Issue 7, 3/2/2018

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

The Campanile

Vol. C, No. 7

Palo Alto High School 50 Embarcadero Road Palo Alto, CA 94301

FRIDAY, MARCH 2, 2018

www.thecampanile.org

Students protest gun laws after shooting

Principal Diorio takes medical leave

Undeterred by rain and cold, demonstators call for stricter gun regulations

By Nicholas Melvin

P

ASHLEY ZHANG/THE CAMPANILE

After the devastating high school shooting in Parkland, Fla., local students gathered at Gunn High School on Monday to protest gun violence.

By Paarth Sharma & Kesi Sound Managing Editor & Lifestyle Editor

E

arly Monday morning, students from Gunn High School and members from the Palo Alto community came out in droves to support a protest calling for increased gun control.

The protest was inspired by the #NeverAgain movement, which has spread to high school and college campuses across America after the Marjory Stoneman

Douglas High School shooting in Parkland, Fla. that left 17 dead.

The event was organized by Gunn junior Elizabeth Salwitz, who was inspired to show support for the victims in Florida.

“I think a lot of us at Gunn really wanted to show support for the victims in Florida, but we also wanted to show that we know that we are the future voters of America, and that we have the power to create change,” Salwitz said.

The protest began at 7:30 a.m. despite pouring rain, and many students stayed outside well past

Gunn’s 8:25 a.m. start time. The students were joined by other community members, including parents, teachers and administrators, many of whom were moved by the activism of Gunn students.

“When I saw the pictures of the students at Marjory Stone Douglas, I saw my children, and my children’s friends and the students at Gunn High School,” said Lisa Bernstein, mother of two current Gunn students. “I felt like I needed to speak up and support the student activists.”

The protest consisted of anthe-

mic chants and handmade signs calling on lawmakers both in Sacramento, Calif. and Washington D.C to draft legislation to prevent future school shootings. The vast majority of protesters called specifically for legislation to prevent people from obtaining more powerful guns and attachments like bump stocks.

“I want to see a repeal of the Dickey Amendment, I want to see science-based solutions with what’s going on with gun deaths,

Protests A3

Managing Editor

rincipal Kim Diorio is taking a medical leave from Paly and expects to return later this spring.

Diorio made the announcement in an email to the staff last Friday.

“As many of you are aware, the past few months I’ve been hit hard with health problems,” Diorio said in the memo. “Effective immediately, I will be taking a medical leave and expect to return to work later this spring.”

Paly journalism teacher and Campanile adviser Esther Wojcicki offered insight into this issue.

“She’s been under a lot of stress lately and then got a virus and couldn’t seem to recover,” Wojcicki said. “Her doctor ordered her to take time off.”

Diorio is not too worried about how the school will function without her.

“I know firsthand just how hard they work,” Diorio said, referring to staff members. “You can take comfort knowing our admin team is strong, dedicated and function as a true team which means the school is in good hands while I’m away.”

Diorio also acknowledged the effect her absence will have on the school.

“My absence will create an additional load for each of [the vice principals],” Diorio said. ”In speaking with HR (Human Resources) this week, I have requested that the district office consider bringing in additional administrative support and expect they will likely appoint an Interim Princi-

pal while I’m out.”

Some Paly students have similar concerns about the principle being gone.

“With her being absent, I think there could be a lot of criminals running amuck around here,” said junior Julian Martinez. “You know when the principal’s gone, everyone thinks ‘now’s my chance act a-fool on campus.’”

"As many of you are aware, the past few months I've been hit hard with health problems."

Kim Diorio

But not everyone is convinced that her absence will have such a profound effect on the school.

“I really don’t think it will affect the school very much,” said senior Oscar Scherer. “Even though Kim Diorio’s gone, it depends on how long her leave is I guess, but as long as it’s pretty temporary, I don’t think it’ll have any long term effects on the school. Everything’ll go back to normal eventually.”

Senior Reza Safarnavadeh echoed a similar sentiment.

"I don't think much will change because we don't see her around much anyway," Safarnavadeh said.

Diorio did not respond to a request for comments.

Diorio shared this parting message with teachers: “I’ll miss you very much, and despite this news, remember it’s still great to be a Viking!”

Ohlone teacher guilty of sexual assault Annual Career Month starts strong

After being accused in 2014, Michael Airo now faces jail time

By Kennedy Herron Staff Writer

F

ormer Ohlone Elementary School teacher Michael Airo was convicted recently of child sexual abuse after two days of jury deliberation.

After commencing the long awaited trial on Feb. 1, lawyers gave closing statements on Feb. 11, and the jury, comprised of seven women and five men, deliberated for two days before declaring Airo guilty. The former fourth and fifth grade teacher’s sentencing hearing has been scheduled before Santa Clara County Superior Court Judge Allison Marston Danner on April 19.

After his arrest in 2015, Airo pleaded not guilty to one count of continuous sexual abuse of a minor under the age of 14 and three counts of lewd or lascivious acts with the use of force, violence, duress, menace or fear of immediate and unlawful bodily injury on the victim or another person.

Consequently, Airo could face six, 12 or 16 years in prison for the first charge of continuous sexual abuse, as well as lifelong registration as a sex offender. In addition, he could receive five, eight or 10 years in prison for each of his last three charges.

Airo was charged with sexual abuse of his ex-girlfriend’s daughter on Dec. 28, 2015. The daugh-

Students learn about a variety of job paths from professionals

ter, now 26 years old, testified in court, along with her half-sister, mother, high school boyfriend and various psychologists. Two mothers of former students, an instructional aide, a school psychologist, Airo’s half-brother and a friend testified on behalf of Airo.

In 2014, the daughter reported Airo’s behavior to a psychologist, who then notified the police. She described countless occasions of assault, allegedly beginning when she was 11 years old, when Airo would walk in on her while in the shower, kissing her chest, stomach and bottom.

Junior Jack Callaghan, one

Conviction A3

'Venture' Musical to debut this month Paly to host original spring show written by choir teacher

By Alyssa Leong

V

"

enture,” an original musical written by Paly choir director Michael Najar is opening next Friday and will tackle some of society’s biggest issues.

“The question this musical asks is, what are you willing to give up to change the world?” said Najar, for whom writing “Venture” has been a labor of love for five years.

“What are you willing to risk?”

Michael Najar

“Venture” follows Saira, the daughter of a young venture capitalist, as she tries to navigate modern-day Silicon Valley. Her

INSIDE

By Ujwal Srivastava

P

Staff Writer

"How many women are standing on the platform of a major company?"

UJWAL SRIVASTAVA/THE CAMPANILE

Trainer Nick Weiss talks at Career Month, an event that exposes students to various post-high school paths.

ALYSSA LEONG/THE CAMPANILE

The original musical "Venture" will open its curtain Friday, March 9. experience encountering sexual harassment bears a striking similarity to today’s #MeToo movement.

“Venture” is the second musical written by Najar to debut at Paly, the first being “Love Songs in Traffic” in 2006.

“He had mentioned to me… two or three years ago, that he was

doing a new musical,” said Kathleen Woods, Paly drama teacher and co-director of “Venture.”

Once Najar had the basic story and the ideas for the music, he and Woods started holding workshops. Students, theater professionals and parents listened to

Opinion

Musical A3

Staff Writer

aly’s tenth Career Month, an annual lunchtime speaker series featuring professionals from a multitude of fields, began in late February and will run through next Friday.

According to one of the organizers, senior Stella Wan, Career Month is a time when guest speakers share their “experiences in high school and college, tips for high school students and how they got to the point they are at right now.”

In previous years, the selection of speakers was admittedly very STEM-heavy, so the organizers have made a conscious effort to invite speakers from a more di-

March 6 - March 9: Lunch Rooms 403 & 404 Check paly.net/careermonth for calendar of speakers

Lifestyle

verse range of professions.

“Last year we had a lot of software engineers and tech-related jobs,” Wan said. “This year we have a lot of new jobs: graphic designer, physical trainer, real estate agent, Palo Alto Reserve officer, and more.”

"If you spend your free time playing video games, find a way to be in the video game world."

Nick Weiss

In addition to selecting a wider array of speakers, Career Month requires a significant amount of preparation.

“From the beginning of the school year [until]s January, we were inviting speakers,” Wan said.

“Then we schedule each speaker for a different day, we make posters, organize food and parent volunteers, as well as other forms of

Spotlight

publicity.”

The speakers scheduled for the opening day were Nick Weiss, a personal trainer and Kelly Kusumoto, a graphic designer.

Weiss, who graduated from Paly in 2003, now owns and runs a gym called PerformanceGaines.

After graduating from Occidental College, where he was a premedical student, Weiss started working as a physical therapist at Equinox gym in Palo Alto. He eventually fell in love with this role and decided to open his own gym in 2009.

His biggest piece of advice for students is to be passionate about what you do.

“We often get pushed into studying or practicing something by our parents, by society, but we’re not truly passionate about that,” Weiss said. “If you spend your free time playing video games, find a way to be in the video game world. If your free time is spent working out, find a way to be in a workout world. Because if

Career Month A3

Sports

the edition

News. . . . . . . . . A1-A4 Opinion. . . . . . . A5-A7 Editorials. . . . . . . . . A8 Lifestyle. . . . . B1-B3, B6 Spotlight. . . . . . . . B4-B5 Science & Tech. . . B7-B8 Sports. . . . C1-C3, C6-C8 Sports Spread. . . . . C4-C5

PHOTO BY PIXABAY/CC0

Television stereotypes

A showcase on how film and TV negatively portray high school life.

PAGE A6

PHOTO BY MR. GRAY/CC0 1.0

Overview of the Oscars

Highlighting the best films of 2017 and the awards they could win.

PAGE B1

PHOTO BY LUIGI NOVI/CC 3.0

YouTube culture

Examining the shifts in YouTube video trends and mass media.

PAGES B4-B5

PHOTO BY MATT MAY/CC BY 2.0

Winter Olympics

A look into the politics underlying the PyeongChang games.

PAGE C1

The Campanile

Friday, March 2, 2018

A2

NEWS

Lectureship honors achievements by Esther Wojcicki Tech writer Kara Swisher was to address the question “Can Silicon Valley be tamed” at Berkeley event.

PAUSD teachers union agrees to move salary bonus to student fund

By Anna Meyer Staff Writer

T

he Palo Alto Unified School District (PAUSD) teachers union approved an idea to reallocate a 2 percent one-time salary bonus to the district’s per-student fund in a school board meeting February 27.

The teachers agreed they would be willing to forgo their off-schedule compensation if it would help prevent budget cuts.

This decision came after the amount of money designated per student was reduced from $105 to $85 earlier this school year. The $2.2 million total that was originally planned to go the teachers’ salaries will instead be used to increase the per-student allotment to $115 for the next six years, not only restoring the original amount, but increasing it by $10.

“It shows the importance of the students and meeting the needs of the students.”

Teri Baldwin

CREATIVE COMMONS/FAIR USE

Kara Swisher—a tech journalist, the executive editor of Recode and the Recode Decode podcast host­— was to speak about current technology issues.

By Tess Manjarrez Staff Writer

T

he Graduate School of Journalism at the University of California, Berkeley is recognizing the achievements of alumna Esther Wojcicki, Palo Alto High School journalism teacher and longtime adviser of The Campanile, with a lecture series in her name.

The series was to be inaugurated last night with a lecture by tech journalist and author Kara Swisher on the Berkeley campus.

Wojcicki is the founder of the Paly Media Arts Program, widely considered to be one of the nation’s largest and most distinguished scholastic media programs.

“It’s the only named lectureship we have,” said Ed Wasserman, the Dean of the Graduate School of Journalism at UC Berkeley. “It’s a great honor.”

Wojcicki credits her success to

hands-off teaching style.

“I think it’s because I’ve had a major impact on scholastic journalism,” Wojcicki said on having been honored with a lectureship.

“My method of teaching, where I give students the control, is the key to the success of the program.”

“It’s the only named lectureship we have. It’s a great honor.”

Ed Wasser

The Esther Wojcicki Lectureship was created in 2017 with support from the Taube Philanthropies. The Taube Family Foundation is based in the Bay Area and has been working to support diverse educational, cultural, civic and communal organizations as well as public policy initiatives for more than three decades.

“The Taube foundation approached us and wanted to do

something appropriate to honor Esther,” Wasserman.

As the first Wojcicki Lecturer, Swisher served a week-long residency with graduate students, which consisted of master classes and seminars. Swisher, a former journalist for The Wall Street Journal as well as The Washington Post, is among the nation’s most influential reporters covering Silicon Valley and is the executive editor of Recode, a tech publication, as well as the host of the Recode Decode podcast and the co-executive producer of the high-profile Code Conference, attended by executives of tech giants.

“We are delighted to have her,” Wasserman said.

Swisher has also authored two books, “aol.com: How Steve Case Beat Bill Gates, Nailed the Netheads and Made Millions in the War for the Web,” as well as “There Must Be a Pony in Here Somewhere: The AOL Time Warner Debacle and the Quest

for a Digital Future.”

“My method of teaching, where I give students the control, is the key to the success of the program.”

Esther Wojcicki

More recently, Swisher has written a number of articles on the rideshare giant Uber. The topic of Swisher’s lecture was “Can Silicon Valley Be Tamed?” and was to address relevant topics such as monopoly power, gender bias, privacy destruction and global disinformation campaigns.

Wojcicki said,“I am so honored to have this lecture series in my name and to have my journalism work at Palo Alto High School recognized as outstanding.”

“This is a way we know we’re preventing cuts,” said Teri Baldwin, president of the Palo Alto Educators Association (PAEA).

By giving money back to the school district, the teachers union hopes cuts will not need to be as severe.

In a multi-year contract passed in 2015, the school board planned to give the teachers a bonus if property taxes reached a certain level, which they did this year.

Specific numbers were discussed when writing the 201718 school year budget. However, these numbers were different from what was originally dis-

cussed for the multi-year plan in 2015. This year’s elevated property taxes covered the off-schedule raise.

The teachers agreed that they would be willing to forgo their off-schedule compensation if it would help prevent budget cuts.

“The teachers acknowledge that although the contract language is clear, the budget was built on a much lower projection than what was being discussed when writing the language and were willing to reopen this language in good faith,” Baldwin said.

In a discussion during negotiations between the school board and the teachers union, teachers decided to reconsider where the money went. This came after determining that cuts would need to be made to the per-student fund in hopes of preserving the perpupil amount.

“It shows the importance of the students and meeting the needs of the students,” said Interim Assistant Superintendent of Human Resources Anne Brown.

After communications between site representatives and teachers about the purpose of the money, a majority of teachers union members voted in a poll that was distributed and agreed on relinquishing their bonus in order to prevent, or at least lessen, budget cuts.

“It was very amicable and a very good situation,” Brown said.

Depending on the school, the money may be used for whatever purpose is seen fit. One possible use is to protect classified staff positions.

ASB prepares for masquerade, intramural sports and more

By Neil Kapoor

A

Staff Writer

fter orchestrating a weeklong intramural basketball tournament, the Associated Student Body (ASB) will host a school-wide dance tonight ahead of plans for important events such as Prom and Teacher Appreciation Week.

The semi-formal dance will feature a masquerade theme and will be held in the small gym on March 2 from 7 p.m. to 10 p.m.

The night marks one of the two dances Paly underclassmen are able to attend this year apart from Homecoming in October.

However, this dance will not be the only one ASB is preparing for in the near future. Coming up on April 14 is the most prominent and anticipated event of the year for upperclassmen, the annual Prom for juniors and seniors.

ASB announced the location of Prom — San Francisco City Hall — at the Winter Rally in January. Senior Class President Noga Hurwitz expects Prom to

be a memorable experience for students.

“I visited [San Francisco City Hall] a few weeks ago with the upperclassmen officers and [an] event planner,” Hurwitz said.

“Prom is going to be a beautiful and unforgettable night. Senior Class Vice President Michaela Fogarty shares Hurwitz’s optimism.

The dance will feature a masquerade theme, semi-formal attire and will be held in the small gym on March 2 from 7 p.m. to 10 p.m.

“We’re expecting turnout higher than ever this year because the junior and senior classes are so big,” Fogarty said. “Tickets are cheaper than last year, which we think students will be happy about.”

Tickets will cost $120 per person without an ASB card, and $110 per person with an ASB card. Scholarships are also available for Prom tickets, and those interested in getting one should contact Matt Hall, the Student Activities Director.

Additionally, there will be a hard close on ticket sales on April 1, the day before Spring Break begins.

Looking back at last year’s successful Teacher Appreciation Week, a time when students can express their appreciation for staff through written notes, ASB is planning this year’s Teacher Appreciation Week to unfold in a similar fashion sometime this spring. The event last year included a video exhibiting teachers’ reactions to student notes expressing appreciation for them.

Senior Site Council Representative Kasra Orumchian expects the weeklong celebration to be popular among students.

“I think we’re going to do a teacher appreciation video,” Orumchian said. “It was a big

hit last year, and a lot of students, teachers and community members appreciated it.”

Sports Commissioner Benner Mullin expects ASB to unveil another sporting tournament this semester.

Lastly, Sports Commissioner Benner Mullin expects ASB to unveil another sporting tournament this semester.

“Beyond basketball, ASB is also planning a volleyball tournament on the quad sometime in the spring,” Mullin said. “Most likely in May, similar to previous years’ [volleyball tournaments].”

Last month, ASB hosted several activities for students. Among them was the well-attended Quadglobe series, featuring student singers and performers on the quad during lunch for five consecutive days.

The Campanile’s seventh Centennial Report

A visit by jazz legend Duke Ellington, multiple arson cases and more through the archives of The Campanile

By Ethan Nissim

F

Staff Writer

or an entire century, The Campanile has kept students, families and staff informed about their community.

From a visit by jazz legend Duke Ellington to multiple cases of arson, this edition of the Centennial Report revisits the headlines of decades past.

March 23. 1933 Volume XV No. 21 The Commissioner of Publications for The Campanile brought national attention to the publication with an award winning editorial.

The article marked the third time in three years that a Campanile member had won this competition, all three of which were published in the Columbia

School Press review.

March 7. 1940 Volume XXI No. 19 Concluding weeks of practice, the Eleventh Annual Boy’s Stunt Show was held on March 9. It featured several student musical ensembles, an Oscar’s Band-esque humorous orchestra, a comedy skit and a melodramatic performance of “The Light Went Out” by the junior class.

This issue contains a half-page photo of several boys in suits and top hats posing, advertising the dramatic performance aspect of the show.

March 5. 1954 Volume XXXI No. 11 After 18 years of service, Paly Principal Ivan H. Linder was moved to the position of Assistant Superintendent of the Dis-

trict after a vote by the Board of Education. According to Linder, this move was prompted by a large increase in district enrollment, requiring additional administrative faculty to process. His successor was Ray Ruppel, a math and science teacher.

Additional articles in this edition credit Linder with improvements in student government, college attendance rates and funding for sports teams, making the Vikings the “team to beat” in the Bay Area.

March 6. 1969 Volume XLV No. 13 Jazz legend Duke Ellington announced a concert at Paly on March 10, bringing with him a fifteen-man jazz band.

This marks the first time that Duke Ellington had ever played at a high school. To commemo-

rate the occasion, several Paly students were given the opportunity to accompany Ellington and his band onstage with the student that had reached out to Ellington to arrange the concert playing the drum set.

March 30. 1984 Volume LVII No. 13 Continuing a string of vandalism in the District, the music building on Paly’s campus was consumed in fire, which Principal Jim Shroyer credited to arson.

Four other incidences of breaking and entering followed by arson had taken place at various schools in the district that weekend.

The blaze caused almost $20,000 worth of damages to the building alone, and around $8,000-10,000 for the instruments destroyed.

UPCOMING EVENTS MAR

7

MAR

9

MAR

17

SPRING JOB FAIR Broke and needy teens explore their options.

END OF THIRD QUARTER

“Mom, it’s not a big deal. I promise I’ll get them fixed.”

SAINT PATRICK’S DAY

That one friend who claims he’s Irish and dresses in all green to school.

MAR

CAASP TESTING BEGINS

MAR

PASSOVER BEGINS

26

31

Start practicing your mom’s signature.

Find your Jewish friend so you can munch on some matzah.

APR

SPRING BREAK BEGINS

APR

PROM

2

14

A break from academics.

Don’t forget your shades.

The Campanile

Friday, March 2, 2018

A3

NEWS

Chinese Parents Community to host Chinese New Year fair Superintendent search survey gauges community opinions

By Peyton Wang & Tess Manjarrez Science & Tech Editor & Staff Writer

F MOUNTAIN HOME AIR FORCE BASE/PUBLIC DOMAIN

Chinese New Year celebrates the beginning of the Chinese lunar calander and features traditional dishes, fireworks and family celebrations.

By Vivian Feng

S

Lifestyle Editor

tudents from Palo Alto High School and Ohlone Elementary School will perform the Chinese Lion Dance and Dragon Dance at Mitchell Park Library on Sunday for the Palo Alto Chinese New Year Fair.

To first-generation Chinese families living in America, Chinese New Year brings about feelings of childhood nostalgia of steam buns and the ambiance of warm, crowded streets. To reignite these feelings, the Palo Alto Chinese Parents Community will host the annual Palo Alto Chinese New Year Fair, which will be held this year on March 4 from 2 p.m. to 5 p.m. and is free of charge.

The organization will open the event to the entire community in hopes of fostering a more empathetic and culturally inclusive at-

Career Month

Continued from A1 you’re not passionate about what you do, you’re going to hate waking up, hate going to work and you’re going to complain your whole life. But if you’re passionate, you’ll love life.”

Junior Sarthak Pant, who attended Weiss’ talk, felt that the message resonated with him.

“I enjoyed it very much because he told us about how education impacts what we do and how important it is to be passionate about what you do,” Pant said.

Kusumoto, the other speaker, echoed similar statements but

Musical

Continued from A1 incorporated this feedback as he developed the storyline and the structure of the script.

Najar drew inspiration for “Venture” from Marissa Meyer, the former CEO of Yahoo, who is a resident of Palo Alto.

“How many women are standing on the platform of a major company?” Najar said. “What she had to do to get there, that was a really compelling idea… I thought, ‘This is something that’s going to be great musical material, to ask these questions.’”

Najar cited one of his major influences for “Venture” as Andrew Lloyd Webber, who wrote musicals such as “Phantom of the Opera,” “Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat” and “Cats.” “[Webber is] a big influence on me because his music is odd, and I like things that are a little bit odd… they have a lot of personality in them,” Najar said.

In “Venture,” Saira is the CEO of a company which goes bankrupt. She gets a new life-changing job at a prominent Silicon Valley company. However, there are many drawbacks, including that the CEO of the company is being investigated for sexual assault at the workplace.

In light of the recent controversy over sexual misconduct in the workplace, discussions about such harassment have become more relevant than ever.

“Harassment [has] been around since the dawn of time and gender politics,” Najar said.

Conviction

Continued from A1 of Airo’s former students, recalls Airo as a “very caring guy who never really got mad at anyone, and who cared equally about everyone in the class.” Callaghan said he was shocked after hearing the accusations against Airo.

“I didn’t believe that he would be a person to do such things, especially considering how serious the situation is,” Callaghan said.

Santa Clara County Deputy

mosphere.

Among other additions to the annual event, students from Ohlone and Paly will perform the Lion Dance and Dragon Dance, a traditional Chinese New Year celebration. While the Palo Alto Chinese Parents Community has hosted this event for the last three years, this will be its first year collaborating with the City of Palo Alto, the Palo Alto Council of PTAs (Parent Teacher Association), the Mitchell Park Library and the Palo Alto Family YMCA (Young Men’s Christian Association).

“We want to make nonChinese community members feel welcome too,” said Jieming Robinson, co-chair for the 2018 Palo Alto Chinese New Year Fair Committee. “[By] partnering with more groups, we hope families of all backgrounds come.”

Robinson says that the fair

will have a wide variety of performances, including Chinese folk music, instruments and dances by students from the Palo Alto Unified School District, and will showcase Chinese art, game booths and food.

emphasized the power of being flexible. According to Kusumoto, one should not panic if life strays from the planned path.

perience there’s always time to make a career change or choose something different. So a lot of it is based on experimentation and thinking about what you want to do and trying it out and seeing if it’s right.”

In high school, Kusumoto was a wrestler who won third at Nationals, but she chose to pursue a career in graphic design once she reached college. Junior Julie Meng was quite impressed by Kusumoto’s talk, despite the fact that she does not plan to pursue graphic design professionally.

“As a side project, [Kusumoto] designed wrestling t-shirts,” Meng said. “So she was able to

“She was able to connect her two passions, which I thought was very admirable.”

Julie Meng

“Don’t put a lot of pressure on yourself,” Kusumoto said. “You think a lot about college and what you want to do, but from my ex“But in the last six, nine months, it’s changed the way the musical’s headed, so we’ve had to do different things.”

Najar also said that he worked with female colleagues to ensure that the musical accurately depicted the challenges women face in the workplace.

“We talked about some of the concepts of the show,” Woods said. “[They] had to do with contemporary, difficult issues, like the place of women in the marketplace and how this would play in a high school or as a mature show.”

According to Najar, the show has exceeded his expectations. He was impressed with how students and other collaborators have made the show their own by adding new ideas. On a more technical level, the show will use a new projector that will make the musical “pop.”

“Maybe when it gets on stage, I’ll look differently on it,” Najar said. “But right now… characters are coming to life in a way that I never imagined. That’s a really neat thing.”

Students have been able to gain valuable experience throughout the musical process.

He partially attributes the success to his colleagues such as directors Woods and Meghan Hakes and Paly dance teacher Alyssa Bond, who have directed, choeographed and helped produce “Venture.” Junior Gil Weissman, who plays Saira’s boyfriend, Brian, says that rehearsals for “Venture”

District Attorney Lindsay Walsh began Airo’s trial by reading aloud a letter Airo had written for his ex-girlfriend’s daughter’s 10th birthday.

“I didn’t believe that he would be a person to do such things.”

Jack Callaghan

The letter included phrases such as, “This isn’t an ordinary

The fair committee is looking for students who are interested in getting involved either by volunteering or taking on a leadership role.

“We tried to make it similar to our childhood experiences in China,” said Lily Chiu, the other cochair, who also grew up in China.

“We want the next generation to carry on traditions.”

In addition to continuing

have been more demanding than other productions.

“Because this is an original show, we have a lot more freedom and sort of work with the text and change it,” Weissman said.

Woods has also worked with the script throughout rehearsals.

