Winged Post Volume 19, Issue 4

WINGED POST MONDAY, FEB. 5, 2018 | THE HARKER UPPER SCHOOL STUDENT NEWSPAPER, VOL. 19, NO. 4

Rothschild Performing Arts Center opens, inaugurates new era for arts

WHAT’S INSIDE?

Second Women’s March 2 Student music producers 6 Cryptocurrencies 12

Friday’s ribbon-cutting ceremony gathers community for celebration

LIFE workshop tackles time management arya maheshwari

JESSIE WANG

reporter

arushi saxena reporter

The National French, Japanese and Chinese Honor Societies and the Junior Classical League (JCL) will collectively host International Week, a combined club week fundraising for Doctors Without Borders, to promote the connection between and celebrate individually their respective cultures.

Chinese National Honor Society (CNHS) is selling boba and nian gao today, celebrating Chinese New Year. French National Honor Society (FNHS) will sell crepes and other French food tomorrow during office hours, lunch and after school, with Japanese National Honor Society (JNHS) hosting a Smash Brothers tournament and CNHS holding their annual Dragon Dance.

JCL will fundraise Wednesday and JNHS will sell musubi, mochi and calpico and host wasabi roulette Thursday, followed by FNHS’s cultural night.

“We hope to gain a better understanding of multiple cultures, alterting the entire student population to global communities and their values,” said Kaitlin Hsu (12), President of JNHS.

Students to take annual AMC 10/12 exams sahana srinivasan editor-in-chief

Students will take the American Mathematics Competition (AMC) 10 and 12 A exams Wednesday morning in the Atrium, during a specially allocated morning block period that will replace first period, which will occur on Thursday instead, replacing school meeting and morning office hours.

All upper school students could sign up for the 12 A, and all underclassmen could participate in the 10 A, but the upcoming AMC 10 and 12 B exams are available only to students who participate in a required number of math contests throughout the year.

kathy fang & tiffany wong photo editor & Aquila news editor

After a year-and-a-half of construction, the ribbon-cutting ceremony last Friday opened the Rothschild Performing Arts Center (RPAC) to student use, with many performing arts classes moving into the new rooms in the coming week.

Visitors at the ribbon cutting ceremony were given the

opportunity to participate on a student-guided tour of the various spaces and to attend a presentation on the theater’s features, which was accompanied by alumni performances.

The Patil Theater will feature 463 seats, a professional fly system, an adjustable hydraulic orchestra pit, a control booth for light and sound effects and soundproof walls to enhance the quality of acoustics during performances.

“I think the thing that is

most important to note is the actual theater itself because we’ve never had an actual theater,” performing arts director Laura Lang-Ree said. “The sound in there is remarkable, and I think that’s something easy that you can see as a benefit to every person and group and ensemble that’s going to touch that stage.”

RPAC, which cost $45 million, also includes four classrooms, each outfitted with a recording and projector system; several soundproof practice

rooms; two dressing rooms; a scene shop; a student art gallery and a 15 feet by 35 feet screen in the front lobby.

Students and faculty can use to display performance videos and announcements.

“This is better than a lot of the performing houses and professional houses I’ve seen this year,” facilities director Mike Bassoni said. “Just the sound quality, the level of detail––it’s a very special class.”

Continued on page 8.

After assault of middle school teacher, administration tightens campus security meena gudapati & sahana srinivasan Aquila editor-in-chief & editor-in-chief

As a result of the early morning assault and robbery of a Harker middle school teacher on Jan. 2 at the Blackford campus, school administration is currently expanding and reinforcing security protocols at all campuses.

Police arrested a suspect on Jan. 4 in the assault and robbery of the teacher, who was preparing her classroom the morning of the first day of school after winter break.

Police believe this was a random attack.

The administration is conducting a review of school security systems and has entered into a contract with international security and emergency preparedness firm Nelson Safety and Security.

Founder and Managing Partner Victor Rocha is conducting assessments with written feedback regarding safety and security on each campus, which will likely completed by the end of February.

“We want our community to be safe and to feel safe,” Head of School Brian Yager said. “It’s important for learning and growth that you’re in an environment that feels secure; that is and always has been an essential element of this school. It’s really important for us to make sure that everyone feels safe, so we want to accomplish that, and I hope people do feel that now even despite this incident, which is horrible.”

While the review takes place, the administration has added an extra security guard and implemented earlier start hours for morning security, a

KAITLIN HSU

Honor Societies celebrate International Week

OPENING DAY The front lobby of the Rothschild Performing Arts Center and has a video screen that can project announcements and recordings.

NIGHT PATROL Security guard Brendan Carroll patrols campus on Tuesday evening. Administration is evaluating and reinforcing security across all campuses after a Jan. 2 assault on a middle school teacher.

nighttime patrol and monitoring along the back fence at the middle school.

Self-defense training options for staff are being implemented by the administration.

The first workshop was for middle school staff, but future seminars will be open to all staff.

Rocha and the administration are currently reviewing saftey and security suggestions made by parents and staff.

On Jan. 5, San Jose Police Department Chief Eddie Garcia announced that Andrew Bracamonte, 23, had been arrested and booked on multiple criminal charges.

Bracamonte, who resided a half-mile from the middle school campus, is not a registered sex offender, and he is not currently on parole.

English teacher Patricia Lai Burrows is covering the teacher’s classes during her absence.

It is the official policy of the Winged Post not to name survivors of sexual assault.

An outpouring of support to injured teacher includes notes, gifts, GoFundMe Students, faculty, staff and families from all Harker campuses have outpoured support in the last month.

Students and middle school faculty met on a weekend in January to switch the teacher’s classroom with another classroom on campus.

A GoFundMe campaign, “Support of Our Beloved Teacher,” has also been set up for the teacher, started by Harker parent Sholeh Diba Goetting. The campaign, which opened on Jan. 3, has raised $56,740 as of Jan. 30.

“I’ve gotten a lot of emails from concerned parents just expressing their condolences and their support,” Head of School Brian Yager said. “I know that

others have gotten that too, and the teacher herself has gotten a lot of cards and comments from students and colleagues and parents, so that emotional support has been really lovely.”

Additional reporting by Rose Guan, Kaitlin Hsu and Maya Kumar.

PROVIDED BY CINDY ELLIS

Chemistry teacher Dr. Smriti Koodanjeri will host a talk on time management in the Living with Intent, Focus & Enthusiasm (LIFE) series’ next installment called “Finding Time” tomorrow at 12:45 in the Cyber Loft.

Dr. Koodanjeri plans to run the session as a discussion in which students can share concerns or problems with each other and also receive tips from her.

“I’ve been doing planning and teaching kids time management since 2010, and [problems] always come back to the lack of time,” Dr. Koodanjeri said. “Teaching kids how to manage their time has really become my passion.”

KATHY FANG

LIFE ISSUES Seniors Sunny Jayam, Matthew McCallaCreary and Bobby Schick attend English teacher Christoper Hurshman’s talk on adulting on Jan. 29.

SHOWING SUPPORT Teddy bears, flowers and notes of support have been left for the teacher at the middle school’s front office. The administration will deliver notes left for the teacher at any of the four campuses’ front desks.

2 WINGED POST

NEWS

Viva Las Vegas!

Students channel their inner Elvis in annual dance production

VOLUME 19 • ISSUE 4 FEBRUARY 5, 2018

Manzanita layout reorganized after break to improve cafeteria flow gloria zhang

TURNIN’ NIGHT INTO DAYTIME (LEFT) Varsity dancers Charlotte Blanc (10), Liana Wang (12) and Sonal Muthal (11) perform a kick in the opening performance of the dance show. (TOP RIGHT) Liana Wang (12), Chloe Chen (10) and Shray Alag (9) grin in the opening performance.

(BOTTOM RIGHT) Charley Huang (12) jumps with Miranda Larsen (12) in Garth Brooks, the dance to honor seniors participating in varsity dance.

nina gee & arushi saxena reporters

Over 160 students annual upper school dance show Jan. 26 and Jan 27 at the Blackford theater. This is the last time the dance show will be held there, as the construction of the Rothschild Performing Arts Center is now complete and will be ready for use in February.

This year’s theme, Viva Las Vegas, is a tribute to all the legends that pass through the legendary city, including classic stars like Elvis or Frank Sinatra, as well as newer celebrities such as Britney Spears or Lady Gaga, who have their own shows on the strip.

“Las Vegas is the entertainment capital of the world, so I thought that it would be a

perfect theme to showcase our vibrant choreography, exciting music and fun costumes,” upper school dance teacher and director of the show Karl Kuehn said.

“You will see musical numbers [and] dance numbers from performers like Frank Sinatra, to Britney Spears, to Celine Dion.

If they performed in Vegas, we’re going to showcase their magic on stage.”

The show was split into two parts, the first being Welcome to Las Vegas, which represents the more traditional side such as the highly acclaimed shows of Vegas, and the second being Legends of Las Vegas, celebrating performers who redefined the slate of show business.

“When I first heard about it, I got really excited because when I think about Vegas, I

think of the big shows, and that’s something I’ve always wanted to be able to choreograph to,” student choreographer and varsity dancer Liana Wang (12) said. “It’s a little different from years before, so it’s going to be great.”

This production also featured seven student choreographers. All seven students are dancers who, having taken the choreography elective, spent hours choosing and editing music, picking costumes and working on their dances.

“Well, choreographing is just what I do. It’s what I breathe,” Liana said. “It’s part of my life, and as a dancer, just any experience to go out there and choreograph routines is always good.”

With more than 160 stu-

dents and several teachers participating, the dance show is the largest theater production at Harker, as it accepts and encourages anyone who wants to participate in the show.

“You really don’t know what an experience this is going to be like until you try something like this out,” Linus Li (12), a member of Kinetic Krew said. “Even if you don’t dance, the relationship that you develop with the people in [your] dance is ultimately something that can’t be paralleled by many other experiences. I feel like it could be really beneficial to anyone who wants to start dancing.

If you want to do it, do it.”

Proceeds from the concession stand were donated to support the victims of the Las Vegas shooting.

SOLEMNLY SWEAR Harker alumna Jessica Dickinson Goodman ‘07 (left) takes her oath to become City of San Jose Human Services Commissioner for District 2. Dickinson Goodman was sworn in on Jan. 16.

nerine uyanik asst. humans of harker videographer

Harker alumna Jessica Dickinson Goodman ‘07, who has made a career of helping others, was sworn in as City of San Jose Human Services Commissioner for District 2 on Jan. 16.

Surrounded by family and friends, she stepped into the San Jose City Clerk’s Office and pulled out two charms. From the left pocket of her blazer, Dickinson Goodman pulled out a pair of cufflinks. From her right, she took out a pearl necklace.

She wanted both objects to

be with her. The Tennessee River pearl necklace, passed down to her on her 18th birthday, reminded Dickinson Goodman of her grandmother’s advice to pick big fights and persevere.

Her late grandfather’s golden cufflinks reminded her of him always encouraging her to think critically about politics even though both came from different perspectives.

A golden California pendant on her necklace, a rainbow barrette in her hair and both charms at her sides, Dickinson Goodman carried herself and all she represents Among her many career

pursuits, Dickinson Goodman had previously worked in the legislature in Washington State as a scheduler for Senator Kamala Harris while Harris was Attorney General of California.

She found the experience helpful in preparing her for thinking about how policy moves and how to can build a multi-year plan to make something happen.

“I think the job of someone who is in elected or appointed office is to benefit those who have less power– not to take it up for themselves.”

JESSICA DICKINSON GOODMAN (‘07) SAN JOSE HUMAN SERVICES COMMISIONER

NERINE UYANIK

NERINE UYANIK

Harker alumna sworn into San Jose public office

“Elected officials and appointed officials have three kinds of power,” Dickinson Goodman said. “They have their statutory power, [the] power of the press and the power of con-

vening. They can get a lot done using a mix of each of those pieces of power. I think the job of someone who is in elected or appointed office is to benefit those who have less power–not to take it up for themselves.

As commissioner, Dickinson Goodman will work to advise the City Council on making San Jose more accessible for people with disabilities, making transit friendlier to women and children, and ensuring that first responders represent the communities they serve.

“I would really encourage anyone who is currently in any of the political or government classes, or is irritated, or enraged by what’s happening in the news, to do what I did, to go and type in ‘San Jose boards and commission’ into Google, read through all the different opportunities and options--read through them for your city if you don’t live in San Jose--and apply for them. Most of them don’t have an age restriction.

Every single person and Harker could apply for and probably get onto these commissions.

Most of the meetings are in the evenings. Most of them are accessible by transit. It’s a key way that you could contribute to your community.”

“Starry Night,” lights up campus at annual semiformal reporter

Winter Ball, themed “Starry Night” this year, took place in the Nichols Atrium on Saturday, Jan. 20, 2018 from 7:30 p.m. to 10:30 p.m. The junior student council and spirit club hosted the dance as a fundraiser for the junior class, facilitated by Student Activities Director Kerry Enzensperger and Assistant to Activities Director Eric Kallbrier.

“We thought that ‘Starry Night’ would most accurately capture the Winter Ball theme.

We wanted to do something that can look fancy [and] classy,” junior class president Kelsey Wu (11) said.

In the atrium, giant stars and strings of yellow lights hung from the second floor.

The building glowed blue wiht lamps. Round tables covered with glitter and balloon centerpieces stood around the room.

“I don’t think people know how long it takes to put it together,” Enzensperger said. “[But] junior class council is extremely organized. I basically just facilitated [and] helped everything that they asked for happen.”

Throughout the night, a confetti cannon fired sporadically into the crowd of over 350 students. The junior council also supplied students with glow sticks during the dance.

“I was with my friends and we were dancing,” Elaine Zhai (9) said of her first high school dance experience. “ I thought the songs at Winter Ball were really cool… and there were confetti cannons! They never had that stuff in the middle school. There’s a lot more people; it’s a lot more fun.”

At the end of the night, DJ RJ Navalta, a breakdancer for the Warriors, performed a flip

GLORIA ZHANG

Head Chef Steve Martin proposed changes of rearranging tables and drink stations and adding new trash cans before winter break in Manzanita.

He and the kitchen staff worked with school administrators and the faculty Green Committee to solve the issues of students not correctly disposing of their trash and of overfilled bins. The first change was to rearrange and acquire more trash cans, which now line the wall next to the used dishes station.

