The Talon | Issue 4 | December 12, 2017 The Talon

Los Altos High School, Los Altos, CA ■ DECEMBER 12, 2017 ■ Volume XXXIII, Issue 4

READ MORE ONLINE

lahstalon.org

INSIDE THIS ISSUE

SOLAR PANELS

In an effort to reduce their carbon footprint, all LASD schools are installing overhead solar panels. News, 2

Writing Center To fill the need for writing tutors, Los Altos will be implementing a writing center next year. News, 2

Respect the Humanities Talon writers argue that the district should expand their mission statement to include the humanities. Opinions, 6

Destigmatizing anime

TALON FILE PHOTO

Food regulations may prompt TGIF cancellation Last spring, seven food trucks came for the TGIF celebration. The administration is looking to cancel the event this year due to violation of food regulations.

Guest writer Frank Zhou defends anime from pervasive cultural stereotypes.

Opinions, 7

Drum Corps Four Los Altos students are members of Drum Corps International, an organization of elite marching bands.

Features, 10

MMEH The new MMEH club is a casual space to work on art projects in order to destress at lunch. Arts & Culture, 13

Josue Martinez Read about Josue Martinez’s experiences with the sport of parkour, which he considers a form of art. Sports, 15

JULIA SANTOS EVELIN DIEGO

Business Manager Staff Writer

The end of the year TGIF celebration, involving food trucks and bouncy houses on the back field, may be cancelled due to state and federal policies regarding food. Competitive

food sales with the cafeteria and violations of USDA dietary guidelines could discontinue TGIF. Currently, the future of TGIF is still uncertain and will await Associate Superintendent of Business Services Mike Mathiesen’s approval when presented.

The major issues with the items from the food trucks stem from the

fact that Los Altos participates in the National School Lunch Program (NSLP), a federally assisted meal program that provides nutritional food at low or reduced costs for low income students. As part of the program, all food sold on campus must be by the cafeteria or student organizations and must follow regulations such as portion sizes and average

Gaining traction at the Day Worker Center

Yuu Ishikawa

Freshman Yuu Ishikawa has impacted tennis at LAHS and nationally, despite physical disadvantages. Sports, 15

UPCOMING EVENTS December 15

End of First Semester

EMILY ARONOVITZ

January 1

Executive Director María Marroquín stands in front of the Day Worker Center. The Center pairs employers with day laborers who typically look for work on the street, and it provides a host of other services to the workers.

New Year’s Day January 3

Start of Second Semester January 15

Martin Luther King Jr. Day January 19

Winter Spirit Assembly January 25

8th Grade Parent Night February 2

Winter Ball

News Editorial Opinions

2 5 6

In-Depth Features Arts & Culture Sports

8 10 13 15

JOCELYN MAEYAMA Staff Writer

Nestled in the corner of Escuela Avenue, lush vines and shrubs frame the Day Worker Center of Mountain View. Inside, the building is a hub of activity. During the day, employers come and go and are matched by staff in the center to workers who complete jobs from landscaping to childcare to envelope stuffing. At night, the day laborers participate in classes taught by volunteers, such as learning English as a second language, how to get their driver’s li-

cense and more.

Many of the workers at the Day Worker Center are recent Latino immigrants, searching for jobs to support themselves and their families. They come to the Day Worker Center to ensure their employers pay them, as many have had the experience of working for a week and then having their employers refuse to pay. Through the Center’s data collection on employers and its list of lawyers ready to defend the rights of the workers, the Center gives workers a form of job security that can’t be

found on the street.

The Center was founded in 1996 to find employees for jobs the community and other businesses had to fill. From its buildingless beginning on the street in front of Jack In The Box to its own property on Escuela, it’s grown to provide workers with a wide range of resources — $1 breakfasts and lunches, a medical van and more — so they can find their footing and consistent employment, or start their own businesses.

“Worker”

continues on page 11

calorie count.

Mathiesen is responsible for approving school events that include the sales of food on campus, and he hopes to find a potential solution to TGIF that pleases the students and abides by the rules. ASB is still discussing their options.

“Food trucks”

continues on page 4

2

The Talon December 12, 2017

Get daily LAHS updates and read the news archives at lahstalon.org/category/news

Writing Center would create specialized tutoring community way,” Abel Shaffer said. “I can have 10 minute check-ins, but in Senior Writers really working on their writing, there just isn’t enough time even In order to fill the need for spe- if I wanted to stay here until 9 cialized writing tutors, English o’clock every day.” teacher Caitlin Hannon has proIn lieu of teachers trying to posed implementing a Writing meet with all their students, Center course on campus staffed peer tutors at the Writing Center by trained student tutors next will provide feedback after Hanyear. non teaches a five-week training If the course attracts enough course. The course will focus on student interest and can be ad- three main areas: technical skills equately staffed, it will train stu- such as revision and what makes dents to assist peers good writing, giving in writing across all feedback and being subjects. As detailed mentors or leaders Writing is a part

by Common Core on campus. Next standards, writing of the Common year’s upperclassskills are becoming Core. It's not gomen may sign up more prevalent and ing away. as writing tutors in necessary across all January.

— English teacher subjects beyond just The Writing CenCarrie Abel Shaffer English classes. ter’s intensive train“Some students ing course differenhave access to tutors outside of tiates it from most other tutoring school and that’s great, but not opportunities on campus. It is everyone does,” English teacher modeled after Hannon’s universiCarrie Abel Shaffer said. “People ty writing center, which required don’t know how to access tutors passing a semester-long course for writing, and so a lot of stu- teaching the same three tenets to dents don’t end up getting the be a tutor. help that they need. Or they rely After this training period, tuon friends or parents, and again, tors will help students during the those aren’t trained tutors. Writ- elective period, throughout the ing is part of the Common Core. school day and after school. HanIt’s not going away.” non’s long-term plan is to have Because individually work- enough students signed up for the shopping with students takes Writing Center elective each year more time than possible for Eng- so that the Writing Center can be lish teachers, the Writing Center fully staffed throughout the day. will serve to provide meaningful At the time being, administration writing and revision help from has not decided where the electrained peers. tive will take place.

“If I have a hundred and some In addition to signing up for odd kids, I can’t conference with the elective, prospective tutors every single student one-on-one will undergo a brief application about their writing in a serious process involving a teacher rec-

PRIYA DIXIT RACHEL LU

ommendation. The emphasis on an application and training course ensures that tutors will not only be able to write well themselves but they will also be committed and well-equipped to provide structured writing feedback.

“There’s a difference between being a strong writer and knowing how to help someone who is struggling with writing, or helping someone who is a strong writer who needs to get to the next level — that’s even more challenging,” Abel Shaffer said. “[Tutors] would be enrolled in the class and have a good amount of time where they were being taught how to tutor so

they would have those skills to spent digging into this, the more go and implement. I think some I thought it is really surprising of the tutoring that we have on we don’t do this on high school campus is like, campuses,” Han‘You’re good at this non said. “It’s subject, so you can weird that this The more time I go help people,’ isn’t as popular but that doesn’t spent digging into on high school necessarily make this, the more I campuses. Writyou a good tutor.” thought it surprising ing is really hard, With the Writing we don't do this [in] and it tends to be Center, Hannon a skill that people aims to encourage high schools. who don’t feel students to imconfident in their — English teacher Caitlin Hannon prove their writing writing feel that skills by providing they could never a constructive method of receiv- be good at writing. I’m hoping by ing feedback. providing a resource like this on “It’s a resource that is really campus, we can kind of help to widely used, and the more time I fight that notion.”

ANNE SCHILL, ARJIN UNLU

The graph above shows the results of one of a few questions on a survey conducted by the English department to 1,103 students. In hopes of providing trained, specialized writing tutors as writing increases across all subjects, Los Altos will implement a Writing Center course next year.

Solar panel construction starts at LASD schools ETHAN RUYACK Staff Writer

Following in the footsteps of LAHS, all LASD schools will have overhead parking lot solar panels installed, except Oak Elementary will have them above the lunch and play area. The project started on Monday, October 25,

and the school district hopes to finish before Sunday, December 31, to take full advantage of the grandfathered PG&E rates that will end in 2027.

The solar panels will decrease carbon dioxide emissions by 3.5 million pounds per year and account for 90 percent of the district’s needs, LASD Assistant

Superintendent of Business Services Randall Kenyon said.The arrangement resulted from a purchase power agreement with solar leasing firm ForeFront in which the firm will construct the panels and lease them to the district for 20 years, with options for the district to buy out the lease after 5, 10 or 15 years

KYLIE AKIYAMA

The foundations for solar panels stand as parents pick up students at Almond Elementary. The solar panels are expected to decrease carbon dioxide emissions by 3.5 million pounds per year and account for 90 percent of the district's energy needs.

or at the end of the contract.

While the solar panels are beThe district will start off sav- ing installed, most of the parking around $200,000 annually, ing lot space at the schools is only paying around $396,000 a fenced off, causing teachers to year compared to the previous have to find alternative ways to $600,000, eventually amount- get to school. The district suging to saving $2.7 million after gests they walk, bike, carpool 10 years. or rideshare to school. Some “One of the things teachers at Egan exwe are thinking pressed annoyance about is buying it that parking had out after five years,” The sooner we been blocked off Kenyon said. “That buy out the sosince the beginning hasn't been decided lar panels, the of the whole projyet, but that's going sooner we get ect, even though the to be my recommenschools were being full savings on dation to the board. worked on three at The sooner we buy the utility costs. a time. out the solar panels, “It would be bet— LASD Assistant Superintendent of the sooner we get ter if they’d actually Business Services full savings on utility started work when Randall Kenyon costs.” they blocked off the The funding for parking lot,” Egan this project will not music teacher Anne come from the $150 million given Spector. “The parking lot has been to the school district in bonds blocked off for a long time now, for project funding by Measure and the work has barely started.

N, which entail improvements in That was a little frustrating.” school facilities. Instead it will Egan English teacher Lisa Waxbe paid for through the general man said the project was “a great operating budget given to the move in the right direction” and district. Money saved by the so- would benefit the school by genlar panels will be redirected to erating extra revenue. other other places in the school “I am really glad they are doing district leading to smaller class that because schools are generalsizes, better facilities and more ly the last to improve things like classes. that,” Waxman said.

The Talon December 12, 2017

3

District revises Facilities Master Plan

Plan adds more developed athletic facilities, auxiliary funds for classrooms to accommodate student growth The previous draft of the Los Altos part of the plan had three main components: a two-story classroom Proposed to the MVLA School building to replace the 600 wing Board last Monday, the $292 million and nearby portables, a two-story revised Facilities Master Plan would Student Union and administration create more developed athletic fa- building to replace the two admincilities and auxiliary funds for 20 ad- istrative office buildings, and expanditional classrooms. sions of the small gym and library The revised master plan, present- and small improvements to the cafed by Superintendent Jeff Harding eteria and the school entrance. and Associate Superintendent of The MVLA School Board’s demoBusiness Services Mike Mathiesen, graphic study projects there will be aims to address parent concerns 4,576 students enrolled at Los Alabout athletic facilitos by the 2021-2022 ties presented at the school year. The 20 previous board meetclassrooms will add ing and give the dis- I think we've to the 29 classrooms trict flexibility to ac- fine-tuned a lot. already proposed in commodate students The $292 [milthe draft of the plan, beyond the peak of which already concurrent estimates lion budget] is a tained six more classof enrollment. The good solution on rooms than what was board pushed its final so many fronts. projected as necesdecision on the plan sary, but these de— MVLA School Board to Monday, January mographic studies President Fiona Walter 8, 2018 and is lookare subject to change ing into moving the based on nearby two-story classroom building away housing projects. from the perimeter of campus due Due to public demand, the new to nearby resident concerns, and all draft also includes updated athmembers of the board voiced their letic facilities. A modernization unofficial support of the added ele- of the small gym and installation ments of the plan. of one synthetic soccer field at the “I think we've fine-tuned a lot,” back field address parent concerns new board president Fiona Walter that arose at the board meeting on said. “The $292 [million budget] is Monday, November 20 about Los a good solution on so many fronts. Altos’ athletic facilities compared I'm willing to talk about the two- to other high schools’. The synthetstory building moving and what ic soccer field would prevent sharthat means or what that looks like, ing fields and allow practices and but otherwise I think this is it.” games to be less affected by rain

JOCELYN MAEYAMA Staff Writer

than the regular field.

The median cost between the high and low estimates of the plan is $292 million dollars. Both $198 million and $268 million plans were previously presented, but this plan ensures quality buildings will be built while still being frugal. All members of the board voiced their unofficial support for the new budget at the board meeting last week, with some willing to go even higher.

The majority of public comments surrounded the two-story building slated for the perimeter of Los Altos’ property. Residents of Alicia Way were concerned about the building overshadowing their houses and rendering any solar panels they had useless at points during the day. After talking to Mathiesen, many proposed pushing the building into the center of campus.

At the Monday meeting, the board said that they plan to look into the costs and benefits of this new location, and Mathiesen said this process has already begun.

It would, however, cause empty space because the aging portable classrooms would eventually be demolished with no plan for what to replace them with. Citizens believe parking is a bigger issue than the board currently believes and think this empty space could be filled with parking spaces.

The board is considering adding another meeting before they vote on the final draft of the plan on Monday, January 8, 2018, but they are uncertain they will need it.

CARISSA LEE

The latest version of the Facilities Master Plan includes more developed athletic facilities and auxiliary funds for 20 additional classrooms within the district to accommodate for future student growth.

New course to offer comprehensive intro to STEAM KRISTEN FAN Staff Writer

A new STEAM Foundations course next year would introduce students to STEM and art disciplines to encourage a multidisciplinary approach to problem solving. If approved by the MVLA School Board, the year-long course will be the first in a proposed LAHS Academy of Engineering and Design.

