance of-

Oracle/TBN Liaison Isaac Wang

fices and Adolescent Counseling Services (ACS), and will provide additional services such as yoga and nutrition classes. “The new building in the center of the campus is sort of like the life building in a college campus,” Principal Dr. Denise Herrmann said. “What’s great about the wellness center is it’s a one-stop shop for many of the students’ needs.”

At a school board meeting on Dec. 9, Herrmann presented a revised design for the ongoing Central Building Project, which was presented last school year. “I pointed out that if our school were to be able to deliver a comprehensive service for social, emotional and physical wellbeing, we had to do redesign work,” Herrmann

said. “So the revision we presented to the board is a plan that is very well aligned with the goals set forth by the students, parents and staff.”

Herrmann also believes that another benefit of having these services consolidated in one building is that students will be able to enter and exit without judgement from others. “If you want students not to feel bad about going to ACS, it needs to be in a place where you just go anyhow,” Herrmann said.

The revised plan returned to the school board on Jan. 13 and was subsequently approved. All buildings are set to stay where they are for the rest of the year, and construction on campus is only anticipated to start in the next school year.

YCS, Free the Children clubs attend We Day Jenna Marvet Reporter

On Feb. 25, Gunn’s Youth Community Service (YCS)-Interact Club took part in We Day, a conference recognizing their exceptional community service achievements.

YCS Palo Alto Youth Programs Director Ashley Yee-Mazawa works closely mentoring the students in the YCS-Interact clubs at Gunn and Paly. “I hope that the students that attended We Day came away with the knowledge that they are not alone in their passion and commitment to making their local and global communities a healthier, kinder, happier, and brighter place for everyone,” she said.

We Day is a large stadium concert event that started in 2007 in Toronto, Canada. The California show this year featured performers including Cher Loyd and Joe Jonas as well as speakers such as J.R. Martinez and Kid President. “The speakers were chosen to inspire us and I’m really excited for our We Day attendees to bring their energy back to Gunn,” senior YCS co-president Sandie Luo said.

The goal of We Day is to bring youth together and educate and inspire them to make the world a better place. YCS echoes this sentiment and pushes to integrate the importance of building community locally and outside of Gunn and Palo Alto. “Gunn students are very diverse,

and I am happy to know that YCS brings us all together to work towards common goals when we are doing community service,” Luo said.

YCS programs in the area encourage youth to engage in service learning that develops awareness of the needs of their community.

“Both YCS the organization and the YCSInteract Club are deeply committed to bettering our communities,” Yee-Mazawa said. “I say communities plural because each of us is a member of multiple communities, both on the local and global levels.”

To receive tickets to the event, clubs were required to participate in both local and international community service projects in the past year. Gunn YCS contributes to Interact District 5170’s community project, Open Heart Open Arms, which focuses on pushing kids to strive for success in both academics and as individuals. “We want to empower youth through food, education and fellowship, and have the same impact as a big brother and big sister program,” Luo said. “We want to connect with the kids on a deeper level.”

For their international project, YCS has partnered with Free the Children to fund a village in Kenya which suffers from drought and famine. The club members pay for the project using the proceeds they make organizing the spring YCS dance. “We are not sponsoring a specific element of life in the village, but try-

ing to make a large impact on the village as a whole,” junior YCS board member Giannina Yu said.

Although YCS participates in many local community service outings and fundraisers such as volunteering at the Juana Run, doing environmental work in the Arastradero Preserve and organizing their yearly Service Day, sometimes it is hard for members to see the full effect of the work.

“I hope that the members that went to We Day got super excited about what We are doing,” Yu said, “Some people go to meetings every week but do not recognize the large positive impact of YCS and other clubs on our communities.”

Courtesy of Lindsay Maggioncalda

Students hold up their phones in the San Jose SAP center as lights to represent students’ commitment to community service.

INBOX

Copy Elinor Aspegren Prachi Kale Graphics Artists Anton Oyung Elizabeth Zu

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The Oracle strongly encourages and prints signed Letters to the Editor and Comments. Comments are generally shorter responses, while Letters are longer pieces of writing.

Please include your name, grade and contact information should you choose to write one.

Letters and Comments may be edited to meet space requirements and the writer is solely responsible for the accuracy of the content.

Letters to the Editor and Comments and ideas for coverage may be sent to oraclegunn@gmail.com or posted on our Facebook page.

These letters need not be from current students.

Photographers Lisa Cheong Josh Spain Alexandra Ting

Centerfold looked really cool. The little photos inside the bigger photo was a really cool representation of their stories.

—Vivien Zhang, 12

I would like to see more polls, surveys and input from the student body in future Oracle issues.

—Nicole Nemychenkov, 9

Reporters Stina Chang, Sabrina Chen, Michael Chen, Anyi Cheng, Emma Chiao, Grace Ding, Lucy Fan, Deiana Hristov, Shagun Khare, Jenna Marvet, Helen Nguyen, Ariel Pan, Katie Russell, Tim Sun, Janet Wang, Erica Watkins, Shannon Yang, Lena Ye, Barrett Zhang

I liked the piece about society’s beauty expectations and how they affect individuals.

—Carmel Baharav, 9

I want to see more stories about underclassmen.

—Larry Li, 11

Tech Aayush Dubey Adviser Kristy Blackburn

February 6, 2015 I liked reading the articles on rape culture in Forum and Gunn students’ battles with cancer .

—Katherine Tang, 12 I thought this issue was good. There were a lot of interesting and insightful articles.

—Kiley Lin, 12

I thought the graphics were very interesting and appealing this month. Also, I thought the layout was very organized and easy to read.

—Christine Luo, 10

The Oracle is very informative with the right mix of both entertaining and important articles.

—Irene Jeong, 12

I like the Q and A formatted articles because they were short and easy to read.

—SunHa Park, 10 I would like to see more personal Titan profiles. Those are really interesting especially because they’re people that go to our school.

—Tiffany Yang, 11

The Oracle is a 2014 NSPA Pacemaker Award finalist.

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News

THEORACLE

CA senators propose vaccine bill Team prepares for state Anyi Cheng

Angeles, California. It is one of the worst outbreaks since measles was declared eliminated in 2000 and has spread to children across several different states Following the measles outbreak of early 2015, with 113 confirmed cases in California alone. The California Senators Richard Pan and Ben Allen CDC reports that the majority of those affected were proposed a bill on Feb. 4 aiming to tighten the state’s not vaccinated. vaccination requirements. According to a bill passed In California, applying for vaccination exemption in 2012, California’s law allows exemption from vac- requires parents to talk with their child’s doctor, cination for medical, religious and personal belief write an affidavit requesting an exemption, fill out reasons. The new legislation proposes an elimination an application form and submit to their child’s of this policy. It mandates the vaccination of all school a record of which vaccinations the child children except those with has already received. specific medical issues However, an unvacand will require schools “While a small number of children cannot cinated child may be to publish a record of how from atbe vaccinated due to an underlying prevented many students are vaccitending class during medical condition, we believe there an outbreak of a disnated.

“As a pediatrician, I’ve should be no such thing as a philosophical ease for which they been worried about the not vaccinated. or personal belief exemption, since areThose anti-vaccination trend for who oppose a long time,” Pan said in everyone uses public spaces.” the bill and endorse a written statement. “We the personal exemp— California senators Dianne Feinstein and tion belief do so for need to take steps to keep Barbara Boxer wrote in a public letter a variety of reasons. our schools safe and our students healthy.”

Many parents who The bill has mainly received a positive response refuse to vaccinate their children believe that aufrom other Californian senators and representatives. tism and vaccination are linked although there “A parent’s decision to ignore science and medical are no credible studies have been published on the facts puts other children at risk. We as a state can’t subject. Others believe that injecting several viruses condone that,” Assemblywoman Lorena Gonzalez and harmful bacteria into an infant’s potential frail said. immune system can easily lead to dangerous side efAccording to the Center for Disease Control fects. Still others are adamant that vaccines contain and Prevention (CDC) website, the current measles harmful ingredients such as mercury or aluminum. epidemic can be traced back to Disneyland in Los Reporter

DEBATE—p.2

other school in our league does, so all of the work put into each debate round comes from us students,” he said. “It’s incredibly gratifying to know that we are just as capable of arguing and researching as well as other schools despite lacking all of the resources they have.”

According to Shen, the policy debate topic is that the United States federal government should substantially increase its non-military development and/or exploration of the Earth’s oceans.

Raj has high hopes for the state tournament, in which Gunn will compete against schools from both inside and outside of the CFL. “Throughout this month the team will put in more work than we’ve ever before to prepare for states,” he said. “We really want to do well at this tournament for both ourselves and our school.”

Courtesy of Ajay Raj

From left to right: Sophomores Andrew Shen and Matthew Hamilton and juniors Kush Dubey and Ajay Raj hold their trophies at Westmont High School after qualifying for the state tournament.

District to evaluate Gunn hosts annual blood drive course consistency

tain the community’s blood supply, but also to raise awareness for the importance of donating blood.

“Obviously there is a need for blood donations in the Student Executive Council (SEC) recently orga- community, so one of the purposes of the drives is nized the annual Blood Drive at Gunn. The drive, definitely to collect blood to supply area hospitals,” which takes place during school hours, aims to Wilkes said. “But it’s also about raising awareness collect blood donations for community hospitals about the need for blood donations. Part of doing and raise awareness on the importance of donating drives at high schools is about trying to raise awareblood. ness in the younger demographic, and instilling that According to Stanford Blood Center’s Volunteer awareness in young people is going to help develop Services Manager Shaguna Wilkes, this year’s drive lifelong donors.” was a success. “We were expecting around 90 donors Before students could participate, certain and we got very close to that number,” Wilkes said. procedures were required, including preliminary T his yea r’s work to verify drive marks whether a pera slight dip in son’s blood was donor particiviable for donapation in comtion. According parison to last to senior Adi year’s. AccordSteinhart, who ing to Wilkes, helped orgalast year’s pronize the event, jected donor students signed attendance was up to donate a lso approx iblood, and then mately 90, but were excused the actual attenfrom class to go dance exceeded make the dot hat nu mb er. nation. “Once This year’s parstudents signed ticipation fell up for a time just short of that slot, they gave mark. Howevus some inforer, this is also mation about the first year in Lisa Cheong t h i n g s l i k e w h i c h d o n a - (From left to right): Junior Sarah Reich, senior Adi Stein- t he i r we i g ht tions were made hart and senior Jefferey Lee man the donor sign-up and what parts in coaches, or stand for Stanford Blood Center’s blood drive at Gunn. of t he world specialized t he y ’ve b e en blood donation vehicles, instead of the gymnasium to recently,” Steinhart said. “If they haven’t done or library. “This was our first time doing donations anything that would disqualify them from being a inside the coaches instead of inside the school,” Wil- donor and meet certain prerequisites such as having kes said. “That can sometimes limit participation, the right amount of platelets, then they get to donate because we simply can’t have as many beds inside the blood.” coaches as we could if we did it in the gym.”

Once the donation was made, students had to The blood drives organized by the Stanford Blood wait inside the canteen for 15 minutes, where they Center are crucial to maintaining the community’s were carefully watched for any adverse effects of the available supply of blood. According to Wilkes, donation and were given food and fluids to help rethe Stanford Blood Center supplies all of the local cover. According to Steinhart, the event ran without hospitals, including the Stanford Hospital and the any problems. “The event went really well this year,” Veteran’s hospital, with life-saving blood. However, Steinhart said. “A lot of students were nervous about the purpose of the blood drives is not solely to main- giving blood but all were happy that they [donated].”

Michael Chen Reporter

Shannon Yang Reporter

Due to dissatisfaction expressed by Palo Alto Unified School District (PAUSD) students and parents in meetings and Strategic Plan surveys, PAUSD hired a firm to research two issues: course consistency in core classes and the direction of the district’s foreign language programs.

According to superintendent Ma x McGee, PAUSD is retaining a contract with Ha nover Re s e a rch Group signed by Associate Superintendent of Student Services Dr. Charles Young in November 2014. “We commissioned Hanover Research to do an objec t ive st udy, to gat her quantitative and qualitative data and from that, develop a series of findings and ideally even [compile] recommendations for what we can do to have more consistency,” McGee said.

The research project includes analysis of existing data as well as the collection of more data. “[Hanover is] conducting parent, teacher and student surveys,” McGee said. “They’re analyzing existing documents and they’ll conduct some sma l l focus groups.”

According to t he Gunn We s t e r n A s s o c i a t i o n o f Schools and Colleges (WASC) survey, 28.4 percent of students disagree that grading is fair across teachers and courses. Similarly, 32.9 per-

cent of students disagree that teacher quality and difficulty is consistent. McGee believes both of these are areas where the district can improve.

Another issue Hanover is looking into is the quality of the world language programs throughout the district. The Spanish and Mandarin immersion and the five world la ng uages of fered by Pa ly and Gunn specifically will be assessed.

The world language department is using proficiency-based guidelines set by the American Council of Teachers of Foreign Language and the College Board. “We evaluate students based on their ability to communicate based on the three modes of communication: interpretive, interpersona l and presentationa l,” world language department I n s t r uc t ion a l Sup e r v i s or Anne Jensen said.

Jensen noted that a placement exam ensures that immersion students a re wel l incorporated. “We have a very extensive placement process,” she said. “We have them come and do a written and oral test so we can see where they best fit into our program.”

The department uses second language acquisition theory to continue an immersion-style experience in the classroom. “[One important practice] is immersing students in the target language as much as possible,” Jensen said.

“The more opportunities kids have to speak, the better.”

