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VOL. XXXVII, NO. 5

February 18, 2014

Dating etiquette brochure sparks controversy

By Emma Williams

Page Editor

On Jan. 30, students were given a pamphlet entitled “Dating Etiquette: It’s Always in Fashion” written by former student Sophia Davis, now a senior at Christian Brothers High School, and her mother, Susan Bitar.

The brochure—which includes a “Guide for Guys” and a “Guide for Girls”—instructs the reader on how to find the “perfect” dress, which utensils to use at dinner and what the roles for girls and boys are on a date.

See Etiquette, page 3

Spring play will include lots of kisses

By Madison Judd

Reporter

The spring high-school play, “Almost, Maine,” is expected to be a big hit with the older students, director Brian Frishman said.

“Almost, Maine” is one of the most produced and popular plays for American highschool drama departments, Frishman said.

Frishman decided to present “Almost, Maine” for this reason. He was also looking for a play that had a comic tone and would appeal to its audience because of the humor.

Frishman also wanted to change the traditional theme of focusing on one main character that most high-school plays have done in the past.

Instead, “Almost, Maine” consists of several small parts that are separated into skits.

The only connection between the characters is that they live in the same town and all have strange incidents involving love on the same Friday night.

Although this creates a more interesting plot, it makes planning rehearsals difficult.

For the first week of rehearsals, Frishman scheduled six individual practices.

Each practice was supposed to consist of only two to three people because there are only two to three students per skit.

Frishman scheduled these individual rehearsals during lunch and throughout the school day. But he said only two of the six were actually successful.

See Play, page 3

“Mr. Wells has a lot of strengths, and he obviously has the confidence of the students, the faculty and the parents.”

Brooke Wells, new head of high school, announces his appointment to an audience including student body president Maddy Mahla and Sue Nellis, current head of high school, Jan. 27. (Photo by Cissy Shi)

–Sue Nellis, current head of high school

Search for head of HS comes to close Assistant head Brooke Wells to replace Nellis next year

By Kamira Patel

Editor-in-Chief

E

nglish teacher Brooke Wells will replace current head of high school Sue Nellis next year starting on July. 1.

On Jan. 27 Wells stood up in front of the student body during morning meeting to announce that he was “honored and humbled” by the students’ and faculty’s support.

According to Student Council president Maddy Mahla, who participated on the student committee, the selection process was much more open than she thought it would be.

“I thought it was supposed to be underground,” she said. “I liked how it was open and we weren’t forbidden to talk about it. I could talk to kids outside of the committee to see what they wanted from the candidates.”

“The only time we weren’t supposed to talk to anyone was when we were told that Mr.

Wells won.”

But Mahla and many other students said that the timing was off since the interviews of the five candidates were held the week before finals, making it difficult for both students and faculty.

“I felt bad that we put it on people like that,” headmaster Stephen Repsher said. “But we had to work quickly. I wanted to make sure we didn’t lose any candidates.

“Ultimately I wanted to make sure that we had a broad perspective of the community to help inform the decision- making process. It went well. It was efficient and compact.”

After sorting through 300 to 400 forms that every committee member filled out for each candidate, Repsher said he found a lot of useful information on which to base his decision.

“Wells was the preferred choice,” he said.

Nellis agreed.

“Mr. Wells has a lot of strengths, and he obviously has the confidence of the students, the faculty and the parents,” she said.

Because Wells has worked at the school for 10 years, he had a slight advantage over some of the other candidates, according to Repsher.

However many students said they were skeptical about the decision-making process and concerned that the choice was pre-determined.

“I think (the committee) was a cool idea and it made me feel special, but I do think it was just for show and that the decision was already made,” a senior said. “I feel like even if all the students said Mr. Wells wasn’t the right person, they would still pick him.”

A junior agreed.

“I turned in my form the day before the decision was made, like a lot of other people, because of finals and I just don’t feel that they could have made the decision that quickly,” the junior said.

“The committee seemed to be used to give the impression that (the school) was surveying all the choices, but really the choice was already made.”

But Repsher refuted that hypothesis. “(Wells) was a candidate as any other,” he said. “However, he had to compete for the position and there were several very strong candidates. No one had a clear sense of whom we See Wells, page 7

Band and orchestra festival location moved to San Mateo Forum Festival time (April 19).

Because of this change, Keys and music director Bob Ratcliff had to move Reporter from the Vallejo location to San Mateo.

After the competitions, the music groups traditionally spend a half day at Going against tradition, the high-school and middle-school band and a theme park. Since the San Mateo competition is closer to the Great Amerorchestra will not perform at the Vallejo Forum Music Festival. The highica theme park in Santa Clara than to Six Flags in Vallejo, the groups will go school music groups will instead participate in the San Mateo Forum Muto Great America. sic Festival on April 26.

The middle-school Forum Festivals are qualifying events for schools to earn invitations “I am super excited for the change groups are now attending to the next year’s statewide competition held in Anaheim in April. in venue and park. I have been to a competition in Fremont Orchestra teacher Felecia Keys said that a first change was made to (April 12) and will also be accommodate the school’s seven groups because each Forum Festival Six Flags twice already, so it will be going to Great America, location can handle only a certain number of groups. good to have a change of scenery.” as the Santa Clara theme But when the groups –Sydney Michel, sophomore park is closer to their Frecommitted to a different mont competition.

Forum Festival (Forum Keys said that the plan Festivals are held multiple is to alternate between state and Bay Area competitions every other year, times up and down the state), taking advantage of the closer proximity of the Bay Area forum competithat competition had only tions and also participating in the state competition if the groups qualify. middle-school entrants.

“I am super excited for the change in venue and park,” said flutist sophKeys then had to change omore Sydney Michel. “I have been to Six Flags twice already, so it will be the date again to accommogood to have a change of scenery.” date Octagon and Medallion Fellow trombone player sophomore Adam Ketchum echoed Michel’s staff members who are also in the band and orchestra. Both statement, but Ketchum had a different reason for his happiness.

“There won’t be any middle schoolers running around because they’ll publications staffs will be traveling to the National Scho- go to Fremont on a different day, which means it’s just us high schoolers,” Sophomore Emily Berke plays her lastic Press Association West Ketchum said. trumpet part in a band rehearsal. Coast Convention in San Di(Photo by Elena Lipman) See Orchestra, page 3 ego during the original Vallejo

By Manson Tung

2Feature

February 18, 2014

Graphic by Kamira Patel and Aishwarya Nadgauda

The Octagon

YouTube used for more than cat videos

However, Mason and Kramlich-Taylor said they’ve been Crash Course was part of YouTube’s $100 million original channel initiative, videos funded by Google to bring “original” using YouTube for education in college the past couple years.

