Issue 9, 5/22/15 by The Campanile

PALO ALTO UNIFIED SCHOOL DISTRICT PALO ALTO HIGH SCHOOL 50 EMBARCADERO RD. PALO ALTO, CA 94301 NON-PROFIT ORG U.S. POSTAGE

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The Campanile

Vol. XCVII, No. 9

Palo Alto High School • 50 Embarcadero Road, Palo Alto, CA 94301 • www.palycampanile.org

Grad events to close out school year

Several senior events on horizon for the Class of 2015, beginning with baccalaureate Maggie Rosenthal

Apartment smoking ban fails to pass Rachel Farn

Staff Writer

Business Manager

alo Alto High School’s graduating seniors will have several activities to look forward to in their final weeks

at Paly. The senior activities will begin with the baccalaureate ceremony on May 29, the last day of senior finals. Seniors are instructed to arrive at De Anza College’s Flint Center by 7 p.m. for baccalaureate, which will run from 7:30 p.m. to 9 p.m., and will include student performances, such as dances and songs, and speakers. Venture capitalist and Paly alumnus Ann Miura-Ko and Senior Class Pres. Maya Ben-Efraim will both speak at baccalaureate. The next graduation event will be the Senior Class Picnic on June 1. Students will be taken to the Santa Cruz Beach Boardwalk via buses, which will leave from Paly at 9 a.m. and return at 5:30 p.m. The event will be put on by Paly’s Parent Teacher Student Association (PTSA), and the $75 tickets include transportation, lunch and unlimited rides at the boardwalk. Following the picnic is the graduation rehearsal on June 2. The PTSA will hold a breakfast for seniors at 7:45 a.m. Directly afterwards, there

Friday, May 22, 2015

Design By Maggie Rosenthal

The graduation ceremony will take place at Paly on June 3. A reception and graduation night party will follow the celebration.

will be a mandatory graduation practice lasting until 10 a.m. Tickets for graduation will be distributed during the rehearsal, with each senior receiving up to 10 tickets for family and friends. The graduation ceremony and reception will be on June 3 from 5:30 p.m. to 8 p.m. Seniors need to be at Paly by 5 p.m. and guests are encouraged to arrive early as well, as seating will be available on a first-come, firstserved basis. Immediately after the

diploma ceremony, the junior class will host a reception, giving students a chance to take pictures with the new alumni before buses arrive for the graduation night party. The PTSA-sponsored graduation night party will follow the graduation reception. Seniors should assemble at 8 p.m. in front of the Tower Building for an 8:30 p.m. bus departure. The location for the party has been kept secret, though several details have been released about the

party. Students have been instructed to wear casual clothing and bathing suits. The party will include dinner, breakfast, games, a movie room and a casino with cash prizes, as well as other activities which have not yet been announced. There will also be entertainers throughout the night, including DJ Miguel Hightop, who also deejayed at this year’s prom. Buses will return at 2:30 a.m., ending the final graduation activity for the Class of 2015.

fter the vote on May 12 regarding a proposal to ban indoor smoking in multi-family complexes, the Palo Alto City Council decided to not extend the current smoking ban to apartments, but to instead include electronic cigarettes among those in existing bans. Because of multiple existing smoking restrictions for smokers, the council decided against extending the smoking ban to multi-family complexes. Despite choosing to not involve cigarettes in the bans, the council decided to include electronic cigarettes in current smoking bans because of the increasing use of electronic cigarettes by teenagers. During the council’s discussion, the council was surprised by a letter from the Santa Clara County Health Department talking about the spreading use of electronic cigarettes among youth. “Youth are now witnessing smoking behaviors in public spaces that have been smoke-free for most, if not all, of their lives,” the

Apartment Smoking A3

City council to vote on PAPD body cameras

Mindfulness to be introduced into curriculum

Jeremy Fu

Online Editor

he Palo Alto Police Department (PAPD) will equip 90 more police officers with body-mounted cameras if the 2016 Palo Alto city budget passes in June, ending the one-year pilot program and moving to advance this technology to all officers. The city’s recently announced budget includes allocating $95,000 towards new body cameras, which will allow the police department to expand the use of this new technology in order to promote transparency. According to a report from the city manager’s office, the PAPD pilot program began in 2013 and consisted of nine body-mounted cameras which were tested primarily with officers on motorcycles. “This will allow officers, primarily on motorcycles, to capture video evidence when they are away from their vehicles,” the 2015 report said. In the 2016 budget proposal, body-mounted cameras are noted as a piece of a larger video recording system, as the current in-car recording systems only capture approximately 40 to 60 percent of police field patrol interactions with the public. The body cameras will work alongside the police department’s recently installed video camera system in patrol cars, which can capture a 270 degree view. This fivecamera system is an improvement from the traditional front-facing dash camera. According to the budget, the body-mounted cameras are predicted to help assist in criminal prosecution, reduce civil liability and aid in the review of alleged misconduct. If the budget is approved, Palo Alto will join a growing number of cities

Body cameras

Meditation will be added to physical education classes next year after success at Gunn Nicole LI

Staff Writer

urrent Palo Alto High School science Instructional Supervisor Josh Bloom hopes to move towards bringing mindfulness to Paly as next year’s Teacher on Special Assignment (TOSA) for Social Emotional Learning. Bloom believes that mindfulness will greatly benefit the student body, and hopes to follow in the path that Henry M. Gunn High School has taken with respect to mindfulness and intraspection, Gunn’s Student Executive Council recently voted to introduce a mindfulness curriculum to physical education (PE) classes in the upcoming school year. Gunn’s mindfulness curriculum will be taught by the national organization Youthful Empowerment Seminar (YES!). According to the YES! website, the curriculum strives to lead students in exercises, deep breathing and social lessons, including conflict resolution and management of different forms of stress. A Palo Alto Online article on Gunn’s decision to include mindfulness detailed that the 30-minute sessions will be delivered over four to five weeks in PE.

Danny Hammerson/The Campanile

Paly students participate in a meditation activity led by Palo Alto Medical Foundation mindfulness instructor Clia Tierney.

Bloom wants all of Paly to have access to the stress-relieving tools that YES! provides. “There are tools that all of us can learn to help manage … and decrease that stress in our lives,” Bloom said. “Part of that has to do with increasing [our] level of self-awareness, including an awareness of our thinking and our emotions.”

Bloom will attempt to create environments where students can reap the benefits of self-awareness, possibly in PE classes and advisory. He mentioned PE as a place where students already learn about physical health and should learn more about emotional health. Paly PE teacher Sheri Mulroe also sees mindfulness as an important tool for students and has currently made arrangements for Palo Alto Medical Foundation (PAMF) instructors, including mindfulness instructor Clia Tierney, to lead classes in mindfulness exercises. “[The PAMF instructor] is going to come every [seven period] day until school’s out,” Mulroe said. “Their hope is then to bring it to more of the [PE] classes. They are working on a proposal to bring to the district.” While Mulroe is in support of formally bringing mindfulness to PE classes, she noted that many teachers already implement meditation in their classes, and that self-awareness should not be strictly limited to PE — teachers of other subjects should adapt activities which promote mindfulness as well.

“It really is important that [the school knows that] it’s happening in other classes too, and it doesn’t have to be in [PE],” Mulroe said. “There’s not a particular way you need to be in order to practice mindfulness, so any teacher can do it, in any classroom.” In accordance with Bloom’s and Mulroe’s views, many students think that the option of having the selfawareness program in PE is beneficial for their mental health. Freshman Rebecca Young remarked that such a program would significantly improve the PE experience. “I think right now people look at PE as something [they do not] look forward to or … want to do because it’s not relaxing at all, and it doesn’t help,” Young said. “I think [the program] would help us look forward to all of our classes more and make [us] feel more awake for the rest of the day.” However, others view the integration of mindfulness into school curriculum not as a benefit, but instead as a potential time-waster. Freshman Layla Jiang mentioned that mindfulness would be unneces-

Spotlight

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Sports

See the different colleges that the seniors will be attending. B4-B5

What does the Class of 2015 have to say about their time at Paly? B3, B6

A guide to the most prestigious European soccer tournament. C4-C5

I see mindfulness and meditation as something that is very simple and very much related to [good habits] — it’s a practice and habit that makes us healthier.

Josh Bloom

Social Emotional Learning TOSA

sary and difficult to facilitate successfully. “I feel like maybe some students wouldn’t take it seriously, just because people don’t really take PE as a serious class in the first place,” Jiang said. Similarly, junior Andy Kotik said that the exercises introduced would not be carried into students’ everyday lives. “It would be good to [teach mindfulness], but [students] wouldn’t do it afterwards,” Kotik said. Despite the criticisms, Bloom wants to seamlessly incorporate a balanced dose of mindfulness into students’ school lives. “We always talk about eating well and exercising and getting enough sleep,” Bloom said. “All of those are just simple practices and habits, and I see mindfulness and meditation as something that is very simple and very much related to that — it’s a practice and habit that makes us healthier.” With these ideas in mind, Bloom hopes to implement major changes to Paly’s culture in order to help the community reassess student wellbeing.

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Friday, May 22, 2015

A2 NEWS TO KNOW

The Campanile

NEWS Theatre department reveals new board Students finish “One Acts” and Senior Showcase and announce upcoming positions Abira berezin

staff writer

Courtesy of American Thinker

@nytimes Obama to limit military-style equipment for police forces

@CNN Breaking News Nine people were killed in shooting among rival bikers in Waco, Texas, CNN affiliates say.

@Newsweek U.S investigating Venezuela parliamentary head for cocaine trafficking and money laundering

he Palo Alto Theatre Department announced its new student board and season for next year at its final major event of the school year, Senior Showcase on May 16, after finishing “One Acts” on May 9. Next year’s executive student board will be Sophie Sweezey, Ophir Sneh, Liam Noroian, Charlotte Moffatt and Clara Baker. Lana Graves and Molly Kraus will be on the auxiliary board.

“One Acts”’ is a great way for people to be introduced into Paly Theatre before they do one of the bigger productions.

Cara Kienitz Senior

@BBCWorld EU approves plans to establish a naval force to combat people-smugglers operating from Libya

Courtesy of CNN Money

@ForeignAffairs India detonates its first nuclear bomb @CNNMoney Flying cars like this @aeromobil could hit the market by 2017. @nytimesbusiness There are only 13 women on the list of 200 top-paid executives. @FoxNewsInsider Illegal immigrants push families of U.S. citizens to back of immigrant line @AP Hundreds block Seattle seaport entrances to protect Arctic oil drilling, hoping to disrupt work on Shell rig @TheEllenShow Barack Obama has his own Twitter account. He hasn’t asked for followers yet because he probably doesn’t want to @ POTUS on the spot. @msnbc Los Angeles raises minimum wage to $15 per hour

The upcoming season will include many new shows like Shrek the Musical Jr., Metamorphoses and Macbeth. “I’m really excited for Macbeth and to see how the theatre decides to take it on,” junior Ophir Sneh said.

Courtesy of Paly Theatre

Palo Alto High School theatre students gather on stage during Senior Showcase on May 16 after the theatre’s “One Acts” on May 9.

Senior Showcase took place in the Haymarket Theater, honoring the graduating Class of 2015 in theatre. Student event organizers selected underclassmen and juniors in theatre based on requests to present about a senior they are paired with. “Presenting somebody is a really good experience because it’s a time solely dedicated to talking about all the amazing memories you’ve made,” junior Adele Bloch said. The theater director, Kathleen Woods, also presented a speech about

each senior for the ceremony. One of her students shared her experience. “It’s a very sad but fun and sentimental evening,” senior Jamie Garcia said. The 2014-15 season closed with the completely student run annual “One Acts” after three days of five student directed shows. Four of the shows were published scripts directed by students: seniors Katherine Craig, Hannah Nguyen, Sabrina Sonner, junior Sophie Sweezey and sophomore Jason Pol-

Smarter Balanced Admin improves sparks test reform research programs Low turnout raises questions about time allotment and scheduling better test dates Noah Smith

staff writer

n response to the extremely low turnout for the Smarter Balanced and Standardized Testing and Reporting (STAR) tests the last week of April, Palo Alto High School administrators are considering making drastic changes to how the tests are taken. The time allotments for the tests were a state requirement, and most students did not need the full amount of time provided. “We are looking for different schedules,” Paulson said. “We might do four days instead of two, and having them built into regular school days so that more students will take the tests.” Despite standardized tests’ shortcomings, the Advanced Placement (AP) tests ran fairly smoothly. “Based on the complexity of the [AP] tests, they went well,” administrator Jerry Berkson said. “There were a few technical problems that will be fixed as students make up the tests.”

Many more students called in sick this year for AP tests. “With all the illnesses going around, it was no big surprise,” said Berkson.

Based on the complexity of the [AP] tests, they went well... there were a few technical problems.

Jerry Berkson

Paly Assistant Principal There was plenty of potential for technological mistakes as well. “I would say it ran fairly smoothly, and went well overall,” said Berkson. The Baccalaureate will be held in the Flint Center in San Jose, with Paly alumnus Ann Miura-Ko as the keynote speaker, on May 29. “Committees are working on who will perform right now,” Berkson said. Also, there will be locker cleanout as usual, and students must pay book bills in order to receive a yearbook and senior diplomas.

Science Research Project expands to Gunn Jamie Har

staff writer

alo Alto Unified School District Board of Education plans to expand the breadth and depth of the Advanced Authentic Research (AAR) program offered only at Palo Alto High School and to extend Paly’s Science Research Project program to Henry M. Gunn High School starting in August 2016. This decision was spurred by a vision to “ignite, illuminate and inspire student learning,” according to Supt. Glenn McGee. AAR is a high school research project for students interested, passionate or curious about one of the many specialized topics offered by the program. By pairing students with mentors in the field most appealing to each student, the program aims to provide students with a network support system and opportunities to work off-campus in a professional setting while maintaining a degree of traditional classroom instruction. This program focuses on projectbased discovery and real world application, two integral parts of Common

Students enjoy ASB activities Kate deandre

MAY

MEMORIAL DAY

MAY

SENIOR AWARDS NIGHT

staff writer

Courtesy of Amanda Carlsson

Inflatable obstacle courses and other activities sparked interest among students.

grade levels to create friendships and interact with one another. “I think it is really great how the teams are mixed up by gender and grade because it allows for students to make new friends and connect with other grades which is really important,” sophomore Tess Preising said. The week began with a face-off between teams in a game of flagfootball similar to the years past with powderpuff. The next day the teams all participated in a game of ultimate frisbee to earn more points for the next game of volleyball. On Wednesday the teams dueled in consecutive volleyball matches in

order to earn their final points before the teams were then cut down to the top six. “I don’t normally play football, volleyball or ultimate frisbee, because I don’t have a lot of time to do so after school, but since ‘Viking Best of the Best Sports Fest’ is giving us a chance to play these games with whoever you want during school, I was definitely looking forward to it,” Preising said. After Wednesday, the most successful teams moved on to the final rounds. With the final day on May 22, teams are looking forward to finishing the competition and finding out who will be crowned the winner of the new ASB Sports Fest tradition.

Core State Standards and the College and Career Readiness Writing Anchor Standards. Based on the positive reflections of former participants like Stanford student Ted Li, AAR seems to have been successful in sufficiently preparing its participants for real world challenges. “Conducting research [in high school] has given me an appreciation for the process of discovery and also gives me valuable tools that I can use in other parts of my life, whether it’s collaborating with others, delivering presentations or figuring out new ways to approach challenging questions and problems,” Li said. Paly’s SRP has inspired students to take charge of their own learning in their specific fields, according to senior Alex Hwang. “Taking SRP was one of the best decisions I’ve made at Paly,” Hwang said. “It allowed each student to be very independent; our grades are based simply on hours logged doing our own individual research.” Encouraged by the success of AAR and SRP, the PAUSD board looks forward to improving the courses in the future.

upcoming events

Field Day and “Best of the Best Sports Fest” exceed expectations he Palo Alto High School Associated Student Body (ASB) established a successful environment for Field Day and “Viking Best of the Best Sports Fest,” which took place on May 15 through May 22. Field Day continued the tradition of past years by providing popular activities, free food and extra lunch time to students. ASB added bungee jumping to the array of inflatable obstacle courses. “I think it’s a good experience where stressed out high school students can have a lunch with their friends just to have fun and be happy,” sophomore Maddie Frick said. In addition to Field Day, “Viking Best of the Best Sports Fest” is a new event aimed at creating an at-ease environment leading up to finals. This tournament consists of football, ultimate frisbee and volleyball all played by teams composed of at least one freshman, sophomore, junior and senior. This event is replacing the all-girls flag football competition, powderpuff. Unlike powderpuff, “Viking Best of the Best Sports Fest” combines all

lak. The other show, “The Sphinx,” was written by senior Guive Assadi and was directed by Assadi’s fellow senior Oskar Soderberg. The process of choosing directors and shows for “One Acts” started in early spring with a total of 62 students participating as actors, directors and theater technicians in the final product. “‘One Acts’” is a great way for people to be introduced before they do one of the bigger productions,” senior Cara Kienitz, student producer, said.

Spend your day thanking the veterans for their faithful service for our country.

So that’s who wrecked the grade curve...

JUNE

FINALS

JUNE

GRADUATION

JUNE

FIRST DAY OF SUMMER SCHOOL

It’s a good thing we had three days to study for this.

We won’t miss you, clap, clap, clap, clap, clap!

Let’s talk about sex, baby... in Living Skills.

The Campanile

Friday, May 22, 2015

NEWS

Palo Alto police to use body cameras City Council rejects pending passing of new city budget apartment smoking bill Body cameras to accompany existing in-car recording devices

creased usage among youth community Continued From A1

Courtesy of Kevin Hume

The Palo Alto Police Department hopes to follow nearby cities’ suit by adding the cost of police body cameras to the city budget.

Continued From A1 which are adopting body-mounted cameras.” Last year, Santa Clara Supervisor Joe Simitian led an investigation about the use of technology for sheriffs. Based on the research conducted by his staff, he believes that bodymounted cameras have the potential to reduce excessive force, and assist officers in investigations. Last month, San Francisco Mayor Ed Lee announced a budget that included $3 million to equip all police officers with body-mounted cameras. His announcement follows similar announcements from cities such as Baltimore and announcements of pilot programs in New York, Chicago and Washington. According to a survey conducted by PoliceOne and TASER International, around 25 percent of police

agencies use body-mounted cameras and 80 percent of agencies are evaluating future use of the technology. Furthermore, The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) fully supports the use of body-mounted cameras to increase overall officer accountability. However, the union still believes that the systems still have the potential to invade the public’s privacy. “Overall, we think [body-mounted cameras] can be a win-win — but only if they are deployed within a framework of strong policies to ensure they protect the public without becoming yet another system for routine surveillance of the public and maintain public confidence in the integrity of those privacy protections,” ACLU Senior Policy Analyst Jay Stanley wrote in an article. The use of body cameras has recently come under fire, due to the in-

consistent use by on-duty officers and potential infringement upon personal privacy. “We have to know why they will be used, and what safeguards are in place to make sure they won’t be misused.” Chauncee Smith, racial justice advocate for the ACLU of Northern California said in an interview with the San Francisco Chronicle. “People’s privacy needs to be protected.” Nevertheless, police departments are touting the benefits of bodymounted cameras, especially given the drops in use of force incidents and complaints from citizens. After equipping its police department with body-mounted cameras, the Oakland Police Department saw a 72 percent decrease in use of force incidents. If the proposed budget is passed by the city council in June, officers will have another tool to aid in protecting both themselves and the public.

letter states. “Youth are also being exposed to e-cigarette advertising on television, something that has been prohibited for decades for traditional tobacco products." According to a study from the Center of Disease Control (CDC), the percent of high school students who tried e-cigarettes increased from 4.7 percent to 10 percent from 2011 to 2012. "The likely harm to youth outweighs for me the potential benefit [e-cigarettes] might provide to others," City Council Policy and Services Committee member Marc Berman said. Banning e-cigarettes was also considered last year when the multi-family complex smoking ban was originally proposed. The proposal was also turned down last year by the council due to a lack of research on the topic. However, after sending out an online survey to 85,000 tenants, landlords and multi-family units, Palo Alto’s city council decided to have a revote. Based on the survey, 96 percent of those surveyed lived in multi-family units and 95 percent were nonsmokers. Ninety percent of the overall respondents supported smoking restrictions. Out of this 90 percent, 82 percent favored banning smoking in all units, 30 percents favored banning smoking in some units, 72 percent favored only banning smoking in indoor common areas and 68 percent favored only banning smoking in outdoor common areas. The surveyed also showed that 80 percent of the respondents were bothered by indoor smoking and 64 percent were “very much” bothered by it.

Overall, the results of the survey showed Palo Alto residents’ support of smoking restrictions in multi-family units — restrictions which Santa Clara, San Rafael, Belmont, Richmond and Walnut Creek have already adopted. “Second-hand smoke exposure in multi-family units is too common,” one respondent said. “We are forced to shut our windows when smokers walk past outside, or if smokers are on their balcony and it wafts in.”

The likely harm to youth outweighs for me the potential benefit [e-cigarettes] might provide to others.

Marc Berman

City Council Member According to the American Lung Association, a ban on smoking would have helped protect residents from inhaling secondhand smoking. Some Palo Alto respondents complained that restrictions would be undermining property rights. However, a majority of the respondents, including City Council member Gregory Scharff, were concerned about exposure to secondhand smoke or health conditions which may be worsened. “Secondhand smoking is a huge danger,” Scharff said. “It causes cancer. It basically kills people and you have no choice if you live in an apartment. You shouldn't have to be subject to that, frankly.” As a whole, smoking restrictions in Palo Alto are continuously expanding with an aim to maintain a healthy environment for non-smokers and keep students away from secondhand exposure to cigarette smoke.

Friday, May 22, 2015

The Campanile

NEWS

Olympic-style events bring senior Forum addresses athletes to sports competitions teen mental health Senior Games aim to promote healthy living among local elderly

Mountain View agency facilitates open forum regarding teen stress and pressure Joanna falla

staff writer

courtesy of john todd photography

A senior athletes jumps to block a shot during the 2012 National Senior Games. Basketball is just one of the 19 events organized.

Claire dennis

news and opinion editor

uring the month of May, several local facilities in Palo Alto will partner to host a series of sports events as part of the ninth annual Bay Area Senior Games. This year’s Senior Games are expected to expand on the success of the games of previous years. As of April 22, 1,300 athletes signed up to participate in the 19 events offered, ranging from typical sports such as basketball to unique competitions such as pickleball. Some recent additions to the games include water polo, lawn bowling and soccer, which were tested in the 2009 National Senior Games and have been fully implemented recently due to high demand. The Senior Games feature athletes over the age of 50 and host a variety of Olympic events, such as track and field, volleyball and archery. The Bay Area Senior Games stem from a local partnership with the National Senior Games Association. The national organization aims to promote healthy lifestyles in senior citizens through annual Olympic events and has a

partnership with the official United States Olympic Committee. The Bay Area Senior Games look to involve the community by utilizing local facilities and relying on volunteers. Lawn bowling, volleyball and raquetball will take place in Palo Alto community centers such as Cubberley gym and the Palo Alto Elks Club, while water polo, swimming and soccer will be held at Stanford University facilities. The Bay Area Senior Games have had a longstanding partnership with Stanford since it hosted the majority of the events in the 2009 National Senior Games. “We are very happy to continue to host the Bay Area Senior Games as part of Stanford Athletics’ support of the senior community and senior athletes,” Ray Purpur, Stanford’s deputy athletic director, said in a press release. “This event encourages Californians over 50 to keep fit and live healthy, a message the University wholeheartedly supports.” The Bay Area Senior Games is a continuation of the National Senior Games, which were held in 2009 in Palo Alto. Following more informal test events as early as 2006, the 2009

event drew over 10,000 athletes from 18 sports. Due to the popularity of the National Senior Games, the Bay Area Sports Organizing Committee has helped facilitate a regional competition for future years. Athletes who participate in the regional games have the opportunity to qualify for the national games, which will be held this summer in Minnesota. The Bay Area chapter is one of the six regional chapters offered in California. The Bay Area Senior Games are headed by 2015 Bay Area Senior Games Chair Anne Cribbs. Cribbs, a Bay Area native, won a gold medal at the 1960 Olympic Games in swimming. Since retiring from competitive swimming at fifteen, she has worked as a sports advocate in the Bay Area. She now dedicates much of her time to the Bay Area Senior Games. “We are delighted to be able to continue the tradition of the Bay Area Senior Games [which are] now in [their] ninth year,” Cribbs said. “These men and women are shining examples of the benefits of an active, competitive lifestyle that embraces vitality and exemplifies our slogan ‘Long Live the Challenge.’”

he Community Health Awareness Council (CHAC) held its first of three open forums at its clinic in Mountain View as a part of the first annual event on May 7. The event, known as the Leadership and Empowerment Program (LEaP), was run by Bay Area high school students in an effort to educate the parents of Silicon Valley on how to understand their children and how students deal with stress brought on by living in the progressive area of Silicon Valley. The first public forum was titled “Teen Pressure in Silicon Valley,” inspired and mediated by program leader and Business Manager for CHAC Hala Kleinknecht. Kleinknecht started the first annual program to show parents from a teenager’s point of view the mental hardships teenagers face growing up in Silicon Valley.

There hasn’t really been in our community a forum or platform for teens to educate adults on what it’s like from their perspective.

