WINGED POST SHANIA WANG
WEDNESDAY, JAN. 27, 2016 | THE HARKER UPPER SCHOOL STUDENT NEWSPAPER, VOL. 17, NO. 4
| www.harkeraquila.com
SWEET DREAMS ARE MADE OF THIS “Mixed Tape” dancers pay homage to retro 80’s classics and 90’s pop 1
Students prepare for AMC 10/12 shania wang reporter
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4 ALL PHOTOS BY KSHITHIJA MULAM
The American Mathematics Competitions 10A and 12A (AMC 10A and 12A) will be held on Feb. 2 at the upper school. The exam will take place in the morning on a special schedule so students will not have to miss class. Held by the Mathematical Association of America (MAA), scoring high on the AMC 10 and 12 allows students to move on in a series of examinations, including the American Invitational Mathematics Explanation (AIME) and the United States of America Mathematical Olympiad (USAMO and USAJMO). In previous years, the upper and middle schools had around 110 to 130 students take the A exam and approximately 30 to 40 students take the B exam. About 10 to 20 students then qualify for the AIME. “You actually get penalized for guessing. The best thing to do if you don’t know the answers or you’re not able to eliminate some of the answer choices is to leave it blank,” Dr. Aiyer said. “I think the best way to prepare is to do some of the older questions.”
Linguistics holds NACLO exam adrian chu reporter
Students will take the North American Computational Linguistics Olympiad (NACLO) at Harker, one of 126 schools to host the competition, tomorrow from 9:00 am to 12:00 pm. Late Registration is still available before noon today if space is still available. “NACLO taught me logic,” Peter Wu (11) said. “It involves a lot of piecing together different ideas from a lot of languages that you have never seen before.”
KAITLYN HSU
IDC and JSA host pizza and politics night
tiffany wong reporter
The Issues Discussion Club will host a Pizza and Politics Night on Thursday, Jan. 28, at 6 p.m. in Manzanita Hall. Sponsored by the IDC, Econ Society and the Junior State of America (JSA), the event invites attendees to eat pizza and watch the Republican Debate, airing on Fox News. The Republican presidential candidates will be speaking at the Iowa Events Center in Des Moines, Iowa.
Winter Song, A2
prameela kottapalli & ashley jiang reporters
The lights in the auditorium dim and a hush falls over the crowd. The curtain opens and the dark silhouettes of dancers are posed against a colorful backdrop. Suddenly, the stage speakers blare the upbeat ‘80s pop anthem “I Wanna Dance with Somebody (Who Loves Me)” and the lights adjust, brightening the smiling faces and neon, polka-dotted costumes of the performers. They dance across the stage, their dynamic movements energizing the crowd. The title for this year’s dance show is “Mixed Tape: Songs To Dance To.” About 140 student dancers and 14 faculty members will participate in the show, which will run two performances on Friday, Jan. 29 and Saturday, Jan. 30 at the Blackford campus. The dance production consists of 21 dances, separated into two acts. The first act commemorates the ‘80s with well-known songs from the iconic era of music, while the second revolves around famous ‘90s pop tunes. “I am a child of the ‘80s and grew up creating mixtapes and sending them to friends and
Student Research, A10
naming the different mixes,” director Karl Kuehn said. “We haven’t done a show that focuses on music from the ‘80s and ‘90s, so I thought it would be a fun way to kind of bring that in with a retro quality. I love the ‘80s and the ‘90s, and hopefully everyone else does too.” Alongside the dance teach-
ers, student choreographers were also selected to help choreograph dance routines. For this dance show, there are a total of nine student choreographers: Sharanya Balaji (12), Tamlyn Doll (11), Helena Dworak (12), Emre Ezer (11), Hazal Gurcan (11), Sanjana Marce (11), Surabhi Rao (11), Ankita
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TAKING A BOW 1
A group of dancers boogie to a song from the late 80s, early 90s TV show “Yo! MTV Raps”.
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Performers rock out to the 1991 Nirvana track “Smells Like Teen Spirit”.
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Eleanor Xiao (10) dances to “Sweet Dreams (Are Made of This)”, an iconic 80’s song.
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Eddie Shiang (11) and Liana Wang (10) dance together. Seniors Allison Wang, Emily Pan, Helena Dworak, Madison Tomihiro, and Ankita Sharma perform on the varsity dance team to a mix of three 90’s tunes.
Sharma (12) and Allison Wang (12). “My partner Sharanya and I think of the dance, we choose the song, we do pretty much everything regarding the dance— including actually dancing,” Emre said. “It’s interesting to be a part of the creative process.” Freshman Ellie Lang-Ree, performing in Michael Sembello’s song “Maniac” from the 1983 movie “Flashdance,” believes that the upper school dance production is an improvement from the middle school shows. “The process is more detailed and the dances and costumes are more interesting to watch and look at,” Ellie said. “It’s also a little intimidating because the upperclassmen are super good.” Assistant director and dance instructor Rachelle Haun’s favorite part of the overall experience is watching her performers deliver the final performance. “The dancers work super hard and they usually, no matter how much I ask them to go full out in class, will not do it until they’re in costume and on stage and with lights,” Haun said. “It always looks so much better than I could possibly imagine in my head.”
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“I prefer the new block schedule over the old schedule.” Strongly disagree (7.18%) Somewhat disagree (9.39%) Neutral (7.73%) Somewhat agree (25.97%) Strongly agree (49.72%)
Biggest advan of pilot bell sc
School ends at a consi earlier time (79% agre More free time (59%
Biggest disadv of pilot bell sc
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CLOSED: Chipotle to close restaurants briefly Feb. 8 for evaluation alex wang reporter
Chipotle will close its restaurants across the nation on Feb. 8 from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. to hold a meeting for the whole company in order to discuss food safety and the recent incidents. In an effort to polish its image after recent food poisoning incidents, Chipotle is taking stricter measures on ensuring the safety of its food and offering incentives. The incidents occurred last August in Minnesota, where a salmonella outbreak affecting 64 customers was traced back to Chipotle restaurants in the state. This was followed by a norovirus outbreak in California, which sickened about 100 people. Subsequently, an E. coli outbreak took place in the states of Washington and Oregon, affectin people as it sprea through multiple states. Norovirus and E. coli outbreaks appeared again in November and December.
David Bowie and Alan Rickman pass away at age 69
Director of Health Services at Harker Debra Nott found the source of the virus to be unexpected. “Originally, I was surprised to discover that they traced it quickly to vegetables,” Nott said. “Ordinarily, you expect E. coli to be in meat products that have not been heated to the proper temperature.” The incidents and the fear of outbreaks have led some students to stop eating food from Chipotle restaurants. “Normally, when I go hiking and wildlife-viewing in remote places, Chipotle is one of the only options available on the highway, especially for vegetarians, but because of the outbreak, it’s not an option anymore,” Venkat Sankar (11) said. Following the incidents, Chipotle is raising its food safety standards, and has promised an explanation of the causes of the incidents. It is also offering more free food in its giveaways and rewards, which vary among the different restaurant locations. The company is set to debut a new marketing campaign in February after the company-wide meeting.
World mourns artistic legends raveena kapatkar & nisha shankar Aquila news editor & reporter
Singer David Bowie and actor Alan Rickman both passed away last week due to cancer. Bowie passed away at age 69, just two days after releasing his album, “Blackstar,” and his birthday, which was on Jan. 8. He had been suffering from terminal liver cancer for over 18 months. Bowie developed an interest in music as a child, forming his first an at the a e of an studying art, music and design until pursuing a career as a professional musician in 1963. After experiencing limited commercial success in the 1970s, Bowie’s music became increasingly popular in the years after, with many of his songs topping UK and US charts.
“I think [Bowie] had a lot more great work to show us, but what he gave all of us as a performer was magical and I’ll be forever grateful that he was the last dance at my wedding, ‘Modern love.’” LAURA LANG-REE DIRECTOR OF PERFORMING ARTS ALEX WANG
ic man first ecame involved in the performing arts when he became involved in drama in high school, later graduating from the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art and performing with various theater groups.
E. COLI EMERGENCY Chipotle’s bowl option is an alternative to burritos for the customers who prefer healthier choices. The recent disease outbreaks in Chipotle stores have contributed to Chipotle’s decision to close stores on Feb. 8.
BLACKSTAR David Bowie lost the battle against cancer on Jan. 10 in Manhattan, New York. As an influential singer-songwriter and innovator, Bowie globally impacted popular music, style and art.
Rickman, also 69, died from pancreatic cancer on Jan. 14. He was most famous for his role as Professor Snape in the “Harry Potter” series. Malvika Khanna (12), who grew up reading the “Harry Potter” books, felt sad after she heard about the death of Rickman. “Those two deaths were really sad, and [with Alan Rickman’s death], I feel like a part of my childhood is gone,” she said. Director of performing arts Laura Lang-Ree had fond memories of dancing to Bowie’s music. “I was saddened at David Bowie’s early passing,” Lang-Ree said. “I think he had a lot more great work to show us, but what he gave all of us as a performer was magical and I’ll be forev-
Booms and busts Stanford economist analyzes trends and predictions in American economy
BLOOMS AND BUSTS (TOP) Stanford economics professor Nicholas Bloom delivers a presentation entitled “Great Expectations or Hard Times: The Future of the American Economy.” (RIGHT) Students in the audience laugh as Bloom makes a “Downton Abbey” reference. Bloom spoke to economics and business and entrepreneurship students last Wednesday in Nichols Auditorium during long lunch.
knowledge outside the classroom. “All of my students will be ra atin from colle e five years from now,” Samuel Lepler, upper school economics teacher and Oeconomia advisor, said. “And for them, what is coming in that five or ten ear perio is exactly applicable to what they are going to encounter when their time comes to enter the labor market.” America’s education system, once among the top in the world, has dropped to fortieth on the Program for International Student Assessment (PISA) rankings. Professor Bloom pointed out that a key problem is that compared to other professions, teachers don’t earn as much. In conjunction with this, Bloom also discussed past trends in recessions and improvements in the economy and how they compare to the occurrences today. “I thought it was really interesting, and it was really relevant because we’re learning a o t in ation an nemployment in class right now so it was just a good real world application,” Anuva Mittal (11) said. Professor Bloom emphasized the inequality between the top one percent of the American economy and the other 99 percent. The upper class, those who make approximately half a million dollars a year, have much
greater economic and health enefits than those in the lower and middle classes. To solve the problem of inequality, Professor Bloom suggested improving education and increasing taxation to redistribute the wealth.
“Students here are at the center of it; I suspect that there are quite a lot of students here whose parents and families are in the top one percent. It’s people in that group that can try and change things.” NICHOLAS BLOOM STANFORD ECONOMICS PROFESSOR “Worry about inequality,” Professor Bloom said. “Students here are at the center of it; I suspect that there are quite a lot of students here whose parents and families are in the top one percent. It’s people in that group that can try and change things. fund and reform schools more.”
MEENA GUDAPATI
reporters
Professor Nicholas Bloom, a Stanford economics professor, spoke about the prospects of America’s economy and possible solutions to various economic problems on Jan. 20 at 12:30 p.m. in Nichols Auditorium. Entitled “Great Expectations or Hard Times: The Future of the American Economy,” Bloom’s lecture was organized
by Oeconomia, formerly the Harker Economics Society. Professor Bloom’s presentation covered topics ranging from the media’s views of U.S. recession and China’s prospects to America’s economic behavior in relation to post-recession trends to current issues such as education, Europe and inequality. The business and economics teachers required their students to attend the talk, wanting students to receive economics
MEENA GUDAPATI
vignesh panchanatham & lauren russell
VOLUME 17 • ISSUE 4 JANUARY 27, 2016
er grateful that he was the last dance at my wedding, ‘Modern love.’” Many celebrities such as Emma Watson and Daniel Radcliffe, posted on social media offering their condolences towards Rickman’s family and sharing some of their memories. “Alan Rickman is undoubtedly one of the greatest actors I will ever work with,” Radcliffe stated on Google+. “He is also, one of the loyalest and most supportive people I’ve ever met in the film in str . e was so encouraging of me both on set and in the years post-Potter.” Both Bowie and Rickman had a great impact on many of their fans’ lives.
FAST FACTS ON NICHOLAS BLOOM
• Currently a Stanford Professor of Economics and Stanford Business School • Courtesy Professor of SIEPR (Stanford Institute for Economic Policy Research) • Has written 14+ research papers about working, employment, and the economy and has several other shorter papers • Received several awards, including the EIB Prize in Economics in 2014, Kauffman Medal in 2014, Addington Prize in 2013, Bernacer Prize in 2012, Frisch Medal in 2010, and NSF Career Award in 2009 • Fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences and of the Econometric Society
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Starting off the New Year on a high note neil bai & nicole chen reporters
The upper school orchestra, jazz band, lab band and other middle school instrumental groups performed at the annual Winter Concert at the Mexican Heritage Theater on Jan. 15. The concert showcased upper school and middle school instrumental groups and featured soloists from each group. The orchestra performed Bernstein’s “Candide Overture,” “Capriccio Espagnol” by Rimsky-Korsakov, “Four Dance Episodes From ‘Rodeo’” by Copland, “Flute Concertino” by Chaminade featuring flute soloist Victoria Ding (12), and “Bacchanale from ‘Samson and Delilah’” by Saint-Saëns.