As students began to use YouTube to study, teachers also content to YouTube.

Page Editor started incorporating videos into their curriculum.

Although Country Day students primarily use the biology Math teacher Patricia Jacobsen has integrated Khan Acadeand U.S. history Crash Course videos, there are also ones on foolproof way to procrastinate is by going on Youliterature, chemistry, ecology and world history. The brothers my into her curriculum over the past two years.

Tube and spending hours watching videos of cats, Last year she required all her students to make Khan Acadadd two new subjects every six months. Hank recently started video games, babies... the list goes on. their most recent video series on emy accounts so she could track their progress and recomBut while some mend skills they should work on. psychology. videos cause homework to go “If students don’t understand how I explained something or Senior Sarah Wilks and unfinished for hours, others “(Khan Academy) is how I survive if they were absent, they can watch a little eight-minute video Vazquez regularly watch the serve as a second set of teachers at home and then try their homework,” Jacobsen said.

10-15 minute biology videos.

Millsback’s (AP Calculus) class.” for SCDS students.

If Jacobsen is absent, she asks students to spend 30 minutes “It takes a lot less attention —Dominic Stephen, junior span Watching videos on the on Khan Academy instead of leaving them with worksheets. to watch a video versus channels Khan Academy and Jacobsen uses the YouTube videos not only to teach her stureading something,” Vazquez Crash Course is now a common way for students to prepare dents but also to gain clarification on something she herself said. “It’s hard for me to pay attention when I read.” for tests and better understand material.

Wilks said she finds the Crash Course videos beneficial be- does not understand.

Khan Academy was founded by Salman Khan. In 2006, “I don’t know how to use my calculator, so I have actually cause the diagrams and illustrations help her remember conKhan, a graduate of MIT and Harvard, quit his job and began had to search on YouTube how to use a TI-89, and I think a cepts. to post tutorials explaining math and science on YouTube.

Junior Clare Fina said she uses the biology videos to visual- lot of kids do that too,” Jacobsen said.

Khan’s goal was to make education more accessible to peoAbout once a week, biology teacher Kellie Whited assigns ize cell processes such as meiosis. ple, free of charge. her AP Biology students 5-10 Students in AP U.S. History Since its founding, Khan Academy has expanded to include minute videos from Bozeman watch John’s history videos. videos on mathematics, history, health care, finance, physics, “Back in the day teachers would roll Science by Paul Anderson, a “(John Green) is really funchemistry, biology, astronomy, economy, cosmology, civics, art ny, and it doesn’t feel like I am in the television when they wanted to high-school biology teacher. history and computer science.

“I use the videos from Paul reading from a textbook,” said show us things.”

Junior Micaela Bennett-Smith says she often goes on Khan Anderson as a refresher course senior Savannah Symister, who Academy when she doesn’t understand a concept in math —Lily Kramlich-Taylor, ‘10 of prerequisite materials to see watched the Crash Course U.S. class. if (the students) remember it or history videos last year.

Junior Dominic Stephen does, too. if they need to go back and do Junior Anna Wiley said she “(Khan Academy) is how I survive Millsback’s (AP Calcumore work,” Whited said. watches John’s history videos before tests to help get a big lus) class,” junior Dominic Stephen said.

Whited has been using these videos as part of her curricupicture of the concepts and because of his humor.

And junior Melissa Vazquez said she has relied heavily on SCDS high-school students using YouTube for educational lum since the beginning of last year. She said she likes to use Khan Academy this year to understand derivatives. them because they save time for labs and hands-on activities. purposes is a fairly recent development.

While many use Khan Academy for math, Crash Course History teacher Bruce Baird has been using YouTube in Lily Kramlich-Taylor, ‘10, does not recall ever using Youvideos are used mainly to study for biology and history. class since a projector was installed in his classroom.

Tube in high school, except occasionally in World Cultures.

In addition to giving visual learners a way to better underCrash Course videos are created by brothers John (author “Back in the day teachers would roll in the television when stand concepts, Baird said he often learns something new of “The Fault in Our Stars” and “Looking for Alaska”) and they wanted to show us things,” Kramlich-Taylor said.

Hank Green. They entered YouTube with the channel VlogMackenzie Mason, ‘10, said that she and her friends never ,even after having watched the videos two or three times.

“You can talk about the New Deal until you’re blue in the Brothers, where they talked about all sorts of random topics used YouTube in high school except to look up the occasional face,” Baird said. “Why not let people hear it and see faces?” through vlogs (video blogs). music video.

By Aishwarya Nadgauda

A

Senior spends spare time creating app with family

By Ryan Ho

Online-Editor-in-Chief Senior Caleb Davis has done something not every high-school student can brag about: at age 18, he’s joined his younger brother Josiah and father Brian in creating a game app, PaperChase, from scratch.

PaperChase, a paper-plane based game that’s about a week from being finalized and released via the App Store, is a family project that has spanned the last year and a half.

And it all started with a dare at Jamba Juice.

Brian, who has background in software development, had challenged Josiah to come up with as many new games as he could, but Josiah was initially not interested.

“He’s asked me that question before,” Josiah, a freshman at Jesuit High School, said. “I didn’t really take him that seriously.”

Brian, however, was completely serious.

“I said, ‘If I get you a Jamba Juice, you’re going to give me five ideas for games,’” Brian said.

Josiah agreed, and the brainstorming com-

menced. The Davises were so intent on following through that they made a deal to not leave Jamba Juice until they had one good idea.

Then Josiah got one that stood out.

“It was paper-related but not like how it is now,” he said. “It was more like a paper airplane in a classroom, and you’re shooting at teachers and what not.”

Though the exact idea was later discarded, the paper-airplane theme stuck. After Caleb joined the project, the three began modifying the idea until it reached its current design.

PaperChase is a third-person, endless flying game that involves precise aiming and sharp turning. Players tilt devices to steer the paper plane, pick up collectables and avoid obstacles. The player can choose between chase mode (free-fly) and story mode.

The story mode contains nine levels (in settings like the city, harbor, subway and sewer) and two hidden levels, but only the free-fly mode will be included in the first free release.

While the game’s style of play isn’t original, Brian said it’s the storyline that sets PaperChase apart from similar popular games such as Temple Run and Subway Surfer.

