Issue 5 1/27

The Campanile

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

PAI D PALO ALTO PERMIT #44

Vol. XCVI, No. 5

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

Prom to be held at Exploratorium ASB announces location after planning for nearly a year, hopes to accomodate for all students

By Maya Kitayama

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Editor-in-Chief

uring halftime of the annual Staff-Student Basketball game on Jan. 16, the Associated Student Body (ASB) announced the 2014 Prom location: the newlyrenovated Exploratorium. After recently undergoing a relocation and redesign effort, the Exploratorium now resides on Pier 15 off the Embarcadero of San Francisco.

Packed with hundreds of sciencerelated exhibits and programs, the venue will cater to more student attendees by combining a larger spectrum of entertainment.

According to Senior Class President Audrey DeBruine, ASB hoped to choose a Prom location that would surpass students’ expectations, making the annual event more exciting overall.

“We wanted something big and exciting for Prom this year, and the Exploratorium at its brand new location right on the water definitely fit that bill,” DeBruine said.

DeBruine acted a the primary advocate for hosting the Prom at this specific location, and with the support of Student Activities Director Matt Hall and other upperclassman

Monday, January 27, 2014

Break brings renovations to Tower

By Seth Alston

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Karla Erovick/SF Romance Travel Examiner

Palo Alto High School’s 2014 Prom will be held at the newly renovated San Francisco Exploratorium.

ASB officers, the decision was finalized in the spring of last year.

“I began researching venues for Prom 2014 pretty early last year, actually I’d say a little over a year ago,” DeBruine said. “We pulled the trigger and put down a deposit right after ASB elections in March, so this has been set for a while.”

Considering the sheer size of the museum, students and guests will not have complete access to the entirety of the building. Prom will be held in the main central space of

the building and one of the attached wings. All the exhibits within this designated area will be available for the enjoyment of student attendees.

Additionally, the event will include a large dance floor with the same DJ as last year. Rather than providing a traditional sit-down dinner, ASB decided to serve hors d’oeuvres throughout the night, mainly because there is not a singular space big enough to seat the hundreds of guests. Although the floorplan is still in the final planning

stages, food and seating areas will be dispersed around the dance floor.

The expenses for hosting the Prom at the Exploratorium are relatively high, but ASB is in the process of figuring out fundraising ideas in order to compensate.

Palo Alto High School will be the second high school to host its prom at the Exploratorium since its opening. With the unique aesthetics of the museum, the dance will looks to be an unforgettable experience for all who attend.

Staff Writer

he Tower Building underwent the first round of renovations slated to continuously take place in the administration building over the next several years.

After the Strong Schools Bond program, a $378 million bond measure that was passed in 2008, the administration sought to modernize the building, which has been a cornerstone of the Palo Alto High School campus since its construction in 1918. The building avoided widespread modernization of the campus in the 1970s and there are no intentions to drastically alter it in the future.

“There has been enough of a contingency to say ‘lets not get rid of this building,’ and it will not go away” Paly math teacher and alumnus Arne Lim said.

Over Winter Break, the main office, comprised of both the reception area and administration offices, was repainted and had a new carpet installed.

See TOWER, Page A3

Senior wins debate tournament Team anticipates success in the future following team captain Chenís impressive wins at tournament against top opponents

By Mischa Nee

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Staff Writer

ravis Chen, the captain of the Palo Alto High School Debate Team, looks to lead a new wave of successful debaters after winning the Victory Briefs Tournament (VBT) in Los Angeles the first weekend of January. Despite taking months off from debate to focus on college applications, Chen had no trouble defeating the top two Lincoln-Douglas (LD) debaters in the nation during VBT, a tournament widely regarded as the second most prestigious, behind year-end the Tournament of Champions.

The semifinal rounds were Chen’s toughest round, as he had to face Danny DeBois, the number one LD debater in the country. “[DeBois is] an excellent debater, so our round was very close,” Chen said. “But I ended up winning on a 2-1 [vote].

In all of the other elimination rounds, including the finals, Chen won on unanimous 3-0 decisions.

“I was happy with my performance at the tournament as a whole, as I did

much better than I expected,” Chen said.

Assistant Coach Alex Carter traveled to Los Angeles and witnessed Chen in the final round, along with 100 other debaters and coaches from across the country.

Carter is optimistic that Chen’s triumph at VBT will not only bring prestige to Chen, but will also help attract new students to the debate team.

[Chen] is the kind of debater [who] everyone on the team looks up to.

Jennie Savage Debate Team Head Coach

“[Chen’s victory] hopefully brings [out] our team visibility both within Paly and on a national scale,” Carter said. “Big wins contribute more than anything else to our recruiting efforts.”

According to Head Coach Jennie Savage, Chen contributes much more than debate victories to the team. “[Chen enhances] the reputation of our team not only because of his

successes, but [also] because of his integrity,” Savage said. “[Chen] is the kind of debater [who] everyone on the team looks up to and most of the team aspires to be.”

One such debater, sophomore Griffin Carlson, has acquired priceless knowledge from Chen throughout his high school career, who he says is effective because he “leads by exampele.”

Savage recognizes the full extent of empowerment Chen’s win at VBT gives to the rest of the debate team. “[His victory] lets folks know that they’re a part of a team that is successful and close knit,” Savage said.

With Chen set to graduate this spring, the expectation of accomplishment that the debate team has acquired will pass onto the underclassmen.

However, Chen has high hopes for their success.

“I absolutely think that Paly Debate will continue destroying it at tournaments next year,” Chen said.

“We have a lot of talented novices and awesome sophomores who are very driven to excel.”

English electives heavily overenrolled

By Jeffery Ho

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Staff Writer

s Palo Alto High School begins the second semester of the school year, many upperclassmen who are currently enrolled in English electives are being impacted by overcrowded classes.

The average public secondary school class size in the country is around 26 students per instructor, according to the National Education Association.

However, Paly’s classes exceed this value: there is an average student-teacher ratio of 28.5-to-1 for every class at Paly, except Special Education classes. For upperclassmen, this ratio further increases to 30.2-to-1, with some English elective classes currently having a ratio as high as 35-to-1.

AhMed Awadallah/The Campanile

Comedy Literature is among popular English electives that are overpopulated.

Electives such as Comedy Literature, Film Composition and Literature, Escape Literature, Sports Literature and Humanities are all jam-packed classes, as more students tend to sign up for them. All five of these contain at least an average of 32 students per class.

According to Assistant Principal Kathleen Laurence, overcrowded classes stem from two places: students transferring electives at the beginning of the semester, and administrators needing to create larger than average classes to counteract classes that are smaller in size.

SpOtLiGHt Cheating

Lifestyle Award Season Picks

See ENGLISH, Page A3

Jensen Hsiao/The Campanile

Principal Kim Diorio appointed Eric Bloom as school climate TOSA.

Economics teacher begins role as teacher on special assignment

By Alvina Zou

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Business Manager

alo Alto High School economics teacher Eric Bloom has settled into being a teacher on special assignment (TOSA), with a focus on school climate, starting this semester. Climate change issues can encompass anything from events, such as Link Crew and freshman orientation, to policies on campus, such as the academic honesty policy or overall attendance. “[A school climate teacher] does a lot of things, [but] it really has to do with the climate and culture of the school,” Bloom said. “It has to do with how people to treat other. When [Principal Kim Diorio and I] talked about what we want TOSA to be, it was the idea of building empathy but also this concept of building this collaborative culture. [Diorio] really wants to try to create a culture where we’re more focused on being empathetic and thinking about [questions like]: ‘How is this going to impact the people I’m working with? How is going impact the students?’”

INSIDE N e w s . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . A 1- A 4 Opinion............................A5-A8 Lifestyle . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . B1, B2, B8 Food....................................B3 Spotlight........................B4-B5 StudentLife............................B7 Sports........................C1,C3-C8 SportsAlumni...............................C2

Explore the different methods that students use to cheat.

B4-B5

The Campanile shares our picks for this yearís award shows.

B8

SpORts Davante Adams

Former Palo Alto High School player declares for 2014 NFL draft.

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Bloom has already began to implement certain changes within his classes. Along with economics teacher Debbie Whitson, Bloom has revised the economics course schedule for homework and tests to prevent their tests from falling on the same days as other classes such as Analysis Honors, AP Calculus AB, AP Calculus BC and AP Psychology in order to spread out the workload. Bloom wants to experience what other students are feeling by participating in all the activities that they do every day.

How can we better focus on building a caring culture? Let’s have someone to focus on making the place a nicer place to be.”

Eric Bloom Teacher on Special Assignment

“We want to try to do [something they do] in the middle schools [called] ‘student for a day’ [or] ‘teacher for a day’ for 24 hours,” Bloom said.

See TOSA, Page A4

Monday, January 27, 2014

NEWS

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NEWS TO KNOW

The Campanile

Snapchat leaks affect users New Year’s Eve hack releases information from photo-sharing app

COURTESY OF AP PHOTO

@cnnbrk Former VA Gov. Robert McDonnel, wife charged with accepting illegal gifts. @ABC Governors of New York, New Jersey and Delaware declare states of emergency as sever winter storm moves through eastern US. @YahooNews Russia searches for 3 “black widows” female terrorists known for suicide attacks, said to be planning Sochi strike. @FoxNews Report claims Syrian government behind “systematic killing” of 11,000 detainees.

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By Maggie Rosenthal Staff Writer

By Coby Parker

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Staff Writer

n New Year’s Eve, hackers leaked millions of Snapchat user information to the public. The information leaked included users' complete profiles, except for the last two digits of their respective phone numbers. Over a million users from California alone suffered a privacy breach, with tens of thousands from Palo Alto online.

Snapchat is a picture-sending application for iPhones and Android devices which allows users to send pictures that disappear after a set amount of time. Snapchat became popular at Palo Alto High School last year and its popularity has skyrocketed since.

A group of anonymous hackers attacked the Southern California-based technology company and released the data to the public on a website that was accessible to anyone.

On the website, the hackers explained why they chose to release the information.

“This information is being shared with the public to raise awareness on the issue,” the hackers said. “The company was too reluctant at [fixing] the [problem] until they knew it was too late. Companies that we trust with our information should be more careful when dealing with it.”

Administration Update

Hillel Zand/The Campanile

Many Snapchat users were affected by a breach caused by a group of hackers.

Paly students frowned upon the way the hackers pointed out the security flaws. Senior Zacharias Zhang occasionally uses Snapchat but frowns on the hacking.

“It’s unfortunate and there is a lesson to be learned… It’s not okay for them to hack to prove a point,” Zhang said.

Technology company LastPass released a tool that allows users to enter their Snapchat usernames to search whether their phone numbers were released.

Users from Paly whose information was leaked reported that they have only received snapchats with advertisements for weight loss but have not received any suspicious phone calls.

On the webpage created by LastPass, leaked user information was arranged by the area code of their phone numbers. Over 94,000 phone numbers and usernames from the 650 area code were leaked. Over 100,000 Snapchat accounts were leaked from the 415 area code, but no information from the 408 area code was leaked. In total, 76 area codes were targeted and 4.6 million users’ data were released.

Snapchat had drawn criticism before the attack because its security was weak. Hackers justified their attack by stating that they were merely pointing out flaws in the system and demanding Snapchat’s attention.

“It’s disappointing. It doesn’t affect me, but I feel bad for those who it does,” senior Jonathan Mackris said.

onstruction on the new Media Arts center as well as the math and social studies building are in the final stages, and administration is now focusing on the new construction projects that will begin almost immediately.

“We’re looking at everything being completed by Spring Break,” Principal Kim Diorio said.

According to Diorio, the furnishings and equipment for these buildings are being chosen and ordered.

Though these buildings are nearly done, construction on campus is just beginning. The next project is the Performing Arts center. Diorio hopes the new construction work will begin

by April 15.

Most math teachers in the 700s building are expected to move in to the new math and social studies building in May. The old building will then be used as a temporary Physical Education storage facility in preparation for construction of a new gym that will be occurring later this year.

“We’re making plans for field space and pool [space] for next year for athletics,” Diorio said.

The administration is also working on a commemoration of the big gym.

According to Diorio, it is meant to be a community event before the old gym comes down.

Ludwig Institute donates 90 million dollars to Stanford University and five other institutions for cancer research

By Sarah Tayeri

kevin larmarque/reuters

@CNN President Obama says pot “is no more dangerous than alcohol.”

@AP A federal judge has stuck down Oklahoma’s gay marriage ban, ruling that it violates the U.S. Constitution.

@NBCNews Having guns in the home trifles the risk of suicide and doubles the risk of homicide, researchers report.

@CBSNews U.N. withdraws invitation for Iran to attend Syria peace talks after uproar.

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Staff Writer

n Monday, Stanford University announced that it received a $90 million donation to support cancer stem cell research within their School of Medicine.

The donation to Stanford is a portion of the Ludwig Institute for Cancer Research’s $540 million distribution to six elite cancer research institutions, making it one of the largest one-time gifts dedicated to fighting the disease. The Ludwig Institute is a non-profit foundation founded by Daniel Ludwig, the late American shipping magnate and billionaire.

Ed McDermott, CEO of the institute, said the contribution will help researchers build upon recent research advances at a time when funds have been dwindling.

“Never before has the cancer community had the knowledge and tools to probe so deeply into understanding cancer and discovering new ways to defeat it,” McDermott said, according to Fox News. “More must be done in terms of funding to ensure continued

progress in an era of shrinking global resources for research.”

The money will be distributed equally among six institutions, formerly known as “Ludwig Centers”, across the nation, including Stanford University, Johns Hopkins University, Harvard University, the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center and the University of Chicago.

Ludwig has been a generous supporter of cancer research, and through its support changed the course of cancer treatment.

John Hennessy Stanford University President

The Ludwig Institute for Cancer Research first established its Ludwig Centers in 2006, and has since helped pave the way for immunotherapy treatments, the development of “smart drugs” and research advances for certain rapidly spreading cancers.

“The gift from Ludwig Cancer Research is truly historic,” Stanford

University President John Hennessy said. “Ludwig has been a generous supporter of cancer research, and through its support changed the course of cancer treatment. But this extraordinary gift will spur innovation well into the future... This gift is a tremendous vote of confidence in the work they and their colleagues at other Ludwig Centers are doing and will provide essential support as they pioneer new treatments and therapies.”

Certain cancers are driven by hidden cancer stem cells, which remain tenacious even after treatment, maintaining themselves and continuing to spread. Because of these stem cells, the fight against cancer is proceeding more slowly than hoped.

“These are the subset of cells that self-renew — they’re the dangerous one,” said Dr. Irving Weissman, the director of Stanford’s Ludwig Center.

Fortunately, Ludwig Institute’s new donation will help move some promising therapies into clinical trials for testing. Stanford’s Ludwig Center, the only cancer stem cell center of its kind, is hoping to learn more about these stem cells through immunotherapy, a treatment that uses

NEWS BRIEF

School Board New mayor of Palo Alto elected Update

By Bo Field

By Haley Fang

he Palo Alto Unified School District Board of Education meeting on Jan. 14 focused on the possibility of a thirteenth elementary school, a replacement for the now retired state STAR test and a set of plans for the new construction projects at Palo Alto High School.

The School Board went over different options for a new elementary school’s placement, and discussed how existing schools would be affected. The board hopes to select a location for the new school by May of this year.

Another issue in question was the California state legislation’s elimination of the California Standards Test earlier this year. Students will instead beta test the Smarter Balanced Assessment Program, which will replace the previously administered STAR tests starting next school year.

Also discussed was an addendum to the Board’s contract with the Gilbane Building Company to provide additional services for the construction of the new Media Arts Center at Paly, and approval of an updated design for the planned replacement of both gymnasiums at Paly.

n Jan. 6, Nancy Shepherd was named the new mayor of Palo Alto, with Liz Kniss joining her as vice mayor for 2014.

Shepherd was first elected as a council member in 2010 and served as vice mayor for a year under Mayor Greg Scharff before becoming mayor herself.

Because there are also many unfinished projects from 2013 that must be carried over to 2014, Palo Alto Online states that similar to last year, City Council will continue battling with issues such as excessive traffic, a lack of parking and the appearance of new developments.

Under Shepherd’s supervision, City Council will continue trying to fix the unresolved problems.

According to a blog on Palo Alto Online, Scharff says that he regrets not starting the construction of the new parking structure because now the parking affects the neighborhoods around downtown Palo Alto.

Shepherd plans on starting and continuing this project during her term as mayor.

As the 12th woman to serve as the city’s mayor, Shepherd’s appointment

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Staff Writer

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Staff Writer

pleased many who wanted more diversity within the local council.

"She has a well-deserved reputation for her real commitment to a truly open government and to full public participation," council member Pat Burt said in an interview with the San Jose Mercury News. "She has a strong sense of fairness to all and is widely appreciated for her courtesy and integrity."

Like Burt, Kniss is also thrilled about Shepherd becoming mayor.

"I think that the mayor for this coming year is going to need that toughness, that resilience," Kniss said.

"And I think we have just this kind of character in Nancy Shepherd."

According to Palo Alto Online, Shepherd and Kniss both plan to resolve the $10 million budget gap as well as dealing with the high-speed rail line that is set to go through Palo Alto.

Though these topics may be tough to deal with, Shepard is convinced that as her term progresses, she will successfully address all the issues at hand.

"I know that we have the spirit to address these issues broadly, deeply and with real focus in order to incrementally move them forward,” Shepherd said.

substances to stimulate the immune system.

According to Stanford’s newspaper, Weissman is also hoping to use the funds to pursue clinical trials for a therapy that have the potential to dramatically improve survival rates for women with metastatic breast cancer.

In one trial, 33 percent of the women were still alive and well, compared to 7 percent of women under the common treatment.

The trial was terminated by the funding company, but with Ludwig’s support, Weissman and his colleagues have obtained the rights to plan a bigger clinical experiment later this year.

“If this works as it did before, one third of women will be alive and will never see doctors again for breast cancer,” Weissman said.

To date, Ludwig’s research institution has donated approximately $2.5 billion globally towards cancer research. Despite his death more than a decade ago, Ludwig’s support for and generosity towards cancer research continues to promote experimentation and change lives for many years to come.

UPCOMING EVENTs JAN

MASQUERADE BALL

FEB

AMC MATH COMPETITION

FEB

CLUB DAY 2

FEB

CHOIR POPS CONCERT

31 4

7

11 FEB

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Homecoming 2.0, but you can’t tell who’s who.

Another opportunity for those not in the highest math lanes to sleep in.

The same thing as Club Day 1, but 2.

Sources say there might be fireworks at this event.

PRESIDENT’S DAY WEEKEND

The administration was actually nice enough to give students a second long weekend in four weeks.

The Campanile

English electives overenrolled

Monday, January 27, 2014

NEWS

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Speaker inspires women in sports Marlene Bjornsrud speaks to students about the power of gender equality in athletics

Full English classes cause problems for upperclassmen ENGLISH, continued from

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“Because students add classes and change schedules at the beginning of the semester, [consequently] some classes will be bigger and some will be smaller,” Laurence said. “We also make choices at the beginning of the year about how big classes are going to be, and since we would like freshman classes to be smaller, this means somewhere else the class sizes need to increase.”

However, despite these large class sizes, Laurence says that there are not enough students in order to create any additional classes.

“In the class breakdown, there are many English sections, but not enough to add another section,” Laurence said. “We only have a finite number of sections that we can assign [to each department].”

An anonymous student currently enrolled in the English elective Film Composition and Literature, who for these purposes will be referred to as John, believes that problems could occur as a result of well above average class sizes.

In the classes’ breakdown, there are many English sections, but not enough to add another section.

Kathleen Laurence Assistant Principal “My [elective] class currently has more students than desks available, and this may come back to pose a problem,” John said. “In addition, it’s quite probable that people who originally requested this class did not get a spot, so I’m sure that might cause additional issues.”