“We lost a really strong senior class last year, so people have curious expectations; for a lot of these players, this is their first performance in high school because we have a lot of new players this year.” CHRIS FLORIO CONDUCTOR OF ORCHESTRA AND JAZZ BAND Upper school orchestra conductor Chris Florio spoke about the dramatic orchestra roster changes and how it affected performance expectations for the Winter Concert. “I’m mostly excited for everyone to hear these groups because they don’t know what to expect and how strong we are this year,” Florio said. “We lost a really strong senior class last year, so people have curious expectations. For a lot of these players, this is their first performance in high school, because we have a lot of new players this year.” Prior to the concert, the orchestra rehearsed with respective instrumental groups before
coming together to practice as an orchestra. Principal violist Luke Wu (12) described the difficulties in managing the progress of other violists in his section. “Putting together the Winter Concert was a lot of work, especially for the principals,” Luke said. “We had to arrange sectionals, which was basically dedicated time in which principles teach the rest of their section how to play a certain passage and synchronize.” As a new member of the upper school orchestra, violinist Constance Horng (9) experienced the level of hard work put into sectional and general rehearsals. “We’ve all been working really hard, and all the sections have been doing sectionals during long lunch and after school,” Constance said. “We usually just have rehearsals with everyone during school, but sometimes, leaders use sectionals to make [our pieces] stronger.” Flute principal and soloist in the Winter Concert Victoria Ding (12) performed a flute solo in Chaminade’s “Flute Concertino.” “I feel very honored that the entire orchestra will be accompanying me since it’s really special because I’ve been part of this orchestra since I came to Harker,” she said. “I know a lot of these people, and it’s really cool that I am playing with them.” Jazz Band has also been working hard in preparation for their pieces for the Winter Concert: “Crescent City Stomp” by Dave Brubeck, “88 Basie Street” by Sammy Nestico, “It Don’t Mean a Thing” by Duke Ellington, “Summertime” by George Gershwin, “All Of Me” by Simons and Markis and “Mosaic” by Bob Mintzer. Lab Band, led by director David Hart, performed a variety of pieces across many genres, mainly jazz. “The most challenging part of the process was coordinating the large arrangements, because everyone needed to play their part perfectly so that it would sound correct,” saxophone player Bobby Schick (10) said. Florio commented on not only the difficulty of the pieces that the various instrumental
ALL PHOTOS NICOLE CHEN
Upper and middle school orchestra and jazz band perform at annual Winter Concert
LOOKING SHARP i toria ing la s her flute solo during the inter on ert while violinists Ma ao and ason ee la ehind her along with the rest o the or hestra. M r hestra and a and ondu tor hris lorio dire ts the or hestra during the inter on ert. M evina iao la s the sa o hone in the u er s hool a and. MM te hanie uang la s the viola in the u er s hool or hestra. M dgar in lows through the outhie e o his sa o hone during the inter on ert. er s hool and iddle s hool instru ental grou s er or ed in the inter on ert on an. .
groups are playing, but also the anticipation that they build for the performance. “It has been a challenge because we are playing such difficult repertoires, but it’s
been a long way,” Florio said. “[Students] have been working on this stuff since they came to school, so this one performance has had a big build up.” Following the Winter Con-
cert, the upper school orchestra will travel in March to Sonoma and will perform in April at the Spring Concert.
Eagle Buddies “clown” around in yearly visits rose guan
Freshmen elect Honor Council adrian chu reporter
The freshman class of 2019 will elect its two Honor Council representatives tomorrow during lunch in the Journalism room. Candidates presented their 250 word speeches responding to the prompt “What role do you see honor playing in Harker’s community?” two days ago to their class in Nichols Auditorium. Many freshmen have already identified traits that they are looking for in candidates. “I’m looking for someone loyal, hard-working, faithful, beneficial, and easy to talk to.” Andrew Chang (9) said. Once the freshmen Honor Council representatives are elected, they will be receive a packet outlining the bylaws of the council from Dr. Smriti Koodanjeri, faculty chair of honor council, and assigned a junior representative to work
one on one with them. “We are going to inform them of what we are currently doing and what is expected of them.” Rahul Bhethanabotla (10), a sophomore representative for Honor Council, said. “We’ll jump straight into things, but we’ll definitely teach them along the way. Honor council is a good opportunity to improve the school, and I’m looking forward to working with the members.” Honor Council plans to focus more on outreach this year. “We are doing a lot of outreach for the community and less about cases and infractions. We are talking more about how can we make honor the plate on which the community sits. We have suggested changes for NHS,” Dr. Koodanjeri said. “We are thinking of putting up banners with words about honor and NHS pillars on campus. These are all projects we are looking into.”
Three events from the Eagle Buddies program, which has allowed students from the Saratoga campus to connect with their Bucknall campus counterparts since its 2009 founding by former history and social sciences teacher Carol Zink, will be taking place this month. The sophomores traveled to the Bucknall campus to meet their third grade Eagle Buddies with pajamas and children’s books for Pajama Day on Jan. 15. Tomorrow, the juniors’ fourth grade Eagle Buddies will visit the Saratoga campus for circus-related activities on Clown Day, and the seniors will go to the Bucknall campus to watch their fifth grade Eagle Buddies perform in the annual fifth grade show. Students not participating in Eagle Buddies events attend a LIFE assembly instead. Jane Keller, a math teacher at the Saratoga campus and co-coordinator of the program this year, spoke about her favorite aspects of Eagle Buddies. “For me, the best part is watching the lower school and upper school kids play. That’s my favorite part,” Keller said. “Even if it’s just them coloring, I just love watching the connection.” Eric Kallbrier, assistant to the directors of the Activities and Business & Entrepreneurship Programs as well as coordinator
ASHLEY JIANG
TIME TO VOTE he uniors vote or their onor oun il re resentatives in the last onor oun il ele tion at the eginning o this a ade i ear. he resh en will vote or their onor oun il re resentatives to orrow.
ADRIAN CHU
reporter
TAKE A SELFIE harlotte harle uang , erri a iao and essi a ang take a sel e with their agle uddies. he so hoore lass traveled to the lower s hool a us on an. to eet with their agle uddies at the ul ination o the third grade s servi e ro e t to olle t a a as and ooks.
of the events alongside Keller, commented on the most appealing points of the program to him. “It’s a chance for our upper school students to be little kids again,” Kallbrier said. “I think the people who get the
most out of the Eagle Buddies program are people who aren’t afraid to let loose a little bit and just be themselves.” The upper school Eagle Buddies have met with their partners already this school year.
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Certificate students perform in Winter Song reporters
Nine pianists and vocalists performed at the Upper School’s annual winter concert on Friday from 4 p.m. to 5 p.m. in Nichols Auditorium. The concert, titled “Winter Song,” provided upper school unior Certificate iano and Vocal students with an opportunity to perform in front of an audience and for upper school composers to perform their original works. Juniors Medha Shah, Soham Khan, Chetana Kalidindi, ia iammona, udy an, Connie iao, riyanka Chilukuri, Sara achauri and edaad Shakib performed. Director of Bel Canto Jennifer Sandusky, who mentored some of the performers, believes presenting to an audience allows students to develop communication and presentation skills and that participating in upper school music programs is a great way to become more comfortable with the stage.
“There’s lots of things — the presentation skills, creativity and being able to think in the moment because things come up that you weren’t expecting,” Sandusky said. “Just getting up in front of a group, especially peers, is more nerve racking than anything, and you have to practice performing as well before the actual performance.” Soham Khan, a composer and a pianist, is a member of the upper school’s Jazz Band. After beginning piano lessons at age fi e, Soham began to e periment with simple melodies and later wrote more formal works; at the concert, he performed “A Nostalgic ondo,” the final installment to a piano sonata he has been working on for two years. “[My] family inspired me to pursue performing arts and music. They’re a rather musical bunch,” Soham said. “My mother adores ndian classical music, so was accustomed to a ariety of musical traditions from a very young age.” Sara achauri, a ocalist, is
a member of the upper school all-girls singing group, Cantilena, and is considering pursuing music as a profession. Sara explained how her love to be on stage and her mother’s encouragement to audition for music programs inspired her to become a performer. hough ’m a musical theatre ma or in certificate, wanted to try something new, something that people haven’t really heard before, so ’m doing an art song called ‘O Del Mio Dolce rdor,’” Sara said. t’s by Christoph] Gluck,” Mia Giammona, a vocalist, believes that her performance helped her learn more about herself as an artist and that the concert provided her with an opportunity to perform as a soloist, as opposed to as a part of a group. think the most beneficial aspect of concerts like these is learning how you conduct yourself during a solo performance; ’ e only really performed in choirs up until now,” Mia said. lthough was ner ous, was
definitely looking forward to showing the effort ’ e put into singing for the past few years and knew people would en oy hearing and seeing all of the artists’ progress.” Singers who are also members of school vocal ensembles will perform at the next vocal
concert, titled “United Voices,” on Mar. 17 at the Mexican Heritage Theater in San Jose. Ensembles performing include the Bucknall choir, Dynamics, Vivace, Harmonics, Bel Canto, Camerata, Acoustics, Downbeat and Cantilena.
ALL PHOTOS KSHITHIJA MULAM
ria gupta & tiffany wong
CERTIFICATE PERFORMANCES ri anka hilukuri sings e ond and ose ar ra treisand. M edaad haki la s the iano or erti ate er or an e. Nine vo al and iano erti ate students er or ed in the inter ong on ert last rida in Ni hols Auditoriu .
Speech and debate team competes at Stanford National Invitational
vignesh panchanatham & tiffany wong reporters
TIFFANY WONG
The upper school debate team competed at the Stanford ational n itational from an. 16 to 18, with seven public forum teams and two Congressional debaters winning awards at the tournament. Offering nine speech events and fi e styles of debate, the tournament invited high school speakers and debaters from across the country to participate in one of the most competitive high school tournaments of the competition circuit. he n itational had competitors from 199 schools and 22 states. Seniors Sorjo Banerjee and PUBLIC FORUM e ater Ale ander a s eaks to a roo o Eesha Chona advanced to the o etitors during one o the rounds on the rst da o the tourna ent. final round of arsity public foeven u li oru tea s and two ongressional de aters la ed at rum and were later crowned the tan ord National nvitational, whi h o ered nine s ee h events and ve st les o de ates, ro an. to . he tourna ent eatured tournament champions after defeating a team from Nueva. o etitors ro s hools. was not e pecting to win the tournament at all: Stanford is always known to be unpredictable and e tremely difficult,” Eesha said. “Because Sorjo and went to the lake ournament in December, which uses the anuary ublic orum topic, we had already debated at least 10 or more rounds on the topic, and felt ery prepared.” Juniors Joyce Huang and Alexander Lam advanced to uarterfinals. Seniors bhina Ketineni, Jasmine Liu, David Jin, Aumesh Misra and Suraj Jagadeesh, along with junior CLARISSA WANG (9) Emaad Raghib and freshmen Cindy Wang and Clarissa Wang ad anced to double octofinals. Senior Nikhil Bopardikar and sophomore Jacqueline He adanced to triple octofinals. n arsity public forum, there were six preliminary rounds before breaking to triple-octos, allowing 128 debaters to advance. SORJO BANERJEE (12) For the month of January, the public forum topic is “ReTIFFANY WONG
hat skills does de ate hel individuals develo
“Debate helps you develop your researching skills because you have to know about the current events you’re debating on.
TIFFANY WONG
“Research, clear communication skills, critical thinking and thinking on your feet.”
solved: On balance, economic sanctions are reducing the threat Russia poses to Western interests.” The debaters must prepare for both sides of the topic by researching various arguments and anticipating counterpoints. n the Congressional debates, there were four preliminary rounds before breaking directly to the final round. Congressional debate has various chambers, and each chamber sets their own agenda for what bills they will debate. n each tournament, competitors debate
“I was not expecting to win the tournament at all: Stanford is always known to be unpredictable and e tre e i fi t EESHA CHONA (12) PUBLIC FORUM DEBATER different pieces of legislation from an overall list. “You have to be prepared on the array of bills that are coming, which means we’ve been doing a lot of research, organization and practice speeches,” upper school debate coach Sandra Berkowitz said. Juniors Aditya Dhar and Misha Tseitlin placed second and sixth in Congressional debate, respectively. was ob iously hoping to do well at the tournament, but my success came as a little unexpected and a little expected too,” Misha said. The upper school debate team will travel to Emory University to compete at the Barkley Forum for High Schools from Jan. 29 to 31.
RUHI SAYANA
14 students advance during debate tournament
CLUB CHANGES Club coordinator Eric Kallbrier speaks to club o ers in a leadershi eeting. nder the new ilot ell s hedule, a new eriod was introdu ed or lu eetings on hursda s.
Bell schedule leads to club changes ruhi sayana reporter
The pilot bell schedule introduced a new period dedicated to clubs. Club coordinator Eric Kallbrier has been holding club leadership meetings in the auditorium during the club period to reinforce the expectations of officers. f the new bell schedule is implemented during the next school year, he will be holding these meetings once a month during this period. “We’d want to have a club leadership meeting one Thursday per month to talk about leadership, to go over policies and procedures, just to get updates on what clubs are doing so that people can get the most out of their organizations,” Kallbrier said. Every Thursday throughout January, from 3 p.m. to 3:30 p.m., clubs will have another opportunity to have meetings. Club officers do see an advantage to having the set club period incorporated as a part of their schedule, but other students feel that setting a time for clubs after school may lose members. Students have already shown a favorable response to the bell schedule. Administration is extending the trial period by two weeks; it will end on Feb. 15 instead of Feb. 1.
