WINGED POST FRIDAY, MAY 4, 2018 | THE HARKER UPPER SCHOOL STUDENT NEWSPAPER, VOL. 19, NO. 7
Spirit Week lands with a splash
WHAT’S INSIDE?
Citizenship Census 3 Pets of Harker 6 Senior Section
KATHY FANG
Annual campus vocal concert featured all upper school choirs
HIT THE NOTE Camerata sings “Chili con carne” during their performance in this year’s United Voices concert.
sara yen reporter
All upper school choirs performed in the spring vocal concert in the Rothschild Performing Arts Center (RPAC) yesterday. Praveen Batra (12) was the student director for both Camerata and Acoustics and conducted “Walkin’ On That Heavenly Road,” while Dilara Ezer (11) the student director for Acoustics, conducted “Blackbird” and Millie Lin (12) the student director for Cantilena conducted “Famine Song.” “What I really like about conducting is that it’s a little bit like dancing and through these movements, you’re able to change the sound of other people in the entire choir and make something really beautiful,” Millie said. Other upcoming performing arts events include the annual instrumental Spring Concert. Middle and upper school orchestras will perform in the RPAC at 7 p.m. today.
PROVIDED BY MS. AUSTIN
Harker Journalism wins first place in Herff Jones Challenge
YERDS Sharon Yan (12) and Devanshi Mehta (11) receive first place in the Herff Jones Marketing Results Challenge.
farah hosseini
kaitlin hsu editor-in-chief
A team of Harker students, comprised of Vignesh Panchanatham (12), Michael Wang (11), Michael Tang (10), fifth grader Vyom Vidyarthi and fourth graders Anika Rajaram and Mihir Kotbagi traveled to the Santa Clara Convention Center on April 6 and won first place as a team in the K-12 Championship at the CalChess State Scholastic Championship. In individual events, Vignesh also took first in the K-12 Championship. Junior Michael and sophomore Michael both placed in the top 10.
PLEDGE OF ALLEGIANCE (CLOCKWISE FROM TOP) Senior Shikhar Solanki belly flops into the pool after walking up to the diving board to "The Fresh Prince of Bel Air" theme song. (MIDDLE RIGHT) Vedanth Sundaram (10) acts out a scene from “Moana” before belly-flopping into the pool. (BOTTOM RIGHT) The junior class cheers on their swimmers during the regatta race. (BOTTOM LEFT) Ihita Mandal (11) and Anastasiya "Nastya" Sushkova (11) paddle the junior's float. (MIDDLE LEFT) Vivan Wang (12) stacks rings thrown to her by Jason Kwok (9).
Students attend Gatsby-themed prom zoe sanders reporter
Seniors and juniors attended prom at the Boulder Ridge Country Club April 28 from 7:30 p.m. to 11 p.m. Based on F. Scott Fitzgerald’s novel, “The Great Gatsby”, the event featured a fire pit, chocolate fondue and party treats. Like previous proms, students were able to dance with their friends and partake in other activities, such as a photo booth and blackjack. Attendees also participated in a raffle for prizes.
ALL PHOTOS KATHY FANG
Harker takes first at CalChess State Scholastic Championship
ALL PHOTOS KATHY FANG
reporter
Devanshi Mehta (11), Sharon Yan (12) and Vignesh Panchanatham (12) competed in DECA’s Herff Jones Marketing Results Challenge over the course of this year, which asked participants to run a marketing campaign to increase sales of the yearbook at their school. As finalists, the group travelled to Houston, Texas in January to give their presentations. Last week, Devanshi and Sharon travelled to Atlanta, Georgia on the grant money they received.
OLD SPORT (CLOCKWISE FROM TOP LEFT) A bag of raffle tickets for the senior class prize sits by a vase filled with crystals and feathers at prom. (TOP RIGHT) Melissa Kwan (12) sings and dances along to a song with her friends. (BOTTOM RIGHT) Claire Newman (11) dances with the crowd. (BOTTOM LEFT) Seniors Alex Chen and Miranda Larsen roast marshemellows with Miranda's adviser Diane Main.
A2 WINGED POST
NEWS
Class of 2018 readies their farewells
VOLUME 19 • ISSUE 7 MAY 4, 2018
Annual Near and Mitra ceremony honors 8 seniors
FARAH HOSSEINI
Seniors to graduate at Mountain Winery in ceremony during end of May
PAPERS, PLEASE Scholars Amy Jin (12), Derek Yen (12), Matthew Lee (12), Serena Lu (12), Jacqueline He (12) and Alan Jiang (12) pose for a group photo with their research mentors on the Nichols Auditorium stage. Andrew Semenza (12) and Emily Chen (12) are not pictured.
farah hosseini ALL PHOTOS NICOLE CHEN
reporter
LOL BYE (TOP) Harker’s graduating class of 2017 throws their hats into the air at the end of the graduation ceremony. This year, graduation will take place on May 24 at the Mountain Winery in Saratoga. (TOP RIGHT) Head of upper school Butch Keller delivers a speech during graduation to the then graduating class of 2017. (BOTTOM RIGHT) Valedictorian Kai Ang (‘17) delivers a speech at the start of the graduation ceremony.
nicole chen Aquila features editor
Graduation for the Class of 2018 will commence on May 24 at the Mountain Winery in Saratoga, following the Baccalaureate ceremony on May 23. Math teacher and senior class dean Victor Adler announced in an email on April 25 that Valedictorian Andy Semenza will give a speech at the graduation ceremony, and Baccalaureate speaker Dolan Dworak (12) and history teacher Julie Wheeler will address the senior
and junior classes at the Baccalaureate ceremony. Seniors were briefed on details regarding their senior class trip, graduation and events leading up to graduation including rehearsals, Baccalaureate and the brick-laying ceremony on April 16 while other classes were listening to class council election speeches. After this meeting, senior Yannick Bohbot-Dridi reflected on his high school experience and the transition to college. “[I feel like] I’m not ready to graduate, [and] I still feel
not prepared to go to college,” he said. “It’s a very scary environment to go to, but I think I’m still ready to end high school. I think it’s been quite a long four years, it’s been a fun experience, and it’s time to change to something new.” Seniors also had the opportunity to try on graduation caps and gowns after the meeting. “It feels weird that we’ve made it this far, and obviously it’s nice to go onto college,” Aadi Ghilayial (12) said. “[I’m going to miss] my friends because school’s stressful and
stuff, and to get away from that my friends are super important, and I cherish any moment I have with them.” Prior to graduation, the class of 2018 will embark on their seniors’ class trip to Laguna Beach. Following, chosen Baccalaureate speakers will deliver addresses at the Baccalaureate ceremony, where the school community will bid farewell to the seniors and grant the current juniors their positions as leaders on campus for the next school year.
MOVING ON: STAFF TRANSITIONS OFFICE OF COMMUNICATIONS
AP and Honors Biology teacher, Synopsys advisor retires arushi saxena reporter
DR. GARY BLICKENSTAFF
Gary Blickenstaff will be retiring. He is currently a Biology teacher, and has taught AP Biology, Honors Biology, Evolution, and Summer AP Biology Courses. He also served as the advisor for the annual Synopsys competition, Science Bowl, as well as
the Red Cross club. He will be replaced by Thomas Artiss, who is currently a Biology teacher at the middle school. Blickenstaff took up teaching at Harker after teaching one year at Del-Mar High School. He moved to San Jose in 2000 when he started teaching in the Bay Area. Previously, Blickenstaff served as a research associate in
1989 at University of California, Irvine. He received his B.A. and Ph.D from University of California, Santa Cruz after graduating from Archbishop Mitty in 1968. In addition to teaching AP Biology, Blickenstaff taught Honors Biology as well as the biotech and evolution classes this year.
KATHY FANG
Upper school Dean transitions to middle school Head
EVAN BARTH
Evan Barth will be leaving his position as the Upper school Academic Dean and Pre-College Counselor and moving to serve as the Middle School Division Head for the next school year. He and the Assistant Head of the Middle School. Patricia Burrows have begun meeting with architects about projects like the middle school’s move to the
Union Campus in 2021, and reverting the school uniform to its original green. “The Division Head serves the faculty, so that they can make sure that the students receive the best out of their education, which is why we’re here,” Barth said. Throughout his 18 years at Harker, Barth has taught several
math classes, a yearly Engineering class, coached and assisted the Varsity Girls Soccer and Volleyball Team. He’s also been the faculty Honor Council and Honor Board chair. “Over the years, I’ve enjoyed speaking with students who just walk into my office to chat,” Barth said.
OFFICE OF COMMUNICATIONS
Class of 2020 Dean becomes next upper school Dean
KELLY HORAN
Kelly Horan will be replacing Evan Barth as Upper School Academic Dean and Pre-College Counselor. She is currently an AP Psychology teacher and the Dean of the Class of 2020. Throughout her eight years at the upper school, she’s been a member of Challenge Success, the Bell Schedule Committee and Honor Council.
Her ideas for next year include increased interaction with students, rather than solely parents. She hopes to bring her background in psychology to the job and help students find a balance in their academic life. Her new responsibilities will include assisting Mr. Keller, and helping students with planning out their 4-year
academic plan. “I hope that I’m approachable,” Horan said. “I’m approachable in my classroom, which is why kids are very open with their thoughts. I hope that my being in the office doesn’t change that. Ultimately, I’m the same person, I’m just playing a different role.”
reporter
Music Around the World (MAW) club hosted a concert featuring unique music styles from student performers on April 24. Students performed pieces of music outside the mainstream, and music genres ranging from cultural music to video game music were encouraged. Club leaders Divija Bhimaraju (12) and Millie Lin (12) announced the call for performers at a school meeting on Mar. 12. “Our multicultural concert is intended to present a style of music that students usually wouldn’t see on the Harker campus.” Millie said. “For example, if someone has a totally weird interest or talent like video game music or super good at harp playing this is where they can showcase their music.” By allowing performers to
give a short introduction about their piece, the Music Around the World club’s hopes to facilitate the exposure of music outside the norm and cultures to the student body. “The goal of Music Around the World club is basically to present awareness and to spread knowledge about music around the world in different time periods and different cultures.” Divija said. “I think often times in these normal shows that [Harker] hosts, people feel obliged to do mainstream music, and this is like an avenue they have to really showcase a different side of their music training.” The performances, which took place at long lunch, allowed students to express themselves through music and showcase their talents. Performances included cello, guitar, K-pop, classical Indian dancing, and harp.