Approved by Los Altos’ Leadership Team last month, Foundations employs a cross-departmental team of teachers and works with topics like engineering, 3D modeling, coding, robotics, technical writing and drawing. Each quarter of the course will be taught by a different teacher, and the Leadership Team aims to have 100 students circulating the course next year.

In coming years, the Leadership Team seeks to review and approve more courses for the proposed Academy, for which Foundations serves as an introductory course.

If fully implemented, Academy students would choose an area of focus after Foundations: engineering, computer science, art or fabrication.

Students would take a two year “pathway” course to deepen their knowledge of that area before a “capstone” course their senior year. The capstone, yet to be fully designed, would bring together students from different pathways to create fourmember interdisciplinary teams to work on self-directed projects.

The Leadership Team has identified some pathways that already exist, such as Introduction to Computer Science and AP Computer Science. Pathway courses are still open to enrollment for all students, and

students who have already taken pathway courses can take Foundations and skip to the capstone course the following year. The Leadership Team expects students to shape pathways, which will be flexible through course demand.

“The options should be limitless,” math teacher Adam Anderson said.

“If there’s really a pathway that isn't very popular, then it will be replaced organically through the desires of the students.”

The Academy would be more comprehensive and incorporate more interdisciplinary work than any STEM-based Los Altos program before it. In allowing students to explore a variety of disciplines and their interconnections, go into depth into one topic and combine disciplines into a real-world project, it offers a longer-term, more carefully-tracked progression than the senior-only Advanced Science Investigations or the Robotics program.

To history teacher Sarah Alvarado, the Academy offers a collaborative STEAM experience more in sync with modern day career demands.

“Connected learning is more like the real world, so we don't really look at one subject in a vacuum,” history teacher Sarah Alvarado said.

“Engineers in the real world aren't just focused on this one piece of engineering, they have to be able to collaborate with different people and talk about different things and come at their problems from different angles.

“One of the pieces of the Academy is to bring in some of our local community into the conversation of how we keep it relevant and current with what the local career here in

Silicon Valley demands.”

The team is still planning the overall framework of the Academy, which could include partnerships in the capstone year with companies like Google, Samsung and Cisco.

Opportunities for expansion also exist after the program’s launch.

In the future, entire new pathways could be created.

“The pathway model that we have

adopted when a teacher from another department comes to us and says this will be great to add, we can just create a new pathway and the options should be limitless,” Anderson said. “If there’s a pathway that isn't very popular, then it will be replaced organically.”

He expressed hope that the Academy, inspired by a program he and science teacher Stephen Hine saw

at the Maker Faire in Santa Barbara, would give students a taste of what’s to come after graduation.

“We have the minds to make that happen, and it's a lot of fun,” Anderson said. “I'm not expecting them to change the world, but I'm expecting more drones and more wacky, student-built innovations on campus in the next few years because of the program.”

ANNE SCHILL

4

The Talon December 12, 2017

City holds downtown visioning workshop

Residents provided feedback to help shape downtown's future; city seeks teen voices JOCELYN MAEYAMA

The workshop aimed to develop Alterations to the initial scenar- level of vitality based on feedback and shape a single scenario that ios include changing locations of from City Council. City Council achieves the level of vitality and in- certain elements, like the plazas wished to see a larger range from The City of Los Altos presented cludes the elements that most citi- in which people can congregate, the level of vitality of Scenario 1 revised drafts of proposed down- zens want. At the workshop, around and adding new elements, like af- (a 9.5 percent increase in vitality) town visioning scenarios at a com- 100 community members listened fordable than Scenario 3 (a 17.1 workforce munity workshop on November to a presentation by consulting firm housing. The plazas in percent increase in vi29, 2017 including a new scenario, RRM Design and economic analyst particular now spread tality) proposed. Sceaffordable housing and pedestrian senior partner at Land Economic across more of Los Al- [Teens] are nario 4 (a 19.8 percent plazas. Through the visioning pro- Group Bill Lee. They then picked tos in certain scenarios increase in vitality) cess, the city aims to make a broad their favorite elements from each and they include so- the ones that also gives new ways, document that crelike a boutique hotel, scenario and pro- called “activity nodes,” will avail ates a long-term plan to utilize land that do posed alterations and like fire pits with seat- themselves to increase Los Altos’ not appear in the prenew suggestions. ing around them and and use the In a project like vitality to revive revious scenarios, and The scenarios pre- ping pong tables. downtown in tail sales and create this where the Biggs hopes the fourth sented at the recent The activity nodes more community city council is inscenario will act as workshop showed can be tailored to the future. spaces. an “inspiration docusignificant revisions specific age groups, terested in what — Community Development The scenarios de- the community ment” for citizens to from when they Rudd said, and many Director Jon Biggs tail different levels also think outside of were first unveiled community members of vitality Los Altos as a whole really the box. in August based on called for one of the could have in the wants, [feedback If citizens missed the workshop community feed- activity nodes to be for teens spenext 10 to 20 years from the teen deback through 25 cifically. But Rudd said the city or if they would like to give addiand how elements of mographic] really meetings and pop- currently lacks teen feedback and tional feedback, they can fill out the city affect these an online survey that mimics the up workshops. More teen voices would be beneficial. steers where the levels. To create a than half of the eleBased off of community and City feedback process at the workshop plan that all citizens [scenarios] go. ments in the scenar- Council feedback, the city also add- and will stay open until Sunday, want for the future, ios are modified or ed affordable housing in Scenarios December 17, 2017. More pop up — RRM Design Principal Debbie Rudd the city and consulnew, generated from 2, 3 and 4. This housing would have workshops and meetings will also tants from architecpublic feedback price limits and would give people take place, and there will be a third tural firm RRM Design gathered from the events. a cheaper option to live than the community workshop in March, community feedback through 25 In pop-up workshops, the city high-priced land in and around with the city planning to have a fimeetings and pop-up workshops. goes to events like Junior Olym- Los Altos. The city opted to include nal visioning plan in July.

They revised more than half the pics, the Farmer’s Market and housing in visioning over keeping “It's going to be important for elements of the original scenarios Grant Park with a small tent where it a separate project elsewhere in the community to participate,” based on community feedback, citizens can give their input on Los Altos to incentivize developers Biggs said. “I want to emphasize but they are still missing feedback the scenarios. Meetings take place to build on set-aside parcels of land that these scenarios are a tool that from a large but important portion in more formal settings, focusing rather than wait for new ones to be- will help us get closer to the actual of the demographic: teens. vision document that will be what on gathering feedback from spe- come available.

“In a project like this, where it's a cific demographics at a time such RRM Design also presented a the city council needs to consider city project and the city council is as the Los Altos Chamber of Com- new, “out of the box” fourth alter- and adopt to help guide the downinterested in what the community merce and City Council. native with the highest estimated town off into the future.” as a whole really wants, [feedback from the teen demographic] really steers the direction on where the [scenarios] go,” RRM Design Principal Debbie Rudd said. “We did not hear from very many students in the community, so we’re really interested to see what students would like to see in their downtown.” “[Teens] are the ones, or at least represent those, that will avail themselves and use the downtown in the future,” Community Development Director Jon Biggs said.

ANNE SCHILL “Downtowns thrive when they include the amenities, activities and The city added affordable housing to Scenarios 2, 3 and 4 based on community and City Council members' commercial services that people of feedback to alleviate the effects of the housing crisis in California. The city unveiled the first version of the a community need and want.” scenarios in August, then significantly revised them after 25 meetings and pop-up workshops.

Staff Writer

Food Trucks CONTINUED FROM THE FRONT PAGE “The whole program basically sets the guidelines for the type of food that can be offered during the school day,” Mathiesen said. “So when we want to have

events — which I am supportive of — and want kids to have fun and take ownership and plan the events, we just always have to be mindful of what are the guidelines and the nutritional content of the food that we are offering.”

Competitive food sales also harm the cafeteria. Partaking in the NSLP qualifies the school for reimbursements — the state reimburses the cafeteria $0.2306 for every meal sold. According

to the California Department of Education (CDE), which enforces USDA regulations, compliant foods must “be a fruit, vegetable, dairy, protein, or whole grain item (or have one of these as the first ingredient), or be a combination food containing at least ¼ cup fruit or vegetable.”

But the food trucks that visit as a part of TGIF do not follow the California Education Code, and failure to follow regulations

and the selling of noncompliant foods may result in fines or the cancellation of reimbursements.

“None of those food trucks are in compliance [with the CDE code] and it’s competition,” MVLA School District Food Services Coordinator Debra Godfrey said. “By law, you can't have anything being sold [that doesn’t follow food regulations] unless you're giving it away. If you're giving it away for free, it doesn't matter but if you're selling it and you're making money, any kind of money it has to be in compliance.”

The school could still host TGIF with just bouncy houses, but that “wouldn’t be a wise investment,” Assistant Principal Suzanne Woolfolk said. The bouncy houses cost $3,000 and students would spend more time getting food instead of enjoying the bouncy houses.

However, Woolfolk and ASB are still searching for other options so that there will be no violations of food regulations nor competition with the cafeteria.

“I have yet to find any food trucks that will meet the nutritional guideline set forth by the cafeteria at school,” Woolfolk said.

Los Altos High School

201 Almond Ave., Los Altos, CA December 12, 2017 Volume XXXIII, Issue 4 Editor-In-Chief Alex Wong Managing Editors Akhil Jakatdar (Print) Miranda Li (Print) Avi Varghese (Web) News Editor Danny Vesurai Opinions Editor Maddie Chu Features Editor Yalda Khodadad In-Depth Editor Javin Pombra Arts & Culture Editor Emma van Geuns Sports Editor Alex Luna Media Editor Anne Schill Copy/Content Editors Anisha Desai, Savita Govind, Yolanda Spura Business Managers Francesca Fallow, Julia Santos Senior Writers Priya Dixit, Nathan Godderis, Brian Huebner, Emma Kwan, Rachel Lu, Emily Meza-Perez, Tino Tugwete, Madison Woo, Justin Yu Staff Writers Mayu Alten, Isabella Borkovic, Evelin Diego, Kristen Fan, Daniela Gloster, Noelle Hanson, Daphne Ih, Jocelyn Maeyama, Zooey Nguyen, Ethan Ruyack, Mia Scher, Ian Tseng, Cathy Wang Photographers Kylie Akiyama, Katrina Arsky, Emily Aronovitz, Francesca Fallow, Kristen Fan, Rachel Lu, Hassib Rangeen, Sean Scott, Max Weirauch Graphic Artists Ashley Cai, Carissa Lee, Jasmine Shen, Max Weirauch Videographers Bobak Afshari, Nicholas Borda, Noah Tesfaye, Arjin Unlu Adviser Michael Moul

POLICIES Los Altos High School’s Compositional Journalism class is solely responsible for The Talon, which is published eight times a year. The Talon also updates its website, www.lahstalon.org, with full-time coverage.

The Editorial Board sets the policies of The Talon and crafts its editorials and thumbs. Its members are Akhil Jakatdar, Alex Luna, Miranda Li, Javin Pombra, Anne Schill, Yolanda Spura, Avi Varghese and Danny Vesurai.

ADVERTISE & SUBSCRIBE Send advertisement and subscription inquiries to Francesca Fallow and Julia Santos at business@lahstalon.org.

Talon Supporters Honorary Pulitzers Jacqueline Denkabe, Vaishali Dixit, The Fallow Family, Kendall Goto, Jean Wong

Silver Supporters Natalie Arsky, The Carrie Family, Vaishali Dixit, Dragoli Family, Shawna Hui, Cleo Kiros, Leigh Anne Miller, Sepideh Mostashiri, Uma Panda, Jasmeen Pombra, Susan Stark and Jerry Scher, Irene Shih, Deirdre Crommie and Randall Stafford, Ruxandra Tico, Jelle van Geuns

The Talon December 12, 2017

5

Please send letters to the editor to talon.lahs@gmail.com

Solving Los Altos’ tutoring problem Tutorial Center tutors are underutilized, while Skills and English 10 classes are understaffed.

A new approach is needed to create a community of tutors that can serve the school.

S

ophomore Alex Siesel is your ideal tutor, with regulars who visit him once a week, sometimes everyday. He’s the first to snag new students, tutoring three days a week at the Tutorial Center with a level of responsibility rivaled by few others.

“I enjoy it,” Alex said. “If there's anyone who needs help, I'll make myself welcoming and friendly. If Ms. Nguyen requests for someone to help a student, I'll usually be the first to volunteer.”

Tutors like Alex show the Tutorial Center’s potential. Yet the rarity of his commitment exemplifies the Tutorial Center’s issues: few tutors tutor, and few students come to get tutored.

“It can be problematic, [because] tutors there don’t end up tutoring that much,” Alex said. “Usually I’m one of two or three tutors tutoring” out of five.

Alex is overestimating, according to data collected from 22 of the Center’s 35 tutors. The average Tutorial Center tutor self-reported actively tutoring only one third of their scheduled periods. The Tutorial Center has a 33 percent efficiency rate. This semester, 1152 periods were assigned to 22 tutors — approximately 384 of which consisted of actual tutoring.

Even worse, just three of those 22 tutors account for 208, or 54 percent, of tutoring periods. Conversely, the five tutors who do the least tutoring account for just nine tutoring periods.

This data is extrapolated from Tutorial Center tutoring schedules and students’ own perception of how often they tutor. It isn’t completely accurate, but Tutorial Center Coordinator Quyen Nguyen said the Center doesn’t collect data on tutoring hours, or at least will not release those numbers.

