WINGED POST FRIDAY, NOV. 20, 2015 | THE HARKER UPPER SCHOOL STUDENT NEWSPAPER, VOL. 17, NO. 3
| www.harkeraquila.com
NEW ATTACKS KINDLE SOLIDARITY
Arrive Alive steers students to safety
In wake of ISIS strikes on major cities, students communicate unity, support
kshithija mulam news editor
Students had the opportunity to experience a virtual driving simulation when the Arrive Alive tour visited the upper school campus on the basketball courts outside Rosenthal Field on Wednesday. The driving simulation intended to reproduce the effects of driving under the influence or driving while texting.
Spirit to host beach clean-up, hang-out meena gudapati & ria gupta
copy editor & reporter
Spirit club will host an open community beach hangout and service trip at Santa Cruz tomorrow. The bus will leave from the upper school campus at 2:30 p.m., and will return around 9 p.m. Activities at the beach include making food, cooking smores and having a bonfire.
KSHITHIJA MULAM & ELISABETH SIEGEL
JUMP FOR JOY Liana Wang (11) leaps during a varsity dance routine at the Santana Row tree lighting ceremony.
NICOLE CHEN
Performing arts light up Santana Row
aneesha kumar & ruhi sayana reporters
Dazzling visitors to Santana Row with an hour long performance, the Varsity dance troupe, JV dance troupe, Kinetic Krew and Downbeat performed at the Santana Row Tree Lighting Ceremony on Tuesday. Santana Row celebrates the holiday season annually with the Tree Lighting Ceremony which includes a variety of performances and the lighting of a 40-foot Christmas tree. Kinetic Krew had their first performance, dancing to a dubstepped version of “Jingle Bells.” This is the first allboys dance team at Harker. It was created this year to give male dancers the opportunity to be part of a dance troupe. “It’s nice, considering that before we didn’t have a high school dance team for boys, but now we do, and I enjoy it,” Timothy Wang (9), a member of Kinetic Krew, said. The JV dance troupe performed routines to the Christmas classic “Let it Snow” by Michael Buble and Lady Gaga’s hit “Applause.” Downbeat prepared an up-tempo jazz routine of “It’s beginning to look a lot like Christmas” and a jazz rendition of “Deck the Halls.” The Varsity dance troupe performed a swingy jazz number to an upbeat big band version of “Jingle Bells.”
Choral concert, A2
HEART TO HEART Timothy Wang (9) makes a heart to paste onto the French National Honor Society board to show solidarity. Around 129 people were killed and 352 people were injured in Paris last Friday.
kshithija mulam & raveena kapatkar & meena gudapati news editor & Aquila news editor & copy editor
Paris, Beirut and Baghdad faced terrorist attacks last week, killing hundreds of people and wounding hundreds more in bomb explosions and hostage crises. Approximately 129 people were killed and 352 are injured in Paris. Men with assault rifles attacked people at the Bataclan theater and took survivors hostage. The second coordinated attack took place at the Stade de France, a stadium where a soccer match between France and Germany was taking place. Shooters conducted the third attack at various restaurants in central Paris. The Islamic State group has claimed responsibility for all three attacks in Paris. “I don’t know anybody who
Mizzou & Yale, A4
died in these attacks,” Upper school French teacher Galina Tchourilova said. “But I do take it very personally. Because this attack is not just on the French people or the Parisian people, it is an attack on humanity.” Bérengère Foulquier, who lives about one kilometer from Bataclan, commented on the environment in Paris after the attacks.
[In Paris] there is an atmosphere of rebellion, and because of that, the roads aren’t empty. BÉRENGÈRE FOULQUIER PARIS RESIDENT “We went to work Monday, and there [was] a very particular ambience,” she said in an interview translated from French. “That is to say that people [were] a bit gloomy. Because Paris is mostly inhabited
College Counseling, B1
by youth, there is an atmosphere of rebellion and the roads aren’t empty.” In addition to terrorist attacks in Paris, Baghdad and Beirut faced turmoil on Friday. A double suicide bombing in a Shiite residential area in southern Beirut killed at least 43 people and injured at least 200, according to the Lebanese Health Ministry. The Islamic State has also claimed responsibility for this attack. In Baghdad, an Islamic State militant allegedly self-detonated a bomb at the funeral of a Shiite pro-government fighter, killing at least 18 people and wounding 41. To commemorate the Paris attacks, various countries around the world lit up buildings and monuments with the French flag. Facebook created a filter of the French flag that users could place on their profile pictures to show support. Some felt that the Paris attacks were getting more atten-
Fall sports make CCS, B5
tion in comparison to the Beirut and Baghdad bombings. “I understand why [the West] is more acknowledged and more well-known because it’s Paris, but I find it a little disrespectful that Beirut, where these same acts of terror are happening, is going unrecognized,” Matthew Hajjar (9), whose family is from Lebanon, said. Middle school French teacher Denise Sorkin believes that the amount of attention that Paris is receiving is reasonable because of America’s connection to France. “Many people in this country have a very personal relationship with the city of Paris; [the attack] strikes a nerve in a much more personal way than most,” she said. To support those affected, French National Honor Society (FNHS) posted heart-shaped notes onto a board, and Upper School students wore black yesterday. Additional reporting by Melina Nakos
LGBTQIA+, B10
A2
NEWS
VOLUME 17 • ISSUE 3 NOVEMBER 20, 2015
Choir groups sing at Fall Concert
“Repertoire choices for that particular concert are really educational as much as they are programmatic.” JENNIFER SANDUSKY BEL CANTO DIRECTOR Titled “I Dream a World,” the concert centered around songs from the Western Hemisphere. The five groups performed an eclectic selection of music, which ranged in genre from classical and jazz to folk and gospel. Jennifer Sandusky, director of Bel Canto, commented on how she selected Bel Canto’s repertoire. “I was looking specifically at pieces to build Bel Canto’s technical vocabulary as a choir, so certain building skills like rhythmic challenges in one piece and to build their listening skills I picked a folk song that was pretty challenging to work on blend and vowels,” Sandusky said. “Repertoire choices for that particular concert are really educational as much as they are programmatic.” For the third number, Camerata joined Bel Canto onstage
KSHITHIJA MULAM
Upper school performance ensembles Acoustics, Bel Canto, Camerata, Cantilena and Guys’ Gig performed in the upper school’s annual fall choral concert on Nov. 12 from 7 p.m. to 9 p.m. in Nichols Auditorium. The concert began with a performance from Bel Canto with its rendition of American folk song “Down in the Valley,” followed by Canadian folk song “Rattle on the Stovepipe.”
to sing André Thomas’ “I Dream A World.” Sandusky commented on how the piece developed over time through the rehearsal and the actual performance. “The piece started off pretty shaky because they really didn’t have that much rehearsal time on it,” Sandusky said. “We worked on a lot of things like listening and intonation and just bringing out the emotional impact behind the words of that particular piece.” Camerata then performed “Shenandoah,” followed by the debut performance of Acoustics singing Arthur Herzog, Jr. and Billie Holliday’s “God Bless the Child.” Guys’ Gig sang the acapella version of Max Martin and Lukasz Gottwald’s “Since U Been Gone” and “Up on the Roof” by Gerry Goffin and Carole King. For its first number, Cantilena performed “Run, Children, Run,” a gospel piece which the choir also performed during the upper school’s matriculation ceremony. Alto Priyanka Chilukuri (11), who first performed with Cantilena at the matriculation ceremony, described the group’s progression in an interview before the performance. “We have been rehearsing since school started so the song has improved a lot,” Priyanka said. The concert closed with Cantilena’s renditions of American folk song spiritual “Punching the Dough,” Iroquois soundscape “Watane,” Daniel Gawthrop’s “Sing Me to Heaven” and Sue Johnson’s “Sister My Sister.” The ensembles will perform next on Dec. 11 in the annual Holiday show, during which they will perform on all three campuses. The performing arts department will hold the Spring choral concert next April.
KSHITHIJA MULAM
tara parimi aquila managing editor
KSHITHIJA MULAM
Camerata, Guys’ Gig and Acoustics give first performances of the year during “I Dream a World” in Nichols Auditorium
BACK TO BLACK (TOP) Cantilena members Sahana Narayanan (12), Naomi Molin (12), Rachel Renteria (12), Sara Pachauri (11) and Amrita Singh (11) perform “Run, Children, Run,” an African-American spiritual song. (BOTTOM LEFT) Junior Ashwin Rao of Guys’ Gig sings “Since U Been Gone” written by Max Martin and Lukasz Gottwald. (BOTTOM RIGHT) Maxwell (MC) Smitherman (12) from Acoustics rehearses “God Bless the Child” by Arthur Herzog, Jr. and Billie Holiday. Acoustics, Bel Canto, Camerata, Cantilena and Guys’ Gig all performed in the first choral concert of the year, “I Dream a World,” on Nov. 12 in Nichols Auditorium.
Upper school chess team takes on Monta Vista
Challenging the champions
PIZZA AND PAJAMAS Zahra Budhwani (11) and her Eagle Buddy enjoy pizza together in pajamas during their last Eagle Buddy meeting during the last academic year. The juniors reunited with their Eagle Buddies for the first time this year yesterday.
Juniors meet Eagle Buddies shania wang reporter
The juniors met with their fourth grade Eagle Buddies yesterday at the Bucknall campus for the first time this school year. In previous years, the Eagle Buddies worked on a community service project during their time together. “This year, it’s going to be getting reacquainted, seeing them again for the first time and playing games,” said Upper School Eagle Buddy coordinator and math teacher Jane Keller. Keller also expressed her excitement at seeing juniors with their buddies. “I like watching them run around the field and play tag and be a little bit childish, which they kind of lose when they grow up,” Keller said. David Zhu(11) looked forward to seeing his buddy grow. “It allows high school students to relax and enjoy youth and not be caught up with all their studies,” David said. The next visit for the Class of 2017 and the Class of 2024 will be Jan. 8.
business manager & reporter
The upper school chess team lost 2.5 to 4.5 to Monta Vista on Nov. 12 in a fastpaced, team-based match. Harker’s score is the closest score to Monta Vista’s than any match that they have played in the past three years. Both Harker and Monta Vista are part of the Santa Clara County Chess League, along with Saratoga, Lynbrook, Leigh and Cupertino. Each school participates in five matches, each consisting of between four and seven boards. “Though it’s informal and CHECKMATE Evan Lohn (12) and Ananya Krishnan (10) face off with their opponents during a chess match against Monta Vista High. The upper school chess team lost to last year’s National HS champion Monta Vista. rather quick--45 minutes per side--this match is one of few Both Vignesh and Richard won tured, opening the h-file and management was horrid and I chances this year to show our their respective games. Evan attacking the h2 pawn, which had three minutes to [my opstrength as a team, for chess drew with his opponent, and was only guarded by my king. I ponent’s] 25 minutes,” Michael tournaments are usually individ- Michael, Shaunak, Rohan and let that threat go, which was a said. “Well, I was still holding Ananya lost. huge mistake,” Ananya said. “I my own, but then I lost the Throughout the school then simplified the position even thread completely.” year, the players practiced by more, making it easier for him Michael added, however, reading books, participating in to focus his queen and rook on that he enjoyed the experience other tournaments and playing h2 since I had traded off all my as an opportunity to play casuonline. minor pieces.” ally against a rival school. The team has a new selecIn other games, tenacity “I thought the match was tion of skilled players this year. and maintaining composure very well-organized overall. It Vignesh, who is nationally were the key to victory. was a pity that the time control ranked in the top 10 in the 16 “I ended up getting a very was so short - I’d rather have and under division, defeated a good position and slowly out- more time to think than just 45 U.S. top 10 player, Varuzhan played him by forcing him to minutes,” Michael said. “Even Akobian, in the first round of defend his pawns, but I erred so, the entire experience was the Millionaire Open. Michael and lost a lot of my advan- very good.” is nationally-ranked in the top tage,” Vignesh said. “Eventually Monta Vista defended the MICHAEL WANG (9) 15 for 14 and unders, and Rich- I reached a slightly rook better National High School title easily UPPER SCHOOL CHESS TEAM ard is in the top percentile of endgame, but at this point, we last year, with two players, Kejuniors in the country. Shaunak both had less than one min- sav Viswanadha and Cameron PLAYER has gained approximately 100 ute left on the clock. The piec- Wheeler, in the top five of the ual sports,” chess club president rating points over the last three es were flying, and I reached a country for their respective age months. Mistakes in the evalua- winning position before my op- groups. This match concluded Richard Yi (12) said. league play, and the chess team Richard, Evan Lohn (12), tion of chances cost the games ponent’s clock ran out.” of some Harker competitors. Others were hindered by plans to travel to Atlanta from Vignesh Panchanatham (10), “I think that on move 10 time pressure, leaving them April 1 through 3 to compete in Michael Wang (9), Shaunak Mawas where I messed up since I with lower chances to find optithe National High School Chamruvada (9), Rohan Desikan (12) thought he would castle and mal continuations. pionships. and Ananya Krishnan (10) comtook the bishop and he recap“Unfortunately, my time peted as the upper school team.