Forum

Monday, March 16, 2015

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‘Fifty Shades of Grey’ perpetuates domestic abuse Deiana Hristov In the United States, two to four million women are abused by their partners every year. One in three women is attacked by her husband or boyfriend in her lifetime. In women ages 15 to 44, attacks by a male partner are the number one cause of injury. With these kind of numbers, it seems like we should be trying our hardest to combat this issue. Instead, we’re perpetuating it.

“50 Shades of Grey” is one of the all-time top-selling books, having sold its 100 millionth copy last February.

The book describes the lives of Anastasia Steele and Christian Grey as they engage in a Bondage and Discipline, Domination and Submission, Sadism and Masochism (BDSM) relationship.

BDSM consists of a Dominant who asserts control over a Submissive and usually involves bondage and objects such as whips and blindfolds, among others. Most people who buy it are so engrossed by the sex scenes that they fail to see it for what it really is: 380 pages glorifying domestic abuse and unhealthy relationships. With the movie in theatres, it is time for us to decide: will we support this glorification of abuse or will we see it for what it really is?

According to Lundy Bancroft’s “Why Does He Do That?”, a book explaining the motives of abusive men, an abusive man views the woman as an object to possess and control. He sees her as inferior to him and is always trying to place her in a position of weakness.

In “50 Shades,” Christian is extremely possessive of Ana, stalks her and gets moody when she talks to other men, even if the man in question is just one of Ana’s friends. Christian also berates her for going out and getting drunk with her friends, and says that if “you were mine, you wouldn’t be able to sit down for a week after that stunt you pulled yesterday.” At this point, he hasn’t introduced Ana to BDSM and thus is just straight-up threatening her with violence.

Bancroft also says that an abusive man “tends to switch frequently to manipulating his partner to get what he wants.” In “50 Shades,” Christian is constantly keeping Ana on her toes by redefining their relationship: one minute he’s claiming that all he wants from her is a BDSM partnership, the next he is passionately kissing her and asking, “What are you doing to me?” This leaves Ana, who really wants to make it work with Christian romantically, floundering and confused.

“50 Shades” skews people’s perception of what BDSM is really all about. BDSM has to always be consensual and safe, and results in the pleasure of both parties. Although everything in “50 Shades” is technically consensual as Ana asks Christian to show her what BDSM is, Ana does not recognize enough about the true nature of BDSM to refute Christian’s oppressive behaviors. Furthermore, the relationship that she and Christian are in is mostly about his wants and desires. In the contract put forth by Christian for

‘Fresh Off the Boat’ is a realistic perspective Shawna Chen

When I first heard about ABC’s new show “Fresh Off the Boat,” the first Asian-American sitcom in 20 years, I cringed.

The history of Asian representation on film and television had not given me much to hope for. In the past, Asian characters had been caricatures, used to propel jokes and racist stereotypes.

One of the most notable examples of this is the character Mr. I.Y. Yunioshi of “Breakfast at Tiffany’s,” a Japanese character played by a Caucasian Mickey Rooney wearing prosthetics and makeup, whose only purpose in the film is to induce laughter at his “peculiar” traditions and perverse behavior. Asian culture was laughed at for its ridiculousness, Asian characters were the butts of ethnic jokes, and I had grown so used to turning from the screen whenever such scenes occurred that I was apprehensive of the idea of an Asian-central show.

However, “Fresh Off the Boat” is different, and this differentiation has emphasized the significance of true diversity. The show’s strength lies in the fact that its main characters, a Chinese family of two immigrant parents, three sons and one grandma relocating to a mainly-white Florida neighborhood in the 1990s, are not portrayed as caricatures but as real-life people with reallife struggles. The show does not shy away from social commentary, either; Eddie Huang, the oldest son and main character, just wants to fit in at his new school. One of the more heartbreaking scenes occurs when he is forced to eat his lunch outside the cafeteria after his classmates exile him for bringing to the table

Ana, it says that “the Dominant may use the Submissive’s body at any time during the Allotted Times or any agreed additional times in any manner he deems fit, sexually or otherwise.” The submissive in “50 Shades” also has many abnormal restrictions, such as not being able to eat certain foods or wear certain clothes, while the dominant is free to do whatever he wants. This kind of agreement is not an accurate representation of BDSM; it is a controlling, unhealthy relationship.

The problem with “50 Shades” is that it leads the 100 million people who have read the book to believe that Christian’s behavior is acceptable, and even romantic, while it is actually extremely damaging. This is why I personally won’t watch the movie: I refuse to give money to anything glorifying domestic abuse or unhealthy relationships as this will just encourage the industry to produce more movies like this. While there is no way to reverse the impact that “50 Shades” has had, the only way to prevent something glorifying abuse and unhealthy relationships from infiltrating into our culture is to educate ourselves on what an abusive relationship actually is. By reading books describing abuse and listening to the stories of abused men and women, it will be easier to identify unhealthy relationships for what they are and spread awareness before they have had a chance to change people’s perceptions of abuse. The media can also play a key role in this by using their influence to spread awareness.

Most of all, it is important for us to question the status quo, to point out things that are unacceptable and to not be afraid to stand up for what is right.

“worms” t hat a re Pho to actually Ant s from o IMD nO Chinese nooy un B.co g m dles. This feeling of exclusion is universal; you don’t have to be Asian to be able to relate to Eddie’s sentiments. Further, the focus in this scene is not placed on the “worms” but rather on the culture clash. Instead of making jokes about the family’s customs, “Fresh Off the Boat” finds humor in realistically depicting the Huangs’ efforts to adapt to their new environment.

Nonetheless, a great amount of backlash arose when ABC first unveiled its new comedy, and surprisingly, a lot of the backlash came from other ethnic communities. The biggest problem people found was the name of the show. Many argued that the title itself was racist or derogatory to immigrants, but the truth of the matter is that “fresh off the boat” is insulting only if used in a condescending context. When stated as a fact without a negative connotation, as it is in the show, it merely refers to reality: immigrants are in all facets of the phrase fresh off the boat, and even immigrants refer to themselves as such.

Additional reactions decried the perpetuation of “harmful” Asian stereotypes, of which the most prominent is the Chinese accent of Jessica, Eddie’s mom’s. However, what many do not understand is that the accent is a part of the family. If the same premise of the show was applied to a British-American family, no one would protest the use of the British accent. The same should go for “Fresh Off the Boat.” Jessica’s Chinese accent isn’t used to make fun of the way Asians talk; it is used to reflect the reality of immigration and of learning to speak a new language. Another chief complaint about Asian stereotypes is the reference to the straight-A attitude of tiger parents. Many claimed that it casted a negative light on Asian parents, but

—Hristov, a freshman, is a reporter. actress Constance Wu, who plays Jessica, made a good point in an interview with “Time.” Viewers expect “Fresh Off the Boat” to represent every Asian-American because Asians are so rarely depicted on-screen. But, Wu pointed out, if one sees Tina Fey on television, one does not immediately think, “All white women are like Tina Fey.” It is because Asians have not been given equal representation that when the first AsianAmerican show in 20 years comes on people expect the family and parents to reflect their own, even when the tiger parent can be seen as unique only to the Huangs.

“Fresh Off the Boat” shows the American dream from an Asian perspective and approaches American culture from the viewpoint of an Asian-American. Above all, though, it is a family comedy. It portrays the struggles, achievements, and relationships of any other family. As my own family and I sat down to watch the first episode, we found ourselves laughing delightedly at Jessica’s complaints about what the Floridian humidity does to her hair and hilariously pointing at our father when Eddie’s dad dreamily discussed how he would make his fortune in Florida. “Fresh Off the Boat” has amplified the call for diversity, and in the face of its success, the Chen family now has a new program to watch together every Tuesday night. Too often, Hollywood depicts only the 10 percent: the white, the thin, the young. It is time for diversity to expand to the 90 percent, and it is my hope that “Fresh Off the Boat” will play the role of the first building block.

—Chen, a junior, is a Forum Editor.

Forum

6

M o v e m e n t s

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Obama’s community college plan lacks foresight

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President Obama’s free community college proposal seems like a silver bullet solution to the intractable problem that is the United States’ higher education system. The plan has a noble intention; it allows citizens to acquire a degree after two free years of community college in order to lift them into the middle class, filling jobs for the future while resulting in upward mobility for an estimated nine million students. However, upon closer examination, it becomes clear that the President would realistically be pushing students into a broken system at the expense of American taxpayers. Over ten years, $60 billion of public funds would be allocated towards a policy that fails to grant unemployed citizens useful degrees in the job market, ignores the true cause of high college attendance costs, and depends on currently failing community colleges to improve the situation of students without proposing any curriculum reform.

Firstly, the claim that two out of three jobs will require a degree by 2020, as mentioned in the President’s January State of the Union Address isn’t corroborated by the President’s own federal department for labor economics and statistics. The Bureau of Labor Statistics reported that the economy will create 50.6 million job openings by 2022 and only 27.1 percent will require college degrees. That’s a projected increase of only 2.1 percent requiring degrees since 1996. The very premise of the proposal—that everyone in the United States should have a college education—isn’t an economically viable one considering that more than two-thirds of jobs in the next seven years may not require a college degree. Layering this expense on American citizens by spending billions of dollars to create universal accessibility to community college does not have a guaranteed return on investment.

Furthermore, two years of higher education only allows students to obtain associate’s degrees, instead of advanced and more useful degrees such as four-year bachelor’s degrees. According to the Census Bureau, pursuing a professional certification, or a bachelor’s degree, often pays substantially higher than an associate’s degree. This is can be augmented by the fact that the U.S. has been experiencing credential inflation in the labor sector for the past decade, in which degrees of lower relative stature become devalued as more and more people get higher degrees. An associate’s degree frankly is not the driving factor in upward mobility, making the President’s plan unhelpful to the bulk of unemployed citizens who seek a middle-class job.

Perhaps the most glaring flaw in bringing the cost of tuition to zero is the fact that tuition is not representative of the majority of college attendance costs. More than half

—Dubey, a junior, is a News Editor.

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Unites States offers. $60 billion can be spent better by pushing them into alternative methods of education where they can get degrees that are actually helpful in acquiring a middle-class job.

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of the cost of community college derives from textbooks, meals, rooming, and many other factors according to a 2012 National Center for Education Statistics report. Increased tuition aid is not solving for the root of the financial reason why potential students are driven out of attending community college.

Lastly, it isn’t sensible to nudge students toward a community college sector that is incapable of repositioning its model around student success. According to the Community College Research Center (CCRC), community colleges today have a 22 percent completion rate and a 25 percent transfer rate. CCRC furthers its analysis by claiming that just 17 percent of all community college enrollees obtain a professional certification within the next six years of transferring. Clearly, community colleges are internally dysfunctional in both motivating students to graduate and in encouraging students to obtain higher, more practical degrees such as bachelor’s degrees. By incentivizing students with full tuition aid, the proposal would singularly funnel students into a system that has not yielded any measurable benefit, only at the cost of taxpayer dollars. With such unprofitable results, taxpayer dollars would be wasted through this community college plan.

There are ways the government can encourage colleges to do better without necessarily making college free and governing them in a top-down fashion. Students need a plan that gives them more f lexibility in the diverse education system t h e

Faces in the Crowd

What is your opinion on Obama’s free community college plan?

“That would be good because some people try really hard and can’t get into college and if community college was free people would be more educated and be able to go to school and support themselves later on.”

Cindy Guo (9)

“I think it’s a good idea because there are less of them, so it’s easier to make them free than a UC or private school. You might as well make something free.”

Alesandro Watkins (10)

“I think it’s a super good idea because not everyone has access to a four-year college. Community college is a good gateway to future opportunities.”

Alex Tang (11)

“I don’t think it’s necessarily a bad thing. But you can see it both ways. It’s good for people who are going to community college, but then it gets people to go to a community college instead of trying to go to a four-year college.”

Fatima Lopez (12) —Compiled by Sam Acker

Forum

Monday, March 16, 2015

Higher

7

E d u c at i o n

BOYCOTT, DIVESTMENT AND SANCTION (BDS) BDS is a campaign shaped by a rights-based approach and highlights the three broad sections of the Palestinian people: the refugees, those under military occupation in the West Bank and Gaza Strip, and Palestinians in Israel.

Boycotts target products and companies (both Israeli and international) that profit from the violation of Palestinian rights, as well as Israeli sporting, cultural and academic institutions.

Divestment means the targeting of corporations complicit in the violation of Palestinian rights.

Sanctions are an essential part of demonstrating disapproval for a country’s actions. By calling for sanctions against Israel, campaigners educate society about violations of international law and seek to end the complicity of other nations in these violations.

BDS has also helped organize Israeli Apartheid Week and has succeeded in forcing hundreds of companies out of Israel.

SOURCE: BDSMovement.net

BDS does not benefit Palestine, hurts Israel D

Esther Kozakevich

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Recently, a movement called Boycott, Divestment and Sanction (BDS) has been circulating on college campuses such as UC Davis and Stanford. BDS is a movement whose mission is to “increase economic and political pressure on Israel to comply with the stated goals of the movement: the end of Israeli occupation and colonization of Palestinian land,” according to their official website. BDS’s main agenda is to boycott Israeli goods and products that are said to be profiting from violating Palestinian rights. This movement feeds off of uninformed and uneducated assumptions about Israeli-Palestinian relations and wrongfully compares the state of affairs in the nation to apartheid South Africa.