“As you work with the script… you see, ‘do questions come up?”

Woods said. “Are there any inconsistencies (which there weren’t really very many), how can we strengthen the character relationships? How can we strengthen character development?’”

There has also been more flexibility with other aspects of the show, such as transitions.

“This musical has a lot of set changes,” Woods said. “My co-director Meghan Hakes and I have developed most of that in the rehearsal process. It’s not formally in the script, but it’s part of keeping the show going.”

Students have been able to gain valuable experience throughout the musical process.

“I think it’s really great that high school students get to work on original work,” Weissman said. “It’s something really special that’s unlike any sort of other theater production.” “[‘Venture’] is so resonant right now in the Valley,” Woods said. “It just fits with our community, with the things we’re struggling with daily.”

“Venture” will open on March 9 and will also have performances on March 10, 15, 16, 17 and 18.

Tickets are available at palytheatre.com. The audience will be able to talk to the whole cast and crew after the opening night show.

love. This is a forever love.” In addition to this birthday card, Walsh questioned Airo about a Valentine’s Day card reading, “Always be who you are, make yourself happy first and remember no matter what you do, how far you run, where you go, there is no escape from my love.”

Airo addressed this card “to my ALA,” presumably imposing his last name on the his exgirlfriend’s daughter, though she had not changed her last name to “Airo.”

the annual tradition in upcoming years, the Fair Committee is looking for students who are interested in getting involved by either volunteering or taking on a leadership role to help the success of future Palo Alto Chinese New Year Fairs.

“The younger generations should continue the tradition,” Chiu said. “This is not [limited to] just Chinese descendants; we also hope students of other backgrounds also get involved in leading the event.”

The event is free and food will be sold to support the Palo Alto public schools.

Interested students and community members can sign up to volunteer on this website or on the day of the festival by contacting one of the organizers through email or by talking to them at the event: https://www. volunteersignup.org/MQFCA connect her two passions, which I thought was very admirable.”

“There’s always time to make a career change or choose something different.”

Kelly Kusumoto

For more information about Career Month, contact senior Stella Wan, senior Tilak Misner or junior Ashley Wang. The lunch time speaker series continues all of next week in rooms 403 and 404 with free lunch provided for the first 150 students.

ollowing former Superintendent Max McGee’s resignation last September, the Palo Alto Unified School District (PAUSD) Board hired a consulting firm that is currently in search of a permanent superintendent.

Early this year, the firm Hazard, Young, Attea & Associates conducted a survey addressing the leadership standards for superintendents, presenting its findings at a school board meeting on Feb. 13.

A total of 1,034 stakeholders took the PAUSD Superintendent Search Survey, including 43 administrators, 49 community members, 604 parents with children in PAUSD, 68 students, 59 support staff and 208 teachers.

The largest stakeholder group was parents, representing 58.7 percent of all respondents. However, the student group was on the other end of the spectrum, accounting for a mere 7 percent of respondents.

“Students weren’t notified like they should have been,” said Paly Student Board Representative Richy Islas. “The firm should have put it out on Schoology.”

In a report compiled by Hazard, Young, the “top-rated leadership characteristics” that constituents desire in a new superintendent consisted of a person who can promote a “positive, professional climate of mutual trust and respect” among staff and administration, “provide transparent communication” and “employ and retain effective personnel” within the District and its schools, to name a few.

“I’d like to see a superintendent like our current [interim] superintendent, Ms. Hendricks,” Islas said. “She wants to make a difference in our district. I would want to see a superintendent like her and like Max McGee — he made mistakes, but who doesn’t?

[McGee] was very outgoing, he would make appointments with parents and he would want to get to know the community.”

Assistant Principal of Operations Jerry Berkson would like to see a personable and fair superintendent who is “willing to do what’s right for the greater good

ASHLEY ZHANG/THE CAMPANILE

Gunn students organized a schoolwide walkout to protest gun violence.

Protests

Continued from A1 what’s going on with gun deaths, not only in schools but generally in society,” Bernstein said. “And I want to see the CDC [Centers for Disease Control] funded to study gun violence as a public health epidemic, which is what it is.”

The Dickey Amendment was originally passed in 1996 and prohibits Congress from allocating any funds for the CDC to research gun violence. The National Rifle Association (NRA) was the primary group responsible for lobbying for the amendment.

However, students also focused on other aspects behind school shootings, citing gun laws as only one of the factors behind the problem.

“I think the fact of the matter is, gun laws aren’t enough to support students,” said Gunn High School Board Representative Advait Arun. “It would be very easy for someone to come onto Gunn or Paly campus and do a lot of damage. And I think more than that, there needs to be a lot of law enforcement reform, mental health reform and a lot of changes need to be made to our educational and community systems to make sure we don’t have school shootings.”

Among the protesters was school board member Terry Godfrey, who showed her support by providing snacks for protesters.

“I’m inspired by our high

school students,” Godfrey said. “I just want to make sure that they know the adults in their lives support what they’re doing and stand by them.”

The protests, which drew over 100 participants, seems to have been a success.

“I think it went really well,” Salwitz said. “So many people came to show support, which was so powerful and amazing to see. Even though it was pouring rain, people still came and showed their support, which makes it even more powerful.”

“I think the fact of the matter is, gun laws aren’t enough to support students.”

Advait Arun

Gunn is not the only Palo Alto school staging protests in response to the Parkland shootings. Paly and Stanford University will be having a joint walkout on March 14 at 10:00 a.m. The walkout will involve students leaving class for 17 minutes to move just off campus to Embarcadero Road.

The walkout’s 17-minute duration corresponds to the 17 students who lost their lives in the Parkland shooting.

The event is organized by two of Paly’s seniors, Noga Hurwitz and Louisa Keyani, who were inspired to organize the event after

of all students.”

On a five-point scale, respondents rated the performance of the District in several areas, including vision and values, teaching and learning, community engagement and management.

While 78 percent of respondents gave high ratings to the overall quality of education in the District, only 29 percent agreed or strongly agreed that the District is fiscally dependable. Additionally, when voting on transparency and decision-making skills based on data and research, only 30 percent and 35 percent, respectively, believed that the district effectively carried out these items. Berkson attributes these low percentages to deeply involved parents who are invested in their children’s schooling.

“There is strong parent involvement in the Palo Alto Unified School District,” Berkson said. “My guess is that, one, parents are always concerned about their kids’ education. Two, there are kids who think that their voices won’t be heard.”

A total of 1,034 stakeholders took the PAUSD Superintendent Search Survey.

Berkson’s sentiment was echoed by many administrators who participated in the survey.

Respondents also expressed their concerns about a lack of accountability and trust in the district, which seemed to reflect a low morale among administrators.

However, there remains a number of strengths of PAUSD, as voted on by each stakeholder group. The arts are viewed highly in the District, with schools offering a number of visual and performing arts classes. In addition, many respondents praised active parent involvement and the wealth of resources for student mental wellness.

In the future, Islas hopes that the firm publicizes surveys to represent the student voice and collect data that accurately reflects the community’s views. “[The firm] didn’t even share the link to the survey with me when I asked them to,” Islas said.

“I think we should put someone from the firm specifically in charge to hear the student voice.” both being personally affected by the Parkland shootings.

“I was in Florida while the shooting was happening,” Hurwitz said. “I was with a lot of friends and peers who either attend MSD [Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School] or have friends who attend MSD, and as it was happening, it felt very personal and it felt like it hit very close to home. It’s absolutely heartbreaking to read in the news when something like this happens but it’s that much more painful when you’re with a friend when she finds out that her cousin passed away.”

Keyani has similar personal connections to the shooting.

“I think I’ve gotten inspiration from the students who go there who are going out and working so hard to create a movement that is going to last and that is powered by young people,” Keyani said.

Not all community members see the merits in Paly staging a walkout, however.

“We’ve gotten a lot of pushback and responses like, why does it matter to show up in liberal California, or why does it matter if I write to Kamala Harris, she agrees with me ideologically,” Hurwitz said. “I think it’s so important that we become civically engaged even in a state like California for a multitude of reasons.

Our representatives care when we show up, especially when it’s young people. We’re hoping with this comes an embedded passion for civic engagement that transcends beyond just gun control and what’s happening now with our lives at Paly but will remain at the heart of students for their entire lives so they vote when they’re 20, 30, 40.”

Despite potential opposal, the two student leaders intend to increase civic engagement. Moving forward, Hurwitz and Keyani have plans for a letter writing and calling campaign on the quad each day next week.

“What’s emerged from this movement is a generation thinking for themselves and I’d like to continue promoting that,” Hurwitz said. “I encourage every student at Paly to spend 10 to 15 minutes researching gun laws and how they affect us as students.”

m

Friday, March 2, 2018

The Campanile

NEWS

A4

Infrastructural changes in Palo Alto

Recent renovations to be made on University Ave. and Stanford Mall

Teen Arts Council hosts Open Mic Night Singing, comedy and poetry bring together local student talents

By Khadija Abid

T

RILEY SHORT/THE CAMPANILE

A metallic egg-shaped art installation named "Digital DNA," by Adriana Varella, had its removal postponed.

By Riley Short

A

Staff Writer

s 2018 begins, many new changes are on the horizon for Palo Alto, particularly on University Avenue. The city’s choices include the possible removal of a sculpture, the consideration of a car-free downtown and the addition of an East Coast burger chain to the Bay Area.

Art Installation The art installation in question is called “Digital DNA,” and it is located in Lytton Plaza on University Avenue in front of Pizza My Heart. The feature is most recognizable by its egg-like shape and the fact that it is made up entirely from scrap computer parts.

The city has asked the artist, Adriana Varella, to relocate the installation but has since postponed the date following several legal questions raised by Varella and her attorney.

"Digital DNA" was originally scheduled to be removed due to maintenance issues. According to the city's deaccessioning report, the installation has cost the city $20,752 in repairs since 2005. The sculpture is also in a state of disrepair, according to the report, and could pose a potential hazard to pedestrians.

In an effort to preserve her artwork, Varella has cited the Visual Artists Rights Act (VARA), a city-wide policy which forbids the intentional removal or negligence of “works of recognized stature."

A letter directed to the city councilman by Varellas’ attorney states that “if the city of Palo Alto does not agree to keep the sculpture in

place, as well as to perform routine maintenance on the work, Varella will consider filing a lawsuit.”

Car-Free University Avenue Palo Alto City Council is mulling over a proposal to make University Avenue more pedestrian-friendly. The City Council voted to add the program to the City's list of potential ideas for 2018 back in October 2017 but has not initiated anything yet.

“We have not been tasked to conduct a study at this point,” wrote Director of Planning and Community Environment Hillary Gitelman in an email to The Stanford Daily. “If we are asked to do so, I’m sure it will involve extensive community engagement and we would welcome [the Stanford community’s] participation.”

According to the city's deaccessioning report, the [Digital DNA] installation has cost the city $20,752 in repairs since 2005.

The project idea was modeled after the Third Street Promenade in Santa Monica, Los Angeles, which is a successful outdoor pedestrian mall built in 1989 with the intent to liven up the city.

“I think it would be a good idea to make University Avenue car free” said Paly sophomore Faisal Ojjeh. “If they decided to go ahead with the project, they could use the new space for better things.”

Although the proposal has many upsides, an increase in traffic and lack of parking could pose major problems. A lack of available parking on University Avenue may result in an overflow of cars into residential neighborhoods.

“If you look at what happened in Santa Monica, it took lots and lots of debate for [the pedestrian mall] to finally happen, but I think most would agree that it was a very positive change for the city, and people are glad that they did it,” said Greg Tanaka, a Palo Alto City Council member, in an interview with The Stanford Daily.

The idea is still in early stages and will require lots of input before a decision is made on whether the project is feasible and welcomed by the greater community.

Shake Shack moves to Bay Area Shake Shack, a restaurant founded by Daniel Meyer in 2004 best known for its burgers and milkshakes, is opening its firstever Bay Area location in the Stanford Mall, replacing Wells Fargo. This location is one of the three Shake Shacks planned for the Bay Area. The other locations are planned for Marin and San Francisco. The Palo Alto location is planned to open in all of this year, with the San Francisco location following in early 2019.

The Shake Shack in Palo Alto is likely to face competition from local favorites like Gott's Roadside, Five Guys, Kirk’s and the West Coast classic In and Out, but it will be one of the only restaurants specializing in burgers in the Stanford Mall.

Staff Writer

he Teen Arts Council (TAC) recently hosted the first Open Mic Night of the year at the Mitchell Park Community Center. The free event aimed to showcase local student talent.

TAC has been hosting open mic nights since 2010 and has generally held four per school year, according to junior and TAC member Anoushka Sharma.

“I love this event because there’s always so much surprising talent and you get to meet new people and see a wide variety of performances,” said senior and TAC president Nandini Relan.

“People are able to meet other teens in the community and share their love of music, comedy, or playing an instrument."

Anoushka Sharma Open Mic Nights typically feature approximately 16 performances and host over 100 audience members, according to Relan. Performances include a wide variety of acts such as singing, comedy and poetry.

“The performances vary

drastically,” said junior Olivia Brown. “Two of my favorites were a rock band and [a comedy performance] preaching about Jesus Christ. You never really know what you’ll see there, but I’d say most of the performances are singing.”

The event ’s f requently large turnout and popularity are courtesy of the entertaining performances and fun atmosphere, according to Relan.

“Almost everyone who goes to these events always say something about how they can’t believe they’ve never been to these before and how much fun it is,” Relan said.

“Seniors are especially encouraged [to attend] because this might be their last chance and they might regret missing it.”

The Open Mic Nights attract a wide variety of student performers, thanks to the enthusiastic and welcoming audience, according to Brown.

The supportive atmosphere makes it easier for performers and is a large reason why Brown performed at the open mic night. She sang a duet with Sharma while junior Caity Berry played the ukulele.

The supportive atmosphere helps performers showcase their talent and gain experience in a stress-f ree environment, according to Brown.

Juniors Derek Zhou, Annie Tsui and Robert Vetter also performed at the event, where Tsui and Vetter performed

slam poetry together.

In addition to the entertaining performances, the Open Mic Night brought a unique opportunity to meet new people f rom around the area.

“People are able to meet other teens in the community and share their love of music, comedy, or playing an instrument which is always great,” Sharma said.

“[Open Mic Night] is special because you get to see Paly and Gunn come together.”

Olivia Brown Although TAC caters the event toward Palo Alto students, it allows students f rom local high schools to meet and mingle.

This results in a unified and supportive atmosphere that combats the competitive nature of the area. “[Open Mic Night] is special because you get to see Paly and Gunn come together,” Brown said.

TAC has other events in store, including another Open Mic Night this semester and an art and music festival called Buoyancy. The popular festival will take place this June, and will include live performances, food trucks and games.

Paly's first science fair to be held in April Students found STEM club modeled off Jordan Science Fair

By Samantha Hwang

T

Staff Writer

he Paly Science Fair Club will be hosting Paly’s first ever science fair this April to showcase the scientific ideas and inventions of Paly students in the Peery Family Center.

Though the Science Fair Club is still in the process of figuring out the details for the event, they have determined that it will take place on April 22.

The club officers drew inspiration from Jordan Middle School's popular science fair, which has been held for the past nine years.

“Within our planning com-

mittee, a few of us actually participated [at Jordan], so we were wondering why that wasn’t at Paly,” said sophomore and club president Sonny Young. “We wanted to bring that positive experience here.”

Students who are interested in participating in the science fair will be able to sign up online starting March 9, and can either participate individually or choose to collaborate in groups of two or three.

Young expressed trouble in spreading the word and getting students involved.

“Because it’s a first time thing, there’s not much awareness yet,” Young said. “However, right now we’re in the middle of reaching out to as many people

as we can, whether it’s emailing clubs or contacting organizations.”

The science fair is only intended to be a one-night event, but the organizers hope that it will be used as an opportunity for students to prepare for other national science fairs, such as the Google Science Fair, The Synopsys Science Fair and the Regeneron Science Talent Search.

As an added incentive for students, any participants of the Paly science fair will have the opportunity to win a prize or enter in a raffle.

Other STEM organizations are encouraged to participate by showcasing any projects or ideas on the day of the science fair.

Board to discuss implementing semester-long computer science course requirement Committee prompts Board to reconsider the skills necessary to ensure all Paly students graduate with a well-rounded education

By Byron Zhang and Waverly Long Staff Writers

A

committee established last year to promote computer science education in Palo Alto Unified School District (PAUSD) is advocating for the addition of a computer science graduation requirement for high school students. The committee is expected to formally present this proposal to the PAUSD Board of Education for its review as soon as May 8.

According to Robbie Selwyn, a Paly junior and member of PAUSD’s Computer Science Curriculum Design Advisory Committee (CDAC), the committee informed the Board last spring of its recommendation to add a semester of computer science to the existing high school requirements, along with a few other suggestions. A formal proposal to the Board is expected soon.

William Friebel, a math and computer science teacher at Paly, is supportive of the potential requirement. “[Coding is] a basic skill that everyone should have coming out of high school,” Friebel said. “In the modern age, technology is just so

prevalent that understanding, at the very basic level, how things work is a new form of literacy that we need to add on. We still need mathematical literacy, we still need literacy in English and our language, but now we also need at least a basic competence with technological literacy.”

This push for increased computer science literacy stems f rom a societal shift towards computer dependence, according to Friebel.

“[Coding is] a basic skill that everyone should have coming out of high school."

William Friebel “You need to be comfortable in the media that are prevalent in your society,” Friebel said.

“Since in our society and our time it is all done via technology, you need to have a basic competency in that to participate. Also, many industries are going to be using some sort of coding or computer science as an aspect of your job, even if you aren’t a software developer or an engineer of some kind…

I think it’s a very valuable tool

that people can then take to progress in whatever direction they choose to take.”

Christopher Kuszmaul, a Paly computer science teacher and a member of CDAC, shares Friebel’s viewpoints.

According to Kuszmaul, approximately 750 students graduate f rom PAUSD each year without taking any computer science courses.

Junior Ashley Hitchings has mixed feelings about a potential computer science course requirement.

“On one hand, I think technology is the future, so it’s really important for students to be well-versed in technological skills,” Hitchings said.

“But also on the other hand, by requiring everyone to take computer science classes, we’re pushing students to focus in STEM in a community that ’s already disproportionately pushing students towards the STEM industry and could be harmful to students interested in the liberal arts.”

School Board Vice President Jennifer DiBrienza has similar concerns. DiBrienza fears adding more requirements would leave less room for flexibility, and said the Board is interested in discussing the implications of imple-

menting such a curriculum.

However, DiBrienza is aware of the community’s interest in discussing a computer science course requirement and sees both sides of the argument.

“Something we are definitely considering is how do we make sure that [the added requirement] is not something that would take away from other classes."

Robbie Selwyn “I have not formed an opinion yet,” DiBrienza said.”I definitely acknowledge that there are pros and cons on each side. Obviously computer science is becoming more and more of a vital part of just functioning in our daily lives to some extent. Yet we require a lot for [high schoolers] to graduate, and I think it’s really important we leave you some flexibility and some room for some electives in what you want to pursue.”

The computer curriculum committee has wrestled with

PROS

CONS

•All students graduate with basic knowledge in CS

•Reduces flexibility with student schedules

•Opens up career options for students

•Potentially over-emphasizes STEM courses

•Prepares students for future societal shift towards dependence on technology

•Provides an obstacle for students pursuing a different career path

many of the same concerns expressed by Hitchings and DiBrienza — that adding a computer science requirement could interfere with students’ f reedom to select classes based on their passion.

“I know students already have a lot on their plate; something that we are definitely considering is how do we make sure that [the added requirement] is not something that would take away f rom other classes,” Selwyn said.

“We briefly discussed letting it double-count for the Career Tech Education (CTE) and the CS requirement so that people don’t have to take two different CTE [for] credits, but I’m not sure that is legally possible given the way graduation requirements work.”

The main objective of Pa-

ly’s course requirements is to ensure all students graduate as well-educated adults, Selwyn said. For example, Living Skills and CTE requirements both aim to prepare students for life beyond high school.

According to Selwyn, CDAC’s goal is to advocate for the recognition of computer science as a tool necessary to becoming a well-educated adult.

However, Paly visual arts teacher Susan La Fetra disagrees with CDAC’s take on what it means to be an achieved adult.

“I really think that there are people who do not need programming to have a successful life, therefore making it a [required course] is a little bit extreme,” La Fetra said. “One does need to be competent to use computer application.”

The Campanile

Friday, March 2, 2018

OPINION A5 Students with A’s should be exempt from finals

By Sophia Moore

M

Staff Writer

any students have experienced the anguish of having an A minus the week before the final. However, if the purpose of a final is to determine whether one has understood the course, students with A minuses or higher as an overall semester grade have already demonstrated comprehension and the ability to apply the concepts taught. People who have earned an A minus should not have to take the final because it is an unnecessary stressor.

By exempting students with an A minus or better, it would only be the cause for a better motivated Paly staff and student body.

“I have already worked hard in order to understand the material,” said sophomore Naomi Jecker.

“So, why should I have to study what I learned throughout an entire semester for multiple classes just for my grade to possibly fall a letter down?”

Usually accounting for 15 percent or more of the total grade, one final has the ability to lower

a grade by a full letter. Students who have shown consistent effort and understanding should not have to take part in that risk.

There should not be a possibility of unsteadiness in an A grade; diligence should be rewarded.

“After a whole semester, I really just want to ease out of school life instead of going through a last ditch effort to force information I learned at the very beginning of the year into my brain,” said sophomore Sarah O’Riordan.

The majority of students, including those who have an A minus or higher in a class, have already been stressing for the entire semester. Therefore, those with an A minus should be able to catch a break as they have continuously shown, from beginning to end of the semester, that they are dedicated to learning the course material.

In Josep Vericat’s Spanish 3 class, those who have earned an A minus or higher before the date of the final are exempt from taking it.

“The final never tells me anything I didn’t know about the student already because they have been tested on the material before,” Vericat said. “And those with A’s have already proven themselves.”

During finals week, students

should focus on finals for classes in which their grade needs to be pulled up. Having to review the entire semester’s course load for multiple classes is difficult, brings unnecessary pressure to the already stressful student environment and forces students to make the decision for which class to focus spending valuable studying time.

On the other hand, those with a borderline grade, or a grade overall less than an A minus, should be given the chance to prove that they have what it takes to comprehend the material given through the course of one semester in order to raise their grade to an A minus or a higher grade in general (for example from a B minus to a B).

Furthermore, those with a failing grade have not shown any particular investment in the course, so it should not matter if they take the final as it won’t affect a failing grade regardless.

Additionally, students enrolled in AP courses should be focused on passing the AP exam rather than studying for finals, as an AP exam is more important than a final because it determines whether a student can receive college credit for the course in the future.

Moreover, those taking AP courses, usually juniors, are also

most likely preparing for standardized tests like the ACT or SAT. AP exams and standardized tests are top priority and students should be able to opt out of a final if proven understanding of the semester’s material by receiving an A minus or higher.

This would also be effective to implement as it would give teachers incentive to improve their ability to teach and prepare their students, as they would have to grade fewer tests.

Students would also be incentivized to work harder throughout the year to maintain an A minus or higher letter grade. By exempting students with an A minus or higher, it would only be the cause for a better motivated Paly staff and student body.

Although it’s argued that finals should be applied because learning and then relearning material through studying is the best way to ensure retention, students have already gone through the learning and relearning process by absorbing the material when first introduced, then by completing the assigned homework and finally by rigorously studying for unit tests which are usually cumulative.

This leaves finals without a purpose for those who show comprehension.

supervision of a qualified coach.

At first glance, this criteria is understandable, but a deeper look shows it is riddled with fundamental flaws.

To start, needing three years of prior experience towards a sport is unfair to ask of students and is, quite frankly, irrelevant. It is understandable that Paly wants its students to show a certain level of dedication to their sport before granting them a prep period; however, these student athletes are still spending the same countless hours as any other student athlete, and their efforts should be rewarded accordingly.

As stated by the course catalog, the main focus of physical education is to lay “the foundation for a physically active lifestyle ... so that students become independent learners who initiate and monitor their own participation in physical activity.” It is sufficient to say that any athlete spending more than 15 hours a week, five to six days a week year round can easily meet or surpass this mission statement, regardless of how many years of experience they posses.

This brings up yet another

problem: a student in P.E. gets less than four hours of exercise a week from the class.

Why does it take almost four times this amount of hours put into athletics outside of school to be exempt from physical education inside of school? Exercising 15 hours a week outside of school to replace the four hours during school is not fair.

Many students who do not satisfy all of the demanding requirements instated by the independent study prep policy often face difficulties from these restrictive policies.

“I do crew and I have 15 hours of practice a week, 21 including transportation,” said sophomore Lucas Finot, who was not given an independent study prep due to the fact that he did not meet the three years of prior experience requirement. “I often find myself losing sleep because I don’t have enough time to do all my homework and projects or study.”

On the other hand, according to Peter Diepenbrock, a physical education staff member, “[The physical education staff ] ideally would prefer to have all students

in P.E. We think it’s very important from both a lifelong fitness perspective and from a social development perspective as well.”

Sports prep policy ought to be more accommodating

By Miranda Li

M

Stoff Writer

any students are familiar with the stress of balancing loads of school work with other obligations, such as extracurricular activities, sports and familial obligations. For students who participate in athletics, their numerous hours of practice are often complimented with unnecessary and time wasting physical education (P.E.).

Palo Alto High School established its Independent Study P.E. Prep Policies to allow student athletes who do not practice sports on a Paly team the chance to apply for a preparatory period in place of physical education.

However, this policy is flawed.

To be eligible for an Independent Study prep, there are three conditions that need to be met: the student must have a minimum of three years of prior experience in the activity, the qualifying experience must be a year-round instruction or training five to six days per week and the student must train a minimum of 15 hours per week under the appropriate

Athletes who are highly committed to their sports lack the time after school to complete homework, projects or study for exams, leading to loss of sleep.

But above all, a prep period is essential for student health. Athletes who are highly committed to their sports lack the time after school to complete homework, projects or study for exams, leading to many late nights and loss of sleep.

Additionally, students who are struggling in class lack the opportunity to seek and receive extra help from their teachers.

Athletes need all the time and resources they can get to ensure they can succeed academically as well as in their respective sports.

It is imperative that Paly’s prep policies are reformed so all qualified athletes earn an independent study prep.