EXOTIC (TOP) William Rainow (10), Thomas Rainow (10) and Joshua Valluru (10) play a brazillian song together across their instruments. (RIGHT) Nikhil Dharmaraj (12) plays a Dhol, a double headed drum widely used in India. Students performed in MAW’s mini-concert on April 24.
“[I decided to do concert] partly because of artistic expression, and I also just wanted to promote BTS,” performer Audrey Liu (9) said. “I just like being able to perform because performing is just something that’s really enjoyable for me.”
ERIC FANG
karina chen
ERIC FANG
Music Around the World club hosts mini-concert to encourage self-expression
The annual John Near Endowment and Mitra Family Endowment Scholar Grant reception recognized eight seniors for their work on their individual, year-long research papers today in Nichols Auditorium from 4 to 6:30 p.m. Students had the chance to speak for a few minutes, discussing the premise of their topic, which either covered U.S. history or global matters. The reception began with light refreshments in the rotunda for an hour. History department chair Donna Gilbert opened the ceremony with an addressing speech to the mentors, librarian Lauri Vaughan, Library Director Sue Smith and the scholars, thanking the students for their determination and love of learning throughout the entire process of their projects. “As you all have discovered this year, finding truth is not simple and required patience, persistence and partnership,” Gilbert said in her speech. “Tonight, we celebrate your passions and the persistence it took for each of you to craft these extraordinary papers. We also celebrate partnership. You did not undertake this journey alone.” The John Near Endowment scholars individually expressed their gratitude to their mentors, the library department and their fellow peers through short speeches. Amy Jin (12) and her mentor history teacher Mark Janda began the speeches, followed by Matthew Lee (12) and his mentor, history teacher Byron Stevens. “I think it’s really important to give these very promising young scholars the opportunity to actually do scholarship in high school,” Stevens said. “We have a lot of great courses and we have a lot of opportunities for kids to do great work within their courses, but it’s not scholarship in the sense that it’s not independent.” Senior Derek Yen and his mentor history teacher Julie Wheeler also thanked the history department for their guidance. Since scholar Andrew Semenza (12), mentored by history teacher Katy Rees, could not attend the event, Derek read his speech aloud to the audience. Following the John Near speeches, the Mitra Family scholar speeches began with Emily Chen (12), who shared her speech with the audience through a video recording. Her mentors were Vaughan and history teacher Damon Halback. Jacqueline He (12) and her mentor Spanish teacher Isabel Garcia, along with Alan Jiang (12) and his mentor psychology teacher Kelly Horan, delivered the next speeches. Serena Lu (12) gave the last scholar speech with her mentors history teachers Andrea Milius and Roxana Pianko. “I think for a long time, I’ve always seen the Near and Mitra programs as the pinnacle of humanities at Harker and I really wanted to be apart of that, but I also thought that it would give me a structured opportunity to explore issues that I wanted to do more research in but never had the time to do so,” Serena said. Executive Director of Advancement Joe Rosenthal then gathered the students together to have them autograph their own papers, which will soon be sent to the John Near family and the Mitra family with commemorative pens. To view this year’s John Near and Mitra scholar papers, visit the library portal here.
NEWS
WINGED POST A3
VOLUME 19 • ISSUE 7 MAY 4, 2018
Citizenship question added to 2020 census Capitol Hill:
& michael eng reporters
The U.S. Department of Commerce announced the reintroduction of the citizenship question on the upcoming 2020 decennial census on March 26. This marks the first time the question has been in the census since 1950. As a result, the State of California is suing the Trump Administration over the controversial decision. The citizenship question on the decennial survey raises questions about the Trump Administration’s intent since the citizenship status is already covered by other surveys like the annual American Community Survey to enforce the Voting Rights Act. Moreover, according to the U.S. Census Bureau, questions on the decennial survey usually pass through about five years of testing, but this announcement passed through at the very last minute. The main purpose of the census mandated by the U.S. Constitution is to get an accurate headcount of the U.S. population, not the number of citizens. Although respondent data confidentiality is protected by the law, concerns about drawing attention via their answer
deter people from filling out the form. “If people know the data is confidential, I do think they would be okay filling it out. There are ton of people who don’t know that the data is confidential,” Civil Rights Attorney Nick Kuwada of Asian Law Alliance (ALA) based in San Jose said. “To include this question only further divides our community from people who can help [undocumented immigrants].” The number of people counted in the state in the census determines the allocation of federal funds.
CENSUS REFORM Trump announced the addition of a question on the 2020 census that would ask individuals whether they are citizens. Such a question is raising concern of undercounting and biases against immigrants.
sort of movement to make the census less desirable for people to be counted [like the citizenship question]would drastically reduce millions and even billions of dollars to states who desperately need that aid.” The citizenship question can dissuade immigrants and noncitizens from answering the survey in huge numbers. This undercounting can lead to a two-fold effect in states with large number of foreign-born people and non-citizens like California and New York. Since census data is used to calculate the number of seats in the House of Representatives,
“States with large numbers of noncitizens and foreign-born (mostly blue states) will likely significantly undercount their population in the 2020 census. In contrast, states with relatively low noncitizen populations (mostly red states) will not be negatively affected in the same way.” PRATHEEPAN GULASEKARAM
CONSTITUTIONAL LAW AND IMMIGRATION LAW PROFESSOR
“For most part there is always going to be some level of undercount,” Kuwada said. “Any
census undercounting could shift political power. Pratheepan Gulasekaram,
a Constitutional Law and Immigration Law professor at Santa Clara University voiced concerns about relative transfer of power from blue to red states due to the higher percentage of immigrants in more liberal states.
“States with large numbers of noncitizens and foreign-born ‒ mostly blue states ‒ will likely significantly undercount their population in the 2020 census. In contrast, states with relatively low noncitizen populations (mostly red states) will not be negatively affected in the same way,” Gulasekaram said. Governor Jerry Brown has requested $40.3 million for census outreach in the state budget. ALA plans on continuing community outreach, partnerships with number of non-profit organizations and presentations on importance of census; providing help to fill census forms; and even knocking on doors to ensure census completion. The youth can play an active role in this matter by engaging in this conversation in their individual households and educating the head of the household who fills the form. This civic duty by the youth can ensure accurate census counting.
srinath somasundaram reporter
The U.K. affiliate of Cambridge Analytica, a political firm founded by large Republican donor Robert Mercer, and former White House chief strategist Steve Bannon, used surveys conducted through an app and Facebook to profile an estimated 87 million users to better target president Trump’s message and influence the American presidential election. The company hired Aleksandr Kogan to gather data of American Facebook users. Kogan paid most of around 300,000 Facebook users to download his app, This Is Your Digital Life. In the app, users answered a series of surveys, and Kogan gathered data of those users and their Facebook friends, increasing the number of people affected by this from 300,000 to 87 million. Facebook has allowed developers to offer their own applications within their space, and at the time, if their privacy settings allowed it, Facebook permitted data collection on friends of the users of the aforementioned applications. Public speculation and outrage about this situation began when it was brought to light by whistleblower Christopher Wylie, who helped found and used to work for Cambridge Analytica until late 2014. Wylie described how the company used the data gathered to influence foreign elections and expressed that the leaders of the company had no qualms about what they were doing. “They don’t care whether or not what they do is legal as long as it gets the job done,” he said as part of his testimony to the House of Commons Digital, Culture and Sport Committee. “Broadly, this is a company that goes around the world and undermines civil institutions of countries that are struggling to develop those institutions. They are an example of what modern-day colonialism looks like.”
Wylie began to realize the extent of Cambridge Analytica’s power when Donald Trump was elected and reached out to The Guardian soon after president Trump’s inauguration. He has also since alleged that the company was involved in the swaying of the Brexit referendum in 2016. However, many believe that the company’s data collection was not very successful and didn’t affect the election very much at all. “There is little or no evidence for Cambridge Analytica’s record of success: what we do know is that they were behind Ted Cruz, who lost to Trump, despite Cambridge Analytica’s supposed expertise. We also know they joined Trump’s campaign very late in the game. All that said, there is no evidence that Cambridge Analytica was actually effective at changing individual’s voting choices,” Dr.
BIG LEAKS Facebook granted access to users’ private information to Cambridge Analytica, a firm that worked for the Trump campaign.
Soon after the news broke, Cambridge Analytica suspended him. In addition to the outrage surrounding Cambridge Analytica, Mark Zuckerberg and Facebook have come under fire from critics who say that the CEO didn’t do enough to prevent this breach. Facebook has since said that Kogan had violated
“Computer science and data science need regulation as well codes of ethics, safety standards, licensing boards with the legal ability to ban someone from the profession, quite a lot like in medicine or engineering, to ensure that people handling data are aware of what they shouldn’t do, despite their power.” CHICO CAMARGO
POSTDOCTORAL RESEARCHER IN DATA SCIENCE Chico Camargo, a postdoctoral researcher in data science at Oxford University, said. “From the videos released by the BBC Channel 4, it seems that Cambridge Analytica has more experience with “old-school” tricks and there is still no evidence that their data-based approaches were at all effective.” Camargo refers to the undercover video released of Cambridge Analytica’s CEO, Alexander Nix, suggesting that the company used bribery and seduction to influence foreign elections and entrap politicians.
the company’s policies by giving the data to Cambridge Analytica and that they had taken action at the end of 2015 when they first heard of Kogan. The company has also notified all users affected and is doing a full investigation and audit of the extent of Aleksandr Kogan’s work in addition to an investigation into thousands of apps. Since then, Zuckerberg has testified in front of both parts of Congress on April 10 and 11 regarding the data breach in addition to various other problems
• Citizenship question added to Census 2020 • California isuing Trump Administration • First time since 1950 • Census data is confidential • Many undocumented immigrants may not complete the census • May lead to undercounting, affect apportionment of federal funds and affect apportionment of U.S. House of Representatives
Harker Journalism visits San Francisco
ERIC FANG
Cambridge Analytica data breach of Facebook sparks outrage
FAST FACTS
surrounding Facebook, such as the Russian meddling in the presidential election, silencing of conservative voices, and possibly being a monopoly. Most lawmakers and experts are sure that regulations were necessary though it was unclear the specificities of such regulations. “[Computer science] is not very regulated in comparison with other fields which have had big developments that can lead to disaster (Chemistry: dynamite, Physics: the nuclear bomb, Architecture and Civil Engineering: the collapse of bridges, buildings, etc),” Dr. Camargo said. “Computer science and data science need regulation as well codes of ethics, safety standards, licensing boards with the legal ability to ban someone from the profession, quite a lot like in medicine or engineering, to ensure that people handling data are aware of what they shouldn’t do, despite their power. It would not be an easy task to set up these committees and rules, but regulation and certification are important to stop us from building computer systems that might allow for abuse of power.” Cambridge Analytica’s parent company, the SCL Group were in contact with a Russian oil conglomerate Lukoil as the company built its profiles after gathering data. This connection reveals another possible link between Russia and the 2016 presidential election.