In order to try and prevent the overcrowding from becoming an issue this coming year, Laurence states that because there will be additional units added onto the master schedule next year, the administration will reorganize the distribution of units, as the new distribution would allow for reduced class sizes in the English department; especially in the most populated elective classes.

“The district is giving us a few more units next year,” Laurence said.

“The additional units next year may help reduce the size of English classes in the future.”

Keri Gee/The Campanile

Marlene Bjornsrud, cofounder of Bay Area Women’s Sports Initiative, urges female athletes to recognize their power and channel that power towards helping others.

By Emily Semba

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Spotlight Editor

ay Area Women’s Sports Initiative (BAWSI) cofounder Marlene Bjornsrud spoke to Palo Alto High School students on Jan. 21, urging listeners to utilize sports as a means of promoting a greater cause.

“No matter how old you are, no matter what sport you play, you’re doing something that is an absolute privilege, and you have the responsibility to pay it forward,” Bjornsrud said.

Though her career has largely been devoted to athletics — her resume includes the titles: college tennis coach, assistant director of athletics at Santa Clara University and general manager of Cyberrays, San Jose’s professional women’s soccer team — Bjornsrud was unable to ful-

ly participate in the sporting world as a high school orphan.

Born and raised in Colorado Springs during the height of the 1960s hippie movement, Bjornsrud grew up and struggled in an unfair world when women and men often played extremely distinct roles in the sporting world and when men were often more privileged than women.

“There were no sports opportunities for girls,” Bjornsrud said. “We had three choices when I was in high school: we could be cheerleaders, we could be part of the [dance team] or you could be in pep club.”

Bjornsrud, who took the pep club route, told Paly students she was on the sidelines supporting the boys’ teams at every basketball, football and ice hockey game.

“Never did I realize that I could have been playing those sports,” she said.

Given the opportunities available for female athletes today, Bjornsrud believes that women should not only look at sports as not only a means of self-improvement, but to also use this outlet as a catalyst to create positive change.

“It does no good to anyone to just take that opportunity and go ‘wow, I am so cool, I get to play these sports, I scored more points than anybody this year, I’m number one in the world,’” Bjornsrud said.

Bjornsrud is visiting different schools to serve as a voice to athletes, asking them to “choose to matter.” “[I am] asking all athletes to make an intentional choice to matter in some way that suits them and fits them,” Bjornsrud said. “[I am] asking you to matter in some way that touches you deeply, to the point where you can’t do anything but try to make a difference.”

Her plea has been heard by athletes on a local and international level. Through BAWSI, female athletes assist with programs such as BAWSI Girls Rollers, which uses athletics to connect with girls in underprivileged elementary schools and disabled children, respectively.

BAWSI also equips and inspires athletes across the country to utilize their sport to have a positive impact on the world. With the help of the athletes that Bjornsrud and BAWSI have inspired, over 14,000 athletes have participated in the BAWSI Girls program and 1,000 disabled children in BAWSI Rollers.

Bjornsrud asks for two things from athletes: to pay their opportunities forward, and to stay in the game when they are done. Through her work with BAWSI empowering female athletes across the globe, Bjornsrud seems to have accomplished both.

Tower Building receives makeover TOWER, continued from A1 The administration plans to further the renovations of the main office with a remodel of the reception area to include over 200 mailboxes.

In the future, the administration hopes to return the guidance office to its original state, as an open hall without the partitions that currently divide the office. Other potential additions include new bathrooms and an elevator.

New furniture was also added to the tower building throughout the

administration offices, including new desks and tables.

The Tower Building renovation is being placed at a lower priority than the larger scale construction projects currently in progress, such as the media arts building and the new math and social studies building on the east side of campus, according to Lim. “With all the construction projects going on on campus, this will be one of the last ones because there are no students here,” Lim told an alumni group in August. “We try to do the student stuff first.”

Conner harden/The campanile

The Tower Building is expected to undergo renovations to include new furniture.

Staff claims victory against seniors at annual Winter Rally

By Tiffany Liang Staff Writer

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espite a strong lead in the first quarter, the seniors lost to the staff by a score of 22-12 during the annual Winter Rally basketball game.

The students pulled ahead during the first quarter 5-1 with senior John Young making a three-pointer in the last second of the first quarter.

The students’ lead was short-lived.

We tried our hardest and played to the best of our ability.

Hannah Bundy Senior

Jensen Hsiao/the campanile

After an action-packed basketball game at the Winter Rally, the seniors ultimately lost to the staff by a score of 22-12.

By the end of the second quarter, the staff took a commanding 16-7 lead, and from then on, their points racked up higher and higher.

Aside from the basketball game, the Winter Rally featured performances by the pep band, cheer and dance teams.

Sophomore Christina Park, who attended the rally along with many of her fellow classmates, praised these performances.

“I thought that the cheer and dance performances were both executed really well and both teams definitely showed a lot of spirit and enthusiasm,” Park said. “It was entertaining to watch. The band, as usual, played well.”

Park was really disappointed by the seniors’ loss to the staff.

“It was disappointing that the students lost, but they had a good effort and it was a lot of fun to watch,” Park said.

Senior Hannah Bundy believes that this year’s team lacked experience.

“A lot of us haven’t played basketball either ever or in a really long time,” Bundy said.

Overall, Bundy thought that the seniors had tried their best considering their lack of expertise.

“We came in with high hopes of beating the teachers,” Bundy said.

“We tried our hardest and played to the best of our ability.”

Sophomore Alfredo Gonzalez remains optimistic about the games result.

“I went in cheering for the students but the staff did so great out there,” Gonzalez said.

Monday, January 27, 2014

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The Campanile

NEWS

Campus Supervisor retires

Bloom fills TOSA position

Administration emphasizes Puorro’s school spirit, dedication

TOSA, Continued from A1

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By Jeffery Ho Staff Writer

ampus supervisor Mary Puorro has retired from Palo Alto High School after 20 years of serving the Paly community.

Principal Kimberly Diorio sent an email to Paly parents this past Winter Break, publicly announcing Puorro’s retirement from Paly.

“We are saying goodbye to Campus Supervisor Mary Puorro, who [is] retiring this month,” Diorio said in the email. “Mary [has] worked at Paly for 20 years! We wish [her] the best of luck in [her] next adventure and hope [she stays] in touch.”

During her two decades at Paly, Puorro worked to maintain Paly’s overall safety.

She has played a significant role in just about every aspect of day-today life. This includes tasks ranging from maintaining and enforcing a safe school environment to arranging spaces for large events.

Assistant Principal Jerry Berkson personally notes Puorro’s essential presence on the Paly campus. “[Puorro] was great to the school and her and I worked very well together,” Berkson said. “She was always on the walkie talkie willing to pick up the job that was needed to be done, and she was supportive when I had to question students on things.

She did a good job of playing the good cop and never the bad cop; she was one hard worker.”

Fellow campus supervisor Ernesto Cruz, who has been working with Puorro for many years, commends her work with both attendance and campus supervision.

“The first two or three hours, [Puorro] works in the attendance office,” Cruz said. “She helps take phone calls when students call in sick or when students will be absent. As a campus supervisor, [Puorro] helps keep Paly safe, as she [effectively disciplines] students when necessary. She does a

Courtesy of marc havlik

Mary Puorro retired from her position as Campus Supervisor after 20 years. tremendous job, and she is always a nice lady who helps everybody.”

Berkson emphasized Puorro’s abundance of school spirit, which did not go unnoticed.

“The best thing I remembered about [Puorro] was her school spirit, which is great especially coming from an employee,” Berkson said. “[Puorro] had spirit; she dressed up in green

ASB announces masquerade ball

By Grace Kim

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Staff Writer

his year, Palo Alto High School’s winter dance will be a masquerade ball and will take place in Paly’s Small Gym on Jan. 31 from 7:30 p.m. to 10:30 p.m.

Tickets will be sold both ahead of time and at the door. Tickets cost $10 without an Associated Student Body (ASB) sticker and $5 with.

Students are encouraged to dress semi-formally, in attire similar to homecoming.

Students are also encouraged to both make and wear their own original masks.

ASB will sell decorated masks leading up to the dance on Jan. 24 and from Jan. 29 through Jan. 31 the week of the dance. Simpler masks will also be available for free at the door while supplies last. ASB Spirit Commissioner Maya Ben-Efraim encourages students to make their own masks.

“The best way to go about it is to make your own mask and have fun with it,” Ben-Efraim said.

Students are excited for this new theme and for the return of the winter dance, as there was none last year.

“I think the theme is sort of cool,” sophomore Michael Rowe said. “It’s a change that is welcome in my book.

Paly hasn’t done anything like this before that I’ve heard of.”

ASB is also excited to welcome back DJ Dave, who was the disc jockey for the homecoming dance in October.

“I thought he was pretty good,” junior Katie Gonzalez said. “The songs were easy to dance to and it kept everything upbeat and moving.”

ASB is also hiring a magician and is going to have carnival booths, including a high striker. ASB is going to have a psychic, old fashioned popcorn and cotton candy.

“Dress your best, and we can’t wait to see everyone there,” Ben-Efraim said.

and white on game days and on those days she would have green and white pompoms in her hair.”

Paly students and staff will miss Puorro’s presence on campus, but her legacy will certainly not be forgotten.

“She will be remembered for her hard work at Paly,” Cruz said. “Everyone will miss her too, as she’s always enjoyed [her time with] students.”

“From my point of view I want to do the homework, I want to do the classes, [and] whether you’re doing sports after school or you’re doing music after school. Just to get a feel of ‘what is your day like’ so that makes me better understand [the extent of if] I’m only giving you 45 minutes of homework a day. Diorio said she would love it if we could get parents to do ‘teacher for a day.’ What does it mean to give five lectures, run five classes over the course of a day to the idea of getting each of us to understand another person.”

Bloom will spend three periods teaching economics and two periods focused on his duties on school climate. During these periods, he will be talking with teachers and students about the school environment and community on campus. He will also be working closely with the Associate Student Body (ASB) and school clubs in order to plan more community events that involve the student body.

Bloom has experience drawing from acting as an Instructional Supervisor and working on district committees such as the Paly Site Council and district-wide homework advisory committee, as well as acting as a leader and writer on Paly’s Western Colleges of Schools and Colleges (WASC) Curriculum Focus Group.

“For me, this was a nice sort of inbetween because I still get to retain my classroom part,” Bloom said. “I think [this] gives me a lot of credibility with the students because they know me as a teacher and so if they see me as a school leader, perhaps that makes it easier for them to talk to me about what they think is important.”

“I think it’s really important for this job to also be a teacher because again it’s part of that empathy,” Bloom said. “You need to be in the classroom with kids so you can understand students and what is going on with students.”

Bloom intends to work and focus on bringing about more compassion and inclusion in order to build a more diverse community in which peers, students, teachers and parents can all draw support from one another.

“From the work of the committee it needs to be focused on remedy and the future as opposed to what did we do wrong for,” Bloom said. “It’s almost on a reconciliation and [focusing on] how do we restore and move forward.”

Although the climate committee is still in an intermediate process of being developed, the administration has discussed the academic honesty policy and the consequences associated with violating the policy.

“My personal feeling is that we want to have something like a fair hearing [during which we] talk about what happened,” Bloom said. “Is this straightforward plagiarism or [does] this [have] to do with ambiguity?

Backing a little off of what’s the immediate consequence, and dealing with this idea of a fair hearing [is to allow people to] understand.”

However, Bloom not only acknowledges the issue, but also provides his personal input and solution.

“Let’s think of an appropriate consequence [for the actions],” Bloom said. “We’re not going to give you credit for that assignment. Maybe we need to revise [the] syllabus. Maybe we need to revise the school-wide [policy] and say that this stuff is acceptable [or that] this stuff is not acceptable. So opening that dialogue is part of what we want to do.”

The future of the position is contingent on the success that occurs after this semester.

However, if successful, Diorio is committed to keep the position funded for the next few years.

“The idea is to be more aware,” said Bloom. “It’s how people treat each other. How can we better focus on building a caring culture? Let’s have someone to focus on making the place a nicer place to be.”

Transgender law gives students choices

By Lauren Gargiulo Staff Writer

O

n Jan. 1, the California State Legislature implemented a new law that allows transgender students from kindergarten to 12th-grade in public schools to use the bathrooms and locker rooms of the gender that they identify with.

In addition, the new law also allows students to take part in genderspecific extracurricular activities, such as sports teams.

The law would allow students to use the gender that they identify with. The recent legislative action makes California the first state to spell out the rights of transgender students by law.

Those who support the law strongly believe that the law was not made to create co-ed bathrooms, but to make all children comfortable with who they are so that they can focus on learning.

Supporters of the law believe that it is necessary to spell out the rights of transgender students.

This would keep schools from violating federal anti-discrimination laws.

“If people identify as a certain gender, we have to respect that, especially in schools where you’re learning not only stuff from your textbooks, but also [from] being socially conditioned,” Lande Watson, president of the Gender Equality club said. “If we don’t tell them that they can feel and be whoever they want to be, that will transfer into a lot of bad feelings and encouraged repression later on in life.”

Despite widespread support for the new law, many people oppose it and are calling for a repeal.

“I think that in theory, it’s a good idea, but in practice, it may be uncomfortable in the locker room or bathroom,” a California resident, who prefers to stay anonymous, said.

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These opponents believe that the new law will cause other students uneasiness and embarrassment. They also believe that this will lead to issues.

If we don’t tell them that they can feel and be whoever they want to be, that will transfer into a lot of bad feelings and encouraged repression later on in life.

Lande Watson President of Gender Equality Club

These issues could include awkward encounters in the bathroom, differences in dress codes and discomforting sleeping arrangement for overnight field trips.

If opponents of the law gather enough signatures, they will qualify for a repeal initiative for the November ballot. The law then would be put on hold until the vote is made.

The Campanile

Monday, January 27, 2014

OPINION

A5

Students should understand Student Wireless terms

By Jonathan Ziegler Online Editor

I

f you have logged in to the Student Wireless before then you know about the annoying splash page that comes up with a “Welcome to the PAUSD Wireless Network” message. You scroll down to the bottom of the screen and press “Accept and Continue” without really reading any of the terms in between the two phrases. For kicks, I read the fine lines of the agreement students contract to when they press “Accept and Continue.” After reading it, I promised myself to never use the Student Wireless again, as should you.

To begin, Palo Alto Unified School District’s Student Wireless agreement has a list of items that are deemed inappropriate for students to use while on the network.

While most of them are obvious, like not to torrent movies or hack tools, some terms are somewhat vague and give the administration the power to come after almost any student. Section Seven Letter E states that while using Student Wireless, students are forbidden from “participating in political activities.” What is a “political activity?” According to PAUSD, it is not solely confined to speaking out and professing one’s own opinions.

The fact of the matter is that “political activities” needs to be more explicitly defined, and if the terms are rewritten, they should not infringe a student’s right to free speech, as guaranteed by the First Amendment of the Constitution.

Now is the time to expose PAUSD’s snooping efforts. Section Eight states that users of the Student Wireless network should have “No Expectation of Privacy.” The district can and does monitor Internet access and activity on its network, including, but not limited to, sites visited, content viewed and e-mails sent and received. The district may examine a student’s personal device and search its contents if there is reason to believe that school policies, regulations or guidelines have been violated.

After reading this, you should recognize that you give up your Fourth Amendment rights that protect you from illegal search and seizure whenever you press “Accept and Continue.” The district or any administrator should not have the ability to search a personal device for any reason because it would require a warrant in the real world. Fooling students with large bodies of text is unethical and immoral to impose on the students just so they look over the ability for the administration to search anyone’s electronic communication devices.

Furthermore, the district also has the power to look over students’ emails, both sent and received. This again would require a warrant anywhere off campus and should again require a warrant at Paly. Students need to realize that the administration should not have the power to read over students’ private and personal matters.

By Oliver Tucher

Jensen Hsiao/The campanile

In order to log on to Student Wireless, students must first agree to the terms.

On top of all this, students should think twice about pressing “Accept and Continue” to use the Student Wireless network. The administration and PAUSD should alter these policies to not waive constitutional rights, and in the meantime, the Student Wireless network should go “radio silent,” meaning no connection whatsoever to any of PAUSD’s snoop-able networks. However, this

is not the most astonishing part of this whole controversy. This body of text has been in place since the Student Wireless network was activated back in 2010. No one spoke up and therefore none of the policies were changed. Maybe that is what the Living Skills curriculum should address: the importance of reading a contract or agreement before signing or agreeing to one.

Current finals grading deadline reasonable

By Nikhil Rajaram

A

Staff Writer

s a result of the eagerness surrounding semester grades, some students are pushing for teachers to submit grades by the end of winter break rather than the current deadline, Jan. 16. Despite students’ fervor to receive grades as soon as possible, the current deadline for grades is reasonable as it allows teachers to enjoy a work-free Winter Break. While it would be convenient for students to receive grades as fast as possible, it is not feasible or fair to teachers.

Oftentimes, a teacher’s hard work is taken for granted. They slave over preparing lessons and grade assignments extremely quickly. The proposition of having to grade over Winter Break is unreasonable, as it gives teachers even less time off. Teachers who spend their break out of town may not be able to finish grading or putting grades into Infinite Campus.

Not only does this further limit teachers’ breaks, but it could also

Keri Gee/The campanile

Teachers such as English teacher Erin Angell depicted above currently must complete semester grades by Jan. 16.

lead to rushed grading. If teachers are faced with an earlier deadline for grades, they could slack on in-depth grading in order to enjoy their break.

This especially affects teachers who include an essay aspect into a final exam, consequently having to grade multiple classes worth of essays in little to no time, especially for those teachers who administer tests during the last period of finals. The current deadline stops teachers from facing a time crunch, which thus encourages fair, comprehensive grading.

Having the deadline earlier would also make it harder for students to communicate with teachers about their grades. As a result, students

The difficulty of standardizing classes

would not be able to clarify discrepancies. With this system, students are given two weeks to speak with teachers before the final deadline. For students with borderline grades, this is important as it can be the difference between two letter grades.

Junior Charles Yu agrees with this sentiment.

“Teachers would be overloaded with grading responsibilities and would not be able to enjoy their Winter Break,” Yu said. “Students with borderline grades might not be able to ‘argue their way’ up to the grade they want.”

Receiving grades earlier would provide students closure and help

them prepare for the next semester by notifying them what they should improve on. However, it does not outweigh the grading discrepancies that come as a result of teachers not having a break.

Although it would be nice if teachers could have grades finalized and posted during Winter Break, it simply isn’t feasible. The system currently in place, with the deadline on Jan. 16, should not be changed because it allows teachers an enjoyable winter break and ultimately benefits the students themselves by providing them with fair grading and allowing time to discuss their grades with teachers.

Everyone has heard of the “easy” teacher. Theoretically, all classes should be equal in difficulty with the same material. The only discrepancy should be teaching method, but this isn’t the case.

Most teachers have a lot more control and flexibility. Not only with the way they teach the class but also with the material, grading scale and grade weighting. This can result in vastly different grades from teacher to teacher of theoretically the same class.

It doesn’t seem fair that classes have different workloads solely because of the teacher. After all, colleges don’t know one teacher from any other. So what’s the fix?

You’ll notice that you’ve never heard of an “easy” math teacher. This is because the math department is standardized, meaning that every single teacher has to teach the same material at the same time and that every assignment is graded on the same scale.

So why not standardize every department? This doesn’t work because teachers need flexibility. In English, for example, teachers need flexibility because there isn’t one correct response to an essay like there is to a math question.

Teachers also need flexibility in their classrooms because not every class is the same. Every class learns at a different rate and teachers need to be able to adapt. The math department deals with this by having different lanes.

One obvious way to standardize classes, while allowing sufficient flexibility, is to create several lanes. However, there are flaws. One flaw is that more lanes requires more classes and more students.

Another flaw is that even with multiple lanes, such as in the English department, teachers still can have a lot of control and flexibility. Ironically, teachers need flexibility to keep things fair, but it is this flexibility that students complain about as unfair.