Hala Kleinknecht Program leader

“I reached out to the schools, they chose one student from each class, and when [the students] came in they were completely committed,” Kleinknecht said. “When we first met we said, ‘Okay guys pick a topic, It’s your platform, you pick a topic,’ and all of them picked stress, pressure [and] anxiety. Those were really important to them.” The goal of the LEaP is for adults to be able to understand what teenagers are feeling by actively listening to their children. “A lot of times adults talk about being teens or what it’s like being

teens and what they are facing; which is great, but there hasn’t really been in our community a forum or platform for teens to educate adults on what it’s like from their perspective. What it’s like being a teen and what they need,” Kleinknecht said. The program emphasizes teen leadership; Kleinknecht formed the program to give teenagers a voice. “The speakers for the series will be teenagers educating and talking about their stories from their perspective and from their own individual voice,” Kleinknecht said. CHAC is a nonprofit mental health agency whose main objective is to provide counseling and general support to local children and families. Kleinknecht, who is a Marriage and Family Therapist, believes that making the three-part LEaP an annual event will help to create a stronger rapport between adults and teenagers. “It’s different from what the adults say or what the parents say our teens need because this is what the research says or what as therapists what we hear from our clients having it straight from the horse’s mouth,” Kleinknecht said. In each public forum, a new subject will be chosen by the new panel of students from each level of high school so that adults and parents alike can hear what matters most to the teenage students of Silicon Valley. The program was designed for educating both parents and children on perspectives. “Most of the time when you’re talking to your child it’s all this talking at and not really listening, and the adults here truly want to listen and they want to hear from [teenagers],” Kleinknecht said. “It’s so important that [teenagers] know how important and powerful [their] voices are and I don’t think [teenagers] realize that.” LEaP is scheduled to have its second open forum of this year in October, and one last forum in January for the new year all revolving around the daily social issues that the teens of Silicon Valley go through.

UC officials withhold Cameras to be installed near train 2015 acceptance rates Palo Alto to fund expansion of security precautions near Caltrain Controversy over in-state acceptance rates causes officials to postpone release date Masha konkov

staff writer

midst a political standoff regarding state budget as well as the growing sense that a University of California (UC) education is no longer attainable for California residents, the UC system will not be revealing 2015 acceptance rates until late May. The UC system typically releases admissions data in the middle of April. UC officials attribute the delays to uncertainty over funding and therefore enrollment in the upcoming academic year. The withholding of record-low admission rates is designed to avoid further fueling tensions between UC President Janet Napolitano and California Governor and UC Regent Jerry Brown. In early March, Napolitano announced restrictions on next year’s out-of-state enrollment at UC Berkeley and UC Los Angeles, as well as a California resident enrollment freeze. This was to prevent enrolling students for whom the university has no guaranteed funding. Though many students feel confident that they will fulfill their dreams of attending a UC school, even campuses that students once believed were “safety schools” or solid bets for good students — Santa Cruz, Santa Barbara and Riverside — are receiving record numbers of applications and wait-listing or rejecting top achievers, resulting in frustrated students. The influx of applicants is correlated with students becoming alarmed by the plummeting admission rates, therefore applying to even more

campuses than they would otherwise. According to Bay Area News Group, the UC student body has changed from 96 percent in-state students in 1994 to less than 86 percent in 2012. Many students from the Palo Alto High School class of 2015 were turned away from UCs, and admitted into highly ranked out-of-state public universities or private institutions. Paly senior Ariana Trindall, who will be attending UCSB in the fall, was surprised at how selective Davis and Irvine were this year. “I applied to just about all UCs except Riverside and Merced because even though those were good safeties, I knew I wouldn’t like it there,” Trindall said. “I decided to go to UC [Santa Barbara] and that was actually the only one I fully got into aside from UC [Santa Cruz]. That surprised me because I felt I had qualities to get me into [UC] Irvine and [UC] Davis as well. In terms of unfairness, I think it’s a natural casualty of poor funding towards education. While it is bad for Californians like myself, I think the universities are in a really bad position.” Senior James Chau was even more shocked when he was rejected from all UCs he applied to, including Irvine and Santa Barbara. Luckily, Chau was accepted into University of Michigan, Ann Arbor through early action, making the rejections a little less disappointing. “Judging by the statistics I saw online, I was expecting to get into at least a couple, I didn’t expect [UCs] to be that competitive this year,” Chau said. “My parents preferably would have wanted me to attend a UC, but were willing to pay for Michigan.”

Tiffany Liang/The Campanile

Current train overwatch relies on hired guards to patrol the train tracks. Cameras would help with the monitoring of the tracks.

catherine yu

staff writer

n light of recent suicides on the Caltrain tracks, Palo Alto city officials plan to test a new camera system that would alert guards of people on the tracks and improve guards’ visibility of the tracks. The current system used to protect people on the tracks is a 4-year-old program called Track Watch. Track Watch is a private security firm hired by the Palo Alto Police Department that places security guards by the tracks everyday for the hours that Caltrain has trains running. However, in the event that someone steps on the tracks while the trains are running, these guards are not permitted to physically pull people off of the tracks — this can only be performed by public safety officials. After increasing the fencing around the tracks and putting Track Watch into effect, city officials hope

that the $30,000 autonomous camera project will prevent additional deaths involving the Caltrain tracks. According to the Caltrain suicide prevention website, there is an average of 12 suicides by Caltrain per year. This year alone, there has already been nine fatalities, not all intentional, reported for the Caltrain system. Implementing a new automated camera system will extend visibility of the tracks and also notify guards of anything or anyone on the tracks in a more timely manner. The cameras will be able to alert guards the moment an individual steps onto the tracks. In addition, the new surveillance method will have the ability to detect cars that are stalled or stuck on the tracks. This will ensure that public safety officials have enough time to arrive at the Caltrain tracks in order to resolve possible issues. “I think that the idea is great and is a step forward in the right direction,” Gunn junior Kathleen Ji said.

“It may also deter people from committing suicide at the tracks if they know that they will be watched.” According to Palo Alto High School Principal Kim Diorio and Henry M. Gunn High School Principal Denise Herrmann, nearly 60 students from both schools have been hospitalized for “significant suicide ideation” and around 200 students were identified as at-risk or high-risk following the recent student suicides on the tracks. Palo Alto city officials are hoping that the project will also prevent future Caltrain incidents involving Palo Alto Unified School District students. “However, I also think that the response time will not be quick enough to stop anyone from committing suicide,” Ji said. “If someone knew exactly what they wanted to do, they’d be able to jump before anyone could respond to the video. I do applaud the city’s efforts though; this is definitely a step in the right direction.”

The Campanile

Friday, May 22, 2015

A5 OPINION Should students decorate their graduation caps? Some school officials worry that tradition of decorating caps with future schools causes unnecessary stress

JEFFREY HO

Senior Staff Writer

YES

ith senioritis kicking in stronger than ever, seniors slowly gravitate towards one of the possibly most influential events of their lives — graduation. With graduation comes the unveiling of fanciful attire students wear for such an occasion. Spanning back to 12th century Europe, the traditional cap and gown attire was donned by students of newly formed universities as a means to distinguish groups of academics in postsecondary institutions, and as a convenient tertiary usage, to keep warm in frigid temperatures without the heating systems we have today. But focusing solely on the headdress portion of the now commemorative outfit, the 20th century brought along greater use of the modern flattop graduation caps for secondary education graduation and Baccalaureate ceremonies. And in more recent years, graduates have begun to decorate their caps with future plans after high school. This has solidified as tradition at many high school institutions for students to decorate their caps with their future plans, and with good reason. Many students’ next step after high school is college, and thus most students decorate their caps with logos and mascots of the various postsecondary institutions they will attend. However, recently some schools across the nation, including the administration of our cross town

neighbors at Henry M. Gunn High School, have proposed and even taken action to eliminate the idea of decorating graduation caps altogether. Such a proposal is incorrect for many reasons. In high school, teachers, parents and peers alike encouraged students to strive for individuality throughout the high school experience. Symbolically speaking, the decoration of high school graduation caps, or at a bare minimum the option to decorate graduation caps, represents one final time a student can demonstrate their singularity with respect to others as a high school student. Intended to create a celebratory mood, the cap with decorations serves as much more than just a culmination of high school; rather, it serves as a pigment representing the past and the future in a simultaneous manner. The cap as a physical entity serves as a reminder of the four years of high school one has endured, while at the same time denotes the beginning of what is ahead. There should be no flaws with such intentions. Given all of this, it is ironic how we can say that one of our main intentions as people who truly strive for the freedom of expression for all. To disallow such a tradition is like feeding the homeless without food — insulting and purposeless.

The cap as a physical entity serves as a reminder of the four years of high school one has endured, while at the same time denotes the beginning of what’s ahead. Taking away students’ ability to express their future endeavors through graduation cap art may not seem like much. Not only would students lose the freedom of expression during a time of intended celebration, but such a ban features limited, if any upside as a preventative measure for anxiety and stress. Those who choose or support a ban of decoration of graduation caps may find the act of decorating graduation caps as a compulsive act to show superiority based

on the college one attends. However, not allowing students to decorate graduation caps represents an administrative concession that the shallow meaning of high school is solely defined by which college one attends. It is certainly fair to be concerned about student well-being; however, the compulsive manner in which such action would be taken concludes that the primary purpose of high school in general is for administration wellbeing. (With all due respect, many do believe that administration wellbeing is important for schools to function. However, students ought to still be treated as first priority in an educational institution.)

Not allowing students to decorate graduation caps represents an administrative concession that the shallow meaning of high school is solely defined by which college one attends. In addition, those who are not in support of allowing students to decorate their own graduation caps may think that a ban would help alleviate any anxiety or anger students have towards each other. For one, graduation is a time of celebration rather than hostility. Despite the grudges students may have on one another, everyone is generally happy due to the inherent nature of such a monumental achievement in students’ lives. By not allowing graduation cap decorations, those who implement such a ban concede that there indeed is really only one valuable measure of success — the college one plans to attend next year. Rather than celebrating individuality and the successes students have had over four years of high school, the ban would also set the precedent that students shouldn’t be proud of their futures because someone’s post high school plans deviate from another’s plans. Why should a senior’s graduation be spoiled by disallowing his or her ability to decorate graduation caps?

Kevin Mullin

Senior staff writer

s a student here at Palo Alto High School, I occasionally get bored. If this occurs when I am in a public place, surrounded by my peers, I like to play a little game called “Find the Ivy.” This game is quite simple to learn, and a pleasure to play. All a participant must do is attempt to find a student wearing an article of clothing from every single Ivy league institution. On two separate occasions, I have been successful in my quest. To me, this epitomizes the problem we have at Palo Alto High School and in the Palo Alto Unified School District in general. Students cannot escape the inevitable success of their peers, and are essentially unable to avoid the “Ivy, Stanford or Bust” mentality that is so prominent in our community. Since a remarkably young age, Palo Alto kids know the good schools from the bad schools. Countless times as an elementary schooler, I would ask my mom “Is that a good school?” Her answers were never forgotten, and I was already beginning to form my schema for what it meant to be successful. Fast forward to middle school, and the college apparel started to make an appearance. Hand-medowns from older siblings, parents’ old clothing,and Stanford shirts purchased from a gift shop become a part of the fashion culture. Granted,

at this age, Princeton and Harvard were little more than names of faraway places that I rooted against in sports. However, there is no denying that the Crimson sweatshirts took a toll on my unconscious mind. This continued into high school, and as the classes got harder, the idea of where I would be in four years started to weigh on my mind. Then came the SAT, the ACT, Subject Tests, Advanced Placement Tests, tutoring and college essays. The common app website became the most visited page on my computer. I woke up with ideas for supplemental essays bouncing off the inside of my head. I was so sick of the college process that I ran away from strangers in order to avoid the dreaded question of “Where are you thinking of going to college?”

What I ask is that we make graduation a celebration of the last four years. Let’s appreciate the time we had together, not display our plans for the future. Finally, the month of May has arrived. Also of significance is the fact almost all Paly students have made their college decision. We are all relatively sure of our paths over the next four years, whether it be a four-year institution, a community college, a gap year or entering the labor force. All of these paths are equally valid, and each option has occurred because of a very specific set of circumstances in that individual’s life that has led them to this point. What we do with our next four years is personal. Obviously, many people feel the need to share that information with as many people as possible. What I ask, as a Paly student who is no less proud of what I’ve accomplished that any other student here, is that we make graduation a celebration of the last four years. Not a boast of where we will be for the next four. Let’s appreciate the time we had together as the Class of 2015, not eagerly display our future plans.

Female superheroes should not fill stereotypical Lack of movies with leading female heroes and eroticism of women in comics have led to a stagnant industry

Lauren GARGIULO

sENIOR Staff writer

he sequel to the smash hit Avengers came out on May 1 and has been an incredible success, grossing nearly $200 million dollars its opening weekend. However, “Avengers: Age of Ultron” does have a shortcoming: the character Black Widow. Though the lone female character kicked butt in “Iron Man 2” and “Captain America: The Winter Soldier,” the role of Black Widow disappointingly regressed into a stereotypical domesticated female role in the most recent installment of the Avengers franchise. This change has led to public backlash. Tim Donnelly of the New York Post writes in an article about the portrayal of women in the newest addition to the Avenger’s franchise. “For one, at the Avengers mission ‘wrap party’ early in the film, Widow looks to be the only Avenger working the bash, pouring drinks from behind

a bar while she bats her eyes in flirtation. Later, she grabs Captain America’s shield off the street and quips, ‘I’m always picking up after you boys.’ At one point in the movie, she even gets “baby crazy.” Sadly, the regression of the character of Black Widow is just the most recent incident in sexist world of superheroes. What first led to this type of world was the false beliefs that girls do not like superheroes. Comics and movies are not made with girls in mind. Marvel has been the main receiver of the ongoing criticism. Of all the movies Marvel has made, only two have had leading female superheroes, “Catwoman” and “Elektra.” Both of these movies did horribly at the box office.

Though little boys have strong and powerful superheroes to look up to, little girls are left to inspire to be weak infantilized barbies in capes. “[Marvel films were] awful not because of the female superhero lead, but because [they were] just terrible movie[s],” Christine Bancroft of the Neon Tommy said. These films are now used as an excuse to not make more films with female leading superhero roles. One of the biggest problems within the realm of superheroes lies within printed comics. Last year, Marvel Comics released a new Spiderwoman

courtesy of US Magazine

courtesy of MARVEL ENTERTAINMENT

Design by Jeremy Fu

Left: Supergirl from the 1984 film. Center: DC Comic’s Elektra. Right: Black Widow, who has been featured in recent Marvel movies.

series in an attempt to include more female superheroes. However, they hired an erotica artist to make the drawings and instead of inviting more women into the comic world, the erotic nature of the artwork drove female fans away. Yet another comic company, DC Comics, was bashed for its recent is-

sue, “New 52 Wonder Woman.” The series was taken over by a new creative team, turning the once strong and powerful heroine into a pornographic baby airhead who holds onto her teddy bear while in battle. Though the issues surrounding superheroes may seem trivial, they can hit home in large ways. Superheroes

have tremendous influences on today’s children. Rarely do you come across a child who can not tell you who their favorite superhero is. Though little boys have strong and powerful superheroes to look up to, little girls are left to inspire to be weak, infantilized Barbies in capes.

The Campanile

Friday, May 22, 2015

OPINION

Interdepartmental coordination would ease student stress Teachers should implement communication between departments to prevent multiple tests in a short period

Peter Maroulis

News and Opinion editor

s high school students, we occasionally face a convergence of exams from many classes over the period of one week. No, not just finals. These weeks can be any time between August and June and occur when all the tests from various classes come fatefully crashing down on us, a phenomenon I would like to call “Hell Week.” Yes, “Hell Weeks” are painful and difficult. But there is a way for teachers to stop them. My solution to eliminating “Hell Weeks” and thus reducing stress is to establish a protocol where teachers coordinate between departments. If teachers had meetings to plan out testing schedules, students would not have to worry about studying for multiple tests on the same day or projects and presentations coinciding. Ideally, teachers from different subjects would take time to organize a year-long comprehensive test schedule, which would be revised as the year progresses. If not, a certain amount of time should be allocated during staff meetings for departments to converse with one another in order to prevent tests from coinciding.

Ella mernyk/The Campanile

Though some teachers discuss with each other regularly, this intercommunication should be a protocol between all departments.

There are no current standards which require interdepartmental coordination, so teachers are not obliged to schedule their tests on separate days. While some teachers from different departments do coordinate, the extent to which they do so is insufficient. I admit that the level of communication I am suggesting would create extra work for teachers; but it is important to keep in mind the needs of students, especially considering recent predicaments surrounding mental health in Palo Unified School District high schools. I have had my fair share of “Hell Weeks” and always find them frustrating as well as difficult. In such a high stress community, I believe that our teachers, who work hard to give meaningful lessons, should divert more attention to ensuring that students are not too mentally taxed when being tested. Currently, Paly teachers are willing to reschedule tests in individual

cases, but not to do so for a whole class of students. “The focus is on student-teacher communication rather than interdepartmental communication,” math teacher Cynthia Chen said. “When a student speaks with me about their concerns about having multiple tests on the same day, then I work with the student to move the math test to a mutually agreed upon time and date; this is true for many other teachers in the math department.” History teacher Adam Yonkers feels that individual meetings, though helpful, are insufficient. “In a school the size of Paly, there are a lot of logistical issues, but at the very least for students’ workloads, [more interdepartmental communication] would be a very good thing to do,” Yonkers said. Implementing further interdepartmental coordination is a better alternative to individual meetings, as it applies to all students rather than

just a few. Some students may not feel comfortable approaching their teachers or have other reasons for not asking for a test to be rescheduled. It is true that I am writing from my own personal experiences, but other students have encountered similar difficulties in regards to having multiple proximate tests.

The focus is on studentteacher communication rather than interdepartmental communication.

Cynthia Chen

Paly Math Teacher Sophomore Chinmay Tyagi also has a knowledge and vehement dislike of “Hell Weeks.” Tyagi expressed concerns about having multiple tests coincide and its effect on his stress levels.

“I propose a mandatory weekly meeting between departments, where they have to make sure students are not overburdened with tests in any given week,” Tyagi said. There are two other factors to take into account when considering increasing communication between teachers and thereby lessening student stress: student appreciation of subject material and teacher appreciation of subject material. If a student has to focus on three additional subjects while trying to learn new material and study for a test, the stress caused by his or her need to prepare for other classes will reduce their enjoyment for learning. Consequently, teachers who need to instruct or prepare students during a “Hell Week” will have a more difficult time conveying information to a class full of stressed and unfocused pupils. Additionally, studies conducted at the University of Maastricht in Holland and the University of Uyo in Nigeria show a positive correlation between time spent studying and test achievement, meaning students who can spend sufficient amount of time studying for one test outperform students who have to split their time studying for multiple tests. At the end of the day, it is up to Paly teachers and administrators whether or not they wish to coordinate more. I urge them to consider increasing communication for everyone’s sake at all levels of the school system. When students are faced with several tests over the course of one or two days, their stress levels increase to unhealthy extremities. Interdepartmental coordination would entail huge benefits and make Paly a happier and healthier place to be.

Young adults ought to be more involved in the voting process Eighteen year olds should take advantage of their right to vote in order to prevent continuous political apathy

Seth Alston

senior staff writer

hen Palo Alto High School seniors turn 18, they enter the world of adulthood and are confronted by a myriad of new legal hazards and opportunities they were previously exempted from. These students must rapidly make up their minds as to which of these newly obtained opportunities they will capitalize on and which they will choose to pass up. However, 18 year olds across the United States seem to reject one of the most significant rights that U.S. citizens gain at the age of 18 — the right to vote. Voter registration among 18 year olds in the state of California hovers around 5.2 percent, the lowest percentage of any age group in the state and one of the lowest of any demographic nationally.

California is not an outlier either — Pew Research Center data indicates that youth voting is as low as it has ever been nationally. The voting age of 18 has a relatively recent history that dates back to 1971 when the 26th Amendment was ratified in response to criticism of the drafting of 18 year olds into an unpopular Vietnam war. Since its implementation however, 18 year olds have lagged significantly behind other age groups in terms of voter turnout. In fact, according to the 2010 U.S. Census, the percentage of voters in the 18 to 24-year-old demographic is generally 20-30 percent lower than the 25 to 44-year-old demographic.

Voter registration among 18-year-olds in the state of California hovers around 5.2 percent, the lowest of any age group in the state. By continuing this trend, we newly realized American adults are squandering a significant power given to us. The health of a democracy can be determined by the involvement of its constituents, and by removing ourselves from the political process, we only further a vicious cycle of political apathy and resent-

courtesy of imgarcade

Eighteen-year-old voter registrees make up just 5.2 percent of the registrees in California, the lowest of any age group in the state.

ment of the government. Although young adults may feel they are insufficiently informed to make educated votes or that their votes will have no real effect on elections, these are not reasons to avoid the process. Studies from Rutgers University show that the political awareness of 16 year olds is equivalent to that of 21 year olds, indicating that a difference of several years does not mean more political understanding. In addition, due to government, history and economics courses offered in high schools, se-

niors have a fresh understanding of important political concepts. As for the issue of political apathy, not voting simply guarantees that one has no say in one’s governance, while voting is the surest way to make one’s concerns known. Voter registration and voting from the earliest opportunity are significant for other reasons. Early involvement of the political process can have long term effects on voting behavior, with voters who felt politically connected in high school show-

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ing greater turnout than average into their 30s. Simply registering can have lasting effects as well. In the California 2014 midterm congressional election, although the total registration of 18 year olds is the lowest in the state, among registered voters the turnout for 18 year olds was 13-15 percent higher than that of voters in their 20s. By becoming involved in the political process at the first opportunity, us students can ensure that we have a stake in their future and that our voices will be heard.

Friday, May 22, 2015

The Campanile

OPINION A7 Should makeup tests be harder than original tests? In some Paly classes, makeup tests are more difficult, sparking controversy as some students take harder tests

Carissa Zou

Lifestyle Editor

YES W

hile makeup tests serve as flexible alternatives for students to take tests at a later time, questions on these makeup exams should be more difficult in order to prevent students from receiving advantages from missing regularly scheduled exams. Taking an exam a few days after its scheduled date gives a person key advantages over those who take it on time. In the interest of fairness, these advantages should be eliminated so that all students have an equal opportunity to succeed on a tests. A major advantage that comes with taking a makeup test is simply the number of extra days that one has to study. For someone who takes the test one week later than the scheduled date, that student has had seven extra days to study the same amount of material as the student who took it on time.

Students with extra time should be expected to have more knowledge on the topics because they have had a longer period of time to study. Any student who has experienced and understands procrastination knows that a single night can virtually take one from neophyte to prodigy, let alone seven days. Students with extra time should be expected to have more knowledge on the topics because they have had a longer period of time to study. To offset this temporal advantage, it only seems logical for students who make up tests to be tested on more difficult concepts. This is not to say

that these problems or questions ought to be drastically more difficult, but the level of some of the questions should not be of the same or lesser difficulty as the original tests. Another advantage students who take makeup exams gain is the ability to cheat. This does not imply that every person who takes a makeup exam will cheat, but the possibility of cheating is significantly amplified by the opportunity to converse and interact with students who have already taken an exam. If these questions are different and potentially harder, a person attempting to cheat on this test will gain no benefit from taking the makeup exam and will not be able to cheat because ultimately, input about the first test will not help them on the actual makeup test.

If teachers were to make the makeup tests more difficult, students would be more motivated to take the test on time. The act of including more difficult questions and concepts on the makeup exams is an inherent deterrent to students because it adds incentive to take the test on the scheduled day during class. Makeup tests should generally be treated as an option for emergencies only. What many students seem to have lost sight of is the generosity and flexibility that teachers are showing by allowing students to take tests at a later time, and students ought to respect that gesture by only missing tests when absolutely necessary, such as health and family problems or a particularly heavy workload. Throughout the years, it seems that an increasingly high number of students have become comfortable with asking for an extension for illegitimate reasons. However, if teachers were to make the makeup tests more difficult, students would be more motivated to take the test on time and only ask for extensions in the case of extreme scenarios. Overall, the implementation of more difficult test questions on makeups would immediately offset any advantages given by the makeup option by reducing the temporal advantage, reducing cheating tendencies and motivating people to take tests in a timely manner.

Sarah Wang

Staff writer

very once in a while, students unintentionally miss an exam due to immovable absences. However, the option of administering makeup tests allows students who miss the day of an exam to take the test they missed. Whether the student misses the test because of an illness, a sports event or a doctor’s appointment, the student has the option of making up the test due to an excused absence. In these circumstances, students unintentionally miss the test the first time around, so it should reasonably follow that they have the opportunity to make up the test with the same level of difficulty as the first test. Unfortunately, there is a common and generalized assumption that most people who miss exams on the original date do so purposefully in order to take more time to study for tests. This would give them an unfair advantage, which leads to the belief that makeup tests should be more difficult in order to take away this upper hand. Though this may be true in some cases, makeup tests cannot be administered with this assumption in mind. If every absence is assumed to be illegitimate, then there would be no point in administering makeup tests at all, as students who miss tests purposefully should not have the option to make up an exam they should have taken on time. Furthermore, assuming students are unethically skipping tests puts those who miss tests for legitimate reasons at an unfair disadvantage. Students have to be given the benefit of the doubt in regards to rea-

Design by nikhil rajaram

The number of students who miss tests has led to increased makeup test difficulty.

soning behind absences, or else those who truly miss the test due to unavoidable situations would be wrongfully punished with a harder exam.

