The Talon | Issue 6 | 12 March 2013

Tahoe’s Best

PG 19

Talon he

201 Almond Ave. Los Altos, CA 94022 Los ALtos high school VOLUME XXVIII, Issue 6 March 12, 2013

Haiti club continues aid efforts Anthony Bello Cassidy Craford Sam Lisbonne Senior Writer Staff Writers

While it is widely known that Haiti experienced a devastating earthquake in 2010, the consequences of the catastrophe are far from common knowledge. Despite the millions of dollars in donations and supplies that have been sent to Haiti in the form of relief, the country is far from where it was prior to the disaster. To understand Haiti and the complex issues that surround the day-to-day lives of its people, one must first understand the profound impact of the earthquake’s devastation in Haiti as a whole.

Even before the earthquake, Haiti was the most impoverished country in the western hemisphere due to the legacy of French colonization, slavery and modern American imperialism.

On January 12, 2010, the 7.0 magnitude earthquake struck 16 miles west of Portau-Prince, displacing 1.5 million civilians from their homes and establishing vast tent cities in and around the capital. The international community was quick to respond, and collected enormous pools of resources to aid the Haitian citizens.

Private individuals and organizations led the way with monetary donations, eventually totalling $1.245 billion dollars, according to UK’s The Guardian. Today, however, it is clear that the resources once thought of as enough to bring Haiti back from the ruins are insufficient.

There are different interpretations of the source of the problem in Haiti. Some people believe that this is an issue related to the lack of government support while others believe that the issue is largely due

to the inadequacy of non-governmental organizations (NGOs) and donors in working directly with the Haitian people.

Whatever the reason, testimonials from Haitians on the trip indicate that the aid raised in 2010, while donated in good heart, is not being put to use or being distributed to the people. What is clear is that the human resources — including students like those at Los Altos — are the resources that make a true difference in the lives of the earthquake’s survivors.

Involvement in Haiti so far The Students for Haiti Solidarity club, which recently traveled down to Haiti for humanitarian work, was founded in 2010 as a form of local response to the earthquake. Club founder and Los Altos history teacher Seth Donnelly, along with former English teacher Ryan Ikeda, have worked in Haiti since 2004 and felt that the atmosphere was right for the start of a student trip to Haiti.

He assembled a group of students, led

by Ellie Baer, ‘12, Ian Glasner, ‘11 and Libby Strichartz, ‘11, to bring their dream to fruition. Soon after its birth, the club found sister school SOPUDEP, which provides education to over 700 of the poorest kids in the Port-au-Prince area; the relationship has proven both mutually beneficial and rewarding.

“Our relationship with SOPUDEP grows

stronger as our club grows in both its scope and size,” senior and club Co-president Louise Stéphan said.

Earlier trips focused on reconstruction and expanding the capabilities of SOPUDEP. This trip focused on developing curriculum and bringing down mass amounts of supplies. On earlier trips students also brought materials to Haiti, but this was the largest amount of physical aid brought to date. While all of the club’s experiences have been valuable, so was the bond created between club members and the students of SOPUDEP during their visit to the school.

See Haiti, page 13

cassidy craford

Longtime teachers plan to say goodbye to LAHS Casey Pao Ariel Machell Tony Sun Senior Writer Staff Writers

Starting the fall semester of 2014, a few Los Altos teachers will be leaving or reducing the number of classes they teach.

Most notably, science teachers Thomas Budd and Carl Babb are retiring and Spanish teacher Tiffany Karow will be reducing her class load.

Carl Babb The Science Department will be losing Babb, one of their more experienced teachers.

After four decades of teaching, beginning in 1973, Babb has decided to retire and wishes to pursue other plans.

“I have another life waiting for me,” Babb said. “I got a lot of

things to do. I have no reason to hang around.”

His plans for his retirement are already set: Babb plans on taking a 200-mile hike in the first month and taking on the John Muir Trail with a few other teachers. In addition to his hiking trips, Babb and his wife will be sailing the inland passage to Alaska and in early 2014, traveling to Patagonia in South America.

“So if I miss students, I can look them up and go sailing with them,” Babb said.

Even though Babb taught both high school classes and college courses for 20 years, he believes that high school was the best. Babb said that the relationships he formed with students were the best parts of his teaching career.

“I’m still in touch with some

of the folks I had many years ago,” Babb said. “You know, I have people who write to me and who periodically I see from ages and ages ago.”

Although he doesn’t know who will be replacing him, Babb said he would recommend a teaching position at a high school to anybody as teaching offers a fun experience and a job that ultimately pays off.

Thomas Budd Budd hopes to accomplish multiple tasks and explore hobbies that teaching prevented him from pursuing. He will be free to follow these plans in his retirement. These include involvement with the California Teachers’ Association and traveling.

“We bought a motor home last year so we’re going to do some motor-homing ... travel around

that way and basically do the things I’ve always wanted to do,” Budd said.

Attending and graduating from the school, Budd dedicated a number of years to the school as both a student and a teacher. His most memorable experience was during his first year of teaching when he taught both science and math courses. “[I was] just going up and down the stairs all the time,” Budd said. “It definitely kept me in shape.”

In reference to the teacher that will be replacing Budd, he said they would need to be open to different things and able to think on their feet. Multiple credentials in different courses would be useful as well, as they may need to teach

The Oracle Scandal>>Pg. 2 In-depth:Body Image >> PG. 10 MVHs StuDent newspaper stirs up controversy Over article

more than one class. Besides these few requirements, Budd believes that teachers would have to be able to be able to educate students in a subject by getting them interested.

“Figure out how to learn and spark that interest [and] keep it going,” Budd said.

See Teachers, page 2

When trends resurface >> pg. 17

An Inside look at how Los Altos teens The Talon examines resurfacing see themselves in the modern age cultural fads from fashion to music

TALONONLINE >> Want more from The Talon? Sports scores, news and more updated everyday online at lahstalon.org

News

March 12, 2013

2

Mountain View High School Oracle sparks controversy Carly Cohen Staff Writer

Recently, the Mountain View High School (MVHS) newspaper, Oracle, published their annual coverage of sex and relationships. This year, the center spread was met with increased concern by parents, causing the articles to be on the radar of not only student readers, but also members of the school board.

Before publishing this piece on sex, Oracle published a series of articles on student drug use. Both the articles on sex and on drugs became a concern to several parents at the high school along with various other members of the community. These parents along with writers from Oracle came together to express their points of view at a recent board meeting where they presented concerns and thoughts to the board.

“It’s important for the students of the paper to understand that the parents didn’t come to shut Oracle down, or that that was even their hope, or even that every article was bad,” parent Christy Reed said. “I think it’s more that there was some thoughtful editing that could have taken place that didn’t, especially for an audience that starts as young as 13.”

Parents of Mountain View students spoke at the most recent board meeting expressing this concern.

Many feel that exposing students as young as 13 to sex was inappropriate and contradictory to the morals they are trying to instill in their children. For this reason and others like it, parents believe that it is important that parents have the ability to further guide student writers

before publishing.

“What I would hope would come out of [parents expressing their concern] is that there would be just a little bit more oversight on the paper,” Reed said. “I think that on Oracle, there is just one adult that reviews the paper before it goes out and I think in the professional world, there are many iterations of review, and so I think it would be helpful to have more than just one adult look at the paper before it goes out.”

This idea of extra adult oversight and possible censorship brings in bigger legal implications. This is because there are multiple Supreme Court cases as well as California Education codes that set up protections for student journalists. In order to put additional controls on the paper, the board would have to weigh these legal concerns.

“A big part of that is going to be legally, what are students’ rights and what is the public’s right and what legally can be done,” Clerk of the Board Susan Sweeley said. “And in my opinion, I think freedom of speech holds true. I think it was well-written and written responsibly. I think it didn’t need to have quite so much emphasis on sex, but I respect kids, so I usually support it, as far as I know right now.”

Student writers, on the other hand, argue that despite some ill-worded sentences within the piece, the articles were well-researched and overall, well-written.

“As a class, we do not believe that ‘the line was crossed,’ mostly because that line alters depending on the reader.” Oracle co-Editor-inChief Michelle Rubenstein said, “It became evident that

Photo Illustration by Ciera Pasturel

The MVHS Oracle recently published a centerspread entitled “Sex and Relationships,” which some parents and community members believed was too explicit. certain words caused readers to become uncomfortable and others...were viewed as unnecessarily “crass”. While we understand that some wish we hadn’t published articles about sex catered toward teens at all, our goal was to educate and essentially translate the information we receive in health class to more understandable terms...We do not believe that a definite line exists to begin with.”

Students feel that the parents’ concerns could have been better handled differently, rather than how it was presented at the school board meeting.

“I am glad that people are voicing their concern,” Michelle said.

“I wish, however, that they were voicing them to us because we excel

Broken Box rehearses upcoming “Midsummer Night’s Dream” play Robert Chin Staff Writer

From March 21 to 23, the Broken Box performance cast, led by drama teacher Nancy Moran, will perform William Shakespeare’s “A Midsummer Night’s Dream” in the Eagle Theatre, starting at 7 pm each night.

The play is a comedy centered around the love lives of four Athenians. Demetrius is played by senior Cory Moran, Helena is played by senior Amanda Spielman, Hermia is played by senior Blaine Dzwonczyk and Lysander is played by senior Prashant Nathaniel.

“The rehearsal process always starts with a read through of the play and discussion of the vision,” Moran said. “With Shakespeare, we also spend a lot of time on speaking the language and how to try to get the plot across not only through the spoken word, but also through body and facial

expression.”

This play is the first Shakespearean piece to be performed by Broken Box in recent years.

“I used to do Shakespeare every year back in the early 2000s, and recently have done more modern pieces,” Moran said. “I think it is an important aspect of acting to experience performing Shakespeare, so I have chosen to go back to it.”

Instead of the traditional forest setting used in original screenplay, the setting for this year’s play is on a tropical beach, with the events taking place in modern times. The characters in the play are also given a modern feel. The equipment used for the production is minimal.

“Shakespeare’s work is all about the language, so I try not to overload the production with special effects or even too many props,” Moran said.

In addition to the change of setting, the play will run an hour

shorter than the original time.

“I have omitted parts of the play to keep it moving and entertaining for the audience,” Moran said. “I think the audience will get the full impact of the show even with the cuts.”

The actors in the play started working on the performance in December. Like rehearsing for any Shakespearean play, “A Midsummer Night’s Dream” requires a good knowledge of the language used. The performance’s plot needs to be expressed with body and facial expression in addition to spoken words.

The critiquing process is a critical part of perfecting the show before performances.

“The first time we started by going through the show and adding blocking,” Prashant said. “Right now we are running each scene and getting critiqued by the other actors so we can understand our strengths as well as what we need to work on.”

in response to constructive feedback and criticism. At the end of every issue, we ref lect on the paper and the content, and we invite guests to come and constructively criticize and give us good feedback. I wish they had done it in a more constructive way and were doing it for the good of the community instead of taking it to the school board and jumping into legal concerns.”

Yesterday, March 11, at the regularly scheduled school board meeting, the two schools’ journalism programs were on the agenda. This meeting came after The Talon’s press deadline.

“I believe in freedom of speech and that it’s a student newspaper written for students and as long as it’s factual and it’s not trying to shock people

with irresponsible kinds of articles, I am okay with it personally,” Sweeley said.

Some board members put forward the idea that this type of situation does occur, and when it does, it must be dealt with not dwelled upon.

“Let’s learn from it, let’s move on,” Superintendent Barry Groves said.

Want more information?

Visit lahstalon.org for coverage of the Monday board meeting and any decisions made by the board.

What is your COLLEGE dream?

Whatever it is, FLEX can help!

Senior Packages Class of 2014 • College list research • Full review of application and essays • Interview workshop • “Majors” Research • And many more!

SAT I Program

College Counseling

Intensive SAT I Program

Expertise is drawn from former college admission officers including Stanford, Yale, UChicago, Berkeley and more!

Prepare for the SAT Critical Reading/Writing and Math test with:

Sign up for a Free 1-on-1 Academic Counseling Session

• SAT strategies and techniques, • Homework, diagnostic tests, • Progress report and feedback

SIGN UP FOR A FREE DIAGNOSTIC TEST!

Summer Preview Program

SAT Verbal Junior Program

Get a head start by previewing upcoming school year courses at an accelerated pace!

9th-10th graders

Get a head start on SAT prep while developing general reading skills.

Instructors from : • Local high schools, • Harvard, Stanford, Berkeley, Princeton, John Hopkins, and many more!

An overview of a particular Honors and AP subject in the coming year.

Middle School 6th-8th graders

Summer Discounts

$50 OFF Until April 20

Almaden 408.997.1632

Cupertino 408.252.7742

English Enrichment Classes

Palladian Counseling Workshops

8th-11th graders

Start your College Dream by Planning Ahead

Fremont 510.744.1993

Los Altos 650.947.7742

Teachers set to retire or reduce course load at end of school year CONTINUED FROM FRONT PAGE

Tiffany Karow Karow has requested to teach four classes instead of the usual five. She said that her reason was trying to balance being both a mother and a teacher.

“I’m not sure how much people realize that teaching doesn’t happen just from 8:15 to 3:30,” Karow said. “Planning, grading, collaborating takes a ton of outside time.”

She believes that teaching 80 percent of a class schedule is a full-time job while 100 percent is more than a fulltime job for most teachers.

Steve Hope However, teachers aren’t the only faculty members retiring this year; Steve Hope, the Associate Superintendent for Personnel and Technology for

the District, is also retiring.

Hope has worked for the Mountain View-Los Altos Union High School District (MVLA) for 35 years, serving numerous roles for the district.

Starting as a teacher at MVHS, Hope moved up to become an assistant principal and eventually principal of MVHS before finally settling in as an associate superintendent for the district.

In addition to serving as an associate superintendent, Hope has also served as the MVLA District’s chief negotiator. The district negotiator represents the district’s interests in all negotiations with the union. In his 16 years as chief negotiator, Hope’s negotiation skills have helped him achieve an excellent record of fewer than

five grievances and zero unfair labor practices.

For his hard work and achievement, Hope was nominated for and awarded the Association of California School Administrators Negotiator of the Year Award last year. While he will be retaining his role as the district’s chief negotiator, Hope will be relinquishing his role as a district Assistant Superintendent to spend more time in retirement.

“I will miss working with the students [at our schools],” Hope said.

In retirement, Hope plans to focus on his other interests. “[In my retirement, I plan on becoming more] involved with a couple of philanthropic foundations that make grants

Ciera Pasturel

in the area of education,” Hope said. “In addition, I am on the board of a non-profit that sends volunteers to Asia to teach and brings Asian medical students and social entrepreneurs to Stanford for short visits/ trainings... I... love traveling and backpacking as well and hope to have more time for those activities.”

During his tenure with the MVLA district, Hope has worked extensively in both the schools and the community.

He will be remembered for this dedication. “[Steve Hope] has gone far above and beyond his district duties to serve the greater community through his involvement,” Superintendent Barry Groves said.

ASB class prepares for upcoming elections Maya Acharya Staff Writer

Associated Student Body (ASB) officer elections will take place on Tuesday, March 26.

Students will vote on the ASB officer positions of president, vice president, secretary, activities commissioner and clubs commissioner.

Students will also vote for Class Council officers. This election is solely based on a popular vote.

The only caveat is that class advisors have input on who becomes the class president.

“For class officers, anyone can run, even if they’re not in ASB,” Sophomore Class President and ASB member Ramiel Petros said. “The result is determined completely by a popular student vote based on class.”

However, the system for voting for ASB officers is different. ASB officers must be in the ASB class, and are not decided solely by a popular student vote. The voting system gives greater weight to the votes of students in ASB and staff judges.

How Student Government Elections Work Class Council Officers

ASB Officers

(230 total delegates)

100 100

DELEGATES DELEGATES student ASB class popular vote vote

100%

student popular vote*

30

DELEGATES panel of judges

* Class advisors have input on the election of class president

“Since the elected positions have a much greater impact on the members of ASB than a typical LAHS student, we created an electoral system where the ASB class, the student body and an administrative panel would all have an influence in the outcome of our election,” ASB Assistant Treasurer Sarah Jacobs said.

The ASB candidate who receives the most of 230 delegates wins.

Of these, 100 delegates are based on the student body’s votes, 100

Parmis Taidy

delegates on the ASB class, and the last 30 delegates determined by a panel consisting of administrative staff and the past year’s president and vice president. Candidates get delegates proportional to the percentage of votes they receive.

There will be additional time for candidates to make speeches and answer questions from ASB members and the staff panel.

“We started a new voting process last year because we

noticed that sometimes the school vote was based on popularity and not qualifications,” Senior Class Secretary and ASB member Glenda Vargas said. “Since ASB will directly work with the [person] elected, we decided to have three different components to the voting process.”

ASB members, who better know the candidates’ abilities, have been given more voting power to counteract how popularity can come into play when the entire student body votes.

“I think the system makes sense,” Ramiel said. “We get to know each other very well in ASB, and we see each other’s leadership skills. We have the chance to really get to know their goals.”