AWARD WINNER Editor-in-chief Meena Gudapati (12) holds the pacemaker finalist award.
PROVIDED BY ELLEN AUSTIN
Part sixsaloni of a seven oncitizenship American politics shah part series to the question may
SALONI SHAH AND MICHAEL ENG
What You Missed
eric fang & maya kumar columnist & reporter
Fourteen Harker journalism students travelled to San Francisco from April 11-14 for a JEA/ NSPA conference in which Harker Aquila, the online publication, became a Pacemaker finalist and The Winged Post, the newspaper, achieved fifth place in Best of Show. There, students listened to keynote speakers such as San Francisco Chronicle reporter Kevin Fagan and Chronicle photographer Brant Ward explaining their motivations of documenting and photographing the numerous struggles of homeless individuals living in the Bay Area. Student journalists from Marjory Stoneman high school received the unprecedented Courage and Commitment award for their persistent coverage of the school shooting despite the tragic event hitting so close to home. Students also attended workshops and seminars by experts’ designs to build their skills in different aspects of journalism including photography, design, ethics, law and news reporting. Tracy Ann Senna, the adviser of The Broadview, the student news site of the covenant of Sacred Heart in San Francisco critiqued the Winged Post and gave suggestions for improved design and more varied content.
GLOBAL
WINGED POST A4
VOLUME 19 • ISSUE 7 May 4, 2018
vivian jin
ERIC FANG
reporter
In early April, North Korea said that its missile testing site Punggye-ri would be closing. Many believed this action was meant to improve international relations, but a group of geologists at the University of Science and Technology of China have found evidence indicating that Mount Mantap may have collapsed from the latest missile test.
KATHY FANG
Geologists say North Korea nuclear test site has collapsed
PROTESTING FOR PEACE Protestors gather outside San francisco’s Powell Street station to protest President Trump’s retaliatory missile strike against Syria for their usage of chemical weapons. In the middle of last April, Syrian President Bashar al-Assad allegedly attacked civilians with illegal Chlorine gas and nerve agents.
Syrian chemical facilities hit by airstrike
ERIC FANG
President Trump launches missiles in response to civilian chemical attack 13 children are killed in crash with train in India
ERIC FANG
A bus driver wearing headphones drove into the path of a large passenger train in northern India, causing the deaths of thirteen children out of the seventeen on board at the time. The children and the railroad guard tried to stop the driver, but he continued onto the railroad.
China uses new method to deter jaywalkers The Chinese city of Daye has acquired technology to deter jaywalkers, including water-spraying posts and camera monitors with facial recognition. Pedestrians will first be warned by a speaker then blasted with water upon continuing to walk.
eric fang global editor
The United States, supported by France and the United Kingdom, launched airstrikes reportedly on several Syrian chemical weapons facilities on April 14. The assault comes as a response to the alleged chemical attack on Syrian civilians living in the town of Douma by Syrian president Bashar al-Assad. The pentagon declared a total of 76 missiles being launched from American, French, and United Kingdom warplanes and ships targeting three targets in Western Syria close to the capital of Damascus: a Syrian research and development center, a chemical weapons bunker and a storage facility. The missiles hit their targets at 4 a.m. in the morning. The calculated attack enjoyed the backing of U.S. allies such as France and the United Kingdom. Following the barrage, President Trump called the strike “perfectly executed” and a “mission accomplished” on Twitter. Pentagon spokeswoman Dana White additionally stated that the attack had crippled Assad’s
ability to produce chemical weapons. The Syrian military however, contrary to Pentagon reports, claimed most the American missiles either missed their
“The United States has hundreds of nuclear weapons. Is this a government that has the authority to tell Syria to not use chemical weapons?” MAZDA MAGIDI A.N.S.W.E.R ACTIVIST targets or were shot down by Syrian missile defense systems. The use of chemical weapons with military retaliation is not uncommon. In the April of 2017, Assad similarly deployed Sarin gas chemical weapons against his own civilians. In response, President Trump ordered an airstrike against a Syr-
ian airbase. When news first broke of Assad’s apparent second chemical attack involving a combination of Chlorine gas and nerve agents, President Trump revealed his plans for retribution when he tweeted that he would be sending “nice and new and smart” missiles despite Russia’s vows to shoot any missiles aiming at their ally down. Although Trump praised the offensive, many opposed it. Russian President Vladimir Putin criticized the U.S. for acting before an official investigation had been launched as to verify if chemical weapons had actually been used. Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, the supreme leader of Iran, called the attack a “crime”. In the United States, several anti-war protests were held across the country. Act Now to Stop War and Racism (A.N.S.W.E.R), an organization dedicated to supporting global peace and civil rights, staged a protest the day of the strike to address American militarism and warfare around the world. Mazda Magidi, an A.N.S.W.E.R activist, believes that because of the United State’s
massive military and nuclear weapons arsenal, they have little authority to command countries such as Syria to abandon their own weapons programs. “Even though the U.S. says they care about human rights and democracy around the world, there has to be an explanation to why the U.S. has 600 military bases in 180 some countries and outspends every other country in terms of the military,” Magidi said. “The question has to be asked, is this for defending democracy or for empire?” Robert Hammie another A.N.S.W.E.R protestor thinks the U.S. is extending unwanted influence over too many countries in the world. “The U.S. unfortunately kind of like the British Empire, casts its shadow all over the world and people everywhere are being stomped on.” Assad addressed the strike saying that he would respond to the allies but offered no further details. Trump also stated that he would continue similar attacks if Assad continues his use of illegal chemical weapons.
Kim Jong Un makes surprise visit to China anvi banga & anika rajamani
DEALINGS BEHIND THE CURTAIN North Korean Leader Kim Jong Un and Chinese Prime Minister Xi Jing Ping shake hands after a seperate meeting of theirs in March. Kim travelled unannounced to Beijing by train last month for yet another meeting with Xi.
broke of the meeting, President Trump tweeted that “For years and through many administrations, everyone said that peace and the denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula was not even a small possibility. Now there is a good chance that Kim Jong Un will do what is right for his people and for humanity. Look forward to our meeting!” “I hope that they become part of the global world and that they heal and become incorporated and they’re not isolated anymore,” Milius said. “People can get food and help and access to medical supplies and lights.” Sarah Huckabee Sanders, White House Press Secretary, announced that the Chinese government had contacted American administration officials to inform them about the meetings. Just two months ago, North Korea sent a team of athletes to the Winter Olympics in Pyeongchang, South Korea. This travel led to plans for Kim Jong Un to meet South Korean president Moon Jae-In and a direct invite
to President Trump to meet and discuss nuclear programs. This surprise meeting could help ease tensions between the two countries, but the Chinese government has showed support for controlling nuclear development in North Korea. They have also enforced punishing sanctions placed by the United Nations which have decreased the import of North Korean goods into China, namely coal and other resources critical to their development of nuclear weapons. Kim Jong Un made a visit to South Korea to meet South Korean leader Moon Jae-in on April 27. This historic event marks the first time a North Korean Leader has visited South Korea since the end of the Korean War in 1953. The leaders discussed possibilities of ending nuclearization in North Korea and planted a tree together. By the end of the historic meeting, the two nations declared an end to hostilities and pledged to work towards denuclearizing the peninsula.
ANVI BANGA
North Korean leader Kim Jong Un made an unannounced visit to Beijing to meet with Chinese president Xi Jinping just months before the 2018 North Korea-United States Summit. His visit to China marks his first time leaving North Korea since he assumed power in 2011 and his first meeting with another country’s leader. The last time a North Korean leader visited China was in 2011 by Kim Jong-Il. “Hopefully this is a step in the right direction,” World History teacher Andrea Milius said. “Hopefully they will eventually be embraced by the world instead of shunned by the world.” The “mystery train” that arrived at Beijing’s central train station on March 26 caused a lot of speculation as it was only officially announced to have brought the North Korea’s leader after the meeting and Kim’s return to North Korea. The green 21-car train had tinted and bulletproof windows and crossed the border back to North Korea on March 28, two days after the initial meeting. “I don’t know if they were too secret. Like that train is super outdated technology. I think it goes like 30 miles per hour. I think there was super hecka booze on it, it’s like a party train,” Milius said. “So I don’t know if it was a super secret. I just think he’s like a dictator, he just does what he wants to do.” A few hours after news
WIKIMEDIACOMMONS
Aquila asst. news editor & reporter
VOLUME 19 • ISSUE 7 MAY 4, 2018
A5 WINGED POST
FEATURES
WELCOME TO
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8 BEAT OF BROADWAY
1. KING OF BROADWAY Julian Marsh (Akhil Arun(12)) performs a powerful, resounding song. 2. ALLENTOWN Peggy Sawyer (Ellie Lang-Ree (11)) tap dances while singing a lively song.
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4. SING! Billy Lawlor (Markus Wong (12)) pours his heart into a melodic song.