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“Addicted to technology” “Lazy” “Entitled” “Angsty” “Doesn’t know how to work hard.” “Only concerned with success” “Narcissistic” “Insecure” “Phone-obsessed” “Spoiled”
“You’re such a..
millen meilan steimle & meena gudapati & alex wang
features editor & copy editor & reporter
It’s almost ironic that Millennials, the generation hailed as “digital natives,” are re ecte so poorl in Google instant search results. According to The Oxford ictionar an ictionar . com a millennial is efine as a person reachin o n a lthoo aro n the ear an a person orn in the s or s especiall in the . respectivel . But the generational tag is laden with connotation. The word “millennial” seems to e at the forefront of pop lar conscio sness. ne can fin o t ow illennial are o in a estion i an articles li e Tips for ana in illennials” and “The ‘Millennials’ are omin permeate the we an tra itional me ia. n ee while positive illennial stereot pes e ist tech savv innovative their representation in me ia is pre ominantl ne ative as seen in Google Instant results. “Millennials are economicall nvia le starvin artist t pe i s that wait forever to get married and seem li e npro ctive mem ers of societ anil a p t
JUST GOOGLE IT nstant sear h suggestions show the
said. The mainstream media echoes anil s sentiment as millennials are often portra e as la an loll a ging.
“They are laden with trophies just for participating and they think your businessas-usual ethic is for the birds. And if you persist in the belief you can take your job and shove it.” “THE MILLENNIALS ARE COMING” 60-MINUTE CBS SEGMENT n a ition the are also seen as a e entitle an narcissistic with poor wor ethic an an over epen ence on technolo . The were raise otin parents who tol them
ost
the are special pla e tle leagues with no or losers or all winne are la en with troph for participatin an thin o r siness al ethic is for the ir clares the aforeme “The Millennials are in which ori ina as a 60-Minutes segm . n if o pe the elief o can ta o an shove it. The stereot pes entirel nfo n e ing to The Guardian s percent o school st ents tho were important peop pare to the per children in the 90s. owever researc the niversit of llin determined that this sistic tho ht was ep on an in ivi al s mental stage and age than his or her genera According to the al nstit tes of ealt cissistic ersonalit er is present three t
What makes a millennia
The Winged Post conducted an anonymous free-response survey that invited millen share their own opinions and perceptions on what it is to be a millennial. These are s the opinions voiced by the respondents.
“A Millennial sees the world through the lens of technology and considers technological advancement the key to solving the world’s ills. A Millennial is unlikely to accept any problem as unsolvable.” RESPONDING TO DEFINING A MILLENNIAL
“I’ve heard mixed opinions, some negative about how we are concerned with only success, some positive about how we work hard.”
“Perceived as spo and bratty. Const enraptured by ph and technology. have little ambitio are overly pamp and taken care o ‘helicopter paren
RESPONDING TO WHAT OTHERS SAY ABOUT MILLENNIALS
RESPONDING TO W OTHERS SAY ABO MILLENNIALS
The Greatest Generation earned their name for being the generation that came of age during the Great Depression and grew up, so e to ght in orld ar and others to support the war effort from home.
“The Silent Generation” This generation consisted of the people who grew up during the Great Depression and a e o age during orld ar . Man also fought during the Korean War. This generation includes many civil rights leaders and artists.
1946
“The Greatest Generation”
1924
1900
Timeline of the generations “Baby Boomers” The Baby Boomers earned their name from the spike in birth rates which occurred in an estern ountries a ter orld ar , which became known as the baby boom.
“Hardworking” “Progressive” “Accepting” “Tech-savvy” “Pragmatic” “Socially connected” “Innovative” “Persevering” “Open-minded” “Conscious” “Diverse” “Radical thinker” Millennials’ generational icons “Informed”
..
alex wang reporter
The Winged Post polled a pool of millennials at Harker, asking them who they thought that the voice of their generation is. The most popular choices are as follows.
nnial.”
Malala Yousafzai n at the a e of a istani female education activist Malala o saf ai was a recipient of the o el eace ri e ecomin the o n est oel ri e la reate ever. er esta lishment of schools for girls has caused her to ecome an icon for millennials loo ing to also have an effect on the world.
Mark Zuckerberg MEILAN STEIMLE
Thirt one ear ol ar c erer co fo n e social networ in site ace oo . e has een name in the Time ma a ine list of wealthiest an most in ential people in the worl an has a net worth of . illion. e has ecome a s m ol for millennials loo in to o more in their wor than st eno h to et .
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“I think companies have already started to shift the way they think...quality of life is important with the millenial generation. We are on a quest r th t fits r quality of life, our family values, and also our professional development.” KRISTIN MCGUIRE DIRECTOR AT YOUNG INVINCIBLES alrea starte to shift the wa the thin an the wa the allow people to have families in the wor place we
er e tions o the generation.
have more environments that aren’t so rigid, environments that allow famil time e tended time off to raise families,” she said. Mcguire noted that a desire for wor leis re separation is indicative of a larger tren in millennial preferences. thin alit of life is important with the millennial eneration she sai . e are on a est for a o that fits o r alit of life o r famil val es an also o r professional evelopment. ontrar to the escriptions of millennials suggeste oo le c ire sees a eeper rive in millennials to create a life of hi her alit for themselves. hile the eneral conception of millennials seems to e eepl roote in the negative, the new generation remains representative of the eclectic iversit that has also efine all those who have come efore the millennials.
Kendrick Lamar Twent ei ht ear ol rapper from ompton alifornia en ric amar has won two ramm war s for his rap m sic which covers a variet of topics that ran e from s stances to societ . is m sic has in ence millennials thro h the eeper messa es an anti racist activism that his son s ear.
Bernie Sanders emocratic presi ential can i ate ernie an ers is not a t pical sevent fo r ear ol . espite his a e he is ite pop lar amon o n voters eca se of his i eas to provi e free p lic colle e e cation an promote e alit for all races and sexes.
Elon Musk n ineer lon s of pace an Tesla co fo n er of a al an chairman of olar it is a wi el a mire fi re amon millennials eca se of his innovative spirit se of social me ia an willin ness to e press his opinions on political iss es.
“Always being on their phone, and I’ve heard a lot of people my age also be extremely pessimistic and critical about stuff like this as well. Millenials are more political. This isn’t really a new understanding coming from someone in the middle of liberal arts academia, but I feel like it’s worth noting.”
“I think that sometimes older generations like to point out lots of problems that Millennials apparently have (sometimes stemming from lack of understanding) when in reality older generations have lots of serious problems of their own that they are not willing to acknowledge.”
“I’d imagine you can’t stop people from complaining about the kids these days, but it might be possible to shift the popular narrative away from them, or at least contribute more meaningfully to a discussion that distances itself from those reactionary voices.”
“Millennials have the i fi t r i in a broken economy and being blamed for being lazy and ‘not being industrious enough’ to do things like get through college debt-free, which is practically impossible in today’s economy anyway.”
“It is no longer enough to be smart or hardworking. One must be smart, hardworking, connected, altruistic, pragmatic, innovative, and just lucky to stand out from the pack.”
RESPONDING TO THE MOST ACCURATE MILLENNIAL STEREOTYPE
RESPONDING TO BIGGEST MISCONCEPTIONS THAT MILLENNIALS FACE
RESPONDING TO BIGGEST MISCONCEPTIONS THAT MILLENNIALS FACE
RESPONDING TO BIGGEST PRESSURES THAT MILLENNIALS FACE
RESPONDING TO BIGGEST PRESSURES THAT MILLENNIALS FACE
“Generation X” This generation, named for being the 10th generation since the founding of the U.S., is characterized by the members’ connection to the pop culture of the 80’s and 90’s that they grew up in.
“Generation Y” Generation Y, also referred to as Echo Boomers, or Generation Why?, is characterized by its access to new technological developments including the Internet and mass communication.
“Generation Z” Generation Z has earned many nicknames, many of which refer to the technology that surrounds its members. These names include Generation V(irtual) and the Internet Generation (iGen).
2016+
“Millennials”
1994
1964
WHAT OUT
m ch in people in their s than people ol er than . i t ei ht percent of orani ations sai the fo n it iffic lt to mana e millennials accor in to or es. ee araher presi ent an of o le orte and author of “Millennials & Management: The Essential i e to a in it or at or spo e a o t inte ratin millennials into wor spaces. “It was a challenge when we hire o r first set of millennials to integrate them into the compan which was a shoc to me she sai . The stereot pe of millennials is ver ne ative which ref se to elieve. hen peele the onion on wh there s a ap in perception an realit there it ecame evident to me that that older people who are complainin a o t millennials are st misunderstanding them.” Kristin Mcguire, California irector of artnerships r ani in at o n nvinci les an or ani ation e -
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ALL PHOTOS - WIKIMEDIA COMMONS
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A8
OPINION
VOLUME 17 • ISSUE 4 JANUARY 27, 2015
Editors-in-Chief Elisabeth Siegel & Vivek Bharadwaj Managing Editor Kavya Ramakrishnan Copy Editor Meena Gudapati News Editor Kshithija Mulam Features Editor Meilan Steimle Asst. Features Editor Maya Kumar
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Negative meanings of “millenial” unfairly represent EDITORIAL THE OFFICIAL OPINION OF THE WINGED POST
a id owie’s death on an. 1 had a uni ue impact on the world. t functioned as a bridge across generations, with 80-year-old fans and their 1 year old grandchildren paying tribute to the music legend. ut such a bridge rarely forms nowadays. s the world changes, key differences between generations have started piling up rather than dissipating. enerational stereotypes now define our interactions. or one, the term millennial,” which groups the 1. billion individuals born around the world between the late 1980s to the year 2 , carries negati e, unfair connotations. n one side of the coin, millennials seem spoiled, unmoti ated and dependent. any belie e that than Couch, whose affluen a” case is being hotly debated, e emplifies the stereotypical millennial. Couch, who was gi en a parole sentence after killing four indi iduals during an underage accident in 2 1 , failed to report to his parole officer and was recently apprehended in e ico in ecember. Critics deem that Couch’s perpetual disregard for
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Most millennials deviate from the stereotypes. We consistently hear about individuals, who happen to be “millennials,” making a positive impact on society. et, on the flipside, millennials deviate from these stereotypes. We consistently hear about individuals, who happen to be millennials,” making positi e impacts on society, technology and the arts. alala ousuf ai (b. 1 ), an
ad ocate for women’s education and e uality, became the youngest Nobel Laureate when she earned the obel eace ri e in 2 1 at the age of 1 . ark uckerberg (b. 1 ) founded acebook, a platform used by o er a billion people from around the world. illennial artists like endrick Lamar (b. 1 ), dele (b. 1 ) and Sam Smith (b. 1 2), who ha e all won rammy wards, use music to spread messages about society and their personal struggles. ndeed, the current generation differs significantly from older ones. etween 1 and 2 12, for instance, he Council of conomic d isers reported that the proportions of ispanic and sian 1 year olds tripled, making eneration more di erse than its predecessors. illennials, more so than
Threat drills perpetuate fear rather than treat it
vivek bharadwaj editor in chief
At the height of the Cold War, every student knew what to do if they saw a blinding flash of light duck and co er”. Crouch beneath your desk, lock your hands behind your neck to a oid in ury, lie still, and wait. ert the urtle, an absurd character created by the epartment of efense, cheerily retreated into his shell every time he was surprised to illustrate the techni ue to the smallest of children. he pointless drills of the s are gone. oday, students hide under their desks not to a oid the distant flash of a nuclear bomb, but to escape the mu le flash of an assault rifle. oday, we don’t duck and co er ” we run, hide, and defend.” Children from preschool to college know that in case an aggressive gunman sets foot on campus, they must either e acuate, lock themsel es in a room and remain silent, or prepare to fight for their li es. When the pper School intruder drill took place a few months ago, I sat in my AP Phys-
ics C class like clockwork, we o erturned desks, co ered up windows, and barricaded the locked doors. he mood was calm we read books and did homework crouching under the lab counter. et we had fortified to guard against the murderous rampage of a gunman. Sadly, a history of gun iolence, from the Columbine to Sandy ook, renders these drills necessary. ccording to ewsweek, o er 1 mass shootings occurred in the period from 2009 to 2015, a systemic crisis far deadlier than any medical epidemic. ach side of the debate has a pet solution, from banning firearms altogether (as rance has done) or arming teachers to defend themsel es. or years, the
aby oomers and en ers, seek to contribute to society and spare time for recreation, and they increasingly choose to secure college degrees. er the same report, millennials typically stri e to hold obs that indulge creati ity, rather than gi e definite results, earnings or ad ancement opportunities. Older generations need to realize that, by default, millennials ha e no option but to be influential. he upcoming generation will define the directions of major industries, movements and nations around the world. oomers had nuclear war and en ironmental decay, but they also had the fall of the Berlin Wall and the invention of the internet. What will our legacy be
SUBJECT MATTERS A ording to the oun il o ono i Advisers ro , illennials o us on the a lied s ien es, so ial s ien es and the hu anities ore than a oo ers and en- ers. Millennials also graduate high s hool and ollege at a higher rate.
“Duck-and-cover” to “lockdown”
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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. Advertisements are accepted in the Post. However, The Winged Post reserves the right to deny any ad. Letters to the Editor may be submitted to Manzanita 70 or emailed to wingedpost2016@harker. org and must be signed, legible, and concise. The staff reserves the right to edit letters to conform to Post style. Baseless accusations, insults, libelous statements, obscenities, and letters which call for a disruption of the school day will not be considered for publication. Letters sent to the Post will be published at the discretion of the editorial staff. The Winged Post is the official student newspaper, and it is distributed free of cost to students.
the law pro es that millennials as a whole lack responsibility, integrity and an understanding of conse uence. Additionally, major media sources further the negati ity surrounding millennial,” or eneration . maga ine dubbed it he e, e, e eneration.” ne Washington ost opinion article took the headline, College is not for coddling,” in response to the anti racism protests held at colleges by millennials in November. With popular publications fre uently associating pe orati e words like narcissistic” and spoiled” with millennial,” the connotations of the term itself seem true.
