Winged Post Volume 16, Issue 3

Winged Post friday, november 21, 2014

the

THE HARKER UPPER SCHOOL STUDENT NEWSPAPER, VOL. 16, NO. 3

harkeraquila.com harkeraquila.com

A2 BLOOD DRIVE A5 PALESTINE RECOGNITION A6-7 VETERANS DAY A8 EDITORIAL A10 GOOGLE FLU A12 MIDTERM ELECTIONS

VARUN BALDWA - TALON

CCS SEMIFINALS

POST SEASON VOLLEYBALL AND CROSS COUNTRY COVERAGE

Students light up Santana Row vasudha rengarajan Aquila editor in chief

Upper School Conservatory groups Downbeat, Varsity Dance and JV Dance performed at the annual Santana Row Tree Lighting Ceremony on Tuesday.

The show also featured Middle and Lower School groups High Voltage, Showstoppers, Vivace, and Dance Fusion.

The Harker portion of the show began with an introduction from senior Downbeat members Madi Lang-Ree and Jeton Gutierrez-Bujari followed by Varsity Dance.

The student performers’ next show will be the annual holiday tour of all three campuses on Friday, Dec. 12.

Class of 2014 gi s orchard to late English teacher kavya ramakrishnan copy editor

PAM GELINEAU’S FUNERAL alyssa amick

anokhi saklecha & raveena kapatkar

global editor & Aquila copy editor Computer Science teacher Richard Page recently announced his retirement from the Upper School. Page began his Upper School career in the fall of 2004. In addition to teaching AP Computer Science with Data Structures and Compilers and Interpreters, he also founded the Computer Architecture class, a popular semester-long course for post-AP students. Page plans on retiring at the end of this school year.

“I think we’re all pretty sad that Mr. Page is leaving,” Srivatsav Pyda (10) said. “He’s a great computer science teacher.

He’s very accommodating of all his students, so I think we’ll miss him dearly.”

CINDY LIU - TALON

Aquila editor in chief

PAGE’S RETIREMENT

REMEMBERING Students, faculty, and staff honored Jason Berry on Wednesday afternoon at the unveiling of the “Berry Orchard.” The orchard consists of a memorial statue, fruit trees, and two benches to commemorate Berry, who passed away last August. (INSET) Chemistry teacher Andrew Irvine addresses the crowd at the dedication ceremony, reflecting on his time coaching Girls’ Lacrosse with Berry.

Community dedicates statue in Jason Berry’s honor

Ria Gandhi (10) and Lindsey Trinh (10) high-five before their CCS semifinal match against Soquel High School. As of press time, the game had not yet started. Check page B11 and Harker Aquila for full coverage of the girls’ season.

Long-time member of the Harker community Pam Gelineau passed away Nov. 15 after battling cancer.

She started at the school 24 years ago teaching first grade before moving to second grade, and ultimately to her position as lower school admissions director.

“Pam understood the younger students and their families. She had an intuitive grasp of their viewpoint, giving her a strong and wonderful way of interacting with them,” Head of School, Chris Nikoloff, said in an email to the community.

The funeral will be held today at 11 a.m. at the Chapel of the Flowers in San Jose. A vigil and service will be held the day before starting at 5:30 p.m.. If you wish to extend condolences to the family, email nicoleh@ harker.org.

JONATHAN DAI - TALON

WHAT’S INSIDE

500 SARATOGA AVE. SAN JOSE, CA 95129

SANTA BABY (TOP) Darby Millard (12) and Erika Olsen (12) perform with Varsity Dance at the Santana Row tree lighting ceremony on Tuesday, Nov. 18. (BOTTOM) Downbeat performs “Deck the Halls” during the show.

Head of School Christopher Nikoloff led the dedication ceremony of an orchard and a bronze statue, a memorial to the late English teacher Jason Berry on Wednesday.

Nikoloff began the ceremony by stating the purpose of the 2014 senior class’ gift in remembering Berry, nicknamed “Bear,” who “represented for Harker everything we would want in a great teacher”.

“Bear represents our best standards with humor, warmth and connection,” Nikoloff said.

Alumna Sonya Chalaka (‘12) followed, remembering Berry’s impact on Harker and his humor and wisdom. Berry “left a deep and permanent mark on this community,”

she said.

English teacher Brigid Miller spoke next, describing her and Berry’s shared passion for literature, reading the last paragraph of James Joyce’s short story “The Dead.”

Head Varsity girls’ lacrosse coach and chemistry teacher Andrew Irvine described his relationship with Berry, the assistant coach, as the “Harker odd couple.” He stated that Berry’s halftime speeches often could “double as presidential inaugurations.”

Head of Upper School Butch Keller, former Director of Alumni Relations MaryEllis Deacon, and math teacher Jane Keller unveiled the bronze statue of a bear, which was designed by art teacher Jaap Bongers, Deacon, and Jane Keller.

Nikoloff concluded the cer-

emony by urging members of the community to appreciate one another every day.

“The Berry Orchard,” donated by the Class of 2014 as its senior gift, consists of three citrus trees, two apple trees, two apricot trees, two benches and a bronze statue of a teddy bear with a tie.

Berry’s good friend, class of 2014 dean and Upper School mathematics teacher Dr. Victor Adler, remembered Berry’s impact on the Harker community.

“For me, he was a great resource to the students, he was a great advisor, and a great teacher, and a great coach,” Adler said.

“The students really loved him dearly, and he loved the students, so that is what we remember him by.”

Honor Council releases expanded survey results Out of 60 responses to the optional questions, “What tenets would you like to see revised or added to the Honor Code?”:

36 16 8

The principles of the Honor Code help prepare you for life beyond Harker.

were suggestions.

“I would like to see ‘tolerance’ removed. It should be about respect only.” contained criticism.

“There is a cheating problem in the community and I think the Honor Code is too complicated at this point for everyone to be clear.” said the Honor Code was fine as is.

kacey fang & elisabeth siegel managing editor & news editor

The 2014 Honor Council survey results have been released in full today, including minority percentages and free response answers.

After the survey was sent out on Oct. 7, 514 participants gave their opinions on the Honor Code. 60 individuals, or 11.6 percent, responded to optional questions.

Of those responses, 36 were suggestions, 16 were complaints, and eight said that the Honor Code was fine as is.

“One response that we saw a lot on the survey was the call for more transparency. We’re going to release a survey to find out more about what people are

“AD AMORE”, A3

thinking about the cheating problem,” Honor Council representative Sahana Rangarajan (12) said.

To increase transparency, Honor Council also provides the option to submit questions via the student portal and has a bulletin board in Main. Representatives announced their efforts for transparency during class meeting last week.

As of now, the Honor Council has not made changes to the Honor Code based on the survey responses.

“The responses we saw were so across the board that it was hard to get concrete changes from them,” Sahana said.

A second survey will be sent out by the Honor Council before finals. Check Harker Aquila for the full survey results.

Harker faculty and staff emulate the Honor Code in their actions.

This document as it currently stands meets the community’s needs.

EDITORIAL, A8

SHAY LARI-HOSAIN - WINGED POST

SIEMENS REGIONAL FINALISTS, A11

NEWS A2 Red Cross to sponsor annual blood drive VOLUME 16 • ISSUE 3 NOVEMBER 21, 2014

Upper School Red Cross club partners with Silicon Valley chapter of Red Cross for donations

maya jeyendran

Aquila lifestyle editor

1 pint of blood saves 3 lives.

STEPHANIE CHEN - WINGED POST

Donation process takes 5 to 15 minutes.

You must be 16 or older to donate.

GIVING LIFE Apoorva Rangan (12) prepares to give blood at last year’s blood drive. The blood drive was conducted by Red Cross club in the gym.

Red Cross will sponsor its annual blood drive in the gym throughout the day on Dec. 3.

Partnered with the American Red Cross’ Silicon Valley chapter, the blood drive provides a way for eligible Upper School students and faculty to donate blood to patients in need. Last year, the event took place on Feb. 5, in the midst of the Red Cross Club’s then-club week.

Due to timing related concerns, the blood drive along with the club’s club week were moved to December.

“The original plan was [for us] to have two blood drives this year [...]: a fall one and a spring one. [...] Having [two blood drives] would force us to have two club weeks, so we are only having this one now, and that’s why it was moved forward,” Club President Sabrina Sidhu (12) said.

Students must be at least 16 years old to donate and must have a parent sign a waiver which authorizes them to give blood. On the day of the blood drive, donors are prescreened for iron levels and blood type. The screening also ensures that donors have not travelled to a country at high risk for disease or gotten a tattoo within the past year. One pint of donated blood can save up to three lives.

The pre-screening process prior to donation takes around 30 minutes, whereas the actual donation process takes between five and 15 minutes depending on the donor’s blood flow. The following recovery period, during which donors eat and drink to avoid lightheadedness and fainting, takes between ten and 15 minutes.

Some eligible students are excited to donate their blood as they feel that their contributions can make a difference.

“I want to donate because all the blood that’s donated goes to help patients who need things like emergency blood transfusions. [My blood] could save lives,” Ayla Ekici (11) said.

Due to fears and concerns, however, not all eligible students are interested in participating in the blood drive.

According to a survey conducted by the Winged Post, 56% of age-eligible students do not plan on giving their blood.

“I am afraid of needles and sharp [objects] and I occasionally get quite light-headed after giving blood. I would much prefer to give blood in a hospital instead of at school for those reasons,” Brenna Jensen (11) said.

Red Cross club started collecting signups during the week of Nov. 17 and will continue to collect signups until the day before the blood drive.

California remains in state of exceptional drought

Water shortage to continue through oncoming fall, winter

Q&A with Lauren Bisnett Information Officer, California Department of Water Resources Winged Post: Should Californians be more or less concerned about the drought now than this past summer?

Laura Bisnett: Californians always need to be concerned about the drought, no matter what time of year it is. What we’re really doing is we can’t bank on expecting a lot of rainfall. We’re hoping that we’re going to get a lot of rainfall

CALIFORNIA DROUGHT

2013

HAD THE

LEAST

RAIN

1898

RAIN

on 86,671 ACRES

5000 WILDFIRES

WAS THE

HAVE OCCURRED THIS YEAR

DRIEST

that’s 1k above

YEAR

THE NATIONAL AVERAGE

CAL FIRE DEPT.

HAS RESPONDED TO

5468 are in California in terms of how severe the drought impact is going to be on you because some people rely on groundwater supplies which are being heavily depleted this year, whereas other parts of the state, maybe more up north, [have] more precipitation and are less reliant on groundwater, but that is also the interesting thing about what we’re finding about this particular drought compared to the drought that took place in the late 1920’s and the drought that took place in the late 70’s is that the conditions are most definitely drier or reaching those record dry, and so we expect that […] any impact we see now […]

7” OF

4,389 WILDFIRES

California temperatures

averaged 63.7° F that’s 4.1° F above

the 20th century average

can be compounded going into another dry year. So just again, huge impacts on birds and fish and wildlife, you probably saw the wildfires throughout the state […] the impacts are all over the state. It just depends on where you are because we are such a diverse state in terms of the impact you’re going to see.

WP: Do you feel that there is any drought-related issue that the public is not sufficiently aware of ?

LB: I think the biggest thing the real message out to all Californians, the one we can’t really spread enough awareness of, is conservation. You need to be conserving all the time, and again,

SHAY LARI-HOSAIN - WINGED POST

Despite recent rain, 55 percent of California remains in a state of exceptional drought, according to the U.S. Drought Monitor.

“This rainfall will have minimal effect on California’s drought conditions, and reservoir water levels will remain largely unchanged,” an Oct. 27 brief from CA.gov/drought said. “Due to low water supplies from the two previous dry years, California remains in droughtconditions.”

California’s drought has caused increases in wildfires, more than 1,000 over the average this year. It has also drained reservoirs: according to the California Data Exchange Center, the overall water stored in reservoirs has dropped to less than half of the average.

On Jan. 17, Governor Jerry Brown called a state of emergency for the drought, according to his website.

Some students have remained aware of the severity of the drought.

“It’s still going on and it’s still a problem, but since the recent rains, I think people have forgotten about it,” Lev Sepetov (11) said. “They should still think about it.”

Other students are more optimistic.

“It’s gotten better,” Nate Kelly (9) said. “I feel like it’s going to rain a lot in December.”

Winter rain may help alleviate the drought, but will not end it, according to the Oct. 27 brief.

of any year

reporter

with the snowpack, one third of our water supply. We’ll see good precipitation this coming winter season, but there’s no guarantees for that, especially with the role the climate change plays in how we’re seeing less and less rain each year, and that means a diminishing snowpack. We’re certainly taking actions now to be prepared for another dry year, but we’re also hoping for rain and hoping for the best. Californians really need to be planning for those years that we’re not in drought. That means being good environmental stewards and It’s about taking care of our groundlooking at water supply, the near making good investments in term, but also the long infrastructure so that we have term. In the good water storage in our years when reservoirs, perwe’re not in haps new reservoirs. It’s about a drought, looking at the we’re near term, but prepared also the long term. In the for when we years when do go into a we’re not in a drought, we’re drought. prepared for when we do go LAUREN BISNETT into a drought.

WP: What have been the most severe effects of the drought so far?

LB: I would say the most severe effect [that] you can imagine is health and human safety, obviously, and also major impacts to the environment. In years such as drought you see we’re more prone to wildfires taking place.

That takes an enormous toll on the environment and on people. Since we’re going into our third dry year of drought, we definitely have seen significant impact to people’s drinking water supplies, which is water in their homes.

We’ve seen numerous impacts, and those are just a couple to name off the top. So it just depends too on where you

wildfires

praveen batra

even in those years when we’re not in a drought. Things like turning off the water when you brush your teeth, taking ten minute showers, doing full loads of laundry, these are all practical ways that Californians can save water that add up to huge saving across the state. It makes our water resources more sustainable for the entire population. So the major thing is just to be conscious of drought whether we’re in a drought or not and people should be aware that there are hazards. We can be in a drought, for example, and still some areas of the state can be susceptible to flash floods.

A3

VOLUME 16 • ISSUE 3 NEWS • NOVEMBER 21, 2014

“Ad Amore” concert sheds light on love

Bel Canto, Camerata, Cantilena, and Guys’ Gig take the stage for love-themed choral concert

sanjana avula & jackie gao

rius, Denza, Rossi, Banchieri, Kesselmann, Biebl, and Jasperse.

Bel Canto consists of mainly freshBel Canto, Cantilena, Cammen and sophomore students. erata, Guys Gig held a Choral Although the group sings a variety Concert, Ad Amore, in the of music, Bel Canto performed piecNichols Hall Auditorium on es during this concert such as “Anima Nov. 13.

Mea,” composed by Michael PraetoriThe concert consistus and arranged by Andre Vierendeels, ed of Italian and Latin music composed “Brilla Brilla Piccola Stella,”’ which is

by Brahms, Mo- the Italian version of “Twinkle Twinkle Little Star” arranged by Jennifer Sanzart, dusky and Bel Canto. They also sang B a c h , “Luci Care, Luci Belle,” written by W.A Prae- Mozart and edited by Robert Carl and t o - “Funiculi, Funicula” composed by Luigi Denza and arranged by David Eddleman.

“We [performed] with the other high school groups, so [was] a great experience for Bel Canto, since we’re mainly freshmen,” Jessica Susai (9) said.

Jennifer Sandusky directs Bel Canto and co-directed Downbeat with Laura Lang-ree.

“For Bel Canto I purposely picked songs that have different types of love like love for God and love for each other,” Sandusky said.

Cantilena, a classical choir group, includes sophomore, junior, and senior girls.

“The preparation actually began in spring,” the director of Cantilena, Camerata, and Guys’ Gig, Susan Nace said. “We were thinking about the fall, what kind of music. I have a rotation of different languages we do, so by the time our choir kids to go college, they will have experience that all choir kids have had.”

Members of the advanced choir Cantilena look forward to their performances.

“We’ve just been working really hard everyday and we even performed HEART AND SOUL Gurutam Thockchom (11) performs with Guys’ Gig at the Choral Concert. Several performing arts groups performed at the Choral Con- at the school meeting to try to get cert titled “Ad Amore” on Nov. 13 in Nichols Auditorium. people pumped for it,” Izzy Gross (11)

trisha dwivedi & justin su

business manager & reporter

Cupertino and its City Council came together to discuss new biker safety rules after a student from Monta Vista High School was killed in a big rig bicycle accident on his way to school.

According to Monta Vista High’s student news site El Estoque, Cupertino’s City Council plans to have the biker lanes painted green in order to create a clear distinction for drivers and bikers.

“We want to make sure our streets are safe for pedestrians, cyclists and drivers,” Cupertino Mayor Gilbert Wong wrote in a statement he released on Cupertino city’s website to support the community.

While the City Council discusses further actions to take regarding biker safety, a few reminders have already been put into effect.

“I have seen multiple speed radars in the passages up to that spot [where the accident took place] where it shows and reminds the drivers of their speed limits,” Kevin Su (12) said. “They are trying to make the community more mindful of that area.”

The incident hit close to home for Sanil Rajput (11) and his family,

SAFETY IN HEADWEAR Andrew Semenza (11) prepares to bike home in the afternoon wearing his helmet. More attention has been paid to biker safety concerns after a big rig accident in Cupertino.

who live near Monta Vista High.

“During the summer, I used to bike on that road every day,” he said.

“It’s such a tragic event. You don’t expect it to happen, and, of course, something needs to be done to change this.”

During the summer, I used to bike on that road every day. It’s such a tragic event. You don’t expect it to happen, and, of course, something needs to be done to change this.

SANIL RAJPUT (11)

People in the Cupertino area came together to support the boy’s family at the location of the incident. Kevin passes by the memorial everyday when he drives home from school.

However, despite the accident, MVHS senior William Shih believes that it is still safe to bike to school.

“I don’t think it’s dangerous as long as you follow the rules of the road and stay safe,” he said. “For the most part, people are very aware of

their surroundings.”

While some students continue to bike and walk to school, senior Jason Jeong thinks that students should be more aware and careful of doing so at Harker.

“Saratoga Avenue is such a busy street and cars just whiz by without much regard for pedestrians or bikers,” he said.

San Jose has a Silicon Valley Bicycle Coalition that focuses on biker safety in the city by developing various bikeway designs and plans. One part of this organization is Vision One, which aims to educate bikers and address any issues involving biker safety.

On the group’s website BikeSiliconValley, Vision One’s “goal is to have zero deaths or life-altering injuries due to roadway design or user error in San Mateo and Santa Clara Counties.”

As a result of this big rig accident, Cupertino’s City Council is continuing to discuss ways to further improve biker safety to attempt to prevent such incidents from taking place again.

KSHITHIJA MULAM- WINGED POST

HOLY HARMONY Cantilena sings their last song at the Choral Concert while being directed by Susan Nace. Several performing arts groups performed at the Choral Concert titled “Ad Amore” on Nov. 13 in Nichols Auditorium.

said.

At the concert, they sang “Ad Amore,” written by Lee Keeselmann “Suscepit Israel from Magnificat,” composed by J.S Bach and “Ave Maria” written by Franz Biebl.

Camerata includes male and female sophomores, juniors, and seniors.

“We’ve been practicing really hard these past two weeks. I think our songs are really good this time; they’re different and I’m really excited about it,” Era Iyer (10) said.

They sang “Barechu,” composed by Salamone Rossi “Alleluia,” written by Michael Praestorius and “Contrapunto Bestiale Alla Mente” composed by Adriano Banchieri at the concert.