Still the image the data summons is telling: most tutors spend more time working on homework than tutoring other students. The Center simply does not receive enough students to tutor.

But look into freshman Skills and sophomore English 10 classes, and you’ll find the opposite issue: there are eight tutors to fill seven classes in courses teachers say need five tutors per class.

Tutors provide struggling students with individualized help, and assist teachers with classroom management. But awareness of these classes is low — 92 of 135 seniors surveyed reported they had little to no knowledge of English 10. More, 12 of the 22 Tutorial Center tutors reported they primarily chose the Center because it was the only opportunity they had heard of. Culturally, the Center is

the default tutoring service. While the Center’s 35 student tutors sit underutilized, each in-class tutor is expected to help manage 20 students every day.

“It’s a big problem, because the more one-on-one help students can get the better,” World Studies teacher Christa Wemmer said. Wemmer previously taught World Studies Skills, for over a decade. “Not having tutors, it makes a huge impact. The skills classes are set up for students who need a lot of academic support at our school.”

Lack of community sits at the heart of this issue. Los Altos may pride itself on its communities, such as AVID, Haiti Club, ODFL and more, but it can’t pride itself on its tutoring community. That community needs to exist to bridge the gap between the Tutorial Center and Los Altos community and between the Center and in-class tutoring needs.

The trust issue

T

o get tutees, the Tutorial Center relies on teacher referrals and student initiative, factors that are fractured by teachers and students’ lack of faith in the system.

A majority of 38 teachers surveyed reported trust issues with the Tutorial Center: they lacked faith that tutors were qualified, and that referred students would actually go to the Center. It would take work set up structured ways to ensure students attend tutoring sessions. Faith in tutors’ qualifications and effort, however, may take a cultural overhaul.

The lack of faith is understandable — 10 of the 22 tutors surveyed reported choosing to tutor at the Center because it requires a “low commitment level.” Six said that volunteer hours were the primary reason they tutored, over the option “Because I enjoy helping my peers.”

When around half of tutors signed up for the Center’s low commitment level, it’s clear there’s a culture of lax expectations.

“I wish the Tutorial Center was a place where students could really get help,” English teacher Carrie Abel Shaffer said. “I think the idea is amazing… Some students who sign up to be tutors really do want to tutor. Others know they can get away with not really doing anything.”

Committed tutors need training, but the Tutorial Center’s training process can be summed up succinctly: tutors are supposed to learn on the job.

Tutors must meet grade requirements for the subjects they’re teaching and fill out a brief application.

Then, they sit down with Nguyen, who explains the course and hands them a sheet of tutoring tips. It’s

The data above and below was collected through a survey of 22 Tutorial Center tutors out of 35, where tutors estimated the frequency of their tutoring and picked between options to indicate why they chose to tutor at the Tutorial Center. The Talon extrapolated tutors’ total tutoring hours based on their self-reported frequencies, and compared that data to the total hours they were assigned to tutor. All figures in this article are therefore approximate, because the Tutorial Center could not provide more accurate data. mostly hands-off after that. Nguyen makes sure to instill a focused atmosphere, but “training” is meant to be an iterative process for each tutor.

The process can’t inspire much faith in teachers. Tutoring for all subjects requires more than a passing grade — tutors need to build relationships to create lasting impacts on their tutees. The necessary skills take time and commitment to develop.

“How do you package feedback so a person doesn’t get demotivated?

How do you hold high expectations but choose appropriate challenges?”

Survey Skills teacher Alicia Triana said. “Like 50 percent of the battle is, ‘Does this person believe in me and think I can do well at this, even if I’m not doing well now?’ I'm not sure we stress that enough with tutors.”

It’s understandable Skills and English 10 classes have few resources to devote toward training, but tutors should also receive more training to work more effectively with large groups of students.

It’s for these reasons Alex focuses on decreasing the barriers he knows students face when accessing the Tutorial Center. He knows he needs to work to make them feel comfortable in the Center’s environment.

“I try to act friendly even if I'm not tutoring so someone might come,” Alex said. “I try to act human, instead of just saying ‘I’m only here to teach you math and improve

your grade.’ I think it helps them feel comfortable, because it kind of closes the academic/social gap, if we can create a connection.”

The Writing Center model

S

o the Tutorial Center faces a dilemma: how should it find more students to tutor if tutors aren’t trusted? Expectations need dramatic revisions, and the newly proposed Writing Center lends key ideas.

The Writing Center came to fruition this year in an effort to provide what the Tutorial Center could not: thoroughly trained and vetted tutors. The goal is to create a community of tutors through demanding commitment akin to that of Broken Box or ASB. For the Tutorial Center, establishing weeks-long training periods and competitive applications is a brave but necessary step toward a stronger tutoring culture. Acquiring tutors who are willing and able to work shouldn’t be a high bar to reach.

With tutors who take pride in their work — instead of shying away from it — students and teachers can hold faith in the quality of Tutorial Center tutoring.

A smaller initial group of tutors is also necessary to fight complacency — the Center only needs around 15 tutors, not the 35 it has now.

Requiring commitment would increase the amount of tutors — stu-

dents currently don’t tutor because tutoring doesn’t present itself as a priority. Out of 102 seniors surveyed, 47 said they would be likely or very likely to tutor, and 53 cited prioritizing other commitments as a main reason they do not tutor. Evidence points to an increase in tutors if tutoring rivaled sports and clubs for priority.

The Tutorial Center also needs to take responsibility for all tutoring on campus so Skills, English 10 and AVID don’t need to search for tutors on a year-by-year basis. Staff dedicated to on-campus tutoring should manage the process from finding to maintaining tutors.

But the Writing Center and Tutorial Center should not coexist independently. It makes little sense to create a Writing Center while the Tutorial Center lies underutilized, and little sense to reform the Tutorial Center and implement a Writing Center. Five years from now, Los Altos’ vision needs to be for one, centralized tutoring service.

To become a sustainable, reformminded campus tutoring service, the Tutorial Center needs a stronger accountability system that allows teachers to enforce tutoring sessions and coordinate between itself and other on-campus tutoring opportunities to re-allocate tutors. Most of all, it needs to reform its culture and assume responsibility as the Tutorial Center.

6

The Talon December 12, 2017

Read more opinions articles at lahstalon.org/category/opinions

Miranda Writes

RESPECT THE HUMANITIES: EXAMINING DISTRICT PRIORITIES ASHLEY CAI, GRAPHIC ARTIST | JOCELYN MAEYAMA, STAFF WRITER | NOAH TESFAYE, VIDEOGRAPHER

By Miranda Li

Training Bra I remember the days I’d sit with my cousin and play Nintendo. Me with my white DS, him with his black one — he’d lend me his Level 100 Lugia so I could defeat the next gym leader in Pokémon Pearl. I remember sleeping over, playing Pokémon on my stomach on his bedroom floor.

I also remember the day all of this ended. I was wearing a training bra.

We were jumping off the bed onto a mattress piled with cushions we’d taken from the couch.

I jumped first, landed belly-up, and he flopped next to me. We wrestled and laughed until he stopped, suddenly.

“Are you wearing a bra?” He spoke the last word as if it was forbidden.

“Yes.” I wasn't sure how else to respond. Truthfully, I was — one of those elasticky, fabric ones, without padding or underwire. The kind you buy with your mom in packs of three at Target and grow out of in a few months when you get your period for the first time.

He recoiled, scrambled off of the mattress and refused to jump down again. For the rest of the day, we didn’t speak.

I don’t remember playing Pokémon after that.

I had realized my femininity and was ashamed of it; prior to my training bra my cousin and I were equals, peers. But then I wore a bra and he didn’t.

Things became different. Being a girl was something I was constantly reminded of, something I hadn’t been keenly aware of before.

Since then, the fears associated with femininity — of sexual assault, of not being taken seriously — have loomed in the blurry backdrop of my everyday thoughts. I hold my keys in a clenched fist with the key protruding when I’m walking alone to my car in the dark; I dress more conservatively when I’m going to San Francisco.

In the long run, I hope for a world where gender is not a division that we are constantly reminded of, where I can walk back to my car alone with my keys in my pocket. I’d like to not be afraid of things like crowded city streets and office politics.

I miss the way things were before my cousin and I grew old enough to build walls between ourselves. Before the training bra. Before the world told us we couldn’t be peers.

T

he MVLA School Board’s sixyear plan omits the achievement of students in the humanities entirely. But the school board goes out of its way to state they want to continue “promoting achievement of students in Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math.”

This omission shows how the district believes humanities and humanities-inclined students are a second priority. This exclusion manifests in the double standards for course enrollment: students can take two STEM classes within the same narrower discipline (science or math) but not in humanities (English or social studies).

Because students can only pick one English and one social studies course, humanities departments are reluctant to create more electives and compromise their strong vertically and horizontally aligned core curriculums. Departments fear students will pick an elective course that doesn’t cover all necessary foundational skills instead of a core course. Also, having one core pathway all students go through creates classes that combine students that may have separate tracks in STEM departments. “[The English department] felt like it was really important for students to have a part of their day where there was genuine heterogeneity and a chance to meet people you might not otherwise get a chance to meet because you took a different science track,” English teacher and AVID coordinator Keren Dawson-Bowman said.

For the district, the solution to increasing support in the humanities is simple: the district should allow students to take more than one humanities course, and it should openly support the humanities by expanding its six-year plan to include the humanities.

The humanities provide the backbone for all education and educational endeavours. Whether a student is studying chemistry, international relations or geometry, critical reading and writing skills are necessities. Whereas in collegeprep level STEM courses there are more linear answers, humanities college prep courses give opportunities for students to be creative in the way they explore a topic.

“The humanities investigate, describe and interrogate a range of alternative conceptual frameworks, inviting students and scholars to reflect on what it means to be human and to live a meaningful life,” author Judith Butler wrote in “The Humanities and Public Life.”

Humanities hone empathy, a soft

INTERESTED IN GUEST-WRITING FOR TALON?

skill not focused on in STEM. Although some of these experiences do exist in STEM, teaching these skills is not part of the curriculum of STEM courses and often doesn’t occur in STEM honors and AP courses.

"In English and in history, what we are really doing is studying the human experience,” Dawson-Bowman said. “So you’re reading about either fictional or real people and what they’ve done and the choices that they’ve made and understanding why they’ve done what they’ve done."

The humanities also help give students the skills necessary to getting any job, regardless of whether it may be in STEM or any other field.

“Flexibility, nimbleness and the development of soft communication skills are the most highly prized skill sets in most of these new [STEM] fields,” English teacher Robert Barker said. “How do you prepare for what that job is going to look like in 10 years? You get a broad education so you're prepared to go into lots of different areas and succeed.”

The first step in providing students with a quality humanities education is to give students the opportunity to double up in humanities courses, like in STEM. For example, sophomores who love history should be allowed to take MEHAP and HGAP. Seniors who love English should be allowed to take AP Literature and Film Analysis.

Funding doubling up on courses for humanities too will have logistic costs but this action would send a clear message to the humanities departments that the board wants to see students thrive in exploring the humanities alongside their STEM-oriented peers.

Second, the district needs to emphasize the humanities or skills taught in the humanities in their six-year plan. This would show humanities-focused students and humanities departments the district values them equally as STEM-focused students and departments.

The general consensus from most teachers

is that they are willing to work on whatever courses the students show interest in. Yet the communication between students and teachers is lacking.

“A lot of teachers don't know there's a desire from the student population for more classes,” English and AVID teacher Jonathan Kwan said. “Personally I don't talk to a lot of people whose students are saying, ‘Why do I have to sign up for English Lit or Film or Global?’”

Once the school board establishes this financial and philosophical support for the humanities, a final step to close the gap between the humanities and STEM at Los Altos would be to create a formal petition process for students to propose new courses and contribute to their creation.

For example, if students get a minimum amount of signatures — around 40-50 — and a teacher who wants to teach the course, they can go straight to the department coordinator of the subject they want the class to be a part of, rather than waiting for someone to approach them about their interest.

Ultimately, the true goal of a well-rounded school is to grant students of all interests the opportunities to thrive in their academic pursuits. The humanities not only teach students skills like reading and writing crucial to all forms of education, but they teach what it means to be human. Los Altos and the MVLA District should continue to emphasize the humanities because if they don’t, hundreds of humanities-driven students will be discouraged from pursuing their goals at school.

If you would like to write about your stance on an issue that’s affecting students at our school, email Opinions Editor Maddie Chu at opinions.lahstalon@gmail.com with a summary of your idea.

The Talon December 12, 2017

7

Destigmatizing anime culture: The misuse of “weeaboo” Being called a “weeb” doesn’t mean “you like anime.” It means “You’re socially unacceptable.”

FRANK ZHOU “Weeb” is a term that’s lost Guest Writer much of its original meaning but has retained the negative connotation in which it is used. To “Hey Frank, are you a weeb?” most people, I’m not a guy who asked a classmate. This was a likes anime and Japanese culture, question I did not know how to I’m a weeb. The stigma remains, answer. Sure, I watched anime but we use it FAR more loosely. If and knew some things about you watch anime, you are a weeb.

Japanese culture, but to the point If you like Japanese culture, you where I would identify as a weea- are a weeb.

There was a STEM speaker who boo? Probably not. I wanted to came to Los Altos to talk about give an accurate answer, and yet how his interests and passions I found myself unable to. led him to find his For the people career. He grew up who don’t know, watching anime, a “weeaboo,” or But more frequent- and talked about “weeb” for short, how he had found is a term generally ly, weeb culture is defined as a person mistaken for anime his career in 3d printing after doof non-Japanese culture, wrongly ing a handful of descent who is ob- transferring the personal projects sessed with and inspired by Japaidolizes stereotypi- stigma and social nese culture and unacceptability cal Japanese anime popular animes. culture. Do a quick of weeabooism Google search, and across both worlds. I gleaned huge amounts of exciteyou’ll find various ment from seeimages of people dressed up in anime cosplay out- ing someone so successful who fits, carrying around big pillows shared my unconventional interwith female anime characters ests, and I found myself sitting printed on them and spouting out on the edge of my seat as he made frequently used Japanese words more and more references that I recognized. But my inspiration like “kawaii,” “baka” or “desu.”