D ivestment is by no means a new idea; in the late 80s and early 90s, divestment, which is ceasing investments, was used against the apartheid state of South Africa, and the economic sanctions imposed on the nation ultimately led to the dismantlement of the racist regime. BDS claims to want the same thing; by urging people to divest from Israeli companies such as Ahava Cosmetics and Caterpillar, the BDS movement hopes to use this economic advantage to force Israel to change its supposed unfair treatment of Palestinians. Although divestment was effective in helping end apartheid in South Africa, the idea that it could work for a nation such as Israel is f lawed. South Africa in the 90s was a racially segregated country that treated the black citizens of its country as less than human. Black citizens were not allowed to vote, go to the same schools as white people or have the same jobs as white citizens. Comparing the oppression that black South Africans faced to the supposed oppression that Palestinians face today in Israel delegitimizes the suffering of those who lived and fought for the abolishment of a true apartheid state. Today in Israel, the Arab or Palestinian population represents 20 percent of citizens and 12 percent of representation in government. Palestinians are allowed to work wherever they want, since it is illegal in Israel to discriminate against employees based on race. Palestinians are allowed to attend schools and universities alongside with Jews, and most importantly, unlike the black population of South Africa, they are allowed to practically self govern.

The Palestinian territories elect their own officials and operate under the laws of their own political leaders, Hamas. The plight of blacks in apartheid South Africa cannot be compared to the treatment of Palestinians in Israel, thus the same approach cannot be used for the two nations. Comparing the two is simply ridiculous, and using the same tactics on a democracy such as Israel that were used on a racist nation is unwise.

Additionally, the BDS movement is rife with hypocrisy. If those who supported divestment truly cared about human rights, they would be calling for divestment on nations such as Syria, Rwanda, Russia and Iraq—countries where human rights violations are both more common and severe than in Israel. Instead, BDS supporters are using divestment as a reason to target Israel.

I n conclusion, those interested in supporting Palestinian rights should not do so by supporting the Boycott, Divestment and Sanction movement. Palestinian human rights are being violated, not by Israel, but by the oppressive and terrorist political party known as Hamas who is currently in control of the Palestinian Liberation Organization. Only by thwarting Hamas and liberating the Palestinians from this regime can we start to look for a permanent solution to the Israeli-Palestinian problem. Regressing to anti-Semitic and uninformed actions will only do more harm to the Palestinians in the region who are suffering.

—Kozakevich, a senior, is a Forum Editor.

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Forum

Local Spotlight Libertarian values fit Palo Alto better than liberal ones Kathleen Xue In the 2012 elections, California cast a Democratic ballot, voting in favor of Barack Obama’s reelection. Palo Alto was filled with fliers promoting the Democratic party, with few to no promotions of the Republican party. It is strange, however, given the views of a majority of the people living in Palo Alto, that they identify themselves as liberal.

The values of the majority of citizens in Palo Alto actually match most with Libertarian values, emphasizing little to no government intervention, free market capitalism and the power of the individual more than anything else. Our average family income puts the government taxing policy against us, the benefits of being members of the Democratic party do not apply to our demographic and our values match well with the views of Conservatives.

The average annual household income of California is $61,801. In comparison, the average household income of Palo Alto is nearly double that—$118,774. Many of the members in our city work in large technology businesses such as Apple and Facebook, which allows them to afford the exorbitant houses common in this area. But given that we live in an area of such high prices this also takes a huge toll on our taxes. The “middle class” of Palo Alto still has to pay the same 58.3 percent tax as the middle class of other areas, but this translates to a greater contribution of hard-earned money of Palo Altans than other middle

class citizens, as our salaries are drastically higher. Therefore, we are paying more to our society than we are gaining, as much of the tax goes to the state government which distributes the funds across the different geographic and topical sectors of California.

Many of the values of the Democratic party, such as the Af-

also hindering them with acts such as the ACA. Finally, across the board in companies, especially in those based in the Silicon Valley, there is a common respect for competence—companies are constantly searching for the most talented individuals who can work most efficiently and effectively. Companies have little to no tolerance for Dave Zhu social welfare if the worker does not use his or her resources efficaciously. To foster this, companies often promote friendly competition among their workers to stimulate an environment that produces the most that it can with its supplies. This emphasis on competence is the paramount belief of conservative Libertarians; Democrats, on the other hand, are concerned more with supporting the middle class and lightening their responsibilities and work demand, which is the complete opposite of what many in Palo Alto value.

Palo Alto is a city of constant growth, always findfordable Care Act (ACA) implemented by Obama which calls ing areas to innovate. As a result, we are the forefront of for equal healthcare for all citizens, actually devalues when the present, reforming our society to transition into the future. applied to Palo Alto citizens. Many Palo Altans have high Thus, for the vast majority of our people to believe that they are quality healthcare as it is, which has been earned by their good Democratic given that their actions show the complete opposite, work ethic. Having the government infringe on this privilege means that we have a mistaken view of the Democratic party is offensive to the fact that a large majority of Palo Altans are and a stigma against the Republican party. The only concluself-sufficient individuals who have gotten successful through sion to form from this contradiction is that many people in their own effort. Though the ACA was written with good in- our city should actually be Libertarian. We are looking to the tentions in mind—to support patients with terminal illnesses government for protection when the government really is the and to offer basic healthcare to the impoverished—it also forces instrument that is hindering our full potential; it is time for us the government on the privileged and decreases the quality of to embrace our inner Libertarians. their healthcare for the prices they pay. This means that to Palo Altans, the government is not only not benefitting them, but —Xue, a junior , is a Forum Editor.

Mental stigmatism is prevalent in Palo Alto Katie Russell

As the Palo Alto community has experienced firsthand recently, we have a problem with mental health. We have lost friends, and, in the aftermath, both alumni and current students have come forward to open up about their own struggles with mental health. In some cases, school and stress have been factors, and in some they have not. It is partly for this reason that mental illness is so difficult to understand. Mental illness varies from person to person, and often day to day.

Mental illness is often contrasted with a broken arm. If a friend broke his or her arm, it would be obvious to take him or her to the hospital and seek immediate treatment. It is considered even ludicrous not to. The question then is, why don’t we act in the same way when someone comes forth with a mental illness? While we should treat mental illness with the same urgency and sympathy as we would someone with a broken arm, it is clear why we don’t. A broken arm looks more or less the same whoever it happens to.

It has the same effects and manifests itself in the same way no matter what. We can learn to recognize and treat it, and can then treat every case of it. Mental health just doesn’t work this way. Unfortunately, rather than trying to understand mental health and its intricacies, it is easier for the general public to look at it as something that happens to other people. As more of our friends and acquaintances open up about their experiences with mental health, we can clear up some of the misconceptions about mental illness that are so rampant. For example, one misconception is the understandable belief that people who seem happy or content wouldn’t be dealing with depression or any other kind of mental illness. These misconceptions are not believed maliciously; most of the time it is just that mental illness really is difficult to diagnose. People, especially teenagers, tend to be very good at hiding things they do not want to reveal. Due to these variables and difficulties, people who suffer from mental illnesses are often derided as “attention-seekers” and not taken seriously.

According to the California Healthy Kids Survey from 2013-14, 14 percent of Gunn students, or around 280 people, had seriously considered attempting suicide in the past twelve

months. 22.5 percent of students at Gunn, or 450 people, reported chronic sad or hopeless feelings, and the percentage of students reporting these feelings increased every year from freshman to senior years. Given that these numbers are out of over 1900 students, this is not a tiny minority that is experiencing these issues, and action must be taken to address all those at Gunn who suffer from mental illness of any kind.

The first step to ridding mental health of its stigma is acknowledging our attitudes toward it. According to the Center for Disease Control, 57 percent of all adults believe that people are generally caring and sympathetic towards people with mental illness but only 25 percent of adults with mental ill-

Elizabeth Zu

ness feel the same. Although the Gunn community, and the area in general, considers itself very open-minded and progressive, the truth is that discrimination, even subtle or unconscious, still very much exists against mental illnesses.

Some believe that while mental health is important, it is not Gunn’s place to intervene in mental health issues. However, mental illness is often closely linked to stress, and though stress is not typically the sole cause for mental health issues, it certainly does not help. Increased stress tends to exacerbate the effects of mental illness. Additionally, school is about more than just academics, and can actually help improve understanding of mental health. School can serve as a kind of safe place where counseling is available to all free of charge and with some anonymity. It is very common for kids to feel unprepared or unable to discuss these kinds of issues with their family or even friends, and so being able to provide a safe, secure place is absolutely necessary. School is a place of education. Even for those who do not experience issues with mental health themselves, Gunn can educate kids about mental health and help to combat the stigma. Every student at Gunn should have the opportunity to participate in free and open Question, Persuade and Refer (QPR) and Sources of Strength (SOS) trainings. These training sessions help students both identify and help students at risk of suicide, as well as increase awareness about resources on and off campus.

Gunn already offers some very valuable resources, such as Adolescent Counseling Services (ACS). However, for several reasons, it is not accessible enough; its location inside the Attendance Office is not immediately obvious and many Gunn students are not even aware of its existence or the specific services ACS that provides. Recent actions, such as the “Refer a Friend” box in the Student Activities Center, certainly are helpful, but more should be done to promote ACS, such as being able to make an appointment online.

Gunn has taken steps in the right direction towards combating the stigma of mental illness, but there are still many opportunities for the guidance department to step in. With a community that is better educated about mental health, our future can hold a more positive environment, one in which losing friends is no longer frequent.

—Russell, a junior, is a Reporter.

Monday, March 16, 2015

9

PRO

CON

College decorations should be banned on graduation caps Noa Livneh

The senior class is now divided and no, it’s not about the color of “the dress”. The longstanding tradition of decorating the graduation caps with one’s future college has recently been challenged. On Feb. 18, Principal Dr. Denise Herrmann proposed to the senior class an idea that sparked debate—a proposal to ban decorating graduation caps. Not only does decorating grad caps defeat the purpose of graduation, it makes many students anxious and sends a message to the community saying that all that matters about high school graduation is the college on top of the cap.

Many who are opposed to the ban believe that it won’t help the school itself, but will only show the community that we take orders from those looking in. Herrmann clearly explained in the class meeting that this movement is about the students first, then the community. Not only will it make a huge impact in the community if the entire class comes with blank caps, but it will also be the first, tiny step into making the school a better place. No one is saying that this one step will solve the issue of stress and anxiety, but it can be the initial, symbolic gesture that the Class of 2015 can make to future Gunn students.

There is one main reason that people are so divided on this issue; they don’t understand what graduation is. Graduation is a mixture of both individuality and uniformity. It not only allows students to transition into the next part of life but also unifies students with their entire class. Graduation is a rite of passage. Coined by anthropologist Arnold van Gennep in 1909, this rite of passage has three stages: separation from society, transformation and return to society with a new status. According to Encyclopedia Britannica, the first stage is about withdrawing from one’s current status. A person is likely to stick to a symbol associated with him in a ceremony and be unwilling to transform. Instead of going through the process where the student transforms from a high school student to a college, he is being compromised because the student goes in believing that he’s already gone through said transformation. The next two stages are when he goes through the ceremony and re-enters society with his new status.

By decorating the caps, a student would miss his opportunity to go through the first stage properly and therefore not really get the full effect of transforming from a high school student into a college one.

Students should embrace the fact that they’re leaving high school, and decorating caps only focuses on their next stages in life, not their current celebration.

Decorating the grad cap with a college logo would not be showing individuality and celebration of achievements, it would only ruin the meaning of this rite of passage. Graduation is about individuality as much as it is about uniformity. Many argue that not decorating caps would stifle their individuality. Let’s be blunt here; most students, including the writer of this article, wear approximately the same clothes as everyone else. Gunn has one of the most relaxed dress codes and students are encouraged to express themselves in almost any way they choose every day. This is the only time in four years that the class has been asked to wear the same thing, and for only two hours.

Some say that banning college decorations on caps would prohibit students from showing pride. If the only reason a student will be proud of himself on his high school graduation day is if he proclaims to the world that he’s going to a certain college, then there is something inherently wrong with his sense of pride. No one ever mentioned that the student can’t feel proud during graduation. Graduation is about being proud of accomplishments. Celebrate that winning goal, the conquered exams, the great books read—but it’s not necessary to put decorations on your cap to highlight that pride. Additionally, there is no point in decorating a cap with a college that the student has not even studied at yet. Yes, it is an accomplishment to get accepted, but there are certain students who do get accepted as well and aren’t able to attend for other reasons.

Decorating graduation caps with colleges on them is a tradition that takes away from the sole purpose of graduation while also inducing stress and anxiety in other students. The rite of passage the student is supposed to go through then becomes compromised because the student skips over the first stage of the process: breaking off from society. This crucial stage allows the student to take himself out of his former state and place himself into his new one. Not only will the students who decorate with colleges be hurting themselves, they’ll be hurting others. There are many others students who, for different reasons, aren’t able to attend those particular schools even though they got accepted as well. The best compromise in which neither side loses any value of graduation, unity and individuality is by decorating the cap with a non-college design.

—Livneh, a senior, is a Lifestyle Editor.

Erica Watkins

Graduation day is supposed to be a day of celebration and memories, not a day of debate and controversy. The argument of whether or not seniors should be able to decorate their graduation caps hurts all sides involved.

With that said, it would be inappropriate to prohibit seniors from decorating their graduation caps because it sends a false message to the community, does not teach students how to thrive in the real world and limits our perception of success.

In the senior class meeting held regarding graduation caps, Principal Dr. Herrmann pointed out that blank caps would send a strong message to our community.

This, however, would be ineffective.

While it is understandable why the administration wants to find ways to reduce stress, the school should be making noticeable changes to student life instead of symbolic changes, which will only serve as crowdpleasers. Community members have voiced disagreement with the tradition of decorating caps because they believe it reflects Gunn’s focus on academic success and pressure to go to top colleges. The administration should not be catering to views of the public. If we decide to ban decorations, it would affirm the community’s belief that academic stress is a main cause of Gunn’s problems because it shows that it is the sole problem we are worried about in a time of crisis.