“PaperChase is, of course, not the only boys, under Brian’s supervision, got to work. game that uses aiming and by far not the only They began by drawing everything in the endless running type game,” he said. “But it is game—including all the characters, the paper the only endless aiming game that is at heart plane and so forth—out on paper. an adventure story based in Japanese history.”

Then they entered the second stage in The game uses elements from the ancient which a German programJapanese tales of wolves, mer created the first coded or okami. Once large in version of the app, using number, the wolves were the design from Caleb and supposedly hunted to exJosiah. The version was tinction when the Japanese next sent to a developer, herding culture emerged. who took it to the protoThe game’s story tells type phase. of the Wolf Spirit, OkaFor the duration of a mi, who resides in a goldwhole year, the prototype en paper (which is kami was just passed back and in Japanese) that the main forth between the developcharacter Jonathan finds. er and the Davises in order Together Jonathan and to get the design right.

Caleb Davis Okami must work to stop Once the prototype Jonathan’s villainous uncle, reached a certain mature Vincent, from attaining ultimate power. stage, Brian showed it to various clients, one To better understand the related Japanese of whom wanted to invest in the game. After history, the Davises even traveled to Japan, a presentation in the Bay Area made in front where they visited wolf temples and the of a group of potential investors, the Davises mountains where the wolves used to roam.

Once they finalized their basic idea, the See Davis, page 7

The Octagon

February 18, 2014

Play: Thespians start to rehearse ‘Almost, Maine’ (Continued from page 1) According to Frishman, this is because the students are busy during the day, so they can’t easily make time to practice.

However, sophomore Aidan Galati credits Frishman for trying to make the practices convenient.

“He looked at everyone’s sports, Mock Trial and any other commitments and tried to create a schedule that works for every single person,” Galati said.

Sophomore Emma Belliveau agrees with Galati.

“It is a new way of practicing, but I think that it will be good because we can get more individual feedback and create chemistry with our partner,” Belliveau said.

“Almost, Maine” is also expected to be popular because of the number of kissing scenes because of the series of small love stories.

“Since people will want to see their friends kissing other students, they will really want to come to the play,” Galati said.

Like the previous spring plays, Joel Rickert, the costume designer for the winter plays, is not able to work on the costumes.

Rickert is available during only the winter plays because he focuses on finishing the yearbook during the spring.

However, since the play is set in modern times, cast members will provide their own costumes, Frishman said.

The play, written by John Cariani, will be March 13-15, at 7 p.m. in the MP Room.

The Cast of ‘Almost, Maine’ Akilan Murugesan . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Pete, Man Avi Bhullar . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Ginette Patrick Talamantes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .East, Phil Aidan Galati . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .Glory, Marvalyn Grant Quattlebaum . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Jimmy Savannah Symister . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .Sandrine Elinor Hilton . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Waitress Eric Hilton . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .Steve, Lendall Isabelle Leavy . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .Gayle Austin Talamantes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .Randy Daniel Hernried . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .Chad Emma Belliveau . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Marci Grace Strumpfer . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Hope

We thank our sponsors . . .

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News 3 Etiquette: Students take offense at pamphlet (Continued from page 1) In the “Guide for Guys,” under “Getting to Your Destination,” the pamphlet says “On sidewalks, guys should walk nearest the street to ‘protect’ the girl.”

Bitar said that the main reason she made the pamphlet with her daughter was to spread the importance of manners to high schoolers in a way that was more relatable. “(It) focuses specifically on dating in high school, so distributing to Country Day was important to reach our target audience,” said Bitar, who is working on a middle-school etiquette pamphlet with her son, eighth grader Aaron Davis.

Far from finding it helpful, many students said the pamphlet, distributed during advisory, was offensive. In fact, 37 percent of students expressed some degree of dislike for the brochure in a recent Octagon poll.

Some of those polled called it “sexist” and “outdated.” One sophomore said “it had a religious connotation which I thought was inappropriate.”

Sophomore Amelia Fineberg was especially upset.

“I thought it was incredibly heteronormative and enforced outdated and somewhat sexist gender roles,” she said.

“It assumed that all guys would be dating girls and vice versa, and that girls needed to be protected, and that guys had to open doors for them and everything.

“Chivalry is dead, and that’s how it should be. That sort of ‘courtesy’ actually stems from the idea that women are fragile, delicate creatures that must be protected by men.”

Teacher Jane Batarseh felt similarly.

“I respect (Christian Brothers),” she said. “However, I felt that the message of this pamphlet, which was one of compassion and courtesy towards your date, was eclipsed by a presentation that was dated and parochial. “(It) relates to an earlier time in America when there was a definite role for the sexes. The roles today have changed.”

A high-school student who identifies as homosexual said that the pamphlet could be discouraging to gay students who are still closeted.

“I’m okay with my sexuality, but I know some people who are still closeted and who struggle with theirs,” he said.

“I can read the pamphlet and realize that it’s narrow-minded and inconsiderate. But for kids who are struggling to find their identity, it can be hard to see that.”

Orchestra: Musicians look forward to festival, amusement park switch (Continued from page 1) The only concern Michel has about the venue switch is the longer drive, but she said that the different experience of Great America will make up for the extra hour each way.

Ketchum was not concerned with the drive. “I’ll just pop in my headphones and take a nap,” he said.

Percussion player senior Daniel Kong was indifferent.

“I don’t really care where we go because I haven’t been to either (Six Flags or Great America),” he said. “But I do think it is important to have a group bonding and fun activity after the competition in the morning.”

Keys said that while the chief goal of the competition is to win awards and qualify for the state competition, the theme park excursion is about having fun.

“Our kids work hard for this,” Keys said. “They work for months and months. And after all of that work, it is nice for them to blow off some steam and spend some time with their friends.”

Other students and teachers didn’t dislike the brochure. In the poll, 43 percent of students said they were neutral on the issue, and 20 percent of students expressed some degree of liking the pamphlet.

Teacher Brooke Wells said he thinks the reason for the intense reaction of many students was because Country Day had never distributed something like this before.

“The idea of being nice and respectful to people is important, but we don’t typically dictate how you do that,” said Wells, who said his advisory found the guide amusing.

“I don’t think it represents the view of the school—I mean, we don’t have a policy on dating etiquette,” Wells said.

Junior Micaela Bennett-Smith said she never took the pamphlet seriously.

“When I first saw it, I just thought that these were old-fashioned ideas that we don’t typically do today as teenagers,” she said. “I just don’t think it’s as big of a deal as other people think it is.”