So am I a weeb? It’s a yes and and excitement were cut short a no. If you look at the technical after the talk was over when one definition of “weeb,” then no, I am of my friends said to me, “You’re not a weeaboo. But if you’re just just excited because a weeb asking if I watch anime (which is turned out to be successful,” folusually what people are actually lowed up by, “That speaker was SUCH a weeb.” The motivating asking), then yes, I am a weeb.

Alright, so we call people who messages of his talk were lost in like anime weebs. What’s wrong how he was branded as a “weeawith that? The thing about the boo.” Watching anime and being word “weeaboo” is that it carries a interested in Japanese society huge stigma around it. The typical were reasons to be ashamed, reaweeaboo is a creepy weirdo who sons you would turn out unsucwastes all their time watching cessful in life. Because of how dumb cartoons meant for kids and readily we use “weeb” as a way to obsessing over cute, oversexual- describe people who are merely ized, fictional girls in said cartoons. interested in anime and japa-

nese culture, we end up equating “weeb” culture to anime culture and Japanese culture, when in reality, all three are completely different things. See, weeb culture is about idolizing the creepy undertones and stereotyped themes in anime. Japanese culture is, more obviously, just societal culture in Japan. But more frequently, weeb culture is mistaken for anime culture, wrongly transferring the stigma and social unacceptability of weeabooism across both worlds.

Here’s the thing about anime culture: It doesn’t exist. What I mean by that is that there are so many kinds of anime that there is no such thing as one, singular culture. People often view anime as having a “mainstream” culture of unnecessary fanservice, creepily young-looking female characters and overall weirdness, but the reason people end up seeing so much of that is likely because it’s so widely stigmatized and thus, more widely talked about.

What a lot of people don’t realize is that anime is just another form of art and expression. Just like books, TV shows, movies or

traditional art, anime has its own before and given it a chance. But the unique genres. People have placed majority of people I’ve met haven’t all anime under this umbrella term ever tried watching anime, or shut of “weeaboo stuff,” and as a result it down after only one episode and we see that most people seem never touch any kind of anime ever to think that all anime are the again. If I read a book and don’t like same. Certain animes containing it, I don’t stop reading books. themes we view as When anything socially unacceptthat comes from able are assumed anime becomes to be accurate rep- What a lot of de-legitimized as resentations of all people don’t real“dumb weeb stuff,” anime. But when ize is that anime anime loses its leyou think about it, gitimacy as a form is just another this is practically of storytelling and the equivalent of form of art and a way to express saying “The Heart is expression. Just ideas. What I wish a Lonely Hunter,” a like books, TV, a lot of people literary masterpiece shows, movies, would realize is about isolation and that the existence human nature, is or traditional art, of sketchy, bad anthe same thing as anime has its own ime doesn’t mean “50 Shades of Grey,” unique genres. that totally nora book about BDSM mal, good anime and sexual fantasies isn’t out there. Of — they’re both books written by course there are a lot of terrible American authors, right? animes. After all, there are just as People don’t think anime is bad many terrible movies, books and because it’s poorly made, they think Netflix shows. But just as there it’s bad because it’s anime. A lot of are a lot of movies, books and people say that anime just doesn’t shows that are great, there are suit their tastes, and that’s totally also a lot of great animes that are cool when you’ve tried watching it out there.

CARISSA LEE

Veganism: A conversation on privilege who lectured me on the value of protein served in the form of chicken and fish, I have lived my entire 16 years NOELLE HANSON Staff Writer consuming meat and animal products every day. However, I have also grown up with vegan and vegetarian friends and often find myself in deWe’ve all been there, munching bates about our differing dietary lifeon a turkey sandwich to the tune of styles. And as I’ve grown older, I have a vegan eagerly listing off facts about become more independent in the way animal abuse and how the hormones I eat and have the privilege to choose in meat negatively affect the diges- what I am consuming on a daily bative system. Or maybe you’ve met sis. Because of this, I and many others someone whose whole are forced to think about identity is based off the what we are eating (and fact that they don’t conwearing) — and if there It is ignorant sume animal products is a universal right or and it’s their life’s work to believe that “better” way. to convince others to those who I want vegans to unjoin their fearless cause. don’t chose a derstand that framing Right now, in my perveganism as a higher vegan lifestyle sonal debate regarding moral choice is not my lifestyle, I find that are inherently the conversation that I have a few issues to wrong or even we should be having. untangle with vegan- that they have Vegans can choose ism. First, I recognize the opportunity to avoid “shaming” the inherent privilege those who consume in being able to choose to make such animal products and to be vegan, and the a choice in the respect their decision last thing this white first place. to do so. Non-vegans, girl needs is one more me included, can privilege. Second, to be also choose to refrain brutally honest, I have never actually from putting vegans in a specific been willing to admit any fault in the stereotype, while still recognizing way I currently eat and dress. the privilege of choosing to be a With a father who competed in vegan. barbecue competitions and a mother It’s important to acknowledge

ANNE SCHILL

that having the ability to question the ethics of our eating habits is a privilege. In a world torn with war, poverty and starvation, it is a privilege to be able to spend extra money and time finding clothes that are not made from animal skin or choosing food that is completely free of animal products.

Even in Los Altos, many families can’t afford to be particular about what food they purchase or even

possess the knowledge of how to prepare healthy vegan meals. It is ignorant to believe that those who don’t chose a vegan lifestyle are inherently wrong or even that they have the opportunity to make such a choice in the first place.

I realize that my problem with vegans is not the fact that they do not consume animal products.

Instead, my problem simply lies with the lack of discussion sur-

rounding the privileges of veganism. We need to find a balance between advocating for what we believe and being mindful of the fact that not everyone has the same opportunities to make the same choices as us. Having a conversation about veganism allows us to share perspectives and life circumstances to comprehend the basis for our respective lifestyle choices.

10

The Talon December 12, 2017

Read more features articles at lahstalon.org/category/features/

Living by the Numbers: Mathletes on Campus DANNY VESURAI JUSTIN YU News Editor Senior Writer

Los Altos mathletes live and breathe in numbers. For these students, math extends beyond just the skills learned in class: they challenge themselves to apply their problem solving skills in math competitions.

Student compete in two primary types of competitions — ones that are purely mathematical and focus on subjects like algebra, geometry and probability, and statistics-based ones that deal more with tangible, real-world problems. Students on Math Team compete in the first type, and students in Math Modeling Club in the latter.

Nationwide, thousands of students, like sophomore Daniel Hu, annually take the rigorous 25-question, 75-minute American Math Competition (AMC). If they do well enough — generally the top 2.5 or 5 percent of scorers — they qualify for the 15-question, three-hour American Invitational Mathematics Examination (AIME). And if they do well enough on that, they qualify for the six-question, nine-hour United States of America Mathematical Olympiad (USAMO) — 301 students qualified this year.

Out of those, 60 students qualify for the one-month Mathematical Olympiad Summer Program (MOP) held at Carnegie Mellon. Daniel attended last summer.

For students like Daniel, the re-

ward of competition math is that it prioritizes problem solving skills over plugging inputs into formulas.

Rather than drilling the same concepts over and over in math class, competition math forces students to critically think on their feet.

“School math is you learn a formula and you apply it, but Olympiad math is you're given a problem that you have no background in,” Daniel said. “You have to come up with a solution on your own.”

Beyond the traditional AMC circuit, which only offers individual competitions and focuses on proofbased problems, math modeling challenges offer opportunities for groups to tackle broader, more realworld problems in longer stretches of time. For example, the Math Modeling Club participated in last year’s 14-hour Moody’s Mega Math Modeling Challenge to determine safety levels for the National Park system in relation to sea tides and wildfires, and how to best allocate resources among the parks overall.

Out of 1,121 teams, Los Altos’ Team #9789 was one of 78 to gain an honorable mention and win $1,000 last year.

After analyzing datasets, making assumptions and conducting statistical tests, the team compiled a 19-page paper to answer the three-part problem.

“Math modeling is all about simplifying the world, saying, ‘Well, let's imagine the world is flat because it simplifies things,’” Math Modeling Club Public Relations Officer senior Ryan Huang said.

For Ryan, math modeling contests

DANNY VESURAI

Sophomore Maxwell Liu completes math problems in a club meeting for the Los Altos Math Team. The competition requires for the individual contestants to be able to think critically in order to solve complex problems that challenge their knowledge of math. are more appealing than AMC contests because concepts from math classes are still applicable and practical. Because being proficient at Olympiad math depends on knowing higher-level concepts not taught in math classes, there’s a higher threshold to clear.

“The math that you actually do in class, you can actually apply that to math modeling,” Ryan said. “In math modeling, as long as you know the basic concepts, you can get by. Even if you don't know advanced statistics, you can make simpler assumptions. “[In competitions like the AMC, ] if you don't study the hell out of the [Art of Problem Solving] Wiki and

read everything, you're never gonna solve [a problem]. It's gonna take you like 10 years. So if you don't study techniques on the advanced contests, you're just gonna sit there for 30 minutes and feel really dumb.”

Junior Karina Halevy, who is Math Team’s Co-president but also participates in math modeling competitions, said both competitions reflect two sides of the same topic. She describes math modeling as a synthesis of math, writing and research and traditional math competitions as “pure math.”

But although Los Altos does have a fair number of students involved in these activities, math competitions are still associated with a

stigma of “nerdiness” that can deter students from pursuing them in the first place. With more emphasis on teaching creativity in problem solving, Karina said, more students at Los Altos would be able to explore the beauty and artistry of the field that is mathematics.

“At the curricular level we can integrate more in-depth problem solving and that would help encourage people to venture out and try challenging math instead of us being weirdos and nerds and geeks,” Karina said.

“Math is elegant but at the same time it's methodical and unambiguous.

It’s euphoric when I discover a solution to a hard problem.”

Marching to the beat of their own Drum (Corps) KRISTEN FAN CATHY WANG Staff Writers

For most, marching band isn’t something to get excited about.

As teen movies and Taylor Swift’s “You Belong With Me” would put it, they’re the “kids on the bleachers” in their funny uniforms blowing into funny little instruments. But inside it, living it, the experience is something wildly different than the tropes of the peculiar band nerd that we so often see.

For junior Emily Cocking and seniors Michael Vronsky, Timothy

McAfee and Everett Henrie, marching band is a passion. So much so that they all participate in Drum Corps International, an organization consisting of 46 elite marching bands that train, perform and tour the country, all summer long. Simply put, drum corps is, as Emily said, “Marching band on steroids” with the other three each echoing similar sentiments.

“Marching band on steroids” it is indeed. While anyone looking to participate in Los Altos’ band is automatically accepted, each kid hoping to participate in Drum Corps must either sign up for a three-day

camp to audition for Vanguard or spend a whole day auditioning for the Blue Devils.

While Los Altos’ band is just that, simply one band, every band within Drum Corps is split into two or three sublevels dependent on skill. Michael and Timothy march the trumpet and baritone in the Santa Clara Vanguard Cadets (SCVC); Emily and Everett are in the Blue Devils B-Corps (BDB). While Los Altos’ band has two-hour practices four days a week and occasional Saturday rehearsals, BDB and SCVC have 12hour days, seven days a week, typically from 9 a.m. to 9 p.m. and usu-

COURTESY EVERETT HENRIE

From left to right: senior Everett Henrie, Isabel Guerrero-Lubarsky, ‘16, seniors Timothy McAfee and Michael Vronsky, and junior Emily Cocking pose for a photo at a drum corps competiton last season. The group decided to progress to drum corps after realizing their love for marching band and their desire to continue with it to the higher level.

ally stretching beyond that. Each of the some-odd 150 members spend their summer days on the hot turf fields of varying high schools and their nights sleeping in the gym. All these hours go into putting on one stellar 12-minute show.

With 46 bands to choose from, it’s safe to say each has developed its own unique style and stereotype that appeals to a vast pool of potential members. SCVC is known for its more serious persona, staying largely emotionless during awards and holding closer to tradition. BDB’s more laidback vibe, meanwhile, drew Emily and Everett to audition for the band.

Although they still put in the same hard work as other students in different drum corps, they both realized Blue Devils’ style was more fitting for their less serious attitudes.

“The Blue Devils are really chill and I can relate to that, but at the same time they know how to be serious and be the best that they can,” Everett said. “The fact that they appear more chill than other corps’ is what drew me to them, because I don’t like to be serious all the time like a lot of the other corps’ do.”

Although each student joined Drum Corps for slightly different reasons, they all share the same passion and commitment for musical ensemble. More than pushing better technique, Drum Corps has inspired personal growth and created close-knit relationships. These aspects make the experience worth it despite the grueling work, pressure and immense time commitment.

“You get better musically and visually, but you also learn how to become a better person and a better teacher, at least in my case,” Everett said. “The time commitment is a really really big thing, but how I think about it is that I get to spend a lot of time getting better with my friends doing something that I really love.”

With both Drum Corps International and Los Altos’ seasons over, these four are looking into the future. Three out of the four have already decided to continue marching until they age out at 21. They’re also hoping to make it to the highest level in their respective bands, the Santa Clara Vanguard (sans the Cadets) and the A-corps of Blue Devils instead of their current lower-level B-corps.