Friday, March 2, 2018

The Campanile

OPINION A6 Television shows propagate unrealistic stereotypes

By Kaylie Nguyen Staff Writer

T

he movie “Mean Girls” is widely considered to be one of the most iconic films about high school in our generation. It tells the story of a teenage girl, Cady, as she navigates a new school divided into cliques and ruled by an elite group of popular girls. Many other films centered around teenagers dramatize high school in similar ways.

Although these portrayals may carry a seed of truth, they do not accurately depict the experience of most high school students. The hyperbolized version of school in television and movies set unreasonable expectations that are harmful in many different ways.

Actors who play teenage characters in films have usually already matured and thus set unrealistic standards for teens on how their bodies should look.

One way these portrayals are harmful is through unrealistic body representation. First of all, “teenage students” in film are often portrayed by 20- to 30-yearold actors. For example, Regina George, one of the popular girls in “Mean Girls,” is played by Rachel McAdams, who was 24 at the time. All of the actors who played

teenagers in the original cast of “Glee,” a comedy-drama television series with a high school setting, were 22 and older.

Cory Monteith, who played one of the lead characters, was 27 years old at the start of the series.

This makes most actors in high school centric films around four to 11 years older than the ages of their characters.

While these years may not seem like much, they have a huge impact in terms of a person’s physical development. Most teenagers in real life are adjusting to adolescence and, of course, that awkward transition comes with many uncomfortable bodily changes.

However, actors who play teenage characters in films have usually already matured and thus set unrealistic standards for teens on how their bodies should look.

An example of this would be “Riverdale,” another popular teen television show. The ages of the actors that play high school students in the show range from 20 to 30 years old.

“It’s not an accurate portrayal because all the guys have abs, and that’s not very realistic for teenagers who are still growing and still trying to find themselves in their bodies and minds,” said junior Alyssa Gee. “It just makes people’s expectations higher.”

According to “Media Influence on Drive for Thinness and Drive for Muscularity,” a journal

article by Mary Pritchard and Brooke Cramblitt, the media plays a large role in people’s ideas towards ideal body image. It creates a pressure to attain the ideal body type and can also cause body dissatisfaction from comparing oneself to the ideal body portrayed in media. Another issue with high school films and television is the romanticism of danger and breaking the rules.

One recurring situation that films and TV shows tend to glorify is inappropriate relationships between teachers and students.

Several examples include “Mean Girls,” “Riverdale,” “Gossip Girl,” “Pretty Little Liars” and even the film based on James Franco’s book, “Palo Alto.”

“I think [it] gives the wrong message about relationships in high school,” Gee said. “[It] could make young viewers think high school isn’t professional or safe, putting high school in a negative light as a result.”

Also, it is unfortunately uncommon for these relationship to have any repercussions when portrayed in films. According to Gee, “Riverdale” features a semiromantic relationship between one of the main characters and his music teacher, but the teacher receives minimal punishment for her actions.

“The show’s mindset comes off acting like the actions made by [the teacher] were not that of

enough importance to take the correct route and prosecute her correctly,” Gee said. “This mindset could then transfer though to the viewers, incorrectly informing them about the correct prosecution routes and even laws.”

This plot point of studentteacher relationships and the lack of consequences for the teachers also desensitizes viewers and makes it almost acceptable.

However, the reality is that these relationships are completely inappropriate, and such storylines fail to acknowledge the age of consent or the unethical nature of a relationship between a young individual and an adult in a position of power.

The drug use and underage drinking are also commonly romanticized, setting a bad precedent for young viewers. The portrayal of teenagers acting recklessly only encourages other teens to act similarly in their everyday lives.

“Despite the negative portrayal of teens, [‘Riverdale’ is] an interesting show to watch, if you set it aside from reality,” Gee said.

While it is understandable that film is saturated with tasteless illegal behavior and melodrama for entertainment, we must consider the effects of these portrayals. They make it more difficult for viewers to distinguish between reality and fiction, and between what is acceptable and what is not.

be able to refresh themselves on the very content that the teacher previously went over.

This also proves to be very useful for cumulative exams, such as midterms or finals at the end of the semester.

Rather than scrambling to old worksheets and notes, students can relearn the content the same way they did the first time by watching and hearing their teacher explain it.

Next, for students that miss class, this system is unparalleled in providing assistance for catching up. Students can get as close to the experience that other students got during the lesson without having been there.

With videos, students are also able to pinpoint specific parts of the lesson that they had trouble grasping and can hear the teacher explain it again and again and again.

Being able to review lessons would allow students to fill in the holes in their understanding of the lesson from the first time.

The benefit of this video system especially applies to math and science, since it’s easier to understand a concept by seeing it used in practice than it is to read

a formula from a textbook. While textbooks do generally include examples of how to apply formulas, they are often poorly explained and harder to understand than a video would be. This would especially benefit auditory learners, as the ability to hear the content would make it easier to grasp.

One of the biggest benefits to this system is that it puts less pressure on the students to feel like they immediately have to understand concepts the first time they are taught.

To truly understand a lesson and know how to complete a task consistently, it’s essential to review the material thoroughly. This system lets students know that there is always be the possibility and that if they become overwhelmed by the content the first time, then they’ll be able to go over it as many times as they need to. Furthermore, it allows students to review material on their own time, since it can be hard to make it to Flex during weeks with a heavier workload.

It could be argued that setting up this system would be a lot of work for teachers, but realistically, this process shouldn’t take much more than a few moments

for a teacher per class. And if they just record one of the periods and share it with all students, teachers would only have to spend a few moments every few days in exchange for an insurmountable increase in learning and understanding.

Students would be more than willing to assist a teacher in pressing a record button on a camera, if it meant being able to review a lesson.

The benefits of this system clearly outweigh the minimal technical implications.

Recording class lectures will alleviate student stress

By Bernie Koen

W

Staff Writer

e’ve all been there: it’s the night before a unit test, and the first few sections of the chapter remain a distant memory. You anxiously rush to your textbook, trying to relearn lessons that you never really grasped in the first place, to no avail. You read the textbook over and over again, searching for the glimmering hope that the content will somehow make sense.

This struggle, stress and search for help could have been avoided if your teacher had taken a few extra minutes to record the lesson.

If all math and science teachers recorded their lessons, their students would be able to grasp content more holistically and exit the course with a more comprehensive understanding of the material and a better grade.

The most obvious benefit to having teachers record their lessons is that students would be able to review them an unlimited amount of times before a test.

Rather than being forced to rely on a textbook or online resources that might not align with the curriculum,hubhj students would

Students would be more than willing to assist a teacher in pressing a record button on a camera, if it meant being able to review a lesson.

By implementing this system, Paly would see an increase in students engagement and understanding of the material, while lowering the academic stress and pressure felt while trying to focus on grasping content the first time it is presented while trying to focus on grasping content the first time it is presented.

The Campanile

Friday, March 2, 2018

A7

OPINION

Minimum days should be spread out over course of year

By Gracie Kitayama Senior Staff Writer

W

ho doesn’t love a minimum day? Students can leave at noon to enjoy a stress-free off-campus lunch and teachers can attend meetings without having to stay at school for too long. Students and teachers alike can laze through 30-minute periods with minimal effort; after all, what is the point of teaching or even attending a class that is one-third the time of its usual length?

However, while some students may enjoy minimum days at the time during which they occur, these days may come back to haunt students in more ways than one.

If the District requires that Paly have these minimum days, it should also have the common sense to not schedule three minimum days in a week.

During the week of Feb. 5, Palo Alto High School had three minimum days in a week. This reduced the amount of instructional time from 235 minutes to 190

minutes a week per subject. As a result, students lost at least 45 minutes of instructional time in each class period.

Though it may seem like 45 minutes is not much time lost, in reality, it is likely that even more time was lost during the week than what appears on the class schedule. Teachers and students at Paly are both used to 55- or 90-minute periods to teach and learn all of the information that had been planned out for the day’s lesson.

However, when teachers are not given the full amount of time to lecture, proctor a full quiz or answer students’ questions thoroughly, students lose out on almost an entire day’s worth of learning.

Senior Joonsung Ha struggled to adjust to the alternate schedule.

“I think when you have staggered periods like that you can’t really focus for extended periods of time so to the extent it did [negatively impact learning],” Ha said.

Additionally, some blended classes forwent holding classes at all. AP Psychology teachers Melinda Mattes and Christopher Farina did not meet with their classes on Monday because, ac-

cording to Mattes, there was not a lesson plan that would fit in the allotted class time.

“As a blended course, students have up to one period per week blended when they are not required to physically be in class,” wrote Mattes “For that particular week, it made sense to make the minimum day blended. Given that we didn’t have a 30-minute activity that would conveniently fit at that point in the curriculum and that we had other weeks coming up that were not “normal schedule,” we opted to use it as our blended period. Otherwise, we feared that it would require trying to cram a lot of information in a very quick period.”

This lost time not only detracts from the amount of subject matter that students learn during the week but also can put students behind in the curriculum, potentially for the rest of the semester.

When students, for example, take the AP test, they will be testing against students who have had more academic minutes to learn about the subjects that they have been taught. Now, compared to other years, students will have a less thorough lesson in relation to their respective classmates, with the possibility of lower test scores

for the current unit.

The minimum day on Monday was in place for teachers to meet after school while the subsequent minimum days were held to accommodate for the American Mathematics Competition (AMC) test being taken by some Paly students.

Though these three minimum days are unavoidable, the District could have tried harder to schedule the three minimum days farther away from each other so they were not on the same week and did not create such a big discrepancy in instruction time.

A simple solution to this issue would be to hold a minimum day in the weeks preceding or after the AMC test so that less time would be lost in a single week.

The District could have avoided scheduling three minimum days in a week. If the District requires that Paly have these minimum days, it should also have the common sense to not schedule three minimum days in a week.

Next year, the District could make the 12:30 p.m. dismissal minimum day in a different month than the AMC test, thus ensuring that the minimum days will not occur within the same unit for a class.

ditionally unweighted elective courses as honors — be it for journalism courses or not — is it encourages students to take a given course not because of the impact on their weighted GPA, but because they are genuinely interested in the subject. As a result, although enrollment data for next year is not yet conclusive, the odds of a drop in enrollment in weighted elective courses are reduced compared to if the courses remained unweighted.

Offering weighted elective courses seems logical in order to maintain enrollment and interest in Paly’s amazing pathways, electives and non-electives alike, while allowing students to take advantage of the weighted GPA. However, there is a cause for concern. The fundamental purpose of the weighted GPA is to give students more credit for taking academically challenging courses, which may not be reflected in one’s unweighted GPA. For example, if Student A takes “easy” classes but has the same letter grades, and therefore unweighted GPA, as Student B who takes “hard” classes, the efforts of Student B may not be evident in their unweighted GPA, which may hinder their admission chances into more competitive colleges.

Yet, this logic in favor of the weighted GPAs raises many questions as to what its effects mean for Paly students, namely the recent spike in unweighted electives to be offered as honors.

First, with more weighted courses available, a “high” weighted GPA is meaningless. If there is a greater supply of students with high weighted GPAs, the aca-

demic prestige of having a high weighted GPA decreases because said students are no longer as “outstanding,” thus hurting all students’ chances for college admissions and defeating the purpose of weighted GPAs. Second, weighting more courses will likely fuel more debate in the weighted GPA saga, call into question the legitimacy of Paly’s weighted GPAs and sow unnecessary conflict among community members. For example, does honors mean “this course wouldn’t be around if it wasn’t honors,” or does it mean “this course is rigorous and challenging?”

Some may say that the meaning of honors can be rectified by requiring more work to be done for the new honors courses. However, while this may seem straightforward in theory, it is much more difficult in practice.

For example, should The Campanile produce more often per year, leading to more late nights for already-stressed students?

Should students have to write more articles and devote more hours of time towards homework?

Should they be more given tests and quizzes? Should they be graded on effort, creativity, teamwork or quality of writing?

Third, efforts to incentivize students to take weighted courses — whether to preserve enrollment or encourage students to take advantage of the weighted GPA — not only undermine the significance of honors and weighted GPAs, but, more importantly, are contrary to Paly’s mental health and wellness goals.

If Paly decides to increase the workload significantly for newly

weighted elective courses, it will undoubtedly exacerbate stress levels, raising the question: How can Paly say it cares about mental health and also encourage students to take more weighted courses at the same time? The purposes of these two priorities could not be more polarizing.

On the other hand, if Paly does not change the course rigor for newly weighted courses, it is unfair to students who took a more rigorous honors course but received the same letter grade as students who took a now-weighted, easier elective course.

Paly ought to re-evaluate its definition of honors courses

By Neil Kapoor

P

Staff Writer

aly offers a plethora of courses and pathways, ranging from music to computer science to journalism. However, in light of some of these elective courses being offered as honors courses in the 2018-19 school year despite minimal significant change in the material or workload, it begs the question: What does an honors course mean in a school where a shrinking number of non-honors electives may remain?

After the Board of Education’s controversial decision last May to adopt weighted GPAs, students have more incentive to take a weighted course than an unweighted course simply because it may make them more competitive in their college applications.

Not surprisingly, the decision has led many elective teachers to push for an honors version of their traditionally unweighted courses in order to balance the incentives between taking a traditionally unweighted elective course and a now-weighted course.

Starting in the 2018-19 school year, many journalism elective courses — specifically Media Leadership and Management Honors, Arts and Entertainment Magazine Honors, Broadcast Honors, Graphic Publication Honors, News Magazine Honors, Newspaper Honors, Radio Broadcasting Honors, Sports Magazine Honors and Web Honors — will be offered with honors credit, but are unlikely to have significant changes in course rigor.

The logic behind offering tra-

Does honors mean “this course wouldn’t be around if it wasn’t honors,” or does it mean “this course is rigorous and challenging?”

No matter what Paly decides to do about this issue, there are two things it must keep in mind.

First, Paly must ascertain what our core values and goals as a school are. Is it to engage in the mad race of more APs and honors, even at the expense of mental health? Or do we value the mental health of an already ultra-competitive community?

Second, any decision must be democratic. Students and teachers ,those who are actually living our culture and affected most, need to have the first say.

In light of the changes at Paly, it is vital to consider the impacts of weighted GPAs and honors courses compared to what we want for the school and environment we all love.

Friday, March 2, 2018

The Campanile

A8

EDITORIALS

Administration must not cave to community pressure

W

alking onto campus on Jan. 29, students were met with an unexpected change — the mural on the south side of the Student Center, painted by alumnus James Franco in October 2014, had been painted over. A few days later, several Franco paintings in the Media Arts Center (MAC) were also taken down. While this had been a change mulled over by students and staff in light of recent sexual assault allegations against Franco, most students hadn’t expected the mural’s removal to happen so hastily and covertly, if at all.

Admittedly, taking down these murals did not impair the quality of our education. It didn’t affect our day-to-day proceedings, except when a quick glance at the Student Center revealed a blank wall instead of the familiar black and white artistic rendering of football players.

However, there is cause for concern. The danger of having the mural painted over is the precedent it sets: with enough pressure, the Palo Alto Unified School District (PAUSD) and Paly administration will bend to the will of loud community members regardless of the thoughts of students.

Of course, listening to the community’s opinions is important when making decisions that will affect the student body. Given the acrimonious community reaction online to the allegations against Franco, we can presume that Diorio was reacting in part to pressure to shield Paly from the negative Franco publicity. However, community pressure should also be taken and considered with

a grain of salt — often, the angriest voices are the loudest, and drown out the more quiet, pragmatic ones.

With a controversial topic that hits so close to home, it is imperative that administrators create dialogue with students instead of giving in to community pressures.

While parents and community members may have students’ best interests in mind, they cannot speak for us.

Although Diorio had asked the Associated Student Body (ASB) for their opinion, the general consensus was to change the location of Franco’s murals, but not remove them completely.

However, she did not follow their advice, and even if she did, ASB’s sentiments do not necessarily represent those of the entire student body.

With enough pressure, the Palo Alto Unified School District (PAUSD) and Paly administration will bend to the will of loud community members regardless of what students think Consulting students may have ultimately led to the same outcome of removing the mural, but it would have been much better received if the student body had had the opportunity to voice its opinions and had been aware

of the administration’s decision regarding the painting and the MAC murals before hasteful action was taken.

This is not to say that the administration hasn’t made wellinformed, carefully-considered decisions in the past. The Campanile applauds our administrators’ long-term efforts in redesigning the bell schedule, for example, by establishing a committee of students and teachers, administering a school-wide survey and extending the decision-making process over two school years.

Taking multiple school years to implement an important change was a smart decision — choices like these should not be rushed with limited communication between administration and the student body like the Franco decision was.

We urge administrators to take similar care with all major decisions in the future. Instead of resorting to knee-jerk reactions influenced by the loudest community members that may cause backlash and regret, we hope future important decisions will include student voices as well. We only need to look at the aftermath of the Parkland shooting to understand the value of constructive student voices.

We understand administrators are often forced to make tough decisions while constricted by time restraints and under immense pressure from all sides.

However, the next time PAUSD is stuck in an important predicament, we urge the administration to take more time to ponder complex issues before rushing towards drastic change.

I

Test rescheduling process ought to be expedited

n our educational environment, tests play a large role in determining the grades that students receive. Specifically, many students take numerous academically-challenging classes, and thus are required to balance a plethora of tests, major projects and essays on a weekly basis.

Since many students take classes that regularly administer tests, and units are generally around the same length (two to three weeks), almost every student experiences weeks during which they are overloaded with unit tests and projects. Naturally, during these weeks, students are inclined to ask teachers to change their test or project due dates.

The Campanile commends the many teachers who are flexible in allowing students to alter test dates.

When teachers deny students the flexibility to change these dates, they oftentimes assume students only want to move their tests because they are slacking off and procrastinating. How-

ever, in reality, most students are just trying to manage their class loads while recieving an adequate amount of sleep.

Therefore, teachers should understand that when students request to move a test, it is not because they do not work hard in school and could not prepare ahead of time, but rather because it is more advantageous for them to be able to study for another test or finish a project, and then solely focus on studying for that test. In this way, teachers who assume the worst in their students and do not allow adjustment of test dates are often insensitive to students who want to balance out their workloads in a more manageable way, contributing to the problem of student stress and mental health.

The Campanile commends the teachers who are flexible in allowing students to alter test dates.

However, we think a school-wide policy that mandates teachers to permit the rescheduling of exams should be implemented.

In order to eliminate students who actually do procrastinate on studying and want to use this policy as a means to push off their tests, the policy should require students to talk to their teachers about the possibility of moving their tests a week prior to the formally scheduled test date.

Additionally, teachers should require students to provide a detailed explanation of what other activities, projects and tests that they have near that test date, in order to gauge the students reasoning. In order to streamline this process, the District should create a form for students to list other academic or extracurricular commitments that would potentially conflict with testing dates.

However, we think a school-wide policy that mandates teachers to permit the rescheduling of exams shold be implemented.

These predetermined rules would ensure clear communication between teachers and students regarding the modification of test dates and would also eliminate the possibility of students merely putting off taking their tests. By requiring all teachers to allow for adjustment of test dates and standardizing the process through which these adjustments may occur, we can create a more relaxed, open educational environment at Paly.

Students require increased guidance in course selection

A

s students begin planning for next year, there are several factors to consider, but none are more important than choosing the right courses.

Yet, many students do not know where to find information about a particular class apart from a few paragraphs in the course catalogue.

Although many other resources are available, they are often poorly publicized, incomprehensive or even inaccurate. The Campanile believes that increasing the role of teacher guidance, Input Club and student perspectives in the course selection process would better allow students to choose courses that are suitable for them in terms of workload, time commitment, rigor and area of interest.

Although resources are available, they are often poorly publicized, incomphrehensive or even inaccurate.

Differences in teaching style and outdated course catalogue descriptions often mean that the course itself is drastically different than its description, making alternate sources of course descriptions all the more important.

Although the course catalogue offers a general overview of any given class, it gives minimal detail regarding day-to-day tasks and assignments. However, a class’s daily workload can play a relatively large role in a students’ decision about the course, and should not be overlooked in the course

selection process. Therefore, The Campanile proposes teachers hold open houses or panels for their classes at Flex during the weeks before course selections are due.

These open houses could be reserved for one specific class or multiple classes, and would allow students to gain a better understanding of how classes operate on a day-to-day basis. It would allow students to ask questions and gain answers directly from the source, and give teachers the chance to discuss any changes in curriculum or rigor. This system would also benefit students considering non-traditional courses, such as blended classes and eighth period classes.

Paly’s Input Club is another excellent but under-publicized resource for students looking for additional guidance about course selection. Its website has records on nearly every class at Paly, along with information including the average grade in the class, estimated time spent on homework, a class syllabus and, if applicable, the number of students taking the Advanced Placement (AP) test and the distribution of AP test scores.

The website also includes detailed descriptions of some of Paly’s less-traditional options, such as the the Social Justice Pathway and blended learning courses. Additionally, it features homework and credit calculators to help students manage their time and ensure that they have enough credits to graduate. This valuable resource must be publicized more both to returning Paly students and to incoming freshman.

Although Input Club provides provides students an excellent

resource to gain a better understanding of courses, there still isn’t enough space for student perspectives. After all, students who have taken a course and experienced the workload, homework and tests are likely the most qualified people to ask for advice.

The Campanile proposes teachers hold open houses or panels for their classes at Flex during the weeks before course selections are due.

While many students can and do ask friends in different grades for advice, this strategy is impractical for many students, particularly the younger ones. Freshman- and sophomore-level classes tend to be much more segregated by grade than classes offered to juniors and seniors, minimizing the amount of advice younger students can recieve.

In a recent editorial, The Campanile offered a solution to this problem: create a central network for Paly students to ask and answer questions about the Paly experience. This would help solve many problems, one of which is the course selection process.

By utilizing Input Club, teacher guidance and student conversations, that need for better resources can feasibly be met. These resources will ensure that when a student chooses a course, their decisions will be in the best interest of their educations.

MARCH'S TOP TEN LIST Ten Excuses To Stay Home From School 10) It's raining.

"Mandatory"

The Campanile Editors-in-Chief Maya Homan • Niklas Risano • Ehecatl Rivera Allison Wu • Ashley Zhang Online Editor Edan Sneh

Managing Editors Nicholas Melvin • Paarth Sharma

News and Opinion Editors Noah Baum • Renee Hoh

Lifestyle Editors Vivian Feng • Kesi Soundararajan

Science & Tech Editor Peyton Wang

Sports Editors Eric Li • Kiran Misner

Multimedia Editor Philip Ericsson

Khadija Abid Annie Chen Marie Davis Eric He Kennedy Herron Leyton Ho Samantha Hwang Neil Kapoor

Edward Kim Grace Kitayama Bernie Koen Raj Lele Alyssa Leong Miranda Li John Loftus Waverly Long Tess Manjarrez

Photographers Jonathan Stoschek Peyton Wang

8) Town and Country doesn't have enough vegan lunch options.

7) I have to google the acceptance rates of all of the schools that my friends got into.

6) I have moderate to severe plaque psoriasis.

5) I'm afraid of being peer pressured into juuling in the bathroom.

4) I've forgotten how to hold a pencil.

3) My teacher won't stop telling me how little they get paid.

2) I've never learned how to socialize with my peers and at this point i'm too afraid to ask.

1) There was a spider in my classroom the last time I was there and I'm scared it's still there.

-GRACIE KITAYAMA

Business Manager Philip Ericsson

Staff Writers

Peter Gold Samantha Hwang

9) We won't be learning because there's an assembly.

Board Correspondent Shannon Zhao

Advisers Esther Wojcicki • Rodney Satterthwaite Letters to the Editors: Email all letters to editors to theeds18@googlegroups.com The Campanile prints letters on a space-available basis.

We reserve the right to edit submissions.

The Campanile only prints signed letters.

Advertisements: Advertisements with The Campanile are printed with signed contracts.

For more information regarding advertisements or

Anna Meyer Sophia Moore Navid Najmabadi Lucy Nemerov Kaylie Nguyen Ethan Nissim Christopher Pierno Yusra Rafeeqi William Robins

Riley Short Leela Srinivasan Ujwal Srivastava Kiana Tavakoli John Tayeri Ben van Zyll Byron Zhang

Illustrators Annie Chen Kimberley CisnerosMartinez

Marie Davis Renee Hoh Miranda Li

Writing Coaches Evelyn Richards • Elisabeth Rubinfien sponsors in The Campanile and their size options and prices, please contact The Campanile Business Managers by email at campanile.ads@gmail.com.

Note: It is the policy of The Campanile to refrain from printing articles that misrepresent or alienate specific individuals within the Palo Alto community.

The Campanile would like to thank the PTSA for supporting the mailing of our newspaper!

Friday, March 2, 2018

The Campanile

Text By

Ethan Nissim

LIFESTYLE Best Picture Nominees Standout films and the talents behind them

The Shape of Water

Ladybird

D

irected and written by Greta Gerwig, “Lady Bird” has the viewer sitting shotgun with Christine “Lady Bird” McPherson (Saoirse Ronan), a strong-willed Sacramento high schooler who continually butts heads with her mother through the course of a turbulent senior year. The story lacks a traditional plot structure, replacing “rising action” and “climax” with several separate but important moments in Christine’s life that frame her relationship with her mother. The film treats life on the verge of adulthood with refreshingly respectful writing — Gerwig writes awkward and cringe-worthy scenes for her teenage leads without ever seeming condescending or out of touch.

As a character piece, Saoirse Ronan perfectly embodies the fierce conviction and bullheaded confidence that drives the heart of “Lady Bird.” Gerwig’s writing always frames Christine’s actions in a neutral manner, letting Ronan’s pure charisma speak for itself instead of holding the viewer’s hand and guiding them through the tangled web of problems the characters navigate. At the time of this writing, Ronan is widely considered to be leading the pack for Best Actress.

D

P

erhaps a little too on-the-nose given the politics surrounding U.S. journalism over the last two years, Steven Spielberg’s “The Post” is the story of the Washington Post’s editor and publisher, played by Tom Hanks and Meryl Streep respectively, as they work to publish the Pentagon Papers and expose the U.S. government’s activities in Vietnam. To his credit, Spielberg does an excellent job avoiding the preachy message this film could have delivered, opting for a more sincere, dramatic approach. It’s a dynamic movie, if uncomfortably similar to 2015’s “Spotlight.”

“The Post” features perhaps the most star-studded casts of any Best Picture nominee. Meryl Streep and Tom Hanks are icons of HolText & Design lywood, both showing off the talent they’re known for. Though “The Post” is

by Ethan far from the greatest performance either have given, they’re still more than believNissim able as their characters, and work alongside Spielberg to create a perfectly enjoyable film.