Writing harder makeup tests in order to deter those who plan to get an unfair advantage wrongfully punishes those who have a legitimate reason to miss a test the first time around. Another assumption behind those who take makeup tests is that they have more time to study so their makeup tests should be harder since they had more time to prepare. However, assuming that these students have actual reasons for missing a test, these students would not end up spending their missed period studying, but rather would spend the time at home sick or at a sports event. Even though they may get to take the test within the next few days, they still have all of their other classes and extracurriculars to worry about. Even if students spend more time studying, that extra time studying could take away time from other

work and studying, causing students to lose ground elsewhere. If students miss the entire day of school they miss the test on, then they are at an even greater disadvantage, since they have work from multiple classes to make up. However, makeup tests can and should be made so that they are different from the original test. By making a different copy of the test at the same level of difficulty, students who legitimately miss exams the first time will not have to suffer from harder tests, and those who illegitimately miss the exam to get answers from others will not be able to use the extra knowledge gained. It all comes down to whether a student legitimately misses an exam or creates a fake excuse in order to get in more studying time. But writing harder makeup tests in order to deter those who plan to get an unfair advantage wrongfully punishes those who have a legitimate reason to miss a test the first time around. In any case, makeup tests should not be harder if carried out with its original intent of letting those who legitimately miss a test to make up what they have missed.

Personal finance should be included in economics curriculum Econ11 and AP Macroeconomics fail to teach Paly students applicable life lessons for real world situations

Sarah Tayeri

senior staff writer

fter a semester of Econ11 and an additional semester of Advanced Placement (AP) Macroeconomics, any Palo Alto High School senior could explain why the net exports effect creates a downwardsloping aggregate demand curve and what a graph of a country’s loanable funds market looks like. They probably would not, however, be confident explaining the difference between savings and checking account, or how an Individual Retirement Account (IRA) works. After reflecting on my time at Palo Alto High School and the knowledge I will take from it, I think personal finance lessons should be included as part of the curriculum in Economics classes. Econ11 and AP Macro were two of the best classes I have taken at Paly. The material our classes covered helped me understand more about the world around me. Whereas calculus classes, teachers include lessons on “real life applications” to make the curriculum appear more applicable to the real world, these kinds of lessons

Ella mernyk/The campanile

Alexander Davis, as well as the other AP Macroeconomics teachers, do not incorporate a personal finance unit into the year long course which would benefit seniors.

were not necessary in Econ because the whole class is essentially one big real life application. My class learned that economics surround us and influence us every day. We learned how opportunity costs influence nearly every decision we make, and the money market’s significance in our everyday lives. However, as my time at Paly comes to a close, I am left wondering why important life skills like personal finance have not been taught to me and my classmates. As my classmates and I depart for college, there will surely be situations where we will need to have some knowledge about financial affairs. How to obtain a credit card, how to build a high credit score, knowing

when and how to save for retirement — are these not all things we should know before we go off to live on our own?

Personal finance teaches skills every senior will need to know at some point, no matter if they are going to college or straight into the workforce. In my Econ11 class, we learned a little about personal finance. Towards the end of the semester, experts on economics came to our class and gave a demonstration that essentially proved how clueless we were. Each class member had a certain number of “units” of money that we had to

allocate among the costs of living — rent, food, transportation and insurance were some of the categories we had to allot money to. By the end of the demonstration, only a few people had distributed the money appropriately the first time around. The rest of us had been too quick to spend on a car, new furniture or a cell phone plan. Debbie Whitson, one of Paly’s economics teachers, advises her Econ11 students to explore a website, NextGenVest, in the last few weeks of her class. Although the work is not recorded or graded, I believe the content of the website is similar to what should be taught in class. The website consists of video-lessons with titles including “Types of Loans,” “ Invest-

ing 101” and “Filing Taxes.” While I admire that the website was presented to us as an optional resource to learn from, I think the life skills the website includes would be better retained by students if it were required material that classes would be tested on, such as in a graded unit. Personal finance should be taught in economics classes because all seniors are required to take the class to graduate, therefore guaranteeing that everyone will have the opportunity to learn these important life skills. Paying taxes, writing checks, maintaining good credit scores — personal finance teaches skills every senior will need to know at some point, no matter if one is headed to college or straight into the workforce.

Friday, May 22, 2015

The Campanile

EDITORIALS

Role of student resource officers should be re-examined School officials ignore the rights of students, fail to create the positive environment they should strive to achieve

student’s rights have historically been waived upon entering a public school campus — reasonable suspicion takes the place of probable cause and a spirit of fear permeates the supposedly welcoming community. These infringements are acting in the name of student safety and for the sake of building a positive learning environment. Yet in Palo Alto High School, the supposed aim of student resource officers (SRO) and administration has taken a different path. The Campanile believes that the role of SROs should be reexamined to better fit the mission of the Paly administration.

Paly currently employs two SROs — Dujuan Green and Ben Lee. According to the Core Course Standardized Curricula for Student Resource Officers, such officers are to not only reduce campus crime and work with students to build a safe school environment, but also provide a positive outlook on the criminal justice system and build supportive relationships with students. But student opinion of SROs has continued to deflate as attempts at the education and counseling aspects of the SROs three tiered objective are consistently received negatively by the student population.

Additionally, in recent suspensions for possession of marijuana, Green allegedly threatened to imprison a student for resisting arrest upon refusing to confess and searched a student’s car off-campus after a tip from a fellow student. “You find out who is the most likely to talk first, and then go up the chain from there,” Berkson said. This protocol turns parties against each other, oftentimes in order to acquire lesser punishment, and further impacts relationships within the Paly community negatively. The role of the SRO has deteriorated into a detached police officer

New science policy unjust

with more leeway to investigate student offenses. The policy of “reasonable suspicion,” which according to Assistant Principal Jerry Berkson enables administration to look into any and all tips regarding student misconduct, has pushed student-administration relationships away from the collaboration Paly hopes to achieve. In order for the SROs to genuinely fulfill their roles and help the Paly administration achieve its core purpose, “to affirm the potential of every Paly student in an environment of support and inspiration, where people work together and lift each other toward great personal growth,”

the SROs cannot continue their unreasonable behavior. The Campanile believes that the SROs must work to put forth a more positive and supportive image in order to effectively work and communicate with the student body. Paly administration and SROs must be unified in their efforts to truly display the message of, “We’re here for you,” as stated in Principal Kim Diorio’s letter on March 9, if they want to successfully create safe, open and respectful channels of communication to handle matters of student discipline and establish a closer-knit community.

COMIC OF THE MONTH

Restriction will not alleviate stress, limits academic freedom for sophomore students

ecently, the Palo Alto High School administration announced the implementation of a new policy in the school that will restrict students from taking multiple science courses during their sophomore year. These efforts supposedly serve to reduce student stress. Despite the administration’s efforts, The Campanile strongly believes that this decision was made without the proper consideration of student voice and that the choice of doubling on science courses should be possible. One of the main issues that has upset students in the implementation of this policy was the lack of communication between the board and the student body upon making the decision to no longer allow students to double up on science courses. The Campanile believes that the perspectives of students should have been heard when making this important decision, considering that the student body will be most affected by this new policy. Students were never given the opportunity to express their opinions on this issue before the decision to finalize this policy was made, meaning that their viewpoints were not taken into consideration and that this decision was made entirely by the administration, which is one-sided and unfair to students. Additionally, The Campanile believes that one of the main objectives of high school is to provide a time in which students can explore and find their interests — whether those interests lie in art or in science, stu-

dents deserve an opportunity to pursue their passions. Limiting students’ choices in course selection is limiting their ability to grow academically, their freedom and their opportunities to learn more about a variety of different subjects. While The Campanile acknowledges that preventing sophomores from taking two science courses could lessen unnecessary stress, we believe that this recently enacted policy fails to do so and will instead confine the free will and rights that students hold. The responsibility of choosing courses should be placed in the hands of students — Paly’s administration should not be making these decisions for them. Moreover, we find that, despite original intents, this policy does not eliminate stress once and for all. In fact, all this will do is postpone the stress onto students’ junior and senior years, years that already come with more stress. Thus, we believe that allowing students to double up on sciences their sophomore year eases stress and gives students more flexibility in creating their later schedules and in arranging their overall courses at Paly. Ultimately, The Campanile believes that all sophomores at Paly should be given the choice to take more than one science class — this recent policy restricts sophomores’ freedom greatly and proves to serve little purpose. This policy is only going against what high school is aiming to foster: the exploration of ideas and attention of knowledge.

Ella Mernyk/The Campanile

laying down the law. we applaud you.

School library should remain open throughout AP testing

The Campanile

Access to facilities would help students succeed

igh school students that choose to take Advanced Placement (AP) examinations often need extensive study time in a quiet environment. Such a setting is not always available to students, as houses and public libraries are often crowded and loud. During the weeks of both first and second semester finals, the library, along with select other school facilities, is kept open until 8 p.m. to provide students with a healthy study environment. Additionally, many teachers schedule sessions in the library or other resource centers to meet with students and answer questions. Beyond the academic advantages posed, snacks and dinner are available for students. All of these added benefits culminate in an environment that fosters a reflective, studious work ethic. The Campanile believes that Palo Alto High School facilities, primarily the library, should be open after school during the weeks of AP testing as they are during finals week. Currently, Paly’s library remains open until nighttime for the “dead weeks” before finals and the weeks of the finals themselves. During these times, a flood of students take advantage of the library’s numerous resources. The opening of Paly facilities during AP testing weeks should be relatively simple as the librarians already run a particularly successful system, and nothing should be changed logistically. Numerous studies have concluded that increased consumption of nutri-

ents is positively correlated with increased cognitive function. Funding for snacks, as well as dinners, could possibly be obtained from the Associate Student Body. Another key facet to the success of the library’s provisions during finals week is the availability of various teachers in order to aid students. Having teachers from AP subjects periodically show at during weeks of AP testing would be extremely beneficial to all students within a subject, regardless of whether or not they have that specific teacher. Additionally, The Media Arts Center and the Social Studies Resource Center are two other locations that, while differently sized, are home to countless studying students throughout the year. These environments could be managed by the librarians, and could house this studious environment in addition to the library. While it may be even more difficult to manage, these extra facilities will offer more quiet seclusion. The Campanile regards the availability of Paly facilities during finals week as extremely beneficial to students and believes that extending the opening of these facilities to AP testing week would further aid students during the difficult tests. With any luck, this new program would be just as successful as the one that has been implemented for first and second semester finals, and a truly helpful environment would be created to facilitate the learning and studying of AP students at Paly.

Editors in Chief Miranda Chen • Stephanie Cong • Owen Dulik Lauren Klass • Mischa Nee • Nikhil Rajaram News and Opinion Editors Claire Dennis Peter Maroulis Business Manager Rachel Farn Seth Alston Abira Berezin Dami Bolarinwa Galen Byrd Susana Cacho Kate DeAndre Esther Doerr Joanna Falla Haley Fang Lauren Gargiulo

Sports Editors Kai Oda Ethan Teo

Lifestyle Editors Aiva Petriceks Carissa Zou

Design Editor Bo Field

Online Editor Jeremy Fu

Staff Writers

Mackenzie Glassford Danny Hammerson Jamie Har Conner Harden Jeffrey Ho Antonio Kieschnick Grace Kim Masha Konkov Nicole Li Claire Liu

Dami Bolarinwa Sara Gram-Knutsen

Anant Marur Paul Mewes Kevin Mullin Joshua Ng Coby Parker Rachel Price Thomas Rauner-Swan Maggie Rosenthal William Shin Chris Skokowski

Photographers

Conner Harden Danny Hammerson

Photography Editor Dami Bolarinwa Noah Smith William Snodgrass Owen Staiger Jared Stanley Alec Sullivan Sarah Tayeri Sarah Wang Catherine Yu Jenny Zhuge Jake van Zyll

Ella Mernyk Zoe Tierney

Advisor Esther Wojcicki The Campanile would like to thank our sponsors Dick & Jerry Smallwood for their contribution to our production. Letters to the Editors: Email all letters to editors to theeds15@googlegroups.com The Campanile prints letters on a space-available basis. We reserve the right to edit submissions. The Campanile only prints signed letters. Advertisements: Advertisements with The Campanile are printed with signed contracts. For more information regarding advertisements or sponsors in

The Campanile and their size options and prices, please contact The Campanile Business Managers by email at campanile.ads@gmail.com. Note: It is the policy of The Campanile to refrain from printing articles that misrepresent or alienate specific individuals within the Palo Alto community. The policy of The Campanile is to publish editorial content that represents at least half of the staff.

Friday, May 22, 2015

The Campanile

CHUte’s Program

LIFEST LE

by Aiva petriceks and Carissa Zou

The Phenomenon of Camping

will Shin

senior staff writer

Will snodgrass

Senior Staff writer

Owen Staiger

senior staff writer

UNDERGROUND VS. MAINSTREAM IN EDM M

usic is one of the few things that can bring millions of people together in love and harmony. Conversely, genre distinctions, pretentiousness and subjective judgment of music can divide millions of people into screaming fits of rage and decades-long wars of attrition. This has happened time and time again as new genres have formed, expanded and inevitably split into distinctions such as “old-school” and “new-school” hip-hop, “indie” and “classic” rock and most infamously “underground” and “mainstream” music. This last distinction comes from genres that originate as subcultures such as hip-hop and, more recently, dance music. The genre inherently originates in the “underground,” writing its own rules and origin story, before expanding in popularity and profitability and eventually mutating into the “mainstream” version of itself. The issue is that it will often eschew quality or respect for its roots in the interest of profitability (spurned on by record label executives and investors). Just as hiphop expanded from a small movement in the Bronx to one of the most listened-to genres worldwide, within the last decade dance music has moved from illegal warehouse raves and small individually owned disco clubs to massive corporate festivals and events. Electronic Dance Music (EDM) is the new staple of profitable music worldwide, generating billions of dollars in revenue for the mainstream. But has EDM forgotten its roots entirely and become a completely different kind of music than what Frankie Knuckles or Giorgio Moroder were playing back in its origins? Many modern DJs think so.

Has EDM forgotten its roots entirely and become a completely different kind of music than what Frankie Knuckles or Giogio Moroder were playing back in its orgins? The art of deejaying itself has morphed into a different beast. The traditional house of techno DJs’ job was to bring a vast library of tracks and knowledge of said tracks with them and select and mix songs on the fly, reading the crowd and playing appropriate moods or sounds to get them dancing. This is why dance music is so formulaic, with certain set tempos, drum patterns and even arrangement structures being set throughout different subgenres. For example, house DJs typically need a kick-snare “four on the floor” pattern at 120 beats per minute in order to be able to easily mix whichever record they want in a matter of seconds. However, many of traditional DJs, listeners and beat

TEXT BY BO FIELD DESIGN BY BO FIELD AND JOANNA FALLA

connoisseurs uphold the belief that the modern superstar DJ, aka Steve Aoki or David Guetta, might as well just press play on a pre-recorded mix and jump around yelling into the microphone. This sentiment has become common, but taboo, in dance music, with everyone holding up the underground principals knowing it happens and the big name stars being suspiciously silent on its occurrence. This silence was recently broken by Guetta, who stated in an interview with Beatport about his set at this year’s Coachella that “before I saved my playlist to my SD card, my computer crashed. I had to put all my music in a random order on USB sticks at the last minute, doing it really old school, scrolling to look for the records I wanted to play next.” This incident left many classical DJs asking whether the very nature of their genre was “old school” and outdated to Guetta, and what that meant for modern EDM considering his popularity. These types of superstar DJs supposedly compensate for their dearth of actual technical skill with various theatrical devices: heavily produced, tailor-made spectacle music (i.e. big room house) with massive buildups and drops, emphasis on live show production value like lasers, huge LED screens and other effects, gimmicks and physical appearance. Popular DJs will commonly look like models and fill their social media presences with professionally airbrushed headshots (see: Zedd’s bewildered stare or Kygo’s gargantuan neck muscles). And DJs like Steve Aoki and Deadmau5 will have individual gimmicks to immediately distinguish or endear themselves to potential fans who have never even heard their tracks. Techno artist Seth Troxler recently published derogatory comments in an editorial he wrote for Thump concerning Aoki’s practice often leaving his decks to throw cake at audience members: “He keeps turning the music off, jumping around onstage, saying ‘This is my new single! Out next week!’ and playing the next song. You are not a f***ing DJ. You’re an overpaid, untalented, cake-throwing, performing monkey.” Seth Troxler is one of the only people who disregards the backlash enough to speak up, but his sentiments are echoed throughout much of the EDM community. It is unfair certain DJs become more popular because they have more accessible or “dumbed-down” music, or they depend on a gimmick to attract audiences and build a reputation. There is a definite difference in modern dance music between the best DJ and the most well-known DJ, but most passive fans can’t make this distinction because all big room house sounds the same to them, so they will just buy tickets for the events of festivals with the names they recognize. Because of this, artistic integrity and merit within the genre suffers. In addition, producers start catering to these kinds of crowds because that’s where the

money is, and end up creating music that is derivative of itself, repetitive and dumbed down in order to easily appeal to the masses. The result of this is a vicious cycle where the music gets simpler and trendier and the money keeps rolling in to encourage it. This has genre veterans worried about the very state of the music itself. Seasoned DJ Steve Angello recently reflected on the current state of the genre, saying, “I’m trying to make a piece of art that I’ll be able to look back on in 10 years and say, I’m f***ing proud of that. I don’t want to look back and say, ‘Remember when we did that? I can’t believe the kids bought into it.’”

[Steve Aoki], you are not a f***ing DJ. You’re an overpaid, untalented, cakethrowing, perfoming monkey.

Seth Troxler Techno artist

These conflicts between the underground and mainstream, the roots and the evolution of the genre and the artistic integrity and the profiteering do nothing to actually progress the issue. As long as there’s money to be made, there will be acts that pander to the lowest common denominator for the sole sake of profit. There will always be labels, promoter and managers egging this practice on. The exact same phenomenon happened with rock and roll and hiphop, and dance music is the most recent victim of rapid popularization degrading genre integrity. The difference with dance is that we have time to make a change and unify the community before it splinters. For example, hip-hop has divided itself irreversibly into distinctions of underground and mainstream: diehard followers of the underground, “backpack” rappers such as Aesop Rock and KRS-One make a sport out of publicly decrying all mainstream, new school rappers as “not REAL hip-hop” in every online forum and YouTube comments section with their grubby little fingers. To avoid this kind of pretentious nonsense, dance music fans and artists need to accept that within the myriad of sub genres that make up “EDM,” there will be differences in complexity, objective technical skill and audience. The key is to not decry a group that isn’t your own because your favorite DJ is better at spinning or your subgenre is less formulaic. All dance music’s audiences need to get back to the genre’s roots and consider the traditional values of peace, love, unity and respect (abbreviated as PLUR) before they condemn another artist or fanbase. These values should apply to everyone in or outside of the rave. We need to come together as music lovers and realize that underground versus mainstream hate is not very PLUR.

INSIDE

Technology fashion by Josh Ng Staff Writer

“THe WIRE” TODAY

By Jake van Zyll Senior Staff Writer

We braved the windy roads leading up to California’s own Little Basin with only hopes and aspirations keeping us from yakking everywhere. We knew what needed to be accomplished tonight. This is our camping bucket list: 1. Literally sleep with someone you are not intimately familiar with. More than one of our motley crew had a friendly sleepover with unfamiliar faces. Those of you imagining this act to be sexual really need to grow up. This item was accomplished completely platonically. 2. Hold and win a dizzy bat tournament (sans alcohol). Owen’s bat was lost among the commune-like tent city that plagued the beautiful Little Basin, so no tournament was held. However, if we may speculate, top choices for winners would be Corey Bicknell (the kid can really spin around that stick) and Steven Blatman (you’d think he’d have found a way to get paid for the way he can hit those soda cans man). 3. Stay awake the longest. Owen accomplished this by not sleeping more than an hour. He was awoken promptly after his hour of slumber by the magical voices of his peers. Witnesses credit him with slowly arising from the back of an unknown truck bed and silently whispering to himself, “The people, they need me” before throwing off all clothes and sprinting to the nearest campsite. The quickest way for Owen to communicate all of his shelter, clothing and nutritional needs was to yell, “I need resources!” Hick Ethan and Steven let his sorry a** into their chic cabin. 4. Not lose anything. I think a more realistic expectation would have been “Not losing more than X amount of items” when X > 5. Will: Sleeping bag, spatula, shoelaces (don’t ask), and a lot of beverages. William: Jacket, $20, and two 30-racks of Dr. Pepper. Owen: Both socks, blanket, memories. However, Owen also got a pair of better socks and memories so essentially only lost a blanket. 5. Acquaint yourself with everyone there. Owen accomplished this with Zach Levitan by sprinting to every camp site like Paul Revere. “The rangers are coming, the rangers are coming!” Credits to the Class of 2014 for making the rangers angry enough to cite us for having food out. 6. Scaring the crap out of people. William, Resident Hick Ethan Jorasch and Owen ventured off into the wilderness in the wee hours of the morning to disrupt the peace. Most chaos was caused by a large object such as a ketchup bottle or water bottle being launched onto unsuspecting tents. Fleeing the scene giddily, we accomplished this task.

Açai Bowls by Susana Cacho Staff Writer

Friday, May 22, 2015

The Campanile

TECHNOLOGY

Google invades privacy by gathering user data Lack of knowledge on Google’s recently updated privacy policy leaves users in the dark on opt-out function Sarah Wang

Staff Writer

n Internet user, like almost all people today, goes onto Amazon’s website in search of a new pair of shoes. The user searches through dozens of pairs of shoes until he or she locates the perfect pair and places an order for it. The user then logs onto Facebook to mindlessly scroll through posts. Suddenly, an advertisement on the edge of the page catches the user’s eye. The advertisement displays an array of boots, urging the user to click on the advertisement immediately to get a discounted price on a pair. Though this advertisement may seem coincidental, the contents of this advertisement are in fact of no coincidence, and are customized specifically for each user through Google’s collection of each user’s personal data. How does Google do this, and how much does it know? Google holds a place in almost everyone’s life. Whether that be through Gmail, the search engine or one of the many companies that Google partners with or owns, such as YouTube, everyone who uses the Internet is connected to Google. As users of this company, worth over $30 billion, we all should know what Google collects about each user, and what it does with this information. It collects the information that users supply it, including names, addresses and phone numbers. But it also actively collects more sensitive information including its users’ login information, location information, cookies and anonymous identifiers.

According to Google’s privacy policy, which describes what information Google collects, why it collects such information and how it uses the information, Google automatically collects and stores data when people use its services or view its contents. This stored data includes information regarding search queries as well as the time, date and number of phone calls made by a user. Google also accesses and processes information about users’ locations, through means such as IP addresses, GPS systems, Wi-Fi access points and cell towers. Google’s privacy policy claims that information collection is put in place to protect users, maximize efficiency and make using its services easier. In addition, Google collects information by sending cookies to devices that access its services. A cookie allows a website to recognize a user’s browser and stores information about the user’s preferences. This feature is what allows Google to customize the advertisements its users see, as the advertisements are based on the information collected about that particular user. But what does Google do with all this information, and why does it collect it in the first place? Google’s privacy policy claims that information collection is put in place in order to protect users, maximize efficiency and make using Google’s services easier. For example, Google keeps information regarding a user’s

Design by Rachel Farn

Google tailors ads according to users’ browsing history, making its users feel a violation of privacy because of this customization.

communication so that if a user encounters any problems, Google can help the user quickly, using the information it has already stored about the user. However, many people feel that their privacy is invaded when Google collects and uses personal information, especially when Youtube seems to know what videos to suggest and when Facebook displays advertisements based on a user’s most recent online searches. However, Google recognizes the differing privacy concerns of every user. As a result, Google gives its users the ability to edit their settings in order to minimize or maximize security through editing features including changing Google Account History or Ad Settings.

Obtaining information regarding privacy settings was not an easy process prior to January of this year. According to the Information Commissioner’s Office, an independent authority that upholds the information rights in the interest of the public, a 2012 investigation of Google resulted in Google agreeing to better inform its users about how it uses their personal information after its current policy was deemed too vague. Google’s 2012 policy had merged multiple privacy policies for different services into one, leading to complaints and the investigation which resulted in the current policy of this year. Even with these changes in place, many users are uninformed of their ability to change settings to maxi-

mize their privacy, even though they think Google’s default status of collecting data is too intrusive. Junior Tiffany Cai finds Google’s personalized advertisements to be intrusive, but was not aware that users could opt out. “I think [personalized advertisements are] unnecessarily creepy for [their] purposes,” Cai said. “I didn’t know that [users could opt out] though.” As a result of these policy updates, users can more easily understand how their information is being used, which can help them make the decision to alter their privacy settings, a comforting option for those who do not like to see advertisements of their most recent searches everywhere they go on the Internet.

