Issue 4, 11/18/2016

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. XCIX, No. 4

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

Friday, November 18. 2016

Students hold peaceful protest downtown Rally offered messages of inclusivity, equality and acceptance for all Palo Altans

Weighted GPA system to be reconsidered UMA CHOUDHURY

SENIOR STAFF WRITER

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ALLISON WU/THE CAMPANILE

Students from local schools gather around Paly senior Andrea O’Riordan as she delivers a heartfelt speech promoting peace in downtown Palo Alto’s Lytton Plaza on Nov. 15.

ALLISON WU

STAFF WRITER

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everal hundred students from schools in and around Palo Alto participated in a student-organized peace protest in Lytton Plaza on Nov. 15, belting out uplifting chants along the way and cementing the youth presence in the community as a whole.

The event was organized by stu-

dents for students as a result of ongoing polarization and the recent uptick in hate crimes since Election Day. The results of the election evoked strong emotions that caused many minorities, women and members of the LGBTQ community to fear for their safety and rights. Following Election Day, protests have erupted across the nation, some of which resulted in violence.

“I’m [at the protest] because I’m

very concerned about the hate crimes in our country and the fact that the incidences of hate crimes have gone up since the campaign began,” said Elizabeth Eastman, a Palo Alto resident.

The protest included students from Palo Alto High School, Gunn High School, Castilleja School, Menlo-Atherton High School and Stanford University. Students from Paly met in front of the Student

Center at the beginning of Flex period and marched their way into downtown Palo Alto despite rainy weather.

Those who organized the event led chants and sang songs as they walked.

After arriving at the plaza, several students gave speeches promoting tolerance and awareness.

Although the majority of Paly students were not eligible to vote, STUDENT RALLY

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ollowing complaints about the 5-0 decision to include both weighted and unweighted grade point averages on mid-year transcripts for the Class of 2017 at the students’ request, the Palo Alto Unified School District (PAUSD) Board of Education has agreed to revisit the issue during a Board Special Study Session on Nov. 21.

Palo Alto High School Principal Kim Diorio said that 145 Paly students — namely minority, low-income and special education students — have lower UC/CSU weighted GPAs than unweighted GPAs. Furthermore, the attempted standardization of Paly’s and Gunn High School’s weighting systems still has yet to come to fruition, as Paly uses the UC/CSU system while Gunn has its own method for calculating the weighted grade. The Board will be deciding between using the UC/ CSU system and Gunn’s system at the meeting on Nov. 21.

The original decision, which many students view as rushed, was reached on Nov. 1, the same day as the deadline for Early Action and Early Decision college applications. The Board’s decision dramatically impacts the weight of classes that students have already taken.

The argument to weight grades was proposed by a Paly senior who did not qualify for a scholarship at the University of Oregon because their reported GPA did not meet the WEIGHTED GRADES

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Paly community reacts Board considers renaming schools to historic election day Community controversy continues over eugenicist namesakes Opinions split after Trump claims victory SAM YUN

NEWS AND OPINION EDITOR

AVI TACHNA-FRAM

SENIOR STAFF WRITER

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lection Day results have sparked both controversy and discussion across the country.

Following the historically tumultuous presidential race, the nation remains split, particularly regarding the surprising ascension of President-elect Donald Trump.

Palo Alto High School students offered diverse opinions on the recent spike in political discourse and activism that the community has seen.

Many students are shocked and confused by the election of Trump due to numerous of polls which predicted a Democratic victory. Some believe that the reason for America’s polarized stances and subsequent discontent can be attributed to a lack of political discussion prior to the election year.

“Definitely get more involved in politics, whether it’s on the big scale or the small scale,” said senior Andy Chang, a self-proclaimed libertarian.

“I don’t think people are doing that enough. Talk to your parents and friends, vote, and you can also donate to organizations you support.”

Many believe in the right to protest, and trust that it is an effective way to allow opinions to be heard.

However, some see demonstrations as too violent.

“Some of these protests have turned violent, like in Seattle,” said

senior Blaine Williams. “I think that’s just childish and needs to end.

I know he lost the popular [vote] but he campaigned for the electoral [vote] and won that so there’s no need to protest that.”

Students at Paly worry that Trump will enact regressive policies and nominate conservative extremists for the Supreme Court, blocking progressive social movement.

"Definitely get more involved in politics, whether it’s on the big scale or the small scale."

Andy Chang

PEYTON WANG/THE CAMPANILE

Senior

School Board members look to spearhead renaming of several public Palo Alto institutions, currently named for disputed figures.

“I don’t think he stands for what America represents: freedom, liberty and human rights,” said junior Julianna Roth. “I just really hope he doesn’t appoint justices that reflect those views.”

However, despite the widespread apprehension about Trump’s election, some students remain hopeful that the American people and the Republican Party will help prevent any overly radical proposals. Others are skeptical about Trump’s agenda and hope that his radical rhetoric during the campaign was just in an attempt to gain supporters.

“We have to accept Donald Trump as our President, but we should also [monitor him] really closely,” Chang said. “Trump’s pick to be his top adviELECTION

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GRACE KITAYAMA

STAFF WRITER

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teps are now being taken to address the controversy surrounding the renaming of Jordan Middle School, which has been a hot topic in the District for over a year. A meeting about renaming Jordan as well as Terman Middle School and the Cubberley Community Center was held on Nov. 7 in the Palo Alto High School Media Arts Center.

The purpose of the meeting was for the Board of Education to hear the community’s perspective on the matter before they voted to change the names of any of the three campuses.

All three of the institutions in question were named after eugenicists — scientists whose work tradi-

tionally promoted racial discrimination and inequality. Dr. David Starr Jordan was also involved in the coverup of Jane L. Stanford’s death — a historical figure for whom another Palo Alto Unified School District (PAUSD) middle school is named after. Because Jordan, Terman and Cubberley are all named after eugenicists, they are also all associated with the unpopular and controversial figures. The growing controversy of this issue has been brought to the Board’s attention.

During the meeting, the Board addressed the following four key questions: 1. What is most important for the PAUSD community: to understand the history of eugenics, including its key supporters and opponents, or to appreciate the educational contributions of Jordan, Terman and Cubber-

ley?

2. What factors and perspectives are most important to consider when making judgements about eugenicists?

3. How are the academic, social and emotional well-beings of students, families and community members impacted when they experience what they believe is insensitivity and bias in schools?

4. What, if anything, should be done about the fact that PAUSD has schools named for prominent eugenicists who may also have been key figures in forming and developing our agenda?

The meeting featured panelists such as Joseph Lamont Brown, Graduate Diversity Recruitment Officer for Stanford University’s NAME CHANGES

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INSIDE

N ew s . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . A 1- A 4 Opinion...................................A5-A7 Editorials......................................A8 L i fe st y l e . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . B 1- B 3 , B 7- B 8 Spotlight................................B4-B5 StudentiLife.................................B6 S p o r t s . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . C 1- C 7 S p o r t s . Fe at u re . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . C 8

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Check us out at www.thecampanile.org

WIKIPEDIA/CREATIVE COMMONS LICENSED

OPINION

ESKIPAPER/CREATIVE COMMONS LICENSED

LIFESTYLE

PAST HERITAGE/CREATIVE COMMONS LICENSED

SPOTLIGHT

HEALTH ZONES/CREATIVE COMMONS LICENSED

SPORTS

Partisan election backlash

Analyzing procrastination

History of Palo Alto

Therapeutic Use Exemptions

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PAGES B4-B5

PAGES C4-C5

A unique perspective from a young member of the Republican Party.

Psychological reasons behind the prevalence of procrastination.

The complete story of Palo Alto, from its humble start to today.

Controversy surrounding the use of therapeutic drugs in pro sports.

The Campanile

Friday, November 18, 2016

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NEWS TO KNOW

NEWS

California moves forward on election day PAUSD election and state propositions makes history with several new impactful laws JOSH BRIGEL

SENIOR STAFF WRITER

WIKIMEDIA /CREATIVE COMMONS LICENSE

@BBCBreaking A judge orders the immediate release of Brendan Dassey, whose case was featured in Netflix’s Making a Murderer.

@businessinsider The Rock says he might run for president in 2020: ‘I wouldn’t rule it out.’

@politico Mike Pence is going to court to shield his emails from public scrutiny.

@ESPNNBA Steph Curry & KD are both averaging over 27 PPG and shooting 50%.

No team in NBA history has ever had 2 players do that in the same season.

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he election of Donald Trump as the 45th President of the United States headlined a hectic election day on Nov. 8. This upset came alongside Republican majority wins in both the Senate and House of Representatives. Altogether, the Republicans will hold 240 seats in the House and 52 seats against the Democrats’ 46 in the Senate.

Despite a Clinton victory in the popular vote by a margin of 200,000 votes, Trump took 28 of 49 states (including the District of Columbia included) to finish with a 290-228 advantage in the electoral college.

In Michigan the race remains too close to call; however, Trump currently leads. These results sparked many riots and even petitions to abolish the electoral college.

In California, Democrats emerged with a resounding win in both the Senate and House of Representatives. Anna Eshoo won re-election in the 18th district which represents Santa Clara County among others in the House. Kamala Harris will represent California in the Senate after a resounding victory in her first race as a senator.

On Nov. 8, four spots on the Palo Alto City Council were also up for election between eleven candidates.

The winners in order of finish were Liz Kniss, Greg Tanaka, Adrian Fine

WIKIMEDIA COMMONS/CREATIVE COMMONS LICENSE

With a voter turnout rate of 72 percent, California overwhelmingly voted for Hillary Clinton, Anna Eshoo and Kamala Harris.

and Lydia Kou. None of the four elected were incumbents.