ASB believes this system puts qualifications over popularity.

“I agree with this method but it does have its flaws, as popularity can still be a factor in ASB and with the administration,” Glenda said. “But...I think overall it’s a very effective way as we pick the best of the best to lead our school the following year.”

School plans year’s second Camp Everytown trip Riyana Basu Staff Writer

The second group of students to attend Camp Everytown this year will leave on Wednesday, March 27 for a trip which will last three days.

More students signed up in the fall than the school could take. This second Camp Everytown will allow the

3

News

March 12, 2013

remainder of students who could not be accommodated last semester to get the camp experience.

“I [wasn’t] able to go in the fall because that is water polo season and we had a tournament that weekend and wouldn’t be able to miss practice anyway,” senior Ian McColl said. “I decided to go this time because I have friends who went in

the fall, and they said it was one of the best experiences of their lives. Although I’m not completely sure of what they do there, I still definitely look forward to it.”

This is the first time that a second Camp Everytown trip of this size has been planned.

Many students have already signed up for the trip, though spots still remain open.

“This is the first time that I can even think of that I’ll be involved in two full camps in one year,” Assistant Principal Cristy Dawson said. “It’s always the same. It’s arduous. There’s a lot of recruiting and talking and meetings, so it’s somewhat stressful... And every time I go, I think, oh my gosh, that’s the best thing I could have done. So I have to just stay strong.”

News Briefs: FBLA competes in section conference

Future Business Leaders of America (FBLA) went to the Bay Section Leadership Conference in Westmoor High School on Saturday, March 2nd.

The team placed in 17 events and won more than 20 awards.

During the conference, 16 competitors qualified for the State Leadership Conference (SLC). In addition to other students who had already secured state competition positions, 31 students from LAHS FBLA are going to the SLC. Students going to the SLC are all participating in one to two briefs.

The SLC will take place from April 18 to 21 in Santa Clara.

Senior class to hold Sadies Dance

The Senior Class of 2013 will be hosting the annual Sadie Hawkins Dance on Friday, March 15th. It will be at the school’s large gym starting at 8 pm. Tickets are sold at $12 with ASB, $14 without and prices go up on Thursday, March 14.

“I hope it turns out great and exciting as always,” Senior Class President John Lee said. “I expect that everyone will come to dance because what really makes a dance fun are friends.”

This year, the dance is American-themed and is called “Star Spangled Sadies.”

It will be a casual dance and students are encouraged to dress up in the colors of the United States flag. The DJ from this year’s homecoming is planned to DJ this dance.

“I’m excited to have the DJ back,” junior Lillian Zhou said. “He did an exceptional job at the Homecoming dance and good music is an integral part of a fun dance.”

Teen Job Fair planned

The Teen Job Fair is happening on Wednesday, March 13 in the school cafeteria after 6th period.

Students will have the chance to talk to local employers and volunteer organizations in order to organize summer jobs and volunteer activities. The event is being arranged by College/ Career Center Coordinator Kristen Joseph, the Los Altos Recreational Department, the Mountain View Recreational Department and NOVA, a student employment organization.

While the employment organizations will be looking mainly for students that are 16 and above, freshmen and sophomores are encouraged to come to search for volunteer opportunities.

“Although [freshmen] won’t have many opportunities to find summer jobs, they will be able to find volunteer activities to help their resume and future work experience.”

Joseph said.

–Compiled by Maya Acharya and Yuki Zaninovich

4

March 12, 2013

News

Accreditation process continues with school visit David Wu Maya Acharya Staff Writers

The Accrediting Commission for Schools, Western Association of Schools and Colleges (WASC ACS) evaluated the school to complete their six-year evaluation cycle from Sunday, March 3 to Wednesday, March 6. To properly get a sense of the school, the WASC visiting committee, consisting of teachers administrators and the WASC chair from different parts of California, visited the school.

The committee assessed the school’s classroom and campus environments by interviewing the staff, students and parents and observing campus life.

“There’s a committee of six people...and they basically come to confirm and gather further evidence that what we wrote in our self study is valid and accurate,” Assistant Principal Galen Rosenberg said. “The process includes spending three days visiting classrooms and meeting with different groups of staff, parents and students…And based on that, they determine what our accreditation term will be.”

Over the course of its visit, the committee compiled a list of school-wide strengths and critical areas for focus. These strengths and areas for focus were revealed to the school’s staff in the WASC committee’s final report presentation in the Eagle Theater shortly after school on Wednesday, March 6.

The WASC committee

Jade Perry

WASC committee members ask students questions about school. The group observed the school from March 3-6 as part of the process of accrediting the school. ultimately described the school as a learning institution with exceptional strengths in academic achievement and campus environment. The committee identified the school’s diligent and devoted staff as crucial to the school’s commendable level of accomplishment.

The committee also established three critical areas for focus that it felt was crucial for the school to continue to develop and improve on. Areas of focus for the school include continuing the alignment of school curriculum, ensuring that all learners of English receive the necessary instruction to become proficient in English and the bettering the use of data to improve instruction.

On top of providing the school with recommendations, the WASC evaluation also validates the school by giving value to the diplomas that the school issues to graduating seniors every year.

This is important as colleges take into consideration the reputation of the applicant’s school.

“We have to be accredited or [student] diplomas don’t have the certification that they need for you to go to college,” Rosenberg said. “It’s absolutely essential.”

WASC visits also give the school’s entire staff the opportunity to selfevaluate and improve the school in a variety of ways by assisting the school in isolating priority areas for improvement. From this process of self-evaluation, a

thorough self-study report of the school is made.

“Many schools treat this accreditation process as a bureaucratic necessity that they do periodically to get accreditation,” Rosenberg said.

“But for the last 12, maybe even 18 years, we’ve used WASC as an organizing purpose for school improvement. The way we see it, the action plan that’s a part of the accreditation self-study are things that are going to make this school better in six years.”

The school’s six-year action plan has five focuses, each geared toward improving a different aspect of the school. The focuses include improving class alignment and grading policies,

building a sense of community among the school’s students, bettering student achievement, establishing a better sense of communal responsibility and accountability and upgrading the school’s technology.

Teachers, administrators, staff, students and parents have all worked on the action plan, which the school submitted to the WASC committee.

“We’ve been meeting to prepare the reports and the action plan that will guide us for the next six years...those are parts of the plan that we will submit to them,” social studies teacher Derek Miyahara said.

The action plan was not the only document that the school had to prepare. The paperwork that the school submitted also consisted of summaries of what the school has achieved since WASC’s last visit, focus group reports and data collected from surveys completed by students and parents and selfstudies that the school has done to reflect on its development and improvement as a learning institution.

In addition to the action plan, the committee considered its observations during its visit to assess the school.

“It’s a wonderful school,” WASC Chair Sue Brothers said.

“You have a tremendous school culture, incredibly high student achievement, huge UC A-G college going rate. The resources here and the things that you guys do are incredible...The strengths of this school are just huge.”

State adopts new testing model Students participate in two Poetry Slams Tony Sun John Naumovski Staff Writers

The Standardized Testing and Reporting (STAR) Test has been officially “phased out” by the State of California, and will be replaced by a more comprehensive exam starting in the 2014-2015 school year.

The exam will put the State of California in line with the Common Core Standards (CCSS), a national education initiative that the State Board of Education adopted on August 2, 2012. Thus far, 45 states have ratified the CCSS. According to the CCSS website, “Having the same standards helps all students get a good education, even if they change schools or move to a different state.

Teachers, parents and

education experts designed the standards to prepare students for success in college and the workplace.”

On Tuesday, January 8, the State Superintendent Tom Torlakson proposed to the California government and state legislature a massive overhaul of California’s standardized testing.

His proposal was for a new, updated exam that would include thought-provoking, open-ended essays alongside projects of a much more comprehensive nature than that of the current standardized tests.

The new exam will try to test what a student understands instead of what they have simply memorized. The exam incorporates written essays and may potentially include projects designed to engage students to stimulate further learning. The exams will be

STAR Testing • • • •

Common Core State Standards

All multiple choice questions Given in paper booklets Only used in California Used since 1998

• Will include written essays as well • Proctored through computers • Ratified by 45 states • Goes into effect in CCSS: Coming 2014-15 school year in 2014-2015

CAP 1960

1970

CLAS 1980

proctored on computers, which translates to faster turnaround of exam results and allows teachers to receive feedback earlier.

At the school, many teachers have expressed interest in the new testing standard.

“I hope the new Common Core exams will be much more conducive to learning and open many more avenues for discussion,” history teacher Seth Donnelly said.

“The current STAR test multiple choice really stresses bubbling in rotely memorized topics too much.”

However, like any new major standardized exam, many teachers will have to redesign their curriculums and recalibrate their teaching.

Regardless, students and teachers will have to prepare for the new standards.

1990

STAR 2000

2010 Rebecca DeShetler

Joey Malgesini Staff Writer

On Friday, March 1 at 7 p.m., the Poetry Slam kicked off with the freshman competition and was followed by the slam open to all students.

For the freshman slam, each survey teacher selected one of his or her students to perform at lunch in front of four judges. Over a 100 students came to watch as freshman Callan Garber from Michael Smith’s class won with her poem, “I Used to Love.”

“Performance poetry is the emphasis of the slam,” English teacher Lindsey Regoli said.

“Performance poetry focuses a lot on the sound, rhythm, meter and emotion.”

The school-wide slam began with a performance by Assistant Principal Galen Rosenberg.

English teacher Jonathan Kwan hosted the slam. The five judges included teachers Carrie Abel, Regoli, Rosenberg and two poetry enthusiasts not directly affiliated with the school.

Admission was $3 per person and all the revenue was used as prize money for the winners.

Callan was encouraged to enter by her friends and teacher who had heard her poem already in class. Despite her initial nervousness to perform, her recitation went smoothly and was well received by the audience.

“Before the Slam I had a

generally negative view of it,” Garber said. “I think it’s safe to say that’s no longer true. I really took to free-verse poetry and I now see that it can be less of a lyrical style and more of a story.

I’ve enjoyed writing and have been confident in myself as a writer, but the win has really boosted my confidence as a writer in general.”

Sophomore Elizabeth Kristian won Friday’s competition for best poem with her performance of “Restless.”

“Slam poetry is, at the core, a way of conveying your emotions and thoughts, and can be a really intense experience that takes a lot of guts and preparation to do,” Elizabeth said. “Finding out that you’ve succeeded in delivering that message in a way that others appreciate is one of the best feelings in the world.”

Senior Noah Schramm won best performance with his poem “Listen.” Honorable mentions were also awarded to freshman Jenny Chin, sophomore Kaitlyn Schiffhauer and senior Blaine Dzwonczyk.

“When I won it, I was very surprised because there was definitely some fierce competition with all the amazing and talented writers that we have at our school,” Noah said.

The Poetry Slam preceded Writers Week, during which writers and poets will come and speak to classes.

Editorial

The Talon March 12, 2013

Rights of student journalists are important, should be preserved Editorial Opinion of The Talon

Recently, there has been much controversy over the Mountain View High School Oracle’s twopage spread of articles about sex and relationships. Outraged over the newspaper’s content and a sexual phrase used within one of the articles, parents are petitioning the School Board to limit the rights of student publications in the district, and have all content approved by newspaper advisers. Students on Oracle made the wrong decision by publishing needlessly provocative content, and should apologize for their recklessness. However, freedom of journalistic expression is vital and the district should continue to protect it.

California Education Code 48907 protects the rights of student journalists. Schools cannot censor student publications, except in the cases of libel, slander, obscenity or any content that presents a clear danger of disrupting the school.

Student journalists who want to cover controversial topics, such as sex, are well within their rights. More important, though, is that freedom of expression for high school papers has invaluable benefits.

Student newspapers like Oracle are important forums for students to write about issues, and hopefully spark discussion about them. It’s true that sometimes the controversy over articles, like those Oracle published, can take away from generating a valuable discussion. However, students shouldn’t be forced to avoid covering important issues. Often controversial topics are the most important ones to cover, because our community hasn’t yet come to an agreement on what to do about them.

In addition, giving students the decision about whether, and how, to cover those issues is one of the most valuable learning experiences high schools offer. That isn’t to say that student journalists should be able to publish anything, but student newspapers do have decisionmaking bodies, like editors and editorial boards. Decisions about content should come from them, not from an outside censor, or even from a journalism adviser. This gives students hands-on experience with making choices that affect the wider community.

With great power comes great responsibility, and taking away that power deprives students of the chance to learn about responsibility.

Letters to the Editor Students school,

should respect not litter gum

Dear Editor,

Most educators hate gum.

I never really caught on until four years ago when Ms. Evans spilled the facts of life: those black spots all over campus are gum—every black spot—in the quad, on the stairs, in all the corridors, in front of the vending machines (the worst of all). Everywhere. I couldn't quite believe it. I can count "spots per square foot" on every cement surface. Not good.

Lately, my gum radar has increased exponentially. Ms. Yamasaki has started moving her desks around on a fairly regular basis. In the morning, you never quite know how the desks will be arranged for the day—a pleasantly unsettling experience. And when I occasionally help her move those desks, you all can guess what happens. Gum— everywhere. Some hard, some soft, but all pretty disgusting.

More than actually touching the gum, what grosses me out the most is that students deposit that gum knowing that Ms. Yamasaki has to touch it virtually every day. Just not acceptable.

So I have come to wonder: why is no one talking about this gum issue? Is it that no one notices? That we all think

it's hopeless? That those ugly black spots don't bother anybody? That we're used to them? That we don't care to protect our teachers from gum filth? I just can't figure it out.

In the Fall, a very large loud steam cleaner cleaned the cement around the small quad. Check it out—that area of cement is much cleaner.

You can absolutely see where the machine stopped. It looks great, even now after several months. But the menace is creeping back and soon it will look just like everyplace else around campus. How sad.

The time has come to tackle gum graffiti. I don't believe that students deliberately trash up the campus with gum; they just don't think about it.

They don't deliberately expose teachers they respect to gross expectorant; they just don't think about it.

Students chew gum for acceptable and not-soacceptable reasons. That will never stop. But we can show some personal pride and keep the used gum where it belongs—in the trash can. Can a group around campus more creative than me find a way to help us clean up our act?

Lorraine Wagner Instructional Aide

The Talon welcomes letters to the editor. E-mail letters to lahstalon@gmail.com or drop them off in room 409 or the box in the attendance office. If you have any questions, send an e-mail or call (650) 960-8877.

In the case of spelling or grammatical errors, obscenities, libelous or personal attacks, a letter may be edited or not run. Letters must be signed, but a name may be withheld upon request. Letters may be published online, in print or both.

If student journalists are forced to rely on a district employee to tell them the answers, they won’t have to worry sabout morals or boundaries. That’s a bad thing. Long after students have graduated, they will need to exercise responsibility, form independent thought and understand morality—all valuable skills, and all taught by student journalism.

Giving students accountability early on teaches them how to use these skills effectively. It makes them stronger thinkers, and better people, who are capable of wielding the power they hold. Students do, inevitably, make mistakes.

Giving students an arena to make those mistakes and deal with the consequences is another important lesson, regardless of whether

students choose to pursue careers in journalism.

The district does and should stress leadership, and other nonacademic skills that will help students succeed long after they’ve graduated. What better way to do that than in organizations like Oracle, where students are free to make their own choices, and yes, sometimes, their own mistakes.

Although student publications may not seem like a standard, or even an important part of traditional education, few experiences do more to teach students valuable lessons.

Student newspapers should be places where freedom of expression and taking risks are encouraged.

Outside censorship has no place in them, legally or morally.

thumbs

5 The Talon Los Altos High School

201 Almond Avenue Los Altos, California www.lahstalon.org March 12, 2013 Volume XXVIII, Issue 6

Editor-in-Chief Libbie Katsev Managing Editors Sarah Corner (Publication) Catherine Hua (Web) Mark Schreiber (Publication) News Editor Zoe Morgan Opinions Editor Rebecca Cohen Features Editor Christina Luk In-Depth Editor Ben Marimon Entertainment Editor Brenna Reid Sports Editor Josh Cohen Media Editor Ciera Pasturel Copy/Content Editors Shiktij Dave Jared Eng Dhruv Madhok Hongyi Shi Business Managers Emily Sims Jordan Stout

Senior Writers Anthony Bello, Paul Bergevin, Casey Pao, Ed Sartor, Sparsha Saxena, Shilpa Venigandla Staff Writers Maya Acharya, Riyana Basu, Robert Chin, Carly Cohen, Zach Cohen, Alex Cortinas, Cassidy Craford, Chang Cui, Chase Eller, Arman Khayyat, Sam Lisbonne, Ariel Machell, Joey Malgesini, John Naumovski, Tony Sun, David Wu, Yuki Zaninovich Photographers Chloe Arrouye, Juliet Moore, Jade Perry Graphic Artists Rebecca DeShetler, Taidy

Parmis

Videographers Nathan Becker, Anthony Bello, James Brewer, Mark Schreiber Web masters Jerry Liu, Kaitlin Mueller Adviser Michael Moul

Thumbs up to the two poetry slams–the Freshman Poetry Battle, held on Tuesday, February 12, and the schoolwide Poetry Slam, held on Friday, March 1. Both events were widely successful to the extent that even the freshman competition, which was held for the first time this year, drew over a hundred students in the audience. The poetry slams not only gave students a chance to appreciate the talent of their peers, but also provided a good introduction to Writers Week, which also featured an evening of poetry at the school.