Technology manufacturers consider product aesthetics The technology industry is prioritizing stylistic factors of newly released products to draw in more consumers Josh Ng

Staff Writer

echnology has in some way been introduced to every aspect of our lives. At school, we use laptops and desktops for class work and websites to check our grades. Car manufacturers are trying to integrate software to enable wireless control over their cars with phones or tablets. Even fashion has begun to reflect the increasing popularity of technology. Big name tech moguls, such as Apple and Google, have come to a conclusion that the best way for a person to fully appreciate and utilize technology is if it is aesthetically pleasing. If the product looks good, customers are more likely to buy it and fawn over its beauty and style. Apple Watch: Here is the deal: Apple wants its customers to think of the Apple Watch as a fine piece of technological jewelry. Despite this, the Apple Watch’s function as a smartwatch is nothing special. It shows the amount of time one exercises each day and of course, tells the time. The functionality of the Apple Watch is not what makes it so special; it is how it is made and what it is made of that makes the watch so unique. There are currently three versions of the Apple Watch: the Sport, the Watch and the Edition. The cheapest option at a still hefty price of $349, the Sport offers a white, plastic sport band and an aluminum case to hold the materials which make the watch. It is the least appealing option of the three due to its lack of a premium look and feel. The second and the most popular option is the Watch. At a standard price of $549, the Watch boasts a beautiful steel coat rivaled by no other smartwatch, and, unlike the Sport edition, the Watch offers a person the option to choose different types of wristbands. With choices such as a strong leather bracelet, a steel link bracelet and a Milanese loop bracelet, bearing any of these bands will display one’s fashionable and premium taste. The last version of the Apple Watch is the Edition. The Edition is the most expensive out of the three models of the Apple Watch, boasting a $10,000 to $12,000 price tag depending on the shade of gold and type of wristband one gets. The two

Design by rachel farn

The Apple watch, Moto 360, 2015 Macbook and Bose Soundlink Bluetooth heaphones are aesthetically pleasing as well as high tech.

shades of gold, rose and yellow, are both made of 18-Karat gold, and the leather buckles are made out of a durable fluoroelastomer material. Due to the Edition’s ludicrous price tag, those on a budget should opt for the cheaper version, but if you can afford the gold, you’ll be sure to show others that you have expensive taste. All three of these watches are aesthetically pleasing and scream luxury; however, one buys an Apple Watch because it looks like an advanced piece of jewelry, and because one has the money to buy one. In short, people who buy Apple Watches are showing others that they are egotistical brats and are not afraid to spend lots of money on pretty little things. Big name tech moguls such as Apple and Google have come to a conclusion that the best way for a person to fully appreciate and utilize technology is if it is aesthetically pleasing. Moto 360: Just as the iPhone 6 has the Apple Watch as its official smartwatch, the Moto X smartphone has the Moto 360 ($249.99) as its “official” smartwatch as well. The Moto 360 was introduced into the smartwatch industry with a design that was both new and old: a smartwatch with a circular watch face, a classic but modern design. From the first pocket watch to

current modern watches, the circle has been the epitome of the shape of a watch face. Most smartwatch manufacturers have designed their smartwatches to take on a rigid, more rectangular design, resulting in a mundane looking product that leaves little room for a screen as a watch face. The Moto 360 uses the functionality of its circular design to make the screen as large and accessible as it can be. Its minimalist design allows for better viewing angles, more screen for the user to work with and a user interface (UI) that should be easy for any consumer to get the hang of. The Moto 360 also has a unique online service known as Moto Maker, in which customers are allowed to personalize their watch according to their preferences. Customers are able to change the color of the watch face, the default home watch face and the material and color of the wristband that goes along with it. The watch face itself is made from a LED screen; however, the outline of the watch is made from stainless steel, with choices of a gold, silver and dark grey finishes. The wristbands of the Moto 360 vary from leather bands to steel bands, based on preferences and fashion taste. The only hindrance that some users may find in the 360 is an awkward looking black bar at the bottom of the watch face which makes the UI a bit awkward to use, as the 360 does not actually have a dis-

play that is entirely circular. Despite one trivial drawback, the Moto 360 is a fantastic looking smartwatch that uses its simplistic and customized design to bring itself above other smartwatch competitors. New Macbook 2015: On Jan. 15, 2008, Steve Jobs announced what would be the thinnest notebook in the entire world: the Macbook Air. He saw the reduced width and the resulting lightness of a laptop as the “it” factor when it came to choosing a product. Critics praised the Macbook Air for its portability: the fact that it could hold such a powerful processor in such a thin frame, and the fact that the design was way ahead of other larger, more bulky laptops designs that existed at the time. Flash forward to March 9, when Apple Chief Executive Officer Tim Cook announced the all new Macbook. As the thinnest and lightest laptop to date, the new Macbook’s largest point is a half inch tall, and the laptop weighs in at two pounds, versus a 3-pound Macbook Air. Apple has ditched the cheap, glossy plastic look that the original Macbook had and replaced it with an all aluminum unibody to give it the premium feel that all current Apple products are made out of. Just like the iPhone and iPad, consumers have a choice between space grey, silver and gold color options, allowing them to choose a laptop that

dons a color of their taste. Apple has also revolutionized the way people can type on their laptops. The Macbook no longer uses the traditional mechanism that most laptops have for their keyboards — instead, Apple replaced it with a sleeker looking keyboard with a “butterfly mechanism.” Unlike the “traditional mechanism,” the “butterfly mechanism” has bigger keys and is slimmer than the average key button, allowing for faster typing with a flatter and more ergonomic design. The new Macbook as a whole is stylish and should be the model for other laptop manufacturers in terms of design. No other laptop is as thin, has such a pristine design or screams “sexy” as much as the new Macbook does. Bose SoundLink Bluetooth OnEar Headphone: The Bose SoundLink Bluetooth On-Ear headphones are one of the better wireless headphone options on the market. In general, the common stylistic problem with Bluetooth headphones is that they look too bulky because of the Bluetooth receiver that is embedded in the headphones. As a result, the headphone is both grisly and unpleasing to look at. However, the Bose SoundLink headphones are an exception from this common issue. The receiver is seamlessly embedded inside one of the headphones, making it seem as if it isn’t a pair of wireless headphones at all. The pads on each ear cup are made of memory foam, a fabric which looks and feels like leather, almost giving the headphones a premium look and feel. Bose aimed for a pair of ear headphones that had a minimalistic look. No glossy plastic used in Beats By Dre to make its headphones look “shiny” and “pretty,” no extra wires in order to “keep the bass controlled and leveled” and certainly no ear cups that are as big as your head (looking at you, Sennheiser). Instead, Bose gave these headphones a fabric that has a premium yet unflashy look, eliminated wires so it did not look like some clunky pair of headphones from the 1900s and gave them a proper ear cup size that covers the ears and ONLY the ears (still looking at you, Sennheiser). Bose created the Bose SoundLink Bluetooth On-Ear headphones with a goal of creating minimalistic, compact headphones that not only look good, but also sound good.

Friday, May 22, 2015

The Campanile

SENIOR SECTION

CLASS OF 2015 IN PIcTURES

Where they’ll be: Theeds15

As we, the former Editors-in-Chief of The Campanile, wrap up the last issue of the school year, we would like to extend our most sincere congratulations to the Class of 2015 for making it through the past four years at Palo Alto High School. It has truly been a pleasure reporting and bringing the news of this campus to the attention of the student body and the surrounding community. We have seen a year of success and triumph, even in the face of difficulties. We hope you have enjoyed reading just as much as we have enjoyed writing about it. Although endings are bittersweet, we hope this senior section captures some happy memories of high school and serves as a reminder of Chris Skokowski how far we have all come. senior staff writer Galen Byrd Sincerely, Claire, Seth, Sarah, Coby, Esther and Grace

PHOTOS COURTESY OF THE PALY CLASS OF 2015

Senior Staff Writer

In the years after high school, members of the Class of 2015 will move in their own directions, finding the paths in life that best suit their personalities. We thought that we would take our readers through a look at where we think our beloved Editors-in-Chief will be, once they settle into their lives outside of Paly. We give you: Theeds 15, ten years down the road. We found Seth’s VW camper overturned in the middle of the Oregon forest, and after a few miles of hiking, we found him squatting in a cave. His cave. At first he spoke mostly in Henry David Thoreau and John Muir quotes, with a few asides about how he found his cave, and how it’s structure made it superior in terms of ventilation. “Good airflow, good acoustics,” he said. Throughout our discussion, which covered topics ranging from the taming of wild goats to the increasing polarization of the American political system, he untangled his dense, shaggy beard with a intricately hand carved comb in the shape of a bear paw. Coby barely had time to meet with us due to the demands of his job as CEO of J. Crew. We caught up with him in the United business lounge of O’Hare International Airport. He had shot to the top of the company straight out of college, and he claimed during our interview that it was largely due to his strategy of dealing with his co-workers and superiors. “I would just tell them to shut up,” Parker said, claiming that this aggressive strategy earned him respect and allowed him to strike fear in the hearts of his superiors. His self-help book “Just Tell Them to Shut Up Until They Listen” is due out soon. We met Claire outside of a small coffee shop in Portland. She has held the office of Mayor of Portland thrice since she moved to the city, and she told us that between her office holding and backpacking for charity in the summers her life is pretty well occupied, but that she still finds time for her hobbies. “I try to teach zumba classes as often as possible,” she said. She broke into song when we asked what she thought the future held, pausing only to hint that her next election might be a national one. Grace was washing her dread by her tent at Coachella when we found her. The tent stands year round inside the polo grounds, allowing Grace entrance to the annual concert without forcing her to buy tickets. After seven years living on the grounds, Grace has become known as ‘The Denizen,’ and every so often one can see her shifting the location of her tent so that she can be closer to the nutritious herbs of the open fields. Her signature hair was a natural development that came with her lifestyle; “I put it in a ponytail and just forgot about it for a few years,” Kim said. We joined Esther on the back veranda of her two hundred acre Tennessee ranch. She quietly explained to me that after four incredibly social years at Georgetown, she finally reached her limit of personal drama. She gazed out at the wooded property contemplatively, and we gathered that she purchased the estate with the wealth she amassed from her very artsy Etsy shop. Most of her time is now devoted to her golden retrievers, which she breeds. As we spoke, we saw a pack of no less than 50 scamper in the distance. Esther smiled. After struggling through four years of sub-65 degree weather in Boston, Sarah looked to escape the frigid winters of the East Coast. When we met with her on the white sand beach of a Sandals Caribbean resort, she told us that she moved first to Bermuda, then the Bahamas before years in Key Largo and Montego. When asked about ideal vacation destinations, she mentioned one place she loved above all else, somewhere off of the Florida Keys.“That’s where you want to go to get away from it all,” Sarah said.

Friday, May 22, 2015

Campanile COLLEGE MAP Western Washington University (1) Gonzaga University (1) University of Washington (8) University of Puget Sound (7) Pacific Lutheran University (1) Evergreen State College (1) Reed College (1) Lewis and Clark College (2) University of Portland (2) Linfield College (1) Willamette University (1) University of Oregon (3) Lane Community College (1)

UC Berkeley (10) Mills College (1) Ohlone College (1)

San Francisco State University (2) University of San Francisco (2) College of San Mateo (5) Notre Dame de Namur Univ. (1) Stanford University (12) Foothill College (19) De Anza College (1) Santa Clara University (5) Cogswell Poly. College (1) Cañada College (2) San Jose State University (4)

Created BY The 2014-2015 Editors-in-Chief and Online Editor-in-chief Macalester College (2) University of Wisconsin, Madison (3)

WA MT OR

MN ID WY IA

Whittier College (1) University of La Verne (1) Occidental College (1) Pitzer College (2) Claremont McKenna College (1) Scripps College (2)

Chapman University (6) Orange Coast College (1)

Disney College Program (1) FIDM, LA (1)

UC Irvine (2) University of San Diego (3) UC San Diego (2) San Diego State University (4)

University of Redlands (6)

The following is a list of all Palo Alto High School graduating seniors post high school plans, as of May 20. Congrats class of 2015! Foothill College College of San Mateo University of Massachusetts, Amherst

Bates College Tulane University University of California, Merced University of California, Santa Barbara

Tufts University University of Southern California Undisclosed Undisclosed Chapman University Undisclosed University of Puget Sound Amherst College University of California, Davis University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign

Alexandra Austin Christoforatos Word of Life Bible Institute, Hudson

University of Michigan, Ann Arbor Santa Clara University Undisclosed Cogswell Polytechnical College University of Notre Dame University of Oregon, Undisclosed University of California, Santa Cruz University of California, Santa Cruz University of Michigan, Ann Arbor Santa Clara University Foothill College Gap Year University of Michigan, Ann Arbor Columbia University University of Michigan, Ann Arbor Undisclosed Queen’s University (Canada) Gap Year University of California, Berkeley University of Washington Cornell University University of Michigan, Ann Arbor Stanford University University of California, Santa Barbara

Santa Monica College California State University, Humboldt Gonzaga University University of Colorado, Boulder Brown University University of Michigan, Ann Arbor Undisclosed University of Wisconsin, Madison Gap Year; University of Vermont Undisclosed Whittier College Columbia University Emerson College Gap Year; University of Colorado, Boulder

University of Wisconsin, Madison Muhlenberg College University of California, Santa Barbara

Undisclosed Undisclosed Undisclosed Undecided Undisclosed

INTERNATIONAL:

OTHER:

Rachel Berry - Queen’s University (Canada) Sydney Franz - Waseda University, (Japan) Abdelaziz Khalil - Oxford University (England) Maeve Lavelle - Trinity College Dublin (Ireland) Maclean Mansfield - McGill University (Canada) Alex Murray - University of St. Andrews (Scotland) Andrew Wilson - University of British Columbia (Canada) Rolina Wu - University of Toronto (Canada) Marika Zulch - Sophia University (Japan)

Sara Gram-Knutsen - Returning to Norway Naoki Minaki- PAUSD Post-Secondary Program Eric Nguyen - PAUSD Post-Secondary Program

VT NH

NY CT

Duke University (1) University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill (1) Wake Forest University (2)

Vanderbilt University (1) Emory University (1) Word of Life Bible Institute (1)

University of Alabama (4)

Allegheny College (1) Carnegie Mellon University (6)

Seton Hall University (1) Princeton University (3) Bryn Mawr College (1) Maryland Institute College of Art (1) United States Naval Academy (1) American University (4) George Washington University (2) Georgetown University (1)

MD DE

Penn. State University (1) Muhlenberg College (1) Drexel University (1)

Maryland Institute College of Art Undisclosed Stanford University Tufts University University of Michigan, Ann Arbor University of Oregon Emory University University of California, Berkeley Macalester College University of California, Davis Carnegie Mellon University University of California, Los Angeles Dartmouth College Undisclosed Allegheny College Undisclosed University of Alabama Scripps College University of California, Berkeley Hampshire College University of Puget Sound Undisclosed San Jose State University Undisclosed San Francisco State University University of Massachusetts, Amherst

University of San Francisco University of San Francisco Western Washington University New York University Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University

California State University, Chico California State University, Humboldt Undisclosed Linfield College Washington University in St. Louis Boston College University of California, Santa Cruz Stanford University Creighton University California State University, Northridge

Gap Year; Georgetown University Case Western Reserve University Pitzer College University of Colorado, Boulder Northeastern University Loyola Marymount University Foothill College Yale University Undisclosed Undisclosed Undisclosed Cornell University Carnegie Mellon University Undisclosed University of California, Davis New York University Purdue University University of Washington Hampton University California State University, Chico Gap Year; University of Wisconsin, Madison

Stanford University University of Michigan, Ann Arbor Rice University Waseda University Foothill College Chapman University California Polytechnic State University, SLO

Alexandra Furlong Jacqueline Furrier Ido Gal Gabriel Maurice Galang Cooper Ganschow Efieladia Garay Lizarraga Chris Garcia Jamie Garcia Yamilet Garcia Fabian Garduño Lauren Gargiulo Joseph Gault Bishal Gautam Smriti Gautam James Giaccia Casey Glassford Brigid Godfrey William Goncher Bryanna Gonzalez Catherine Gonzalez Yalon Gordon Sabrina Goyal Sara Gram-Knutsen Philip Green Sarah Griffin Jake Gurle Lillybeth Guzman Gloria Guzman-Alcantar Arya Haghighi Alexander Hakansson Harry Halsted Paige Hansen Conner Harden Anish Haris Clark Harmon Clara Harrington Isaiah Harrison Courtney Hartwell Jannat Un-Naeem Hashmi Noah Hashmi Rebecca Hassine Wei He Brynna Hechtman Julianna Heron Ethan Higashi Scott Hillen Michael Hindery Christopher Hinstorff Matthew Hinton Jeffrey Ho Dylan Hobbs Shaan Hoda Natalie Holler Sharissa Holopainen Alexandra Hsiao Alexandra Hsieh Alexander Hsu Kevin Huang Ryan Huang Ricardo Huerta Courtney Hull Carol Hung Lelaina Hutson Alexander Hwang Felix Ibarra Gustavo Islas Yerem Istanboulian Phoenix Jarrell-Desch Olivia Johnson

College of San Mateo Loyola Marymount University University of Southern California Foothill College Foothill College Undisclosed University of Redlands Chapman University Undisclosed Gap Year University of California, Santa Barbara

Undisclosed University of California, Santa Barbara

Undisclosed American University Foothill College George Washington University College of William and Mary Foothill College Loyola Marymount University Gap Year; Columbia University University of Rochester Other Undisclosed University of Puget Sound University of Washington Undisclosed De Anza College Undisclosed Undisclosed Evergreen State College University of Washington Carnegie Mellon University University of California, Berkeley California State University, Chico Tulane University Undisclosed Texas Christian University Pace University, New York Brown University Work Force Undisclosed California State University, Chico Tulane University Disney College Program, Anaheim Ithaca College Santa Clara University Tufts University Undisclosed Carnegie Mellon University Undisclosed Purdue University University of Puget Sound California State University, Chico University of California, Irvine University of Southern California University of California, Santa Barbara

University of California, San Diego University of California, San Diego California State University, Chico Colby College Cornell University Texas Christian University Rice University University of Redlands Undisclosed University of Washington Pacific Lutheran University Elon University

Tena Janet Johnson Madeline Jones Ethan Jorasch Pasha Kamarei Isaac Kasevich William Kast Abdelaziz Khalil Cara Kienitz Cairo Kim Grace Kim Isaac Kim Madeline Kinnaman Anna Kirillova Jamina Kirkendoll John Knowles Ashil Koranne Kyle Koshiyama Max Krawczyk Jesse Krohn Kayli Kumagai Preston Kuppe Haruhiko Kuramochi Edward Kwiatkowski Kenton Kwok Nicholas Lai Dhruv Lal Natalie Lamb Rachel Landesmann Christine Langston Maeve Lavelle Jonathan Lee Madeline Lee Promise Lee Rebecca Lee Dean Leitersdorf Sebastien Lengre Aiden Leonard Gabrael Levine Mia Levitan Zachary Levitan Philip Lewis Margaret Li Matthew Li Raymond Li Yang Li Luke Liao Sarah Lim Anthony Liu Claire Liu Flora Liu Jasen Liu Alexandra Livingston Jose Llanes Tatiana Loops Vanessa Lopez Emma Low Alexander Lu Andrew Lu Eric Lu George Lu Autumn Macareno Molly Mackris Arashpreet Mann Maclean Mansfield Maximillian Mao Xoee Margolis Jaime Martinez Jonathan Martinez Elizabeth Mataele

Undisclosed Wake Forest University Southern Methodist University Foothill College Stanford University Northeastern University Oxford University New York University Southern Methodist University Tufts University Undisclosed University of Alabama University of California, Davis Undisclosed Stanford University Undisclosed University of Michigan, Ann Arbor Columbia University Undisclosed Undisclosed University of Notre Dame Undisclosed Los Angeles College of Music University of California, Davis Ohlone College Purdue University Undisclosed University of Southern California Massachusetts Institute of Technology

Trinity College Dublin (Ireland) University of California, Los Angeles University of California, Santa Barbara

University of California, Davis Undecided Undisclosed Undisclosed University of California, Irvine Undisclosed Tulane University California Polytechnic State University, SLO

University of San Diego Princeton University Princeton University University of California, Berkeley Undisclosed Undecided Boston College Brandeis University Cornell University Rhode Island School of Design University of California, Santa Barbara

University of Portland Orange Coast College University of Arizona Undisclosed Colorado College Stanford University University of the Pacific Washington University, St. Louis Occidental College Undisclosed Chapman University Undisclosed McGill University (Canada) Macalester College Northeastern University Foothill College College of San Mateo Foothill College

Lucas Matison Maya McAuliffe Elizabeth McCole Sarah McDonnell Jasper McEvoy Rowan McEvoy Haley Mees Xenia Mendoza Alexandra Merkle-Raymond Ella Mernyk Paul Mewes Joseph Meyer Madison Mignola Charles Mihran Christian Miley Cameron Miller Naoki Minaki Erick Bruno Miranda Tara Mirmira Bryan Molina Tyana Moore Rebecca Moragne Daniel Moreno Vianey Moreno Matthew Mori Cassiel Moroney Jacob Mucciarone Kevin Mullin Brenda Munoz Alexander Murray Olivia Musil Ashray Narayan Evelyn Nava Huda Navaid Juliet Neuman Brenda Nevarez Eric Nguyen Hannah Nguyen Hieu Nguyen Peter Nishimura Lucas Novak Jesse O’Connor Ellis Obrien Charlie Oliveira Tira Oskoui Nirav Pansare Michael Pappas Coby Parker Caroline Pasyanos Allie Peery Alexander Pelavin Alejandra Pelayo Magdalene Peng Liana Pickrell Nihar Pol Hayley Poore Charles Pope Sebastian Poupin Roebel Joanna Prabhu Claire Priestley Jayshawn Puckett Sarah Putulin Mike Qin Panini Raman Alexander Ramirez Jeremy Revlock Garrett Reynolds Mayerline Rico Walker Ritchie

Pasadena City College University of San Diego Seton Hall University Wake Forest University University of Southern California University of Southern California Ohio Wesleyan University Undisclosed Northeastern University Willamette University Stanford University Undisclosed Gap Year; Suffolk University University of Washington University of California, Santa Cruz San Francisco State University PAUSD Post-Secondary Program University of Redlands University of California, Berkeley Foothill College College of San Mateo Tufts University University of Arizona Notre Dame De Namur University Undisclosed Mount Holyoke College Undisclosed Washington University, St. Louis Undisclosed University of St. Andrews (Scotland) San Diego State University University of Southern California Foothill College Mills College Undisclosed Undisclosed PAUSD Post-Secondary Program University of California, Berkeley Undisclosed University of California, Davis Massachusetts Institute of Technology

Undisclosed Bates College University of Colorado, Boulder Tufts University Foothill College Texas Christian University Northwestern University Northeastern University Brigham Young University University of the Pacific University of Redlands University of Southern California Northwestern University Carnegie Mellon University University of Washington Foothill College Foothill College San Jose State University New York University Foothill College University of Puget Sound Boston University Undisclosed San Jose State University University of Portland University of Colorado, Boulder Sonoma State University University of Richmond

William Robertson Fernando Rodriguez Jonathan Rogers Lisa Marie Rogge Jonathan Rojahn Adrianna Rositas Benjamin Rotblatt Amalia Roth Oliver Rowles Alexander Ruff Jasleen Sahota Maya Samet Jaisel Sandhu Omar Santacruz-Vieyra Brooke Santana Veronica Santo Timothy Sarmiento Mari Sato Grete Saue Alexander Scharf Margaret Schmit Jade Schoenberger Kendall Schonenberg Luke Schroder Kevin Schumacher Olivia Scola Rebecca Segars Zelina Serrano Akina Seymore Katherine Shan Heather Shaw Xavier Sherer Kelly Shi Jae-Hoon Shin William Shin Amanda Shorin Pablo Short Ellen Shuan Camille Situ Christopher Skokowski Mark Smeets Grant Smith Elias Smuts William Snodgrass Marcello Sochacki Oskar Soderberg Matthew Solway Sabrina Sonner Benjamin Spector Courtnae Sperling Shairaz Avinash Srinivasan Shiraz Anand Srinivasan Owen Staiger John Stephenson Jared Stillman Tiffany Streitenberger Abigail Strong Dan Su Sheila Subramanian Aoi Sugihara Alec Sullivan Nicholas Sundermeyer Kelly Swanson Arin Tai-Seale Alyssa Takahashi Rick Takeuchi Erek Tam Sarah Tayeri Daryn Tellez

Undisclosed Undisclosed United States Naval Academy University of Redlands University of Arizona College of San Mateo University of Colorado, Boulder Bowdoin College University of Alabama Undisclosed University of California, Santa Cruz Undisclosed Stanford University Undisclosed Cañada College San Diego State University Undisclosed University of Richmond Foothill College Undisclosed University of California, Santa Barbara

Trinity University University of Southern California University of Colorado, Boulder Drexel University Pitzer College University of La Verne Undisclosed Undisclosed Pratt Institute Gap Year; Lewis and Clark College San Diego State University Northwestern University Undisclosed Middlebury College Duke University Undisclosed University of California, Davis University of California, Santa Barbara

Gap Year California Polytechnic State University, SLO

DePaul University Undisclosed University of Southern California Undisclosed Reed College University of Michigan University of Southern California Undisclosed Undisclosed American University American University University of Michigan, Ann Arbor University of Michigan, Ann Arbor San Diego State University Cañada College University of Washington University of Chicago University of Southern California Undisclosed Texas Christian University University of Denver Vanderbilt University University of Puget Sound Undisclosed University of California, Santa Cruz University of Rochester Boston College University of Oregon

Yale University (1) Columbia University (4) New York University (5) Pace University (1) Pratt Institute (1)