Nonetheless, those offended by the guide insist it should not have been distributed at Country Day. “What I feel would be extremely helpful would be if we put our own brochure together and gave it to Christian Brothers,” Batarseh said with a smile.

4Sports

The Octagon

February 18, 2014

Basketball teams wrap up disappointing season

By Zoe Bowlus Page Editor

Boys’ Basketball

After winning only one game, the boys’ team is looking forward to an injection of middle-school talent in the future.

This year’s eighth-grade team is undefeated and has won two local tournaments. “(The eighth graders) are ready to play varsity basketball now,” coach David Ancrum said.

Ancrum said that the eighth graders have a very high “basketball IQ.” There aren’t any situations they’re nervous about because they’ve already seen them, he said.

Ancrum especially lauded the eighth-grade players for their “outstanding” defense.

He said he had only one rule this season: “I’ll let you do whatever you want on offense, as long as you play defense and rebound.”

“I think we have a lot more skill coming in next year,” sophomore Serajh Esmail said.

Junior Skovran Cunningham said he thinks

the eighth graders will definitely help the team.

And freshman Emil Erickson is looking forward to playing with more people who are better than he is so that he can improve.

Besides the single win over Freedom Christian, there were bright spots this season. Cunningham said the boys grew more confident and started to figure out passing and spacing.

For instance, junior Jaspreet Gill started going to the basket a lot, Cunningham said.

Ancrum said the team needs to work very hard in the off season, noting that the eighth graders played almost every day last summer.

Esmail said that summer play would allow the team to better know each person’s strengths and weaknesses.

Next year, assistant coach Gary Brisco said, “we want to build with the younger guys.”

But he said that because there’s a transition between playing with eighth graders and playing with varsity players, it will be important to ensure that the new players get comfortable in their roles.

Ancrum said some of his goals for the team

Junior George Cvetich dribbles up court, Feb. 7, after Faith Christian scored a basket against the Cavaliers. The boys lost to the Lions, 71-33. (Photo by Cissy Shi)

next year include staying aggressive and being more confident about their ability.

Girls’ Basketball

The girls’ team knew at the beginning of the year that it would be a difficult league season, according to head coach Matt Vargo.

“We as a team are not judging ourselves strictly on wins and losses,” he said.

So instead of focusing on their record, he set reasonable goals for the team.

For instance, in a game against Valley Christian, the team set a goal to score at least 30 points.

They scored 32.

“When we achieve those goals, we feel successful,” Vargo said.

Team spirit is also very important.

Sophomore Julia Owaidat said that coaches Vargo and David Ancrum are always “really pumped up.”

“They’re always jumping around, clapping their hands to make us feel encouraged,” she said.

During huddles, “(the coaches) consistently tell us to have fun and not focus on the score,” junior Isabella Tochterman said.

When she’s not playing, senior Maddy Mahla cheers on the girls from the bench. “(Mahla) is the spirit of our team,” sophomore Saachi Sikaria said.

And while most players would occasionally get into foul trouble, Mahla had very few fouls, according to Owaidat.

“It became the goal of her season to get a foul call,” Owaidat said.

In the last 10 seconds of a game against Valley Christian, Mahla made her first major attempt to foul. People were yelling for her to foul the girl she was defending. Mahla hit the girl’s hand, but the referees didn’t call it because it was so late in the game.

Sikaria remembers most a game against Wilton Christian. “Even though we lost, I still remember it vividly because I played my heart out,” Sikaria said. “I got a few shots in.

I tried multiple shots and I rebounded too.”

Freshman Natalie Brown takes a shot against Faith Christian, Feb. 7. Country Day won, 46-39. (Photo by Cissy Shi) Sophomore Emily Berke remembered hitting a 3-pointer at the buzzer. The team lost, but she said the moment was really exciting.

This year has proved to be a learning curve.

“I learned that you can’t just give up,” Sikaria said. “You have to try your hardest.”

Owaidat said that she learned to not get frustrated.

“Every player who’s played for a long time thinks that there’s nothing in their way (to winning),” she said. “Once you start losing games, you kind of start to lose confidence in yourself. You just need to be more confident in your abilities.”

Tochterman said that it was important to make sure that everyone’s contributing as a team, not individually.

Rather than getting upset at times, she focused on the positive improvements, she said.

Vargo said the team will set higher goals next season since most of the other teams in the leagues are losing the majority of their contributing players.

Ski and snowboard team suffers due to lack of snow, but all members qualify for states

By Elena Lipman Reporter Here’s the bad news: The ski and snowboard team has few participants and even less snow. But here’s the good news: all team members who have raced will qualify for the state finals.

Since there are only three male snowboarders, one male skier, and one female skier, all will advance to states as the top three athletes on their teams.

“As long as they show up to two races, they’re qualified to go,” coach Jason Kreps said.

The first race on Jan. 10 was canceled due to lack of snow.

“I couldn’t wait to get up to the slopes,” freshman skier Daniel Hernried said.

But when finally able to race on Jan. 24, Hernried was disqualified because one of his skis hit a gate.

Other team members have had bad luck, as well.

Junior snowboarder Skovran Cunningham and freshman snowboarder Aidan Cunningham had their gear stolen out of Skovran’s car after the race on Jan. 24.

(The unlocked car was parked in front of a friend’s house on a small street near the intersection of Fair Oaks Boulevard and Eastern Avenue).

Skovran finished 20th of 24 racers in the race on Feb. 3.

“I had to use my dad’s board in the race and I messed up,”

Skovran said.

Kreps also attributes Skovran’s poor performance to the theft.

Aidan also did not place well in the Feb. 3 race, finishing second to last. “(Aidan) is learning by racing against juniors and seniors,” Kreps said.

Junior snowboarder Ethan Ham has been more successful.

Ham finished eighth of 24 snowboarders in the Feb. 3 race.

“It’s the best I’ve seen him do. He’s looking pretty good,” Kreps said.

He spoke similarly of Hernried, who finished eighth of 17 skiers on Feb. 3, and was the only freshman in a race full of experienced juniors and seniors.

“He’s doing well for himself,” Kreps said.

Hernried’s times improved at the most recent race on Feb. 10, where he finished eighth of 18 skiers in the first race and seventh of 19 skiers in the second race of the day.

Ham finished 11th of 24 snowboarders in the first race and 16th of 24 in the second. Skovran finished ninth and 10th in the same races. Aidan finished last in each.

Sophomore Amelia Fineberg joined the team for the Feb. 10 race, finishing 11th of 12 skiers.

The boys’ latest races were Feb. 14 and Feb. 17; results were not available at press time.