As academics and personal experiences have taught us, disappointment is not a rarity in the real world. We will feel inferior, we will be let down and we may feel cheated at some point. In high school thus far, we have been sheltered. When seniors move on to the next chapter of life, they won’t have people to protect them from disappointment. After college, people will compete for employment, love interests and everything in between. People may be hurt seeing what others are doing with their lives after high school, but impending disappointment should be a learning opportunity instead of a roadblock.

The argument of whether or not students may decorate graduation caps brings up a bigger issue: is it the administration’s job to eliminate stress or teach students how to effectively deal with stress? As stress is a healthy, common part of life, it would do all of our students a greater service to teach us how to deal with it rather than eradicate it. Instead of eliminating caps altogether for fear that it will hurt some students, the administration should be encouraging a conversation about how to deal with rejection in a healthy way. It is important to be taught our limits and how to be okay with things not going our way. It’s important to keep in mind, however, that these grad caps are an important symbol of us moving on from high school. We are all moving on to the real world, and that is an accomplishment that students should be able to show to their community, whatever it is they are doing after high school.

By arguing that the differences in paths portrayed on our caps is a negative reflection of our class implies that different forms of success are shameful. Students should be able to celebrate their hard work regardless of where it takes them. We should not be telling students not to brag about getting into amazing colleges. On the same note, students should be able to brag about going to community college or going on to do things that have nothing to do with academics.

For years, graduation caps have served as a creative outlet to show their students’ pride in various accomplishments. As Gunn has received pressure from the community to create different ideals of success, administration should be embracing a tradition that the majority of students look forward to, and use it as a canvas to show future graduates and community members that students at Gunn succeed in their individual, original styles.

—Watkins, a senior, is a Reporter.

Graphics by Andrew Shen

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Features

THEORACLE

Students organize Battle of the Bands charity fundraiser Stina Chang Reporter

A “Battle of the Bands Competition” will take place at Palo Alto High School’s (Paly) Haymarket theater on Fri. March 27 at 7 p.m. The event is sponsored by the Boys and Girls Club of Palo Alto (BGCPA) as well as the Boys and Girls Club of Redwood City (BGCRC), organizations that offer homework help and arts-based after school programs to children from low-income families.

The BGC first introduced their music and art program several years ago and enlisted Gunn senior Alex Matthys as one of their first drumming instructors. “[The club] is basically their second home,” he said.

According to Matt hys, 50 percent of the kids attending the club struggle to graduate high school, only 25 percent are accepted into two-year college and fewer than 25 percent are accepted into universities. “We try to [support] them and give them a boost which they don’t have at home,” Matthys said.

Because the club focuses on providing inexpensive support and structure, volunteers are very important to the club. “They basically run off of volunteers,” Gunn sophomore Riya Goel said.

Inspired by the club’s mission, Matthys has been a dedi-

cated volunteer since his freshman year. He and Goel are two of twelve organizers of the BGC’s first Battle of the Bands.

The concert will feature live acts by Matthys’ own band Titanium as well

Graphics by Anton Oyung and Dave Zhu

as Paper Islands, Koitus, School of Rock Palo Alto and other local bands. “This event is a great way to listen to good live music, and possibly even see some fellow classmates play,” Paly junior and fellow organizer Reid Walters said.

The battle’s winning band will receive a gift card for Gelb’s Music Store, and audience members ca n submit their entrance tickets to a raff le, which is also sponsored by the BGC. The event’s emcee, Gunn Student Body President senior Aren Raisinghani, will be raff ling off gift cards to Chipotle, Starbucks, and other stores, “ just to make it fun for the audiences,” Matthys said.

In turn, all proceeds from the concert will go toward the club’s music and art program. Attendants have the option of buying a $5 entry ticket or donating art supplies at the door for a $2 discount.

According to Matthys, the BGC’s music program has been popular and positively impactful on children in the Palo Alto communit y. Matt hys hopes that the fundraiser will expose more kids to the arts. “There’s a bunch of kids who want to learn music, but they don’t have the opportunity to, so this Battle of the Bands [will] raise money to expand the music programs,” he said.

Artist of the Month: freshman Arthur Filppu The Oracle: When did you first start singing and how did you get into it?

Arthur Filppu: I’ve been singing a lot since I was a kid but the first time I really started doing it for school shows and getting in choirs and doing voice lessons was in seventh grade.

TO: What is your favorite part about singing?

AF: It really lifts up my mood, and it seems to lift up the mood of people around me.

Even by yourself, it will make you happier.

Then you get to share it with other people, and they like it.

TO: What is your favorite song to sing and why?

AF: My staple, I guess, is “When I Was Your Man” by Bruno Mars. In seventh grade the way I got into singing was through a talent show. I was nervous out of my mind for it since this was before I had ever sung in front of anyone. I chose “When I Was Your Man” and I sang, and everyone loved it. I was so surprised by how many compliments I received and how good it felt to sing up there. That experience really changed me.

I used to play sports a lot and I still did in middle school, but I started to focus a lot more on music. So that song has always kind of been important to me. I know it by heart.

If someone were to come up to me and say, “Sing me a song,” I would sing “When I Was Your Man.” It’s my favorite.

TO: You performed recently at Gunn’s Open Mic and Staff/Choir Musical. What were those experiences like?

AF: They were awesome. I loved the whole experience of the Open Mic. People enjoyed it, and some of my friends were there so it was just a really fun way to start a weekend. The choir show was also fun and I liked doing it because it was part of a play.

TO: What’s your favorite part about acting on stage and what’s the feeling like?

AF: If you really want to do it well, you can’t go on autopilot. You have to really know what you’re saying and connect with the original singer and apply it to something. If you’re singing about a breakup, try to think of something similar that might have happened in your life. I think it’s kind of magical when you’re in the moment and everyone is listening and there are no worries other than just focusing on what you’re doing. I think that’s one of my favorite feelings ever.

TO: How do you think singing has impacted your life and what lessons have you learned from singing?

AF: It has helped me a lot. I think it has helped me the most in confidence. When you get up there and sing in front of a ton of people and they like it, it makes you more confident. Singing has really taught me to just go for things.

It’s also helped me meet a lot of new people and get new opportunities.

TO: What do you believe makes you special as a singer?

AF: I think I’m good at learning things quickly; that’s an important skill. I think I also really have a way of keeping the mood good. I think I really have positive energy when I sing.

TO: Who are your role models as a singer?

AF: I k ind have t hree: Justin Timerblake, Michael Jackson—I really like his performances­— and Bruno Mars; [I like] Bruno Mars probably the most. I sing a lot of his songs, and I really like his music and everything about him.

TO: What’s the most challenging part about singing?

AF: I think a lot of classical and genres other than mainstream pop can be different, and that can be difficult. And making sure that you’re not just singing blankly, but that you’re putting emotion and performance into it, can be difficult sometimes.

TO: What are your future plans regarding singing?

AF: I want to continue choir throughout high school, and I want to possibly do it in college and maybe be in an a capella group or something. If I get more opportunities maybe more.

—Compiled by Tim Sun

Alexandra Ting

Features

Monday, March 16, 2015

11

French teacher receives lifetime achievement award Matthew Hamilton Sports Editor

French teacher Anne Jensen received the Hal Wingard Lifetime Achievement Award from the California Foreign Language Teachers’ Association (CLTA) on March 6. The award is given every year to one foreign language teacher in California who has shown excellence in the classroom and in furthering foreign language from an administrative position.

Jensen has been teaching French at Gunn for 16 years, and she taught for 20 years before that at Westmont High School in Campbell. Jensen has also been the Instructional Supervisor for the World Language department for the past nine years.

Receiving the award surprised Jensen. She did not know that she had been nominated by Spanish teacher Elizabeth Matchett, who organized the nomination and the letter campaign on Jensen’s behalf, so she was shocked upon hearing the news.

She got the call while at a French restaurant with her husband; she initially thought it was bad news, but was pleasantly surprised.

“When I found out that I got the award I was totally stunned because I did not feel like I measured up to the other people who have gotten it, but I guess I got the award because I love language and culture,” Jensen said. “I am really humbled by the whole thing.”

Matchett felt that Jensen was welldeserving of the award and organized the nomination process. Multiple foreign lan-

guage teachers wrote on Jensen’s behalf as well as former students.

“I admire what she does all the time for Gunn, the Palo Alto Unified School District and the American Association of Teachers of French,” Matchett said. “Everything that a foreign language teacher should have done in their career, she has done it. She is continually striving to make our profession better.”

Varun Bhadkamkar, Gunn ‘13, and a current sophomore at Williams College, took three years of classes from Jensen starting with AP French Language and Culture, French Civilization and Culture Honors and an independent study in his senior year during which Jensen was his advisor. Bhadkamkar found Jensen’s teaching helpful in not only the technical aspects of the French language but also the deeper social issues covered in her classes.

“Jensen’s teaching was particularly effective because her background as a native English speaker allowed her to connect with students’ difficulties,” Bhadkamkar said. “She found ways to tie many of her personal experiences into class.”

While teaching French and serving as Instructional Supervisor, Jensen has brought many new ideas to Gunn. Among them are portfolio assessments and allowing students to show what they know instead of what they do not know. One of the things that makes Gunn foreign language unique is the use of portfolio assessment.

Using portfolio assessments, students keep all the work they complete in a portfolio.

Courtesy of Anne Jensen

French teacher Anne Jensen receives her Hal Wingard Lifetime Achievement Award.

Jensen brought this to the French department when she arrived, and expanded it to the rest of the languages when she became Instructional Supervisor. Portfolio assessments make it easier to show accrediting committees like WASC what students do and track progress through the levels in foreign language.

Although Jensen has been teaching French for 16 years at Gunn, she is still inspired by the effect she has on her students. She tries to impart her enthusiasm for French to her students in the hopes that they will study abroad in college.

What keeps Jensen going is “seeing the fact that hopefully students that leave my

$5000 were raised.

216 cars entered the race.

The race lasted 14.5 hours.

classes are inspired to go on in French and have some of the passion for French language and culture that I have,” Jensen said.

She hopes that studying foreign language in high school allows students to think of things from a different perspective. “I really want people to think about their own lives, and how a particular topic relates to their own lives and makes them see things in a different way,”Jensen said.

“When you study a different language, you see a different perspective and I think that bridges differences in cultures. That is more important to me than learning the grammar.”

Proceeds went to a cancer research charity.

Gunn auto club takes part in Guinness World Record Klaire Tan

Managing Editor

On a 2.86-mile-long stretch of track in Thunderhill Raceway last September, 216 cars stood waiting in neat columns of six. The 24 Hours of LeMons race was about to start, and a new Guinness World Record for Most Participants in a Car Race would soon be set.

In the midst of the competition was a lemonyellow pick-up. With Buzz Lightyear peeking from the passenger seat and Woody hanging from the tailgate, the car could have been the Pizza Planet delivery truck straight out of “Toy Story.” In actuality, the car had been sitting in Gunn’s own Auto shed just a year earlier. “We just had this old pickup truck, and we decided to do something with it,” Auto teacher Mike Camicia said. “A student said ‘why not the Pizza Planet truck?’”

Auto students set to work rebuilding the car in early 2014 with the 24 Hours of LeMons endurance races in mind. The truck was replaced inside and out, from its engines to the transmission to the little details that come from “Toy Story.” “Check out the T-Rex,” senior Eddie Jiang said, referring to the green dinosaur that sticks out the window of the front passenger seat. “The head actually turns 90 degrees. You can even control how fast or slow it goes.”

Over the past year, the truck has come a long way. The car’s engine has been switched out multiple times, from the Mazda Rx-7 engine that broke down in their first race, to the Mustang en-

gine that brought the Auto class a Guinness World Record participation certificate last September. It was the Pizza Planet truck’s third attempt at an endurance race and the first time the car finished an entire race.

“No, we didn’t win,” Camicia laughed. “With 216 cars, we were just lucky to finish.

The Pizza Planet truck is only one of many automobile projects sitting in the auto shop behind Camicia’s classroom. In the corner, there’s an unfinished car being built entirely from scratch— body, seats, engine and all. Further back is a Ford Model-T that gleams brand new as it sits waiting to be sent for its first paint job.

Since beginning to teach at Gunn in 1996, Camicia has based his class on hands-on learning.

“You can see it, touch it, feel it,” he said while handling an ignition coil. “You can even get shocked if you want.” Students can begin working with cars as early as beginner’s Auto 1; according to Camicia, some students even bring their own cars into the shop to work on. “In the average class at Gunn, you sit in your seat all day,” senior Elizabeth Chang-Davidson, a student in Auto 1, said.

“You take notes and you take tests. Sometimes you do labs. In Auto, you get up and go work on a car with wrenches. It’s entirely different from the typical class.”

The Pizza Planet truck is slotted for several more endurance races, the earliest being later this March up in Sonoma. For now, students will be busy getting their hands dirty in the shop as they complete the last finishing touches on the truck.

Anthony Tran

Top: Auto teacher Mike Camicia poses with the rebuilt race-truck.

Bottom: Auto’s Guinness World Records certificate sits in its frame.

12

Cente

Agree: 63%

Disagree: 33%

Not sure: 4% *244 students were surveyed.

Social media can induce feelings of missing out Erica Watkins Walking through the hallways alone, I look at my phone and scroll through a Twitter feed I checked ten minutes ago. I would rather look like I have something to do on my phone, than look a passing stranger in the eyes. Being alone has become uncomfortable. My hallway strategy to avoid a seemingly awkward situation is not an isolated incident. While social media has made the vast world exponentially more connected, our phones and apps have pushed people much further apart.