STANLEY ZHAO
KSHITHIJA MULAM
stanley zhao & shania wang
“I thought the match was very wellorganized overall. It was a pity that the time control was so short — I’d rather have more time to think than just 45 minutes. “
NEWS
A3
VOLUME 17 • ISSUE 3 NOVEMBER 20, 2015
Four teams advance at Presentation Invitational vignesh panchanatham & tiffany wong
“How did you feel about your performance at the tournament in general, and what do you think you could improve on?”
reporters
The Women in Science, Technology, Engineering and Math (WiSTEM) club hosted club week this week, organizing activities to promote awareness of gender disparities in STEM. The club’s fundraising proceeds will support the Women’s Institute of Secondary Education & Research (WISER), an organization that provides healthcare and education to girls in rural Kenya. Club members sold Fantasia pearl milk tea after school on Monday and Thursday, hot chocolate and brownies during Tuesday extra help and cake pops during lunch on Wednesday. They also hosted an interactive bulletin board on Monday, a photo booth with interviews on Wednesday and a Name the Scientist game on Friday. Amy Jin (10), an outreach officer for the club, spoke about
ALEXANDER LAM (11)
SANDRA BERKOWITZ PUBLIC FORUM COACH
over its national interests.” “I think given the situation with the Syrian refugees as well as the timing of the topic, you have to have an understanding of the Syrian situation,” said
her experiences with both the club and WiSTEM in general. “The experience has generally been really great. We talk a lot about the STEM area and also empowering women in STEM and helping internationally as well,” Amy said. “This is really inspiring and a great cause to support.” Anita Chetty, club founder and co-advisor as well as science department chair, commented on the club’s goals and how they related to its choice of charity. “We felt that this particular initiative aligned very closely with WiSTEM’s mission, which is to promote, on a local and a global level, the participation of women in education and STEM programs,” Chetty said. WiSTEM events in the upcoming year include the annual Harker Research Symposium, tutoring with lower and middle school girls at the Rocketship Sí Se Puede Academy in San Jose and STEM Buddies sessions with Harker preschoolers. In previous years’ club weeks, WiSTEM has supported the American Diabetes Association and the Children’s Club at St. Elizabeth’s Hospital in Tanzania.
WISER WOMEN Anooshree Sengupta (10) and Jacqueline He (10) sell pearl milk tea as part of WiSTEM’s club week. WiSTEM organized activities and sold treats this week in order to raise money for WISER.
TIFFANY WONG
Sandra Berkowitz, the Harker public forum debate coach. “Unfortunately, there are many other examples of refugee issues, so I think that you have to be wellversed in Syria, but there are other areas and groups as well.” While debaters are not competing, they usually revise their cases, hold mock debates with their teammates and rehearse their cases with a wall as their audience. Competitors between rounds can be seen consulting their coaches and working to improve. “I think that one of the benefits of public forum debate is that the skills that you cultivate are very real-world,” Berkowitz said. The team will travel to Glenbrooks High School in Chicago to compete at The Glenbrooks from Nov. 20 to 23.
TIFFANY WONG
“I think that one of the benefits of public forum debate is that the skills that you cultivate are very realworld.”
JASMINE LIU (12)
TIFFANY WONG
fire between the teams. The topic for the month of November is “Resolved: In response to the current crises, governments should prioritize humanitarian needs of refugees
TIFFANY WONG
CRITICAL ISSUES Public forum debaters Sorjo Banerjee (12) and Abhinav Ketineni (12) prepare for the first round of the tournament in the practice room. Abhinav’s team advanced to the octofinal round of the tournament, while Sorjo’s team advanced to the finals.
topic was really interesting because it’s very pertinent to what’s happening right now. I guess what we did well is researching and having a good hold of the arguments, which is always nice for debate.” “The performance has been great so far; I think both me and my partner have improved. This is our first year being partners, so we didn’t come to this tournament together before, but I think we’ve both done well together.” EESHA CHONA (12)
“I think our performance was really good because this is my first tournament back from a long time, so I’m pretty satisfied with how we did. I’m really excited because I think I have a good partnership. I felt mostly prepared.” ERIC TRAN (10)
Back to business DECA attends the first non-competitive conference of the year michael sikand reporter
The Upper School’s DECA chapter attended the organization’s Leadership and Competitive Excellence Conference (LACE) from Nov. 13 to 15 at the Doubletree Hilton in San Jose. DECA students belonging to various Bay Area chapters congregated at the Doubletree Hilton to acquire professional skills, learn competitive excellence and participate in workshops involving a range of topics in the realm of entrepreneurship and finance.
“I strongly encourage all freshmen to come to our other events to get on a path to business literacy.”
DOLAN DWORAK (10) ASSISTANT EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR OF HARKER DECA In addition to learning about business topics, students had the opportunity to attend a dance, socialize with attendees and watch a fashion show. Though not a competitive conference, LACE provides students with skills needed to fare successfully in DECA contests. Juston Glass, Harker DECA chapter advisor and director of the Business and Entrepreneurship department, spoke about what students learn at the conference.
ENTERING ENTREPRENEURSHIP Feature keynote speaker Guy Kawasaki, former chief evangelist of Apple, addresses students about tips for success at LACE on Saturday morning. LACE was the upper school chapter’s first non-competitive conference of the year.
“Students learn how to network in a professional environment with people in industries such as fashion, hospitality, finance and marketing,” he said. According to chapter CEO, Sophia Luo (12), Harker DECA now includes over 120 active members and is extremely popular among all classes, particularly freshmen. LACE serves as a perfect opportunity for new members to acquaint themselves with a conference environment. Dolan Dworak (10), assistant executive director of Harker DECA, spoke about the advantages of attending the event. “I strongly encourage all freshmen to come to our other events to get on a path to business literacy,” he said. Saturday morning kicked off with a feature keynote by Guy Kawasaki, former chief
MICHAEL SIKAND
rose guan & shania wang
“Overall, we need to work on appealing to the common person. Joyce and I felt prepared, but I can’t speak for the whole Harker team.”
“I think the Syrian refugee crisis
VIJAY BHARADWAJ
WiSTEM hosts club week for WISER
TIFFANY WONG
reporters
The upper school debate team traveled to Presentation High School in San Jose to compete at the statewide Presentation Public Forum Invitational on Nov. 13 and 14. Sixteen students from Harker attended the competition. The event had six preliminary rounds, and debaters with a winning record of four wins and two losses advanced to the octofinal rounds. Seniors Sorjo Banerjee, Eesha Chona, Suraj Jagadeesh, Abhinav Ketineni, Jasmine Liu, Aarti Kheskani and Shivali Minocha; juniors Joyce Huang, Alexander Lam, Emaad Raghib, Priyanka Taneja and Anuva Mittal and sophomores Emily Chen, Karena Kong, Amy Jin and Eric Tran attended the tournament. Abhinav and Jasmine advanced to the octofinal round of the tournament, Emily and Karena advanced to the quarterfinals, Suraj and Emaad were semifinalists and Sorjo and Eesha were finalists. “We both felt like we were very well prepared. I think for what to improve on, maybe not stressing out about the results because everything works out,” Eesha said. At debate tournaments, in addition to team rankings, every individual speaker is awarded points by judges in each round for their speaking skills. Sorjo, Suraj and Alexander placed sixth, ninth and tenth, respectively, in speaker points at the tournament. “I felt that my performance in the tournament was decent and solid overall, but I would say the thing that most Harker teams need to improve on is appealing to the community judges because we’re more oriented to the flow judges,” Alexander said. “Overall, we need to work on appealing to the common person.” Public forum is a two-person team debate event in which participants research a specific topic in order to argue either the affirmative or the negative position of the resolution. Each team receives 12 minutes of speaking time total, with an additional nine minutes available for cross-
evangelist of Apple and pronounced businessman in the valley. He gave a presentation regarding tips for success in the business world, including the importance of mutual agreement and compassion in any professional situation. Students also participated in workshops that addressed marketing, financial services, entrepreneurship, hospitality and competitive events included in future DECA competitions. The last day of the conference finished off with a breakfast, a keynote by businessman Tarun Galagali, a conference flashback and closing words from the Silicon Valley DECA leadership team. Coming out of LACE, Harker DECA is ready to compete at the upcoming Silicon Valley Conference this January.
BY THE NUMBERS COLLEGE AND RACE
STATS FROM 2014 ENROLLMENT, MAY NOT ADD UP TO 100% DUE TO ROUNDING
University of Missouri, Missouri
79% White 8% Black 3% Hispanic 3% Multiracial 2% Asian <1% Native American <1% Pacific Islander
Yale University, Connecticut
72% White *Yale students who reported multiple races were counted once in each category
20% Asian 9% Hispanic 9% Black 2% Native American <1% Pacific Islander
Stanford University, California
43% White 23% Asian 13% Hispanic 9% Black 4% Multiracial 2%Native American 1% Pacific Islander
Bowie State, Maryland
87% Black 3% Hispanic 3% White 3% Multiracial 1% Asian <1% Native American <1% Pacific Islander
Claremont McKenna, California
42% White 14% Hispanic 10% Asian 7% Pacific Islander 6% Multiracial 4% Black <1% Native American
#CONCERN
Campus protests gain traction across the nation sahana srinivasan kaitlin hsu michael sikand kavya ramakrishnan asst. STEM editor & Aquila features editor & managing editor & reporter
Amidst allegations of administrators failing to address racial concerns, universities across the nation, most notably the University of Missouri and Yale University, have become centers of student protests regarding the treatment of students of color in the past few weeks. Racial tensions began to boil over in September at the University of Missouri when Student President Payton Head shared an experience of racism on campus in a Facebook post, describing an incident in which unidentified people yelled racial slurs at him. Over the weeks following his post, university administration left multiple protests and other racially charged incidents unaddressed. On Oct. 20, the group at the heart of the protests, Concerned Student 1950, named after the year the university began accepting African-American students, demanded that University of Missouri President Tim Wolfe step down for not appropriately addressing student concerns. Wolfe continued to remain silent, not meeting with members of Concerned Student 1950 until Oct. 26 and waiting until Nov. 6 to issue an apology for his inaction. “In my opinion, this is black students on campus finally saying enough is enough, we have to do something to make this better,” Mark Janda, history teacher and University of Missouri alumnus (‘92), said. On Nov. 2, University of Missouri graduate student Jonathan Butler began a hunger strike, vowing to resume eating only after Wolfe’s resignation. Six days later, the University of Missouri football team, supported by coach Gary Pinkel, announced they would not participate in any practices or games until Wolfe resigned. The team was slated to play Brigham Young University the following Saturday, and a forfeit would mean that the university would be forced to pay $1 million to BYU. Wolfe resigned the next day.