Lanes also create an unwanted socioeconomic imbalance, which was the reason for the consolidation of the non-AP senior English classes.

The root of the problem is that every teacher has a different idea of an acceptable grade. For example, a teacher who believes a C is an acceptable grade builds the material expecting an average of a C. Another teacher might consider a B acceptable and plan the curriculum accordingly.

This difference explains the disconnect in between class grade averages.

Because of this standardization issue, it is unreasonable to expect any two classes to have the same level of difficulty. So please, for the rest of us, stop complaining.

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Monday, January 27, 2014

A6

Keeping up with Kony

OPINION

The Campanile

Inequalities in College Board put some students at disadvantage

By Maya Kitayama Do we all remember Kony 2012?

In the sphere of Palo Alto High School, Kony 2012 was a 30-minute film that rapidly spread through all mediums of social networking. I got home one night and was immediately bombarded on Facebook by three different friends insisting I watch this “life-changing” video. Unknowingly, I obliged, and after sitting through 30-minutes of treacherous propaganda, I was suddenly in the loop.

I sat on Facebook that night and watched as several of my peers went from selfie-obsessed teenagers to advocates for social justice. Debates sparked and several events along the lines of “Light A Candle Through Which Our Combined Efforts Might Blind Joseph Kony,” or “Let’s Go Around Terrorizing the Neighborhood and Plaster Posters Everywhere So People Know We Care” started to pop up. I am fully willing to admit that I most likely joined one of these quickly appearing events, purely because this uproar of injustice villainized anyone who chose not take a stand or support the cause.

So there’s the set-up: everyone is riled up and ready to travel to Uganda and hunt down the man himself, when a day later news breaks that the heartfelt video was actually a scam.

Oops, the heroic film producer who exposed Joseph Kony for who he really was turns out to be crazy with an unexplainable yearning to free himself of clothing and run through the public streets in a frenzy. And with that, the high school social media world suddenly regained its typical form. Comments, pictures, events and discussions of the horrors of the Lord’s Resistance Army and Invisible Children vanished.

Mention Kony 2012 now, and all you can expect to receive is a good laugh, or some sarcastic response. For those of you who are still upset that you wasted $40 on a t-shirt that you’ll never really wear in public without facing endless humiliation, get over it.

However, aside from laughing at the proud owners of Kony 2012 tshirts, there actually is an underlying message within this 24-hour frenzy of social awareness. Sure, the video oversimplified a much more complex and twisted issue. Sure, it convinced a bunch of teenagers that buying a t-shirt and some posters would eventually lead to the capture of a global villain.

However, this video received over 97 million views on YouTube, and earned the label of the Most Viral Video Ever by TIME Magazine.

Content aside, this feat alone is undeniably impressive. And now we’ve finally reached my point.

Look kids, we have the power to make a difference. You’d be hardpressed to find a teenager who wouldn’t laugh at a Kony joke, and that recognition proves we have power within our fingertips. Consider the implications that this movement could have caused (had it not, of course, been led by a crazed film producer with some questionable acts up his sleeve). Even within the realm of Paly, people immediately stepped forward in support of the injustice they viewed, and felt strongly enough about it to get their friends involved as well.

We are capable of instigating a movement. Granted, we could definitely use a little more training and education in terms of comprehending all the social, political and economic factors involved in any global conflict, so stay in school. Regardless, our capacity as a generation of social networking and interaction is not to be overlooked. And that is what we should really take away from Kony 2012; no t-shirt, no poster, but the reaffirmed belief that our generation is one capable of immense social change. So thanks, Joseph, the lesson is much appreciated.

By Irene Ezran

Lifestyle Design Editor

T

he College Board is a nonprofit organization that aims to provide students with opportunities for high-quality education and success in college. Founded in 1900, the association’s mission is to “ensure that every student has the opportunity to prepare for, enroll in and graduate from college,” according to their website.

Although the College Board may appear to help students receive equal opportunities in education, it seems that the organization’s actions contradict their mission statement on many levels.

First, it is questionable that the organization is in fact not-for-profit.

Former President and Chief Executive Officer Gaston Caperton was criticized for his extremely high annual salary of $1.3 million, according to the New York Times.

David Coleman, who replaced Caperton, earns $750,000 per year, which is still relatively high for a non-profit that is exempt from paying taxes. Furthermore, the College Board has monopolized certain parts of the testing business, since most students applying to college use this organization for some form of standardized testing.

Not only do students pay a fee for exams, but they also have to pay the College Board $11.25 for each school

Keri gee/The Campanile

Despite the widespread use of the College Board, the organization does not always promote equality. Tests, books and tutoring can be very expensive, which puts underprivileged students at a disadvantage due to their lack of resources. they send the official standardized score reports.

As a result of these high costs, this supposed non-profit gains $700 million per year, according to the Huffington Post. This considerable amount of money raises questions as to whether or not the organization is truly not-for-profit.

In addition, many American colleges require either the SAT, SAT subject tests or AP tests, all of which are administered by the College Board. These test scores, particularly the SAT, have a significant impact on a student’s admission to college.

Many students who come from families with high incomes can afford the pricey SAT preparation classes and are able to retake the exam sev-

eral times. This means that they have the potential to perform well on the exam, and therefore have a better chance of gaining college acceptance.

Granted, the College Board gives fee waivers to low-income families, but this does not prevent middle-income families from being at a severe disadvantage, which contradicts the College Board’s statement that they are “committed to excellence and equity in education.”

Furthermore, according to the Huffington Post, several studies have proven that students who perform well on the standardized tests offered by the College Board are not always the most successful in college, since the exams do not test a student’s general knowledge, but rather spe-

cific parts of certain subjects. More importantly, studies show that high test scores do not equate to good life skills.

In fact, many students believe that these scores are too highly weighted in the college admission process.

Even though the College Board may seem to help students achieve their dreams of higher education, the organization’s numerous flaws prevent students of all economic backgrounds from having an equal opportunity in the college admission process.

Universities should place less importance on tests administered by the College Board in order to promote student equity, and to snub the “nonprofit’s” unjust operations.

ASB should be an extracurricular, not a class

courtesy of palo alto high school ASB

Students who participate in ASB at Paly are forced to accommodate the class into their schedule instead of taking other classes that could be a better use of their time.

By Maya Benatar Staff Writer

A

lot of potential candidates for Paly’s Associated Student Body (ASB) choose not to run for office because ASB takes up a valuable elective slot in their schedule. If it were a club instead, more students would have the opportunity to run for office which would give student voters more choices and result in a more representative student government.

Paly is full of incredibly ambitious students who are always looking for a way to participate in as many activi-

ties as possible. There are a variety of clubs, classes and sports students can get involved in to make a difference at Paly, and students are often faced with the difficult task of giving up one activity to pursue another. Most activities or clubs at Paly are designed to accommodate students’ packed schedules and allow them to participate in many of the things students are interested in.

This is not the case with student government and the result is that many of Paly’s most ambitious students don’t run for ASB. Student government is one of the most direct ways for students to influence Paly. ASB plays a large role in planning spirit week, prom and many other popular school events.

The problem is that ASB is not an after-school extracurricular, rather a class that occupies a valuable elective slot in students’ schedules. Students who are not able to take ASB as an elective are stripped of the opportunity to participate in ASB, which in turn may narrow the pool of students with capable leadership skills.

One solution to this problem is transforming ASB from a class to a club that meets during lunch or after school. This way, ASB could meet for as long as they need in order to finish what they need to get done.

In this past year of ASB elections, a significant number of the candidates ran unopposed, giving the student body little to no choice regarding their elected officials. Student government is meant to serve as the voice of the student body and if only one candidate runs for each position, the student body will have no choice regarding who represents them as a class.

Current Sophomore Class President Reid Walters faced a dilemma when deciding whether to run for office. She wanted to continue with Spanish at Paly and take business law which left no room for taking ASB if she got elected. She ended up having to spend three weeks of her summer taking Spanish 3H at Lydian, a popular tutoring center for Paly students.

“I knew that ASB was something that I wanted to do. I just had to do

things differently in order to make it happen.” Walters said.

To run for ASB, other students have done zero-period PE which means getting to school at 7 a.m. four mornings a week. Why should students have to do summer school or take zero-period classes just so they can serve our school on ASB? Some might argue that having ASB as an elective serves the purpose of filtering out candidates who won’t take their positions seriously or who won’t be willing to put in the necessary time and effort. But this assumes that student voters aren’t capable of evaluating candidates and electing serious and committed representatives. In addition, if ASB were a club there could be the same level of teacher supervision as there is currently, keeping the level of productivity consistent.

Students who are interested in joining ASB are deterred by the fact that it is an elective, decreasing the number of candidates and risking the possibility that Paly’s student body is not accurately represented.

The Campanile

Monday, January 27, 2014

OPINION

A7

Is using standardized testing an sensible practice?

By Jack Paladin Opinion Editor

NO

E

very year, hundreds of thousands of high school seniors apply to college through an increasingly selective process. In order to gain acceptance into the most prestigious colleges, students must demonstrate strong academic and extracurricular achievement and perform well on the SAT or ACT. In theory, standardized college assessments make sense: they are meant to help admissions officers fairly compare cross sections of students who attend vastly different high schools.

Unfortunately, the reality is something quite different.

Affluent students have financial advantages that enable them to outperform students from lower socioeconomic backgrounds. By spending thousands of dollars on tutors and test retakes, wealthier students are able to master standardized tests and score in the top deciles. However, families from poorer backgrounds are put at a disadvantage. In addition, standardized tests do not necessarily test knowledge acquired through school due to question biases that

may advantage students who have experiences only the wealthy can afford. The SAT and ACT cannot be fair because wealthier families have the means to help their children inflate their scores.

For all tests, studying and practice are necessary to earn good scores and the same goes for standardized tests.

However, in school, students are taught the same material by the same teacher, giving everyone a fair opportunity to perform well. In contrast, students taking the SAT or ACT are not all offered an equal opportunity.

Many privileged students use tutors.

In an affluent community like Palo Alto, an 18-hour Stanley Kaplan group class costs $699 and private SAT tutors charge between $100 and $125 per hour. Wealthy parents are willing and able to spend $1,000 to $2,000 for their child to prepare for the test. Additionally, there is the cost of the test itself. Some students take both the SAT and ACT to determine which one suits them better and then retake the test multiple times to improve their scores on individual sections for a better overall Super Score.

At $50 a try, this can quickly add up, bringing the potential investment for preparation and tests to $2,200 or more. Clearly, families earning the median household income of $51,371 (2012 Census Bureau) could never afford to spend almost four percent of their salary on their child’s standardized tests. Students from lower income families are at a disadvantage because they are unable to afford tutoring and multiple retakes. This fact is blatantly obvious through information provided by the College Board, which shows that on average, SAT scores increase by forty points for every extra $20,000 a family makes.

Another issue with standardized tests is that its goal is to test the knowledge of its takers based on what

they have been taught in high school.

However, the test often draws on information that students may have learned through outside experiences.

For example, many questions in both the reading and writing portions of the test relate to international topics. My ACT included an excerpt on Machu Picchu. Fortunately, I had traveled to Peru the previous summer and already knew about the Incas, so I breezed through the questions. This highlights my point: students who come from wealthy backgrounds are more likely to have experiences written about on the SAT as opposed to poorer student who may not have the same opportunities. While the questions can be answered by solely reading the material, a student who has experienced the same thing as a character in a passage will have an advantage over others taking the test. There is an obvious issue here that adds to the unfairness of standardized tests.

Ironically, while the SAT and ACT are supposed to directly correlate with a student’s future college grades, studies conducted by Bates College and the University of California challenge this assumption.

Both schools found insignificant differences in first-year grades between students who scored well on standardized tests and students who did not. These studies also demonstrated that, students who achieved high GPAs through high school achieved better grades in colleges. The findings at Bates and the University of California suggest that even if standardized tests do not give wealthier students an advantage, they are still unlikely predictors of college success.

Colleges should consider de-emphasizing or eliminating standardized tests as selection criteria because of the advantages that wealthier students have to score well and the tests inability to accurately predict incoming college students’ abilities.

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By Kevin Mullin Staff Writer

YES T

he SAT and ACT may add stress to a student’s life, but there are many good qualities about the standardized tests that go unappreciated by people who see them as anxiety-inducing torture rather than a genuine opportunity to showcase students’ intellectual ability.

One of the best things about standardized tests is that it gives colleges a way to compare students who are from different schools. Grade inflation leads to many schools handing out far higher GPAs than others, but this does not necessarily mean that the students receiving high GPAs are smarter. Colleges value GPA far too much, especially considering every school has different teachers with different tests and different homework. How can a college compare the knowledge of a student by looking at a grade when so many things about the class are different at every school? By comparing standardized test scores, colleges can see whether a student was simply the benefactor of grade inflation. This works both ways.

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If a student with a low GPA does well on the SAT or ACT, it shows that the high school attended by the student is probably very rigorous and demanding.

The ACT and SAT are good ways for colleges to compare students because they are the same test taken by people across the country. It is much harder to compare two students who took the same class at different schools because each teacher is different. It levels the playing field by comparing two students who took the same test. Similarly, students who does not try hard in school but are very intelligent can show their abilities through the standardized tests. While a good GPA may show a commitment to schooling and staying focused on a student’s learning, the SAT or ACT is the best way to see how a student stacks up against others across the country.

One of the best things about standardized tests is that it gives colleges a way to compare students that are from different schools. Grade inflation leads to many schools handing out far higher GPAs than others, but this does not necessarily mean that the students receiving high GPAs are smarter. Colleges value GPA far too much, especially considering every school has different teachers with different tests and different homework.

While tutoring for the ACT or SAT may be expensive, the cost of a practice book complete with test strategies, practice tests and everything else you need to know about standardized tests is $6.79 on Amazon. If that is too expensive, the vast majority of schools have practice books in the library or through college counseling services. Tutoring certainly does improve the score of a student, but there is nothing that keeps a student from using a practice book to get just as much information about the tests as a tutored student.

What colleges want from a prospective student is a dedicated, hard worker. Someone who works hard to study for these tests is demonstrating qualities that colleges are looking for.

Students who work hard to prepare for the tests can raise their score, just like with any other test in high school.

The ACT is a knowledge-based test, meaning that it tests what a student has learned and therefore has fewer strategies involved that could be taught by a tutor or book. Tutoring is not used only for standardized tests. It is also used for the many classes that contribute to a students’ GPA. This means that wealthy kids are able to raise their GPAs through tutoring and other outside help that many poorer kids do not have access too. The outside help makes student’s GPAs inaccurate as far as their actual work in the class, because many times tutors end up doing much of the work for the student.

Overall, standardized tests like the SAT and ACT are a part of posthigh school planning that aren’t going away any time soon. Students need to embrace the opportunity to demonstrate that GPAs do not tell the whole story because every school and class is different.

Monday, January 27, 2014

The Campanile

EDITORIALS

A8

Field trips enrich course curriculum

JANUARY’S TOP TEN LIST

in order to compensate for the missed class hours.

Therefore, it is understandable why field trips become so uncommon for a typical high school student: they seemingly cause more work and trouble than their apparent face value. However, Palo Alto High School ought to start accommodating more field trips. The Campanile believes field trips should become an integral part of secondary education. As advocates for the concept of project-based learning, we believe that field trips only add to the overall learning experience by offering a more hands-on approach to standardized curriculum.

It is acknowledged that some students take advantage of field trip opportunities and do not utilize them for their academic value. In the past, some Paly students have set a precedent for inappropriate conduct during field trips, which discourages continued activities in the future.

However, it is unfair to base decisions regarding the classes taking field trips on the unfortunate behavior of a couple past students. That does not mean that students should continue to get

Masks to wear to the Masquerade Ball

A

practical application of education is a lot more effective in comparison to direct instruction. Despite copious amount of notes and endless hours of studying, nothing quite compares to actually experiencing a lesson hands-on.

In elementary school, field trips are an integral part of the curriculum.

Students often take a day off from traditional lessons to travel to an art museum or see a play. Oftentimes, students even embark on overnight trips, such as the Coloma trip while studying the California Gold Rush, adding a deeper and more personable level to the history curriculum.

As students enter middle school and beyond, the concept of an effective and educational field trip often becomes obsolete. Students attending separate classes with separate teachers for each subject makes the idea of devoting an entire school day to delve deeper into one particular subject unrealistic. Unfortunately, any high school student who misses an entire day of school — even for a field trip — ends up with extra assignments and homework in need of completion

away with unruly and potentially illegal behavior during a trip. Students need to understand the true value of whatever trip they might be embarking on, along with the consequences they may face should they choose to act irrationally.

Teachers and staff members also need to be willing to accommodate field trips that better the learning experience. In terms of the additional makeup work that many students face upon returning from a field trip, teachers should be more understanding of how hard it may be for a student to complete twice the amount of work in one night.

Through the mutual agreement and understanding between students and teachers, the secondary school environment will be equipped to allow various field trips throughout the year.

Although this sort of compromise might be hard to reach, The Campanile believes the true value of field trips outweigh the faults. Field trips should be instituted throughout the year and not just reserved for elementary-level education.

Students should have the right to go to bathroom, eat during class on own volition

T

wo of the inquiries that a teacher most often encounters isn’t class-related or intellectual, rather two that procure a simple “yes” or “no” in response: “May I go to the bathroom?” and “Can I eat a snack?” In fact, these question should not even merit “no” as an answer.

Think about it: having the option to relieve oneself in the bathroom and fulfill ones’ appetite should be every student’s natural right.

For most students, bathroom passes were first introduced in middle school and were likely designed to keep students from wandering around campus, thus abusing bathroom breaks. Some teachers understand the urgency of bathroom breaks (i.e. during a girl’s ‘time of month;’ after one unknowingly consumes expired dairy products, among others), but a large number of teachers have a rather Hobbesian view of students’ natural natures, believing that consent to the six-worded question too easily allows students to cut and waste class time.

These teachers periodically go so far as to refuse all bathroom inquiries, giving students with genuine emergencies quite a predicament.

However, high school students are simply that: high school students — not middle schoolers who are still learning the skills of time management. Teenagers must be entrusted with the decision of whether or not they want to miss valuable instruction time in order to get some fresh air. Going up and asking a teacher for permission to leave the classroom is merely a waste of time and only serves as a distraction to the rest of the class.

Making it through seven-hour school days for a teenager going through puberty also poses another difficult task: maintaining a full stomach. Even though there may only be an hour-and-a-half or two-hour time block in between brunch and lunch, it is quite easy for one to become hungry only minutes after eating a snack during breaks.

Students ought to have the right to choose to eat whenever they want to during class periods, provided they maintain a neat classroom environment by picking up their own trash.

Although this freedom and the aforementioned one become increasingly present as Palo Alto High School rise from grade to grade, it should be a natural right for students in all four grades.

As most students know, paying attention and learning during class on an empty stomach is difficult. Pulling out a quick snack and quietly eating during a lecture is a quickfix solution. Many teachers restrict food within the classroom because they fear that students will abuse the privilege by leaving the classroom in a worse condition than they found it. However, much like going to the bathroom, teenagers ought to be entrusted with these freedoms until proven otherwise.

A teenager’s worst fear is being “babied” by authorities figures. Having to ask to eat during class or for permission to leave the classroom to go to the bathroom are a nuisance for the student, teacher and classroom itself. The Campanile believes that the administration should institute new policies to relieve these nuisances.

Letter to the editors

I read [Hillel Zand’s] article published December 7, 2013 titled “The cost of being a student at Palo Alto High School” and I was very impressed. I completely agree with everything [he] mentioned in the article. It is true that once I left Palo Alto, I realized how phenomenal an education Palo Alto High School had given me. I am head and shoulders above my peers and much more prepared for the academic life college presents.