The Palo Alto School Board also had an election to fill three open seats between five candidates.

Newcomers Jennifer DiBrienza and Todd Collins finished first and second respectively while incumbent Melissa Baten Caswell squeaked out a 100 vote win against now former member Heidi Emberling. This will be Baten Caswell’s third term on the Board. During election night, 17 propositions, including the legalization of marijuana, the abolishment of the death penalty and more in-depth

background checks for ammunition purchases were voted on in California. Of these 17 propositions, 12 were passed. Proposition 64, which legalizes the use of marijuana for those over 21, passed by an incredible margin of 12 percent and was not only legalized in California, but also in Nevada, Massachusetts and Maine.

These four states join four other states or territories (Oregon, Washington, Colorado and D.C.) in the full legalization of marijuana for recreational use. Coinciding with recent gun control advocation, Proposition 63 easily passed.

It requires background checks for any transaction of ammo and bans magazines of more than 10 rounds.

The proposition was meant to cut back on ammunition purchasing and does not directly affect gun purchasing rights.

Proposition 56 also passed by nearly 30 percent. This will increase cigarette taxes, coinciding with the state’s anti-tobacco stances.

Finally, the repeal of the death penalty in California (Proposition 62) was one of the few propositions that did not pass and will likely be voted on again in the next few years.

PAUSD takes steps to abolish bullying Board Policy Review Committee partners with PAUSD to outline new school rules ASHLEY ZHANG

NEWS AND OPINION EDITOR

WIKIPEDIA/CREATIVE COMMONS LICENSE

@billboard @RaeSremmurd’s “Black Beatles” blasts to No. 1 on the #Hot100.

@latimes LAPD will not help deport immigrants under Trump, chief says.

@Varneyco Former Reagan economist Art Laffer says @realDonaldTrump’s economic policies will create a “very prosperous” new era for America.

@RedCross Recent #earthquakes have our minds on quake safety. Check out this week’s #WeatherRed Report for important tips!

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ollowing complaints of bullying involving a special needs sixth grader at David Starr Jordan Middle School, the Palo Alto Unified School District (PAUSD) and the Board Policy Review Committee (BPRC) are working together to improve upon the District bullying policies to further align them with California’s Uniform Complaint Procedure (UCP).

Currently, PAUSD follows a twotier policy which divides cases of bullying into two categories. Tier I is for cases unrelated to the discrimination of protected classes such as race, gender, or disability which are handled at the site level. Tier II uses UCP, for cases involving students in a protected class. However, the two-tier policy has proved inadequate due to its fairly ambiguous nature that relies on administrators’ judgement rather than explicit rules.

“It is not always apparent whether the bullying was based on a protected class until after the investigation is

underway.” said Ken Dauber, Chair of the BPRC. “If we choose Tier I, where there does not need to be an investigation, then we would let into a situation where we have violated board policy and federal law by not using the UCP for a case where discrimination really was at play.”

“What we have now is not acceptable, we need to be compliant with the law.’’

Ken Dauber PAUSD Board Member In a survey conducted by The Campanile, 50 percent of participating Jordan students have observed bullying, and out of the 35.5 percent of students who have personally been bullied, 14.7 percent experience it on a daily or almost daily basis.

Many students called for stricter actions against bullying. An anonymous student responded that Jordan staff are aware of the bullying, they did not “make it so that the people who did [bully others] were appropriately punished.” While the Jordan administration is attempting to ame-

Paly admin to change C-days Bell Schedule Review Committee formed to lower student’s stress BETHANY SHIANG

BUSINESS MANAGER

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here are many reasons why people despise Mondays, but for many Palo Alto High School students the Monday bell schedule can be a contributing factor as students are required to attend all seven periods, which results in 50 minute periods rather than the 90 minute period block periods. Paly administration has formed a Bell Schedule Review Committee (BSR) to recommend a schedule that will optimize students’ mental health.

“C-days are stressful because we work due for all our classes and then we don’t even have enough time in class to do much,” said Junior Iris Yuan. “At least in block days we have fewer classes and more time to do things.”

The committee was made because of feedback over the years from students about the structure of the school day, particularly, C-days, flex time and advisory. By evaluating the current schedule, the BSR hopes to pilot the improved schedule for the 2017-18 school year.

“There is still the issue of test stacking and homework load and

liorate the bullying problem, many are concerned that the policy depends too heavily on interpretation of each case, often resulting in incorrectly categorized cases and ineffective solutions.

“The Jordan case was not handled according to District policy [which says] that any complaint of bullying involving a student in Special Education should always trigger a UCP complaint,” Dauber said. “The District report concluded that harassment was not discriminatory, whereas it is hard to conclude based on the facts that the student did not suffer discriminatory effects since he ultimately ended up leaving school because of the bullying.”

The BPRC is also concerned about the slow response from the administration, delaying the investigation by several months after the first harassment complaint. Additionally, the staff did not strictly adhere to the bullying policy, and seemed to have violated both tiers.

Alarmed by the District’s handling of the recent bullying case, the BPRC looks to improve upon PAUSD’s cur-

rent bullying policies and work to enforce the implementation of the new procedures in their next meeting on Dec. 9.

“I am pressing for the improvement of our implementation of the procedures,” Dauber said. “What we have now is not acceptable, we need to be compliant with the law. I’m also going to be working towards changing our two-tier bullying policy so that all cases of bullying are handled under a single policy that uses the UCP.” Dauber hopes that by altering the two-tier policy, future bullying investigations will be handled in a more streamlined manner.

“I was very disappointed to read about how the Jordan case was handled,” Dauber said. “When we have a student with special needs who suffers this kind of bullying that’s severe enough that they ultimately transfer to a different school, and I see staff not correctly following our District’s policy and also not being responsive to the parents, that’s a serious management issue that we need to address.”

UPCOMING EVENTS NOV

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SPECIAL SCHEDULE AND TURKEY TROT

Turkey trot your way over to Panda Express.

NOV

21

FIRST WINTER SPORTS GAME Witness sweaty men grappling around a mat that has never been washed. Or basketball.

NOV

THANKSGIVING BREAK BEGINS

DEC

MADRIGAL FEASTE PERFORMANCES

DEC

AUDITIONS FOR BEAUTY AND THE BEAST And we’re still recovering from Earnest!

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Time to talk about the elections with your distant aunts and uncles.

JOANNA FALLA/THE CAMPANILE

Students work in the library during flex to make up for lost time due to busy C-days.

students say that block days are better because at least on a block day you only have a few classes,” said Principal Kim Diorio.

The first meeting was held on Nov. 15 and the committee plans to meet monthly after school. The committee has a total of 22 people including students, parents and staff in order to get different perspectives and input regarding the C-day bell schedule.

“I’m president of Paly sports boosters and I hope I can bring the perspective of the athletes because I have a son that plays water polo, so

that is a factor to look at,” said Melissa Anderson, a Paly parent on the BSR. Recommendations that came from the committee had to consider different criteria such as the number of class periods that meet each day, time dedicated to advisory and socialemotional learning, time for teacher collaboration to align curriculum and state requirements.

“Every schedule has plusses and minuses and we need to be careful of what type of impact it has with students who have different obligations and needs,” Anderson said.

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5

Feaste your ears (and your patience)

Friday, November 18, 2016

The Campanile

NEWS

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Board wavers on weighted GPA decision

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Student rally dominates downtown CONTINUED FROM A1

students who attended the protest chose not to remain silent about their concerns. A group of Paly juniors began planning this walkout soon after hearing about the hate crimes. “[We planned this event] to send a message, the message being that we have a voice and want [Trump] to do well, but he [cannot] enact policies that promote hate or further divide the country,” said junior Tyler Marik, who initially suggested the walkout on Nov. 10 in a Facebook group.

Although the protest may have been perceived as a form of opposition against Trump’s election as the new president of the United States, the event was not intended as a protest of the results of the election or the new President-elect, but rather a protest for peace, support and unity.

Organizers of the event stressed the importance of nonviolence and calmness, and did not endorse defamation of any specific party.

“We believe [this protest] was a way of not only standing up to hateful messages, but also a way of peacefully taking the high road,” said junior Zoe Stedman, one of the key organizers of the event. “In the words of Michelle Obama, ‘when they go low, we go high.’”

However, some students ultimately decided not to participate in the protest because they were worried for their safety.

“It’s not like we [my friends and I] don’t trust our own school mates, but we’ve seen news reports from all over our nation and protests that start peaceful have many times ended violently, like in Oregon,” said sophomore Kavi Gill.

Organizers of the protest also emphasized the significance of encouraging unity and promoting voices of teenagers and millennials who did not have a chance to cast a ballot in

scholarship’s minimum GPA requirement. However, if her weighted grade were included on her transcript, she would be within the GPA requirement to apply for the scholarship.

Shortly after the announcement of the use of weighted grades, a petition — which has so far reached 430 signatures — asking the Board to reverse their decision and reinstate unweighted GPAs. Paly’s policy of solely reporting unweighted GPAs was created. Additionally, 68 tenured Paly teachers have signed and sent an open letter to the Board, encouraging the vote to be reconsidered.

Our goal is to align practices for both schools next year while keeping our students’ best interests in mind. We want them to be competitive in the college application process while keeping in mind their socialemotional well-being.

Max McGee Superintendent

ALL PHOTOS COURTESY OF MAYA HOMAN/THE CAMPANILE

support of their favored candidate.

Throughout the event, many students chanted “silence is violence” in hopes of inspiring other community members to express their voices in similar times of turmoil.

“I think it’s important because as youth, it’s important that we show our support and show that we care about our country,” said Alia Singh, a student at Castilleja School. “The issues that are happening around the world right now are really important and they should be addressed, so that’s why I’m here to show my support.”