Yale: Clash between freedom of speech and safe spaces Paralleling events at the University of Missouri, Yale students also demanded similar changes from their administration this fall. The Yale Intercultural Affairs Committee sent an email the week before Halloween asking students to avoid wearing culturally-offensive costumes.The request in the email was met with debate from some members of the community who felt that it was not the job of the university to manage or restrict the personal actions of its students. Erika Christakis, faculty member and associate master of Yale’s Silliman College, sent out a reply to students in her residence building three days after the original email from IAC. “Is there no room anymore
for a child or young person to be a little bit obnoxious… a little bit inappropriate or provocative or, yes, offensive?” she wrote. “American universities were once a safe space not only for maturation but also for a certain regressive, or even transgressive, experience.” Her remarks have spurred debates regarding the relationship between freedom of expression and cultural sensitivity. “If she was truly cognizant of the pain people of color have had to endure, she should not have valued the freedom of expression over cultural sensitivity,” Yale freshman and Harker alumnus Jason Chu (‘15) said. Many students have expressed their outrage by participating in large demonstrations on campus. On Nov. 9, over 1,000 students marched across the college in a protest dubbed the “March of Resilience.” On Tuesday, high school students in the process of applying to Yale with the Common App received an email from the Yale Dean of Undergraduate Admis-
“It’s important to note that what has happened at Yale in the past weeks are not a reaction to a Halloween email or a frat party, but to a long-term, systematic problem with race on campus. KACEY FANG ‘15 YALE STUDENT AND FORMER WINGED POST MANAGING EDITOR sions that provided insight into the recent events on campus. It expounded on the value Yale places on diversity in “culture, socioeconomic background, thought, perspective and experience” and assured students that concerns about creating a more supportive environment would be addressed. “It’s important to note that what has happened at Yale in the past weeks are not a reaction to a Halloween email or a frat party, but to long-term, systemic problems with race on campus,” said Kacey Fang (‘15), a freshman at Yale and former Managing Editor of the Winged Post. “People of color have been bringing up these issues for years, and I’m glad to see that so many other campuses have started similar movements or shown solidarity.” Dozens of other colleges across the nation, including Wesleyan University, Brown University, Stanford University and Columbia University, quickly showed solidarity for their peers by hosting rallies. On the Harker campus, current students have joined in the conversation by posting messages of support on social media and voicing their thoughts on the situation. “It’s somewhat outrageous that instances like these are still occurring,” Jadan Mcdermott (10) said. “This is not merely a recent cry out from black people, because we have been crying out for over 30 years.”
1
CAMPUS PROTESTS A CHRONOLOGY
SEPT . 12 Payton Head, president of the student body at Missouri University, made a Facebook post about his experience with racial slurs on campus SEPT. 24 Mizzou students hold “Racism lives here” student rally OCT. 10 Mizzou protestors block former university president Tim Wolfe’s car during the homecoming parade. OCT. 21 ConcernedStudent1950 posts their list of 8 demands for action against racism on campus. OCT. 30 Erika Christakis responds to an email from the Yale administration which encouraged sensitive Halloween costumes NOV. 2 Jonathan Butler begins hunger strike at Mizzou, accompanied by demands for Wolfe’s resgination. NOV. 5 Students demand that Yale Dean Jonathan Holloway address their concerns about racism. NOV. 9 Mizzou president Wolfe resigns.
NEDSTUDENT1950 COURTESY OF ALEXIS PAYNE
2
JIM ROSS
3
COURTESY OF ALEXIS PAYNE
4
5
KACEY FANG ‘15
1
JIM ROSS
2 3
DEMANDING CHANGE Yale students walk in the “March of Resilience” on campus on Nov. 9. Over 1000 students participated. MARCHING FOR A CAUSE Yale students gathered with signs and flags during the protest rally. FOOTBALL BOYCOTT The University of Missouri football team runs on to field before a game against Texas Tech. The team boycotted games until President Wolfe resigned.
TALK AROUND FACEBOOK
4
5
SOLIDARITY A poster on the Yale campus promotes acceptance and tolerance of students with diverse backgrounds. GAME CANCELED The Mizzou Tigers face off against the Kansas Jayhawks. In solidarity with student Jonathan Butler’s hunger strike, the University of Missouri football team boycotted practice and games.
In the wake of student protests, several students and alums took to social media to voice their concerns.
A6
OPINION
Copy Editor Meena Gudapati News Editor Kshithija Mulam Features Editor Meilan Steimle Asst. Features Editor Maya Kumar Opinion Editor Aditya Varshney STEM Editor Vineet Kosaraju Asst. STEM Editor Sahana Srinivasan Sports Editor Trisha Dwivedi Asst. Sports Editor Justin Su Photo Editors Ashley Jiang & Emma Yu Business Editor Stanley Zhao Adviser Ellen Austin, MJE Aquila Editor-in-Chief Sharanya Balaji Aquila Staff Trisha Dwivedi Kaitlin Hsu Ayushi Gautam Raveena Kapatkar Maya Valluru Vineet Kosaraju
Tara Parimi Jenna Sadhu Sahana Srinivasan Justin Su Aditya Varshney Alex Wang
Wingspan Editor-in-Chief Shay Lari-Hosain Wingspan Staff Kaity Gee Kaitlin Hsu Vijay Bharadwaj Reporters Neil Bai Nicole Chen Adrian Chu Rithika Devarakaonda Jackie Gao Rose Guan Ria Gupta Zachary Hoffman Aneesha Kumar Prameela Kottapalli Melina Nakos Vignesh Panchanatham
Brian Park Anika Rajamani Lauren Russell Anjay Saklecha Ruhi Sayana Nisha Shankar Michael Sikand Shania Wang Tiffany Wong Derek Yen Katherine Zhang
Visit The Winged Post Online at www.harkeraquila.com Follow us on social media with the handle /harkeraquila
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. 2014-2015 Silver Crown-winning publication 2013-2014 Silver Crown-winning publication 2012-2013 Silver Crown-winning publication 2010-2011 Gold Crown-winning publication 2009-2010 Silver Crown-winning publication
Students struggle to freely express their views for fear of reprimand EDITORIAL THE OFFICIAL OPINION OF THE WINGED POST These past two weeks have been tumultuous, historic and violent. Racially insensitive emails, multiple university protests, terrorist attacks in Paris and Beirut, calls to stall aid to Syrian refugees and politicians’ demands to shut down mosques quickly found their ways onto headlines around the nation. In the midst of the recent chaos, we see that the rights to free speech, press, exercise of religion, peaceful assembly and to petition the government have become centers of social conflict. Though these rights are inalienable in the context of the Constitution, the world beyond law complicates the freedoms we take for granted every day. These issues have been embodied by recent events unfolding on college campuses. Starting in September, the #ConcernedStudent1950 student movement shook the University of Missouri. Protests polarized other prominent universities, such as Yale, around the same time. Following a faculty member’s email about culturally appropriative Halloween costumes and an undergraduate’s report of racial discrimination at a party, Yale students
KATILIN HSU
Managing Editor Kavya Ramakrishnan
Losing our voice
FORTY FIVE WORDS This the First Amendment of the Constitution. It protects the right to free speech, free press, free religion, the ability to peacefully protest and petition the government.
pointed out the administration’s hesitation to sufficiently address racism on campus. While the law protects the the use of racial slurs and hate symbols, such as the swastika of human feces found at a University of Missouri residence hall, society holds these
“Though these rights are inalienable in the context of the Constitution, the world beyond law complicates the freedoms we take for granted every day.” forms of free speech in contempt. In public interactions with others, we invoke our rights to free speech, often without considering the effects of our words on others. The responses to the hate speech used in each protest indicate a deliberate distinction between our guaranteed freedom of speech and socially responsible use of speech.
Impromptu:
On a similar note, the protests featured ample media coverage, with university and professional reporters buzzing around each scene. Students and faculty openly rejected the media, whose role as a watchdog over the government and as an instrument of detecting social biases has come under fire after its traditionally biased portrayals of minorities. Back at the University of Missouri, freelance photographer Tim Tai attempted to photograph protesters in the Quad. Despite various signs prohibiting media in that area of campus, Tai did not leave, citing his freedom of press under the First Amendment. At the same time, students and faculty physically and verbally intimidated Tai. Conflicts over the freedom of religion and its exercise intensified following the attacks in Paris and the suicide bombings in Beirut. After the Islamic State claimed responsibility for these incidents,
Breaking away from my routine, wearing a suit for absolutely no reason
od-class wearing a suit sans blazer topped off with a tapered black bow tie. For no reason at all. There was nothing extraordinary or strange about that Thursday, save for my attire. Well, that’s not entirely true; every conversation I had began with: “Debate tournament?” “Nope.” “Then why the suit?” I explained to most of them that I had just woken up that morning and decided to wear it. The reactions SUIT AND TIE Senior Vivek ranged from enthusiasm to Bharadwaj poses in a suit. He recently decided to wear a sim- puzzled confoundment and, ilar outfit (but without a blazer) in the case of one person, to school to change up his attire even serious fear that I had and escape his daily routine. finally gone around the bend. In any case, nearly everyone vivek bharadwaj asked the same question: editor in chief “why?” Sure, I could call it an On a grey, groggy Thurs- “experiment in fashion”, day morning, I scanned since I wear some combinathe inside of my closet. tion of stripes and jeans for T-shirts? Faded jeans? Not the other 154 days of the today. Through the haze of school year. Truthfully, on last night’s calculus cram, I that dismal Thursday mornreached for a plain-white, ing, I pictured myself in the collared Oxford shirt — movie Groundhog Day. In “This’ll do.” the film, Bill Murray plays a Of course, grey dress man who lives out the same slacks were the only thing day, Feb. 1, over and over that really paired with that again. Every night, the world shirt, so I grabbed those too. rewinds 24 hours, forcing One choice of clothing led him to relive the same interto another, and in an hour actions and events repeatedI strolled into my first peri- ly. PHOTO COURTESY OF ViVEK BHARADWAJ
Editors-in-Chief Elisabeth Siegel & Vivek Bharadwaj
VOLUME 19 • ISSUE 3 NOVEMBER 20, 2015
As school falls into a routine and Thursday the 8th might as well be Thursday the 15th or Thursday the 36th, every day is really indistinguishable from the day before or the day after. I wake up every morning, go
The world around me moves in cycles... that won’t stop me from breaking the monotony, putting a sense of the surreal into my world every once in awhile. through classes and homework, relax, and then hit the sack to do it all over again. The world around me can move in cycles, and I’m okay with that. That won’t stop me from breaking the monotony, putting a taste of the surreal into my world every once in a while. When I walk into my closet with that urge to shake up my outfit, it won’t be planned. It won’t be to attract attention or because I’ve seriously lost my sanity. It’ll just be a burst of spontaneity.
many western nations decided to stem the influx of Syrian refugees fleeing from the Syrian Civil War. Even American political figures, such as presidential candidate Donald Trump, demanded that the U.S. “strongly consider” shutting down certain mosques. Thirty-one governors have shut their borders to Syrian refugees, claiming they have suspect criminal backgrounds. The result: freedom of religion may soon fall under the “clear and present danger” language invoked by the Supreme Court during the First Red Scare. Though Harker currently welcomes students of all backgrounds, it is important to acknowledge that undercurrents of racial and cultural intolerance exist everywhere. If the protests have proven anything, it’s that bigotry, subconscious or intentional, survives even in supposedly tolerant epicenters of higher education.