“My future in my mind [is] shaped around Drum Corps and I wouldn’t want it any other way,” Timothy said. “I plan to march the next five years until I age out because I enjoy the experience so much.”

Marching band and the people dedicated to it can easily be written off — just the “kids on the bleachers” — but for these four, it’s more than that. They’ve dedicated thousands of hours to this activity and many plan on dedicating thousands more.

“People like to say, ‘There are no bench players in marching band,’ [and] it's true,” Michael said. “Everybody has to be working their hardest and I think that's really cool. It's a tight-knit community and I just enjoy the activity. I love music, I love marching and I love the people.”

The Talon December 12, 2017

11

Meditation and self-exploration at Maharishi University This article is part of a series of features on unique colleges. Look out for the next issue to read about another school you may not have heard of.

JAVIN POMBRA

to teach the curriculum, but also teach about how what you are learning connects to the “deepest The Maharishi University of levels of [your] life.” By doing so, Management and other schools teachers hope to make students of management have one stark more aware of the impacts they difference: the former is about have in each field.

The university hopes this selfmanaging yourself and the latter about managing others.Found- exploration is continued through ed in 1973, Maharshi certainly the transcendental meditation doesn’t follow the typical mold: technique. Practiced for 20 minopting to have classes last for a utes, twice a day, the technique is month instead of year-long and taught to students by a certified requiring students to take yoga- Transcendental Meditation teacher “shortly after [students’] arrival” intensive classes.

The school, located in Farfield, to the University. The type of medOhio, hopes to teach students itation is said to be completely difto, as it says on its website, live ferent than other forms. “[Unlike other forms of meditain “harmony with natural law.”

To accomplish this goal, teach- tion,] The Transcendental Mediers and administrators use Con- tation technique involves neither sciousness-Based Education, a concentration nor contemplation. program developed by Maharishi It is a simple, natural procedure that effortlessly alMahesh Yogi, the lows the mind to university’s foundtranscend, to exer. perience transcen“When the con- The university uses dental consciousscious mind ex- more than classes ness — described pands to embrace to help students by neuroscientists deeper levels of as a state of ‘restful thinking, the reach their full alertness.’” thought wave be- potential: everyIn addition, stucomes more pow- thing at Maharshi is dents are required erful and results in about the student’s to take the Develadded energy and well-being. opment of Conintelligence,” Yogi sciousness course, said.

There are two core facets of this one that necessitates active practype of curriculum: self-explora- tice of Transcendental Meditation and transcendental medita- tion for credit. Except, instead of being a year-round course, this tion.

In terms of self-exploration, and all other subjects are taken each course is designed not only by students during a one month In-Depth Editor

Workers

CONTINUED FROM THE FRONT PAGE The center had been open for three years when María Marroquín, now Executive Director of the center, came to the Day Worker Center as a day laborer looking for work. She immigrated from Mexico, where she looked down upon the day laborers. But after coming to the Center, her perception of the day laborers shifted, and she saw the day laborer community’s hard work.

“I came, as many other people, with the misunderstanding about who the day laborers were,” Marroquín said. “I had this information in my country that the people who wait for jobs on the street are lazy people, but then later I realized who they really are and how hard they work.

That became my mission in life: to educate other people, ignorant like me, about the laborer community. I found the most wonderful people — resilient, generous, supportive — and I couldn't leave.”

Marroquín helped the Center transition from its place outside of Jack In The Box to its new building on Escuela and formed partnerships with companies to bring services like the medical van and pro bono lawyers.

She also works with volunteers to expand the Center’s catalog of classes, utilizing the skills of

ENGLISH WIKIPEDIA USER KEITHBOB

The Tower of Invincibility and golden dome, pictured above, add to the serene campus of Maharishi University of Management, located in Farfield, Ohio. The school’s goal is to create an environment in which students are able to lead self-aware lives through the practice of meditation and healthy choices. period. In an effort to decrease stress, there are no finals at Maharishi.

The university uses more than classes to help students reach their full potential: everything at Maharshi is about the student’s well-being. For instance, all meals are vegetarian and organic. Citing scientific studies, the university believes that a green diet free of pesticides is one of the reasons why students can more easily find themselves at the Fairfield campus. To administrators, good health is an important part of student’ consciousness.

As a result, various “natural health programs” are available for students to take advantage of.

From teaching a breathing technique called Pranayama to a self-

pulse assessment that promotes physiological balance, Maharishi centers around helping students understand their physical wellbeing.

The individual student is the most important part of Maharishi curriculum. It’s no wonder that all dorms are single-person, in a hope to give students the “quiet” and “privacy” they need sometimes.

Indeed, the entirety of the curriculum is designed as a step beyond traditional learning. While most college campuses teach just through lecture and seminars, Maharishi believes that learning is two-fold: external and internal. By finding ways to promote student’s individual internal creativity and well-being, Maharishi, counterintuitively, creates a

strong community.

“When I visited the school, there was this sense of being home that was underlying everything I experienced and did,” student Stephanie Guarino said on the Maharishi website. “Being a student here now, I still feel the same way: the people here are so friendly and the energy is really lovely. I wouldn’t want to be anywhere else at this point in my life.”

The path to this meditation utopia isn’t easy though. With a 2016 acceptance rate of 37 percent, many Maharishi hopefuls were denied admission. But, for those lucky enough to get in, Maharishi hopes to instill lessons that last a lifetime, by simply focusing on how those lessons affect the individual.

came to do the job. He first asked Sullivan if she could buy him a $15 tool to do the job in a quarter of the time.

“I was pretty impressed with that,” Sullivan said. “He could have spun it out to earn the extra money but he didn’t, and when he went to leave he said to me, ‘I’ve looked around your property and I can do this, this, this and this so if you’re wanting to, you can call me.’”

With the extra work and the services at the Center, he began constructing his own landscaping and home exterior maintenance business. From coordinating transportation for his workers to advertisement, he grew his business and no longer EMILY ARONOVITZ relies on the services of the Day Executive Director María Marroquín stands in front of the Day Worker Center. The Center pairs employers with Worker Center. day laborers who typically look for work on the street, and it provides a host of other services to the workers.

And his story isn’t unusual.

“I think the majority of peowilling volunteers in the fields days and Sundays in addition to the Center at the time. In search ple that come through the Day they wish to educate others his weekday job. At the Center, of a volunteering opportunity, Worker Center, that’s what they about. he utilized the services the Cen- Sullivan comdo,” Sullivan said.

She also never forgets the ter provided and met other work- bined her person“They just gain workers she’s serving. When one ers in similar situations as him. al project of learntraction and in worker’s wife — who was in the “You usually come with the ing Spanish with I had this informageneral they’ll find process of immigrating to the shirt on your back, and it’s the teaching English tion in my country some employer U.S. — stopped contacting him, same shirt you left [your coun- to the Center’s that the people who in the world outhe assumed the worst and went try] with,” he said. “So they give Spanish-speaking side where they’ll to Marroquín for help. Marro- you some clothes and get you community after wait for jobs on the do a good job and quín utilized her connections to started.” hearing about the street are lazy, but they’ll say, ‘Oh, I find she was still alive, in a prison He met people with openings opportunity from then later I realized want to hire you,’ near the border. After staying in in their apartments, who let his a friend. and then they’ll who they really are prison for a few months she was family stay so they could all afWhile she prejust establish and how hard they deported, but then attempted ford rent. They would fit up to ferred not to both themselves into to immigrate again four months ten people in one apartment volunteer at and work. the community. later and was successful. sometimes, to afford the ever- request services — Executive Director I’ve seen so many María Marroquín This worker, who requested an- rising rent prices. from the center, great success stoonymity, found the Day Worker His work at the Center brought she needed help ries, and it’s peoCenter back while it was still on him to the house of Sue Sullivan, digging up her garden. When she ple who never had a chance in the street to find work on Satur- a volunteer English teacher at asked Marroquín for a worker, he their own country.”

12

The Talon December 12, 2017

Karina Halevy

\kah-REE-nah HA-le-vee\ JUSTIN YU

Senior Writer

For junior Karina Halevy, language is my starting point in computational linquantifiable. As the founder of LingHacks, guistics.”

Karina recently hosted the Bay’s first-ever At SAILORS, Karina developed an algocomputational linguistics conference for rithm using natural language processing, high schoolers, where she taught other stua method to get a computer to understand dents to combine language, computer scithe meaning of human words. Karina’s ence and math to make sense of the messy algorithm takes in tweets during natural and dynamic patterns that make up human disasters and labels them as either “food,” speech. “water” or “medical” needs; this informaBut Karina’s journey began with her love tion is then used to supply resources to for language itself, before she ever learned the people who need them. about what she could do with it.

“You take in a tweet and parse it into Growing up in a trilingual household, features, which is breaking it down word Karina is fluent in English, Chinese and by word,” Karina said. “For each word, the Hebrew. Through taking classes at school, algorithm says, ‘If this word exists in the she has become fluent in Spanish as well. tweet, then what's the probability that Karina even learned languages at her ballet the tweet will be about this category?’ You studio. From hearing her instructor speak then [give] each probability [a weight] Russian, Karina noticed familiar patterns and spit out the most likely [category]. in syntactic structure, piecing together the Within each of those [assigned] categomeaning of phrases solely through context. ries, [the algorithm] matches people who “The strategy I use the most is just conneeded resources to people who could textual learning, which is the way I learned give them.”

Russian,” Karina said. “My teacher was Karina learned from this project that speaking Russian to oththe implications of ers and I just put two and computational linguistwo together. Hebrew and tics are far-reaching, so Russian share a bunch of The strategy I use the she began to share her cognates that I discovered most is just contextual passion to others, as at ballet. Our gym coach learning, which is the both a polyglot and a was telling us to do somestudent of mathematthing and I was like, ‘Hey, way I learned Russian. ics. On November 18, that was the same word in My teacher was speakKarina hosted LingHebrew.’”

Con, a computational ing Russian to others Karina is now teaching and I just put two and linguistics conference herself to speak Hindi, that included interactwo together.

Urdu, Italian and Indonetive coding workshops, — junior Karina Halevy sian. Although Hindi and a lecture on conductUrdu have been more diffiing research similar to cult to learn since she hasn’t had experience Karina’s SAILORS project and a panel seswith any similar languages, Karina embracsion of industry experts from Google and es the challenge, intrigued that language— Stanford. at its core—is algorithmic, filled with pat“I thought I could put [computational terns and grammatical rules. linguistics and hackathons] together and “I just enjoy taking apart syntactical engage an even broader audience through structures and parsing different languages, this intersection of the humanities and and it also has kind of a mathematical field the sciences,” Karina said. “I'd say Lingto it,” Karina said. “I love all things algorithCon was a success. [Many attendees said mic, so it's kind of artful and elegant.” that] the conference definitely gave more This analytical view of language cominsight on what life could be like if [they] bined perfectly with Karina’s affinity for pursued computer science. Our feedback math, as she began to apply math to lanshowed that students came out of LingCon guage through artificial intelligence. Dur16 percent more likely to pursue a career in ing the summer after ninth grade, Karina AI and 40 percent more likely to pursue a attended a Stanford Artificial Intelligence career in computational linguistics.” summer camp called SAILORS, in which Many attendees, including junior Anya she learned to apply mathematics to parse Sharma, noted that LingCon introduced language with computational linguistics. them to a specific area of computer sci“My two worlds [of math ence that they want to pursue in the fuand language] came ture. together when I at“Some of the lectures and workshops tended [SAILORS] they talked a lot about machine learning, at Stanford, where not just computational linguistics,” Anya I did a project on said. “[The conference] taught me that natural language machine learning is applicable to a ton of p r o c e s s i n g ,” different fields. Before coming to LingCon Karina said. “I I already wanted to pursue computer scisaw the comence, but afterward I realize that machine putational linlearning was a more specific interest that guistics aspects I want to explore.” integrated and LingCon served as a “training day” for I found that high school students to learn the skills super fascinatneeded to create a product at LingHacks, ing, so that which is a 24-hour computational linguiswas kind of tics hackathon that Karina is now preparing to host in the spring. “[At LingHacks], there's going to be an extra focus on long-term potential rather than just having something ready to pitch,” Karina said. “We really want to have people think about how they can do research and use math and really dig into how their things work in the long term. My biggest project [currently] would be LingHacks, and I'm starting a research project next semester with an alumni program from the Stanford summer program.”

YALDA KHODADAD

Language Learning The Talon features junior Karina Halevy and senior Audrey Leong, two multilingual students, and their path to cultivating a love for language. The two students together speak eight languages fluently.

Audrey Leong

\AUD-ree lee-ONG\ EMMA KWAN Senior Writer

TINO TUGWETE Senior Writer

Audrey Leong’s family communicates second grade classes. in four different languages: French, Can“With [some] German parents, I get tonese, English and German. When her where their worries are coming from, and I mom walks into the room, Audrey begins get that I’m not a native speaker, but I have to speak French, switching just as quickly the qualifications to teach [their children] to Cantonese when her dad comes in and first and second grade material at the very mixing French and English to speak to least,” Audrey said. “It’s slightly annoying, her brothers. The multilingual family has I know they can’t really help it and that it’s become accustomed to abruptly changnot normal, but they don’t need to come ing languages to communicate with one up to me and ask me [if I’m] a student in another, even adding in German phrases the second grader class. I’m a teacher.” from a year spent living in Germany.

As a freshman, Audrey assisted other “The moment my mom comes in the students with their learning and motiroom it’s French for sure, and if I need vated her classmates to speak in her AP to talk to my dad I switch to Cantonese,” French class, encouraging others with her Audrey said. “We end up having a mix of fluency in the language.