Social media nowadays is a necessity to stay in touch. A simple Facebook notification can remind me of a distant friend’s birthday, or an Instagram post from a cousin can keep me informed about their life. The problem with social media is that we have replaced meaningful conversations and quality time with Instagram posts, Facebook messages and texts. Using social media as our way to connect is becoming problematic, as it can never fill our need to be around people. Social media becomes a vicious cycle, because once we finally do have coffee with an old family friend, or grab lunch with a budding love interest, it is easy to feel like there is nothing to talk about. Two people probably know more about each other than they should because they have been stalking each other’s Facebook pages and see a picture of the other person everyday on

Instagram. We no longer need to have an in-depth conversation with someone to learn what they did over the summer or what their opinions are on the world. Private details in our lives are broadcasted to thousands of people each day.

Always knowing what your peers are doing and accomplishing can push you to feel like you are missing out or not doing enough in life. Facebook can often feel like a forum to see who just posted pictures of themselves at their new startup or traveling the world with their best friends. Social media creates an environment in which if you are doing seemingly less than somebody else it magnifies the feeling of missing out and feeling inferior.

Personally, social media has amplified my craving to belong and be involved in social activities.

Nights home alone have become nights on my phone trying to keep up with Snapchat stories of events I was not invited to. Even if I wanted to have a night in and watch a movie with my dogs, I end up feeling like I am doing something wrong with my life when I see Instagram posts of people going on an adventure or at a party.

In a world of constant updates it is vital to stay connected with your own emotions. Try to become comfortable with being alone and disconnecting.

Even taking

15 minutes of no technology can be a valuable break from keeping up with everything all your friends are doing. You can alleviate your fear of missing out though, if you practice being confident in your decisions and hobbies. If you are not interested in the night life, do not feel bad when other people are going out. If you do not find interest in the outdoors, stop comparing yourself to people who are always hiking. It is easy to feel that you can always be doing something better when social media only shows us the perfect parts of peoples lives.

—Watkins, a senior, is a reporter

FOMO:

The Fear

of Missing

Graphics and photos by Anton Oyung, Elizabeth Zu and Anthony Tran.

Instagram photos courtesy of Esther Kozakevich.

FO·MO /fōmō/ noun informal anxiety that an exciting or interesting event may currently be happening elsewhere, often aroused by posts seen on a social media website.

erfold

Monday, March 16, 2015

You know you have FOMO when...

People u se social media sites to brag about their lives.

:

r Out

13

You constantly check your phone for a missed text.

You send out an enormous amount of “What are you up to?” texts to see what your options are.

You invite yourself to events even if you were not formally invited.

You constantly turn your phone on to make sure it is still working.

You document everything you do on every social media account.

—Compiled by Lawrence Chen

A typical teenager’s Instagram thought process “I should Instagram this picture! I’ll ask my friend what she thinks.”

“Time to choose a filter...or should I go #nofilter?”

“Should I put a quote or emojis as my caption?”

“Classic me getting tons of likes.”

—Compiled by Esther Kozakevich

14

Features

THEORACLE

Students create “A Titan Is.. ” Tumblr page Prachi Kale Copy Editor

In February, junior Sarah Reich and senior Dylan Huang created the Tumblr page “A Titan Is…” The page features photographs of various students holding a whiteboard on which they have written what they believe a Titan is.

Reich and Huang created the page after attending a school board meeting where Reich heard a parent ask, “What even is a Titan anymore?” According to Reich, the meeting inspired her to convey a message to students that they were all unique individuals and valuable members of the Titan community. “I realized after the meeting that

the community didn’t realize how strong and connected the Gunn community was,” she said. “That’s how I came upon the idea for the project. I thought it was a simple way to address a complex issue.”

Huang believes that this project gives a voice to the Gunn community and that it has had an overall positive effect. “It’s a way for students to feel a sense of unity in our community as well as give a chance to students to simply express themselves,” he said. “What was inspiring was that people took this project and made it positive on their own. I never asked them to specifically write down any adjective or phrase. Most students would just decide to send a bright and happy message.”

Reich agrees that the students have greatly shaped the direction of the project. “I almost think the community has done more for the project than the project has done for the community,” she said. “By that, I mean that students have really impacted the community by doing a very simple action of taking a photograph.”

Sophomore Tone Yao Lee also believes that “A Titan Is…” has connected the student body in supporting a single cause. “It really warms my heart to see all the nice things people have to say about Gunn,” he said. “It also surprised me in a good way because I never knew that some people felt that way about what a Titan was. I believe “A Titan Is...” has definitely brought us all closer to-

gether as we get to see pictures of different students and their beliefs.”

According to Lee, the project has been so inspiring that neighboring Palo Alto High School has also started a project, “A Viking Is…”.

As far as continuing the project, Reich prefers to keep the project close to its roots.

“I appreciate its simplicity, so I want to keep it as basic as possible,” she said.

Huang hopes that “A Titan Is…” will continue on throughout the years. “I hope to personally continue this project until I graduate and [then] lend the duties onto another Gunn student for the next year,” he said. “Hopefully this project will be ongoing for as long as someone is willing to do it.”

Junior Yui Sasajima

Freshmen Mara Fong, Avital Rutenberg

Junior Jarar Zaidi

Sophomore Anushka Joshi

Senior Gabriel Alon

Girls Learn International leaders speak to UN Emily Kvitko Centerfold Editor

Many consider New York a prime destination for shopping and park-walking, but juniors Maya Roy and Nina Shirole visited a different side of the city: the international headquarters of the United Nations (UN).

The two women came face-to-face with the important building as leaders and representatives of the club they launched at Gunn—the f i rst publ ic school i n Palo Alto to host a chapter of Girls Learn International (GLI).

G L I ’s m i s s i o n i s to e duc at e A mer ic a n teenagers about global gender d i spa r it ie s i n Maya Roy education. According to Shirole, a General Assembly that today buzzes with women was once empty of a single female’s voice. “Twenty years ago, delegates from all over the world gathered at the Commission on the Status of Women (CSW) to discuss possible ways to help the girl-child, but no girls were part of the conversation,” she said. As a result, the Working Group on Girls (WGG) was founded within the Commission. GLI sends a student delegation from their club network to the Commission every year.

After committing to being a part of this year’s delegation, Roy and Shirole spent one year learning about the UN’s Declaration of Human Rights alongside a group of peers. This international partnership allowed the girls to develop pen-pal-like relationships with students in developing countries. Shirole shared this experience during her presentation at the UN. Similarly, as a former resident of India, Roy contributed her personal experiences with poverty-related learning disparities. “This could have been you,” she said. “It’s just [by] chance that you’re not that girl struggling to get that education.”

Shirole agrees and believes that people should use their advantages to help others. “It’s our duty to be conscious of our privilege and make an effort to be advocates for those who are not as lucky as we are, ” Shirole said.

After a hefty application process, Roy and Shirole were accepted as the only two delegates from northern California to speak at the CSW’s 59th session. Accord-

ing to Roy, the Gunn chapter now has a better sense of the application process, an understanding which will help other club applicants next year.

Last week, Roy and Shirole were joined by 34 GLI delegates from around the world, in addition to outstanding professionals in the field. “We are going to be meeting advocates, amazing women and men from all over the world, who are all mentors and role models,” Shirole said before the conference. “There is a group of people whose career has been all about activism. They are extremely supportive of people like us, who are just starting out on our journey into advocacy.”

This group of people came together to evaluNina Shirole ate t he successes a nd failures of the Beijing Platform for Action, established in 1995, and to set policy and implement goals for the post-2015 agenda.

Several other challenges also made the discussion list, such as high mothers’ mortality rates, unsanitary methods of childbirth, lack of access to health care, the educational gap and violence towards girls who desire an education. “I plan to speak about how the U.S. must examine its domestic policies in order to keep its reputation as a global beacon for gender equality because calling other countries out for discriminating against women while restricting gender equality at home is hypocritical,” Roy said before the event.

Roy believes that, although progress is in the making, it will not be effective unless the minds of people are fully opened. “Gender equality is not a reality any where,” Roy said. “Setting grand plans like the Beijing Platform only works if we, as an international community, are willing to be objective and criticize our own efforts—and that is what CSW 59 is all about.”

As they prepared to leave for New York, Roy and Shirole were handed a 15-page agenda for the week.

Their itinerary was comprised of an encounter with former First Lady Hillary Clinton, panels in the nongovernmental organization (NGO) forum, an annual March for Gender Equality and Women’s Rights and a screening of the documentary Difret. “It’s not only that youth are participating, but that they are shaping how the whole f low runs,” Roy said.

Last week, the young women took the city by storm.

“The Under-Secretary General of the UN, Phumzile Mlambo Ngcuka, addressed us at the Teen Orientation, hosted by the Working Group on Girls, truly inspiring us to not be afraid to voice our opinions in adult-led avenues of social change,” Shirole said.

Roy and Shirole are speaking up for the generation that will rule the population. “The most important thing we could get out of the Commission on the Status of Women is to learn by listening,” Shirole said.

“Not only is it something that is super important for us learning as humans, as advocates, but it is also an opportunity for us to experience something that might change our lives.”

Roy is not the first member of her family to promote social justice. “This used to be my mom’s career,” she said. “I was raised on the idea that if you want to see change, you go for it, and you put yourself out there, and you put yourself and your ideas on the line to make sure it happens.”

Juniors Maya Roy (left) and Nina Shirole (right) pose in the New York United Nations General Assembly Hall.

Features

Monday, March 16, 2015

15

CHANGES TO COME: PROGRAMS FOR POSITIVITY YES! program will implement mental health education Elinor Aspegren

only learned how to manage her stress, but also made a lot health and well being, a few teachers in our department of friends from Paly. have already begun to incorporate wellness activities and McFaul’s concerns with the legitimacy of the program lessons into our units by teaching yoga, meditation and Four Gunn students are pushing for several ideas of were assuaged with the pilot program. “I initially reacted breathing techniques to reduce stress and promote wellness their own, including a plan to bring a wellness program to with a little bit of skepticism about the whole program. It and balance,” Anderson said.

Gunn called Youth Empowerment Seminar (YES!). seems ridiculous that breathing exercises can help with Sorenson hopes that this program will teach kids how to YES! is a program which offers youth practical tools stress but the YES pilot program manage stress. “A lot of the things and life skills to manage stress and emotions. It is a five- showed that the exercises really do that the district and the parents week program that will take place in physical education help with so much,” he said. Both and the community have been “A lot of the things that the focusing on is reducing academic (P.E.) classes. members of the Mental Wellness After being contacted by YES!, Principal Dr. Denise Committee believe that this program, district and the parents and the stress as a whole, but I think Herrmann brought the idea to the Mental Wellness com- which will take place in freshman thing that’s important community have been focusing another mittee, which is composed of sophomore Chloe Sorenson, P.E. classes, will be helpful not only is how to deal with it,” she said. on is reducing academic stress McFaul hopes that students will juniors Cole McFaul and Sarah Reich and senior Rose because of the wellness aspect but Weinmann. “I was approached by YES! who said, ‘we really also because it will allow kids to get as a whole, but I think another use the tools presented in this think that the things we are doing at other high schools to know each other. to adapt to the stressors thing that’s important is how program could be really beneficial at Gunn,” she said. The commitAccording to Herrmann, the of high school. “In other schools to deal with it.” tee listened to a presentation about the group and agreed committee knew that this program in which the program has been to investigate further. would be helpful and well received. implemented, reports show that —Sophomore Chloe Sorenson After the initial stage, the Student Executive Council “The students understand that high students are well adapted for all and Palo Alto High School’s (Paly) Associated Student school is stressful,” she said. “But they only have a few tools stressors that can be thrown at them,” he said.

Body participated in a 90-minute pilot program. Sorenson [to manage stress] and they really would be interested in One of the resources that the YES! program provides not only planned the pilot program but also attended it. learning more.” is mindfulness. Mindfulness is a state of active, open “They led us through a bunch of different exercises and According to P.E. teacher and Mental Wellness Com- attention on the present, which involves living in the mothey didn’t lecture a lot,” she said. “There were a lot of mittee advisor Amy Anderson, the P.E. staff agree that ment and not worrying about the future. According to engaging activities like games and icebreakers.” Sorenson this program would be a good thing for Gunn. “While Herrmann, this strategy has many positive effects. “The was surprised that by the end of the program, she had not the foundation of our current curriculum supports overall research that is out [about mindfulness] now shows that it is one of the most impactful kinds of interventions for students that impacts their mental well being,” she said.

Studies show that students that use mindfulness before taking a test score better than their counterparts who do not. Anderson has seen the impact other tools presented in the YES! program have had on students. “Some students have really latched on to the idea of mediation and have already begun to incorporate this into their weekly schedules,” she said.

The mental wellness committee that approved this program was originally formed for the purpose of educating the school about mental health. Sorenson and McFaul formed it in November after hearing a speech from alumnus Ori Herschman about things that the group could do to help the committee. Besides the YES! program, this committee has started to implement several other agendas.

“We are still in the very beginning stages of the group, but we have already set up a referral box where you can refer a friend to the counselor’s office and we hope to start an eduCourtesy of Gunn SEC cation campaign about the signs of depression in the future Gunn and Paly student government officers participate in a pilot program of the Youth Empowerment Seminar. which will hopefully happen later this year,” McFaul said.

Copy Editor

Challenge Success program plans to redefine student priorities Shagun Khare Reporter

In a competitive atmosphere flourishing with bright students, stress in high school is inevitable. However, with the help of Challenge Success, there is a chance that this can change. Challenge Success is a program focused on overcoming the stigma that success is only be attained through grades and test scores. By working directly with schools such as Gunn, the Stanfordbased program is able to provide research-based solutions to reduce student stress and create a more effective learning environment.