Gill also expressed disagreement with the logistics of the event and questioned its general effects on the community.

“We [my friends and I] found the protest pointless,” Gill said. “Freedom of speech and all that stuff exists but in our opinion it won’t do anything because racist people will continue their ways and will not be

The letter argues that reporting students’ weighted GPAs would do more harm than good to the Paly community. It lists seven ways that weighted GPAs could reverse the progress that the district has made in past years not only to combat academic stress, but also to support students’ mental health.

There is also the fear that students will choose AP classes over electives, since they will be getting more credit for it.

Lastly, the strongest point of contention was the decision being made in the middle of the college application process for the current senior class.

The Board’s decision dramatically impacts the weight of classes that students have already taken.

convinced by this peace protest.”

However, the organizers felt that the protest was mainly successful in maintaining nonviolence and spreading positive messages throughout the community.

“The movement was all I hoped

for and more,” Stedman said. “All the love that was spread throughout the afternoon, all the people marching in solidarity, all the wonderful speeches and all the positivity people had in them was even more than we realized this community was capable of.”

Superintendent Max McGee, who was previously against weighted grades, addressed that Paly and Gunn High School can now consistently calculate weighted grades, since Gunn is already reporting weighted grades on transcripts. McGee intends to align the two schools next year.

“Our goal is to align practices for both schools next year while keeping our students’ best interests in mind,” McGee said in a letter that was sent out to the district explaining the board’s choice. “We want them to be competitive in the college application process while keeping in mind their social-emotional well-being.”

Renaming schools Emotional response to election Panelists stress value of community input CONTINUED FROM A1

School of Humanities and Sciences Tony Platt, a distinguished scholar at U.C. Berkeley, Milton Reynolds, Senior Program Associate with Facing History and Ourselves and Morty Rorty, Clinical Associate Professor at the Stanford Center for Biomedical Ethics.

The four panelists addressed issues that surrounded the levity of the eugenicists that the campuses were named after. The panelists discussed what the affect the names have on students and the impact of changing them.

Panelist Martin Reynolds explains what eugenicists believed and actively sought to prove.

“Eugenicists refined the idea of race to make it real,” Reynolds said.

“They also believed that races were unequal. That some were superior and others were inferior.”

Joseph Lamont Brown, another panelist, argued the importance of students’ voices being heard, and in not changing the school names, that these voices are being ignored.

“When students feel like they aren’t valued or respected, when they feel at risk because of identities that

they possess, then frustration, difficulty and experience of bias now carries a more threatening message: that they do not belong, they are not valued and that their continued effort in that environment is not likely to lead to success,” Lamont said.

The panelists believed that all PAUSD students should be taught about the history of the people whom their schools are named after, as such negative history is typically overlooked in California curriculum.

Both the panelists and the audience of approximately 40 people agree upon the importance of not disregarding the negative actions of Lewis Terman and David Starr Jordan as a result of their work in eugenics, despite their involvement in education.

“In the past maybe you could have said ‘well people don’t know who these people were, therefore, we just keep using the names,’” said panelist Tony Platt. “But now, following this debate and this discussion of these arguments that are ongoing, you can no longer say that.”

The issue will be discussed again at a Board meeting on Dec. 6, and a vote will likely be held in January, according to Superintendent Max McGee.

Republican presidential victory causes mixed student reactions CONTINUED FROM A1

top advisor in the White House is extremely conservative and extremes are really dangerous and we don’t want that in the White House.”

“I think for the most part, he is going to align with the traditional Republican agenda,” senior Celia Morell said. “I feel like I can find comfort in knowing that he’s gonna have to become more moderate in some way.

I think there are a few campaign promises that he won’t be able to follow through with.”

On the other hand, some Paly students are genuinely excited for Trump’s presidency.

“He is a great Republican candidate when it comes to gays,” Williams said. “He is the first presidential candidate going into office supporting gay marriage. I also believe he’s gonna take us in the right step with foreign policy because China and Russia both said that they were looking to better relationships with the United States when Trump is in office.”

Williams believes that with a Trump presidency, economic progress will be made, but to the detriment of a few progressive social stances and beliefs.

MAYA HOMAN/THE CAMPANILE

Students, many holding homemade signs, marched from Paly to University Avenue.

“There’s gonna be some social things that we’ll regress on, which I feel bad about, but I believe we’ll go back the [progressive] way in a couple years,” Williams said.

While a resounding number of students did not follow the local elections and Californian propositions, a common theme was their neutral stance toward the legalization of marijuana.

“Even though I don’t support smoking marijuana, I’m okay with people doing it in their homes or whatnot,” senior James Ngo said.

“I don’t really have a big opinion about it,” junior Darby Felter said.

“I’m not super for it or super against it. It definitely seems like it’ll help out the older population, as well as the younger population, in getting something that was previously illegal.”

Friday, November 18, 2016

The Campanile

Achievement gap after graduation

NEWS 100

New data reveals post high school trends AVI TACHNA-FRAM

SENIOR STAFF WRITER

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ew data presented to the Board indicates that Palo Alto Unified School District’s (PAUSD) achievement gap persists after high school.

College graduation data shows that historically under-represented (HUR) students from PAUSD who enrolled in college received degrees at a rate 20 percent lower than their non-HUR peers for the class of 2009 and 2010, and more than 30 percent lower for the class of 2008. PAUSD’s HUR students enrolled in college also completed degrees at a lower rate than the national average. The data for degree completion for students in special education is similar to that of the HUR students.

A bright spot did appear in the report: enrollment rates for HUR students in college are similar to their non-HUR peers. For the class of 2012, only around five percent fewer HUR students enrolled in college.

“For the Black, Hispanic and Asian populations, our median enrollment numbers are roughly double the national enrollment rates based on the 2014 statistics,” said Christopher Kolar, PAUSD Director of Research. “The national enrollment rates not looking at the 2014 numbers are half of the numbers that we’re putting up their for our schools across all groups.”

Another piece of promising data for the District is the amount of former PAUSD students who graduated from college on time. 77 percent of the class of 2008 and 2009 attending college completed Bachelor’s degrees in four years if they attended a fouryear institution and in two years if they attended a two-year institution, almost double the national average.

Additional data presented reveals a gender gap and achievement gap in

Advanced Placement (AP) classes.

For example, AP Computer Science is 66.7 percent male, and classes such as AP Calculus BC and AP Physics C are comprised entirely of nonHUR students.

Board Member Camille Townsend objected to some of the language used in the report around AP enrollment.

“One of the takeaways for AP’s is that we need proportional representation by gender, race and ethnicity,” Townsend said. “I always add the language by bringing kids up. Never do we want to be in the position where we’re not trying to bring everybody and if we are trying to bring everybody up let’s acknowledge it. I’d love to see language in the future that captures that mindset that the district has been after because we’ve seen articles where that hasn’t been.”

“For the Black, Hispanic and Asian populations, our median enrollment numbers are roughly double the national enrollment rates based on the 2014 statistics.

The national enrollment rates, not looking at the 2014 numbers, are half the numbers that we’re putting up their for our schools across all groups.”

Christopher Kolar

PAUSD Director of Research In addition to the achievement gap, the report shows a sharp decrease in the percentage of PAUSD graduates enrolled in California universities. From 2008 to 2015, the percentage of PAUSD graduates in California universities decreased from 73 percent to 49 percent.

Most of this decrease came from PAUSD graduates shying away from two year colleges. Meanwhile, attendance at private out-of-state universities increased from 20 percent to 34 percent.

Percentage of seniors whose weighted GPAs are higher than their unweighted GPAs 84.3%

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*15.7 percent of Gunn seniors are unaffected by weighted GPAs

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69.0% 60

40

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0 UC/CSU System

Gunn System

• Only considers 10th-11th grade

• Considers all semesters

• Limits weighted credit to eight semesters

• Counts all AP/Honors courses for weighted credit

**The UC/CSU system decreases GPAs for 145 students, while Gunn’s system decreases it for zero students.

Potential new bike bridge Paly-Jordan joint Adobe Creek overpass would stretch from Palo Alto to Baylands

concert held in PAC

Show debuts after a month of rehearsals PEYTON WANG

STAFF WRITER

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MACKENZIE GLASSFORD/THE CAMPANILE

The City of Palo Alto hopes to receive the funds to proceed with the construction of a bridge across 101 to be completed by 2020.

JORDAN QUIGLEY

SENIOR STAFF WRITER

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ssuming more grants come in, plan for the construction of a new bike bridge over U.S. Highway 101 is scheduled to begin construction in 2019 and should be finished and ready to use by 2020.

There has been a lot of talk about what is to be done about the proposal for the new bridge. The Palo Alto community raised awareness for the need of a bridge in the Baylands area five years ago, but financial troubles are preventing construction from commencing.

The Palo Alto City Council wants the new bridge to be an eye-catching and beautiful landmark. However, the original proposal for the bridge, made by construction firm Moffatt & Nichol, was too expensive for the City, exceeding the $13 million budget allotted for the construction project.

Due to growing complaints and protests against the construction of the bridge, the City Council has agreed to create a bridge that will be more basic, and therefore less expensive.

The plans are still being discussed, but it has been revealed the bridge will have some novel features, such as more room for bikers on the streets that will lead up to the start of the bridge.

The new firm that the council hired, Biggs Cardosa Associates, is still trying to make the bridge aesthetically pleasing, while staying under the $13 million budget.

The plans are still being discussed, but it has been revealed the bridge will have some novel features, such as more room for bikers on the streets that will lead up to the start of the bridge.

However, this is the most expensive new feature and will not be completed unless Palo Alto receives additional grants for the project.