GOT OPINIONS? Join the online conversation: If you felt that standing up for your values would decrease your chance at college admissions, what would you do?
Have you ever obscured or changed your identity online to say something that you did not wish to be associated with?
Tell us what you think by answering the poll on Harker Aquila.
OPINION
A7
VOLUME 17 • ISSUE 3 NOVEMBER 20, 2015
editor in chief
Model Mariah Idrissi caused a stir last month when she appeared in an H&M ad campaign wearing a hijab, causing a controversy over the use of hijab in fashion and the acceptability of hijab in western society. Wear what you want — a statement that most people take to heart as part of freedom of expression. This mindset embodies the principle of bodily autonomy, in that people have a right to their own bodies. Feminists especially point to arguments of bodily autonomy to ground feminist thought in philosophy. They argue: What I wear should have no bearing on how others see me as a person, except for the qualities I have consciously chosen to share and express. So when it comes to reli-
This exemplifies neocolonialism in its most basic form, establishing “western” values as superior ones and advocating for access to autonomy as far as is acceptable within these western values. 2011 law fines women that leave the house wearing niqab. Spain has banned face-veils in certain municipal areas, and Russia
Talk
Around
Campus
has banned wearing hijab since 2013. Yet there is thick irony in these white individuals, these male legislators, declaring what is and what is not oppressive for women of color. This exemplifies neocolonialism in its most basic form, establishing “western” values as superior ones and advocating for access to autonomy as far as is acceptable within these western values. Many of us westerners — even youth — remain ignorant, too, toward the significance of these face-coverings, writing them off as barbaric or backward ways of keeping women subservient to men. Rather, the headscarves are rooted in the concepts of modesty and ensuring that a woman can control when and how, if ever, her looks play a role in physical interaction. As a feminist, I do believe that many religions of the world should indeed vie for feminist ideals and challenge vestiges of patriarchy that may remain. I also believe, though, that any changes in gender relations of other cultures must come from
“I understand that people do want to support it, but everyone thinks that changing the filter is going to change everything. I just don’t think it really helps that much.” - Justan Su (12)
What’s your opinion on the French flag Facebook filter?
“The fact that they are doing this for Paris only singles out that [incident] and ignores what’s happening in other [countries]. Maybe if they found another way to honor the catastrophes that was more inclusive, then maybe that would be a better choice.” - Millie Lin (10)
jenna sadhu
Aquila contributor During a school assembly on Oct. 5, the Upper School administration revealed a new bell schedule created to reduce student stress and nightly workload. Though there are some good things in this new schedule, I can see a few flaws in it.
What is empowering about hijab or niqab is having the choice to wear it — exercising one’s own agency and autonomy in choosing what to wear.
Small moments make the biggest memories
“I think that it is like a good idea to change your thing to support Paris, but it is over casual, since you are talking about something that it is serious, but also making posts on Facebook.” - Leon Lu (9)
Some benefits include ending every school day at 2:50 p.m. Also, since every class does not appear on our schedules daily, we have an extra day to complete assignments. All students will have long lunch every other day and three to four classes per day, giving us even more additional time to finish homework and projects. With all good things comes the bad. The schedule will include seven minute passing periods, which is too much time to get from class to class. Yes, it’s a mission to get from Nichols to Shah, but the administration doesn’t understand that the teachers in those buildings understand our struggle, and do not reprimand us for arriving late. The actual class structure of the new schedule concerns me. The new 85-minute class periods will cause students to be less attentive. In addition, the new four-day rotating block
within those societies, and cannot be dictated or forced by western influences. The concept of autonomy should therefore apply to all, not just the dominant majority. Legislators and other westerners should not get to determine for other people whether or not these garments are oppressive.
eart of Harker
“I think that it really shows the support that we provide the world. it shows that we are supporting. We are showing community support, and it is very public. It is nice to see how everyone is coming together as a community to support the ones that have fallen.” - Priyanka Chilukuri (11)
Upcoming bell schedule adjustment unnecessary
HEADING OUT In the cartoon above, two women exchange conversation about certain forms of traditional headwear for women. All women have the right to their bodies and the choice to wear what they please.
rohan desikan guest writer
I guess you don’t realize how real the college admission process is until the second quarter of your senior year. You’ve always known that it’s going to happen, but now that it’s actually happening, you start to reflect on your life and times in high school. If the first thing that comes to mind when you think “The Harker School” isn’t something related to intelligence or academics, then you’re deep enough to look beyond that aspect of our school, or you’re just blissfully clueless about what goes on around you. Whichever one it is, we need more people like you on campus. In my final year, I can confidently say that my best memory at Harker isn’t of getting a 100 percent on that one extremely difficult test (maybe that’s because it’s never happened). That isn’t to say that the classroom has been dull — some of my favorite experiences, such as blowing up gummy worms and playing trashcan basketball, took place in class. However, the moments I’ll cherish most after graduation are the ones on the basketball court, in the band room and with my friends, doing what we do as typical teenagers. Above the pure genius of the people that surround me, the quality of education and even the food, I’ll miss the rela-
tionships I’ve formed in my time here. I’ll miss the person who told my father, “It’s an honor to know your son.” I’ll miss the person who said they’d take a bullet for me. I’ll miss that person who sang “Soft Kitty” to me when I needed them to.
In 15 years, you won’t even remember if you got a B in AP Euro... You’ll remember that time you were a crazy teenager exploring Harker. And you’ll smile. If your only aim in school now is to graduate Harker with a perfect GPA, then your bow is pointed at the wrong target. In 15 years, you won’t even remember if you got a B in AP Euro. You’ll remember that time you would’ve gotten into trouble but escaped by the skin of your teeth. You’ll remember that time you had a riot with four people in the backseat of a Prius. You’ll remember that time you were a crazy teenager exploring Harker. And you’ll smile. 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.
Although students might find this new format interesting, since every week will seem different, the inconsistency will become exasperating. schedule means that the first Friday will take place on a Monday schedule. Every four days, the schedule cycles, potentially leading to confusion. Although students might find this new format interesting, since every week will seem different, the inconsistency will become exasperating. At the end of the day, I do hope that this schedule follows through on what it promises: less stress and a smaller, overall nightly workload.
GRAPHIC BY ELISABETH SIEGEL
elisabeth siegel
gious garments — niqab, hijab, chador or burqa — why do these concepts of choice and autonomy suddenly become unthinkable? Several western legislators and many white feminists accuse these headscarves of being “oppressive to women.” In France as well as Belgium, a
GRAPHIC BY ELISABETH SIEGEL
Debate on headwear highlights cultural double standard
BACK PAGE
A8
VOLUME 17 • ISSUE 3 NOVEMBER 20, 2015
BLACK FRIDAY SAVINGS, AT A COST.
7 deaths caused by Black Friday customers since 2006
$50.9 billion
spent in stores on Black Friday in 2014
#OptOutside: REI’s decision to close on Black Friday raveena kapatkar & tiffany wong & brian park
O
Aquila news editor & reporters
utdoor retail store Recreational Equipment Inc (REI) recently announced that all of its 143 stores will be closed on Black Friday, Nov. 27, giving its employees the day off with pay. REI created the hashtag #OptOutside in order to promote the idea of spending Black Friday outdoors, rather than shopping in stores. This is the first time a major retail store has decided to close down for Black Friday. “Black Friday is the perfect time to remind ourselves of the essential truth that life is richer, more connected and complete when you choose to spend it outside,” REI CEO Jerry Stritzke said in a statement on the REI website. “We’re closing our doors, paying our employees to get out there, and inviting America to
#OptOutside with us because we love great gear, but we are even more passionate about the experiences it unlocks.” Most major retailers open as early as 5 a.m on Black Friday, which is typically the largest and busiest day for shopping. Because of their decision, REI could potentially lose an opportunity to make a large profit, but their decision led to increased popularity among consumers. “I think that’s great. I think that people deserve a day off and that it’s good that they can go do their own thing,” Krishna Bheda (10) said. “I think maybe that just shows that the store has a greater value for people more than just the money.” A few other companies have also decided to close on Black Friday; British retailer Asda announced last week that it would not participate and Ohio-based store Park + Vine also said it would opt
out, instead encouraging others to join their employees on a six-mile hike. During the week before Black Friday, is common for shoppers to camp out in front of stores to try to beat crowds. In 2011 a tent was set up five days before Black Friday at a Best Buy store, and four more had joined by the following morning. Because of the number of people gathered, several stampedes have occurred as people rush to find deals, and brawls over a last item are not uncommon. Since 2006, there have been seven deaths and 98 injuries caused by Black Friday shopping. Despite these occurrences, stores still expect an increase in customers. Forty-one percent of retailers predict an increase in sales, while most expect a 2.4 percent increase in total sales.
SOURCES: BLACK FRIDAY DEATH COUNT, STATISTIC BRAIN RESEARCH INSTITUTE
ELISABETH SIEGEL
BLACK FRIDAY AROUND THE WORLD BLACK & RED ALL OVER Black Friday started in the United States (GREEN) around 1961, and since then has been adopted by several other countries after it gained popularity, with the newer adoptees shown in lighter red. The United Kingdom started observing Black Friday in 2003; Canada in 2008; Brazil in 2010; Mexico, Romania and Norway in 2011; India and Panama in 2012; Spain in 2013 and Denmark, Sweden, South Africa, France and Hungary in 2014.
prameela kottapalli & ruhi sayana & tiffany wong reporters
Retailers are opening their stores earlier each year to increase the amount of revenue they generate from customers purchasing discounted items during both Thanksgiving and Black Friday. Some stores, such as Kmart, are planning to open as early as 6 a.m. on Thanksgiving Day, Nov. 26, and others, like Kohl’s and Macy’s, are opening around 6 p.m. Few businesses are closed on Thanksgiving, encouraging more sales with more hours of deals. Com-
panies are also increasing the number of staff members on duty during Black Friday. “Kohl’s increases the staffing for the day to avoid the inconvenience for the customers. We do this for both Black Friday and Thanksgiving day.” Mark Wilson, a sales associate at Kohl’s, said. “And we’re extending our working hours for our ultimate goal– customer satisfaction.” During Black Friday, customers buy gifts for themselves as well as for family members for the holiday season. The most popular items of choice among students are electronics.
ELISABETH SIEGEL
Stores opening earlier each year for Black Friday
FEATURES
FRIDAY, NOV. 20, 2015 | THE HARKER UPPER SCHOOL STUDENT NEWSPAPER, VOL. 17, NO. 3
| www.harkeraquila.com
Branching out: Students seek independent college counseling services meilan steimle, kshithija mulam & sahana srinivasan features editor, news editor & asst. STEM editor
80%
20%
no
yes
Do you use outside college counseling? 82% 65% 47%
36%
essay dispelling interview self prep packaging help myths
Why get an outside counselor? 49%
out of 245
responses
23%
26%
20%
cost unaware Harker is other of option sufficient
17%
time
Why not get an outside counselor?