DECA/TALON team wins Herff Jones challenge karina chen reporter

TRIUMPHANT Sharon Yan (12), Vignesh Panchanatham (12) and Devanshi Mehta (11) pose for a photo on their trip to Houston.

The upper school’s joint DECA and TALON team won the 2018 Herff Jones Marketing Results Challenge in Houston.

Consisting of DECA member Vignesh Panchanatham (12), TALON managing editor Sharon Yan (12) and TALON seniors editor Devanshi Mehta (11), the team created a video reviewing methods to increase yearbook marketing and sales on campus.

The team will receive $5,000 to be recognized at the April DECA International Career Development Conference in Atlanta, Georgia.

Students test linguistic skills in NACLO gloria zhang Aquila asst. features editor

The North American Computational Linguistic Olympiad (NACLO) open round was held on Jan. 25 in the Nichols Rotunda from 9 a.m. to 12 p.m. The competition is an individual annual linguistic test open to all high school students that evaluates logic skills and language processing. “[The NACLO olympiad] is basically a set of linguistic [puzzles] that are problem solving in their basis,” Linguistic Club secretary Andrew Semenza (12) said. “They all involve existing languages or constructive languages, and yet language itself isn’t necessarily the focus of them, it’s language as a means of solving interesting problems.”

Amnesty International holds club week jessie wang reporter

KATHY FANG

vivian jin

LUNCHTIME Tables were moved to the right side of Manzanita. The rearrangement was intended to decrease congestion during lunch.

PROVIDED BY ELLEN AUSTIN

NINA GEE

NICOLE CHEN

NICOLE CHEN

Aquila asst. features editor

STARRY CELEBRATION Partying students cheer and dance at Winter Ball. Throughout the night, a confetti cannon fired sporadically into the crowd of over 350 students in the Nichols Atrium on Jan. 20.

over the heads of several sitting students and showed some of his breakdancing skills in the middle of a ring of cheering students.

The Winter Ball featured new highlights this year, including a telescope set up by physics and research teacher Chris Spenner outside Nichols and an open-air photo booth.

The junior class council’s

budget for all of these preparations was $6000. They spent over $5500 on the dance.

“Just coming to a consensus on everything is definitely a challenge,” Kelsey said. “Also, some things that we wanted to do [were] out of our budget.”

Juniors and seniors, as well as freshman and sophomores if invited, can attend prom on April 28.

Amnesty International organized a guest lecture and sold donuts, bagels and various other assorted baked goods for their club week last week.

Club members sold baked goods during lunch all week for and sold donuts and bagels before school on Tuesday and Thursday. They raised roughly $1,300, all of which will be donated directly to Amnesty International.

On Tuesday, the club invited human rights advocate and CEO of Integrated Archive Systems Amy Rao, who sits on the boards of many different organizations such as the Human Rights Watch, V-Day and the 11th Hour Project, to talk about human rights problems how different organizations move to solve them in Nichols Auditorium during long lunch.

NEWS

3 WINGED POST

VOLUME 19 • ISSUE 4 FEBRUARY 5, 2018

Citizens make voices heard, prepare for midterms in second Women’s March

Capitol Hill:

What You Missed

Part six of asinghvi seven part series American politics aditya moreon people to vote in the 2018

MARCH ON (TOP) A woman protests with a sign saying “Enough already Dump Trump” during the second annual Women’s March in San Jose, Calif.. People of all genders and nationalities protested worldwide on Jan. 20 to protest the current administration. (LEFT) A woman protests with a sign saying “We resist, we persist, we rise!”

(RIGHT) Two women protest with a sign saying “We all deserve respect and a leader that can speak in complete sentences!”

FAST FACTS • Around 250 marches held on Jan. 20 • 2 million participants worldwide

Seniors present annual Student Directed Showcase sahana srinivasan editor-in-chief

Seniors Anika Banga, Haley Keller, Sameep Mangat and Jessica Skinner presented their shows in the annual Student Directed Showcase (SDS) on Jan. 7 and Jan. 8 at the Blackford theater. “[It was] the craziest but most rewarding experience of my entire life, and also [I liked the] power because I got to tell everyone what to do,” said Anika, director of “The Murderous Mansion of Mr. Uno.” The approximately threehour show opened with Jessica’s “Chamber Music,” an absurdist play featuring eight women in an asylum who think themselves great historical figures and try to preempt an anticipated attack from the men’s ward.

Following Jessica’s play was Anika’s show, a comical murder

mystery in which the audience voted on which character committed the murder and then witnessed one of eleven possible endings.

“What I really wanted was for the show to be ensemble-based, meaning that there’s no leads and everyone is on stage all the time and everyone has a big part, because I like exploring relationships between really different people and how they interact with each other,” Anika said.

“Rabbit Hole,” directed by Sameep, was the only drama of the showcase and featured a family’s everyday life eight months after losing a child. Her choice of show was partially influenced by the SDS show she acted in as a freshman, “We Live Here,” which was directed by Madi Lang-Ree (‘15) and centered on a family dealing with the recent suicide of their daughter.

• Marches took place in the U.S., Canada, the U.K., Japan and Italy • 150,000 Bay Area participants • Focus on 2018 midterm elections

“We think it’s hard to be in shows––but when you look at it in comparison to directing, it’s a lot easier just because you’re only responsible for one person, and as a director you’re responsible for every single individual and it’s so hard to put it all together,” Sameep said. “[I didn’t expect] the emotionally tolling aspect and how much it would require in term of thinking, planning and preparing and how many essays we wrote and all of that.”

The last show––Haley’s comedy “The Imperfect Proposal”––chronicled a couple’s date in a park. The male lead Ben continuously attempts to propose to his girlfriend, only to be repeatedly interrupted.

“It was kind of a spontaneous decision [to participate],” said Alex Chen (12), who played a protester in the park in Haley’s show. “One of the great things about working with a student director is that it’s super easy to talk to them, and they’re a lot more relaxed with their directorial style. They’ll let you improvise and play around with your

Women’s marches took place in various United States cities on Jan. 20, the anniversary of the inauguration of President Trump.

Marches were intended to protest the Trump administration’s policies on a variety of issues, including women’s health, civil rights and social justice.

In the Bay Area, more than 150,000 women marched in the streets of San Francisco, Oakland and San Jose.

“A lot of the people were wearing things like Planned Parenthood shirts or other women march shirts from previous years,” said Anusha Kuppahally (11), who attended the San Jose march. “A lot of the signs had to do with Trump or issues of inclusivity that are currently going on in our government.”

The march comes amid the #MeToo and #TimesUp movements, which inspired many marchers to protest the prevalence of sexual harassment in the workplace. This year, there was an increased focus on voter registration and compelling

midterm elections through a movement called “Power to the Polls”.

“It’s called the Women’s March but I think it encapsulates so much of what is on our minds as students and as citizens because it isn’t just about women, it’s about whoever faces oppression. It’s how about we need is a radically progressive and all inclusive agenda, and what we’re getting instead is a very quickly restrictive and a closed minded one,” said Haris Hosseini (11), who attended the march this year.

President Trump tweeted about the march, writing “Beautiful weather all over our great country, a perfect day for all Women to March. Get out there now to celebrate the historic milestones and unprecedented economic success and wealth creation that has taken place over the last 12 months. Lowest female unemployment in 18 years!”

Trump gave his first state of the union address last Tuesday, addressing all branches of government and the nation.

SAHANA SRINIVASAN

MAYA KUMAR

SAHANA SRINIVASAN

SAHANA SRINIVASAN

reporter

MURPHY’S LAW Shaya Zarkesh (12) and Esha Deokar (11) attempt to enjoy a picnic in “An Imperfect Proposal,” directed by senior Haley Keller. The shows ran in the Blackford Theater on Jan 7. andw Jan. 8.

character more.”

Sameep agreed that one of the most rewarding parts of directing was working with her actors.

“A lot of the times, what these actors have in terms of their vision is different from what you have in terms of a director, and so in order to coalesce the two and make sure both

sides are happy, it’s interesting to work with one character and say, ‘this is what you want, but here’s what I’m thinking’ and see if you can find a way to integrate them,” she said.

The next performing arts show is the United Voices Concert on Feb. 23 at 7 p.m. in the newly opened Rothschild Performing Arts Center.

vijay bharadwaj news editor

KATHY FANG

The upper school held the annual choral concert where music groups Bel Canto, Camerata, Cantilena, Acoustics, and Guy’s Gig performed on Jan. 19 in the Nichols Atrium from 6:15 to 7:15 p.m.

The winter concert, themed “Voices on the Wind,” featured performances from all ensemble groups directed by upper school vocal teachers Susan Nace and Jennifer Sandusky. “[The theme] has to do with voices that are not heard,”

Nace said. “I often like to do music that’s very different, so not all of the music is by women composers, but most of it is. It goes from late renaissance and early baroque all the way to the present.”

Acoustics and Camerata started off the show singing John Williams and Leslie Bricusse’s “Somewhere in My Memory” while ringing handbells, which were tuned to certain notes.

Camerata then sang a rendition of “A Tisket, A Tasket.”

They were followed by Bel Canto, who performed

CONVIVIAL CONCERT Camerata members Dilara Ezer (11), Marina Logue (11) and Meghna Phalke (11) ring handbells for “Somewhere in My Memory.” The concert took place on Jan. 19 in the atrium.

the first two sections from Emma Lou Diemer’s “Three Madrigals,” English folk song “Barbara Allen” and James Pierpont’s “Jingle Bells.” Bel Canto pianist Ihita Mandel (11) accompanied the ensemble for “Jingle Bells.”

Afterwards, Guys’ Gig sang Billy Joel’s “The Longest Time,” Frank Slay and Bob Crewe’s “Silhouettes” and Billy Strayhorn’s “Take the ‘A’ Train.” The group also performed in between songs.

“We’ve been doing rehearsals almost everyday to prepare for this concert,” Rahul Bhetanabotla (12) said. “I’m really excited to perform “take the ‘A’ Train,” which is the hardest song I have ever sung in Guy’s Gig.” The last group to perform was Cantilena, who finished off the night with Sarah Quartel’s “Voice on the Wind,” Caterina Assandra’s “Duo Seraphim,” Ruth Elaine Schram and Celsie Staggers’ “All the World is Winter” and Abbie Betinis’ “Jerusalem Luminosa.”

The next winter concert will be performed in the Rothschild Performing Arts Center, which opened Friday.

TIFFANY WONG

Upper school hosts annual winter concert

SPEAK UP! Avi Gulati (10) and David Feng (10) present in last year’s annual Speech Showcase. Avi placed second in oratory at the Arizona State Invitational.

Speech and debate teams garner awards in competitions nationwide anna vazhaeparambil reporter Members of the upper school speech and debate team have participated in several tournaments this past month and will continue to attend more as they prepare for the national tournaments at the end of the season.

At the Harvard-Westlake tournament in Los Angeles the weekend of Jan. 12 to Jan. 14, Akshay Manglik (9) was a double octafinalist in Lincoln-Douglas debate, while at James Logan, seniors Jimmy Lin and Justin Xie placed second in public forum and sophomore Tiffany Zhao advanced to the final round of congressional debate.

Likewise, members of speech and congressional debate have also worked on their individual events to prepare for tournaments this month, like the Arizona State Individual in Tempe, Arizona on Jan. 5 to 7 and the Sunvitational in Fort Lauderdale, Florida on Jan. 12 to 14.

In the Arizona State Invitational, sophomore Nakul Bajaj placed in the final round in congressional debate, and Avi Gulati (10) and Nikhil Dharmaraj (11) were second and fourth respectively in oratory. In the Sunvitational, Harris Hosseini (11) won second place in oratory and Nikhil finished fifth. Ashwin Rammohan (11) was also a finalist in congressional debate.

4 WINGED POST

GLOBAL

VOLUME 19 • ISSUE 4 FEBRUARY 5, 2018

At least seven survivors were saved from the Pacific after their ferry between two Kiribati islands, which carried over 50 passengers, sank more than a week ago.

Search planes will continue to look for more survivors.

After World War 2, the Palestinians or native Arabs owned nearly all the land in modern day Israel.

Under the U.N. plan, the Jews were given their own state to shield them from future persecution

After the Six Day war, in which the united Arab states lost, Israel took additional land from Palestine.

ALL VISUALS BY WIKIMEDIA COMMONS

THE PRESENT

JUN 10, 1967

7 saved from sunk ferry in Pacific

SEP 2, 1945

eric fang global editor

NOV 29, 1947

The Israeli-Palestine conflict: When will it end?

Israel attacked areas in Gaza to deter Hamas and established settlements in Palestine

Afghan national day of mourning declared The Afghan government declared a national day of mourning after a deadly ambulance bomb killed more than 103 civilians in the streets of Kabul. The U.N. denounced the attack and the attack comes days after a Save the Children office building was attacked.

Ireland’s Catholic majority cabinet voted to hold a referendum on whether or not to relax their srict abortion laws.

Russian opposition leader released Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny was released from prison after being arrested at an anti-Kremlin protest in Moscow.

Poland drafts law to ban Nazi accusations Israeli Prime Minister, Benjamin Netanyahu denounced the Polish amendment, which expresses that it is illegal to claim Poland assisted the Nazis in their persecution of the Jews during the Holocaust.

A LAND DIVIDED: A growing divided forming between Israelis and Palestinians often leads of violence and protests. President Trump declared Jerusalem Israel’s capital and made a decision to move the American embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem late last year.

eric fang global editor

The Israeli-Palestinian conflict is one of the most controversial, long-standing and violent confrontations in the modern era. That is why it is crucial for the public to be aware of the complex politics and history surrounding the topic.

After World War II, international support skyrocketed for an independent Jewish state because of the persecution they faced at the hands of Nazis.

Because of this, the U.N. divided modern day Israel into two parts, one for the Jews, and one for the Arabs, known as Palestine. The Jews appreciated the decision to grant them land, whereas the neighboring Arab

states saw the decision as European encroachment on Middle Eastern affairs. Shortly following Israel’s declaration of independence in 1948, five neighboring Arab states declared war on Israel in an attempt to unify the region under Arab rule. The new state of Israel not only won the war but also spread beyond its original borders decided by the U.N., expelling large numbers of Palestinians from their homes.

In 1967, the Arab states and Israel fought once more in a war known as the Six Day War. By the end of the war, Israel had taken over all of the once Palestinian territories and the Sinai peninsula from Egypt.

The source of much of today’s conflict is the number of

Jewish settlers moving into Palestinian territories.