So far, Santa Clara County and Google have both pitched in with grant money. Santa Clara County has donated a $4 million grant, and Google has claimed they will put forth $1 million toward the new bridge project. The firm and Council are also hoping that Stanford University will pitch in money after they gave up their $4.5 million grant for a different project. The City is hoping that some or all of this money could go to the new bridge.

However, people on the Council are urging others not to get their hopes up about the new ideas for the bridge, since even with this new outline for a more “basic” bridge, it is still going to cost $13 million. This budget is still too steep for Palo Alto by itself, so the bridge will not be able to be built without the help and donations of more grants from the community.

he audience settles down in Paly’s recently constructed Performing Arts Center (PAC) and a harmonious note fills the air, exuding an euphonic atmosphere. When the crowd grows silent, the band springs into life and its melody reverberates around the room.

On Nov. 15, Palo Alto High School’s Band hosted its annual joint concert with Jordan Middle School’s Symphonic Band for the first time in the PAC. Over the course of the past month, the two bands have collaborated to practice pieces that were featured in the Paly-Jordan Band Festival.

According to Paly Band and Orchestra director Jeff Willner, the festival has been held each year ever since he started teaching at Paly. In previous years, the Paly-Jordan Band Festival took place at Jordan Middle School or Gunn High School, which created inconveniences for both bands.

“We sounded more together as one entity and did a better job of blending. In the individual pieces, the freshman and eighth graders played well and I think they will be a great contribution to our band in the following years.”

Preston Sterling Paly Junior

“Before, we had to cart all of our [equipment] over to Gunn or set up at Jordan because we had no room in the Haymarket to fit everybody,” Willner said. “Now, all we have to do is walk outside the band room and bring our chairs, set up and play.”

At the concert, Paly and Jordan band performed a joint piece, “1812 Overture,” by Pyotr Ilyich Tchai-

kovsky. In addition, the Paly band played a repertoire of advanced pieces, including “Flourish for Wind Band” by Ralph Vaughan Williams and the first movement of “Suite of Old American Dances” by Robert Russell Bennett.

According to junior clarinetist Preston Sterling, the togetherness within sections specific to each instrument has always been the band’s forte, but he felt that the communication among the entire band needed more improvement.

However, in “Suite of Old American Dances,” Sterling felt that they effectively refined their group’s cohesivity and delivered an appealing performance.

“We sounded more together as one entity and did a better job of blending,” Sterling said. “In the individual pieces, the freshmen and eighth graders played well and I think they will be a great contribution to our band in the following years.”

Due to the discrepancy between Paly and Jordan’s school schedules, both bands only had a short amount of time to rehearse together. However, they managed to pull off a cohesive performance due to their efficient rehearsals.

Overall, Willner felt that performing in the PAC was a major contribution to their successful concert.

“The acoustics in [the PAC] are better compared to in the Haymarket theater, where we couldn’t hear each other very well,” Willner said.

“It’s also visually a nice place for everybody to hang out and listen to our music.”

Willner highly encourages everyone to attend the music program’s future performances, as they promise not to disappoint.

“Even if you don’t have a brother or sister, boyfriend or girlfriend, you should come out to all of our music concerts because there’s no way you’ll have a bad time,” Willner said.

The Campanile

Friday, November 18, 2016

OPINION A5 Partisan allegiances inhibit sensible political views BEN BEISHEIM

SENIOR STAFF WRITER

A

recent study found that people who voted for Hillary Clinton had an average IQ of 112, while those who voted for Donald Trump had an average IQ of 86. Many of you, I’m sure, read this statistic and felt a subtle gratification in the fact that those in your camp of politics are clearly intellectually superior to the opposition. Others, equally doubtlessly, read this and automatically discredited the mere possibility that supporters of their candidate could be less intelligent than their liberal counterparts. The good news, for those in the latter group, is that the statistic was an utter fabrication as the media latter showed. The bad news, which all of us must come to terms with, is that the value of the preceding statistic is entirely independent of our own biases. The feeling of “that can’t be true,” or “of course!” that many of you likely experienced is referred to as confirmation bias in the field of psychology.

By not exposing students to the political views of their community, society loses an open-mindedness that is imperative to the health of a democracy.

According to Science Daily, confirmation bias is “a tendency to search for or interpret information in a way that confirms one’s preconceptions, leading to statistical errors.” While this may sound like a niche topic that only psychologists ought to concern themselves with, the reality is that the phenomenon has wide-ranging implications that seldom cease to influence our ideas and opinions. Every time you are exposed to a new bit of information, your brain subconsciously evaluates how well it fits into your personal paradigm. Ideas that fit well into the mold are accepted and personalized, while those that do not are discredited and discarded. Rather than altering our paradigms to conform to facts, we tend to do exactly the opposite. To explore some of the problems this poses, consider the following hypothetical.

John is a blue collar, conservative Christian. John lives in a small town in Arkansas, the same town he was

born in and the same town he will most likely die in. When he is not busy working, John enjoys spending time with his family and watching football.

One Sunday afternoon, after returning from church, John is watching the news on television when a clip is played of his favorite senator decrying Obamacare. John is a carpenter and has spent very little time contemplating the complexities of the American healthcare system, but still, he now feels absolutely certain that Obamacare is the worst thing to happen to his country since slavery.

This sort of naive certainty is only made possible by John’s confirmation bias. He doesn’t need to know how many uninsured people were helped

by Obamacare. To him, it is irrelevant what costs the American taxpayers paid for this benefit. All that matters to John is that Obama is bad, Obamacare is a manifestation of Obama, and therefore Obamacare must be bad.

Now, all of a sudden, any study that suggests or emphasizes the failures of Obamacare is inherently more true than any study suggesting the contrary, regardless of the specific procedures of such studies.

This irrationality is, of course, not unique to John, or conservatives, or any other subset of people. Confirmation bias is something that every person experiences, and any person concerned with discerning objective truth from

subjective truth must understand how their confirmation bias limits them.

Identifying your own biases is the first, essential step to mitigating their influence.

Identifying confirmation bias in yourself revolves significantly around asking yourself one question: why do I think that? If the answer is anything other than evidence and logic, it is time to rethink your position.

For me, this process of questioning my beliefs became most intense and valuable during my junior year of high school, when I experienced the only major political shift of my life so far. After becoming interested in politics about a year earlier, I spent a lot of time surrounding myself with neoliberal ideas, watching TYT news and insulating myself from conservative ideas. I was quite happy doing so, living in my world of partisan ideology, with the simple assurance that Democrats were good and Republicans were bad. This all changed however, when I encountered one liberal argument that seemed so facile to me that it broke the spell of ideological submission I had been under for so long. My favorite news outlet had aired an episode in which limitations on free speech were proposed. My disillusionment with this facet of my chosen ideology brought about a reevaluation reminiscent of Descartes’s. I launched myself into the most important debate of my

life, in which I argued incessantly with myself, seeking to disprove every idea which up until that day I had regarded as sacrosanct. The debate continues to this day, and I myself have become my most persistent adversary.

What I am trying to do, and what I think everyone ought to strive for, is to detach my ego from being right the first time, and reattach it to being plain right. In other words, I try to feel no personal attachment to any set of ideas — to take any criticism of those ideas as a criticism of the idea rather than a personal attack. When I am successful in doing so, I feel no shame at being wrong, only proud at being able to grasp the opportunity for correctness brought about the demonstration of my own ignorance.

Personally, I find it strange how rare it is for an argument to end in opinion assimilation. After all, our universe provides us with only one set of facts, and one form of logic will always reign superior. A being with perfect information and perfect logical faculties would agree entirely with a being of equivalent stature.

As imperfect beings, we as humans must settle for imperfect informations and imperfect logical faculties. Much of this imperfection however, is the result of our own biases, and these biases are to some extent within our control.

Therefore, mitigating our own biases is a sure route to perfecting our ideas.

Stereotyping Republicans contradicts liberal values

ETHAN BUNDY

SENIOR STAFF WRITER

T

he 2016 presidential election was one for the books. With two candidates that few citizens could fully support (politically and morally) and the hate between opposing voters, it was a tense and divided race. Though many people across the country are pleased with the outcome of the election, there are also a great deal of outraged voters. This anger has lead to widespread stereotyping of Trump supporters, blatant hypocrisy, nationwide protests and an overall disregard of other viewpoints on the basis of partisanship. Such events have torn apart the unity of American citizens and are not the intended resolution to a democratic election.

The outrage has caused quite a few generalizations about Trump supporters to arise throughout the country.

Labels such as “racists,” “bigots” and “misogynists” have been used to describe those who cast their vote for

Republican politicians, specifically for Donald Trump.

As a Republican living in the overwhelmingly liberal town of Palo Alto, I have been on the receiving end of some of these comments firsthand.

Telling someone you are a Republican has the same effect as telling them you enjoy abusing animals over the weekend. It always evokes a horrified response, followed by the assumption that I hate anyone who is not a white, American and Christian male. For a Republican in Palo Alto to make their beliefs and values public is essentially a sentence to be labeled as someone who only cares about their own welfare. For example, in Palo Alto, being pro-life brands you as someone who does not believe in gender equality. Much of this is born from the derogatory comments Trump has made. However, a vote for the GOP does not entail the support of every word Trump has ever uttered or every policy he intends to make. To say otherwise exhibits an extreme amount of hypocrisy.

In September Democratic candidate Hillary Clinton made a comment about Trump supporters that received a great deal of media coverage.

“You can put half of Trump supporters into what I call the basket of deplorables,” Clinton said. “Right?

Racist, sexist, homophobic, xenophobic, Islamophobic, you name it.”

Although Clinton apologized for this comment, it still serves as a representation of the mindset of a bulk of liberals. However, her words exhibit the exact behavior that she and her supporters claim to deplore.