O

Explore the influence that fonts and colors have on our minds and the psychology behind it, and the various phenomenons that occur relating to our differing perceptions of color and patterns.

PAGE B8

D

“

unkirk” is not a war movie, it is a survival movie.

Characters don’t have emotional development, and they don’t go through elaborate personal redemption; the only emotions present are panic and fear. It’s a harrowing experience, claustrophobic despite being set on a beach so large the camera can’t capture it all.

Of all the movies on this list, “Dunkirk” is the only one that must be seen in theaters, without exception.

Hundreds of thousands of British soldiers look like ants clustered on the beaches, and the massive warships are so large the camera can’t even contain them. The sound mixing continues to raise the stakes: every gunshot is deafeningly loud, bombers overhead drown out dialogue, and the tense soundtrack keeps every second of “Dunkirk” nail-bitingly intense.

Despite the optimal viewing experience being in theatres, “Dunkirk” is the kind of movie that every film enthusiast ought to see at least once. It is intense, fearful, but also profoundly hopeful. “Dunkirk” documents one of the most inexplicable miracles of WWII, and in doing so leaves its viewers optimistic to the very end.

Three Billboards

T

“

hree Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri” is not a traditional film. With one of the most generic revenge story setups possible, “Three Billboards” quickly begins to subvert viewer expectations with every twist and turn. The advertising of “Three Billboards” was more than a little deceptive; there’s much more at work than simply “tough mother enacts revenge on crooked cops,” and it is made explicitly clear that this story is devoid of both heroes and villains. This is a story about flawed, angry people, and the disasters that occur when people don’t have a productive outlet for their rage.

“Three Billboards” sports one of the best ensemble casts of the year, with Frances McDormand’s grieving mother supported perfectly by Woody Harrelson and Sam Rockwell. Both Best Supporting Actor nominees play policemen caught up in the mess that McDormand’s grief creates. Though Harrelson’s older police chief is performed with heart, Rockwell is the clear star of the show.

His portrayal of a violent policeman is the emotional heart of the movie, far more than McDormand’s cold-blooded mother.

Though flawed, “Three Billboards” is an incredibly original and quirky drama that somehow manages to be both bleak and charmingly funny at the same time.

Lifestyle

SCIENCE & TECH

Dunkirk

ne of the most financially successful Best Picture nominees, “Get Out” is the directorial debut of Jordan Peele, formerly one-half of sketch comedy duo Key and Peele. No stranger to racial satire, Peele’s debut is a biting social commentary which focuses with a keen eye on the ways society fetishizes black men. Using surprisingly effective horror and suspense techniques, Peele sets up a creepy mystery and executes the payoff with such skill that the dramatic reveal, a premise so ridiculous that it’s a wonder the movie doesn’t immediately lose all its fear-inspiring atmosphere, is still somehow horrifying.

Social commentary, especially when satirical, is very easy to mess up. Come on too strong and it seems preachy, but ease up and the message may be lost. Peele’s writing is impeccable, providing a biting and smart movie that holds a mirror in the faces of its audience without ever seeming contrived. The characters are smart, the dialogue is punchy and occasionally hilarious, and the villains are deliciously menacing.

For an original screenplay by a first-time director, “Get Out” surpasses any expectations that could have possibly held it back.

The Post

PHOTO BY VIXREALITUM/CC0

aul Thomas Anderson’s “Phantom Thread” is the slowbuilding tale of a dressmaker, Reynolds Woodcock (Daniel Day-Lewis), in 1950s London. Woodcock lives his life by an strict set of rules, working in close tandem with his sister Cyril (Lesley Manville) until his life is overturned by the arrival of Alma (Vicky Krieps), a strong-willed young woman who serves as the inspiration for his work but refuses to submit to his eccentric lifestyle. “Phantom Thread” is a film driven by subletly, letting its lavish costumes and sets take center stage; if a scene centering around one character intentionally cooking asparagus incorrectly sounds boring, this film probably isn’t for you.

It is impossible to talk about “Phantom Thread” without mentioning Day-Lewis, whose work as an apprentice to Marc Happel, costume designer for the New York Ballet has allowed him to flesh the dressmaker out with incredible confidence and skill.

Despite its slow pace, the film is incredibly absorbing and allows the viewer intimate knowledge of a memorable cast of characters, creating an intensely moving film experience.

Get Out

arkest Hour,” directed by Joe Wright and starring Academy darling Gary Oldman, chronicles Winston Churchill’s turbulent first year as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom, as his own party tries to undermine him and German troops menace Britain. Oldman embodies the portly Prime Minister with such ease that he almost disappears into the character. In an aweinspiring display of dedication, Oldman smoked nearly $20,000 worth of cigars for the film and experienced nicotine poisoning.

That being said, “Darkest Hour” is marred by inconsistency in every other aspect of its production. The first half features absolutely stunning shots, including an especially memorable bird’s eye view of a bombed-out France.

About halfway through the runtime, the dark tone of the beginning is replaced by an almost sickly sweetness. A scene on the London Underground is so saccharine that it doesn’t even feel like it was made by the same director. Towards the end, it seems like every scene had to contain a dramatic monologue by Oldman. The inventiveness of the first half is bogged down by a second half that so blatantly panders to its Best Actor nomination that the film has becomes a shell of itself by the end.

Colorontology

P

T

“

PHOTO BY MEDIAPHOTO/CC3.0

Call Me By Your Name

C

“

all Me By Your Name” is director Luca Guadagnino’s deeply empathetic tale of a forbidden summertime romance between Elio, an introverted musician, and Oliver, a confident, carefree college student, in a time where same-sex relationships were strictly taboo. This film isn’t for the faint of heart: Guadagnino doesn’t shy away from sex, and a particular scene involving a peach about halfway through the film is so sexual that it borders an NC-17 rating.

Despite its overt sexuality, “Call Me

By Your Name” has a charming innocence to it. Timothee Chamalet, as the young Elio Perlman, paints a distinctly lovable yet flawed protagonist.

In a balancing act, Perlman and his counterpart Armie Hammer manage to portray sexual relationships without exploiting intimacy for shock value. In doing so, the leads work in tandem to create a romance so heartwarming that other love stories pale in comparison.

ALL PHOTOS FROM THE MOVIES’ PUBLICITY WEBSITES

Spotlight

PHOTO BY PEXELS/CC0

Fake activism in fashion

Various aspects of Youtube

PAGE B3

PAGES B4-B5

Fast fashion exploits activism and utilizes poor production means.

Kennedy Herron & Ethan Nissim

Phantom Thread

his awards season’s head-and-shoulders favorite, Guillermo Del Toro’s “Shape of Water” is a Beauty and the Beastesque romance, centering around a mute janitor, Elisa, and the aquatic humanoid creature that inhabits the government facility where she works. Set against the backdrop of Cold War America, Elisa must contend with ruthless American government agents and Soviet spies in her efforts to save the creature from vivisection. Del Toro directs with incredible visual flair (there’s something colored sea-foam green in every shot), and Sally Hawkins as Elisa Esposito portrays a remarkable amount of personality and charm without a single line of dialogue.

As a Del Toro production, attention is firmly placed on special effects, specifically creature design. The fish-man is perfectly brought to life with skilled prosthetics, CGI only used to animate scales and eyes. Doug Jones brings the amphibian man to life and gives a distinctly human touch to the most inhuman of characters.

In a year full of morally ambiguous stories and moody character pieces, “Shape’”s optimism helps it stick out, which may be why it attracted more nominations than any other film in this season.

Darkest Hour

Design By

Discover the possible effects that Youtube can have on its viewers.

Sports

ABBY CUMMINGS/USED WITH PERMISSION

Dance team to Nationals

Paly dance team is looking forward to competing at USA Nationals.

PAGE C6

Friday, March 2, 2018

The Campanile

LIFESTYLE

B2

Mary Ellen Bena: The woman who brings Paly events to life As Events and Activities Specialist, Bena is responsible for the careful organization of events and preparation of food

By Waverley Long

A

Staff Writer

n afternoon filled with delicious tea, magnificent acting and enthusiastic kids. A sprawling display of donuts, fruits, cereals and various breakfast foods. An exquisite arrangement of magnolia leaves, blossomed flowers and other accents.

While many Paly students see the glorious aspects of events such as Paly’s production of “Beauty and the Beast,” luncheons for staff and the grand opening of the Peery Center, what they don’t see are the individuals who plan for these occasions behind the scenes. One of the individuals who has a large impact on this planning process is Mary Ellen Bena, the Events and Activities Specialist at Paly.

As Events and Activities Specialist, Bena’s job has many different aspects, including, but not limited to, helping with the organization of events and preparation of food. Bena said her current role as Events and Activities Specialist stemmed from her love of cooking, which comes from her upbringing.

“I’m of Mexican descent, and when I was little, we used to have a lot of immediate and family activities that were centered around food,” Bena said. “to this day, I would just really believe that the way to a person’s heart is through their tummy. So, here I am.”

Growing up in Hollister, Calif., Bena joined the local 4-H Club, which is an organization that provides opportunities for hands-on projects to young people.

“It provides a lot of opportunities and personal growth and social growth, and it was a neat club,” Bena said. “There [were] two different components of it that I was involved with and [they were] cooking and sewing. So, I did a

cooking demonstration, and I just thought this was neat.”

Bena’s cooking demonstration on biscuits as part of her 4-H experience got her to the state level, where she competed with other Californians her age. Bena ultimately placed first in her category and received a first place ribbon.

Bena said her current role as Events and Activities Specialist stemmed from her love of cooking, which comes from her upbringing.

According to Bena, even before she started working at Paly, she was an active member of the community, helping with many foodrelated activities as well as other Parent Teacher Student Association (PTSA) work.

During this time, many staff members, such as Principal Diorio’s secretary, Carolyn Benfield, took notice of Bena’s cheerful personality and eagerness to help.

“I’ve known Mary Ellen since she arrived as a parent when her daughter Angelina was a freshman,” Benfield said. “I was doing the back to school mailing out in the hallway and this cheerful, fun lady came in and lit up the room.

Within 10 minutes, she was helping with the mailing.”

During her first job at Paly as secretary for the Special Education department, Bena would often bring in small treats to share. As people started to notice o Bena’s passion for cooking, she began to receive more requests to help with events, usually ones that involved food.

Principal Kim Diorio also took

notice of Bena’s passion for cooking and frequent involvement with activity planning.

About a year ago, Diorio reached out to Bena about filling a new position, Events and Activities Specialist, which Bena immediately accepted.

The creation of the new position also eased Benfield’s workload and allowed her to focus on her other duties as secretary. Before the Events and Activities Specialist position was created, the organization of all staff meetings, staff development days, leadership team meetings and social events was done by Benfield.

“Mary Ellen was always there to help, but it was a huge [amount of work] — you can imagine, even just providing bagels and cream cheese for 200 people at seven in the morning,” Benfield said. “So [it was great] to be able to focus my time on doing more of the support that my job is intended to be.”

Bena treasures the opportunity for creativity that her job provides, and strives to make every event special and connect with the attendees.

One instance where Bena demonstrated her creativity was in preparation for a staff back-toschool breakfast, where she accented the table with small notes that corresponded with the food they were placed next to.

For example, the oranges were accompanied by a sign that read the words, “Orange you glad to be back at school?” and the donuts were paired with, “Keep calm and donut stress.”

Bena also applied her creativity to her work through transforming the staff bathrooms last summer to give each department’s bathroom a theme specific to the type of environment she thought would be fitting.

WAVERLY LONG/THR CAMPANILE

Bena (second from left) is joined by several colleagues as she prepares a meal for a school function.

For example, the English department’s restroom was redecorated with an Audrey Hepburn theme, complete with Hepburn quotes and refurbished furniture.

“That’s important to me — making an ambience for you, making you feel good,” Bena said.

Bena makes creating a fitting atmosphere a priority in all the work she does.

Sometimes she sets the tone through decorations and interior design, such as the renovations in the bathroom. Another method of creating an ambiance is through the use of food. According to Benfield, food can play a role in transforming the atmosphere of special occasions in addition to more common events, such as staff meetings.

“Mary Ellen, Ms. Diorio and I [all] feel that having food and breaking bread together brings people together in a way that just having a meeting doesn’t,” Benfield said. “So even if it’s just putting some Safeway cookies out on a tray, we always want to have something just to warm the atmosphere and bring people together.”

Though Bena doesn’t always

make the food herself, food is a central part of many events.

“Many times when I do events, some of it I will prepare the food, and some of it I won’t,” Bena said.

“I will actually get caterers, or I’ll go and select a bakery that I want particular goods from that store or that bakery.”

Bena’s work behind the scenes, incorporating organizational, culinary and design skills, has resulted in many outstanding events.

Bena’s passion for cooking extends outside of her job as well.

Although she has been cooking for many years, she is still constantly trying to expand her culinary knowledge.

She enjoys reading cooking magazines and saving recipes from them, taking cooking classes when she travels with her daughters and watching the Food Network.

Though Bena has her usual

sources of knowledge, she said she gains additional cooking tips in unexpected moments as well.

One instance was when Bena’s housekeeper noticed her cooking her mother’s traditional chili verde recipe, and suggested using pork skin instead.

Bena tested it and loved it, and now incorporates pork skin in many of her dishes.

“I do gain a lot from other people, tips, and that’s why it’s so much fun taking classes and extending your knowledge,” Bena said.

Overall, Bena’s work behind the scenes, incorporating organizational, culinary and design skills, has resulted in many outstanding events.

Every occasion that Bena works towards shares the same goal: to make other people truly feel recognized.

“It’s so much fun — I’m really enjoying it,” Bena said. “I’m honored that I was asked to take this role and be the Event and Activities Specialist … My role is to make you feel special and to make them feel special. Gratification. It’s important that everyone be recognized.”

Dogspotting trend on the rise New students share experiences Students discuss adjustment to foreign school environment

By John Tayeri

D

NOGA HURWITZ AND RENEE HOH/USED WITH PERMISSION

Annie (left) spotted at back-to-school night, and an unidentified Pomeranian (right) outside Trader Joe’s.

By Renee Hoh

News & Opinion Editor

I

n the concrete jungle, new-age hunters prowl the busy streets between towering skyscrapers with iPhones held high in search of the treasured Dogspot. As valuable as Satao’s tusks, these images are proudly distributed, not on the black market, but rather the social media platform, Facebook.

Whether it be a photo of an elusive sunglasses-wearing canine or the rare stampede of hounds herded by a single human, Dogspotting is undoubtedly a lifestyle.

Around Palo Alto, a picturesque golden retriever by the name of Annie has become a local celebrity, identified by her signature black boots, large stick by her side and being typically atop a car or ledge of some sort. Belonging to senior Melissa Carleton’s family, the almost 10-year-old Annie has gained a significant online following for her signature look and habits.

“One day when she was about seven, she just jumped up on the car,” Carleton said. “We thought ‘that’s so cute,’ so we trained her to keep doing it, and the boots give her the traction to help her balance on the car. It all just kind of works together.”

Much like birdwatching, traditional Dogspotting, which is solely the act of encountering a dog in public, does not grant any tangible rewards; however, as the popularity of the venture has catapulted on online platforms, Dogspotting participants can upload photos of their spot to share with thousands.

“I’m usually not very forward with asking people if I can pet their dog, but I like to admire from

afar,” said dog lover and senior Alyssa Ibuyan. “The Facebook group allows me to do so more, because I can see dogs from all over the world.”

Featured multiple times in said Dogspotting Facebook group, Annie embodies the image of a prototype Dogspot: unique, lovable and photogenic.

In the past year, a picture of Annie at Paly posted by senior Noga Hurwitz and a video of Annie sleeping atop a car garnered over 1,100 and 1,900 likes, respectively.

“People really love [Annie],” Carleton said. “She brings a lot of joy and she’s calming to people.

Because they go to work and have really busy, stressful lives, when they see something really cute and furry, they just want to pet her and she brings people happiness.”

Around Palo Alto, a picturesque golden retriever by the name of Annie has become a local celebrity.

Paly students actively participate in the phenomenon of Dogspotting by liking or reacting to posts, commenting or posting Dogspots themselves.

“I look at the page once in a while for pictures,” Ibuyan said.

“I post in the Facebook group occasionally, maybe once or twice a year, but only if the Dogspot is really special.”

A common form of interaction within the Facebook group is the habit of “tagging,” or notifying friends, in the comments of

the post to share the image with others.

“My friend tagged me in a picture of a giant samoyed, [which looked] like a giant cloud,” Ibuyan said. “He then sent me another [photo] of a tiny samoyed and it looked like a small cloud that had broken off of a big cloud.”

With over 800,000 members and growing, the Dogspotting Facebook group has garnered a name for itself and a reputation to uphold.

The administrators of the online page situate explicit rules detailing that it must be an “unexpected encounter with random dogs” to accentuate the “spotting” aspect of the sport. Participants can easily follow the rule with a trick: if they know the name of the dog before asking the owner, the spot is invalidated.

The prestige of the group is enforced by admin deletion of posts featuring human faces or of known dogs. In addition, commenters can freely award bonus points for the dogspot post’s originality, rareness, less-limbedness or other factors.

While claiming that it is “not a cult,” Dogspotting is spreading as the enterprise has released merchandise, an app and a more “laid back” sister Facebook page, Dogspotting Society.

Although Dogspots can be measured by likes, reactions and comments, the sentiment that is ultimately true to the art of dogspotting is simply the sense of community and enjoyment.

“Honestly, we didn’t expect [Annie] to get that many follows,” Carleton said. “We don’t do it for the attention. We do it to bring joy to other people and make other people smile, but [attention] is just a byproduct of that.”

Staff Writer

o you remember back in elementary school when a new student came into the class?

Students would make posters, throw a party, have popsicles and have a good time. New students called for a special welcome, and everyone knew how to deliver when we were young.

Now, new students. might be greeted with a flimsy handshake or a small nod. Teachers barely acknowledge them, and when they first speak in class everyone is left thinking, “who is this person and since when have they been in my class?”

Part of the reason for this is that our high school is incredibly larger than our kindergarten days.

We know so many more people now, and we don’t have time to meet every single person on campus.

The excitement of welcoming a new student into our student body has worn off over the years, but the experience has remained unchanged for the transfer students themselves.

We know so many more people now, and we don’t have time to meet every single person on campus.

For them, a long new journey of ups and downs at Palo Alto has just begun.

A “bubble” is a commonly used term to describe Palo Alto. Many of us have lived here our whole lives; we have gone through the Palo Alto Unified School District (PAUSD) since kindergarten, and are nearing the end of high school.

However, teenagers are constantly moving from other cities, states or even countries, changing their lives to become new students at Paly.

For many, moving to another city is an alarming thought. It would take a great deal of time to become accustomed to a new environment, let alone get to know foreign people and places.

One may transition from a rural area to a unfamiliar suburban city, forced to adapt to different community.

Or they may be someone who switches from snacking on goldfish crackers to our prestigious kale chips sold at Trader Joe’s, influenced by the health-crazed

society of their new hometown.

So how have new students fitin to our diverse way of living?

Jordan Dillard Last August, Paly junior Jordan Dillard and his family moved from his old home in Milwaukee, Wis. “Although I’ve moved five times in the past six years, it’s been especially difficult with this last move, having been right in the middle of high school,” Dillard said.

Dillard has lived in the Midwest for most of his life, and that one of his hardest transitions was getting used to our consistently warm weather.

“I’ve noticed the people in California, and especially Palo Alto, are a lot more outgoing, even to strangers, than those in Wisconsin,” Dillard said. “It’s probably the difference in weather.”

Aside from a big shift in location, the transition to a public school with a much larger student body was just as significant for him.

According to Dillard, 400 students attended his old private school. He described his old school as a “county day school,” a term used to describe more strict learning environments. While Dillard believes that the environment at Paly is stressful, he has seen such conditions at his old school as well.

“Of course, there are others who load up their schedules up with as many honors and AP courses as they can in their last two years,” Dillard said. “There will always be students like this who try and challenge themselves in this way, and that’s not necessarily a bad thing, but perhaps this is found to be happening much more often with students at Paly.”

Dillard believes that his frequent moving will help him in the long run.

In addition, he has been introduced to many new things in Palo Alto that he never knew previously existed.

“I’d never heard of foods like boba tea and avocado toast,” Dillard said. “After having told that to a few friends, I certainly do now. There’s also the factor of living in one of the tech-centers of the world, so it’s been pretty interesting to simply hear about all the innovation that goes on

around here.”

Overall, Dillard believes that his frequent moving from one place to another will benefit him in the long run.

Dillard said, “I think it will certainly help when the time comes for upperclassmen to make the next big move in their lives in the transition to college.”

Warren Wagner Making a short drive down the Sacramento River, Calif., junior Warren Wagner moved down to the Bay Area after completing his sophomore year.

Although just a few hours away, Wagner has noted many differences between Palo Alto and the state capital, many of which include people’s jobs.

“In Palo Alto, everybody’s family works in tech, while in Sacramento most people work in government-related positions,” Wagner said. “Palo Alto is a lot more racially diverse, but it also isn’t as economically diverse. In Sacramento, there are a lot more people from different incomes.”

[Wagner] has also been introduced to many new things in Palo Alto that her never previously existed.

According to Wagner, the Paly campus is much nicer than that of his old school, and the environment is “a bit more competitive.”

“I respect the people who are so dedicated but the culture can be a little toxic,” Wagner said.

Even though Palo Alto brings many new things to the table, Wagner said that there are things missing from this city that he had access to when he lived in Sacramento.

“There were a billion great thrift stores in Sacramento but we don’t have many here,” Wagner said. “It is definitely unfortunate, but I enjoy the ones we have here.

The flea market Paly holds is also a great place to go with friends.”

For Wagner, one of the hardest things to get adjusted to was the food and its overwhelmingly high prices.

“The main thing different here food-wise are the young kind of ‘hip’ places like Asian box or Poki Bowl,” Wagner said.

He said that “all the food here that is not from a massive chain is way more expensive than it would be in my hometown.”

Friday, March 2, 2018

The Campanile

LIFESTYLE

B3

Teens turn to local cafes as spaces for completing schoolwork Establishments such as Coupa Cafe give frequent attendees a productive environment, which is conducive to working well Shannon Zhao

Board Correspondent

A

curious mix of local high school and college students, freelance coders and up-and-coming entrepreneurs fill up the local cafes, as they camp out for hours crouched over their computers. Whether it’s due to inconveniences at home, the social element of cafes, or the need for a caffeine fix, people of different ages are ditching traditional workplaces and flocking to coffee shops to work.

Many cafes are stereotypes as being overly crowded and loud, with overpriced menus and an insufficient number of toilets and outlets. Yet, these coffee shops have managed to build a loyal customer base where regulars, despite these nuisances, come to work on a weekly, sometimes daily basis.

The Campanile camped out at our favorite cyber cafes to investigate the appeal of working in coffee shops and the expanding “coffee shop culture.”

“I really like the ambiance [at Coupa Cafe]. It motivates me to stay on track when I am surrounded by other people working, especially other people working.”

Michaela Fogarty

The “coffee shop culture” is quickly evolving and cafes are no longer solely used as a space to sip and chat. Following the boom of tech startups across the Silicon Valley, coffee shops have become casual meeting spots for startups to discuss and pitch ideas, according to Camelia Coupal, co-owner of Coupa Cafe. Coupa Cafe in particular has gained mass popularity after receiving visits from former Apple CEO Steve Jobs

JOHNNY LOFTUS/THE CAMPANILE

Cafes such as Blue Bottle on University Avenue and Coupa Cafe on Ramona Street are favorites among Paly students who use these spaces for working and studying for school. and other CEOs of local companies. The impressive array of customers at these cyber cafes have contributed greatly to the appeal of working in coffee shops for students and professionals alike, according to senior Pablo Ruiz, who often studies at Red Rock Cafe.

“The conversations around me are always so interesting, you got people talking building apps and launching projects,” Ruiz said.

“I feel like at the right place and right time, you could be met with some really cool opportunities.”

Most Silicon Valley residents will cite networking as one of the most important factors to success.

The ability to create connections with an array of experts in various fields is appealing for many students who prefer to study at cafes, according to Ruiz. A cafe provides an environment where people can work and be seen working, which may lead students to feel a sense

of increased maturity when working alongside Stanford students, venture capitalists and programmers. Junior Riya Matta, who is a regular at Blue Bottle and Coupa Cafe, attributes her mastery in coding partly due to the encounters she has had with others who were coding in the cafe. Simply by glancing at the screen of the person next to her, Matta discovered a useful tool that helped her learn an intricate coding language.

“While [the library] was very peaceful, I still missed the human interactions [in cafes].”

Michaela Fogarty

“Once I sat next to someone doing some really complex stuff in C++ and I saw him using this

site called GitHub,” Matta said.

“It looked cool, so I looked it up and found out it’s basically like Facebook for coders. I actually started using it and it’s helped me so much while I’m trying to learn C++.”

The appeal of working in coffee shops can be further explained by a study conducted in the Psychonomic Bulletin & Review, where researchers compared the work efforts of people performing a task alone and people performing a task next to others also working. Researchers concluded that under the right circumstances, concentration is contagious.

Coffee shops cultivate an unique energy that facilitates a highly efficient work environment where customers can feed off of and be motivated by each other’s concentration and work ethic.

According to Matta, the clamor of plates and coffee grinders

are distinguished from the noisy screams of siblings at home, as the din in cafes translate into background noise.

“It can get a little noisy [in cafes], but I actually like it better than at libraries because at libraries, it feels like even the tiniest noise can be disruptive and distracting,” Matta said.

Libraries do not quite match the appeal of cafes despite their reputation as a study space, according to senior and avid coffee shop-goer Michaela Fogarty.

“While [the library] was very peaceful, I still missed the human interaction [in cafes],” Fogarty said. “Even though there were people around, everyone was too quiet and so I didn’t feel the atmosphere was so alive.”

In comparison, those who work in cafes feel that the people at other tables are almost like their colleagues, especially when some

of them are regulars. According to Fogarty, this connection creates a sense of community among the customers that makes people feel more energized and productive.

“It can get a little noisy [in cafes], but I actually like it better than at libraries, it feels like even the tiniest noise can be disruptive and distracting.”

Riya Matta

“I really like the ambiance [at Coupa Cafe],” Fogarty said.

“It motivates me to stay on track when I am surrounded by other people working, especially other Paly students.”

Fast fashion abuses activism Essential skills for high school

Opinion: Small businesses better reflect goals of social movements A look into all of the ins and outs of Paly students’ success

Brands inadvertently dismantle movements by using them as selling points.