Guys’ Gig, which meets as a club unlike the other choir groups, only consists of males from different grades, ranging from freshmen to seniors.

“We’re basing the show, basically, off of some a cappella groups from other schools like Oxford and Harvard. So we’re going to poke fun at them,” Alex Henshall (11) said.

They sang a cappella songs, “Gaudeamus Igitur” a traditional song arranged by Johannes Brahms and “McDonald’s Girl” written by Harvard Din and Tonics.

The audience shared their thoughts about the concert.

“I think that there are areas for improvement as always there are things that can be done better,” pianist and music teacher Paul Woodruff said. “The blend was good in all the choirs, but the listening was not. The listening for articulation needs a bit of work, but overall it was a delightful evening.”

Some performers were surprised to see the crowd.

“I think the turnout was really great,” Sumati Wadhwa (9) said. “I saw a lot of teachers and saw a lot of friends, and I saw a lot of parents.”

The next concert is the Holiday concert that features all performing arts.

FIRST LANDING The ESA’s Rosetta mission Philae Probe lands on comet 67 on Nov. 12. The Rosetta mission has been flying through space for 10 years.

ESA WEBSITE

More a ention paid to biker safety in Cupertino

JUSTIN SU - WINGED POST

KSHITHIJA MULAM - WINGED POST

reporters

European Space Agency’s probe makes historic landing on comet kshithija mulam photo editor

The European Space Agency’s (ESA) Rosetta mission Philae Probe landed on comet 67P on Nov. 12 in the first successful comet landing in human history, according to a statement on the ESA’s website.

The Philae Probe’s landing was confirmed by the Rosetta orbiter after a seven hour attempt to land the probe on the comet’s surface after over 10 years of the Rosetta mission going through space.

“I think it’s just a milestone that will lead to a sense of accomplishment that we can build off,” astronomy teacher Rachel Freed said. “This will answer a lot of questions about the origin of our own solar system.”

Freed has already incorporated the Philae probe landing into her astronomy class and followed the events after the landing with her students.

“The lander had landed about two hours before class, and I had spent an hour and a half before class following three Twitter feeds: from Rosetta, from

the Philae lander, from the European Space Agency,” Freed said. “We had the live-streaming video from the control center in Germany and in class we spent an hour looking into what’s exactly happening.”

Some students read about and followed the Philae probe landing on their own time.

“I honestly think that the probe is cool and it was kind of an amazing landing despite the problems with the harpoons,” Neymika Jain (10) said.

Now that the Philae probe has successfully landed, scientists plan to take their research further and proceed with the rest of the Rosetta mission, which involves repositioning the Rosetta orbiter back into orbit and observing the comet throughout 2015.

“I think this provides an illustration of how successful things can be.

I mean, this was a huge accomplishment,” Freed said.

The hashtag #WeCanLandOnACometButWeCant trended on Twitter in response to the Philae probe landing on Wednesday.

A4

VOLUME 16 • ISSUE 3 NEWS • NOVEMBER 21, 2014

DECA conducts club month

Parent-teacher conferences to take place over break

Upper School DECA chapter raises money during national entrepreneurship month raveena kapatkar BUSINESS FOR CHARITY (TOP) Alexis Gauba (10) and Shannon Hong (11) sell tickets for “The Hunger Games: Mockingjay--Part 1” during lunch. The movie will take place at 4:20 p.m. at AMC Saratoga. (BOTTOM) Justin Yen (12) defends Business and Entrepreneurship Director Juston Glass during the Hoops and Scoops basketball game.

The game took place in the gym on Nov. 12.

adrian chu & alex wang reporters

munity service oriented activity, involves the entire Upper School, not just the DECA chapter. Assistant Director of Public Relations Lucas Wang (10) believes Hoops and Scoops benefitted the school as a whole.

“It [was] an opportunity for Harker community to come together and

raise money for the MDA,” he said.

“DECA is more than just a business club.”

Freshman Morgan Douglas commented about how DECA month inspired her to learn more about business and entrepreneurship by attending the SVLACE conference.

“It will be a nice opportunity to learn about business and do workshops,” she said.

The last activity of the month, the showing of “The Hunger Games: Mockingjay--Part 1,” will take place today at 4:20 p.m. at AMC Saratoga.

Focus groups convene during advisory

Next year’s dress code altered group, shared her opinion on the proposed rules. Under the “fingertip rule,” students’ fingertips would need editor in chief & reporters to reach the hemline of dresses, skirts, and shorts with their fingertips while A revised dress code will be prostanding fully upright. posed to the administration within “I feel that the fingertip rule the next month, after the Dress Code and value-based rules could easily be Committee incorporates suggestions manipulated,” she from Wednesday’s said. “But I think faculty meeting it’s a change for the and October’s focus better that gives stugroup meeting. dents more freedom of Faculty memexpression in what they bers established focus wear,” she said. groups comprised of Other students also teachers and advisory had reservations about representatives to discuss the fingertip rule. As of ideas for a revised Upper Wednesday, the proposal School dress code. The restates that first violations sults of the forum and a will receive a “warnseparate parent meeting ing conversation” with were incorporated into subsequent violations the dress code. “result[ing] in further “The focus is consequences.” really now on valSkirt length: A “I dont know if ues and what you revised dress code everyone is going to should do, not be cautious about it may contain a what you can’t if they’re not going clause that allows do,” said ASB to be checking us Vice President skirts to follow a every five minand Dress Code finger-tip rule for utes,” Sahiti AvuCommittee length. la (12) said. member JesEarlier this sica “Fred” school year, the Chang (12). administraSophotion amendmore Hazal ed the dress code, requiring that all Gurcan, who attended the focus skirts must be at least knee length for

FOCUSING ON CHANGE Students and faculty gather at the Oct. 30 focus group meeting to discuss dress code alterations. They decided to change restrictions on boys shirts and girls skirt lengths.

ease of teachers’ enforcement. Many teachers had a positive reaction to this month’s update.

“I’m all in favor of it,” English teacher Dr. Ben Spencer-Cooke said.

Some students do not feel as affected by the coming changes.

“I think the current rules are fine,” Ellen Minkin (9) said. “But, it’s smart to make skirts fingertip length because many girls have different leg lengths, this rule would be custom-

ized to everyone.”

In the next few weeks, the proposed dress code will reach the administration.

“Ideally, the proposal will be going in with student, faculty, and parents on board,” Fred said.

The official review period for the student handbook begins in March

APOORVA RANGAN - WINGED POST

apoorva rangan & meena gudapati & jenna sadhu

Parent-teacher conferences are scheduled to take place over Thanksgiving break along with the implementation new changes to teacher comments starting to be implemented as the year progresses.

The previous narrative comments system has been changed to a new shout-out system. Instead of writing paragraphs for students at regular intervals, teachers now send a note to the advisor, student, and parent whenever a student displays exceptional behavior.

The changes were implemented to enhance the communication between teacher and parents.

“I really think [the changes were made] to really make a connection as opposed to just making it sound more routine, and I can tell you as a parent when I read comments from my children’s teachers that there is a little bit of the same old,” Evan Barth said. “But if I were to receive an email out of the blue then it would be more meaningful for me as parent. That is our goal and so far what we have heard from parents who have communicated with us they like the system.”

Parent-teacher conferences are designed to update parents on their child’s progress.

“I think the parent teacher conferences allow parents to meet with their child’s teachers in order to get a better idea of how classes are going.” Sandip Nirmel (10) said. “It allows teachers to provide compliments and suggestions to parents, while also giving parents the opportunity to bring up important matters and discuss them with teachers.”

Some students consider the conferences a powerful motivator to stay focused. Others believe that the conferences lack transparency and discourage the student with the teacher highlighting the negative aspects of the students’ academics rather than revealing the positive.

“Teachers, instead of focusing on the positive side of students, criticize them in front of their parents, and the parents then come home to the students who have no idea what the teacher said.” Omar Hamade (11) said. “In reality, the students do their best job but have a very disappointing moment afterwards.”

Furthermore, some believe that students cannot be trusted to accurately report their academic status to their parents and that the conferences alleviate that problem.

“It’s a good way for the parent to communicate with the teacher because teenagers are not very reliable,” Akhil Arun (9) said.

Parent-teacher conferences update parents on their child’s academic standings and allow the teachers to directly communicate issues or commendations to parents.

ALEX WANG - WINGED POST

KSHITHIJA MULAM - WINGED POST

The Upper School DECA chapter will conclude its annual DECA month, which began on Nov. 1 with an open house, and ends tonight with a showing of “The Hunger Games: Mockingjay--Part 1,” at AMC Saratoga at 4:20 p.m.

DECA month aims to spread awareness of what the club does and what it stands for. Various activities are organized to reflect the club’s four pillars: professional responsibility, community service, academic preparation and leadership experience.

“DECA members learn to be professionally responsible by going to SVLACE, the Silicon Valley Leadership and Competitive Excellence Conference,” Alexis Gauba (10), Director of Technology, said. “Through participating in events such as the idea challenge during global entrepreneurship week they learn to innovate and become experienced leaders.”

Certain activities revolve around Part of DECA pillar of is giving back, the community and I want the service. Money earned members and during Hoops the officers to and Scoops, the student really undervs. faculty stand what basketball it means to game, will be donated to be a part of a the Muscular community.

Dystrophy Association SAVI JOSHI (12) (MDA). Another community service-oriented activity occurred on the weekend of Nov. 8: DECA officers participated in a 5K to fight for pancreatic cancer.

“Part of DECA is giving back to the community, and as Chapter President, I really stress that part and I want the members and the officers to really understand what it means to be a part of a community and the dynamics of one,” President of Harker DECA Savi Joshi (12) said. “The 5k is just a reminder to give back and be appreciative.”

Hoops and Scoops, another com-

RAVEENA KAPATKAR - WINGED POST

reporter

CONFERRING TO HELP Dr. Eric Nelson works with Johnny Trinh (11), helping him solve problems and talking about parent-teacher conferences.

Parent-teacher conferences are set for next week during Thanksgiving break.

GLOBAL A5 Sweden recognizes state of Palestine VOLUME 16 • ISSUE 3 NOVEMBER 21, 2014

Sweden joins the ranks of 134 other United Nations members elisabeth siegel & derek yen

news editor & reporter

Sweden’s Prime Minister, Stefan Lofven, announced Sweden’s recognition of Palestine on Oct. 30, making Sweden the first major European nation to do so and sparking controversy among the involved nations, according to NPR. As of Oct. 30, 135 state members of the UN, or 69.9 percent of the council, have recognized the sovereignty of Palestine. Most of these nations lie in Asia, South America, and Africa.

“It’s important for the growing popular demand for Palestinian rights internationally,” said Ramzy Baroud, Managing Editor of the Middle East Eye and founder of the Palestine Chronicle, in a phone interview. “I think Sweden is basically reflecting an existing feeling in Europe and elsewhere. It’s a welcome change in what seems to be a static state of affairs, but it has to be followed by serious action on the part of these governments.”

Israel’s Minister of Foreign Affairs, Avigdor Lieberman, indicated his

displeasure at this new development.

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs’ website describes Sweden’s announcement as an “unfortunate decision” that will “delay an agreement […], cause much damage and bring no benefit.”

Lieberman also made hostile remarks regarding Sweden’s government.

“The Swedish government must understand that relations in the Middle East are more complex than Ikea’s flat-pack pieces of furniture,” he said. “[They] would do well to act with greater sensitivity and responsibility.”

Swedish Foreign Minister Margot Wallstrom defended Sweden’s actions in turn, according to the Associated Press, by responding that Sweden merely operated by taking measures from “part of the diplomatic toolkit.”

“Sweden’s action is a good example of where they stand on a lot of foreign policy issues, where they see this as a human rights issue,” History and Modern International Affairs teacher Damon Halback said. “They’re looking at what’s going on in the Gaza Strip specifically, and perhaps with the expansion of settlements in the west bank specifically, and seeing Israel as an ag-

gressor.”

The Israeli-Palestinian conflict began during the middle and end of World War II. After the Holocaust, Jews migrated to what they considered ancestral land in the Middle East.

After the war, Britain, which currently controlled this land after the fall of the Ottoman Empire in World War I, announced that they would withdraw from the province. The United Nations, and the UN Special Committee on Palestine (UNSCOP) was founded on May 15, 1947.

The initial plan proposed by the UNSCOP was to divide Palestine into separate Jewish and Arab states. On May 14, 1948, the United Nations created the state of Israel. Differences in culture and religion between the native Palestinians and the migrant Jews, in addition to tensions over control of the land, have caused the strife and warfare which persists to this day.

Sweden’s King, Carl Gustav XVI, congratulated Palestine on its day of declaring independence on Nov. 15, just a few weeks after the aforementioned decision to recognize Palestine’s sovereignty, according to Al-Jazeera.

The letter sent to Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas enumerated “best wishes for your health and happiness and for the prosperity of the people of the State of Palestine.”

Nikhil Manglik (10) believes that Sweden’s actions are a step in the right direction.

“They lend credence to the Palestinian cause and will hopefully lead to a lowering of animosity between Israel and Palestine,” he said. “I believe that the western world has an obligation to recognize their right to the land.”

Misha Tseitslin (10) advocates for a one state solution to the issue at hand.

“Recognizing Palestine as an alternative to Israel is unacceptable,” he said. “I think we should strive for a one-state solution rather than a two-state solution, so I think that, rather than recognizing Palestine or Israel, they should be jointly recognized in a manner that recognizes both of

their sovereignties.”

According to the Arab American Institute, the largest Palestinian population in the US is located in California.

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aditya varshney reporter

as quarantines and restrictions on air travel for people exhibiting symptoms of EVD, to protect against a potential Ebola epidemic in the U.S. In the Bay Area, Stanford School of Medicine professor Dr. Colin Bucks, who declined an interview with The Winged Post, recently entered a voluntary quarantine after serving as a medical adviser at a U.S. hospital in Liberia to treat Ebola, but has not been

GOOGLE TRENDS

The U.S. was declared Ebola-free on Monday following the death of the only remaining Ebola patient in the country.

So far, the U.S. has confirmed ten cases of Ebola virus disease (EVD) and, of these cases, there have been two deaths. Confirmed cases of Ebola include those of Dr. Craig Spencer, who was released from his quarantine in New York on Nov. 11, and of Dr. FAST FACTS Martin Salia, who died of Ebola on Nov. 17. Salia, a Nebraska resident • 10 cases of Ebola in the U.S. who had been working in Sierra Le- • 2 deaths from Ebola in the U.S. one, his native country, tested positive for the disease on Nov. 10. He was • 14,383 total deaths from Ebola admitted to a specialized biocontainCDC, as of Nov. 11, 2014 ment unit in Nebraska on Nov. 15 and died 36 hours later of cardiac arrest.

Since Dr. Salia’s death, the U.S. has confirmed to have EVD. been deemed free of EVD. Naman Jindal (11) felt that quarFor a global comparison, the Cenantining is the best line of defense ters for Disease Control (CDC) reagainst the spread of Ebola and other ported on Nov. 7 that Guinea, Liberia, and Sierra Leone remain the nations diseases.

“I feel that people who come from with the most severe EVD outbreaks.

Ebola regions should be quarantined In these three nations alone, Ebola has no more than a few days,” he said. “Part caused over 5,000 deaths out of nearof that is what makes the U.S. more rely 9,000 laboratory-confirmed cases. silient to viral infections.”

Other nations that were initially afWith the disease still a cause for fected but now have been declared free of the disease include Spain, Senegal concern in Africa, many Americans believe that banning travel between the and Nigeria.

The recent Ebola epidemic has U.S. and regions with Ebola is the best raised fear over travel to Africa and solution to containing the disease.

Given the success of the quarancontroversy over government quarantining strategy, both Naman and Sunny tines on travelers. Since the initial outJayam (9) believed that closing airports breaks in the U.S., the government and air traffic officials have employed nu- would actually worsen the situation.

“In airports, immigration offimerous precautionary measures, such cers should be able to spot symptoms,”

Sunny said. “Shutting down [airports] would damage the economy. It would anger a lot of people who travel to Africa for business.”

Despite the U.S. reportedly becoming Ebola-free, Rishi Narain (11) believes that the risk of a local outbreak still exists.

“I’m still afraid,” he said. “The officials really don’t know [if more cases exist.] There are 300 million people in the country. Anyone could have it.”

On the other hand, Upper School nurse Claire Elchert does not perceive Ebola as a serious threat to the school’s community.

“We’ve had some highly contagious diseases, with H1N1 a few years back,” Elchert said. “We have a protocol for [dealing with contagious infections]. But with Ebola, people are not contagious until they are really very ill.

So if we know if there are students or families that have traveled to affected areas, we would have some conversations. But, really, to us here, [getting Ebola is] relatively low risk.”

Although the chance of an outbreak seems relatively bleak given the recent successes of quarantines and air traffic security measures, Ebola remains a problem in West Africa.

According to Ameek Singh (11), with EVD contained, the next step is providing aid for nations where the Ebola epidemic rages on.

“The U.S. should have entered earlier to stop the cause of the disease directly,” Singh said. “But now, we should extend aid out to the African population that has been affected by Ebola [and] we should send doctors to help and continue quarantine.”

SPREADING INFECTION According to Google Trends, interest in Ebola peaked in mid to late October, preceding a notable decline into November. On Monday, following the death of ebola patient Dr. Martil Salia, the United States was pronounced Ebola-free.

WIKIMEDIA COMMONS

Ebola Epidemic: the fear has not subsided

PROTESTS FOR PEACE Demonstrators rally against the deaths of 43 students in Guerrero, Mexico. The students were found dead months after they were allegedly kidnapped in September.

Mexican students found dead a er school protests in Guerrero trisha dwivedi & praveen batra

business manager & reporter

43 students from the Guerrero state of Mexico went missing after the police stopped their political activism practice from continuing on Sept. 26 in the city of Iguala.

38 out of the 43 students, who attended a rural teacher’s college that taught them about activism, were later allegedly found dead when, according to Aljazeera America, “federal authorities uncovered mass graves” near Guerrero. Although the remains in the graves have yet to be identified, many suspect that they are of the students.

According to Aljazeera America, the former mayor of Iguala, José Luis Abarca, and his wife allegedly ordered the police to take the students away from the site where they were protesting. Abarca and his wife are known to “have ties to a local drug gang, Guerreros Unidos, according to Mexican authorities”.

On Oct. 27, according to a New York Times article, members of the Guerreros Unidos were arrested but leaked information that did not help further the search for the students.

On Nov. 4, the mayor and his wife were located and detained by the federal police after Abarca stepped down and fled from the city. 50 other people have been arrested as possible suspects,

but no information about where the students were taken has been released.

The President of Mexico, Enrique Peña Nieto, says that this issue is his major concern and hopes that investigations can be cleared up from the many arrests that have taken place. He plans to focus on this issue as it could affect the nation’s economy, and he has so far taken the initiative to meet with some of the family members of the missing students.

Protesters have gathered in Chilpancingo, the capital of Guerrero state, chanting “They took them away alive, and we want them back alive!” and more recently, “Peña Nieto, get out!” as Aljazeera America wrote.

Misha Tseitlin (10) commented on the potential impacts of the backlash against Nieto.

“The major impact this has is calling for [Peña Nieto]’s resignation,” Misha said. “If he gets out of power, the vacuum with Mexican leadership is an issue [...] We could basically get kicked out of Mexico if the wrong party comes to power.”