6. CHORUS GIRLS Members of the ensemble dance cast perform in a dazzling number.
performers
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KATHY FANG
7. SHINING STAR Maggie Jones (Neha Premkumar (11)), a co-author of “Pretty Lady,” sings and dances onstage.
pages of sheet music in score live student musicians
months of show rehearsals
8. EVERYDAY I’M SHUFFLING Bert Barry (Matthew Mammen (11)) and Anytime Annie (Emmy Huchley (11)) perform a duet. 9. LOVELY LULLABY The cast performs the number “Shuffle Off To Buffalo.” 10. TAP TAPPING Timothy Wang (11) and Liana Wang (12) dance in the show’s title song. 11. MELODIC MUSIC Student musicians Jcob Kim (11) and Bobby Schick (12) get ready to play their next song.
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3. SOUND OF MUSIC Dorothy Brock (Sameep Mangat (12)) sings her heart out.
5. WONDERFUL WALTZ Dancers encircle Brock (Sameep) during a waltz.
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Guided by glitz, glamor and grandeur, 41 upper school conservatory members performed “42nd Street” on April 19, 20 and 21 in the Rothschild Performing Arts Center.
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reporters
When “King of Broadway,” Julian Marsh (Akhil Arun (12)), falls onto hard times, he has no choice but to put on a musical, the largest one Broadway has seen for the last 20 years, “Pretty Lady.” Rich magnate Abner Dillon, played by Rahul Bhethanabotla (12) agrees to provide all 100,000 dollars needed to fund the show, under the condition that established prima donna who has not performed in 10 years, Dorothy Brock (Sameep Mangat (12)), is the star. Brock herself is caught between Dillon and the love of her life, her penniless former vaudeville partner, Pat Denning (Karan Gupta (11)). Meanwhile, Peggy Sawyer, depicted by Ellie Lang-Ree (11), a bright eyed hopeful from Allentown, Pennsylvania, arrives in town for the show’s auditions, hoping to make her Broadway dreams come true. “42nd Street is an iconic broadway musical.” said Laura Lang-Ree, Director of Performing Arts, K-12 at Harker, as well as the director of the musical. “It’s one of the beloved favorites in the musical theater archives. And I knew it would be a perfect mix of romance, and love, and adventure, and heart and spectacle that would do justice to the Patil theater.” 42nd Street is the first musical to be held in the new Rothschild Performing Arts Center, which presents an array of technical opportunities, such as a rigging system and improved set pieces that were not available at the Blackford theatre.
“It’s a lot more complicated [compared to Blackford],” stage crew member Logan Frank (11) said. “There’s big sets to work with, and curtains, and there’s a thing called a Pinrail, where we lower the actual walls and sets down into the [stage]. It’s a lot harder, but it’s a lot more fun.” Performers also appreciate the new facilities and the experience they provide. “In Blackford it’s just like a black box. It’s really hard to project in there, it’s really hard to get good acoustics,” Sameep Mangat (12), who plays lead character Dorothy Brock, said. “Being able to have this many seats in this big of an open space you actually feel like you’re on a stage rather than a piece of wood [that is] mounted.” This year presents a new set of challenges due to the technical intricacies of every component of the show. “It’s not simple in any way; it’s very complicated across the board in every single area,” Lang-Ree said. “In this show, everything is equally fancy, and difficult.” This musical also marks another historic first, as it is the first time student musicians have performed live for a musical at Harker. With around 50 pages of music and 25 full songs, playing for the musical is a daunting task. “There’s a lot of stuff that we have to write in, lots of cuts, lots of places that we have to be prepared to do whatever it takes to make sure the performers look good and to make sure that if there are any mistakes, they aren’t obvious.“ Grant Miner (10), who plays tenor sax, said.
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12. YOU CAN DO IT Marsh (Akhil), a famous director, delivers a pep talk to the ensemble cast members.
FEATURES
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PETS of HARKER nina gee reporter
With all the stress and pressure that comes with being a high schooler, many students turn to their furry friends for comfort and support. As a listen-
ing ear, a loyal companion, and a way to connect with nature and the environment, pets are some of our closest friends. Even pet-loving teachers who see the value of pets introduce them as learning tools in the classroom.
“It definitely makes this mre than just a chemistry classroom,” chemistry teacher Andrew Irvine said. “It’s been an interesting way to explore science and animals. It’s a passion of mine, to take care of these animals.”
Elliot Kampmeier (9) owns two cats: Angel and Dr. Nefario, which he and his family bought to replace their old cats once they moved to California from New Jersey. Angel, always the lady, is the more mature of the two– warm, loving, and always up to listen to Elliot’s ramblings. Nefario is the more adventurous of the two, always trying to assert his dominance over the neighborhood cats. He’s a sweet friend to everyone he meets, except for the diabolical squirrels, whom he enjoys chasing. Elliot arguably thinks that the worst part about owning cats is randomly waking up to piles of vomit. Amy Dunphy’s (12) dog Hermes is a ball of sunshine brighter than his white, curly fur. The always hyper ball of energy greets everyone with limitless excitement and fervor. Her bunny is the polar opposite of Hermes: shy, reserved, and preferring the cool shade to the shining sun. Despite the stereotypical association of rabbits and carrots, she prefers cilantro. In fact, the only thing the two hold in common is their love for food. Coming from a family of animal lovers, Amy has a unique and heartwarming relationship to all animals around her.
Lou Sanche (11) owns a cat named Matcha, a dog named Oakley, and a gecko. His dog and his cat seemed to have switched personalities, as Matcha wags his tail whenever he’s happy, and Oakley can often be found sunbathing or grooming himself, the leopard gecko, is as prickly as his skin and mostly just sits around staring judgmentally at the other animals. As someone who struggles with anxiety, Lou finds that his pets, specifically his therapy dog, help him calm down by piling around him.
Katelyn Chen (10) is an avid animal-lover, owning 5 pets: a turtle, a ball python, a conure, and a couple of fish. She has a heart-warming love for each of her animals, despite her bird’s tendency to bite her and her snake’s often mysterious whereabouts. “I think having a pet really helps a person have compassion for other things besides humans, or even just other humans,” Katelyn said.
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Chemistry teacher Andrew Irvine, an animal-lover, has a plethora of exciting pets both in his classroom, to teach students about science, and at home. “In this classroom I have a bibron gecko, I have four firebelly toads, I have the scarlet birdeating tarantula, the second largest species of tarantula in the world,” Irvine said. “At home, I have a russian tortoise, I have four poison dart frogs, which are not poisonous in captivity, we have a rat snake, we have a baby tarantula, and that’s it–for now.”
History teacher strives for inner balance
ALL PHOTOS KATHY FANG
In the seventh installment of the repeating features segment, world history and world religions teacher Dr. Ruth Meyer discusses her passion for spirituality, dreams, mediation and Kabbalah.
mahika halepete & helen yang lifestyle editor & Aquila STEM editor
Silence seeps into the air as a group of people sit together, meditating—then, chants begin to echo as they recite the names of gods in Hebrew through a harmony of songs. When the clock strikes exactly eight o’clock, a woman climbs up a tree and lights a special candle while performing a ritualistic incantation. For history teacher Dr. Ruth Meyer, this series of events is a regular occurrence that she partakes in as a part of her spiritual development. She, along with others, believes in Kabbalah, which is an ancient form of Jewish mysticism that includes many ritualistic practices for spiritual growth.
“What we do is we sit in our chair, like I do here, and [our spiritual mentor] tells us to really feel, and she will put some special music on,” Dr. Meyer said. “She will say, ‘Imagine that there is a chord between your feet that going down, down, down, connecting you to the core center of the earth. And feel that you are anchored there.’” Raised by parents who surrounded her in spiritual music and took her on trips to old churches, Dr. Meyer spent much of her childhood developing an interest in spirituality. However, it was during a trip to the Isle of Skyros for an art therapy course when she truly began her own spiritual journey. There, an Indian analyst had her document and focus her art around her dreams, and invited her to a London workshop hosted by the son of Sir Laurence
Olivier, a famous Shakespearean actor. There, she met spiritual guide Meagan Wagner, who later became her Kabbalah teacher. “When I started to do her guided meditations, I realized how valuable it was getting you into a deep state of relaxation so you can actually visualize different worlds and angels and things like that,” Dr. Meyer said. Coincidentally, when Dr. Meyer came to America for her PhD, she reunited with Wagner when she happened across Wagner’s book tour for The Sapphire Staff. Since then, she has been attending a Kabbalah group almost every Thursday at Wagner’s house in Redwood City. During the meetings, people participate in a variety of spiritual exercises, including learning about chakra, singing Kabbalistic songs and meditating.
IN THE SPIRIT (Left) Dr. Meyer’s room features a plethora of historically themed objects along with spiritual trinkets. “Dreams can really help you,” she said. (Right) Dr. Meyer uses a traditional instrument to create a meditative vibe in her classroom. She has been meditating for several years.
“In a lot of the Kabbalah, we see this world the physical world. Then there is another world immediately above it which is the dream world, and all the psychological world, which is psychological energy you cannot see, but you can feel,” Dr. Meyer said. Dr. Meyer encourages everyone, including Harker students, to try exploring their own spiritual path. “You are very welcome to join Dream and Meditation club, [and] every single year, for the past three years, I have taught the same Recreate Reading book, which is ‘A Field Guide to Lucid Dreaming,’” Dr. Meyer said. “It is only way that I can reach a few Harker students that might not otherwise be able to read about dream interpretation.” To learn more about Dr. Meyer’s spiritual journey, visit www. harkeraquila.com.
“I was very lucky that I grew up in a home that was spiritual. Both of my parents were singers; my father was very musical. We always had spiritual music playing at home, and I would go to church with them. That’s probably where I got my love for history from because I was interested in religion. Even when I was thirteen, I was writing down my dreams. It was only when I was in my thirties when I read “Memories, Dreams and Reflections,” and I understood that dreams can really help you in this life.” DR. RUTH MEYER HISTORY TEACHER AND MEDITATION MASTER
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The artisanal chocolatemaking process Dandelion Chocolate workers take pride in presenting their “Bean-to-Bar” method of making chocolate to visitors; the company makes all of the chocolate it uses. Their artisanal chocolate is made in small batches with only two ingredients: cocoa beans and sugar. The final product, hand-wrapped in golden foil, is reminiscent of the golden ticket chocolate bars in “Charlie and the Chocolate Factory,” but in this case, every chocolate bar is a winner.