By Marie Davis

I

.

Senior Staff Writer

n recent years, large fashion retailers such as Forever 21, H&M and Urban Outfitters have begun selling activism-inspired clothing featuring slogans like “We Should All Be Feminists” and “Girl Power.” In response to the prominence of social justice movements, these brands have targeted young people looking to prove to the world how “woke” they are. However, buying a graphic tee from H&M does not make you more of a women’s rights advocate.

The goal of “fast fashion” retailers is to bring rising trends to consumers for low prices. New products can be introduced and taken away weekly, leading consumers to buy items that might be gone on their next shopping trip.

In short, shoppers pay less and companies make more.

In order to rapidly please consumers at such alarming rates, retailers have resorted to using both the cheapest labor and materials they can find, consequently contributing to poor working conditions and pollution in developing countries. In fact, 80 percent of the garment workers in fast fashion factories selling “feminism” for only $9.99 are women between the ages of 18 and 24, many of whom earn less than $3 a day.

Fast fashion exploits activist slogans for a profit and consequently devalues movements that

have fought for recognition for decades by making activism into trends you can throw after a week.

“The profits made off of those kinds of shirts usually go towards big corporations who promote unfeminist behavior,” said senior Maddie Lee. “However good the intentions of the consumers or retailers may be, simply buying or making shirts with feminist slogans is never the same as actual activism.”

“Making feminism mainstream and more talked about is great, but there are more effective ways to bring this conversation up than buying t-shirts.”

Maddie Lee

And if that already isn’t enough to make you rethink half of your wardrobe, fast fashion retailers have a history of mimicking designs from small and independent artists. Most recently, Forever 21 was accused of copying a shirt by a young designer featuring the word “woman” in nine different languages. To make matters worse, the original shirt was created to raise money for women’s health care by donating 25 percent of proceeds to Planned Parenthood.

The good news is there are

tons of stores where you can show others how dedicated you are to dismantling the patriarchy without contributing to bad work ethics and conditions.

“My issue with Urban Outfitters is more so their history of cultural appropriation, blatant disregard for the copyrights of small artists and their cultural insensitivity,” wrote Philadelphia Printworks founder Maryam Pugh in an email. “Furthermore, I also take issue with their (and Forever 21’s) reliance on cheap labor. As a result of these concerns, I find any products that they produce bearing activist slogans to be disingenuous.”

Created out of love for doit-yourself and social justice issues, Philadelphia Printworks is a “community space for creative collaboration around activism.”

PPW works to support small artists and spread social justice, while also creating all products ethically.

“I feel that it’s important for every citizen to participate in the democratic process,” Pugh wrote.

“Screen printing is a medium that allows me to spread a message and to bring awareness around certain topics.”

At the My Sister store, whose slogan is “Fighting Sex Trafficking One Shirt at a Time,” 10 percent of net proceeds are donated to the nonprofit MN Girls Are Not For Sale. Through this partnership, the store supports programs that help identify at-risk youth and women and prevent trafficking. Moreover, the brand ensures all their clothing is exploitation-free by ditching the sweatshops and turning to more ethical production methods Both these stores are only a few of the hundreds of small businesses selling unique, ethicallyproduced activist designs. So if you’re looking to make a statement through your clothing, ditch fast fashion and buy from a brand that reflect the goals of the movement you want to endorse.

“I think that making feminism mainstream and more talked about is great, but there are more effective ways to bring this conversation up than buying t-shirts from a big corporation,” Lee said.

“At least buy them from places like feminist nonprofits, where your money at least goes towards the cause your shirt claims to support.”

By Edan Sneh Online Editor

T

eenagers are busy. Whether it be partaking in science competitions, playing musical instruments, acting in theater and interning, life at school may feel pressuring. Amid this stress, The Campanile has come up with some study tips and roadblocks to avoid for Paly students and teachers, with the hopes of teaching students how to not only get good grades but also enjoy studying.

Be wary of class difficulty With so many difficult classes at Paly, knowing which classes are the most time-consuming can be a valuable skill. “[I spend most of my study time on] Analysis Honors as well as AP Chemistry,” said junior Ashu Bhown. “My other weighted classes not so much, and my unweighted classes aren’t too difficult as well.”

Bhown pointed out that just because a class is labeled as an AP or honors course does not mean that countless hours will be spent studying and preparing for it. Asking upperclassmen about the classes they struggled with can help students in finding out which classes are hard and which are more relaxing.

Studying is not a placebo Studying can seem difficult and pointless to many students, but most students have experienced major academic improvements through studying. Ultimately, a contributing factor to successful studying is the study habits a student establishes.

“If you are not equipped to take notes then you are immediately handicapped in your ability to learn.”

Christopher Kuszmaul

“I believe that starting the day the homework/project is assigned, watching [academic] videos online and asking peers for help are

the best ways to study,” said senior Dylan Hu. Christopher Kuszmaul, a computer science teacher at Paly and head coach of Paly’s robotics team, says that one of the most effective form of studying is taking notes whenever possible.

“A shocking number of students are not equipped to take notes,” Kuszmaul said. “If you are not equipped to take notes then you are immediately handicapped in your ability to learn.”

Kuszmaul recommends taking notes during lectures, while reading a textbook and while doing homework.

“Notes will become a resource for you to study as a source of information,” Kuszmaul said.

Motivation gives results The secret to Bhown’s academic success cannot be entirely attributed to good study habits; his motivation also plays a big role in moving him through classes.

“I felt like I was strong in the subjects and I was recommended for it,” Bhown said. “I really like physics, and I had to accept the course load when going in, so I just stuck with it and I did it.”

History teacher Grant Blackburn also sees these patterns when observing the students in his Economics, Contemporary World and AP Macroeconomics classes.

“It is better to do all your work and struggle through your mistakes than to do nothing,” Blackburn said.

Blackburn feels that with the right motivation, any student can achieve success. Harnessing this motivation often leads to more success, according to Blackburn.

“I would say to try [in class],” Blackburn said. “Feeling successful is a great way to drive yourself.”

Avoid overscheduling yourself Knowing yourself and your limits is an important detail to doing well in school, according to Bhown.

“My students seem to be under a lot of pressure that is created by many different directions,” Kuszmaul said. “We want our students to have balance. When students are given less work in your class then they expand the amount of time they put into other classes and the students are less invested in a class.”

According to Kuszmaul, teachers should also play a big role in ensuring that students have time for all their activities. Kuszmaul observes that many teachers give students as much work as possible to ensure that they learn their material. By giving students as much work as possible, no matter what, the student will learn the material the teacher is teaching, and the teacher will have confidence they are teaching the students the material correctly. Kuszmaul sees this teaching method as a fair reaction to decreased student interest in a class, but he abides by an alternative he deems is better for both students and teachers.

“It is better to do all your work and struggle through your mistakes than to do nothing.”

Grant Blackburn

“I try to make it so the demands of the class are not extreme but while you are in my class you must be working on my class,” Kuszmaul said.

Build relationships with teachers Teachers can look intimidating, but most want to help students succeed.

“I like to look at my statistics as a whole group, but individually I get to know each students and I care about each student,” said Paly math teacher Natalie Docktor.

“The more of a relationship that I have with a student brings out more caring [qualities from me].”

Some students also think that their teacher might not want to talk to them because they have a low grade, but with many teachers, it’s the exact opposite.

“If you are a student who is trying their hardest and not seeing a lot of success, I would talk to the teacher about this and see if you can find ways to create moments of success,” Blackburn said.

However, as Docktor emphasizes, teachers are not there to save every struggling student, but the struggling students who want to learn.

Docktor said, “If it gets to a point where [a student] gets [an] F after F ... I give up, too.”

Friday, March 2, 2018

The Campanile

B4

SP TLIGHT

https://www.youtube.com/shift/features-magazines-top-10-fa

Text & Design by Leyton Ho and Kiran Misner

Home

YouTube Will Never Be T

Trending

Logan Paul’s Suicide Forest Vid

History BEST OF YOUTUBE Do you believe YouTube is a viable career path?

We found a dead body!

Logan Paul 6.2 M views

Yes No

Do you watch Vloggers on YouTube?

Yes Sometimes No

Aquarium Kids P

aly junior Evan Baldonado’s AquariumKids story began with the 2012 Duveneck Elementary School Harvest Carnival.

The carnival offered goldfish as the prize for winning a game.

As an event populated by young children, the game was very popular and many goldfish were given out. However, these children and their families were ill equipped to care for the goldfish and many passed away shortly after the carnival.

When the 2013 Duveneck Harvest Carnival rolled around, Baldonado was prepared, giving out a care sheet for the goldfish to all new owners.

“People didn’t know how to care for their goldfish properly and a care sheet provided the information that they needed in order to do a better job,” Baldonado said.

This care sheet grew into a website — AquariumKids.com — and, eventually, a YouTube channel.

“I created my channel to complement my website, AquariumKids.com,” Baldonado said.

“For me, YouTube is not my sole venture; rather it is a way for me to expand the online presence of AquariumKids.”

The channel boasts over 2,700 subscribers and has a video with over 300,000 views.

For Baldonado, growing his channel has been a experiment, and he attempted a plethora of different strategies to attract more viewers before definitively settling on one.

“The best way to grow a channel is to find a niche and then to upload content consistently,” Baldonado said. “I have also found

that channel growth speeds up exponentially as you become more well-known in what some people call the ‘snowball effect.’ While strategies such as ‘sub for sub’ may provide some level of success, they are not sustainable in the long run. Instead, find something that makes you unique and separates you from others. For me, that was creating top 10 videos about fish.”

AquariumKids’ top 10 countdown videos are among the most viewed on the channel, showing the validity of Baldonado’s method.

“Right now, of my top 20 videos in terms of total view count, top 10 (or top 5) style videos account for 17 of them,” Baldonado said.

In keeping up with YouTube’s changing culture, Baldonado has witnessed the effects of YouTube’s monetization on smaller channels.

“In light of recent events, YouTube announced that it will now require 4,000 watch hours and 1,000 subscribers before someone is eligible to [make money],” Baldonado said. “It will also retroactively apply these new criteria to existing accounts and many old accounts will no longer be able to earn money from their channels.

I have seen a significant backlash from smaller aquarium YouTubers who will be impacted.”

The increasing restrictions YouTube is placing on its creators does not take away the vibrant community and positive benefits the platform offers.

“YouTube has definitely had a positive influence on my life,” Baldonado said. “It has taught me that people really care about what you have to say and that one person can make an impact on the lives of many others.”

*Insert clickbait here Vlogger100

2 months ago

2.1K views

12 hours ago

The Antics of Logan Paul

“Y

o, are you alive?” infamous YouTuber Logan Paul shouts at a dangling dead body in a video published on Dec. 31 depicting Paul exploring Aokigahara, a Japanese forest famous for suicides. The camera zooms in on the body, and Paul comments on the man’s sickening purple hands. The video then cuts to Paul standing in a clearing chuckling and joking about the experience. He dons a cartoonish green monster hat along with a loud Gucci jacket.

The scene is grotesque, disturbing, even inhumane. After all, what person in their right mind would document adventures into a Japanese forest known for suicide?

What person would joke around about dead bodies, directly mocking suicide victims? What person would edit video footage of their endeavor and consciously decide to post it to over 15 million subscribers, many of them children?

Whatever the thought process behind it, Logan Paul’s suicide video marked a turning point not only for his career but also for YouTube as a whole. Paul’s video drew immense public criticism and has resulted in a larger discussion of YouTube’s policies toward inappropriate content. A delay in flagging the video and in punishing Paul for his wrongdoing has put YouTube under the spotlight, with the public anxious to see what actions the tech giant will take next.

But YouTube is not alone in its struggle to balance free speech with censorship online. Facebook and Snapchat, which are

O

following in YouTube’s footsteps in showcasing more short personal videos, are struggling with the same dilemma. While these media sources give us access to more than we could ever ask for — information, humor, role models — the openness also spawns darker content that the outlets are unsure how to control. These days, the platforms are at a crucial crossroads, and their steps toward addressing these issues will shape the future of mass media.

YouTube hesitated at first.

It wasn’t until Feb. 8, more than a month after the offensive Paul forest video was published that YouTube tweeted out, “In response to Logan Paul’s recent pattern of behavior, we’ve temporarily suspended ads on his channels.”

Some, including Paly junior Zoe Sid, feel this punishment is too minor and that Paul should be kicked off YouTube entirely.

“As a YouTuber I think you need to really think about your content before posting it,” Sid said. “As for YouTube, I think that type of behavior should be unacceptable and any creators that don’t comply should have their account removed immediately.”

Katherine Berry, a Gunn High school graduate and creator of the YouTube channel “Katherout” with over 115,000 subscribers, echoed Sid’s sentiments.

“I have personally lost loved ones to suicide, and for him to sensationalize this deeply serious place in Japan is intolerable,” Berry said. “His absolute lack of empathy is predictable, but still ridiculous.”

Berry was also disgusted by YouTube’s reaction to Paul’s video and believed that the video should have been promptly taken down.

“YouTube’s reaction to the incident was also cautious and disingenuous — they took a full week to come out with any kind of statement,” Berry said. “And, in that time, if his video was re-uploaded by other users, those videos were left monetized. Clearly, YouTube hasn’t learned from its mistakes. It was apparent that the platform values Logan Paul’s contributions to the platform more than respect for viewers everywhere. YouTube should have immediately flagged his video like they do with actual clean content.”

On Jan. 2, two days after the original suicide forest video had been posted, Paul issued an apology.

“I should have never posted the video,” Paul said. “I should have put the cameras down.”

At the time, he exhibited remorse and claimed that he learned from his mistakes. He hadn’t. In a video posted on Feb. 5, Paul exclaimed, “No rat comes into my house without getting Tased” while shooting two dead rats with a Taser.

Paul isn’t the only YouTuber prioritizing views and subscribers without considering whether their content is suitable for all audiences. Given the monetary and social incentives for YouTubers to succeed, they aren’t going to be dissuaded unless YouTube punishes violators like Paul, sending a message to the rest of the YouTube community.

YouTube’s Culture Shift

ver the past couple of XYZ’ and expect it to get any sort years, YouTube’s culture of high engagement.” has begun to shift toward According to Berry, YouTubers more personal and dramatic vid- use clickbait to draw in viewers. eos. The phenomenon known as “The data is in favor of clickvlogging, when YouTubers docu- bait,” Berry said. “Those videos get ment their lives, has overtaken the better engagement for me.” platform. Berry, having been uploading videos for six years, has “When I started on YouTube, witnessed this shift firsthand.

“When I started on YouTube, vlogging wasn’t cool. I hid my vlogging wasn’t cool,” Berry said. channel in high school because I “To that end, I hid my channel thought it was embarrassing.” in high school because I thought - Katherine Berry it was embarrassing. Now, when friends and coworkers discover I have a channel, they’re impressed Eoin O’Kramer, a YouTuber and curious.” who attended Paly for two years YouTube’s shift towards vlog- reiterated Berry’s statement. ging is embodied by famous per- O’Kramer is the owner of the sonalities such as Logan Paul. channel Pixeldip, boasting over With millions of followers, many 250,000 subscribers. of them children and preteens, “As more YouTubers join the YouTubers like Paul have capital- platform on the daily, one has to ized on the shift to vlogging by often resort to using clickbait in creating videos containing dra- thumbnails and titles in order to matic, often egregious content on get the attention of consumers,” a near daily basis. These videos are O’Kramer said. often accompanied by bold titles O’Kramer has experimented meant to draw in viewers, a tech- with a more subtle and less pubnique dubbed “clickbait.” licized form of clickbait: Shaping “Clickbait exists for a reason,” videos according to the current Berry said. “Gone are the days trends in pop culture. where you can title a vlog ‘Hang“I ran a second channel briefly ing out with my best friends at called PixPlays in which I wanted

to experiment with how easy it would be to grow a channel by uploading coverage of Pokemon Sun & Moon by using moderate clickbait,” O’Kramer said. “I was able to get 30,000 subscribers and several million views in a couple of months. However, by clickbait I purely mean making videos consisting only of relevant topics, not misleading audiences into clicking on a video.”

With more and more competition for viewers, YouTubers are constantly looking for methods to generate more likes, views and subscribers.

Generally, the more extreme and dramatic the video is, the more people will watch it. This culture, while entertaining for viewers, can be detrimental, as in the case of Paul.

“I think YouTube has shifted away from the culture of young teens finding refuge in a platform where they belong, and more into a cult of fame and success,” Berry said. “Young people aspire to be [famous] YouTubers because they get to travel for free, get free stuff, have beautiful Instagrams, etc. It’s unrealistic and damaging to prop up a lifestyle that is unattainable for most.”

The Campanile

Friday, March 2, 2018

SP TLIGHT

B5

Art by Renee Hoh

ails/

Design by John Tayeri

SIGN IN

The Same (Not Clickbait)

deo Brings Problems To Light

One Billion Campaign

Ball in the Family Ep.2

ISIS

LaVar Ball (The GOAT)

110K views

3 hours ago

5 views

15 hours ago

The Dark Side of Mass Media

S

adly, video streaming sites wrote. “For example, through the bility, and that YouTube is aware like YouTube and Facebook use of videos posted on YouTube, of the content that YouTubers are are not only used for people it began its one billion campaign, posting.

“I think we have a real reto share funny stories and post which called upon Muslims to sponsibility,” Wojcicki said during original content. While much of join ISIS.” The ex- the recent New York Times New the content pansion of Work Summit in Half Moon Bay. posted on Counteracting extremist content like terrorism “[YouTube] takes it seriously, in these webthe content terrorist organizations t h r o u g h terms of understanding how our sites is goodsuch as ISIS post is instrumental in enthe in- product is used, the implications.” natured, the suring YouTube is used purely for inInappropriate postings are not ternet is other side of nocuous entertainment and news. undoubt- just an international problem but the coin is edly one exist in the Bay Area, too. Earmuch darker of the big- lier this school year, two students and much gest issues that plagues mass me- from Moreau High School in more dangerous.

In recent years, terrorist groups dia today; however, social media Hayward, just a 30-minute drive like Islamic State of Iraq and the companies are using varying tech- from Paly, were expelled for vidLevant (ISIS) have taken to sites niques in their quest to combat eoing themselves and then posting a list like YouTube and Facebook as a extremism. of racFor examway to internationally publicize ist slurs. their extremist message and to ple, as of July “[YouTube] takes it seriously, in terms E v e n Yourecruit people from around their 2017, of understanding how our product with the Tube launched world to join them. is used, the implications.” quick deThrough videos of bombings a feature with- Susan Wojcicki letion of and executions, ISIS was able in its website the video to use social media to extend its that redirects f r o m influence far beyond the Middle certain buzzwords that signal someone is Snapchat, the video had circulated East.

Imran Awan, an expert on searching for extremist content to around enough to the point where it could make a severe impact.

Islamophobia and a professor at a YouTube-created playlist.

A weak or ineffective response The playlist contains a list Birmingham City University in of videos towards these problems will result England, exthat dis- in the problems escalating and beplained ISIS’ pels myths coming more commonplace. use of You“ISIS have been using both platYouTube’s anti-hate redirect about exTube and forms as magnets that have att r e m i s t feature is a good start. CounterFacebook as tracted thousands of views, comviewpoints acting extremist content like the recruiting ments, forums and posts.” along with content terrorist organizations tools in his - Imran Awan videos that such as ISIS post is instrumental paper “Cyp r o m o t e in ensuring YouTube is used pureber-Extremly for innocuous entertainment ism: Isis and the Power of Social anti-hate.

YouTube CEO Susan and news.

Media.”

“ISIS have been using both Wojcicki believes that introducing Editors’ Note: Susan Wojcicki is a platforms as magnets that have at- such features to stop dangerous tracted thousands of views, com- content on the internet is all part daughter of The Campanile adviser ments, forums and posts,” Awan of the company’s moral responsi- Esther Wojcicki.

A New Wave of Platforms

Is YouTube as a career/lifestyle path appealing to you?

“I find the full-time YouTube lifestyle appealing, but I don’t think I could commit to it myself. It’s actually a very creatively intensive job and you really have to be your own boss. Now that I’m in the working world, I have my days where I wish I could travel whenever I wanted to and work from home, but I know I couldn’t sustain it longterm.”

- Katherine Berry

“Although YouTube may be a career for some, I do not believe it is a viable career path for myself, nor for most people. The amount of money that is earned through ad revenue by large creators is often dwarfed by the amount of money that they make instead through product placements or sponsorships. In order to obtain these, one must first establish an online persona and that is not something that I have done.”

- Evan Baldonado

Y

ouTube’s shift towards vid- as a tool of marketing for the chat Discover has been able to eos as a way to tell impor- Big Baller Brand,” Moreno said. chronicle some of the biggest tant stories and reach into “Many of us know of LaVar’s wild news stories in recent times, such the lives of both celebrities and and out-there statements, which as reactions to and interviews everyday citizens has expanded to have become a strong marketing from people inside the Parkland other video and social media plat- tool when it comes to promoting High School shooting in Parkforms. Social media giants such as Lonzo and Big Baller Brand, but land, Fla. Snapchat has become a Facebook and Snapchat have cre- ‘Ball in the Family’ is able to con- reliable source within the media, ated Facebook Watch and Snap- nect fans to the family on a whole even to the point where young adults and teens have taken to it other level.” chat Discover, respectively. as a dependable news source.

Facebook Watch is a recent “Snapchat Discover has inaddition to Facebook, the social media network that started “I was very much stunned when teresting titles, more color, and in 2004. The feature focuses on Snapchat started being a news interesting pictures that people source.” can see before actually reading presenting original content pro- Juan Aguila articles,” said junior Juan Aguiduced by both big names, such la, who uses Snapchat Discover. as LaVar Ball, the father of NBA While Facebook Watch aims “I was very much stunned when player Lonzo Ball, with the show “Ball in the Family,” and normal to provide long-term content, Snapchat started being a news people, like Jimmy Zhang with Snapchat Discover has attempt- source. I thought it was always the show “Unfiltered Advice.” ed to tackle a different side of just going to be a messaging platAn avid user of Facebook Watch, the video industry — immediate form and nothing more.”

Facebook Watch and SnapPaly senior Miguel Moreno has news. Since Snapchat videos only enjoyed the feature since it was last 24 hours before they disap- chat Discover are byproducts of added last August, mainly due to pear, Snapchat has used its Dis- our society, and have become the addition of the show “Ball in cover section to allow companies more proactive in providing emothe Family,” a reality show fol- to publish daily news, videos and tional response videos. Only time lowing the Ball family. Moreno breaking stories. For example, will tell whether these features on is a firm believer that shows on Mashable publishes the newest social media websites will endure; Facebook Watch are not solely for happenings in the tech industry, however, their recent success is entertainment, but are something while ESPN creates a daily “story” an indicator of the shift sparked some producers are using primar- about the news in the world of by YouTube in the media world.

However, their modern-day sucsports. ily for marketing.

Using stories that pop up dur- cess shows the shift caused by “Through ‘Ball in the Family’ I’ve seen Facebook Watch ing breaking news events, Snap- YouTube in the media world.

VERDE MAGAZINE/USED WITH PERMISSION

“There is no YouTube lifestyle, the extravagant living of [Jake and Logan Paul] doesn’t represent the living/monetary conditions of most creators on the platform.”

- Eoin O’Kramer

Friday, March 2, 2018

The Campanile

LIFESTYLE

B6

Wahlberg chain restaurant brings quality burgers to downtown

New burger joint serves specialty burgers and classic sides with a modern flair, catering to a range of diets and palates

By Ben van Zyll & Eric He

it a heavy, chocolate taste. It was very sweet, especially with the malt. However, if you have a sweet tooth this is definitely the right order for you.

Next we have the chocolate mint frappe. This was a bit rich and had more of a dark chocolate taste than the more milk chocolate oriented black and white frappe.

Staff Writers

O

ne of the latest additions to the already bustling scene of downtown Palo Alto, Wahlburgers, located on 185 University Ave., is a must-visit if you are craving a delicious, hearty meal with a lively ambiance.

Wahlburgers is a chain restaurant started by actor Mark Wahlberg and his family. The restaurant provides a great location to watch sports, eat with friends and family or even enjoy a meal alone.

With no outdoor seating, the establishment reaches capacity rapidly on busy nights. Seating options include a bar with televisions and various tables for those interested in food and socializing.

Upon entering the restaurant, we were greeted by welcoming staff. We ordered at the front counter, and received a pager to notify us when the food was ready.

Alternatively, you can sit down, be waited on and pay after the meal.

The environment in the restaurant is fantastic due to the contemporary design of the restaurant and the lively coloring.

Posters of both Mark and Donnie Wahlberg’s upcoming movies are on the walls, along with other minimalist pictures and decorations.

Out of the 27 food items served, the four we chose to try were the Portobello Sandwich ($9.25), the Double Decker House Burger ($9.95), the Beast ($10.50) and the Melt Burger ($10.50). The food was ready incredibly quickly; only about five minutes after we sat down, the pagers went off and the food was on the counter.

Not only was the service extremely rapid, the food was also very fresh with no signs of underpreparedness. The Portobello Sandwich was exceptional, consisting of a marinated and roasted portobello mushroom cap, white cheddar, caramelized onions, sautéed mushrooms, lettuce, tomato

The environment in the restaurant is fantastic due to the contemporary design of the restaurant as a whole.

PETER GOLD/THE CAMPANILE

Located on the corner of Emerson and University Ave., the new burger spot attracts locals and tourists with its contemporary appearance. and the restaurant’s signature “Wahl Sauce.” Cooked to perfection, the Portobello Sandwich was full of vegetarian goodness.

The food was ready incredibly quickly; only about five minutes after we sat down, the pagers went off and the food was on the counter.

Meat lovers can choose the alternative Double Decker House Burger. This item is bigger than the “Paul’s Choice Our Burger” and smaller than “The Triple Decker,” but all come with lettuce, tomato, onion, American cheese, signature Wahl sauce and pickles. Order this item if you want an overall sufficient burger that

covers just about every flavor you could crave.

The Beast was the largest burger available on the menu.

With two five-oz. burger patties and a pile of pulled pork to boot, the name of the burger is quite fitting. The miniscule amount of greens on the burger appears to be present for only texture and taste.

Order this burger if you are low in cholesterol. If you do so, you will likely be full for the next 12 hours.

The Melt burger had a ⅓ lb. patty (½ if you choose the alternative “Super Melt”) served between thick bread slices, grilled American cheese, bacon, caramelized onions, pickles and mustard sauce.