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 Talon is a public forum for student expression.

The Editorial Board sets the policies of The Talon and crafts its editorials and thumbs. Its members are Josh Cohen, Rebecca Cohen, Sarah Corner, Catherine Hua, Libbie Katsev, Brenna Reid, Ed Sartor, Sparsha Saxena and Mark Schreiber. Please send subscription and advertisement inquiries to Emily Sims and Jordan Stout at lahstalon@gmail.com.

Talon Supporters

Thumbs up to the efforts of the Social Studies Department to teach students how to register to vote. With political apathy becoming more and more apparent, particularly amongst young people, working to educate potential voters on the registering process can have a huge effect on election turnout.

Students should utilize the resources the department has provided to help make voter registration for voter-eligible students less timeconsuming and convoluted. By making the required registration paperwork more accessible to students, the Social Studies Department is doing a valuable service to the community at large.

Honorary Pulitzers Vivi Chan, Andy and Holly Cohen, Emily Goto, Kefeng Hua, Brett and Pam Lytle, Drew Lytle, Mary E. MacLellan, Ralph and Diana Marimon, Ken and Susan Sims, Shirley and Allan Solomon, Ratna and Tripura Venigandla, Bernard and Miriam Yenkin, Michael Zaninovich Silver Supporters Catriona Cooke, Big Skenny’s Fish and Chips, Victoria Johnson, Jacqueline and Geoge MacLellan, Claire and John Moore, Sungmin Park, The Pasturel Family, The Rigodanzo Family, Gail and Don Sims, Linda Taylor

Opinions

The Talon March 12, 2013

6

Students should value time with substitutes Maya Acharya Staff Writer

Walking into a classroom and finding a substitute instead of your regular teacher tends to have a calming effect on students. Sighs are released and rules are bent as students lean back for what they hope will be an easy day. Substitutes threaten to write disapproving notes to regular teachers, but this doesn’t have the same effect it did in previous years.

As a result, students don’t give substitutes the same respect they would their normal teacher.

However, when students waste class time with a substitute, they are wasting their own time, the substitute’s time and falling behind.

The learning environment in a classroom is much different when a substitute is teaching.

“Generally, substitutes are at a significant disadvantage compared to regular teachers because they do not understand the dynamics of the classroom,” sophomore Sitara Sriram said.

“Therefore, their teaching is much less effective and it is harder for them to get across their points to the students.”

Substitute teacher Seth Tasmin works at the school and at Mountain View High School. This is his first year being a substitute.

“I don’t think students pay as much attention to me as they would their normal teacher,” Tasmin said. “They think that when a substitute is here they can do whatever they want. But mostly the students at this school are able to get their work done. I

parmis taidy

do think that the students could improve their attitudes a bit.”

This laid-back attitude is fine for an occasional substitute-taught class period. However, when a class is taught by a substitute for a few weeks or longer, it can start to lose precious time. Since students may not take the class as seriously with a substitute in charge, they can fall behind other students being taught by a regular teacher.

Substitute teachers are asked to do a lot. They may have to teach P.E. one day and calculus the next.

For various reasons, substitute

Anonymity Shiktij Dave Copy/Content Editor

Pressing the “Enter” key online is more dangerous than completing a spoken sentence face-to-face. It conveys a sense of tangible finality that doesn’t exist in the world of spoken communication, where words can be retracted. Amid developments with the LAHS Secrets and LAHS Compliments Facebook pages over the course of this school year, there has been an increased focus placed on the pertinent legal issue of defamation in the forms of libel and slander. The focal point of the controversy surrounding specifically the LAHS Secrets page lies in a greater issue of students not understanding the significance of online anonymity.

“What students need to recognize is that so much of their lives are lived online and they need to understand how to protect their privacy,” librarian Gordon Jack said.

Students also shouldn’t forget that the momentary satisfaction derived from some of the more light-hearted cracks and musings on the Facebook pages can have legal consequences occur from the more profane comments that are posted by an anonymous contributor to the page.

There has been a precedent set in the past regarding grave legal repercussions for online defamation. As recently as June 2012, a Texas couple was awarded $13 million, following a successful lawsuit for online defamation about falsely-alleged sexual assault.

“Students have to be understanding about how to keep their private lives

online

teachers may be required to teach a class for long periods of time. Yet, the lax mentality that students associate with substitute teachers does not fade with time.

Math teacher Matthew Chaffee said this after finding a substitute for his math classes while he was on paternity leave, at the same time as a fellow teacher took a long term leave.

“It was a very unique situation in that another teacher that I work with was taking the semester off and also needed a long-term sub,” Chaffee said. “The person that I recruited was then used to fulfill

has

private and what the implications are of posting things online,” Jack said.

The LAHS Secrets page in particular was no different as it offered a forum for “secrets” to be posted. Prior to the page being shut down and removed, some profane posts about teachers and students were trickling onto the posts on the page.

“There were some things posted on that page that seem very close to hurtful in the sense that they could permanently scar one’s perception of the teacher,” junior Alex Kuo said. “But the thing is, what I saw from looking at the page once, was that they were interspersed with perfectly funny comments too, so it was really all over the place.”

The fact of the matter is that a single person held the key to all the comments being posted on the Facebook page, which further opens up an issue of potential blackmail.

“And then you realize it’s one person getting all the comments,” Alex said. “That’s kind of scary.”

It may seem counterintuitive to educate students about seemingly commonsense issues surrounding online anonymity, but if recent developments show anything, it’s that students can’t help but be roused by enticing avenues of gossip.

The school should educate students in online safety, and the issues surrounding anonymity, in advisory classes.

“I think that advisory is the

that position because the priority was more important. With that said, there was kind of a last minute scramble to find a long term sub for me. Half of one week was one person and then the following week was a new person.”

A substitute teacher, to no fault of their own, may not be well versed in a subject area they are asked to teach. This is not in their control. Students, on the other hand, have full control over the attentiveness and focus they deliver during a class period.

“I don’t think there’s enough qualified subs for math,” Chaffee said. “I think that being a substitute is extremely difficult.

Since you have to be a substitute for every single subject in high school, and there’s not a huge number of people who aspire to be math teachers, so finding a sub who is able to understand the level of math that we’re asking for is pretty difficult.”

For various reasons, such as Chaffee’s paternity leave, substitute teachers may be required to teach a class for long periods of time. However, even when a substitute is long term, students do not take substitute teachers seriously.

Sophomore Andrea Lucia’s Chemistry class, normally taught by science teacher Darren Dressen, is currently being taught by a long-term substitute.

Even considering the length of Dressen’s absence, Andrea’s class, for the most part, does not pay the substitute the same attention it would their normal teacher.

“Whenever a student hears there is a sub for their class, myself included, they look at

many

perfect place because freshmen, and really everyone, needs that information,” Jack said. “And advisory fits in naturally with the [entire] academic schedule because there really isn’t any other avenue for students to get this information except maybe Health.”

In the school’s inaugural History Week, a speaker from Santa Clara University, law professor Eric Goldman spoke to students regarding the importance of realizing the issues of anonymous conversations that occur online which can result in dire legal consequences.

the period as a free day to not do work and just talk to their friends,” Andrea said.

For classes where multiple teachers follow the same calendar, in an effort t0 increase course alignment, such as Algebra 2 Honors, this can be especially detrimental. As students blow off their work, they fall further behind their peers.

When their normal teacher returns, he or she has to catch their students up. This may be inevitable, as a substitute cannot be expected to teach exactly as the normal teacher would have.

However, this process can be eased by students cooperating with the substitute.

“I think there’s a culture when there’s a substitute that it’s kind of a day off for the kids,” Chaffee said. “[Students] need some guidance and somebody to facilitate their learning. But I think the mentality when there’s a sub could be better.”

Sophomore Noelani Kawakami is a student in one of Chaffee’s Algebra 2 Honors classes.

“The material [during Chaffee’s absence] was particularly difficult and the test is notorious for being tough,” Noelani said. “But I was able to pass with a decent grade so I feel that if students put in a little more effort than usual they could make up for the learning time lost.”

The relaxed classroom environment that comes with a substitute teacher will always be a part of high school culture.

However, when the work ethic during a substitute’s presence causes them to fall behind, students should rethink their demeanor.

consequences

His presentation entailed several cases which demonstrated how social media offered such an immense medium through which slander and libel can occur in a higher proportion.

“We haven’t decided next year’s History Week topic but we’ve discussed potentially making the topic for next year about [the issues] with social networking,” history teacher Dee Dee Pearce said.

parmis taidy

Opinions

March 12, 2013

7

School should teach personal finance Hongyi Shi Copy/Content Editor

Over the four years students spend at the school, they will learn everything from how the human body functions to the history of the United States. What they will not learn, however, is how to balance a checkbook and save for the future. Elementary skills of personal finance, from learning how to pay a bill to how investments work, are currently acquired after students have already left high school.

Students who are getting jobs or paying for college, however, already have a need for this kind of information. In order for students to become financially secure, the school should provide them instruction in personal finance.

This is not a novel idea for the school. The school already teaches basic life skills in the form of the Health class all students must take to graduate, and many ideas of consumer choice and investment are introduced to students through Economics. However, an additional Personal Finance class would be better suited to expanding on these important ideas.

“We’ve talked about adding it to the curriculum ... I think there’s a recognition that [personal finance] is a subject that is good for students to learn about before they graduate from high school,” Assistant Principal Galen Rosenberg said.

Such a class need not be constructed from scratch, however. At the nearby Egan Junior High School, social studies teacher Jon Hayman has taught Personal Finance as an elective class for the past two years. Hayman covers many topics students should know by the time they enter the real world, including: how to read a credit card statement, different types of investment, the power of compound interest and saving for the future.

“We start off with an introduction—I call it the laws of money,” Hayman said. “What value is, why you spend what you spend, the idea of expenses rising to meet income ... If you want to become financially independent, you have to get into the habit of investing what you earn, and spending the rest.”

Hayman’s course is taught over the course of a semester, but not many high school students will likely want to

photo illustration by ciera pasturel

A student demonstrates how to sign a check, an important tenet of personal finance. School sponsored classes should teach such responsibilities as part of a well rounded high school education. spend an entire semester learning about personal finance.

When many students are already stressed about taking as many AP and honors classes as possible, adding an optional personal finance class would likely not attract many takers. However, the best solution would be to add such curriculum to an existing class all students must take, the most obvious candidates being Economics and Health.

Personal finance could be integrated into Economics, with the class focusing less on the theoretical side and more time spent exploring students’ personal economic decisions. Or personal finance could replace some of the time in Health class, where students already learn valuable life skills, and the class renamed and redesigned as such. Whichever class may be chosen, Rosenberg estimates the class could cover personal finance in two or three weeks.

“I think one could learn it ... if learn means do some activities related to [personal finance] that embed it more,

in two to three weeks—to look at the basics of managing your income, making savings and investments,” Rosenberg says.

Even if the school chooses not to provide a curriculum for it, students should think about savings and money management anyway. Long-term investment and saving more than one spends are the key to ensuring students’ financial stability. Though currently the school does not provide instruction, students should look at how the financial decisions they are making and will make may impact the rest of their lives.

“Accounting, taxation, all these important things in our lives that we have to be responsible for—being accountable for all these is important,” senior John Lee said. “Managing your wealth is also very important, considering how hard times are. It’s important for people to learn how to keep track of their money.”

Parents: stop dropping off students in the lot, arrive earlier Ariel Machell Staff Writer

A student hurries out of the student parking lot, rushing to get to class as the first bell of the morning rings. Nothing will get in the way of her path or veer her off course. Similarly, a woman in a red Honda has the same goal in mind: getting her son to class on time. Stopping just outside the Eagle Theatre the woman looks to the passenger door as her son stumbles out with backpack clutched in hand. Not bothering to look, the woman takes off just as the door closes. She slams on the brakes just as quickly when a student rushes past the head of her car, just barely brushing her.

The mornings in the student parking lot are chaotic. Students rush to get good parking spots, parents try to pull up in front of the theater and people swerve in and out of cars to walk safely out of the lot. Some say it is inevitable, that the parking lot is bound to be dangerous with the hordes of new teenage drivers.

This may certainly be true, but parents do not make it any easier by coming into the lot to drop off kids. “[Parents] park in the most inconvenient locations, which I would think that most people would not deem an appropriate spot to park their car to drop someone off,” junior Naomi

Palmer said. “I don’t understand why they can’t just drop their child off in the front. I mean it’s hard getting in and out of that parking lot. If you just pulled up in the front of the school, it would be significantly faster.

Personally, prior to driving, I had never been dropped off in the parking lot. I was always dropped off in the front and it was much easier.”

rebecca deshetler

The front of the school is indeed, a far more ideal spot to drop off students. There is even a passthrough designed specifically for such occasions.

“The pass-through is arguably the easiest way [to drop off kids],” Assistant Principal Galen Rosenberg said. “It’s just that, when you have that many cars and that many people in a condensed period of time, you’re going to have traffic problems.”

While Almond Avenue is not much better in terms of traffic, using the parking lot to drop

someone off hinders the students driving there, who, according to the AAA Foundation for Traffic Safety, are much more likely to get into an accident. Of course, there’s nothing to say that parents are not allowed to use the parking lot for such purposes. “[Parents] are allowed to drop off their kids in the parking lot,” Assistant Principal Cristy Dawson said. “I mean, as kids get older, parents should get the heck out of here but if you’re a ninth grader or a tenth grader, you need a ride. [Parents] care more about making sure that they can get their kids here in the rain, for lessons, for events, or for club things.”

Even so, it makes it so much easier for everyone concerned when other means are utilized. Besides the pass-through in the front, the back of the school is just as useable for a quick drop-off.

“Personally, I prefer the front of the school or the half circle [to drop students off] because the cars seem to follow the same rules, they’re all going the same direction,” Los Altos parent Gail Reid said. “But in the parking lot, cars are going in, cars are coming out, and there’s often students walking around. The parking lot is just a complete nightmare.”

For parents who see this as an inconvenience and the parking lot is the only possibility, then it is important to be aware of the time.

“If you have to leave the second the bell rings and everybody else has to leave the second the bell

rings and everybody has to pick their students up the second the bell rings then there is gonna be a problem,” Rosenberg said.

“For me, in the morning on the occasions that I get there close to the bell, it’s a pain, but when I’m there early, it’s no problem.”

Getting to school a few minutes earlier reduces the traffic significantly. The parking lot is free for anyone to use for dropping off, parking, or for simply passing through. The hysteria comes when everyone is worried about being late and are rushing to get in and out.

“The goal is to spread out the flow of traffic or eliminate it entirely,” Rosenberg said. “If people got to school earlier, used the pass-through, rode their bikes or used another mode of transportation like the bus, then there would not be a problem.”

So, in order to avoid the chaos of the parking lot, parents and students should use the front of the school or the passthrough, unless arriving early, in which case the parking lot is open and free of its usual dangerous traffic.

8

Opinions

March 12, 2013

The order of science classes: which is correct?

Selecting Courses: Carly Cohen Staff Writer

The view from senior year

By Josh Cohen As a campus, we’re now in the midst of March Madness. This month means a colossal college basketball tournament, but at Los Altos High, many students see March as a “crazy” month for an entirely different reason: class registration.

Signing up for classes can be a process that causes more stress than the actual completion of courses. As a senior who has overloaded, overstressed, and driven myself into the ground as a result of my scheduling choices, I can offer a few tips for those choosing classes. Before you plunge yourself into academic hell, here are a few things to consider.

First, beware of the “dark side” of high school stress. We’ve all seen it, and many of us have been there: students who overload themselves are easily identifiable on campus. Deep eye bags, coffee cravings and general irritability are all signs.

“We want to push students and we want students to be challenged, but it’s a fine line between being challenged and going to the dark side,” counselor Dafna Adler said. “Some students will think, ‘If I just take one more AP class, then I’ll get into Stanford.’ But college acceptances just don’t work that way, and it’s not worth it to go through high school like that.”

Challenge is great, and a few late nights make for good learning experiences. But speaking from experience, most of the time taking on that “one extra class” to boost your GPA isn’t worth the zombielike state that accompanies it. So when you enter the counselor’s office to sign up for classes, take some challenge, but leave room to experience high school as well.

Life will be more pleasant, and you’ll be a better student and person.

“The bottom line is that we want everybody to be challenged, and we want you guys to try hard things and push yourselves and take on that extra challenge in an area that you enjoy,” Adler said. “If you’re a little afraid of that AP English course or that AP Physics course, but it’s something that you enjoy, try it.”

Second, do what you love. It’s useless to sit through classes that you dislike; taking classes that bore you in order to gain AP credits end up being a bad experience for the student and teacher, and often ends in a midsemester drop.