Twenty-six percent of college applicants used an independent college counselor in 2013, three times as many as from 10 years prior. The upper school is no exception to this rising trend. In addition to the four college counselors provided as part of the college counseling program, 20 percent of surveyed seniors chose to consult outside-ofschool counselors. For many students, personal availability is a primary benefit of outside-of-school counseling. The current senior class has 187 members, meaning that each of the four college counselors consults with 40 to 50 seniors. “Personally, I feel like my Harker counselor does a better job [and] is more well-knowledged than the outside counselor, but at the same time, the outside counselor, he only has five or six people he needs to take care of,” Anthony Luo (12) said. “It wasn’t really my reason, because my parents forced me to get an outside counselor.” Others, like Leeza Kuo (‘15), personally elected to seek outside help for their essays. “I wanted my essays to be perfect, and my outside-ofschool counselor gave me a community where I could work, or help me come up with ideas,” she said. Reasoning varies for those who choose not to use an outside college counselor. Some, like Omar Hamade (12), find the counseling provided by Harker sufficient. “I really like my college counselor, Mr. Lum Lung,” Omar said. “He gives me the advice I need and he helps me whenever I need, so I didn’t really find the need to go outside and look for somebody else.” Harker counseling spans from the beginning of the second semester of junior year to the end of the first semester of senior year. School counselors review essays, provide general classes and meet individually with students to give advice and discuss strategy. Although college counselors are aware that some students seek outside college counseling, college counselor Martin Walsh said that the knowledge does not materially affect his actions and
advice. “I don’t ask. I don’t really care. The way I approach [college counseling] is like there’s a door, here I am, I was dean at Stanford, I’m pretty sure the outside counselors weren’t that,” Walsh said. “It’s just a service, and if they want to use the service, it’s here.” But counselors recommend caution in seeking outside help due to the varying qualifications of potential outside counselors. “Anyone could say ‘I’m a college counselor’; you don’t really have to have any credentials or degrees,” college counselor Nicole Burrel said. “So the quality varies, and the background and training varies.” “I mean, everyone in this office has worked at a university in, you know, pretty high-up levels in pretty selective universities,” Walsh said. “I think I worked with a student one time where the outside counselor had him planting trees in Mongolia.
“Anyone can say ‘I’m a college counselor;’ you don’t really have to have any credentials or degrees.” NICOLE BURREL COLLEGE COUNSELOR I have no idea what that had to do with getting admissions into college.” Another main consideration for students utilizing outside college counseling is cost. Harker’s counseling services are included as part of the tuition, but outside college counseling can range in price. Ivy Advisors offers $300-per-hour counseling and “comprehensive package deals” for applications, charging $4600 for help with the first school and descending to $1000 for the sixth school and beyond. They also provide a-la-carte services, including application strategy, essay review, mock-interview, recommendation-letter strategy and resume editing, with costs ranging from $500 to $1200. “We already have college counselors,” Melody Weber (12) said. “If I need someone to help me with my essays, I already have someone to do that for me, so I’m not sure if I want to spend another $5,000 on something I already have.” According to a college counselor from Ivy Max, a college preparation company with
a Cupertino office that has customers from Harker and other local schools, Ivy Max provides services not available through school. “We not only help them for academically, we help them in all different ways, like maturity and their independence and their leadership skills,” she said. “Not like school where they only focus academically.” Along with college counseling and SAT classes, Ivy Max sets up clubs for its students to run and organizes overseas trips to do community service in foreign countries. Its VIP service, a comprehensive four-year program, costs between $30,000 and $40,000. “Last year, we had a lot Harvard, Stanford, Princeton, good schools,” the Ivy Max counselor said. “The parents were very happy.” Outside college counseling is also prevalent in schools with less extensive or nonexistent college-counseling programs. Saratoga High School, a free public school, provides four counselors split among roughly 1600 high school students. “[My school counselor] can’t give me that personal attention, so that’s what an outside-ofschool college counselor is for,” Saratoga junior Nidhi Jain said. “[My college counselors] are constant about checking up on me like once a month, twice a month, making sure that you’re on the right track.” Nidhi said that, while college counseling was beneficial for her, whether students use counselors should depend on their individual financial situations. “Personally, I think that my [outside] college counselor has been extremely helpful and useful, but I know that for a lot of people who are struggling with money, it’s a really big deal to get a college counselor,” she said. “I don’t think it’s totally worth it to put aside a big chunk of your funds for a college counselor for senior year if you are in that kind of position.” Anthony shared similar sentiments. “[With] college counseling, there’s only so much it helps,” Anthony said. “There are the super ridiculous $30,000 programs, which obviously aren’t worth its cost. If it’s like $100 so that some random guy looks over all of your essays, the benefit outweighs the cost there.”
jackie gao & adrian chu reporters
The annual National Novel Writing Month program(NaNoWriMo) challenged children and adults worldwide to commit to structured novel writing in November to help them reach their creative literary potential. Participants are tasked to create and write their own 50,000 word novels by the end of the month. To assist participants, NaNoWriMo hosts local writer meetups, provides feedback and encouragement from staff, publishes authors, and runs an online forum of writers, all free of charge. “A program like [NaNoWriMo], I think, just focuses people,” English teacher Nicholas Manjoine said. “There’s a definite end and beginning to it;
there’s a specific rule, and in the end, it probably doesn’t matter how good the novel is, but the whole idea is to just practice, practice, practice, practice, practice.” Supported by charitable donations, the NaNoWriMo organization also sells its own merchandise to fund its program. The Amazon Literary Partnership awarded NaNoWriMo a $25,000 grant on Nov. 6. 325,142 participants, with 81,311 students and educators in the Young Writers Program took part in NaNoWriMo in 2014. Since its establishment, more than 250 novels from the event were officially published. “It is developing the practice of being a writer, which mostly means writing every day whether you feel like it or not,” English teacher Christopher Hurshman said. “That is differ-
ent from how most Harker students approach writing in their classes.” Sophomore Emily Chen participated in NaNoWriMo two years ago in her previous middle school because it was a required class assignment and she enjoys writing. “It was a very stressful experience, because we had to reach a certain word count for the junior NaNoWriMo writers, so, like a lot of my fellow classmates, we crammed towards the end of the month, like the 28th and 29th, but it was really fun,” she said. “It was a really nice experience and I liked it.” The event has programs other than the National Novel Writing Month in November, such as the Young Writers Program, Come Write In and “Now What?” Months.
JACKIE GAO
Novel writing month challenges would-be authors
B2
FEATURES
An SDS director’s journey nicole chen & nisha shankar reporters
Performing arts department chair Laura Lang-Ree picks four Student-Directed Showcase (SDS) directors every year by conducting interviews and essay questions and the input of oth-
Maxwell Smitherman
VOLUME 17 • ISSUE 3 NOVEMBER 20, 2015
Is it Ugg season yet?
er faculty members to single out the students most committed to performing arts, qualified for filling the leadership role and capable of tackling the responsibility of a director.
Janet Lee 64 percent of students say YES. melina nakos & jenna sadhu reporters
“Being able to see what goes on the other side of the stage and what goes on behind the scenes is really cool,” SDS director Maxwell “MC” Smitherman said. MC chose to become a SDS director in hopes of experiencing the preparation and backstage aspect of putting a play together. He picked the play “The Final Dress Rehearsal” because it contains humor and involves great character work, something he looks for. “I [knew] that I wanted a comedy because I like making people laugh,” MC said. “Serious plays
didn’t really appeal to me.” His performing arts career has taken many turns as he never participated consistently in theater until high school. MC’s biggest milestone in performing arts was when he obtained the role of a student director. “I think it was just it was another side of the theater world that I could experiment with, which was intriguing,” he said. Although MC struggles with deciding between whether to continue acting or directing, he’s excited about working with his cast and anticipates learning more about a director’s job behind the scenes.
Rachel Renteria
As a child, Janet Lee (12) was the quiet, reserved child who was heavily invested in a visual arts path. As she became older, her passion for performing arts soon overshadowed her other interests. “In 6th grade, I saw the middle school show ‘Education of Janet O’Malley’ and some of my friends convinced me to [start],” Janet said. Janet embraces the role as an SDS director in her senior year, a position she has sought after since she first participated in SDS as a freshman. Janet has sung in many school choirs, has taken many acting classes and has auditioned for every
SDS. Although rehearsals started only recently, Janet has already learned a lot from putting together her play “Cheating Death” and hopes to gain even more knowledge about being a director. “As an actor, I didn’t know so much preparation went into this,” she said. “[Now] I basically have most of the show laid out in my head already-- how I want it to be on stage.” Janet looks forward to giving direction to her cast as well as watching her peers’ plays when the shows premiere in January.
ALL PHOTOS BY ASHLEY JIANG
Mary Najibi
Coming out of her first rehearsal for her play “Selfie,” Rachel Renteria (12) carried a soft smile on her face, already satisfied with the progress of her actors. “I can honestly already say I love my cast,” she said. She acted for the first time when she auditioned for the play “Heidi” in second grade; her performing arts career flourished even further when she watched a children’s music theater production “Aladdin Junior.” “I remembered the phone number they said during intermission,” she said. “I made my mom call the number at the end.” She found out about SDS in her freshman year, and since then, it has
been a significant part of her life. “I knew it was something I wanted to try because I’d always been on the stage but never behind the scenes,” she said. Rachel found that SDS was most memorable to her because of the strong bond between the cast members. “I still have a group chat from last year’s SDS,” she said. “It’s like this great support system that’s just there for you.” Rachel values the relationship within her SDS family greatly and hopes to work towards creating a bond with her cast this year as well.
Growing up with an older brother who was previously a SDS director, Mary Najibi (12) knew from very early on in her life that she wanted to direct her own show. “It’s a lot of fun,” Mary said. “I like seeing [my cast] try things out, and I like helping them in giving them direction and seeing what they do with it.” Mary was thrown into the spotlight at the young age of three when she was introduced to violin. Her love for performing arts grew in eighth grade when she observed her brother direct his SDS show. “I would see [my brother] have rehearsals at our house,” Mary said. “It was really cool to see him go
through the process, and I really wanted to do that too.” Her high school career consisted of fulfilling the prerequisites for the student director position and participating in various plays, which contributed to her overall application in becoming a director. “[Lang-Ree] asks for all the shows we’ve been in and the classes we’ve taken,” she said. “Those add up with points so that you can become a director.” As for her cast, Mary enjoys working with them and looks forward to watching her actors perform her show “The Internet is distract- Oh look a kitty!”
It’s fall now, which means it’s about that time of the year to pull out your Ugg boots and strut them around campus. Uggs come in most sizes; the mini size, which goes about two inches above the ankle, the classic size, which goes about a quarter up the leg and the tall size, which goes three quarters up the leg. They also come in an array of colors; you can find them in pastels and neons of every color of the rainbow. Most girls (and some guys) go for the neutral shades of Uggs (which are the most popular worldwide) which are tans, greys, blacks and beiges. Opinions on Uggs are often split. Some people favor the footwear, while others find the shoes a little bit ridiculous. “They’re really expensive and they look kind of dumb and they get all soggy which looks really uncomfortable. I have lots of qualms about, you know, Palo Alto white girl culture, also it’s not at all my place to tell people what to wear,” Gurutam Thockchom (12) said. Uggs range from $100-600. There are Swarovski bedazzled Uggs (yep, you read that right) and rare fur Uggs that are priced for hundreds of dollars. Also, a collection of wedding Uggs were released for brides across the globe. The Ugg wedding collection includes the traditional boots as well as moccasins and flip flops. These are found in light blue, white, and silver. There’s your something blue and new. By now, we should be seeing girls pairing their boots with jeans, dresses and skirts all around school. Ellen Minkin (10), walking around campus wearing her comfy grey classic Ugg boots, dark wash jeans and a mint colored sweater, expressed her adoration for Uggs. “Ugg season’s great [because] it’s like the mark of fall” she said. “I can wear my favorite sweaters with my Uggs and just be me.” Anika Banga, (10), commented on the weather and it’s role in the growth of ugg-wearers. “Yeah I would wear them. Except right now, the weather is really weird, sometimes it’s really hot, sometimes it’s really cold,” she said.
raveena kapatkar & rithika devarakonda aquila news editor and reporter
RITHIKA DEVARAKONDA
Changes as a result of suggestions given at the Harker Summit, which occurred on Sept. 25, are continuing to be implemented throughout the year.