The team will next race at states, March 2-6.

Freshman Daniel Hernried prepares to race at Heavenly ski resort on Feb. 10. Hernried placed seventh of 19 skiers in Division V. (Photo by Jason Kreps).

Sports Boosters’ Athletes of the Month Daniel Hernried Although he finished last in his first race because his skis hit a gate, since then freshman Daniel Hernried has consistently placed in the top eight in Division V competition.

Julia Owaidat Sophomore Julia Owaidat had 14 rebounds, a personal best, in the girls’ varsity basketball game against Wilton Christian, Feb. 7. She is co-captain of the team, and the second highest league scorer in Division V.

Athletes of the Month are chosen by the athletic department on behalf of the Sports Boosters

The Octagon

Editorial 5

February 18, 2014

‘Pamphlets’ by Jacob Sands

By Grant Miner

My Angle Getting it done: A comprehensive guide to Internet-assisted learning

EDITORIAL: Christian pamphlet inappropriate for our secular school The pamphlets on dating etiquette, which were passed out during advisory on Jan. 30, offered a traditional yet outdated perspective on how boys and girls should comport themselves.

Including a quotation from Jean-Baptiste La Salle’s “The Rules of Christian Decorum and Civility,” the pamphlet was slanted towards Christian ideals. The quote even included the line “for we are the children of God.” And while this pamphlet may have been appropriate for a Christian high school where such perspective is encouraged, it was inappropriate for our secular school.

The contents of the pamphlet concerned heterosexual couples with a dominant male who is in charge of planning and paying for the date in its entirety.

The pamphlet even says the boy should walk closest to the street to “protect” the girl.

What about couples who take an egalitarian approach to gender roles? What about “going Dutch”?

The pamphlet mentioned neither of the above.

The cost of dinner and Winter Ball admission for two people could easily surpass $120. Not everyone can pay for themselves and their date.

At our school, too, most dates to dances are “friend dates” and the parties pay separately.

And what about homosexual couples?

One gay student noted that only the for-girls section of the pamphlet applied to him, making him feel abnormal.

What an awful message to send.

Our school prides itself on its open-mindedness and its acceptance of many perspectives.

So why did the high-school administration think it fitting to administer a how-to with such a singular and slanted perspective?

Because a parent and former student wrote it?

We don’t think that’s a valid reason.

Some teachers were unhappy passing out the pamphlet—some were even apologetic.

And while some students laughed at the pamphlet, others were clearly offended.

To be fair, many students had no problem with the pamphlet. And one section did discuss what a girl should do if she asked the guy on a date—perhaps in a Sadie Hawkins setting.

But there was no section for an egalitarian date.

And of course the authors of the pamphlet had good intentions. The ultimate goal was to teach teens proper manners.

The traditional dating style the pamphlet discusses is prevalent these days for high schoolers. But the pamphlet failed to go beyond that one scenario, and therefore it was inappropriate for our school.

The Octagon Editors-in-Chief Garrett Kaighn Connor Martin Kamira Patel Online Editors-in-Chief Ryan Ho David Myers Copy Editor Garrett Kaighn Business Manager Garrett Kaighn News Editor Emma Williams Editorial Editor Zoe Bowlus Community Editor Grant Miner Sports Editors Micaela Bennett-Smith Eric Hilton

Centerpoint Editor Kamira Patel Opinion Editor Maxwell Shukuya Feature Editors Connor Martin Aishwarya Nadgauda Photo Editor Cissy Shi Reporters Avi Bhullar Daniel Hernried Zane Jakobs Elena Lipman Madison Judd Austin Talamantes Manson Tung Cartoonist Jacob Sands Adviser Patricia Fels

The Octagon is published eight times a year by highschool journalism students of Sacramento Country Day School, 2636 Latham Drive, Sacramento, Calif. 95864.

Phone: (916) 481-8811, ext. 347.

The online Octagon (www.scdsoctagon.com) is updated daily.

&

Orchids Onions

Having trouble with your homework lately? Seem to be burning too much of the midnight oil?

Well, get ready for a few techno-tips to get your studying shot right into the 21st century.

The first thing to consider before starting anything homework-related is that no work gets done on an empty stomach. Be sure to spend five minutes pacing between refrigerator and pantry before ultimately deciding on a glass of water.

Time to start working. First, of course, you have to watch your favorite YouTube series, because you haven’t missed an episode in over a year, and you’ll be damned if you’ll interrupt your streak.

All right. Now we can start. Take out your binder, sharpen your pencils and turn on your TI-89, because it’s math time.

But wait, don’t you have free period before math?

Well, as the old proverb says: never do today what you can put off until tomorrow.

Phew. With all that hard work you deserve a break.

How about a 10-minute hour-long Reddit break?

You won’t laugh at any posts, but rest assured: this is not a waste of your time.

Boy, is that reading assignment a doozy, but’s it’s only 6 p.m., so you have plenty of time to finish your APUSH. It’s clear you’ll need something to motivate yourself.

That show “Archer” has been getting a lot of good press. Why not add it to your Netflix queue to give yourself something to look forward to?

Okay, so it’s three hours later and you’ve watched the majority of the the first season, but that’s okay.

I mean, the book was open the whole time, and you did occasionally glance down at the pages between episodes. Besides, there probably won’t be a quickwrite about it tomorrow, so you’re good.

The entire Bio packet isn’t due till Tuesday, so that leaves only AP Spanish and English.

This is where we really put our Internet skills to the test.

Rather than looking up the specific words you don’t know, Google Translate the entire reading passage to improve your reading comprehension.

If this proves to be a stretch of your attention span, you can always do your Spanish the next morning in between slides in Bio. English is equally easy. Have a character development assignment? Look up “character development in ‘The Scarlet Letter,’” Has Fels been hinting at a quiz?

“Chapters X-Y Sparknotes.”

There. Now wasn’t that a snap? It’s not even midnight and you’ve finished everything. See what being a 21st-century teen can accomplish?

rchids to. . .the decision that banned the eighth graders from eating in the garden. It’s been a cleaner, more pleasant place to eat.

O

nions to. . . couples who hug and kiss in front of the lockers.

Reaching around you to get our books is just plain awkward.

O

rchids to. . . parent Kari Miner for volunteering to chaperone at Sutter Lawn for our Winter Ball. We wouldn’t have anywhere to go without you.

nions to. . . students loudly disrupting the library. We need the library to be a calm, quiet place where we can study, not a social lounge.