“It’s tough on [students], not me,” math teacher Carol Evans said, of student drops.

Evan’s Algebra II honors class is one of the most difficult courses on campus.

Evans said that often, students who love the material and work hard are able to find success in her Algebra II Honors class, even though they originally struggled.

Conversely, many students can’t or won’t put in the work to succeed in Algebra II Honors often end up dropping.

Last, leave time in your schedule to do something purely for fun. Don’t go all out all the time; colleges don’t care about your fifteenth AP test, they care that you are an interesting person. The best way to show them that is to do something fun and pursue what you love, not drive yourself into the ground.

Open enrollment is a blessing and a curse. It opens up huge opportunities for students to challenge themselves, but at the same time, it gives students the perfect excuse to overload themselves, and the resulting dropped classes can cause a huge headache for the counseling department.

At the end of the day, signing up for classes is a judgement call, and with great power comes great responsibility. Just try to remember this: entering the dark side of high school stress simply isn’t worth it.

Students take various science classes starting in elementary school, creating a base of knowledge that will benefit them for years to come. Now, in high school, students are able to apply mathematical knowledge as well as their own ability to grasp concepts, allowing for greater knowledge gains in science fields. The question is: in what order should we be learning them?

Several private schools such as Menlo School, Pinewood School and Castilleja School along with schools in other districts and states teach their science classes in orders different from those of the school. For example, up until this past year, Mountain View High School taught Chemistry to freshmen, Biology to sophomores and Physics to juniors.

They changed to match the order of the classes taught by LAHS, starting with Biology and ending with Physics.

Schools like Palo Altos High School, and Castilleja Shcool begin with Physics as opposed to Biology.

Despite this, when looking at the way Los Altos presents its science curriculum to students, starting with Biology, it makes more logical sense.

Freshmen have a limited mathematical background from junior high and are generally able to utilize arithmetic along with easy algebra. Along with this, students come in with a working knowledge of basic science. However, it is not nearly as expansive as it is by the time they enter into their junior and senior years of high school, allowing upperclassman to much more fully understand complex subjects.

“By junior year, you do have that mathematical basis, so you don’t need to go into the basic ninth grade level,” sophomore Victoria Santiago said. “I don’t think you should be minimizing your curriculum simply because of the year that you are in. If you can wait two more years, take classes that you need in order to get into Physics, I think it makes logical sense that Physics is not offered to freshman because you need to cover all of the mathematical subjects in physics in order to fully understand the science.”

Although there are ways to teach physics at a more conceptual and basic level, it seems that it fits best later in a student’s high school career. Along with this, Biology is offered at higher levels later as well. This means that, even though Biology is easily taught at a more basic level to freshmen, students are still given the option to pursue a deeper understanding of the subject at an AP level.

However, many schools would not teach Physics first without merits.

“I actually was glad to x = vt have Physics first because it enables all of the new vf 2 = v 2 + 2ax freshman to start science at 0 the same base level with a Rebecca deshetler ½at2 few key set of principles and y = y0 + v0t + equations that we refer back to during our chem classes and understanding physics requires more bio classes,” Castilleja senior Devon abstraction, a higher-powered brain Shiff said. work than the text-based biology.”

Despite this, due to the higher By saving Physics for closer to the end of mathematical challenge involved in a student’s high school career, the classes a physics class, it is most logical to are able to be more heavily-based on teach it later in a student’s high school mathematics, using more advanced skills career. The school has planned it out in even the most basic physics classes. right, giving students the opportunity As a student progresses throughout high to not only expand their scientific school, the levels of math and science horizons, but doing so in such an order coincide with one another. They go hand that allows them to gain even more in hand, making it easy for students to understanding of concepts scientific, see connections between their classes. conceptual and mathematical.

“Biology, although systems and processed based, is also very much vocabulary based and reading and text intensive,” physics teacher Adam Randall said. “The development that is going on in a 13 or 14-year old brain is able to handle that kind of organization, but the level of abstraction that is necessary for

Students must pay attention to ASB elections Zoe Morgan News Editor

As the third quarter comes to a close, Associated Student Body (ASB) and Class Council elections are quickly approaching.

ASB elections will take place March 26 and Class Council elections after that.

Each year, the school runs on a special assembly schedule to accommodate the speeches. Yet, many students don’t take the process seriously or carefully consider who to vote for. While ASB and Class Council elections may seem unimportant, in truth those elected have great influence over the school and students should take their votes more seriously.

One of Class Council’s major responsibilities is to fundraise for prom.

This includes fundraisers, like the senior class selling concessions at recent basketball games. Choosing responsible Class Council members is crucial to having a successful prom, an integral part of many student’s high school experience.

“Class presidents are in charge of basically the events that surround their class so like the major one would be prom, but there’s a series of fundraisers that we do in order to get to prom,” Senior Class President John Lee said.

However, the responsibilities of the student leadership go far beyond just raising money for prom. ASB also helps to organize events like Sprint for Sports, which helped the athletic department to have an adequate budget this year. This means that all students involved in the sports program rely on ASB to continue to have financing for their athletics.

In addition to organizing these kinds of school-wide events, ASB members also more generally work to encourage school spirit. While this can seem like an ambiguous idea, in truth it is a big part of what creates an enjoyable high school

experience.

“We offer services such as promoting school spirit, rallies, dances. All of those things are integral and part of the school spirit process,” John said.

These events help students to feel like they are a part of their high school and give them opportunities to take part in school wide events. However, past that, they also organize events to help integrate freshman into the school, the most important being freshman orientation. This event helps freshman understand the layout of the campus and how the school day works, in addition to introducing them to other students.

Because of the wide variety of roles students leaders play in the school, almost all students are affected by what they do. Neglecting to take the elections seriously can have serious repercussions on the way the school functions.

“We’re like a service provider and that’s really what holds the school together. So I would say we’re like the framework of the school,” Lee said.

However, in addition to the need for greater student interest, it also has to be understood that students only have so much information with which to decide who to vote for. Simply as an inescapable part of the system, there is only time for students to hear a short speech from each candidate. While this speech certainly helps to convey information, it can certainly seem to the broader student body as though they have little information with which to

make an informed decision.

Because of this, beginning last year, the popular vote only counted for 44 percent in ASB elections. ASB members also vote, which counts for another 44 percent and a panel of teachers make up the final 13 percent.

This new system is effective at helping to mitigate the problem of the general student body’s lack of knowledge about each candidate.

“I favor it,” John said. “I personally believe that those who interact with ASB members and have a lot of experience deserve to choose who is elected as a Student Government Officer.”

Under the revised rules, 57 percent of the vote comes from sources with more direct knowledge of the candidates. This is essential in ensuring that the best people get the job.

The most important thing is that students take their role in voting seriously, but it is good that ASB changed their voting system to accommodate lack of knowledge students have about each candidate.

parmis taidy

9

Features

March 12, 2013

Green Team spreads composting awareness Yuki Zaninovich Staff Writer

Where does your trash go? Normally, all the trash we carelessly toss into a trash can is thrown onto a garbage truck to be sent to a landfill. These landfills end up having a detrimental impact on our environment, polluting the soil and wildlife and increasing the possibility of methane gas explosions.

Fortunately for us, mitigating the school’s contribution to the dump is in the Green Team’s best interest.

At the beginning of the school year, the Green Team worked to create a completely new recycling system. By relabeling all the old trash cans on campus and adding new recycle and compost bins, the club attempted to get closer to its goal of achieving a zero waste system. It has also been active in the community trying to raise awareness of the merits of being ecologically sound.

Zero waste refers to a system in which all materials are not put to waste and are either recycled or composted. However, Green Team believes that this system cannot be completely achieved due to its sheer difficulty. By setting a high standard objective for its recycling system, the club hopes to mitigate the amount of waste produced by the school.

Despite Green Team’s many attempts to encourage an ecologically sound mindset, it still has trouble in getting students to sort their trash. On average, according to AP Environmental Science’s compiled data on the school’s waste trends, 50 percent of trash thrown into a compost bin is not compostable. This is a significant contrast compared to the small inaccuracy of 10

percent for recycling bins on average. The class also observed that vertically-oriented trash cans are 29 percent more accurate relative to those with horizontal chutes.

More items were misplaced when the recycling and compost bins were not placed adjacently. For these reasons, the club concluded that the inconsistency resulted from a lack of incentive.

“As a student, I don’t think there’s much motivation for me to go out of my way to sort my trash,” senior Samantha Kim said.

“If I want to throw away a banana peel and an empty water bottle, it’s just easier for me to just drop them all into one compost bin.”

The Green Team has expressed their dislike of the students’ uncompliant attitude. No matter how much effort the team may put into urging the correct use of the waste system, positive results won’t be produced if the students fail to comply. Since the club has supplied students with the information needed to separate trash, it is confusing as to what will get them to put their knowledge to use.

“I always feel a little frustrated when I see something that’s obviously recyclable in the compost,” Green Team Copresident junior Wendy Wu said. “[There] is no other way to make it easier to be green.”

The Green Team has been struggling to cope with the inefficiency of the waste system.

Not only does an inefficient waste system fail to cleanse the environment, it keeps the school stymied from progressing

toward its zero waste goal. The club already advocates the importance of correctly using the new recycling system through the morning announcements and videos.

Since these avenues don’t seem to motivate students to sort trash, the club believes that having students realize how tangible an effect reducing waste can have would increase their motivation.

“If students are aware of the impact these programs had on the environment, they might be more inclined to help,” Green Team Co-president junior Sarah Jacobs said. “It’s imperative that they take the extra three seconds to separate their trash. We

are trying to acclimate them to this idea and hopefully we will see improvement as the longevity of the system increases.”

To combat this dilemma, the team intends to increase the green publicity through more announcements and videos in the daily bulletin. Additionally, Green Team is planning on educating students in a more in-depth manner during the annual Earth Week they host. Through these adjustments, the team hopes to revitalize the system.

“Regardless of our challenges, I am pleased with the success of the recycling bins and remain optimistic about compost,” Sarah said. “We can only go up from here.”

GraphicS by Rebecca deshetler

10% MISSORTED

90%

50%

MISSORTED

CORRECTLY SORTED

50%

CORRECTLY SORTED

Recycling

Compost

Seniors plan multiple gap year alternatives after graduation Brenna Reid Entertainment Editor In a school and an area where continuing higher education is the norm, taking a gap year certainly isn’t something that a lot of students plan on doing. Seniors Lisa Schill, Corey Moran and Tali Caspi are a few students who plan to take a gap year next year. However, none of the students have finalized their plans yet, as they’re waiting to hear back from schools about deferral situations and personal financial planning and other reasons.

Lisa is currently finalizing plans to work and volunteer at hospitals in Germany through a specialized program or the Red Cross. At the moment, she plans on spending half the year in Germany and half the year in another foreign country. Lisa has plans to study medical science in college and views her gap year as a chance to try out this field.

“I’m hoping that I can find out if that’s something that I want to do later on because if I don’t enjoy it then it would be awful to find that out after studying it,” Lisa said. “I’m hoping to find out if I like that field or maybe something else

that I would rather be doing.”

Lisa started seriously considering a gap year after talking to older friends and family in Germany over the summer.

“They all really encouraged taking a gap year or taking time off before going to college,” Lisa said. “In Europe it’s very popular. Not a lot of people go directly on to college, and a lot of people don’t end up studying at all because there’s a lot of different pathways and options for what to do.”

For Tali, taking a gap year has always been an option.

“Because my parents are Israeli, they served in the military after high school before attending college,” Tali said. “After that, my dad spent a year in Europe with some friends. No one in Israel goes straight to college from high school ... For me and my family taking a gap year seems totally normal.”

Although her plans aren’t set in stone yet, Tali is looking at spending her next year volunteering at wildlife rehabilitation and research centers in various countries. She hopes to be able to spend time in Costa Rica, South Africa and Thailand for a few months each. Tali also wants to gain hands-on experience in what she’s currently interested in to figure out what she’s truly interested in pursuing in college.

FULL-TIME JOBS

“All of the programs are a bit different,” Tali said. “In Africa, I’m hoping to volunteer at two different places.

The first is a shelter for lions who have been rescued from the canned hunting industry. Most of the jobs there involve taking care of the shelter (i.e. cleaning, monitoring behavior, feeding, etc) and helping teach about the importance of wildlife preservation. The other program is less hands-on with the animals. It is a predator conservation program. It involves mainly cheetah, leopard and hyena tracking and monitoring, reserve management, fence-checks, helping with anti-poaching initiatives, relocation projects, wildlife habituation and assisting with the sable breeding project.”

Tali’s current plans for Costa Rica and Thailand involve doing similar jobs—taking care of the animals at the shelters and working to preserve wildlife in the areas, but with very different animals and habitats.

For senior Corey Moran, his plans for a gap year focus more on his other interests.

“I’m looking for adventure, being in Boy Scouts I’m kind of looking for things on the same trend line,” Corey said. “I’m looking at camping backpacking, and one program which I’m probably going to is a sailing one, Semester at Sea, so you study on a boat and live there for a few months.”

Corey came to the idea of taking a gap year in a more personal way than Tali and Lisa.

“When I was applying to colleges everything was just getting so hectic and I was getting overwhelmed with school as well and it just brought up the question, well maybe I should take a break from school rather than just going straight to college,” Corey said.

Although these students’ plans are centered around their interests, there is still a slight sense of uneasiness.

“I do feel left out sometimes because these 12 years have all been sort of leading up to this,” Lisa said. “It does seem very scary to be doing something different, because ... everyone’s [applying to college] and feels very safe, but taking a gap year is kind of more of a risk.”

Despite the large differences from their proposed and unorthodox paths for next year, these seniors are excited for the challenges that their gap years will present them.

“While I’ve learned a lot from all the years I’ve been in school, I think there is just as much that can be learned from taking a gap year,” Tali said. “I’ll meet all kinds of new people from around the world, and that’s pretty awesome.”

March 12, 2013

10

In-Depth

BODY IMAGE

by Anthony Bello, Senior Writer | Dhruv Madhok, Copy/Content Editor | Eddie Sartor, Senior Writer | Jared Eng, Copy/Content Editor | Shilpa Venigandla, Senior Writer | Tony Sun, Staff Writer | Zach Cohen, Staff Writer

From diverse extracurricular activities to varying course loads, the modern high school student can have a lot to worry about. Factoring in societal pressures and relationships can be even more challenging, especially when body image becomes part of the equation. Even though this issue may take a backseat in the view of some students, body image is a constantly evolving concept, defined by the nature of society at the time. The pressures to meet this “acceptable” body image can lead students to unhealthy habits and push others to extremes. Media exposure, gender and self-perception all contribute to these actions and help to promote this idea of an “ideal” body image. The challenge is finding a way to shift this societal perspective.

An Evolving Beauty It is 1510 in the southern streets of the Italian city of Florence and the Renaissance is in full bloom. There are festivals in the streets and the trending fashions are broad shoulders, puffed shirts and a pale complexion–now only pictures that students glance over in their textbooks.

Five centuries later, the concept of beauty has drastically evolved along with society. For teenagers, abiding by such social norms is a large part of adolescence, whether people feel comfortable discussing it or not.

“If I could have what I'd think is the perfect body, it would be toned, skinny legs, a flat stomach with toned abs, a nice round butt, nice boobs and flawless skin,” sophomore Anna Martirosyan said.

The standard of maintaining an acceptable body image extends to men as well.

“For guys, you don’t have to be super fit, but you shouldn’t be overweight and you shouldn’t be a stick either,” sophomore Mehr Singh said. “So a good medium.”

One development in the 21st century is that race seems to have become a changing factor in determining beauty. In 1939, research scientist Dr. Kenneth Clark and his wife conducted an experiment involving two different Barbie dolls. He discovered that when he handed young children of different races both a black and a white Barbie doll, an overwhelming two thirds majority of both races chose to keep the pale faced, blonde haired, blue-eyed Barbie as the one they wanted to play with.

Now a study down by Allure Magazine with an older audience has shown a change from the 1939 results. According to their research survey, 64% of those

surveyed found mixed race the epitome of beauty. In addition, of those who wished to change their skin color, 70% wanted “darker skin and fuller lips,” a far cry from that of the past. Yet it is a matter of opinion on whether this soceital shift has been an improvement or not.

Futhermore, this idealistic conception of human appearance doesn’t extend to all people. Some high school students consider the idea of an “ideal body image” to be a social construct that has no actual meaning or practical applicability. Instead, students are striving to be comfortable with themselves.

“The ideal body is different for every person in that the individual should feel comfortable and healthy in their own skin,” junior Amanda Choy said.

While Amanda believes that selfacceptance is more important than an ideal body image, she does recognize that, at times, people feel pressured to conform to the lifestyles and appearances depicted in the media.

“I don't think there's anyone who doesn't to any degree feel that way,” Amanda said.

For a school project, Amanda focused on body image and eating disorders.

“We researched eating disorders like anorexia and bulimia, and we also tried to get to the root of the problem,” Amanda said. “Most of the time we found that the media is what plays the largest role in that kind of unhealthy mindset of an ideal look, weight and body.”