French and Cantonese, and then we have “She was always engaged in conversaa mix of French and English. There are tion with other students in the classroom some terms from different languages that so she was motivating other students we know that we specifically use, like to speak,” French teacher Christophe whenever we say that we’re cold, we’ll use Barquissau said. “She would [ask] questhe German word for cold even if we’re tions constantly. That makes a big differspeaking in French.” ence.”

Audrey’s proficiency For Audrey, a main in languages — French, motivation in learning Cantonese, English, Culture is embedded into languages has been the Swedish, Korean, Ger- languages. Once you’re ability to learn more man and Latin — began aware of how a culture about a culture. She out of necessity, since believes that learning both her parents are bi- thinks and how they more about how people lingual, and she needed work, it’s a lot easier to in other countries think to learn German during be accepting. is essential to mastering her family’s year abroad. any language, and her — senior Audrey Leong However, the influence exposure to different of her German teacher languages has made her and the realization that language learnmore accepting of cultural differences. ing came naturally to her created a pas“I’ll get interested in a certain culture sion for languages that has resulted in her and how their words think, because culrole as a teacher at her German school. ture is embedded into languages,” Audrey “I had an awesome teacher and she said. “Once you’re aware of how a culture knew seven languages, and she became thinks and how they work, it’s a lot easier my personal teacher when it came to Gerto be accepting of differman,” Audrey said. “She started bringing ent cultures and to in Latin terms and ancient Greek terms be curious about that she’d studied before, and [she told other cultures. It’s me I] should keep learning it. Because [I important to be was] fully immersed in the culture and accepting of new the language and everything, I ended up people coming learning German in about six months. in regardless of You tend to like something better when what they think you’re good at it.” [or] what they beAt her German school, South Bay lieve.”

Deutscher Schulverien (German Language school of the San Francisco South Bay) Audrey takes students through a series of units, giving tests on a variety of subjects, including color names, farm animals and clothing. This year, she transferred from teaching students that already knew German to students who had no prior experience.

“I’ve transferred to this new class, [so] there are a lot of students that are of Asian backgrounds or of Indian backgrounds because their parents thought [knowing German] was a good skill to have,” Audrey said. “[Because I’m teaching the class as a non-native speaker,] they think it’s actually possible [for their] child [to] also reach that level of fluency.”

However, while many parents are encouraged by her fluency in German, others are concerned that she is a non-native speaker. Some parents have mistaken her as a student rather than a teacher at her school, even in DANNYVESURAI VESURAI DANNY

The Talon December 12, 2017

An easier egan:

hOW THE SCHOOL’S NEW GRADING SYSTEM COULD BE LEAVING STUDENTS UNPREPARED n the 2016-2017 school year, Egan Junior High implemented a new standards-based grading system I that focuses on holistic evaluation. The system aims to evaluate students based on Common Core standards with numerical grades. Students now receive a grade of 1, 2, 3 or 4 depending on their performance on a standard. The four numbers correlate to mastery, approaching mastery, developing mastery and beginning mastery. Now, over a year later, new concerns regarding the effectiveness of this transition to standard-based grading have arisen. Below, The Talon investigates questions about whether Egan’s standards have decreased.

MIRANDA LI, PRINT MANAGING EDITOR | AVI VARGHESE, WEB EDITOR | ALEX LUNA, SPORTS EDITOR | ANISHA DESAI, COPY/CONTENT EDITOR | NATHAN GODDERIS, EMMA KWAN, SENIOR WRITER | MAYU ALTEN, EVELIN DIEGO, KRISTEN FAN, ETHAN RUYACK, MIA SCHER, STAFF WRITERS | KYLIE AKIYAMA, PHOTOGRAPHER

Before standards-based grad- reach a [4].”

The new grading limits the ining, Egan Junior High held academic rigor high, trumpeting centive for students to try harder. its 4.0 honor roll students and The numerical grading gives stuboasting high scores on stan- dents less information than perdardized tests. But after Egan centage grades — the scale coladopted the new grading system lapsed to four values instead of last year, honor rolls no longer 100 percentage points. Students existed. Aligned to the Smarter with a 4, which SBAC testing Balanced Assessment Consor- shows should be the majority of tium (SBAC), Egan's grading the school, have no next step. “[At Egan], you could get standards have things wrong slowed down curand still get riculum for many a 4,” Natastudents.

The numerical 4 lie said. “It The numerical was just a 4, 4 through 1 grad- through 1 grading and there’s ing system places system places the mano decimals the majority of jority of the focus on or anything. the focus on ma- major assignments, With percentjor assignments, and other grade age grading, and other grade I feel a lot components no components no longer comlonger account for account for significant more fortable, besignificant credit. credit cause [say] I As a result, overgot a 96 on an all workload has decreased, and so has more in- assignment, but I messed up on depth and developed learning. something, and I can fix that to Without an emphasis on facets get a 100. With Common Core, like homework, less material you get a 4, so you don’t care as much.” can be taught.

Among other parts of the Teachers intend for the new curriculum to prioritize strug- policy, the new system has segling students, which means that verely lessened the importance during classes, material is re- of homework.

“Kids intuitively know hometaught until all students are on an equal footing. Consequently, work is not being graded,” Egan higher-achieving students are history teacher Jon Hayman learning concepts that they may said. “Consequently our first have already mastered which, as homework assignment [had] apfreshman Natalie Tran comments, proximately a 50 percent turn-in rate. I think [a few years ago] it makes classes “really boring.”

Indeed, as one Egan teacher was about 90 percent.”

Former Egan students report says, “eventually a lot of the kids

that some classes have even opted to give no homework whatsoever, and for others the lack of percentages makes it difficult to understand how much outside classwork counts toward the final grade.

For high-achieving students, the curriculum didn’t necessitate homework — in-class projects and tests were easily accomplished. Many, as freshman Brandon Gottlieb said, “slacked off until the final because the grade you get on that assessment is [basically] the grade you get in the class.”

More, the lack of incentive to complete homework makes students who can naturally absorb teachers’ lessons easily more likely to succeed at Egan.

Without homework, those who struggle to digest knowledge and skills during class only find academics more difficult.

“This class we have now is pretty sharp, so it's kind of hard to generalize, but I think that kids that aren't doing the work are struggling,” Hayman said.

“My guess is the eighth grade mind works like, ‘Well if he's not going to check it, I'm not going to do it.’”

Standards-based grading goals are rooted in a desire to shift focus from solely grades to a genuine desire to learn. Without the typical “A” through “F” scale, Egan hopes that students are intrinsically motivated. Moreover, they hope that homework will move toward being less busywork and more useful.

“The reason we are going to standards-based grading is to take their mind off [the grade],” an anonymous Egan teacher said. “[We want] kids to really get into this mentality that it’s important to actually understand this.

[Learning] is not something you just do and then forget.”

While they acknowledge the issues with homework, Egan teachers believe that with more time, students will begin to acclimate to the new system.

“I think that everybody needs more time to get used to the policy,” Egan history teacher Riley Haggin said. “I’ve talked to friends in other places and other

And to freshman Arya Sastry and her friends, Los Altos homework was “a punch in the stomach.” The load was starkly different than at Egan. schools who are on the standards-based grading policy and a lot of them said it takes three or four years for the students and the teachers to get used to [the system]. After the three or four years, it seems everyone is kind of on the same page.”

Egan Principal Keith Rocha defends the system as helping students to take “ownership of their learning.” But Rocha said

Egan has not collected date on whether “homework has gone down” or evidence in general of lower standards.

Considering students that have graduated from Egan feel unprepared due to new standards, teachers believe more data collection is warranted.

“At some point we will need to do some check in with the ninth graders and 10th graders and see how they’re adjusting,” Haggin said.

Coming to Los Altos, Natalie found what she calls a more “rigorous” course load. And to freshman Arya Sastry and her friends, Los Altos homework was “a punch in the stomach.”

The load was starkly different than at Egan.

Freshman teachers at Los Altos, too, have noticed a change in students’ understanding of material.

“I’m seeing a lot less [basic] writing skills,” English teacher Michael Smith said. “[I’m seeing a lot less] of the ability to spell, the ability to construct a complete sentence and the ability to use a punctuation properly.”

Beyond skills, teachers like Smith have noticed a decrease in overall work ethic and “attention to detail,” and an increase in “carelessness.” After seeing consistently less homework being done, history teacher Christa Wemmer asked her World Studies class about this trend she had seen.

“I haven't completely researched and looked at all the grades, but two or three students raised their hand and

KRISTEN FAN

The Talon December 12, 2017

In the hallways of egan Do you think Egan’s new curriculum is preparing you for the transition to high school?

abilities. If we’re able to unsaid, ‘We stopped doing homederstand the importance of the work at Egan when they went work then we are more motito standards-based Grading,” vated to actually do it.”

Wemmer said. “[Grades] had At the point where many other been based on major projects or external motivaassessments, tions have been reand so stumoved, there seem dents kind Without something to be less of a reaof let those son for Egan stuh o m e w o r k motivating us to do the dents to achieve. work, we’re not going habits go.”

“They took For stu- to want to do [homeaway honor rolls dents at the work] to the best of our and [volunteer top, completawards], and we ing home- abilities. If we’re able to teachers thought, work is often understand the impor‘Oh maybe that’s necessary for tance of the work then not a good idea success in we are more motivated cause we need these assignto actually do it. something for the ments.

It’s - senior Sophia Taglio kids to at look forno wonder ward to and get that teachers recognition for,” an like Wemanonymous Egan teacher said. mer have seen lower homework As Egan and the Los Altos grades than usual in her classes School District in general look to from high-achieving students evaluate this transition, the lowerwho take classes like Algebra 2 ing standards seem to be a focal Honors. point for necessary discussion.

Egan’s lowering standards “It was hard to adjust for a lot of seems to leave students underpeople,” Arya said. “Like I know prepared at the footsteps of my friends, they were like really high school. stressed and really overwhelmed On the other hand , former because they were used to it being Egan student senior Sophia so easy.”

Taglio, who attended before the policy change, said she felt “over-prepared.”

“With homework there needs to be an end goal that students are able to see,” Sophia said.

“Without something motivating us to do the work, we’re not going to want to do [homework] to the best of our

Not really. I feel like because there’s a lot of room for people to take advantage of it so it’s hard. They don’t do the assignments on time and then they don’t really put their effort in because they can just retake it after.

— Eighth grader Rusha Bhat

I honestly think that there is not enough practice going around during class time, and with no homework being distributed evenly throughout [subjects], there really isn’t any way to prepare for the overload of homework in the future, so we’re probably really underprepared. We are focusing so much and so much time on one particular skill set that there wouldn’t be enough time throughout the whole school year.

— Eighth grader Ernest Leong

Somewhat. I feel like they give you many chances to prove if you’re actually good at [a skill]. Because some things you might not be super strong in, but then there’s another standard for it so you might be able to get [a boost in] confidence.

— Eighth grader Ben Randall

SBAC Scores at Egan Junior High from 2016

Math Scores

English Scores

A R T S & C U LT U R E

The Talon December 12, 2017

13

Catch reviews of new movies, music and more, plus read the Arts & Culture archives at lahstalon.org/category/artsculture

Lowki Codi

MMEH club: A relaxed approach to arts and crafts PRIYA DIXIT DAPHNE IH

By Ashley Cai

it not u it me

using the club’s supply of art materials. MMEH’s flexible structure Senior Writer is purposefully similar to that of Staff Writer Freestyle Art, one of Emily and Jerilyn’s favorite summer camps A cheerful group of students en- from elementary school. ters the art room and begins to fold During the week-long session, colored paper from a stack on the camp counselors introduced them central table. Even after they settle to the unique styles of famous artdown, the room is lively as they ists and challenged them to incorbegin folding and creasing paper porate those techniques into their squares. Before long, the space is own renditions of well-known art transformed into an origami me- pieces. But although projects and nagerie of cranes. Other students materials were always provided, opt to fold pinwheels and kanga- what they enjoyed the most was that roos, amidst the gentle chatter. they were free to come up with their This is the Multi-Media-Eng- own craft ideas as well. Emily and lish-Housing Club, or “MMEH” Jerilyn wanted MMEH to take after for short. Club presidents juniors Freestyle Art in that students would Emily Cheng and Jerilyn Lee have a platform to create what they didn’t originally have a meaning wanted while also enjoying themfor the acronym selves. portion of their “[Freestyle Art] name, as they inhad a main project tended the club to MMEH’s flexible, of the day, but [if] serve as a casual we didn’t want to humanities based gathering place for do those projects, students looking structure is pur[it] was fine,” Jerifor art projects to posefully similar to lyn said. “For me, work on in order the founders’ favorthat was really into destress. teresting because I ite summer camps “Jerilyn and I just was never told that wanted to name our from elementary I could do what I club ‘meh,’ but we school. wanted in art class.” needed a reason,” As technology Emily said. continues to advance, the duo At weekly Monday meetings, has noticed that STEM-centered members can choose to partici- careers have been dominating pate in activities like painting suc- over art subjects and humaniculent pots and embroidering, or ties. Surrounded by tech giants in instead pursue individual crafts the Silicon Valley, involvement in

FRANCESCA FALLOW

Junior May Wang folds a paper crane during a MMEH club meeting.

MMEH is a free formed art club which focuses on artistic freedom and fostering awareness for the importance of humanities.

STEM fields has become the common local success stereotype, and all unrelated occupations are assumed to end in failure.

“If you aren't on a science or math track, people [think] you're going to end up [as a] broke beggar-of-an-artist on a street and [that] you're never going to go anywhere in life,” Emily said. “That's really not true, [and] we're trying to promote the idea that taking an art or English major — or any liberal arts major — is not condemning yourself to living in poverty.”