Honor council advisor Evan Barth, head of the Summit, reflects on whether he believes the outcome of the Summit was a success. “I’d say yes. We got 119 people together to talk about our school How cool is that?” Barth said. “Not every school does that, so I would consider it a success. Could it have
“We got 119 people together to talk about our school. How cool is that?”
Recent changes include creating a quiet study space for students during free periods if the library is full and putting into effect the new schedule, which was already underway before the Summit. The new schedule will be implemented from January to February and will run on a trial basis. If successful, the new schedule will be used during the next academic year.
EVAN BARTH ACADEMIC DEAN been better? Could we have loftier and more concrete results? Yes. We’re not done yet, and I think some of the bigger picture items that they were talking about are kind of longer term changes that maybe we can work towards.” Alayna Richmond(11) believes that the suggestions that are being taken into account as a result of the
Summit are improving the school. “I’m glad that the Honor Council is considering suggestions students made at the Summit because I think there are many ways that our school can be improved,” Alayna said. “The new study spaces are especially helpful because the library is always full, and for a long time there have been few other quiet places to work.” Barth explains that other suggestions that came up during the Summit cannot be implemented solely by the Honor Council. “Some of the other issues that came up from the Summit--[they] are bigger things that are not easily action items from the students in the Honor Council,” Barth said. “They are more of the okay now here is my idea. Where we going to go with it in terms of the culture of the school?” Other suggestions given during the Summit will continue to be implemented into the Harker community throughout the year.
ALL PHOTOS - ASHLEY JIANG
Summit brings about gradual improvements
CONSUMMATE DISCUSSIONS (Top) Harker Summit attendees Namitha Vellian (12), Peter Connors (10) and Kobe Howard (9) discuss concerns of the student body in small groups. (Left) Evan Barth, Academic Dean, presents at the Summit. The Harker Summit was previously titled the Honor and Ethics Conference. The administration changed the name to stimulate discussions regarding the community.
B3
VOLUME 17 • ISSUE 3 NOVEMBER 20, 2015
GLOBAL
RESET
FACING OUR FUTURE
Part two of a six part series on climate change: Energy efficiency methods reduce emissions meena gudapati & vijay bharadwaj
copy editor & Wingspan copy editor
Driving to school, charging a phone and using a computer are seemingly unrelated events. The one thing they all have in common is their energy consumption. In the United States, about 84 percent of all energy produced originates from the combustion of fossil fuels. According to the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), the combustion of fossil fuels is one of the major causes of climate change in the world. Burning fossil fuels, including coal and oil, results in the release of greenhouse gases such
as carbon dioxide As stated by the United States Environmental Protection Agency (EPA)’s 2013 inventory, carbon dioxide made up 82 percent of the U.S. greenhouse gas emissions. Sources of fossil fuel combustion include electricity, transportation and industry, according to the EPA. The U.S. can decrease carbon dioxide emissions through energy efficiency. Environmental science teacher Dr. Kate Schafer is the co-chair of the Green Committee alongside biology teacher Jeff Sutton. “I think that there have been some amazing improvements, but there’s always room for improvement,” she said. “A big part of our energy use comes from
use of lights, so I think that we could do a better job of setting up systems that would make the lights turn off when they weren’t being used.” There are many opportunities for energy conservation. For instance, reducing gasoline consumption in vehicles, turning off electronics when not in use and carpooling all contribute towards lessening carbon emissions. Installation of solar panels can reduce residents’ carbon footprint at home. To improve the efficiency of buildings, the office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy (EERE) researches cost effective solutions for both residential and commercial buildings. In particular, EERE has worked to develop Zero Energy Buildings, buildings with an energy import less than or equal to their energy exports. Energy efficiency integrates into everyday life in several ways. People can use alternatives to fossil fuel-releasing vehicles, replace standard bulbs with compact fluorescent bulbs, install high performance windows that reduce heat loss and unplug appliances when not in use.
HOW ARE WE DOING? Although carbon emissions peaked in 2007 and have dropped rapidly since, emissions are still higher than they were in 1990. There were about 6.5 billion metric tons of gas emissions in 2012. Source: EPA
Main sources of fuel emissions
ALEX WANG
STEM
Social media preferences differ between grade levels
30 - 60
shania wang & neil bai
main use of social media:
COMMUNICATING
minutes
median time students spend on social media per day
reporters
with friends
social media app used most often
FRESHMEN: Instagram SOPHOMORES: Facebook JUNIORS: Instagram SENIORS: Instagram, *three-way tie Facebook, Snapchat*
What social media platform(s) do students use? 70 65 60 55 50 45 40
30 25
Snapchat Instagram Facebook Tumblr Other
20 15 10 5 0 Freshmen
246 total responses: 85 freshmen, 64 sophomores, 60 juniors, 37 seniors
Sophomores
Juniors*
Seniors
*2 juniors reported using no social media
SAHANA SRINIVASAN
35
Social media remains a popular outlet of Internet usage among students. However, social media preferences differ between grades. A poll sent out to students shows that freshmen and juniors prefer Instagram and Snapchat and sophomores use Facebook the most. Seniors use Instagram, Snapchat and Facebook relatively evenly. Many students use several outlets equally due to the different features and benefits of each. “I use different social media [platforms] for different things,” Evan Lohn (12) said. “[I use]
Snapchat for pictures and Facebook for chatting with people for a long time.” Among all grades, Instagram and Snapchat are the most popular. Senior Shilpa Repakula enjoys using Snapchat because it is a casual way of interacting with others. “If I see something cool, rather than taking a picture of something that doesn’t really matter but is interesting, I could just send it to someone else,” she said. Some students spend little to no time on social media. “I rarely use any,” Ashwin Reddy (9) said. “If I’m feeling very exuberant, maybe 10 minutes. Otherwise, zero minutes.”
alex wang
reporter The Upper School Math Department is considering changing its calculator recommendation to include the HP Prime calculator, rather than just the TI-83 and TI-84. The HP Prime calculator has some key distinguishing features, such as a touchscreen. Head of the Math Department Anthony Silk finds that there are many advantages to the HP Prime, which is allowed on standardized tests. “I think the advantages are that, as far as technology is concerned, [the HP Prime] is more up-to-date than the TI with touchscreen, copy-paste and wireless capabilit[ies], which are more relevant,” Silk said. The HP Prime also includes different apps for graphing functions, geometry and statistics. It also has a Computer Algebra System, giving it some of the same capabilities as Wolfram Mathematica. Its wireless capability
allows teachers to communicate with and send data to students’ calculators with their laptops. Mathematics teacher Dr. Lola Muldrew plans to use this feature in class. “I can create lessons ahead of time and send them to students during class, [which] will make things speed up,” Dr. Muldrew said.
“It is more up-todate than the TI with touchscreen, copypaste and wireless capabilit[ies].” ANTHONY SILK
HEAD OF THE MATH DEPARTMENT Physically, the HP Prime is sleeker, thinner and lighter than its Texas Instruments counterparts. It is also more fragile, due to its iPhone-like touchscreen. While the TI-84 is dependent on
AAA batteries for power, the HP Prime’s power source is a builtin battery, which can be charged with a charging cord. The HP Prime is slightly more expensive than the TI-84. According to Amazon and Best Buy, the HP Prime costs an average of $150, and the TI-84 averages around $120. The main obstacle in the way of bringing the HP Prime to the Upper School is integrating the calculator among the students. Since the current calculator recommendation, which students follow starting from the Middle School, is the TI-84, most students use a TI-84. “We’ve been using the TI-83s since I got here 13 years ago,” Silk said. “The main disadvantage is that we are all used to the TI and they work. There’s nothing wrong with the TI.” Silk will be conducting a pilot test for these calculators, allowing selected students to borrow and use an HP Prime for a semester in their math courses.
Battery Percentage: The HP Prime has a display for its current charge, a feature that is not present in the TI-84. The charge is displayed in intervals of 25%.
Apps: The HP Prime divides its functions into specialized apps for different types of problems, such as functions, geometry and statistics. The TI-84 features a single Plot function for all of these topics.
Touchscreen: The HP Prime’s touchscreen allows for simpler scrolling and zooming, which can be performed directly on the screen, rather than having to use arrow keys.
Wireless Capability: This feature enables an HP Prime calculator to communicate with an external computer, allowing teachers to remotely send lesson plans and programs to their students.
WIKIMEDIA COMMONS
Charging Port: Unlike the TI-84, which uses AAA batteries, the HP Prime is powered by an internal battery, which is recharged using a charging cord.
Copy-paste: The HP Prime features designated Copy-Paste keys, which allow for more convenient typing.
ZACHARY HOFFMAN
Math Department considers new calculator
VIRTUAL REALITY Substitute teacher John Heyes uses the Google Cardboard sent by The New York Times to its subscribers. Google is one of multiple companies now exploring the virtual reality industry.
Google goes 3D with Cardboard Virtual reality technology changes the game vineet kosaraju & zachary hoffman STEM editor & reporter
As Maile Chung (11) dons the cardboard box-shaped headset, she is immediately transported from the cool benches inside the Dobbins hallway to a sunny canoe piloted by a South Sudanese child in a swamp. As she continues watching, the scene shifts, showing the tales of three children, displaced from their homes due to war. Early last month, The New York Times sent copies of Google Cardboard, a virtual reality platform that requires only a smartphone, to each of their subscribers and released a short documentary called “The Displaced” about three refugee children displaced from their former homes.
“It’s a very different [experience]. You kind of see everything up close, and it gives you a firsthand view of what it would be like to be there,” Maile said. Virtual reality technology is slowly making its way into a variety of venues, including film, video gaming and visual journalism. This Wednesday, students also experienced virtual reality firsthand when the Arrive Alive Tour visited the campus. Demoing two simulations of texting while driving and driving under the influence, the tour used virtual reality goggles to caution students about the dangers of impaired driving. Google first released Cardboard in a 2014 developer conference. To see reactions of students and teachers using Cardboard for the first time, visit harkeraquila.com.
B4
STEM
VOLUME 17 • ISSUE 3 NOVEMBER 20, 2015
UBER VS. THE WORLD
As more people switch to Uber, the fight to rule roads intensifies meilan steimle & alex wang & anjay saklecha features editor & reporters
Yellow cabs and buses are losing their hold on the transportation industry, both internationally and locally. As Uber expands internationally, it also provides a means of transportation for the Harker community. Uber, a San Francisco-based startup, allows customers to order rides tailored to their schedules through a smartphone app, using crowd-sourced drivers and their cars. Providing approximately 30 million rides per month, Uber attempts to replace the traditional taxi industry and pull ahead of rival companies, such as Lyft. In San Francisco, Uber’s home city, taxi rides per month have dropped by over 65% from March of 2012 to July of 2014. “I think Uber is very efficient and it’s much better than a taxi,” said Abhinav Joshi (9), who uses Uber services once a week. “Uber is more personal, the drivers are more relaxed, and it is much cheaper.” For many, Uber’s main selling point is its low rates. “Their prices are about three fourths or less. If I take a
taxi to the airport from where I live, it’s 17 dollars, if I take an uber, it’s eight,” math teacher Jane Keller said. “It is part of our process in the United States. People create businesses, and if you don’t keep up, your business doesn’t keep going.” Morgan Douglas (10), who uses Uber services twice a
“Typically, my experience has been that they are right on time, the cars are very clean, very neat [and] the drivers go straight to where I’m trying to get to.”