The bread slices, crispy on the outside and smooth on the inside, complimented the rest of the burger perfectly.

Although these meals were great, what truly bolstered the food to practical perfection were the sides. We ordered macaroni and cheese ($5.95), french fries ($4.00), tater tots ($4.00) and on-

ion rings ($4.00) as our sides. The macaroni and cheese was served with sprinkled bread crumbs over the surface, adding a crunchy texture to the creamy inner layer of melted cheese.

The french fries were not quite as spectacular as we had hoped, given they are one of the biggest factors in a burger joint’s quality.

They were nowhere near bad, but were not perfect. The fries were nice and crispy, but simply tasted a bit bland and had no “wow” factor. As a result, we recommend a different side if you are looking to complete your meal with a strong counterpart.

The tater tots on the other hand blew us away. Each and everyone of the little potato pieces was fried to perfection. The outer layers of every tater tot was crispy and crunchy, while the soft inside layers added a perfect balance of texture. They were salted to perfection, as well; not a single one was too salty, nor too bland. The tater tots were amazing and we

suggest you choose them as the side to any meal.

The onions rings were the lesser of the three. Although I expected large circles of crunchy fried goodness, what we had received instead was oily strands of intangible vegetables covered in breading.

Advertised on their menu as thin and crispy onion rings, the onion rings were definitely thin; there was more breading on the onion rings than at the last supper.

This was definitely lacking in the onion department, so we would not recommend this item, unless excess oil is something you seek in meals.

As far as dessert went, we went with Wahlburgers’ milkshakes, known there as “Frappes,” and floats. We tried the black and white frappe (with malt) ($6.50), the chocolate mint frappe ($6.50) and the creamsicle float ($6.50).

The black and white frappe was basically a vanilla milkshake with a lot of chocolate sauce to give

We found the mint gave it a refreshing taste that just feels right after a big meal with the foods we ordered. The chocolate mint frappe is certainly a well rounded dessert.

Finally, we have the creamsicle float. Receiving this dessert was very interesting because the workers just hand you a milkshake cup with no top, a straw, a spoon and a big scoop of vanilla ice cream inside of it. Then they hand you a bottle of orange Fanta. We poured the soda into the ice cream and it filled almost perfectly to the top.

After sitting untouched for a few minutes, the ice cream and the soda sort of fuse together to create a foamy, liquid dessert inside of the cup.

From here you can drink the vanilla-spiked orange fanta — which is delicious by the way — or you can use the spoon to eat the vanilla ice cream with some orange Fanta, equally delicious. As a whole, this dessert was extremely sweet, quick and palatable, and we highly recommend everyone to trying it.

Despite some high prices, we found this new establishment to be a huge hit.

The service was incredibly fast, the ambiance was lively and the food was delicious.

Plant diet offers Sweetgreen offers farm to table options numerous benefits Cafeteria-style restaurant serves wholesome salads, grain bowls and soups

Students share insights on plant-based diet

By Kiana Tavakoli

F

Staff Writer

or years, it has been common knowledge that Americans are eating unhealthily enough. As obesity and heart disease rates reach extreme levels, the benefits of a plant-based diet are becoming more appealing and increasingly essential in order to prevent illness, reduce carbon emissions and ultimately lead a healthier lifestyle.

Even replacing one serving of meat a day with whole grains or healthy proteins was estimated to reduce diabetes risk by roughly 20 percent, according to the Harvard School of Public Health.

Various studies, including the “China Study” by T. Colin Campbell, a comprehensive look at rural China’s diet in comparison to the western diet, have linked a decrease in animal product consumption to a decrease in health problems.

This famous study provides concrete evidence for the conclusion that the closer people came to eating an all plant-based diet, the lower their risk for certain chronic disease adds.

The rate of obesity in young people in America has increased to such an extent that it has been predicted that this generation of children could be the first to live shorter and less healthy lives than their parents.

A diet based largely on meat and dairy not only contributes to the risk of disease, but also contributes to the world’s carbon emissions.

Jessica Hope, a nurse practitioner, medical researcher and vegan activist says that it is for this compelling reason that she chose to alter her diet over a decade ago.

“I happened to come across a surprising article in a newsletter at my grandmother’s house while on vacation 11 years ago,” Hope said.

“The article said that the most significant change an individual can make to stop climate change is to stop eating animal products.”

Animal agriculture is responsible for 18 percent of greenhouse gas emissions, more than the combined exhaust from all transportation, according to the docu-

mentary “Cowspiracy.”

As claimed by a United Nations University article, scientists project that if the current trend continues, greenhouse gas emissions will be up by 80 percent by 2050.

This number could be significantly reduced if more people simply chose a more plant-based lifestyle.

“The more people who switch to a plant-based diet, the easier it will be to reduce climate change,” Hope said. “It is a change that every person could make starting immediately.”

Climate change is a leading concern amongst many people, particularly younger people who will live to see more of the devastating effects that it could have on people’s lives if no action is taken.

“When I went vegan, it was for the environment, and since I’m really passionate about slowing down climate change, it was a really easy transition,” said junior Katie Gibson. “I would love if more people could try to be vegan or vegetarian or at least cut down on their consumption of animal products, but I realize that this might not be economically realistic for a lot of people.”

Aside from the health and environmental benefits of adjusting one’s diet, doing so also helps put an end to the animal cruelty currently present in factory farming.

“The harmful effects of a meat-based diet on the environment and the immorality of animal cruelty are two of the major reasons I choose to be vegetarian,” said sophomore Ella Jones. “And for these same reasons, I think more people should adopt a diet where their meat consumption is limited. It’s really easy for an individual to look up the pros of being a vegetarian and see how it’s better for the environment and how many practices of the meat and dairy industries are not ideal.”

Switching to a vegetarian diet is a lifestyle change that many are glad they made.

Hope said, “I think most people who stop eating animals feel an enormous weight lifted from them — the guilt of having ‘turned the other cheek’ for so long.”

PETER GOLD/THE CAMPANILE

The Spicy Sabzi, pictured above, is one of the salads on the menu at Sweetgreen. The menu offers a variety of seasonal salads and bowls.

By Chris Pierno

I

Senior Staff Writer

walked into Sweetgreen on a cold Friday afternoon, and the first thing I noticed was the good heat that kept the inside of the restaurant an oasis to the cold outside weather. The line was somewhat long, but moved speedily so I was content to wait.

The establishment offers only indoor seating and has a very relaxed sort of “sit anywhere you want” feel. There are no waiters and no reservations, so it is first come, first serve when it comes to seating.

The seating area was a great public place with tables of varying size and people of all ages enjoying delcious salads.

The decor is exemplary. It is elegantly placed and adds warmth with the customer experience at all. The walls are painted white with green designs and the occasional painting is hung up to add a little spice here and there.

The tables and chairs are all wood, giving the restaurant a warm and comfortable feel.

The menu offered a variety of salad and grain options. Although I was challenged with choosing an item, I trusted the recommendation of the employee and ordered the Harvest Bowl.

The colorful dish consisted of organic wild rice, shredded kale, apples, sweet potatoes, roasted chicken, local goat cheese, toasted almonds and balsamic vinaigrette, which seemed just a little too “Silicon Valley” for me.

The next salad was the kale Casear salad, made with shredded kale, chopped romaine, parmesan chips, shaved parmesan, roasted chicken, tomatoes, fresh lime squeeze and caesar dressing.

Finally, I landed my eyes on the Guacamole Greens salad, which consisted of organic mesclun, tomatoes, red onion, tortilla chips, avocado roasted chicken, fresh lime squeeze and lime cilantro jalapeno vinaigrette. This was the only salad I had seen so far that had avocado, and something else to give it texture: tortilla chip pieces.

A bonus was that they mix it right there so the buyer does not have to go through the frustrating experience of mixing salad in

a bowl that’s too small.

One issue with checkout was that I did not realize they do not accept cash, only cards, so I had to put my money away and get out my card to pay for the meal. This was only a slight inconvenience but is something to be aware of if the buyer’s only payment form is cash.

The seating area was a great public place with tables of varying size and people of all ages enjoying delicious salads. I placed my salad and fork down on the table and went to get my drink. Once again, I noticed that the amazing decor and feel really made for a great environment to enjoy a salad in.

However the worst part of the meal came when I arrived and tried the various drinks from the tea coolers. All drinks were marketed as “healthy” alternatives to other beverages and were made fresh in the store.

Athough they had several different flavors, the drinks all could be described as water with a little flavor, which was disappointing.

I settled with the spicy cider tea, but it was truly a bad beverage selection, and none of them were on par with the rest of the restaurant.

I took my drink to my table,

where my Guacamole Greens awaited me. It was a truly delicious salad, and I could not get enough.

Finally, I returned the bowl to the bussing station, composted the beverage cup (since all the plastics in the store are compostable) and headed out the door.

All drinks were marketed as “healthy” alternatives to other beverages and were made fresh in the store.

Sweetgreen is a farm to table chain with two other locations in the Bay Area. While I cannot speak for the other Sweetgreen locations, the one located in downtown Palo Alto was a superb shop that prepared excellent food (but not so excellent beverages), fostered a great eating environment and ofers a very healthy selection of food.

Sweetgreen’s hours are 10:30 a.m. to 10 p.m. every day Monday through Sunday. They are located at 581 Ramona St, Suite 120, Palo Alto, Calif.

Friday, March 2, 2018

The Campanile

B7 SCIENCE & TECH Technology allows for advances in cosmetic industry

By Waverley Long

T

Staff Writer

hroughout history, the tradition of altering one's appearance with cosmetics has played a role in nearly every culture, tracing back 6,000 years.

While the ancient form of cosmetics consisted of rubbing red mineral pigments on people’s skin, our modern technology allows for much more advanced methods of appearance enhancement, some of which even possess medical purposes or health benefits.

These methods include, but aren’t limited to, the use of plastic surgery, clear aligners, corneal refractive therapy (CRT) lenses and technologically advanced makeup.

Many Paly students have had experience with these various ways of changing one’s appearance.

One of the more permanent methods is cosmetic surgery. Last winter break, junior Jess Weiss underwent a rhinoplasty procedure, a plastic surgery operation commonly known as a nose job.

Weiss began meeting with her surgeon almost a year before the surgery. According to Weiss, it is the responsibility of a surgeon to ensure that their patient undergoes the surgery with a healthy mindset and a body in proper condition for the procedure.

After meeting with her surgeon for one year, Weiss finally made it to the day of her operation. After the surgery, Weiss researched the procedure to learn about what she experienced.

“They cut between the nostrils and peel back your skin,” Weiss said. “Then, depending on what you’re having done, they either break your nose or just shave down. For me, because they had to straighten it, they broke it. Essentially, they cut down little pieces of bone and cartilage. At the end, [they put in] these little tubes that went far up into my nasal passages to help keep it straight during the healing process.”

After the procedure, Weiss experienced a lot of pain and took painkillers throughout her recovery period. In addition to her swollen eyes and face, Weiss had to avoid getting her cast wet; she

wore gauze beneath her nose to help with the bleeding. She had to restrict her diet to only liquid foods for five days and clean her nose with water and saline solution in order to avoid infection.

Though Weiss said her nose will not settle into its final shape until next year, she began to appreciate the long-term effects after she underwent the most painful part of the recovery process and the swelling reduced. She now likes her nose more and feels that it suits her better. According to Weiss, another long-term effect is an increase in self-confidence; however, Weiss gained more confidence from her honesty about the surgery than her appearance.

“I probably am more honest now because I was worried if people would be weird or not accepting about [the surgery],” Weiss said. “I had a debate with myself about if I was going to tell people … and it seemed like a really silly thing to not be honest about. So I’d say I probably gained some confidence in that way. I’m very not shy, clearly, about telling people about it and I don’t think it’s something to hide.”

Improvements in technology have created makeup with health benefits, typically seen in skincare products.

Although Weiss was happy with her appearance as a whole, she was never satisfied with her nose, leading her to undergo rhinoplasty. She also knew many people who underwent plastic surgery and had a positive experience.

“My parents were super supportive,” Weiss said. “My dad has had a lot of nose surgeries for unrelated, not cosmetic reasons … and they’ve always been very understanding and supportive of me and they weren’t scared about it because my dad had that experience with the surgeries. And also, knowing other people who have done it was a big thing for them

in being comfortable with it.”

Weiss does not believe the common misconception that those who undergo cosmetic surgery are fake. According to Weiss, altering appearance through cosmetic surgery is not much different from putting on makeup or wearing clothes that make an individual look a certain way.

Weiss also emphasizes the importance of refusing to subscribe to the misconception that plastic surgery will be life-changing.

“I would not tell people that cosmetic surgery is something you should do because you think it will really do something to change your life — I don’t think that’s accurate,” Weiss said. “You’re still the same person, you’re not really going to be that different.”

CRT Lenses While Weiss’ plastic surgery was solely for cosmetic purposes, improvements in technology have also created procedures that affect appearances and have medical benefits.

For example CRT lenses, commonly known as nighttime contact lenses, make perfect vision more convenient for those who opt against glasses.

Senior Andrew Shieh has been using CRT lenses since middle school and likes not having to worry about contact lenses or glasses during the day. "[CRT lenses] have become more popular in recent years, especially among athletes,” Shieh said. “Since I only need to wear my contacts when I go to sleep, I don't have to worry about losing them at school or when I work out.”

Individuals who use CRT lenses put the contacts on every night before bed. The lenses reshape the cornea of the individual’s eyes while they sleep, so when they wake up, they have perfect vision.

The eye gradually returns to its normal shape throughout the day, so the user must wear the contacts every night in order to maintain their vision.

Overall, Shieh said he has had a positive experience with his lenses.

“Night contacts have been ef-

LUCY NEMEROV/THE CAMPANILE

Health benefits can be found in many cosmetic products. Sophomore Ellie Fitton uses lip balm with SPF.

fective for me,” Shieh said. “My vision has pretty much stabilized and I don't have to wear glasses anymore."

Clear Aligners Clear aligners and CRT lenses are similar in that they both affect one’s appearance and have medical purposes, but while CRT lenses have short-term effects, clear aligners are a permanent solution.

They are plastic retainers that adjust an individual’s teeth over a long period of time. People often refer to clear aligners as Invisalign, a popular clear aligner product.

Clear aligners are essentially like braces, but are clear and fit over the individual’s teeth rather than attaching to them. According to junior Courtney Kernick, clear aligners can take a significant amount of time to reshape teeth due to the gradual process of adjusting one’s teeth through slight changes to the aligners.

“I got a mold of my teeth at the beginning, then they sent it to Invisalign labs and came up with two week increments of sets of Invisalign that would eventually lead to [my] straight teeth and a correction of my overbite,” Kernick said. “Every two weeks, I would get a new set [that] would have a couple millimeters of changes to different teeth and parts of my mouth and that would [eventually created a long-lasting] change over the course of two years.”

After wearing both clear

aligners and braces, Kernick said she preferred clear aligners due to their conveniency.

“Invisalign was a lot easier and more convenient,” Kernick said.

“It was a lot less noticeable than braces, and the metal of braces can rub against your gums and the inside of your mouth and cause abrasions.”

Makeup Though clear aligners, contact lenses and plastic surgery change an individual’s appearance, the most common form of cosmetic enhancement is makeup.

Improvements in technology have created makeup with health benefits, typically seen in skincare products. These include tinted moisturizers with SPF, foundation with acne medication and eyelash serums that condition lashes to be longer and thicker.

Senior Kendra Wu uses moisturizers with SPF over 30 and sunscreens with SPF over 50 to help remedy acne scars.

Clear aligners are essentially like braces, but are clear and fit over the individual’s teeth.

“I buy a facial moisturizer with more than 30 SPF,” Wu said.

“Wearing more sunscreen causes the pigmentation spots from acne to fade.”

Technology has also made

makeup more practical for all types of weather and activities.

Makeup has undergone significant improvements that have contributed to the waterproof aspect as well as makeup’s longlasting effects.

Blinc, a brand of mascara, utilizes its own type of tubetechnology that forms tiny waterresistant tubes around one’s eyelashes, opposed to most mascaras, which only paint the lashes.

While regular mascara can be removed with makeup remover or soap and water, Blinc mascara can only be removed by using water and applying light pressure to gently slide the tubes off one’s lashes.

This means that unlike regular mascara, Blinc cannot be smudged accidentally.

These methods of enhancing one's appearance have become increasingly common throughout the centuries as improvements in technology have made them more accessible and more effective.

However, Weiss emphasizes that at the end of the day, it is what’s on the inside that is of paramount importance.

“Just know that the most important thing is to be confident in who you are,” Weiss said. “If you are confident in who you are, no matter what you do you are going to be great and have a good life and no one needs to ‘fix’ anything.”

Food Delivery Services increase laziness SpaceX Launch Recap The unending incorporation of technology into our daily lives can be detrimental

HELENA LOPEZ/CC0 LICENSE

PHOTO BY HELENALOPES/CC0 LICENSE

Technology can take away from the basics of our everyday life.

By Leela Srinivasan

T

Staff Writer

he 2008 Pixar film “WallE” depicted a society of immensely overweight individuals, inseparable from their self-driving, hovering chairs they were whisked around in as they exchanged instant messages and watched movies on holographic screens.

These movie characters were not obligated to lift a finger as they went about their daily routines. While these individuals live in a dystopian world, concerns arise when considering whether their society could be a representation of what is in store for our future.

Using technology to improve our lives is imperative to progress in our society. It eliminates busy work, opening up windows of time for us to think, create and engage with the world.

However, the direction technology has taken poses a dangerous threat to our future, one where the entirety of our life passes from behind the screen of a device. By allowing technology to grab hold of the reins of our lives, we have dropped them completely; one by one, we remove pieces of our daily routine and replace them with alternatives in which we are disproportionately inactive.

The first item of concern — the way technology has transformed consumer access to food — starts with companies competing to keep people away from grocery stores. With the rise of Instacart and the implementation

of Google Express and Amazon Fresh Grocery, making the trip to the supermarket is no longer necessary.

Consumers can select the groceries they would like delivered to their home by simply opening up a laptop or a mobile phone, and within two hours, the items will appear on their doorstep.

“We use Google Express to order cereal and ordinary supplies like cleaners, toilet paper [and] paper towels,” said junior Claire Chen. “It makes my family's life easier because essentially, someone else does our simple errand running.”

While many individuals still opt to make the trip to the grocery store, it is plausible to imagine a near future in which delivered groceries have become the norm.

Paly Science teacher Alicia Szebert said she has observed these practices in her everyday life.

“I live in San Francisco in an apartment complex with 300 different occupied units, and I barely see anybody,” Szebert said. “Everyone is just in their apartment; their groceries get delivered with Instacart and [they] can even have their meals sent directly to them.”

While many individuals still opt to make the trip to the grocery store, it is plausible to imagine a near future in which delivered groceries have become the norm.

Take this up a notch, and BlueApron is ready to serve as the largest meal kit provider in the United States. A “meal kit provider” is a nuanced concept that details chopped and portioned ingredients that are arranged and delivered to one’s doorstep, along with a step-by-step recipe.

Mountain View High School parent Karen Fitch is a frequent user of another primary meal kit provider, Gobble. As a single, working parent, she finds the service invaluable. “[Gobble] is convenient because I don’t have to think about what I should cook for dinner or go grocery shopping for those ingredients,” Fitch said. “I think that it’s convenient enough that more working families will want to try it out.”

In addition to BlueApron and Gobble, companies such as Green Chef and Purple Carrot have enabled the meal kit provider industry to accumulate an estimated $10 billion in combined revenue, according to Statista.

The increasing popularity of the meal kit provider industry helps establish this system could replace cooking as we know it.

Once consumers become accustomed to receiving previously prepared ingredients, the custom of chopping vegetables by hand will fade away completely.

Generation Z has no obligation to learn how to properly cook meals with the vast range of services available to them. This industry will continue to grow, until eventually, cooking will become a long-forgotten custom of the past.

One step further, and DoorDash, Postmates and UberEats are at your service. While takeout delivery has existed for a long time, the compilation of all nearby restaurants’ offerings into a single platform is a new concept.

The concept of errand running will slowly fade away as customers become accustomed to purchasing every small item online, and as delivery services improve, reducing the time it takes for the product to arrive.

With fewer people out and about running errands, human interaction as a whole decreases.

In today’s world, of the communication that does occur, it is more commonly executed through text

messaging, voice calls and Facetime than ever before.

Daniel, an employee from Uber, whose name has been changed to preserve his anonymity, said he frequently observes this phenomenon in his workplace.

“We work in a building with employees spread out among six different floors,” Daniel said.

“Oftentimes, rather than shifting floors to meet in person, I noticed that people just meet via video call for convenience.”

Szebert’s main concern is technology will be used to construct replacements for schooling, which in her opinion, is invaluable and can not be substituted.

“High school is so important, because those are four years where you’re going to school every day and you’re forced to interact with people every day,” Szebert said.

“If people start staying at home for schooling because great new online homeschooling programs arise, just sitting at their computer and talking to nobody, they will really lose out.”

Szebert said this issue is not only applicable to high school students, but also to young children.

“Social skills start with kids, so we have to make sure that the youth to go to daycare, allowing them to spend time around other children,” Szebert said. “Those are the kind of skills that no one can teach you.”

So where is the line drawn between removing busy work and replacing every single day to day task? It is difficult to see how ordering a gallon of milk on Instacart instead of picking it up at the supermarket could raise an issue; however, the problem becomes more apparent from a bird’s eye view, when one takes into account the effects of the combination of these practices.

We claim to use advances in technology to move forward and increase our interaction with the world, but it in practice keeps us holed up and isolated in our houses, our activity and engagement levels declining rapidly.

“Right now, not having to leave the house to complete tasks is still a new thing, so I don’t think the negative effects are as clear yet,” Szebert said. “If and when it gets even more exaggerated, it could be a serious problem.”

By Samantha Hwang Staff Writer

On Feb. 6 at 1:30 EST, aerospace manufacturer SpaceX successfully launched a rocket out of Florida. The company spent over $500 million building this colossal machine, known as the Falcon Heavy rocket.

The SpaceX launch is revolutionary in the space industry due to the rocket’s large payload.

With added Payload capacity, SpaceX is carrying aboard the red Tesla roadster and will be transported to Mars with the rocket.

Additionally, the launch marks a historical moment for all commercial space flight companies and other aerospace enthusiasts.

SpaceX an aerospace manufacturer and space transport services company founded by Tesla CEO Elon Musk in 2002, aimed to explore the concept of humanity’s eventual migration and survival on other neighboring planets, according to their official website. With the successful launch of the Falcon Heavy, SpaceX is one step closer to attain its dream of people inhabit-

The SpaceX launch is revolutionary for many in the space industry due to the rocket’s large payload. ing other planets.

Following the explosion of the company’s first rocket, Falcon 9, in 2016 due to a breached helium system, the success of the launch of the Falcon Heavy rocket is a redeeming moment SpaceX with them finally being able to launch successfully.

The success of the rocket launch signifies the future opportunities for space exploration, as well as the possibility of human life on other planets, much like science fiction novels and films where people can one day live on neighboring planets. Compleating SpaceX's company mission.

“I think the SpaceX launch is very exciting because it shows how SpaceX has achieved the goals that it set for itself in the beginning,” said junior Robbie

Selwyn. “In addition, the capacity of the new rocket makes it much easier to transport goods into space. Given SpaceX recent launch completions, it will be really exciting what they can do the rest of this year and later on.”

Many other fans tuned in to watch the SpaceX launch on live television or in person. Other than the exciting new venture into space exploration, the launch is a huge accomplishment because of its great difficulty.

With the successful launch of the Falcon Heavy, SpaceX is one step closer to attain its dream of people inhabiting other planets.

“Since the space shuttles have been retired, their hasn’t been that much visible space exploration. I think it’s cool that we’ve been doing our own heavy lifting [with space exploration]” Said Senior Connor McQuinn who tuned into watch the Falcon Heavy launch in February.

The launch of the Falcon Heavy is not only exciting due to the fact that it is a gateway to a futuristic world of people living in surrounding planets, it is also a great feat due to the difficulty of the launch.

For example in order to complete the launch, SpaceX needs to be able to complete a suicide burn.

A suicide burn refers to the action of a moving rocket or any powered object to descend on large body. An example of this would be the Apollo 13 landing on the moon.

"A suicide burn — landing upright with ur rocket throttle on — is really hard because if you're a little late, you smash into the ground," said senior Preston Sterling, who is interested in studying aerospace.

When asked further about the difficulty of completing a suicide burn, Preston said, "You want to save fuel because that's the most efficient route,” Sterling said “It's most efficient if you throttle up your engines really hard right before you land, as opposed to a slow and long burn, which makes the landing procedure more dangerous."

Friday, March 2, 2018

B8

The Campanile

SCIENCE & TECH

Colorontology The psychology behind colors and fonts

I

n today’s culture, a title in a rainbow Comic Sans font immediately sparks a connection to memes in the minds of nearly every Paly student. It repels some and inspires others, but oozes memey-ness all around.

Fonts and colors both spark nuances in perception, unconsciously conveying various themes that are constantly utilized through both website design and marketing.

According to Andrew J. Elliot, a professor of psychology at the University of Rochester, design aesthetics extend beyond simply “looking good,” proving to be ubiquitous perceptual stimuli that link to psychological functioning. They are crucial to the affiliation and attraction of context and are the cornerstone of consumer evaluation and consumption, impacting people’s cognition and behavior.

Even the seemingly-inconsequential act of glancing at a certain font can involuntarily stir up a mixture of powerful emotions and connections. According to a survey consisting of 50 Paly students, most agree that red is often associated with boldness or love, and blue with trustworthiness or sadness. Times New Roman is considered formal, while Arial is viewed as boring.

This phenomenon occurs due to a psychological theory known as the Gestalt principles of design, which states that the brain tends not to focus on the individual pieces of a design, such as specific colors and fonts, but rather applies a universal understanding based on previous experiences and knowledge to its entirety.

In other words, it is “looking at the whole rather than just the parts,” said Brett Griffith, Video Production and Graphic Design teacher. “We see and arrange things. It’s just something we as people do. We look for patterns and infer based on them. It’s stuff you see all the time, but you may not always be aware of.”

According to Nick Kolenda, a researcher in consumer psychology and the author of Methods of Persuasion, to form a collective evaluation, the brain undergoes rapid parallel processing that connects attention to emotion and neuroscience to behavior through the following steps.

First, you see fonts and colors. Let’s take Comic Sans in rainbow, for example.