Class of 2015 Mary Champagne Aaron Chandler Joseph Chang Lena Chang James Chau Edward Chen Gary Chen Ken Chen Sean Cheng Claire Chevallier Isabelle Chevallier Vincent Chi Emma Chiu Hanwon Choi Julia Chouinard Tayllor Christian-Gareia Gillian Chryst Elizabeth Chun Daniel Cohen Wang Miranda Cohn Ethan Colburn Isaac Collins Nathaniel Cook Griffin Cool Maria Coronado Jai Correa Elke Marie Cortes Kristine Marie Cortes Evan Cox Katherine Craig Alexander Crammond Thomas Crammond Alexis Crews-Holloway Kabria Dame Eriana Davis Alexander Dees Maximilian Dees Theresa Delgadillo Alec Deng Anna Dieck Daryl Dillahunty Esther Doerr Saar Dolev Ryan Drover Caitlin Duff-Brown Anna Dukovic Harrison Dwight Vanessa Ebbing Emil Ernstrom Suzie Sphar Catalina Espinoza Stephanie Estrada Audrey Fan Devin Fan Alex Fang Haley Fang Justin Fang Cary Faulkner Jessica Feeman Tiffany Fields Chloe Finley Chloe Fishman Molly Ellen Fogarty Katherine Foug Lucy Fox Sydney Franz Amanda Fregoso Caroline Friis Haley Fulker

Middlebury College (1) University of Vermont (1) Colby College (1) Bates College (2) Bowdoin College (1) Dartmouth College (1) Mt. Holyoke University (1) Hampshire College (1) Amherst College (1) University of Massachusetts, Amherst (2) Emerson College (1) Tufts University (6) Harvard University (1) Massachusetts Institute of Technology (3) Boston College (3) Northeastern University (5) Boston University (2) Brandeis University (1) Suffolk University (1) Brown University (2) Rhode Island School of Design (1)

Elon University (1)

Tulane University (4)

Fabian Garduño - Southeast Asia, China Yalon Gordon - Asia Rebecca Hassine - Internship Madison Mignola - International Heather Shaw - Work and International Chris Skokowski - Australia Hannah Zhang - Research

Nick Beeson - Philadelphia Adi Beth - Israel, Peru Galen Byrd - US, New Zealand, Australia, Southeast Asia Duncan Carpenter - Norway Esther Doerr - Southeast Asia, South America Chloe Fishman - Israel

Colgate University (1) University of Rochester (2) Cornell University (5) University of Richmond (2) Ithaca College (1) Hampton University (1) College of William and Mary (1)

TX Texas Christian University (5) Southern Methodist University (3) Trinity University (1) Rice University (3)

NC SC

Embry-Riddle Aeronautical (1) University of Arizona (3)

GAP YEAR:

Washington University in St. Louis (3)

Creighton University (1) University of Colorado Boulder (7) University of Denver (1)

Colorado College (1)

Brigham Young University (1)

Santa Monica College (1) University of Southern California (13) Loyola Marymount University (3) UC Los Angeles (3) Los Angeles College of Music (1)

Cal Poly San Luis Obispo (6) UC Santa Barbara (12) California Lutheran University (1) CSU Northridge (1) Pasadena City College (1)

Northwestern University (3) DePaul University (1) University of Chicago (3) University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign (2) University of Michigan (13) Notre Dame University (2) Purdue University (3) Case Western Reserve University (1) Ohio Wesleyan University (1) THE Ohio State University (1)

UC Santa Cruz (8) CSU Stanislaus (1) UC Merced (1)

Senior Section

The Annual

UC Davis (10) University of the Pacific (2) Saint Mary’s College (1) Sonoma State (1)

Ankita Avadhani Lina Awadallah Aris Azarmsa Griffin Bajor Jason Ballard Paige Bara John Barco Carmelle Bareket-Shavit Kallee Bareket-Shavit Lydia Barry Grant Baum Sonia Beckstrom Nicholas Beeson Michael Beisheim Priscilla Bell Maya Ben-Efraim Yu Chen Bernards Rachel Berry Adi Beth Zoe Bhargava Vivaan Bhatia Meera Bhide Corey Bicknell Elle Billman Steven Blatman Mira Bostic Adrien Bouissou Kate Bredenberg Liam Brodie Jackson Brook Nathaniel Brown Chioke Bryant-Anderson Marcelo Buxton Galen Byrd Shelton Cai Maria Cain Richard Cao Kristen Carey Duncan Carpenter John Carter Riley Cassidy Aaron Cassini Carina Castaneda Alejandra Castillo Alessandra Castillo Lenny Castillo Jocelyne Castillo-Martinez

Friday, May 22, 2015

Senior Section

CSU Humboldt (2) CSU Chico (6)

Bianca Aboytes Priscilla Aboytes Eliza Ackroyd Zofia Ahmad Cameron Aishin Rudra Aiyar Seth Alston Ana Sofia Amieva-Wang Paige Anderson Rachel Anderson John Andrews Scott Andrews Brad Arrellin Salas Adam Asch Julia Asin Guive Assadi Elnathan Au

The Campanile

Chelsea-Manon Thangavelu Colin Theil Zoe Tierney Ariana Tindall Joshua Torres Paloma Tracy Sinjin Treharne Rebecca Tse Oliver Tucher Alan Ugarte Hans Usman Clarissa Valencia Megan Valencia Christopher van Gelder Tess Van Hulsen Jacob van Zyll Andrey Vasilyev Rafael Vinluan Sonthaya Visuthikraisee Olivia Vort Kathryn Wahler Makayla Walton Albert Wang Alice Wang Royce Wang Sally Wang Wilson Wang Winston Wang Winston T Wang Monique West Eric Whitson Thomas Wilcox Danielle Williams Nicholas Willis Andrew Wilson Kylie Wilson Parker Wittman Adrian Wong Alan Wong Bryan Wong Wesley Woo Simon Wood Dianne Worku Austin Wu Jessica Wu Rolina Wu Yvette Yi-Chi Wu Zihe Xia Michelle Xie Victor Xie Emily Yan Dexter Yanagisawa Osamu Yasui Cameron Yem Maximilian Yin Caroline Young Charles Yu Theodore Zaharias Audrey Zha Anna Zhang Chuqing Zhang Hannah Zhang Ray Zhao Maggie Zheng Jason Zhou Alexander Zhu Charlene Zhu Wendy Zhu Marika Zulch

Bryn Mawr College University of Puget Sound Colgate University University of California, Santa Barbara

University of Alabama University of Michigan Undisclosed Southern Methodist University University of California, Davis Undecided Undisclosed California State University, Stanislaus University of Southern California American University Claremont McKenna College Chapman University Undisclosed Pennsylvania State University University of California, Berkeley California Polytechnic State University, SLO

Undisclosed San Jose State University University of California, Los Angeles Princeton University Stanford University Lewis and Clark College University of Chicago Undisclosed Undisclosed California Lutheran University University of San Diego Foothill College Texas Christian University Undisclosed University of British Columbia Boston University University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill

Undisclosed Santa Clara University University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign Massachusetts Institute of Technology

Saint Mary’s College of California University of Redlands Undisclosed Carnegie Mellon University University of Toronto, Canada University of California, Berkeley Undisclosed Harvard University Undisclosed Undisclosed California Polytechnic State University, SLO

University of California, Davis Lane Community College University of California, Santa Barbara

Stanford University Cornell University George Washington University FIDM, Los Angeles Santa Clara University Chapman University University of California, Berkeley University of California, Santa Cruz Rice University California Polytechnic State University, SLO

Undisclosed Scripps College Ohio State University Sophia University (Japan)

Friday, May 22, 2015

SENIOR SECTION

our h15tory: Then to now es Vo ll ey ba ll W in s st at Alto High School volleyball In the 2011 season, the Palo erscholastic Federation (CIF) team took the California Int the second year in a row. The Division I Championship for ness their outstanding chamClass of 2015 was able to wit e season that featured a 21 gam pionship run and a stunning we and , son sea the for 36-3 win streak. The team went to the number one spot in ed end asc es Vik the as watched d as we could on the sidelines, the nation. We cheered as har couldn’t witness when both slightly disappointed that we n states the year before. football and volleyball had wo

Over the four years that the Class of 2015 has spent at Palo Alto High School, we have made quite the name for ourselves and created countless memories in the process. Together, we have transitioned from the pitiful days of underclassman P.E. to sunny days spent laying out on the senior deck. We have experienced losses and victories in Spirit Week. We have witnessed our talented peers thrive in their respective areas of interest: athletics, Science Olympiad, robotics, speech and debate, journalism, the arts and so many more. Join us as we take you through a timeline of some our most memorable highlights at Paly.

2011

2012

Linsanity Takes over Paly After an unsuspecting start to his National Basketball Association (NBA) career, Paly alumnus Jeremy Lin broke into the public eye when the New York Knicks claimed him on waivers in late 2011. Lin managed to surprise and impress opponents and coaches alike with his fast, athletic game play, and began to receive national attention for his sudden rise to prominence. Knicks fans dubbed his meteoric ascension “Linsanity,” and soon, people across the United States were buying Lin jerseys and rooting for the Harvard-educated underdog. Lin’s fame also touched his hometown when director Spike Lee sported Lin’s high school jersey from his time as a Viking at a Knicks game.

Football Stadium Opens Although the Class of 2015 did not get to witness the Palo Alto High School Football team’s triumphant 2010 run to the State Championships, they did have the chance to enjoy Viking Stadium for its inaugural season. The new venue opened at the start of the 2013 season and kicked off with a ribbon-cutting ceremony hosted by Paly principal Kim Diorio and former Athletic Director Earl Hansen. A 125-person team of volunteers unfurled a massive American flag before the game, and Paly alumnus, former Stanford University and San Francisco 49ers head coach and current University of Michigan head coach Jim Harbaugh officiated the game’s ceremonial coin toss. Paly went on to dominate against opening night opponent San Benito High School, winning 28-7. This season also marked Hansen’s last of 26 years as Paly’s head coach.

The Rise of Streaking The class of 2015 will probably remember the class of 2013 best as the ‘streaking class.’ In the last case of class-organized streaking in recent memory, around 70 seniors took to the quad without clothes. Some streakers made their runs wearing costume or carrying everything from plastic spears to whole trout. The class of 2013 managed to turn ‘streak week’ into ‘streak month,’ but also caused the administration to crack down on streaking for future years. Second semester of the 2013 school year may have been the last time the tradition of streaking occurred, but the send-off of the long-standing Paly tradition was done in grand fashion.

2013 The Fall of Phil Winston The end of the 2012-2013 school year saw the resignation of former Principal Phil Winston, and the succession of current Principal Kim Diorio to the position. Winston, who the Class of 2015 remembers as “Chill Phil,” left a lasting legacy of a relaxed school atmosphere. Chill Phil focused on student stress levels, and during his term, the Class of 2015 saw the end of January finals, the introduction of Advanced Placement Music Theory and a relaxed attendance policy. However, his term was also noted for disorganization, and his resignation was later marred by allegations of harassment from former students. Diorio’s transition to power was smooth, and she immediately worked to continue Winston’s legacy of open communication between students and administration.

Class of 2015 Takes Spirit Week, Graduates in style Of the four that the Class of 2015 enjoyed in their time at Paly, the spirit week events of the fall of 2014 were by far the most memorable. Stiff competition from the Class of 2016 kept the race for first tight, and the Class of 2015 faced an excruciating point deficit heading into the final day of festivities. An insane Friday lunch rally in a pouring rainstorm, followed by the final after-school float and dance presentation, propelled the Class of 2015 into the Spirit Week 2014 lead. The seniors adapted flawlessly to ASB’s introduction of the all-inclusive Spirit Dance, taking first place with their “green light” energy, black flapper dresses and fabulous Gatsby themed routine. On June 3, 2015, the Class of 2015 walked on Paly grounds for the last time as students. The strongest class that Paly has ever seen, the students went on to traverse the world and spread their unmatched spirit, intelligence and charm. This high school will never see another class of students as incredible as the Class of 2015.

201 4 Construction finished The 2014-2015 school year saw the grand opening of two new buildings and the end to several years of invasive construction projects on campus. Students in the Class of 2015 got to enjoy a two story Math and Social Studies building and a cutting edge Media Arts Center for the last year of their time at Paly. These new building were especially remarkable for their furnishings and technological additions, but unfortunately were initially welcomed with faulty fire alarms and shoddy WiFi. Along with the opening of these two buildings, 2014-2015 also saw the construction of a new theater begin, with the construction of a new gym and library to begin in the summer. While the Class of 2015 will not be able to utilize these spaces, they will definitely remember how these projects blocked routes to Town and Country and reduced parking space.

201 5 WRITTEN BY Theeds 15 Former Editors-in-Chief

Coby parker Former Editors-in-Chief

Friday, May 22, 2015

The Campanile

LIFESTYLE B7 Açai bowls serve as new healthy snack option Going inside the newest health food trend by reviewing unique bowls from both Bare Bowls and Jamba Juice Susana Cacho

staff writer

hile scrolling through Instagram, it is hard to ignore the countless posts with images of fruit bowls that look very aesthetic and artsy. Açai (ahsah-ee) bowls have become the latest food trend due to their artistic looks and nutritional value. Açai is a small, berry-like fruit found mainly in Central and South American countries. According to many studies, it contains more antioxidants than any other berry, . Among other health benefits, açai promotes heart and skin health, aids in weight loss and improves cellular health. A typical açai bowl consists of açai pulp mixed with soy, coconut or almond milk along with a variety of fruits. Bowls are typically topped with sprinkled granola, coconut shavings and a drizzle of honey for sweetness. The most common fruits associated with açai bowls are strawberries, bananas and blueberries. The different fruits, along with the oats, give the bowl great variety of textures, colors and flavors. Recently, an açai bowl eatery opened in downtown Palo Alto, fueling the craze. Bare Bowls, which opened last November, has become popular due to its bowls, smoothies and coffee. According to Bare Bowls, everything sold is homemade and made with pure ingredients. This means bowls are made with unsweetened açai pulp and fresh fruits.

courtesy of localfoodlab

The new Bare Bowls shop in downtown Palo Alto is attracting many locals to try its açai bowls, which include flavorful and healthy ingredients such as oats and berries.

According to junior Kate Abed, Bare Bowls, along with other places where açai bowls are sold, have become popular due to the fact that they attract a large range of people. “As someone who has dietary restrictions, it’s often hard to find a restaurant that caters to my specific diet,” Abed said. “I like that I can go to Bare Bowls, order something, and feel confident that what I’m eating is not only beneficial to my health, but works with my diet.” Bare Bowls has a wide selection of açai bowls with different fruits and ingredients, creating a range of options catering to varying preferences. The Cardinal bowl is the more traditional açai bowl, coming with

açai pulp and cashew milk along with strawberries, bananas and blueberries. Additionally, it is topped with granola and honey. The consistency of the açai pulp lands somewhere in between ice cream and yogurt. The sweet and fresh taste of the açai bowl makes it clear that Bare Bowls uses fresh fruits and ingredients along with unsweetened açai pulp. Overall, Bare Bowls is the perfect place to start or end your day with a nutritious and healthy food option. However, Bare Bowls tends to be on the pricey side with $8 for the small and $12 for the large bowl size compared to Jamba Juice, which offers a 12 oz bowl and a 16 oz bowl for a lower price. Despite these high costs,

Bare Bowls’ açai bowls are definitely worth the price. Bare Bowls offers six different açai bowls and five different blends. The variety and wide selection of the menu is appealing because the customer is not limited in options. Due to their popularity, other places have tagged along with the açai trend. For example, last September, Jamba Juice incorporated açai bowls into their menu, as they are in line with the company’s focus. Jamba also offers a wide range of bowls and two different sizes: the 12 oz bowl with a price of $4.39 and a 16 oz bowl with a price of $5.09. Though Jamba Juice’s prices may be lower than Bare Bowls, this differ-

ence in price is apparent in its quality. Jamba Juice’s Açai Primo Bowl has mostly the same ingredients as Bare Bowl’s Cardinal bowl, yet they taste different. The consistency of Jamba’s bowl is runny and the blueberries seemed to be frozen. According to Jamba Juice’s nutrition facts, the Açai Primo Bowl has 69 grams of sugar, while the Bare Bowl Cardinal Bowl only contains 24 grams of sugar, making the Cardinal Bowl the more appealing and healthier choice. Next time you feel like trying a new or different food, try having an açai bowl. Not only are they healthy, but they can also double as a great and artsy Instagram post.

“Avengers” sequel disappoints “The Wire” proves still “Age of Ultron” fails to add anything new to the huge franchise

relevant in Baltimore

The show reflects problems of the city today chris skokowski

senior staff writer

design by Chris Skokowski

jake van zyll

senior staff writer

arvel released its second film in the Avengers series, “Avengers: Age of Ultron,” on May 1. Unsurprisingly, the action film has already become a lucrative hit, bringing in almost $200 million domestically during its opening weekend. Despite such an immense box office success, this follow-up to the 2012 smash hit “The Avengers” is a barely passable replica of its predecessor at-best, bringing almost nothing new to the “Avengers” franchise and to the superhero genre overall. The film opens with all six of the Avengers the audience has come to know and love — Captain America, Thor, Hulk, Iron Man, Black Widow and Hawkeye. Everything seems to be going well until Tony Stark (Iron Man) convinces Bruce Banner (The Hulk) to help him jump-start a dormant peacekeeping program called Ultron. Ultron — graced with James Spader’s smooth voice — takes on a robotic form and rebels against Stark and, though he states that his mission is to achieve “peace in our time,” Ultron aims to accomplish his plan through the extinction of the human

race. The Avengers join Quicksilver, whose power is superspeed, and Scarlet Witch, whose power is altering reality, to take down the evil robotic antagonist. “How can this film top battling an army of alien invaders led by the charismatic, mischievous Norse God Loki?” I thought as I entered the theater. The short answer? It cannot. Though the plot line and central conflict with Ultron comments on the excessive use of technology in modern society and asks the question of whether the world would be a better place without human existence, “Avengers: Age of Ultron” is simply not as entertaining nor as well structured as the first Avengers installment. Furthermore, Ultron, while chilling and intelligent, is not intimidating enough for a villain to truly convince the audience that he has any chance of defeating the Avengers. Teaming up with the original six Avengers are Quicksilver, Scarlet Witch, Falcon (Captain America’s sidekick), War Machine (Iron Man’s sidekick), a new hero named Vision and endless aid from the Strategic Hazard Intervention Espionage Logistics Directorate. Therefore, the audience is left to watch an incredibly one-sided fight. Ultron would make

a more appropriate villain for a movie featuring only one of the Avengers rather than a movie with all of them. Even more disappointing than the plotline are all of the forced jokes. One of the best aspects of the “Avengers” series is the intermittent but effective use of humor to juxtapose the intense action sequences. Unfortunately, the overused one-note jokes about how cool the protagonists are grow old about 23 minutes into this film. Luckily, the saving grace of this film is the one aspect that every viewer wants to see: plentiful, satisfying action sequences featuring the heroic avengers. Director Joss Whedon again does an exceptional job of capturing battle sequences containing every avenger fighting their enemies, creating a surreal, awe-inspiring effect and makes the film worth watching. Also, the film does an adequate job of developing its characters, which can be seen by the revealing of Hawkeye’s personal life as well as the romantic relationship between Black Widow and Bruce Banner. Overall, “Avengers: Age of Ultron” is a decent superhero film and will likely be watched by every hardcore Avengers fan; just don not expect this unadorned sequel to surpass its predecessor.

early seven years after its final episode, Baltimore crime saga “The Wire” is still as socially relevant as it was upon its release, especially given the stillcurrent unrest in the city the show portrayed. Written by a group of reporters and ex-police officers, the five seasons of “The Wire” examined crime, law enforcement, journalism, education and politics within Baltimore, including attention to detail and sharp social commentary that remain unmatched on television. Though many shows today rely on twists, action or lavish sets and special effects, “The Wire” relied solely upon its story and character development. Despite often focusing on the politics and stalemates of police work, the series stayed consistently interesting because it gave characters so much depth that it was impossible not to become invested in their stories. By drawing characters from all walks of life, the series was able to examine issues of race, class, crime, media and politics from different viewpoints, and leave the viewer with the tools to look at these issues critically.

Though many shows today rely on twists, action or lavish sets and special effects, “The Wire” relied solely upon its story and character development. Now, more than ever, the issues raised in “The Wire” are tremendously important to examine in Baltimore. While there is the problem of race’s role in justice, or lack thereof, the recent Freddie Gray case draws many other parallels to issues raised in “The Wire.” The manner and timing of the involvement of nearby religious leaders and politicians, especially in the Baltimore controversy, mirrors the responses of those groups in the series and indicates just how in tune with their city the screenwriters were when writing the script to the show. Though the role of race in aspects of city life was thoroughly explored in “The Wire” , the main focus the series had on the drug trade seems to be largely ignored today. Though Baltimore has received considerable media attention for its role in the nationwide series of racial police

brutality controversies, little attention has been given to the city’s crippling drug problem, which has only gotten worse since “The Wire” put it on display in the early 2000s. Baltimore’s struggle with heroin has persisted since the 1950s and it was estimated in 2009 that one in 10 people living in Baltimore were drug addicts. The problems do not lie just with those who are hooked on heroin, though, as the inner city drug trade is a vicious cycle. The fourth season of “The Wire,” often called the best season of a show to ever air on television, addressed how children are forced into becoming dealers simply by the life they are born into. The establishment of the drug trade in inner city areas causes violence, which drives out businesses and leaves drug dealing as the primary opportunity for employment. While Baltimore’s education system has made marked improvement in the past 10 years, the residual effects of its failures in the past mean that even kids who now have the opportunity to get an education will not necessarily have the support from those around them to follow through and complete school. Politics have also played a huge role in how the city of Baltimore has dealt with its problems in both “The Wire” and in real life. Politicians looking to get reelected or move up in the ranks often avoid the less glamorous — and more persistent — problems of the city in order to focus on the hot-topic issues that allow them to grandstand and get themselves noticed by members of their political party and by potential voters. In fact, the current mayor of Baltimore, who looks to be groomed for an eventual presidential run, spoke more on controlling police brutality than on any other single issue, even before the riots erupted in her city. Baltimore’s social problems persisted through five years of “The Wire” and have continued in the seven years after the final episode. While those five seasons displayed the sisyphean nature of Baltimore’s problems, they still contained at least some hope that the problems of the city would improve as long as they were not ignored. More than anything else, “The Wire” shows how its city’s problems run deeper than the death of one man, and the questions raised by the series should not be forgotten simply because Baltimore finally has a news camera pointed at it.

Friday, May 22, 2015

The Campanile

LIFESTYLE

Summing up Europe

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n the minds of most high school students, mathematics is commonly associated with mundane problem sets in a banal, antiquated textbook, filled with material that is largely inapplicable to everyday life. However, Palo Alto High School mathematics teacher Deanna Chute endeavors to eliminate the stigma surrounding mathematics through a travel program set to pilot during the spring break of 2016 called “Summing up Europe.” Chute has always thoroughly enjoyed traveling, for it allows her to stray from her day-to-day routine as a math teacher and explore other cultures and societies. “I’ve traveled a lot,” Chute said. “Travel is something that’s really important to me. I love going places, seeing things, meeting people. Usually when I travel, I slip into a different mode. I’m not a math teacher now, [I’m] something else.” Early on in her career, Chute was able to merge her passion for mathematics and worldly cultures. “[When] I was in Barcelona, I saw this magic square outside the Sagrada Familia [a Roman Catholic Church],” Chute said. “A magic square is a Chinese number [matrix where the sum of all numbers in a column, row or a main diagonal is the same], and I had just taught it to middle schoolers and then school got out and I went on this vacation and there it was at this church and it’s sort of like my whole world collided. I was like ‘Wow, that’s really interesting’ and that was a pivotal moment.” Five years after this crucial moment in her career, Chute was invited by a friend to chaperone for a French class that was traveling to Europe. World language classes often extend learning experiences past the conventional classroom by embarking on trips to foreign countries. Chute yearned to provide this same opportunity for students to widen their perception of the applicability of mathematics, but she was disappointed to find a general scarcity of programs that allow mathematics students to travel abroad. “The whole time [while on the trip, I was] thinking, ‘Well this is so unfair,’” Chute said. “Why do you get to go to all the fun places and do all the fun stuff and then go back and open up our textbooks to page 312. That just doesn’t seem right.” After the trip, Chute decided she wanted to organize a trip where she could take students outside of the classroom and demonstrate the use of mathematics in a plethora of aspects, including architecture, mazes, art and cryptography. Since math has always been a collaborative experience for her, Chute strongly believes that students should have the chance to simultaneously

Courtesy Of gingerandjagger.

interact with the surrounding world and delve into mathematical concepts. “I want to take math out of the classroom and remind kids that math is very human,” Chute said. “[Math is] very [much about] thinking, but it is also very historic and it has all of its own stories and places.” For the past 10 years, Chute has been constantly exploring online sites and organizations, in an attempt to find a program that fuses mathematics and travel harmoniously. Slowly throughout the years, Chute has met with numerous travel agents to organize the logistical aspects of the itinerary, living arrangements, transportation and historical sites while honing the crux of the program: the integration of mathematics. Though she held off on officially disclosing her plans to launch this trip to Europe for a few years, in April 2015 Chute finally announced that she would be taking a group of students to London and Paris during the spring break of 2016. The trip is not a school sponsored event; rather, Chute is organizing and planning the trip completely on her own. In the hopes of obtaining a range of diverse students with varying mathematical abilities and interests, Chute is open to accepting all students to the program, from those who have an inherent passion to those who do not have an immediate interest in mathematics. “I think the natural inclination is that this [trip] will attract kids who are really good at math and who really like math,” Chute said. “While there is probably an element of that, that is not at all my direction. I would love to take a whole groups of kids who hated math to really sell them on it and show it’s just as cool as art history or anything else.”