The United State’s role in the conflict was additionally complicated when President Trump declared Jerusalem the capital of Israel. This news dismayed many Palestinians who wanted East Jerusalem to be their capital as it housed holy sites for both Muslims and Jews.

Damon Halback, the international relations and AP Government teacher believes that Israel and Palestine have no choice but to negotiate some kind of compromise to achieve peace.

“I wish I had a magical bullet to resolve this conflict but I don’t,” Halback said. “Both sides have some intractable positions involving things such as the West

MICHAEL ENG

Ireland to hold abortion referendum

bank and Gaza to settlements and the recognition of Israel, so the only pathway available required compromise form both sides.”

Yehiel Grenimann, an Australian born rabbi working with a human rights organization known as the “Rabbis for Human Rights,” believes that the Israelis and the Palestinians are growing more and more polarized and that this has made peace harder to achieve. “[Israel] is moving increasingly to the right of the political spectrum which has complicated the peace process,” Grenimann said. “This move is precisely why a one state solution would be the framework for civil war in the future.”

The Rise of the Right

2018 Winter Olympics: What is new and why it matters jin tuan reporter

The International Olympic Committee (IOC) banned Russia from attending the 2018 Winter Olympics in Pyeongchang, South Korea due to recently uncovered doping scandals. However, individual athletes from Russia who are considered to be “clean” can compete under the Olympic flag in 2018.

This ban stems from a report by the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA), an independent organization that promotes the prevention of doping in sports, saying that Russia did not comply with the Olympic anti-doping standards, most notably during the more recent 2014 Sochi games. As a result, the IOC has also taken measures to strip some Russian athletes of previously-awarded medals.

Previously, the IOC placed bans only on certain athletes and teams from Russia in the 2016 games because there was only proof of tampering in the Moscow laboratory before Rio. Now,

the WADA has also uncovered systematic manipulation of an official Olympics drug-test lab.

In July 2016, the IOC’s Schmid Commission was formed to investigate Russian athletes identified in Professor Richard McLaren’s investigation. The evidence shows that doping occurred under 30 sports, including 20 summer Olympic sports and Paralympic sports After these findings, in addition to banning certain athletes, WADA’s executive committee strongly urged the Sports Movement to deny access to Russian government officials to international competition. In addition, WADA recommends International Federations to consider and reinforce their responsibilities.

“They were such a great ice skating team and I think it will be definitely be a loss to the Olympics,” said Maya Franz (9).

“I’m deeply saddened that Russia would resort to using performance enhancing drugs for their ice skating team. However, it may also allow some other coun-

ERIC FANG

columnist & reporter

tries to take the gold.”

The Winter Olympic Games are generally less popular compared to their summer counterparts. Without Russia, a major competitor, the Pyeongchang games may suffer in terms of viewership in numerous categories.

With both the tense relationship between North and South Korea and the absence of Russia, some worry about the diminishing significance of these games in the sporting world. Recently, Seoul and Pyongyang have reopened a hotline between the leaders. The IOC also originally allowed North and South Korea to both compete under one unified flag. Following the protests that broke out in South Korea, North Korea has decided to back out of the Resistors accounted for the disappointment of South Korean players who had worked hard to qualify for the women’s hockey team and doubted the motives of North Korea. Yet, there is hope that tensions will be able to decrease during the games.

Under President Trump, the United States is experiencing a resurgence of right-wing nationalist rhetoric and political organization. The growth of far right nationalism has transcended international borders becoming a global phenomenon affecting the politics of European countries.

Political parties with rightwing nationalist philosophies have garnered influence and power in many European countries, even occasionally pushing their politicians to the highest positions of power.

In Germany, Alternative for Germany (AfD), a far-right populist and right-wing nationalist party, became the third largest party in the German Parliament after the country’s 2017 federal election. According to the Federal Returning Officer’s poll, the party won over 90 seats and 12.6 percent of the vote. Aside from their anti-immigration stance, the party has expressed anti-Muslim sentiment on social media by disapproving of the burka, a garment worn by many Muslim women.

The Czech Republic appointed Andrej Babis as prime minister in December. Action for Dissatisfied Citizens (ANO), his anti-immigration party, totalled over twice as many votes than the next largest political faction.

Similar to Germany, the Czech Republic re-elected Milos Zeman for president, who has also expressed far-right and anti-immigrant sentiment. “‘The problem with those movements is that it’s a response to economic uncertainty and de-

KRISHNA BHEDA

krishna bheda & sara yen

MOVING TO THE EXTREMES: The right wing of a bird breaks off from the main body. Right wing politicians gain traction throughout Europe.

mographic uncertainty and its being promoted for political and economic advantage,” international relations teacher Damon Halback said.

Dr. Jonathan Olsen, the chair of the Department of History and Government at Texas Woman’s University said that far-right parties attempt to harm the roots of democracy. “[Far-right movements] are right-wing extremists in business suits that try to paint themselves as reasonable, but a lot of the ideas that they’re pedaling will gut certain pillars of liberal democracy such as individual rights and protections of minorities,” Dr. Olsen said.

Among various reasons, their actions stem from religious faith, national law and traditionalism, populism, and social stratification.

“What you see that in some countries like Hungary, is that [right-wing extremists] try to enact limits on press freedom [and] publications that they disagree with,” Dr. Olsen said.

In Germany, Muslim women are mocked by the AfD, and in the Czech Republic a lot of media is controlled and censored by the Andrej Babis. The United States is not alone in this rise of the right.

VOLUME 19• ISSUE 4 FEBRUARY 5, 2018

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FEATURES

OF THE PEOPLE

Sixty years of the Grammys—and only 10 African-American Album of the Year winners. Again and again, the awards show spotlights white artists and thrown black musicians into the shadows; 2013 saw Mumford & Sons triumph over Frank Ocean, 2014 Daft Punk over Kendrick Lamar, 2015 Beck over Beyonce and 2016 Taylor Swift over Kendrick Lamar.

2017’s race was arguably the most polarizing, with Adele clinching the title over 63-time Grammy nominee Beyonce—who at 2017’s ceremonies was in the running for nine different categories. anvi banga & farah hosseini & maya kumar

Aquila asst. news editor & reporter & managing editor

Only 10 black artists have ever won the Grammy ‘Album of the Year’ award in the history of the awards show. 2018 was the show’s 60th year.

As feminist and social justice movements further develop, many people are outraged at the lack of diversity in Hollywood and its award winners.

“When you’re growing up and you see yourself and others like you represented on television it makes you feel as though you have this sense of belonging, as though you’re not limited by any sort of outside factor into

MUSICAL MILESTONES In the 60-year-history of the Grammy Awards, only 10 black performers have recieved an award for album of the year.

Awards season marks “new horizon” for representation what you can achieve,” Diversity Club Officer Sumati Wadhwa (12) said.

Only 10 black artists have ever won the Grammy ‘Album of the Year’ award in the history of the awards show. 2018 was the show’s 60th year.

Minority populations have traditionally been underrepresented as award winners in Hollywood, spurring backlash and trending hashtags such as #GrammysSoWhite and #OscarsSoWhite.

In 2017, the #GrammysSoWhite movement sparked controversy, and The Recording Academy faced much criticism when Adele and other white singers won Grammys over popular black artists like Beyoncé.

“Having media that lacks

diversity and lacks a representation or a reflection of our actual society becomes no longer an actual portrayal of who we are.

It’s an inaccurate portrayal of the stories that we tell about ourselves,” Jennifer Fang from the Nerds of Color organization said.

This year, the Grammys nominations appear to be more diverse with many nominations for people of color. For the first time in 19 years, no white men have been nominated for the Album of the Year award.

Most attendees of the Golden Clobes wore black outfits, and the memorable dresses and suits were sold at an ebay auction starting on Jan. 19, where the proceeds are going to Time’s Up legal defense fund. Many Grammys attendees wore or held

white roses to support the Time’s Up movement.

The Time’s Up movement, led by women in Hollywood, has raised over $19 million to provide legal support to victims of sexual assault.

During this year’s awards ceremony, many prominent members of the industry used their positions of power to combat sexism and harassment against women. Instead of their usual plus-ones, many women brought activists as their guests and spoke out on the red carpet.

“Men have to be educated and have to realize that it’s up to them to speak up. Women speaking up about their experiences is important and there needs to be a safe space for women to do that, but to make a change, men

have to step up [as well]” diversity club faculty member Mark Janda said.

Sexual harassment was not the only trending topic at the Golden Globes. Sterling K. Brown won the award for best actor in a drama television series for the show, “This is Us.” In his speech, he thanked Dan Fogelman, the creator of the show, for giving him a role that only a black man could play.

“His speech, I found, spoke really powerfully to how important it is that white people listen to people of color and learn how to include them in the writing process and how to allow their experiences to speak for itself rather than whitewashing,” Janda said.

Math teacher brings tech industry experience to classroom

In this installment of the repeating features segment, Yanxin Shi discusses his experiences at the upper school.

global editor & reporter

Not long after Troy Thiele, former upper school math and statistics teacher, replaced Derek Kameda as the Director of Standardized Testing and Scheduling, Yanxin Shi stepped in to teach Thiele’s precalculus and AP Statistics classes.

Shi, 34, has a background in computer science, and taught the programming and advanced programming summer courses last year. He also served as a substitute for computer science teacher Susan King while she underwent surgery. Before embarking on a teaching career, Shi worked at tech companies such as Facebook, Quora and AirBnb as a programmer and later a manager.

Shi’s path into teaching has been an interesting one. After graduating from Tsinghua University in China, he finished his graduate school at Carnegie Mellon University and transferred to Stanford University to achieve his Ph.D. Shi, after one year, quit his Ph.D to to begin work at several tech companies in Silicon Valley. “[I found that] I liked the

industry side better, because I could better evaluate what my value was, what my work’s value was, and that is why I quit the PhD,” he said.

Shi quickly moved up the ranks to eventually hold a managerial position at Facebook. His experience mentoring fellow coworkers was the impetus for his desire to teach.

“Basically [being a manager] means that you have to understand your people, understand their strengths and weaknesses, and help them grow in their career path, and I felt I really enjoyed that,” Shi said. “So I thought: maybe I should just pursue a different path of improving or mentoring people.”

This realization led Shi to teach at Harker’s Summer School, where he immensely enjoyed working with King and other teachers. That experience led him to become a teacher at Harker.

Shi believes he can use his strong background working in technology firms to his advantage when teaching.

“I do feel like there is a pretty big gap between what you need in industry and what you learn in high school or univer sities,” Shi said. “I want to use

HELPING HAND Math teacher Yanxin Shi works with student Jin hyuk “Jin” Kim (12) during class. Shi began teaching classes in January.

my past experience in industry to give people some insight into the things that are not usually taught in school, but are useful in later life.”

Nonetheless, Shi faces a variety of challenges as a new teacher. Because he learned the majority of his math in a Chinese high school, Shi is unfamiliar with the English terminology for some mathematical terms.

“Even if I understand the concept, I often don’t know how to say it in english,” Shi said.

“For example, when someone said, ‘isosceles’, I didn’t know the English word, but I definitely knew what that type of triangle is called in Chinese. [Another challenge] is just getting to know people, so that I can adapt my teaching style to better fit everyone.“ Despite the obstacles, Shi enjoys teaching at the upper school and feels that his students are both smart and hardworking.

In the end, his dream is to go back and become a teacher in China. There, he hopes the skills he has accumulated teaching in the United States will help fill some of the shortcomings of Chinese education.

“My long-term goal is to go back to China and teach at a high school there,” Shi said. “China has a large education market, and I feel like there is definitely a gap that I can bridge.”

Outside of teaching, Shi enjoys playing weekly soccer matches and traveling.

JESSIE WANG

eric fang & jessie wang

JESSIE WANG

Shi’s favorite part about teaching is introducing students to useful skills that they can utilize later on in their adult lives.

MATH MASTER Shi delivers a lecture to his precalculus class. “[A challenge] is getting to know people, so I can adapt my teaching style to fit everyone,” Shi said.

“I think the best teaching style is the personalized teaching style where a teacher is able shape the course to best fit their individual students based on the person’s personality, progress, strengths, and weaknesses. I know this is hard to do for every student in a class, but it is something I want to do better and adapt to what the students actually need. I want to use my past experience in industry to give people some insight into the things that are not usually taught in school.”

YANXIN SHI MATH TEACHER AND WORLD TRAVELER

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VOLUME 19• ISSUE 4 FEBRUARY 5, 2018

STUDENT

SP TLIGHT Student artists produce original songs tiffany wong & zoe sanders Aquila news editor & reporter

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EG UAN

A sea of sound waves snake across the screen, each a dynamic cycle of pixelated peaks and valleys. Headphones in, foot tapping to the composition’s heartbeat, the artist scans the multitude of dials positioned near the bottom of the software interface and tweaks an electric guitar melody until the line smooths out, now perfectly in equilibrium with the rest of the piece.

Music production, or the writing and recording of music, challenges artists to translate their musical ideas into the right combinations of sounds and notes.

producing 101 1. WRITING

Zach either records musicians live or works on his computer, depending on the genre of the piece. “For an EDM track, I’d type in the notes I want on the software’s piano. The program also includes a variety of electric instruments and pads,” Zach said.

3. MIXING

Zach equalizes the various tracks and gauges the relative frequencies of each line to ensure that no two lines “compete” with each other. Zach groups instruments of a certain family or sound together to efficiently manage the various tracks of their piece.

THREE

4. MASTERING

After editing each track individually, Zach ends the production process by mastering the piece. “This step is where you affect the mix as a whole, whether it’s making the midrange more apparent or limiting the intensity of the peaks in the song,” he said.

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Humans of Harker ANTHONY CONTRERAS

Aquila asst. features editor

“He’s my son. He’s a funny boy. He likes to compete. When he is committed to something, he tries his best. Sometimes he’s quiet. Sometimes he’s not.”

Anthony Contreras’ (12) mother, Aida Mendivil, scrambles to perfectly describe her son. Most seniors know Anthony as an athlete; with football, track and wrestling, he plays sports all year round. But his mother knows him as a happy-go-lucky dreamer, affectionate but still utterly teenage boy.

“It has been an adventure,” Mendivil said of watching her son grow up. “[When] he gets into his teenaged age, he says, ‘Mom, leave me alone.’ Then, he comes back to me, being there,

reporter

When photographing her subject, Mallory Millard turns her attention to the less noticeable features to fully capture every emotion portrayed.