Saying that Trump voters or right leaning voters should be condemned because they all support stereotypical generalizations of minority groups in our country is making a generalization about them. How can anyone advocate against a behavior by exhibiting that exact behavior, then expect anything to change? To want people to accept everything you value and believe, but to not feel the need to extend that acceptance out to others creates a dan-

gerous double standard .

This mindset will never allow for any kind of progressive change. Being hostile to anyone’s beliefs will make them less inclined to listen. The goal should not be to instill beliefs in everyone else and become aggressive when your ideas are not accepted, but rather to be open to differing opinions and rational in the conversations that arise from them. Instead of opposing views that may be irritating, we should all try to understand the reasoning behind them.

With all of the protests going around the country due to the outcome of the election, one can only ask, what exactly is being protested?

At first glance, the protests seem to be against Trump being president. However, seeing as that result is inevitable the protests must be against those who voted pro-Trump or even anti-Hillary.

The message this gives to the country is that no one’s opinion is worth anything unless it is in support of the Democratic party.

A vote for the GOP does not entail support of every word Trump has ever uttered or every policy he intends to make. To say otherwise exhibits an extreme amount of hypocrisy.

These protests serve no positive purpose and do nothing but negatively influence the minds of Americans.

Hostility stemming from the outcome of this election will only drive the two parties (and their supporters) farther apart than they already are.

How the country chooses to react to this election could result in either positive reform or tense precedents for the future. If we choose to be hostile and only try to see the negatives we will only divide ourselves further.

However if we try to search for the positives and work together we can truly live up to our potential.

The Campanile

Friday, November 18, 2016

A6 OPINION Math laning reduces self-esteem from young age

GRACE KITAYAMA

S

STAFF WRITER

truggling students placed in the lowest math lane may come to the conclusion that they are just “not a math person.” From the beginning of seventh grade to graduation, students in the Palo Alto Unified School District (PAUSD) are placed into different levels of math classes based on a test they take at the end of their first year of middle school.

Though this system of math laning has been in place for years, and may seem like a logical one, it can also be detrimental to students’ success in school in all lanes. This is especially true when they are divided into these levels so early on in their school careers.

When students are divided in such a way, they can begin to believe that they are naturally “gifted” or “ungifted” at math. This can harm their progress later on in life.

Believing in giftedness promotes a fixed mindset. A fixed mindset holds the belief that one is born with a cer-

tain set of skills, and that there is nothing that one can do to develop those skills. Students who believe that they are, and always will be, bad at math will simply continue to fall short of their potential. On the other hand, students who think that they are naturally skilled suffer as well, as they may be deterred from asking questions or taking risks for fear of making mistakes and no longer being deemed “gifted” by those around them. By prioritizing natural skill over the willingness to learn from mistakes, the math laning system instills in children a misguided set of values.

Students are not the only ones who believe that certain people can possess a natural talent for math. In holding the belief that some students are naturally better at the subject than others, professors will tend to show bias against certain students. According to Science Magazine, nationwide, math professors had the most fixed opinions about who could learn and who could not. Though the current system of math laning can have a negative

impact on students in class, it would be difficult to change the math laning system that is currently in place entirely. However, if students and teachers throughout all of PAUSD were to look at how we learn objectively, without fear of failure or the stress of not being able to live up to predetermined expectations, all students would be able to achieve a greater level of success in math as well as other subjects.

An example of this is Paly’s English Department. This year, the department combined advanced and normal levels of English for freshmen and sophomore students because there was such low enrollment in the normal English level. However, students did not seem affected by the change.

“Students choose which class to take,” said head of the Paly English Department Shirley Tokheim. “All incoming freshmen chose 9A and all freshmen (currently in 9A) this year chose 10A for next year.” Though English is an equally challenging class, students look at it differently than math. When students believe that

they have a better chance of succeeding, they actually perform better.

According to YouCubed, a Stanford based organization dedicated to inspiring students to succeed in math, students who believe in their abilities and their ableness to improve will have drastically more success in school than those who do not.

When students are divided in such a way, they can begin to believe that they are naturally “gifted” or “ungifted” at math, which can harm their progress later on in life.

Though math laning may be an efficient way of teaching students at different levels, it discourages students from reaching their full potential.

Therefore, if students at Paly stopped looking at math as a natural talent but rather a constantly developing skill, they would have a greater success rate in class as well as outside of the classroom.

In the classroom, questions must go without judgement

JOSEPH YANG SENIOR STAFF WRITER

W

hen I was in chemistry class two years ago, my teacher, Mr. Bowditch, dispensed one of the most nuanced truisms that I’ve ever heard: “compared to me, you guys basically know next to nothing.”

The class’s reaction was pretty much, “no duh, you have a Ph.D. in organic chemistry” and the rest of my fellow classmates continued about their business titrating hydrogen peroxide with who knows what.

Life hasn’t molded us to the point where we have the right to be so judgmental towards our peers, regardless of whether or not we received an A in chemistry.

For me, however, those words struck a chord about an issue that I have been considering for quite some time: knowledge. Compared to professionals and even graduate school students, even the most intelligent of high schoolers know little compared

to the expertise of seasoned academics. And yet, sometimes we get carried away with a class structure that emphasizes status over talent.

Growing up in Palo Alto, many of us are imbued with the perception that somehow Silicon Valley and its denizens are superior to the citizens of other areas in the country and, indeed, the world. Articles from prominent newspapers with titles such as, “The tech hub that weathered the financial crisis,” “The White House looks to the Silicon Valley as a model for the technology industry” and “How the Silicon Valley came to dominate the tech industry,” to name a few, reaffirm this image of class and pride.

In truth, Silicon Valley is indeed one of the innovative and prominent tech centers in the world. And yes, it is deserving of some pretty high praise.

Whether any of us do is an entirely other matter. However, we are fundamentally students, not social critics.

If overall socioeconomic trends prove valid, the vast majority of Paly students are only at the beginning stages of their lives.

And yet, somehow there exists the tendency for us to own up to the ac-

complishments of our fathers and forefathers as if those achievements were our own. In many ways, the identity of the region we live in has become a reflection of how we behave and interact towards others, which is not necessarily a bad thing. Having a sense of regional pride can be laudable, especially if you live in Chicago and have waited for the Cubs to win the World Series for over 100 years.

But there is a difference between using regional pride as an individualizing agent and using pride as a judgemental one. All of us, have yet to prove our stripes, and deserve to live with that sort of asphyxiation on superiority.

Life hasn't molded us to the point where we have the right to be so judgemental towards our peers, regardless of whether or not we received an A in chemistry.

Just ask any graduate school student in physics and it is clear that the difference between an excellent AP Physics student and a bad one is negligible.

Besides motivation to succeed, there is little to no difference between someone who does well in school and

someone who does well throughout their lifetime. The one theme that somehow appears over and over again in the mainstream media is success after failure or even failure after success.

The paradox of the child prodigy (child prodigies that are disproportionately less successful than their less talented peers) and the non-caring genius must be tropes that exist in American society for some reason.

Besides motivation to succeed, there is little to no difference between someone who does well in school and someone who does well throughout their life.

Perhaps, hundreds of years of human history are incorrect and school is the single path to a person's success in life. Perhaps, a person’s potential and indeed, their entire legacy, banks on whether the grade they get in U.S. History is a C. Perhaps we could stand up to Mr. Blackburn in a debate about macroeconomics. Perhaps. But seriously, when have humans had that much foresight or intelligence?

Friday, November 18, 2016

The Campanile

OPINION

A7

Socioeconomic status not a determinant of future success MAYA BAILEY STAFF WRITER eing born poor does not insure an impoverished destiny, it simply creates an environment that makes breaking the “cycle” a challenging task.

As a laborer and bearing a sixth grade education, the search for a new home was no easy task for my grandfather.

At the time, the only thing separating East Palo Alto and Palo Alto was a signal light and a slightly lower property tax.

Attracted by the lower property tax, my grandfather was quickly interested in an East Palo Alto home.

The home was located right in the middle of the Gardens of East Palo Alto.

Although segregation was illegal, it was the only neighborhood in East Palo Alto to be 100 percent white.

My grandfather and his family were the first African Americans to reside in the Gardens of East Palo Alto.

When the move-in day came around, the residents of the neighborhood thought that my grandfather and his family were the hired help of the new owners.

Little did they know that my grandfather had actually bought the house himself and was planning on joining the community.

B

Living in a impoverished situation especially as a minority in a wealthy community like Palo Alto makes it hard to achieve great success.

Outraged and disgusted that a black family had moved into their neighborhood, one hundred twentyfive people packed their normally quiet lives and left to express disinterest in the situation.

The neighboring white property owners raised $3,750 to convince my grandfather to move, and when he refused, many of the remaining neighbors immediately put their home up for sale and left.

Although my grandfather and my father grew up in a lower income family, they were not poor, but their situation did not mean my father’s destiny and many generations to come were in the same situation.

My grandparents had also purchased other property and continued to build their wealth.

My father and grandfather’s experience shows that although they started in a lower economic status, their impoverished living was not forever.

No matter the race, being born poor is a reach to escape from.

Living in a impoverished situation especially as a minority in a wealthy community like Palo Alto makes it hard to achieve great success.

In 1968, my father started attending Palo Alto High School as a junior which was a great change in lifestyle coming over from high school in East Palo Alto where the students were predominantly black.

“The majority students that came over were the higher achieving students," my father said. At Ravenswood [High School] I was a great student, at Paly, I was average.”

Even when students from financially struggling districts transfer into a community with great opportunity, students still tend to do worse due to the difference in educators, peers and environment.

Today, students in the Ravenswood School District can apply to the Tinsley Transfer program which

allows students to transfer out of the district and into the public schools ranging from Palo Alto to Belmont.