I noticed throughout high school that we use fear to, hopefully, propel our students forward. Fear of failure, fear of being different, etc. We use fear to push the students to the perfect numbers and do not take into account for what this might do to the adolescent psyche.

The fear of not being accepted to college crushes the joy of learning most kids have because they focus only on activities that look good on a college application. I can think of plenty of people who only do certain activities whether it be sports, clubs or any extracurriculars only because it makes them look well rounded, educated or worldly. A lot of students do not follow their true passion for fear that doing what they love will not aid

in their college application process.

The fear of failure is also too strongly used as a motivator for teachers. They rely on this fear to drive students to study all night or skip classes to study. I can (unfortunately) think of many times a teacher pulled me aside after class to have a long conversation about the recent test I bombed (by Paly standards that’s a C or below) or about not getting in all the stupid busy work assignments they assigned. But other than a smiley face at the top of the test I am hard pressed to find a scenario in which the teacher pulled me aside to congratulate me on a job well done.

I had to take a cross-cultural communication class this semester and I realized that as great of an education Paly gave me, I was easily part of that 50 percent that did not feel adequately prepared for making moral and ethical decisions. A Paly education is a wonderful thing but the cost that it costs students in regards to their social, emotional and other non-academic preparedness are considerably lacking.

—Ryan Deslauriers, Class of 2013

10) Stewie head 9) Scream mask 8) Vendetta mask 7) Hockey goalie mask 6) Phantom of the Opera mask 5) Google Glass 4) Spiderman mask 3) Horse head 2) A bag with eyeholes 1) A blindfold -JACK PALADIN

LETTERS TO THE EDITORS Got something on your mind?

Submit a letter to the editor at theeds2014@googlegroups.com

COMIC OF THE MONTH

Courtesy of Jane Gorelik

The Campanile Editors-in-Chief Rachel Cui • Jensen Hsiao • Maya Kitayama Daniel Tachna-Fram • Hillel Zand • Stephenie Zhang News Editor Josefin Kenrick

Opinion Editor Jack Paladin

Lifestyle Editors Kian McHugh Michelle Yin

Sports Editors Julia Kwasnick Ziv Schwartz

Online Editor Jonathan Ziegler

Lifestyle Design Editor Irene Ezran

Spotlight Editor Emily Semba

Photography Editors Ahmed Awadallah Andrew Sternfield

Cartoonists Jane Gorelik Jacques Manjarrez Brian Kannappan

Business Managers Shivonne Logan Alvina Zou

Staff Writers Seth Alston Maya Benatar Galen Byrd Andrew Choi Stephanie Cong Parker Devine Esther Doerr Owen Dulik Haley Fang Bo Field Jeremy Fu

Lauren Gargiulo Bowen Gerould Lauren Giurata Conner Harden Jeffrey Ho Grace Kim Lauren Klass Emily Lee Zachary Levitan Claire Liu William Mendenhall

Ahmed Awadallah Andrew Choi

Paul Mewes Kevin Mullin Mischa Nee Hannah Nguyen Arjun Parikh Coby Parker Nikhil Rajaram Maggie Rosenthal William Shin William Snodgrass Owen Staiger

Photographers Conner Harden Jeffrey Ho

Angela Stern Heather Strathearn Alec Sullivan Nicholas Sullivan Sarah Tayeri Zoe Tierney Oliver Tucher Jacob van Zyll Leslie Wan Catherine Yu Lily Zhang

Grace Kim Andrew Sternfield

Advisor Esther Wojcicki

Letters to the Editors: E-mail all letters to editors to theeds2014@googlegroups.com The Campanile prints letters on a space-available basis.

We reserve the right to edit submissions.

The Campanile only prints signed letters.

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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 Campanile

Monday, January 27, 2014

L FESTYLE

Aerial Silks

by Catherine Yu

B7

The Wolf has some issues

I

n the past couple of years, as a result of new innovation and technological advances, an alternative to conventional smoking has caught the attention of smokers and nonsmokers worldwide. These new devices, called vaporizer pens, often referred to as vape pens, are not just for the consumption of nicotine, but also can be used to inhale tobacco, shisha, flavored water vapor and marijuana. Originally, the intent was to provide smokers with a less harmful way to satisfy their addiction. From this, came e-cigarettes. Not only did they satisfy an addiction to nicotine, but users were also able to maintain the physical act of smoking. The foundation was then set for vape pens to enter the market. In basic terms, vape pens are broadspectrum e-cigarettes.

Essentially, both devices work to heat up and vaporize the elements through convection and conduction. In both methods, the elements are heated which releases the active ingredients without smoke or combustion.

Vaporizers come in other forms besides pen form, like the Pax and Volcano vapes. Physically, vape pens look just like fountain pens, which is where their name originates. The vapor itself imitates actual cigarette smoke.

One of the main debates from a health perspective is that these new devices will normalize the act of smoking and will revitalize the smoking culture, consequently, reducing the stigma surrounding it. However, many proponents argue that this is unlikely, as many turn to vaporizers to avoid the harmful effects of smoking. The true harm lies in what the user chooses to put in his or her vaporizer.

Some who choose to only inhale flavored vapor, experience very little harm, as it is just water vapor, while others who use tobacco, nicotine or marijuana are willingly exposing themselves to the toxins in those substances. Therefore, it is not the mecha-

nism itself that poses a health risk, but it is the users’ decisions that can cause harm. “[Vaporizers] offer a safer alternative to smoking cigarettes or marijuana due to the lack of tar, pollutants and carcinogens,” junior Robert said. “But there are still risks in using [vaporizers], but like anything, they are okay in moderation.”

When compared to cigarettes, vaporizers attract much younger users. In a study conducted by the Center for Disease Control (CDC), the amount of middle and high school students who reported that they had tried vaping had doubled to approximately two million in 2012 alone.

“They are extremely convenient so that’s why I use mine,” senior John said. “[However], I personally don’t like them that much, because the high doesn’t last that long.”

The social aspect of smoking and vaping also compels some to engage in vaping.

“I use [vape pens] because all of my friends in Europe either use them or smoke cigarettes,” junior Rachel said. “It’s a social thing.”

Currently, vaporizers have very few restrictions as they do not produce smoke, but instead water vapor, and are allowed to be used in places that cigarettes are not. However, Bill SB 648, which was passed in the Senate, aims to prohibit e-cigarettes and vaporizers wherever cigarette use is restricted. This means that legislation may soon be put in place to ban where one can vape. However, these restrictions are only relevant to vape pens that contain shisha, nicotine and tobacco, as those that contain marijuana are already prohibited by California state laws regarding marijuana consumption. Also, the same age restrictions apply to the purchase of vape pens that apply to cigarettes. *All names in this article have been changed to protect the sources’ anonymities.

Tex t by Esther Doerr Staff Writer Design by Irene Ezran & Sarah Tayeri Lifes tyle Design Editor & Staff Writer

Pressed Juicery

by Stephanie Cong

B3

Bes t sandwiches in Palo Alto

by Will Snodgrass

B7

INSIDE

By Hillel Zand I’ve always thought that the Wolf from “Little Red Riding Hood” is extremely misunderstood. The aesthetics of his species make him the perfect villain, but I feel like there is much more to him than his genetics.

I think the story goes a little more like this: The Wolf had been travelling for days after being kicked out of his home because his parents had had enough of him and his antics. Little did they know that the Wolf was not trying to be a nuisance: his undiagnosed attention deficit hyperactivity disorder had been a cancer in his life. He never told anyone about his forgetfulness and inability to focus on anything for more than a few seconds.

The Wolf had started to make his way to his friend’s house when — like many times before — he forgot the directions to where he was trying to go to and ended up, after a few wrong turns, in the forest. It had been four days since he got lost and was now sleep-deprived, starving and borderline delirious. When scavenging for mushrooms one morning, he met a girl dressed in a red cloak on the forest’s path after smelling her delicious cookies. She gawked at his wretched hygiene, but little did she know that he had not bathed himself for days. Red refused to give him any cookies, so he started to head back toward his impromptu campsite.

But of course, he got lost again.

This time he ended up at the house of the girl’s grandmother, but he thought it was his own. They both had the same lilies growing in the side garden and eerily similar cowshaped mailboxes. Thinking it was his house, he opened the unlocked front door and before he was going to call out if to see if anyone was home, he got easily distracted by the beautiful family portraits on the wall (even though they were not of his own family.) When the grandma presented herself, he panicked and quickly ate her up; his extreme hunger had gotten the best of him and human was one of his favorite meals from home.

Feeling less famished, the Wolf cleaned up the house a little bit, but was distracted by a dress in the grandma’s closet. Even though he knew it was not socially acceptable for male wolves to dress up in women’s clothing, the Wolf had been struggling for many years with gender identity issues. So he got dressed up, but before he knew it, Little Red Riding Hood walked in.

And the rest is history.

As humans, it is natural for us to instantly judge others without considering the internal challenges that they might face. The inner demons that the naked eye cannot see are in fact what makes antiheroes more relatable, as we all have complex challenges that may not be obvious.

This is what makes antiheroes more like us, and ultimately more compelling characters than the heroes of most stories.

Award Season Picks

by Hillel Zand

B8

Monday, January 27, 2014

The Campanile

LIFESTYLE

B2

Sofia University offers fresh educational experience

AHMED AWADALLAH/THE CAMPANILE

Palo Alto’s Sofia University, founded in 1975, offers an educational experience different than that of other colleges. Founder Dr. Robert Frager based his educational philosophy on the ancient Greek system.

By Lauren Klass

G

Staff Writer

enerally, when one thinks of colleges in the Bay Area he or she thinks of the big name universities: Stanford and UC Berkeley, among others. What few people know is that, nested in the middle of Palo Alto, is Sofia University, a private, nonprofit university that offers three major degree programs: The School of Undergraduate Studies, Graduate School of Transpersonal Studies and Graduate School of Clinical and Spiritual Psychology. These flexible programs, offered on campus or online, were created to allow students to experience whole-person education with the focus on mind, body, heart and spirit. The Graduate School offers programs in Transpersonal Psychology, Women’s Spirituality, Counseling Psychology, Spiritual

Guidance and Clinical Psychology.

The Undergraduate School offers programs in psychology and liberal arts.

Sofia University was founded in 1975 by Dr. Robert Frager as the Institute of Transpersonal Psychology. He found the conventional approach he experienced while studying psychology to be “lacking and often fragmented,” and thus, he established the Institute in response. Frager’s educational ideal is based on the ancient Greek system, which believed that education should take into account all aspects of the human experience.

In 2012, the school changed its name from the Institute of Transpersonal Psychology to Sofia University.

The restructuring was based on research of social and economic trends in higher education, according to a statement from the university at the time of the name change. With its new name, Sofia broadened from a

graduate institute to a university offering both undergraduate and graduate programs, dividing itself into the three current schools. The Masters of Arts in Counseling Psychology (MACP) program is its most popular.

“The field of counseling and therapy has become increasingly popular in California over the years,” Vice President of Enrollment Management Shawna Holbrook said. “People are drawn to the field because of their own experiences whether that be with therapy or mental health as a whole.”

Sofia has 526 full-time-equivalent students, according to its Statement of Accreditation Status with the Western Association of Schools and Colleges. It has a staff of 50 members, who work both full-time and part-time.

“We have a smattering of everyone, from business leaders, transpersonal healers, to Ivy League students, social activists and entrepreneurs;

Sofia truly is a melting pot for innovation, transformation, and spiritual growth,” Admissions Counselor Michael Castro said.

According to the Palo Alto Weekly, the school is having a revenue shortfall this year which impacted staff members. However, the school does not appear to be near insolvency.

Sofia University may not be for everyone. But if you decide to come here you will be an integral part of something bigger than yourself.

Shawna Holbrook Vice President of Enrollment Management

Neal King, the school’s president since 2011, abruptly resigned in December 2013. Additionally, seven out of 10 members of the Board of Trustees have resigned, and at least 11 faculty and staff members were fired.

“Going forward, Sofia needs true leadership and stability,” Frager told the Palo Alto Weekly. “We will do everything we can to restructure the leadership to ensure the continued success of Sofia University for years to come.”

Being a small school comes with its pros and cons. According to an anonymous source from Sofia University, smaller colleges have less resources. Another challenge is the competition with more well-known universities nearby. However, being in the heart of the Silicon Valley, the true spirit of innovation exists.

“Sofia University [offers] a really unique experience,” Holbrook said.

“There aren’t a lot of schools offering classes let alone degrees in transpersonal psychology. Sofia University may not be for everyone. But if you decide to come here you will be an integral part of something bigger than yourself.”

Underclassmen make website promoting STEM journalism

By Claire Liu

T

Staff Writer

hree Palo Alto High School underclassmen — sophomores Kevin Li and Spencer Yu and freshman Samarth Venkatasubramanian — teamed up to cofound the website The Alchemist (alchemistsclub.com), an online source dedicated to “[letting] people share and spread knowledge and ideas in the STEM fields towards their peers, and to make the process of getting works published easier for high school students.”

Li has strong opinions about the matter.

“As a high school student, it can be relatively difficult to get your writings published,” Li said. “Lucky students might meet a professor, with whom they can work with, but with most kids that isn’t the case. This was one

of the main reasons we wanted to found The Alchemist — so students could have an outlet to share their STEM-related writing.”

Their first writing pieces were published on the website in Nov. 2013. Articles include “Apoptosis: An Approach to Cancer Therapy” and “A Glimpse Into The Future of Nanotechnology.” The team plans to publish very frequently, and they would follow the process in a manner similar to that of online news sources.

Additionally, the cofounders hope to publish their first printed edition by fourth quarter, and perhaps eventually distribute a normal quarterly print in the future. In terms of short and long term goals, the student writers would like to solidify The Alchemist by making it publication.

“We have a lot of publications on campus, such as the newspaper, the magazines and online news,” Venka-

tasubramanian said. “But we believe that publishing something sciencefocused could be very beneficial for Paly.”

In the context of the website and overall team mission, the letters in “alchemist” stand for “Art, Literature and Creativity Harness Engineering, Mathematics, Ideas, Science and Technology.”

We want The Alchemist to make STEM writing and reading highly accessible to all interested audiences.

Kevin Li Sophomore

“We wanted to incorporate English and writing as well as art subjects into the mission of The Alchemist because we want to strive to find unity between English and art as well as

science subjects,” Venkatasubramanian said.

The team notes that in order to reach this goal, they will pursue visual illustration for writing pieces, as well as write on topics that incorporate science and humanities, for example a “Psychology of Art” article.

The Alchemist team is currently made up of approximately ten members, and is self-funded, meaning the students are splitting the cost of maintaining the website. The staff hopes to expand and embark on fundraising plans.

“We are always looking for new staff writers,” Li said. “We want passionate, dedicated people who are interest in STEM-related subjects,but are also willing to write, as this will hopefully become a publication.”

Venkatasubramanian notes that “people looking to participate don’t need to possess specialized skills” but

simply ought to express interest in order to become part of The Alchemist.

In terms of fundraising strategies, the team looks to reap the benefits of the surrounding Silicon Valley tech world that surrounds them.

“We will most likely build ties and speak with high-tech companies in the area and talk about possible funding opportunities,” Li said.

As a long-term goal, The Alchemist staff hopes to build a strong and lasting base for future years to come, as well as expand throughout the Palo Alto and Paly community.

“We would like to leave Paly with the legacy of establishing The Alchemist as a publication,” Li said.

“In addition to Paly students, we are looking to expand our base to middle schools. We want The Alchemist to make STEM writing and reading highly accessible to all interested audiences.”

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The Campanile

Monday, January 27, 2014

FOOD

B3

Pressed Juicery provides healthy alternative

By Stephanie Cong

P

Staff Writer

ressed Juicery, a specialty store that sells cold-pressed juice, aims to provide people with an all-natural and tasty means of getting the essential nutrients one needs in the form of a simple bottle. Newly opened at Stanford Shopping Mall, Pressed Juicery introduces a health-conscious alternative to the regular Starbucks latte or Jamba Juice smoothie one might pick up on the go. With seventeen locations throughout California, Pressed is at the forefront of the rapidly expanding juice trend.

The concept of drinking juices created with unusual ingredients such as kale and watercress might seem a bit unappealing. Some may even believe that juicing is only for health fanatics. However, in a YouTube interview, one of the three founders of Pressed, Carly Brien, described the store as a place where “anyone could come in and get something that’s good for [them].” Rest assured, Pressed has created refreshing fruit and vegetable juice mixtures that are not only healthy, but are also delicious.

With Pressed’s impressive selection of juices to choose from, customers are bound to find at least one, if not more, juice that they enjoy. At Pressed, juices are sorted into three main categories — Greens, Roots and Citrus — and are all $6.50 for a 16-ounce bottle. While this may sound pricey for a bottle of juice, according to Pressed’s Palo Alto store manager, “our products include five pounds of produce in every bottle.”

This makes purchasing pre-made juice more economical than going through the trouble of buying the ingredients and then self-juicing them.

Pressed’s Palo Alto store manager also stated that “Pressed products are unpasteurized and totally raw, so active enzymes and nutrients are not killed off when making the juices.” This is one of the many benefits Pressed has over its competitors.

The new Pressed Juicery at the Stanford Shopping Center sells healthy juices and provides a place where anyone can get something that’s good for you.

Juices are also made with a hydraulic press rather than a regular juicer to craft smooth-tasting, nutrient-dense drinks. These juices are also sealed tightly to prevent loss of flavor, vitamins, minerals or color before they reach the customer. The juices are delivered fresh to stores, or even better, to customers’ houses every morning, so the juices’ fresh quality is guaranteed. Customers receive what they pay for.

Greens juices are slightly thicker in consistency and contain mostly leafy greens or green fruits. Each type of juice is numbered, like Greens 1 or Greens 2. The larger the number, the fewer the vegetables in and the sweeter the drink. For example, Greens 1 is made of only vegetables and no fruit, while Greens 6 is made of only fruit and a couple of green herbs. Greens 2, made from kale, spinach, romaine, parsley, cucumber, celery, apple and lemon, is popular among those just

getting into the habit of drinking vegetables. It has a flavor similar to that of apple juice, but still contains mostly healthy greens.

Roots juices have a more limited selection, and the predominant ingredient in any of the four roots drinks are either beets or carrots. Both are beneficial and healthy to the body: beets help to build cells and aid liver function, and carrots provide lots of beta-carotene with antioxidant properties. Those new to Roots drinks should try Roots 3, which consists of beets, apple, lemon and ginger, as it is not only sweet, but also aids in digestion. The combination of apple, lemon and ginger help to accentuate the sweetness of the beets without overpowering them.

There are four selections of Citrus juices as well. The citrus juices do not contain many vegetables, but are just as nutrient-packed as any of the other juices. Citrus 2 is a sweet tooth’s fa-

vorite, made from pineapple, lemon, apple and mint. The mint makes the drink crisp and refreshing, while the pineapple and lemon make the drink tart like sour candy. Citrus 4 is hydrating as it consists of cucumber, pineapple, lemon, coconut water and aloe vera. An excellent juice for a workout, Citrus 4 is just as light as other citrus juices, but is not as sweet and tastes similar to green juice.

Although the Greens, Roots and Citrus juices definitely steal the show, Pressed Juicery has other items such as bottles of flavored almond drinks ($8), teas ($8) and waters with added ingredients such as aloe vera ($5).

For those who have developed the habit of drinking juice, Pressed also offers the option of juice cleanses ($72- $325). Cleanses are customized in terms of the length and difficulty, and the customer has the option to pick which juices they would like to include in the cleanse as well.

Zoe Tierney/The Campanile

Pressed stores are modern and simple. They are no more than naturally lit small rooms with wooden counters, a menu and refrigerator.

Yet, that is all they need. The knowledgeable salespeople bring the room to life with bright smiles as they allow customers to sample a countless number of juices and suggest options to try, making sure that customers are satisfied with the drinks they purchase.