Other students have similar views to Amanda’s understanding of a different body type for each person.

“I don't think there is an ideal body because everyone has a different body type,” sophomore Reyes Maldonado said.

“Some people have thick legs and a slim waist and others are just a bit heavier, and then there is everything in between.”

The media impact

her body instead of her accomplishments.

She set out to be a fashion model, not a role model: there is a Twitter account dedicated to Delevingne’s “thigh gap,” referencing how her legs are so skinny In today’s society, the mass media’s that they do not touch, something natural use of models that are well underweight for most women. is analogous to the capitalistic belief of “Now, we all know that bodies come never being too rich - women can never in different shapes and sizes and there's be too thin. Fashion shows, posters, nothing wrong with calling a certain and models project the image that for a body type beautiful, but it's the fact that woman to be happy with her body image, the media often fails to recognize other she must be unhealthy. This winter, the physiques as desirable that make it so Victoria’s Secret fashion show brought corrupt,” Madelyn said. awe and inner-discontentment to viewers, Delevingne is said to be the next Kate setting unrealistic standards for women.

Moss, the poster model featured in Calvin Retailers have pushed this Klein’s controversial fashion style body image, introducing called Heroin Chic, characterized by vanity sizing, such as 0 or pale skin and dark “The m 00, to reward women who circles under the edia p push their bodies to the eyes.

The style itself ortray beauty s absolute limit in order to was a reaction to the a s hav one sh look “sexy.” healthy and vibrant ape, an ing shape d one Not all models are look of models at the on naturally thin, either. time, and mimicked skinn ly: lean an y d Photoshop has become the physical stature Madel ” - senior so widely-used in the of heroin addicts. yn He aly beauty industry that it Under the Heroin Chic is almost impossible campaign, heroin use was to discern the true practically glamorized. frames of models.

It’s these types of “role “The m As a result, their models” that inevitably k e computer-altered end up influencing the next beauty ddianpootrttoratyhin s ar physiques look generation. ’to look s“hIat’pse,h as ohuavdin n o g n a y like they can be According to a study e n f i n ontlhya: t d onm naturally attained.

by Westminster College, leetahne awo e sehnapie s nd k re “We all know skilnin less than 5 percent of y”g-asze ine] pictu n the models areMad[ma women in the world have , i t o a r elyn H u’re too f photoshopped, but a body type represented o e y a l n y senior the that's all we've been in the media, a number ty” not pret arr exposed to on TV and that is rising because of yC e n in magazines,” senior d women’s attempts to fit y S Sydney Carr said. “It's an impossible mold. hard not to think that The misconception of a healthy body if you don't look like the women in those is not limited to the fashion industry—it pictures then you're too fat, not pretty extends through all forms of media: enough, or whatever.” television shows, movies and newscasting.

Cara Delevingne, voted Model of the Female stars almost exclusively have thin Year at the British Fashion Awards, is or underweight bodies and television 5’10’’ and weighs 129 pounds. According shows like “The Hills,” “The OC,” etc. all to Health Discovery, she is also have actresses that portray the tall and underweight for a woman with such a thin ideal woman. Even reality shows small frame. Even though Delevingne make the skinny seem normal. has had many successes in her career, the “Celebrities live a plastic life,” Sydney general population still focuses only on said.

Statistics from

www.dosomethin

g.org

About 7 percent of 12th grade m ales have used steroids in order to become more musclar.

In 2007, there w ere about 11.7 m illion cosmetic procedures perfo rmed in the U.S . and 91 percent of these were don e on women.

Americans spen d more than 40 billion dollars a year on dieting and diet-related products.

It is estimated th at 40 to 50 perce nt of American women are tryin g to lose weight right now.

st be o ... ju k the t n e e chos and loo . I I hav m d looke ay I a the w e always st I can I’v the be , way dress rtain way t o t y e u c tr b a , else ook and l everyone omore h or not f r me. - sop o f just Barzin a Born Everyone fe the media’s beauty, so o I don’t think there is an is not becau ideal body because everyone shown is un has a different body type. comes down Some people have thick legs you cannot and a slim waist and ... expectation then there is everything in basis. - sen between -sophomore Reyes Maldonado

did t a h W ve a h s t studen bout a to say age? m body i

11

In-Depth

Do the ends justify the means?

Media and societal pressures can help to propagate an ideal body image, but what are the consequences when students go to extremes to conform to these expectations?

The two prevalent eating disorders in our society today, anorexia and bulimia, show the extremes that students go to meet the ideal body image. Those with anorexia eat minimal amounts of food to maintain a skinny body, while those with bulimia continue to eat food, but purge because they fear the additional calories.

There is not always a single moment that convinces a person to become anorexic or bulimic, but instead it is a build-up of various pressures. In Michelle’s case, the pressure from the media to meet a certain image started her anorexia, and bullying and peer pressure only worsened her situation.

“Often times it is not just looking at thin actresses that cause eating disorders,” Michelle said. “There is often a lot of indirect peer pressure and in some cases bullying. I was personally bullied and if I had not been called Moby Dick every day I came to school I may not have thought so little of myself.”

Stress from middle school only intensified during high school, and Michelle reacted by seeking control over the one thing she felt she could: her body image.

“The idea of control through your eating disorder is that the other things in your life aren’t in your control and you feel as if you need to make up for the out of control factors in your life,” Michelle said. “When you take control of your body and your looks, you feel empowered and in control of something in an otherwise crazy world.”

Even though Michelle found more support systems in high school, she found herself both purging and eating smaller portions of food.

“The huge change of entering high school did not help,” Michelle said.

“Although I had gained a new support system through marching band, there was still so many new stressers. When you feel stressed and vulnerable, all you want is control. Control becomes essential to your very existence. And what is the easiest to control about your life? Your body and the way you look.”

Like many students suffering from eating disorders, Michelle faced difficulties with acknowledging that she had a problem.

“Everyone always jokes the first step to recovering is admitting you have a problem, but no one realizes how true this is until they go through it themselves,” Michelle said. “The scary thing about eating

eels pressured by s perception of of course I do. It use what is nrealistic, it just n to the fact that t have those ns on a daily nior Emily Rubin

March 12, 2013

For this issue, The Talon examined the issue of body image and several disorders that are associated with it. As a result, The Talon has listed several professional organizations below that deal with these issues for students in case they would like to use them.

NATIONAL ASSOCIATION OF ANOREXIA NERVOSA AND ASSOCIATED DISORDERS (ANAD)

LUCILE PACKARD HEALTH VAN

This organization provides an Eating Disorders Helpline, which can be reached at (630)-577-1330

The Health van is here every last Thursday of the month and can provide physicals and counseling. All services are confidential and provided at no charge.

Program staff include a physician, a nurse practitioner, a social worker, a dietitian and a registrar/driver,

“The Helpline’s purpose is to provide answers to sufferers of eating disorders and their friends and families about ED symptoms, contact information for treatment ...” - ANAD website

disorders is the fact that many who suffer the same night Bin Laden was shot by the from them refuse to admit it to themselves. navy seals, I was in my sister’a room having They deny it and get extremely offended a panic attack and crying uncontrollably,” when you insinuate that they might have Michelle said. a problem. There's nothing wrong about Yet while Michelle is already in the caring about your weight and your dieting process of recovering, Tiffany began her habits; it's when it becomes your obsession own struggle against bulimia last year and you lose sleep over it that it has become during winter break. She has purged nearly a real problem.” every day since.

Michelle started to feel isolated from her “At this point I think I have being doing friends and family by these actions, this for a year — a little over a year — and realizing she had not only it’s just something that I do,” Tiffany said. “It’s not that I feel harmed herself but those “Often she cared the most about the need to continue, times just lo i as well. Now, Michelle it’s just the fact that I oking t is not a actres believes that telling her don’t need to stop. ses th t thin a own story may benefit Tiffany purges as a t eating causes disord means of coping with the others who are currently There is ofte ers. experiencing the same stresses she encounters in n indire emotional pains. life. From her perspective, ct peer a lot of pressu - Mich “Of course I know it provides her with a way re” elle people who suffer to alleviate the anxiety of her day-to-day life. just as I do, but I have never had “Most of the pressure I put the guts to talk on myself... I see it more as a to them about it,” coping mechanism,” Tiffany e Michelle said. “I said.

“When you eat and then h t es of m a n you purge, you aren’t thinking. felt so alone when e h T this n i I was recovering It takes your mind off things.” s t n stude n e and I don't want Even though Tiffany e b e v a h e l c i t others to have to go originally purged as a method ar ct to prote d through that. I hope for coping, continuing with e g n a ch . y t i that my honesty and her bulimia has caused l a nti experience will reach problems with her selfconfide someone out there perception. Over time, she has who is suffering just increasingly come to despise the feeling as I did. I want them to know they aren't of food in her stomach because she fears alone and that life is so much happier gaining the weight and calories. when you learn to love yourself.” “[I feel bad] about it all the time because Going through an average day now is you can never get all the food out,” Tiffany much easier and happier for Michelle than said. “It just feels gross inside you... I guess it was two years ago. you don’t feel any better, you just don’t “By the end of the school day a couple feel as bad... Sometimes even when I’m years ago I would be so emotionally drained not hungry I will still binge for the sake of that I would go home and cry uncontrollably doing so.” for hours. I remember very specifically that Tiffany has faced both emotional and

NOTE

We all Beaut k y photos now the mo hopped dels ar inside is how you f , but t e . ee we’ve b What hat ee you fe l comfo rtable el and in n exposed to ’s all wi Whate on TV maga ver giv th. z not to think ines. It’s ha es most c rd th onfide you the don’t look li at if you n v c aries f ke those p or ever e. Beauty ictures the women s y e body n i o r San in too fat t a Raz or not hen you’re a p - senio r Syd retty enoug The ideal body is h. ney C arr different for every person in that each individual should feel comfortable and healthy in their own skin. junior Amanda Choy

In a poll of high school students, 55% described their body type as average, 18% said thin, 21% said overweight and 7% said obese.

health consequences from her struggle with bulimia. From repeated and regular purging, she has suffered its multiple harmful side effects over the course of a year.

“Well, sometimes my throat bleeds,” Tiffany said. “I lose my gag reflex... And sometimes I can’t speak because it’s that bad. And there’s a lot of emotional turmoil when you can’t get [the food] all out. It’s impossible to get all [the food] out. And then when you binge and fall asleep for 18 hours, that’s bad.”

As Michelle said, the first step to recovery is realizing the presence of a problem and the next step is wanting to change. However, Tiffany chooses not to stop because she does not see harmful consequences of bulimia on her life. She has been purging for so long that these actions and their subsequent effects have become normal from her perspective.

“I talked to one of my teachers about it and she said to let her know if I wanted help because therapy only works if I want to change — but I don’t,” Tiffany said.

Yet Michelle believes that the longer someone continues with these actions, the more dangerous anorexia and bulimia can become. From her perspective, that one element of the recovery process that can help everyone suffering is education on the subject. Not only is it important for those experiencing anorexia or bulimia, but for society as a whole.

“As little kids we think nothing of what others are eating, unless someone has a yummy dessert than us,” Michelle said.

“But in middle school things start to change. And especially in the girl world, you start getting judged for the amount of food you eat. Too much food and you're a ‘fatty,’ and too little you're automatically labeled anorexic. These words are just thrown around without thinking twice about the ramifications.”

Data from Statcrunch.com

articles and Visit lahstalon.org for more opinions on body image

12

Features

March 12, 2013

FBLA & DECA: The business clubs at school

?

What’s the difference?

COURTESY FBLA & DECA

The grand doors of the hotel conference rooms sweep open as a student dressed in a business suit steps into a room filled with other students eager to showcase their business aptitude. This is the typical scene at a Future Business Leaders of America (FBLA) or Distributive Education Clubs of America (DECA) conference. Of all the clubs at school, FBLA and DECA are the most similar. They both strive to incite student interest in business and provide tools to help them succeed in the business world. However, what sets them apart from each other is the aspect of business that each focuses on.

“The reason why we chartered DECA was because [FBLA and DECA] cover slightly different areas of business,” ASB clubs commissioner Molly Palu said.

Although both FBLA and DECA are well-known business organizations, their approaches of helping students are different. While FBLA focuses on base knowledge and proficiency in business topics, DECA is more focused on the marketing facet of business. Thus, DECA’s competitions involve presenting as well as test-taking, unlike FBLA competitions which consist mainly of testing until one reaches a very high level of competition.

“FBLA inspired me to make a business club,” DECA Copresident senior Brian Chen said. “FBLA does not really give you the opportunity to talk, but DECA does.”

Although both clubs incorporate presenting in some way, DECA puts a greater emphasis on presentation skills.

While FBLA has been present at LAHS for five years, DECA is completely new to the school, having started this

year. However, DECA has already begun establishing a Outside of competitions, there are also subtle differences presence at school. between the clubs. FBLA leans toward community service “I would say that DECA generally has a greater focus on with Ronald McDonald House volunteering and parkbuilding interchapter relationships,” DECA Co-president cleaning socials with chapters from other schools. DECA junior Lillian Zhou said. “It puts just as much emphasis on tends to have social events such as DECA Dodgeball. competitors helping each other succeed as it does individual Being a new business club with a slightly different look competitive excellence.” at business, DECA has been able to attract many members, Although DECA was only established this school year, the even some from FBLA. club has participated in the Silicon Valley DECA Leadership “I wasn’t really good at FBLA, but the whole business club and Competitive Excellence Conference (LCEC), the Silicon genre was still interesting, so I decided to try it out,” DECA Valley DECA Career Development member junior Derrick Lu said. “The Conference (CDC) and States. events in DECA include a roleplay as However, it has not been smooth sailing well as a written test. You don’t have to FBLA inspired me for the new club. DECA had problems qualify to speak.” ranging from minor issues to almost FBLA events include speaking as well, to make a business missing its first conference. One of these but only if a student qualifies for a case club. FBLA does not problems for DECA arose even before study at States. Even with the extra focus really give you the the club was created. Originally, DECA on speaking that DECA has, FBLA is not opportunity to talk, had difficulty finding a teacher advisor without its benefits. but DECA does. who would take responsibility for the “FBLA has been at Los Altos for a club. Eventually they found math teacher longer period of time,” FBLA Public - Senior BRIAN CHEN Steve Walker to fill this position. Another Relations Officer sophomore Michelle problem involved DECA’s first conference Deng said. “FBLA has been able to held at the San Francisco Marriott in mid-November. Prior develop a very efficient, organized system where members to the conference, problems with coordination and turning can enjoy the full benefits of being part of a business club.” in forms on time almost eliminated the club’s chances of Even with these differences, FBLA and DECA have obvious being able to participate. similarities. Both are nationwide business organizations “One of our biggest problems was managing all of the that compete nationally to assess business proficiency. logistics in integrating the LAHS DECA chapter into an “I am very enthusiastic in seeing DECA’s rapid international DECA network,” Lillian said. “[Now] we development,” FBLA member senior Bonnie Chan said. “I have the experience to move through these processes more think the clubs could work together well and help each other efficiently next year.” develop.”

“

“

Steven Cui Staff Writer

Biology AP students given chance to go on field work trip Joey Malgesini Staff Writer

Biology teacher Meghan Shuff has offered her AP Biology students an opportunity to apply what they’ve learned over the course of the year to the people and community of Costa Rica.

A few years ago, Shuff met a woman who heads several programs with “Scholastic Expeditions” and has since been informed of various research projects that her students could partake in. Although these trips would take place during the

summer at the earliest, Shuff has been looking into it as well as making her students aware of the opportunity by sending them flyers and talking it up to her AP Biology class.

“When you do something outside the class it makes what you learn inside the class that much more real to you and more exciting,” Shuff said. “Any time you’re doing something in the field it just makes things make sense and it gets you really excited about what you’re learning in class. It helps you connect things.”

Through Scholastic

CIERA PASTUREL

Senior Michael Yen (left) and junior Shawn Kayhan (center) conduct a lab. Biology AP students have the chance to travel to Costa Rica and apply what they’ve learned about ecology, energy, biodiversity, genetics and cladistics.

Expeditions, students have the chance to go for nearly a week at a time on a trip of their choice.

One such trip would take place during June of this year and would be an eight day stay in Costa Rica to study sea turtles by taking and examining data.

Students would help protect their egg-laying habitats from predators and eventually help set the baby sea turtles free into the ocean. Another trip would be a homestay with a community service project as well as an eco farm.

“The fieldwork can relate to what I teach in the ecology unit, energy unit, biodiversity, and genetics, cladistics,” Shuff said. “[It] transcends all work the students do, this is why I like the idea of them getting involved in outside research and fieldwork opportunities. Last year, we took students to Ventura for field work and have done some local work as well. Having funding to do these types of projects [and] vested interest by the students and teachers is key.”

Shuff will not be attending herself but is rather organizing for her students to attend. Other activities there might include visiting live volcanoes and beaches, whitewater rafting and zip-lining.