Only minority students are allowed to transfer and chosen through a lottery system.

The majority of the students transferring come from a lower financial status and are entering an environment where the majority of the students are wealthy which constructs a large gap.

This “gap” leaves students with feelings of low self worth.

Ultimately, the students perception of themselves is the most destructive factor to their education.

If students believe that “wealthier means smarter” than their own performance will subsequently suffer.

To ensure that low-income students are able to achieve success within the Palo Alto Unified School District (PAUSD), steps need to be taken to reform students' self image.

To ease the transition, Paly should implement a program that allows EPA students to discuss their educational differences.

This program will let students know that they are not alone and that others share the same struggles.

The problems with the feeling of low self-worth contributes to low

academic performance and makes it harder to break out of this cycle that leaves students in the same situation they were brought up in.

My father and grandfather’s experience is an example to show that although they started in a lower economic status they’re impoverished living wasn't forever.

When students feel inferior in their environment, it makes it hard for the student to take risks. Risks are important when it comes to academic performance because if the average disadvantaged student wants to succeed they need to put in an extra amount of effort if they are willing to succeed. My father experienced some difficulties coming to Paly including racism and discrimination.

Although he was an average student, he was able to overcome them.

My father succeeded throughout high school and in other domains including sports. With his great determination he was able to thrive and other students should take that into account and should not be discouraged just because of socioeconomic status.

Limiting number of APs students can take will decrease stress dents are still able to take AP tests at the end of the School year. In 2007, Scarsdale was named the most prominent school district in the nation to phase out AP courses according to the New York Times. Ever since the school got rid of their AP classes, they have seen impressive results. According to the New York Times, “49 percent of the 2008 graduating class are attending the nation’s most competitive colleges — a group of about 80 schools identified by Barron’s Profiles of American Colleges that includes the Ivy League — compared with 45 percent in 2007.” Instead of offering AP classes, the school now offers Advanced Topic classes — similar to honors or advanced classes at Paly –— whose curriculum is similar to that of the AP curriculum however additional study is needed in order to prepare for the AP exam.

Given the intense competitive environment, it is essential that our school system provides more structure for high school students in choosing classes.

JARED STANLEY SENIOR STAFF WRITER

W

e all know that stereotypical Palo Alto High School student who takes five or more Advanced Placement (AP) classes and strives to go to college across the street. Many students take on the burden of AP classes with the idea that the more AP classes they take, the more likely they are to be able to attend a more prestigious college. In an interview, one student even admitted he only took certain AP classes because they “look good” on a college transcript. Some students have no interest in learning in their AP classes and only take these courses in order to boost their grade point av-

erage (GPA). For these reasons, Palo Alto High School should put a hard limit on the number of AP classes any student can take, or do away with AP classes completely.

Given Paly's intense competitive environment, it is essential that our school system provides more structure for high school students in choosing classes. For many students, “their ambitions are simply bigger than their abilities." By limiting the amount of AP a student can take, they are more inclined to take classes that they find interesting rather than taking classes to get AP credit. If a limit on the number of AP was put in place, Paly students would no longer feel the need to load up on these advanced classes and therefore decreas-

ing the competitive environment within Paly. With the notion that students take advanced placement classes to look better on a college application, a hard limit would help decrease this pressure. By placing a hard limit of three AP classes per student, Paly ensures that its enrollees can both challenge themselves and be looked upon by admissions officers as taking equally rigorous course loads as all their peers. Many other prestigious public schools such as Scarsdale High School in New York have recognized the advantage of limiting the number of AP classes a student can take and have even gone through measure to completely rid their school of AP classes. Even though they no longer offer AP classes, stu-

The school has seen an increase in the average scores of five AP test subjects and a decrease in just two subjects. Finally, limiting or even getting rid of AP classes would allow students to study what they are truly passionate about. By placing such a strong emphasis on how many AP classes a student takes at Paly, we single out those students who find their passion in art, dance or even journalism. The positive results yielded from Scarsdale should act as a precedent for what should be done at Paly. Many students and parents may say that AP classes allow high school students to get college credit, but many prestigious schools such as MIT do not even allow AP credits at their school. The Social Justice Pathway at Paly is a step in the direction that we as a school should be heading.

Friday, November 18, 2016

The Campanile

A8 EDITORIALS More senior advisories needed Rec letter accountability

W

hen the seniors of Palo Alto High School needed it most, Advisory vanished. As of the writing of this article, senior Advisory classes had met three times. The first was on Aug. 16 and included a short summary concerning transcripts and college applications. Overall, however, the presentation was extremely dense, discussing all the senior “todo” items, the new Wellness Center, the UC and CSU application, the Common Application, non-Common App schools, the NACAC, collegiate athletics and the brand new Coalition application. This was followed by a second Advisory meeting on Sept. 1 that focused on financial aid.

After this meeting, seniors were on their own. For more than two months since then, not a single senior Advisory was held. Unfortunately, there were four “Paly Deadlines” during this time. Essentially, students’ early applications could have been jeopardized if they did not submit the proper paperwork to the College and Career Center (CCC). If they lost the sheet containing the Paly deadlines, or were not paying attention in Advisory, there was no support nor reminders for seniors.

Seniors needed help during these past few months, and the structure and scheduling of Advisory did not

provide it. There was no meeting when the first deadline for the cover sheet was due on Sept. 6. There was no Advisory to remind seniors to invite their recommenders and advisors to the Common Application.

There was no Advisory to discuss the possibility of weighted grades appearing on student’s transcript or what to do if teacher recommenders were late in submitting their letters — a problem discussed in a separate editorial.

For those students who may have needed help with the early application process, Advisory would have been the ideal time to deliver it. Not only would there be a teacher available, there would be other concerned and knowledgeable students. College applications can have a unifying effect on students — they all need to meet the same deadlines and log into the same application websites. Some students are even applying to the same college or have the same recommender.

Up until now, Advisory has been a top-down process — the teachers lecturing the students. They have overlooked a fountain of knowledge and motivation — the other students in the midst of the application process.

Our recommendation for Advisory next year is to hold at least three additional meetings between Sept. 1

and Nov. 3. One before the first cover sheet is due, the second at the beginning of October to discuss teacher recommenders and the Common App, and the final one in late October as an “emergency” help/check-in session for seniors who are applying early.

The key to making these Advisories useful is to allow time for students to actually work on their cover sheets or applications in the company of other knowledgeable students and teachers.

Not only would this give students a jump-start on their applications, it would alleviate stress by creating a time and place to interact constructively with others going through the same hectic process.

We think that these changes will decrease student stress and make advisory more meaningful to the students of Paly. It would allow students to receive reminders about important deadlines and to “take control” of their application.

We are grateful that the school has advisory in the first place, and we appreciate the sentiment behind the meetings. However, advisory could be much more effective and helpful.

We hope that the Paly administration takes steps to not only add more meetings, but to change the structure of these meetings to allow student communication and work time.

F

all in Palo Alto is a pleasant season, marred perhaps by only one thing: college applications.

These digital stress packages inconvenience everyone they touch — from students, to parents, to teachers.

The typical application requires one or more letters of recommendation from high school instructors, imposing a burden on them.

In addition to teaching class, rec writers must commit time to describing the unique and favorable facets of anywhere from one to several dozen students.

The Campanile understands this difficult task and sympathizes with those who must take it up. However, it is critical to remember two major perspectives — that of the recommender and that of the recommendee ­— in this time-consuming process.

With a barrage of extra responsibilities tacked on to their regular duties, teachers may push the limit of the application deadline. As will students. And yet the anxiety (on both sides) of letting the clock tick cannot be overemphasized.

Indeed, most seniors now know a particular feeling of despair at the sight of the Common Application’s “Recommenders and FERPA Section” displaying those fateful words: Not started.

There is no solution to overscheduling, but there is something of

a reliever for rec pressure. Increased communication will carry the day, especially for toning down students’ nerves. While it might be an inconvenience for teachers to write an email every now and then for many students, the generic nature of these correspondences (“I’m currently working on your rec, it should be done soon,” etc.) should put applicants at ease.

Of course, there is an uncrossable line in this situation. Many seniors have been told by their advisors to hound recommenders with consistent verbal check-ins. Frankly, this practice is detrimental to both parties, and solely serves to fray the bond between teacher and student, a bond integral to the recommendation process itself.

Clocking in with a simple email exchange every other week would more than temper the extremes of communication and lack thereof.

At the end of the day, the whole affair boils down to teamwork. There has never been a group, from politics to professional sports, that has prospered without polite communication — that postulate extends over high school too. Being in what is essentially the same boat should bring staff and students closer together, not drive them apart with stress and friction.

So here’s to finishing up application season with lighter hearts and fewer struggles.

Point-based grading should be implemented

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s an institution that has striven to alleviate the pressure of academics from its students, Palo Alto High School has ignored one of its largest stress inducers — the current use of weighted grading systems by some teachers. By assigning greater weight to sections in a student’s grade, usually divided into tests, homework, participation or projects with the greatest emphasis on tests, students are placed in an exam-driven culture that values their performance on occasional tests and quizzes above their progression throughout the grading period.

The Campanile believes that more teachers should adopt a point-based grading system, rather than utilizing weighted sections in the gradebook.

By placing greater emphasis on certain aspects of the course through weighted grading, such as the 80 percent weight given to exams and quizzes in Advanced Placement Calculus AB or 60 percent in Physics Honors, students are driven to perform well on the tests that essentially determine their grade in the class, rather than focusing on learning the material.