“When you see a picture of somebody and a face is in it, you immediately focus on their face and the emotion they’re having,” she said. “I want other things, like the temperature of the photo, or the highlights or shadows — I’d rather those aspects portray the mood as well as body language. I just think that the face is too easy to figure out.”

Joshua Martinez, the upper school Visual Arts teacher, admires her ability to express her own experiences in her work.

“The thing that I’ve noticed

“I enter notes on [the composition program] MuseScore.

If that doesn’t give me what I had in mind, I take those notes as a .midi file and put them into GarageBand to get different sounds,” SoundCloud artist Annabelle Perng (11) said. “I really like to put drums in my music to give the piece character and liveliness.”

Some students have decided to take their producing careers even further, moving into the business realm of music. Gowtham Irrinki (9) earns money by producing and selling his beats. Gowtham recently had his music played on local radio station 91.7 KSVR and at the upper school’s Winter Ball.

The goal of this cross-platform project is to profile all members of the class of 2018.

To view all features and full versions of the ones below, visit Harker Aquila, the student news site of the upper school, at harkeraquila.com.

dreamer * son * optimist

loving me and hugging me.”

Anthony “grew up” through dealing with family hardship.

“My brother was a juvenile delinquent,” Anthony said. “To see him struggle and everyone else struggle with him, it made me sad.

That’s when it sort of came to me to ‘fake it ’til you make it.’ Fake being happy, and eventually you’ll become happy.”

Over time, he realized that a change in mindset would ease his future difficulties.

“I could have been exactly like my brother, but I chose the path to see my mom as a com-

MALLORY MILLARD farah hosseini

DJ: Mixes pre-recorded music for a live audience Producer: Composes and records original music

most about Mallory is that she won’t say anything about what she is working on for a really long time, and then all of a sudden, it will just be complete,” Martinez said. “A lot of the work she creates is autobiographical.”

Rather than defining physical objects as success, Mallory believes that happiness forms through relationships.

“On my backyard patio, there’s this box of my older sister’s dance trophies,” she said.

“For the past five years, they’ve just been sitting out on my back patio

GLORIA ZHANG

gloria zhang

DEFINITION

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artist * friend * expressionist

MELISSA KWAN

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ALL PHOTOS PHOTOS KATHY FANG

Zach Wong (11) composes melodies before piecing together harmonies. “There should be more tracks going downwards than across—the piece will have a lot of different instruments and be much more interesting,” he said.

“Money-wise, I charge anywhere from $25 to $80 for a YouTube lease. For anyone who finds my YouTube and wants to buy a beat, I charge them to use it and to rap or sing over it,” he said. “I currently have a deal with the artist I’m working with; however much money he makes off of his streams on Spotify, I get 30% of that. So far, I’ve earned about $1,000.”

Aside from electronic music and hip hop producers, the upper school also has students who compose classical music. Emily Liu (10), who won HELM’s September contest with her piece “Divertimento,” shows that not much experience is needed to get involved in a new activity.

“I started out coming up with really small compositions in sixth grade, but I actually only began composing last year,” Emily said. “I was just bored one day and decided to compose music. I started by installing a music composition software called MuseScore.”

An outlet for expression, music production provides the tools for artists to communicate their musical visions through blending the unique timbres of both computer-generated beats and traditional instruments.

“I was always fascinated with transforming sounds into other sounds. I would play the radio and then play the same song on my phone, and I’d try to change it up,” arranger Zach Wong (11) said. “On Google, I’d search up ‘how do you transform a song into a different song?’ I came into this whole world where you can use music to make an impact on other people—not just as a leisure activity, but also as a performance.”

“Fake it ‘til you make it. Fake being happy, and eventually you’ll become happy, rather than staying sad about everything. I chose the path to see my mom as a complete idol. She is exactly like me—or I am exactly like her– in terms of being calm and stress-free and relaxed. I am trying to be like my mom.”

ANTHONY CONTRERAS (12)

“I don’t care about things, I care about people.

A lot of times, people form connections for the wrong reasons. I value the relationships you have with people where you can just be with them, and be completely comfortable without saying a single word.

That’s a real friend right there.”

MALLORY MILLARD (12)

LIFESTYLE

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VOLUME 19 • ISSUE 4 FEBRUARY 5, 2018

Gold and gray moments at the Golden Globes jenna sadhu & arushi saxena

ROCK ‘N ROLL Thumpasaurus performs at a concert venue in Los Angeles. “A lot of people go to our shows to experience laughter and humor while they’re dancing.

There are all these different feelings,” Lucas Tamaren said.

“We had the song recorded, and I hit up my friend who’s a director and pitched her this idea of us in karate suits, because that’s what the lyrics are about.

We came up with different shots and concepts, and our friend came and taught us this stupid little dance. I edited and put it together, and it came out a couple weeks ago, and people seemed to like the video.”

LUCAS TAMAREN LEAD SINGER & GUITARIST

IN A ROCK BAND? Rock band “Thumpasaurus” blends genres to create “Thump music” prameela kotapalli features editor

On a sunny spring day in 2016, five musicians decided to record their first song together. Making music wasn’t new to them–the group had kicked off their careers by playing uptempo covers at tightly packed, dimly lit college house parties–but there was something experimentally fresh in the atmosphere of the recording studio that afternoon, an exhilarating vibe that seemed to mark the beginning of an era.

Each member brought their own style to the mix, from a saxophonist’s jazzy baritone to a drummer’s heavy pulse to a keyboardist’s electric trill. The song, complete with the whimsical lyricism of a vocalist and the synth-metal strain of a bassist, exuded an electrifying spirit and resonated with an artistic spark.

Before long, the harmonies and melodies coalesced into a debut single titled “You Are So Pretty,”

and Thumpasaurus was born.

“We recorded in our drummer’s basement at his parents’ house,” Thumpasaurus lead singer and guitarist Lucas Tamaren, 23, said. “We just smashed all these sounds together–a song came out, and we were pumped.

Everyone was smiling. It had a really good energy to it, and from there, we knew the vibe and direction we wanted to go in.”

Thumpasaurus has gone on to release four more songs, perform at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival in Scotland and sell out at various concert venues across Los Angeles. The quintet, who signed with media distribution company “Live For Live Music,” has a record on the way and a second album in the works, and their music videos have garnered thousands of views each.

“We had the song recorded, and I hit up my friend who’s a director and pitched her this idea of us in karate suits, because

that’s what the lyrics are about,” Tamaren said. The band–consisting of Tamaren on vocals and guitar, Logan Kane on bass, Henry Solomon on the saxophone, Paul Cornish on the keyboard and Henry Was on drums– doesn’t attribute its success to mainstream pop culture. Unlike many of the artists on the radio today, Thumpasaurus’s idiosyncratic style seamlessly blends jazz, metal and punk influences into a uniquely upbeat sound dubbed “Thump music.”

“It has an overall exciting tone, and we try to catch joy even if we’re talking about dark subject matter,” Tamaren said.

“It always has a hint of hope and good feeling, and we call it thump music.” Every note and lyric of Thumpasaurus’s music revolves around the band’s core philosophy: self-expression is one’s greatest creative tool.

“We’re trying to make the best of all of us individually and explore,” Tamaren said.

Our House serves wholesome twists on favorites

New San Jose restaurant uses locally-sourced, organic, seasonal produce to create fusion dishes Rather than branding itself as Mediterranean, Asian, or American, Our House prefers to draw on all different types of cuisine to create a fusion of different tastes. In one sitting, one could order a greek salad, french fries with foie gras, a Cuban-inspired pork belly burger and short ribs with hoisin sauce.

STEM editor

The gloss on the wooden tables reflects the dim glow of the hanging bar lights above, complementing the pumpkin-orange walls of San Jose’s Our House.

Plants are a motif in the restaurant—a vine-like succulent lies beside a tray of gooey, freshly baked cookies, while a blooming cactus sits on each table. Their greens blend in with the warm, earthy palette and homey aroma of spices and grilling meat, driving home Our House’s central message: its dedication to local, seasonal and unprocessed food.

Ensconced in a corner of Park Avenue where towering palm trees sway over the looming Tech Museum and the expansive plaza of the San Jose Performing Arts Center, Our House is, at first glance, easy to miss. But those who wander into the double glass doors will find food that is healthy, locally sourced and delicious and a cozy atmosphere that puts customers first.

Though Our House doesn’t follow a traditional waiter system—servers only bring food and clean up—their service is friendly and accommodating enough to make customers feel

Gold: Oprah’s speech Philanthropist moves crowd

Oprah Winfrey won the Cecil B. DeMille lifetime achievement award for her philanthropy, charity and contributions to the entertainment industry. The speech she gave touched upon racism, sexism, men in power and female empowerment. She spoke with grace and dignity and received three standing ovations during her speech. Oprah’s speech catalyzed speculation surrounding the possiblity of a 2020 presidential bid.

Gray: Not wearing black

Actors choose not to show their support for #MeToo Movemaent

Model Barbara Meier, actress Blanca Blanco, and President of the Hollywood Foreign Press Association Meher Tatna chose not to wear black for the Golden Globes Awards. Meier wore a colorful embroidered dress. Blanco chose a red velvet dress with cut-outs. “I love red,” Blanco said. “Wearing red does not mean I am against the movement.” Tatna wore a traditional red and gold embroidered ensemble. “As part of her Indian culture, it’s customary to wear a festive color during a celebration,” Tatna said.

Golden: “Big Little Lies” win KATHERINE ZHANG

Cast advocates for social issues

EAT WELL A dish of grilled short ribs with basmati rice and broccolini on the side.

katherine zhang

The Golden Globes are a celebration of excellence in film and TV. This year, it raised awareness of Hollywood sexual assault.

ALL ILLUSTRATIONS BY NINA GEE

ALL PHOTOS PROVIDED BY THUMPASAURUS

Aquila mult. editor & reporter

well-attended. It’s also unobtrusive, letting customers focus on enjoying themselves and their food. Each person is free to sit wherever they want, whether it be at a cozy, two-person booth or a four-person table right outside that faces the street.

In terms of its food, Our House has four main values: local, organic, seasonal and sustainable. Each word is lettered into the walls, a reminder to customers of why it stands out

Location: 185 Park Ave #189, San Jose, CA 95113

from our ever-prevalent fast food, grab-and-go cuisine. Our House prides itself on being a part of the “slow food” movement, a counterpart to fast food that promotes local food and traditional cooking and encourages consumers to think about where their food comes from.

In the case of Our House, “slow food” comes in the form of non-GMO, antibiotic-free, organic and locally farmed pro-

duce, and they aren’t afraid to show their pride in their values.

A chalkboard map of its local vendors adorns one wall, next to block letters that spell out the word “local.” The menu specifically lists where the beef used in its burgers come from and ensures that other meats are hormone- and antibiotic-free.

Skeptics point out that there is not yet any definitive proof that organic food tastes better. But whether it’s the care-

Ambiance: Food: Experience: ful attention that a small family business can give to its food or the local, fresh produce, each entree has a kind of richness and flavor that no fast food restaurant could ever have.

Part of this charm is the uniquely eclectic menu, which combines influences from all over the world rather than branding itself as Mediterranean, Asian, or American. In one sitting, one could order a

greek salad, french fries with foie gras, a Cuban-inspired pork belly burger and short ribs with hoisin sauce.

Served on a wooden platter, the Wagyu Burger boasts a juicy, soft patty, a far cry from the stereotypical grease. Blended with a sweet, soft bun, a sour, tangy sauce, sweet red onions and crunchy, fresh bibb lettuce, this burger is definitely the new take on American food that customers will look for when they come to Our House.

The sweet potato fries are another example—crunchy on the outside and yet impossibly soft on the inside, they are served with a sauce that looks like ketchup but explodes with the flavors of cumin and coriander and provides a kick that contrasts with the sweetness of the fries. Every bite, whether the dish is a fusion of different cuisines or a new take on a traditional entree, is a surprise.

Our House serves its purpose both as a restaurant and as an advocate for locally produced slow food. Not only is each dish well-prepared, rich and flavorful, but the pro-local, pro-health message that it sends rings clear with each bite.

The cast of “Big Little Lies,” featuring Laura Dern, Nicole Kidman and Reese Witherspoon has been prevalent in advocating for the freedom and an end to the ongoing sexual harassment in Hollywood. They have used their influence to begin conversations on several controversial topics, and one especially took a stance on combatting bullying in schools. heard.

Portman criticized the all-male nominees for best director which affirmed Witherspoon’s case for more female-led shows.

Gray: “Three Billboards” win

Movie criticized for portrayal of race

This year’s ‘Best Picture Drama’ award generated backlash after viewers began to speculate whether the movie was a tale of redemption or damnation, as the story featured a dull view on race. As critics began to review the piece, fans began to realize that the story was “unearned, manipulative and altogether offensive.”

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“It should be quite wonderful. As a musician, a concert hall is sort of a sacred space, a place in which you can really concentrate on your sounds.

The whole acoustic environment is just really unique to whatever hall in which you’re playing.

And so, to have a hall right on campus that we can grow accustomed to, that we can kind of get to know the certain nuances and acoustic details, is really special. Because then we can develop a relationship with the space. It’s really fulfilling for musicians from my perspective.”

Samuel “Butch” Keller

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“One, it’s here on campus, so that’s better for everybody right? And, we can count the many ways of that, but it’s user-friendly, it’s first class everything. As the head of the upper school, we finally get to meet together as an entire community, and I think that the equipment that’s in there, from the screen to the sound system, to everything in there. It just gives you that sense of pride and you know, I walk out of this office and look down towards by the performing arts center to the gym, and it’s just gorgeous. I would challenge anybody to have a prettier campus right now.”

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Students, faculty celebrate new Athletic Center, Rothschild Performing Arts Center

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“We have a black box theatre. Ms. Nace says that it’s getting a new keyboard. She can actually use the tuning system she’s supposed to for choir. There’s lot of really cool facilities, like having a green room [and] a dressing room. Just with all these things, we’re no longer trying to make ends meet in the ways that we can. Rather, actually, we’re pushing forward in a professional system that meets the standards that we aspire to as a choir.”

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Divija Bhimaraju (12)

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IA ILLUSTRATION BY NINA GEE

“We’re already in an award-winning program. Now we really have the space to make that more possible. Before, we were doing great in the Blackford theatre, but, you know, we’re already an amazing program and now we have this space to create bigger and better and have so many new things to play with. It’s going to be awesome.”