At one point, these protesters blocked all the highways that lead into Guerrero, and on Nov. 12, they set fire to Guerrero’s congress building.

Riots have spread across Mexico, in places outside of Guerrero, over the unresolved issue of these missing students, almost two months after the incident took place.

TEACHING STARS, MILITARY STRIPES

THE WINGED POST SPOKE TO FOUR HARKER TEACHERS WHO HAVE SERVED IN THE ARMED FORCES, IN PLACES FROM THE PHILLIPPINES TO ALAK, AK. HERE ARE PART OF THEIR STORIES, BUT NOT ALL OF THEM. TAKE THE TIME TO ASK ABOUT THEIR EXTRAORDINARY SERVICE.

TEACHING HISTORY, AND WRITING IT TOO

BY RIA GANDHI

“Y

ou are a waste of a scholarship that should have gone to a man. I hope you flunk,” History teacher Carol Zink heard from an advisor at Northwestern University.

Unfazed, Zink used this criticism only to push herself further, and eventually proved her class adviser wrong by making history as the first female college battalion commander in the country, ending her military career with 23 years of service in both the U.S. Navy and Naval Reserves.

Born and brought up in Connecticut, Zink never dreamed of pursuing a career in the military even though she came from a family tradition of service. In fact, it was not until her father cajoled her into applying for a scholarship that Zink decided that military service might be a valid career option.

One of the fifteen women in the nation to receive a Reserve Officer Training Corps (ROTC) scholarship to attend Northwestern University, Zink remained a part of the gender minority at the institution. At one point during her education, the ROTC consisted of only 4 females in comparison to 44 males.

Zink describes feeling overshadowed by her male counterparts when the university did not provide uniforms for girls.

“For the first few months, we were in civilian clothes, which is a great way to make you feel like the ‘other’,” Zink said.

Climbing the ladder, she spent four years on active duty in the U.S. Navy stationed in Moffett

Field, Calif. as the administrative department head.

Zink spent the next 19 years in the Naval Reserve, where her job as admiral’s aid in Monterey, Calif. revolved around submarine warfare and sonar technology. She retired with the rank of captain after 23 years of service.

Once again, Zink describes her high rank as unusual for her gender and experience.

“Every single time I would walk in, I would have no wings [on my jacket] and I was female,” Zink said. “People wondered, ‘Can she really do the job?’ There were a lot of occasions of feeling pretty hassled, but [I] just [worked my] way through that.”

After having the chance to meet people who shared the same passions yet came from a variety of backgrounds, Zink believes that her experience in the military remains a great learning experience.

“I enjoyed it a lot more than I thought I would,” she said. “I’m very grateful for having this opportunity because I really think it opened me up as a person, as I had to meet people from so many different backgrounds and with such a wide range of capabilities.”

Part of a long line of family members who are well-versed with the U.S. Military, she reflects on the meaning that Veteran’s Day holds for her.

“Lots and lots of people who are very important to me have served or are serving in the military, and I really appreciate that there is acknowledgement made,” Zink said. “It’s been a great ride, and I would not want to undo this experience at all.”

Zink now teaches AP European History at the Upper School after having two kids who now serve in the U.S. Marine Corps and U.S. Navy.

LESSONS OUTSIDE THE CLASSROOM

BY ANOKHI SAKLECHA

“O

ften, the needle of the steam generator’s pressure gauge would get stuck, so we would bang on the side of it to get it working again,” Mathematics teacher Bradley Stoll said. “But, once, when I went in to hit it, I didn’t see the piece of shrapnel hanging down from the side, and my knuckles scraped across the corner of the metal, slicing my fingers. There was blood everywhere.”

The wound from this incident now presents itself as a scar that extends across the backside of his fingers. In the 80’s, Stoll spent a year in the Army Reserve and six in the U.S. Navy.

“When I graduated high school in 1983, I had to find a way to pay for my own college, so I decided to join the Army Reserves,” Stoll said. “The very next weekend after graduation, I was at Fort Leonard in Missouri for my boot camp.”

Following boot camp, Stoll served in the army reserves for a year, culminating in a 10-week sojourn

in San Antonio, where he completed his Military Occupational Specialties (MOS) medic training. After attending college for one year, he returned to the military and joined a Navy boot camp in Michigan. He then transitioned into the Navy Nuclear Power Program and attended electrician school for 10 weeks.

In 1987, he embarked on a four-year military expedition aboard the U.S.S. Texas as a nuclear-trained engineer. During this time, he traveled to areas ranging from Panama and Hawaii to the Philippines and Thailand.

As an electrician, he was often put on “feed control watch” to ensure that the pressure of the ship’s water heater was at a safe level. “[My experiences in the military] were not good or bad. They were just experiences, and they helped to shape me [by] making me a more accepting person and more appreciative of the men and women who serve our country” he said. “I wouldn’t change anything, because everything’s brought me to where I am today.”

PILOT SCHOOL: THE TOWEL RACK IN THE SKY

BY PRISCILLA PAN hings aren’t so bad. I’ve got a towel rack.”

Looking up at the plastic towel rack he hung on the aircraft carrier’s wall, Mathematics Department Chair Anthony Silk found comfort amid the 100-degree Persian Gulf weather. Silk was on the carrier for six months, buying the towel rack in the Middle East for sheer material comfort - the action he remembered best from his 22 years in the United States Navy.

Silk retired as a U.S Navy commander after serving in active duty and in the reserves. He initially joined in 1988 and went through the Aviation Officers Candidate School. After the completion of the school, he was commissioned as part of the U.S. Navy reserve and active duty.

By the end of 1991, Silk was one of three electronic countermeasures officers in charge of intercepting enemy radar on the EA-6B. Silk was then deployed to the VAQ-136 Squadron, an electronic attack squadron, in the Naval Air Station Atsugi, Japan on board the USS Independence, and aircraft carrier, for two years. The carrier

“T

made a tour in the Persian Gulf, and Silk also flew over Iraq during Operation Southern Watch. Selected to the Navy Test Pilot School, Silk spent one year in Patuxent River, Maryland, and then test flew the Prowler for four more years. By 1998, Silk decided to leave active duty but stayed in the U.S. reserves for another 12 years to add onto the 10 he already served.

Silk originally joined the Navy with different intentions, but as time elapsed, he decided his path had changed.

“I wanted to be an astronaut,” he said. “Therefore, my plan was to join the Navy, learn how to fly, go through the Navy Test Pilot School, and then apply to the astronaut core. I did all those things but I wasn’t accepted.”

Although his time was “challenging,” “his pride for the navy and for [his] country have not diminished at all.” If he were to go back into the navy, Silk would be more interested in being a part of the aviation safety division.

“No matter how bad things get, I always look for my towel rack.”

CAROL ZINK AP EUROPEAN HISTORY TEACHER

Carol Zink poses with her daughters, Marine Katie Hollier (‘95) and Naval officer Kristine Hime (‘98), on Hime’s commissioning day.

BRADLEY STOLL MATHEMATICS TEACHER

Bradley Stoll poses in front of the American flag for his official headshot.

ANTHONY SILK MATHEMATICS TEACHER

Anthony Silk flies in the back of an EA-6B Prowler, the plane he test flew in the late 90’s.

IN THE MIDDLE OF NOWHERE, SAVE A LIFE

BY SHERIDAN TOBIN

“M

y guys got roused at about one in the morning,” said United States History teacher Ray Fowler. “We flew to a small island in Alaska. This contract worker had had a heart attack. He thought he was going to die, right, because there’s no hospital and there’s no doctor out there. There’s no town. All it is is some contractors and an airfield for airplanes if they get in trouble. It’s really, really quiet. It’s the middle of the Aleutian Islands, the Bering Sea. But he could actually hear our plane land, and he could hear the engines. When he heard that sound, he said later, ‘I knew I was going to live.’”

This medical evacuation flight stuck with Fowler from his Reserve Duty years after the “chaotic” 80’s. Fowler served as the Officer in Charge of P3 airplanes in Adak, Alaska, the U.S.’s westernmost deployed naval units.

“It was a good feeling to know that we were there to help somebody and we had a chance to do that and he appreciated that,” he said.

ALL PHOTOS SPECIAL TO THE WINGED POST

When Fowler was commissioned an ensign in 1980, it was just the beginning of his 26 years as a naval aviator. He served 10 years on active duty and 16 years in reserve. He retired with the rank of captain in 2006.

Fowler cites his college best friend’s father as the source of his interest in joining the the Navy Flight Program specifically, but his own family’s military tradition created a strong personal draw to service.

“My father and his brothers were World War II veterans,” he said. “Service to the military was part of my life when I was growing up, so I just felt an inclination to go into the military once I got out of college.”

Although Fowler does not feel like his involvement in the military caused any major personal reformation, he does enjoy sharing anecdotes about his service with his students.

“I kind of jokingly say that our textbook doesn’t talk too much about the Navy early on, so I add that information to lessons,” he said. “It is an important part of our history.”

RAY FOWLER US HISTORY TEACHER

Ray Fowler poses at Tactical Support Center 0887 in October 1998.

ASB President Sarah Bean (12) and Vice President Jessica ‘Fred’ Chang (12) raise the flag on Monday, near the memorial to Major Donald L. Nichols, Harker’s former principal and owner.

In 1919, Captain Richard Kelly purchased the Manzanita Hall for Boys and renamed it as the Palo Alto Military Academy (PAMA). PAMA remained a boys-only military academy until 1959, when Nichols joined the academy with the Ms. Harker’s School for Girls.

The student council lowers the flag every Friday afternoon.

MILITARY SERVICE

THROUGH OTHER LENSES THE WINGED POST INTERVIEWS A JOURNALIST WHO SERVED AMERICAN CITIZENS BEHIND A REPORTER’S NOTEBOOK, AS WELL AS A FORMER HARKER STUDENT WHO CELEBRATES VETERANS DAY KNOWING THAT SHE TOO, WILL SERVE.

HANNAH ALLAM FORMER MID-EAST BUREAU CHIEF 2003-2006 MCCLATCHY NEWS SERVICE WASHINGTON D.C.

INTERVIEW BY APOORVA RANGAN The Winged Post: Could you talk about one of your interactions with the military?

Hannah Allam: So I was sent to a base on Thanksgiving to do a typical, run-of-the-mill story on soldiers, you know, eating their Thanksgiving dinner. And while I was talking to some of the guys on the base, I asked “So, did you get to call your families?” And they shook their heads. Turns out, there was a communications blackout because there had been a soldier suicide on Thanksgiving Day. The story ended up being more realistic about here’s this Thanksgiving, but there’s this shadow of war that isn’t going away.

It was such a poignant piece, because the two guys I heard the story from were actually the medics on the scene. So they’re trying to eat their Thanksgiving dinner with this shadow over their heads.

WP: What’s a story you remember writing?

HA: I remember a car bombing. I could have written a regular car bombing story, but someone told me that a baby had been pulled out alive because his mother had sheltered him. She was dead. Nobody knew how to identify this child. We tracked down the baby and did a story about the survivor of a car bomb instead of the twenty dead. It’s a different telling of the same incident, one that shows resilience but also the horror. This child’s an orphan, or at least motherless, but what a little fighter. If there’s a story that everyone is telling, look for a new angle.

APOORVA RANGAN - THE WINGED POST

“I WAS RESPONSIBLE FOR 18 LIVES IN THE MOST DANGEROUS PLACE IN THE WORLD.”

Hannah Allam remembers her time as a foreign correspondent and Bureau Chief for the McClatchy News Service. Allam currently covers the State Department.

WP: So when you tell us stories like this, it’s impossible to not feel vital interest. But something I’ve noticed is that maybe people stateside might not be as invested in the Middle East as in previous wars. Could you talk about that?

HA: You would talk to U.S. forces about that and they would say, “We feel like an alien, cause we come home and people are like ‘Oh yeah, war, uniform’. And they’ve just come from an ambush where they saw three of their buddies get killed. There was this major disconnect, and I think that has worsened PTSD and soldiers’ repatriation. I think from a lot of Americans, it’s also just Middle East fatigue. There was a lot of interest in the first year, the second year, maybe even in the third year when there’s finally elections, but in the fourth, fifth, sixth, seventh, eighth, ninth, tenth year.

“We get it, it’s a disaster. We get it, four thousand plus U.S soldiers dead. We get it, hundreds and thousands of Iraqis dead.” How do you cover that story? Now it’s just a grind.

WP: Could you tell us about your managerial role?

HA: At 26 years old, I was responsible for 18 lives in the most dangerous place in the world at that time, and that’s a huge responsibility for anyone. I got hazed by some of the older reporters. I remember one time I came to my bureau door and found a sign that said “Fisher-Price, my first bureau. And we had a lot of women, to the point where our truck driver said, “Thank God women don’t drive trucks here, or she’d fire us and hire them!”

“I REMEMBER IN SOPHOMORE YEAR, MY FRIEND USED TO SAY, ‘ONLY STUPID PEOPLE GO INTO THE ARMY.’” CADET MARY LIU (‘14) UNITED STATES MILITARY ACADEMY WEST POINT, NY

Mary Liu (‘14) rides in a military helicopter over Revolutionary War battlegrounds, a field trip for a military history class. Liu attends the United States Military Academy in West Point, with a 22 percent female class.

INTERVIEW BY APOORVA RANGAN The Winged Post: What did you do in Basic Training?

Mary Liu: When we were in training, we woke up at 5 a.m. everyday and had physical training every morning. And then we had kind of, I don’t want to say classes, but like training sessions about land navigation, how to use different weapon systems, and some field training. We slept out in a field for a couple of nights.

APOORVA RANGAN - THE WINGED POST

WP: Were you used to that?

ML: No, not at all! I mean, I was the only person in my squad of about ten who had never shot a gun before.

It was a brand new experience to me. To be honest, you don’t really think during BEAST [basic training].

You just kind of adopt the role.

WP: I think that at Harker, there’s some perceived distance between students and the military. Could you talk about that?

ML: “I remember Sophomore year, my friend used to say, I don’t even know what we were talking about, but this just line sticks out to me, she’s like, ‘Only stupid people go into the army.’ But I can understand the distance that Harker puts you at. I mean, obviously, the Bay Area is not somewhere that’s very like Go Military, Go Police. But I want to help people. Because in my high school career, I was really big about volunteer service. And, not to brag, but I had like 500 community service hours. So I mean, I was really passionate about helping people.

WP: What are you hoping to do in your military career?

ML: There’s this small branch of purely female soldiers that goes out and talks to the civilians in the Middle East. Because, it’s such a very strong culture, they’re not allowed to talk to men. That’s why I’m majoring in computer science and Arabic, so I can actually go help out there.

WP: Could you talk a little more about being a female trainee?

ML: In my class, we have the highest percentage of females ever admitted to West Point, which is 22 percent. So you definitely notice it. In my math class, there only two other females in a class of maybe 20 students. During BEAST, it was especially prevalent, because in every squad, there’s ten people and two girls per squad, so obviously the physical differences are evident. But if that is something that gets in your way, then it won’t really make you a good team leader because obviously there are going to be both males and females in your platoon. I mean, it’s definitely an factor, but it’s something you can adapt to.

WP: At the University, you probably interact more with veterans than at Harker, so can you talk about how that relationship is?

ML: It teaches you a lot about how to be a good officer. They share a lot about their experiences in the army. Everything here is like a learning experience even when you’re inside the classroom learning about math, my teacher would talk about his aviation days. They just show you how how to lead, even in a classroom of 20 college kids.

A8

VOLUME 16 • ISSUE 3 NOVEMBER 21, 2014

Managing Editor Kacey Fang Copy Editor Kavya Ramakrishnan Design Editor Shay Lari-Hosain News Editor Elisabeth Siegel Opinion Editor Meilan Steimle Features Editor Priscilla Pan Lifestyle Editor Riya Godbole Global Editor Anokhi Saklecha Sports Editor Roshni Pankhaniya Tech Editor Vivek Bharadwaj Business Manager Trisha Dwivedi Photo Editor KJ Mulam Magazine Editor-in-Chief Sindhu Ravuri Magazine Assistant Editor Shay Lari-Hosain Aquila Editor-in-Chiefs Alyssa Amick & Vasudha Rengarajan Adviser Ellen Austin, MJE Aquila Contributors Megy Appalaraju Maya Jeyendran Sharanya Balaji Raveena Kapatkar Tiara Bhatacharya Vineet Kosuraju Ria Gandhi Tara Parimi Ashi Gautam Shannon Su Kaity Gee Mariam Sulakian Vivian Isenberg Vedant Thyagaraj Reporters

Sanjana Avula Vijay Bharadwaj Adrian Chu Jackie Gao Meena Gudapati Kaitlin Hsu Ashley Jiang Maya Kumar Melina Nakos

Alix Robinson-Guy Lauren Russell Jenna Sadhu Sahana Srinivasan Aditya Varshney Derek Yen Emma Yu Stanley Zhao

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The Winged Post is published every four to six weeks except during vacations by the Journalism and Advanced Journalism Newspaper Concentration courses of Harker Upper School, 500 Saratoga Ave., San Jose, CA 95129.

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

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Doing not giving

Looking at how we view charity and the holidays EDITORIAL THE OFFICIAL OPINION OF THE WINGED POST Roasted turkeys, glittering trees, shining candles, and annual charity.

The winter holidays have been pounded into our collective societal consciousness as a time for us to be thankful for what we have and give to those who are not as fortunate as we are.

Until they’re over and January’s frozen blandness erases them from memory.

That being said, we were pleasantly surprised to find that in our survey of 179 students, 29% said they volunteer during the holiday season, but 72% said they volunteer year round.

Despite the greater number of volunteer opportunities that pop up in November and December, most Harker students seem to understand that service is not just a box one can check off around the holidays and be done with.

Even though hourly requirements and holiday themed gift drives seem to indicate the opposite, service is a lifestyle, not an annual obligation.

Even in our own community, we tend to have more organized giving opportunities around the holidays--the Students for Charitable

Causes (SFCC), Thanksgiving food drive and the Toys for Tots Christmas gifts collection. Our biggest criticism with holiday drives like these, however, is not their timing, but the fact that they promote giving, not doing.

We do not mean to belittle the

Plane buddies

Experiences necessary in self-definition ments or our numbers, the fact that experience often leads to growth should validate including how we chose to spend our time in our attempts to expound traight alk identity.

Psychologists have sheridan tobin spent centuries studying editor in chief “Who are you? No, the nature versus nurture debate, but have concluded not ‘What do you do?’”

When Stanford time and time again that professor Stephen Mur- we each reflect a balance phy-Shigematsu spoke between the two. As much to the Upper School two as we rely on our genetics, weeks ago, he spent the our character will always majority of his presenta- be influenced by our expetion encouraging students riences as well. Thus, scito consider their own iden- entifically speaking, isn’t tities—outside the context it nearly impossible to talk about who we are without of our resumes.

After months of star- talking about what we’ve ing at a blank person- done, what we’ve learned, al statement document, or at least what we’ve ob“Who are you?” felt all served?

Especially as we’re too familiar. Not because growing up, we often learn I now had an answer, but the most from the results because everyone seemed of our actions.

As toddlers, to be asking it. if we touch a hot pan, we The personal statemay get burned, but we ment in itself is intimidatwon’t do it again.