O

O

6 Opinion

The Octagon

February 18, 2014

THE BEST COLLEGE GUIDE BRANCHING OUT FROM ‘FISKE’ College Prowler

College Confidential

By Ryan Ho

By Connor Martin

A

t times during my college search, I needed a politically incorrect, honest and totally biased viewpoint—something that the “Fiske Guide” couldn’t offer.

That’s where College Prowler, recently renamed “Niche,” came in. Although Niche began with printed school-specific guidebooks, it now focuses on its website (colleges.niche.com).

Niche regularly sends out surveys to college students, asking them about their experience.

The responses are converted to grades (A through F) in 19 categories, such as diversity, campus strictness and “guys and girls” (how attractive and “Sure, Fiske can have a little slant. But dateable they are).

To understand why a catthat’s nothing compared to the rants you egory got the grade it did, see on Niche.”

Niche compiles student quotes.

Are dorms given a C+ because the rooms are small or because they’re dirty? Did drug safety get a B because marijuana is abundant or because there’s pressure to imbibe?

The student testimonials provide answers to these questions.

I found the grades invaluable when narrowing down my college list. For instance, any school that had below a B for campus dining was quickly removed.

In addition to the grades, Niche periodically creates college rankings for “The Most Liberal Colleges” or “The Best Party Schools.” This week’s ranking is “Hottest Guys.”

And this is where Niche beats the “Fiske Guide” because the latter can discuss colleges only in the most unbiased of terms.

Sure, Fiske can have a little slant. But that’s nothing compared to the rants you see on Niche.

And the rankings aren’t a top-10 list. These lists include usually over 1,000 colleges.

For example, Vassar College and New York University are both open-minded campuses.

But according to Niche’s research, the former is ranked 146 out of 1,401 for most open-minded colleges, while the latter is ranked number 5.

This is where I start to wonder. What differentiates number 345 from 412? Or especially 345 from 346? For these rankings, colleges are given a rating out of 10, and ordered.

But I don’t see how they split hairs as definitively as they pretend they do.

However, one of the most useful features on the site is the “How do I stack up?” charts.

Each chart has an SAT score for the x-axis and a GPA for the y-axis. Once you enter your information, you’re plotted on the chart.

Then you can click one or more of the following: attending, accepted, waitlisted, and rejected. If you were to click on “attending,” then a bunch of plot points would appear on the chart representing students who attend the school.

According to Niche, I’m in the 62nd percentile among those accepted to Williams College, where I was deferred.

Furthermore, Niche offers a “Chance Me” feature. Wanting to assess my chances at Williams, I entered my data (grades, extracurriculars, scores, etc.) and my intended major. (I also rated my essays and recommendations as “pretty darn good” and “amazing,” respectively.)

Fellow users then vote on whether or not they think you can get in. So there’s really no credibility to this feature, but it has a magnetic pull. I couldn’t keep myself from trying it.

Each “Chance Me” costs two credits. I got four for free, but to gain more, I had to rate others’ chances at certain colleges—10 ratings for one credit. I felt very odd, unqualified and guilty telling people that they won’t be going to Yale. But I had to get my own credits.

Apparently I have a “high” chance of getting into Williams.

Psh. Okay.

Two people had the temerity to tell me it’s unlikely that I’ll be getting into Georgetown.

Actually, I agree with them. But I don’t like anonymous people telling me that.

Then again, 15 people told me I have a fair to high chance of getting in.

So if you’re like me and worrying about college, “Chance Me” is a way to pass the time.

Throughout my application process, I used Niche a lot. The Fiske Guide was informative but too objective, and everyone on College Confidential is looking for an ego boost.

Some of its features have questionable accuracy, but that aside, Niche gave the information I needed to finalize my college list.

And it’s nice to know that I’ll likely be accepted to Williams College after all...

“Heaven for Snooki—seriously almost all of the guys at UM are juice heads and are probably on steroids. It’s very common to see guys walking around with their T-shirt sleeves cut off, chests puffed out and their shoulders out wide and stiff.”

T

he first time I heard about College Confidential, I was told not to trust it.

“Don’t believe anything it says,” a former senior told me. “It’ll make you go crazy.”

But being a skeptic, I decided to check out the site anyway, not knowing that I’d spend the next hour and a half clicking feverishly from post to post in its infamous

forum.

When I finally forced myself to stop, I realized it’s true: College Confidential does make you go crazy—but in two different ways. As with many things, one’s good and one’s bad.

Allow me to explain the differences.

When you first enter the site, you have a choice. You can click the conspicuous link that takes you to “College Discussion” (the forum), or you can click on the other tabs on the page such as “College Search” and “College Admissions.”

For your sake, I hope you click on the latter tabs, for they are more likely to lead you to the good crazy. And by that I mean your eyes will be glued to the wealth of mostly helpful information shown on screen, and you’ll just want to keep reading forever.

The feature “College Search,” similar to that of College Navigator and BigFuture, allows you to choose the different qualities you want in your ideal college—school size, Greek life, campus setting, etc—and gives you a list of matching colleges.

Although this feature is nothing different from that of other college-search sites, the results are better. Eight of the 12 colleges that it produced were already on my carefully crafted list, so accuracy is pretty spot on.

The other tabs are equally helpful. “College Admissions” contains numerous articles that range from “SAT Scheduling Strategies” to “College Admissions: Dealing with Deferrals and Waitlists.” Or you can click on the tab “College Life” to learn about college survival tips and what kind of computers students generally find best for colleges.

The tab “Ask the Dean” allows anyone to submit a question to the “Dean,” and the Dean may publish the answer on the page. While the questions may not always concern you and the Dean’s identity and credibility remain nebulous, the answers are usually thoughtful and can potentially answer one of your questions or debunk myths.

I know that most people skip these tabs or find them useless, but I disagree. The articles in these sections aren’t the vague, general tips that you’ve “When I finally forced myself to stop, I realheard a million times. ized that it’s true; College Confidential does Yes, it takes some button-clicking to make you go crazy—but in two different get around, but the ways.” information provided makes it worth it.

However, if you’re anything like me, you’ll go through all the articles pretty quickly, since there are only a handful; new articles aren’t posted as often as I’d like.

But don’t worry—that’s what the discussion forum is for. Posts pop up like newborn rabbits, and you’re guaranteed to waste more time than you’d like to. There are four major discussion areas encompassing 33 sub-forums, which include even more sub-sections.

The forum, however, doesn’t have a very good reputation. It is the “bad crazy” of College Confidential (not always—but more on that later).