GRAPH COURTESY OF WHITEHOUSE.GOV REPORTS
Sports Editor Trisha Dwivedi
MILLENNIAL FALCON Millennials starting to enter the work la e o ten nd the selves ast under stereot es su h as nar issisti , de endent and s oiled. Yet ost illennials deviate ro this odel entirel , as the ature and ontri ute to the world around the .
has repeatedly used the straw man argument that the government is coming for citi ens’ guns.” Sa e for the recent e ecuti e actions from the White ouse e panding background checks, few changes ha e been made. With e ery passing day, the death toll from gun-related iolence will only increase. o student should ha e to prepare for a threat of looming death whether by changes in mental health care, aggressi e gun control, or e en smart firearms” that only allow their owners to fire them, we need a reality where gun iolence drills in schools are as irrele ant as the duck and co er” drills of the Cold War.
“SHELL”-TER IN PLACE he ederal ivil e ense Ad inistration used ert the urtle to de onstrate u k and over to ele entar students during the s. Although these drills see i ra ti al in retros e t, the are not so di erent ro a us intruder drills urrentl used to o at gun violen e.
GOT OPINIONS? Join the online conversation: With what generation do you associate most? How important is slang to culture? Comments on gun culture or firearm policy?
PHOTO COURTESY OF WIKIA.COM
STEM Editor Vineet Kosaraju Asst. STEM Editor Sahana Srinivasan
GRAPHIC BY DEREK YEN
Opinion Editor Aditya Varshney Asst. Opinion Editor Vijay Bharadwaj
Tell us what you think by answering the poll on Harker Aquila.
A9
FEATURES • VOLUME 17 ISSUE 4 • JANUARY 27, 2016
History curricula reveal significant Western biases
elisabeth siegel editor in chief
I’ve never been in a history class that covered the Three Kingdoms War, the Qing conquest of the Ming Dynasty or the Taiping Rebellion in great detail, events that are respecti ely the third, fifth and si th bloodiest conflicts e er in human history. These oversights exemplify the Eurocentric nature of modern history curricula, which often highlights the significance of Western-sourced inventions and the occurrences on Western soil over contributions and events occurring elsewhere. Textbooks often tell the histories of non-Western regions in terms of how they were impacted by or how they affected the West.
Even in world or general history courses, modern Western events and achievements are granted a greater depth of study. I remember reading cogent first person accounts from primary sources of Western history, while non-Western history seemed to be covered in broad strokes, with the lack of the same specificity in names and co erage of historically significant events within these territories. The art history textbooks, for instance, indeed contain chapters concerning Western and Eastern art history. But the texts devote huge sections toward covering European art history in minute detail with a chapter per period, and then cover extra-Western art history in catch-all chapters that concern the art of a nation from 1200 to 2000. his deficit whether purposeful or incidental pro ed consistent as flipped through te tbook after textbook of assigned reading for multiple courses. The Harker course catalog does offer a variety of history cours-
es. Classes specific to uropean and American history or philosophy abound, however, while the catalog lacks classes specific to the history of nations outside of Europe and North America. Sixty percent of respondents to a Winged Post survey indicated a desire for a course that defied the urocentric norm. n a superficial le el, these choices of what to keep and what to discard from the curriculum might just be for the sake of cutting down a course to fit within a semester or a year. But what the books include tells of value assignments that we Westerners have made, either subconsciously or consciously. “Those who do not know history are doomed to repeat it.” This adage emphasizes a huge reason why history continues to be studied throughout all levels of school. But the history of the East differs from that of the West. Non-western cultures merit study of their histories beyond just how Westerners appeared and altered
the natives’ lives. Learning the history of other cultures is useful in making meaningful connections with people from those cultures. Understanding history is thus key to forging relationships, ones as personal as friendship or as significant as a country to country alliance. With a globalized, cosmopolitan world comes the need for an educated populace that looks past its own borders and biases in an attempt to make things better. In short, this is not an issue local to Harker. It involves decisions made by organizations such as the CollegeBoard and its Advanced Placement curriculum. Already AP curricula, like the AP U.S. History curriculum, face revision to avoid whitewashing. Perhaps a look at world history class curricula, as well as the possibility of non Western specific history classes available earlier on in high school may be in order.
eart of Harker
January 15: the long-awaited end of a grueling first semester. he day that senioritis engulfed our senior class. Just another ordinary Friday for our teachers. Most teachers are acutely aware of our shift in attitude following the onset of the second semester. Some even mitigate their workloads accordingly. But by no means do our teachers dampen their liking of what they teach unlike the CommonApp’s stability, their collective enthusiasm is permanent. We seniors have two options. We can allow our teachers’ energy to go completely to waste so we can be “totally done,” or we can continue to probe the minds of our educators, let their passions shape ours and work diligently, albeit under less stress and with less intensity. We don’t attend Harker because it’s easy. We don’t attend Harker because we love Main in the mornings. We don’t even attend arker for its magnificent physical phenomenon of a pendulum. We attend Harker for its intellectual community: our teachers and friends that shape our lives with their e ery influential word. To Mr. Spenner and Ms. Gilbert, your tangible happiness and enthusiasm are what motivate me every time I so much as think of “abbreviating” (read: not doing) an assignment. To Mr. Silk, I really did appreciate all of your vaguely math-related puns and stick figure drawings. And to Ms. Stahl - my advisor, my role model - four years was not nearly enough time for me to learn even a fraction of what I wanted you to teach me. It is with this gratitude for my teachers that I look towards second semester - a well-deserved opportunity to relax, but also a chance to recognize the privilege I have, to continue to cultivate my interests and to thank deeply those who ha e influenced me.
Maya Jeyendran (12) is a guest contributor to the Winged Post. She enjoys running and playing with her beagle in her free time. In this repeating guest column, we encourage all student writers from around the community to share their memorable experiences while at the Upper School. Please email all column ideas to wingedpost2016@gmail.com.
terms overlook Banned Words: Overused cultural significance
kaitlin hsu
Aquila features editor After reading TIME’s 2015 banished words debacle (which included feminist, bae, basic and practically any other term from pop culture), I never wanted to read another banned words article again. Unfortunately, I stumbled upon this year’s Lake Superior State University’s 41st Annual List of Banished Words and was sorely disappointed. While at its best, a banished words list makes fun of words that have fallen out of fashion, this current list and its predecessors continue to perpetuate troubling trends, banning phrases and terms most commonly used by people of color and young women. More than half of the words on this list have been inspired or popularized through youth culture, including “break the inter-
net,” “giving me life” and “problematic.” nterestingly enough, the first word on this list is “so.” “So,” while formally used as a coordinating conjunction, can also function as a sentence opener in colloquial language. But “so” has increasingly become associated with women who have “Valley girl” accents. For example: “Soooo, Rebecca, how was the party last night?” This one sentence paints the speaker and Rebecca as ditzy, capricious young girls who need some good sense smacked into them, right? The inclusion of the word “so” on this list perfectly captures how women’s voices are often policed for a variety of phenomena, such as vocal fry and intonation. Not to mention that a majority of this list is dedicated to excluding slang words from certain groups. As a result, it’s hard to ignore the fact that the list also seems to be targeting the language of people of color and young women. White Americans frequently borrow from African American Vernacular English (AAVE), oftentimes being congratulated for their
GRAPHIC BY KAITLIN HSU
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What are your secondsemester resolutions?
“Stay focused in school and try hanging out with my friends more before I go to college.” -Kevin Wang (12)
On second-semester enthusiasm and teacher appreciation
maya jeyendran
Talk
“trendiness” or “edginess.” Some AAVE slang is eventually even used by corporations and public figures for branding, promotion and sales. Hillary Clinton’s infamous “Just Chilling In Cedar Rapids” meme comes to mind. After the public and corporations spread slang through communication and media, it quickly becomes overused. Ironically, white Americans and corporations are often the first ones to turn on the slang they themselves have popularized. The end result? Banned words list like these. The whims of the majority then force minority communities to discontinue use of slang they originally created or risk being labeled “uneducated” and worse. Minority communities are on the forefront of new linguistic innovation, and should continue to build upon this creative outlet. Instead, white Americans, corporations and public figures should be more mindful of how they enjoy and partake in minority cultures. Instead of trying to police the language of people of color and youth, they should let language do what it does best: change.
“To reconsider things I do in the class I teach and if I think of a better way or a students comes up with a better way to do something I want to try those new ways.” -Diane Main, Assistant Director of Instructional Technology
“As a junior, try to do my work, try not to procrastinate, try to balance my schoolwork because sports season is coming up, try to do well on APs.” -Ray Song (11)
Public transit proving more sustainable than personal vehicles
derek yen reporter
People scorn and deride public transit. iewed as ha ing filthy infrastructure and stigmatized as an option only for the poor, the vast majority of Americans opt to drive cars instead. Despite these normalized prejudices, public transit poses many unique advantages over cars. By its very nature, public transit cannot suffer traffic delays. Systems like Bay Area Rapid Transit (BART) and metros run on their own circuits and thus cannot be affected by path congestion. Any delays result from construction and maintenance, all of which is planned for and announced be-
forehand. The possibility of injury in a public transit system is also much lower. Services such as BART run on schedules and rarely crash. Furthermore, passengers do not have to fear road rage or intoxicated drivers. In the case of buses, drivers are highly trained professionals far less likely to crash.
Public transport is imperfect, but we often dismiss it immediately when choosing how to travel. Finally, many of the current complaints with public transit could be resolved with greater government funding. Adding BART cars would reduce waiting times. Hiring security guards makes pub-
lic transportation safer. And simple refurbishments improve cosmetic damages and sterility. While none of these modifications are free, neither is using automobiles. Car users must take out loans to purchase their vehicle, pay constant upkeep for maintenance and gas and pay off the occasional parking ticket. Considering these “hidden” costs, public transit can be an equitable if not cheaper alternative to cars. Usage of cars also incurs non-monetary costs. Automobile accidents still rank as fourth highest cause of death in America, and all cars contribute to global warming through emissions. Even electric cars contribute to global warming through the burning of fossil fuels to generate their electricity. Public transport is imperfect, but we often dismiss it immediately when choosing how to travel. It deserves more consideration as a viable means of transit.
“I just want to get better grades. I hope Advanced Drawing will increase my creativity and help me learn more about the different materials.” -Julia Huang (10)
“Do more things that I haven’t done, explore new areas that I haven’t explored before.” -Panny Shan (12)
A10
STEM
VOLUME 17 • ISSUE 4 JANUARY 27, 2016
ALL PHOTOS BY VINEET KOSARAJU
Pushing the envelope of research
SKIN CELLS (TOP) Neelesh Ramachandran (10) and Ashwin Rammochan (9) look at a synthetic skin sample. VEGGIE DELIGHT (LEFT) Winnie Li (11) and Joyce Zhao (11) mass food samples to determine the e e ts o geneti all odi ed ood on utterfl larvae. GERM MADNESS (RIGHT) Nastya Grebin (10) incubates a sample of bacteria in a heater for her e eri ent investigating its a ilit to produce cellulose. All ve students are working on research projects through the Open Lab facilities in Nichols Hall that they plan to present at the Synopsys Science Fair in March.
vineet kosaraju & maya kumar & rose guan
STEM editor & Asst. features editor & reporter As seniors Alice Wu and Elina Sendonaris enter the room, they turn off the lights, preparing to check the results of their experiment. Once the room is dark, they flick the switch on a red laser and see it bounce, confirming their predictions. Alice and Elina are participating in extracurricular research, an increasingly popular activity at the Upper School: in a recent survey, 26 percent of students reported participating in research competitions. This year, students are submitting to four popular research competitions called USAYPT, Intel STS, Synopsys, and Siemens, and are presenting their groundbreaking work in a ariety of fields ranging from biochemistry to engineering. USAYPT The United States Association for Young Physicists Tournament (USAYPT) is an international contest consisting of four problems that are discussed in a debate style known as physics fights.” This year, seniors Elina, i ek haradwa , essica hu, and unior anan Shah will
present the team’s solutions for the problems about building falling dominos, creating a vacuum lifter, validifying an electronics property, and bouncing a laser beam.