“A lot of people here are looking to understand food, they care about where things are coming from. They understand quality,” Dandelion Chocolate’s Education Team Member Cynthia Jonasson said. The turn of the 21st century has been characterized by many industry booms, one of which was the boom of artisanal chocolate.
CHOCOLATE & CHILDHOOD
A workshop employee reflects on the joys of chocolate Beginning in the early 1900s, chocolate was further available in larger and larger quantities to consumers who flocked after the mass-made treat. Though currently working
A piquant scent of alcohol-like sharpness permeates the air of Dandelion Chocolate, a small, homey artisanal chocolate factory and cafe nestled on Valencia Street, San Francisco. Yet, with further consideration, no traces of alcohol linger in the store. Instead, guests register an unfamiliar taste of a mixture of bitter, sweet and spicy, a scent that comes from the fermenting and roasting of cacao beans.
IN SF
Childhood. This state of being is characterized with innocence, simplicity, joy, and love. As Harker Journalism traveled to San Francisco, they revisited the carefree experiences of childhood through candy, characters, and .
A MUSEUM TO REMEMBER (ABOVE) Built in October 2009, the Walt Disney Family Museum is a tribute to the legacy of Walt Disney. Located within The Presidio of San Francisco, the museum is a place that celebrates the wonders of imagination and childhood. (BELOW) Children play right outside the museum on the grass of The Presidio. The park is well-known as a lively recreational space. (LEFT) A Mickey Mouse poster hangs on the wall in the museum.
PLAYING BALL
Watching baseball at AT&T park
VIVIAN JIN
kAT ZHANG
ANVI BANGA
ANVI BANGA
asst. features editor, asst. news editor, reporter, features editor
Visitors are greeted by sights and scents
at the artisanal chocolate factory, Jonasson previously studied finance and worked as an accountant before realizing she needed a change—what she deemed as a “quarter-life crisis”. “I used to save my allowance and buy all the chocolate I could. Working here, it does feel like childhood. I’ve never seen someone come here and leave unhappy,” Jonasson said.
CHILDHOOD gloria zhang, anvi banga, vivian jin prameela kottapalli
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ON PLAY IN THE PRESIDIO The magic of childhood is apparent in many forms in this lively spot On a crisp and cloudy San Franciscan afternoon in the Presidio, three children chase each other, laughing and rolling on an immense lawn. Their parents watch fondly, reclining comfortably in one of many oversized red lawn chairs scattered haphazardly about the field. The children’s shouts of mirth ring out through the muffled air, echoing quietly from the front wall of a long brick building. A red cloth sign rippling in the wind proudly displays, “THE WALT DISNEY FAMILY MUSEUM” across the center of the building.
The Walt Disney Family Museum sits in the Presidio, a 1,500-acre park on a former military post with scenic trails, a golf course, and various eateries, homes and businesses. The museum houses two floors of exhibits that illustrate Walt Disney’s career from beginning to end, as well as a cafe and gift shop. Walt Disney’s hard work and imagination shaped the childhoods of people around the world with his well-known cartoons, animations and movies. The museum itself mirrors Disney’s achievements and aspirations.
“Yet, ironically, as adults and high-schoolers depart from the redbricked Disney building after a tour reminiscing childhood, children tumble around in the grass right across the street.”
The museum was founded by Disney’s daughter Diane Disney Miller in 2009, tributing his imagination with early illustrations and animations to the creation of Disneyland. Although he lived in Hollywood, Diane selected the San Francisco bay to move away from the deeply-infused, Disney-centric LA and closer to her home in Napa Valley. Yet, ironically, as adults and high-schoolers depart from the red-bricked Disney building after a tour reminiscing childhood, children tumble around in the grass right across the street.
Giant foam fingers, crunchy caramel corn and stiff-peaked hats. There’s a countless array of bells and whistles associated with baseball, America’s de-facto family pastime. But for many San Francisco Giants fans, the national sport evokes different images, from the Loma Prieta earthquake interrupting the team’s 1989 championship game to orange-and-white confetti raining down upon the players after the 2010 World Series win that ended a 56-year title drought. And, of course, there’s AT&T park itself, a larger-than-life stadium complete with a dazzling panoramic view of the San Francisco skyline. The arena offers also offers visitors a museum-style gallery of San Francisco Giants history–tangerine-colored walls adorned with timelines of momentous events and portraits of iconic players. The stadium’s capacity seats over 41,000 spectators, along with special viewing boxes for VIP guests and dozens of journalists. And of course, the massive Coca-Cola bottle that looms over the stadium provides children with a fun and refreshing attraction– fans under the age of 14 can enjoy a slide “into home plate” from within the bottle itself.
A8 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 Copy Editor Anjay Saklecha 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
OPINION
Commiseration must turn into action to minimize stress culture EDITORIAL THE OFFICIAL OPINION OF THE WINGED POST Graduation is around the corner. AP exams are beginning. Final dashes to raise semester grades have students tracing grooves into teacher hallways to ask about missing assignments or plead for extra credit. And around Manzanita lunch tables, in the Main hallways, downstairs in Dobbins, the refrain could be recorded as a unified Harker chorus: “I’m so stressed.” Stress culture––it’s a nebulous term, most often referring to the pervasive existence, and perhaps glamorization––of
stress, typically referred to in context of bragged-about intensive workloads and extracurriculars on high school or college campuses. Walking past some fresh-
feedback loops centered around anxiety (and who has the most). Stress culture values overstretched student lives as perceived badges of honor that purportedly will correlate to rising levels of success. Commiseration can seem like a way to healthily deal with stress by bonding with others or sharing, but venting about stress without acting to reduce it––particularly when stress is seen as a signifier of how much work you’re accomplishing––merely romanticizes and normalizes an unhealthy lifestyle. So as we march towards summer, and if you found yourself stressed this year and talking about it often, take a step back. In thinking about stress, consider the actual impact of stress
Consider the actual impact of stress on your body and your overall mental and emotional responses. men talking after the regatta, another student overheard these comments: “Don’t worry about the learning: just do what you need to do to get the A.” Stress culture manifests in late nights, in campus-wide
evan barth guest writer
To be clear, I am not leaving Harker! I’ve been at the Harker Upper School for 18 years – 9 as a math teacher and 9 as the Dean of Studies / Academic Dean. Even the non-math inclined might appreciate the symmetry. And perhaps after 9 years of serving as the Head of Middle School, a new position will beckon – watch out Mr. Yager! So while this column is usually reserved for departing folks, I write as one who is moving, not moving on. I’ve watched our Upper
School grow in many ways over these 18 years. Our first graduating class was 89 students, and now we graduate 195 each year. 18 years ago the middle school was based in Shah and ate out of what we now call “Mexico.” I will miss Chefs Antonio and Carlos, and I hope you show your appreciation for their nourishing craft. Over the years I have been impressed time and again with you, the students of this school. And I don’t mean how many students go to Stanford or MIT, but rather how students here put genuine energy into all the various pots that make up our collective lives – and you do it while being good people, too. We’ve
Editors’ note: saying thanks
DEREK YEN
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
Visit The Winged Post Online at www.harkeraquila.com Follow us on social media with the handle /harkeraquila
on your body and your overall mental and emotional responses. According to the Mayo Clinic, stress can manifest physically through lack of motivation, irritability and sleep problems, and––in the long term––via increased likelihood of high blood pressure. Effective ways to alleviate stress include physical activity, meditation and a focus on relaxing hobbies. Stress “culture” means that each of us plays a role in perpetuating it, either implicitly or actively, and it’ll be slow to change but not impossible. Perhaps, don’t greet your friends with a one-liner about how many tests you have this week or compare your true emotional state with how often you externalize your stress.
eart of Harker: Nine years a teacher, nine years a dean
Reporters
Anna Vazhaeparambil Srinath Somasundaram
VOLUME 19 • ISSUE 7 MAY 4, 2018
kaitlin hsu, maya kumar & sahana srinivasan editor-in-chief, managing editor and editor-in-chef
There have rarely been stranger, or more uncomfort-
able, or more exciting, or more important times to be a journalist, student or not, than now. We started out covering small-time spirit event recaps, and found ourselves wading through 5,000word packages on mass shootings and activism and political dichotomies. But, what’s been most mem-
raised money for water wells in developing countries, gathered supplies for rural schools, written encouraging notes to tsunami victims, and brought music to retirement communities. Closer to home, my family cherishes a string of 10,000 cranes that students made in a time of need and continues to offer us strength. I see students immersed in their art, their sports, their research, and when it is genuine and not some fruitless search for the secret sauce of college admissions, it is beautiful to see and life-transforming. When I connect with alumni I enjoy hearing the stories of their journeys. Few take a direct path to a destination, but the
twists and turns (and backtracking!) enrich them. I hope you will consider a visit – whether at Blackford or Union in 3 years – to share your journey with me. It’s a great day to be an Eagle.
orable in the last four years is the Ike’s sandwiches and group karaoke, the late-night deadlines and scavenger hunts––the fun we’ve found while working with all of you. So, to our incomparable staff members: thank you for every photo, every quote, every laugh and meal and article and joke. We hope you enjoyed this year as much as we did; we hope you take everything we’ve started and take this paper to places we never could have imagined but now anticipate. To Ms. Austin: thank you for the advice on photos, articles, design and life; thanks for every hilarious pun and cringey joke and somber sit-down. We honestly don’t know how you do what you do, but we are so very glad to have you in our lives. To our parents: thanks for letting us stay for all the late
nights and for giving your unquestioning support. We know you’re now very well-acquainted with the Harker parking lot (back vs. front vs. the old front–– thoughts?), probably more so than anyone really ought to be. To you: thanks for reading, writing and being interviewed; thanks for telling us what was great and calling us out when we’re not; thanks for letting us tell your stories––we know you’ll have so many more in the years to come. We hope the Winged Post continues its mission of serving our community in whatever way it can, and we hope to find in the next four years somewhere that replicates a tiny slice of what we found in room 50. Thanks, Sahana, Kaitlin and Maya Winged Post Editors, Volume 19
Evan Barth is the academic dean and dean of studies. He will be leaving at the end of this academic year to take up a new post as head of the middle school. 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.