Previously, Gunn had been working with Challenge Success for three years but due to an administration change, it was discontinued for the 20142015 school year. While unable to get the program rolling in the beginning of the year, Principal Dr. Denise Herrmann made sure to maintain a relationship with the program in hopes of continuing it the following school year. Due to unanticipated events that occurred, however, Herrmann requested that the program be reintroduced immediately and Challenge Success willingly obliged. “There was a lot of spotlight put on academic pressure,” Herrmann said. “So when I reached out a second time, they understood we were in a place where we could really use some outside resources.”

With the program now in place, Challenge Success is focusing on obtaining student feedback and teacher coaching. One way of doing this is through the Stanford Survey of Adolescent School Experiences that all Gunn

students will be taking later this school year. According to Challenge Success Schools Program Director Margaret Dunlap, this survey will serve as “benchmark data” for the Gunn program to start identifying areas of improvement within the school.

Along with this, Challenge Success has over 10 years worth of outside data that has been collected and analyzed since its inception in 2004. This data will have an integral role in supporting the Gunn program.

“A lot of what we do is education

and sharing research-based solutions to increase student engagement while reducing undue stress,” Dunlap said. “Our work encourages educators and parents to create conditions both at school and

Elizabeth Zu

at home to foster a balanced student life.”

Later this school year, the program will also host a teacher workshop that focuses on ways that teachers can increase student engagement and enforce effective teaching methods. Temporary Gunn coach and Challenge Success co-founder Denise Pope is currently organizing the event.

“We will be showing the connection between disengagement and stress,” Pope said. “Then we are going to share the data we have about student health and well-being and start brainstorming ideas about which actions Gunn might want to take.”

Then, in August, the Gunn Challenge Success team, comprised of students, parents, and teachers will be formed.

The team will meet consistently throughout the year to create a vision and action plan on how to create more balance in students’ lives. Herrmann believes that this team is a valuable asset. “We have really talented students, we have amazing faculty and our parents really want the best for their kids,” she said. “So, knowing that, and knowing that we have this great resource, I think it’s a win-win situation because we will have a blend of people who have the will to make things the best they can be along with people who have research and experience to make that happen.”

Herrmann hopes that as a result of programs like Challenge Success, Gunn will be able broaden its definition of success. “It’s not that being an excellent student and getting to an Ivy League is bad —that’s great—but so is wanting to be an artist or wanting to volunteer for a couple years,” she said. “My goal for the whole program, and for the whole school, is that early in life, students realize that they have choices and that there is not a predetermined path for them.”

16

THEORACLE

Sports

Athlete of the Month Sophomore Leila Tuma: Expert Jump Roper

The Oracle: What is your favorite part about jump roping?

Leila Tuma: I think my favorite part about jump roping is the bonds you make with your team and other teams. I really think that you connect in a special way because jump rope isn’t a sport where you don’t talk to your competitors.

You don’t always think of them as your competitors; they’re your friends.

You share the sport and so you share your tricks with them.

TO: What makes jump roping different from other sports?

LT: I think it’s probably just the amount of training, the amount of time and the amount of events. We compete anywhere from one event to 14 events in one day for some competitions. I think the amount of training that goes into those competitions makes [jump roping] different.

I also think the people are some of the best people you will ever meet.

They love the sport and they love each other.

TO: What are some of the quirkiest places you’ve practiced at?

LT: Anywhere from hallways to a street in Hong Kong to New York, because we performed in the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade there. We’ll practice in our house—if you can find a tiny spot of hardwood floor, you’ll practice there. Pretty much anywhere.

TO: What is the judging process?

LT: Judging is different for speed. It’s how fast you go, and the only deductions you can get are if you go out of your space or you start early. For freestyle it’s based on the tricks you do, how many tricks you do packed together and how you present those tricks—whether you present them prettily or you jump nicely or if you are put together and you smile and you have your hair pulled back in those two French braids you’re supposed to have. You’re judged based on those, and there are different scores for different tricks and different levels.

TO: Has there been a time when you’ve been frustrated with jump roping?

LT: There are definitely times when you get frustrated with your teammates and frustrated with the coaches, and you get frustrated with yourself. I think that everybody goes through a point in jump roping where either you get made fun of for it, and that’s really hard for you, or you get to a point physically where you have to really push yourself to get to the next level, which for some people is earlier and for some later, but there comes a point where you have to start pushing yourself to get the scores that you want and the tricks that you want.

TO: What are some of the disadvantages of jump roping and how do you overcome them?

Alexandra Ting LT: I think physically, the day-to-day stuff is hard. You’re doing a three minute speed and you’re at two minutes and 30 seconds and then you miss.

You get this feeling that’s like, “Ugh, if I hadn’t made that miss, I could’ve hit my goal,” and a nasty whip that’s either down the back of your leg or all the way up, or across your back. I got a really bad whip the other day from across my forehead, down my nose and to my lip and down my face. My lip got all swollen and I had to put ice on it for hours.

TO: What would you say to those who say jump roping isn’t a sport?

LT: Just give it a chance. You might think, “Oh, I jump roped in third grade with my teacher. That wasn’t hard, and I can jump and do a cross,” and they’re like, “Yeah, it’s not a sport,” but if you really look at it and see how hard it is, it is a sport. I mean, can you do 200 jumps in 30 seconds? It’s hard. It’s really hard. So I think that if you look at what people have done with it and you look at the effort that is put in, you know that it’s a sport. ­—Compiled by Yuki Klotz-Burwell

Intramural teams start strong Matthew Niksa

Business manager

Student Executive Council (SEC) is hosting its first ever intramural basketball tournament. The intramural basketball league began Feb. 25 and will end in late April. All teams will advance to a playoff tournament at the end of the season. Games are played each Wednesday at the outdoor courts during lunch with eight teams playing simultaneously on four half-courts. Games will be scored on an honor system where each team keeps track of points.

Senior Class Vice President Victor Kao and Junior Class Vice President Cole McFaul helped create the idea of an intramural league. “I really love basketball.

I’ve played my whole life, but this year I couldn’t play on the team because it was too much of a time commitment,” McFaul said. “I felt like I wanted to have somewhere to play where you didn’t have to dedicate a ton of time into something that is amazingly competitive. We just started it so guys could run around a little bit.”

McFaul was also surprised by the large turnout of students interested in playing in the league, and he was excited that students continued to sign up, even after teams were created. “I’m really amazed about how many people signed up,” he said. “I think we have a great mix of experienced, competitive players on varsity and JV [basketball], but also players who don’t play a lot and are just getting out there [for fun].”

With eight teams having on average eight players, Kao hopes that each team plays as many games as possible. “We hope to play around six to eight games depending on how many weeks we can fit in,” he said. “After each team plays each other, we will have the playoffs, which

will be just like the NBA.” Even though Kao wants to have each team play as many games as possible, he feels that one game per week is enough. “For the organizers [of the league], it’s difficult to keep track of when more games are played,” he said.

“A possible idea in the future is playing after school instead of during lunch, which could possibly make for better games.”

After the regular season ends, Kao is optimistic that they will be able to host the league playoffs in the Titan Gym. “We hope to have the playoffs in the gym and get a few people to referee the games and make it a little more official than the usual lunch games,” Kao said.

Junior Rohit Sampathi, co-captain of an intramural team, believes the new league gives him the opportunity to have fun playing basketball. “I enjoy playing [on my intramural team] because it’s a great opportunity for me to play some friendly basketball with others,” he said.

“We get to choose part of our team, so it’s even more fun being able to play with some close friend.” Sampathi feels that the league should consider adding more teams and choose a different day to play basketball. “Some teams have nine players, and just lunch time isn’t enough for everyone to get sufficient [playing] time,” he said. “Also, sometimes teams or a lot of players don’t show up, so changing the day or somehow setting up a system to make sure teams show up would make the format much better.”

Sampathi looks forward to captaining his team in the playoffs, and he appreciates the opportunity to meet new peers and build team chemistry. “I’ve met peers while playing intramurals. I’ve become friends with a couple freshmen on my team,” he said. “Playing with my team has definitely built chemistry, because we communicate and talk strategy.”

Sports

Monday, March 16, 2015

17

Boys’ Basketball

Anthony Tran

Sophomore Jeffrey Lee-Heidenreich lays the ball up during CCS playoffs at Oak Grove.

The boys’ basketball team made it to the Central Coastal Section (CCS) quarterfinal with a league standing of nine to one. “I thought the season went great,” senior Chris Russell said. “We really shocked everyone’s expectations coming into the season. I had a ton of fun and it was an unforgettable season; we went 20 to 4 [overall] so we played well too.”

Junior Alex Gil agrees that it has been a good season; he plans to train harder during the off-season and hopes his teammates will do the same. “We definitely need to focus on our defense and our energy,” he said. Russell had the same opinion about energy. “We needed to bring a ton of energy to each game,” he added.

Though the team went strong, they lost to Bellarmine College Prep 59-45.

“I had high expectations for CCS,” Gil said. “I know we could’ve played even better. I think it’s a good beginning and foundation for next year.”

The team had a lot of chemistry which benefited them both on and off the court. “We hung out after practice, weekends, etc., and everyone on the team had a genuine love for every teammate,” Russell said.

Gil believes that Gunn played well this season. “I’m really proud of how well we played, and there was no question that St. Francis did not expect it to be that close,” he said. “We gave them all we had, and we pushed them to the limit.”

Boys’ Soccer After an undefeated league season (10-0-1) in the Santa Clara Valley Athletics League (SCVAL), the boys’ varsity soccer team both won the El Camino Division and secured a spot in Central Coast Section (CCS) playoffs. “When we beat Fremont [High School] in the second to last game of league, we knew we had clinched division and we knew we had also clinched a CCS birth,” coach Kenneth Luis said. Not only did the team seal a spot in CCS but their statistics seeded them third in the tournament and they were awarded with a first-round bye, which propelled them straight into the quarter finals.

After a week without games, the boys’ team battled it out against the Mountain View High School Spartans and put them away with an ending score of 4-2. Although Gunn got the win, it was a difficult win. “It was much harder than we expected,” senior Dmitriy Timokhin said.

“Teams come out hard because they have nothing to lose by trying their best since it’s the last game of their season if they lose.”

Then, the Titans played Leland High School, one of the two teams they lost to during preseason. “[Leland’s] a very tough, aggressive [and] fast team and we need to at least match that,” coach Luis said before the match. “If we can do that, we have a good chance of winning the game.”

Gunn managed to match Leland’s quality of play and went into overtime with a score of 0-0.

The score stayed the same throughout overtime so the game advanced to penalty kicks. Gunn’s 3-2 loss in the penalty shootout ended the season. “We knew we left everything on the field [and] had a way better season than we could’ve ever imagined,” senior captain Guy Kasznik said.

Regardless, the boys’ varsity team has improved since the previous years. “Especially compared to last season, it’s a complete 180,” junior Cristobal Gonzalez said. “Last season, we were near the bottom of the bottom league. We had a showing that Gunn hasn’t displayed for a long time.”

Anthony Tran

Senior Alex Ruber blows by a Mountain View defender during CCS play.

CCS championship

Winter Sports dominate

Wrestling

Courtesy Butch Garcia

Senior Ian Cramer executes one of his many pins on the way to his CCS championship.

The wrestling team reached a whole new level of great at state this Saturday and Sunday.

Senior Ian Cramer placed eighth at the state wrestling meet March 6 and 7 at the Rabobank Arena in Bakersfield. Cramer is only the second Gunn wrestler to win a Central Coast Section (CCS) title then follow it up with a medal at state.

“I loved the competition at state,” Cramer said. “Every opponent was exceptionally good and every match extremely challenging. It felt great to be competing and succeeding at such a high level.” Cramer won his first three matches, making it to the quarterfinals that Friday night. He lost that Saturday 11-2 to eventual third-place medalist Khristian Olivas from Clovis High School, which won its seventh straight team title.

Wrestling coach Chris Horpel felt that Cramer had what it took to make it all the way to state. “Ian knows a lot of wrestling, has rare physical gifts that allow him to do extraordinary things on the mat, and he is very mentally tough,” he said. “He remains level-headed no matter how intense the situation. He worked very hard all season, only losing one match before the state meet with a final record of 35-4 with 26 pins.”

Sophomore David Abramovitch was 1-2 at 126 pounds, junior Tanner Kerrins was 1-2 at 132, sophomore Aaron Schultz was 0-2 at 145, junior Thomas Chang-Davidson was 0-2 at 152 and junior Kirill Demyanenko (2-2) placed ninth at 285.

Girls’ Soccer The girls soccer team lost to Santa Teresa 0-3 in the first round of the Division One Central Coast Section (CCS) playoffs. The girls finished third in their league and beat multiple highly ranked teams in other leagues earning them their first bid to the tournament since 2011.

“We were the lower seed in the game and nerves definitely got the best of us at the start of the game,” senior captain Megan Kuhnle said. “But we pulled through and were able to make some good plays.”

Getting to CCS was a big accomplishment, and even though the level of competition was higher, the girls stayed true to themselves and did not get intimidated. Some of the Gunn players knew players from the opposition, but chose not to tell the team. “I did not tell the rest of the team about how good some of their players were because I wanted it to be about how we play, not about the girls on the other team,” senior Natalie Perreault said.

During preseason, Gunn beat multiple highly ranked teams in other divisions and went into league with lots of momentum. They hit some hard times in league play, but the adversity actually helped the team develop and build chemistry. “There was so much potential in our team, and we were not doing well in games we could have won, but I think by having those games we realized we have so much skill on our team,” Perreault said. “It gave us the perspective that we can do better than what we are showing on the team.”

Alexandra Ting

Junior Kirsten Butner dribbles past a defender as a referee looks on to ensure fair play.