Court

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Math Teacher Deanna Chute Plans to Pilots new travel program during spring break 2016 to destigmatize math

court

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As part of her preparation for the trip, Chute plans to have a club dedicated to “Summing up Europe” so that these students can explore the math behind European landmarks. Chute intends to teach everything prior to the trip so that they can genuinely appreciate the experience while in Europe. “There will be times when I will directly lead mathematical discussions [while on the trip], but it’s not my anticipation that people will whip out their pens and paper and start doing math,” Chute said. “I’m hoping it’s just a natural conversation where we will hopefully have a guide.” Having found a passion in mathematics herself, Chute hopes that she can instill a lasting passion for mathematics in students who plan to join her on this journey to Europe. “[“Summing up Europe”] has the potential to have so many interdisciplinary links which is of huge interest to me,” Chute said. “I love math but I find myself increasingly interested in linking it to other places so this is one of my ventures into doing that.” Overall, Chute hopes that students who embark on the trip to Europe will return to Palo Alto with a revived view of mathematics, one that emphasizes its beauty and relevance in human society. “I want [to eliminate the] stigma of math being something that you just sit at a desk and do,” Chute said. “I want it to be more than that. To me, [math is] alive. I know it feels like it has not changed in a million years and it is static. But I still look at things and I teach year after year and I am like, ‘That still amazes me, that’s amazing.’ I hope that there are plenty of opportunities for kids to be like, ‘That’s amazing’ because that’s what I want for all [students].”

This edition featuring:

Mac Mansfield with The Campanile’s own

Owen Staiger In the spirit of full disclosure, this interview was conducted in full nudity in the Shvitz at the JCC. The Campanile: Ok Mac, let’s dive right in to this. Everyone is dying to know about your past loves. Mac Mansfield: Well, I love love first of all. My heart goes out to all the women I have devastated. You see, I am 3-0 with breakups. TC: What about that fourth relationship? MM: Sharissa Jalapeno, how do I put this softly? She broke my heart. She had the indecency of meeting me in public and stepping on my heart in front of hundreds of people. TC: So you lost that one? MM: I’ll have you know when I met up with her I was planning on breaking up with her. TC: So it is more like 3-0-1. MM: Exactly. TC: Let’s switch over to the other gender here. What can you tell me about your relationship with Griffin Carlson? MM: Well I didn’t really have a choice, he chose me. Griffin Carlson: Are you saying you’re submissive to my will? *Griffin straddles Mac* TC: Comments on the JCC Shvitz? MM: I often cut freshmen history to cleanse my body here. TC: Why are you in freshman history? MM: Well, I was expelled freshmen year and I have to take this class if I want to graduate ... which I do. TC: Why were you expelled? MM: Next question. TC: Why weren’t you at school Monday? MM: I went MIA in the wilderness. TC: Any drama with your ex-lovers? MM: I cried all night, but other than my slayed dreams, nothing transpired. TC: What is your opinion on the famed Dulik? MM: Let’s just say if coach didn’t hold me back, there would’ve been two hits, one being my fist and the second being Dulik falling to his knees. TC: Favorite music and why. MM: Hip hop because it really represents me and my struggles well and electronic music because I like to get weird. TC: How weird? MM: What kind of audience does this publication have? TC: We’ll just stick with “super weird.” MM: Word slime. TC: Define slime and your other slang. MM: Slime — what you’d call a fellow guy that’s just living life. Moss — to chill out like moss on a rock. Buh — essentially the same as slime. TC: Plans for next year? MM: I will be heading back to the homeland at McGill. TC: On a scale of maple syrup to hockey, how much did the option of nuru massages influence your collegiate decision. MM: Hockey. TC: I noticed you adjust your hair a lot. MM: Yeah my dad called me a p***y for that. TC: You are wearing a headband. MM: I am, what about it? TC: It must take a lot of elastic to tame that flow. MM: Yeah so far only Lululemon headbands have been able to withstand the pressures of this mane. TC: In conclusion? MM: I love you Sharissa.

The Campanile

Friday, May 22, 2015 ATHLETE OF THE MONTH Varsity

SPORTS

badminton player James Wang has helped keep his team alive in a tough league.

Text By Kai Oda sports editor

the neW Face of Paly athletics

DesiGn by ethan teo sports editor

Left: Bowers (second from the right) shoots the ball in a game. Center: Bowers (second row, left) with the Burbank High School girls’ basketball team. Right: Bowers (center) on the Stanford women’s softball team.

Kai Oda

sports editor

he large glasses, stern face and booming voice of Kathi Bowers will literally be the next face of Palo Alto High School athletics. Many students know the 27-year teaching veteran for her pronounced charisma and friendliness in the math classroom, but she is about to take on a new and different challenge. Bowers is set to replace Jason Fung, a longtime football coach and professional bodybuilder, who recently resigned his position, as Paly’s new athletic director for the upcoming school year. Bowers intends to bring the athletic and academic community at Paly closer together, ensuring that these two departments have a more interconnected future. In the classroom, Bowers has a dynamic character, strutting from board to board using showy hand motions and throwing pens to convey a wide range of math concepts. When talking about her promotion to athletic director, her face changes to reveal an animated

smile and her eyes light up with undisguised passion. This passion stems from the intrigue and unpredictability that inevitably results from working with children. Ultimately, this is what Bowers feels is most important for an athletic director. “[To be an athletic director], you have to like the kids and you have to want to be there for the kids, and your highest priority is that the athletes have a positive experience,” Bowers said. Bowers has many goals, but her first objective as athletic director will be to expedite the gym construction process and streamline the subsequent relocation of the athletic teams that use the facilities. “The [completion of the] gyms [is] the ultimate goal for the next 18 months, simply because that is the only choice,” Bowers said. “It is going to be tough for the athletes, so anything I can do to make that as painless as possible is my goal.” Bowers predicts that the process will be painful because most sports requiring a gym will be forced to practice off campus for two

seasons. Additionally, pool sports such as swimming and water polo will have to relocate as the construction presents a safety hazard. “It is like a remodel on a house; there are always challenges,” Bowers said. “You just have to keep in mind that the end product will justify that difficult time. That’s still a hard sell to our seniors, who won’t get the gym for their final year at Paly.”

In the classroom, Bowers has a dynamic character, strutting from board to board using large hand motions and throwing pens to convey various math concepts. However, once the gyms are finished, Bowers has an ambitious vision for athletics at Paly. Her vision mainly boils down to stronger communication between athletes and other students, as well as increased programs that connect the two groups. In Paly’s Sports Pathway program, students will eventually be able to experience sports marketing,

sports business, sports broadcasting and sports management using Paly’s athletic teams as practice. “I want to create positions [in the athletic department] for students that are not athletes, but are interested in a real experience that is related to sports,” Bowers said. However, in order to make this program work, the communication between teams, coaches, directors and students must improve. Bowers intends to revamp the website that provides team information to improve connections and ensure easier access. “There needs to be good communication so that we can get everybody where they need to be,” Bowers said. “That starts with the athletic website, which needs a lot of overhauling. There needs to be a way for people to find out where the athletes are playing, no matter where they are.” Bowers even intends to bring the online version of student publications such as The Campanile and The Viking together on a central page in order to increase efficiency and provide more thorough coverage of games.

All photos courtesy of kathi bowers

Left: Bowers (second row, second from the left) coaches the 1989 Paly softball team. Center: Bowers (front) coaches a National Junior Basketball team. Right: Bowers teaches her Intro to Analysis and Calculus class.

“My overriding goal is to make sure that I am in good communication with everybody,” Bowers said. Bowers feels that in order to be a successful athletic director, one must be able to listen to both the athletic board and to the athletes themselves. Connecting these two groups and being close to both sides of Paly athletics will allow Bowers to be more efficient. “To have a successful program you must have good communication skills because there are a lot of pieces that have to work together,” Bowers said. Bowers has spent 27 years teaching various classes of math, and her room is filled with various Stanford athletic posters. But other than that, there has been little evidence of her experience with sports. Compared to previous athletic director Jason Fung, whose bodybuilding and football coach careers are apparent from his conspicuous muscular physique,

the drama and spectacle of the champions league The historic rivalries between the semifinalists of the Champions League make this year’s

Bowers would not be objectively described as physically intimidating. Despite this, Bowers boasts an impressive array of both management and coaching experience.

[To be an athletic director], you have to like the kids and you have to want to be there for the kids, and your highest priority is that the athletes have a positive experience.

Kathi Bowers

2015-16 Athletic Director “I managed the Little League Board, the Babe Ruth Board, the Iklers Swim Team Committee, coached National Junior Basketball and Little League,” Bowers said. “I have always been on some sort of athletic board.”

Additionally, Bowers has firsthand experience with athletics at both the high school and collegiate level. She played softball for Stanford University and was an active participant in female sports which was allowed by Title IX — a program that aimed to increase female involvement in education. Bowers also played tennis, basketball, soccer and volleyball in high school. Her diverse experiences and deep skillset make her well suited to become athletic director despite her years away from the field. Even with this experience, Bowers admits that she hesitated to take the position. “I have no idea why I was chosen to be the athletic director,” Bowers said. “I really wanted to wait a year then get back into coaching. But I learned more about this position and I thought, ‘Maybe that’s the path I want to go.’” Unfortunately, taking the position as the new athletic director forces a sacrifice in Bow-

INSiDE gender inequality in sports The bias of media coverage towards men’s sports has

decreased interest in women’s

C4-C5

ers’ math career. Instead of teaching Intro to Analysis and Calculus, she will only teach one undetermined class of math next year. “My favorite part [of being a teacher] is being with the kids, and I’m a little scared about teaching only one math class,” Bowers said. “But I hope to have a close interaction with the students in my new job.” A few more papers have to be signed and many more board meetings have to be attended before Bowers becomes the new athletic director, but she is ready to begin. Bowers has always put the students as her highest priority, and looks forward to working closely with both athletes and regular kids interested in sports. “I’m excited to try to something different and do something new,” Bowers said. “[Being an athletic director] is a path that I wanted to go down when I got out of college, but up until now I have not had the chance.”

Boxing’s decline in popularity Boxing’s profound history with violent injuries has

caused its sudden decrease in popularity.

Friday, May 22, 2015

The Campanile

SPORTS

Baseball unable to advance in CCS Girls lacrosse finishes The team attributes their seasons overall success to friendships season with league title KAI ODA

Vikings achieve feat second year in a row

SPORTS EDITOR

leats to the face, dirty plays, heartbreaking defeats and triumphant wins have been the norm for the Palo Alto High School baseball team. The regular season has come to an end, and the boys secured a spot in the Central Coast Section (CCS) playoffs after beating rival Los Gatos High School in a three game series. On May 5 the boys played the first of a three game series against Los Gatos. The boys scored a quick run against Los Gatos in the third inning, giving them in a tenuous one point lead. They then shut down Los Gatos for the next four innings and secured a 1-0 win. “The Los Gatos win was huge for us. We just had that feeling that it was our game, and we won it,” sophomore pitcher Ryan Chang said. “Gatos was pretty cocky when they came in, but we showed them that we had some backbone. Our defense finally came through and our pitchers Justin [Hull] and Isaac [Kasevich] clutched the game for us.” Unfortunately, Los Gatos came back with a fury in the next game and defeated the boys 5-3 on May 7. Although the boys bases loaded at different points early on in the game, they were unable to convert the opportunities into runs. “We had a big first inning that we did not capitalize in, and they came out with a little more intensity,” sophomore seccond baseman Ethan Stern said. Additionally, Los Gatos High School allegedly began to utilize unsportsmanlike techniques in order to injure Palo Alto High School players. The boys likened their game to “oldschool baseball” in which players attempt to injure the opposing players. This type of play resulted in senior Will Snodgrass receiving a cleat to

SUSANA CACHO

STAFF WRITER

ZOE TIERNEY/THE CAMPANILE

Los Gatos scored five runs off junior pitcher Corey Bicknell in game two of the series.

the face. Angered by the antics of Los Gatos, the boys prepared to take their revenge in the third game. “[Spiking someone in the face] is not an ethical play. There are some things that you don’t do,” Chang said. “But if they want to play old school baseball then we can too.” Ultimately, junior Albert Han summed up the boys’ feelings about their future game against Gatos. “There’s not much I can say,” Han said. “If Gatos manages to keep it clean we should have a good game.” In the last game against Los Gatos on May 8, the boys emerged triumphant with a 6-4 win. Many of the problems that plagued the team over the season such as a weak defense and a lack of purpose were nonexistent. Han’s words rang true as the boys played an intense game and were rewarded for their efforts. After the Los Gatos series, the boys had an uneventful matchup against Saratoga High School on May 12 in which they crushed the opposing team 14-3. Their second game on May 14 resulted in a 3-1 win, allowing the boys to qualify for the CCS playoffs. Unfortunately, things took a turn for the

worse when the boys season came to a bitter close when they played against Carlmont High School. In their first game of the CCS playoffs the boys lost 4-0, despite ace pitcher Justin Hull doing his best for the team. Because CCS is a single-elimination affair, the boys are now out of the playoffs. The boys have had a rough season, but as the year draws to a close, the team has come together and played some of its best games of the year. In the midst of their success, the players are reminded of why they love their sport. “[Baseball] is not as fast paced or quick thinking as other games,” Stern said. It’s a game [in which] you have to think out and play with your mind. In that way it is unique.” Ultimately, the boys’ success can be attributed to their close ties with each other. Even when the team was losing six games in a row, they were able to stick together and believe that they would make it to the playoffs. “The biggest contribution to our success is our chemistry,” sophomore Ben Cleasby said. “We always work well with each other and we help make each other better players, and that is why we are winning games now.”

he girls lacrosse team finished their regular season with a 16-1 overall score and won the Santa Clara Valley Athletic League (SCVAL) championship for the third time in history. On May 5, the last game of the regular season, the Lady Vikes won with a score of 16-2 over Mountain View High School. This was also senior night, in which the outgoing seniors were honored for their hard work and contribution to the team’s success.

The seniors this year were a really special group of girls. They contributed a lot to the team on and off the field and they will for sure be missed a lot next year.

Meredith Kinnaman Junior

On Wednesday, May 13, the team faced Saratoga High School, the same team they have faced twice throughout the regular season and defeated last year by a score of 15-13, which lead them to win a SCVAL championship title. The Lady Vikes won their semifinal game in SCVAL with a score of 16-10. The game included several goals from seniors Lauren Gargiulo, Claire Chevallier, Allie Peery, Paige Bara, Liana Pickrell, Amalia Roth and juniors Maya Benatar and Holly Tumminaro. After defeating Saratoga, the Lady Vikes advanced to the championship game which was held on Saturday, May 16. The team faced cross town

rival Henry M. Gunn High School and won the SCVAL championship with a score of 12-11. The team faced Gunn twice throughout the season. The game was tied all throughout the second half with a score of 10-10. By the end of the first overtime period, each team had scored one goal, making the game tied 11-11. Junior Meredith Kinnaman, the team’s goalkeeper, made six saves during the first half of the game and four during the second half as well as another save during overtime. During the second overtime period, Peery scored the winning goal which lead the Lady Vikes to victory and another SCVAL championship title. According to Kinnaman, the team was very successful due to the dedication each player put on the field. “Everyone was always putting in their best effort and really wanted the best for the team,” Kinnaman said. “Everyone supported each other on and off the field. It’s really awesome to play on a team and know that everyone has your back through thick and thin.” The majority of the girls lacrosse team this year was made up of seniors. According to Kinnaman, next year’s team will have to adjust to make up for the loss of seniors. “The seniors this year were a really special group of girls. They contributed a lot to the team, on and off the field, and they will for sure be missed a lot next year,” Kinnaman said. “I think going into next year it will definitely be a rebuilding year for our team, but we have a lot of amazing talent in the junior class and a lot of really great underclassman . . . if we come back next year and play our best and really come together as a team we will be just as successful as we were this year.”

Boys golf loses in CCS Softball places third to last in league Team runs out of steam in the postseason

Team struggles to win after the loss of their fundamental pitchers MASHA KONKOV

STAFF WRITER

COURTESY OF DOYLE KNIGHT

Junior Henry Gordon takes a swing at the team’s match during the first round of CCS.

JOANNA FALLA

STAFF WRITER

alo Alto High School’s boys golf team ended its season after losing to Bellarmine High School, Saint Ignatius High School, Harker High School and Palma High School in the first round of Central Coast Section (CCS) regionals. The team went undefeated for the third consecutive year and took first place in the Santa Clara Valley Athletic League tournament, but were unable to play in the more challenging NorCal tournament. “We had a great season,” Coach Doyle Knight said. “Unfortunately, we did not do well at CCS. We missed the cut by eight strokes.” Senior John Knowles was also disappointed in the team’s end to the season, but happy with the team’s play. “I felt that this team was going to make it to NorCals, and it was a disappointment to not advance,” Knowles said. “Over the past couple years, I’ve felt the team run out of steam at the end of the season but I didn’t get that sense this year. Everyone competing was excited to play well and we were all confident in our team.” Knowles was sad to see the team end the season the same way it did last year, and even though he is excited to move forward with his golf career, he will miss his teammates as both friends and as competitors.

“As a senior, it’s been a privilege to be part of this team for the past four years,” Knowles said. “I’m going to miss the three juniors, Matt [Lewis] and both Henry’s [Hughes and Gordon] and my fellow senior Alex [Hwang]. They are great people to compete next to but also just to be around.” Knight is sad to see the seniors go because they had such an impact during their time on the team. “[The seniors] will be missed next year,” Knight said. “Seniors give a sense of leadership to a team. Especially John [Knowles], because he was one of my top 6 players. He has been an anchor during his 4 year career here, always solid with his scores.” Knowles has said that playing on this team has prepared him for his future. “Playing Paly golf has made me excited to continue to play golf,” Knowles said. “It also made me a better golfer and teammate. I’ve learned how to compete on the course and during practice.” Looking to next year, Knight hopes that with a strong roster the team will have a better chance at advancing past the first round of CCS. “As for next year, I’ve challenged the players to sit down and think about what it will take for us to do better at CCS,” Knight said. “The past years we have gone in strong only to be finished after the 1st round. Even other coaches from other leagues are surprised by that.”

he Palo Alto High School girls softball team closed out the season falling short of prior hopes to have a season with a majority of wins. Finishing the season with a tight loss of 4-5 against Fremont High School, the team’s overall record is 14-13 and 4-8 in the league. The team has lost all games in May, which the girls attribute to star pitchers sophomore Mackenzie Glassford and senior Casey Glassford suddenly quitting. Freshmen Elizabeth Schnaubelt and Ushana Vivek were brought up as pitchers from junior varsity, and freshman Dhesya Swezey has also stepped in as a replacement. “Stepping in as pitcher has been fun, but obviously more of a challenge than pitching at the JV level,”

Vivek said. “The girls go out of their way to make me feel comfortable, I did not really know any varsity players at first and I now feel at home playing with them.” The girls lost their game on senior night against Mountain View High School with a score of 10-2 on May 8. Despite having lost mostly with large margins, the girls had a close game with Mercy High School on May 4, finishing 11-8. Sophomore third baseman Maggie Renteria does not attribute the team’s recent losses to a decline in the overall team’s performance. “We all have been working on our individual skills as well as working as a team,” Renteria said. “It’s always disappointing to lose but these past losses haven’t really affected us negatively. Actually, we’ve been playing better than we ever have. Since losing our two main pitchers, the whole

team has come together and we have really been playing as a team. ” In the El Camino League rankings, the girls stand third to last, surpassing Fremont, whom stands second to last and Lynbrook High School placing last. Currently the softball team stands 20th in their CCS division, above cross town rival Henry M. Gunn High School. Looking to next season, junior Natalie Snyder has hopes similar to those she had at the beginning of this season. “This season had the potential to be a winning season, but we lost our momentum once the pitchers quit,” Snyder said. “We became more unified as the season went on, though only some players played, which hurt some feelings which is unfortunate yet understandable. I hope next year we truly play as a team and that will bring us a better result than this season.”

Boys lacrosse celebrates league victory

Despite numerous injuries, the team claims title in SCVAL finals WILL SNODGRASS

SENIOR STAFF WRITER

he Palo Alto High School boys lacrosse team ended its season Saturday with a championship victory over Los Gatos High School in the Santa Clara Valley Athletic League (SCVAL) Final. After suffering several injuries at the beginning of the season, the Vikings received another blow when junior faceoff midfielder Chuck Stephenson broke his collarbone. However, junior Will Dougall stepped up to the spotlight and gave the team several solid performances.The boys closed out the regular season with a convincing win over Mountain View High School on senior night, carrying their winning streak into the playoffs. They finished their regular season with a 10-2 league record. The Vikings opened the playoffs with a close 9-8 win in a rematch

against Mountain View. It was a much tougher game than the Vikings had anticipated after the blowout victory, but a gritty fight from the boys led to the clutch win. Once again, the Vikings’ offensive attack was led by attackmen Matt Seligson and Cole Tierney, who each tallied several goals.

We struggled through injuries early in the season, but we really came together as a team after spring break.

Zach Levitan Senior

The team faced off against Los Gatos High School in the league championships. After recording a 1-1 record against Los Gatos in games earlier

in the season, the boys handily beat Los Gatos 9-5, finishing the season on the highest of notes. The Vikings came out strong with four unanswered goals to open the game. From there on out it was smooth sailing, as junior goalie Quintin Valenti came up with an impressive 15 saves on 20 shots. The key to the Vikings’ success against Los Gatos in this third matchup of the season was that the Vikings played stellar defense, and shut down Los Gatos’ stars. Additionally, the offense for the Viking swas controlled, and the ball was kept away from Los Gatos. Senior captain Zach Levitan was really impressed with the team’s results at the end of the season. “We struggled through injuries early in the season, but we really came together as a team after spring break,” Levitan said. “From that point on, we were unbeatable.”

Friday, May 22, 2015

The Campanile

SPORTS C3 Badminton will stay in top Girls swimming league despite poor season places first at CCS Team suffers loss of seniors remains hopeful for upcoming season Jeremy Fu

Kate Deandre

Online Editor

s the regular season nears its end, Palo Alto High School’s badminton team looks forward to a fresh start next year, following a disappointing record with four wins and eight losses. The team has finished all 12 matches against its neighboring schools, losing its first three matches by a wide margin and winning four out of nine matches thereafter. Most notably, the Vikings won against Los Altos High School 18 to 12 on Senior Night. However the team closed its season with a loss, falling to Monta Vista High School for a second time 26 to 4. The Vikings, who have played against traditionally strong schools, have had lacking performances this year and have been unable to rebound from a loss of 15 senior players. Furthermore, the team had to deal with the loss of old coach, Wesley Hsieh, who was released after two years. “We started off a little shaky, due to the lack of direction from the change in coaches and that threw us off for awhile,” sophomore Candace Wang said. “As the season progressed however, we began to gain momentum and I think we have finished the season strong.” This year, coach Justin Halas attempted to emphasize physical training, in order to improve the team’s conditioning and footwork. Halas believes that players need a growth

Vikings hope to finish season undefeated Staff Writer

dami bolarinwa/the campanile

Junior Helen Yan (right) and sophomore Nancy Yang (left) play doubles at practice.

mindset and mental toughness to win games. “It is important to be in the right position to anticipate the shot or the hit. Another technique is to focus on attacking,” Halas said. “90 percent of teams that attack in badminton end up winning, so getting into that attacking mindset is something we’ve got to focus on.” The Vikings moved up to the higher division, the De Anza League, two years ago. The team has had mixed success in the division, often leaving the season with more losses than wins. Despite another mixed season, the Vikings placed fourth in their league and will stay in the upper league next year. “With teams like Gunn and Monta Vista in the league, it will be

extremely difficult to get first place,” freshman Jackie Cai said. “But with all the coaching difficulties and gym problems, it is great that we finished 4th in league.“ The Vikings will continue to the Santa Clara Valley Athletic League and the Central Coast Sectionals — which is played individually and not as a team. Players to look out for include the mixed doubles teams Linus Wang and Ally Zhu; Joseph Chang and Carissa Zou; girls doubles teams Promise Lee and Jackie Cai; and boys doubles team Eric Chiang and James Wang — all of which have had strong performances this year. Next year, the team will face the loss of longtime senior players, as well as a possible loss of players due to the construction of the new gym.

he girls swimming and diving team remains undefeated in league and has performed well at Central Coast Sectionals (CCS). The team had a significant win at their most recent League Preliminary and Finals meet at Saratoga High School on May 5, 6, 7 and 8. Beating six teams at leagues secured the team’s undefeated rank, placing them first. This presented the opportunity for 10 girls on the team to progress to compete at CCS. Out of the 10 who made CCS, five were freshmen on the team who worked hard to earn their place. “The freshmen are amazing, about half of our top competitors at CCS are freshmen,” sophomore swimmer Haley Chalmers said. Out of the five freshmen who placed at CCS, three freshman managed to secure a spot in the top eight at the meet. Freshman Zoe Lusk competed in both the 200 Individual Medley and the 100 Fly and lowered her best times, decreasing 1.34 seconds in the 100 Fly.

“I think that I did pretty well at CCS. I dropped time in both of my events and I got sixth in both events,” Lusk said. The team plans to continue to the California Interscholastic Federation (CIF) High School State Meet at Clovis West High School and duel for the last time. The meet brings the season to a close on May 22 and 23. “The state meet is very hard to qualify for, yet since it’s a new meet we are staying more focused on CCS. We are going to try to just have fun at the state meet since CCS is the meet we have been training for all season,” Chalmers said. Lusk has similar hopes for the outcome at the CIF High School State Meet focusing mainly on the last meet as a team. “For CIF High School State Meet, I really want to focus on having more fun, because I think that the team swims faster when we are relaxed and pumped up for our races rather than nervous,” Lusk said. The team looks forward to their final meet on May 22 and 23 to continue their undefeated streak and have a good time while doing so.