As Pressed and its delectable juices start to spread across California, more and more people are making Pressed products a part of their everyday lives. Now in its fourth year of business, Pressed continues to raise awareness of healthy living habits and how easy drinking a bottle of juice is everyday. If healthy habits are a part of your New Year’s resolutions, definitely check out Pressed Juicery for a convenient way to keep up with them.

Vietnamese food pho you

Scoop uses liquid nitrogen to make ice Pho, a Vietnamese noodle soup, offers an option for noodle-lovers cream

By Lily Zhang Senior Staff Writer

D

Conner Harden/the Campanile

Pho Vi Hoa is one of several traditional Vietnamese pho restaurants in the area. Located on El Camino Real in Los Altos, Pho Vi Hoa serves many high school customers.

By Kian McHugh Lifestyle Editor

P

ho is a refreshing, delightful and filling Vietnamese dish.

Pronounced “Fuh,” this outof-the-ordinary meal has become quite popular amongst Palo Alto High School students. Before diving into this soup sensation, there are a couple things you need to know.

Though pho is Vietnamese, most pho restaurants have good, if not great, Thai Iced Tea. Another popular drink is the Soda Lemonade, which consists of sugar, squeezed lemon, and sparkling water. For those with more adventurous taste buds, the Vietnamese Iced Coffee presents an extremely sweet yet bitter, cream-filled version of the traditional iced coffee.

Goi Cuon, pronounced GoyCoon, are Vietnamese style spring rolls. This go-to pre-soup appetizer– usually filled with shrimp, lettuce, beef and bean sprouts – is fresh and

wrapped tightly in rice paper. Do not forget to dip these into the peanut sauce provided, as this is what makes them exceptionally delicious.

Beef is the best tasting meat in pho and gives the broth a nice flavor.

If you aren’t careful, then you might order not only the steak, but also the tendon, tongue and intestines of the cow. Stick to brisket and eye round steak when ordering your soup. If you prefer chicken or seafood, these meats can prove to be equally tasty.

Hamburgers and hot dogs aren’t the only food made drastically better by a selection of toppings and condiments. Pho too needs some additions in order to maximize the delicious potential. The single most important sauce is the hoisin sauce, which will be in a Lee Kum Kee brand bottle nine out of 10 times. This sauce makes the broth so much better.

Some people even dip their noodles and meat into hoisin sauce even after adding it to the broth. The next

most popular sauce is Sriracha. This red chili sauce adds both flavor and spice to the soup, but it is not for the weak tongued.

Beef is the best tasting meat in pho and gives the broth a nice flavor. If you aren’t careful, then you might order not only the steak, but also the tendon, tongue and intestines of the cow.

Excessive amounts of either sauces can be devastating, so start small and go big from there. Other toppings are presented on a dish next to your soup and include greens such as bean sprouts, mint and jalepenños. These extra toppings are up to you and can be tested with individual bites.

After adding the correct sauces and vegetables, you should know how to go about eating it without looking

like a fool in front of both your Vietnamese waiters and those around you.

If you can’t handle chopsticks, ask the waiter for a fork.

If you can handle chopsticks, grab a pair and put them in your stronger hand. Then pick up a spoon and put it in your opposite hand. Meat and noodles are to be handled with chopsticks and broth is to be handled with the spoon, but often times this occurs simultaneously.

All pho restaurants have relatively similar prices, around $8 for a huge bowl of soup and $1-2 for each Goi Cuon roll. Pho Vi Hoa has the best actual pho and Goi Cuon in the area.

Pho To Chau has the best service in the area and is the only pho location to offer a “small” option that is actually small. Pho Garden is home to the largest bowl of pho and the Pho Challenge, containing over four pounds of noodles and beef so this presenting an interesting option as well.

owntown Palo Alto’s University Avenue has its fair share of ice cream shops, but Scoop Microcreamery does not serve the typical run-of-the-mill ice cream.

Now occupying Häagen-Dazs’ previous site between Sushi Tomo and Steam, Scoop made its debut in late September. Created by a New Jersey couple, Dave and Cindy Somasunderam, Scoop utilizes the unique method of using two large liquid nitrogen tanks to make ice cream by freezing it at minus 321 degrees Fahrenheit. Such a method is said to create a denser and creamier texture than the conventional churned ice cream.

The new dessert destination has a small and narrow interior, with only a few seats in the back, as well as three or four tables outside. Unlike the ice cream sandwich shop Cream, the small space Scoop resides in does not host an endlessly long line.

Prices range from $4.50 for a small scoop, all the way up to $5.75 for three scoops. All toppings are $0.75 each. Although prices are on the expensive side, Scoop makes up for it with its delicious flavors. There are not as many flavors as usual ice cream shops, but the recipes are all homemade by Cindy Somasunderam.

The Maple Bacon has a unique combination of the sweetness of maple and the saltiness and much loved taste of bacon. The Vanilla Bourbon with Salted Caramel melts on your tongue with a taste that’s not too sweet and not too bland — the perfect blend. All ice cream flavors have a smooth and creamy texture that truly encompass the method of liquid nitrogen ice cream.

The shop has a pleasant environment with a friendly staff and mouthwateringly delicious ice cream. Scoop is definitely a shop to check out when you are in the area.

Monday, January 27, 2014

B4

SPOTLIGHT

The Campanile

The Campanile

Monday, January 27, 2014

SPOTLIGHT

I

n last year’s Advanced Placement (AP) Physics C class, Ben grabbed a test off the teacher’s desk, found the previous AP question’s answers online, programmed the answers into his TI-89 calculator the night before and went in to take the test next day. He got a 45 out of 45 and was never caught.

These occurrences are not unique. Ben also found the questions and answers to an AP Chemistry test and again programmed them into his calculator. Another student took pictures of an AP U.S. History (APUSH) test for one of his friends. Still another student gave out the free response questions from a math test in return for candy. Circulating in many of Palo Alto High School’s math classes is a little gem students call the “Bible,” which has the solutions to every single question in the course textbook. There is also a “Bible” for APUSH, which contains examples of exemplary essays and the answers to all the supplemental reading questions handed out over the course of the year-long class.

Although under the radar, cheating has manifested itself in the school environment in a variety of forms. It’s no longer just the typical looking at someone else’s paper during a test, writing notes on your arm or telling another student the questions; but has expanded radially into a myriad of creatively latent schemes: printing out equations on water bottles, stealing tests or even taking performanceenhancing drugs, to name just a few.

TRICKS OF A PALY CHEATER

TEST SWIPING Perhaps the most rare and criminal method of cheating that occurs is the stealing of actual tests. This method is almost unheard of compared to other types of cheating students employ due to the fact that it is the most dangerous and difficult method to pull off. It takes courage and sheer desperation for students to even consider, let alone execute.

“Using the test is high-risk, high-reward,” senior Jeff said. “If a teacher finds out about them they can be easily traced. However, they guarantee you an A.” Jeff was involved in a cheating scheme in an AP science class that has been going on for years. Years back, the teacher’s Teacher Assistant (TA) swiped every test for the class and gave them to his or her friends. Since then the tests have been passed down and used by a small group of students in the class every year. This is especially useful because the teacher in question gives similar, if not identical, tests year after year.

“They came down through a chain of students that started years ago,” Jeff said. “They get passed down every year. It’s kind of like a ‘Bible.’

I gave them to a kid and I got them from someone who got them from someone else the previous year.”

Even when students are able to successfully obtain a copy of a test, they usually keep it to themselves and a few close friends to avoid word getting around, keeping the risk of getting caught at a minimum.

“The more people that have the test, the easier it is to get caught,” Jeff said. “But if it’s just you and a friend, you are pretty safe.”

CODE COMMUNICATIONS The most common method of cheating is the use of signals and codes to communicate with one’s fellow test-takers or sneaking a glance at another student’s test. These methods are considered to be relatively safe and require the least amount of work, which is why they are utilized with such regularity.

“I only really deal with plans that are low risk or can’t be proven,” senior Josh said.

For example, students may run their hands through their hair to signal the answer is “A” on a multiple choice test, or rub their shoulder to indicate “B.” As long as students are careful, there is very little that can be done to prove a student using a method such as this was, in fact, cheating.

“One thing I always do is make sure to choose an answer or two different from the person I’m working with,” Josh said. “People run into trouble with identical tests.”

Cheating systems such as this rely entirely on teamwork and students working out a system to collaborate during the test.

“You give and receive,” Josh said.

BOTTLE PRINTING For particularly difficult tests students will sometimes go to great lengths to cheat, especially tests that rely heavily on memorization. One remarkably inventive method of cheating involves sneaking testable material such as equations into the test on everyday items such as water bottles.

“I know the best way of doing something secretly is hiding it in plain sight,” senior Mark said. “I thought since people have Coke bottles or water bottles on their desks all the time, it would be a great item to use.”

To successfully execute this method Mark had to put in a considerable amount of time and effort. Beginning with a normal water bottle Mark peeled off the label and used a small home scanner to scan the image of the label into Microsoft Paint. He then replaced the nutrition facts and other fine print on the label with his notes for the test and pasted the label back on the bottle.

For Mark the peace of mind it gave him going into the test was the most valuable part of the water bottle scheme.

“I definitely did start out trying to study the terms, and I studied them after I made the label for the water bottle,” Mark said. “But it’s nice to have a safety net just in case you run into a brick wall.”

Although the process is certainly time consuming, it passes the eye test comfortably and is probably one of the safer methods of cheating.

“It’s just looked past,” Mark said. “I’ve done the stereotypical cheating before. [But with the water bottle method,] I had no worries at all about getting caught. It’s a full-scale operation. It does take a decent amount of time, but it seemed too good to get caught...no teachers ever care to check or think twice. It was very incognito.”

PRESCRIPTION DRUGS Another type of cheating cannot be found on a person’s arm or on the text of a water bottle, but in the person’s body. Nowadays, more and more students are taking performance-enhancing drugs as a means to achieve better results on tests.

Students at the high school, college level and now even low-income elementary school students — acting as a socioeconomic equalizer — are taking performance-enhancing drugs, the most common of which is Adderall, an amphetamine meant to treat narcolepsy and attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), in order to improve academic performance. Adderall is illegal for those who do not have a prescription.

“I was prescribed Adderall for my ADHD but I didn’t like how it made me feel and act so I stopped taking it, which left me with all this leftover Adderall ,” an Adderall dealer at Paly, Stacy, said. “Initially I was against selling my Adderall, but I needed the money and I thought that if I provided my friends with the drugs I would be able to help them out and get the money I needed...I was making forty dollars per day so I continued to sell the drugs until I had none left.”

Adderall and other drugs like it like it are the steroids of academia. Though it does not give students the answers while they are taking the test per se, it does provide students an unfair advantage. Those under its influence have improved productivity and increased enthusiasm; they can study faster, study longer, study smarter and feel as if they enjoy the material. They can focus for longer and thus get better grades.

For some, taking drugs and having the risk of dependence is a risk they are willing to take, especially in a competitive academic environment.

“A couple people I know wanted it for the SAT or ACT, or because they had a huge exam coming up and wanted to enhance their performance,” Stacy said.

The sentiment that those who study more will fare better has been slowly fading, replaced with the sentiment that those who choose not to take the drug is just simply putting themselves at a disadvantage. But regardless of students’ justification for using study drugs such as Adderall, it remains an unnatural way for students to boost performance.

“It is cheating,” Stacy said. “I think people who don’t have ADHD and illegally consume Adderall to boost their performance in academics are cheaters.”

Story by Daniel Tachna-Fram, Editor-in-Chief; Stephenie Zhang, Editor-in-Chief and Arjun Parikh, Senior Staff Writer Design by Maya Kitayama, Editor-in-Chief; Rachel Cui, Editor-in-Chief; Emily Semba, Spotlight Editor and Bo Fields, Staff Writer

B5

Monday, January 27, 2014

B6

Life as second semester seniors

The Campanile

LIFESTYLE

A guide for seeking internships How to take advantage of the abundance of opportunities in the Silicon Valley

By Will Mendenhall and Michelle Yin It’s that time of year again. The time of year when high school seniors all across America can kick back, relax and enjoy their last semester before college. As the workload begins to ease up (or you simply choose not to do it), seniors everywhere begin to rejoice with newly found free time.

The question is no longer “how do I study for the SAT?”, but rather “how do I make the most of my free time?”

But do not fear, for even though this free time may seem daunting, there are several fun-filled activities that will keep your life from slipping into boredom.

The Beach The beach is a great place to go when you’re feeling bored. Tired of math class? Good, cut it. Jump in a car with some buddies and drive on down to the beach and hang with the seagulls.

The beach offers endless activities to stimulate your brain and keep your second semester interesting. For instance, there is sand. Who doesn’t love sand? It keeps our toes warm as we watch the waves or the attractive people walking by. And, get your tan on to gear up your looks for prom and graduation! There’s also the Santa Cruz Boardwalk with rides that will make your head spin. Who needs to party when you can pass out from the G-force of a roller coaster instead?

Exercise College offers a new beginning, and there is no better way to begin than being yoked. If you were known around high school as being skinny (like Will), here’s your chance to change the way people look at you.

So pick up a weight during your spare time and be who you want to be, Barbie girl. Exercise will not only make you a stud but it can also open up whole new doors for you.

According to several studies, including the Journal of Labor Research, working out three or more times a week can lead to a higher earning potential. So hit the bench press and make money while doing it.

Courtesy of Joseph Mehling

Intern students work in a biology lab at Stanford while experimenting with different types of chemicals under the guidance of their interns.

By Michelle Yin Lifestyle Editor

A

s we embark into second semester, many students, especially upperclassmen, may be thinking of ways to boost their resumes and college applications during the summer break, or feel a genuine desire to use their free time to expand their knowledge in a particular subject. Seeking these professional opportunities and reaching out to adults may seem like an intimidating task for some. However, we luckily reside in the heart of the Silicon Valley, where there are plethora of opportunities to attain professional experience.

Located right across the street from Palo Alto High School is Stanford University, one of the world’s largest research institutions. Fortunately for Paly students, we have a long history of volunteer research opportunities with various departments

at Stanford. Speaking from firsthand experience, I know that Stanford generally tends to be generous in sponsoring high school student research, especially but not exclusively through the Science Research Project class offered by Paly.

“I contacted Carly, one of the Stanford doctors I met while receiving surgery asking for research opportunities,” senior Andrew Watson said. “She immediately responded and agreed to be my research mentor for the Science Research Project class, so I would say it’s pretty easy to get research at Stanford as long as you go out and look for it.”

The first and most crucial step to attaining one of these prestigious research opportunities is to create a resume. Although high school may not have an abundant number of professional experiences, if any at all, resumes are still a crucial tool to evaluate students’ qualifications. At the bare minimum, resumes should entail

academic achievements, extracurricular involvement, work experience and academic interests. The next step is to look for connections: fortunately, due to our proximity to Stanford, more of your friends and classmates have parents who can introduce students to professors or internship opportunities than you may think.

If not, visit the Stanford websites to explore the research going on in various departments. Then, don’t be shy and find the contact informations for departments that interests you and email the professors Of course, some professors may not respond or have any suitable positions for high school students, but some are bound to respond, happy to take a volunteer or schedule an interview to find out how students can contribute. As long as ambition and a good work ethic are shown, professors generally will often take in Paly students under their wing and provide them with serious research opportunities.

Students should also visit the College and Career Center (CCC). juniors and seniors, while you may think the CCC only offers advice for college admissions, they also can be a big assistance in finding you specific professional opportunities.

Many organizations actually reach out to Paly to find intelligent students who are willing to seek internships and all of that information is attainable in the CCC. There is also a huge database on Naviance that lists all of these organizations, including impressive corporations like Lockheed Martin and Intel, who are even willing to pay.

Students, don’t be afraid to take a risk and contact people to find professional summer internships. Using the massive Silicon Valley network to bolster your college applications and professional experiences can pay off in the future as long as you are willing to seek out opportunities and make for a productive use of your summer.

Students find joy in owning unusual pets

Shopping Now that we sit at the top of the social hierarchy, no one can judge us, girls especially, for our choice in attire whether it be sunglasses, camo, skimpy clothing or hipstery fashionable clothing. So, use your free time to expand your wardrobe and fashion style. Buy the clothes that you once were too embarrassed to flaunt as an underclassmen and show your style. Plus, there are a ton of occasions coming up like baccalaureate, senior picnic and graduation so it’s a perfect time to shop for bathing suits and dresses!

Hiking Need a new Instagram post or just want to take in some fresh air? Go on a hike! For a close option, there is always the Stanford Dish that offers a fairly easy four-mile hike. For more of a mountainous hike, there are a ton of hiking trails along Page Mill that are worth checking out such as Foothills Park and Monte Bello. The best time to go on these hikes is either sunrise or sundown as the view from the top of the mountain is breathtaking!

Paintball Have you ever wanted to shoot that one kid you hate? Well now you can and not end up in jail. Just head on down to Santa Clara Paintball and aim for the balls.

Vacation With so little to do in the next couple months, why not finally take that trip to Andorra that you have always dreamed about? There will never be another time in your life when you find yourself with no responsibilities. So go ahead and pack your bags, take a week off from school and head towards the airport. The world is yours to explore... just don’t get lost. #TURNDOWNFORWHAT?!

Junior Anthony Liu prefers his four pet chickens to other typical pets.

By Paul Mewes Staff Writer

D

ogs, cats and perhaps the occasional hamster or fish are the types of pets one expects to find in the typical American household. It is rare for people to own anything that strays too far from the category of “normal” pets.

At Palo Alto High School, a few students own pets that may not fit into the “normal” category. Junior Anthony Liu, who owns four chickens, enjoys having such unusual pets.

According to Liu, his chickens share some favorable traits with more common pets. “[Chickens] can be just as social as dogs if you are close to them when they hatch,” Liu said. “I never wished for a dog because chickens sometimes follow you around, just like a dog.”

Liu argues that chickens can be even more enjoyable to own than a normal animal in certain respects.

Courtesy of Flickr

“Chickens require much less care,” Liu said. “You only have to feed them once a week. We have a big carton of food we leave out for them. Also, they lay eggs, which is a plus. You can normally get eight to 12 eggs per week.”

Liu, however, concedes that owning exotic pets has its downsides as well.

“Chickens don’t follow any rules, so they just go to the bathroom wherever they want,” Liu said. “You can’t really take your chickens out for a walk. Anything larger than the chicken will scare it and make it run away from me. Also, you can’t have a chicken indoors, so they have to sleep in a coop.”

Senior Jacki Seymour also owns an unusual pet. Seymour has a cat named Mittens that has seven toes on each foot.

“I have a bunch of other cats, but Mittens is different because he can open doors and he acts differently —

Courtesy of Jacki seymour

Senior Jacki Seymour’s cat has disabled paws that have seven toes on each foot. smarter,” Seymour said. “Also, there’s just more of him to love.”

Purchasing an exotic pet is becoming easier as more people join the rising trend. It can, however, be dangerous for both the animal and the owner. Usually, the more exotic the pet, the less domesticated it has been. Pets from the wild often suffer from malnutrition, loneliness, and stress from being held in captivity. Also, because they are not used to being pets, wild animals such as raccoons, monkeys and tigers sometimes take out their aggression on

their owners. Because of these dangers, people should be cautious and informed before purchasing an exotic pet. It is a big decision and commitment to make but those who decide to go through with getting a strange animal are often very pleased with their decision. Seymour enjoys having an exotic pet and offers advice to those considering getting one.

“I’d encourage them to go through with [getting an exotic pet] because it’s not often that you get the opportunity to have such a special animal to cherish,” Seymour said.

The Campanile

LIFESTYLE

Monday, January 27, 2014

B7

Sandwich shops that Palo Altans should relish

Andrew Sternfield/The Campanile

Clockwise from top right: Menage a Trois from Ike’s Place, Ace of Clubs and Big Maui Bruddah from Ace of Sandwiches. These sandwiches are a few of the many available at the below shops.