As high ing, but realizing that the schoolers, we strengthen most “successful” pieces from past years have been our core values when we by students who wrote do what we already know about their challenges, we love but we learn more and more their bea b o u t liefs, their ourselves thought “I’d like to believe e a c h processthat we’re all, to some time we es—not extent, the sum of our step outtheir acside our tivities— own experiences.” comfort initially zones. made it Just seem alas our genes comprise our most unfathomable. biological makeup, all of I couldn’t, and still our experiences—whether can’t, even begin to think about who I am without al- trivial or monumental— most immediately jumping are ultimately embedded to my experiences. Maybe in the fabrics we pull on to this is simply justification begin figuring out who we for leaving that personal are.

While I’m sure I’ll statement document blank eventually come to appreuntil a week and a half beciate the personal statefore my first college appliment for requiring thorcation deadlines, but I’d ough refl ection during a like to believe that we’re time when I was otherwise all, to some extent, the sum trying to catalog my acof our own experiences.

While we definitely complishments, right now, shouldn’t reduce ourselves I’ll continue learning from down to our accomplish- my experiences.

S

T

MEILAN STEIMLE - WINGED POST

nations, whether of time or money, are made to do something nice for less fortunate members of our community, and we will always encourage that.

However, we’d like to see more people, ourselves included, take the extra step and take and hour out of a day to do something hands-on—dish out food at food bank, read to little kids at a li“Donations, whether of time or brary, or volunteer at a homeless shelmoney, are made to do something ter. nice for less fortunate members of Sometimes, it’s easy to forget that even though we may be in a stressour community.” ful moment in our lives, that there are children, elderly, homeless, and importance of donations; even a little so many others who aren’t stuck in a money or food contributed to charities moment but in a lifestyle. We could can go a long way. But it is much more donate all the money in the world but difficult to do service, to speak face to still never make as much of an immeface with those we help, to connect and diate impact on people’s lives or feel empathize with them as individuals. the sense of gratitude that comes from Ultimately, charity is charity. Do- donating our time.

News coverage from a mile high

WIKIMEDIA COMMONS

Editors-in-Chief Apoorva Rangan & Sheridan Tobin

OPINION

APOORVA APPROVED apoorva rangan editor in chief

I call them my “plane buddies,” the coterie of people I’ve met when sitting next to them on a plane. I’ve sat next to a billionaire (we talked about her National Geographic expeditions), a psychology professor (we talked about teachers’ salaries), and a religious figurehead (naturally, we discussed kettle corn). Finding out these people’s stories while practicing my interviewing skills has become the highlight of plane travel.

But here’s the plane buddy who stuck with me.

An elderly gentleman, wearing a black turtleneck -- and sunglasses on the plane.

Sunglasses on the plane, aviators to be precise. We eased into conversation and I found out that he served in the Air Force during Vietnam – and that he landed on the ground the week before the Tet Offensive, when the media’s representation of the war was farthest from the truth. He kept his aviators on for the duration of the flight, probably out of habit from his days in the service.

Let me tell you why this is massively freaky. I’ve been researching the media-military relationship’s deterioration during the Vietnam War’s Tet Offensive through a scholarship program at my school. But the background information I read was like framed images – thought-provoking, poignant, but separated from the present day by a film of time. The thesis of my paper missed something important – “so what?” Why care about this topic?

So what? It was as I talked to this man that I realized that media really does reach nearly every home. I heard an NPR podcast a couple of months ago titled: “No coincidence, no story!”

And this coincidence made me think deeper about the media’s ubiquitous role in our lives. News isn’t all rosy, and we have to place an insane amount of trust in media coverage to do justice to that fact.

Take a look at the Google Analytics for the search term “Ferguson”. The week of August 16-23, when narratives were built and protests were held and magazine-cover photos were taken, the tool offers a scaled score of “100”. But now, when the story comes to its literal close with the grand jury’s ruling on Darren Wilson’s crimes, the Google analytics show a scaled score of 15.

And in a sense, that polarity of interest characterizes news, characterizes our consciousness. In an economically fragile industry, news needs to satisfy audience demands.

Talking to Hannah Allam (see page A06), the quote that’s been grinding in my mind is this: “At some point, we used to joke that we could Mad-Lib a bombing.”

You know, those cards where you fill in a verb, a noun, an adjective of your choice?

Dozens/hundreds of civilians/soldiers/Americans were killed and dozens/hundreds were wounded/injured in a car/truck/SUV blast from Hamas/ISIS/al Qa’eda.

What do we do when a complex issue grinds on for longer than our attention span, when we’re not living in the heart of the conflict and remembering ? How do we keep stories like my plane buddy’s from repeating? The least we can do is to keep our antennae up.

A9

VOLUME 16 • ISSUE 3 OPINION • NOVEMBER 21, 2014

Being (wh)Asian

Finding my biracial identity Meianderings meilan steimle opinion editor

Our invisible men Considering how our current events will be viewed in history t.b.h.

tiara bhatacharya aquila opinion editor

Last year in my English class, we delved into about three centuries of American literature, spanning the Puritans to the advent of automobiles - with “The Great Gatsby”’s crystallized glitz and Thoreau’s anarchy came the callous enslavement of millions.

We read Booker T. Washington, Langston Hughes, W.E.B. Du Bois, Harriet Ann Jacobs, each of their works grappling the struggles of enduring in a society charged with racism.

But one of the most poignant stories we read was the first chapter of Ralph Ellison’s “Invisible Man,” Battle Royal.

The story described a young African American man who had been invited to speak in front of his town’s prominent white men.

But upon his arrival, they subjected him to intense degradation for the evening’s “entertainment.”

As the narrator finally stepped up to the podium to deliver his speech, swallowing the thick blood pooling in his mouth, his discourse was greeted with the audience’s laughter. They had deliberately humiliated and dehumanized him, and it was….fun?

Ellison’s words were so grotesque, almost

painful to read, but they were thousands of individuals’ realities. It raised so many questions in my mind - how were human beings so systematically capable of brutality...are they still?

It was a culture that felt so foreign, so shocking and horrifically disgusting - and it happened less than a single lifetime ago. It was an assumed, unquestioning ideal of white supremacy. And in the minds of these men, it wasn’t even wrong. It was the way things were, the way they should be, and it was probably something they never anticipated to change.

“Donations, whether of time or money, are made to do something nice for less fortunate members of our community.”

It really made me wonder what aspects of our society would horrify students 50 years from now.

The ban on same sex marriage might eventually confuse elementary school students as much as the restrictions on interracial marriage perplexed me. Students might look back on Ferguson and wonder how the murders of unarmed black teenagers were normalized for so long.

Though we tend to consider slavery a thing of the past, humans are still bought and sold like property. According to the Po-

laris Project, 27 million people are trafficked around the globe.

While we can be quick to rise up against rampant injustices we see in our communities, the resolve for change often dwindles within just a few months, and again we blind ourselves to the nuances of our surroundings.

Awareness begins and ends within a news cycle or a twitter hashtag.

By looking at Google search trends, it appears that the American public lost interest in Boko Haram’s abduction of 200 Nigerian girls within the span of a few weeks, and the outpour of #BringBackOurGirls tweets slowed to a trickle.

Ellison taught me how easy it is to become desensitized to our surroundings, especially after some of my peers voiced their annoyance at reading so many works “on the same topic.” It’s difficult to recognize the subtleties of oppression, and even harder to act against them, especially after growing up in a world that constantly reinforces the principle that this is how it’s supposed to be.

We can’t be fully aware - whether it’s willful ignorance or apathy, we normalize the things we’re surrounded by. But when we collectively realize that something is critically wrong - like we did with Ferguson and Boko Haram’s abduction - we can’t let it slip from our consciousness.

Welcome to Wingspan: our youngest sibling EDITORIAL THE OFFICIAL OPINION OF THE WINGED POST Within the pages of The Winged Post, the interwebs of Harker Aquila and the hardbound cover of TALON, we cover moments: short, long, exhilarating, heartbreaking and astonishing.

But there comes a time in every publication’s life when it has to leave the nest, to

stretch beyond its pre-existing limits to encompass the broader scope of the community it caters to. Though we give ourselves credit for our ability to capture the essence of a story within the space awarded to us, most of our stories are between 400 and 500 words. Sometimes, that’s not enough. Sometimes, stories need to be poked and dissected in a way that simply needs more space.

Enter Wingspan, Harker Journalism’s latest long form feature magazine, set to release this winter. Nested between the covers of our newest Eaglette, you will find in-depth pieces about the trenchant issues within 500 Saratoga Ave. and beyond. Headed by the intelligent

and capable Sindhu “What is the Rose Bowl?”

Ravuri, with beautifully dense design by Shay “This Font Sucks” Lari-Hosain, Wingspan strives to leave no question unanswered.

The Winged Post wishes Wingspan the best of luck in its fresh endeavors. Similar to how we cheer on our Eaglettes during the Homecoming football game, we will encourage and support you every step of the way: through late-night pad thai binges, borderline harassment of students for quotes, and heated disagreements regarding font merit. May your photos be in focus, and your journey be a smashing success.

My mother is tall and slim, with long black hair and tiny wrists. She is also Chinese.

Sometimes my mother tells me stories of the oppressive summer heat pooling into sweat stains of old T-shirts and the insensitive white classmates in their saddle shoes and Keds who yelled “Ching Chong Chinaman” across the crisping tanbark. She tells me about how she and her siblings frustrated them by pretending not to hear their taunts, later laughing at their ignorance.

As a half Chinese, half German-Irish child, I grew up around these stories, building my mother up in my mind to the likes of Rosa Parks, a brave woman standing up against oppression and triumphing against all odds. It didn’t matter what language I spoke or what color my skin was; I identified with the valiant struggle of my mother’s family, not the cartoon evil of the white bullies.

Then reality hit. After I started school, I was constantly confronted with a barrage of people who looked at my brown hair and pinkish, Irish skin and saw me as a white girl. From the Stratford pre-K where I was the sole student with any Caucasian heritage to my Crystal Children’s Choir, where the conductors teach in Chinglish, people only saw how I was different from them. “You’re white, right?” they’d say.

“I’m Chinese,” I would explain. It wasn’t that I didn’t identify as German-Irish; I was less defensive about that part of my heritage because no one questioned it.

“Do you speak Chinese?” they would ask. “Do you eat Chinese food? Have you ever been to China?”

I didn’t look Chinese, I didn’t know much about Chinese culture, so how could I be Chinese?

Recently, when I was reading white privilege blogs online, I came across one talking about people of color in the media. Am I a person of color? I pondered. I wanted to know if I had the authority to speak as a “woman of color,” so I contacted the moderator of the blog and explained my situation. Eventually, she replied. “Not if you can pass as white, no.”

And there it was. In one fell swoop, my identity had been stripped away. I “passed,” so I was not a woman of color, so I was not Chinese, so I was not like my mother.

The issue of what defines white or not white is hard to talk about; it’s stooped in history and memories too painful to remember. It’s an often unspoken undercurrent that runs under everything we do, all that we say, each thought that crosses our minds. But ultimately, as difficult as it is to accept, it is a construct.

The last time my ten-year-old cousin came to visit, she had to be informed for the first time that her father, who is of British descent, is not Chinese. To everyone else, her father’s sandy hair and thin nose were clear hallmarks of a Caucasian background. To her, they were parts of her father’s face.

I have white privilege; of this I am sure. Living with pink skin and brown hair has afforded me advantages my mother never had. But it is not, cannot be accurate to say that I am not Chinese.

As the world grows smaller, already hazy ethnic lines blur into gradients. I’m not sure what defines identity, or if globalization is good, or what is politically correct, but I do know who I am. I’m half Chinese, half German-Irish, and only I can decide that.

talk around campus How are you feeling about parent-teacher conferences?

“I’m kind of nervous because now my parents will find out everything, but overall I think I’ll be okay.”

-Elina Sendonaris (11) “This year has been tough so far, and I’m still trying to [grasp] the hang of things even though it’s already been a couple months.”

-Uttara Saha (9)

maya jeyendran

aquila lifestyle editor

“[Conferences] are a bit unnerving.”

-Jay Paranjpe (10)

“I love parent teacher conferences.”

-Tia Barth “I’m [feeling] pretty good because my grades are [fine].”

-Hazal Gurcan (10)

A10

VOLUME 16 • ISSUE 3 NOVEMBER 21, 2014

STEM VIJAY BHARADWAJ - WINGED POST

STEM Updates MATH CLUB

PROGRAMMING Harker’s team 5Guys placed 11th place nationally in the hacking competition PicoCTF, scoring 5357 points.

WiSTEM WiSTEM’s fitness raffle will be held today. The prize is a $100 gift card to ZombieRunner, a Palo Alto Sports store.

CHESS CLUB The chess team ended its season in third place,behind second place winner Lynbrook and first place winner Monta Vista.

Siemens finalists present at regional contest 4 students take part in national research competition vijay bharadwaj & sahana srinivasan

reporters Jason Chu (12), Vineet Kosaraju (11), Jonathan Ma (11) and Sadhika Malladi (11) were announced as regional finalists in the 2014 Siemens Competition of Math, Science & Technology and participated in the regional competition at the California Institute of Technology during the weekend of Nov. 7.

All regional finalists received $1,000 in scholarship money.

Vineet researched the interaction of RNA molecules in a three-dimensional space. Two nitrogenous bases that form hydrogen bonds in RNA are known as a base pair.

“Sometimes, these base pairs don’t occur [in RNA] and bulges form,” Vineet said. “This is currently represented in two dimensions, whether it’s connected or not. However, [the molecules] can actually fold upon themselves, and we’re trying to find the 3-D designs that were undiscovered before.”

The idea to analyze RNA occurred to Vineet at an internship at a startup company, eteRNA. He spoke to the main developers at the company to formulate a topic and collaborated with Neerja Garikipati from Huron High School, Mich.

Although Vineet did not qualify for the national level of competition, he plans to improve the software he developed for eteRNA or possibly use a spinoff on this idea for other competitions, such as Synopsys.

Two of the other finalists, Jonathan and Sadhika, worked together to find a way of pre-determining drugs that would affect one gender over the other.

Jonathan explained their project’s prac-

tical application. “[This] would make sex-specific [cancer] treatments more viable in the future,” Jonathan said.

They came up with their topic while online at the National Institutes of Health (NIH) website and delved further into the subject from there.

“We read an article about how [research funders] are requiring grant proposals to include number of specimens from each sex, but the article didn’t have anything about cancer, so we were interested in pursuing the topic,” Sadhika said.

The duo conducted all their research at Harvard Medical School but wrote their paper at school, with advice from their teachers.

Sadhika recommended that new student researchers study topics that they find intriguing.

“It’s important to be in touch with what’s breaking and what’s new in the science and technology fields, because those are the most interesting research topics, but it’s also important to make sure that you choose something that

you’re really interested in doing,” she said.

The fourth regional finalist, Jason Chu, explored dwarf elliptical nuclei and their foundation acts as “small building blocks of a galaxy”. He worked with Lea Sparkman from Castilleja High School.

“I established some important benchmarks for dwarf elliptical galaxy formation theories, and their impor-

not leave his project there.

“I wrote one paper for Siemens and one paper for Intel [Science Talent Search (STS)], and [Nov. 12] was the deadline for Intel [STS],” Jason said. “I was already planning to submit it [before the Siemens competition].”

Like the others, Jason wants to motivate underclassmen to participate in Siemens.

“A lot of people think research is for

It’s important to be in touch with what’s breaking and what’s new in the science and technology fields, because those are the most interesting research topics.

SADHIKA MALLADI (11)

tance to us,” Jason said.

He applied to an internship at the Summer Internship Program (SIP) at UC Santa Cruz and discussed an outline for his project with his mentors before conducting research.

Jason did not qualify for the national level of competition as well, but he did

SIEMENS FINALISTS Vineet Kosaraju (11), Jonathan Ma (11), Jason Chu (12), and Sadhika Malladi (12) were selected as Siemens regional finalists. They presented their work to judges on the weekend of Nov. 7.

genius[es] and really smart people. But in reality, I started research in junior year; this was my first project,” Jason said. “If you have a strong science foundation, you can just pursue a research question. If you don’t win, that’s completely fine as well. It’s just taking advantage of the opportunity.”

The Siemens Competition was founded in 1999 and allows high school students to conduct research projects on their own or with a partner. Judges determine finalists based on creativity of the topic, clarity, analysis and background understanding of the subject, amongst other criteria.

The national stage of the Siemens Competition will take place at George Washington University in Washington D.C. from Dec. 5-8. Although no Harker students are advancing, Ruchi Pandya from Lynbrook High School won the regional’s individual competition and a $3,000 scholarship.

Google flu trends predicts influenza outbreaks tara parimi & derek yen

copy editor and reporter “I had runny nose, sore throat for sure, a little coughing, of course there was a fever,” Karan Walia (10) said.

A human doctor might associate this with influenza, but could Google?

Google Flu collects data of user searches during the flu season and uses the frequency of certain search terms to approximate the number of influenza cases.

Google Flu works by using both past and current data. Through checking the prevalence of certain search terms and comparing them to the CDC’s records of influenza infections, Google can supposedly identify these certain undisclosed search terms as indicators of flu activity.

These terms can then be tracked immediately by Google to create a rough estimate of flu cases before the CDC conducts a formal survey. Results are regionalized by state and country, allowing specific regions to receive more specific and helpful estimates.

Google claims that their data is congruent to the CDC’s reports.

According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), most flu infections occur during the winter, although cases can appear as early as October and as late as May. Sravya Cherukuri (10) fends off flulike symptoms nearly every year, often google searching her symptoms and turning to websites such as WebMD for a diagnosis.

“So when I [have] a flu, early in the morning I [wake] up with a sore throat.

DATA PROVIDED BY GOOGLE

The Santa Clara University Math Tournament will be held on Dec. 6.

Students can contact Math Club advisor Misael Fisico for more information.

RESEARCH IN ACTION Juniors Sadhika Malladi and Jonathan Ma present their research to a group of Harker students. The pair conduct research about the efficacy of cancer drugs on different sexes.

VIJAY BHARADWAJ - WINGED POST

Harker reigned undefeated in the Interstellar competition this month. The Upper School team tied with Clements High School 10 to 10 and defeated South Caldwell High School 9 to 3.8.

TRACKING OUTBREAKS Google attempts to predict flu outbreaks using data from terms typed into its search engine.

Spikes in reported flu cases usually occur in the winter.

I usually go through three phases of a sore throat then it goes into congestion and [finally a] cough,” Sravya said.

Chetana Kalidindi (10) echoes a similar sentiment.

“When I am infected with the flu, my temperature rises and my head begins to pulse,” she said. “I google [my symptoms] to ensure that I do indeed have to flu and not another illness for which I FAST would beFACTS taking the wrong medication.”

So far, Google Flu’s predictions have been widely attacked in the media due to far-fetched and overshot estimates.

According a study referenced by The New York Times, four scientists found

that “Google’s flu-tracking service not only wildly overestimated the number of flu cases in the United States in the 2012-13 flu season [...] but has also consistently overshot in the last few years. Google Flu Trends’ estimate for the 2011-2012 flu season was more than 50 percent higher than the cases reported by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.”

Google has since reprogrammed its algorithm, but even so, it notes on the Flu Trends website that “past performance is no guarantee of future results”.

Some students have voiced skepticism regarding the accuracy of Google’s predictions.

“I think it’s a bit of stretch,” Rishab Gargeya (10) said. “Considering the amount of people who use Google, they could get some pretty good sample data from that, but I don’t think it’s anything prominent enough to get a good conclusion from.”