The brain then forms perceptual associations by disentangling the visual characteristics of the font and color, from thin and loose to dark and opaque: Comic Sans appears rounded, and rainbow

Art, Design & Text by Annie Chen

is eyecatching.

Third, direct associations and comparisons are made between perceptual associations and the real world through the semantic and emotional networks: both Comic Sans and rainbow appear childish.

Next, perceptual and direct associations are combined to form a collective meaning based on context from previous experience: eye-catching and childish descriptions evoke thoughts about memes.

Last but not least, the emotions that are sparked are misattributed to the object or product that the fonts and color are referring to: rainbow Comic Sans is now associated with memes.

Website designers are experts at harnessing parallel processing and utilizing both color and font psychology to cater to a specific audience.

From creating eye-catching red buttons to discovering the perfect headline font, they recognize the importance of each of these miniscule, but undeniably persuasive details that are crucial to impacting any audience.

“Color and font theory and their emotional cues produce certain effects on an audience,” Griffith said. “They affect us in an instant — it’s about perceptions. For example, really saturated and extremely vibrant colors are going to excite and compel audiences.”

Paly sophomore Olivia Chang has firsthand experience with utilizing fonts and colors in the web design world. She is the designer and coder of a variety of sites and apps, including Readlio, an online reading log, Mere, a daily journal app and studyguides.science, a database of biology and chemistry notes — all of which serve their unique audiences through the power of color and font psychology.

“Colors are a big part of web design,” Chang said. “They’re used when you want to emphasize certain elements so that users click where you want them to. For example, a bright red ‘Sign Up’ button works much better than a gray underlined link. Various colors subconsciously evoke various moods, so depending on the design that you’re going

1

in

2000

This edition featuring:

Caity Berry with The Campanile’s own

Vivian Feng and John Tayeri

for, color is a big factor in being able to convey a certain aesthetic.”

Over time, web designers have adopted similar color schemes and trends, developing a standard format that can be customized to fit certain marketing themes.

“Light or dark blue, purple and green are pretty popular,” Chang said.

“The colors used are almost always either muted or dark — monochromatic if you’re going for a minimalistic look.”

Font choice is one of Chang’s favorite aspects of web design as well, especially the aesthetic orchestration of various font pairings.

“You can have a great user interface design, but use some generic font and it’ll ruin the whole thing,” Chang said.

“Some fonts are a pretty quick turn off for users, for example, Papyrus, Times New Roman and Comic Sans. Others fit really nicely into the style that you’re going for, [like] Proxima Nova, Avenir [and] DIN Next [for] a tech startup.”

Griffith also said using specific fonts to convey certain messages is essential.

“Type is everything,” Griffith said. “Type decisions are probably the hardest, but most people overlook that.”

Colors and fonts add pizzazz to basic components of sites, such as text links, navigation, buttons, headings and list items, prompting their specific audience to click on certain items.

They also play a big role in the readability of all websites and apps, which is

a key factor considering that they are designed for fast consumption.

“Fonts and colors are integral to the readability of website content,” Chang said. “The wrong font and color combinations make it impossible to read — think red Comic Sans on a rainbow gradient background and you get the idea.”

Colors and fonts are also instrumental in persuading people to purchase advertised products or services that the site provides.

According to content marketer Margaret Kelsey, marketing creates interest and design the method of communication. Publicity and views often directly correspond with the design aesthetics of a site.

In matching colors and fonts to the context of certain products, consumption fluency increases.

They attract online customers at first glance before even delving into the specifics of the products offered. Conversely, if the colors and fonts are unrelated to what is being marketed, audiences will lose interest.

Though often underestimated, the influence of fonts and colors is incredibly powerful. Whether it is for web design, an entrepreneurial pitch or even a simple class presentation, keep the fonts and colors used in mind. They may just as well make or break it.

Design by Kaylie Nguyen

Caity Berry: How about I interview you instead?

The Campanile: No, that’s not how this works.

CB: Sam, do you want to pretend to be me? I’m not witty enough to do this interview.

TC: No! Sam is not you. You have to do this Caity.

CB: Okay fine, so where were we?

TC: Let’s talk about your running.

What was your most embarrassing moment as a runner?

CB: Oh right. Well, there have been many. The time I threw up at Crystal Springs was pretty bad, also the time I fell over a pole was pretty humiliating.

TC: When did you run into a pole?

CB: I slammed into it on a run, and then a car stopped and people tried to help me!

TC: How does that even happen?

What? Klutz...

CB: Definitely the worst time was when I threw the water bottle out of the bus window.

TC: Yikes… I remember that one.

Ok, let’s change the topic. Where do you like to go with your friends?

CB: Oh, I really like drinking milkshakes!

TC: Ok, so where can one find the best milkshake in Palo Alto?

Cb: Ricks.

TC: I would disagree.

CB: You’re wrong! Fight me!

TC: Do you have any hobbies?

CB: I love going to the ukulele club!

TC: Wait, there’s actually a club for that?

CB: Yeah, it’s the best club on campus!

TC: Wow, there is a club for everything now, I can’t believe there’s actually a ukulele club. That’s a bit far-fetched.

CB: Hey! Stop!

TC: Do you ever feel like a plastic bag…

CB: Drifting through the wind…

TC: Yeah, wanting to start again?

CB: Yes. TC: ‘Cause people confuse you with…

CB: Katy Perry?

TC: Yeah.

CB: Yeah.

TC: Does that happen?

CB: All the time.

TC: Really?

CB: I was actually named Caity Berry before she changed her name to Katy Perry, so I, like, think she stole it from me.

TC: So you’re the original?

CB: Yeah, obviously.

TC: Do you sing?

CB: Obviously better than her, but I play the ukulele.

TC: So, among your other talents, word on the street is that you’re also a track star.

CB: Well, running is always fun, haven’t really been doing it, but…

TC: What do you do at track, then?

CB: I’m kind of injured right now, so I can only run twice a week, but trying my hardest.

TC: What motivates you to run?

CB: I really like the feeling after you run. Running itself is kind of the worst thing ever, but knowing that you finished a race is always nice.

TC: Are you excited for next year?

CB: I’m excited to be closer to being finished.

TC: Anything else you’d like to tell the community?

CB: You’re a star.

Friday, March 2, 2018

The Campanile

SPORTS XXIII Olympic Winter Games

The 2018 winter olympic Games brought fierce competition and intense controversy

A

fter narrowly missing out on event, two snowboarding events, hosting the Winter Olym- two skating events and one curlpics in 2010 and 2014 to ing event. This addition increased Vancouver and Sochi respectively, the total number of gold medals South Korea’s PyeongChang was distributed to 102, marking the at the center of attention as the PyeongChang 2018 Games as world’s greatest winter athletes the first in Winter Olympic hiscame together to compete for the tory to hold more than 100 medal ultimate prize: an Olympic gold events.

“The changes reflect the conmedal. However, not far from the snow-filled slopes and ice-cov- tinued evolution of the Winter ered tracks, controversy about the Olympic program and build on “Olympic Athletes from Russia” the success of recent editions of and the intentions of a “unified the games,” the IOC said in a statement. “They also build on Korea” sparked controversy.

The county of PyeongChang the reforms outlined in Olympic was selected as the host city in Agenda 2020 which aim to create more flexibility into the July 2011, during Olympic program the 123rd Interof the Olympic national OlymGames.” pic CommitThe county of In addition tee (IOC) Pyeongchang was to new events, Session in selected as the host city Ecuador, ErDurban, in July 2011, during the itrea, Kosovo, South Af123rd International Olympic Malaysia, rica. This Committee (IOC) Session in Nigeria and marked the Durban, Singapore first time participated in South Korea South Africa. this year’s Winter hosted the WinOlympics for the ter Olympics, as first time. A total of well as the second Olympics held in the country, af- 2,952 athletes from 92 National ter the 1988 Summer Olympics in Olympic Committees are slated to compete. Twelve countries — Seoul.

Over the past seven years, ap- Austria, Canada, Finland, France, proximately $10 billion has been Great Britain, Hungary, Italy, spent preparing for the Olympics. Norway, Poland, Sweden, SwitIn total, 13 venues, split between zerland and the United States — Pand neighboring Gangneung, have sent athletes to every Winwas used during the 17 days of ter Olympic Games. Six of those the Games. Six new venues were — Austria, Canada, Finland, built and additional venues were Norway, Sweden and the United renovated. In addition to struc- States — have earned medals at tural development, a rather pecu- every Winter Olympic Games, liar change was made to the name and only one, the United States, of the resort of PyeongChang, as has earned gold at every Games. the “c” was capitalized in order Perhaps most surprisingly, Norto avoid any confusion with the way, a country of only 5 million, North Korean capital of Pyong- tops the all-time medal table with 329 total medals. yang.

After over two weeks of comCompetitive changes also occurred in preparation for the 2018 petition, the Games have officialWinter Olympics. In June 2015, ly ended. Norway topped the list the IOC announced the addition of medals won, as they took home of six events: one alpine skiing a staggering 39 medals, includ-

ing 14 golds. Germany finished in second with 31 medals, followed

by Canada with 29 medals.

Seventeen-year-old Red Gerard won America’s first gold in the men’s snowboard slopestyle.

Chloe Kim of the United States also won gold in the women’s half-pipe snowboard competition.

Despite these great accomplishments, the biggest snowboarding moment of this year’s Olympics was American Shaun White coming back after a disappointing 2014 Olympics to grab yet another gold medal in the men’s half-pipe.

American Mikaela Shiffrin had huge expectations coming into the Olympics; she won gold in women’s giant slalom and silver in the alpine combined. The biggest surprise was that she didn’t finish on the podium in the what is considered her best discipline, the Slalom, where she finished fourth. This was also American Lindsey Vonn’s most likely last Olympics and she managed to win bronze in the women’s downhill.

Aksel Lund Svindal of Norway became the oldest Olympic alpine medalist as he took home the gold in the men’s downhill.

This was followed by Sweden’s Andre Myhrer who became the oldest man to ever win a slalom medal. Marcel Hirscher of Austria won two golds in the giant slalom and alpine combined as he continues to make a case for the best alpine skier of all time, but is seen by most as still second to Sweden great Ingemar Stenmark.

The biggest surprise of all in this year’s Olympics was that snowboarder Ester Ledecka of the Czech Republic made history as she against all odds won the Super-G gold medal skiing in addition to gold in the parallel giant slalom in snowboarding.

“I was dreaming about this moment since I was a little child, and really since I was 5 years

old, I was thinking about to get Russian Anti-Doping Agency an Olympics and win golds,’’ (RUSADA) covered it up.

Ledecka said after winning the On Dec. 5, 2017, the IOC women’s parallel giant slalom in announced that the Russian snowboarding a week after her Olympic Committee had been victory in the women’s alpine ski- suspended effective immediately ing Super-G. from the 2018 Winter Olympics.

Another surprise in this year’s Athletes who had no previous Olympics was Germany’s hockey drug violations and a consistent team. The men’s hockey team history of drug testing were alupset both Sweden and Canada lowed to compete under the as they reached the final where Olympic Flag as an “Olympic they played a hard-fought game Athlete for Russia” (OAR). Rusagainst the Olympic Athletes sian government officials were from Russia, a game which ended barred from the Games, and neiin a 4-3 OT thriller in favor of the ther the country’s flag nor anthem Russians. were present. When a Russian This year’s games were full of athlete competing as an OAR head turning performances. One won a medal, the Olympic flag such performance came from was raised, and in the event of a 15-year-old Alina Zagitova, who gold medal, the Olympic anthem became the second youngest fig- was played. The final number of ure skater to earn a gold medal neutral Russian athletes invited ever. to compete was 169.

The United States also beat Another huge question raised Sweden in the finals of the men’s at the Olympics was the presence curling. Sweden bounced back as of the united Korean Olympic the women took gold in curling squad. At the opening ceremony, against South Korea. Sweden’s North and South Korea walked Charlotte Kalla impressed, win- in together under a united Koning one gold medal rean flag. This has and three silver medoccurred three als. Norway’s Marit times previously, Bjoergren, the during the Norway topped most decorated 2000, 2004 the list of medals won, as Winter Olymand 2006 they took home a staggering pian of all Winter 39 medals, including 14 golds time, claimed Games.

Germany finished in second with her 15th However, 31 medals, followed Olympic medal what was a in the final comfirst at this

by Canada with petition of the year’s Olym29 medals.

Olympics. pics was the Despite the terrific unification of competition between the the Korean hockey best athletes in the world, a num- team. Despite finishing winless ber of notable controversies and during the Olympics, this clear concerns emerged leading up to statement sparked question of PyeongChang 2018. One of the whether this is simply a political most covered concerns has been stunt or if it is a symbol of hope. the Russian doping scandal. DurThe Winter games brought ing the 2014 Olympics in Sochi, competition and great perforthe Russian government led a mances. The culmination of a state-sponsored doping program lifetime of hard work resulted in where athletes were given perfor- the greatest of joys for some, yet mance-enhancing drugs and the others left the games heartbroken.

Design by Renee Hoh & ben van Zyll Text & Design by Philip Ericsson

Dance

SPORTS SPREAD

March Madness

PHIL ROEDER/CC BY 2.0 GENERIC

For some, it is mild entertainment, for some, it is friendly competition, for some, it is a way of life.

March Madness makes a big cultural impact on Paly student annually.

PAGE C4-C5

KENNEDY HERRON/THE CAMPANILE

Dance team to Nationals

Paly’s dance team is heading to nationals in Anaheim, Calif.

PAGE C6

NJB Basketball

RONALD KARR/USED WITH PERMISSION

NJB recap

Paly students are forming NJB basketball teams and facing off.

PAGE C7

Pregame

DAVID HICKEY/USED WITH PERMISSION

Paly pregame rituals

Taking a look at the steps athletes take before competing.

PAGE w

Friday, March 2, 2018

C2

SPORTS REPORT

The Campanile

SPORTS

Boys varsity basketball’s epic winning streak ends Team breaks series of 21 consecutive victories in an intense battle against Mitty in CCS semifinals

has a positive outlook on the game and for what’s to come.

“In a way, I’m happy that we lost that game,” Schlemmer said.

“We had won 21 consecutive games and I think that we became fairly accustomed to winning easily, so I think that this will be a good wake up call going into NorCals.”

BOYS B-BALL RECENT SCORES

Paly vs. Mitty 2/27, L, 73-61 Paly vs. St. Ignatius 2/23, W, 75-60 Paly vs. Cupertino 2/16, W, 58-34

"They also brought athleticism and physicality that we hadn’t previously played against in our league."

Paly vs. Mountain View 2/14, W, 64-37

GIRLS B-BALL

William Schlemmer

RECENT SCORES

Paly vs. Carlmont 2/24, L, 47-41 Paly vs. Cupertino 2/16, W, 36-14 Paly vs. Mountain View 2/13, L, 57-43

BASEBALL RECENT SCORES

Paly vs. Sacred Heart 2/27, W, 3-1 Paly vs. Aragon 2/24, W, 8-2 UPCOMING GAMES

Paly vs. Serra 3/6, 3:30 Paly vs. SHCP 3/10, 12:00

SOFTBALL RECENT SCORES

Paly vs. Harker 2/28, W, 15-12 Paly vs. Mountain View 2/27, L, 10-0 UPCOMING GAMES

Paly vs. Saint Francis 3/2, 4:00 Paly vs. Milpitas 3/7, 3:30

BOYS LACROSSE RECENT SCORES

Paly vs. SHCP 2/23, W, 11-6 UPCOMING GAMES

Paly vs. Palma 3/3, 12:00 Paly vs. Mitty 3/7, 3:30 Paly vs. Serra 3/9, 7:30

GIRLS LACROSSE RECENT SCORES

Paly vs. Wilcox 2/28, W, 10-0 UPCOMING GAMES

Paly vs. Leland 3/2, 7:00 Paly vs. Gunn 3/7, 7:00 Paly vs. Los Gatos 3/9, 7:00

BOYS SOCCER RECENT SCORES

Paly vs. Bellarmine 2/27, L, 2-1 Paly vs. M-A 2/24, W, 4-3

DAVID HICKEY/USED WITH PERMISSION

Senior forward Max Dorward shoots against sports rival Los Gatos High School in a game on Feb. 9. Paly won with an end score of 72-61.

By Leela Srinivasan

A

Staff Writer

fter going into double overtime, the Central Coast Section (CCS) semifinal game against Archbishop Mitty High School ended in a devastating loss for Paly boys varsity basketball, breaking a streak of 21 consecutive wins.

The Vikings had taken on St. Ignatius College Preparatory (168) on Friday, Feb. 23 for the open division quarterfinal game, and defeated them 75-60, becoming the first public school in history

to advance past the first round of the Open Division.

The team then had limited time to prepare for the following game against Mitty, which took place on Tuesday, Feb. 27. Ranked 125 places higher than their opponent in the state, Paly was expected to dominate the Monarchs in this semifinal game.

In preparation for the game, the Vikings reviewed filmed footage of Mitty’s previous games, attempting to understand more about their playing style, according to senior forward Max Dorward.

“We know that they have a main [player] that scores most of their points,” Dorward said prior to the game. “Their ball-handling isn’t that strong, so we’ll have to capitalize on that weakness.”

However, by focusing their attention on one strong player, they didn’t prioritize defending the other members of the team, according to senior shooting guard Jared Wulbrun. “[Mitty] played really unselfish, which led to a lot of open shots for them,” Wulbrun said.

Senior center and forward William Schlemmer agreed with

Wulbrun and noted qualities of Mitty’s team that made them difficult to stop.

“They shot really, really well,” Schlemmer said. “Anytime a team shoots over 60 percent from 3 [they’re] hard to stop. They also brought athleticism and physicality that we hadn’t previously played against in our league and I think we could have done a better job handling that.”

The final score of the game was 61-73, eliminating the Viking’s opportunity to advance to the CCS championship. Although the loss was tough, Schlemmer

The basketball season is far from over, with NorCals approaching and a third place game against Saint Francis High School, for which the date hasn’t been confirmed yet.

Looking back on the season, the team had many impressive accomplishments.

Of their 14 league games, they defeated their opponents in every single match. The game against rival team Los Gatos High School in particular was a tremendous feat for the team, who were supported by the student spectators, cheering madly with each basket scored and stop made.

Paly was able to secure a sustainable lead in the third quarter of that game as senior Spencer Rojahn shot two consecutive three-pointers with success. The final score was 72-61, and marked a big win for the Vikings.

Girls varsity soccer beats Pioneer, falls to Mitty in CCS semifinals Following elimination from CCS after quarterfinals, Paly soccer will continue to Norcal Tournament

By Ujwal Srivastava

F

Staff Writer

or seniors Emily Tomz, Ally Scheve, Clara Luehrs, Courtney Cox and Isabella Bonomi, there was an unspoken magic in the air as they took the field on Feb. 7. It was the girls soccer senior night, a game to commemorate the soon-to-begraduated leaders of this team.

Unfortunately, the game did not go as hoped, and the Vikings fell to Homestead High School 1-0.

"[The Pioneer] game was a great win and a confidence booster."

Emily Tomz

“Losing on senior night was a real bummer,” Tomz said. “It was the most disappointing game of the season, but the senior night celebrations following the game were absolutely fantastic. The parents did a wonderful job making the night so great, and I couldn’t have imagined anything more special.”

Tomz said the Homestead game marked a turning point for the worse. While the team cruised through the first half of the season, recent games have posed

more of a challenge for the team.

“We haven’t been scoring much recently, so that’s one thing we’ve been especially working on,” Tomz said. “We also make some critical errors on defense which have led to a few goals against us, so we’re focusing on reducing those too and bouncing back if we do make those errors. We struggle the most when other teams get counter-attacks, so it’s critical for us to get back on defense right away and not be lazy, all over the field.”

Tomz said she wants to see more urgency from the team when it comes to scoring goals. In the last five games of the regular season, the team has only scored four goals, going 2-2-1 in that stretch. In the previous five games, the team scored 16 goals and was undefeated.

“We have to put ourselves in the right spot and get the ball into the net no matter what,” Tomz said.

Despite this brief lull, the Vikings looked to rebound in the playoffs. Central Coast Section (CCS) elimination rounds started Feb. 24.

“We’ve had some tough games recently and didn’t end our season very well, but this week we’ve been working hard and are preparing to give CCS our all,” Tomz said.

Tomz and the team got their wish, rolling past Pioneer High

DAVID HICKEY/USED WITH PERMISSION

Sophomore Frida Rivera scores a header over the Pioneer goalie in the quarterfinal of CCS on Feb. 24.

School 2-0 in the quarterfinals of CCS.

“I’m still really proud of this team; we had a great season and I can’t wait for next year.”

Frida Rivera

“[The Pioneer] game was a great win and a confidence booster,” Tomz said. “In recent games

we’ve struggled with finishing, but against Pioneer we had multiple shots, both from distance and close up, which means that we’re not wasting any chance we have.

Our possession was also better this game than in previous ones.

Although Pioneer put high pressure on us, we were able to play out of the back, stay composed and turn out of pressure.”

Sadly, the Lady Vikes’ season came to an end after they fell to Mitty 4-0 in the semifinals CCS. “Losing against Mitty was really disappointing, but I’m still

really proud of this team,” said sophomore Frida Rivera. “We had a great season and I can’t wait for next year.”

Tomz adds that while Mitty is a good team, the loss still stung.

“Three out of their four goals were all easy goals, which are unacceptable to give up, especially in a CCS game,” Tomz said.

However, there is a silver lining to this loss. By winning their first game in the Open Division of CCS, the girls team automatically qualifies for the NorCal Tournament.

SUPPORT PALY! DONATE TO MEDIA ARTS BOOSTERS

Paly vs. Gunn 2/21, W, 2-0

GIRLS SOCCER RECENT SCORES

Paly vs. Mitty 2/27, L, 4-0 Paly vs. Pioneer 2/24, W, 2-0 Paly vs. Saratoga 2/16, T, 1-1

PALYMACBOOSTERS@GMAIL.COM

The Campanile

Friday, March 2, 2018

SPORTS

C3

Boys soccer falls to Bellarmine Prep in Division I Semifinals An 89th-minute goal by the Bells determined that Paly would not advance, thus ending the season for the Vikings

F

By Kaylie Nguyen Staff Writer

or the first time since 2009, boys varsity soccer made it to the semifinal round of CIF Central Coast Section (CCS) Division One playoffs. The team faced off against Bellarmine College Preparatory at Fremont on Feb. 27, but ultimately lost 2-1.

“I’m really proud of the team, and I think we left it all out on the field,” said team captain Xander Sherer. “After we scored our first goal, the momentum of the game changed, and I think if we had been a little more aggressive on offense the outcome might have been different.”

Team captain Matt Knowles was also proud of the team’s performance, but thought a lack of focus towards the end of the game was partly to blame for the loss.

Before semifinals, the team racked up a number of victories. It won a game against Santa Clara High School by a commanding 4-1 and tied with Homestead High School 2-2. Junior midfielder Kenzo Morabia said everyone, especially the team captains, contributed to their success.

Unfortunately, the team lost again to its biggest rival Los Gatos High School in a home

KAREN AMBROSE/USED WITH PERMISSION

Senior captain Xander Sherer defends the ball from Bellermine. Sherer is now in his third year on varsity. game 2-0 on Feb. 9. According to Morabia, the team took the loss as a learning experience and has work to improve their performance in other games.

“Definitely, we were all irritated with the score of that game and we have tried to improve ever since,” Morabia said. “One thing

that we have really practiced is just finishing. We all realized that we could have put a number of games to bed if we could have finished better. Coach has given us a number of finishing drills to make sure that we are clinical when we are in front of the goal.

Besides finishing, we worked on

possession as well. We felt that we weren’t controlling enough in some of our previous games.”

The team’s training clearly payed off, as they beat both Mountain View and Fremont High School 2-0 in separate conference games. The team’s training also played a big role in its win

against Palo Alto rival Gunn in the CCS playoffs.

“I think our training has definitely reflected the way we played against Gunn as we dominated the midfield,” Morabia said. “Our entire team has displayed this kind of play, especially in the midfield with [midfielders] Xander [Sherer], Leyton [Ho] and Eric [Aboytes].”

In previous years, the varsity team was unable to get past the first round of CCS. Knowles said that part of the team’s success this year was the player’s ability to work together.

“In the past, I have noticed how the varsity teams did not work together, but instead, people tried to do everything themselves,” Knowles said. This did work out well and we couldn’t get past the first round of CCS. This year, I thought the team realized how well we played when we worked together.”

After its victory against Gunn, the team advanced to CCS quarter-finals against Menlo Atherton High School at home on Feb. 24.

The team won 4-3, but one of its goalkeepers, senior Kiran Misner, was injured near the end of the game and was unable to participate in the semifinals.

“We scored in the last few

minutes and then probably 30 seconds before the final whistle, Kiran got hit in the head and was carried away by an ambulance,” Morabia said. “He won us the game.”

Misner was replaced by sophomore goalkeeper Jackson Druker, but Misner’s loss impacted the team emotionally.

“A lot of us were really in shock after the game,” Morabia said. “Mentally, we are going to miss his clever jokes and everything really. I’m sure he will be back as soon as possible but we will miss his dominating performances in the goal.”

With the season coming to a close, Knowles reflected on how the team has performed over the past few months.

“I think that as the season has progressed, we’ve found more players specific talent that they bring to the team and that has allowed us to mesh better as a unit,” Knowles said.

The junior varsity ( JV) team won 3-0 against Santa Clara and tied 3-3 against Los Gatos in non conference games. It also lost 4-2 against Homestead and 5-0 against Mountain View in conference games. Despite losses, JV ended its season on a high note, beating Fremont 4-1. on Feb. 16.

Wrestling team qualifies for CIF state championships

Wrestling captains Alvin Wang and Calvin Grewal head to CCS, the first two members from Paly to qualify in three years held its own and that these losses served as motivation for the season.

“Wrestling is definitely a tough sport so I’ve had my ups and downs wrestling for the team, but definitely have become closer with everyone.”

Cooper Kim

KEITH FARRELL/USED WITH PERMISSION

Senior Cooper Kim competes in a match against Silver Creek High School. Kim, who is in his final year of the team, fought to finish strong in the last weeks of his wrestling career.

A

By Ben van Zyll Staff Writer

fter a valiant Central Coast Section (CCS) tournament effort, two Paly wrestlers, junior captain Andrew Wang and senior captain Calvin Grewal, will be heading to the CIF State Championships.

Wang and Grewal have achieved a feat this season that places them on a prestigious list.