By Will Snodgrass

Ike’s Place 475 Via Ortega, Stanford, CA 94305

Peninsula Creamery Dairy Store 900 High St., Palo Alto, CA 94301

Simply Sandwiches 2435 Ash St., Palo Alto, CA 94306

Ike’s Place, located on the edge of Stanford campus, is known for its unique sandwich selection and quirky sandwich names.

“I like Ike’s because the sandwiches there are so original and exotic,” freshman Steven Marinkovich said.

With a wide variety to choose from, customers will be sure to find something enjoyable for all different tastes. Some favorites include the Herbert Hoover and Matt Cain. The Herbert Hoover is made of American cheese, bacon, ham and mozzarella sticks; the Matt Cain contains Godfather sauce, provolone, roast beef, salami and turkey. Ike’s is not close to campus for students to visit during lunch, but it is an excellent place to visit on the weekend. However, Ike’s often has long lines, so be prepared to wait for your food. It’s also important to bring extra money because some of their sandwiches tend to be pricey.

The Peninsula Creamery Dairy Store is one of the closest sandwich shops to Paly. Located in downtown Palo Alto, the Dairy Store is easily within walking distance of Paly.

The restaurant has a broad menu that offers sandwiches, burgers and milkshakes. Some enjoyable sandwiches at the Dairy Store are the Breakfast Sandwich and the Meat Hanger.

The Breakfast Sandwich, served only until 11 a.m., is composed of an egg, cheese and a choice of either ham, bacon or sausage. The Meat Hanger has grilled roast beef, onions, bell peppers and American and Jack cheese on sourdough bread.

Many other tasty sandwiches can be found on the menu. With reasonable prices, the Dairy Store is a great option for Paly students to find a tasty sandwich along with delicious milkshakes.

Staff Writer

Simply Sandwiches is a local sandwich shop located on California Avenue that offers a wide range of sandwiches. Students can customize their sandwiches with meats such as turkey, roast beef, ham, salami, tuna and chicken. Moreover, other popular sandwiches include the Egg Salad Sandwich and Curry Chicken Sandwich. The best part of Simply Sandwiches is its affordability. Most sandwiches tend to range from $5 to $7, making it a cheap lunch option.

However, its affordability doesn’t detract from its quality. According to junior Charlie Oliveira, all of the food at Simply Sandwiches is fresh.

“I like to go to Simply Sandwiches because all of their products are real quality,” Oliveira said. “You need to support your local sandwich spot.”

The Melt 180 El Camino Real, Palo Alto, CA 94304 Specializing in grilled cheese sandwiches, The Melt offers a unique twist to this traditional American comfort food. For those who like their grilled cheese sandwiches with “gourmet” ingredients like braised short rib and portabella mushrooms, The Melt is the place for you.

Popular sandwiches at The Melt include the Cheesesteak Melt and the Mac Daddy. The Cheesesteak Melt contains American cheese, sirloin steak and grilled onions. The Mac Daddy is composed of aged cheddar and macaroni on artisan white bread. Both sandwiches are perfect examples of the nearly exotic flavor combinations offered at the shop. The Melt also offers an assortment of salads and soups. Be sure to try the popular Tomato Basil Soup along with your sandwich. Although the Melt is a bit expensive, the grilled cheeses are hard to resist.

Driftwood Deli and Market 3450 El Camino Real, Palo Alto, CA 94306 L oc ated on El Camino Real, Driftwood Deli and Market is a short drive from Paly, making it a popular lunchtime destination for many students.

Among the most popular sandwiches are the Heaven on Earth and the Kevin’s sandwiches. The Heaven on Earth has roast beef, melted jack, bacon and avocado and the Kevin’s has BBQ beef, bacon, cheddar cheese, hot sauce and mayo. According to senior Danny Erlich, Driftwood’s best sandwich is the Kevin’s.

“The way to go is to have the Kevin’s on dutch crunch,” Erlich said. “It never disappoints, which is why I always return to Driftwood.”

In addition, Driftwood offers a variety of different breakfast, salads, snacks and drinks. The shop’s close proximity to Paly and tasty sandwiches makes Driftwood a great place to eat lunch.

Senior practices unique aerial silks talent

By Catherine Yu

I

Staff Writer

magine jumping into a performance during which a single spotlight shines brightly on an aerialist wrapped elegantly in fabric, suspended several stories off the ground. She gracefully spins, using her powerful legs to create breathtaking lines and shapes. Suddenly, the fabric unravels as she plummets towards the unforgiving ground.

For a split second she tumbles, rapidly descending, but skillfully catches herself only inches before hitting the floor.

At first sight, it would be appropriate to assume that senior Sama Rao is just another regular Palo Alto High School student. However, what many

of her peers are unaware of is Rao’s participation in a particularly unique activity outside of school: aerial silks.

Aerial silks, also known as aerial tissue or aerial fabric, is a form of acrobatic performance that has gained popularity in the last two decades.

Aerialists wrap the fabric, hanging from the ceiling, around their limbs to support themselves. It not only requires courage in the performers’ part, but also in the collective assets of strength, skill and flexibility to execute a beautiful routine. Aerialists spin, drop and contort — at their own risk.

Rao, 17, did not initially start her acrobatic career with silks.

“I first started learning rope, which is similar to silks, at a camp five years ago,” Rao said. “I [wasn’t]

a very graceful or artistic person, but aerial silks changed that. I’ve become more aware of what I can do as well because I’ve gained a lot of strength and grace that I didn’t think was possible.”

According to Rao, the initial excitement associated with being secure so far off the ground was one of the main appeals, along with the freefalling sensation of drops and complex flips.

“My favorite experience was performing at camp as part of the talent show,” Rao said. “It was just me up there and about 120 people watching.

I was a bit nervous, but it was absolutely amazing.”

Rao trains facilities dispersed in Oakland and she has been on and off for the last several years.

As a senior, Rao faces many difficulties with managing both aerial silks and school; however, Rao finds opportunities to constitute a balance in her busy schedule.

“This fall and junior year were super tough because of college applications and the SAT and other extracurriculars,” Rao said. “I wasn’t able to practice as much as I would like. This semester [and] summer, I’m planning to go to a class every week.”

From years of performances and training, Rao has established a strong bond with silks. Such attachment to the art form has made it difficult for her to imagine life without it.

“During the times when I haven’t been able to attend classes or practice for a while, I watch videos of silks performances and come up with new

routines,” Rao said. “It’s a pretty big part of my life and I hope that I can continue to learn and perform for a long time.”

Rao hopes to carry forward with aerial silks in the years to come. After graduating, she would like to perform in college and later teach at the circus camp where she began her training.

“I’ve demonstrated tricks for kids or [spotted] them when they learn how to climb,” Rao said. “It’s wonderful to see how many other people love it or want to learn as much as I do.”

Rao leads a life similar to the many hardworking students at Paly, but with an artistic flare that is rarely seen in the community.

“I love the falling,” Rao said. “But I also love knowing that I will always catch myself.”

Monday, January 27, 2014

The Campanile

LIFESTYLE

B8

1

AWARD SEASON PICKS

2000

by HillelZand editor-in-chief

MOVIes

in

winners and “dark horses” chosend from 2014 grammy awards and academy awards nominations

Best animated feature film

Best picture

frozen

12 Years a slave

dark horse: despicable me 2

dark horse: the Wolf of Wall street

Best actor chiwetel eijofor (12 years a slave)

Best actress

This edition featuring

dark horse: christian bale (american hustle)

Daryl Dillahunty

cate blanchett (blue jasmine) Oscars

dark horse: meryl streep (august: osage county)

n chi

today land

with The Campanile’s own Maya Kitayama, Galen Byrd and Hillel Zand

Best supporting actor Barkhad abdi (captain phillips) dark horse: jonah hill (the wolf of wall street) tt y ge k/

images

t cia asso

p ed

re

ri st

op

h

jennifer lawrence (american hustle)

er

l po

ss

Best supporting actress ch

dark horse: Lupita n’yongo (12 years a slave)

Best supporting actress

album of the year

jennifer lawrence (american hustle)

good kid, M.A.D.D. city - Kendrick Lamar

dark horse: Lupita n’yongo (12 years a slave)

dark horse: the blessed unrest - sara bareilles

Best director

song of the year

alfonso cuarón (gravity)

“royals” - lorde

dark horse: steve mcqueen

dark horse: “just give me a reason” - p!nk feat. nate

reuss

(12 years a slave)

in e

record of the year eo

nl

“get lucky” - daft punk & pharrell williams dark horse: “locked out of heaven” - bruno mars

bz z

best rap album ce

le

best new artist

good kid, M.A.D.D. city - Kendrick Lamar kendrick lamar dark horse: nothing was the same - drake

dark horse: james blake

rd

ian

best rap song eg th

ua

“thrift shop” - Macklemore & ryan lewis feat. wanz dark horse: “F****N problems” - a$ap rocky feat. drake, 2 chainz & kendrick Lamar

best rap/sung collaboration

best pop solo performance

“holy grail” - jay Z feat. Justin Timberlak

“mirrors” - justin timberlake

dark horse: “Remember you” - Wiz khalifa feat. the weeknd

best pop/duo group performance “get lucky” - daft punk & pharrell williams dark horse: “stay” - Rihanna feat. mikky ekko

dark horse: “brave” - sara bareilles

music

PhotogrAphy

Photos by Andrew Sternfield and Jensen Hsiao

our stage

The Campanile: What is your definition of “ratchet?”

Daryl Dillahunty: Um, unpleasant, just not classy at all. Just a mess.

TC: Why do you think the freshmen are ratchet?

DD: They just try to act like they’re older than they are.

TC: Can you tell me about your twerking talent?

DD: My twerking talent is something I pride with my life. It’s very important to me. I’ve used it in many ways.

TC: Can you expand on that?

DD: I was in my [class’s] spirit dance and I incorporated that. You know, sometimes I like to show off, get on walls. Just like, you know, twerking all around. I just like to back it up on people, show them the true essence.

TC: Do people appreciate your twerking?

DD: I think they greatly appreciate it. I think if people asked me several times to teach them, I’d give out lessons.

TC: If you had a YouTube channel, what would you talk about?

DD: You know, things that irritate me, things that make me happy, things that I think are—just like, just everything, a little mix of everything. I’d throw shade at several people.

TC: What irritates you at Paly the most?

DD: There are so many things that irritate me at this school. It irritates me how all the white people have to force on themselves being black. It’s like you can be white—being white is cool.

TC: What are your thoughts on Beyoncé?

DD: Her album is the greatest thing ever. The incorporation of so many aspects of her talents. People are hating on her because she’s been showing her body a lot and she just had a child and I was like, “She was proud of her body, so she wanted to show it off.”

TC: Do you think girls should have the right to flaunt their bodies however they choose?

DD: In a respectable manner. I think that a lot of people at Paly don’t wear clothes sometimes and I don’t think it’s cute. I think sometimes it’s okay to look like a sloot, because everyone does, but in the right context and in the right weather. You can’t be wearing a short skirt, when it’s like f***ing January. Note to all the sophomores/ freshman girls: it’s winter. We’re almost there, it’s almost spring.

TC: What’s your dream job?

DD: I’m gonna be a singer. I wanna be an entertainer. An actor, singer, performer.

TC: Are you a triple threat right now?

DD: Uh I would say yes. I would say I am a very much triple threat.

Because I threaten more than three people.

TC: Is there a fourth threat? It’s coming...

DD: It’s always coming. There’s always someone new to threaten.

Fear me as queen.

TC: If you were gonna send a message to the student body, what would you say to them?

DD: Bow down, bitches. Beyoncé, quote.

TC: Describe yourself in three words.

DD: Sassy. Flawless. Black.

Monday, January 27, 2014

The Campanile

SPORTS

Athlete of the Month Varsity basketball player junior Jonathan Rojahn posted 13 points in the Paly win against Los Gatos on Jan. 8. C7

Halas takes over for retiring Hansen as head football coach

By Hannah Nguyen Staff Writer

PALO ALTO 10

10

“The community should expect a well-coached football team that plays hard and within the rules. They are going to see a classy program.”

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good, positive contributors to society. I think football is a great learning experience.”

Kim notes that Halas’s doctrine as a coach will benefit the players beyond just playing the game and becoming better games, but also becoming better people.

“He has a strong philosophy about teaching students to become responsible citizens,” Kim said. “It’s not just about football — it’s about using football as an instrument for achieving a greater skill set for success in the outside world.”

Hansen, Kim and Halas all have high expectations for the team in the upcoming season.

“I think [the team] will be very successful,” Hansen said. “Hopefully they will just continue the successful path. The underclassmen are strong.”

Kim believes that with Halas leading the team, the students will be well-rounded individuals as well as competitive athletes.

“I think we can expect a hardworking team who has an understanding of what it means to be a great athlete and a great person,” Kim said.

Halas agrees that above all, the Paly community should expect a strong team that will approach the new season as hard-working athletes. “[The community] should expect a wellcoached football team that plays hard [and] within the rules,” Halas said. “They are going to see a classy program.”

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playing — my kids are playing — and I have to be able to relate that information [about football strategy] and I think as a teacher I’m just used to doing that.”

Hansen, who has led the Vikings to four Central Coast Section titles and one State Championship, is leaving behind an impressive legacy and seemingly impossible shoes to fill. Halas, however, is not fazed by the reputation that Hansen has created.

“I know [Hansen] is a legend in this area, but I’ve learned a lot from him,” Halas said.

“I’m not trying to replace him; I’m just trying to continue what he has done and established.

I do feel honored and a little bit humbled to take over this job.”

Hansen believes in Halas’ ability to guide the team through the upcoming years with the same adeptness that he had for the last 26 years.

“I feel very comfortable stepping down and having [Halas] take over,” Hansen said. “I think it will be very positive for the school.”

Kim agrees with this sentiment.

“We feel strongly about [Halas] to replace Coach Hansen as the football coach [not only because of ] his skills in being such a successful football coach, but [also because of his skills as] an educator on the field,” Kim said.

Halas’s philosophy on coaching centers around developing the team not only into strong athletes, but also strong individuals.

“I’m here to build these kids into good young men,” Halas said. “I want them to be

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“[Halas] loves the game,” Hansen said.

“He’s very intelligent as far as understanding the game of football. He understands the time commitment, which is tremendous.”

According to Hansen, a major factor in Halas’s appointment was his familiarity with Paly and the students.

“It was very important for all of us, to get somebody that was on-campus to be the head coach,” Hansen said.

Halas has a tremendous amount of football experience. After playing linebacker at California University, Halas went on to coach at University of Redlands and Miracoasta High School before coming to Paly as a Special Education teacher in 2007. He served as the Vikings’ defensive coordinator from 2008 to 2012 before taking a year off for family commitments.

Halas, who has been involved in the Special Education integration program at Paly, has been teaching since his arrival at the school.

Hansen believes that Halas’s role as a teacher will have a positive impact on his performance as a coach.

“Teachers are organized,” Hansen said.

“They have to have their lesson plan, and they have all been trained on how to get information to students.”

Halas agrees that teaching has given him valuable knowledge about communicating with students. “[As a teacher], I’m able to get my information across to the kids,” Halas said. “I’m not

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ollowing the December announcement of Athletic Director and Head Football Coach Earl Hansen’s retirement, Palo Alto High School and the surrounding community held its collective breath as it waited to learn who would take his place. Hansen, who led Paly’s varsity football team for 26 years, earned the reputation as a highly esteemed coach through many victories, most notably the capture of the 2010 CIF Division I state football title.

Meet Jake Halas, Paly Special Education teacher and former defensive coordinator. A football player since age seven, Halas has over 30 years of experience with the game — experience that has prepared him to assume the role of head coach. His appointment, finalized on Jan. 6, was a decision made by a combination of administrators and Hansen.

During the decision-making process, there were other contenders for the head coaching job, whom, according to Hansen, all “dropped out,” or failed to outshine Halas, the obvious choice. Assistant Principal Victoria Kim, who oversees Paly athletics, noted Halas’ excellent qualifications: “Even the people who could have thrown their name[s] in the ring for the position knew that Halas was the best choice,” Kim said.

“There was a deep respect for Coach Halas within the football community.”

Hansen noted that Halas was well-qualified for the position and demonstrated traits that are crucial for the position.

-Head Coach Jake Halas

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“We feel strongly about Halas to replace Coach Hansen as the football coach not only because of his skills in being such a successful football coach, but also because of his skills as an educator on the field.”

-Assistant Principal Victoria Kim

VIKINGS INSIDE Winter Olympics in Sochi

Paly athletes proving worth at global level

The best of the top games

Winter Olympic sports that youíve never heard of,

From Kevin Anderson at Stanford University, to Allison

Across six different leagues, few

an overview of the games, and a local sports team

Whitson in France and Davante Adams at Fresno State,

Championships and series have what it

thatís playing a starring role. C4-C5

Paly athletes have taken world sports by storm. C2

takes to be considered the ìbest.î C8

Monday, Januray 27, 2014

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SPORTS ALUMNI

The Campanile

Allison Whitson follows up successful college career by competing in French volleyball league Former Palo Alto High School, UC Davis standout experiences new cultures while playing abroad

Allison Whitson (far right) spikes during a match while playing for the Terville Florange Olympique Club.

By Bowen Gerould Senior Staff Writer

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ost athletes coming out of Palo Alto High School have found ways to stay active in college, whether it be competing on club teams or participating in intramurals. Elite athletes continue their love for the game by committing to play on the varsity Division I, Division II and Division III teams for their respective colleges.

Allison Whitson, a Paly alumna (‘09) and former outside hitter on the Division I UC Davis volleyball team, took this path and thrived at the college level, finishing second in kills (1620) and total attacks (4489) in Aggie history. She was the first Aggie in Big West Conference history to

earn first-team all-conference honors three years in a row.

Her performance at Davis did not go unnoticed, as Whitson attracted the attention of an agent working for Bring It Promotions, a company which helps match qualified and interested athletes with professional teams around the world. “[I] told my agent I wanted to play somewhere in western Europe, like France, so from there I was contacted by a team in France,” Whitson said.

Whitson was offered a spot on the Terville Florange Olympique Club, the 12-team French pro volleyball league, the Ligue Nationale de Volley. She left home in August 2013 and began playing in September.

“I really wanted to take time off after college to travel and explore be-

Courtesy of Allison whitson

fore finding a job at home,” Whitson said. “My college coach told me I was good enough to play overseas, so I figured it would be a great way for me to travel and have a great experience doing something while playing volleyball at the same time.”

With the club, Whitson practices five times a week, plays games on Saturdays and travels on Sunday.

“We have games every Saturday, so my week is pretty much all in preparation for that Saturday night.”

Whitson said.

The team draws fans from the surrounding area and has outreach programs at the local schools to increase interest in the sport in France.

“We don’t get a ton of spectators, but we have some dedicated fans who come to every home match,” Whit-

son said. “It’s mostly just locals and sponsors of our club.”

Whitson’s sister, Kimmy, is a sophomore volleyball player at the University of Pacific and has had the chance to visit her sister in Europe and witness its volleyball culture firsthand “The top leagues in Europe have a lot of attention,” Kimmy said. “It varies between countries but volleyball is really popular in Europe. It really depends on the club, some teams have a lot of fans, other have less. But there definitely is a good following.”

Her team profits from ticket sales as well as sponsorships from various businesses.

“One of our sponsors is a place called Thermopolis, which has warm water pools, saunas and hot tubs, so some of us go there on Monday nights,” Whitson said.

Debbie Whitson, a Paly economics teacher and Allison’s mother, says that her daughter is looking forward to possibly playing another season in Europe next year. Her daughter earns enough from playing on the team to support herself in France, but will return home once the season ends in April.

“Allison plans to come home for the summer, but is currently looking to go back for another year,” Debbie said.

“I want to play for one, maybe two more years, but ultimately I want to move back to the Bay Area, get a job closer to home, start a career in business and maybe coach volleyball on the side since I definitely want to keep volleyball as part of my life.”