As of right now, MMEH is

only a 15-person club. But, after receiving a PTSA grant for purchasing art supplies, they now have the funding to expand and support many more students with art supplies for more extensive projects.

“It’d be horrible to invite people into our club and not be able to have the materials they need,” Emily said. “Now that we have money, we can do a better job of trying to recruit members and spreading the message about our club.”

MMEH meets in Room 913 on Mondays during lunch.

A newfound vulnerability in Taylor Swift’s ‘reputation’ RACHEL ZURAEK Guest Writer

She’s a snake. She’s money hungry. She dates too many guys. Whether you agree with the rumors or not, it’s no question that Taylor Swift has quite the reputation.

Since her musical debut in 2006, Swift has become one of the most well-known and successful artists in the modern music industry. But, her fame came with a big consequence: accusations of being a lying, money-obsessed minx. Though she has addressed these rumors in previous songs, Swift’s latest album, “reputation,” is entirely dedicated to the story of how her reputation

has shaped her current life. And it tells quite a different tale than songs which came before.

In her 2012 album “Red,” “The Lucky One” narrated Swift’s urge to change her personality to gain the media’s affection. But in her single “Shake It Off,” released two years later, Swift’s opinion seemed to change. She no longer cared about appealing to the “haters.” Rather, she sang, “I’m just gonna shake, shake, shake, shake, shake/ shake it off ” when dealing with those proclaimers of her horrible reputation.

Last month, when Swift released her highly-anticipated sixth album, “reputation,” it was clear that something about “shaking it off ” was unsuccessful

BIG MACHINE RECORDS

Taylor Swift embraces an edgier style in the music video for her song “Look What You Made Me Do.” Swift’s new album “reputation” is more vulnerable and open about her struggles with her public image.

for Swift. Her reputation had re- tain facets of her reputation mained something she thought don’t describe her. In “This deeply about. But, instead of Is Why We Can’t Have Nice merely discussing it, Swift does Things,” the line “it was so good something unexpected: she veri- being friends again/ there I was fies her reputation is accurate, giving you a second chance/ but lending to a level you stabbed me of vulnerability unin the back while touched by her preshaking my hand” Swift does somevious discology. gives a look into One major facet thing unexpected her side of celebriof Swift’s reputa- in “reputation”: ty feuds, discredittion is her ten- she verifies her ing her reputation dency to f ling as a fabricator of reputation is acherself at any new drama. man she meets. curate.

But in other Instead of oppossongs, Swift struging this claim, Swift confesses gles with how much of her reputhe accuracy of it wholeheart- tation truly defines her. The lyric edly throughout the song “Get- “they’re burning all the witches away Car.” While narrating her even if you aren’t one/ so light involvement in a love triangle, me up” in “I Did Something Bad” Swift mentions how her boy- is an example of this struggle, as friend “was runnin’ after us/ I Swift realizes she is not a “witch,” was screaming go, go, go/ but but still allows herself to be with three of us honey/ it’s a burned regardless. side-show/ but a circus ain’t a What ultimately allows Swift to love story/ and now we’re both draw the line between her selfsorry.” Swift acknowledges that image and public image are people she lives up to her reputation who love her regardless of how by running away from her boy- accurate her reputation is. In one friend to start a new relation- of the last tracks of “reputation,” ship, realizing it was a mistake. titled “Call It What You Want,” This admittance raises an im- Swift sings “[my baby] loves me portant question: though this like I’m brand new/ so call it what flighty tendency is proven cor- you want.” To Swift, “brand new” rect, should Swift believe ev- really means without the taint of ery other rumor about herself? her reputation. This clean slate Throughout the album, Swift leading to Swift’s indifference struggles with drawing lines be- about how the media labels her retween her self-image and public lationship is aided by the opinions image after realizing they may of those who know her best. not be mutually exclusive.

Besides content, the largest Throughout a healthy amount difference between “reputation” of songs, Swift proves that cer- and Swift’s previous discology is

the sound. These harsh beats, drops and rises new to Swift help to emphasize the vulnerability in certain tracks. “reputation” songs which claim the inaccuracy of Swift’s reputation have precise beats and explosive choruses to contrast with the auditory softness of songs where reputation defeats her, adding auditorial vulnerability.

Therefore, tracks in which she admits the accuracy of facets of her reputation are an auditory middle-ground: “Gorgeous” has sharp accents in its verses which are cushioned by an acousticbased chorus. Even though listeners may miss her country sound, this background music manipulation shows an artistic range which Swift dominates throughout “reputation.”

Swift takes a large step by confessing the accuracy of her f laws which align with the media is a large step for Swift. For 16 years she has denied the public’s portrayal of her, afraid to give them the power to define her. Yet, in “reputation,” Swift is able to confess her reputation’s accuracy and define herself. The discovery of true rumors also leads to the discovery of false rumors, allowing Swift to clarify who she really is on her own terms. In losing the concern of having her music maintain her facade of perfection, Swift made “reputation” into an expression of vulnerability, truly opening up a new era for one of Hollywood’s formerly most guarded popstars.

14

A R T S & C U LT U R E

The Talon December 12, 2017

A Search for Meaning

Fallon’s failing voice on Trump MAYU ALTEN Staff Writer

By Guest Writer Gialon Kasha

A Dichotomy of Lil Pump A rumoured Harvard dropout, lyrical mastermind and pioneer of the rap industry, 17-year-old Gazzy “Lil Pump” Garcia carries the burden of solving humanity’s problems, moving America forward one song at a time. Lil Pump rises to the occasion in “Gucci Gang,” a contemporary masterpiece in which he, the embodiment of American values, critiques the problems that he believes hinder the country’s progress.

Lil Pump begins the chorus by repeating the phrase “Gucci Gang” seven times. While this repetition may seem trivial, it serves an ulterior motive. Many Americans correlate success with materialistic goods; Lil Pump uses his worldrenowned repetition to shine a spotlight on the issue.

Lil Pump turns up the luminance in later lines, discussing the lack of communication among millennials. He brings up this issue in an unorthodox way, stating that he “f*** a b****, I forgot her name (brr, yuh).” Sex and materialistic goods are at the peak of the American value hierarchy, and Lil Pump believes this to be detrimental to the amelioration of society. Notice how Lil Pump forgets the name of the woman he had sex with, instead of attempting to get to know her. Lil Pump demonstrates the consequences of this lifestyle, saying “brr, yuh” to convey his transition into a cold-hearted individual.

The lack of internal warmth from his heart and external warmth from a community prevents him from living a happy life. Lil Pump stresses empathy and communication, warning that in not taking the time to practice either, we become the grinches of society.

Lil Pump is fearful of the consequences of our inability to communicate, stating that he “can’t buy no b**** no wedding ring/Rather go and buy Balmains, aye.” He accepts his inability to form meaningful relationships as a reality and buys Balmains as a coping mechanism, returning to the cyclical nature of life by ending in a refrain of Gucci Gangs.

Through “Gucci Gang,” Lil Pump puts the regressive symptoms of American society in the public eye. It isn’t on him to provide solutions to the problems he brings up — he is simply a messenger of intellectual conversation, hoping to convey the importance of resolving these issues. He says that “I can’t buy no b**** no wedding ring,” not because you can’t, but because Lil Pump knows that WE have what it takes to improve society. There’s a reason why “Gucci Gang” isn’t a private email to academics. Lil Pump knows the power to enact true societal change lies not in the elite few, but rather in the masses.

In a country where political division creates a social rift between citizens, political commentary has become a significant part of late-night television culture.

Nearly every recent comedic show has expressed some opinion or bias toward a certain party. But talk show host Jimmy Fallon has avoided speaking seriously about the topic, causing his high ratings to continually drop.

Once the number one late-night talk show, “The Tonight Show” is now ranked third among its competitors. Fallon should learn from his failures regarding his ratings and turn them into successes by sharing his thoughts on current American politics.

The current rite of passage into the television big leagues seems to have morphed into mocking President Donald Trump. Though a difficult feat, considering how the majority of talk-show hosts

use their platforms to spread their any other guest, Fallon is essentially beliefs, Fallon has ceased to ex- condoning President Trump’s quespress his opinions. He has walked tionable and hypocritical behavior. on eggshells around controversial Fallon’s decision to allow Trump issues ever since politics became onto the show was met with much as heated as it is now. Trump has aggression and negative feedback. provided his share of laughable ac- He responded with an apology, tions, and it would be easy to sati- saying, “If I let anyone down, it ate his viewers’ thirst for relevant hurt my feelings that they didn’t entertainment. Consumers of Fal- like it. I got it.” lon’s content expect Nonetheless, Fallon funny takes on politics continues to take poliinstead of treading tics as more of a joke lightly around, invit- Fallon continues than an actual issue. to take politics ing uncertainty.

Though after he hosted Instead, he inter- as more of a President Trump, he views Trump himself joke than as an created videos mim— a controversial “seticking Trump’s wellback” he later admits actual issue. known habit of makto. Over the course of ing reckless decisions, a year, Fallon has asked he spoke in a way that the president to join him for multi- merely poked fun at the president, ple episodes of “The Tonight Show.” neither asserting his own opinion Here, the infamous mussing of nor appeasing his audience’s appeTrump’s hair took place, proving to tite for comedic relief. the world that the president’s yellow, Despite breaking his monotonous feathery hair was indeed real — and pattern once or twice, Fallon does that Fallon was belittling real-world it so rarely that it has no effect. For issues. By treating him similarly to instance, Fallon broke the pattern

when the Charlottesville incident occurred where alt-right hate crimes were committed, resulting in the death of a young woman. Fallon denounced the killer’s actions and said that the fact that it took Trump two days to comment on the event was “shameful.” Although largely different from defacing Trump as a person, the majority of his audience applauded his speaking out. Unfortunately, the members of his regular audience who missed this particular show, remain blindly unaware of his opinion. This doesn’t prevent future incidents and instead works against his philosophy of a light-hearted show, solely exhibiting his distress and not conveying more important information.

Jimmy Kimmel, one of Fallon’s television host rivals, approaches the issue of politics in a very different way. While Fallon avoids inserting his political opinions, Kimmel regularly slips in comments about his political views and even orchestrates segments that revolve around the issue. Not only was he involved in a Twitter fight with the president, but some of his most popular segments include “Jimmy Kimmel’s Plan to Save Us From Trump” and “Children Speak Out About Donald Trump.” Although both have the right to free speech, Fallon obviously sees late-night television in a different light than Kimmel. He wants to separate the fun in watching it from the stress of current politics.

In the end, Fallon’s philosophy is that late-night comedy television should be precisely that — comedy. Whereas others like Kimmel see it as an opportunity to spread change and awareness, Fallon views his platform as a way for watchers to escape their problems. But, it is ineffective: a feel-good show could be beneficial in theory, but it’s not what the country needs.

ASHLEY CAI

Fast fashion: A trend to end SAVITA GOVIND ISABELLA BORKOVIC Copy/Content Editor Staff Writer

Remember rompers, Toms and Lokai bracelets? Just last year, these necessities were all the rage, but now they sit sadly on Goodwill racks among many other dead trends. So why did these once super-cool fashion trends fall into obscurity?

The answer is fast fashion, a term used to describe the rapid cycle of clothing brands which constantly churns out new trends. Fast fashion has transformed fashion for the worse — teen fashion has become a series of short-lived “seasons” in which cheap new styles are worn excessively for a month, then quickly disregarded in favor of the next new fad. The fast fashion cycle also aids teenagers in their quickly-changing tastes. As teenagers stray away from wearing someone else’s logo to establish their identities, they are drawn to the ability to mix and match their own selections.

Forever 21, H&M, Zara and other staple brands all use the fast fashion formula to realize a substantial profit. From 2010 to 2015, these top fast fashion retailers grew an average 9.7

percent per year, against the 6.8 percent from their “traditional-apparel counterparts.” But while it may be fun to see your favorite store filled with new clothes inspired by new fashion trends each time you go shopping, fast fashion has negative environmental and human rights impacts that are often overlooked.

By wasting resources such as fuel and water, the increased production of clothing garments puts a huge strain on the environment. Approximately 20 percent of industrial water pollution is due to garment manufacturing, which is only perpetuated by fast fashion’s production cycle. More than 14 million tons of clothing end up in landfills each year, a number that has doubled in the past 20 years.

Yes, fast-fashion empires like H&M have pledged to increase their clothing recycling in many of their stores, but the implementation of these promises has been disappointing.

H&M has admitted that only 0.1 percent of all clothing donated to their new recycling program is actually recycled into new textiles. Those who donate receive vouchers in return, setting off a vicious cycle of buying and recycling which ultimately results in even more clothing waste.

This high clothing production also

prompted many retailers to move factories out of the U.S. to third-world countries, where more than 97 percent of clothes bought in the U.S. are made. Many of these factories have been outed by the media for being sweatshops with poor working conditions, with workers earning mere cents every hour and buildings filled with safety hazards. A report by Baptist World Aid gave Gap, Forever 21, Topshop and Nike a C grade or lower on their efforts to decrease “risks of forced labour, child labour and worker exploitation throughout their supply chains.”

Most of us probably realize that having so many clothes produced so cheaply and so quickly has its downfalls. We know that fast fashion isn’t optimal for the environment, and there’s probably something unethical

ASHLEY CAI

surrounding the treatment of workers who make our clothes. Yet we tend not to worry about it because it’s much easier to keep blissfully buying trendy clothes and forget about all the problems attached to that $10 price tag.

It’s time for a generation known for being self-absorbed to start caring about the effects of where we shop. We can take steps to lessen our fashion footprint; shopping at thrift stores, buying longer-lasting garments and donating old clothes are all easy but impactful ways to do this.