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RPAC to host first show in February kathy fang, tiffany wong jin tuan & saloni shah photo editor, Aquila news editor & reporters

Continued from front page.

The lights of the newly completed RPAC radiate through the glass walls of the lobby and illuminate the courtyard outside, inviting visitors to explore the 50,000 square-feet space.

Crowds of students, faculty, family and alum alike admire the building, which has been under construction for a year and a half.

Upon entering the lobby, visitors are immediately greeted with a prominent video screen display that spans the entire main wall. Double doors on either side of the screen open into the Patil Theater, a 463-seat auditorium outfitted with a professional fly system, a hydraulic orchestra pit, a control booth for light and sound effects and walls designed to amplify the acoustics of the space.

Behind the stage is a corridor lined with doors to classrooms and a doorway to the scene shop at the end. Bright red staircases tucked into the side hallways lead up to two more classrooms and a row of lockers specially designed for instruments.

These features of the Rothschild Center will offer students and teachers to work with larger spaces during rehearsals and more advanced lighting and sound technology during performances. In addition, students

and faculty can use the video screen in the lobby to project different forms of media, ranging from digital artwork to daily announcements.

“This is better than a lot of the performing houses and professional houses I’ve seen this year,” facilities director Mike Bassoni said. “Just the sound quality, the level of detail––it’s a very special class.”

Classes have begun moving into the new space today and will continue their transition throughout the week. Vocal music teachers Susan Nace and Jennifer Sandusky, theater teacher Jeffrey Draper, instrumental music teacher Christopher Florio and performing arts director Laura Lang-Ree have been given classrooms in the Rothschild Center.

Technical theater classes will also be held in the new center to allow students to familiarize themselves with the equipment of the Patil Theater.

“I think if you want to be really specific about something brand new that has not been there before, it would be for our technical theater students because they haven’t had the toys to play with,” Lang-Ree said.

“They haven’t had a fly space, they haven’t had things to come in and out, they haven’t had any of that opportunity or the opportunities that they’re going to have with the catwalks and hanging lights and learning how to do the sound—that’s brand new.”

While ideas for the building design first emerged in 1998,

11 first designs were submitted officially in 2014. Construction began in spring of 2016 and continued throughout the past school year into this winter, calling for various changes in parking and traffic flow in the morning and after school.

Faculty in the performing arts department have been given reserved parking spots near the Rothschild Center, which also includes spaces for visitors.

The first performance in the Patil Theater will be the annual United Voices vocal concert on Feb. 23, and the first mainstage performance will be the spring musical “42nd Street” in April, followed by “Our Town” in the fall.

“I am very excited to perform in ‘Our Town’ because I know that’s going to be amazing, having so many more people able to watch the fall play and having so much more space to work with,” Conservatory student Hannah Lak (11) said.

With the completion of the Rothschild center, students have been given two different dropoff paths in the morning to facilitate traffic flow, one running through the back parking lot

by Main Hall and one passing by the athletics center and the Rothschild Center.

FAST FACTS • An orchard comprised of 45 fruit varieties lies in front of RPAC • At the height of construction, around 150 workers were employed on campus • Athletics center is 26% more efficient than the baseline building standardRPAC is 29% more • Solar panels will provide about 22% of the energy by the gym, and 19% of the energy required by

ALL PHOTOS THIS PAGE KATHY FANG

9

CAPTIONS 1: LOOK TO THE FUTURE The RPAC contains a green room, dressing rooms, space for orchestra and Patil Theater. Alumni, staff and students alike gathered for its grand opening last Friday.

2: BLAST FROM THE PAST Students mill around the former parking lot, informal basketball courts and Rosenthal Field in 2014.

The Rothschild Performing Arts Center (RPAC) and new parking lot have replaced all three areas.

3: KRISHNAMURTHI GALLERY The corridor running opposite the main office features a wall of windows on one side and an alcove decorated with student artwork on the other, a carpet of red and gray geometric shapes lying in between. This corridor, named the Krishnamurthi Gallery, runs between the front lobby and downstairs classrooms.

4: DRAIN AWAY An RPAC drainpipe lines the side of the building near Nichols and flows into the French Drain, recognizable for the rocks covering it (not pictured).

5: LANDSCAPING The Plaza outside the RPAC and Main Hallway has been relandscaped to include an orchard.

6: CURTAINS UP RPAC’s new Patil Theater features matching red curtains and seats. Spring musical “42nd Street” will be the theater’s first mainstage performance.

7: TILES FOR DAYS A corridor outside the foyer of the theater leads to the parking lot on the south side of campus. Students and faculty have been given reserved parking spots on campus, with additional spaces open for visitor to use as well.

8: OUTSIDE WALL The RPAC overlooks the library and the front office on campus. Construction finished towards the end of January, with the ribbon-cutting ceremony formally opening the space to student use last Friday.

9: NAMING NAMES Paving stones line the outside of RPAC. Installed two weeks ago, they bear the names of Harker donors.

10: STAGE RIGHT The Patil Theater stage faces an audience of 463 seats and features a fly system, a hydraulic orchestra pit and a control room for lights and sounds.

11: LOBBY LOVE A video screen runs across the main wall of front lobby in the RPAC. The screen is composed of hundreds of LCD cubes that are each around three inches in length and can be individually programmed.

10 WINGED POST Editors-in-Chief Kaitlin Hsu Sahana Srinivasan Managing Editor Maya Kumar News Editor Vijay Bharadwaj Features Editor Prameela Kottapalli Opinion Editor Derek Yen STEM Editor Katherine Zhang Global Editor Eric Fang Lifestyle Editor Mahika Halepete

OPINION

VOLUME 19 • ISSUE 4 FEBRUARY 5, 2018

Amid grief, we find support in community EDITORIAL THE OFFICIAL OPINION OF THE WINGED POST In a year that sounded a clarion for momentum to move past a culture of pervasive sexual violence, the recent assault at the middle school is not only a jarring reminder of how fragile our safety can be but how personally wrenching such an incident is for our community.

The survivor of the attack

It is up to us to carry out the change we want to see. We’ve come far since the first protests for women’s suffrage.

But we still have so far to go. is a teacher we know and love, a teacher whose dedication and concern for her students are why she was there in her classroom the first day back from a holiday.

As San Jose Police Department Chief of Police Edgardo

Garcia said in a livestreamed press conference on Facebook about the assault, “for a teacher to have the diligence to be inside her classroom early to get her work done—there’s absolutely nothing that she did wrong.”

Fear and grief are only natural responses to such a situation.

Yet, we cannot let our emotions paralyze any action we might take. This kind of violence is trauamtic any time it happens. #MeToo. Times Up. Women’s marches.

2017 swelled with the voices of citizens demanding legislative and political action for civil rights, especially for gender issues. Systemic change can happen internationally, for our

country and at our school.

By relying on the bond of our community, the outpouring of support from students and parents are examples of how we can individually help.

Grassroots movements mark the beginning of cultural shifts. It is up to us to carry out the change we want to see.

We’ve come far since the first protests for women’s suffrage in the 19th and early 20th centuries. But we still have so far to go.

By keeping our heads up and putting one foot in front of the other, let’s continue to move forward, even as we reach out to comfort each other.

Copy Editor Photo Editor Kathy Fang Adviser Ellen Austin, MJE Aquila Editor-in-Chief Meena Gudapati Wingspan Editors-in-Chief Kaitlin Hsu Sahana Srinivasan Wingspan Managing Editor Maya Kumar Wingspan Designer Rose Guan Aquila Staff Neil Bai Anvi Banga Krishna Bheda Nicole Chen Adrian Chu

Jenna Sadhu Alex Wang Tiffany Wong Helen Yang Gloria Zhang

Humans of Harker Staff Ashley Jiang Nerine Uyanik Reporters Karina Chen Zoe Sanders Michael Eng Arushi Saxena Nina Gee Kushal Shah Farah Hosseini Saloni Shah Vivian Jin Jin Tuan Irina Malyugina Anmol Velagapudi Anika Rajamani Jessie Wang Varsha Rammohan Anya Weaver Aditya Singhvi Sara Yen Anna Vazhaeparambil Srinath Somasundaram Visit the Winged Post online at www.harkeraquila.com Follow us on social media with the handle /harkeraquila

Winged Post is the student newspaper of The Harker School’s upper school at 500 Saratoga Ave., San Jose, California, 95129. Newsroom phone number is 408-345-9236.

The Winged Post is published every four to six weeks except during vacations by the Journalism: Newspaper Concentration and Advanced Journalism: Newspaper Concentration courses at The Harker Upper School, which has 785 students.

The Winged Post staff will publish features, editorials, news, sports and STEM articles in an unbiased and professional manner and serve as a public forum for the students of The Harker School. Editorials represent the official opinions of The Winged Post. Opinions and letters represent the personal viewpoints of the writers and do not necessarily reflect the opinions of The Winged Post.

All content decisions are made by student editors, and the content of The Winged Post in no way reflects the official policy of The Harker School.

The opinions expressed in this publication reflect those of the student writers and not the Harker board, administration, faculty or adviser.

Letters to the Editor may be submitted to Manzanita 70 or emailed to wingedpost2017@ harker.org and must be signed, legible and concise. The staff reserves the right to edit letters to conform to Post style. Baseless accusations, insults, libelous statements, obscenities and letters that call for a disruption of the school day will not be considered for publication. Letters sent to The Winged Post will be published at the discretion of the editorial staff.

The Winged Post is the official student newspaper of The Harker School and is distributed free of cost to students.

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eart of Harker: An open letter to Logan Paul sameep mangat guest writer

Dear Logan Paul, I don’t think you get it. That, more than anything, is my problem. Despite your apology, you seem to be missing the point.

Making a mistake is not the issue at hand here. Filming and making a mockery out of someone who took their own life is. If you had even some sense of morality, you would be self aware enough to know that filming a dead body in the Suicide Forest of Japan is not acceptable. You filmed someone who took their own life. The moment you saw that body, you should have put your camera down and ceased the giggling.

Laughing in discomfort in the face of trauma is normal; laughing in awe as you consider what your view count will be when you post the video is not.

What you did was more than just a blunder; it was an offense, a trespassing of something far beyond your shallow understanding.

When I was in eighth grade, I lost a friend to suicide, and for days, I was left crying hysterically, trying to comprehend the

cruelty of the world. Thankfully, I never had to see the body. But imagine being forced to. Imagine walking through a forest and seeing your loved one hanging from a tree. You wouldn’t pull out your camera then, would you?

The moment you saw that body, you should have put your camera down and ceased the giggling.

You claim that this was unexpected—that you found the body on a whim when you were evaluating how haunted the forest was and decided to turn it into a video about suicide. But the fact of the matter is that you went Aokigahara, the Japanese “Suicide Forest,” and you knew perfectly well that there was the possibility of stumbling upon a dead body. You knew that in the case that you happened to find someone hanging from a tree, your view count would shoot up.

You went to this specific forest with the intent to find a dead body. Don’t try to play that off by saying you were there to check how haunted it was.

SUPER-SATURATED: anjay saklecha

Winged Post copy editor

It’s amazing how far we’ve come since Bryan Singer’s “X-Men” hit theaters in 2000.

Viewed by many as ground zero for the comic book movie era, its success ushered in a new wave of blockbusters that included Sam Raimi’s “Spider-Man” series, launching in 2002; Christopher Nolan’s “Dark Knight” trilogy, which started in 2005; and the dawn of Marvel Studios “Marvel Cinematic Universe” (MCU), with the release of “Iron-Man” in 2008. While there may have been some hiccups along the way with not well-received box office films such as “Daredevil” (2003) and “Catwoman” (2004), the groundwork was laid for superhero movies to become the next “thing” in Hollywood.

Four of the biggest studios in the industry—Disney, Fox, Sony and Warner Bros—have their hands on this lucrative pot of gold and in most cases are using films to emulate the comic pages.

Warner Brothers, producer of DC comics, announced that there are seven DC adaptations scheduled from December 2018 to June 2020, with Marvel Studios also announcing for eleven movies from 2018 to 2020. This development won’t stop the studios from dipping into the sci-fi, fantasy, and action genres during this time as well. With so many “event” projects vying for audiences’ attention, celebrities such as Steven Spielberg and Mark Hamill and critics from NYTimes and Rotten Tomatoes say Hollywood should recognize that the time for romantic comedies and horror films may be over.

But is it over?

Hollywood works in cycles, with a different type of film being the number one option for moviegoers over specific time periods. Right now, many consider this to be the “golden age” of superhero movies, much like the 1950s represented the glory days of the Wild West genre.

The idea of the marketplace overusing superheroes sooner rather than later is brought up frequently, but fans of superhero films rightfully point out that

As it’s always been, audiences will dictate with their money, choosing which films they are interested in.

comic book adaptations are no different from romantic-comedies or action flicks in that there will inevitably always be films of multiple genres in a year.

2017 saw nine high-profile superhero films (after six the year before). In the grand scheme of things, is that really that many?

While it is arguable that

It’s easy to be ignorant of the implications of suicide when none of your family has ever been faced with its repercussions and forced to deal with the slap of reality that accompanies it.

You had to see a body. You never saw the body. There was no history behind the person that you saw—no memories, no stories.

It was just a body to you. This man that you chose to film was nothing more than bait for your fans, a catalyst for you to mention “suicide” in your title and hope to get a couple more views.

And to that, I say: how dare you.

How dare you degrade a human being who suffered that much to the level to which you did. How dare you.

There comes a point where ignorance descends into delusion, where you begin to lose sight of what it means to be human. Somewhere, deep—very deep—down inside of you, there is an empathetic individual. I suggest you find that someone quickly. The world is rooting for your failure, and at this point, I am too. It’s hard not to when you say things like “this marks a moment in YouTube history” as a preface to a video of a man who hung himself. You are a despicable person, an individu-

al who fails to understand that the world is not a disconnected reality. You ignited rage and revulsion in people all around the world, but more importantly, you caused grief to the family of the man that you found.

I hope this situation forced you to reflect on yourself as an individual. But I also hope that you don’t come back to YouTube.

Your presence is not needed.

Quite honestly, your brand disgusts me, your fans disgust me and you disgust me. I hope your four seconds of fame were worth it.

Sincerely, Sameep Mangat

Sameep Mangat is a senior and has focused her ambitions towards education and empowerment around mental health and self esteem.

She has written a book called “Being Enough” about the pressures of adolescence and is part of a variety of clubs that promote mental wellness.

In this repeating guest column, we encourage all writers from around the community to share their memorable experiences while at the Upper School.