Although Google Flu has had a rough debut, the technology used in it could be refined to potentially prevent thousands of influenza-related deaths, it could be expanded upon to encompass other diseases. Google has already applied the technology to dengue.

A11

VOLUME 16 • ISSUE 3 STEM • NOVEMBER 21, 2014

Faculty weigh technology as benefits or distractions

MODERN TECHNOLOGY (TOP) Math teacher Bradley Stoll works out a math problem on an iPad. He believes technology can be a useful educational tool. (BOTTOM) The Upper School IT department tracked web requests from Upper School students and faculty on 11 Nov. 2014.

According to Brian Oldziewski, most tech requests involve unblocking websites rather than blocking them.

UPPER SCHOOL IT DEPARTMENT

tion, and Design at the Upper School, agreed with Oldziewski’s comments and said that inevitably, Aquilla asst. STEM editor some students will misuse their computers.

“Sometimes people need to learn the hard In the heart of Silicon Valley, technology has become a daily part of our lives as both Harker way how to best use their time,” she said. “If they students and members of the community. In fact, spend half of a class period sneaking around on several teachers often use specific learning tools Facebook instead of working on those slides or in their classes, ranging from Google Drive for that project, then they will need to do more of it at sharing files to Mathematica for performing cal- home, without the benefit of access to the teachculations. There are often concerns, among both er, and when their other classes are competing for teachers and students, as to whether or not tech- their time and attention.”

Main believes that both students and teachnology facilitates education or harms it.

The Winged Post interviewed teachers and ers have a duty to make sure students use technolinstructional technology staff members to discov- ogy responsibly for educational purposes.

“I think all involved parties have a responer whether technology is more suited as a learning tool or as a distraction. Statistics were also sibility to make the learning experience as posigathered from the Barracuda Web Filter, with aid tive and productive as possible. Teachers need to from Network Administrator Brian Oldziewski give assignments and other learning activities that to determine if students accessed the Internet for are engaging and feel relevant to their students,” she said. “Students need to understand that our solely educational purposes.

Internet access was monitored across two purpose here at school is to learn, and they need to appreciate the ridiculous periods: from 10 a.m to 11 amount of time and hard FAST FACTS a.m, and from 7 a.m to 8 p.m work their teachers put into on Tuesday, Nov. 11. A filpreparing, teachter recorded data for all sites 1 out of every 7 web planning, ing, and then evaluating and requested, except those on requests is blocked by providing feedback.” internal harker.org domains, Other teachers agreed such as Athena2.

Barracuda Web Filter. and said that technology can According to Oldziewseither be used to help teach ki, teachers do not usually or misused as a distraction. have complaints about stuMathematics teacher Bradley Stoll believes that dents accessing inappropriate sites.

“Very rarely are there requests to block sites, the amount of technology each student can use maybe only two or three times a year. Most of the depends on an individual basis, but that there are requests are for unblocking sites, since the filter still other ways to convey information.

“I write up all my homework solutions, show puts sites in the uncategorized section that only teachers, not students, can view,” Oldziewski said. every step, and put them on my Google Drive “Compared to other schools, we are actually fairly folder and they [the students] have access to that and they are supposed to check their homework. loose about filtering.”

Notably, Oldziewski mentioned that social Some say it’s beneficial, some don’t say anything, networking only shows up third on the categories and others don’t look at it,” he said. “I use Mathof sites requested, and that the two other catego- ematica a bit, just not as much as in the past. I ries are mostly used for educational purposes. He wouldn’t say I’m getting anti-technology but I’m concluded that students remained generally on- just caring less about technology, there’s other things to do in teaching that don’t relate to techtask during class Diane Main, Director of Learning, Innova- nology.”

Tim Cook: “I’m proud to be gay”

New companies promise anonymity, profit-sharing, and no ads

Alternative social networks news editor

Ello Ello opened for the public on March 18, though the social network still remains exclusive to those who have received invites from existing users.

Created by Paul Budnitz and Todd Berger, Ello boldly proclaims “You Are Not A Product” in its vow to never sell user data for profit. In October, the company signed a new charter, making Ello a public benefit corporation, according to Wired. The social network also boasts to be completely ad-free and promises not to enforce a real-name policy among its users.

According to VentureBeat, only around 20 percent of those who sign up post anything after the first week of use.

Ello user Jeton Guiterrez-Bujari (12) argued for Ello’s merit as a platform.

“It’s a mix between Tumblr and Twitter,” he said. “I don’t usually communicate with other people, it’s usually for browsing the works of other people who make really interesting art, essentially. I think it’s a great idea and a great concept if a lot of people get behind it, and the social network grows a bit and the features develop.”

Most internet users are aware of mainstream social media sites and blogging platforms such as Tumblr, Twitter, and Facebook.

Three sites created as direct alternatives to the aforementioned list, developed and released in 2014, have set out to revolutionize the field of social networks.

Yik Yak Launched in November 2013, Yik Yak rose in popularity exponentially, ranking as the third most downloaded app in the United States as of September 2014, according to Gizmodo.

The app allows users to view anonymous posts within a 1.5 mile radius of their location, depending on how many users are present, functioning as a bulletin board for Twitter-like anonymous posts. Yik Yak is primarily used for interacting with those nearby; it also allows users to police what is posted with an upvote and downvote feature.

The “Peek” function allows users to peek into other Yik Yak pockets, particularly other college campuses.

The app was originally developed for college campuses, according to the founders. “Peek” allows users to view yaks from other locations but does not let them post, as users can only post within their actual Yik Yak pocket, an area of 1.5 square miles. Users can also see the highest-voted posts of all time from their area as well as throughout the United States.

Yik Yak came under heavy criticism in September for facilitating cyber-bullying, especially at middle schools and high schools. Many schools have banned the app. Yik Yak has developed in response measures from the company Maponics that “geo-fence” the areas around high schools and middle schools, creating pockets on the map where school officials have the opportunity to ban the use of Yik Yak. These measures came into effect on March 13, 2014, with over 85 percent of middle and high schools indexed and fenced from use.

Currently, the app is available for use on the Upper School campus.

Tsu tsū, a Facebook-esque alternative social network that opened on Oct. 21, advertises that it shares 90 percent of its ad revenue with its users. The site monetarily compensates users for posting engaging content and inviting friends.

Separating the site from the rest of the social network herd are tsū’s policies for content ownership. The network advocates for the “empowerment” of the user, allowing the user to retain royalties for content created on tsū “in perpetuity.” tsū currently remains invite-only.

“We believe in real ownership, which only exists when users own the rights to their content and the economics that come with it,” the website says. “Users should be compensated for their likeness, image and content. It’s simple and it’s the right thing to do.”

Shannon Hong (11) doubts the popularity of tsū but also sees its appeal.

“I don’t know that tsū will be widely adopted simply because platforms like Twitter and Facebook have such large followings,” she said. “However, I do see potential for the ‘paying the user’ idea to spread. Hopefully with a movement like tsū, there will be enough momentum to spur even the largest social media platforms to reform so that users are compensated for their postings.”

PRIDE Apple CEO Tim Cook announced his sexuality in an op-ed piece.The Apple CEO stated that he was willing to trade his privacy to help those still struggling to reveal their sexual identities.

trisha dwivedi

business manager

Tim Cook, CEO of Apple, officially announced his sexuality on Oct. 30 in “Bloomberg Businessweek”, stating that he is “proud to be gay.”

Inspired by Martin Luther King Jr., Cook decided to set aside his affinity for personal privacy, which had been “holding [him] back from doing something more important.” Although he does not feel that his sexual orientation has invited coworkers to treat him differently, Cook acknowledges that many do not share the same experience in their work environments.

“I think it’s really good not only for the Apple community but also the Silicon Valley tech community in general,” Felix Wu (12) said.

“It’s good to make it a more open-minded community.”

Apple has stood alongside Cook, demonstrating its support for the LGBT community in the past few years. According to The New York Times, the company released a “strongly worded statement of support” after the Supreme Court nullified the Defense of Marriage Act last year. Cook was also a strong supporter at San Francisco’s 44th annual Pride parade last June.

WIKIMEDIA COMMONS

elisabeth siegel

VINEET KOSARAJU - WINGED POST

vineet kosaraju

Several other tech companies in the Bay Area joined Apple at the Pride festival including Google, Facebook, and Netflix. The marchers crystallized the link between the tech industry and the LGBT community.

Math teacher Bradley Stoll, an active member of the Gay Straight Alliance (GSA), supports Cook’s coming out, but does not believe that this will have much of an impact on his company.

“I don’t think it’s going to affect the Apple company at all,” he said. “If anything, it’s a positive thing for him.

Certainly, whenever someone comes out, I think it’s a positive thing for the LGBT community.”

Allison Kiang (12) agrees that Cook’s actions could further enlarge LGBT support.

“As the CEO of one of the foremost tech companies of our generation, Cook has just become an even bigger hero,” she said. “I’m glad that he has taken on the mantle of that representation.”

Business Insider listed Tim Cook on its most important LGBT list last December, recognizing Tim Cook’s contributions to the LGBT community since last year, and have rerun that list again this year.

A12

VOLUME 16 • ISSUE 3 NOVEMBER 21, 2014

BACK PAGE

STAYING WELL WHILE JUGGLING C

MMITMENTS

Students share their tips to surviving stress Do any of these apply to you?

STACEY CHAO - TALON

Have more than five assessments a week?

Overbooked in clubs and extracurriculars?

Swamped in college applications?

BALANCE Students participate in a yoga workshop in the Innovation Center. The workshop was conducted by Jill Lacher and arranged by the L.I.F.E. Board.

sanjana avula reporter

SHAY LARI-HOSAIN - WINGED POS T

Students attended a Balance workshop hosted by the Living with Intent, Focus, and Enthusiasm (LIFE) board this Tuesday during both lunches. The workshop took place in the Innovation Center and was led by Jill Lacher.

Mathematics teacher Jane Keller, who is also Director of LIFE, hoped that the workshop would help students learn to breathe and de-stress.

“I have been talking for several years about the fact that we as Harker people run around here and don’t have time to stop and breath,e” Keller said. “We don’t take the time to stop and reflect and if we don’t teach you guys how to do that you’re going to get down the road and you’re going to stay like a little hamster on the wheel running and running and running and you need to learn how to stop and see where you are.”

Keller believes that the simple skills that students learn in the workshops can help them throughout the day.

This workshop was attended by both students and the academic counselors Lori Kohan, Suneeta Mani, and Lori Philipp.

There are two other upcoming workshops that will be held on Tuesdays. The remaining two workshops will be held on Dec. 2 and Dec. 9.

techniques for time management “I mentally calculate how much time each assignment is going to take and I calculate when my work should end.

I try not to go over an hour beyond that end time.”

- Eugene Gil (12)

“I finish homework in class so I have more time to study at home.”

- Lucas Wang (10) “When I’m tired I go take a nap because if I just stay awake chances are I’m not going to be productive anyway.”

- David Lin (12) “Spending 10 minutes a day, spending one minute several times a day where you can pay attention to your breath and being still, can alter the mechanics of your brain and make you a better student. It actually physically changes you.”

- Mathematics teacher Jane Keller

sleep as a priority “Sleep is a huge priority for me.

Being an athlete, sleep is one of the most crucial things for my body to recover.”

- Niki Iyer (10)

BRAIN FOODS meilan steimle opinion editor

NUTS Believe it or not, nuts do not make us go “nutty.”

They are a plentiful source of Vitamin E, which helps decrease the decline in cognitive activity that comes with age.

Avocado Avacados do not just make great guacamole; they also make for great neurons.

They contain oleic acid, which builds up the fatty tissue (myelin) that insulates neurons and helps them work faster.

fish Eating fish is not fishy; deep-water fish like salmon have abundant levels of omega-3 fatty acids. These acids are instrumental in brain function and contain anti-inflammatory agents as an added bonus.

try and B10: Cross coun tates golf sprint into s

WHAT’S INSIDE Friday, November 21, 2014

B2 SDS DIRECTORS’ INTERVIEW B4 DIABETES B5 EATERIES IN PROXIMITY B11 CCS VOLLEYBALL B12 ELECTIONS

FEATURES

Senior to perform at Davies Symphony Hall on Sunday opinion editor

Agata Sorotokin (12) performs Sergei Prokofiev’s Piano Concerto No. 3 with the San Francisco Symphony Youth Orchestra (SFSYO) at Davies Symphony Hall on Sunday, from 2:00 p.m. to 4.00 p.m. Apoorva Rangan (12), Jason Jeong (12), Austin Lai (12), and Edward Oh (10) play as part of the orchestra.

The Winged Post: Can you explain the journey you took to get to this concert?

Agata Sorotokin (12): I am a member of the orchestra as well as the soloist this year. In the middle of sophomore year, the orchestra needed to find a second pianist because they had one at the time for one of the pieces that they were doing. I ended up staying! Every year they have a concerto that is open to the members of the orchestra, so I was the only pianist competing.

WP: Do you play any other instruments?

AS: I sing. I’m a member of Cantilena and I’m the assistant conductor this year. I also played the organ with the [SFSYO] as well last year, and other keyboard instruments that are similar to the piano, like the harpsichord.

MUSICAL FORTE Agata Sorotokin (12) rehearses with the SFSYO the week before her Davies debut as the orchestra’s Concerto Competition winner. She will play Prokofiev’s 30-minute long Piano Concerto No. 3 from memory.

WP: How did you choose to play piano?

AS: When I was four and a half, I went to a recital with little kids playing, and I got so inspired by their playing that I begged my mom after that concert to let me start taking lessons.

The piano has a very wide range of possibilities, both in terms of repertoire, because there are way more pieces written for piano than for

LISA PETRIE - SAN FRANCISCO SYMPHONY

other instruments, and also since I can play so many notes at once, there’s a lot that I can do, whereas in other instruments it’s usually one melodic line.

WP: What is your favorite part about piano and music in general?

AS: I like to collaborate with other musicians.

I think that’s probably one of the most exciting things in my life. In general, being a pianist can be pretty isolating at times because you usually don’t play with an orchestra. I’m a huge fan of chamber music.

WP: What are you the most looking forward to about the concert?

AS: I think just playing in Davies Symphony Hall. We’ve been rehearsing there, but playing for an actual audience is really, really exciting and thrilling. I’ve gone to that hall as an audience member since I was three years old, and I’ve gone there every year to listen to professionals play. I’ve always dreamed of being up there myself one day, and I really couldn’t imagine that it would be this soon in my life.

WP: Do you think you’ll continue to pursue piano after high school?

AS: I’m actually considering a career in music. I am hoping to continue academics and music, so I’m hoping to find that possibility. I really can’t imagine my life without music. I can’t exactly say where I will go within the musical field, because I’m also really interested in conducting right now, and I’m a fledgling composer, so I don’t know where that will all go, but I want to continue growing in all directions.

BEHIND THE BATON: TALKING TO DONATO CABRERA, THE SFSYO CONDUCTOR “With the Youth Orchestra, we can really take things apart and explore it and have, of course, our coaches available to help us with balancing the orchestra and with a acking the specific sections making them as best as possible.

What I find particularly striking with Agata is that she’s thoughtful, and that she approaches the peice in a way that a soloist who just is someone who is incredibly, highly efficent.”

APOORVA RANGAN - WINGED POST

meilan steimle

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S OO

ALL PHOTOS VIVIAN ISENBERG - WINGED POST

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Shah r e v o ake t s r o cer i c o s Sen e abl with t

CHALLONGE BRACKET GENERATOR

FOOS FOREVER (Left) Pranav Reddy (12), Nathan Dalal (12), and (middle) Ryan Pachauri (12) hold a foosball practice match after school in Shah Hall. Foosball is a “lifestyle,” as some call it, that many seniors dedicate their time to before and after school, as well as during free periods and lunch. (Right) The bracket shows the tournament matchup for the Inaugural Doubles Tournament on Nov. 5, which the team of Nikhil Kishore (12) and Nikhil Singh (12) won. The team has expanded to its own hub, found at http://harkerfoosball.github.io/.

vivian isenberg

Aquila Humor and Satire editor

PRISCILLA PAN - WINGED POST

S

h outs reverberate off lockers, the booming of tiny one-legged players clashing over a plastic ball echo. Cries of enthusiasm mix with those of anguished defeat. Somewhere, somehow, this game will make it onto a Snapchat story. This is the craze that has swept over the inhabitants of Shah: foosball.

Before and after school, during free periods and lunch, a crowd usually gathers around one or more of the two foosball tables that have become the most popular landmarks for a study break in the history department building.

Due to changes at the beginning of the school year in grade-level locker locations and the loss of the Senior Sledge, the senior class has established a special bond with the game as they spend a majority of their time in Shah.

Last school year, dedicated foosball fanatics Jason Chu (12), Nikhil

Reddy (12) and Vishal Vaidya (12) formed the “Varsity” foosball team.

Self-appointed team captain Nikhil explained the teams origins.

“We started playing ‘foos’ religiously every double lunch and since then it’s morphed into something greater. Everyone’s come out,” he said.

The team has encouraged students to join in a number of tournaments open to all who wish to play and occur on a weekly basis during long lunch.

Recently a website for the team has been created by team member Nathan Dalal (12). The site outlines the rules that participants must abide by during matches and includes player bios and an option to join a mailing list.

“In this community you have to give the people what you want, and that’s what I did,” he said.

With such a wave of enthusiasm for the game, a culture has arisen among foosball players. The game pits teams of two (doubles) or oneon-one (singles) against each other

in a match to control small, plastic men attached to metal sliding poles on a waist-high table with the objective of hitting a ball into the other team’s goal. As it has grown in popularity, the game has evolved; players have even adopted a vast vocabulary of terms for specific moves. Some moves such as “spinning”, the repeated spinning of a handle, are illegal while others such as “goalie goals,” when a team’s goalie scores a point in the other side’s goal, garner extra points. Other moves include “the timer,” “the pistol,” and “the slider.” “[Foosball] is an outlet for people to just come out and have fun.

For a lot of them it’s their creative outlet because at school you’re kind of obsessing over the schoolwork and grades, and ‘foosing’ is the one time you can just relax and goof around with your friends,” Nikhil said.“ Especially if you don’t play a sport, then ‘foos’ gives you that team feeling that you belong. It’s awesome everyone has their place; there’s this hierarchy and everyone respects everyone.”

MEET THE PLAYERS Jason Jeong (12) Position: Team Manager My Mantra: Foosball isn’t a game, it’s a way of life.

Favorite Move: Jason Chu’s “The Pistol” Nathan Dalal (12) Position: Website Developer What I do: I organize official tournaments.

Favorite move: The Goalie Goal because “It’s very serene.”

FEATURES ‘Tis the season for tin cans for charity B2

VOLUME 16 • ISSUE 3 NOVEMBER 21, 2014

STACKING SPIRIT (Top) Leeza Kuo (12), Julia Wang (12), Angeline Pan (12), (bottom left) Jimmy Lin (9), (bottom middle) Alex Sikand (11), Shreya Sunkara (11), and (bottom right) Anthony DeVincenzi (10) stack Second Harvest food drive donations in a spirit competition. The competition took place during long lunch on Wednesday.

Backstage with the directors of the Student Directed Showcase riya godbole & maya kumar

lifestyle editor & reporter Chaotic weddings, strangers trapped in theaters, blind dates, and love vignettes will all come together on stage during this year’s upcoming Senior Directed Showcase (SDS).