Community service requirement exists for a valuable reason srinath somasundaram reporter
Community service can be seen as simply a requirement that has to be begrudgingly done just to meet the required 10 hours a year minimum for school. Interesting volunteering and service opportunities for students become tasks similar to the cliché of tedious homework; students solely do it to pass the class as it is a requirement. This path is that of least resistance. We often focus on the ways in which they can meet the required hours for the year while putting in as little effort as possible. However, a more positive approach can lead to more enjoyable experiences and fruitful revelations of a student’s true nature. As I was preparing to begin my ninth-grade year, I recalled the multitude of times people told me about the P.E. requirement in the high school but never a community service requirement. Because of this, I was surprised when my advisory began frantically worrying about it. However, soon after realizing what was going on, I
put together a plan to finish my hours as fast as possible, and before I knew it, I was helping teach English at San Miguel Elementary School four days a week after school through a program known as Reading Partners. My thought process at the time was laughably ignorant; I sought out to complete my hours like they were a prison sentence. Though I didn’t realize it initially, I began to have fun and enjoy interacting with and building connections with the young people I was teaching. As it became something that I looked forward to on a daily basis, the community service forms were due. As I filled it out, I began to feel a complex sensation. One on hand, I had gone above and beyond doing well over the minimum 10 hours for freshman year. On the other, however, I felt that my mission wasn’t complete because it had changed. It transformed into my constant striving to assist those I had grown to love being with in every way I could. So, as I faithfully completed each question on the form, I tried to take each one to heart wondering the intent of their existence. Why was my service important? How has my service
changed me? The first of which starting gears churning in my brain. “Why is any service important?” I asked myself. I landed on a simple conclusion. Service creates a mutually beneficial relationship between the doer and the recipient. The ultimate goal of service is obviously to help those who need help in some way, but when volunteering or engaging in community service, people learn about themselves, learn life skills, and, most importantly, build bonds with others. This last point stuck with me, and I began to realize that I had
found a new understanding of community and family through interacting with people I didn’t know a few months ago. It’s easy to forget the value in community service, and the reasoning behind having a requirement. Is it possible that many of us would do community service regardless of a requirement? Absolutely, but the existence of such a requirement ultimately assists and encourages us to take part in a self-revealing journey of our own.
READING TOGETHER Srinath Somasundaram (9) follows along as a third grade student from San Miguel Elementary School reads a folk tale. This session was a part of the Reading Partners volunteer program.
PROVIDED BY IVAN ABREGO
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, 500 Saratoga Ave., San Jose, CA 95129. 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. 2016-2017 NSPA Pacemaker Finalist 2016-2017 Silver Crown-winning publication 2015-2016 Gold Crown-winning publication 2014-2015 Silver Crown-winning publication 2013-2014 Silver Crown-winning publication 2012-2013 Silver Crown-winning publication 2010-2011 Gold Crown-winning publication 2009-2010 Silver Crown-winning publication
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Trump’s administration rescinds previous environmental plans, alters emissions
GLOBAL RESET Part twenty-one of an ongoing series irina malyugina & tiffany wong reporter & Aquila news editor
In recent years, federal and state governments in the U.S. have initiated the switch towards using renewable energy sources and regulating emissions, passing pieces of legislature such as the Energy Policy Act of 2005, which used financial incentives such as loan guarantees to motivate states to combat energy problems. According to market data and research company Statista, nationwide consumption of fossil fuels between 2005 and 2016 has decreased by seven quadrillion British thermal units (Btus), or amount of heat required to raise the temperature of one pound of wa-
ter by one degree Fahrenheit. One of President Donald Trump’s main campaign points called for the United States to trade renewable energy for fossil fuels. Only a little over a year into office, he’s taken steps towards that goal—from withdrawing the country from the 2015 Paris Agreement last June to loosening federal emissions standards, Trump has ushered in a new era of American environmental policy that is significantly different from that of the previous administration. A cornerstone of this change is Trump’s Energy Independence Executive Order, which the president signed last March. Aimed at lowering barriers that “impede progress towards energy independence,” the directive focuses specifically on the interests of coal, natural gas, nuclear energy and oil producers and suppliers. EPA Administrator Scott Pruitt has echoed this sentiment regarding the importance of protecting and expanding these components of the energy industry during his recent visits to the Thomas Hill Energy Center in Clifton Hill, Missouri and the Harvey Mine in Sycamore, Pennsylvania, where he introduced the
department’s “Back-to-Basics Agenda.” Promoting the three E’s—environment, economy and engagement—to create coal jobs, the plan reflects the EPA’s current focus on supplying state legislatures with oversight of, or responsibility of regulating, the growth and management of coal-powered electric utilities. “Coal is, and will continue to be, a critical part of America’s energy mix. I saw today just how important this fuel source is to affordable electricity and economic development in the region, especially in the agriculture community,” Pruitt said during his Pennsylvania trip. Trump’s Energy Independence Executive Order also proposes a review of Obama’s 2015 Clean Power Plan, which aimed to reduce carbon dioxide emissions by substituting coal power plants with natural gas generators and promoting the use of renewable energy. The measure was estimated to be able to reduce pollutants causing smog and soot by 25 percent and reap net climate and health benefits of $25 to $45 billion per year by 2030. “It’s not uncommon to see changes in policies from one administration to the next. It’s fair to say that under
THANKS FOR PLAYING!
FOOD
Take public transportation If you eat vegetarian at least at least once a week? Move three times a week, move one step forward. two steps forward. Otherwise, pick up five pieces of trash around you and move one step.
Otherwise, eat a vegeterian meal today and move one step.
WATER USAGE Take showers of less than ten minutes? Move two steps forward. Otherwise, take a shower of five minutes or less tonight and move one step.
ENERGY
Have you forgotten to turn off the lights in the last week? Move a step backwards. Otherwise, move a step forwards.
FREE SPACE
Make sure to compost this newspaper if you don’t want to keep it! Move one step forward.
GE 5 SA east R U at l ays CA e a cawr eek d s iv Dr t of 7 step ou e 2 d. r v ove Mo ckwa , m rd. ba ise wa rw for he p Ot e ste on
TRANSPORTATION
President Obama, the general outlook and orientation of the mission of the EPA was to protect public health and welfare, think about what rules and regulations were needed to deal with water and air pollution and manage issues like that,” Dr. Danny Cullenward, lecturer of climate law and policy at Stanford University, said. “Under the Trump administration, it’s very much oriented towards facilitating the development of fossil resources, which is a really different focus.” The Trump administration plans to reach a decision about the Clean Power Plan and many of Obama’s other climate change programs by the end of this summer. Harker’s Green Team hopes to stall the repeal by writing copious letters to the EPA. “The EPA is forced to reply to every statement that they get so if we all write comments to them, they have to respond. That would just help slow the whole process down and prevent the repeal from actually following through before Trump’s first four years come to an end,” Co-President of Green Team, Satchi Thockchom (12) said.
GRAPHIC BY ROSE GUAN AND KAT ZHANG, PHOTOS BY WIKIMEDIA COMMONS
STEM
Dialectic:
Is deleting Facebook useful?
In our recurring Dialectics, two authors with contrasting viewpoints 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. Recently, Facebook revealed that it had leaked user data to Cambridge Analytica, a British consulting firm, without permission. As a result, a movement to delete Facebook as a protest and for personal safety has spawned. But is this useful? Junior Rose Guan and freshman Arya Maheshwari discuss. arya maheshwari & rose guan
reporter & Wingspan senior staff writer and designer
Winged Post: If you had a Facebook, and you knew that
something like this was happening, would you feel safer deleting it? Even though there’s a big uproar and hype about the #DeleteFacebook movement, I’m not sure it’s going to have that big of an effect, because the problem will persist. Even if as individuals we delete Facebook, that’s not doing anything to the systemic problem of data privacy. So I personally would not. I feel like deleting Facebook can be useful in that it allows people to take a personal stand against companies using user data, and i think raising awareness is the first step towards actually making progress against this systemic issue of companies using the data that users give them.
WP: What about other apps, so for example, Snapchat, Instagram, Gmail. What about your phone as a whole? If you’re deleting Facebook, do you have to delete these other things? Do you have to stop using your phone? I think one reason the Facebook scandal is so wellknown is because Facebook is more ubiquitous but other apps are doing this too. I just think that there would have to be something further than deleting one app. On the other hand it’s very hard to stop using your phone, so I think what’s best is just being aware and understanding that in addition to taking a stand in whatever way you feel is necessary, because as you mentioned, deleting Facebook is temporary, because Facebook also has a lot of utility, in the likes of job searches. It’s up to the individual user to measure taking a stand versus the utility of still having the apps on your phone, or coupling that with other ways to inform yourself and others about data privacy issues as a whole. But other people argue, what do you have to hide, and they continue to do whatever they want on it. so I just think that everyone has to decide that for themselves, and this is just a good step in making people realize that this is something that is there.
87 million
people had data taken by Cambridge Analytica
270 thousand people originally downloaded the app that Cambridge Analytica used
2.20 billion
Facebook users
10 billion
dollars lost by Mark Zuckerburg in the week after the scandal
WP: Do you think that the movement as a whole will help tech companies listen to user concerns about data use?
If Facebook has not only legislators questioning them but also the people who make it a platform in an uproar with this movie, then yeah, I think it would make tech companies listen. Obviously, this movement has become substantial enough for them to pour a lot resources into trying to fix and I don’t think it’s going to be ignored now, and I don’t think people will let it be ignored now, so I think that that is definitely a good thing that’s coming out of this movement. When there’s not a substantial enough amount of users for the backlash to be real and material against the company, which I don’t believe there currently is given that there is resistance to the #DeleteFacebook movement, I don’t think the company will necessary feel as pressured to change its policies when there clearly benefiting. I guess I was taking the stance would deleting Facebook be enough, and that’s why I was arguing “No,” but it would have benefits: you would just need to go further to perhaps achieve what some people think they might get out of deleting Facebook. I presume some might want to delete facebook because they think it will solve the problem, but it won’t do that. It will just be a step.