“My co-captain Calvin Grewal and I are very happy to qualify for state,” Wang said. “Qualifying for state was both our main goal for a long time. There hasn’t been a Paly state qualifier for three years, and we are honored that our hard work paid off. We look forward to the state tournament this upcoming weekend.”

The girls varsity wrestling team competed in the CCS tournament with this year’s tourna-

ment having the most female wrestlers in the event’s history.

Two hundred ninety-seven girls wrestled in 14 weight classes. The Paly girls finished in 14th place and took home three medals with a combined record of 19-13.

One wrestler who put on a show throughout her 2018 campaign was junior Masako Perez.

Perez was the only semifinalist who made it to the second day of CCS wrestling matches. She was

seeded fourth and won her first three matches before falling to defending state champion, Julissa Taitano (Silver Creek High School).

Always looking for ways to improve as an individual and as a team, Perez said she is always looking for ways to get better.

“Being a key wrestler was fun,” Perez said. “It was amazing to get new girls on that mat and be able to work with them. My sea-

son was okay. I had a lot of fun.

But there’s so much room for improvement. I’ve got to work on my mental strength a lot more. The team has gotten so much better.

We have kids who are passionate and talented and hopefully that attracts more people.”

Boys wrestling had a great season as well. Senior Cooper Kim, whose season has recently ended, said despite the loss of wrestlers throughout the season, the team

“We lost a lot of wrestlers about halfway through the season, and that was pretty unfortunate, but in a way it only left the team with guys who really wanted to wrestle,” Kim said.

Kim said a lot of team success comes from the comradery the players share, despite duels being individual.

“Wrestling is definitely a tough sport so I’ve had my ups and downs wrestling for the team, but definitely have become closer with everyone,” Kim said. “Wrestling isn’t much of a team sport, but we do our best to cheer each other on in matches.”

The team’s hard work reflected positive results throughout the season.

“In practice we push each other to become better,” Kim said.

“My drilling partner pushed me to become better. The team has some great workers on it.”

Girls basketball finishes season

By Leyton Ho Staff Writer

T

he Paly girls basketball team fought to their last breath. In a back and forth Central Coast Section (CCS) Division I playoff game against Carlmont High School, their valiant effort was not enough, as they fell 47-41, ending their season.

Junior forward Lauren Daniels said that the team gave it all they had.

“Everyone worked really hard during the game and unfortunately it did not turn out the way we would have liked it too,” Daniels said. “A lot of different people stepped up and contributed in different ways.”

Near the end of the game, the Vikings strategically began to press but could not close the deficit in time.

“At the end we started pressing and that was working really well for us but unfortunately there was not enough time left and Carlmont kept making their free throws,” Daniels said.

According to star senior guard Carly Leong, the team’s shooting struggles also led to the loss.

“I thought we left it out on the court but if some of our shots were going in we would’ve been able to win,” Leong said.

Despite the loss, the team had

DAVID HICKEY/USED WITH PERMISSION

Senior Carly Leong runs across the court in a game against Los Altos. a phenomenal season, winning a Santa Clara Valley De Anza League Championship and going 11-1 in the regular season. The first-place finish completed a major goal set before the season began. Leong was pleased with her team’s league campaign.

“I’m so happy on how the season turned out,” Leong said. “No one expected us to accomplish anything, but we won league. I’m so proud of my team.”

According to junior forward Lauren Daniels, overcoming a series of tough games and the loss of key starters to college made win-

ning league even sweeter.

“We improved as a team each game,” Daniels said. “Winning league means a lot to the team; it shows us how much we have improved since the beginning of the season, and it was really cool that we won it after many seniors graduated.”

The Carlmont loss marked the end of Leong’s basketball career Leong said, “I am so happy that I went to Paly and play basketball because it has given me so much joy and accomplishments that I could not have gotten anywhere else.”

Friday, March 2, 2018

MARCH MADNESS

MARCH MADNESS

An inside look at the various impacts of on

T

he National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) Division I Men’s Basketball Tournament, better known as March Madness, consists of 68 teams and kicks off on Tuesday, March 13.

Held in a single elimination format, there is little room for error. Here, if a team is caught slipping, there are no second chances. From Cinderella tales coming to life, to heartbreaking buzzer beaters, the month of March is full of unpredictable excitement for sports fans and players.

Despite the average ticket of a tournament game being nearly $500, there are other ways to feel the prominent sensation of March Madness.

One of the perks of following the tournament is filling out a March Madness bracket, a form of betting, comprised of predictions about how each

of the 68 teams will do over the course of the tournament.

Each year, 40 million people take on the challenge of something that’s never been done before in all 79 years of its existence: filling out the perfect March Madness bracket.

On average, roughly 70 million brackets are made nationwide each year in hopes of winning a prize up to $1 billion — a challenge offered

by Warren Buffet — only to be later busted. And while it technically isn’t impossible to fill out the perfect bracket and win the grand prize, the odds are incredibly low, estimated by Forbes at one in 9.2 quintillion and calculated to be as low as one in 128 billion by a professor at DePaul University.

According to the American Gaming Association in 2017, March Madness en-

DESIGN

BY PAARTH SHARMA & SOPHIA MOORE w

C4

The Campanile

thusiasts spent upwards of $10.4 billion on tournament brackets. Only 3 percent of the sum was wagered legally.

Having some knowledge of college basketball is certainly beneficial and puts participants at a significant advantage. But, with unforeseeable upsets every year, even for experts, it’s extremely difficult to predict the outcome of 67 games correctly, as no team can be counted out during the contest. Nonetheless, students and teachers find themselves chasing a prize of some form — even if it’s only for bragging rights — and compete with one another to see who will maintain the most precise bracket.

“The fun thing about all of this is the element of uncertainty and unpredictable nature of the tournament itself, which gives everyone a chance, even if you aren’t a college

basketball fan,” junior Marvin Zou said.

S t u dents at Paly have created a competitive atmosphere and often compete with friends and family to see who will achieve the most accurate bracket. For the college basketball fans, a typical competition consists of each participant chipping in at least $10 into the pot in which the player who

The Campanile

Friday, March 2, 2018

MARCH MADNESS

BY THE NUMBERS

ne of the nation’s favorite sporting events makes the most accurate picks gets to take home. In order to make the best picks possible, many students perform extensive research on teams in hopes of reaching the top of their pool and obtaining a reward.

“A few years ago, my bracket was in the 99th percentile in the entire nation for accuracy,” senior Will Schmutz said.

“When I made my picks, I focused on what each team did well. In order to have a successful bracket, I try to choose teams that play with a fast tempo and score a lot. Teams that focus on defense and play with a lower tempo tend not to succeed.”

Reaching the 99th percentile is a rarity for most participants. According to The Washington Post in 2015, only 86,737

brackets out of the 11.57 million remained perfect through three games. Making mistakes is all a part of the process but learning from them and applying strategies learned from previous years are key to success.

While some are looking to reach the same heights as previous years, others hope to avenge and build off their past experiences for a better shot at winning the pot.

“Last year I finished third to last so I’m looking for some type of redemption against my friends by winning the pool this year,” De Martel said. “[Last year,] I made the mistake of choosing Duke and

Kentucky in the final and we all know how that turned out.”

Additionally, as many look to improve on their previous luck, each year, the madness brings new participants with fresh eyes and an optimistic outlook regardless of experience.

“Last year was my first time participating in the bracketology aspect of March Madness and I surprisingly got 65 percent of my picks correct,” junior Lara Nakamura said. “I tend to just flip a coin for each matchup. I like to leave my luck up to chance.”

Additionally, the uproar of filling out brackets has become common and popular amongst teachers. Spanish teacher Kevin Duffy is one of many teachers who has filled out a bracket and though experience wasn’t on his side, he can still add a March Madness pool victory to his resume.

“A very long time ago there was a teacher that started a bracket,” Duffy said. “I just sort of filled out random names,

and I won. We had a list of the colleges, and I just filled them all in. I didn’t know what I was doing, but I got the most right.”

For nearly three weeks, r ather

than listening to lectures, a typical day at school includes students zoning out of class and glued to their computers, tablets and phones, making quirky faces across the room to fellow friends or peers as they watch the outcome of their brackets unfold.

According to USA Today, a change in behavior and decrease in productivity during the tournament is completely normal. There has been a reported increase for calling in sick, and tardiness to allow for

more tournament watching.

“In the month of March there’s only one thing on my mind: March Madness,” junior Stan De Martel said.

“My friends and I watch as many games as we can via the March Madness app even though most are during class. I feel like the teachers hate March Madness since nobody pays attention during class.”

Many teachers run into the issue of students streaming games during class and believe that there is a discrete time and place for watching such an event. But with so many students tempted to catch the latest stats and results of the tournament, teachers find themselves in a tough situation on where to draw the line between entertainment and academics.

“I think March Madness is a nice thing, people get excited and have fun with it and I really enjoy that…. just not in class,” Duffy said.

As March Madness begins, a buzz of excitement will fill the Paly atmosphere,with students and teachers alike affected by the tournament.

TEXT & DESIGN BY NAVID NAJMABADI

C5

Friday, March 2, 2018

C6

The Campanile

SPORTS

Dance team qualifies, begins preparation for Nationals After competing in local competitions, the Paly dance team hopes to do well at the United Spirits Association's competition

ABBY CUMMINGS /USED WITH PERMISSION

Sophomore Haley Ho, junior Iris Hart, junior Kennedy Herron, senior Marie Davis and Paly alumna Nathalia Castillo performed a lyrical dance in the Extra Small Category at 2017 Nationals in Anaheim, Calif.

By Lucy Nemerov & Vivian Feng Staff Writer & Lifestyle Editor

T

hree years ago, the Paly dance team did not participate in any competitions. The team’s hard work could only be seen in halftime performances during Paly sporting events. Flashforward three years later and the team has become competitive, currently looking to place at United Spirits Association (USA) Nationals on April 1 in Anaheim, Calif. In preparation for Nationals, the dance team has been practicing since August and has competed at three local competitions.

In Anaheim, the team is planning on performing in three dance categories in the Open Division.

These categories will example different strengths within the team.

“We’re competing in the Extra Small [Category], which has five people, Small Dance with six people and Small Jazz which consists of seven,” said sophomore Olivia Ramberg-Gomez, who will be

competing in Nationals for the second time and is taking part in all three dance categories.

The dance team recently competed at Forte Dance Competition on Jan. 27 at Homestead High School, USA Regional Dance Competition at Monta Vista High School on Feb. 10 and at the Festival of Champions at Cupertino High School on Feb. 24. Overall, the dance team placed well but never received a trophy.

“We’ve been consistently placing right under the team that gets the trophy, so we usually come in around fourth place,” said head coach Alanna Williamson.

The team has high expectations for Nationals given their past record. They have placed in Nationals for the past three years, placing high in all categories.

“We’re expecting and hoping to place well,” Ramberg-Gomez said. “There’s a lot of other competitive teams there but we’re expecting to place somewhere in the top five. We’ve been working really hard.”

When teams attend Nationals, they are divided into two categories: Open Division and Championship. Championship is for teams who score high at the local competitions. Paly dance was close, but their scores did not allow them to qualify for Championship. However, competing in the Open Division category will hopefully give the team a higher chance of placing well.

"There's a lot of other competitive teams there but we're expecting to place somewhere in the top five. We've been working really hard."

Olivia Ramberg-Gomez “We’re hoping to place really well at Nationals," Williamson said. "We’re in the Open Division so we’re hoping we can potentially win in our division because we’ll

be competing against teams much lower than us. We’re at the top in Open Division.”

Two years ago, the dance team won first place in the Extra Small Dance Category. Last year, the team placed fourth place in Small Dance, fifth place in Extra Small, and seventh place in Small Lyrical, with cheer accompanying them in a Novelty routine. The goal of a Novelty routine is to tell a story through performance.

Unfortunately, the team has faced difficulty competing with other schools, as some of their competitors have more time allowed for practice.

“The difference between our team and other higher ranking teams is not talent it’s just the time they can put in,” Williamson said. “Some of the teams we compete against are performing arts schools so they have dance class during school and practice seven days a week.”

Despite this minor obstacle, the team has been taking extra measures to better their chances

of returning home with a trophy.

Throughout the year, the team and coaches have made a collective effort to remain organized and increase the number of practices.

"At the end of the day, I want to win that first place title ten times more for you guys."

Alanna Williamson “This year, we’re a lot more organized with our practices,” Ramberg-Gomez said. “We added a practice to the week this year so we have a lot more time to perfect our dances.”

The team is also intensifying their practice routine before Nationals specifically.

“We have four and a half weeks till Nationals and I’m taking them through a really intense strength and conditioning program,” Williamson said. “Yesterday, we worked on technique for

the whole two hour practice.”

Williamson has offered much guidance and dedication to the team in the past few years. A University of California, Los Angeles graduate and experienced dancer, Williamson helps the team reach their full potential by dedicating extra time to perfect their dances.

“Alanna is a really great coach because she helps us perfect our moves,” Ramberg-Gomez said.

“We call it ‘cleaning’ our dances; we do them step by step and practice the moves until they’re perfect. She has us do that with every dance. She also schedules extra practices and makes sure we have a lot of time to work in the gym.

Her dedication is really crucial to the team’s success.”

Overall, the team’s achievements stem from the dancers dedication and Williamson’s genuine care for the team and its success.

“I really really care,” Williamson said. “I told them, ‘At the end of the day, I want to win that first place title ten times more for you guys.'”

The Campanile

Friday, March 2, 2018

SPORTS

C7

National Junior Basketball attracts local intramural student athletes

NJB teams Palo Alto Pandas, Diversity, Palo Alto Sky Hookers and Palo Alto Senders reflect on their overall performance this season

ELLIE JEFFRIES / USED WITH PERMISSION

Palo Alto Sky Hookers players reach their hands in for a cheer, marking the end of their time out in the game against the Palo Alto Senders at Santa Clara High School.

By Will Robins

J

Staff Writer

unior Josh Kasevich dreamt of being a star in the National Basketball Association (NBA) from a young age, but due to his lack of talent he found a league with not as much fame, but the same level of intensity, National Junior Basketball (NJB) basketball.

“I learned very quickly that I was not NBA bound, but NJB offered me more clock and an opportunity to play with my friends,” Kasevich said.

The NJB league is a non-profit youth league with over 20,000 participants in six states. The league’s participants generally consist of elementary and middle schoolers, but over the past few years, an increasing number of high school students have chosen to play, including many students at Paly.

The league’s flexibility on commitment has attracted many students who want to focus on school or another sport, yet also hope to continue playing basketball. Additionally, some players just wanted to have fun with their friends, like many members of the Palo Alto Sky Hookers, who made their NJB debut this year.

“In short, the season, despite the poor record, was a fun way to get better at basketball and be with my friends.”

Jeremy Dou

“Most of us joined to play basketball with our friends and hopefully catch some dubs,” said junior Ryan Strathern.

Going into the season, the

team was confident in its abilities to go undefeated, but their hopes were short lived as they lost their first game 64-30 to Willow Glen.

“We thought we could mess around and still blow out teams, but that proved to be untrue after our first game,” Strathern said.

As the season progressed, the Sky Hooker’s team started to fall apart. They were reported for disrespectful behavior to the league commissioner; their coach, junior Wes Walters, abandoned them mid-season because the team “was complete trash,” and the “Hooks” had to forfeit a game because the team captain, Strathern, didn’t message the players the team was playing, so nobody ever showed up.

The coachless Sky Hookers ended the season 1-8, dead last in the league. Their one win came from a tough-fought victory over Paly rival, the Palo Alto Pandas.

Unlike the Sky Hookers,

Trainer treats and guides athletes Brien Arakaki’s discovery of his passion for physiotherapy

RAJ LELE /THE CAMPANILE

New athletic trainer Brien Arakaki carefully wraps junior Jonathan Mayden’s ankle in the trainer’s office.

By Raj Lele

A

Senior Staff Writer

s the seventh period bell tolls, student-athletes flock to the athletic trainer’s office and file into a line to get their ankles wrapped and taped in preparation for their tiring practices and games. Athletic trainer Brien Arakaki quickly shreds a piece of athletic tape and places it taut on the athlete’s foot. Sweat dripping from his temples, Arakaki proceeds to bundle up the athlete’s foot and then asks who will be next.

Arakaki, one of the newest athletic trainers at Paly, has had a long love for the intersection of sports and medicine. Arakaki truly realized his passion after playing hockey at Oxford University in England.

“Originally, I wanted to practice in the traditional medical facilities, but the problem was when I got to med school, I did my rotations, and it didn’t feel right,” Arakaki said. “It’s kind of like finding your right fit when it comes to selecting a college. I realized I really liked athletics, and I was an athlete myself — I was an ice hockey player and got into Oxford for a hockey scholarship. And then I fractured my hip and started to deal with Oxford’s physiotherapy.”

Varsity soccer player and junior Jonathan Maydan has been a beneficiary of Arakaki’s services and really appreciates it.

“I go every time before I play,” Maydan said. “I go for my Achilles. I injured it midway through the season. Now at this point it’s more preventative. I need to make sure that I don’t reinjure it.

Initially, I thought it was just my Achilles that was injured, but he mentioned that from the injury, the bottom of my foot began to swell. He gave me other things to strengthen my Achilles.”

“So if it’s gameday, I try to make my way onto the sidelines so I can be there if anything happens.”

Brien Arakaki

According to Maydan, he has learned more about his body and has become more aware of how muscles and bones interact after seeking help from Arakaki.

“I’ve learned more of how my body works and it’s really interesting when he tells me about the tape jobs,” Maydan said. “An Achilles injury, without treating it

properly, could cause other injuries, like the swelling of the bottom of my foot. And I’d say he’s very good at his job.”

According to Arakaki, although he sees merit in traditional methods, he finds he is more progressive relative to other trainers and more holistic when evaluating athletes.

“I do believe in advancement,” Arakaki said. “When I got my PhD, I really began to consider how the human body heals. For example, the human body reacts differently to healing, gaining weight and losing weight. Some people progress really fast, so I don’t always stick to a timetable.

It’s rewarding to see athletes’ hard work pay off. So if it’s gameday, I try to make my way onto the sidelines so I can be there if anything happens.”

Despite being at Paly since the beginning of the semester, Arakaki says he has not seen anything out of the ordinary yet.

“So far it’s mainly just a transition between sports, so a lot of students are experiencing shin splints,” Arakaki said. “It’s not really an injury, but it’s more of a progressive thing. But it’s mostly lower extremities. It’s mainly just freak accidents, like someone stepping wrong or falling awkwardly.”

members of the Pandas saw the NJB league as an opportunity to improve their basketball skills. For example, team coach and player senior Jeremy Dou, said participating in NJB made him an overall better player.

“The season offered me great opportunities to improve my basketball skills,” Dou said. “I feel that I am more confident taking shots when I am on the court than before.”

Unlike other teams in the league, the Pandas incorporated film review to analyze their gameplay and improve. This strategy didn’t pose any major beneficial effects as the Pandas finished the season 2-7, slightly above the onewin Sky Hookers.

The Pandas also suffered a loss to rival Paly senior team, Palo Alto Diversity.

“I must admit defeating Diversity is one of the Palo Alto Panda’s dreams,” Dou said.

But this dream was shattered when they lost to Diversity 66-34.

However, Dou said he was satisfied with the team’s performance this season.

“I learned very quickly that I was not NBA bound, but NJB offered me more clock and an opportunity to play with my friends.”

John Kasevich

“In short, the season, despite the poor record, was a fun way to get better at basketball and be with my friends,” Dou said. “I wish I could have played more in the future.”

Palo Alto Diversity, the most successful Palo Alto NJB team, finished in second place with a

record of 9-1.

“The whole season was a breeze,” said senior Benner Mullin. “It got kind of boring beating teams by 40.”

Diversity’s main goal was to win the high school division and head to Orange County, Calif. for NJB finals, according to Mullin.

“We knew we could get to the finals of the Silicon Valley section because of our talent,” Mullin said. “We just needed to beat Willow Glen to reach our goal and head to Orange County.”

The Willow Glen team hadn’t lost in three years and defeating them would be a difficult task.

Diversity barely kept the game within a 30-point deficit, and its goal of making it to Orange County disappeared.

“Despite a devastating loss in the finals, our team proved one thing,” Mullin said. “We are by far the best team at Paly.”

The fourth NJB team is the Palo Alto Senders. The Senders entered the league with high expectations for their team, since it was their second year. However, its main goal for the season separates them from other Palo Alto teams.

“NJB isn’t about social media, fame or recognition,” said junior Jared Heller. “It is about inspiring that young boy who sees the Palo Alto Senders and thinks maybe he can send it with the boys too.”

The Senders finished the regular season 6-3, which landed them fourth place. For its first tournament game the team faced powerhouse Willow Glen. In the fourth quarter, senior captain Ercan Gokcek decided to throw in the towel.

“Even though we were down by like 30, I knew we could make a comeback,” Gokcek said. “Willow Glen tried so hard to get here and their coach would lose it if they lost, so I decided to let them win.”

After a potential run at the title season cut short by a loss to Willow Glen, Heller said his team will return next year.

“We’re coming back for the ‘ship,” Heller said. “You can expect nothing less than a full send.”

Friday, March 2, 2018

The Campanile

SPORTS

Sports superstitions] PERSPECTIVES FROM PALY ATHLETES AND STAFF ABOUT PYSCHOLOGY OF PRE - GAME ROUTINES

Text & design by yusra rafeeqi

Art by Renee hoh

Design by Tess Manjarrez

A

s junior Henry Saul approaches the starting line, one of the very last to take off the gray sweats he wears over his running shorts and join the rest of the runners, he glances at his competitors. Surveying his competition puts his mind at ease, and he notices being the last runner to take his sweats off and get ready for the run succeeds in intimidating others.

Saul, an accomplished long distance track and cross country athlete, says he came up with this particular pre-game routine after observing that his former teammate Kent Slaney was always the last runner to take off his sweats before a race.

“The philosophy is that you want to stay warm for as long as possible,” Saul said. “But it’s a superstitious thing [for me]. It’s what I’ve always done and it helps mentally.”

Saul said he begins his pregame rituals many hours before the actual meet.

“The night before, I eat pasta, and [the team] usually have pasta feeds but this is more of an individual thing,” Saul said. “I go to bed early, and then get up and [put on] my lucky compression shorts. I make sure to only wear grey sweatpants and that none of [the clothes are] anything I’ve worn before, like in a championship.”

Saul says he goes about wearing particular clothing for good luck. He also makes sure to eat a pean u t butter and jel l y sandw i c h exactly two hours before a race, and to plug in his headphones and listen to music consisting of Gucci Mane, Kendrick Lamar,

electronic tional dance music Football (EDM) or anyLeague thing influenced by teams, if his mood. He says havyou’re playing ing a ritual gives him a sense at home you stay of routine and likes not having at the same hotel the to overthink while preparing for night before the game,” important meets.

Duran said. “Their routines are Paly football and wrestling also exactly the same.” coach David Duran also had a Despite seeming trivial, these distinct custom before his wresathletes perform these rituals for caught on tling matches. good reason. Research shows suto this practice “[When I was a wrestling perstitions can help improve the and soon it became a ritual for athlete], one thing that would performance of athletes. In most James’ fans as well. happen before every one of my cases, performing the same rouThere are other athletes who matches was that you’d have your tine or believing in lucky items have even more eccentric methheadgear on, ready to wrestle, and increases the feeling of control ods of mentally preparing for a the coach would open up his hand and confidence for anyone entournament, like John Henderand slap you right across the ear, countering a situation in which son, former professional football as hard as he could,” Duran said. there are uncertain “Then we’d go out there outcomes, according to and wrestle. I have been WHATEVER THE ATHLETE IS, MAN, Psychological Science. slapped in the head like Scientists at Colthat probably thousands gate University conof times.”

Where Saul has his WOMAN, BOY OR GIRL, THEY’RE MORE ducted a study in which they found that particiunique pregame ritual pants who were in the and Duran and his [ THEIR ] ROUTINE presence of a “lucky coach had their tradi- COMFORTABLE IN item” exhibited an imtion, many other athproved performance in letes like him, profesgolfing, memory and sional or not, have their A N D T H E Y P E R F O R M B E T T E R I N [ I T ] . motor skills. Based on own personal strategies the study, the scientists that provide them with proposed that holding onto a perplayer, who wished to be slapped the comfort and familiarity that sonal lucky charm helped increase in the face by his training staff physical preparing and training the belief of being able to master in a way to “get his head in the does not. a task, or self-efficacy, due to an game.”

In fact, superstitions, whether elevated feeling of control and According to Duran, many it is the belief in lucky items or confidence. big-time sports teams have superreliance on specific schedules, are When applying this theory to stitious traditions as well. widely prominent in a variety of sports, the psychological illusion “For football teams like bigsports. of control that superstitions bring time college programs and NaFor example, Cristiano Ronallows athletes to cope with the aldo, a professional soccer player, unpredictability of a competition makes sure to step with his right by boosting self-assurance. foot onto the field for a game.

“A big thing about running is Professional basketball player believing that you can do it and LeBron James is known that you’re strong and able to for his “Chalk Toss,” a push yourself,” Saul said. signature motion “[My routine] is a way of throwing baby for me to do this and powder up into deal with my stress the air before [so that] during almost evthe meet, I’m ery game. calmer.”

His fans

“

“

Paly junior track and field athlete Zoe Sid also shares the same outlook on sticking to her premeet routine.

“I wear a certain pair of socks and a certain pair of shorts, and I have a certain stretch routine before [a meet],” Sid said. “Doing this and having the same routine allows you to be in a good mindset — doing something new or something not being the same can throw you off.”

Many athletes also find comfort in personal team rituals before meets, a time when teammates can bond over their shared love of music or get together to energize prior to a race.

Sid says her team’s tradition is to gather into a huddle and shout a chant right before moving to the start line.

Saul, on the other hand, says that his team has a different way of de-stressing before a big meet.

“On the car there, one of my teammates, [senior] Aashai Avadhani, likes to play music that usually consists of Taylor Swift, country music and some Kendrick Lamar,” Saul said. “That’s usually a good way for getting us pumped up.”

It’s evident that superstitions play a large role in mental preparation in athletes. It’s an aspect within sports that is personalized and unique to each person and most importantly, a vital key to performing well for some.

“There’s definitely something to [having a pregame routine],” Duran said. “Whatever the athlete is, man, woman, boy or girl, they’re more comfortable in that routine and they perform better in [it].You’re not thinking about anything else, just what you got to do for the event c o m ing up.”