By refusing to turn a blind eye to the harms of fast fashion, we can turn fast fashion into another trend of the past.

The Talon December 12, 2017

15

Get daily updates on Eagle athletics and read the sports archives at lahstalon.org/category/sports

Josue Martinez’s artistic spin on parkour DAPHNE IH ISABELLA BORKOVIC Staff Writers

Senior Josue Martinez stands and gazes ahead at his next course, surveying each ledge and wall carefully. He then proceeds to leap, flip and twist to get to his destination. When most people talk about overcoming obstacles, they’re usually referring to severe sports injuries or fears like nervousness and anxiety. But for Josue, some of his biggest obstacles are literally that: obstacles.

Josue has been a dedicated parkourer since seventh grade, and he spends most of his free time finding creative ways to run, jump and climb over obstacles. But over the years, what used to be “just mess-

ing around” eventually evolved into a more serious form of artistic expression.

“It's like [a] dance,” Josue said.

“We come up with a routine or a path and we have to break it down and practice each aspect. Creativity goes into it. It's not like we're doing this just to do it. It's an artistic thing that people overlook.”

Whether it be in parks, plazas or gyms, Josue creates his own courses by finding unique uses for everyday items. More often than not, his routes are improvised and visualized spontaneously, with stunts performed based on his surroundings.

“You can do [parkour] anywhere,” Josue said. “Sometimes it's improvised, sometimes you see this certain thing that you

want to do. You [have to] visualize it. Sometimes it may work, sometimes it may not.”

As a starting point, Josue picks a random move that he’s comfortable with and then proceeds to build off of each previous stunt, often spending anywhere from a few hours to a whole day repeating each one until he can complete them all successively. When doing parkour, he has to look more closely at ordinary objects and always tries to challenge himself to utilize them creatively in his maneuvers.

“You have to look at something that people usually [miss],” Josue said. “The most basic example is a bench: people usually just sit on a bench, but you can do a whole lot more with [it]. You

HASSIB RANGEEN

Above: Senior Josue Martinez jumps over a wall for his parkour practice. Top right: Josue performs an aerial twist. Josue began training in parkour during seventh grade with his friends, and ever since then he has considered it to be a sort of art form.

can jump on it, or flip off of it — “Media just portrays it as reckjust use it in some different way.” less behavior,” Josue said. “People When performing in public call [us] adrenaline junkies or inplaces with his friends, spec- sane, but it's really biased — they tators stop to judge it because watch them do they don't unflips and tricks. derstand it.”

Their reactions It’s like a dance. We Josue has adare typically mittedly hurt mixed— some come up with a routine himself in the people com- or a path and we have past: as a freshmend them for to break it down and man, he severely their feats, while practice each aspect. bruised his heels others are more and struggled Creativity goes into it. disapproving. to walk prop— Senior Josue Martinez “Sometimes erly for over a people stop and month. Some of look [at us] as his friends conif we're crazy,” Josue said. “Some tinue to worry about his safety, but people clap, some people say because of the constant danger of the most common things like serious injury, he always makes ‘do a backf lip.’” sure to calculate his moves and Parkour is mostly character- be mindful of his limits. ized by its history of unfortunate “There definitely is [that elemistakes and mishaps made by ment of fear], that feeling in seemingly irresponsible kids. But your chest that you can't really Josue believes that those who escape,” Josue said. “It never goes judge parkour are simply hinged away [because] it's a survival inon exaggerated stories and media stinct. It will always be there as a coverage. precaution.”

Yuu Ishikawa: Serving and acing matches Yuu more than makes up for it with her speed and attacks the ball. Instead of countering her Freshman Yuu Ishikawa sets and opponent’s shot, Yuu begins the launches the tennis ball away to plays offensively, making her opher opponent. As it returns to her, ponent follow her lead and setshe quickly calculates her next ting the tone for the match.

Select players in the past at Los move, sprinting to position herself for another hit. Though most op- Altos have also demonstrated this ponents wouldn’t expect someone kind of skill, but Yuu has exceeded with Yuu’s small frame to deliver them due to the various types of strong returns, she uses speed and shots she’s mastered: drop shots, poise to position herself perfectly, slices, volleys and overheads. As a result, she is slamming the ranked 4th secball across the tionally and 14th court, giving her nationally by the opponent no One of the main attriUnited States chance to react. butes to her game [is Tennis AssociaIt is feats like this tion. that makes Yuu that she isn’t] tall, but “One of the currently ranked at the same time, [she main attributes 14th nationally is] very aggresive so it to her game [is for tennis. hides her lack of size that she isn’t] As a freshso by being agressive, tall, but at the man on the varsame time, [she sity girls tennis it can neutralize the is] very aggresteam, Yuu exhib- opponent. sive so it hides its a high level — tennis varsity coach her lack of size of skill in every Hung Nguyen by being aggresmatch she plays, sive, and it can rising above neutralize the many of her peers despite her 5-foot-1 stature. opponent,” varsity girls tennis Initially exposed to the sport as a coach Hung Nguyen said. “Her toddler, she began training at the aggressive style makes her game age of four and is currently being really stand out.”

Though height disadvantages coached by her father.

Though tennis players at a prevent the level of strengthheight disadvantage often have building available to taller playtrouble with the difference in ers, it contributes to speed on the strength against bigger players, court — which has made Yuu the

MAYU ALTEN Staff Writer

COURTESY SCOTT AKIYAMA

Freshman Yuu Ishikawa gets ready to serve in a match against Mountain View. Yuu proves to be a top player in girls varsity tennis despite her height disadvantage, ranking 14th nationally. fastest player on the team.

She also regularly works with a physical trainer who helps her achieve the physical goals she has for herself. Her training for tennis outside of Los Altos tennis season includes exercising at the gym or park and working with a private coach from the San Jose Swim and Racket Club — all on top of practicing with a few hitting partners for two hours a day. Her commitment to tennis reflects her competence in the sport, overshadowing her height.

“For my height, I think I do have a lot of power, but just not as much as the girls that are really powerful and strong,” Yuu said. “Overall, I think I'm an aggressive player, so I like to come

in and attack.”

She has participated in many national tournaments, garnering impressive results in most of them. In March, she competed in the Easter Bowl, the largest national tournament of the year, and she beat many accomplished players to progress to higher rounds. In addition, she played in Intersectionals, a prestigious tournament that selects four boys and girls from different sections of the country. There, her section of Northern California won for the first time in history partly due to some crucial matches played

by Yuu. In the future, Yuu hopes to attend a Division II college and continue to play tennis there. Nguy-

en, however, believes that she could play for a Division I college.

Though there’s plenty of room for Yuu to improve in the course of her high school career, he trusts that she will continue to grow.

“In the three years, she'll probably improve her power so the big players can't overpower her anymore,” Hung said. “I mean, once she achieves that, the sky's the limit for her.”

As a very capable freshman on the school’s varsity team, Yuu’s future in tennis is looking up. Her ambition will hopefully contribute to her dreams of turning pro.

“To get there, I have to keep working, just keep trying to improve and just challenging myself to do better,” Yuu said.

16

The Talon December 12, 2017

Girls basketball dribbles into new season YOLANDA SPURA Copy/Content Editor

Despite winning the first quarter, the varsity girls basketball team fell 49-30 in their preseason game against Cupertino on November 28. The loss, however, was bittersweet; the Eagles, who moved down to the El Camino League two years ago, were facing a team from the higher De Anza League. To head coach Jaclyn Brode, the team’s efforts against Cupertino showed a lot of progress since the start of the season.

“We played much better against Cupertino [than in previous games],” Brode said. “It was a loss but it showed a lot of progress. It’s still early in the season, but we’re progress-

ing… I see a lot of potential in this team, so I’m excited.”

The team — whose overall record is 2-2 as of December 7 — is young, with six underclassmen on the team, three being freshmen. The many new players and relative inexperience of the girls could lead to some difficulties at the start of the season.

Still, the potential Brode sees on the team has her aiming high: going 6-6 in preseason and topping leagues are goals she said are “realistic.”

“There are going to be growing pains, and it’ll take a while to catch up to speed and style, and for the girls to get to know each other,” Brode said. “They’re good players and bring a lot of positive energy, but it will take a while for us to really come together.”

SEAN SCOTT

Varsity senior Jamie Kesten passes the basketball to a teammate during a practice. This year, the varsity girls team is inexperienced, with six of the 14 girls on varsity being underclassmen, but they are optimistic they can have a good season.

Fresh players could actually work to the team’s benefit. Last year’s team, which finished with a league record of 4-8-0, was mostly composed of returning players, so the shift in the team’s make up could change things up in a good way.

“I think it’s pretty good because I think it’s changing up how we’re running our team this year,” senior Jamie Kesten said.

“Last year we had a lot of returning people, we didn’t have a lot of new people, and we didn’t have the best season, so I think it’d be good for us if we look at things differently, try things differently.”

There are also more players than usual, with 14 girls on varsity. The sheer number of players will allow the team to change their playing style this year — with more fresh players to be subbed in and out of the game, they will be able to run more aggressively and press the other team.

So far, the players have also shown a lot of intuition and game sense, leading Brode to eliminate set plays and only employ motion plays, unlike previous years where she mostly employed set plays.

“This year, this team has a good feel for a the natural flow of the game, and they play well off of creating off of what the defense is doing,” Brode said. “It’s more free-flowing, they still have specific actions but they have the freedom to move within them, which gives them a lot more freedom to play how they see fit.”

While their strength may lie in their numbers, their weaknesses come from many of this years players’ relative inexperience. Brode also wants to see the team reduce their turnovers and not let the other team dictate the game. To improve, the team uses Hudl, a video review and performance analysis tool, to review and critique games.

Some of this inexperience is also countered by intensive off-season training, which allows the team to “hit the ground running” when the season starts, Brode said. The girls train four times a week preseason and postseason, doing running and weightlifting.

This training also facilitates team bonding and chemistry.

“I played over the summer so I already knew a lot of the girls coming in,” freshman Mira Chiruvolu said. “[During summer practice] I got to know all of the players, I got to know how the coach was, what kind of practices she has, and at the beginning of the season I was just ready to play because I knew what was going on.”

Another bonding experience for the girls is the team tradition of riding the bus back from games together, no matter the outcome of the game. This way, players are able to reflect and sort out any tensions that may arise from a tough game.

“Our coach has this rule that not a lot of sports have that win or lose you have to ride the bus back together, and it does create that camaraderie,” Jamie said. “You have to stay on the bus, you have to be with your teammate, you can kind of cool down, talk it out, that kind of thing.”

This year’s team seems to have already meshed together very well, something Brode says has been helpful in her coaching.

“For the first time in [since I have started coaching] you don’t have to force them to get to know each other, and they always stay on the basketball courts after practice to talk to each other,” Brode said. “That inspires me, and it makes me excited to come everyday when I don’t have to coach the energy and we can dive right into playing ball.”

The Eagles play Carlmont on December 15, and will play their rivalry game against Mountain View on January 13.

Boys soccer bounds for successful season a high level.”

The team will play their first game on January 18 against rivals Mountain View, In the past two seasons, varsity boys soc- who they tied with both times they met cer qualified for CCS. In both seasons, last season. Until then they will be practicthe team failed to advance past the first ing nearly every participating in preseason round. This season however, the team looks friendly games and playing in the Homemore promising than ever, and Coach Vava stead Christmas Cup. Marques announced the final roster on “I’m a big fan of seeing the guys playing as Wednesday November 29th afmuch as they can and have ter a long, difficult tryout. a flow of the game in terms Last season, the team was 5-3of encouraging the creativI felt really good 4 in the SCVAL league, ending ity,” Marques said. “Not so their season in the first round about[the team] be- much the tactical part but of CCS in a 5-0 loss to Mitty. cause it was probthe chemistry and have This season, many seniors were ably the hardest them playing good soccer.” lost, but thanks to a strong genThe team’s first friendly tryout that I did. eration of current juniors and game was a close 1-0 win — head coach Vava Marques seniors, filling in gaps from last over Menlo Atherton. season wasn’t hard to do. There junior Oliver De Visser are no sophomores on the team scored on a free kick, one and one freshman, Jimmy Dessouki. of the few chances in a very gridlocked, de“I feel really good about [the team] be- fensive game. Menlo Atherton went to the cause it was probably the hardest tryout that CCS semi-finals last season while Los Altos I did,” Marques said, “The technical level of was in the Round of 16. Although it was just the players is pretty much there, it made it a friendly, the team showed great improvevery difficult to make the decisions because ment from last season. we had so many good players.”

“The game against Menlo was a good This wide range of players will allow for a game, I can definitely tell that we started to lot of depth in the team during games. play as a team together from practice,” Ju“We’re pretty deep on our roster,” senior nior Harry Allen said, “During the second Luke Wangsness said, “We have a lot of half, I think we played more together, we people who come off the bench and play at played the ball at the back a lot more and

NATHAN GODDERIS Senior Writer

that’s definitely where we’re gonna go for in the rest of the season.”

The varsity boys soccer league in CCS can be very unpredictable. Last season, no.8 ranked (of 16 teams) Lincoln High School won CCS and the season before that, no.16 Everett Alvarez High School made it to the final, knocking out Los Altos in the quarterfinals along the way, who were seeded 3rd

that season. Every season is an opportunity to win.

“Our short term goal is to win the conference.” Marques said. “You don’t know how good the other schools are gonna be, everyone’s got a shot at it, I feel like with the quality of players that I’ve seen so far, I feel like we’re gonna have a good team, and in the long run, we can win CCS.”

MAX WEIRAUCH

The varsity boys soccer team runs drills during a routine practice. Although coach Vava Marques had difficulty creating the final roster, the team looks to go to CCS and hopefully make it past the first round.