—Compiled by Elinor Aspegren, Matthew Hamilton, Lisa Hao and Prachi Kale

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Sports

THEORACLE

Staff victorious in annual Clash of the Titans Shawna Chen

Forum Editor

On Feb. 20, the Gunn community gathered in the Titan Gym to watch the senior class face off against staff members in Clash of the Titans.

Titan Gym thundered with energy and excitement as the players took their places on the court. Staff members on the bleachers held up signs of support for their colleagues as the crowd of students hooted and cheered for their own. The staff has held the title as champion of Clash of the Titans for the last four consecutive years.

This year, however, they came close to losing it as the seniors trailed by only three points when the buzzer sounded.

Senior sports commissioner Jeffrey Lei began preparing for the event in early Jan., collecting names of participants and holding practices every other day on the outside courts or the inside gym. “This year, I really wanted us to win, so I organized a lot of practices and made it so that players were playing their best,” Lei said.

“We tried to organize, ran a couple plays [and] tried to get things going.”

Most of the practices involved running a few drills and then playing five-on-five basketball games. “The drills that we did were basic so that you can actually play the game,” senior Victor Kao said. “But we mostly played pickup games to get the feel of the game.” Kao himself used to play basketball in middle school, and enjoyed the thrill o f being back on the court.

“Back then, I was four-six and sixty pounds, and that was pretty hard for me,” he said. “Now I’m taller and I haven’t played in a really long time, so playing with people you know was really fun.”

The staff basketball team held multiple practices in the morning and after school as well, with social studies teacher Chris Saunders echoing Kao’s sentiment about feeling comfortable on the court. “Not all of us play too much basketball, so it was important just to get out,” Saunders said. “We certainly wanted to make sure that everyone played and that everyone felt that they were contributing.” While the staff certainly wanted a victory, the team focused on having a good time more than anything else. “It’s a great opportunity for us to get together as a school and do something between the staff and the students, which we don’t really always get,” Saunders

said.

Senior varsity basketball team members also participated as coaches for the students. Every practice, they would talk through strategies and specify what they wanted students to focus on for the day. “We’d go over whether we wanted to do lay-ups today or have them play and just mix up our game plan each day so that people could get better at little things,” senior Paige Ogawa said. “Then, we’d just have scrimmages so they could practice everything.”

For Ogawa, working with the varsity boys’ basketball team members was an additional highlight. “It was fun camaraderie, especially since the guys are kind of macho, but we all had different perspectives on basketball, and it was cool

to integrate our perspective with their perspective,” Ogawa said. “I think it really showed in the game, the diversity of our knowledge.”

After the first few practices, Ogawa, along with Lei, and other coaches began testing the chemistry of different teams on the court. “Through the practices, we’d see who worked well with who and just started putting together teams based on that,” Ogawa said. “When it came to the game, we started putting in rotations based on who the teachers played.”

The biggest change to this year’s Clash of the Titans was the addition of six minutes of gametime dedicated solely to female teams. According to Lei, a few senior girls had approached him and stated their slight anxiety in playing with male teams. “When you’re playing with guys and you have people that big like Saunders, the girls don’t get to do much,” Lei said. “They wanted to be able to play, so the girls’ time was dedicated just for them, and they got about as much playing time as the other teams.”

When game day arrived, the enormity of the event and its spectators caused some seniors like Kao to experience nervousness. “The four minutes I was in, there was a bit of pressure for me, because I wanted to win, of course, and there were a lot of people watching,” he said.

Kao, who hasn’t played a game with an audience since middle school, believed that both sides experienced some level of unease. “I think the teachers and the students out there felt the same because there were a lot of turnovers in the four minutes I was in [and a] pretty intense struggle back and forth,” he said. “We each scored only one basket during that time, but I usually don’t do

anything with that many people watching, so that was an interesting experience.”

Right off the bat, Saunders noticed the aggression of this year’s student participants. “They knew what they wanted to do and they did a pretty good job at it,” he said. “It was a low-scoring game, both sides were playing good defense but making it difficult to operate on offense.”

As coach, Ogawa watched from the sidelines and felt a surge of pride for her fellow seniors. “My favorite moment was just seeing these people that don’t play and don’t usually put themselves out there go in and play hard and have fun,” she said. “Just seeing them smiling and laughing and playing around and smack-talking teachers, it was awesome seeing them have fun.”

In the last few minutes of the game, the staff was leading by nine points, but the highlight reel began when senior Guy Kasznik took to the court and started hitting three-point shots, causing the crowd to roar. “Guy just ran up and hit those two three’s, brought us in another six points,” Lei said. “He ran up for the last three and stopped my heart a little bit.”

Though staff dominated another year of Clash of the Titans, both staff and students enjoyed the competitive atmosphere and the experience of playing against one another. “This is the closest we’ve come to beating the teachers in the last five years,” Lei said. “It was a pretty heated game, and the goal was to win but a lot of it was also to have fun.”

Nonetheless, Kao warns next year’s seniors not to underestimate the teachers’ abilities. “Once [the teachers] got the huge squad out, they’re all so much taller and bigger,” he said. “We thought we could win for sure, and we had a pretty good team this year, but the teachers are pretty intimidating, especially the big ones.”

Saunders, too, is looking forward to next year’s game.

The energy and excitement surrounding the annual Clash of the TiDave Zhu tans is always palpable, and he hopes that next year is no different. “Not every school does this, so I think we have a great tradition here that deserves to be celebrated,” he said. “I get goosebumps going out there.

Pick-up basketball at the gym isn’t the same as coming out and having the whole school there.” Not only does the Clash of Titans give Gunn the chance to celebrate its students and staff, but it also represents a valuable opportunity to connect on a greater level.”It’s great how everyone involved takes this so seriously,” Saunders said.

“Having the student body out there just provides another thing for us to bond the community.”

Faces in the Bleachers What was your favorite part of Clash of the Titans?

“I liked the healthy competition and “Clash of the Titans is a great way for how the teachers blocked almost no students and staff to connect outside shots but complemented it by landing of academics. The students were hella buckets.” rusty in the beginning.”

Shiv Rustagi (9) Conrad Chan (10)

“I thought it was a close game with good efforts from both teams.

Aaron Miner’s block was definitely a highlight.”

Miranda Smith (11)

“The “I feel bestthat moment it is a was goodGuy ideahitting on paper that but second not in three practice. pointerI feel and that we showing all had hope people hevideos would on winsex us and the drugs isn’t game.” really effective.”

Adam JoffySchmidt Frett (12) (12) —Compiled by Sabrina Chen

Sports

Monday, March 16, 2015

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Students, staff highlight fun race options around the Bay Janet Wang Reporter

Tough Mudder With carefully designed courses in mud, terrain, water, ropes and walls, the 10- to 12-mile Tough Mudder run allows runners to test their limits.

Math teacher Daisy Renazco ran in the Tahoe Tough Mudder in Aug. 2014. At the beginning of the day, each group of people are given a start time. “When your start time gets close, they corral you near a banner,” she said.

“They get people pumped up and get you excited to go; when they finish counting down, people rip through.”

Over the years, the collection of obstacles and tasks have increased in difficulty. The last obstacle that Renazco had to tackle was the electrical wire crawl. “You have to army crawl on the ground to make sure you don’t hit the wires that are alive,” she said. “I ran through it with a friend and he got shocked, blacked out and passed out.”

Before attendees can join, training is necessary to build stamina and endurance. Renazco trained by running and joining kickboxing classes. “I usually train for my overall fitness and I built endurance from training for a previous triathlon,” she said.

Spartan Race The Reebok Spartan Race tests the physical and mental strengths of its participants. Through the three levels of Spartan Sprint, Spartan Super and Spartan Beast, racers experience military style obstacle courses and distance runs.

When he was 14, sophomore Hao Jiang completed the Spartan Super Race in Sacramento, a 13.2 mile run with over 25 obstacles. Training is vital in order to prepare for the run. Spartan SGX trainings are usually held in the few weeks before races and encourage runners to get a taste of Spartan life. To be in the best shape, Jiang focused on upper body strength and agility. “I was running 15 to 20 miles a week and did a bunch of push-ups and pull-ups,” he said. Throughout the race, Jiang persevered through harsh obstacles as he jumped over walls, ran through fire and

climbed ropes. “The whole race and obstacles were pretty brutal but fun,” he said. “I still have scars all over my body from the barbed wire.”

Hot Chocolate Run The Hot Chocolate Run partners with the Ronald McDonald House every January in organizing a 5K or 15K, appealing to runners of all ages who want to have a good time and get good exercise. Attendees arrive at their location at about 7:30 a.m. and are split into waves.

Freshman Julia Wu ran in the San Francisco event and believes the run is doable for all runners. “When you register, you tell them your mile time and they divide you into sections based on how fast you are; it’s nice because there are a lot of people around you too,” she said. The Hot Chocolate Run is known for passing out chocolate during the race and goodies at the finish line. Wu’s favorite part is at the end. “When you finish, you come back to a central area and you take your running tag and they’ll hand you a bowl of fondue, hot chocolate and a bunch of snacks,” she said.

Color Run The Color Run is an untimed 5K run held internationally to promote a happy and healthy l i fe s t y le . W he n runners check in and get their numbers, they are split into waves to divide attendees based on how fast they are.

The festive course is clearly marked with banners, cones and color.

Junior Monica Boerger enjoys the run’s motivating atmosphere. “At each Courtesy of Hao Jiang

checkpoint, they throw colors at you so it makes it more enjoyable,” she said. Boerger also looked forward to the run’s unique “color party” at the end, where runners are doused in various color powders.

Courtesy of Daisy Renazco

Courtesy of Monica Boerger

Top: Math teacher Daisy Renazco poses with friends at the Tough Mudder. Bottom: Juniors Monica Boerger and Avery Robinson participate in the Color Run. Left: Sophomore Hao Jiang displays his athleticism at the Spartan Race.

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THEORACLE

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Lifestyle

Monday, March 16, 2015

Throwing it back: childhood movies resu rrected FORUM EDITOR

As any self-respecting nerd knows, the long-awaited seventh e p i s o d e of Star Wars, titled “The Force Awakens” is scheduled to be released on Dec. 18, 2015. Although the majority of people are rightfully excited, there are still those who are afraid that this new episode will be as big of a disappointment as the prequels. Those who are afraid of the seventh installment containing less of the original series’ brilliance and more Jar Jar Binks should rest assured—all signs point to the new episode being spectacular. The return of the original cast, a new director, as well as the existing legacy of Star Wars being one of the most successful movie franchises in history will all contribute to this new episode being a success.

Several of the most beloved aspects of the original trilogy will be making a reappearance in the new episode; actors such as Harrison Ford, Carrie Fisher and Mark Hamill are coming back to represent their iconic characters of Han Solo, Princess Leia and Luke Skywalker.

John Williams, the genius who composed music for the original series including “The Imperial March” and the theme heard at the start of all the movies, will be writing the score for the new series as well. With enough elements from the old movies, the new Star Wars movie has kept just the right amount of essentials to keep diehard fans happy.

u e Zh Dav

Esther Kozakevich

However, The Force Awakens is also keeping things fresh and exciting to appeal to newer fans. New and hip director J.J. Abrams has proven his ability with directing sci-fi films such as both the newer Star Trek films.

Additionally, besides many recurring cast members, some new stars, including Oscar-award winning actress Lupita Nyongo and “Game of Thrones” actress Gwendoline Christie, are to act in the new film. With amazing actors and a new director (sorry not sorry, George Lucas had to go), there’s no reason why this film wouldn’t be successful; in

the past, films with worse actors, directors and screenplays have gone on to be great cinematic successes.

Lastly, everyone knows how big of a deal Star Wars is. It’s safe to say that J.J. Abrams was aware when he signed onto being the director of perhaps the most beloved and classic franchise of this century, that if he did not execute this film to the liking of both new and old fans, that his career

and reputation would be tarnished.

Although it may seem dramatic, Star Wars has had a huge effect on several generations of American kids and is ingrained in our film culture. Signing on to direct something like it requires huge responsibility, one that a director would not take if he wasn’t certain it had what it took to please the millions of Americans who have loved Star Wars from a young age and will stop at nothing to defend and protect their beloved movies.

Those who are concerned about the new film should keep an open mind; while there is always a chance J.J. Abrams could royally mess up and create a film even more confusing and ridiculous than Episode 1, wouldn’t it just be so much easier if fans stopped obsessing over every minute detail in the trailer and instead just accepted the fact that a seventh series was coming out, and tried to enjoy it when it hit theaters in December? Besides, some pretty awful film crimes (drawn out explanations of midi-chlorians, poor character development, love dialogue so sappy it would make even Katherine Heigl cringe) have already been committed in the prequels. The details of the film may not be perfect, especially to those who have read the accompanying Star Wars books and comics, but to a certain extent, Star Wars is like pizza. Even if the seventh episode is bad, it’s still Star Wars, so Alexandra Ting how bad can it really be?

ORACLE OSCARS ORACLE STAFFERS CHOOSE ACADEMY AWARDS FOR CHILDHOOD MOVIES

BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR: DONKEY IN “SHREK”

BEST SOUNDTRACK: “TARZAN”

An ogre falls in love with a princess in a kingdom. Hilarity ensues as the ogre and Donkey chase the princess.

A man adopted by apes as a young child becomes lord of the jungle.

BEST CINEMATOGRAPHY: “HARRY POTTER”

BEST PICTURE: “LION KING”

A boy is brought to the magical wizarding world where he must defeat an evil wizard.

BEST ORIGINAL SCREENPLAY: “HOME ALONE” A young boy, forgotten at home, must fend his home off from robbers. He plays novel pranks on them until they are discouraged.