Whitson said The opportunity to play on an international team has provided Whitson with unique life experiences. Not only is she living in a foreign country,

but her teammates are multilingual and come from around the globe.

“The Terville team is very international... [there is one] American, one Norwegian, one Greek, one from Trinidad, one Canadian, two Estonians, one Serbian and two French.”

Debbie said.

I get to meet people from all over the place since my team is made up of girls from eight different countries. It’s cool to experience different cultures, try different food [and] learn another language.

Allison Whitson Paly alumna and volleyball player

“My closest friends on the team are my roommate, Ingvild, from Norway, Darlene, from Trinidad, and Janie, from Canada,” Whitson said.

“I really enjoy everyone on the team, but the four of us all live in the same building and have similar cultural values.”

“This has already been one of the greatest experiences I have ever had,” Whitson said. “I get to meet people from all over the place since my team is made up of girls from eight different countries. It’s cool to experience different cultures, try different food [and] learn another language.”

Whitson serves as an inspiration for current athletes who are looking to make it to the next level, including her sister.

“I definitely am keeping [playing professionally] as an option for when I graduate,” Kimmy said. “It would be difficult to turn down an opportunity to play at a professional level while getting the chance to travel at the same time, if given the chance.”

Linebacker Kevin Anderson steps up big in Rose Bowl

By Coby Parker

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Staff Writer

alo Alto High School alumnus Kevin Anderson (‘11), who is studying civil engineering and plays outside linebacker on the Stanford University football team, played in the 100th Rose Bowl game on Jan. 1 and made two memorable plays, one that helped his opponent and one that helped his team. Anderson was recruited to Stanford after his four years of football at Paly.

Anderson was honored to have played in the Rose Bowl for Stanford, even with their 24-20 loss to Michigan State University (MSU). The Rose Bowl is one of the hardest football games to qualify for as a team, second only to the BCS National Championship Game. The Stanford Cardinal ended its season ranked eleventh in the AP Top 25 poll after peaking as high as fourth during the 2013 season. “[The Rose Bowl] is a very special game to play in, only so many people have been able to play in it,” Anderson said. “It was pretty amazing and fun to do.”

When playing high school football you don’t realize that college football is year-round and you are working on training constantly.

for a touchdown. This play, known as a “pick-six,” resulted in Stanford lengthening their lead against Michigan State to 17-7. Anderson was relieved from the play and felt that he helped out his team.

“I didn’t even really realize what happened until a little bit later,” Anderson said. “I was kind of shocked.

I had never had an interception in a college game before. I felt somewhat redeemed after it. People were joking around with me and said that I had redeemed myself. I’m glad I helped the team out by putting points on the board.”

Even with the four-point loss, Anderson maintained everything in perspective by reminding himself that he gets to play on one of the best football teams in the nation. “[Playing football at Stanford] is a lot of work, but you get a lot out of it,” Anderson said. “You go to one of the best universities in the country, have some amazing professors, make great friends and the whole time playing on a great football team. It’s a lot of work, but you get what you put in and more.”

Anderson played defensive end when he was at Paly before switching to linebacker at Stanford. For him,

college football is very different from high school football mainly because of the schedule.

“When playing high school football you don’t realize that college football is year-round and you are working on training constantly,” Anderson said. “It’s a lot bigger of a commitment, but you also get to play in the Rose Bowl, [and] you get to play in front of 50,000 plus fans each week. It’s a big difference [from football at Paly].”

At Paly, Anderson’s team made it to the California State championship game in 2010. For Anderson, that moment was the most memorable of his four-year college career with the Vikings.

“The culmination of my football career at Pay is when we won the state championship which is something I’ll never forget,” Anderson said. “It was pretty awesome to win with my best friends.”

Anderson feels lucky to have been able to play varsity football at two amazing schools.

“I’ve been lucky to go to a great high school and a great college,” Anderson said. “I really couldn’t have asked for anything else from either of them.”

Kevin Anderson Stanford University linebacker

In the game, Anderson played in all four quarters at linebacker. In a freak play, Anderson tipped the ball, which led to an MSU catch. Anderson used that play to allow him to improve for the rest of the game. “[The tipped ball play] calmed me down, if anything,” Anderson said.

“After that [play] I was able to play better, faster and smarter. It actually helped me to do well in the rest of the game.”

Later in the game, Anderson made up for his mistake by intercepting an MSU pass and running it back

courtesy of Associated Press

Stanford junior Kevin Anderson runs back his interception for a touchdown.

Cary Edmondson/USA TODAY Sports

Former Paly wide receiver Davante Adams has decided to forgo his last two years of eligibility at Fresno State University to enter the National Football League.

Davante Adams declares for upcoming NFL draft

By William Shin

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Staff Writer

ormer Palo Alto High School standout wide receiver Davante Adams recently declared for the upcoming 2014 National Football League (NFL) draft. Adams, a 2011 graduate, was on the Vikings’ 2010 State Championship team, which defeated powerhouse Centennial High School in the California Division I State Championship game.

Adams redshirted during the 2011 season, his first at Fresno State University, and was named the scout team’s player of the year on offense.

He followed up an outstanding redshirt freshmen year in 2012 at Fresno State University with an even better sophomore year. He lead all collegiate receivers in receptions (131) and touchdowns (24), as well as placing second in yards (1718).

The man throwing Adams the ball, Derek Carr, led the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) in passing yards (5082) and touchdowns (50) and will also enter the NFL draft.

Most analysts project Adams to be an early to mid-second round draft pick. Predicting how a wide receiver such as Adams who put up such impressive statistics in college will fair in the NFL can be difficult, especially considering that Adams played in a pass-heavy offense at Fresno State.

However, Adams’s size and exceptional skills suggest that he will continue to improve and flourish in the NFL. Many Paly students are proud that a graduate will enter the league as such a highly touted prospect.

“I think it’s definitely amazing that someone from Paly is going to the league after just two years [in college], and I hope he’ll be successful and come back to visit,” junior John Carter said.

I think it’s definitely amazing that someone from Paly is going to the league after just two years [in college], and I hope he’ll be successful and come back to visit John Carter Junior

Fantasy football players are also excited to draft him, and “own” him as a manager.

“I’ll take him late in the draft, and hopefully he does well,” sophomore Kyle Koshiyama said. “He could be special.”

Adams will continue in the line of successful Paly athletes turning professional, joining National Basketball Association point guard Jeremy Lin (‘06) and top minor league baseball outfielders Joc Pederson (‘10) and B.J. Boyd (‘12.)

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Long-term baseball contracts ineffective Player aging and underperformance damage value of long-term contracts

By Nick Sullivan

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Senior Staff Writer

very offseason, Major League Baseball (MLB) teams compete to sign the high profile free agents available on the market. It usually takes a big financial commitment from the organizations to sign these players, especially for teams that are considered an unattractive destination. However, organizations have still been willing to hand out these contracts with the hope of improving their teams’ performance on the field.

However, looking back over the past decade, many of these contracts have not worked out in favor of the team, as the players’ receiving the contracts have often under performed or the team has failed to succeed on the field, leaving the organizations stuck paying big money to fund a losing team.

The biggest problem with major league clubs handing out these contracts is that all the money is guaranteed, so there is no incentive for the players to keep working hard once they sign.

Another issue is that many of these high profile players hitting free agency are in their prime, so teams end up paying them for past performance and only end up getting a few good years out of the player before they start to decline.

Look back at the contract Alex Rodriguez signed with the Texas

Rangers for a total of $252 million over 10 years. While Rodriguez performed at a superb level from 20012003, winning the American League Most Valuable Player (AL MVP) in 2003, the team finished in last place all of the three seasons he was there.

The Rangers were able to trade him to the Yankees during the 2003 offseason, but they had to send $67 million to the Yankees along with Rodriguez. With the Rangers committing so much money to Rodriguez during those three seasons, they were unable to surround him with talent necessary to make the team a contender.

The money is guaranteed so there is no incentive for the players to keep working hard once they sign.

The Philadelphia Phillies is another franchise that has been plagued by long-term contracts. They had a lot of success toward the end of the decade, winning the World Series in 2009. Their front office then decided to re-sign many of their key players to long-term contracts. This has not worked out too well for them, as they have been unable to replicate their past success and currently have the third highest payroll in baseball.

A few of their signings include: Cliff Lee for a total of $120 million over five years, Ryan Howard for a total of $125 million over five years and Jonathan Papelbon for a total of $50 million over four years.

A combination of injured and aging players have contributed to their underachieving effort. The past two years, they have finished third and fourth in their division. Yet they still have the third highest payroll in baseball because they are unable to rid themselves of their long-term contracts.

A final example is the Los Angeles Angels signing Albert Pujols for

a total of $254 million over 10 years and Josh Hamilton for a total of $125 million over five years. One problem with the Pujols deal is that he was signed to it when he was 31, meaning he would be 41 by the time the contract expired, and he would still be getting paid millions of dollars each year up until then. It’s crazy to believe he will maintain his current performance level and rightfully earn the money remaining on his contract by the time he is 41.

The Pujols deal combined with the Hamilton deal puts a lot of their payroll into just two players. This is problematic because it limits their ability to improve their team in other areas and re-sign their current players. It has only been one year that these two stars have been on the same team, but so far the Angels and these individuals have underachieved. It is too early to call this team a failure but if things don’t change, the Angels organization could be looking at a financially messy future stuck with a high payroll.

Keith Allison/flickr

It’s crazy to believe [Albert Pujols] will maintain his current performance level and rightfully earn the money remaining on his contract by the time he is 41.

Overall, long-term contracts are huge risks to say the least. There is a lot of pressure on the player when fans know he has a large salary. Some players stop working hard knowing no matter how poorly they perform, they will still be paid over the next several years. Few long-term MLB contracts have worked out over the past decade. Players simply cannot maintain their performance level over the entire contract period and teams end up overpaying players at the end of their careers.

Keith Allison/flickr

Albert Pujols (top) and Josh Hamilton (bottom) are examples of players with expensive long-term contracts that have failed to pay off.

Youth, inexperience plague struggling wrestling team

By Parker Devine Senior Staff Writer

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id-season, the Palo Alto High School wrestling team looks to finish the season stronger than its first half.

The team has lost the majority of their matches and still has room to improve as the season continues.

The wrestling team consists of almost entirely underclassmen, with the only exception being junior James Giaccia.

Behind Giaccia, the team was able to compete in the Apple Cider Tournament. Giaccia and freshman Seth Goyal both took fourth in their respective weight classes.

Junior varsity wrestling traveled to Los Gatos for their tournament, where sophomore Tak Nishi took third place in his weight class.

“We had a lot of young guys who probably won’t be wrestling varsity, but that’s all we had today,” head coach David Duran said.

The team, consisting of mostly underclassmen, will try to continue developing young talent for the coming weeks and competitions.

It is important that the younger wrestlers develop quickly and efficiently.

Multiple upperclassmen have potential season-ending injuries, and the team is likely to not have a single senior competing this year.

One senior, Gunnar Felt, will miss the season because of a knee injury sustained from football.

“Even before I got hurt we only had one other senior wrestler,” Felt said. “Plus, he just got injured as well and may not be able to wrestle.”

Even before I got hurt we only had one other senior wrestler.

Gunnar Felt Senior

The team has four more weeks of scheduled competitions, with Central Coast Sectionals (CCS) following shortly afterwards if they qualify.

Keri gee/the campanile

Top: Sophomore Tak Nishi and junior Chioke Bryant-Anderson participate in drills in preparation for the upcoming CCS competition.

Right: Underclassmen wrestlers engage in a practice match to improve and compensate for the loss of the injured seniors.

All proceed will be donated to Right To Play Charity Session A (Girls) : June 2-6, 2014 Session B (Boys) : June 9-13, 2014 Session C (Girls) : June 16-20, 2014 www.lacessoccercamps.com arjun@lacessoccercamps.com

Keri gee/the campanile

Monday, January 27, 2014

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Winter Olympics 2014

By Ziv Schwartz Sports Editor

Beginning Feb. 6, the entire world will be glued to their sofas, in front of their televisions, marvelling at the spectacular athleticism involved in the various aspects of 2014 Winter Olympics, which will be held in Sochi, Russia.

Despite Russia’s newly passed anti-gay propaganda law, this year’s Winter Olympics plans to attract major crowds and be able to shed light upon all the Olympic events.

For the past decade, it has been highly evident that one of the major Winter Olympic sports has been

Lisa Nance/Liberty Voice

snowboarding. Within the snowboarding category there are five events, including parallel slalom, snowboard cross, slopestyle and halfpipe.

The favorite on the men’s side of the draw in the snowboard half-pipe is American Shaun White who has won a gold medal in this event twice coming into Sochi, back in Vancouver in 2010 and Turin in 2006.

On the women’s side there is not a clear favorite but Americans Hannah Teter, who has a gold medal and a silver medal in this event, and Kelly Clark, who won a bronze medal back in 2010, should be atop the leaderboards.

Another Winter Olympics favorite is ski jumping, an event that shoots skiers at top speeds down a mountain trying to see who can “fly” the farthest.

Swiss Simon Ammann, who won back-to-back gold medals back in 2006 and 2010, is the clear favorite to bring home the hat trick.

A bizarre event at the Winter Olympics is the biathlon, combining cross-country skiing and rifle shooting.

The event is essentially a race with whoever crosses the finish line first winning gold.

The athletes start by racing across a course that has designated rifle ar-

eas. Each athlete must then hit five targets either half-standing or in the prone position. If a target is missed, the athlete then must take a penalty lap.

As the event has attracted more and more participants over the years there is no clear favorite to take home the gold, but viewers should definitely keep their eyes out for Frenchman Vincent Jay who won the gold medal in Vancouver four years ago.

No matter what events people like, the 2014 Winter Olympics in Sochi will host a variety of entertainment as well as competition that millions of people around the world will tune in and root for.

Josh Sanchez

Rob Bear/Curbed

Igor Yakunin/AP

FRANCOIS XAVIER MARIT/AFP/Getty Images

populous

Sharks players excel at Olympic level

By Owen Dulik

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Staff Writer

his year’s Winter Olympics in Sochi marks a new beginning for many young hockey stars representing their home countries.

In the beginning of January, the Olympic men’s hockey rosters were released, with four players for the local San Jose Sharks being chosen to play for three different countries.

Sharks left winger and alternate captain Patrick Marleau was selected for a second time in a row to represent his home country of Canada. In addition to Marleau, the 26-year-old Sharks defenseman Marc-Edouard Vlasic will be joining Team Canada for the first time in his career.

Veteran Joe Pavelski, a center for the Sharks, has been chosen to represent Team USA after his efficient play for the team in the 2010 Winter Olympics in Vancouver.

The starting goaltender for the Sharks, Antti Niemi, will being fighting for the starting spot on Team Finland.

While this year’s Olympics will include many young superstars for the first time, it is likely to be the last turn for 34-year-old Patrick Marleau.

Throughout the selection process for Team Canada, many doubted Marc-Edouard Vlasic’s abilities, but

he was among the last chosen by head coach Mike Babcock to round out a star-studded Canadian team.

As the 29-year-old Joe Pavelski continues a career season, he has become recognized as a gritty, courageous player with the ability to lead.

The probable future captain for the Sharks is looking to repeat his solid Olympic performance from 2010,

which included an assist on a goal in the gold medal game.

In recent years, Antti Niemi has emerged as one of the National Hockey League’s (NHL) goaltending elite. While Niemi had arguably his best season last year and was runnerup for the Vezina Trophy — awarded to the league’s best goaltender — he has noticeably cooled off in the 20132014 season. Niemi will be competing with Boston’s Tuuka Rask for the starting spot on Team Finland.

Even though the Sharks sent a solid four to the Olympics, there are two local players missing from the list: Joe Thornton and Logan Couture.

Joe Thornton, the 34-year-old captain of the Sharks from Ontario, Canada is likely playing in his last NHL season. Thornton was on the Canadian team in 2006 and 2010, and was an integral part of both teams. Though older and arguably slower, Thornton is the leading points producer on the Sharks, and has the fifth most points in the NHL.

The other surprising non-pick was Logan Couture. The 24-year-old, also from Ontario, has become one of the highest point producers for the Sharks.

Couture injured his hand in December. He resorted to not practicing and numbing it before games.

Prioritizing his NHL team, Couture decided to get surgery in early January, so that his recovery time would be during the Olympics, and would not affect the Sharks as much.

Sochi will prove to be a very exciting time for Bay Area hockey fans, as a handful of Sharks players will be representing their respective countries on Olympic ice. Although some legends’ careers will come to an end, the Sharks still have many young guns that will likely be future Olympians.

Antti Niemi, Goaltender

Patrick Marleau, Forward

Joe Pavelski, Forward

Marc-Edouard Vlasic, Defenseman

Joe Pavelski, Center

Obscure winter sports to look out for

By Owen Staiger Staff Writer

W

hen you think about the Winter Olympics, what comes to mind? We often picture the United States going head to head against other countries in ice skating, hockey or skiing. What may not immediately come to mind are some of the more obscure events in the Olympic games. One such event is the centuries-old sport of curling.

Officially added to the Olympics in 1998, the sport of curling is not one you often see being casually played at a local ice rink. In curling, an athlete slides a granite stone across the ice toward a target while their teammates sweep the ice directly in front of the sliding rock. The lightning fast sweeping is used to control the stone’s direction and distance traveled. Canada has received a medal every year they have participated making them the most successful country in Olympic curling. The United States is looking to add to their curling medal count, which consists of one bronze won eight years ago.

Curling’s stones are not alone on the ice this February in Sochi. The Winter Olympics has a few sports in which people, instead of granite stones, are sent sliding down the ice. Luge and Skeleton are two sports in which athletes ride a sled down an ice track competing for the fastest time.

Skeleton riders take a running start and jump onto their sled before they race down the ice track head first.

Athletes competing in luge propel themselves down the track feet first at speeds around 87 mph, much faster than any other ice racing sport.

There are no brakes on the sleds used in either of these sports and if an athlete attempts to slow themselves down in any way during the competition he or she will be disqualified. East Germany holds the record for most medals in luge at the Olympics even though the last time an

Olympic team competed for East Germany was in 1988.

The United States will be looking for their first gold medal in luge and hopefully will maintain the number one spot in medal count for Skeleton.

Perhaps the oddest event at the Winter Olympics is a combination of two normal sports. The biathlon at the Olympics consists of cross-country skiing and shooting. Athletes carry a rifle on their back while they propel themselves with ski poles across the relatively flat course.

The distance each athlete must crosscountry ski in the biathlon depends on which type of event the athlete is participating in. Distances range from 10 to 20 kilometers for men and from 7.5 to 15 kilometers for women. Shooting ranges are distributed regularly throughout the biathlon course where athletes must shoot five targets while either lying down or standing up. The largest issue most athletes encounter at the shooting stage of the event is controlling their heart rate and breathing as they aim. Precision is key in the shooting portion of this event because competitors who miss targets must ski extra distances, adding to their total completion time. Germany has historically dominated the biathlon medal count, but the United States biathlon team has confidence that this year’s games will bring the United States their first biathlon medal.

Though they may be obscure, these sports are very entertaining especially at the high caliber of play seen at the Olympics. Take a break from watching ice skating or downhill skiing and tune into luge or skeleton where people are shot down ice chutes instead of twirling or floating.

Spice up your cross-country skiing by throwing a few rifles in there and watching the biathlon. The United States has a good chance to medal in these sports this Olympic games and can use all the support they can get.

Kevork Djansezian/Getty Images

Shaun Botterill/Getty Images Europe

Monday, January 27, 2014

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2014 X Games brings winter sports to Aspen

By Jake van Zyll

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Staff Writer

he 2014 Winter X Games will be held in Aspen, Colo. from Jan. 23 to Jan. 26. The popularity of the games has grown exponentially since its inception back in 1998.