“Throughout the year in [Biology], we have learned concepts and applied them to in-the-class labs,” junior Austin Campitelli said. “As interesting and thought provoking as these are, being able to take multiple aspects learned in the year and use them in real life would be so fascinating.

I would feel that all that hard work in the classroom could really pay off and we students could take in a new understanding of biology.”

With a variety of dates and locations to choose from, students would pay an allinclusive fee for the trip to

see these different ecological habitats firsthand.

“The trip would be unique with its focus on ecology and habitat restoration and conservation projects,” senior Emily Cheng said.

“The field work would be awesome — getting interactive and handson with biology makes the learning so much more memorable and impactful. It’s cool to be able to see the forests and then be a part of the effort to preserve their beauty.”

Students have shown mild interest as Shuff has not yet received emails about participating.

13

Features

March 12, 2013

CONTINUED FROM FRONT PAGE

Haiti club continues aid and work over break Anthony Bello Cassidy Craford Sam Lisbonne Senior Writer Staff Writers

GRAPHICS BY REBECCA DESHETLER PHOTOS BY CASSIDY CRAFORD

% 25 3.5

HAI T I AFTER THE

HAITI DIED MILLION

EARTHQUAKE

19 million CUBIC METERS OF

RUBBLE AND DEBRIS IN PORT-AUPRINCE

PEOPLE

7.0 MAGNITUDE EARTHQUAKE

AFFECTED

12 JANUARY 2010

REPUBLIC)

PORT-AUPRINCE

organizations the Students for Haiti Solidarity Club helped was MOJUB, which aimed to involve Haitian women in vocational activities. Starting with no walls and only one sewing machine, MOJUB began to grow and include more women in activities such as workshops in crafts, plastic waste and recycling, sewing and cooking. Like many other Haitian groups, MOJUB is unable to offer the club compensation for the aid the club gives them.

“We have nothing to give you, but we can give you our hearts,” MOJUB’s leader Madame Roselyn said.

Although American media portrays Haiti as stable and claims there are no more tents in Haiti after the earthquake, tent cities still hold vast amounts of the population. While visiting Acra, the club met with its lead organizer, who spoke about his hope of creating a more stable society by sharing what you have.

“If you are taking a deep breath and you don’t release it, you may die,” the organizer said. “It is the same way when we work with Madame Rea who lives by this principle. When she gets, she shares.”

The lead organizer is frustated by how the American media portrays Haiti as stable. He urged the club to come home and tell people about what the club members saw – how the tents still housed many of Port-au-Prince’s people and that suffering continues despite the money pouring in.

The untold stories, he said at one point, are the true ones and the most important ones.

ampus c w e ’s n P E D PU O S s d ar w to

Dol’s connections allowed the club to meet with many of the poorest communities in Port-au-Prince, but also with some of most important people in the nation. President Jean-Bertrand Aristide of Haiti, who governed the country from February 1991 to September 1991 and from February 2001 to February 2004, was overthrown in a coup in 2004.

Often called the “President of the poor,” Aristide is idolized by many of those who are subject to the problems created by the current unstable government.

The club met Madame Mildred Aristide, Aristide’s wife and founder of the Aristide Medical Foundation, a medical and nursing school in the heart of Port-au-Prince. Members listened to Aristide, as she discussed her foundation and the importance of Haitian trained doctors running and staffing the hospitals of Haiti. Despite their importance, there are only three doctors for every 22,000 residents of Haiti.

Although the school started small in 2002 and accepted its first class of 247 medical students in 2003, Aristide had confidence that taking even the smallest steps forward would lead to years of aid in the surrounding communities.

“We had to work with what we had,” Aristide said. “We had to work forward. It’s a building process. This is truly a societal project. The word ‘need’ doesn’t explain enough.”

Club members have a mission: to expand solidarity with SOPUDEP to more students at LAHS by sharing their stories. The eagerness for progress in Haiti and the United States is fervently growing not only within LAHS. With awareness comes action, and the local community is increasingly working towards better relationships with our sister school and informing others about the economic and political situation in Haiti. But along with this information follows the incredible positivity and unified spirit of the Haitian people, or as Donnelly puts it, to create a “culture of love in a country of isolation.”

33

2000−2003

SOPUDEP opened its doors to the poorest children in the community and had 340 students at end of 2003

2004−2009

Government hot lunches canceled and lack of funds to pay teachers leave SOPUDEP in danger of closing

January 2010

7.0 MAGNITUDE QUAKE Rea & volunteers turn SOPUDEP into a hospital and shelter, aiding thousands of refugees

Haiti ps in rou og 0t ,00 10 -$

SOPUDEP school founded

80%

OF SCHOOLS IN PORT-AU-PRINCE DAMAGED OR DESTROYED

República DOMINICAN Dominicana REPUBLIC (DOMINICAN

DAMAGED OR DESTROYED

A HISTORY OF SOPUDEP 1990

OF CIVIL SERVANTS IN PORT-AU-PRINCE

2.3 million 4,000 PEOPLE DISPLACED 300,000+ SCHOOLS PEOPLE INJURED

67 %-

0

220,000 EST. KILLED IN QUAKE

%

$2 0, 00

“[The experience] allowed us to both teach and learn, to share perspectives and mutual interests, which I see as a vital part of our relationship as sister schools,” Louise said.

SOPUDEP director and Students for Haiti Solidarity contact Rea Dol also plays a large part in the club’s success. Called “Mama Rea” by many in Haiti, she is regarded as a trusted community leader in Port-auPrince and has aided small grassroot organizations in the poorest neighborhoods.

“The thing about Rea is, she isn’t afraid to start small,” one Haitian said. “Don’t be afraid to start small. Everything does.”

Although Dol started small, the overall impact she has had on her community and the club members is exponential.

“Rea made my experience in Haiti one I will never forget,” club member junior Maggie Munro said. “Her hospitality, connections within the community and the way others idolize her is truly inspiring.”

On February 18, after a morning of working to help build SOPUDEP, concrete-dusted students sat around Daniel Tilias as he talked about Sakala, the peace education center he runs in Cite Soleil, one of the most notorious slums in Haiti. By bonding and exchanging experiences with Haitian students about their pursuits in education, rather than solely delivering aid, club members can set an example for the true definition of solidarity. The club’s solidarity, Tilias said, gives youth the courage and confidence to continue to pursue their goals and become role models.

Students worked beside the Haitian workers to help with the school’s construction. Since SOPUDEP is mainly funded by the money raised through Students for Haiti Solidarity, work on the new school site occurs only when funds are brought directly to Haiti. The club raised $20,000 for multiple new classrooms and “eco toilets,” which dispose of waste environmentally at the site. The remaining $10,000 will be given to various community groups.

Club members also paid a visit to SOPUDEP’s current site which serves as an elementary and secondary school.

The club was introduced to a portion of the older student body who each stood up individually and shared what their aspirations for the future were. The club presented SOPUDEP with 14 battery-powered microscopes, funded by a teacher grant written by biology teacher Meghan Shuff to expand their biology and chemistry curriculum. Club members worked side by side with SOPUDEP students to teach them how to use the microscopes.

“I want to study general mechanics, but I know that’s going to be very difficult,” student and President of SOPUDEP Bruce Wilbert said. “But I think [Students for Haiti Solidarity], with God, are going to help me.”

The activism the club represents goes beyond SOPUDEP. Club members met in some of Port-au-Prince’s poorest neighborhoods with various women’s groups, the “Mabe” orphanage, the largest worker’s union in the country and Acra, a 30,000 person tent community.

One of the first

STATISTICS FROM DISASTERS EMERGENCY COMMITTEE

1.5 MILLION

PEOPLE MADE HOMELESS

BY THE EARTHQUAKE

2011-present:

Government won’t to renew SOPUDEP lease. Donations from LAHS allow purchase of new land, and building is led by LAHS students and community

The Talon March 12, 2013

Entertainment

14

Unknown Artists: Under the radar music Rebecca Cohen Casey Pao Opinions Editor Senior Writer Icona Pop Though Icona Pop was first noticed when their hit single “I Love It” was featured in a wild club scene in the hit HBO dramatic comedy “Girls,” they have since gained widespread popularity.

Started in 2009, the Swedish Aino Jawo and Caroline Hjelt have created a unique synthetic pop sound, with a touch of indie tragedy. They are currently touring with Passion Pit and Matt and Kim, and are expecting to pick up more of a following as their EP “Iconic” is spread among music festival audiences. For now, check out “I Love It” for a fun, pulsing dance remix that you will dance your heart out to and “Ready for the Weekend” for a dubstep-infused dance jam.

The Mowgli’s With their infectious single named after the beautiful city, “San Francisco,” the Mowgli’s are already off to a strong career. The band is made up of Michael Vincze, David Applebaum, Spencer Trent, Matt Di Panni, Josh Hogan, Andy Warren, Colin Dieden and Katie Eary, all hailing from Los Angeles. All eight members contribute to vocals, guitar, drums, bass and keyboard. The Mowgli’s released a five-track EP “Love’s Not Dead” earlier this fall and their single is beginning to get playtime on alternative rock stations, such as Live 105.3. For good, beachy music reminiscent of a fun and simple time, check out “San Francisco” and “The Great Divide.”

The Tallest Man on Earth Kristian Matsson, who performs under the stage name The Tallest Man on Earth, is a singer and songwriter from Sweden. With a style similar to indie band Bon Iver, but with a more pronounced beats, Matsson has received critical acclaim for the content of songs, garnering several comparisons to rock legend Bob Dylan. Since 2006, he has released three full-length albums and two EP’s, but has yet to get popularity in the United States. For fun, soulful music with intricate guitar work and a quirky sound, check out the singles “The Gardener” and “I Won’t Be Found.”

Chloe Arrouye

Despite the range of music offered at record stores like Rasputin, it’s hard to find the music of bands such as The Mowgli’s and Jhameel. These bands often slip under the radar of CD-selling stores.

Jhameel Jhameel didn’t follow his original path of becoming an officer in the United States Army. Instead, he got a degree in Arabic from UC Berkeley and is now putting out indie-pop tracks that make you want to sing along.

Having already self-produced two albums and three EP’s, Jhameel is known for his usage of different classical instruments alongside synthesized beats, lyrics that tackle issues such as domestic violence and his vocals (which are reminiscent of Michael Jackson at one point and then similar to a soft, melodic boyband at another). Check out “White Lie” and “Shadow of a Man” to see the range of different types of music Jhameel can bring to the table.

The Neighborhood Indie-pop and rock are given a new look with this California quintet, known by the logo of an upside down house. Many of their tracks have a mysterious and eerie appeal. They heavy percussion and guitar sounds, with raspy vocals by the lead singer, Jesse

Rutherford, who has previously dabbled in hip-hop music. The band only has two EP’s out, “I’m Sorry...” and “Thank You,” but has gained some Internet popularity through their first few tracks. For some slower, almost moody and percussion-filled tracks that make you want to tap your foot to the beat, check out “Sweater Weather” and “Female Robbery.”

Grace Potter and the Nocturnals With lead singer Grace Potter belting out some powerful notes with a heart-wrenching voice, Grace Potter and the Nocturnals are still going strong since their first album in 2005. This band, comprised of four multi-talented members, is known as an indie-rock and just straight-up rock band but their songs can cover soulful piano and acoustic guitar strumming, to head-banging worthy and in-yourface loud. Check out “Stars” for a softer, mellow piano-based track and “Paris (Ooh La La)” for a change in tempo and emotion when the band heads back to its rock roots.

Freebirds: Mediocre burritos fail to live up to hype Chase Eller Staff Writer

Chloe Arrouye

Freebirds, a relativly new burrito chain with locations in Palo Alto and San Jose, plans to add four more stores throughout the Bay Area. The restaurant offers a wide selection of ingredients and options for their burritos at competitive prices.

If one is looking for a cheap, delicious burrito, Freebirds is not the place to go. Located on El Camino Real in Palo Alto, Freebirds brands itself as an upstart restaurant that produces unique burritos with organic ingredients.

Upon arrival, the restaurant was clean and relatively busy. I was expecting to have a good burrito and experience. I did not. This burrito chain restaurant prides itself on variety and unique flavors. One thing Freebirds offers that other burrito places may not is variety.

To start, customers can choose from four different tortilla flavors: cayenne, flour, corn and spinach. The burritos come in four different sizes. The medium size burrito is a slightly smaller than a Chipotle burrito, but costs a little bit more at around $8. The burrito is constructed in an assembly-line style, much like Chipotle. As the construction process continues, customers can pick from two types of cheeses, two types of rice and many kinds of meats.

Freebirds offers light and dark chicken meat along with other typical burrito meats. Customers can top their burrito with a variety of different sauces and salsas. The ideas are all there to make Freebirds an exemplary eatery, but the execution is lacking.

To start, the service was lackluster.

Perhaps I caught them on an off-day,

but the mediocre service and lack of friendliness from the staff was not a good start. The staff member who worked on my burrito was borderline rude and got annoyed with the questions I was asking.

The other staff members were neither friendly nor unfriendly, and I almost felt rushed as I was making my burrito.

I ordered a chicken burrito much similar to the one I would order at Chipotle, La Costena, La Bamba or any other burrito place. In my burrito, I chose cilantro lime rice, jack cheese, corn, salsa and lime. The food wasn’t horrible, but nothing stood out to me. The chicken was dry and the rice lacked flavor. The other ingredients were very average. Not horrible, just not good. Definitely not worth going out of the way to get.

Despite the mediocrity, Freebirds is not a disaster. Adventurous burrito enthusiasts might find the unorthodox style of burritos, with flavored wraps and customizable sauces, a step-up from the customary Chipotle set up. The taco lunch deal that provides two tacos, chips and a drink for $5 is noteworthy and makes Freebirds a competitive lunch spot if a student has a free period and is willing to make the drive to Palo Alto.

Perhaps I didn’t order the right combination of ingredients to get the Freebirds experienced that I expected.

Until proven otherwise, other burrito shops still have the advantage in flavor and price.

15

Entertainment

Publication Date

The History of Film

Christina Luk, Features Editor | Zach Cohen, Staff Writer | Shilpa Venigandla, Senior Writer Graphics by Rebecca DeShetler

In this special feature, we take you through the illustrious history of film, from the first motion picture, to the creation of “talkies” to the presentday industry.

“The Artist”: In the 20th century, film was evolving from the old silent movies to the “talkies”: the simplest and most elementary stages of the soundfilled motion pictures that we are familiar with today. In “The Artist” (2011), the audience sees to George Valentin who’s a star in the silent movie industry of the late 1920s. When Since their inception, movies have created trends and genres that Valentin is introduced to the have each gained their own niche in the industry. However, some new technological innovation films, like foreign films and local small-scale films, are not on the radar of motion pictures recorded of the average movie-viewer, when they really should be. with sound, he is displeased “Elles” is a French film about an illegal Innovation in the times spurred immigrant and an escort, in Paris. changes that pleased many but devastated others. Valentin becomes lost in the old ways of silent films and his savings from his career as a silent film star are quickly wiped away.

Local films explore a facet of Warner Brothers Production Studio entertainment in introduces the “Vitaphone” system which viewers are which allowed for sound to be captured shown a different and played concurrently with motion perspective of the real pictures. This spurred to creation of world that we live in “talkies.” The first full length motion and get to experience life “A Separation,” is an Iranian film about a picture to incorporate sound was in someone else’s shoes for woman stuck between immigration and divorce “The Jazz Singer.” | (1926) a good hour or more. in the Middle East.

DIVERSITY OF FILM

FILM REGULATIONS:

THEN & NOW

When motion pictures were introduced, censorship foundations and organizations began to emerge in order to make sure that the content delivered to audiences nationwide was appropriate. In 1909, the New York Board of Motion Picture Censorship became influential, and many movies had to send in their productions to this censorship organization before releasing it to the public. In 1914, a congressional bill that wanted to establish the Federal Motion Picture Censorship Commission was made.

This bill did not pass and censorship was left to the state and municipal level.

In 1922, The Motion Picture Producers and Distributors of America (MPPDA)

WINGS | 1929

formed. The MPPDA began putting out regulations, creating a list of “Don’ts and Be Carefuls” that only pertained to silent films. However, by then, there was an advancement in technology, causing a shift from silent films to films with audio. This aroused much clamor, especially from the socially conservative who demanded there to be more regulation in terms of language and script. Since then, the movie industry has had constant clashes from people wishing for things to be censored, not just in terms of audio, but also in terms of images and visuals. As culture changed, becoming more liberal and open to content, the movie industry has learned to censor less.

Television becomes more prominent in the entertainment industry and begins to threaten the integrity and domination of the market established by the film companies.

This inspired criticism and gave rise to the development of the modern-day movie critic | (1950s) Post classical cinema begins to flourish in Hollywood.

During this period, the Motion Picture Association of America (MPAA) is introduced and content becomes more sexually explicit. | (1970)

Best Picture: Then & Now

1929 marks the first year in which the Oscars honored movies, actors and actresses for their work in film. Best Picture was awarded to a film called “Wings,” the first and only completely silent film to ever win an Oscar. (Although “The Artist,” which won Best Picture in 2011, was a silent film, it featured some music and occasional sound effects.)