WP: How would you personally defend yourself from data breaches in social media and other places, like the data breach with Equifax? I would just try to be more wary of my actions, and I feel like that might also be a possible effect of deleting Facebook, that you as a user will be monitoring your own output in social networks, and like because by deleting such an important channel, you might be able to limit if not completely stifle yoru exposure of personal data. I think personal wariness, whether that’s in deleting Facebook or being more careful on what you post on Facebook and what you do with the platform, is definitely an important part of solving the problem on a user-by-user level. like there are search engines for example that don’t track your history, there are browser extensions that block ads that track your activity or targeted ads.
81 percent
of people between the ages of 18-29 use Facebook
74.66 billion
dollar drop in Facebook’s value after the scandal
79 percent
of Internet users in the US use Facebook
145 million
people’s personal info exposed by Equifax
A10 WINGED POST
STEM
VOLUME 19 • ISSUE 7 MAY 4, 2018
AI-themed research symposium draws crowds farah hosseini & rose guan reporter & Wingspan senior staff writer and designer
ELEMENTARY! derek yen
Can you find:
opinions editor
1. Something acidic?
TESS MISSION
5. Something lethal?
7. Something glacial? 8. Something fermented? 9. Something for dyeings?
CHECK YOUR ANSWERS Good hunting! You can check your work with the QR code to the right.
10. Something for dienes?
G AN ZH G YA N O EM G
HarkerCTF invited teams of student coders to a cybersecurity and computer science tournament held in the Nichols Atrium last Friday. The three teams who answered the most questions at the end of the tournament received a variety of prizes.
11. An amino acid?
13. An isomer of vaping fluid? 14. An anaesthetic?
AN
12. A rocket propellant? GU
iPROOV
This puzzle is a combination of a word search and a crossword puzzle. Like as in a word search, there is a grid of letters (elemental symbols) in a jumbled grid. Only some of these letters when isolated can form real words (chemical compounds). Like in a word search, the same atom can be used multiple times in different compounds. Like in a crossword puzzle, the clues specify properties of the sought word (compound) instead of directly telling you the answer. This puzzle will require a knowledge of chemistry and creativity!
The lines between atoms represent generic bonds: they can be single, double, or triple bonds as desired. Assume that any circled compound is then saturated with hydrogens. For example, the circled example pair counts as ethane, ethylene [ethene], and acetylene [ethyne]. Many of these questions have multiple answers, some of which are easy to find, some of which are more obscure.
Harker CTF holds annual tournament
SE
WIKIMEDIA COMMONS
6. Something NOxious?
FA N
4. Another notable greenhouse gas?
RULES OF THE GAME
TOYOTA
ER IN E
3. A diamine?
British and American scientists discovered an enzyme that can digest a form of plastic that is known as polyethylene terephthalate (PET).
Toyota reveals plans to develop vehicles by 2021 that can communicate to one another using short-distance wireless technology in an effort to help prevent accidents.
KA TH
2. A notable greenhouse gas?
NASA and SpaceX launched the Transiting Exoplanet Surveying Satellite (TESS) on April 18, whose mission is to investigate exoplanets that may be capable of supporting life.
U.S. Department of Homeland Security granted British firm iProov a contract to develop facial recognition technology that will enforce border control earlier in April.
The Harker Robotics team placed first in the Roebling division and ranked fourth in the finals at the annual FIRST Championship, hosted in Houston on April 18-21. In March, the team competed in the Davis regionals and placed second, which qualified them for the championships.
KA TH Y
kathy fang photo editor
Find compounds in a chemical word search
Robotics team places at world championships
RO
TECH TALK
A team of upper school students presented their projects at the California State Science Fair at Los Angeles on April 23-24, with Katherine Zhang (11) taking third place and Ruhi Sayana (11), Anjay Saklecha (11) and Krish Kapadia (11) receiving honorable mentions.
YN
force. In the afternoon, students, teachers and a parent involved in research discussed science opportunities at the upper school. Ramya Rangan (‘12), who participated in the
Students participate in state science fair
DB
ANITA CHETTY SCIENCE DEPARTMENT HEAD & WISTEM CLUB ADVISER
student-led booths including Green Team, robotics, Horizon and the aquarium presented to visitors. Also in Nichols Hall, upper school students gave formal talks, and WiSTEM members dressed in white lab coats held activities for younger students throughout the day. “I have all the WiSTEM girls wear a lab coat because [for] people of my generation, when we thought about a scientist and imagined them in a white lab coat, it was always a man. Commercials on TV, it was always a man,” Chetty said. “Women are scientists, and women can wear a white lab coat, and women can put together an event this massive.” Next year’s Symposium will be themed “Our Survival: Saving the Planet and Healing Ourselves”, with Dr. Max
IDE
“This year, we really said, ‘No, artificial intelligence is where it’s at.’”
first panel, also gave an address on the function of macromolecules like proteins. Students could also participate in smaller pre-registered workshops to improve their skills. A workshop hosted by Somnath Banerjee focused on neural style transfer, a specific technique applicable to artificial neural networks, while middle and lower school students benefited from AI workshops held throughout the day. Upper school chemistry teachers Dr. David Casso and Andrew Irvine performed chemical demos in a magic show during lunch. Throughout the day, middle and upper school students presented posters about their research in the auxiliary gym. Companies such as Nvidia and Google displayed products in Nichols Atrium, and
The upper school Science Bowl team received a [RESULTS AFTER DEADLINE NIGHT] at the National Science Bowl competition in Washington, D.C., after having won the regional competition in February.
OV
the academic sphere.” The Symposium also included two panel discussions. In the morning, students and industry professionals spoke on diversity in the STEM work-
Science Bowl team places in national competition
PR
REVOLUTIONARY RESEARCH (TOP) A parent tests a virtual realilty headset in the Nicholas atrium. (LEFT) Chemistry teacher Andrew Irvine demonstrates during his chemistry magic show. Keynote speaker Dr. Andrew Beck discusses his research. The symposium was held on April 14 in Nichols.
PRO VID
ED B
YD
ERE KY EN
kathy fang photo editor
PROVIDED BY KATE SCHAFER
The Women in Science, Technology, Engineering and Math club (WiSTEM) held the 13th annual Research Symposium, themed after artificial intelligence, across campus on April 14. Over 900 people attended the conference, which featured student, faculty and corporate presenters, as well as keynote speakers with experience in the computer science industry, in order to reflect the proceedings of a professional science conference. Last year’s Symposium was also centered on computer science, but this year’s event focused on the “AI revolution”: how AI can influence daily life. “The purpose of Symposium is to showcase the research that our students have done in a noncompetitive setting,” upper school science department head and WiSTEM club adviser Anita Chetty said. “If we were to just pick whatever theme we felt like picking, I don’t think we would be doing justice to [Silicon] Valley. Last year, we did predictive analytics and data science, but this year, we really said, ‘No, artificial intelligence is where it’s at.’” In the morning keynote, Dr. Jeff Dean, who leads the Brain Team at Google, discussed his experience working with machine learning. In the afternoon keynote, Dr. Andrew Beck, CEO of artificial intelligence development company PathAI, addressed how artificial intelligence can improve cancer diagnosis. “This year’s topic of artificial intelligence is really upto-date with what students are interested in, and it’s also just relevant to society as a whole right now,” WiSTEM publicity officer Shania Wang (11) said. “I think that Symposium’s really great because it shows you what other students are doing and what your classmates might be involved in outside of
Students qualify for USA(J)MO exams A team of four upper school students and one middle school student participated in the final round of the American Mathematics Competitions program, the United States of America (Junior) Math Olympiad (USA(J)MO) contest, on April 18-19.
SPORTS
WINGED POST A11
VOLUME 19 • ISSUE 7 MAY 4, 2018
IN THE MOMENT
ERIC FANG
. TRACK HURDLES Zoey Rosa (10) jumps over a hurdle in the track team’s second league meet of the year at King’s Academy. The team broke a total of 22 personal records at the meet leading up to league finals. The Track and Field team set 22 personal bests at the third and last league meet of the season, only three weeks before league championships
today.
Spring sports teams continue seasons Girls lacrosse rose guan & prameela kottapalli
ERIC FANG
NINA GEE
Wingspan designer & features editor
SPRING SPORTS (TOP) A member of the varisty boys volleyball team, spikes the volleyball over the net in a game against Mountain View on March 21. (LEFT) Elise Mayer (11) attempts to retrieve the ball in front of a Stevenson goalie. The team currently holds a 12-2 record in their regular season and a 7-0 record in league.
Swimming
Track & Field
reporter
global editor
Since the beginning of the season, the swim team has participated in the Palo Alto Invitational, Small School Invitational, WBAL Jamboree #1, Ron Freeman Invitational, WBAL Jamboree #3, Palo Alto Section Challenge, and the first round of West Bay Athletic League (WBAL) Trials. The team has also had smaller meets against Monterey High School and Kings Academy. “Varsity and JV practice together and do the same sets, but our coach gives everyone different intervals based on their speed,” varsity swimmer Sophie Durn (9) said. The swim team competes today at 4 p.m. and tomorrow at 2 p.m. at the second round of the WBAL Trials at Sacred Heart Prep. Their senior day is tomorrow and the team is commemorating seniors Yannick Bohbot-Dridi, Vivian Wang, and Taylor Kohlmann.
The Track and Field team set 22 personal bests at the third and last league meet of the season, only three weeks before league championships today. Both the boys’ and girls’ 400 meter sprint relays ran their personal bests and freshman Anna Weirich set personal bests in both the 400 and 800 meter races. Thrower Tiffany Shou (12) broke the all-time school record for discus, throwing 97 feet and two inches, two feet more than the previous record. “The season is going amazingly, it couldn’t been going any better since most everyone is improving all their personal bests and even through some of us seniors are not doing as well as we would like, as a team we’re still really strong in large part due to coach Chisam,” Anthony Contreras (12) said.
zoe sanders
eric fang
The girls lacrosse team, led by head coach Alyssa Dunlap along with assistant coaches Andrew Irvine and Andrew Newmark, had an overall record of 12-2 and an undefeated 7-0 record in league, tying them for first place with Aragon, as of Monday. This season’s performance marks a significant improvement from last year’s record of 13-7 overall with a third place standing in league. They played their last league home game on Tuesday against the Aragon Dons on Tuesday. The game also marked the team’s senior night, in which they honored first-year player Anooshree Sengupta, second-year player Ellen Minkin and four-year players Lauren Russell and Jenna Sanders.