The Winged Post caught up with the

four student directors to get the scoop on what drew them to their respective plays and how the experience has been panning out so far.

Madi Lang-Ree (12) - “We Live Here” by Zoe Kazan

“We Live Here” focuses on a family who experiences the suicide of one of its daughters 13 years earlier. The play chronicles the wedding weekend of the deceased daughter’s twin where characters from the past make unexpected appearances, and hilarity ensues during the chaotic weekend.

The Winged Post: How was the process of choosing a play?

Madi Lang-Ree: I probably read over 20 plays this summer, which was a lot. I didn’t narrow it down until late August and then I found this play, and I just fell in love with it.

WP: What drew you to the play?

ML: I really felt connected with the characters.

They all really had a story and I felt like their stories needed to be told and that the audience would really connect to them.

ENTER STAGE RIGHT Ayla Ekici (11) rehearses for Zoe Woehrmann’s (12) Student Directed Showcase play, “Exit.” The performers are currently in the second week of rehearsals.

WP: How has the experience of directing the show already impacted you?

ML: It’s really impacted me because I’ve done acting my entire life and I’ve never been on the other side of the stage.

I want to act in the future, but also, now I’m thinking about teaching and directing.

Zoe Woehrmann (12) - “Exit” by John Dune “Exit” chronicles the story of five strangers who wake up trapped in a theater and cannot find their way out.

WP: How did you go about choosing a play?

ZW: I read a bunch of plays over the summer and slowly figured out what type I show I wanted. When I read [this play], I realized I wanted a suspense show and tied together all of the elements I had wanted to find in a play.

WP: What drew you to the play?

ZW: I was looking for a play that wasn’t too complicated, only really tackled one major conflict, and having no one lead but a balance of lines across an ensemble. Plus, the characters are diverse, and I like the writing style.

JA: Over the summer I read close to 50 plays, trying to figure out which one I wanted to do. This was one of the first plays I read, and every time I read another play, it wasn’t as good as this one.

So I kept coming back to it and finally decided that this was the play I wanted to do.

WP: What drew you to the play?

JA: It’s not slapstick humor, but it’s witty and comical. It’s a little over-thetop, but I wanted to do something funny but smart as well.

WP: Has the experience lived up to your expectations so far?

JA: It’s more exciting than I imagined.

It’s a lot of fun seeing your show come to life and it’s just really exciting.

Caroline Howells (12) - “Almost Maine” by John Cariani “Almost Main” features a series of short vignettes about couples falling in and out of love.

WP: How was the process of choosing a play?

JA: It was actually recommended to me

by a friend at the camp I was at over the summer. The moment I read it, it was so different from everything else I had read, and I had such an instant vision of it in my head that I knew I had to do it.

WP: What drew you to the play?

JA: I think all the scenes I chose out of it have a really accurate representation of what the different sides of relationships can be. I think that everyone can relate to it in this way because everybody loves somebody in their life, whether it’s their family or friends or in a relationship and that’s why I love it so much.

WP: Why did you want to do SDS? JA: What I’ve always really loved about SDS is that I think it’s a really relaxing environment in which actors can grow.

So as opposed to being an actor myself this year, I really want to help other people grow and discover things about themselves that they didn’t know before and just grow as actors and people.

Actors will rehearse until the show on Jan. 9 and 10.

WP: What has been the most challenging part of the experience so far?

ZW: Figuring out how long to call re- We specialize in residen�al Real Estate & Mortgages with in -depth analysis & reports for home purchases, sales & rehearsal because you don’t know exactly finance of primary & investment proper�es at wholesale how long each activity or scene is going mortgage rates in California. Leverage our consolidated to take to run, so you have to try and services and affordable fees to maximize your net-worth & keep your por�olio diversified and rebalanced. estimate.

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Jai Ahuja (12) - “Check Please” by Jonathan Rand

ALL PHOTOS BY MAYA KUMAR - WINGED POST

typically a better way for groups to receive money because they can expect an features editor income, according to Moss. In December, After a day of using weed wackers each of Moss’s family members pick and and hackers in the overgrown orchard, organization for another family member Spanish teacher Diana Moss and Kevin to donate to in their name.

History teacher Carol Zink also volMoss (‘14) fought until they could see unteers in homeless shelters, food banks, the remaining fruit trees.

Like the Moss family, students and and veterans’ organizations among other faculty have begun donating their time groups throughout the year.

“I feel that I am a very fortunate and money.

The holiday season comes with an person, I have a good life, I’m comfortinflux of charity and donations. Partnered able and I feel that I have the obligation to help the peowith the ple who are not Spirit Club as comfortable and Distributive Edu- We’ve seen donations drop off in the last as I am,” she said. cation Club couple years, so we’re really hoping to Recently, of America turn that trend around. some class(DECA), GLENN REDDY (12) es have been the Students learning about for Charitathe theory beble Causes (SFCC) Club held the Second Harvest hind charity and giving. Zink’s classes are food drive, collecting non-perishable currently studying universal obligation, foods to donate in a class competition a term that refers to how much people are willing to extend themselves to help format.

SFCC president Glenn Reddy (12) others, who typically include their immehopes to see the classes work together to diate family and close friends.

“I think it’s a matter of empathy,” donate as much as possible.

“We’ve seen donations drop off in she said. “Maybe you don’t think you’ll the last couple years, so we’re really hop- ever be homeless, but if you just imagine ing to turn that trend around,” he said. for a few minutes what it must be like to “We’ve partnered with Spirit [Club], and sleep outside and not know where your we’re working with DECA to support next meal is coming from, how can you not try to help?” the Second Harvest food drive.”

Several students from SFCC in Several faculty members extend varying performing arts groups will set their donations to the entire year.

Moss, who supports many organiza- up a show and sing songs from choirs to tions, also donates online on a monthly those at the Bridgepoint Senior Living basis. Evenly spread out donations are Point later in the year.

ALL PHOTOS BY PRISCILLA PAN - WINGED POST

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B3

VOLUME 16 • ISSUE 3 FEATURES • NOVEMBER 21, 2014

praveen batra & vedant thyagaraj

reporter & Aquila STEM editor Both Junior State of America and the Junior Classical League held their first conventions last weekend.

Junior State of America ( JSA) The student-run JSA held its Fall State Convention on Nov. 15 and 16.

The convention was themed “Principles and Pragmatism: Grappling with Ideology.”

Club advisor Daniel Hudkins said that JSA is not only for students seeking careers in political science.

“What matters to me is somebody who decides they don’t like the state of the way trash is being collected and decide to run for the city council,” Hudkins said. “I hope to see more Harker kids on city councils and school boards and transit boards, and most importantly just showing up and voting.”

JSA plans to hold a mock Congress this winter at the official state capitol building in Sacramento.

Junior Classical League ( JCL) JCL hosted the convention Ludi Novembres (November Games), on Nov. 15. JCL is an organization that supplements Latin classes with classical studies and ancient civilization.

Maya Nandakumar (12), a JCL national officer, described the convention as educational.

“It’s a NorCal based convention that offers a smaller selection of events than our state convention, but still enough to get a taste of what’s to come,” Nandakumar said.

Convention activities included academic tests, quiz games, and guest lectures from professors on such as the Gauls to Vergil’s Aeneid.

Club advisor John Hawley mentioned that the chapter is focusing on bringing in more people to the club.

“Oddly enough, there’s more stuff going on down at the middle school than there is up here,” Hawley said.

Prior to the JCL convention, students participated in the National Classical Etymology Exam, which tests knowledge of Latin derivatives. JCL will hold conventions at the state and national levels in the spring and summer, respectively.

Behind the chefs’ counter meena gudapati reporter

Cranberry sauce—November’s special. Next month, beets. The Winged Post talked to the kitchen staff to find out a few facts about how they prepare food everyday and their future meal plans.

Got 2 Go and Sal’s Pizza The pizza is ordered semibaked everyday from two different companies: Got 2 Go Pizza and Sal’s Pizza. A er warming it up, the staff serves the pizza.

Gluten-free pizzas are also provided for any students with dietary restrictions.

Produce of the Month The kitchen staff features a new monthly fruit or vegetable in its dishes. Chefs utilized this month’s produce, cranberry, in dishes such as Monday’s cranberry and walnut goat cheese logs.

“We try to incorporate that produce through all four campuses,” Chef Callie Stanley said.

Cooking Rice Instead of using rice cookers, the staff uses multiple pots to cook the rice in large quantities on occasion.

This is helpful in conserving water, as well as saving time for the staff.

The Menu The menu is based off what food items were popular and in season. Le overs are sometimes incorporated into the dishes. The staff includes as many cultures as it can in the food. The menu is decided on about a week in advance.

Staff There are over 40 staff members in the Union, Bucknall, Blackford, and Saratoga campuses who make up the food department. The staff works together to plan menus and make other decisions.

“We all communicate,we all talk, and we all plan menus together.” Stanley said “So it’s not just one person who plans all the food.”

MORNING PREPARATION Chef Jose Lopez Orozco prepares lunch during extra help. The kitchen staff tries to incorporate the dishes that are popular among students and faculty.

Information technology department email policy vivek bharadwaj & emma yu

STEM editor & reporter Careful with that passionate, romantically-worded email to your crush.

As with most other email-providing institutions, Harker’s Information Technology (IT) department can access the contents of student and faculty Google accounts.

Director of IT and Learning Innovation and Design Daniel Hudkins said that he can change students’ school email passwords to access the contents of Google accounts.

“Now the next question is fairly obvious: how often does that happen?

Never,” Hudkins said.

Student safety is a possible reason for searching through a student’s

emails. Hudkins stated that he would plications such as Google Drive and consult the administration before en- Google Docs which are tied to a user’s email password. tering an account.

Hudkins ad“In other vised privacy-conwords, this is FAST FACTS cerned students to not something send private mesthat would ever IT department can: sages from personhappen casu* access student and faculty al email accounts. ally,” Hudkins email He compared insaid. * change email passwords Student stitutional email Happens: and faculty accounts to school * almost never email accounts lockers, stating that * for student safety are provided by both are the propGoogle Apps erty of the school. for Education “You have (GAFE), a free product that allows a reasonable expectation of privacy Harker to give students email address- which should not mistaken for confies under the students.harker.org email dentiality,” Hudkins said. domain. It also provides access to apLinus Li (9) felt that the school’s

policy regarding Google accounts invaded his privacy.

“Even though some people don’t use their school email, the school email is a way for me to connect with my friends, and we have a lot of personal stuff on there,” Linus said. “The fact that they can see anything about my email is extremely frustrating.”

Eric Cheung (12) feels neutral about the school having free access to his email account.

“I tend to not put personal things in that email,” he said. “I feel okay [about it], because we’re not restricted to using that email.”

There is no privacy in a sender’s email account. Once sent, the sender may choose to do what they desire with it.

ALL PHOTOS BY PRISCILLA PAN - WINGED POST

Club conventions latest round up

B4

FEATURES

RENES S WEE S AWA

kavya ra makri jacqueli shnan & & adity ne gao a varsh eney copy ed

made b y occurs d the body. Ges ta uring w eek 24 o tional diabete itor and Diabete B s usuall e f c p a r eporters u s was y death in WiSTEM se of the p regnancy. the Unit the seventh le r o m d e in c id e n e e or cont ad ce of d d States and hos rib dia in 2010 ing cause of t Diabe to forgo their u t , respon the Am uting to 234,0 e s s ual STE betes, w A e e w k areness , there erican D sible for 51 deat M week Week. E were sp hs, acco iabetes the AD ecial ev Accord a c A r h d s A s d in o . ay t g c ing to iation ents to to (CDC), fundrais his “There up to 29 the Centers for (ADA). e for are .1 Disease populat Control diabetes and t so many Ame ion, hav million Amer icans, 9 he num e diabet ricans a 208,000 ing at a .3% o ber es. A ffec n o are affec f the America ccording to th f the reotyp evergrowing r is growing and ted by es a e ADA, ate. The ns who te re are a increasthe age d by diabetes a son we’r ssociated with lot of st re unde of 20. d e ia t b r ying to e r fundrais tes and that’s a eDiabete s resu re e to rais of what glucose e aware awe can levels in lts from high n es do to st and wh the bloo lin in th op diab s at actua e pancr e t ll es eas usu d. Insuy W down t c iS a u TEM P ally bre he ublicity ses diabetes,” aks Li (11) and tur glucose from O ffice sa the foo ns d around id. “There’s a lo r Adele betics d it into energy, the fact o not m but diathat if y t of hype ak sugar, y lin or ca ou ou get nnot us e enough insumore d eat more e it that’s a bodies n iabetic, ctually eed to, c as well as their but a m also a lo au els in th t of thin yth. and ther eir bloo sing sugar lev e’s g d to preve s to rise.

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There a e sugar e s a id r . “Bu e th iof high of diab sugar fo t if you eat a lo etes: Ty ree major type s pe 1, w o lo t d sists of t s , of weig hich ab ht and t you put on a relative Type 2, out five percen conh e n you ly th t is what insulin resistan become of cases e most commo of all diagnose p t. Obes d u ; a n ity sugar. A ts you at risk, between nd gestationa and up to 90% cases; sugar, it ’s l lo y to 95% two and ou’ll get diabete not just t of peo s p , d 1 le 0 ia w % of ca betes’ an say ‘Do hich aff Type n’t eat ects d that’s not pro 1 diabetes occ ses. just not duce th urs whe t r ue.” e n quired to meta insulin hormo the body doe s bolize g ne, whic has Typ luco h e rejects t 2 diabetes, th se. When a pe is ree body rson he insu lin

DIABE TE

MOND AY TUESD : National D iab AY WEDN : Kickboxing etes Awaren ES ess Da (cance y lled) THURS DAY: Bollyw ood Da DAY: N ncing ut FRIDAY : Tai-ch rition Day i and R affle

K

VOLUME 16 • ISSUE 3 NOVEMBER 21, 2014

DIABETES AWARENESS Elizabeth Beamish (9) addresses the student body during school meeting about her own experiences with Type One Diabetes.

WiSTEM conducted Diabetes Awareness Week at the Upper School from Nov. 17 to 21.

APOORVA RANGAN WINGED POST

WiSTE M raised over $150 b Wedne y sday

9.3% o f Americ ans have Diabet es

Q&A: Elizabeth Beamish’s journey with diabetes jackie gao reporter

Winged Post: What is a common stereotype surrounding a person with diabetes? Do you think that this stereotype is fair?

Elizabeth Beamish (9): I know as a kid, a lot of them thought it was contagious. I guess being overweight [is another stereotype]. When you see diabetics, between type one and type two, type one you’ll see more people underweight, but Type 2,

you’ll see overweight. [People] kind of mix it up.

WP: What are some of the difficulties in your daily life that are caused by diabetes?

EB: Not being able to do things if my blood sugar level was low or high. I have to sit down, take a break, check my blood sugar level, and do the procedure I have to do to fix it.

WP: What did you feel when you were first diagnosed? How has your

outlook on diabetes changed over time?

EB: Like I said in my speech, I didn’t know what diabetes was when I was first diagnosed, so I was hysterical.

I was crying and I thought I was going to die; it was, I don’t want to say it was the worst experience, but it was definitely one of the top five worst experiences. Now that I have learned about what diabetes is, I think of it more as an advantage, so it’s good and bad.

LIFESTYLE

VOLUME 16 • ISSUE 3 NOVEMBER 21, 2014

e at e r i e s i n p r ox i M I t y Students’ most frequented chains within five miles of school IN-N-OUT // 4.9 miles

noah’s bagels // 3.1 miles

JENNA SADHU - WINGED POST

Offering baked goods, custom sandwiches, coffee and a variety of bagels and spreads, Noah’s Bagels has become a popular favorite among Upper School students. Many students and school organizations often bring Noah’s Bagels to school, such as Link Crew.

The oldest of restaurants on this list, In-n-Out was founded in 1948 in Southern California and remains exclusively on the west coast. The chain’s menu features three burgers: the Double-Double, Cheeseburger, and Hamburger. A “not-so-secret menu” also offers grilled cheese, 3 x 3s (three patties and three slices of cheese), and 4 x 4s (four patties and four slices of cheese).

In addition to burgers, the chain also sells french fries and chocolate, strawberry, and vanilla milkshakes made with real ice-cream.

PANDA EXPRESS // 1.5 Miles With steamed broccoli, a variety of chicken and beef entrees, fried rice and chow mein, all coupled with fortune cookies, Panda Express has it all when looking for Chinese food. The chain opened in 1983 and has spread to 47 states, making it the largest American Chinese restaurant chain in the United States. The restaurant’s most popular dish is Orange Chicken, consisting of crispy chicken bites tossed with sweet and spicy orange sauce.

JENNA SADHU - WINGED POST

YOU ARE HERE

roshni pankhaniya sports editor

PROVIDED BY YASEMIN NARIN

sports editor

chipotle // 1.6 miles Customizable burritos, tacos, bowls, and quesadillas have made Chipotle one of the fastest-growing “quick-food” restaurants in the world. Chipotle offers five items: burritos, burrito bowls, crispy and soft tacos, quesadillas, and salads, which can be made with a choice of chicken, pork, barbacoa, steak, or veggies. Meals can be customized with additional toppings including brown or white rice, black or pinto beans, salsa, sour cream, lettuce, cheese, and guacamole.

VIVIAN ISENBERG - WINGED POST

roshni pankhaniya

B5

B6

VOLUME 16 • ISSUE 3 LIFESTYLE • NOVEMBER 21, 2014

opinion:

THE PERFECT B

DY

An evolution of self-image campaigns

53%

kaity gee

Aquila multimedia editor

of 13-year-old girls are “unhappy with their bodies”

40%

of 9-10-year-olds have tried to lose weight

5%

of women who naturally possess the body type often portrayed in the media

91%

of women who resort to dieting to achieve an “ideal” body shape

Today, photoshopping is the norm. Size to promote awareness of how unrealistic perzero is the size to be, and a thigh gap is the ceptions of beauty are created. The same year, best accessory for a mini-skirt. Long story the company established the Dove Self-Esshort, we live in a world where the standard teem Fund, to act as “an agent of change to for women’s beauty is unrealistic and unat- inspire and educate girls and women about a tainable. Values like these are only reinforced wider definition of beauty. by the media—celebrities undergoing masA year later, Dove targeted women from sive plastic surgery to fit the ideal aesthetic ages 50 to 64, recognizing that 91% of women image, young girls’ self-esteem plummeting, in that age range believe it is time for society and thousands of women suffering from body to change its views about women and aging. image issues.

Celebrating the essence of 50+, the advertiseD o v e ’s ments featured 2004 Campaign wrinkles, age for Real Beauty spots, and gray“Long story short, we live in a world kickstarted the ing hair. where the standard for women’s beauty change in adYears later, vertisements— 14 year-old Juis unrealistic and unattainable.” companies had lia Bluhm bebegun to realize gan a petition what everybody on Change.org already knew, that the ideals portrayed were demanding Seventeen magazine to display limiting, to say the least. First, the company truthful images of young women. And they released a much talked-about ad campaign responded. featuring real women whose appearances deIn response, the magazine company befied stereotypical norms of beauty. The adver- gan their “Body Peace Treaty” for their readtisements invited viewers to judge the wom- ers, that pledges to “never change girls’ body en’s looks (wrinkled or wonderful?) and cast or face shapes” in published issues and insists their votes at campaignforrealbeauty.com. that they will only feature “real girls and modIn the second and most iconic phase of els who are healthy.” They vow to “celebrate the campaign, in June 2005, billboards, on- every kind of beauty,” and now allow readers line media, and magazine ads featured six to digitally sign their treaty to make peace real women with “real bodies and real curves.” with their bodies.