Please email all column ideas to wingedpost2018@gmail.com.

Claims of superhero movies oversaturating the film market are overblown superhero companies have written characters that seem to have evolved to a more modern work of art, with, of course, new special effects and costumes, superhero films achieve nearly the same success in the box-office, no matter whether it is critically well-received.

For example, while I’m a huge fan of DC comics and loved characters such as Batman and the Flash growing up, I found “Justice League” (released Nov. 2017) to be quite underwhelming and predictable. But the truth is that “Justice League” still grossed about $652.3 million.

Just last year, box offices saw the sequel to the new trilogy of the galactic saga “Star Wars VIII: The Last Jedi” gross more than “Thor: Ragnarok” and “Justice League.” Clearly there’s still room for other types of cinemas.

That’s why studios are still green lighting these projects amidst all the superhero business: superhero flicks may be “the thing,” but they’re certainly not the only thing.

It’s easy and understandable to think that the influx of confirmed superhero dates will

have some drastic effects on the Hollywood system — but as long as the studios play their cards right, business will likely go on as usual.

There may not be enough movie money to go around to make every single Marvel and DC film a runaway success, but glance at the domestic chart for any given year and you’ll see a wide variety of films among the highest-grossing.

In the end, the argument on whether superhero movies are taking over the Hollywood industry boils down to the market.

With so many similar-minded films going after the same demographic, the law of averages is going to play into this and everything will take care of itself in the long run. As it’s always been, audiences will dictate with their money, choosing which films they are interested in.

This is how the movie business has worked for decades, and with people interested in many types of films, the box office charts will remain as diverse as ever.

ROSE GUAN

Anjay Saklecha

OPINION

WINGED POST 11

VOLUME 19 • ISSUE 4 FEBRUARY 5, 2018

MEENA GUDAPATI

Starting life as a second semester senior

KRISHNA’S CAR Krishna Bheda (12) motions to start her car before backing out of her new parking space.

With the beginning of the second semester, seniors who requested a parking spot were given one on campus.

krishna bheda

Aquila columnist

My vision was blurry, my legs felt like lead, and the dream I had been having was way cooler than school. While struggling to not to fall back asleep, I mentally scanned through my day under the comfort of my fluffy green sheets and groaned at the thought of entering the brisk

morning air. I felt this way until I remembered that that morning was January 16th. That meant that today was the first day of second semester.

And that meant I was officially a second semester senior.

And that meant today, I would have a parking spot on campus.

The minute that thought crossed my mind, I sprung out of bed, and boy did I skrt skrt to school!

I drove to school to find my parking spot glowing like an angel under the sun—and I’m not going to lie, a tear was shed.

My car did not have to sit on a sketchy spot on Kiely, I was not sweating when I walked into my first period because I was not running to catch the bell, and my mom wasn’t stressed about my safety.

Dialectic:

This was the start of my life as a second-semester senior, and it felt right.

It has now been about three weeks of second semester, and let me tell you, it’s fantastic. I am not stressed about college apps or piles of homework, my car has a home on campus, and I finally have time for myself.

First semester was not like this. The grind was real and I, along with every other student, spent late nights hovering over the computer and every lunch in the library. However, things have changed now.

I find myself making new friends every day. I go out of my way to talk to people that I don’t think I have anything in common with. More often than not, I find that that person and I can find something to connect about. I’ve learned that students are willing to talk me if I’m willing to talk to them. Introducing myself to new people is not as scary as I thought it would be.

I also immerse myself in my hobbies. I jam on my piano and write songs. With this extra time, working on creativity and spending quality time with my thoughts is relaxing.

Whether it is driving late at night with my friends and screaming along to Bollywood music or hiking a new trail, I try to do one adventurous thing a week.

With every activity, friend, or idea I pursue, I enter it with the intention of courage and fearlessness. Benjamin Mee from “We Bought a Zoo”, says it best; “You know, sometimes all you need is twenty seconds of insane courage. Just literally twenty seconds of just embarrassing bravery. And I promise you, something great will come of it.”

It has now been about three weeks of second semester, and let me tell you, it’s fantastic.

This is the only time in my life where I will be in a place like this. I have four more months of school left and will probably have about four months of summer. As a second semester senior and almost a freshman in college, I intend to make the most of my time and I intend to prepare myself for the real world.

To me, that means courage and enjoying the small things, even if it’s just having a parking spot.

Of course, I hope to be active and adventurous this semester, but trust me, I will also be in bed, eating Milanos, and binge watching Grey’s Anatomy more than once. Relaxing is always good for the soul!

In our recurring Dialectics, two authors with nuanced viewpoints will discuss an issue of prominence in the local or broader community. We hope to use these multiple views to provoke deeper thought among the student body and help readers explore new perspectives.

NINA GEE AND DEREK YEN

The #MeToo movement began in Hollywood when people who had been harassed or assaulted by men in positions of power spoke out about it. Some fear that, despite the movement’s successes thusfar, it may not benefit those without Hollywood’s status.

In this vein, the Time’s Up legal defense fund was started by Hollywood celebrities who “recognize our privilege and the fact that we have access to enormous platforms to amplify our voices” and aims to “lift up the voices, power, and strength of women working in low-wage industries.”

How will the #MeToo movement affect Hollywood and society as a whole? adrian chu & sahana srinivasan

TIME’S UP While the #MeToo movement has encouraged cultural change in high-profile workplaces like Hollywood, many women continue to face sexual harassment. The Time’s Up legal fund has been established by members of Hollywood to help survivors with legal defense.

Aquila columnist & editor-in-chief

Winged Post: What aspects of Hollywood’s structure

allowed for these repeated cases of sexual harassment? Why have we heard so much about Holly wood specifically?

Hollywood is an industry. It doesn’t have any accountability over how movies are made. For most people, they’re a black box. Once we actually get into the Hollywood machine and all the different companies that finance and go into a movie, it’s very hard to have accountability over that many moving parts.

It’s sort of a perfect storm for individuals where what they do is sort of unknown to the public but they’re sort of known for allegations against Harvey Weinstein and other members of Hollywood can get the conversation started.

We’ve seen accusations in the #MeToo movement across all industries at this point, but not every other industry has the same platform and visibility as Hollywood does. When Harvey Weinstein was accused, when Kevin Spacey was accused, those are names people know—they’re already famous. But when you accuse your boss in a tech company in Silicon Valley, it just doesn’t have the same big name recognition. Hollywood was just the first to fall because it was perhaps the biggest and easiest to see once the first person started speaking up.

WP: Are you optimistic that there will be any cultural changes in Hollywood after the #MeToo movement?

It really takes systematic change in order to actually enact change. Of course, changing the culture helps and creates an environment where bringing accusations against people in power is easier, but when you hear about Harvey Weinstein, the reason why a lot of actresses were willing to work with Harvey Weinstein—despite what they knew about him through things like whisper networks—was that Harvey Weinstein was the guy who you would go to to win an Oscar. You would win an award, and that would kickstart your career. That sort of dream, for a lot of actresses, was very very attractive to them.

Not really. We are healing symptoms. People are literally setting up multi-million dollar funds to alleviate the symptoms of a worldwide, millennia-long problem, so no, I don’t think #MeToo in and of itself is going to vastly change everything, as much as I wish it would. Will it change power dynamics in Hollywood? Yes, because those type of men now know they will be held accountable and that it can and very much will ruin careers. Am I glad people are speaking up? Yes, that is a necessary and incredibly important first step.

You would have to address the root, which is men who feel inclined to sexually harass and manipulate and use their power to coerce sexual favors, and that’s more endemic.

One in four

women and

one in six men will be sexually assaulted in their lifetime

SOURCE: Connecticut Alliance to End Sexual Violence

Over 25% of sexual harassment charges reported to the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission were from service sector industries SOURCE: US Equal Employment Opportunity Commission

77% of rapes or sexual assaults will go unreported to police SOURCE: Bureau of Justice Statistics, “Criminal Victimization” 2016

WP: One of the points that are often brought up as criticism

of the #MeToo movement is that it centers around the very public and the very visible.

I don’t think it’s a big thing only for the very public and very visible. #MeToo has been going through millions of women across the country, but the only #MeToos hear about are the ones in Hollywood. I think that’s what they’re trying the rectify. Women who already who have status are the ones whose problems are being most widely recognized and rectified at this point, and I think that’s the reason why they started Time’s Up—they acknowledged that despite what happened to them they have privilege that other people don’t have.

WP: So what is Time’s Up? Over 300 writers, producers, directors and actresses who came together who came together and started a legal defense fund for working class women to hire attorneys in their own ongoing claims of sexual harassment and sexual assault.

A large part of the financial force and general momentum behind Time’s Up has been many of the talent agencies which represent many of the actors and actresses within Time’s Up—which brings up an issue, because Hollywood is run by just a very few number of talent agencies, but much of the misconduct and the crimes which happened behind the scenes were under the watch of these talent agencies, the same talent agencies which are now funding Time’s Up. [This] grants them the power to shape the narrative to serve their own purposes.

I think that’s definitely what’s irritating people a lot. People who were aware of the problem—who even if they weren’t perpetrators of the problem, were people who let it happen and never spoke about it and were silently complicit—are now coming forward in support of the women of the Me Too movement.

WP: How do you believe that Time’s Up will improve the cul-

ture of sexual harassment in the workplace?

I think the main thing it does for the culture is show that there’s a shift in terms of how people are tolerating it—or rather not tolerating it—any more. But it’s more a symptomatic response; that, after this happens, men and women will get justice. I think the fact it exists so publicly is a big warning that culture is ready to shift and that people are now going to be held accountable for their actions, and hopefully that will encourage even more people to speak up, and hopefully it will discourage future perpetrators.

One in four

women reported experiencing sexual harassment in the workplace SOURCE: Equal Employment Opportunity Commission “Select Task Force on the Study of Harassment in the Workplace”

Nearly 75% of sexual harassment charges reported to the EEOC allege retaliation from filing charges SOURCE: US Equal Employment Opportunity Commission

80% of sexual assaults of students aged 18-24 will go unreported to police SOURCE: Bureau of Justice Statistics, “Rape and Sexual Assault Victimization Among College-Age Females, 1995-2013”

12 WINGED POST

STEM

VOLUME 19 • ISSUE 4 NOVEMBER 16, 2017

GLOBAL

RESET

Part eighteen of an ongoing series

State assembly holds discussion on climate change anvi banga aquila asst. news editor

Representatives from the California State Assembly hosted a discussion about climate change policies on Jan. 25.

The discussion was focused on the SB100 bill, which calls for California to use 100% clean energy by 2045, gives the Public Utilities Commision (PUC) the power to regulate public energy utilities, and requires the California Energy Commision, which is the state’s primary energy policy and planning agency, the state board, and the PUC to create projects to replace fossil fueled energy.

“It’s actually proven far easier to meet all our clean energy goals than we thought when we set them,” Jason Barbose from the Union of Concerned Scientists said. “That’s just one thing that influences our thinking it’s that costs continue to come down and it actually looks like we’re kind of there.”

Barbose started the meeting with a presentation on recent impacts of climate change. Assembly Members Evan Low, representative of the 28th Assembly District, and Marc Berman, representative of the 24th Assembly District, then spoke for ten minutes each about their positions on climate legislation.

“Juxtaposition of 5 years of drought, hot and dry conditions, followed by immense rain may

seem incongruent, but climate scientists have been predicting this for California since at least the 1980s,” Barbose said. “Protracted periods of warm and dry conditions punctuated by immense wet spells with more rain and less snow means we will have both periods of droughts and floods more often in our state’s future.”

This was followed by a Q&A session where Barbose, Low and Berman answered questions from an audience that included a wide variety of Californians from small children to energy experts.

Low was the first to address the audience, beginning by asking audience members if they had previously taken in part in a community discussion about a topical issue and praising the community’s engagement in the forum.

During the forum, the speakers highlighted California’s role as a leader in the international issue of climate change.

“California is a leader [in climate change]. There’s an awareness of the importance of the state, from an immigrant perspective, from a perspective of job creation, from a perspective of being a role model,” Tarun Galagali, a senior advisor for congressman Ro Khanna, who spoke on how the renewable energy industry helps to provide jobs said.

“In the San Joaquin Valley, we’ve seen 8,000 new jobs just towards renewable energy, gen-

erating over 12 billion dollars in economic impact,” Galagali said. “That is to be celebrated the fact that these kinds of decisions, these kinds of targets can have tangible trickle-down impacts towards communities that have been significantly disenfranchised, is actually saying that here is where jobs are going

POLICY PARTICIPATION Members of the upper school Green Team as well as advisor and Spanish teacher Diana Moss attended an open forum on climate change hosted by Califorina State Assembly Members Evan Low and Marc Berman. The representatives discussed california climate change legislation, particularly bill SB100, which stipulates 100% clean energy use by 2045. The talk occured at Quinlan Community Center in Cupertino on Jan. 25

to go in the future, and here are where jobs have already gone because of ambitious targets.”

The audience was comprised mostly of Silicon Valley residents

campaigning for SB100 to pass.

Currently, California is aiming for 40 percent below 1990 levels by 2030.

REGENERON RESEARCH Rajiv Movva (12) and Justin Xie (12) were named finalists in the Regeneron Science Talent Search on Jan. 23.

The two will travel to Washington, D.C. in March for the final round.

adrian chu, alex wang & neil bai columnist & aquila opinions editor & copy editor

The 40 finalists and 300 semifinalists for the Regeneron Science Talent Search (STS) were announced on the Regeneron website on Jan. 9 and Jan. 23, respectively. Rajiv Movva and Justin Xie were named finalists, while seniors Amy Dunphy, Amy Jin, Jimmy Lin and Eleanor Xiao were named semifinalists.

The STS is an annual research competition open to high school seniors that began in 1942 as the Westinghouse STS through a collaboration between the Society for Science & the Public and Westinghouse Electric Corporation. In 1998, Intel Corporation replaced Westinghouse Electric Corporation as the sponsor of what became the Intel STS. The current sponsor, Regeneron Pharmaceuticals, Inc., became the sponsor in 2016, and the competition took on its current name.

Regeneron STS is available only for high school students and requires applicants to complete short answer and essay questions in addition to submitting a max-

imum 20-page research paper.

The 40 finalists receive between a 25,000 to 250,000 dollar prize and go on an all-expense-paid trip to Washington D.C. on March 8 through March 14, during of which the top ten will be announced.