Softball zoe sanders reporter
Varsity softball has a current overall record of 6-8 and a league record of 3-6. The team has won against King’s Academy, Castilleja, Pinewood, El Camino, Gunderson and Crystal Springs Uplands. The team is mainly made up of freshman and juniors, with one senior and no sophomores. “We’ve improved so much, particularly on defense. We’ve really cut the errors down and are making some great defensive plays,” captain Kristin LeBlanc (12) said. Along with Kristin, there are three other captains — Cameron Zell, Taylor Lam, and Anika Rajamani. The team plays today against Cupertino High School at Blackford at 4 p.m. Their next game is next Tuesday against Pinewood at Pinewood also at 4 p.m. The team’s CCS Playoffs begin on May 16.
Boys golf rose guan
wingspan designer
Boys volleyball kushal shah & prameela kottapalli
The boys golf team held their senior day game on April 24, defeating Sacred Heart Preparatory. They had an 8-1 league record as of Monday, when their game against Nueva decided their qualification to the league championship, their fifth in a row. The team plays their CCS games later this month. The team is coached by coaches Ie-Chen Cheng and Don Allio and led by captain Victor Shin (12). “We have been posting solid scores and coming in with a positive and confident mindset so that we can succeed and play to the best of our ability,” Victor said. “With the way that we are performing at this stage, it can only get better for our golf team.”
Harker’s boys varsity volleyball team has had a great season winning 20 of its 24 games in the SCVAL, and going 12-2 in CCS. The boys currently hold the number 4 seed in CCS, and start the first round of the CCS playoffs on Tuesday, May 8. If the squad wins on Tuesday, the boys will continue to semifinals on May 10. Assuming the team defeats their semifinal opponent, the CCS playoffs will end with the finals on Saturday, May 12. The two teams that face off in the finals will also be automatically entered in the North California tournament, which will mark the end of the boys’ volleyball season.
kushal shah
eric fang
Boys tennis
reporter & features editor
Baseball
reporter
global editor
Harker’s varsity tennis team currently has a 9-2 league record, with their regular season coming to an end this week. The two losses both come from matches against Menlo Atherton, whose team has been consistently making it to the CCS finals for the past decade now. The Menlo tennis team has cemented their position in the CCS playoffs, while Harker must fight for a seed in CCS. Varsity tennis player Simar Bajaj (10) spoke on Coach Fruttero’s goals for the team. “It doesn’t matter if we won or lost because either way, there was nothing more that we could have done. I think he believes that we must mutually support each other with our energy, on and off court. That is what sometimes decides the matches: how supportive your team is when you are in that match determining tie-breaker.”
Despite losing to Mills High School 12 - 3 last Thursday, Varsity Baseball maintains a steady season of 6 - 4 overall and 3 - 2 in league. The team will have to prepare for a crucial next two weeks involving a total of seven games against formidable schools such as Jefferson, Pine Wood, Del Mar and Silver Creek. The result of such games will ultimately determine if the team is qualified for CCS playoffs and whether or not they will win best in league. With strong pitchers such as seniors Matt Kennedy and Dominic Cea that have consistently thrown high velocity and off-speed pitches to strike batters out. “As a team we need to work on our defense,” Max Lee (10) said. “I personally think it is the key to winning our league title and going to the next level in terms of our capacity to win games.”
VAPENATION
WINGED POST A12
The e-volution of cigarettes
VOLUME 19 • ISSUE 7 MAY 4, 2018
Vaping trend popularizes among youth kathy fang, saloni shah, krishna bheda & irina malyugina photo editor & reporters
In light of the recent surge in the popularity of JUUL devices, the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) embarked on a nationwide crackdown on teenage e-cigarette use by tightening regulations, issuing warning letters to 40 retailers for selling e-cigarette products to youth and taking down several eBay listings of JUUL products. “We understand, by all accounts, many [kids] may be using products that closely resemble a USB flash drive, have high levels of nicotine and emissions that are hard to see. These characteristics may facilitate youth use, by making the products more attractive to children and teens,” the FDA said in a statement. “For this reason, the FDA must – and will – move quickly to reverse these disturbing trends, and, in particular, address the surging youth uptake of JUUL and other products.” JUULs, vaping devices manufactured in San Francisco, were originally marketed towards being an attractive substitute to the traditional cylindrical vaporizers that had long dominated the e-cigarette market, especially for adults aiming to gradually cut off smoking all together. To teenagers, one of the primary appeals stems from the design of the pod itself. It mirrors
the shape of a USB and is much harder to spot in a school environment, where an abundance of flash drives and other electronic gadgets helps to camouflage JUUL devices. “I’ve seen literally kids with a JUUL on a charger to their laptop just sitting in the middle of class, and nobody gets in trouble for it,” Leland High School sophomore Jason Yang said. As a result, the recent surge
ports, including the 2016 Surgeon General report, as a means of alluring youth. While the nontraditional flavors mask the pungent smell characteristic to tobacco products, a feature of JUUL that might target younger audiences, the pods each retain the same level of nicotine as a pack of traditional cigarettes. As a whole, vaping practices take a significant lead among
“I’ve seen literally kids with a JUUL on a charger to their laptop just sitting in the middle of class, and nobody gets in trouble for it... Since there’s so many instances of this, peer pressure becomes a really prevalent thing.” JASON YANG LELAND HIGH SCHOOL SOPHOMORE in JUUL sales raises alarms about the future of teenage substance abuse. From its debut as a product of the e-cigarette company PAX Labs in 2015, JUULs have risen to dominate 49.6% of the e-cigarette market, as a Wells Fargo study published in February reports. That puts JUUL ahead of other e-cigarette brands with a 29.5% lead. Another one of the primary selling points of JUUL is that the cartridges, called pods, are sold in a wide spectrum of flavors that range from classic tobacco to more exotic variations, such as mango and creme brulee. Marketing via these flavors has been criticized in many re-
youth over traditional cigarettes, despite having experienced a decline in popularity from 2015 to 2016. The 2017 national report published by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention found that 11.3% of high school students use e-cigarettes. Vaping devices are also found to be potential gateway drugs even though many brands claim to be a healthier alternative to smoking cigarettes or joints. A 2015 study by the Office of Adolescent Health found that high schoolers who smoke e-cigarettes are six to eight times more likely to smoke tobacco cigarettes than their peers. Vaping in general is defined
to be the practice of inhaling and exhaling aerosol, or vapor that contains fine particles, from a device such as an e-cigarette. These devices may contain substances such as nicotine or THC, but they do not contain natural tobacco or cannabis. “Vaping was a means to an end of smoking, and I found that after a quarter and a half that I didn’t super love it,” a Harker alum who owns a cannabis vape pen said. “I didn’t dislike it either, but it’s something that I’ll do occasionally under the right circumstances in the same way that occasionally you want to play a board game. It just becomes another tool in your arsenal of social things.” JUUL, along with other e-cigarette brand, claims to “take the prevention of underage use very seriously.” However, its online interface has allowed for many teenagers to purchase devices illegally, a process that is easier than buying marijuana or alcohol and therefore has become more common among high school students. “In my Spanish class I can name 5 out of 30 of the people who I’ve witnessed, on their Snapchats, using a JUUL before,” Jason said. “Since there’s so many occurrences of this, peer pressure becomes a really prevalent thing… it influences the others to get into it because it’s a normal thing that goes around school.”
College parties expose students to addictive substances kathy fang, saloni shah, krishna bheda & irina malyugina photo editor & reporters
The popularity of drugs and other addictive substances at college parties and other gatherings can make refusing drugs especially difficult for students. In fact, according to a 2016 Monitoring the Future survey of college students and other college-age young adults, binge-drinking and intoxication levels are higher among college students than among non-college peers, with 40.8 percent of college students having been previously intoxicated in the same
200
puffs in a pod, which also contains an equivalent nicotine level to one pack of traditional cigarettes.
84%
OUT OF 400
brands which offered fruit flavors
80%
OUT OF 400 brands which offered candy and dessert flavors
month as the survey and only 30.4 percent of their peers who are not in school having been intoxicated in the same period of time. Peer pressure and personal curiosity both play large roles in substance abuse among college students. The National Institute on Drug Abuse for Teens recommends that students use their familial or extracurricular responsibilities, such as maintaining health for athletics or staying sober for a family reunion the next day, as excuses when confronting an offer to take drugs at a party. Other recommended refusal skills include staying occupied with a safe drink, such as juice or soda, or simply saying “no thanks.” While the latter option can be difficult for students in a social environment with friends and peers, professionals encour-
age students to stay confident and refuse harmful substances. Oftentimes, finding reliable friends to attend parties with is the first step to staying safe from drugs and alcohol. “I would say if people are going to parties, they should go with a group in general and they should stick with that group because otherwise if you’re only with one person, then if that person gets intoxicated in any way, then you’re kind of left on your own, which isn’t good,” freshman at UC Irvine Hazal Gurcan (‘17) said. “So just go in a group, have people who are designated to keep other people safe, and make sure you take care of yourself.”
10.0%
2016 tenth-graders who vaped in the past year
81%
13.3%
• A JUUL is a type of e-cigarette • JUUL devices resemble USB devices and can be charged via a computer’s USB port. • One JUUL pod contains the same amount of nicotine as a pack of cigarettes. • JUULs are marketed in food-related flavors. •11.3 percent of high school students were e-cigarette users in 2016. • Nicotine is an addictive drug that can harm adolescent brain development. • JUUL launched in 2015. • JUUL sales increased 600 percent in 2017.
Mouthpiece
Coil head
Clearomizer
Button
Battery
6.0%
2016 eighth-graders who vaped in the past year
FAST FACTS
2017 eighth-graders who vaped in the past year
23.9% 2017 tenthgraders who vaped in the past year
youth aged 12-17 who had ever used e-cigarettes had used a flavored e-cigarette the first time they tried the product
Sources: drugabuse. gov, monitoringthefuture.org, tobaccofreekids.org, Food and Drug Administration, Wells Fargo, PAX Labs and JUULlabs.com
49.6% part of the e-cigarette market dominated by JUUL less than a year after JUUL’s debut as an independent company.