Created to debunk the stereotype that thin is American Eagle’s lingerie brand, Aerie, beautiful; the campaign drove thousands of took the plunge in 2014. After witnessing the women to campaignforrealbeauty.com to dis- change of the lack of PhotoShop for their ads, cuss body image issues. customers flocked to stores. Featuring modIn September 2006, news and media els without airbrushing, brand representative erupted when Spain banned “overly thin Jenny Altman said in an interview, “We left models” from its fashion runways. In response, beauty marks, we left tattoos—what you see Dove produced the viral video, “Evolution,” is really what you get with our campaign.” depicting a hair, makeup, and Photoshop Within a business quarter, Aerie lingerie sales tranformation of a real woman into a model soared nine percent, a striking contrast to the

Upcoming fall albums Your guide to albums hi ing shelves this fall

Iggy Azalea - Reclassified Not finished promoting her latest album “The New Classic,” Australian rapper Iggy Azalea has unveiled the tracklist to “Reclassified,” a re-release of her debut album plus five new songs.

Among the five new tracks on the project are “Beg for Me” featuring Danish singer-songwriter Mø, which debuted on “Saturday Night Live” in October.

Also included are the Ellie Goulding collaboration entitled “Heavy Crown” and the single “Trouble” featuring Jennifer Hudson. The 12-track collection will also include her chart-topping hits “Fancy” featuring Charli XCX and “Black Widow” featuring Rita Ora.

kavya ramakrishnan Aquila copy editor

Nicki Minaj - The Pinkprint “The Pinkprint,” the upcoming studio album by rapper Nicki Minaj, is scheduled for release on Dec. 15. The album’s title references Jay Z’s “The Blue Print” album and will be Minaj’s third album.

Looking to depart from the dance-pop elements from her 2012 album “Pink Friday: Roman Reloaded,” Minaj’s follow-up record reflects her traditional hip hop beginnings. The album will include singles “Pills n Potions”, “Anaconda” and “Only”.

“Anaconda” peaked at number two on the US Billboard Hot 100, and has become Minaj’s highest-charting single to date.

Nov. 24 Nov. 28

recent Victoria’s Secret flop campaign.

And today, we’ve gone backwards in the fight for inclusive beauty in advertisements.

The ad for Victoria’s Secret’s ‘Body Bra’ features models with similar “model-type” bodies—tall, airbrushed, flat-tummied—and the phrase “The Perfect Body” superimposed over the image.

The advertisement not only rejects all other forms of beauty, but suggests that there is only one definition of the perfect body.

Luckily, ladies are taking a stand for a realistic, all-inclusive definition of beauty. The campaign outraged viewers around the world.

Multiple petitions have been created, and #IAmPerfect has risen.

In the UK, another lingerie brand, Dear Kate, has risen to the backlash vanguard. The brand said on its website, “As if women need a reminder of our society’s homogenous definition of beauty, the ad features ten models with almost identical body shapes. The creators of the ad probably didn’t think twice of the message it is sending, and to us, it’s irresponsible marketing.” Their advertisement features ten models of different ethnicities and varying shapes and sizes, superimposed with the same phrase, “The Perfect Body.”

The Victoria’s Secret angels must have heard our prayers—within days, the lingerie company changed their advertisement from “A Perfect Body” to “A Body for Every Body,” superimposed over the same image.

At the end of the day, the question remains the same: when will media and advertisements portray beauty in its healthy, all-inclusive, perfectly-imperfect style? The answer to these questions are uncertain to say the least, but with campaigns like Dove and Dear Kate’s, we’re certainly heading in the right direction.

Dec. 15

Dec. 16

Eminem- Shady XV

Charlie XCX- Sucker

Shady XV, an upcoming hip hop compilation album by various artists of Shady Records, is due for release by Shady Records and Interscope Records.

The double-disk album, the label’s 15th project, will be released in honor of the label’s 15th anniversary. The compilation will feature two discs, with the first containing 12 new tracks from Shady Records artists. The second disc will include several of the label’s greatest hits, including Eminem’s “Lose Yourself ” and 50 Cent’s “In da Club.”

For her sophomore album, Charli XCX has been working with Weezer frontman Rivers Cuomo and Rostam Batmanglij of Vampire Weekend. In an interview with DIY Magazine, she stated that she wrote the record for girls and wants them to feel “a sense of empowerment.” The record’s genre is still pop, though XCX has listed Weezer, The Hives, and The Ramones as inspirations for the album. “There’s definitely a punk energy that runs throughout the record,” XCX said in an interview with Entertainment Weekly.

B7

VOLUME 16 • ISSUE 3 LIFESTYLE • NOVEMBER 21, 2014

healthy dishes to munch on this thanksgiving Thanksgiving season brings about thoughts of butter-filled mashed potatoes and rich pumpkin pie, but

Thanksgiving food doesn’t always have to be unhealthy.

These recipes offer a salutary, but flavorful twist on tra-

melina nakos & maya kumar reporters

ditional side dishes to compliment your turkey. Tis’ the season for healthy innovation.

ING ED PO S

T

sweet potatoes

N

AK OS

-W

These easy to make onion roasted sweet potatoes eliminate the large amounts of butter found in regular mashed potatoes, while keeping in line with traditional Thanksgiving flavors.

You Will Need: 2 (1 ounce) packages dry onion soup mix, 2 pounds sweet potatoes (peeled and diced), 3 tablespoons vegetable oil

barley stuffing

Instructions: 1. Preheat the oven to 450 degrees F (230 degrees C).

2. In a large bowl, toss the dry onion soup mix, sweet potatoes and vegetable oil until the sweet potatoes are well coated.

3. Spread the mixture across a large baking sheet and bake in the preheated oven for 40 to 50 minutes, or until the sweet potatoes are tender.

PO ED

You Will Need: ¼ cup butter, 1 cup uncooked pearl barley, ¼ teaspoon salt, ⅛ teaspoon pepper, 2 (14.5 ounce) cans vegetable broth (*Can be additionally flavored with nuts, dried cranberries, and herbs such as thyme, sage, and parsley.)

ST

Barley is a whole wheat that contains large quantities of fiber. Making stuffing out of barley reduces the large increase in blood sugar that white bread can cause.

MAYA KU

R MA

G IN W -

Instructions: 1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F (175 degree C).

2. Over medium-high heat, melt the butter in a skillet. Stir in the barley until it is lightly browned. Mix in any herbs and flavorings that you would like to add. Season with salt and pepper. Pour the mixture into a 2 quart casserole dish, and stir in the vegetable broth.

3. Bake for 1 hour and 15 minutes in the preheated oven, or until the liquid has been absorbed and barley is tender.

LIN ME

A

pumpkin carrot bars These 71-calorie pumpkin bars feature carrots and a cream cheese frosting that gives them a decadent texture.

You Will Need: (Bars) 2 cups whole-wheat pastry flour, 2 teaspoons pumpkin pie spice, 2 teaspoons baking powder, 1 teaspoon baking soda, 1 cup sugar, ½ cup brown sugar, ⅓ cup of butter or a butter substitute, 2 eggs, 2 large egg whites, 1 can (15 ounces) pumpkin pie filling, ⅔ cup finely shredded carrot (Cream cheese topping) 4 ounces light cream cheese, softened, ¼ cup sugar, 1 tablespoon skim milk Directions: 1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Spray a 15 by 10 inch jelly-roll pan with cooking spray.

2. In a small bowl, whisk the flour, pumpkin spice, baking powder, and baking soda.

3. In a larger bowl, use an electric mixer to beat the sugar, brown sugar, and butter until crumbly. Add the eggs, egg whites, pumpkin pie filling, and carrots. Beat until well blended.

4. Add the flour mixture and mix until well blended. Spread onto the greased pan.

5. For the cream cheese topping, combine the cream cheese, sugar, and milk until thoroughly blended.

6. Drop teaspoons full of topping over pumpkin batter and swirl and cut mixture into batter with a butter knife.

7. Bake for 20 to 30 minutes or until toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean.

8. Cool on wire rack completely before removing from pan and cutting into squares.

Makes 48 squares.

ASHI GAUTAM - WINGED POST

5 places to check out this Black Friday ashi gautam

Aquila social media editor

✓ Macy’s

From kitchen supplies to clothing, Macy’s offers a wide range of products at decent sale prices on Black Friday. For every $25 spent on select merchandise, customers will get $10 back, and for every $50 spent, customers will get $25 back. In comparison to Kohl’s cash-back deal, Macy’s cash-back special for Black Friday will help customers save more money this Black Friday. Macy’s has department stores in many malls including WestField Valley Fair. If shopping at Macy’s on Black Friday, plan to arrive early in order to avoid the frenzied rush.

✓ Amazon

Shop on Amazon this Black Friday to avoid being caught in long lines and having a range of products at your fingertips. Amazon already has pre-Black Friday sales on its website and is offering daily deals for the days leading up to Black Friday. While the site is offering discounted prices on the PlayStation TV and PlayStation 3 before Black Friday, more video game gadgets and accessories will be on sale on the days leading up to Black Friday.

✓ Kohl’s

Kohl’s offers discounts as high as 50% off on products ranging from toys to designer clothing to jewelry. With clothing collections from Juicy Couture and Vera Wang, Kohl’s is one of the best stores to get designer clothing for lower prices. For gamers, Kohl’s is offering a low-priced bundle deal with various Nintendo products. This store’s sale begins on the day before Thanksgiving. Also, the store is maintaining its cash rewards program for the Black Friday sale season.

✓ Forever 21

For clothes and accessories, visit Forever 21 this Black Friday. The store will offer deals starting from $1 on clothing and accessories for men, women, and kids. The store’s online website gives a preview of the items on sale. The store is offering a buy-one-get-one deal on select items and a special gift set for customers who spend $40 or more. To prevent being caught in the herd of people at Forever 21 on Black Friday, look through the sale on the website before visiting the store.

✓

Walmart

For Black Friday, Walmart is hosting three events throughout Thursday and Friday with a wide range of sales on technology and clothing. In addition, the store is offering a one-hour guarantee to customers whose desired products have sold out on Black Friday. All items are guaranteed to be shipped to stores near these customers by Christmas.

B8

VOLUME 16 • ISSUE 3 NOVEMBER 21, 2014

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SPORTS

B9

VOLUME 16 • ISSUE 3 NOVEMBER 21, 2014

Athletes qualify for state championships

Members of golf and cross country teams to compete at state level megy appalaraju, tara parimi & sahana srinivasan

Cross Country: Varsity cross country runner Niki Iyer (10) placed third in her Division 4 race at CCS finals on Saturday, Nov. 15, earning her a place at state finals.

PROVIDED BY SCOTT CHISAM

MEILAN STEIMLE - WINGED POST

KATHY DUAN - TALON

KATHY DUAN - TALON

Aquila sports editor, Aquila copy editor & reporter

FIERCE COMPETITION Niki Iyer (10) runs at the Crystal Springs meet last year, finishing over 50 meters ahead of the second place runner. (LEFT) Katherine Zhu (9) follows through on a swing. Katherine finished 19th at the NorCal championships, the best finish in Harker golf history. (TOP RIGHT) Corey Gonzales (12) runs at the Crystal Springs meet last year. Corey placed second and set a school record of 15:47.

Her sophomore year highlights include being named first-team All-Mercury News, qualifying and placing seventh out of 207 runners in state finals, with a 5K time of 18:33. Niki was also awarded the title of league champion.

Niki practices six days a week and does cross-training on the seventh day.

She generally practices for two to three hours in the afternoon and an hour in the morning.

She keeps her warm-ups the same before each race.

“I think my biggest superstition, though, would probably be my warmup routine. The first thing I do is go to the bathroom, and then I go straight up to a ten-minute jog, and then I go through this series of warm-ups, [and] it just has to be that series [of warm-ups],” Niki said.

When asked about how she felt about making it to states for the second year in a row, Niki responded positively. “[It feels] really good. I got to states last year,” Niki said. “So, this year, just going again as a sophomore, considering in the beginning of the season, I was injured for about three months with a stress fracture, to come back and still make it to states, is really good.”

Corey Gonzales (12) has also qualified for the state meet. At the CCS finals, he placed eighth out of 100 runners. In addition, Corey placed second at the league champsionships.

Both Niki and Corey will be running at state finals at Woodward Park, Fresno, on Nov. 29.

history by placing second at the Central Coast Section (CCS) golf championships and tieing 19th place out of 84 golfers at the Northern California Championships.

Her score of 3-under-par 69 fell short only two strokes to a golfer from Palo Alto High School, who placed first with a score of 67 at CCS, where 95 golfers competed at Rancho Canada in Carmel on Nov. 4. Katherine was one of four individuals who qualified at CCS to advance to the individual league championships at Crazy Horse Ranch in Salinas with a score of 9-up for the round on Nov. 10.

“It feels really good. I didn’t really have a lot of expectations before the competition,” Katherine said. “I just went and played my best.”

Katherine has been a strong competitor throughout the entire season, assisting the team in their 5-5-1 season.

Since she is only a freshman, she looks forward to growing through her next three years of high school.

“My goal next season is to make it into states,” she said.

Katherine began the sport six and a half years ago, when her mother signed up for golf.

“My mom played, and she made me play,” Katherine said. “I hated it because it was really boring, and then I started winning and making new friends, and it was okay.”

Since then she has been practicing outside of school and joined the girls varsity golf team this year.

“Practice is always fun and my Golf: Freshman golfer Katherine Zhu teammates and the coaches are really completed the best golf finish in Harker supportive and encouraging.”

Harker coach Ie-Chen Cheng commented on the impact Katherine’s character has had on the team.

“As a freshman, she has already proven that she can be the best golfer to come through Harker. To have an elite player like Katherine makes the team better as a whole,” she said. “She is beginning to understand that it’s not just her scores and performance on the course that counts. But her attitude, her willingness to help others and share her experience and knowledge, and her setting a good example on how to become an elite golfer. She’s still young, but I see potential in her becoming a leader of the team in the future.“ She also sees opportunity for growth in Katherine’s ability over the next three years.

“Her potential is limitless. She’s a great ball striker. One of the most if not the most consistent ball strikers I’ve ever seen,” Coach Cheng said. “If she continues to improve her putting and her work regiment, she can definitely play Division I golf.”

Athletic Director Dan Molin has been using his frequent Eagle updates to keep the student body up to date with Katherine’s performance through this golf season.

“Congratulations to Katherine on an outstanding season which includes an individual league championship.

We’re very proud of her,” said Molin in an email to Harker faculty and students.

Though her season is over for the year, Katherine will continue to play at Pruneridge Golf Club in Santa Clara to prepare for next year.

Graduating athletes honored at senior night vivian isenberg & kj mulam

PROVIDED BY ALYSSA AMICK

Boys’ Water Polo

STACEY CHAO - TALON

FINAL VICTORY Sidhart Krishnamurthi, Christian Williams, Allen Huang, Keanu Forbes, and Alyssa Amick were honored prior to their 48-15 win over St. Francis Watsonville. The team finished with a 4-6 season record.

TWELVE MEN STRONG Dipam Acharyya, Annirudh Ankola, Jeremy Binkley, Aadyot Bhatnagar, William Bloomquist, Eric Holt, Mohannad Khadr, Hemant Kunda, Siddhant Jain, Ryan Palmer, Alexander Thomas and Harry Xu. The team placed third in league.

STACEY CHAO - TALON PROVIDED BY KATY SANCHEZ

VIVIAN ISENBERG - WINGED POST

Football

A FINAL RUN Vivek Sriram, Corey Gonzales, Rahul Balakrishnan, Richard Gu, Nikhil Singh, Matthew Bloch, and Kacey Fang were honored prior to league championships at Crystal Springs.

Volleyball

Girls’ Water Polo

PROVIDED BY ANUSHKA DAS

Cross Country

Golf

PUTTING TO AN END Gillian Wallin and Madelyn Wang pose with coach Ie-Chen-Cheng. The team finished the season with a 5-5-1 record and placed third in league championships.

Cheer

PROVIDED BY ALYSSA AMICK

Tennis

HAVING A BALL Arden Hu laughs upon receiving a large tennis ball signed by all members of her team. Arden is the only senor on the team, whcih finshed season with a 11-6 record.

KATHY DUAN - TALON

Aquila humor & satire editor & photo editor

WINNING THE FINISH Shreya Dixit and Katy Sanchez were honored after the team’s 3-1 win against Sacred Heart. The team ended the regular season with a 16-8 overall record and tied with Menlo for league champion.

LAST SPLASHES Sheridan Tobin, Delaney Baxter, Anushka Das, and Jackelyn Shen pose with coach Allison Lamb.

The girls had a season record of 9-12 and placed fifth in league finals.

CHEERING ON Footbll player Alyssa Amick (12) poses with cheearleaders Erika Olsen, Riya Godbole, Mariam Sulakian, Christina Andrus, and Daniela Lee. Most of the group will continue cheerleaading during the boys basketball season.

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B10

VOLUME 16 • ISSUE 3 SPORTS • NOVEMBER 21, 2014

Road to the Series Game 1: The Giants started off with an early 3-0 lead at the end of the first inning when Pablo Sandoval hit a double to score. Gregor Blanco and Hunter Pence followed with a two-run home run. Continuing their streak, the Giants’ pitcher Madison Bumgarner allowed only one run in the seven innings he pitched.In the fourth inning, Pence scored for

megy appalaraju & kaitlin hsu

Aquila sports editor & reporter

H LOUG L SCH

Q & A with Bill Schlough

IDE

BIL D BY

Chief Information Officer & Senior Vice President, Giants

O PHOT

PROV

Q: First off, I want to congratulate you on a great season, Three championships in 5 years is truly amazing, what about the Giants franchise has made them so successful?

A: Our CEO is really big on loyalty and continuity, that extends all the way down to our players as well. We like to have our players come up through our system. You could A LITTLE GIANTS FAN Bill Schlough carries his son, just go down the list, players like: Matt Cain, Tim Lince- Xavier, at Game 7. Xavier is currently attends Harker cum, Brandon Crawford, Brandon Belt, Pablo Sandoval, preschool and is an avid Giants fan.

Madison Bumgarner. All these are players that we drafted, that we raised through our system, and will keep on the of our fans, and we think its an investment not only beteam for hopefully their entire career if we are lucky with cause it keeps fans coming back to the ballpark, it also Panda and the lot of them. And that’s what the philosophy allows people to share that experience with others, and of the team is, it’s all about how loyalty and continuity is makes others more likely to want to come to a game. key. The last thing I’ll say is just that our team is really just selfless, and they all really play for each other. It’s always Q: What has the response been on social media to the been about playing for each other and not about individual victory? accomplishment, and they are a true team.

A: I think social media has come a long way in the last 4 years. I think you’re seeing a lot more people expressing Q: Is the team already looking ahead to next season? Are their enthusiasm for the team through Twitter or Instathere any specific changes you or the team plan to make gram, Snapchat. What has changed the most from our going into next year?

3 world series, is just the different dominant platforms.