Uber offers a cheaper alternative to traditional taxi and bus services, but some are not convinced about safety for the passenger. The company has faced accusations declaring that its service is not as safe as traditional taxi services. Last year, district attorneys from Los Angeles and San Francisco filed a lawsuit against Uber for alleged exaggeration of the thoroughness of its drivers’ background checks. In Uber’s history, multiple drivers have been accused of sexual assault against passengers. In the past year, according to the Taxicab, Limousine &
Paratransit Association (TLPA), there have been 27 incidents of sexual assault by Uber drivers. Despite these claims, Ankita Uppugunduri (11) still uses Uber and sees it as a reliable service. “I feel like Uber is just more well-known and there aren’t that many cases of it going wrong or the drivers being bad, so I think it’s pretty trustworthy,” Ankita said. More people are using Uber in the countries and states where it is legal, causing taxi companies, bus companies, and the rest of the competition to be left behind.
FAST FACT
According to SherpaShare, while in San Francisco the average UberX driver makes $14.65 per ride, Lyft drivers on average make $13.42.
JANE KELLER MATH TEACHER month, concurs. “It’s not that overpriced,” she said. “Usually the people aren’t creepy and they have nice cars.”
Q&A with Andy Weir Author of popular scifi novel “The Martian” answers questions at Santa Clara libraries reporters
SCI FI Three Foothill High School students perform an experiment at a Science for Youth club meeting. Science for Youth club’s mission is to encourage and instruct children in various scientific fields.
Mass media popularizes science YouTubers find large audience for educational, informative videos maya kumar & prameela kottapalli asst. features editor & reporter
DEREK YEN
Andy Weir, author of the book The Martian, which recently debuted in a critically acclaimed film adaptation, conducted a Q&A session over Google Chat on Nov. 10. People could submit questions by visiting one of several Santa Clara libraries that broadcasted the event. Q: Where did you get the name “Mark Watney” from for your protagonist? “At the time, I was living in Boston, and I was a big Red Sox fan. I had the game on in the background and I decided to name him Mark, because Mark is based on the Latin Marcus, which means disciple of Mars. And [a] sideline reporter was named Heidi Watney. I thought, that’s a cool last name – I’ll take it.” Q: Why did you choose to give Watney a smart-aleck personality? “His personality is based on my own, although he’s an idealized version of me. He’s better at all the things I like about myself, and he doesn’t
have any of my downsides or flaws. He’s what I wish I were, kind of. You’ll find that’s the case for every protagonist. Here’s my theory – every protagonist is someone the author wants to be, or someone the author wants to screw. For the record, I want to be Watney.” Q: Did you get help from people at NASA when writing? “I didn’t know anyone at [NASA] at all when I wrote the book. All my research is Google. The cool thing about aerospace is that they are so open about it. People make websites about it. NASA’s stuff is almost entirely public domain; you can go search it.” Q: What did you think of the movie adaptation? “It’s a very faithful adaptation. If you liked the book, I’ll bet you’ll like the movie. It’s one of the most faithful adaptations of a book to a film that I’ve seen. They had to cut some stuff out, but the stuff they cut, I think they made good decisions. I think it’s fantastic.”
PHOTO PROVIDED BY ARUN SHRIRAM
derek yen & lauren russell
MARS ROVER People gather to see Martian author Andy Weir’s talk at Central Park Library. The conversation was broadcast to libraries in multiple locations in Santa Clara, including Gilroy, Mountain View, Berkeley and Livermore, Weir’s hometown.
Popular science, or pop science, is currently experiencing a rise in following due to content from accessible sources, such as YouTube, making scientific concepts easy for the general public to digest. This trend of making informative YouTube videos initially began with videos on cooking and history, but scientific videos have recently become more widespread. Biology teacher Dr. Kate Schafer’s new course, The Science of Food, incorporates aspects of nutrition, chemistry and biology. The course will combine a scientific explana with handson cooking experiments in the kitchen. “I think it’s fascinating how many people have approached cooking and food from a scientific perspective,” she said. “People have been cooking for tens of thousands of years, but we’re just now starting to learn about it and understand what’s going on at the molecular level.” Many YouTube channels are entirely geared towards making short videos on a variety of scientific topics, from biology to physics. Some of the most pop-
ular channels include MinutePhysics, with over 2.9 million subscribres; AsapSCIENCE, with over 4.2 million subscribers and VSAUCE, with over 9.4 million subscribers. Sukrit Ganesh (9) is a longtime subscriber to VSAUCE, a channel that teaches its viewers about concepts relating to astronomy, chemistry, physics and
“But science is such a prevalent topic in our universe that everyone, whether you’re into STEM or not, should know about it.” SUKRIT GANESH (9) VSAUCE SUBSCRIBER quantum mechanics. “People who love STEM will really enjoy these videos because they can see science being connected to non-STEM topics in weird ways,” he said. The Science for Youth club has a similar goal, of making science accessible, but their pro-
grams specifically target children. They teach a wide variety of subjects including genetics, psychology and oceanography to students who do not have the opportunity to learn about those subjects at school. Co-president of the club Arun Sriram (12) particularly enjoys seeing the change in students’ attitudes towards science after the club’s presentations. “It’s really fun to see the joy and the light that a lot of students have during our presentations when they learn about a lot of really cool things that aren’t necessarily taught in school,” he said. Senior Natalie Simonian, the other president of Science for Youth, discussed her opinion on the benefits of the spread of accessible science. “The world that we live in is overwhelmingly transforming into a science driven world,” she said. “It’s a critical subject that everyone needs to be aware of. Even in small parts, people need to have some knowledge.” The club is expanding their audience to an elementary school in San Jose.
SPORTS
B5
VOLUME 17 • ISSUE 3 NOVEMBER 20, 2015
Girls’ golf advances to CCS for first time in 10 years justin su & anika rajamani
HA NY AZ DA
RACE ON Niki Iyer (11), Alexandra Dellar (12), Anika Rajamani (9) and Alycia Cary (9) run at the Baylands cross country course during a meet. The course was 3.1 miles long.
Cross Country brian park & nisha shankar & katherine zhang reporters
JONATHAN DAI
Niki Iyer (11), Lilia Gonzales (9) and Connor O’Neill (12), athletes on the cross country team, have consistently placed well in the meets this past season. “Niki is one of the finest young runners in the state. She has progressed each year as an Eagle, and is now ready to take on the best runners in the state and country,” Coach Chisam said. Niki began running at a young age, while participating in mostly children’s events. Connor has been running since freshman year. He modestly said that he usually places in the average, but his coaches think otherwise. “[He’s] been like top 30 or better every race out of usually in races out of 75 people,” Coach Wohlford said. Connor started this season of cross country in July, and according to Coach Wohlford, has been growing immensely as both a runner and student, as he has been training consistently, and as a result, has made great progress. “He’s off the charts and his consistency has shown in his improvement. It’s been really nice to see,” Coach Wohlford said. Lilia has been running since sixth grade, and has recently been placing in the 20s out of 60 to 80 runners. “She’s had a good baseline; her brother, Corey Gonzales (‘15), was a cross country runner for four years.” Even with her solid foundation, Coach Wohlford is impressed in Lilia’s ability to increase her running skills. “She has just been improving by leaps and bounds all the time,” Coach Wohlford said. The girls’ cross country team placed eighth in the D-4 CCS Championships. Niki placed second overall, running 17:26 at Crystal Springs on Saturday. She will be competing in the CIF Cross Country Championships in Fresno on Nov. 28.
GOING GREEN Ashley Zhong (12) drives the ball up the freeway. This was the first time in 10 years that girls’ golf advanced to CCS.
TAKEDOWN Football wide receiver Nikhil Ramgiri (12) blocks a Stellar Prep player from advancing. The football team advanced to NCS for the first time since 2009.
Football
I
RALLY UP Elizabeth Schick (10) rallies the ball with her opponent. Girls tennis team won the WBAL tournament for the first time in history.
Girls tennis
KILLING IT Megan Cardosi (10) jumps above the net for a spike. Girls volleyball ended their regular season with a record of 7-1.
Girls volleyball
RECORD: 8-3
RECORD: 14-4
RECORD: 19-8
The football team ended their season with a school best, 8-3. The boys placed second in the Bay Football League, after losing to Stellar Prep in the league championship game, and qualified for the NCS playoffs for the second time in Harker history. The boys lost in the first round of the NCS playoffs 41-0 to third seeded Fortuna high school. “It’s been great, even though we lost the championship game it meant a lot to the home team and I,” quarterback Nate Kelly (10) said. “We are happy with what we have accomplished this year.”
For the second time in school history, the girls tennis team won the WBAL league in doubles. Elizabeth Schick (10) and Pamela Duke (9) won first overall in the doubles division. They will be representing Harker in the CCS tournament. The girls ended their tournament on a lost to Menlo 6-1, finishing their season with a record of 14-4. Although the season is over for the team, Elizabeth and Pamela continue on to play in the CCS individuals tournament on November 23rd. “I think we were really prepared as a team going into CCS because of the diligent practices and the many matches that have really helped us improve our game,” freshman Riya Singh said. “Our chances at CCS are pretty high.”
The volleyball team defeated Santa Cruz 3-0 during their quarterfinals on Saturday. The team moved on to play their rival Menlo on Wednesday afternoon at Notre Dame-Belmont. Harker has provided a bus for students that want to go support the team. The winner will move on to the CCS finals and a trip to the NorCal tournament (the game was still in progress at press time). “Last year the varsity volleyball went really far [in CCS] and we knew that this year we could do the same thing if not go further,” Isabella Spradlin (10) said. “We’re all really excited for CCS, and we know that it’s going to be a long season, and we’re excited to keep going and hopefully go really far into states.”
JU
ST
IN
SU
DA NA TH AN
AN
JO
JA Y
SA
JO NA TH
KL E
AN
CH A
DA
I
PRECISION Katherine Zhu (10) hits the golf ball out of the bunker, placing third overall in the tournament and qualifying for the NorCal tournament.
ADRIAN CHU
The girls’ golf team won the 2015 WBAL Championship Tournament on Oct. 28 to qualify for the CCS tournament for the first time in 10 years. “It felt really good to qualify CCS as a team because it was an unreachable goal for my four years and finally my last year we made it as a team, not just as an individual,” Ashley Zhong (12) said. “I’m sure it going to be really fun to go to CCS as a team.” The team left for the golf course the day before the tournament and stayed in a nearby hotel. Katherine Zhu (10), who shot a 69 score at the CCS tournament, gave her thoughts on qualifying for the tournament and the way the team played. “I think we did pretty well this season and in CCS considering we’ve never played the course before and we didn’t have much time to prepare for it,” Katherine said. “I think we were all really excited because it was the first year the girls golf team went to CCS in 10 years.” The girls finished eighth at the CCS tournament, scoring a 443 score on the course. Despite not moving on to the NorCal qualifiers, senior Daphne Liang had positive thoughts about the tournament. “I’ve been on the team since my freshman year and every year we’ve been so close to making it as a team,” Daphne said. “This year I didn’t think we would make it, but we did and it was surreal. It was such a great way to end my last golf season, I was just really happy.”