However, the action begins Jan. 22 with the Men’s Ski SuperPipe Elimination. The next day will feature multiple preliminary rounds for Men’s Snowboard SlopeStyle Elimination and Men’s Snowboard SuperPipe Elimination, along with the SnowMobile Freestyle Final.

Subsequent days of the Games include various preliminary and final rounds of sports such as men and womens’ snowboarding and skiing.

The last day of the X Games will be an exciting day, featuring the best of the Aspen X Games.

Aside from the various events that will take place throughout the week, the X Games also features an X Games MUSIC component, which hosts an impressive lineup.

Matt and Kim will open for Phoenix on Jan. 25, followed by Tiesto who is set to perform the next day on Jan. 26.

Although many talented athletes will return to compete in the Games, one noteworthy name will be absent from the list of competitors. Shaun White, a multiple X Games titlist snowboarder, made the final decision not to participate in this year’s Games. Due to the start date of the 2014 Winter Olympics in Sochi, White felt the two events were too close. After going back and forth regarding his participation, White decided to remove himself from the X Games to focus on the Olympics.

Matt morning / espn images

Kevin Rolland competes in Men’s Ski Superpipe in X Games Aspen 2013. The Frenchman is a favorite for gold this year after two years without a medal due to a torn ACL that kept him out of the 2012 games.

“It’s an incredibly tough decision for me and it’s not something I take lightly,” White said, according to ABC News. “But I have to make sure I’m prepared for the Olympics.”

One thing that will make the 2014 Winter X Games different from any previous X Games is a newly-implemented, additional level of protection for players. Competitors participating in the snow-

mobiling freestyle event will have to wear body vests, following the first ever X Games fatality last January when a snowmobile crushed participant Caleb Moore. Moore’s snowmobile was attempting a backflip in the freestyle event in Aspen when the skis on his 450-pound snowmobile caught the lip of the landing area, sending him flying over the handlebars. Moore landed face first

Christian Murdock / associated press

After Caleb Moore ‘s fatal snowmobile accident last year, all riders will be required to wear protective vests.

into the snow with his snowmobile rolling over him. He later developed bleeding around his heart and eventually passed away. As many people are still reeling from this horrific occurrence, the X Games organizers made sure to take extra precautions this year.

Many Palo Alto High School students look forward to the upcoming X Games. Junior Alex Dees

is one of these students. He is an avid X Games fan and believes that the X Games will be a nice build up to the 2014 Winter Olympics in Sochi, Russia.

“It’s super fun to watch because you don’t see it very often and the things the athletes do are extreme,” Dees said.

The X Games will air on ESPN beginning Jan. 22.

Young girls’ basketball team hopeful Boys’ basketball team of success heading into CCS playoffs looks to get even record

By Claire Liu and Kevin Mullin

T

Staff Writers

he Palo Alto High School girls’ basketball team looks to end its successful season with a league win and a trip to the Central Coast Section (CCS) playoffs.

After a recent loss against Los Gatos High School, the team members immediately redeemed themselves with victories against Milpitas High School (79-21) and Wesley College (68-31). The Lady Vikes maintain an overall record of 8-6 and a league record of 1-1.

Among the typical obstacles each team faces every season, the Lady Vikes have faced the unique circumstance of an all-underclassmen team. The two upperclassmen, senior captains Hope Crockett and Charlotte Alipate, have dealt with injuries during the season.

Freshman Amelia Schmarzo believes that the all freshman and sophomore team faces occasional hardships, such as being unfamiliar with certain aspects of high school basketball compared to its opponents.

However, Schmarzo believes that the team has been able to thrive regardless of being a very young team.

“Our team has been playing together for a while,” Schmarzo said.

“The team is not brand new, and we have all developed chemistry.”

In addition to playing standard games against other high school teams, the Lady Vikes participated in the Under Armour Silver State Slam girls’ basketball tournament at McQueen High School in Reno, Nev. toward the end of December.

“We won two games and lost one

Our team has been playing together for a while. The team is not brand new, and we have all developed chemistry.

Amelia Schmarzo Freshman

Keri Gee / The Campanile

Sophomore Courtney Lovely goes up for a layup during practice.

game at the tournament,” Schmarzo said. “The team that we lost to [Reed High School] competes for the state title of Nevada and one of their players is going to a top basketball school, so we knew it was going to a be tough game going into it.”

The Lady Vikes have been shooting an impressive 31 percent from behind the arc, led by Schmarzo, who has connected on 39 percent of her three-point shots this season.

The team has been putting up an average of 62.3 points, 30 rebounds and 15 assists per game.

Freshman Lauren Koyama leads the team in scoring, averaging just over 11 points per game on 37 percent shooting.

Maddy Atwater leads the team in assists at 4.9 per game and chips in about six points per game. She’s certainly not opposed to giving out assists.

Sophomore Courtney Lovely notes a memorable moment at the tournament.

“One of the most exciting things that we have achieved this season was making 17 three-pointers in our game against the Falcons,” Lovely said.

The team plays Wilcox tomorrow, Jan. 28, in Santa Clara, in hopes of improving their current record. Its next home game will be against Milpitas on Jan. 31.

By Lauren Giurata Senior Staff Writer

Alec Sullivan

T

Staff Writer

he Palo Alto High School boys’ basketball team is midway through the 2013-2014 season and is currently sitting at a 7-7 overall record and a 2-1 record in league play. The Vikings’ goals from the beginning of the season remain the same. These goals are to win league and play team-oriented basketball.

Senior center Matt Fogarty remains confident in the team’s chances of accomplishing its goals, but acknowledges that the league is very competitive this year.

“The league is pretty even; there isn’t a huge frontrunner,” Fogarty said.

However, Fogarty did mention that Los Altos High School, a team to whom the Vikings recently lost, is the team to beat right now.

“Los Altos is pretty hot, but we are confident that we can beat them at home,” Fogarty said.

In an interview, senior point guard Clark Schmutz is as confident as Fogarty.

“We just need to play with confidence and the pieces will fall into place,” Schmutz said. “We are start-

ing to hit our stride and are playing some of our best basketball.”

Schmutz later went on to talk about some of the team’s adversities from the start of the season and how the team is now faring.

“It was tough with some of the football guys coming back late, but I feel like we’re starting to play more as a team and we’re improving with each game and practice,” Schmutz said.

Coach Adam Sax is proud of the way that the team has come together this season.

“These guys have done an incredible job as far as playing hard, moving the ball, playing as a team, so I’m very impressed from that standpoint,” Sax said.

Sax sees shooting, defense and moving the ball as the team’s strengths, and he sees height as the team’s main weakness. He says that the team relies on its defense and its ability to shoot the threes as ways to compensate for this.

Sax thinks that the team has potential and believes that if the team continues to play together, it will be successful.

The Vikings continue to play sound ball and remain in contention for a league title. They have upcoming games on Wednesday at home against Saratoga High Schooland Friday at Mountain View High School.

Conner harden / the campanile

Junior Jonathan Rojahn takes a three-point shot during practice in the gym.

Monday, January 27, 2014

The Campanile

C7

SPORTS Girls’ soccer hopes to improve record

Athlete of the

month

CONNER HARDEN/THE CAMPANILE

This edition featuring

Jonathan Rojahn with The Campanile’s own Jeremy Fu and Kevin Mullin

Ahmed Awadallah/THE CAMPANILE

Sophomore Allison Lu dribbles the ball in a recent home game against Saratoga High School. The Vikings won this game 3-0 to improve to 2-0 in league.

By Paul Mewes

T

Staff Writer

he Palo Alto High School girls’ soccer team has begun its season with an overall record of 6-2-3 and a league record of 3-0-2, and is enjoying a streak of success, going undefeated the last eight games.

Although this record is far from negative, the team is not satisfied with its results so far. According to sophomore Alys Olmstead, the team is capable of performing at a much higher level than it has to this point, despite recent successes it has achieved.

“I don’t think we came out as strongly as we could have,” Olmstead said. “We haven’t reached our full potential yet. But we’re getting there.”

Senior captain Megan Tall agrees that the team has more potential than it has shown, and feels that the team’s record could be much better than it is.

“Our full potential has not been shown yet,” Tall said. “We haven’t been very consistent in our level of play so far, combined with a lot of bad luck. We could [have easily been] undefeated so far.”

Junior Priscilla Bell believes that the team needs to work on consistency, which it has not demonstrated thus far in the season, but is pleased at the level of play the team has exhibited so far in the season, and feels that the team can improve going forward.

“Some things will be on point one day, then other things the next day,” Bell said. “I think that once we put together all that we’ve been talking about in practice, we will perform better than we have in some previous games. I can definitely say that I’m happy with where we are.”

According to Bell, the thing that makes the girls’ soccer team excel is its chemistry.

“We have great team chemistry, and I don’t feel like anyone is separated from the team,” Bell said.

The strong team chemistry can be attributed to numerous team bonding activities such as team dinners and sleepovers. “[Team bonding] definitely helps with team chemistry and having all the girls feel like they are part of the team,” Olmstead said. “We don’t all play for the same club teams or have

the same skill levels going into Paly soccer, so with the team bonding, everyone feels like they are supported and respected for what they can contribute to the team.”

According to Tall, these activities translate directly to the team’s performance.

We haven’t been very consistent in our level of play so far, combined with a lot of bad luck.

Megan Tall Senior

“We get to know a lot about each other, which translates well onto the field,” Tall said. “We are able to communicate without criticizing each other.”

Dressing the new players on the team in crazy outfits that they must wear to school is a Lady Vikes’ tradition. The team views it as a harmless, fun activity.

“It’s our way of accepting [the new players] onto the team,” Tall said.

“Sometimes, it’s hard to bring a new

player onto the team because it can mess up the chemistry, but more activities we do as a group, the easier it is to avoid that.”

Through these team bonding activities as well as practice, the team believes it will continue to improve.

Recently, the team played Mountain View and overcame a two goal deficit with a second half comeback. “[Mountain View was] probably the best team we’ve played yet,” Assistant Coach Eric Seedman said. “They kind of took it to us in the first half, but the coaching staff challenged the girls at halftime, and we came out with a two-two tie. We’re pretty proud of the girls.”

The girls play at Los Gatos on Friday, where they hope to keep their momentum going, and continue to push for a league title.

“We play the first place team, Los Gatos, and we’re certainly within striking distance of them,” Seedman said. “If we beat them we would have a chance to move into first place. We hope to go on to [Central Coast Section (CCS) playoffs], and we feel that we’re as good as anybody, so the sky’s the limit for us.”

Boys’ soccer moves forward after losses

By Seth Alston and Lauren Gargiulo

P

Staff Writers

alo Alto High School boys’ soccer team has started their league season with mixed results with a win against rivals Los Altos High School on Jan. 8 and a loss against league powerhouse Mountain View High School on Jan. 17. They tied against both Santa Clara High School and Saratoga High School on Jan.10 and Jan.15, respectively.

Although they had lost against Mountain View when they faced them during the preseason, the team was hopeful that their second meeting would turn out better.

Senior Cina Vacir and junior Xavier Sherer both scored goals in the second half to overcome an early game deficit, winning the second half 2-1. However, the 0-2 first half deficit proved to be too great to overcome.

Our strength is that we are versatile, [the] kids can play a lot of different positions.

Donald Briggs Boys’ Varsity Soccer Coach

“We knew we had a chance this game,” junior Wesley Woo said. “[We] would have to come out hard.”

Although Mountain View was missing a key player due to injuries, the Spartans were able to capitalize on the mistakes made by the Vi-

ANDREW choi/THE CAMPANILE

Senior Cina Vazir races towards the ball in a game against Wilcox High School. The game was tied 0-0. kings early in the game and the Vikings were not able to recover.

“We let down our focus three times, and they scored all three of those times,” Woo said.

Despite the loss the team is hopeful moving forward.

“Our team is gradually getting better,” sophomore Dami Bolarinwa said. “We’re looking to push ourselves at practice and get the team moral back up.”

Coach Donald Briggs also recognized the importance of a quick reversal of momentum after the loss.

“It’s the last two games of the first half so I hope we get competitive and end on a good note,” Briggs said. “We have competed in every game; every game has been close.”

He also addressed the youth of the team, highlighting the benefits of having a large contingency of

young players, rather than focusing on their inexperience.

“Our strength is that we are versatile, [the] kids can play a lot of different positions,” Briggs said.

“Sometimes we can score a lot, sometimes we score a little. This isn’t really a weakness but we are still young, we sometimes [have] little let downs that happen when you are younger, but once you get mature it doesn’t happen.”

Junior Jonathan Rojahn is a knockdown shooter who is currently the sixth man on the Paly varsity basketball team. Rojahn has been a huge boost for the Vikings coming off the bench, providing a scoring and defensive spark. Rojahn appears to be on the brink of a breakout game every time he steps on the court, evidenced by his average of 4.5 points and over one assist per game. Rojahn also contributes on the defensive end, hauling in a stellar average of just under one rebound per game. Rojahn also was awarded the prestigious title of all league first team Junior Varsity point guard. We caught up with Jonathan after school one day to see if he lived up to the hype.

TC: Tell us a bit about yourself.

JR: I’m Jonathan Rojahn. I‘m a junior, and I play varsity basketball.

TC: OK, So when did you first start playing basketball?

JR: I started in 4th-grade. I remember being the star of the team, NJB. But it is possible that my memory is wrong.

TC: What’s the biggest thing you’ve accomplished in your basketball career ?

JR: Well the best thing I’ve accomplished was probably winning league last year in JV. TC: Do you have any words of advice for students considering becoming an athlete?

JR: Go for it! Teams are always looking for new players, and you might even end up being really great in the sport you pick.

TC: On a scale from one to ten how pure is your stroke?

JR: From one to ten [chuckles] I’m probably a nine.

TC: What do you think your range is?

JR: Around half court range.

TC: Who is the hottest girl on the girls’ basketball team?

JR: No comment.

TC: Are you sure?

JR: Yes, I am very sure.

TC: So, how is the team doing so far?

JR: We are doing pretty well in league; two and one. Although we started out a bit rough, it has definitely smoothed out now.

TC: Who is the better athlete between you and your sister?

JR: We play different sports, so it is hard to tell. But honestly, it is probably me.

TC: Between the two of you, which one is more masculine?

JR: Does that question even need to be asked?

TC: Yes it does, and we are asking the questions. I’ve heard you don’t have any swag.

JR: That’s a rumor, not a truth. Don’t believe everything you hear. I have lots of swag.

TC: You’ve had experience in soccer and swimming. Why is it that you like basketball more?

JR: I don’t feel like doing soccer right now. Basketball is really fun, and I enjoy playing with my team. My friends feel the same way.

TC: What are some of the interesting things Coach Sax has told you?

JR: He calls me the rooster, because my shot apparently looks like a rooster.

TC: Your hair looks like a rooster too.

JR: Yeah, that too.

Monday, January 27, 2014

C8

The Campanile

SPORTS Most

GAmES

By Zach Levitan Staff Writer

Athletic LeagueS:

he 1951 Pennant between the New York Giants and the Brooklyn Dodgers, while technically not a championship game, was one of the greatest baseball games ever played. This game was so amazing because of its ending, which is now known as “The Shot Heard ‘Round the World.” During the final game of the series, trailing 4-2 in the bottom of the ninth inning with no outs and two runners on base, Giants outfielder Bobby Thomson came to the plate. Thomson took one swing with his bat and hit the game-winning home-run off of Dodgers pitcher Ralph Branca, giving the Giants the 5-4 win over the Dodgers.

BASKETBALL

FOOTBALL

he 1983 NCAA Basketball National Championship between the underdog N.C. State Wolfpack and the Houston Cougars. The Wolfpack, led by coach Jim Valvano, beat the Cougars 54-52 in one of the most memorable finishes in the history of college basketball.

Dereck Whittenburg led the Wolfpack back with several threes and, with the hot hand, took a last second three from far beyond the threepoint line. He airballed and the ball fell right into the waiting arms of Lorenzo Charles, who then slammed in the game-winning dunk. This game was amazing not only because of its ending, but also because the underdog Wolfpack beat a Houston team with a 31-2 record and a 26-game winning streak.

he 1997 NBA Finals between the Chicago Bulls and the Utah Jazz will go down not only as one of the greatest series ever, but also as one of the greatest individual performances. The Bulls and Jazz combined for 133 wins in the 1996-97 regular season — the second most of any playoff match-up. While the series ended in six games, Bulls four, Jazz two, no one can argue that it wasn’t exciting, with four games decided by five points or fewer and three decided on the final shot of the game. The real story was Michael Jordan, the greatest basketball player of all time. Jordan hit the game-winning jump shot in Game 1 after the Jazz’s Karl Malone missed two free throws. Jordan also drew the double team in the final seconds of Game 6, allowing him to dish the ball to Steve Kerr for the game winner. But even after all of that, the big story from the series was “The Flu Game.” In a pivotal Game 5, Jordan was extremely ill. Nonetheless, he put up 38 points, including a game-winning three, helping the Bulls rally from a 16 point deficit.

That alone is an abnormally great game, and add the fact that he could barely stand during time outs, it’s just amazing.

hile only a semifinal game, the Miracle on Ice deserves its recognition as the best underdog story and one of the most influential games ever. The 1980 Olympics semifinal game in Lake Placid, N.Y. between the U.S. and the USSR is considered the greatest hockey game ever played. The U.S. team, comprised of amateur and collegiate players, took on the professional USSR players who were recognized as the best players in the world. Just two weeks earlier, the two teams had played in an exhibition game during which the USSR had won 10-3. Coming into the Olympics, the USSR seemed the clear winners; no one expected the U.S. to advance past the group round. With wins over Sweden, Czechoslovakia and West Germany, the U.S. advanced to the medal round. But to get to the championship, they had to first pass the USSR team. The USSR struck first by taking a 1-0 lead in the first period.

The two teams traded goals until the third period, during which the U.S. scored two consecutive goals, taking a 4-3 lead with 10 minutes left. The U.S. held off the USSR for the remainder of the game. Sportscaster Al Michaels famously picked up the countdown saying, “11 seconds, you’ve got 10 seconds, the countdown going on right now! Morrow, up to Silk. Five seconds left in the game. Do you believe in miracles?! YES!” David had taken down Goliath.

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he 2014 BCS National Championship between Auburn and Florida State was a poetic ending to a great year of college football. Auburn had beaten two ranked opponents (one of them Alabama) on the final play of the game in order to make it to the BCS National Championship. Auburn was one of the most exciting teams ever seen, but the tables turned when Florida State rallied from a 18 point deficit, the largest deficit overcome in any National Championship, to win the game. Led by freshman quarterback Jameis Winston, Florida State came out after a mediocre first half and didn’t start much better. It wasn’t until Winston completed an 11-yard touchdown pass with 10:55 left in the fourth quarter when the Florida State team’s strength began to show. After the Florida State defense held Auburn to a field goal, Levonte Whitfield returned the kickoff 100 yards to give Florida State a 27-24 lead.

Auburn came right back with a 37-yard rushing touchdown by Tre Mason with 1:19 left in the game. Winston led his team down the field to throw a two-yard touchdown pass with 13 seconds left, capping off the greatest comeback in college football history.

uper Bowl XXXVI (2002) was the beginning of a player’s legend. Tom Brady had taken over as the starting quarterback for the New England Patriots early in the season and led his team in the Super Bowl. But it was the ending that began his legacy as one of the most clutch players in all of sports.

During the game, the Saint Louis Rams, lead by quarterback Kurt Warner, had 427 total yards to the Patriots’ 267 yards. Warner led the Rams down the field to tie the game at 17 with 1:30 left in the fourth quarter. Brady, with no time outs, took the Patriots down the field to the Rams’ 30-yard line, where he spiked the ball with seven seconds remaining on the clock. Adam Vinatieri hit the 48-yard field goal as time expired to make the final score: Patriots 20, Rams 17. Thus began Tom Brady’s hall-of-fame career.

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