The forum is much like any other forums on the web, meaning anyone can sign up, become a member and post. Therefore, you’re guaranteed to find personal biases, outdated information, assumptions, facts, exaggerations or myths.

The bottom line is don’t trust the answers entirely—they are usually not authoritative.

This is especially true of the “What Are My Chances?” sub-forum, where you can post your “stats” and ask other members to predict your chances of getting into particular colleges.

This sub-forum, as intriguing as it is, is pretty useless.

As you will find out later, admission is dependent on so many factors, and there are no certainties. Therefore, this sub-forum is only good for people looking to a) boost their ego by bragging about their achievements, b) be assured of answers that they already have in mind, and c) have an anxiety attack.

Why? Because this sub-forum, along with the “XXX University Class of 2018 Decision Results,” is the real culprit driving people like me insane.

See College Confidential, page 7

A

A+

B

—College Prowler, University of Miami student

“Don’t go here if you’re looking to rage every night.

People really only party on the weekends, and parties are pretty modest. For me and most of my friends, the house parties are totally sufficient and fun, but real party animals might have a hard time finding something super crazy.”

—College Prowler, Occidental College student

F

“I was taking a shower when three hall mates burst in with packed bong in hand. Ask me if I want a hit. Say no because, well, I’m taking a bloody shower! It did give a pleasant aroma to the bathroom, however. No idea how the RAs didn’t notice.”

C+

B+

A-

D-

—College Confidential, DrNiko

A

C-

A+ A+

C+

The Octagon

February 18, 2014

Wells: Plans for next year highlight ‘honest dialogue’ (Continued from page 1) would choose before the last candidate was interviewed.”

Even though some people weren’t absolutely sure that Wells would win, many, including Nellis, are happy with the decision.

“I won’t have to explain what Ancil Hoffman picnic is or what graduation is like,” Nellis said with a laugh. “People choosing him says that people don’t want big changes.”

And Wells said that he doesn’t have any plans for the high school now except to listen very carefully to the students and faculty.

“I want people to come talk to me,” he said.

“I want students to tell me what they think.

We need an open, honest dialogue.”

Yet he added that becoming head of high school has some pitfalls.

“It’s going to change my relationship with the students,” Wells said. “My fear is that the connection with the students will be different, in a negative way. Obviously it will be different, but I want it to be positive.”

Known for his guitar playing in classes, Wells hopes that he can still have fun with the students and possibly teach one class when he replaces Nellis.

Currently the English department teaching schedule is not set in stone, Repsher said.

However the plan is to have Jane Bauman teaching freshmen, Patricia Fels teaching sophomores and junior AP English, and Ron

Bell teaching non-AP juniors and senior English, according to Repsher.

Repsher is also currently looking at applications for a new sixth-grade English teacher.

“These changes are going to have a ripple effect in grades 6- 12,” he said.

At the same time, Nellis is starting to prepare for the freshman history class she will be teaching next year when she replaces Daniel Neukom, who is retiring after teaching freshman Ancient History for 41 years.

As part of her preparation, Nellis is planning on making some changes to the curriculum.

“I want to see if there are any holes that I can fill by integrating topics into the ninth grade. I have the opportunity to do something different,” she said.

Nellis said she is working with World Cultures teacher Bruce Baird to make the transition between the freshman and sophomore years easier.

In addition, she is reworking her AP U.S. History class for the new AP test the College Board is reconfiguring.

Yet Nellis is still going to miss some of the aspects of being the head of high school.

“I’m not going to have nearly the contact with all the students,” she said. “And I’m going to miss the teachers as well.”

Shara Reeves, assistant to the head of high school, will also miss Nellis.

“She has a gentleness about her, but she

also has that confidence about her. She’s a very structured person,” Reeves said. “I’m thankful for Ms. Nellis.”

As Reeves shares Nellis’s office, she gets a glimpse of everything the head of high school must do and said that the job is very involving.

“Everything (can be) catapulted onto (head of HS), and it takes a special person to deal with that, to handle that. It can be very stressful,” she said. “(Wells) is acquiring a bit more knowledge as he goes along.”

Nellis agreed.

“1’m going to hand over to him a lot of nitty gritty kinds of stuff, a lot of things he hasn’t dealt with yet, and I’ll be working with him along the way,” she said.

But Nellis also says that she is going to give Wells room to grow.

“You have to deal with things that walk into the door,” she said. “The high school is moving and active every day, so you have to be flexible.”

Since the decision, Repsher has spent a lot of time going over duties with Wells as well as discussing what a good leader needs to achieve to ensure a good transition.

“A good leader always listens and listens for a period of time to the community,” he said. “(Wells) still would be well advised to listen carefully to what people say. You want to include as many voices as possible, and he is good at that.”

College Confidential: Site proves more helpful than first expected (Continued from page 6) After reading about how a student A) has gotten 5’s on all of his 12 AP classes; B) is the president of seven clubs; C) has started his own business; D) has perfect SAT and ACT scores; E) is the captain of three varsity sports teams, and F) has volunteered and built houses for poor children in developing countries—yes, you will feel like you have wasted 17 years of your meaningless life as well.

The “Results” pages are addictive because you see the real “stats” that people had when they’re accepted, deferred or denied. A week before hearing the results of my Early Decision to University of Pennsylvania, I was constantly reading these pages to deduce the chance of me getting in. But I ended up concluding nothing, and the sleep sacrifice wasn’t worth it.

However, the worst part is that these pages make you want to read

on, mostly so you can find someone with not-so-impressive stats with whom you can console yourself.

My advice? Don’t take the answers too seriously. If you can’t help it, then don’t come to those forums.

Despite the negatives about the forum, it’s not completely useless— you just need the time, patience and intellect to process everything.

The volume of information found here will overall make you more knowledgeable about the whole college application process.

College Confidential is definitely a tool—one that can be extremely helpful. It’s difficult to describe how useful it is or how insane it’ll make you because everyone defines “helpful” differently.

But do give it a try when you have time to spare. It’s not as terrible as some say it is.

Just don’t go on a College Confidential run the night before a test— you’ve been warned.

Remainder 7

Davis: Jamba Juice bet now a finished app (Continued from page 2)

got themselves a fat check of $50,000.

“We felt like we just won the lottery,” Caleb said.

Next was the programming stage. The Davises turned to many helpers, including a programmer at Unity 3D, a 3D designer from Maya (a 3D design program), a topographics designer, a level designer, a character designer and textual designers.

The Davises all contributed as conceptual artists for the game. Brian, in particular, served as the manager and found all the technicians and programmers through a network of people that he regularly works with.