In a weighted grading system, points earned in certain categories are weighted so that they are worth more than points in others. Many teachers at Paly weight points of credit earned in tests and quizzes, making these points more influential over a student’s grade than points earned on homework assignments or projects. In contrast, courses that are graded on a total point basis ensure that each point earned by a student is equal in value to every other point of credit in the gradebook. In a pointbased grading system, points earned on a test would be equal to ten points earned on a homework assignment; in a weighted system, those ten test

points could be equal in value to fifteen homework points.

Many teachers utilize a weighted grading system because it allows them to more precisely control how much of students’ grades will be affected by different types of work. While it may be argued that exams are an important representation of a student’s understanding of the material, and therefore should be given more significance in calculating one’s grade in a class, weighting grades only leads to students suffering both academically and mentally. Because points earned on tests more greatly affect students’ grades than do points in other categories, students are indirectly encouraged to focus more on performing well on tests. This emphasis on testing well worsens not only Paly’s competitive atmosphere, but also individual students’ stress levels and, consequently, mental health.

Point-based grading, however, eliminates this emphasis on points earned on tests and quizzes. In equalizing all of the values of a student’s points, exam scores do not affect a student’s overall grade as significantly as they would in a weighted system, and are less detrimental to a student’s entire grade should the student perform poorly on a single test. In this case, a student can compensate the negative effect of their test score by earning higher scores in homework, projects or participation categories.

The Campanile urges Paly teachers and administration to seriously consider the benefits of switching to a point-based grading system. By enforcing more widespread implementation of these methods, Paly would be taking a step forward in alleviating student stress and eradicating the competitive culture of testing it has long strived to shed.

NOVEMBER TOP TEN LIST Thanksgiving Conversation Topics 10)The turkey that your aunt spent hours cooking is just a little too

The Campanile Editors-in-Chief Peter Maroulis • Jacky Moore • Kai Oda Ethan Teo • Jessica Wong Online Editor-in-Chief David Tayeri News and Opinion Editors Sam Yun Ashley Zhang

Lifestyle Editors Eli Gwin-Kerr Annalise Wang

Sports Editors Cole Hechtman Kiran Misner

Multimedia Editor Mads McCluskey

Social Media Manager Kate DeAndre

Business Manager Bethany Shiang

Ben Beisheim Yael Ben-Shachar Josh Brigel Ethan Bundy Charlotte Cheng Uma Choudury Philip Ericsson Joanna Falla Mackenzie Glassford

dry for your taste.

9) How outrageous the Starbucks green cups were this year.

8) Whether or not your uncle had a little something extra in his eggnog.

7) What connections your relatives have to your top choice college

Christmas this year.

4) Why you haven’t yet found your future spouse.

3) Plans for setting up camp in front of Walmart for Black Friday.

2) How excited you are about the Trump presidency.

1) Politics. Always more politics.

- Anna Moragne and Alice Zhao

Staff Writers

Maya Homan Edward Kim Grace Kitayama Will Leighton Jacques Manjarrez Nicholas Melvin Anna Moragne Jordan Quigley Maya Ravel-Bailey Niklas Risano

Photographers

Charlotte Cheng Maya Homan Gracie Kitayama

6) How prepared you are for your finals in three weeks.

5) What you’re thankful for, quickly followed by what you want for

Managing Editor Alice Zhao

Esther Wojcicki

Gillian Robins Jordan Schilling Peyton Wang

Advisors Rodney Satterthwaite

Letters to the Editors: Email all letters to editors to theeds16@googlegroups.com The Campanile prints letters on a space-available basis.

We reserve the right to edit submissions.

The Campanile only prints signed letters.

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Writing Coaches Evelyn Richards Elisabeth Rubinfien 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!

L FESTYLE The Campanile

Friday, November 18, 2016 Jobs in downtown Palo Alto

Psychology of Procrastination The

F

ormer American Vice President work, it’s not enjoyable,” Farina said.

Aaron Burr once eloquently “Trying to fight through that — to proclaimed: “Never do today the point when you’ve completed what you can put off till tomor- something difficult and then you feel row.” Though uttered 200 years ago, enjoyment — is tough to train our Burr’s words are perhaps more relat- brains to do. able today than they were in his time, and they characterize an everlasting struggle: procrastination.

People who procrastinate often We are all familiar with the threat- feel self-regret, which causes the act ening presence of procrastination. As to be perceived by many as merely high school the result of students in a foolish lack the midst of of self-disciProcrastination is more than modern techpline. However, just being lazy.

In reality, nology’s pesschool — esThose who procrastinate do so ky distracpecially high because they are constantly tions, most of school, where us are guilty seeking immediate happiness as courses are ofof indulging ten rigorous a means of relieving boredom. in it. It is no and lack appeal secret that — plays a big procrastination can nurture strong role in why people may not get work feelings of self-regret and therefore done in a timely manner. is looked down upon. If that is the In elementary and middle school, case, why do we consistently procras- students are more inclined to enjoy tinate? school for various reasons: activities Psychological findings pertaining are new and interesting, there are to this phenomenon have explained many new people and there is not an the numerous factors that reveal why ever-present emphasis on the future, someone may continuously put off which leads students to become more that ten-page research paper until the self-motivated to complete schoolnight before it is due or delay his or work, providing less temptation to her bedtime until ungodly hours. In procrastinate. fact, procrastination may not have a In high school, however, grades simple cause or a quick remedy. and extracurricular activities play a big role in students’ futures. At this point, teachers and peer pressure sudPsychologically, the easiest way to denly prompt students’ procrastinadecipher the thoughts of someone tion because getting good grades is who procrastinates is to think of that emphasized as a main determinant of person as two separate beings: their students’ futures. present self and their future self. “[In high school, you have] all Procrastinators generally dread these extrinsic motivators, these the work they need to accomplish things outside of yourself, these and are almost never motivated to outside pressures that tell you what do it. As an excuse, they convince you need to do, and you start saying, themselves that they will be more ‘Well, I guess I have to do the things motivated and therefore do a better that all these external pressures are job with that work in the future. Al- telling me I should do,’” Farina said. though somewhat logical, this idea “So you stop doing the intrinsically only creates a vicious cycle of failing motivational stuff, the stuff that to get work done. you’re really interested in.”

“Whatever is not enjoyable to us When people start taking now, we imagine that our future self will be way more motivated to do it,” said Palo Alto High School AP Psychology teacher Christopher Farina.

“Of course, once that time comes, the conditions are pretty much the same.”

However, procrastination is more than just about being lazy. In reality, those who procrastinate do so because they are constantly seeking immediate happiness to relieve boredom.

“If something isn’t due the next day then I just try and push it off for as long as possible because there are other things I would rather do,” said junior Ruth Itzkowitz.

Author Jim Rohn famously stated that “happiness is not something you postpone for the future; it is something you design for the present.” Snapchatting friends or scrolling through Facebook are immediately-enjoyable experiences, whereas conducting research for a paper due weeks later usually does not provide instant gratification.

“For things like projects or obligatory

Classroom Fallacies

[

]

underpinnings

Design by

Philip Ericsson & Alice On

classes for the sake of earning good stumble upon things randomly grades or appealing to college ad- that you wouldn’t have otherwise, missions officers, they tend to not be and it gives you a chance to broadself-motivated enough to complete en your network knowledge,” Fatheir work. These external factors — rina said. “You’re taking some time teachers, fellow students, parents and to explore.”

However, Farina also stressed the idea of a successful future — ofthe importance of establishing a ten contribute to procrastination.

“Procrastination doesn’t give me healthy balance between procrasjoy in the sense that I end up regret- tinating and finishing work. After ting it later,” Itzkowitz said. “It gives all, everyone still has work to get me joy in the sense that I do some- done. thing I want to do instead of doing something that I have to, like homeSolutions to procrastination work.” seem simple enough. “Just don’t Therefore, procrastination may procrastinate,” many urge. This not be as bad as many make it out to statement proposes an obviously be. In the midst of dreaded school- ineffective solution, for procrastiwork and other dreary activities, pro- nation still exists. crastination often serves as an escape “It is very hard to not procrasfrom reality and allows students to tinate because it becomes a habit live in the present and momentarily pretty quickly, and it is very hard stop stressing about their futures. to break a habit,” Itzkowitz said. “[Procrastination] gives me enPeople usually try to fight this tertainment,” said sophomore Aaron habit through punishment. ParGao. “If there are music producers ents sometimes try taking away like Virtual Riot or ExoVybe drop- their children's electronic devices ping down mixtapes or dank memes or turning off WiFi in hopes of getting updated on iFunny, I will go decreasing procrastination. Howcheck because I want to have fun.” ever, this practice may cause many Recently, children to psycholoexperience In the midst of dreaded gists have an overschoolwork and other dreary started to whelmexplore the activities, procrastination ing urge idea that to sneak often serves as an escape from carving out around rereality and allows students a space for strictions to live in the present and monothing placed on mentarily stop stressing about p ro d u c t i ve them, rento happen is their futures. dering this actually very method inimportant in human’s lives, and is a effective. core component of creativity. ProFarina proposed a differcrastination, though perhaps not the ent method: reinforcement. In ideal solution to a lack of creativity, this tactic, parents and teachhelps people access a portion of their ers strengthen students’ wills by creative mindsets, even when they rewarding their children after constantly feel pressured by outside completing a designated task. For forces. example, a student who finishes a “If you just have time to let your portion of his or her research pamind wander or doodle or randomly per may be rewarded 15 minutes click through links that take to surf the Internet. you throughout the Farina stated that “the ultimate Internet, you goal [of reinforcement] is to have it [become] its own self-sustaining behavior,” thus creating new habits where students are internally motivated to do work for the joy they will experience after finishing work earlier. “[After reinforcement,] motivations to do work become intrinsic, and you can build it into a habit where you always tackle the tough stuff first, when you have the greatest cognitive reserves to be able to dedicate yourself to it and you’re not distracted,” Farina said. “Then you feel really good because you got a bunch of stuff done.”