Track and field looks to impress at CCS Finals Sprinters and relay runners look to end their steady season on a positive note

Boys swimming second in CCS Team plans to compensate for significant senior losses next year joanna falla

staff writer

he boys swim team finished the year by claiming second place in the Santa Clara Valley Athletic League (SCVAL) and third place in Central Coast Section (CCS). Sophomore Andrew Josefov looks back on the team’s progress with a positive attitude. “We’re proud of what we accomplished,” Josefov said. “[Henry M. Gunn High School] has the most talented team ever, but we ended up getting second in Leagues and third in CCS. We lost to Gunn by 70 points in Leagues but when we were going to finals we were seated to lose to them by over 160 points so it was a big accomplishment that we were able to beat the odds.” Palo Alto High School’s boys swim team will be losing eight seniors next year and very few freshmen are predicted to join the team, so the players who plan on returning need to be ready to step up into the seniors’ spots.

“I’m definitely prepared for next year,” Josefov said. “I’m excited to step up in the seniors’ events or roles and score points because there’s only so many positions for people to score points at dual meets. The events I swam were the events that we were already really strong in so I didn’t have a chance to score points.” Although the seniors are leaving, Josefov is prepared to take on a leadership role to make up for the devastating loss. “The upperclassmen tend to sit on the wall and talk, and if we’re gonna put in the work and do well, that’s on us,” Josefov said. “Regardless, it’s definitely going to be a blow because all of our seniors scored points consistently but all schools will have that so should still be set for next year.” The team is confident in vast improvement for the team with some players individually moving on to State Championships. Looking forward in the year, Josefov hopes that each teammate can work individually so the team can work together next season.

“We are really trying to get better so that we can eventually beat Gunn because we have previously held the League title for the last 10 years in a row, but this was the first year that Gunn took the title and the Paly boys team ended up getting second place.” Josefov highlighted that there’s nothing wrong with the team; it’s whether or not the team goes on to win is all based on the player’s efforts. “There’s nothing you can fix, just improve on what you have,” Josefov said. “We’re not going to get that many new swimmers. It’s more individual swimmers that need to improve on their own; it’s not going to be someone else doing the job for them.” The team has set some more tangible goals to complete during the season, according to Josefov. “Like always, trying to beat Bellarmine,” Josefov. “They’ve won for the past 31 years at CCS and we were second for the past five years. We have a better chance next year because they’re practically graduating their entire team.”

Boys tennis fails to quality for CCS After confusion on whether the team would move on to CCS ends, the team fails despite winning its last game of the season peter maroulis

news and opinion editor

n a stunning turn of events, the Palo Alto High School boys tennis team did not qualify for the Central Coast Section (CCS) postseason after finishing with a 10-10 record in the Santa Clara Valley Athletic League. As reported in the May 1 edition of The Campanile, the team believed it had barely clinched a spot in CCS by winning its last game of the season against Los Altos High School. “I’m so upset, but at the same time we can take it as a learning experience,” sophomore Henry Badger said. “We played great teams, and next year we know how to come back out and beat those guys.” Though the victory was sweet, it left the Vikings one spot away from advancing to CCS. Confusion by players as well as coach Andy Ha-

rader led the boys to believe that they would be moving on to the postseason when in fact their tying record with Los Altos was not enough to do so. There is no denying that age was a difficulty this season, despite a strong effort from the strong sophomore players (Badger, Dylan Polley Kevin Chen, Noah Galper and Adrian Smith). After the 2014 season, the team lost seven seniors and, consequently, lots of leadership and experience. Though players stepped up and improved the young team’s chemistry, lack of experience inhibited the success of the team. “We didn’t make CCS this year but we’ll make it next year,” junior and team co-captain Shiv Matta said. “We’re a young team so it’s all good.” Freshman Hunter North contributes to the hope of future success after being pulled up from the junior

varsity team at the end of this season. Though North did not play on varsity for as long as the rest of the team, he had a chance to adjust and also feel that pain of barely missing the postseason. North is also optimistic about the team’s CCS chances for next year. “We will be older and better next year,” North said. Already looking ahead to next year, the boys are prepared to learn from their errors this season and translate that into success for 2016. With the season over, Paly boys tennis is not content to put their rackets away just yet. They plan to work hard through the summer, fall and winter and come back older, wiser and ready to make a name for themselves. “Obviously it was sad we weren’t able to make it to CCS, but this season was a great opportunity to fix our [athletic] mistakes,” sophomore Kevin Chen said.

courtesy of Malcolm Slaney

Junior Samuel Desre (front) and sophomore Naveen Pai (back) in the 3200-meter race.

ethan teo

sports editor

uniors Eli Givens, Austin Cox, Dami Bolarinwa and sophomore Kent Slaney of Palo Alto High School’s track and field team took on the spotlight at the Santa Clara Valley Athletic League (SCVAL) Championships on May 15 in the boys’ 4x400 meter race, where they made an exhilarating comeback to end the relay in first place. The race contributed to Paly’s point total and allowed the boys to end in fourth place out of the 13 teams that attended the meet, while Paly’s girls finished in sixth place. “I’m proud to be a part of such a cool and energetic squad, and hopefully we’ll be able to take this relay team to [the State Championships],” Cox said. The team ended its regular season in the De Anza League (DAL), with varsity boys and junior varsity girls ending in second place, varsity girls ending in third and frosh/soph boys ending in fifth. Unfortunately, Paly’s track and field team struggled to meet its high expectations at the DAL Finals on May 7. Paly’s junior varsity girls came in second behind Henry M. Gunn High School. Varsity boys placed third in the meet, while frosh/soph

boys and varsity girls both came in fifth. Regardless, there were still a number of standout performances by Paly individuals. Givens, who has been a consistent performer during his entire season, came in first place for both the 100-meter dash and 200-meter dash. The varsity boys’ 4x400 meter relay team also came in first, with Cox, Givens, Slaney and junior Charlie Badger. Givens’ times this season have allowed him to secure the top seed in both the 100-meter dash and 200-meter dash in the Central Coast Section (CCS) Championships, which will be held on May 23 and May 29. Junior hurdler Catherine Yu will be the eighth seed at CCS in the girls’ 300 meter hurdles race. The boys’ 4x400 meter relay team made up of Givens, Cox, Bolarinwa and Slaney is seeded third. Along with Givens, Yu, Cox, Bolarinwa and Slaney, seniors Anna Dukovic and Julia Asin, sophomores Titi Bolarinwa and Marion Sellier and freshman Adee Newman will represent Paly at the Championships. “I’m trying to break my mile time of 4:20 and hopefully hit 4:18 to qualify for [the State Championship], and get top three in the finals,” Slaney said.

Friday, May 22, 2015

The Campanile

Friday, May 22, 2015

champions league

he ball floated through the air, a pillow, yet still slicing the atmosphere like a knife through butter. It flew through the net, and it kept on going. Its winding path weaved its way through the undergrowth in the concrete jungles of Munich and Barcelona. Even if the ball floated, the wake of devastation it left behind made for a brilliant image, one of a player humiliated and yet simultaneously in awe of the masterpiece he had been privileged enough to endure. Put simply, it was a bloody brilliant goal. And the occasion did not exactly hurt either. It was the first leg of the Union of European Football Associations (UEFA) Champions League between Barcelona FC and Bayern Munich. Football, soccer or simply fanaticism: it does not really matter what you call it, it is still a massive stage. I will get to who the goalscorer was and all the hullabaloo soon enough, but first, let us start at the beginning. The Champions League matters. It matters a lot for one simple reason: the winner is the best in Europe, which means it is the best in the world. The Champions League essentially lasts the entire year, starting in July of one year and ending the June of the next year. Why? Because it is a competition between the best teams in all of Europe, which means Estonia gets represented too. But without meaning any disrespect to the top team in Estonia — Levadia FC, if anybody was wondering — it can not really compare to the best teams in the larger leagues such as the British Premier League or the Spanish Liga. To start the tournament, there is first an arduous series of knockout rounds where 55 inferior teams face off. This vast pool of teams has left fans with some curious results, like Serbia’s Red Star Belgrade, who ended up actually winning the Champions League, or the Sweden’s Malmo FF, who were finalists. There is then a group stage, at which point the top 22 teams from the major leagues are divided into groups along with the 10 surviving lesser teams. These teams are then whittled down to a last 16. This is accomplished by dividing the teams into groups of four, as which they will face off against each other twice, once at each team’s respective home ground. The first round of games is known as the ‘away leg,’ while the second round is known as the ‘return leg.’ The top two teams then progress to a series of knockout rounds where the teams are whittled down to one true victor through the away and return leg processes, culminating in a onegame final played in a stadium previously chosen by a committee formed by UEFA.

Scene 1: Architextural Treble

The Campanile

osep ‘Pep’ Guardiola is probably one of the greatest managers ever. Here is why: on June 17, 2008, Barcelona had just gone two seasons without a single trophy which, by their high standards, counted as failure. They chose the man affectionately dubbed ‘Pep,’ a man who only had experience coaching the Barcelona reserve team but had won them promotion to the second tier of Spanish football — all while playing an incredibly attractive style of pass-and-go soccer that many managers can only dream of instituting. Barcelona would win the treble in Guardiola’s first season. A treble consists of winning the Champions League, the League Cup — a knockout competition where the top four tiers of association soccer compete — and the domestic league composed of the top 20 teams in the nation. It was a major accomplishment; only eight teams have won it. In the process, Barcelona redefined the way soccer was played. After Barcelona won the treble, teams either played like Barcelona or played in reaction to a team playing like Barcelona. In a sense, it was Guardiola who gave Barcelona this iden-

tity, but he could never have done what he did with any other club. Why? Because Guardiola had been a Barcelona fan since childhood. He was a ballboy at the club and climbed the ranks through its youth system. He then went on to play a major part in winning Barcelona’s first Champions League ever. Guardiola was shaped by the environment around him, which in turn led him to shape that same environment in his own ideal image. But everybody has to move on and soon enough Guardiola felt he had done all he could, so he went to Bayern Munich. A confrontation with his beloved Barcelona was inevitable, and so here it was that it came to pass. Guardiola and his replacement After Guardiola, Barcelona went through two managers in two years which, by Barcelona’s standards, is a fair amount. It was then time to sign Luis Enrique, which Barcelona did. It seems that the move has paid off based off of Barcelona’s superb performance this year. Although both Enrique and Guardiola played for Barcelona and became cult figures during their time there, their differences were evident — while Guardiola was a meticulous and renowned tinkerer who changed formations multiple times throughout a match and expected each of his players to be able to play around three positions, Enrique seems to have finally settled for his best formation and stuck with it, and who could blame him? It is a pretty good formation. A formation composed of three of the best players in the world: Lionel Messi, Neymar and Luis Suarez. There had been doubts in the preseason that these three giants of the modern game were never going to gel and their egos would clash in an absolutely cosmic boom. There had been big stars in the past, notably Zlatan Ibrahimovic, the player who coined the philosopher nickname for Guardiola, who had not been capable of living in Messi’s shadow. However, this trident gelled beautifully into one of the most devastating attacks in recent history

Scene 2: The Munich Machine Malfunctions (A Revenge of Sorts)

owever, there is much more to the story here. In the 2012-2013 Champions League semifinal, Bayern Munich put four goals past Barcelona in the first leg, or first round of games. Barcelona, although slightly on the wane, was still expected to beat Munich and move on to the final. Well, come on. It was Barcelona. How could Bayern hope to beat them? Well, they ended up doing just that. And not only did Bayern beat Barcelona, but they a l s o demolished them. The aggregate score over two legs was 7-0. 7-0! Bayern were good — we all knew that, but that good? It was insane. An Unsavory Bit of Failure Last season — 2013-2014 — was the first year of the new Guardiola era at Bayern Munich. Bearing in mind that in the previous year Bayern had already won the treble, fans were drooling at the thought of the best team in the world now equipped with the best manager in the world. For most of the season, the Munich juggernaut trampled over the competition in the German league and was already favored to win the league even a few weeks before the winter break. Bayern had strolled to the final of the League Cup, and they were brushing teams aside in the Champions League like an iguana swats flies. It was not just good; it was groovy. And then it all fell apart in spectacular fashion. In the semifinals, Bayern faced off against Real Madrid. This tie should have been easy for Bayern; Madrid had already looked shaky in the league and had lost twice to Barcelona who, if memory served Munich fans correctly, Munich had absolutely smashed. So Bayern strolled to the game with swagger aplenty and… well, let us just say it wasn’t pretty. Bayern were obliterated 4-0 by what turned out to be a flawless Madrid organism. The defeat was almost painful to watch, especially because it was being played in Munich. The silence that greeted each of Madrid’s four goals was deafening.

Champions League

Although it was not quite as bad as the 7-1 drubbing handed to Brazil by Germany in the World Cup semifinals, it was pretty bad. Munich was not just beaten, but humiliated. The defeat was even worse for Guardiola. The result seemed to refute everything Guardiola stood for. How could he even dare to ask his team to play beautiful, complex and aesthetically pleasing soccer if it could be crushed in such ruthless fashion? This was the worst defeat in Guardiola’s career. Recovery Bayern promptly got back to work and steamrolled their domestic competition this year, virtually winning their league before Christmas. They strolled through the first round of the Champions League knockout stages and seemed a good bet to re-stake their claim as Europe’s best. Now, all that stood in between them and a fourth consecutive semi-final was Porto FC from Portugal, who should have been easy enough to defeat. Hold up, not so fast. 3-1 loss in the first leg in Portugal. This wasn’t too great. Fans started panicking. Is this the fall? How could it have been so short? They were so good, but now they were losing to Porto? Well. Bayern fixed that just wonderfully back in Munich with a 6-1 thumping of the Iberians that left them with their reputation restored while striking fear into the hearts of their fellow semifinalists. Despite many commentators gleefully heralding Bayern’s speedy demise, Munich had proven they were not going away anytime soon and if anything, they were stronger than ever. They felt unstoppable. They were ready for whoever might come. This was going to be good. And it was going to be Barcelona FC too. Oh man, was this going to be good.

Scene 2: The Obsession and the Obsessed

Scene 1: La Vecchia Signora

Scene 3: A Hurricane and a Hooplah (Let the Games Begin)

he stage? Camp Nou. Capacity: 99,354. Attendance: 95,639. The protagonists? Lionel Messi, arguably the best player of not just this generation, but of every previous one as well. Guardiola, his mentor, dubbed ‘el fílosofo’ (the philosopher), by one of his embittered ex-players. The German machine and its Spanish counterpart. As soon as the match started, it was clear it was not going to be a normal one. Both teams came out to attack. The game slowly drifted and flowed into something different. The players morphed from their human form into droplets of water, floating this way and that in the grand oceanic tumult that was the game. As the wind blew in furious gusts across the waves, the game became increasingly hectic, flowing from one side to the other at an incredible speed. First Barcelona came within an inch. Then Bayern. Then Barcelona. Then Bayern. Every single player was performing to best of his abilities and until the last 15 minutes, it looked like this was going to end in a stalemate, albeit a thrilling one. Then out of this oceanic chaos there rose a player, nay, a god. Poseidon emerged from the depths of Tartarus where he had remained trapped for years. Messi. His first was good, a cut inside and a shot into the bottom right corner of Munich keeper Manuel Neuer’s goal. The crowd descended into an utter unabated frenzy and so did the players on the pitch, who stampeded after Messi. However, once the celebrations were over, Barcelona surprisingly kept attacking, and it paid off. First, Ivan Rakitic slid a pass through to Messi who was now up against Bayern’s Jerome Boateng. Messi had two options here: shoot or cut inside and then shoot. Messi took the third option, and with a turn sharper than Louis C.K’s tongue, Messi drifted past Boateng. The turn was so crisp that Boateng began to fall. As the ground itself slowly started to race towards Jerome, Messi was busy lobbing a wispy cloud of a ball over Neuer, all 6-feet-4-inches of him, and into the net. As Bayern pushed forward, they became increasingly vulnerable in defense, and Neymar rounded off the match with a cool finish following a pass from you-know-who. However, it seems Messi’s second goal was a perfect encapsulation of what the game had been — two teams playing luscious, beautiful football without cancelling each other out. Messi seemed to be everywhere, and every time he received the ball, he left at least two or three Bayern players clawing blindly at the dust clouds trailing behind him. The game itself was already an excellent one in and of itself, but Messi’s performance elevated it to a completely different plane, a masterpiece, a work of art. The second leg was in many ways less magical, with Barcelona scoring two early goals that should surely have cemented their passage to the final. However, Barcelona fans started to shift nervously in their seats when Bayern Munich scored two successive goals, leaving them three goals short of a complete turnaround. It didn’t happen though. Barcelona just gritted their teeth and held their own. Bayern, on the other hand, left with their honor sort of restored. Sort of.

All photos courtesy of UEFA.com

uventus FC, known colloquially as “La Vecchia Signora” (The Old Lady) has always been a force of nature. In Italy, it is the most successful club and its success means it has also come to define Italian culture. Juventus brought a new swagger to a culture crippled by a certain fatalism caused by countless disappointments and losses throughout the years. Here was a team that rejected failure in favor of unerring victory. Calciopoli It started with the appointment of Luciano Moggi as general manager. What followed was an incredibly successful period in Juventus’ history which included five league titles (later reduced to three after the scandal) and a Champions League trophy. However, this golden era was not going to last forever, and Moggi knew it. In the 2004-2005 season, he began to influence the choosing of referees. The referees chosen were usually those perceived as generally ruling in Juventus’ favor. Most of this was achieved through an intricate network involving secret bribes and disposable phones amongst other Mafia-like deals and threats. Juventus won the Italian league championship that year and the following one. Everything was groovy … until an investigation by an Italian agency uncovered the scandal and Juventus was relegated to the second division of Italian soccer. Needless to say, it was humiliating. Despite winning promotion the next season, Juventus’s reputation had still taken a brutal hit, and although it was still hanging around the upper echelons of Italian soccer, it just wasn’t the same. Juventus wasn’t striking any fear into their opponents’ hearts, teams no longer respected them. That was when they signed Antonio Conte to be their new manager from the lesser known Siena. In his first season, Conte took Juventus to their first league title in ten years, and he did it unbeaten. However, Juventus still crashed out of the Champions League at embarrassingly early stages while their lesser rivals AC Milan were busy cruising to successive quarter-finals. Massimiliano Allegri Now here’s where it gets weird(ish). Milan’s coach was Massimiliano Allegri. He had a curious knack for success in the Champions League but catastrophe in the domestic league. Allegri was both despised by Milan fans for Milan’s failure domestically but lauded for his good showings abroad. Soon enough, Allegri’s credit finally ran out, and he was fired. Events then conspired to make Allegri Juventus manager after Italy put on a dismal showing at the World Cup. This meant Italy manager Cesare Prandelli was forced to retire and would be replaced by none other than Antonio Conte, Juventus’ manager. This in turn left a void at Juventus that needed to be filled. Who better to fill it than Allegri? Well, as far as Juventus’ fans were considered, basically anybody. Allegri, as AC Milan’s coach, had regularly mocked the two titles Juventus had been stripped of. He was generally perceived as not being good enough for the job as he had led Milan to a lowly 11th place the previous season. On his first day at training, Allegri had his car pelted with eggs and spit. Not exactly a warm welcome. Soon enough, Allegri won over Juventus fans with the tried and trusted Juventus method of winning things. Juventus players were Italian League champions, champions of the Italian cup and in the final of the Champions League. There was a power and a sort of braggodoccio to the team that had returned after years in the shadows. Juventus were back to their old selves, a team ready to take on the world and reestablish the Italian identity. More than that, they were brushing off opposition teams left and right like Darth Vader and any secondary characters , but I’ll get to Allegri’s success with Juventus later on in this winding epic.

eal Madrid FC are obsessed. They always have been. They always will be. Every day, when a Real Madrid fan wakes up, the first thing that passes through his head is the Champions League. Real Madrid is a team that has been completely consumed by the Champions League. Madrid won it for the tenth time last year. In the process of winning this tenth title, Real Madrid spent around $1 billion across ten years. It meant a lot to them, and it still does. Pressure cookers don’t really compare The manager of Real Madrid is probably the most high pressure position in sports. In the last ten years, Real Madrid president Florentino Perez has gone through 12 managers. The first of these was Vicente Del Bosque. Del Bosque was fired having won the league title that year and two Champions Leagues in the previous four. The official reason was that Madrid needed a new direction following an ‘unsuccessful season’ in which it only won the league. Del Bosque didn’t fit with the glamorous view Perez had of Real Madrid because with Real Madrid, it is no longer just a question of winning the Champions League but of winning the Champions League with style. So Perez searched, high and low, from the most unknown to the most preeminent coaches. From Vanderlei Luxemburgo to Jose Mourinho, he searched. Finally, he chose Carlo Ancelotti. Going in to the the 2013-2014 Champions League final, Ancelotti was in danger of losing his job. He had only won the League Cup and Real Madrid had no shot of winning the league. The fans were in the process of rebelling, as they invariably are, a n d booed goalkeeper Iker Casillas. This was like Yankees fans booing Derek Jeter, or Americans booing George Washington. An utterly self-defeating endeavour that only served to discredit them as fans. Luckily, or maybe unluckily, Ancelotti won the Champions League and lived to fight another season. T h i s season,

Scene 1: Chomping at the Bit

uis Suarez has never been a particularly well-liked figure. In fact, there is a whole Wikipedia page dedicated to his controversies. Suarez has an incredibly intense drive to win, a drive that has made him a one of the best players in the world but nonetheless an intense one. It was Suarez who bit Giorgio Chiellini in the 2014 World Cup and who made national headlines as a result. The thing is, he’s not evil in any way, just slightly insane. There is no doubt he’s a magnificent player, which is why this summer Barcelona signed him despite the biting incident under the condition that he would seek professional help. The man who Suarez bit, Chiellini, plays for Juventus. Although Chiellini has publicly forgiven Suarez, it’ll still make for an interesting matchup.

Scene 2: Suarez and Evra

uarez has also been accused of racism. In late 2011, Suarez was accused of racism by Patrice Evra, who now plays for Juventus, during a game between Suarez’s Liverpool FC and Evra’s Manchester United. The findings by the British Soccer Association declared conclusively that Suarez had in fact used racial slurs in Spanish against Evra. Suarez cited his diverse ethnic background as evidence that he had not in fact used racial slurs. The thing is, Suarez probably had used racial slurs. Why? Because the race issue remains an unaddressed issue in the Hispanic communit y. From Spain to Peru, certain racist attitudes continue to pervade throughout the Spanish speaking community. Curiously, this could be attributed to a lack of racial diversity in these nations, where despite a fairly heterogenous society composed of both ‘Indios’ and Spanish colonists, Hispanic society still proves surprisingly intolerant towards a variety of minorities. Ultimately, Suarez’s discrepancies could be viewed as endemic of a larger societal problem that needs to be remedied. The same actually goes for most of southern Europe, where the specter of racism still casts a long shadow. However, the discussion that needs to be held on this is one that cannot be done justice or well covered in this article. It nonetheless provides an interesting dynamic to the upcoming tie between the two sides.

Ancelotti has been faced with the same dilemma, only this time, he hasn’t gotten out of it. The Prodigal Son Madrid has never had a great youth policy. Usually one or two of the best players in the youth academy will make it into the first team, where they will become cult figures. Alvaro Morata was not one of those figures. So Morata left for Juventus, where he played just as well as everyone knew he could. He was good enough for Madrid. Everyone knew that. He wasn’t bad, the starters were just too good. So Morata left for Juventus where he helped them to the league title. Then came the tie with Madrid. He couldn’t, could he?

Scene 3: A Confrontation of Copious Consternation

ong story short: he did. The first leg was a 2-1 win for Juventus that left Madrid shocked. They expected to win — they had to be better than Juventus. No? I guess not. Morata scored a tap in. They looked more organized and all around better than Madrid. There wasn’t much else too it. Madrid was still relatively sure of passing on to the final. After all, due to a bizarre rule that basically means an away goal counts double, Real Madrid only needed a 1-0 win at home to go through, as it had already scored one goal at Juventus’ home ground in Turin. Real Madrid scored its goal midway through the first half. Now it was all set up. And then, in minute 57, a cross into the box. There was Morata, in a twist every single Real Madrid fan expected, Morata calmly controlled the ball while everything around him descended into chaos as everyone around him hectically scrambled after the ball. Following the control, Morata volleyed emphatically past goalkeeper Iker Casillas. And in that moment, there was genuine pain etched across his face, “a novelist’s pain,” as one writer described it. Morata was a fan first and foremost. First, he had a fan’s reaction to his goal, one of pain and frustration at a goal scored against your team. Then, a microsecond later, Morata remembered where he was and who he was playing for. You could just feel it hit him. The frustration. Morata then wheeled away to celebrate. Madrid had died by their own sword in an almost Shakespearean fashion. They were out and Juventus were through to the final.