“[Research] is never something that really ends.” SADHIKA MALLADI (12) INTEL STS SEMIFINALIST Alice believes that extracurricular research is driven primarily by student interest. think with all research, especially in high school, there is a lot of self moti ation,” she said. f you want to do it, you ha e to really push yourself and manage your time.” he contest will be held on an. 2 and at andolph College in Virginia.
will be announced on arch 1 in the categories of Global Good, asic esearch and nno ation. Synopsys Championship The Synopsys Science & echnology Championship is a science fair held in the Santa Clara County region in arch e ery year, to which upper school and middle school students can submit research pro ects. ai o a (1 ), who has participated in Synopsys since he was in eighth grade, commented on the variety of experi-
26%
of students participate in research contests
Intel STS Senior ohnathan a was named one of finalists in the country in the Intel Science Talent Search on an. 2 . Sophia Luo (12), Sadhika alladi (12) and ineet osarau (12) were also named semifinalists on an. . onathan and the finalists will all be flown to Washington .C. from in arch and winners
ences that the fair offers. f you put in time, you can be recognized for it in the same way that professional research would be at a uni ersity, so think Synopsys is good because it provides an introductory stage to get your interest in science research solidified,” a i said. he fair will take place this year on arch 1 . Siemens Competition The Siemens Foundation announced 11 semifinalists from arker for the Siemens Competition in ath, Science and echnology last ctober, of which two later placed fifth as national finalists in Washington .C. he semifinalists for the 2 1 competition are seniors i ek haradwa , ishabh Chandra, nthony Luo and onathan a, uniors ishab argeya, Shas at awahar, le ander o, enkat Sankar, anan Shah, run Subramaniam, ani adiya i it and a id hu, and sophomore randon o. ani and a id were selected as both regional finalists and national finalists. t the national stage, Evani and David placed fifth, recei ing a 2 , scholarship from the Siemens Foundation. Additional reporting by Neil Bai, Alex Wang, Sahana Srinivasan, Vignesh Panchanatham, Derek Yen and Stanley Zhao.
MEET THE RESEARCHERS JONATHAN MA (12)
“I developed a novel framework integrating machine learning, th sis si ifi e analysis, to more accurately predict the response of cancer cell lines to treatment.” SOPHIA LUO (12)
“I applied big data analyses on microarray gene expression studies of preeclampsia, which is a disease that complicates pregnancies.” DAVID ZHU (11)
“My partner, Evani RadiyaDixit (11), and I developed a machine learning model that can differentiate between benign and malignant tumors.”
BEHIND THE BLACKBOARD
ost interesting resear h ro e t ou ve worked on
Dr. Anu Aiyer Mathematics FAVORITE PROJECT “When I was in graduate school, just when the Internet was coming up, some problems I worked on were how to comress and strea videos on the Internet, and really working on different forms of compression, whether it is speech, or images, or video, so data o ression. The great moments were when ou nall got our ode to work.”
r. avid asso he istr FAVORITE PROJECT “There was a research project on cancer and why cells that are cancerous are unable to sto dividing. worked on ontrolling ell division and we dis overed a rotein that ould sto the ell ro dividing. t lled a ig ga in our understanding of cancer and cell division, and it was in redi l exciting.”
Susan King o uter ien e FAVORITE PROJECT “The most interesting research ro e t ve worked on was a tually for the NSA, which is the National Security Agency, and at the time, it was essentially querying three spy networks, which were our own networks, but querying their database using one language. We were doing it on something that predates the Internet, it was called the ARPANET.”
Dr. Smriti Koodanjeri he istr FAVORITE PROJECT “[In graduate school] it took me three months to grow a crystal. I had a beautiful crystal, and I was to use it for the next part of my experiment. And the guy who stood next to my table had really long arms and he accidently knocked it off the table. So it broke apart and I burst into tears. Fast forward, I ended up marrying the man, and he’s my husband today.”
Mike Pistacchi Biology FAVORITE PROJECT “My graduate research was done at the San Diego Zoo on an endangered species of horse called Przewalski s horse. roved that a mutation was causing the funny coat color. That’s the beauty of science. It’s not something you looked up that so eone else dis overed. It’s your own thing.”
ALL HEADSHOTS BY STAFF
hat is the
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VOLUME 17 • ISSUE 4 JANUARY 27, 2016
FACING OUR FUTURE
NO
asst. STEM editor
2015 was the hottest year and Dec. 2015 the hottest month ever recor e rea in the previo s hi h temperat re recor s set in accor in to the ational Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. limatolo ists attri te this temperat re chan e to oth reenho se as emissions an an n s all stron l i o. Popular opinion and scientific s pport of climate chan e has increased in recent years with a reater n m er of climate chan e st ies. owever since le islat re ictates the sol tions implemented nationally and lo all to solve climate chan e politics plays a key role in the fut re of climate chan e. The 2016 presidential cani ates are istinctl ivi e on the topic of climate chan e. oints of isa reement arise over the e istence of climate chan e its causes, whether action needs to e ta en an specific plans and proposals. avi eichm th is a senior en ineer at the nion of oncerne cientists an or ani ation of scientists an en ineers wor in on practical sol tions for iss es li e climate chan e sin renewa le ener . thin there is a rowin awareness of climate chan e Reichmuth said. “Of course, if o loo at what s een oin on in the national level an in the political isco rse it s still ver polari e an partisan t have a sense that in eneral we re loo in more towar s sol tions which is hopef l. ea ers from co ntries
met at the 2015 United Nations limate han e onference (COP 21) in Dec. 2015 in Paris. ccor in to the ropean ommission the si ne a eal to implement proposals intended to eep temperat re chan e n er two e rees. st from the nter overnmental Panel on Climate han e cite a chan e of two erees as the temperat re a ove which lo al conse ences ran e from ro ht to increase wil fires.
“In the political discourse, it’s still very polarized and partisan, but I have a sense that in general, we’re looking more towards solutions.” DAVID REICHMUTH SENIOR ENGINEER AT UNION OF CONCERNED SCIENTISTS Donald Trump and Ted r frontr nners for the epublican Party nomination, both elieve that climate chan e is not man ma e an have not announced proposals to address climate chan e. illar linton an ernie Sanders, current frontrunners in the polls for the Democratic nomination have anno nce oals for lowerin emissions an switchin to alternative ener . linton set a oal of pro cin one thir of . . ener sin renewable sources by 2027. Sanders aims to cut carbon emis-
sions in the United States by 40 percent by 2030 and 80 percent by 2050. n . resi ent Obama announced the Clean ower lan which accor in to the nvironmental rotection enc imposes stanar s an i elines to re ce power plant pollution and proce more ener thro h renewa le so rces. The oal of the plan is to reduce national carbon dioxide emissions by 32 percent from 2005 by 2030. i we e of emissions comes from electricity, and we re movin prett ic l on that as well with the state havin a renewa le portfolio stanar which means it will have more solar, more wind and other renewa les eichm th sai . t the national level there s the Clean Power Plan from the Obama administration that will also reduce emission from the electric sector. ocal ro ps are also settin oals for lessenin car on footprints. The Green Team currentl posts environmentall frien l tips on their bulletin board in ain an is plannin a reen challen e. The challen e is oin to e a whole lon list of thin s that we re oin to e as in people to tr to o so we ll have a lot of s estions to save ener in that iana oss panish teacher an reen Team a visor, said. The reen challen e will take place as part of earth week in the sprin .
itional reportin Russell.
a ren
97.8%
of students
YES What are the most effective measures to mitigate climate change? shania wang & katherine zhang reporters
sin more solar an win power an to move f rther towar s electric cars. st a vancin technolo in eneral especiall more efficient jet fuel. Charles Shuttleworth
The est wa we can effectivel prevent climate chan e is to enact a carbon tax which can help to reduce carbon emissions around the world. Kelly Shen (9)
Driving eco-friendly cars, taking short showers, turning off the lights and using less electricity. Rohan Daran (12)
The global carbon tax and showing people the immediate effects of climate change in their own community since a lot of people don’t think it exists or don’t think it’s bad enough to affect them. Anooshree Sengupta (10)
Scientists discover new elements
DEREK YEN
sahana srinivasan
YES
KATHERINE ZHANG
The impact of politics on climate change
70%
of Americans*
SHANIA WANG
Part three of a six part series on climate change
Bush Fiorina Sanders Christie O’Malley Clinton Rubio
SAHANA SRINIVASAN
of students
KATHERINE ZHANG
2.25%
Trump Carson Santorum Huckabee
SHANIA WANG
RESET
16%
of Americans*
o rces ational rve s on ner an the nviornment ther respon ents answere not s re.
GLOBAL
Is climate change real?
nicole chen & derek yen reporters
The International Union of Pure and Applied Chemistry confirme of the iscovery of four new elements with atomic numbers 113, 115, 117 and 118 on Dec 30. These new iscoveries are artificial elements meanin that they do not occur naturally and quickly decay into more stable elements. “These [elements] come from particle physics experiments when the smash two elements chemistry teacher Dr. Mala Rahavan sai . t s reall fascinatin to see if these elements even can e forme . rtificial elements li e awrenci m lerovi m an the fo r new elements are ver nsta le and decompose into other elements within fractions of a second. Because of the ephemerality of these elements the have little practical val e an will not impact the school s chemistr c rriculum. Chemistry teacher Smriti Koodanjeri explained why scien-
tists strive to iscover new elements despite their historic instability. There s a elief that at some point we ll come across a sta le element oo an eri sai . lso we on t now what else we mi ht iscover while st in these new elements we mi ht iscover somethin that s sef l elsewhere. lement with a wor in name of n ntri m was iscovere at i a a en sho a lar e apanese research instit tion. n ntri m is the first element ever to e iscovere a ro p in sia. Element 115 (Ununpentium) and Element 117 (Ununsepti m were iscovere in a collaboration between scientists from the oint nstit te for clear esearch in ssia the awrence ivermore ational a orator in alifornia an the a i e ational a orator in Tennessee. an also wor e to ether to iscover lement (Ununoctium). ltho h this pro ress is e citin scientists strive to ma e more iscoveries in the f t re.
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Pilot block schedule reduces workload, students’ stress kshithija mulam & kaitlin hsu & maya valluru
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VOLUME 17 • ISSUE 4 JANUARY 27, 2015
biology
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3 p.m. de b a t e
Upper school students entered a monthlong trial period in January for a new block bell schedule. The weekly block schedule consists A, B, C and D days in which class periods begin at 8 a.m. and end at 2:50. A and C days have four hour and 20 minute classes and separate 50 minute lunch periods; B and D days have three classes with a long lunch. Sports practices now start later and at the same time each a . n a ition the ori inal five minute passing periods have been extended to 10 minutes, allowing more students to arrive at classes in a timely manner. “I’m hearing things like, ‘I’ve been at Harker since forever, and now I’m sleeping at night because my homework’s getting done,” Upper School Division Head Butch Keller said. “Or, ‘It’s really nice to be able to go to the bathroom,’ or ‘It’s really nice to get to class a couple minutes early and talk to my teacher.’” everal st ents fin that the are less stressed due to a lighter workload, as they have two nights to complete assignments and longer periods. “It’s good that we have more time to do homework because even though they’re allowed to assign more homework to us, we have a lot more time,” Viveka Saraiya (9) said. Other students cited the longer periods as a negative aspect of the new schedule, solely concentrating on the academic lives of students. “First, if you miss classes, it’s horrible to make up work. Second, a lot of teachers aren’t prepared for the new bell schedule, so the way they schedule their curriculum isn’t enough in order to keep students engaged,” Michael Tseitlin (11) said. “Also, especially in debate and other after school activities, because the meeting times are so spaced out, there’s less free time and less leniency.” The bell schedule pilot will be extended by two weeks, and bell schedule committees will decide whether to keep the schedule for the rest of the semester or institute it at the beginning of the next academic year.
TALK AROUND CAMPUS “Some performing arts groups, we have rehearsal two or maybe three times a week now instead of four, which is harder in that sense. We get more rehearsal time, but before we could take our time with it, but now we have to keep going.”
- Naomi Molin (12) “Sometimes teachers haven’t adapted quite yet to newer teaching styles so I feel like that can be improved. But overall, I think it’s a pretty good bargain.”
- Sandip Nirmel (11)
OTHER SCHOOLS There is efinitel a foc s iss e. t since o have a longer period, the teachers will give you an extra five min tes to et into the math mo e for e ample or whatever focus you want to get into. With all that time, you can alleviate some stress.”
- Zeeshan Khan (11, St. Francis High School) “If you study a subject for more than 50 minutes, o will one o t. ort five min te time perio s allow us to really learn and really help us excel in the areas we want to.”
- Alexander Yang (11, Bellarmine High School) “If we had the [regular] schedule, homework would be due the next day, and there are more classes in one day. A lot of students have extracurricular activities and outside commitments. I do robotics, cross country and swimming, and having the block schedule allows you to have time to do the homework since you actually have two days.”
- Wilson Chung (11, Valley Christian High School)
(Considered: BASIS, Bellarmine, Gunn, Lynbrook, Menlo, Mitty, Monta Vista, Palo Alto, Saratoga, St. Francis, Valley Christian)
FEATURES
WEDNESDAY, JAN. 27, 2015 | THE HARKER UPPER SCHOOL STUDENT NEWSPAPER, VOL. 17, NO. 4
| www.harkeraquila.com
The New School Innovators pioneer experimental schools in the California Bay Area prameela kottapalli, & jackie gao reporters
In the past few years, various experimental schools have opened in California, from Khan Lab School in Mountain View to Brightworks and AltSchool, both in San Francisco. Experimental schools, or alternative schools, are educational institutions that implement a unique, innovative style of learning. Common features between these schools include later start times, smaller class sizes and mixed age groups. Khan Lab School, founded by Salman Khan of Khan Academy, opened in Mountain View in September of 2014. The school is a non-profit independent organization that provides education for students of ages five to twelve, and homework and grades are completely eliminated from the project-based curriculum. Each day, Khan Lab School starts at 9 a.m. and ends at 3:30 p.m. Brightworks, based in San Francisco and established in 2011, is a K-12 charter school that places students in mixedage learning groups, enabling them to learn from their classmates and be exposed to knowledge that is outside the scope of their age group. Constructed warehouse-style, the alternative school is complete with an art studio, an observation science lab, and a no-shoes play area for students of all ages. These schools place emphasis upon resourcefulness and creativity of their students instead of their ability to take tests. The goal of experimental schools is to engage children in the classroom, and for them to learn free from the stresses of conventional schools. In addition, while reducing overall stress rates among students, schools that employ the experimental model
9,846 schools 295,222 teachers
6, 275,469 students
produce substantially fewer student dropouts. According to Brightworks school founding staff member and program coordinator Justine Macauley, learning in a lowstress environment free from the expectations of conventional high schools enables students to grow and become more innovative human beings. “A lot of schools, because there are a lot of expectation about grades and tests and homework, it drives up that sort of stress where the expectations that students have are not necessarily beneficial to their health and their overall growth,” Macauley said. “It’s more important for students to be resourceful and creative rather than knowing how to take tests, to work, and to follow curriculum directions.” Another experimental education facility, AltSchool, was founded in San Francisco and has many other locations opening this year in Palo Alto. Open to students from Pre-K to eighth grade, the school removes grade level barriers among the students and encourages them to be highly involved in STEM domains. In addition, AltSchool’s San Francisco branches offer all students personalized language programs, allowing them to develop proficiency in foreign languages from Spanish to German. Max Ventilla, CEO and founder of AltSchool, strongly believes that world-class education should be accessible to everyone in order to create a better society. “Education is critically important not just for this country, but for the world and to improve what’s wrong with the world and to make the world the type of place that we want to be in,” Ventilla said. “We shouldn’t just have a tiny sliver of the population that receives what we would all agree is a first rate education.”