A: We want to be competitive every year. Our philosophy Snapchat didn’t exist in 2010; Facebook was much bigis to put a winning team on the field, we never want to ger than Twitter in 2010; Instagram has grown a lot since have a rebuilding year where we are like, yeah, we’ll wait then too. I think people have been acting through social until next year and we’ll have the players next year, which media and promoting their allegiance to the Giants, but some teams do, they take the year off. We can’t do that to the channels have evolved over the years, and they will our fans because we’ve had 327 straight sellouts at AT&T continue to do so. park. If fans knew that we weren’t putting the best product on the field, they probably wouldn’t come, its not fair to Q: At a school without many students pursing professionour fans. It’s great to have three rings, but we are always al baseball, how would you encourage students to stay inlooking ahead and never satisfied. volved with the game?

A: I’d say, if you’re passionate about baseball, you’re going Q: I know you do a lot using technology to connect the to know at a very young age if you have what it takes - the fans to the game. Why do you think that’s important and talent – to play in the major leagues. And if you do, odds In terms of fan involvement, did you see anything this year are, you’re probably not going to be in Harker, and that’s that was different than previous years? okay. You can go play the game, and love the game, and A: Would you come to a ballpark if your phone would not you can still follow the game, and you can get involved work? What is more important to you? Having a seat, hav- in baseball analytics, you can become a general manager ing a video board, or having a mobile device to connect someday, you can get a job in operations if you’re passionwith your friends? We feel that as each year passes, the ate about it. Just being on the field teaches you great skills mobile devices that fans bring to the game are more crit- and lessons: teamwork, fitness, agility and everything, so I ical than ever before. I might say, if you could choose be- would expect my son to play sports at Harker, but not with tween having no food, no seats, or no connectivity, I think the expectation that he’s going to become a pro. There are a lot of people would prefer no food or no seats. We view it very, very few people who have that talent and ability, but as really critical to the fan experience, and it’s a worthwhile that shouldn’t stop people from playing the game because investment for us. We put close to 20 million invested over I think there are a lot of benefits from playing whether the past 10 years to the connectivity you’re going to be a pro or not.

the second time after Michael Morse singled to right. At the top of the seventh inning, Blanco scored when Joe Panik tripled to right, and Panik also scored when Sandoval singled to left. At the bottom of the seventh inning, Royals catcher Salvador Pérez hit a 378-foot home run to the left.The final score of the game was 7-1.

Game 2: In the second game, the Royals responded to their loss by defeating the Giants in their hometown, Kansas City.

Though the Giants and Royals were tied 2-2 in the top of the sixth inning, the Royals went on a streak in the bottom of the sixth inning, bringing their score up to 2-7.The run began when Royals designated hit-

ter Billy Butler singled to left center, which allowed Lorenzo Cain to score. After Cain’s run, Pérez doubled to deep left corner to score both Eric Hosmer and Terrance Gore. Omar Infante’s 406-foot home run to the left then let Pérez score as well.The final score of the game was 2-7.

Game 3: Kansas City got off to an early 1-0 lead after Lorenzo Cain grounded out to shortstop, allowing Eduardo Escobar to score from third at the top of the first inning. The Royals’ score was followed by three straight Giant outs in the bottom of the first. At the top of the sixth, Alex Gordon doubled to deep right, and Esco-

bar scored his second run. Eric Hosmer singled to center, and Gordon scored another run, giving the Royals a 3-0 lead.

The Giants promptly responded with a run from Brandon Crawford. Buster Posey was then grounded out to second, bringing in another run from Morse. The final score of the game was 2-3.

Game 4: In the first inning, Gregor Blanco scored off of a ground ball from Hunter Pence. The Royals came back in the third inning to put the Giants in a 4-1 deficit with runs from Gordon, Cain, Hosmer and Mike Moustakas. At the bottom of the fifth, Joe Panik scored, and Perez hit a sacrifice fly for Pence to score and tie the game at 4-4. In the next inning, Blanco, Posey and Pence scored

off of singles from Pablo Sandoval and Brandon Belt. At the bottom of the seventh, Crawford scored after Blanco bunted a single and Morse got on third base due to a throwing error by Royals pitcher, Tim Collins.

Morse and Blanco scored, and Panik brought in the last run of the game. The final score of the game was 11-4.

Game 5: In game five, the Giants shut out the Royals with Madison Bumgarner pitching the entire game. At the bottom of the second, Crawford grounded out to second, and Pence scored the first run of the game. In the bottom of

the fourth, Crawford singled to allow Sandoval to score. The Giants finished the game with three more runs from Sandoval, Pence, and Perez at the bottom of the eighth inning. The final score of the game was 5-0.

Game 6: The Royals responded to their loss by dominating game six back on their home turf. Kansas City started strong with seven runs just in the second inning against Giant’s pitchers Jake Peavy and Yusmeiro Petit. The Royals Omar

Infante scored two more Kansas City runs in the bottom of the third and fifth innings.

Moustakas hit a 391 foot home run to right center field in the seventh inning. The final score of the game was 0-10.

Game 7: In the decisive final game of the series, the Giants rebounded to defeat the Royals and secure their third championship ring in three years. The Giants got off to an early start with runs from Sandoval and Pence in the second inning off of sacrifice flies Morse and Crawford. The Royals immediately responded with two runs

from Butler and Gordon to tie the game in the bottom of the second inning. At the top of the fourth, Morse singled to right field, allowing Sandoval to score the last run of the series.

Madison Bumgarner relieved Affeldt as pitcher at the bottom of the fifth and closed out the game. The final score was 3-2.

tara parimi

Aquila copy editor Co-captain of the girls’ Varsity water polo team, Anushka Das (12), has just finished her fourth year on Varsity. Anushka was named co-MVP and awarded firstteam All-League this year, and MVP her junior year Anushka has held the lead in scoring goals, with 38 total this season. Anushka’s contributions this season include six goals against Santa Clara, four against Monta Vista, two against Fremont and three against Wilcox.

“Anushka is one of our smartest players in the pool.

Often she can see what is happening before it happens, which makes her [a] defensive [threat],” Head Coach Allison Lamb said. “She has put a lot of work and effort into all of her successes in and out of the water and to me she is the definition of what a student-athlete should be.”

Varsity water polo player Sarah de Vegvar (10), who has played alongside Anushka for two years, comments on Anushka’s attitude and skill.

“Anushka is the player that our coach assigns to guard the toughest girl on the other team because of her skill on both offense and defense,” Sarah said. “She’s a team leader. When we’re putting equipment away after practice, she doesn’t stand on the pool deck and try to get out of work.”

ria gandhi

Aquila sports editor Co-captain of the boys’ Varsity Water Polo team, Billy Bloomquist (12) culminated his final Harker water polo season as co-MVP of the SCVAL El Camino league, also receiving first-team All-League honors.

Billy was a key component of the team, consistently scoring more than one goal in almost every match.

The highlight of his season came during the WBAL League Tournament in a game against Lynbrook, where Billy stepped in for an injured player and added a goal to lead Harker to a win and third place finish in league.

“He’s very hardworking and is a team player, scores a lot of goals, and helps our team in every single aspect of the game.,” teammate Jack Farnham (10) said.

Billy has been a part of Harker’s boys’ Varsity water polo team since his freshman year, and also ended his junior year with first-team All-League honors.

Besides the value that he adds to the team’s success as a whole, Billy’s attitude does not go unnoticed by others.

“Billy is a really good teammate and works the hardest,” teammate Mohannad Khadr (12) said. “When he got kicked in the nose and almost broke it, he immediately wanted to get back in the pool even though Jaron told him not to.”

APOORVA RANGAN - WINGED POST

Leading point scorer Billy Bloomquist Anushka Das honored recognized in league

MEILAN STEIMLE - WINGED POST

ATHLETES OF THE MONTH

MAKING SPLASHES Billy Bloomquist (12) looks to shoot in a game against Cupertino High on his senior night. Billy was awarded first-team All League this season.

SHOOTING STAR Anushka Das (12) catches the ball in a game against Wilcox High. Anushka is the lead scorer for the team with a total of 38 goals this season.

VOLUME 16 • ISSUE 3 SPORTS • NOVEMBER 21, 2014

B11

A KILLER SEASON

kshithija mulam kaitlin hsu ashley jiang lauren russell

photo editor & reporters

PROVIDED BY OFFICE OF COMMUNICATIONS

KILLS TO VICTORY CLOCKWISE FROM TOP: Katy Sanchez (12) signals the presence of two hitters and a setter in the front row. Jacqueline Chen (11) and Doreene Kang (11) look to block the ball during the CCS quarterfinal game. Co-captain Shreya Dixit (12) watches in preparation for the ball. Doreene Kang (11) goes up for a kill from the middle. The girls won their CCS quarterfinals game against Sacred Heart Preparatory 3-1 to advance to semi-finals.

ALL PHOTOS MEILAN STEIMLE, KAITLIN HSU, KJ MULAM - WINGED POST

3-1 win against Sacred Heart Prep in quarterfinals Varsity girls volleyball won 3-1 against Sacred Heart Prep in a CCS Quarterfinals game on Nov. 15 at the Blackford Gym. As a result of their win, the girls advanced to CCS Semifinals.

The Eagles won the first two sets with scores of 25-16 and 25-17 respectively. They lost the third set 2125 but, after an initial struggle in the fourth set, they pushed forward to win 25-20, securing a win and a spot in the semifinals.

“The girls on the volleyball team are all very close. They take care of each other, look out for each other, and fight for each other,” Head Coach Theresa Smith said. “They enjoy being around each other and want to make this sea-

son last as long as they can.”

The girls last played seventh seeded Sacred Heart Prep, on their senior night in the last match of their regular season. They won 3-1 and were also named co-champions of the league.

“Sacred Heart’s a really good team, but we’ve beat them twice before,” varsity player Taylor Iantosca (10) said prior to the quarterfinals game on Saturday. “So hopefully we can beat them once more in something that really counts.”

Faculty, students, parents and fans of both teams filled the stands during the game, holding signs in the air for their respective schools. Harker fans were able to pick up green and white

pompoms at the entrance of the gym.

Supporters of the Eagles cheered whenever the girls scored a point during the game. Seniors such as Shikhar Dixit (12) and Arjun Ashok (12) led the crowd of Harker fans with chants of “I believe that we will win!” and “Let’s go, Eagles!” “[The girls] are doing so good, actually in the entire season, not only this game,” said Yeonsil Yoon, parent of junior varsity volleyball player Grace Park (10). “I’m really happy to watch their games all the time.”

The girls played Soquel High School ranked third in the league in the CCS Semifinals round on Nov. 19 at Notre Dame-Belmont High School.

Captains lead team to victory

Shannon Richardson (11)

Shreya Dixit (12)

Katy Sanchez (12)

As junior Shannon Richardson begins her approach, she takes a few steps, then swings her arms back, generating torque to push herself off the ground.

It seems as if the whole gym freezes when she jumps – her arms are drawn back in perfect form, and her gray-blue eyes are focused on the ball.

Shannon, one of the co-captains, has been a player on the varsity girls volleyball team since freshman year.

“My experience this year as captain has been amazing,” Shannon said.

“I love being able to lead the team with Shreya and Katy. We balance each other out really well.”

As a result of enthusiastic practices, they’ve earned a second seed ranking in the CCS tournament.

“I think our team is really prepared, and we have been preparing mentally and physically for this tournament,” Shannon said. “However, you never know how things will turn out; you have to play the game until you win.”

Shannon is confident in their skills, and the team also shares a close bond.

“I love this team so much – each and every one of us contributes to the team chemistry,” she said.

Squeaks of rubber against wood mix with the sound of referees’ whistles and the yells of players on the court.

The girl in a number 15 jersey leaps into the air to hit the ball. Number 15, grinning widely, shouts out chants with the rest of her teammates.

The girl wearing a number 15 jersey is senior Shreya Dixit, one of the captains of the varsity girls volleyball team. Planning to attend Yale University next year, Shreya reflects on her volleyball career.

“I think when you play in high school, you develop an unbreakable bond with your teammates, which is really nice and exciting,” Shreya said.

Playing in games along with her teammates has allowed Shreya to grow throughout her years in high school.

“She’s become a leader by example and by word,” Coach Theresa “Smitty” Smith said. “Her tireless efforts and amazing attitude have earned her respect from all of her teammates.”

Dixit’s departure will be bittersweet, but she looks forward to continuing volleyball in college.

“Volleyball has been such a big part of my life,” Shreya said. “It’s very natural for me to decide to continue playing in college.”

Resonating cheers erupt throughout the gym as the varsity girls volleyball team run through a human tunnel.

With an enormous grin plastered on her face, senior Katy Sanchez flies into the arms of teammates, parents and friends.

Katy, one of the co-captains of the varsity girls volleyball team, has played on the team for two years.

“I’ve really enjoyed being someone that the team looks to for help,” Katy said. “It’s really nice knowing that people trust you enough to come to you and respect you to be able to solve their problems for them.”

Not only helping her teammates, Katy has also pushed through challenges, developing into a reliable player.

“Plagued by injuries much of her career, she has fought through all the hardships and disappointments to become a dependable player and leader on the team,” Coach Theresa “Smitty” Smith said.

Anticipating to clinch the CCS championships, Katy also feels nostalgic and sentimental towards the tournament.

“It’s kind of like a bittersweet moment,” Katy said. “I’m really excited to experience new things, but at the same time I’m going to miss this place so much.”

KILLED IT ON COURT Alumnus Tanya Schmidth (‘08) goes up for a kill during a game.

Tanya was captain of the 2007 team, which made it to state finals.

2007 vs. Now

This year’s varsity girls volleyball team and the 2007 team that advanced all the way to the state finals both achieved a second seed rank going into the Central Coast Section (CCS) tournament, but share different team dynamics.

In 2007, the varsity girls volleyball team consisted of nine players that were seniors and juniors and achieved an overall record 39-5. This season, the coaches have chosen players from all four grades, and the team currently has a 17-8 overall record.

Though this year’s team started off less competitively than the one in 2007, they have improved throughout the season.

“I felt for much of the early part of the season we were underachieving,” Coach Theresa “Smitty” Smith said. “However, after a huge win over Menlo and a great showing at the Notre Dame Belmont tourney, the team has begun to play high quality volleyball that has earned them a spot in the CCS rankings.”

Picking up from their rough

start, this year’s team is poised to succeed much like the 2007 team.

“I think they will go a really long way,” captain of the 2007 team Tanya Schmidt (‘08) said. ”Just by being second seed, Harker has a wonderful chance at winning the title.”

Tanya also believes that both the past and present teams share a bond built through athletics.

“I love the way sports push you past the point that you think you can’t go beyond,” she said. “I think all athletes appreciate that improvement of self.”

This year’s team has advanced to CCS semifinals, and Tanya hopes that they will win the CCS Division IV championship.

“One of my favorite memories was being named the Northern Californian champions,” Schmidt said.

“That was just indescribable. The elation, the sense that we were achieving something for the first time, but hopefully not the last time. I hope that happens again for these girls and their team.”

Varsity girls volleyball ranked in the top 15 teams from Bay Area high schools this past season, and the team is currently seeded second in the league, a ranking they have not achieved since 2007. “[The season] has been really good so far. I think our team has bonded really well. We all love each other, and it shows on the court. We have a good team connection, and as a product, we’ve won a lot of games because we have a good bond,” captain Shannon Richardson (11) said.

This year, the team’s league win to loss ratio improved to 9-1, and their overall win to loss ratio is currently at 17-8. The team is currently prepared to make a deep run in CCS. Last year, the team won their CCS Quarterfinals game against Castilleja but lost to Menlo in the semifinals. The team’s league record last year was 5-5, and their overall record was 14-12.

We have a completely different make up of a team this year, many of the same players, but players playing in different positions and it took

us a long time to gel,” Head Coach Theresa Smith said. “I’m not sure if we peaked at the right time last year, whereas we are definitely peaking at the right time this season.”

Many of the volleyball players have high hopes for their run in CCS, and some are confident in their chances of making CCS finals this year.

“I think we have had the best position in years, we’re seeded number two in the league, and the other top two teams are on the other side of the bracket, so if we do make it all the way, we’ll meet them in the finals.

I really think we can make CCS finals this year,” Rachel Cheng (10) said.

The girls automatically advanced past the first round to the CCS Quarterfinals because of their top three ranking.

“I think we need to take it one game at a time, but we have a really good chance of making it past the semifinals, which have seemed to block us in the past two years. We definitely have a good lineup, which is nice,” Shannon said.

Looking back at the season

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VOLUME 16 • ISSUE 3 NOVEMBER 21, 2014

THE GOVERNMENT DIVIDED

BACK PAGE

TALK ABOUT POLITICS

Republicans dominate national midterm elections, local remains Democratic

What do you think about the current state of the government?

Edgar Lin (9)

the el ep h a nt in t 243 h e 178 52 43

meilan steimle, vivek bharadwaj & emma yu EMMA YU

opinion editor, STEM editor & reporter

Republican seats House

Juhi gupta (12)

om ro

republicans gain seats in congress The Republican Party took control of Congress, winning seats in the midterm elections on November 4.

The Republicans took control of the Senate, winning seven seats to take a 53 to 46 majority. They maintained control of the House of Representatives, with a 244 to 186 majority.

“There will be more bills passed into law than there were before,” said Damon Halback. “That

being said, I think there are going to be a lot more vetoes or filibusters than there were beforehand.

I think that because the Republicans control the Senate does not mean they are able to override the filibusters that Democrats can use to prevent Republican legislation from being passed to the President’s desk.”

The current Congress seatings will stand until the next election in 2016.

RA

TS

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students, such as Felix Wu (12) and Shannon Hong (10) campaigned for local politicians, and the school’s Junior State of America (JSA) chapter attended a convention from Nov. 15 to 16.

The conference focused on the topic “Principles and Pragmatism: Grappling with Ideology”.

Junior State of America (JSA) member Shannon Hong (11) stated her belief that Washington might become paralyzed by partisan conflict.

“Personally, I think that there would be a lot of gridlock, because we have a democratic president,” Shannon said. “I guess in 2016, we’ll see what the actual effects of the election were.”

I do think that the Republicans and the Democrats need to know how to get along, but I think that if we can solve through that, I think everyone’s just doing the best that they can.

DEM OC

students react to local elections In California, incumbent governor Jerry Brown beat out his opponent, Neil Kashkari, to secure the governorship for the next four years. The majority of California’s seats in the house went to Democratic candidates, while Dianne Feinstein and Barbara Boxer still retain California’s senate seats.

With both the House and Senate under GOP control, Speaker of the House John Boehner threatened consequences against President Obama after the latter promised an executive order on immigration reform.

At Harker, students become involved in local politics regardless of their ability to vote. Many

[Regarding women in government,] most of the people in politics right now are going to be older, and having females in government positions has only been an issue that came up recently with new waves of feminism.

Calvin Kocienda (11) EMMA YU

Democratic seats Senate

EMMA YU

Democratic seats House Republican seats Senate

Mediocre. Congress has been gridlocked and has not been doing much recently. Whether that’s a good sign or a bad sign we don’t know. The Obama administration has been doing a perfectly average job.

PR

TAKING A STAND Madhavan Nair (12) speaks on the legalization of psychedelic mushrooms during a debate at the Junior State of America (JSA) convention during Nov. 15-16.

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LIX

WU

If you are eligible to vote, did you vote in the midterm elections?

90% I am ineligible to vote

7% 3%

Yes

No

* Out of 179 responses in a survey conducted by the Winged Post