“I’ve always been really interested in using theoretical tools like computer science to tackle real world problems,” Jimmy said.

“Last year, I learned about the potential applications of artificial intelligence in cancer research, so I worked on developing a system that could automatically diagnose breast cancers reliably. This year, I wanted to take that idea one step further by predicting breast cancer occurrence before it fully develops, with the end goal being earlier treatment options for patients.”

Justin’s project is on his research about type Ia supernova explosions, which occur in binary star systems with one white dwarf.

“In my project I tried to identify the mechanism behind type Ia explosions a.k.a. how they explode,” Justin said. “I just really like astronomy. Studying stars is very interesting because they’re just extremely majestic.”

Rajiv and Justin will compete in Washington D.C. in March for the final round of judging.

“Regeneron is something that I’ve always wanted to apply to and being named a finalist is an amazing experience and I’m looking forward to finalist week in March,” Justin said. “I’m looking forward to being able to interact with 39 other students who all really enjoy science but all do other things outside of STEM. I know Regeneron places a lot of emphasis on community service so I think everyone there is very caring and goal-driven.”

FCC repeals highly contested regulations on net neutrality aditya singhvi & srinath somasundaram reporters

The five-person Federal Communications Commission (FCC) voted to repeal the net neutrality regulations that were put in place during the Obama administration on Dec. 14, 2017. The repeal came in a 3 - 2 vote led by FCC commissioner Ajit Pai .

The regulations, collectively known as net neutrality, ensured that internet service providers (ISPs) treated all information on the internet equally.

Pro-net neutrality activists say that consumers will begin experiencing changes in their internet consumption soon if nothing is done to bring back the regulations.

“You’re going to have less options because competition has been sort of squashed,” Dylan Gilbert, a policy fellow at Public Knowledge, which is an organization campaigning for net neutrality, said. “You’re going to have a glitchy, unreliable internet experience, and you could potentially have a censored experience as well.”

According to Gilbert, there are three forms of interference that an ISP could potentially engage in: blocking, throttling, and paid prioritization. Blocking involves the ISP completely restricting certain information, while throttling is the slowing down of that information. Paid prioritization involves the ISP asking companies to pay to have their information prioritized and travel through an internet “fast lane”. “[A] large [video] provider has the money, probably, to pay for the fast lane,” Gilbert said. “So, if you and I are interested in streaming content, we are gonna choose the one that is going to get to us faster. That is anti-competitive because it picks winners and losers when it comes to who gets to send their content online.

We don’t want to deter possible new, innovating startups from being able to compete.”

However, those opposed to net neutrality say that the free market would actually enhance competition by exposing businesses to a free market.

KATHERINE ZHANG

Seniors advance to national round of Regeneron Science Talent Search

“The government is controlled by large corporations, which means the regulations end up favoring them, and harming their smaller competitors,” said Josh Steimle, the CEO of MWI, an international digital marketing agency, citing a Princeton study that concluded that corporations largely control the government.

Others believe that the internet should be left unregulated until large problems arise in real life rather than acting in the face of the possibility of them.

“It may be a solution looking for a problem, and if the problem doesn’t exist then putting in regulations to stop a nonexistent problem for occuring can have unintended consequences and side effects that are unforeseen,” computer science department chair Dr. Nelson said.

The recent repeal is being challenged in courts by various groups. Furthermore, senators are currently attempting to reverse the repeal of net neutrality through the Congressional Review Act (CRA).

STEM

WINGED POST 13

VOLUME 19 • ISSUE 4 NOVEMBER 16, 2017

After fall fire, robotics season off to strong start irina malyugina reporter

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This year’s retro-themed game is called FIRST Power Up and teams must manipulate their robot to perform specific tasks on a field to score points.

Robots place milk crates or power cubes on large scales to try to tip the scales.

“Although this year’s robot has been one of our most complicated robots as it involves an elevator, after many thorough rounds of brainstorming, we believe that we can be successful in our goals,” Robotics club member Aarzu Gupta (10) said.

Although teams are given build kits which contain components donated by various suppliers at the competition’s kickoff, they are encouraged to purchase other materials as well. Teams need mechanical materials, machinery, and

software to create the robot.

One of the materials that the robotics team purchased is a Computer Numerical Control (CNC) machine.

“We bought a pretty nifty piece of machinery, the CNC machine, so now we can make even more precise cuts which will allow us to build more intricate designs,” club president Aria Coalson (12) said.

Despite a flooding and fire in their lab on Oct. 5, the team did well in their first competition of the year.

“We’ve only gone to one competition so far which was the postseason competition,” Aria said. “We were top 10 and were pretty happy with our performance considering just a week earlier the lab got flooded.”

Last year the team made it

Signups for competitions such as the Tests of Engineering, Aptitude, Mathematics and Science (TEAMS) opened Jan. 5. Students will compete in the first round of the competition in a time window from Feb. 12 to Mar. 18. to Silicon Valley regional semifinals out of 47 teams.

“We will be attending two regional competitions back to back this March and will hopefully be able to qualify for the following rounds,” Aarzu said.

FIRST was founded in 1989 by Dean Kamen who wanted wanted to create a competition that combined sports with technology. The first competition was in 1992.

Currently 26 countries are participating and the competition has expanded to have two championships in additional to the 61 regional competitions because of the large number of teams.

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The upper school’s Robotics team started their preparations to compete in the annual For Inspiration and Recognition of Science and Technology (FIRST) Robotics Competition.

The competition began its build season, or Kickoffs, on Jan. 6. and the competition will take place at the end of March and in early April.

“The lab activity last night was very organized and structured,” Robotics advisor Dr. Eric Nelson said. “You can see the various subteams all working on the different elements of the robot, the field, the prototypes and the testing systems, all simultaneously.”

In the competition, teams have six weeks to build and program robots weighing up to 120 pounds which compete in a game at the end of the designated time period.

ROBOT’S READY (TOP) Members of the robotics team utilize machinery to fix the robot. (TOP RIGHT) Andrew Koonmen (11) works on the team’s robot in the lab. (BOTTOM RIGHT) Quentin Clark (10)works on a pneumatic control unit. The build season began on Jan. 6.

YF AN

Aquila asst. news editor

KA TH

anvi banga

Students sign up for TEAMS competition

AP Computer Science A screening exam held The AP CS A screening exam, used to test the competence of students who have not taken the Programming or Advanced Programming courses and would like to take AP CS A during fall in 2018, happened on Jan. 4.

The backstory of Bitcoin: bit by bit

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irina malyugina reporter

WIKIMEDIA COMMONS

Samsung premiered a 146 inch MicroLED TV nicknamed “The Wall” on Jan. 7, alongside an 85-inch QLED TV, which uses AI technology to raise the visual quality of pictures by altering the algorithm in its display.

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conceived in a 2008 paper by an anonymous person or group known as Satoshi Nakamoto and launched in

Intel revealed the existence of two major CPU bugs, Meltdown and Spectre, during the week of Jan. 1 that compromise the security of a device. The company has also stated that the problem is not limited to Intel products, affecting the chips of devices sold worldwide.

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DEFINITION Block (n): Blocks are bitcoin transactions that also contain links to previous blocks, making for a “block chain”.

Intel bugs compromise security

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The Falcon 9 Flight 20, one of the vehicles created for the project, lands vertically. Taken from Wikimedia commons.

In the past few weeks, the value of cryptocurrencies significantly fluctuated, with the value Bitcoin increasing to $17,000 on Jan 6 and rapidly decreasing in value to $10,000 by Jan 22.

Similarly, the value of the cryptocurrency Ether surged to $1400 on Jan 13 and dropped to $1000 just three days later.

In light of this instability, economists have wondered about the legitimacy of cryptocurrencies in the market, debating if it is another economic bubble or if it will have a permanent place in our economy.

Cryptocurrencies are digital systems of money that rely on encryption to secure and connect transactions. As with any other currency, like the dollar or euro, a user of a cryptocurrency can exchange it for materi-

2009.

Bitcoin’s defining trait is its lack of a central bank to verify payments. Instead, it relies on a digital type of ledger called the blockchain, which collects groups of transactions into “blocks” that contain connections to previous blocks.

“The fundamental idea behind cryptocurrencies is this thing called a ledger. A ledger is basically a cumulative list of transactions that have occured, and the details of the transactions are available to everyone that has an ID, which is called a public key,” Rajiv Movva (12) said.

Every Bitcoin user stores a copy of the blockchain; versions that have been updated with new transactions are broadcast for other users to register. Creating and broadcasting new blocks from transactions, a process known as mining, is the only way to generate new bitcoins.

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WIKIMEDIA COMMONS

Samsung released a smart refrigerator at the Consumer Electronics Show (CES), held from Jan. 7-12.

Wingspan senior staff writer and designer & reporter

al goods, services or other types of money.

The buyer must also have the information needed to approve transactions: a digital “wallet” of shared public keys and secret private keys. A public key is a digital function that can be used to confirm that the holder of the associated private key sent a certain message.

More than 1,000 cryptocurrencies exist; predominant among them is Bitcoin,

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WIKIMEDIA COMMONS

rose guan & michael eng

GLOBAL

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Apple’s Homepod speaker, an electronic assistant similar to Amazon’s Alexa and Google’s Home Assistant that uses Siri, will be released on Feb. 9.

Harker Horizon, a student-run scientific journal, had its club week during the week of Jan. 14. The journal’s aim is to promote the accumulation of knowledge and bolster aspiring researchers, as well as to support students interested in research.

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WIKIMEDIA COMMONS

Harker Horizon holds club week

NASA announces new observation program

BITCOIN

ETHEREUM

DOGECOIN

Designed by Satoshi Nakamoto in a 2008 paper, launched in 2009.

Developed by Vitalik Buterin and the Ethereum Foundation in 2014

Created as a joke currency in late 2013 by Billy Markus.

NASA announced that the Global scale Observations of the Limb and Disk, or GOLD, instrument will launch Jan. 25 on Jan. 4. It will study the ionosphere, an area of charged particles in the atmosphere and will be NASA’s first to enter near-Earth space via a commercial satellite.

14 WINGED POST

SPORTS

VOLUME 19 • ISSUE 4 FEBRUARY 5, 2018

Student body unites to fundraise during Kicks Against Cancer

Keeping up with Krishna

SAHANA SRINIVASAN

Learning to love soccer and overcome “choking”

krishna bheda

SOCCER AND FUNDRAISING (RIGHT) Sparsh Chauhan (12) steals the ball from a Menlo player. Harker lost with a final score of 3-1.

reporters

The upper school’s soccer teams played against Castilleja School or Menlo School as part of the annual Kicks Against Cancer event on Davis Field on Jan. 19.

Junior varsity boys played first, with varsity girls following and then varsity boys.

The junior varsity boys team played Menlo at 3 p.m., losing 3-1. Their record stands at 5-4 as of Jan. 30.

The girls varsity team lost 2-0 to Castilleja, though some of their players experienced injuries or could not come to the game. Their record for the season is 5-7 as of Jan. 30.

“We worked as a team because we knew how important the cause was, and even though there’s other events going on, like singing, even when those

SK8R BOIS Senior men’s singles division competitors Ross Miner, Nathan Chen, Vincent Zhou and Adam Rippon pose with their medals from the 2018 Prudential U.S. Figure skating Championships. Chen, Rippon and Zhou will be representing the U.S. at the 2018 Winter Olympics in Pyeongchang, South Korea.

FAST FACTS:

WINTER OLYMPIC EVENTS • At the Winter Olympics, athletes compete in 15 sports in 102 events • 49 mens events, 44 womens events, 7 mixed events, and 2 open events • The official mascot of the PyeongChang Olympics is named “Soohorang.”

girls left, we still fought hard, regardless of the majority of the game was on our half or not,” varsity girls team co-captain Stephanie Scaglia (12) said.

The varsity boys fought hard for a 1-1 tie against Menlo

farah hosseini & srinath somasundaram

•The last time the Olympics were held in South Korea was in 1988 (Seoul) • Games will take place from Feb. 9 to Feb. 25, lasting for 17 days • Planning for the PyeongChang Winter Olympics began in 2011.

“All the proceeds go to Camp Okizu, so it’s a great cause,” varsity girls team member Ria Gupta (11) said. “We get to send these families to this camp where not only kids with cancer but also their siblings

“We get to send these families to this camp where not only kids with cancer, but also their siblings and family can go and feel like a normal family for a while.”

RIA GUPTA (11) at 6 p.m. The team holds a record of 11-0-2 as of Jan. 30.

In the weeks before the momentous event, the student body participated in the fundraiser by purchasing T-shirts in order to raise money for Camp Okizu. Soccer players sold the shirts in front of Manzanita during lunch.

JAY ADEFF - PHOTO USED WITH PERMISSION OF U.S. FIGURE SKATING

As my teammate won the ball, I quickly scanned my surroundings and then sprinted towards the middle of the of field, pointing my hand down at my foot. Making my sure my hips were facing the correct direction, I got ready to trap the ball and then dribble it down the field.

Sure, as a four-year-old, I was the girl who scored a goal for the other team, but now, I was better than this.

As I approached high school, I realized that I had a sport, amazing teammates and myself, all people I did not want to let down. Thus, I immersed myself into the soccer world.

Investing all this time into soccer, made me love it. I did improve and I learned the game, but despite my hard work I found myself still struggling.

Why? In psychology class, we call it “choking.”

Even though I knew how to defend the other team, during games I would second guess myself allowing them to pass me by.

I came to the conclusion that if someone puts work into an activity and are still bad at it, there must be a reason. Mine was “choking.”

Since that realization, I have worked on calming my nerves and approaching the game more “zen.” As my coach tells me, I need to be “Buddha.”

They say that love sucks and they say that relationships take a lot of work. I have felt that with my first love, but the struggle has been worth it.

and family can go and feel like a normal family for a while.”

During the varsity boys game, the class councils held an all-you-can-eat tailgate event with a $5 flat charge before the games to support Kicks Against Cancer. The students also held a baked goods sale to raise more money for Camp Okizu.

ALL PHOTOS ERIC FANG

aquila columnist

“Number one, this is a good cause. Number two is, when I think when the class and the school come together it brings positive things to the community,” tailgate event host and senior class president Amitej Mehta (12) said.” People will interact with people that they normally wouldn’t interact with at events like these. I’m looking around there are people who don’t talk to each other on a regular basis. So that’s what this is all about.”

At the halftime of the varsity girls team’s game, students could pay to aim soccer balls at teachers standing in front of the net in the Butt’s Up event.