The lion heir to the throne is cast away when his evil uncle seizes the throne.

He fights to regain power of the kingdom.

BEST ACTRESS: “MATILDA” A brilliant young girl who befriends a teacher discovers her power of telekinesis. She must harness her skills to overcome obstacles.

—Compiled by Sam Acker, Noa Livneh and Justin Wenig Anton Oyung

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‘SpongeBob’ movie inspires staffer’s rave review

Justin Wenig

Disclaimer: I wrote this while wearing SpongeBob boxers, and I may be prone to hyperbole.

Every once in a while, a piece of art is created that is so distinct, there is no precedent. It is so thought-provoking that each independent mind must take an independent stance.

And now I will undertake this mission to evaluate an unprecedented grasp at metaphysical understanding represented in the form of motion picture. “SpongeBob SquarePants the Movie: Sponge Out of Water” may seem somewhat asinine and outlandish, but this insanity is what spawns artistic beauty and perpetuates the perfect ineffability of the artwork.

So let these words be my wings, this keyboard my Bible, this halo my idealism— as I embark the second manifest destiny of America, reviewing “SpongeBob SquarePants the Movie: Sponge Out of Water”.

I possess a mental book of SpongeBob quotes that could make the most loyal girlfriend cringe, and it got a lot bigger during this movie. The whole movie is kind of a royal intoxication.

The only thing I didn’t like about the movie was that I was hungover after watching it.

It’s hard to go from gawking at Squidasaurus Rex—yes, Squidward turns into a T-Rex—to talking to your mom about second semester senior year grades.

It also targets all age groups effectively. For kids, there is plenty of dumb humor revolving around star Patrick Starr. For teens, there is classic SpongeBob ridiculousness and vague innuendos. (And for young adults who are sufficiently under the influence to watch SpongeBob in theaters, there are Pharell Williams songs coupled with hallucinogenic visuals.)

The movie is more or less the first time SpongeBob and company have actually gone on land. Although I will concede that the out-of-water visuals are very cool, I am a conservative SpongeBoblican and don’t think the land parts beat the underwater parts.

After all, part of the greatness of SpongeBob is its unfettered and beautiful imagination, and land is far too constraining for the movie to literally and figuratively show the true colors of the characters and thematic motifs.

The movie hides its ingeniousness until the ending. It makes the complexity of “Inception” look like the complexity of Hungry Hungry Hippos. It will blow your mind—so much in fact that I would recommend wearing a helmet while watching the movie.

This movie changed the way I view the world. I entered the theater a caterpillar; by the end of the movie I was a butterfly, a yellow butterfly living in a pineapple under a tree.

Even if you don’t possess the insane love of SpongeBob that is necessary to truly understand this movie, you will likely come away chuckling. And even if you don’t come away chuckling, I guarantee you’ll find some mentally insane yet awesome people in the movie theater like me.

I will officially give this movie five pineapples out of five pineapples. Now it is your turn, reader, to evaluate what renowned critic Justin Wenig said was “the greatest thing created since Squidward.” Best of luck on your journey. Your opinion is just as valid as mine.

—Wenig, a senior, is a Lifestyle editor.

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Th e Ora c l e ’s ro a d to

Staffers describe different methods of improving their lives

Stress Naina Murthy Stress has always played a part in my life. I often worry about checking things off of my to-do list rather than actually living in the moment. A stressful factor in my life is the uncertainty of the future. Recently, I’ve been trying to focus on what I have to do today rather than worrying about where I’ll in be two years. Focusing too much on the future makes each day pass by in a second and years from now we will regret all the moments we never had. I think the most important thing you can do is to realize that you have to focus on the work you have each day rather than worrying about tests and projects you have to take in two weeks.

Another important idea I’ve been working on is putting things in perspective.

These last couple of months have taught me that we all spend way too much time worrying about one grade or problem rather than looking around and Eat a banana: Potassium enjoying what we have around us. To further explore the little things that helps regulate blood presmake me happy, I’ve started a nature album. People are too consumed sure, which rises when in their own lives that they forget to look up once in a while and enjoy stressed. Some people what is around them. We lose sight of what our goal really is in life, find that eating a banana which at the end of the day should be our own happiness. can help improve energy.

Research shows that it can protect your body from increased risk of heart attack and stroke.

Healthy eating helps reduce one’s r isk for developi ng obesity, osteoporosis, iron deficiency, and dental cavities.

Nutrition Arjun Sahdev

Being nutritious is definitely not my forte. Fruit and veggies are my nemeses. I constantly binge eat, venture to the pantry for midnight snacks and skip lunches. But I really do enjoy challenges, even ones that require me to do a 180-degree flip change on my lifestyle.

Eating well is not as bad as people make it out to be. Yes, I would normally take a bag of potato chips over a salad, but it was refreshing to change up my diet. For example, I would normally eat a steak burrito, but I found myself asking for a vegetarian burrito and still getting filled up. The truth of the matter is eating healthfully made me feel better, less fatigued and more energized. My energy seemed to have a much longer duration and my moods fluctuated less.

This does not mean I am going to switch from steak to veggie burritos permanently, but it does mean I am going to incorporate new foods into my diet. From freshly made smoothies to nutritious salads, I tried to substitute healthy alternatives into my daily meals. I also tried to make my calorie count more consistent. That means eating breakfast, lunch and dinner to avoid binge eating and keep myself sustained the whole day. Furthermore, drinking a lot of water is an overlooked point which is a key to living fresh and clean. It was hard getting into the rhythm of taking a reusable water bottle to school everyday, but it kept me away from high fructose and sugary drinks.

Many people search for the holy grail of losing weight and staying healthy. Secret tips and tricks may help, but one essential point I learned through my challenge to stay nutritious was that size matters. It’s not always about eating quinoa and kale, but eating the right proportions of one food to the other really helps. This varies from person to person depending on their daily activities, size, metabolism and hunger, but it is important to keep an eye on proportions. This means it is key to avoid overeating protein or carbs, and to balance out one’s diet with more vegetables and fruits.

Through this demanding yet insightful process, I learned nutrition affects many things ranging from mood to energy.

It is important to watch how you eat because it is integral to your lifestyle. After all, why stock up on the sugary, artificial sweets when you can enjoy nature’s candy?

23 s e l f - i m pro ve m e n t Monday, March 16 2015

through student anecdotes, scientific research and helpful tips.

Meditation Barrett Zhang

People who meditate have a ten percent better reaction time than nappers and T.V. watchers.

Stress is a major part of my daily routine. I wake up, think about my chores and goals for the day and subsequently feel stressed with what I need to achieve for the day. Throughout most days, these worries plague me. One thing that I have found that releases my stress is taking time in the day to be alone and understand myself through meditation. Taking this time is a great way to clear my thoughts for the future and prepare myself to accept my own happiness and allows for me to search for self-improvement. Taking time, relaxing and freeing myself from my worries and concerns helps me replenish my brain’s expended energy. Meditation is especially helpful in the mornings because it helps me to wake up and prepare myself for the day ahead. To me, though, this practice comes third, after sleep and video games as a method of relaxation and self-improvement.

I find that methods that allow me to channel my stream of thoughts help me to relax. To be honest, many in modern times do not consider meditation due to their busy schedules and lack of ability to concentrate.

Meditation requires patience and practice in its beginning stages, but it is a great skill to pick up for students.

Sleep

One of the primary causes of excessive sleepiness among Americans is self-imposed sleep deprivation.

Ryeri Lim For the last few months—years, maybe—I’ve been experiencing frequent headaches, bad skin and muscle pain. After I woke up dizzy and nauseous one morning, my mom finally dragged me to a pediatrician whose advice was to “sleep more.”

I could have tossed the exhausted doctor’s words right back at her purple undereye bags and droopy demeanor. But then we’d all be pointing guilty fingers—according to data collected by the fitness app Jawbone, not one county in the United States averages eight hours of sleep per night.

Well, we all have our reasons. What’s a couple missed hours of sleep when we have deadlines to meet and functions to attend? The world is our oyster, after all, and everyone is competing for the pearl.

But I’m not wired for that sort of caffeine-crash lifestyle. In fact, almost no one is—the National Sleep Foundation confirms that teenagers need eight to ten hours of sleep each night. Therefore, last week I set myself a bedtime: 11 p.m., shockingly early, if we’re going to be honest.

I saw physical results after one day.

Eight and a half hours of shut-eye not only hastened my natural wake-up time, freeing me from my usual need to apply eyeliner inside a moving car and eat breakfast in class, but also lent me the energy to simply do more. I paid more attention to lectures, actually participated in math class and even walked all over campus during tutorial to meet with three different teachers. Fueled by a single night of the recommended amount of sleep, I was notably more engaged in life happening around me.

The authentic thing about my epiphany is that it didn’t change my life. Most of the time, I’m still only getting six hours a night. And though I’m sure a healthy routine is the most beneficial option, Mother Nature isn’t all or nothing.

I had a good day that day, awake and enthusiastic and content. Now I can reap the same benefits anytime, should I be willing to rest for it.

Nutrition fact: http://www.cdc.gov/healthyyouth/nutrition/facts.htm Sleep Fact: http://sleepfoundation.org/sleep-news/25-random-facts-about-sleep Meditation fact: www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/07/15/7-fascinating-facts-about_n_899482.htm

Graphics by Elizabeth Zu Photos by Josh Spain

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Get your head in the game Sports are a potential solution to student stress Michael Chen REPORTER

In light of recent events, the Gunn community is focusing its efforts on trying to help students tackle stress. The community is implementing solutions to reduce academic stress by cutting down student workloads and streamlining the study process. However, trying to lighten workloads is not the only way to deal with stress. In addition, the community should look to sports. Through sports, students acquire a variety of skills that are critical for stress management. Furthermore, playing a sport can provide people with a mental respite from the other pressures of life, something that is crucial for maintaining a healthy lifestyle.

One of the most important skills that sports teaches is effective time management, which is critical for reducing work related stress. While sports do add to the stress of scheduling, ultimately this stress helps to teach athletes better time management. For example, senior Guy Kasznik, a football and soccer player, said playing sports actually helps him to study efficiently. Kasznik believes that while most people think spending a lot of time on sports makes study more difficult, his experience has been the opposite. “Spending so much of my free time on sports actually makes it easier to study,” Kasznik said. “Most people, when given a large amount of time to study, usually find ways to distract themselves because they think they have time to do it later. For athletes, you get a small window of time to do your work. This requires you to be efficient with your time.”

By doing a sport that takes two to three hours each day, students learn to reduce procrastination. To succeed, they must structure their time and get through work efficiently.

Thus, through sports, students improve time management ability and become more proactive in handling stress.

In addition to teaching effective time management skills, many sports also give students the opportunity to be part of a team. Teammates form a close-knit support network, similar to a family with members who support each other. Senior

Kiley Lin, a committed swimmer and water polo player, said that her teammates can always help cheer her up. According to Lin, all of the hard work they put in together has made her team almost like a second family. “I am with my swim team for around 24 hours a week, and we’ve gotten really close because we’re always working so hard and having so much fun together,” Lin said. “It’s like I have a swim family in addition to my actual family.”

Lin’s teammates serve as friends, competitors and coun-

“Every time I jumped in the pool, I forgot about my daily stresses and worries. It Helped me not feel overwhelmed.”

—Senior Jay Choi selors in times of need. This positive experience is shared by athletes in many sports. Sophomore Emma Munch, a competitive volleyball player, said that being on a team is one of the best parts of playing volleyball. “Volleyball is great for me in a lot of ways,” Munch said. “Not only does it let me get my anger out, but it’s also a team sport. It’s really encouraging to know that they’re there with me, and that just helps me relax.”

The benefits of having a team are consistently proven by studies around the world. A study done in 2014 by the University of Toronto showed that participating in team sports improves both long and short term mental health in teens and young adults. The study showed a strong correlation between participation in team sports and lower symptoms of depression, stress and mental health.

Furthermore, with any competitive sport comes hard work and competition. Athletes are constantly faced with new challenges during training and competition and must learn to be resilient, even in the face of adversity. While different sports create different kinds of pressures for athletes, the result is the same. Sophomore Tone Lee, a basketball player, said the pressure and excitement of basketball has taught him valu-

able lessons about handling stressful situations. “A lot of basketball games come down to the last point scored,” Lee said. “These situations have taught me to keep calm.” Lee believes that his ability to handle stressful moments calmly has been hugely beneficial to him. After experiencing the intense pressure of close games, other kinds of stressful situations become less daunting. “Before I started playing basketball I was really shy,” Lee said. “After playing basketball, I gained a lot of confidence, and I learned to control my nerves better. I became a lot friendlier.”

Sports also give students a period of mental respite each day, allowing the mind to focus on the task at hand. This prevents stress from continuously building up in the mind and causing students to become overwhelmed. Jay Choi, a senior, said that playing sports, such as swimming, was how he coped with all of the competing stressors of his life. Choi, who suffered from depression and mild schizophrenia, said that swimming was always a time for him to clear his head and relax, and it played a major role in helping him overcome depression. “I was depressed for a time, and my treatment would only add to the stress, because I would get further behind on work,” Choi said. “Swimming was a way to cope with this, because it gave me time to think and really swim away from my problems and cleanse my mind. Every time I jumped in the pool, I forgot about my daily stresses and worries. It helped me not feel overwhelmed.”

All of these benefits can be made available to students, if the community places more importance on increasing student involvement in sports. Sports are often overlooked as a stress-solving solution because of common misconceptions that playing sports ultimately increases stress because it takes up time. However, the lessons and experiences that sports have to offer not only make up for these deficits, but also make sports a simple and effective way to begin solving the puzzle of student stress.