Scene 3: Mad Max and his Old Barcelona-destructinator

s I mentioned earlier, Massimiliano ‘Max’ Allegri has always had an interesting knack for beating Barcelona. In the 2012-2013 season and the one before that, Allegri had led his AC Milan to a first leg victory over Barcelona before he was undone in the return leg, where Barcelona won emphatically on both occasions. However, the Champions League final is only a single game. So all Allegri has to do is pull off his previous trick for one leg, without having to deal with the consequences of a brutal return leg.

o, there you have it. The twists and turns of the Champions League, all leading up to this one match in the Olympiastadion, Berlin on June 6 when two teams with plenty of history and one or two old enemies will face off. That’s it. They’ll face off. Maybe they’ll fight, maybe they won’t. Maybe we’ll see another biting, maybe we won’t. And then one of them will win. So tune in; it’ll be fun. From architects to geniuses via corruption and cannibalism, you have your final. From the Allianz Arena in Munich to the Santiago Bernabeu stadium in Madrid where the fans still wallow in their misery, you have your final. You have your actors, your stage and your props, but your screenplay has yet to be written.

Friday, May 22, 2015

The Campanile

SPORTS opinion C6 Women’s sports deserve more media attention

All types of men’s sports maintain a large fan base, while the majority women’s sports fail to get appropriate recognition Mackenzie Glassford

Staff Writer

ne of the most celebrated sports events of the year is the path to the National Basketball Association (NBA) finals. Basketball fans around the country don their favorite teams’ gear and earnestly tune in to every game of the tournament to see their teams through to the end. However, hardly anyone hears about the Women’s National Basketball Association (WNBA) finals. In 2014, the WNBA championship game had a record breaking 659,000 viewers while the NBA championship game had around 26 million viewers. Additionally, the average salary of a WNBA player in the 2012 season was $72,000 while the average salary of an NBA player was $5.15 million. Why is it that our country as a whole is infinitely more fascinated by sports played by male athletes than their female counterparts? Why is there such an inequality in the popularity of women’s and men’s sports? Before denouncing the media for their lack of respect towards women’s athletics, credit must be given where credit is due. There have been attempts to reach gender equality in sports, such as the creation of Title IX, which requires schools receiving federal funds to provide female students equal opportunities to participate in educational programs, including athletics. Now, more than 40 years after Title IX was passed, amazing headway has been made in females’ access to sports throughout childhood and college. In 1971, the year before Title IX passed, about two in every 50 girls took part in high school sports; in 2012, the numbers increased greatly, to about two in every five. In 2009, 3.1 million girls, compared to 4.4 million boys, were playing high school sports in the U.S., up from 1.8 million girls in 1989. The trend is echoed in college sports, with a typical NCAA college fielding at least eight women’s teams today, up from two in 1972, when Title IX was enacted. Furthermore, women’s professional sports, including the WNBA, have developed a solid foothold in

Courtesy of swish appeal

The 2014 WNBA finals attracted only 659,000 viewers and fans, while the NBA finals attracted 26 million viewers, which made gender inequality more apparent in sports.

the larger sports marketplace. The U.S. has professional women’s basketball, golf, soccer and even football leagues. Generations of women are growing up with access to and passion for women’s sports. Although female participation in sports has drastically increased, its importance in popular culture has remained stagnant. The root of the problem can be traced back to media coverage of female sports, or the lack thereof. Television both shapes and reflects the attitudes of our society. National networks broadcast thousands of hours of sports coverage each year to millions of viewers.

Although female participation in sports has drastically increased, its importance in popular culture has remained stagnant. The way in which television covers, or fails to cover, female athletics affects the way in which female athletes are perceived and also tells us something about the status of women in our society. America’s leaders in sports coverage are giving nationwide instruction on what is important in sports; and their definition almost entirely ex-

cludes women. According to Dr. Nicole LaVoi, associate director of the Tucker Center for Research, about 40 percent of all athletes are women, yet only four percent of these athletes are featured in the media. A study done in 2010 by the University of Southern California (USC) looked at three weeks of ESPN’s “SportsCenter” and six weeks of three TV stations in Los Angeles and found that 96.3 percent of the shows’ airtime was taken up by men’s sports while women’s sports took up only 1.6 percent of the time. Even the little ESPN ticker at the bottom of the screen ignores women, with 96.4 percent of the information dedicated solely to men’s sports, according to the USC study. Sports are supposed to be about competition, strength, skill and determination — at least, that is the theory. But if that was reality, most of you would be almost as familiar with the name Natalie Coughlin as you are with Michael Phelps. Natalie Coughlin is a fantastic swimmer. During the 2008 Olympics, she became the first American woman to win six medals in a single Olympics — and that’s on top of the five she won in 2004. She became the first woman to win the gold for the 100m backstroke in two consecutive games.

Michael Phelps was featured on the cover of Sports Illustrated several times. Coughlin, not once. A search for Michael Phelps medals returned about 590,000 hits. A search for Natalie Coughlin medals returned 48,800. If sports media was truly unbiased and recognized all athletes equally for their achievements, Natalie Coughlin would be as much of a household name as Michael Phelps. Online coverage of women’s sports has the power to be an equalizer, so that women’s sports do not take “precious” airtime from men’s. If TV broadcasters are really that worried about women’s sports taking time from men’s, then online sites should be covering more female sports in order to balance the scales. But sports sites often send the women’s sports fans down a navigational rabbit hole that leads to the bowels of the site. With the exception of tennis, and to some extent the WNBA, women’s sports are ignored or pushed aside. NBC Sports’ National Dog Show coverage is more extensive than its treatment of women’s basketball. In March of 2009, network affiliates ran 60 sports stories on men’s National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) basketball. There was not a single story about women. The media has a huge presence within the realm

of sports. How can we begin to think of women’s sports as anything but amateur if they’re given D-League attention? A 2007 study by The SMART Journal about coverage of the NCAA basketball tournament on FOX Sports perfectly captures it: “The way sports are covered and reported plays a huge role in how female athletes and female sports are viewed by society.” Sports media is not waiting for us to get interested in women’s sports, it is creating our apathy. However, there is hope that the winds are shifting. The 2013 Women’s Open Final had more viewers than the men’s and the WNBA has an ESPN deal through 2022. At the signing of the WNBA broadcast extension in 2013, ESPN president John Skipper said, “We’re putting a commitment of our time on the air, commitment of our… company, to continue to help grow women’s sports and the importance of those sports in this country.” We’re thrilled to hear it, but we want more. We need more women’s sports on TV, in the news and in front of our young girls. Not only will this encourage the next generation of female athletes, but it will begin to narrow the divide in how our nation regards women’s and men’s sports.

NBA should consider changing the draft lottery Enacting proposed lottery legislation would discourage the practice of tanking among teams in the association Ethan Teo

Sports editor

wo years ago, the Minnesota Timberwolves ended its basketball season with a record of 40-42. In the offseason between that season and the most recent one, the Timberwolves made significant changes to its roster, releasing many experienced players in exchange for younger prospects. Timberwolves’ star player Kevin Love was traded to the Cleveland Cavaliers for Anthony Bennett, who had only played professional basketball for a year, and Andrew Wiggins,

who was the first pick of the 2014 draft. These changes did not help the team this season, as it finished with the worst record in the National Basketball Association (NBA) this season with 16 wins and 66 losses. However, the team has enormous potential for future success given the number of prospects on the roster. The phenomenon of tanking — intentionally performing poorly in order to get higher draft picks for the next season — has become a popular strategy used by sports teams in many American sports leagues, but particularly in the NBA.

The practice has encouraged teams to not give their full effort to win during rebuilding seasons, which has angered fans and led to an overall decrease in game attendance for teams who have chosen to tank. The NBA lottery, which was held on May 19 this year, is an event that determines the draft order for the upcoming season, giving teams with worse records a better chance of receiving a high draft pick. The current rule states that the team with the worst record in the league — the Timberwolves — had a 25 percent chance of getting the first pick in the draft, which they did.

The probability distribution of getting the first pick is more advantageous towards the worst teams, causing the most desperate forms of tanking to occur and overall decreasing the excitement in games. A call for reform is a step in the right direction to allow for better competition between teams and more enjoyment for the fans. The NBA board attempted to call for reform in October last year so that the league’s bottom four teams would have a similar chance, 11 percent, of

getting the first pick in order to discourage tanking. Although there was a majority vote for the reform of 17 to 13, it was not enough to meet the required 23 votes to allow the reform to pass. The board plans to reattempt to pass the legislation in the near future, as there is still interest from many board members to prevent tanking. A call for reform is a step in the right direction to allow for better competition between teams and more enjoyment for the fans. With decreased odds for bad teams to get high draft picks, the rewards of tanking will not be worth the sacrifice.

Friday, May 22, 2015

The Campanile

SPORTS

Taekwondo emerges in Palo Alto community AThlete Students undergo strenuous training in martial arts and apply learned morals and ideologies to everyday life

of the

Month

This edition featuring:

James Wang with The Campanile’s own

Ethan Teo

Courtesy of johnny lee and kwangil bae

Left: Johnny Lee performs a flying kick. Top: Andrew Ho (second from the left) places first at a tournament. Bottom: Albert Hwang gets into his position for his performance.

ethan teo

sports editor

or most high school students, 6 a.m. on a Monday morning is the time to sleep. But for some athletes, it means waking up and embarking on a 3-mile run. Palo Alto High School sophomore Andrew Ho is one of those athletes. Morning runs four times a week have been a routine of his since the summer of 2014. “Sparring requires a lot of endurance,” Ho said. “If you can’t keep up, it’s actually somewhat dangerous.” The “sparring” that Ho refers to is taekwondo, a self-defense martial art of Korean origin. Ho is a first-degree black belt and a certified referee in the sport, spending approximately five hours every week in training. Outside of training in the studio, the ultimate mastery of taekwondo requires a great deal of extra effort — Ho runs 12 miles a week, does conditioning for two hours a week and stretches 30 minutes a day to stay in top shape. Taekwondo was first developed in the 1940s and is based on mixed styles of karate, an older martial art developed in the 15th century by the Japanese. The Korea Taekwondo Association was the first organization to govern taekwondo competitions, but the main governing body for taekwondo today is known as the World Taekwondo Federation (WTF). WTF brought taekwondo to the Olympics in 1992. Since then, taekwondo’s popularity among children, teenagers and adults around the world has rapidly grown. Approximately 8 million people of over 200 different nationalities practice taekwondo with a certified organization, and many more athletes do so independently. Paly senior third-degree black belt Johnny Lee sees a number of characteristics in taekwondo that differentiate it from other martial arts such as kung fu or karate. “Taekwondo has an emphasis on kicking techniques,” Johnny Lee said. “The first practitioners believed that the fists were too special to be used in combat. Philosophy-wise, taekwondo

strives to suppress fighting and promote peace.” Palo Alto has its very own taekwondo studio under the name “Palo Alto Martial Arts.” The studio was founded six years ago by Grand Master Kwangil Bae who has been teaching taekwondo for 35 years — since the age of 13. According to Bae, the curricula, styles and motivations vary from studio to studio. “Sometimes, studios will only think about the business,” Bae said. “Others, like ours, will prioritize personal development.” Bae explains that in Korea, studios can only be started by those who reach a certain qualification that requires a significant amount of mental discipline and a sincere love for the sport. Here in the U.S., anybody who is interested can start a studio, and that is why the number of studios in the U.S. has grown so rapidly — many people have founded studios primarily to make money. “I started a while back, when I was in first or second grade,” Ho said. “I started because I saw a Jackie Chan movie and wanted to be able to do [what he did].”

Approximately 8 million people of over 200 different nationalities practice taekwondo with a certified organization, and many more athletes do so independently. After nine years of training, Ho has become an incredible competitor and has won multiple local tournaments. He has yet to place at the state tournament in previous years, but Ho is optimistic about the future. “[In] junior year, [my team has] a shot at first place [at the state tournament],” Ho said. “It’s one of my goals. If we get first, second or third, we will qualify for [the national tournament], which is in Texas over the summer.” However, there is more to taekwondo than winning tournaments and learning how to fight. According to sophomore third-degree black belt Albert Hwang, taekwondo has taught him a wide range of valuable

lessons applicable outside of the sport itself as well. “There are leadership qualities that follow with the martial arts,” Hwang said. “One of the prerequisites before the black belt tests was that I had to have teaching experience. I had to teach children’s classes, young adult classes as well as adult classes.” Johnny Lee seconds the argument that taekwondo has enormous influence on a person’s everyday life. “Besides self-defense, taekwondo has taught me the importance of focus,” Johnny Lee said. “Every class session, I do meditation, thinking about what I accomplished the day before, what was blocking me and what I will achieve that day.” Johnny Lee also acknowledges that taekwondo takes a tremendous amount of time out of his daily life, but he has ultimately benefited from having to balance it with school and other extracurriculars by learning to become more organized. “One thing that really kept me balanced was organizing everything into my calendar,” Johnny Lee said. “By listing out everything I had to do, I became more aware of the tasks I needed to get done right away. Having a sport after school pushed me to be more organized with my time.” Johnny Lee plans to join the University of California, Los Angeles Bruins’ Taekwondo Club this fall as a freshman in college, and hopes to further his passion for taekwondo. Freshman second-degree black belt Juyon Lee has also had meaningful experiences in taekwondo. Contrary to popular belief, it is not unusual to see girls participate in taekwondo. According to Juyon Lee, it is sometimes more difficult for girls to succeed in competitions especially in poomsae — a style of taekwondo that is acrobatic as opposed to sparring, which involves physical striking. Juyon Lee explains that this is most likely because many boys prefer to compete in sparring rather than poomsae, so there are more participators in the girls division than that of the boys. “My level [in poomsae] last year had around 50 girls per division

while the boys had about 20,” Juyon Lee said. Despite having differences in competition, poomsae and sparring teach similar lessons. Juyon Lee explains that lessons of determination are not unique to sparring, but a value that all of taekwondo has to offer.

There are leadership qualities that follow with martial [arts]. One of the prerequisites before the black belt tests was that I had to have teaching experience. I had to teach children’s classes, young adult classes as well as adult classes.

Albert Hwang Sophomore

“Taekwondo teaches a lot of discipline and hard work,” Juyon Lee said. At the same time, Juyon Lee enjoys her taekwondo training sessions despite having to battle many mental and physical obstacles, largely due to the friendships made at the studio. “I’ve been at the same studio my entire life, so the people I train with have become really close friends,” Juyon Lee said. Ho, Hwang, Johnny Lee and Juyon Lee all attend Bae’s Palo Alto studio, and have been strongly influenced from his teaching philosophy. From Ho’s confidence in himself and his team to Hwang’s acts of service through leading taekwondo classes, Bae has encouraged growth in mental toughness for all of his students. On a wall in the studio, Bae’s four core values that he aims to teach are printed — Confidence, Respect, Modesty and Service — all of which Bae believes to be interconnected. “Sometimes, people who learn taekwondo know the skills and they have too much confidence — these people become arrogant,” Bae said. “Instead, if you’re modest, others automatically begin to respect you. From this, you must also learn to respect others and serve others as well. That is what we want students to gain from taekwondo.”

Coming out: A proclamation of mutual desire NBA Most Valuable Player Stephen Curry shows perfection off the court through his love for fans galen byrd

senior staff writer

Disclaimer: the content of the following article is purely satirical. He and Ayesha appear to be the perfect couple. They cook together, they dance together, they take care of and love their child together, but Wardell Stephen Curry does not love her like he loves me. We have suppressed our relationship for far too long, and my love can no longer be contained. It is time for our secret relationship to be announced to the world. I met Wardell at his first ever NBA game. It was Wednesday, Oct. 28, 2009 against the Houston Rockets. He played well, with 14 points and seven assists, but the Warriors lost by one point. After the game, despite the loss, Steph was feeling good when my friends, who were part owners of the

team, introduced us to each other. We hit it off immediately and have been in love ever since. Our relationship is difficult, as he must constantly travel for work and spend time with his “family” but I know he cares about me, so we treasure the time we have together even more. It has been demoralizing being his dirty little secret, but I am glad we finally decided to share our relationship together with the world.

His shot is like a piece of fine art that has been worked on for decades by all of the most masterful artists. When he plays, as many fans have noticed, he has a celebration after each made basket. He taps his chest twice with a fist and then points up to the sky. He has been asked about the significance of this and explained it as

his “heart for God,” with his mother Sonya as his inspiration. This is a blatant lie. Steph and I were together one day when he decided he wanted to give his heart to me, so every time he celebrates, he is pointing to me. He is perfect. Everything about him makes me more infatuated. His shot is like a masterpiece of fine art that has been worked on for decades by artists who have refined their crafts during their whole lives. Just watching him play gets me going. I admire his dedication and drive when it comes to the things he loves. After the team won game one of the Western Conference Finals on Monday night, Steph brought his daughter Riley to the post-game press conference, but later that night he told me he wished I could have been there by his side in such a proud moment of his life and he could have shown me off to all the press as opposed to his bratty little daughter.

(she is actually adorable and I love her). As Steph and I take this step in our relationship, admitting to the world that we are gay for one another, he becomes the first superstar athlete to ever be openly gay in a major American sports league. This will benefit all of the gay community because Steph and I will surpass Neil Patrick Harris and David Burtka as the most admired gay couple. Soon enough our marriage will happen and we will be the talk of the town, being the happiest married couple ever. When we look back at our time together on our 100th anniversary, we will be glad to have opened our secret up to the public. With this transition, I hope to feel the love and support from all my peers and the basketball community and I am so relieved that we will finally be able to express our true emotions.

James Wang is a junior on the Palo Alto High School Varsity badminton team. He placed fourth in Central Coast Section [CCS] as a sophomore.

The Campanile: How’s the badminton team doing so far this year? James Wang: We’re scraping by — we just got promoted from the lower league last year so we’re just doing our best to maintain our position this year in the upper league. TC: You play at the number one doubles position, right? How have you and your doubles partner been doing? JW: I usually play with Eric [Chiang], and sometimes play with Joseph [Chang]. I generally win my games when I’m playing doubles — I think my win-loss ratio is pretty positive although I’m not sure exactly what it is. TC: Would you say you’re better than both Eric and Joseph? JW: I am God. TC: Who are you playing with at the SCVAL [Santa Clara Valley Athletic League] Championships? JW: We’re pretty confident that we’ll qualify for CCS. As for winning CCS, we’re not sure how we’re gonna do. TC: What’s the toughest match you’ve had so far this season? JW: This season? I’ve played a couple of games where I’ve been really sick. I don’t know… I think I used to be a lot better so I guess I don’t see many of my games as being too difficult. Rather, I’m just too fat to compete at the level I want to compete at. TC: You said that you think you’ll qualify for CCS, but other people on the team said that nobody qualified this year, so what’s the deal with that? JW: Uh, well SCVALs is a qualifier for CCS. When I was injured last year, I qualified for CCS with Eric and we got 4th in CCS, actually. So this year, I’m not injured, we’re both larger than we once were, so I think our chances of making CCS and winning are really only higher than last year. TC: And what are your goals at CCS? JW: My goal... my goal is to win, obviously, because that’s everyone’s goal, but I guess it’d also be to just have fun. TC: Switching gears here — being a newly selected Editor-In-Chief of Verde, how do you feel being featured on The Campanile? JW: Well, my primary task as Editor is to ensure the destruction of your publication, so you can be assured that all my questions are incorrect and I will sue you for libel after Campy is distributed to all the students. TC: Not happening. Anyway, what do you dislike the most about Verde? JW: I don’t understand what this has to do with badminton. TC: Yeah I don’t either but answer the question, dude. JW: There are not enough expertly painted paintings of me hanging around the room. TC: Alright. The last question I have for you is... JW: Really? How is that going to be enough to fill the page, man? Ask me some more interesting questions, man. TC: Sure. How does one be as good as James Wang and badminton? JW: Um… play a s**t ton of badminton in middle school and then just slack off through high school until you can barely pass as a good player. TC: Who do you think the next James Wang on the baddy team is and why? JW: Len Hill, our volunteer coach, because he is the only person who is nearly as handsome as I am. TC: Do you have any last words? JW: Uh, no.

Friday, May 22, 2015

The Campanile

SPORTS

The Decline of Boxing

The brutal deaths of boxing have decreased public support, while basketball and football gain popularity

n order to fully understand how boxing has declined as a sport, just ask the boxing fanatic next to you to name the top heavyweights in the world. The point is if you can even find a boxing fanatic, he or she will struggle to name many famous boxing figures, if any at all. This is a stark difference from the 20th century, when names such as Sugar Ray Robinson, Jack Johnson and Muhammad Ali would roll off of anyone’s tongue. During the early 20th century, boxing was the sport of choice for many people, who would look forward to the social gatherings that big fights brought and the betting that took place. As far as major fights go, there have not been many recent that gain the sort of publicity the George Foreman and Muhammad Ali fight got. In this “Rumble in the Jungle,” the winner of the 1960 Olympics Muhammad Ali faced off against the younger, more recent 1968 Olympic champion, George Foreman. “I was pretty full of myself,” Foreman said. “I had no respect for anyone, and disregard for everything.”

Huge amounts of money were bet on both fighters, and anticipation mounted throughout the week. Muhammad Ali dodged his slower opponent throughout the match until Foreman grew impatient. Then Ali quickly ended the fight in the eighth round by knocking out his opponent in a swift and brutal combination of punches in front of the one billion viewers watching the fight. Fights like this rarely happen, and rarely end in such a manner. The Floyd Mayweather vs. Manny Pacquiao fight had a similar exciting build up and fan base, yet did not end the way many viewers had hoped. It began with two fighters, and their personalities could not have been more different. Pacquiao was a respected representative in the Philippine gov-

ernment who worked his way up from poverty, while Mayweather left humility behind and dedicated his life towards training, and became extremely successful in boxing. These two men, considered the best fighters of their time, met for the first time at what was supposed to be the fight of the century in Las Vegas. This fight promised to be a billion dollar weekend. Loads of money poured in, from the $300 million the combatants were expected to split, to the $100 million projected to be wagered on the fight alone, and the hundreds of millions to be spent on sold out hotel rooms, fancy dinners and drinks in the casinos. However, when the two fighters met up, Mayweather danced around Pacquiao during the entire fight, using his longer reach to sneak i n

punches. At the end of the match, Mayweather won because of a greater number of hits landed on his opponent. Many people were outraged, believing that Pacquiao won the match because of his aggression. In order to put into perspective how out of the ordinary a fight like this was, the Saturday before the Mayweather-Pacquiao fight, Wladimir Klitschko, the current heavyweight champion, fought in Madison Square Garden and defended his title for the 18th straight year, but failed to produce a sell out game. The seats at the Mayweather vs. Pacquiao fight, on the other hand, sold out within 60 seconds. But if fights like Mayweather vs. Pacquiao still occur, what is the major factor in today’s society that has lead to such a major decline in a sport that once dominated the cover of every sports magazine? Three names that are vital to the explanation of this major decline come to mind -– Charlie Mohr, Benny Paret and Jim Crow. The death of these men is what made people realize that boxing was nothing more than two

The Muhammad Ali vs. George Foreman fight is regarded as the greatest sporting event of all time

Mayweather vs. Benny Partet becomes the Pacquiao fight fourth boxer to die in a three generates controversy month period and disappointment

men trying to make their way in life by punching one another. On April 9, 1960, Stu Barbell unleashed a devastating blow to the temple of Charlie Mohr during the annual National Collegiate Athletic Association national boxing tournament, leaving him stunned and unable to find his feet. The official of the fight promptly halted all play, and Mohr returned to his dressing room and eventually fell off of his bench and into a coma. He died a week later.

Vital to the explanation of this major decline [is] the death of these men [that] made people realize that boxing was nothing more than two men trying to make their way in life by punching one another. Not even two years later, on March 24, 1962 inside Madison Square Garden Emile Griffith forced Benny Paret into the corner of the ring and bashed his skull with nearly

3 0 blows in 20 seconds. Paret stood there, defenseless, taking punch after punch until the referee finally stopped play after an intense beating. Paret’s lifeless body crumpled to the ground as medics and trainers rushed into the ring in an attempt to stabilize his condition. Surgery to remove several blood clots surrounding his brain proved pointless, and Paret was the fourth boxer to die within three months. Paret’s public slaughter destroyed the sport’s popularity and marketability on national television. Over the next decade, television coverage of the sport of boxing decreased significantly “Boxing is for poor people who don’t have any other alternative to make their way in life,” Pacquiao and Ali’s promoter Bob Arum said. “We can’t get white middle-class kids into

Football and basketball gain popularity

boxing. Let’s be honest: No parent in their right mind is going to let them come to a gym. I wouldn’t let my kid go into boxing.” The golden age of boxing is considered to have lasted from the 1920’s to the 1960’s. The end of this great era was marked by the Civil Rights Movement. In the aftermath of the Civil Rights Movement, African Americans were awarded more rights, and chose to enter safer professions, completely destroying what used to be the major source of excellent fighters across the United States and beyond. When the death toll of fighters rose and new discoveries about the trauma that arose from many devastating blows to the head, poor African American kids trying to escape poverty and create a name for themselves from fighting realized that there were a better alter-

native in other a number of more mainstream sports such as basketball and football. This realization forced boxing to go into the shadows and roll off the front page of many newspapers and magazines, resulting in a major decline. Mike Tyson, Sugar Ray Leonard and other famous boxers at the time acted as the temporary revival boxing needed. These men, among others, kept the dying the sport alive as many talented men that succeed them chose to enter football or basketball.

Boxing is for poor people who don’t have any other alternative to make their way in life. Let’s be honest: No parent in their right mind is going to let them come to a gym. BOB arum PacQuiaO’s Promoter Floyd Mayweather and Manny Pacquiao served as the current day Mike Tyson and Sugar Ray Leonard attempting to keep the sport alive.