NG
assistant sports editor & reporter
GOING FOR THE SHOT Arnav Tandon (11) prepares to throw the ball. Boys water polo ended the league tourament 2-1.
Water polo BOYS RECORD: 15-9 GIRLS RECORD: 6-16 The girls water polo team ended their overall regular season 6-16, while the boys’ ended theirs 15-. The teams moved onto their league tournaments on Nov. 4. The boys ended their league championship games 2-1, finishing 3rd place but not qualifying for CCS. “We were able to start off strong and since our strong start we’ve been extending our performance throughout the season,” Zeyad elArabaty (12) said. “It would be great [to make it into CCS]; for the past three years while I’ve been on varsity we’ve been trying to move up into a higher league and it’s a huge goal, especially for our coach because he really sees the potential in us.”
B6
SPORTS
VOLUME 17 • ISSUE 3 NOVEMBER 20, 2015
Hard-hitting
jackie gao & zachary hoffman reporters
Following multiple studies uncovering the dangerous life-long effects of concussions, concern over athlete safety continues to grow. Since September, a total of eight high school students have died from football-related injuries nationwide, and 11 since July, up from the national average of three deaths per year in the past decade. 2013 recorded eight deaths and last year, 11 students died, five of which came from on field injuries, such as head and spinal injuries according to a survey by National Center for Catastrophic Sports Injuries Research at the University of North Carolina. The other six died from indirect heart-related, heat stroke and hypernatremia related causes. “It’s not really influenced my mentality really because at that level, the level of athleticism and the speed that they go at is incredibly different
than that which we go at,” junior Rishabh Nijhawan said. It was a normal tackle, but to star senior football player Luke Schemm and his family, the night of Nov. 2 was life changing. 17-year-old Schemm from Wallace County High School in Sharon Springs, Kansas, died almost immediately after scoring a touchdown on Tuesday, Nov. 3. He crashed into the sidelines, causing him to collapse. Schemm was later transferred to a hospital in Denver, Colorado, where the doctors announced him brain dead. Spinal fluid that surrounds the brain protects it from the hard skull, but if a person is hit hard, the brain can hit the skull causing a concussion, which does not always lead to passing out. The person can forget what happened right before the injury indicating brain damage. Recovery from the concussion ranges from a few hours to a few weeks. A spinal cord injury is damage done to any part of
JACKIE GAO AND ZACH HOFFMAN
Concussions and sports-related injuries rise for adolescents in United States
the spine, causing changes in strength and body functions below the injury. When all sensory feelings are lost below the place of the injury, that is called complete. Incomplete is when motor or sensory abilities still remain below the site
of the damage. Playing football since the age of seven, varsity football team captain Nate Kelly (10) believes that concussions and injuries are inevitable. “I mean yeah, I’m going to protect myself and everything
because I’m aware of what could happen, but I know it’s a dangerous sport,” Nate said.
IN THE SPOTLIGHT:
Shannon Richardson commits to play beach volleyball at Stanford shania wang & zachary hoffman reporters
Now enrolling for 2015-2016
Shannon Richardson, co-captain of upper school girls’ varsity volleyball team, signed her Letter of Intent to commit to Stanford’s Women Beach Volleyball program today at noon in the College Counseling Office. Many people attended the signing, including Shannon’s parents, teammates and classmates. “I’ve thought about this moment for so long that it’s kind of surreal that it finally happened. It’s still kind of sinking in, but I was really happy and pleased,” Shannon said. Several of Shannon’s friends expressed their excitement about her commitment.
“She works so hard and really puts all that she has into the team,” fellow co-captain Doreene Kang (12) said. “I’m really proud that it paid off, and she was able to go to her dream school.” Kurt Schwartz (12) expressed his excitement about her commitment. “I’m ridiculously proud of her,” Kurt said. “She’s honestly been working toward this for years, and I know it means a lot to her.” The National Letter of Intent, an NCAA document for student-athletes receiving scholarships, officially binds an athlete to a school and works as a contract between the school, coaches and player.
www.danceacademyusa.com 21269 Stevens Creek Blvd., Suite 618 • Cupertino
408-257-3211
BEACH VOLLEYBALL Shannon Richardson signs with Stanford. The signing took place last Wednesday and many of her friends went to support her.
SHANIA WANG
officeteam@danceacademyusa.com
AD
VOLUME 17 • ISSUE 3 NOVEMBER 20, 2015
B7
B8
BACK PAGE
EXPLORING ashley jiang & maya vallaru & maya kumar
reporter & Aquila copy editor & asst. features editor
KJ MULAM
of American millenials in favor of equal marriage
L G B T Q I A
IDENTITY W
hen students attended a biannual assembly hosted by Harker GSA, Ruth McFarlane told them to snap their fingers each time they found something she said interesting. As she clarified terms used in the LGBT+ community or explained ways in which individuals can be allies, or supporters, of the community, waves of clicking noises sounded through Percent of LGBT+ the crowded gym. youth who have McFarlane is the Director of missed a day of Programs at the San Francisco school in the past LGBT Community Center and a month because member of the board of directors they felt unsafe in Percent of LGBT+ for the National Center for Lestheir school. youth who report bian Rights. She identifies as a living in an unwel- cisgender lesbian woman. She discussed the various coming environways to be an ally, not just to ment the LGBT+ community but to all minority groups. Some tips 60 60 that she endorsed were listening, researching, and remaining 50 50 curious. “Being an ally is committing 40 40 yourself to do the hard work of 30 30 supporting social change at a person to person level,” she said. 20 20 “Every single one of us can be an ally to someone who does not 10 10 have our particular advantage in the world. When we commit to 0 0 2001 2007 2015 2001 2010 2007 2012 2010 2012 2015 being an ally, we step up to the line with all our ignorance and Percent of Americans in favor of equal marriage through time with all our good intentions, be-
30%
% in favor
Percent of Americans in favor of same-sex marriage
SPEAKING OUT Speakers Ruth McFarlane and Anthony Ross address the upper school students at an assembly sponsored by GSA. Both talked about their personal experiences in the community and advised students on good allyship.
“Being an ally is committing yourself to do the hard work of supporting social change at a person to person level.” RUTH McFARLANE SAN FRANCISCO LGBT COMMUNITY CENTER DIRECTOR cause we know in our heart that this is the right thing to do,” she said. Anthony Ross, the Outlet Program Director at Adolescent Counseling Services, also spoke to the student body after McFarlane. Ross’s speech focused more on his personal experience with being a transgender man. Ten years after coming out as a lesbian, he moved to California and began working with the ACS. Five years ago, he began his physical, social, and legal transition from female to male. “I learned so much from the youth I was working with. It was unbelievable, so I spent pretty much my 30s learning about gender identity and learning about my own gender identity.” Ross also offered advice to those who are fearful to come out to their parents or friends. “Make sure that you have support somewhere before you
necessarily come out to your family or friends. It takes parents especially a process of time to get used to the identity.” Several young people do not openly identify themselves as members of the LGBT+ community out of fear of alienation from their families and friends. Hate crimes based on sexual preference and gender identity have been outlawed by the Matthew Shepard Act, passed in 2009, but discrimination continues to pervade communities across the country. The Obergefell v. Hodges supreme court case, which came to a conclusion on June 26, legalized equal marriage throughout the entire country. Gay pride surged across the nation; over a million attended the 45th Annual Gay Pride Parade this year to celebrate their right to love freely.
3.8%
Percent of United States population who identify as LGBT+
80%
Percent of gay and lesbian youth who report severe isolation
90%
Percent of teenagers who come out to close friends before parents
Gender-Sexuality Alliance at Harker HOW TO BE AN GSA adviser Abel Olivas Q & A: explains the club’s history
Ashley Devlin (left) and Jenny Bourke (right) addressed the Upper school about their experiences as members of the LGBT community. Winged Post: Why do you think it’s important that Harker has a GSA? Jenny Bourke (12): “I think it’s important because I do keep hearing people using slurs, sometimes as a joke. Even if it is, it’s still bad and people [should] be informed that you shouldn’t do this because there are people out there who go through really bad things.” Ashley Devlin (9): “When people don’t have help, they get depressed. Educating people and helping people will help reduce that. I do hear [discriminatory slurs]. I think that if we want to reduce it we have to take disciplinary measures against students who do that.” WP: What was it like speaking during school meeting?
2000 Vermont legalizes same-sex civil unions
JB: “I think it was a little nerve-racking; there were about 800 people that I was talking to, so that was fun. It didn’t feel wrong in the end. I was talking about myself so it was definitely a subject I knew a lot about.” AD: “[Speaking at the school meeting] was fun. I got to talk in front of a lot of people about something I actually care about. I felt like I was educating people a bit.” WP: How is the Harker community in terms of acceptance in comparison to other communities? JB: “[This community] is definitely more accepting than others that I have been in. There are still problems but in comparison to other places, it’s pretty good.” AD: “I think Harker is better than some places, but it’s not the best. I don’t think I’ve heard of anyone at Harker recently bullying anyone because they were gay or bisexual or transgender or anything.”
RAISING AWARENESS Abel Olivas introduces McFarlane and Ross at the GSA assembly on Nov. 11.
Winged Post: Could you talk a bit about the club’s history at Harker and how it all started? Abel Olivas: “When I first got here, I was wanting to just be the Spanish teacher and not the gay teacher - not necessarily work on LGBT related issues. Kids were making some really homophobic comments one day outside of my classroom, harassing this one kid. I told them how inappropriate all that was, how destructive that is to hear if
KJ MULAM
Interview with Ashley Devlin (9) and Jenny Bourke (12)
you’re a kid in the closet or if you’re just a gay person listening in. We just decided there was a need to educate our kids more so that they’re not making comments like this. There were others who just wanted a space to talk about these issues and there was a lot of relief when we finally had that and that’s how [the club] started. Ms. Gilbert played an important role as well; she and I went in together to talk to the administration about starting a GSA.” WP: What else can the community be doing to support the LGBT community? AO: “Try not to use anti-gay language in a casual way. Just continue to seek to understand an experience because it will probably touch you in some way. Try to open your mind. Try to really listen. Try to really put yourself in that position. Even if there’s some confusion or discomfort initially, try to be open and embracing.”
ALLY
SHOWING SUPPORT Sumati Wadhwa (10) signs up for GSA at club fair.
MEGAN CARDOSI
KJ MULAM
Percent of Americans in favor of same-sex marriage
42%
KJ MULAM
70%
VOLUME 17 • ISSUE 3 NOVEMBER 20, 2015
In her talk, McFarlane educated students on five do’s and don’ts of good allyship. Here are the highlights:
GOOGLE, DON’T ASK
“Learn about the things that are important to them by doing some research.”
BE A GOOD LISTENER
“Be receptive to critical feedback.”
DON’T EXPECT A REWARD “Remember that what you’re doing is important in someone else’s life.”
DON’T IMITATE
“Accept that you’re different from the group you’re trying to support.”
KEEP AN OPEN MIND
“Expect that you’ll always be developing a better understanding of how to support your community.”
LGBTQIA+ Rights in America: Key Moments
2008 California legalizes same-sex marriage
2009 Matthew Shepard Hate Prevention Act Passed
2014 Oberfell vs. Hodges filed
2015 Gay marriage legal in all 50 states