“So, yeah, you can say it’s a lot of work with a lot of people involved,” Brian said with a laugh. “We actually did blow through that $50,000 and had to ask for $15,000 more. But we’re so close right now.”

The Davises noted that they’d had many challenges like the lack of experience and knowledge for all the technical parts of the process that thwarted their progress.

For example, they had created a beautiful design and sent it to the developer, but what came back was a complete mess, and they had to start again.

However, now the three are just happy that they finished this project.

“We want to say we want to get into the App Store and make money, but it’s really the success that matters, the success that the boys can look back on and say ‘You know what? We created an app from scratch,’” Brian said.

For Caleb, the best parts of the journey were the lesson of hard work and the chance to spend time with his family. He said he plans on majoring in mechanical engineering in college, not software development, but he still found creating the app a fun side project.

“It was just an awesome experience that helped define our family as one that’s creative and programs—it establishes our family values,” he said.

8 Feature

The Octagon

February 18, 2014

Graphic by Con nor Ma rt

in

Sophomore strikes it rich with Bitcoin In late 2012, sophomore Keaton Ochoa heard about a new way to “make a bunch of money on the computer” through Bitcoin, an experimental digital currency introduced in 2009.

He initially passed it off as a scam, but after a little research decided to purchase some out of curiosity at a rate of 1 bitcoin per $5.

By Garrett Kaighn Now Bitcoin has become a common name in the news, and Ochoa made a huge return off his unintentional investment: 1 bitcoin now hovers at a value around $800, 160 times his original investment.

Ochoa wouldn’t disclose his exact earnings, but he said he made a substantial profit and is continuing to research Bitcoin for his sophomore project.

Bitcoin is a digital cryptocurrency, meaning it employs cryptography (a method of communicating data between two parties that can’t be understood by any others) to control the creation and transfer of money.

Like the U.S. dollar or the euro (or any other currency), Bitcoin is simply meant to facilitate the exchange of goods and services, though few major companies currently accept Bitcoin.

“The only thing that’s actually worth buying is alpaca fur,” joked sophomore Jacob Sands, who has purchased $30-40 worth of Bitcoin.

Ochoa said he has bought a guitar and some computer games with his Bitcoin, has converted some back to dollars and is saving the rest.

Bitcoin is expanding, though—last month, Overstock.com and the Sacramento Kings became the first major retailer and the first professional sports franchise to accept Bitcoin.

Where Bitcoin differs from conventional currency—according to a thesis by pseudonymous founder Satoshi Nakamoto—is in its lack of a centralized third party (such as a bank or credit card company) to verify transactions.

Instead, Bitcoin uses cryptography and a network of users to verify transactions through a process known as “mining.”

This means that Bitcoin can be transferred directly from person to person securely, with little to no transaction fees and

with potential anonymity, much like a digital version of physical cash.

The low or nonexistent transaction fees are obviously convenient and make microtransactions viable, according to Ochoa.

“If you send a dollar with a credit card, there is a huge fee— like 30 cents,” he said. “But if you use Bitcoin, the transaction fees are really small, so you can reasonably send small amounts of money. And if you send a million, the fee would still be only around a dollar.”

The anonymity and separation from a central authority have also enabled illegal activity, most notably the online black market Silk Road, sometimes known as the “eBay for drugs.”

This illegal usage has given Bitcoin negative publicity, but Ochoa said it is unfair to judge Bitcoin by the illegal uses alone.

“At the end of the day, the dollar is still being used for the most money laundering and the most drug sales,” he said.

Illegal activities aside, some people enjoy the sense of security that comes with Bitcoin’s anonymity.

“I wasn’t planning on buying anything I needed to hide anyway, but it’s a nice thing to know that (my purchase history) can’t be traced,” junior Alex Bushberg said.

About a year ago, Bushberg purchased 0.6 bitcoin for around $65-75. He forgot about it until he discovered months later that Bitcoin had hugely increased in value—but he no longer had the email account his Bitcoin was purchased with.

“I was really upset—I had basically missed out on $600,” he said.

Bushberg later decided to try mining Bitcoin.

Each Bitcoin transaction over a roughly 10-minute period is compiled into a file known as a “block,” which is later added to the “block chain,” the permanent record of all Bitcoin transactions.

Each block is encrypted with a intentionally difficult mathematical problem and made public.

Mining is the process of using a computer (and a lot of power) to solve this problem, check the past records to ensure the transactions are legitimate (primarily preventing double-spending) and broadcast the confirmed transaction back through the network.

As an incentive for people to dedicate the large amounts of computational power necessary to mine, a pre-determined sum (currently 25 bitcoin) is distributed among the miners

that solve each block (which happens roughly every 10 minutes), serving the added purpose of injecting Bitcoin into the economy.

The reward has encouraged many to “mine” in the hopes of making money, but few have made a substantial profit.

Bushberg said he didn’t end up making more than a few cents from mining over a two-week period.

Senior David Myers attempted to dedicate his computer to mining Bitcoin, but he said his computer almost caught on fire after a day and he made close to nothing.

“You spend more money on electricity than you make from mining,” he said. “You’d need an incredibly powerful system to really make a profit.”

Since few companies currently accept Bitcoin and mining is only marginally profitable, many users treat it as an investment, similar to stocks.

Some, like Ochoa, saw a massive increase in value, but with few users compared to long-established national currencies, Bitcoin is very volatile.

On Feb. 10, one of the Bitcoin exchange websites, Mt. Gox, shut down due to an issue that could be exploited to commit fraud. In the course of that day, the value of 1 bitcoin dropped from around $850 to a low of $535 before rebounding again to nearly $700.

“I don’t trust (Bitcoin) at all, as evidenced by its value (changing rapidly),” said senior Troy Hoddick, who has mined and researched Bitcoin.

“The fundamental basis that Bitcoin is based off of is that the only thing needed for a currency to work is people holding faith. I disagree with that—there needs to be some sort of tangibility.”

Hoddick said he is too skeptical to invest his own money into it, and he doesn’t think Bitcoin will survive in the long term after the initial novelty dies down.

Others, such as Sands, think that Bitcoin’s publicity and volatility will help it grow stronger.

“People don’t consider it a currency because it’s so volatile, but everyone keeps talking about it,” Sands said. “And if everyone keeps talking about it, the value goes up.”

Ochoa agrees.

“I think it’s going to continue to thrive in the next few years,” he said. “More governments may start regulating it, but it’s looking good. Adoption (of Bitcoin) will spread as more people get their hands on it.”