Reuse, recycle, reheat maya valluru & nisha shankar aquila copy editor & reporter
For most members of the Harker community, the highlight of the day is lunch. During fifth or sixth periods and long lunch, students and teachers pack into the Edge to get their hands on the kitchen’s latest creations. While the dishes are popular amongst many, not all of the food is ever entirely consumed. With this, the kitchen staff has devised several efficient means of utilizing the leftovers. One way the kitchen staff conserves resources is by reusing the leftover foods as ingredients for future meals. According to executive director of food services Callie Stanley, the cooks repurpose the food that the students could not finish into delectable foods to be enjoyed the next day. “If we have any pasta left over on the pasta station, we’ll cool it down, and then on the next day we will make a pasta salad out of it,” she said. “If we have chicken on the carving station or in the main window, we could cool that down and make a chicken salad. In the same way, last week we had some garbanzo beans left over so we put it into a soup the next day.”
Usually, the staff batchcooks on days with both fifth and sixth period lunches, so they aren’t left with a large amount of extra food. “On the two lunch days because we’ll cook in between to see how much we have left from the first lunch and then just cook what we need for the second lunch,” Stanley added.
“It’s food that’s probly going to waste, and it’s a great cause to take care of homeless children.” STEVE MARTIN HEAD CHEF AT HARKER
On Fridays, the kitchen staff donates their leftovers to a local homeless shelter for children, as the food cannot be reused for students the next day. They contact Michele Cabania, the manager of the shelter, pack the food in to-go boxes, and send them away as meals for those in need. Chef Steve Martin explains the process in which the food is delivered to those in need. “Once a month, we prepare boxed lunches for 25 children,” he said. “[The organization] is called Stand Up for Kids. They
are homeless kids that are part of this program, which places them homes and tries to give them mentoring. Ideal is once a month, we supply the children with one meal a month. Probably there are 20 other companies that do the same thing.” This process, however, is quite a recent establishment. “It’s pretty recent and it’s been about a year since we started on this– probably the end of previous school year or the beginning of this school year,” he said. “So, it’s once a month and about 9 months ago, maybe.” The homeless shelter does not follow San Jose nutrition guidelines, as they accept any sort of food to sustain their youth. However, the high-quality upper school meals already meet the city’s nutrition standards. Martin strongly believes that this philanthropic means of repurposing the food is embraced by all members of the kitchen staff as well as the head of the school. “It’s food that’s probably going to go waste, and it’s a great cause to take care of homeless children,” he said. “It’s an amazing cause. I was approached by one of the directors and I went up to Mr. Nickloff, and he said absolutely.”
NISHA SHANKAR
Kitchen staff donates uneaten food
FOOD FOR THOUGHT (TOP) Chef Steve gives a box of excess food for donation to a shelter for homeless children. Food is donated at the end of each week. (LEFT) Extra bread and cream cheese as well as (RIGHT) extra produce is donated to Stand Up For Kids, an organization which offers aid to homeless children.
FEATURES
VOLUME 17 • ISSUE 4 JANUARY 27, 2016
Pizza and chill
“People often think about external criteria when their thinking about doing sex rather than understanding that every sexual encounter is created by the people right there and then.”
melina nakos reporter
Q&A with Al Vernacchio, Sex Educator and speaker at TED 2012 in Vancouver editor-in-chief
Every year, juniors watch Al Vernacchio’s TED Talk, “Sex needs a new metaphor. Here’s one…” The Winged Post reached out to Vernacchio to get his take on sex, sexuality and sex education. Winged Post: What inspired you to select pizza as a metaphor [in your talk]? Al Vernacchio: I knew that, in selecting a new metaphor, I wanted something that people could easily understand. I wanted something that most people had a positive association with and I wanted something that was much more about choice and much less about rules than baseball was. I don’t actually remember the moment that I realized that pizza was what I was looking for, but it was way back in the early 1990s. I know that once I hit on it that I thought “oh”, and I have been using it ever since. WP: Your website says that you are a sex educator. What is the most common misconception that you hear from teenagers about sex? AV: I think the most common misconception is that somehow there is a right or a proper or expected way that it is suppose to happen. People often think about external criteria when their thinking about doing sex rather than understanding that every sexual encounter is created by the people right there and then who are involved in it and that is much healthier and much more satisfying for people when they forget about external expectations and they focus more on “What do we want in this moment together?”. I think once that you allow people to make those decisions for themselves you can get to avoid a lot of the gender
stereotypes about sex and a lot of the pressures about sex because it really is about people looking at this moment right here right now and what is right for us. I think once we can help people see that, we can really help develop healthier sexuality rather than continuing a lot of unhealthy sexuality we see in society. WP: Where do we need to go from here in the future of sex education in this country? AV: My dream is that we can have comprehensive sexuality education, which I want in every school from nursery to 12th grade in the country. We are a long way from that, but the more the country can introduce medically accurate, fact based, value driven, comprehensive sexuality education into our schools, the better we are going to be in helping not only curve the negatives, but also promote a lot of the positive things like respect and communication that we all agree is essential. I also say that part of my dream is that there will be more people like me, who value healthy sexuality in schools, so it’s not just the biology teachers teaching it, or the health teacher. All of whom might be very good teachers, but they do not have specific training to do the specific work. I think we are moving in that direction, we will probably pass the stage that abstinence is beyond education, and moving towards the positive direction. WP: Sex education has changed in recent decades. What was sex ed like for your generation? AV: It was still pretty varied even back in my day, although it was pretty much limited to (I call it the) three P’s, like plumbing, which talk about body parts
and how they all fit, temporals, puberty and how you’re going through special changes, but never really specified anything about that and problems. Here is all the diseases you can get,
LETS TALK ABOUT SEX (BOTTOM) Jane Keller talks to the class of 2017 during Junior life. She discussed making decisions about sex and consent, among other topics. (LARGE) The junior class watches a video of Al Vernaccio’s TED Talk during Life. (TOP) Al Vernaccio, Sex Educator, speaks at The TED conference in 2012. The juniors wateched his talk as part of a LIFE assembly on Jan. 15 in the Nichols Auditorium.
here are all the ways people can get pregnant and so it was very much based around those three things and not really based on a sense of knowing your own values and making your own deliberate decisions. I went to Catholic School when I was younger and so there was a lot of shame and a lot of sense that sex was something that was kind of dirty, and that it was not dirty only in specific ways. That’s a really hard message when you’re a teenager, because those ways that they are saying are not open to you, so you feel conflicted.
Hoverboards explode onto the market ashley jiang & derek yen reporters
ASHLEY JIANG - WINGED POST
vivek bharadwaj
Relationships, sex and consent aren’t typically parts of conversations at Harker, but for an hour last Friday, the juniors gathered in the auditorium to explore these taboo topics in a presentation run by Upper school mathematics teacher, Jane Keller. “I talk to kids a lot about their relationships. As a matter of fact, yesterday, there was a little girl who wants to break up with her boyfriend, and we spent probably 30 minutes practicing how to communicate that,” she said. “I don’t get embarrassed.” The assembly included two videos, one which compares sex to eating pizza and another that compares consent to offering a person tea. Humorous in nature, the videos discussed hard-hitting questions about relationships not usually openly discussed with adolescents . “I think [the assembly] was necessary because, especially in my family, my parents never discuss sex with me, or I’m too embarrassed to ask my parents about these things.” Maya Rai (11) said. “It was good to have this and learn about the importance of consent.” Planned Parenthood, a healthcare provider organization that also specializes in reproductive healthcare, offers a vast array of sexual education classes for high schoolers. Schools or community organizations can request one of Planned Parenthood’s trained health educators to give a presentation, which can include either a single topic or a series of sessions covering multiple topics. Laurice Rubalcava, the education program manager at Planned Parenthood, oversees all the education services at Planned Parenthood. “[Teenagers] are usually very open to discussing real-life scenarios or pressures that they might have found themselves, or friends, in,” she said. “They are very receptive to practicing boundaries, boundary setting, I think it’s a topic that very much interests them because whereas, maybe they are not having a sexual relationship, they still might be having a romantic relationship and they would like to be able to negotiate that better using those skills.” Planned Parenthood offers a class specifically on consent. One class covers what minors can consent to medically, and another focuses on healthy
relationships, whether it be a sexual relationship or a solely romantic relationship. Some of the most common characteristics of a healthy relationship that are mentioned by students taking the course are trust, respected boundaries, honesty and communication. Effective communication skills in relationships can lead to successful discussions on sexual history, STD tests, dynamics of the relationship and contraceptive use. Interwoven with presentations about communication in relationships are conversations about contraception for teenagers. Most teenagers lean towards using condoms or oral birth control pills due to their common depiction in popular media, but Planned Parenthood also introduces teenagers to other long-lasting non-permanent birth control methods such as Depo-Provera and IUDs. Laurice Rubalcava, the education program manager at Planned Parenthood, oversees all the education services at Planned Parenthood. “[Teenagers] are usually very open to discussing real-life scenarios or pressures that they might have found themselves, or friends, in,” she said. “They are very receptive to practicing boundaries, boundary setting, I think it’s a topic that very much interests them because whereas, maybe they are not having a sexual relationship, they still might be having a romantic relationship and they would like to be able to negotiate that better using those skills.” Planned Parenthood advocates that communication with a partner about sex should begin in a calm and connected manner outside of a sexual encounter. “To try and find a way to bring it up, maybe they can use a teachable moment. Or say ‘hey, they heard from a friend that this happened to them, what do you think about that?’” Rubalcava said. “They can then bring up the discussion of what they’re comfortable with, what they’re not comfortable with, when do they want children if they want children, what are they gonna do to prevent that, making sure they’re on the same page.” Teachable moments could also be used to breach the subject with parents. Presentations on sex at school, and thoughts about the presentation are common ways to open a channel of discussion with parents about relationships.
NEVER BE BORED These hoverboards are less like skateboards and more like handlebar-less Segways. They are powered by lithium batteries and allw the rider to effortlessly steer with their feet.
The hoverboard glides smoothly down the sidewalk, its vibrant lights casting colorful rays onto the pallid pavement. As its user gently shifts their weight from side to side, the board makes graceful, sinuous turns. These slick, agile hoverboards are the newest vehicles on the market, giving riders a chance to experience the thrills of a segway on a smaller scale. The first hoverboard concepts, designed as levitating skateboards, were a futuristic method of transportation used in the films of the “Back to the Future” series. Several students who own hoverboards said that learning how to control the board was difficult, but ultimately enjoyable.
“When you start off, it’s really hard to keep your balance, but once you get used to it, it’s so much easier than walking,” Shivani Awasthi (11) said. “I really like riding on it and it’s fun to do little spins and stuff.” Concerns have surfaced regarding hoverboards’ safety. Some hoverboard users have reported injuries from falling off while riding them. “So the first time I did it, I was off-balance,” Jayaad Ali (10) said. “My mom even fractured her elbow, but after about three days, it was really fun.” Reports of product unreliability are also common for both knock-off generic brands from China and “official” brands such as Phunkeeduck and IOHawk. “We had to send our first hoverboard back for repair because it had some issues,”
Shivani said. “It would shake sometimes when we got onto it.” In worst case scenarios, users have reported hoverboards catching fire and exploding while charging. Recently, an Oklahoma City home caught fire due to an explosion caused by a hoverboard. Continued safety incidents with hoverboards have caused the United States Consumer Product Safety Commission (USCPSC) to issue a statement on their usage: “While the fire hazard has generated significant attention, I do not want to downplay the fall hazard,” USCPSC Chairman Elliot Kaye wrote in the statement. “Some of these injuries have been serious, including concussions, fractures, contusions, abrasions and internal organ injuries.”
ALL PHOTOS MAYA VALLARU - WINGED POST
Sex education for teens
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Firearms in American Society
kavya ramakrishnan & vineet kosaraju & michael sikand managing editor & STEM editor & reporter
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school shootings in 2015
9957 gun-violence fatalities in 2015
Statistics from MSNBC. Mass shooting defined as any incident where four or more people were injured by a gun.
A term that, surprisingly enough, doesn’t have a clear meaning. Dispute about what constitutes an “assault weapon” has led gun manufacturers to style certain firearms as “tactical rifles”. The weapon illustrated above is an M16A2 military rifle.