“We plan the whole thing, but it’s not just us. We try to get the whole school involved, including Student Council,” Stephanie said. “We really try to get everyone who wants to get involved involved.”

Local skaters head to Winter Oympics 2 Bay Area ice skaters head to Pyeongchang after National Skating Championships vivian jin reporter

Figure skaters from all over the country recently competed in the 2018 Prudential U.S. Figure Skating Championships in downtown San Jose at Solar4America Ice and the SAP Center from Dec. 29 to Jan. 7.

Skaters in the levels juvenile, intermediate, novice, junior and senior competed in four categories—ice dance, pairs, ladies’ singles and men’s singles. To qualify for Nationals, skaters had to place within the top four at a regional competition and again at a sectional competition.

Since the Winter Olympics are this year, Nationals were especially important as the top skaters chosen would represent the U.S. at the Winter Olympics in Pyeongchang, South Korea.

Of the participating skaters, two are from the Bay Area: Vincent Zhou and Karen Chen, who both won bronze in their respective singles divisions.

Vincent has been named the intermediate, novice and junior national champion in past years.

Last year, he won the silver medal in the senior division at Nationals. Karen has been named the intermediate and novice national champion in past years and won the gold medal in the senior division at Nationals last year.

For Vincent Zhou, the youngest member of the 2018 U.S. Olympic Team, going to the Olympics has been his dream for a long time.

“The Olympics are a oncein-a-lifetime experience… it’s the world’s biggest competitive stage, and I’m never going to experience anything [else] like it,” Vincent said. “I just want to go out there and do what I love, which is ice skate.”

The Figure Skating Championships groups skaters of the highest level together to compete against each other, incentivizing competitors to put the

“Always put your best into what you do because once you get to a high level and you put a lot of effort into it, you should just go full out.”

BEVERLY ZHU NOVICE LADIES NATIONAL CHAMPION hardest possible jumps in their programs to ensure a high component score. As one of the few people in the world who can do several quad jumps in succession, Vincent put together a program with five quads and a triple axel.

“At Nationals, I fell on my fifth quad. After that, I skated the rest of my program cleanly. It’s because skating is such a mental sport. The motivation to [keep skating] came from the knowledge that every single

point counts—every hundredth of a point can make a difference,” Vincent said. “It gives the mind enough incentive to drive your body to do what it needs to do.”

Professional skaters usually spend hundreds of hours honing their routines to perfection before presenting them to the world for just a few minutes on the ice. Competitions are about fighting the pressure just as much as executing the program. “[Skating’s] like a mental game. Not getting distracted by the audience is the hardest part about skating in a competition.

Endurance is really hard and you get super tired, [but] I just tell myself that this is going to be the last time I can present this program to everyone. And you only have one chance,” Beverly, Zhu, who was crowned the novice ladies national champion, said.

Beverly presented both a clean short program and a clean free skate, meaning that she did not fall on any of her jumps. She made history with a total combined score of 167.69, the highest score any novice level girl has achieved so far in the U.S. For aspiring young skaters, Beverly encourages them to keep pushing themselves and believe in their potential.

“Just don’t give up. Trust the process, because what will come, will come,” she said. “Always put your best into what you do because once you get to a high level and you put a lot of effort into it, you should just go full out.”

SPORTS

WINGED POST 15

VOLUME 19 • ISSUE 4 FEBRUARY 5, 2018

ALL PHOTOS BY NICOLE CHEN

Girls basketball starts season with new coaches at the helm

GAME PLAN (LEFT) Allison Yen (10) and Maria Vazhaeparambil (9) guard Lily Wancewicz (11) as she advances for a shot during pregame practice scrimmage on Jan. 10. (RIGHT) Varsity girls basketball players Kaidi Dai (10) and Dylan Williams (9) practice a “2-3 Zone” defense under the direction of coach Dan Pringle.

Pringle is one of three coaches with new positions this season.

the basket [and] shooting,” Akhila said. “He makes sure that we know that he’s not going to be upset at us as long as we give our best effort. The main thing is just working as a team and developing individually.”

After an especially large freshman turnout ensured there were enough players, a junior varsity team was created for the first time in five years to foster the growing interest in girls basketball for underclassmen.

Enough players gathered to create a team of 12 freshmen, as junior varsity co-captain Meona Khetrapal (9) recalls.

“I started asking a lot of people, ‘Oh, you play basketball, did you know there’s going to be a JV team?’” Meona said. “[Pringle] introduced the idea, and we were kind of unsure that it was

nicole chen & arya maheshwari Aquila features editor & reporter

Girls basketball started the season with a new junior varsity team and the addition of a new varsity coach and assistant junior varsity coach.

As of the start of the season, Dan Pringle, who joined the team as an assistant coach in the 2015-16 season, coaches the varsity girls basketball team.

Varsity co-captain Akhila Ramgiri (11) attributes the team’s confidence this year to the new coach.

“I think that one of the things that’s really been emphasized with our new coach is just taking shots, [not] be[ing] afraid to try things, driving into

going to happen, but then, we got enough girls.”

“I think that one of the things that’s really been emphasized with our new coach is just taking shots, not being afraid to try things, driving into the basket and shooting,” AKHILA RAMGIRI (11) VARSITY TEAM CO-CAPTAIN Head junior varsity coach Hilton Hong and assistant varsity coach Joan Marciano are also

new to the program.

From the Cupertino Hoops club team, Hong not only helps the junior varsity team develop technically through practicing fundamentals like layups and dribbling but also brings new team traditions.

“Something we do for fun, which also the coach brought to the team, is called Secret Sisters,” junior varsity co-captain Suman Mohanty (9) said. “Basically, we’re assigned one person on the team, and every game we have to get them a gift.”

The varsity team’s next game is tomorrow against Mercy High School in the athletic center at 6 p.m., and the junior varsity team plays tomorrow against King’s Academy in the athletic center at 3 p.m.

Winter sports start league games SAHANA SRINIVASAN

GIRLS SOCCER

HAVING A BALL Ria Gupta (11) dribbles the ball in the varsity girls soccer team’s home game against Eastside College Preparatory on

The varsity girls soccer team has an overall record of 5-7, with a league record of 3-2. The girls’ soccer senior night was on Jan 30 where they played Mercy, commemorating Krishna Bheda, Aislinn Coveney, Stephanie Scaglia, Vanessa Tyagi for their achievements in soccer.

BOYS SOCCER

The varsity boys soccer team has an overall record of 110-2, with a league record of 6-01. The junior varsity boys soccer team has a record of 5-4.

“Our team coordination and passing has gotten a lot better. We’re not playing as individuals anymore; we’re playing as a team,” said Nathan Ohana (9).

BOYS BASKETBALL

The varsity boys basketball team has an overall record of 9-9, with a league record of 3-5. The junior varsity team has a league record of 4-2. The two teams played at Priory on Tuesday, Jan. 30.

FAST FACTS • Current varsity team head coach Dan Pringle joined the program as an assistant coach in 2015.

• Also new to the program are head junior varsity coach Hilton Hong and assistant varsity coach Joan Marciano.

• A junior varsity team was created for the first time in five years this year. The team consists of 12 freshmen.

nicole chen, aditya singhvi & michael eng

Aquila features editor & reporters

VARSITY WRESTLING

Wrestlers competed at Del Mar High School in a freshman-sophomore meet on Saturday, Feb. 3. The CCS championships for Girls Wrestling were held on Feb. 2 and 3, while the championships for Boys Wrestling will be held on Feb. 23 and 24.

Spring sports begin practices for games this month BOYS GOLF

BOYS TENNIS

kushal shah

kathy fang photo editor

aquila opinion editor

The varsity baseball team’s first practice was on Jan. 29 at the Blackford field. The team is coached by Coach Mike Delfino and finished last year’s season with a 13-11 overall record.

The boys play their first game against San Jose High School on Feb. 21.

The boys golf team kicked off their season with the first day of tryouts on Jan. 29, at Pruneridge Golf Club.

Last year, the team posted an undefeated record of 10-0, and placed 1st at CCS Regionals, 2nd at CCS Championships, 1st at the Norcal Championship, and 5th at States.

Boys tennis team members will be practicing every day after school with coach John Fruttero.

“Tennis is a game that’s like 70 percent mental,” tennis player Mihir Sharma (10) said.

“For me, a challenge is staying positive throughout any kind of match, because if you start losing, it’s a negative cycle.”

The varsity boys volleyball team started its season on Jan. 29 with practice at the Bucknall Gym. The team is coached by new Head Coach Chad Gordon, who is an alumnus of Harker.

The team finished last year’s season with a 14-14 overall record.

The boys play their first game against Cupertino High School on Feb. 28.

GIRLS LACROSSE

GIRLS SOFTBALL

VARSITY SWIMMING

TRACK & FIELD

alexander wang

kathy fang

The varsity swim team began practices on Jan. 29 at the Singh Aquatics Center. The team is coached by Coach Tania Chadwick and Coach Sachi Ujifusa.

Last year, the swim team sent Vivian Wang (12) and Ethan Hu (10) to the state championships and broke school records in the 100 breastroke, the 100 buttferly and the boys 400 freestyle.

Varsity track and field began pre-season workouts on Jan. 8 to prepare for their first meet on Mar. 3 at Willow Glen. Coach Scott Chisam held the first official practice on Jan. 29, and the season will stretch until the end of the school year, with the CCS championships running from May 19 to June 2.

aquila opinion editor

anmol velagapudi reporter

The girls lacrosse team started practice on Monday, Jan 29. They have practice every day of the week for two hours at Blackford. Their first game is on March 6 at 4 p.m. on Davis Field against Salinas High School.

“One thing I’m looking forward to, also kind of nervous about, is the fact that we have so many freshmen and new people on the team.” Heidi Zhang (11) said.

reporter

ashley jiang

Humans of Harker videographer

Coach Raul Rios and captain Cameron Zell (11) will lead the varsity softball team.

“During the season, I look forward to mainly playing positions I don’t usually play because outside of school it’s a lot more competitive,” Taylor Lam (11) said. “During school season, I’m able to play the positions that I really enjoy and have never experienced before.”

aquila opinion editor

alexander wang

JULIA AMICK

alexander wang

BOYS VOLLEYBALL

photo editor

DARREN GU

BOYS BASEBALL

SPORTS STARS (TOP) Anjay Saklecha (11) serves the ball during a match. (BOTTOM) Kristin LeBlanc (12) pitches the sotbball during a game at Blackford.

BACK PAGE

YEAR IN REVIEW

2017 was a busy year, one perhaps most notably characterized by political tension, natural disasters and news of violence and cultures of harassment worldwide.

Moments of community, celebration and new beginnings pervaded our last 12 months, particularly here at the upper school. Most of all, though, 2017 was a year of change.We cannot feature all the most important events of the last year.

We have selected a few with considerable significance.

VOLUME 19 • ISSUE 4 FEBRUARY 5, 2018

U.S. FACES RECKONING OVER ASSAULT, HARASSMENT AND MISCONDUCT Allegations, consequences spread to Hollywood, politicans, Silicon Valley, media

#timesup #ithappenedtome

#MeToo

ANOTHER YEAR

BITES THE nicole chen, kathy fang, ashley jiang & sahana srinivasan ________________

TRUMP’S FIRST YEAR JAN 27

THE FUTURE People protest outside San Francisco’s City Hall at the first Women’s March on Jan. 20, 2017. Women’s Marches across the country also took place on Jan. 20, 2018 to protest Trump policies one year later.

4 MILLION AMERICANS

TRUMP SWORN IN AS 45 TH PRESIDENT

DUST Aquila features editor, photo editor, Humans of Harker videographer & editor-in-chief

NUMBER 45 Donald Trump is sworn in as the 45th President of the U.S. on Jan. 20, 2017, with wife Melania on his left. Half a million people attended his inauguration in Washington, D.C.

PROVIDED BY ELLEN AUSTIN

8 1 20

WIKIMEDIA COMMONS

#balancetonporc

MARCH IN PROTESTS

ATHLETIC CENTER OPENS AUG. 18

YAGER BECOMES HEAD OF SCHOOL

President Trump signs an executive order banning travel to U.S. from Iran, Iraq, Libya, Somalia, Sudan, Syria and Yemen MAY 9

Trump fires FBI Director James Comey MAY 17

58 KILLED

IN LAS VEGAS MASS SHOOTING

3 MAJOR U.S.

HURRICANES HARVEY IRMA 785 $291 MARIA

FATALITIES

BILLION IN DAMAGES

AS OF JAN. 26

1/2 MILLION

AMERICANS IN PUERTO RICO WITHOUT POWER

800K

UNDOCUMENTED IMMIGRANTS

COVERED BY DACA PROGRAM

SEPT. 5 PRESIDENT TRUMP

ANNOUNCES END OF DACA PROGRAM

1800%

BITCOIN HITS RECORD

HIGH OF NEARLY

$20,000

ERIC FANG

INCREASE SINCE JAN DACA REPEAL Protesters stand in support of the DACA program at a Seattle rally in June. President Trump in September announced a rollback of the program that protects undocumented immigrants who entered the country at a young age.

Football players nationwide kneel to protest racial injustice

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KNEEL IN PROTEST Members of the Bellarmine High School football team knelt at their games the week of Oct. 12, echoing peaceful protests around the country in which football players knelt during the 2016 and 2017 footbal season as the national anthem played, to protest racial injustice in the U.S.

Graphics and page design: Sahana Srinivasan

CAMERON ZELL

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LAS VEGAS Across the site of the festival, people visit a makeshift memorial, one of several set up in the week after the Las Vegas shooting. Fifty-eight people were killed and at least 527 were injured at an outdoor concert on Oct. 1.

DEC. 17

ECLIPSE Dozens of tents sit in an open field on Aug. 21 in Oregon as people prepare to watch the total solar eclipse, which was visible to much of North America.

ERIC FANG

President Trump signs tax overhaul into law

GYM-TASTIC OPENING (Left to right). Junior Christopher Gong and seniors Eric Jeong, Peter Connors, Tiffany Shou, Isabella Spradlin, Lauren Napier, Satchi Thockchom and Megan Cardosi ceremonially cut a ribbon to inaugurate the new Athletic Center at the upper school on Aug. 18 as Head of Athletics Dan Molin watches.

CARLOS LEVYA @levyvx

DEC 22

KATHY FANG

Former FBI Director Robert Mueller tapped to investigate potential Russian meddling in 2016 U.S. election