“Wings” is centered around two young boys, Jack and David, who are sworn enemies. Both are enlisted to be World War I pilots. Once on the battlefield, where they go through rigorous training together, they become best friends. In a dramatic battle scene where both fight

1890

1900

1910

1920

1930

1940

First movie ever made: “The Horse in Motion.”

This was initially used by Stanford professors to understand the pattern of horse’s hooves when galloping. | (1878)

“Hugo”: In the midst of the fantasy adventure drama “Hugo” (2011), we get a closer look into the history of film.

A young orphan named Hugo and a young girl named Isabelle see an image from the film “Voyage to the Moon” by film pioneer Georges Melies.

Melies, mentions how he used his illusionist skills to bring vivid imaginations to life.

However, duringWorldWar I, his films were not appreciated by the war-weary population. As a result, many of his films were ruined and destroyed.

1950

1960

1970

Post WWII-era tendency towards questioning societal norms as well as the Civil Rights Movement starts to become reflected in movies such as “12 Angry Men,” “Blackboard Jungle,” and many others. | (19541957)

ARGO | 2012

Paramount Pictures

vigorously to bring honor to their country and help each other, David ends up getting shot and dying. The movie ends on a bitter note as Jack goes back home as a military hero, yet sad for the loss of his comrade.

A couple weeks ago, the movie “Argo” was dubbed the Best Picture by the Academy. The movie centers on a rescue mission in Iran in order to save hostages from revolutionaries. “Argo” was met with controversy due to its political and historical content about Iranian revolutionists in 1979.

Throughout the decades, films have evolved and changed. From blackand-white silent films to motion pictures that require intense editing and cinematography, Hollywood has been able to utilize technology to better

1980

1990 warner bros

portray an experience to its viewers. However, even as technology advances, movies have seemed to be centered around societal and cultural events occurring around the world; movies can be seen as being a reflection of reality.

2000

The VCR-hype begins. Audiences begin to watch movies in their home rather than in theaters. This later develops into the On-demand trend in the 2000s. | (1980)

Special effects become industry standard with the production of movies like “Jurassic Park.” | (1990)

16

March 12, 2013

Entertainment

Best Local Independent Coffee Places Emily Sims Business Manager Coffee: the most convenient source of caffeine for high school students.

Some students feel as if coffee is a necessity; it is a crucial part of their everyday routine. But drinking the same coffee day after day can get repetitive, especially when it’s from chains that are located at every street corner. Instead of drinking the same coffee everyday, try these new coffee shops that are within a six-mile radius of our school. And even if you are not an avid coffee drinker, these cafes are great places to grab a cup of tea or a baked good, get some homework done or catch up with friends.

Dana St. Roasting Company 744 W. Dana Street, Mountain View Distance from school: 2.9 miles Try the: Mexican Mocha Dana St. Roasting Company is a coffee shop off of Castro Street in downtown Mountain View. Although it is not easily recognizable as a coffee shop from the outside without its large sign, the light background music, inside decor and large old fashioned coffee maker give it a sophisticated yet welcoming ambiance. Dana St. Roasting Company is home to several open mic nights a week. There is decent seating and accessible outlets to charge your computers. They also have free Wi-Fi. Upon your arrival, the friendly workers will often greet you with a smile and hello. They serve multiple types of

baked goods, sandwiches and quiches and have a wide selection of coffees, including many specialty drinks. But just a heads up, this coffee shop only accepts cash.

Coupa Café 538 Ramona St., Palo Alto Distance from school: 5.8 miles Try the: Spicy Mocha This Venezuelan cafe has a full food and drink menu, including special venezuelan dishes. After ordering, they deliver your food to your table or call your name up to the bar to receive your drink, giving you a chance to sit down and relax as your order is prepared.

Coupa Café is the only restaurant in the world outside of Venezuela where they serve organic single estate Arabica coffee beans that are roasted in small batches, creating a strong, thick and delicious selection of coffees. Located on Romana street in downtown Palo Alto, (beware of downtown Palo Alto parking) Coupa Café is a lively restaurant with a welcoming ambiance that makes the customer feel right at home. With seating both outside and inside, free Wi-fi and full service, eating your meal or drinking your coffee at Coupa Café feels light and relaxing.

Philz Coffee 101 Forest Ave, Palo Alto Distance from school: 1.6 miles Try the: Mint Mojito Ice Coffee Originally from San Francisco, Philz Coffee now has two locations that are in a relatively close to our school. Although both locations serve the same drinks and food, the downtown Palo Alto one

juliet moore

Red Rock Coffee is just one of many independant coffee shops in the local downtowns.

These shops often offer unique drinks and other perks which chains may not. has more seating and electrical outlets inside, while the Middlefield location has most of its seating outside. Philz Coffee is made “one cup at a time” and you are able to tell the barista exactly how you would like your coffee prepared.

Philz Coffee also has a large selection of baked cookies, including vegan donuts and multiple types of homemade cookies. Philz works hard to better their customers day which is clearly seen in the charismatic and friendly attitude of the workers. Serving dark roasts, medium roasts and light roasts of coffee, Philz is a great place to get your coffee fix. But just a warning, they do make you check in on Facebook in order to receive their complimentary Wi-Fi.

Red Rock Coffee 201 Castro Street, Mountain View Distance from school: 2.5 miles Try the: Cappuccino Red Rock Café, which is located on Castro Street, is known for two things: their coffee and their open mic nights. They are based off of three C’s: caffeine, culture and community. With two floors of seating, free Wi-Fi, and good coffee, this place is always busy. They also have Saturday coffee tastings, and their own recording company.

This cafe is a fun place to go late at night when looking for something to do, especially since it’s open till 11:00 p.m. on Friday and Saturday nights. Red Rock Café has a good selection of baked goods, as well as multiple coffees and teas to choose from.

Specialized Bay Area museums offer unique attractions Arman Khayyat Riyana Basu Staff Writers

USS PAMPANITO If you are ever walking around Fisherman’s Wharf in San Francisco, make sure to check out the USS Pampanito. This submarine from World War II is considered a historic landmark, and can be found at Pier 45. Although its architecture and contents do not resemble those of a typical museum, it provides the most authentic look into the past of the U.S. naval forces. The Maritime Park Association owns and takes care of the vessel with great tenacity. Many of the USS Pampanito’s original parts were lost over time, but the vast majority of those parts have been replaced and refurbished by the Maritime Park Association to provide an adequate and up-to-date experience of a World War II submarine.

Every bit of the vessel can be visited in the official tour, including the main deck, the torpedo room, the engine and the control room. Submarine-qualified docents provide insightful accounts the USS Pampanito’s WWII history and share personal sea stories, while more independent visitors can take the self-guided audio

tour. Those who are especially fond of the museum can stay there overnight with groups of friends, and enjoy an interesting experience that brings together the excitement of San Francisco and the history behind a World War II relic.

SFMOMA Yet another San Francisco museum to hit is the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art (SFMOMA) at Yerba Buena Gardens. Mario Botta’s creation first opened in 1995, and has become a symbol of San Francisco ever since. With its variety of travelling exhibits and bold art, SFMOMA accurately captures the essence of everything contemporary. Upon walking into the museum, visitors are greeted with four levels of art in a skylit, breathable space.

SFMOMA is currently coordinating with the architectural firm Snøhetta in order to create a 10-story building that will accommodate the growing collection of art. The new Doris and Donald Fisher Collection is a symbol of the art museum’s ongoing expansion. By creating a partnership with the Fisher family, SFMOMA has been able to get a hold of a private, art collection that has been growing since the 1970s. Viewers can get a taste of pop art, figurative art, minimalism, abstraction and

more art from various eras.

While you are visiting, do not forget to visit the rooftop sculpture garden. It provides a breathtaking view of the San Francisco skyline, especially at night. The garden effectively integrates a great cityscape view with a variety of sculptures This view will be even better when the museum adds multiple stories. Unfortunately, in order to construct the new building, SFMOMA will have to close on June 2, 2013, and reopen in 2016 so make sure to drop by before then.

Burlingame Museum of Pez Memorabilia We all love candy, and we all love our favorite childhood characters. At the Burlingame Museum of Pez Memorabilia, these two of our favorite wonders come together. The Pez museum opened in 1995, and is run by Pez collectors, Gary and Nancy Doss.

The museum also boasts an example of every Pez dispenser ever sold.

From Tweetie Bird to Batman, these Pez dispensers are placed in rows accordingly based on their family of origin. The museums holds collections from Disney to Marvel, Looney Tunes and many others. The fascinating aspect of the collections is how accurately the characters are portrayed in just a small candy container. The characters’ features are sharply defined, and remind us of memorable traits of each figure. Admission is only $3 for adults and $1 for children and for the amount of fun and free candy samples the museum has to offer, the admission rates are generous.

California Surf Museum The California Surf museum holds our state’s entire history of surf and tide. The museum has records, documents, boards and memorabilia from decades of surf history. One of the most interesting collections is a historical collection of the origin of surfboards, dating back from wooden to fiberglass structures. Hundreds of boards are exhibited, showing the development of board technology and the new introductions such as the “shortboard revolution.” Along with a large collection of boards, the museum also holds records of surf legends over the years. The collection includes record times, documentation and plaques that date back over 30 years.

For anyone who has a passion for surfing, the museum truly boasts itself as the “Hall of Fame” of surfing.

The museum not only has surfing exhibitions, but also has collections of longboarding exhibits. Currently, the museum is featuring a “Need for Speed” downhill skateboarding exhibit, which shows innovations in boarding equipment. The main features of this exhibit are the art of downhill longboarding and the development of streamline speed skating. This part of the museum serves as an attraction for all “ground surfers” and even has some of the most impressive longboards for sale.

March 12, 2013

17

Entertainment

Trends dictate what we wear, listen to and even how we act. These first few years of the 21st century have proven to be a mix of previous trends, recycling past popularities and resurfacing fads from the 50s to the 90s. In magazines, it can be seen that old “vintage” clothing has turned into the new modern style. The decades that have come before us have a large presence in everyday life, now more than ever before.

Then: As seen in movies such as “The Notebook,” women in the 50s sported very unique bathing suits. They were certainly their own trend, consisting of bathing suit bottoms reaching far above the belly button and halter top one-pieces.

Even men fashioned bathing suit shorts that rose higher around the waist and tended to be shorter down the leg. This decade represents one of the first times that bathing suits were ever really featured in magazines and looked upon as real pieces of clothing, so it makes sense that these suits were as popular as they were.

Then: Though they were invented

1950s: Other Trends: polka dots on dresses and skirts, 3D movies, Capri pants, A-line skirts

in the 19th century, the vinyl record format first burst into mainstream in the 1960s. Their sound quality and size made them a prime choice for music enthusiasts. The physical act of putting the needle on the record and hearing the new, improved quality of sound made people all over the world go crazy for this must-have item.

Then: In an age of neon

colors and chunky bracelets, the 80s also showcased a preppy style that swept the nation. Girls and boys of all ages fashioned khaki pants and collared shirts.

Sweaters could be found draped around shoulders and matched with pastel colored polos, making this decade easily identifiable for its preppy styles.

Other Trends: electric guitars, fringe, headbands

Other Trends: bellbottoms, peace sign, platform shoes, maxi dresses

Now: Boy bands are starting to make a comeback and are becoming mainstream.

Since the 90s, many bands were structured around one lead singer with other members playing instruments and doing some vocals. Now, we are starting to see boy bands such as One Direction and The Wanted becoming extremely popular. Although these bands lack the dance skills that made N*SYNC and The Backstreet Boys popular, bands like One Direction, known for its single “What Makes You Beautiful,” are credited with the revival of boy bands and forming a part of the resurgence of the “British Invasion.” The band has won over the hearts of millions of teenage girls and continues to gain popularity with many new and catchy songs. They’ve sold over 14 million singles and eight million albums in the past year.

the Beatles in the 60s and upbeat pop in the 70s and 80s, the 90s brought a new era of boy bands.

However, boy bands such as N*SYNC and The Backstreet Boys made them mainstream once again. Both N*SYNC and The Backstreet Boys were also known for their dancing skills, which made them famous, especially to the female population.

1990s:

Sunglasses through the ages

s 0 6

Now: Primarily worn by teenage girls, high waisted shorts add a retro flare to most summer wardrobes.

They add onto the “hipster” revolution taking place in ideals and in fashion. However, this time, they are not just limited to denim; high-waisted shorts can be seen in many different fabrics such as cotton, linen and even silk-satin. They are now coming in many different patterns as well, adding a new twist to the wardrobes of teens everywhere.

Now: Today, the preppy style of the 80s has been brought back through one piece of clothing in particular: shoes. Both boys and girls can be found sporting various styles of loafers made by companies like Sperry’s. Even Nike is now trending lace up shoes that look remarkably similar to those shoes worn in the 80s. Not only are loafers and boat shoes resurfacing, but for women, the golf shoe is becoming popular once again. These types of shoes represent the emerging trend of “classy” and “preppy” clothing that used to be popular in the 80s, and mesh them with the “hipster” style.

Other Trends: oversized tops, neon, leggings, jean jackets, polaroid cameras

Other Trends: crop tops, overalls, Doc Martens, ripped jeans, baby-doll dresses

Now: Vinyl records have become popularized for the retro look by large retailers such as Urban Outfitters. Also, music stores like Rasputin continue to sell large selections of records, both used and new. It seems that it is almost as easy to purchase records as it is to buy CDs. Teens are no longer limited to the “oldies” that are available on vinyls; in fact, they can even buy vinyls of their favorite new artist’s music in the high quality vinyl format. However, at times it seems that it is less the sound quality that entices buyers and more the vintage vibe that vinyls have. Many teens choose to hang vinyl records on their walls, changing records into a decorative trend instead of a musical one.

1970s:

1980s:

Then: Building on the catchy rhythms of

s 0 5

Now: Now that vintage is back, all areas of fashion have been resurfaced from decades before, and swimsuits are no exception.

In stores such as Urban Outfitters, Free People and even Nordstrom, high waisted swim suits, ruffled one pieces and lots of bright colors monopolize the swimwear racks. These styles bring yet another way for teens to be “hipster,” making them increasingly popular in stores, especially with summer coming around the corner.

1960s:

Then: High- waisted shorts were primarily popular in the 70s. Although they were invented in the 40s during World War II, many people thought they revealed too much skin, and Levis Jeans instead manufactured highwaisted jeans and pants, which were popular in the 40s and 50s. When high waisted shorts really started trending in the 70s, they were most popular with women. They slowly died when mid and low waisted shorts and pants became popular towards the later half of the 90s and 2000s.

By: Carly Cohen Staff Writer | Shilpa Venigandla Senior Writer | Maya Acharya Staff Writer

photos by carly cohen; courtesy: shadee Barzin, new line cinema. used under creative commons: cori redford, helen chang, chantel beam, saxarocks, quinn dombrowski, york klinkhart

s 0 7

s 0 8

s 0 9

rebecca deshetler

18

Sports

March 12, 2013

Wrestling: A Sport of Tradition and Passion, Cut from the Olympics

By John Naumovski Imagine that you have a dream to someday compete in the Olympics. You are driven to train, to improve. You submit to gruelling twice a day practices in the name of achieving your dream. This goes on for many years, and you go from being a child with an outlandish dream, to an mature athlete on the precipice of making that dream a reality. But suddenly, your sport– the sport you have completely given yourself to–is pulled from the Olympics by a committee who, in your eyes, knows next to nothing about your sport or what it represents.

Though the idea of a sport being forcibly removed from the Olympics may seem bizarre, an announcement made by the InternationalOlympicCommittee (IOC) rocked the entire wrestling world to its core. The committee had dropped wrestling, a sport that once occupied a place in the Olympics of Ancient Greece, from the 2020 Olympics.

First and foremost, wrestling is arguably the the world’s oldest sport. Murals of wrestlers adorn ancient Egyptian tombs and religious texts worldwide depict wrestling matches between divine entities. Asiatic wrestling styles have a reported history of over 4,000 years–around 1,500 years before the first Olympics was even held.

Additionally, it is outrageous that the IOC would even consider dropping wrestling–a truly universal sport–for such niche sports like golf, synchronized swimming or modern pentathlon.

Wrestling is truly a sport that anyone can compete in, regardless of their stature, nationality or socioeconomic status. And while wrestling’s popularity in the US is minimal, what of nations– especially those in Central Asia, such as Turkey, Mongolia, and former Soviet republics–who pride themselves in wrestling but compete in little else?

Innumerable wrestlers, male and female alike, have dedicated a significant portion of their lives with the hopes of someday competing at the Olympics.

Though other athletes may have had their olympic dreams dashed by the cancellation of their respective sports, the breadth and depth of the wrestling world, and the dedication of its athletes is unprecedented. And while I do not want to belittle or discount other sports and athletes, wrestling’s status and the caliber of its competitors is reason enough for it to remain among the olympic roster.

All in all, the IOC has raised its flag–a flag of commercialism and disrespect for a valued traditional sport. The “Olympics” wants its valuable name without honoring its invaluable heritage.