A
well regulated Militia, being necessary to the security of a free State, the right of the people to keep and bear Arms, shall not be infringed. With a loudspeaker blaring in the background, students swiftly gather construction paper and old newspapers to block out windows, using a combination of blue masking tape and paper to obstruct the view from outside. In unison, the class works together to secure the room; as two students move a bookcase to block the door, another one shuts the blinds. On Nov. 12, students participated in a lockdown drill, following the protocol for reacting to an emergency situation of having an active gunman on campus. According to Assistant Head of Student Affairs Greg Lawson, Harker’s own safety measures in an active shooter situation call for special procedure. “We practice run-hide-defend; this is now the developing practice in lockdown,” Lawson said. “Barricade the doors, turn off the lights, stay quiet and maybe if we do the PA thing, it will help people to know where the danger is coming from.” In this drill, students and teachers fortify classrooms by constructing barricades, closing windows, flipping desks and remaining as quiet as possible. Harker’s drill is consistent with a growing national concern for safety. In 2015, 52 school shootings have left 30 dead and 53 injured. Schools now place a greater focus on implementing new measures to prepare against potential gun violence. As instances of gun violence occur more frequently nationwide, the mindset of campus administrators has changed. “Before school even starts, we are already doing prep work with teachers. We have a group that puts all the teachers through a preliminary set of training,” Lawson said. “We are giving ourselves as much of an advantage as we can. It is an awful thing to think about. We get better every time, we actually even do lockdown drills at the preschool.” Despite the recent increase in nationwide violence, some students doubt the drill’s effectiveness in handling active
2nd amendment to the US Constitution shooter situations. “I guess drills help a little, but I’m not sure how much hiding under a desk is going to do, if someone came in with a gun. I guess it would slow down the attacker until the police arrive,” Mohnish Shah (12) said. Although some students responded to the November emergency procedure with giggles and laughs, the Paris attacks and Planned Parenthood shooting of the following Thanksgiving break week communicated the widespread reality of gun violence to the world. Stephanie Scaglia (10), who has family living in Paris, shared her reaction upon hearing of the attacks in an interview with Harker Aquila.
“If a hobbyist is into it, they should be okay with background checks and extra measures.” ANDREW IRVINE CHEMISTRY TEACHER AND SKEET SHOOTING ENTHUSIAST “My dad texted me,” Stephanie said. “I felt really shocked and scared for my family, and I immediately asked if my cousins were [okay] and he said ‘Yes,’ because they lived on the other side of Paris.” On Jan. 5, in the wake of the Dec. 2 San Bernardino shooting, in which 14 were killed and 22 were injured by a couple armed with legally purchased weapons, President Barack Obama announced an executive order aimed at expanding the background check system for gun purchases online and at gun shows. His intent also includes initiatives to improve gun safety technology and to provide $500 million for mental health treatment. It also outlined plans for
200 agents in the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF). Helen Dunkel, ATF Public Information Officer from the San Francisco Field Division, stated in a phone interview that she believes regulations could help minimize gun violence, but that the problem is difficult to solve. “You can’t even buy a car without registering the car to another individual because they need to be responsible drivers, so why don’t we do that with a gun,” Dunkel said. “[However] every state has their own laws. Generational shifts in priorities have created a rift in thought among Americans. While 40 percent of Americans older than 50 own guns, just 26 percent of adults ages 18-26 do. Mathematics teacher Troy Thiele grew up in Wausau, Wisconsin, a state where 44.3 percent of households own at least one gun. “The concept of hunting is something that I’m very familiar with, and knowing or having friends that had guns in their household or their families were into hunting was just an everyday way of life,” Thiele said. “On some level, the perception of what I encountered was more egalitarian, in that I am familiar with people that were opposed to guns and people to whom guns were an important part of their everyday lives and that was okay. I grew up seeing both sides of the coin.” With the presidential race in full swing, candidates are expressing their concerns on gun control as it is currently a topic of great importance to voters amongst both parties. The response to this action from all sides of the political spectrum has highlighted the differences between Americans’ views on the importance of guns in our culture. Acknowledging this discord in a CNN town hall meeting two days after his announcement, Obama spoke of the difficulties
in coming to a mutual agreement on gun control. “Part of the reason I think that this ends up being such a difficult issue is because people occupy different realities,” he said. “There are a whole bunch of law-abiding citizens who have grown up hunting with their dad or going to the shooting range, and are responsible gun-owners, and then there’s the reality that there are neighborhoods around the country where it is easier for a 12 or a 13-year-old to purchase a gun and cheaper than it is for them to get a book.”
“There’s the reality that there are neighborhoods around the country where it is easier for a 12 or a 13-year-old to purchase a gun and cheaper than it is for them to get a book.” BARACK OBAMA COMMANDER-IN-CHIEF Newly appointed Speaker of the House of Representatives Paul Ryan is from Janesville, Wisconsin, a town that considers hunting and fishing an important pillar of local culture. The politician voiced his concerns with Obama’s view on guns. “From day one, the President has never respected the right to safe and legal gun ownership that our nation has valued since its founding,” Ryan said in a statement. Jasmine Liu (12), a member of Issues Discussion Club, believes that background checks could mitigate gun violence. “I think stricter background checks are absolutely necessary and just a common-sense response,” she said. “I think the biggest obstacle to this is un-
doubtedly gun lobbies and the powerful influence they have over politicians.” On the other side of this polarized issue, gun advocates point to the Constitution for support. “I believe that constitutionally-protected rights should stay that way, unless presented with real evidence and reasonable solutions to problems,” Dolan Dworak (10) said. Chemistry teacher Andrew Irvine participates in recreational skeet-shooting, a sport also featured in the Olympics, in which participants fire shotguns to break clay targets that have been shot into the air, believes that regulations are essential in preventing acts of violence. “I think that we shouldn’t go Australia from my perspective,” Irvine said, referring to that country’s tough gun laws. “In fact, I love going skeetshooting with my dad,” Irvine continued. “If a hobbyist is into it, they should be okay with background checks and extra measures.” While nearly everyone on both sides of the issue agrees more must be done to fix the gun violence epidemic, major rifts that continue to exist make the chance of clear and effective compromise unlikely any time soon. “Every state has their own laws,” Dunkel said. “California has some of the strictest gun laws, and yet we still see the violence, we still see the crime, so it’s a very tall order for anybody to figure out,” Dunkel said. Director of Journalism Ellen Austin, who grew up safely learning how to use firearms, believes that gun owners should not be able to buy assault rifles or other weapons traditionally used by the military. “Sometimes, as a culture, we all have to give up a little bit so that we can gain greatly, since that is, by definition, what a civilization does,” Austin said. “If we all give up a little for safety, I think we’ll all be healthier. I don’t think we need assault rifles in the bedroom to guarantee a safe America.”
“The gun lobby still has enormous power in Washington — more, frankly, than I thought they still had.” Sen. Chris Murphy Representative of Newtown
Roseburg, OR
294
mass shootings in 2015
Colorado Springs, CO
San Bernadino, CA
Chattanooga, TN
Charleston, SC
States with a ban on assault rifles
Notable mass shooting in 2015
Despite the recent use of firearms as weapons of violence, students and faculty can safely and responsibly fire them in recreational settings without harming others. “Not everyone who owns a gun is a crazy,” chemistry teacher and recreational skeet-shooter Andrew Irvine said. “I think that reasonable gun users should be okay with additional background checks.” Several firing ranges will require gun users to know a set of safety requirements listed in the National Rifle Association (NRA) Gun Safety Rules. “The NRA are really excellent at explaining the proper use of guns,” recreational gun enthusiast Alex Sikand (12) said. “I think they have a manual, and one range I went to made you kind of recite them, like the Ten Commandments.”
In order to minimize accidents and prevent injuries, the NRA recommends making sure that the gun is always pointed in whichever direction seems the safest. Nikhil Parmar (12), who first fired a weapon four years ago at a firing range, follows these protocols. He added that a gun should always be considered as if it is loaded and dangerous. “We first learned how to, of course, properly handle a gun, always treating a gun as if it is loaded, even if you know it isn’t,” Nikhil said. “That means not pointing it in any direction other than up or down. The NRA also recommends that firearm users keep their fingers off the trigger until they begin shooting, thereby avoiding misfires and safely using their weapons. Eagle Scout Naman Jindal (12), who has fired
SURVEY RESPONSES The Winged Post surveyed members of the Harker community about gun culture in America. Here are some of the results.
10 of 181 polled have owned or used a gun.
weapons as part of an optional Boy Scouts of America program, said that a large portion of firing a weapon is learning how to use it responsibly. “You have to complete a whole set of requirements involving gun safety and learning how to shoot accurately,” Naman said. Gun enthusiasts believe that even though one can remain safe and have fun when at a firing range, guns can be dangerous and should be handled safely according to the rules. “I think that responsible use at ranges can be fun,” Alex said. “They have recreational use, but that doesn’t change the fact that they are still extremely dangerous and they are still capable of killing you,” he said. “Most importantly, again, is to follow the rules.”
DONALD TRUMP • • •
•
��������
62.0
• •
Has openly called upon lawmakers to stand up to the NRA and to toughen gun laws Supports universal background checks Endorsed by congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords, a victim of the Tucson shooting in January 2011
SEN. TED CRUZ (TX) CRUZ MEDIA PAGE
Strongly Disagree Slightly Disagree Don't Agree Slightly Agree Strongly Agree
WIKIMEDIA
5.03
7.26
Wants to legalize open-carry in all states to promote self defense Thinks gun bans are “failures” and that Americans should be free to own firearms of their choice Supports mental health reform and federal background checks
SEC. HILLARY CLINTON
22.9
6.15
For more coverage about America’s gun culture, scan the QR code above or visit www. harkeraquila. com
Election 2016 The frontrunners’ stances
WIKIMEDIA
TAKING AIM Alex Sikand (12) prepares to fire at a target at a shooting range.
SHIV SIKAND
Responsible gun use: the other side of the story
• • •
Endorsed by Gun Owners of America chairman Tim Macy as a strong supporter of the second amendment Voted no on banning high capacity magazines over 10 bullets A+ rating from the NRA, supports background checks
Agree or Disagree: “The government should act to restrict the sale of guns in the U.S.”
SANDERS PRESS KIT
SEN. BERNIE SANDERS (VT) •
• •
Voted against the Brady Bill five times, which would have mandated background checks and a five day waiting period to purchase guns Supports assault weapon ban and closing the gun show loophole D- rating from the NRA
B6
VOLUME 17 • ISSUE 4 JANUARY 27, 2016
SPORTS
Varsity boys basketball maintains a winning record Team holds a 10-6 record mid-season Upper School Division head, Butch Keller believes that the most difficult teams to beat will be Sacred Heart and Pinewood, who are currently ranked first and second in the league respectively. “Sacred Heart and Pinewood are presenting the biggest problems for us right now, because they’re mostly seniors, and, quite frankly, Sacred Heart, they start four football players. They’re stronger, than we are, so that presents a problem for us but not one that, if we play well, we can’t overcome ” he said. The boys next game against Sacred Heart is on Tuesday in the Blackford gym at 6:30 p.m. Evan believes that defense has been the team’s greatest area of progress so far. “Our team defense has improved a lot, especially as there are some freshmen and new players to the varsity team who haven’t learned the defense system as we’ve been taught it,” he said. “They’ve really come along, now they understand our defense mentality.” The boys will play a total of 14 games this season, two against each team in the league, and the season ends on Feb. 19. Before the league season began, their record was 8-2, but the league games bring it to 10-6. Their next game is Friday at 7 p.m. in the Blackford gym against King’s Academy.
maya kumar & rithika devarakonda
MAYA KUMAR
ROSE GUAN
asst. features editor & reporter
MAYA KUMAR
BASKETBALL BOYS (TOP) Players jump ball to begin their away game against Monta Vista High. (LEFT) Roy Yuan (9) stands in the triple threat position and prepares to get the ball past the Pinewood defender. The varsity team lost that game 82-50. (RIGHT) Justin Jia (11) goes for a layup with his left hand against the Pinewood defenders.
Varsity boys basketball currently has a record of 1-4 in their league season, which began on on Jan. 5. They are ranked 6th out of 8 teams in the West Bay Basketball League. The team began the league season with three consecutive losses but won for the first time on Jan. 14 against Eastside College Preparatory . Varsity point guard Dhanush Madabusi (12) felt that the team’s main weakness is inconsistency due to overreliance on certain players. “Overall, I think our team works pretty well offensively,” he said. “There are a couple of our starters and key players that have been excelling, and I think if that we can get more people to put up some good stats, we’ll be much more successful.” Co-captain Evan Lohn (12), who has played basketball at Herker since he first came in his freshman year, comments on the team’s best points. “Probably our greatest strength is our passing- I think we generally hit our target for number of assists per game. When we’re at our best, we move around a lot, like the Golden State Warriors, and getting good shots for three-pointshooters.” The team’s coach and the
Girls basketball additions: Kailee Gifford and Joelle Anderson join the team aneesha kumar
reporter
reporter
ANEESHA KUMAR
ANEESHA KUMAR
brian park
VARSITY GIRLS Jennifer Hayashi (9) goes for a shot against the opposing team.
VARSITY SOCCER Connor O’Neill (12) dribbles to the opposing side during a match.
The boys varsity basketball team are 1-4 in League and 9-6 overall with one league victory against Eastside College Prep, and nonleague victories against Redwood Christian, Greenfield, More, Homestead, Summit Shasta, Silver Creek, Hill and Lynbrook. The team’s last game was Crystal Springs on Jan. 22.
Harker’s boys varsity soccer team is 3-1 in league matches with wins against Sacred Heart Prep, Crystal Springs Uplands and Eastside College Prep and a loss against Menlo. Freshman Jared Anderson leads the team with three goals. The team’s next game will be on Wednesday, Jan. 27 at Woodside Priory.
Wrestling
14-4
0-8-1
ASHLEY JIANG
ANJAY SAKLECHA
MAYA VALLURU
Girls Basketball
Girls Soccer
5-4-1
10-6
sports challenging. However, Joelle pointed out the positive points to playing more than one sport. “We run a lot in soccer, so that definitely helps me in basketball when we do conditioning, so I can keep up with everyone,” Joelle said. Currently, Joelle, a point guard, has played 11 games so far, with an average of 14.2 points, 1.2 rebounds per game, and 1.4 steals per game. Joelle has had a successful season so far, and helped the team win 52-37 on Jan. 8 against The King’s Academy by scoring 20 points. She plans to continue playing basketball next year.
GIRLS SOCCER Stephanie Scaglia (10) defends against an opponent during a match.
Girls’ soccer is currently 0-7-1 overall, 0-3 in league. The team is mostly composed of underclassmen, with only one senior on the team, Layla Walker. The team will face Sacred Heart on Friday, Jan 29.
0-3
BOYS BBALL Roy Yuan (9) attempts to pass the ball to Jadan McDermott (10).
Girls’ basketball has welcomed a new head coach and assistant coach in Tomas Thompson and Dan Pringle, respectively. The team has also brought in some new players, including soccer players Kailee Gifford and Joelle Anderson. The team is currently 14-3 overall and 3-0 in league. The team will face King’s Academy in a home game on Jan. 29th.
ALEXANDER WANG
Boys Soccer
Boys Basketball
Joelle has some prior practice with basketball, and felt it would be interesting to come back to playing this season. In 2011, Joelle was a key player in leading the grade 6 girls basketball team to victory. Being a part of the basketball team requires great deal of dedication and hardwork. The team practices for two hours, five days a week. “It’s been really fun. I enjoy the coaches this year. The new coaches are really great and our team is really awesome,” Joelle said. Due to the need to constantly juggle schedules between two sports, some find playing multiple
sions. “I go to one or two soccer practices a week,” Kailee said. “[In total, they’re] around 10 to12 hours [a week.]” Kailee’s experience as a soccer player allowed her to quickly adapt to basketball. “I think it’s beneficial, because I can see how finesse in soccer can translate to finesse in basketball,” Kailee said. Kailee intends to continue basketball until the end of the next season.
ROSE GUAN
Although Kailee had no previous experience in basketball, she opted to play in order to continue playing club soccer. As a soccer player, Kailee plays with the De Anza Force Soccer Club as a defender. “There’s a rule where you can’t play club soccer if you play high school soccer,” Kailee said. “I decided to play basketball this year, so that I can play club soccer at the same time.” Kailee currently plays as a small forward, with a total of 12 games played, and has a mean of 2.8 points per game, 0.2 rebounds per game, and 0.2 steals per game. While keeping up with the basketball team’s busy schedule, Kailee manages to fit in soccer practice ses-
GET SET... GO! Anthony Cook (11) prepares to start his match against his Saratoga opponent.
Boys wrestling is currently 0-3 in league, with losses in matches against Los Altos, Saratoga, and Santa Clara. As the other teams are all larger than the Harker team, the extra players are granted forfeits, which puts the Harker team at a disadvantage. Harker wrestlers Anthony Contreras and Davis Howard are currently undefeated in league, and Davis is ranked 18th in CCS.
B7
VOLUME 17 • ISSUE 4 JANUARY 27, 2016
Wrestlers lose first three meets, look to win against Milpitas High at home
MEET #1 1/7 Los Altos 30 - 66
JUSTIN SU
justin su & alex wang
MEET #2
The Varsity wrestling team started off their season wrestling Los Altos and Santa Clara at home, and Saratoga away. So far the boys have attended three meets and two tournaments. The Los Altos meet happened on Jan. 7, with the boys losing 30-66, the Saratoga meet happened on Jan. 14th, which also lost 24-42, and the Santa Clara meet happened January 20th. In the Los Altos meet, two boys won and the other five lost, while five boys won at the Saratoga meet and three boys lost. During the Los Altos meet, Anthony Contreras (10), who wrestles in the 152 lb weight class, and Davis Howard (11), who wrestled as a heavyweight, won by pinning their opponents. Davis, threw his opponent multiple times onto the mat during the match. “It felt great to throw that guy because it’s not a usual thing that happens in the heavyweight weight class,” Davis said. “When I felt that he was light, I took advantage of the opportunity and threw him.” At the Saratoga meet, Anthony and Davis again won their matches in the 152 lb and 285 lb weight classes, respectively. Kobe Howard (9), Danny Reidenbach (11), and Diego Figueroa (11) also won against their opponents in the 126 lb, 170 lb, and 145 lb weight class-
ALEXANDER WANG
24 - 42 1/14 Saratoga
asst. sports editor & reporter
MEET #3
JUSTIN SU
1/20 Santa Clara 36 - 66
PINNED DOWN (MEET 1) Anthony Contreras (10) pins his Los Altos opponent during the first period. (MEET 2) Shikhar Solanki (10) tries to finish the match by pinning both of his opponent’s shoulder blades onto the ground. (MEET 3) Danny Reidenbach (11) pulls his opponent back in, who is trying to escape from being pinned.
es. Anthony, Diego, and Danny were able to win their matches with pins. “I’ve learned that I gotta keep my head up so I don’t get snapped down and easily pinned. I’ve been working on that in practice and in my matches and staying strong overall. ” Shikhar Solanki (10), who wrestles in the 137 lb weight class, said. “My most effective move, especially in my last match, [was] my double [takedown] as I throw my opponent’s arm over my head and take them down.”
“It felt great to throw that guy because it’s not a usual thing that happens in the heavyweight weight class.” DAVIS HOWARD HEAVYWEIGHT WRESTLER Although the Harker wrestlers won more matches than Saratoga, they lost the meet because they were forced to forfeit some matches due to their lack of enough wrestlers to pair up with everyone on the Saratoga team. The team most recently had a meet with Santa Clara, winning one match and losing four. Both Anthony and Davis were had forfeits by the other
Student skiers fly through California snow during break adrian chu & ria gupta reporters
With its close proximity to a wide selection of ski resorts, the Bay Area has developed its own ski and snowboarding culture. “The culture is really lively and very community based with people going out in huge groups of friends having fun on the slopes,” Aman Ahluwalia (10) said. The Ski Trip hosted by Harker’s Spirit Club was canceled. “There weren’t enough people signed up to do the ski trip and give us reason to provide chaperones, ” said Mr. Kallbrier. “If [the spirit club leadership team] get enough interest from the general student population, I am sure that they would offer [the ski trip next year]. It’s all about what people want.”
Ski vacations were especially popular during the winter of 2015-2016 due to consistent above-average snowfall and milder temperatures.
“The culture is really lively and very community based with people going out in huge groups of friends having fun on the slopes.” AMAN ALHUWALIA SOPHOMORE SKIER “We went during a snowstorm over break, but it was still more crowded that the last time I went. I go skiing once every two years,” Randy Zhao (10) said. “It was a fun experience, and a lot of my friends really enjoy skiing.
Even some people who are new to it find enjoyment in skiing. We see ski trips as a chance to get closer together as friends.” The Tahoe basin began with six to ten inches of snow, but during December, snow levels rose to as high as fourteen to eighteen inches in Dodge Ridge and Bear Valley. El Nino storms brought plenty of fresh snow according to the OnTheSnow snow report. “I go skiing every month or so during snow season and frequently during breaks,” Oliver Doig (9) said, “I enjoy skiing, but I get tired after hours of constant downhill.” Snow conditions and temperatures will continue to be favorable for ski vacations with historically larger volumes of snow in January, February and March and mild temperatures.
team, giving them automatic wins. Danny was the only wrestler to win, pinning his opponent in the third period. “I think today’s match for me personally was good, no one can feel bad after a win,” Danny said. “I was sick in the beginning of the year and I was out all of last year with an injury, so I lost my first match, but since then I’ve been working during practice and getting better and these past couple ones have been pretty good for me personally. Throughout the season, the boys have attended two tournaments so far. Davis has placed 4th in the Cupertino varsity tournament and 5th at the Jim Root tournament at Prospect, while Kobe and Diego placed 4th and 3rd respectively at the Cupertino junior varsity tournament. “I am currently undefeated in league, however, I am struggling in the varsity tournaments because of how experienced and stronger the juniors and seniors that partake in these tournaments are,” Anthony said. “But I’m sure I’ll get better as the season continues; while I’m confident in my endurance and strength, I still need to improve on my technique.” The team is now preparing for an away meet at Milpitas on Jan. 28.
FAST FACTS: upper school skiers
26% of upper
schoolers ski often
35% of them skied
during winter break
59% of our skiers learned
how to ski between the ages 5 and 7
KAVYA RAMAKRISHNAN
PHOTO PROVIDED BY OLIVER DOIG
SKI TRIP Eleanor Xiao and her friends pose on a skiing trip they went to earlier this year.
SKI TIME (LEFT) Freshman Oliver Doig and (RIGHT) senior Kavya Ramakrishnan and her sister go skiing in snowy mountains in California during break this year.
PHOTO PROVIDED BY ELEANOR XIAO
SPORTS
B8
BACK PAGE
VOLUME 17 • ISSUE 4 JANUARY 27, 2016
TOUCHDOWN!
TRISHA DWIVEDI
Super Bowl 50 heads to Santa Clara
zachary hoffman & justin su reporter & asst. sports editor
A year before the completion of Levi’s Stadium in 2014, The City of Santa Clara and The NFL have been preparing for Super Bowl 50, taking place Feb. 7, 2016. Joanne Pasternack, Vice President for Community Relations for the 49ers and a Harker parent, organized special community projects in lieu of the Super Bowl.
“Thousands of kids from under-resourced schools will have an opportunity to come experience [the NFL experience] event for free.” JOANNE PASTERNACK COMMUNITY RELATIONS PRESIDENT FOR THE 49ers
ALL PHOTOS BY TRISHA DWIVEDI
SUPER LOCAL (INSET) Architects laid out the Super Bowl 50 poster on the parking lot across the street from Levi’s Stadium. This parking lot will only be able to seat a couple hundred out of the thousands of attendees. (TOP) A picture of the Lombardi trophy is hung on the side of the stadium. The team who wins the Super Bowl will receive this trophy.
BRONCOS
PANTHERS
VS
“Broncos! Because my favorite 49ers player Vernon Davis got traded there, and I hope he and Peyton Manning get to win a Lombardi.”
COMEDY CENTRAL
“One of the exciting things about having the world really focusing its attention here on Silicon Valley as we go into Super Bowl 50 is that we have the opportunity to bring national, international nonprofits into the Bay Area to do some tremendous community work and to help with the under-resourced or underserved in some way in our community,” Pasternack said. With a projected four million dollars available to the community, Super Bowl 50 will be the most philanthropic Super Bowl in history. They will be working with upcoming programs which include KaBOOM!, a one day playground construction in association with ESPN and Disney, a Valley Christian
facilitated flag football game, marking the inauguration of flag football in the Northern California Special Olympics, Wounded Warriors, and quite a few schools throughout the Bay Area and many others. “One thing that’s really important to distinguish,” Pasternack said, “is that it’s separate from the 49ers but I do serve on the legacy grant committee. The 49ers have certainly had a voice in helping to determine allocation of those grants, but, ultimately, that is coming from the Super Bowl 50 host committee and from the legacy grant committee.” The KaBOOM! will take place Tuesday, Feb. 2, from 8 a.m. to 3 p.m., and, later that day, the flag football match starts at 7 p.m. The hotel prices around the Levi Stadium area have also had a dramatic increase in prices. Hyatt Regency Hotel Santa Clara, which usually has rooms starting around 300 dollars a night, have increased their prices four-fold to 1200 dollars a night during the Super Bowl weekend. There are over 60 community based events in the ten days leading into Super Bowl 50. “Throughout the week, there will be lots and lots of different events,” Pasternack said. “For example the ‘NFL Experience’ which is up in San Francisco: we have a kid’s day up there where there will be thousands of kids from under-resourced schools who will have an opportunity to come experience that for free.” There will also be special events for military, families in need, Make-A-Wish, and others. “I think it’s exciting that we are able be so close to such a big event that the entire nation watches,” Aman Ahluwalia (10) said. “It’s cool that we have the opportunity to go there, and I’ll definitely be watching it.”
TRISHA DWIVEDI (11) WINGED POST SPORTS EDITOR
“The panthers have a really good chance of winning especially because despite the broncos defense being pretty good they have some weaknesses in the secondary.” SHREYAS CHANDRASEKHARAN (10) BREWING STORM These new structures were built in the parking lot between Levi’s Stadium and Great America for the pre-game tailgate parties.
The Matchups
Wildcard
Wildcard
Steelers
Seahawks Steelers
Bengals
AFC Texans
Broncos
Broncos
Panthers
50 Patriots
Seahawks Vikings Panthers
SB
Patriots Chiefs
Broncos
Panthers
Cardinals Cardinals
NFC Redskins
Packers
Packers
Chiefs GRAPHIC BY VIGNESH PANCHANATHAM