Ciera Pasturel

Seniors Tianna Vasquez (above) and Ideen Seyed (right) look to find a hole in the opposing defense. The team dominated league play this year, but fell short in CCS.

Girls basketball lights up league, competes in CCS Alex Cortinas Staff Writer

The varsity girls basketball team ended an amazing CCS run late last month, after a season where the team exceeded all expectations. In an intense CCS quarterfinals game against their rivals, Mountain View High School, with whom they share this year’s SCVAL championship title, the girls lost by two points.

“I think we played really well,” captain senior Ideen Seyed said.

“We gave it our everything and it was a great season.”

The girls had a commendable season filled with various highlights, from upsetting Mountain View High School at the beginning of the season to Ideen breaking her personal record by scoring 35 points in one game against Fremont High School.

With majority of the team comprising of underclassmen, the team exceeded expectations, ending their season sharing the league champion title with Mountain View with a record of 11-1.

“Inexperience hindered

The Stats Behind a League Title Player

Ideen Seyed Meg Enthoven

PPG RPG APG

14.8 7.9 Meghan McDermott 7.2 Katie Munroe 5.1

2.8 7.7 7.9 1.6

.6 1.0 .9 1.7

SPG .9 .9 1.l 1.2

our team at the beginning of the season,” junior Meghan McDermott said. “It’s just a totally different level, especially for the freshmen from middle school to high school basketball.

A lot of them did make that transition which was good. Next year will be fun because they’ll be more experienced than they were at the beginning of this year.”

The team placed an emphasis on working together, an effort that paid off as their cohesiveness became apparent in their success.

“It was like, ‘Oh are we gonna hang out with the freshman,’” Ideen said. “But the girls became my best friends and the chemistry we had off the court really portrayed how we played on the court. We really just played well together.”

After a successful season, Ideen, senior Glenda Vargas and senior Tianna Vazquez will be graduating this year.

“It’s really a bummer,” Meghan said. “Glenda adds a lot to our team spirit and is definitely one of the leaders on and off the court; Tianna has been really strong offensively and defensively, just an overall tough player; and Ideen’s one of our starters who’s definitely been a huge part of the team, scoring [14.8] points per game which is pretty crazy, so that will be missed. She was really our only three point shooter too, so we have to figure out next year who our three point shooter will be. That’s definitely a gap we have to fill on our team.”

In preparation of our next season, some girls will be training on club teams and when the school year ends, a summer league will compete against other schools from the area.

“It still hasn’t sunk in that we actually won the league and that’s pretty sweet title to have,” Meghan said. “It will be fun to add 2013 to the banner.”

Boys basketball goes undefeated in league, makes history CONTINUED FROM BACK PAGE

Former JV coach Bob McFarlane has made an immediate impact. He was made the new varsity coach and brought an unprecedented intensity and passion for the game which had seemed to be lacking in previous seasons. At any game, fans witnessed coach McFarlane pacing the lengths of the sidelines and firing up his players. The players fed off of his intensity and brought that passion onto the court.

“His intensity in pregame speeches directly translated to the intensity in warm-ups and on the court,” junior Bryan Lai said. “It was a key, undervalued component in our success.”

The culture for the fans was also reenergized. The Blue Crew instantly had a huge impact on the school and

Senior Nate Vieira

basketball team. Students packed the crowds decked out in blue, excited to cheer for the Eagles.

“And even though it was heavily emphasized, I don’t think any of us expected Blue Crew to take off so well in its first year,” Kieran said.

“Coach McFarlane has definitely changed the culture here, and it’s obvious that this program is headed in a great direction.”

The Eagles did much more than just have a winning season. They created a new atmosphere and set new standards for Los Altos athletics and spirit.

“We want LAHS to be known as a basketball powerhouse in this area, and have basketball be a tradition, not just a hobby,” Kieran said. “I think these goals are realistic, and we are well on our way towards gaining regional, and eventually statewide respect.”

Although crushed by their heartbreaking elimination from CCS, the Eagles are hopeful and excited for next year. The team will return three of the five starters that helped the Eagles have success. The team will lose senior leaders, but expectations have been raised and they intend on having another great season.

“We are looking to build on the success of last year,” sophomore Daniel Rosenbaum said.

Juliet Moore

The boys basketball team poses after beating Monta Vista, capping off an undefeated season. The year, the team was backed by the enthusiastic Blue Crew student group.

19

Sports

March 12, 2013

Tahoe’s Best: Rating the ski resorts The Talon’s Guide to Shredding the Gnar

By Ed Sartor, Anthony Bello | Senior Writers

By Paul Bergevin

When the snow begins to fall, millions of powder-hungry skiers and boarders swarm the slopes of Lake Tahoe. Over a dozen resorts make Tahoe a Mecca for skiers all around the world. Each resort has a unique edge over another and has something to offer for every type of skier and snowboarder, from the bunny slope bomber to the veteran ski bum. So when the time to shred comes, it’s absolutely essential to know exactly which resort will satisfy.

Gnarliest Vert: Squaw Valley For the more advanced riders who are looking for some sheer steep face gnar, Squaw Valley is simply the place to be. In fact, a man by the name Robb Gaffney revolutionized the word “gnar” when he and friends created the game “Gnar” because they felt that Squaw Valley had become too serious and competitive. The game is scored by “Gaffney’s Numerical Assessment of Radness” (GNAR) points, guidelines which lay out combinations of the craziest, most gut-wrenching runs, in addition to bonus points for pulling them off under often hilarious conditions.

For example, players are awarded massive amounts of points for skiing down the treacherous

“Palisades” butt-naked. They are awarded even more points if they call their mothers while doing so.

In any case, this guideline paved the way for access to some of the gnarliest vert available in Lake Tahoe - or at least, made the seemingly impossible runs possible. The KT-22 lift is a gateway to arguably the gnarliest runs in Tahoe. “The Nose” is famous for being the stomping ground for Squaw’s top athletes, a run finished by hucking “The Fingers” - flying mercilessly over a “hand” of 40 foot rock cliffs. On the other side of the resort, the stoic Granite Chief face offers some of the most exhilerating vert on the mountain.

Resort Breakdown

Heavenly

Beginner

Intermediate

Advanced

Gnar

20%

45%

30%

5%

Alpine Meadows 25%

30%

20%

15%

Northstar

20%

60%

20%

0%

Squaw Valley

25%

45%

20%

10%

Photos By Cassidy Craford

Tahoe is known by most for its scenic views and powder stashes, and mountains like Squaw Valley (above) boast huge amounts of terrain. Riders and skiiers will wait for hours to catch fresh tracks (bottom left) on a powder day.

Best SEcret Stashes: Alpine Though Alpine Meadows may be smaller than Squaw or Heavenly, its beauty resides in its hikeable stashes. For starters, three huge bowls on the face of Ward Peak stare grimly at those riding the Summit Chair - Idiot’s Delight, Beaver Bowl and Estelle Bowl.

The combination of the three can quench any skier/snowboarder’s thirst for gnar: Idiot’s Delight has the extreme downhill, while Beaver has the tree runs if one traverses early. Estelle Bowl has the closest feeling to backcountry while still being part of the resort.

These bowls are glorious on a bluebird powder day. Another great hike at Alpine is the High T

Best Trees: Heavenly Even though Heavenly boasts huge boulevards of groomed runs, take one cut into the woods and you will find unbelievable tree skiing through ancient snowcovered “Sugar Pines”. The “Nevada Woods”, off of Olympic Express, is home to a luscious grove of widely spaced trees. Powder days make for an unbelievable experience within the sunlit glade, especially if it’s early in the morning and the face is still untracked. The skier mantra, “No friends on a powder day” couldn’t hold more truth than in this situation.

LAHS

Kirkwood 185 miles

Sugar Bowl 213 miles

Northstar is the clear winner in the terrain parks category. The resort has seven parks filled with all types of terrain. There’s “The Stash”, a natural environment filled with nature-inspired wooden jibs, jumps and stumps.

According to Northstar, all the materials in the stash are all locally harvested and all natural, providing a unique backcountry feel to a quirky terrain park.

Following “The Stash” is one of

the best all-around parks in Tahoe - Pinball. Perfect for intermediate riders who are looking to become more comfortable and technical with boxes and rails, this jibyard can keep the park rats entertained for hours.

For the ultra gnar, or for people looking to get hesh (look that one up), there are the half-pipes, which have been ranked in the Top 10 Pipes in North America for the past seven years.

Gnar Factor Squaw Valley:

Heavenly:

Alpine MEadows:

Northstar:

Northstar 228 miles Alpine Medows 232 miles Heavenly 223 miles

Sierra at Tahoe 211 miles

hike over the top Alpine Bowl and into Sherwood Bowl, where there are loads of runs with untouched pow if one goes early enough. For the even more curious, the hike around Summit Peak is home to some killer downhill. These stashes are the perfect escape from the crowded slopes on the holidays and are for those seeking some adrenaline-infused solitude.

In addition, Alpine Meadows has an Open Boundary Policy, meaning that there is always more to explore. Not many other resorts give their customers the opportunity to find and claim a secret backcountry stash for themselves.

Best Parks: Northstar

More incredible unmarked runs lie in “Pinnacle Woods”, just off the top of Sky Chair. The trees here are so widely spaced that the experience almost begins to feel like a trip to the deep backcountry. The untamed yet accessible nature of the woods makes this an iconic Tahoe destination. On the other side of the mountain, the Powderbowl woods live up to their name with a sweet stash that has its own dedicated lift servicing it. Also, since Heavenly is a sprawling 4,800 acres, the possible tree runs across the entire mountain are basically limitless.

CCS Open Division and Division By Size Can’t Coexist

Diamond Peak 242 miles

Squaw 231 miles Ben Marimon

There are many instances in sports where more is not better.

In professional sports like the NBA and the NHL, expansion teams have diluted the product because there are not enough stars to make franchises like the Charlotte Bobcats relevant.

In high school basketball, the CCS committee has diluted play in a similar fashion by adding an Open Division to the CCS playoffs for boys and girls basketball. The Open Division takes the eight best teams regardless of school size, and has them compete for the Open Division title.

The rest of the teams compete in traditional, size-based CCS divisions. By keeping both the size-based and open division system, the CCS committee has succeeded in making one great CCS division while having five other diluted divisions.

The main reason for the implementation of this system is to give teams like the Pinewood Girls team or the Soquel Boys team to compete against the big dogs for a CCS title. While the increased competition is a good thing, the problem with the Open Division is that it dilutes the value of a CCS title for the five other divisions.

In the Open Division’s current format, the best teams from each size-based division compete for the Open Division Title (a maxiumum of 3 teams per division). While having an open division means that there are even more great games for people to see, it means that winning a CCS title in the other five divisions is meaningless.

Doubters ought to look at the Division II Boys CCS results from this year. Saint Francis was the three seed with a 9-16 record, and they went on to win a diluted Division II and they are able to call themselves CCS Champions.

Last year the championship game for the Division II finals was Palo Alto versus Mitty, and Mitty went on to win the state championship. While Mitty gets tougher competition this year in the open division this year, is it really fair for Saint Francis to get to hang up the same CCS Champion banner as Mitty?

In a sport like basketball, where only five guys play on the court at time, school size really does not matter. A school with only 500 students could have five amazingly talented players.

This is why CCS for Basketball should ditch the division system and just have one Open Division with 24 or so teams. This would still allow for small schools to get a chance to compete against the big dogs, and it would also make it so there would be no more meaningless CCS Titles.

At the end of the day, a 9-16 team shouldn’t be winning the Division II CCS Championship.

20

Sports

GIrls soccer returns to top

CCS Champs Steven Cui Staff Writer

This season, girls soccer has accomplished the unexpected: the team has claimed the CCS Champions title for the first time since 2007. After placing third out of seven teams in the De Anza Division below Mountain View and Los Gatos, the varsity girls soccer team left the regular season with a strong 7-3-2 record and the determination to prove its strength in CCS. By the end of the tournament, they proved they belonged with the best.

“It’s awesome to win CCS, especially after a tough past few seasons where we were struggling to just stay in the de Anza league” senior Audrey Mays said.

In all honesty, the girls varsity team was not expected to make it to be CCS champions this year. As the Eagles failed to make CCS last year, no one even thought that the team would make the tournament this year.

However, the right conditions led the underdog Eagles to an astounding series of wins in the CCS tournament, where the team upset both the first and second seed teams to claim the CCS champions title.

The Eagles started off in a respectable position as

the fifth seed among 13 teams.

The team got off to a easy start at CCS, playing the twelfth seeded Aragon High School at home and defeating them 1-0 in overtime. It continued to build momentum, facing off against the fourth-seeded Del Mar High School at St. Francis and defeating them 2-0. Despite early tournament success, huge challenge loomed ahead. The Eagles’ next game was the CCS semifinal game against the top seeded team in the division, the previously undefeated Archbishop Mitty, which

had an overall record of 18-04 and was ranked third in the nation. The Eagles’ momentum combined with their defensive tactics allowed them to take down the Monarchs, resulting in a 1-0 win for Los Altos and placing the Eagles in a position to win the CCS title.

“Mitty played an aggressive game,” sophomore Nicole Atkins said. “We were able to dominate the game by sticking to the way we know how to play.”

Now in the CCS finals, Los Altos had one final obstacle in

Sophomore Allie Crum (right) battles for possession in the CCS Division 2 Finals, a match the Eagles won to cap off an improbable playoff run.

March 12, 2013 their way: second-seeded St. Francis, known, like Mitty, for its aggressive style of play. Los Altos scored an early point and focused on defense, similar to the game against Mitty. The Eagles’ defense played a key role, turning back St. Francis’s attacks again and again, not allowing them to score any goals and equalize the score. After holding out against St. Francis for a grueling 90 minutes, the Eagles finally did it.

They won the CCS championship title, their momentum leading them through two incredible upsets to victory.

“I feel extremely proud of everyone,” Audrey said. “A lot of people doubted us throughout the entire season, from league through CCS. But we never gave up and our defense all over the field was our greatest strength.”

The Eagles’ defensive style of play allowed them to take a lead over offensive teams such as Archbishop Mitty and St. Francis in CCS. Both the semifinal and the final games played out in a similar fashion: Los Altos scored an early point, then maintained their strong defense to secure their lead. Sophomore Allie Crum was a key player against St. Francis and Mitty, scoring the only goal in both games and allowing the Eagles to utilize their strong defense to its full capacity.

The Eagles exceptional teamwork and ability to capitalize on opportunities created momentum that helped them power through all opposition to secure the championship title.

“The season has been very good. We have been very consistent in our level of play and we have played great defense all season,” head coach Armando Luna said. “The team has focused on defending well and taking advantage of our chances. I am proud of the team and happy for all the players.”

The Road To The CCS Championship CCS Quarterfinals 2-0 Victory over Del MAR The Eagles Defeat Del Mar with confidence, setting the tone for a successful tournament.

CCS Semifinals 1-0 Victory over Archbishop Mitty Eagles Upset Archbishop Mitty, The # 3 Ranked Team in the Country

CCS Finals 1-0 Victory over St. Francis Eagles Upset St. Francis to take the CCS title for the first time since Photos by Ciera Pasturel 2007

Basketball goes undefeated in league for first time since 1973 Chase Eller Staff Writer

Eagles basketball made history this season. Advancing to the semi-finals of CCS for the first time in school history and becoming only the second Los Altos boy’s basketball team to go undefeated in league play, Los Altos had one of its most successful seasons.

The last time LAHS went undefeated in league play was the same year in which Stevie Wonder released one of his most popular songs, ‘Superstition.’

The iconic “Godfather” won best picture at the Academy awards, and the price of gas was 36 cents a gallon. The year was 1972 and the Los Altos Knights went undefeated in league play.

They went on to have an overall record 24-5 and stood as the only undefeated basketball team in Los Altos history for 40 years.

Fast forward to 2012, and the School Archives

MVP senior Steve Maehl, ‘73, (left), star of the 1973 Los Altos Knights, goes up for a layup. Maehl led Los Altos to a 12-0 season in the team’s first undefeated year.

Los Altos Eagles have become the second undefeated team in school history, finishing with 19-8 overall record and a 12-0 record in league play. Los Altos went on to exceed expectations and make it all the way to the CCS semi-finals. After upsetting the number one seeded Westmoor in the quarterfinals of CCS, the Eagles lost a heartbreaking game to Willow Glen 59-57. The season was ended, but the legacy and the impact will be felt on campus.

This year, Los Altos basketball was about more than just the games. It was about developing a new culture for both the team and the fans.

“It was clear from day one that Coach had a plan of transforming this program,” senior Kieran Stolorz said. “He shared with us a vision of a strong, communitybased environment at our games where eventually our home games would be standing room only, and we’d have children and parents that don’t even go to LAHS come to support us.”

Ciera Pasturel

See Boys Basketball, page 18

Senior Nate Vieira (top) and junior Steven Garverick (bottom) run the floor in a regular season game. Both played significant roles in the success of the Eagles this season.