However, students should not constantly be rewarded for completing their work; as they build and strengthen self-sustaining habits, students should receive awards less and less frequent.

Through this approach, students may hopefully strike a harmonious balance of both completing work on time and doing activities that they enjoy. After all, as writer Thomas Merton once said, “happiness is not a matter of intensity, but of balance, order, rhythm and harmony.”

Solutions

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Text & Design by Allison Wu

1

The influx of tech companies has led to an increase in job openings for students in Palo Alto.

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in

2000

This edition featuring:

Chinmay Tyagi with The Campanile’s own

Kiran Misner The Campanile: How are you doing today, Chinmay?

Chinmay Tyagi: Doing pretty good.

TC: What is your favorite class this year?

CT: This year? It has got to be BC Calculus because I love Mr. Toma and he is my favorite teacher and I’m going to get an A this year.

TC: After that last test, what are the actual possibilities of you getting an A? CT: You know, somehow, it’ll happen. I’ll get an A. I’m not worried.

Sometimes there are bumps on the road, but that's all just part of the process.

TC: Thoughts on the recent election?

CT: What do you want me to say?

TC: Anything that comes to mind.

CT: As we all know, big Donald Trump won and other people made a lot of comments on Facebook or whatever, so I’m going to take the diplomatic approach and not say one thing or another.

TC: Talking about Facebook, you’re sort of a legend on the site. What are your opinions on getting over 100 likes on statuses like "Chinmay Tyagi was thinking about going to bed?"

CT: Sometimes you just want to tell the world how you feel and that was just me expressing myself. Some people express themselves through art, some people through music and some people through posting on Facebook.

TC: Still on the topic of Facebook, what are your thoughts on the reaction feature of the website?

CT: I think my favorite is either the "Wow" or the "Sad" because it helps me. Earlier I was bound to having to like it, even if I didn’t like it. What if it was something that is controversial? I’m not just going to like it, now I’m going to "Angry" it furiously and comment why I am so angry. I think it helps people share their emotion and express themselves.

TC: I see that you have been doing No Shave November. What is the initiative behind that?

CT: This, like other things, was driven by one thing: peer pressure from my friends.

TC: Are you currently winning the competition between your friends right now?

CT: I mean, not many people are capable of growing a beard like mine, so I’ve seen some that are patchier and I think I’m pulling it off just a bit better.

TC: Any competition?

CT: Not competitors. Steven Marinkovich, way ahead of me, but he’s been growing it out for a couple months now, at least, so he cheated technically, but he’s the only one that comes to mind.

TC: Any last words that you have for the Paly community?

CT: Everyone join Input Club, Tuesdays at lunch. I hope to see you there!

LIFESTYLE

Importance of living a balanced lifestyle Many of Palyís students are busy with school work, college apps, internships, sports and extracurricular activities. Especially now, being able to balance oneís lifestyle is key to performing well in all facets of life.

PHILIP ERICSSON/THE CAMPANILE

PAGE B6

UNKNOWN/CREATIVE COMMONS

SPOTLIGHT

LIFESTYLE

PHILIP ERICSSON/THE CAMPANILE

LIFESTYLE

COURTESY OF JAMES POE

The history of Palo Alto

The end of Vine

Paly’s student photographers

PAGE B4-B5

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An exploratory experience that delves into the folds of Palo Alto.

What does the end of this iconic app mean for its famous stars?

Take a look at the lives of Paly's talented student photographers.

Friday, November 18, 2016

The Campanile

B2 LIFESTYLE “Atlanta” offers unique and genuine take on race Sprinkled with humor, Donald Glover’s feel-good TV series depicts the struggles of three African-Americans GILLIAN ROBINS

SENIOR STAFF WRITER

I

nvisible cars, kids in white face and a black Justin Bieber. Amidst scenes of shootings, prison and vicious drug deals, “Atlanta,” Donald Glover’s alternative, dreamy think piece on the state of race in America is saved from the dark depths of depression and gloom by a vibrant collection of odd moments and paradoxical characters.

The compelling trio that is the main cast features Princeton-dropout Earn, his drug dealer cousin, Alfred Miles (Brian Tyree Henry) and Alfred’s chronically-stoned associate, Darius (Keith Stanfield). Viewers follow Earn as he tries his hand in the music industry, hoping to guide Alfred in the world of hip hop and launch his career as a rapper under the stage name Paper Boi. However, their hustling quest is more of an afterthought, as the primary focus of the show is on the personal lives of the characters, with Darius offering comic relief in the form of baked epiphanies.

With lots of offbeat humor and an indie-film vibe, it’s saturated with Glover’s eccentricity — a black version of Twin Peaks.

“Atlanta” is exactly what you’d expect from the multi-talented, quirky producer Glover. With lots of offbeat humor and an indie-film vibe, it’s full of Glover’s eccentricity — a black version of “Twin Peaks,” as described

by Glover himself. In an interview with National Public Radio, Glover said that “Atlanta” depicts the “surreal nature of the human experience.”

From stand-up comedy, to a writing job for “30 Rock,” to the role of the nerdy football player as Troy Barnes in Community, to a brief appearance in Lena Dunham’s “Girls” and of course, as rapper Childish Gambino, Glover has solidified his presence in many niches of creative expression. For “Atlanta,” he worked together with an all-black team of writers, including his brother Stephen, (who recorded the “Paper Boi” track that makes Alfred famous in the show,) and director Hiro Murai,

ANNALISE WANG

LIFESTYLE EDITOR

DEAR ANNALISE, I’m a colored person living in Palo Alto. Everyone who sees me knows I’m colored. What many don’t know is that I’m also bisexual. But what almost everyone doesn’t know is that I’m adopted by two Asian parents.

When I saw who won the presidential election, I was scared. Not just because my rights as a colored LGBTQ person may be revoked during the upcoming presidency, but also because my parents are radical Trump supporters and I feel as if my voice is silenced at home. They don’t understand why I’m not as elated as they are, and continue to poke at my political views. I can’t tell them I’m liberal or else risk harsh disapproval, but at the same time I feel silenced by them, by my peers and the outcome of the vote. What should I do?

— POLITICALLY INCORRECT DEAR POLITICALLY INCORRECT, No matter your color, gender, sexual preference, opinions nor anything else that you were born with or choose to identify with, you have a right to be safe. I can understand

ATLANTA/CREATIVE COMMON’S LICENSED

Alfred (left), an ambition-lacking weed addict, Darius (center), the show’s source of comedy and Earn (right), Ivy League dropout.

who shot many of Childish Gambino’s music videos.

Earn and Alfred’s intentional juxtaposition epitomizes the two “types” of African-American men. Earn is Ivy-educated, proper English speaker, and is accepted by American society; Alfred is a gangster rapper who sells drugs and is the victim of systemic racism. This point is made clear in Episode five: “Nobody Beats the Biebs,” when a reporter tells Alfred: “They want you to be the a**hole.

You’re a rapper. That’s your job.”

As the season unfolds, the complexity and nuances of the characters are revealed. Alfred puts on a tough thug persona, but we start to see his vulnerability through his insecurity and self-doubt as he grapples with the odd encounters that come with Paper Boi’s fame.

In another scene, Alfred and Darius are smoking weed in Alfred’s car in the parking lot of a liquor store when Alfred hollers at a young woman, exclaiming, “Ay girl, that’s me on the radio.” However, he is immediately admonished by the woman in the lot.

Though Alfred hurls a sharp remark back to the woman, the viewer sees through his tough facade and comes face to face with Alfred’s insecurity.

There is also some comical irony in Alfred’s inadequacy as a drug dealer due to his fearful nature.

Although partially educated at Princeton, Earn is basically home-

less and struggles to make money.

We see him as he tries to hustle as Paper Boi’s manager and indulges in the fast lifestyle, having one-night stands, smoking and drinking heavily.

He simultaneously tries to be a good father to his baby daughter and mend a confusing relationship with his girlfriend Van (Zazie Beetz).

feeling very uneasy and perhaps afraid in the wake of recent political events, namely the election.

I will not offer any sort of political opinion, but I will remind you that it’s your right to be scared, and it is very much okay to be. I’m scared too, for perhaps the same or different reasons.

You aren’t alone, and you wouldn’t be no matter what your views were.

It is extremely difficult to be facing potential discrimination from impending events. Know that no one has the right to ever take away your rights: to speak, to form opinions or to do what makes you happy.

There’s a lot of controversy right now, for sure. It is important not to get sucked into the opinions of others — it is and always has been up to you entirely to make your judgments of the events occurring at this time in your life. Your judgment belongs to no one else nor is owed in favor of any sort of way. It is important for you to form your own opinions as to what you believe is behind all of the smoke and mirrors — your parents, peers and community should not be the ones shaping who you are though you may feel a lot of influence one way or another.

these topics arise.

In reality, this affects you because you are the one affected by many of the misconceptions and ignorance regarding stereotypes of your respective minorities. You might have to be more resilient than most people, and that is an unfair social consequence of being in those minorities. But no matter who you are, there are others you can lean on for support.

At the end of the day, you can be stronger than people that try to drag you down. Your differences provide you with unique perspectives that should be celebrated, even if you don’t desire to stand out from the collective.

What we can all do is strive to make the world a more accepting place. Easier said than done, most definitely, but we can each take a step in that direction and collectively we will have the power to change history.

Messages of love and acceptance need to become more widespread than those of fear and hatred no matter where you live, who you are or what is happening in the political sphere.

You can begin this journey within yourself. Take some time to care about yourself, and step back from the drama. You need room to take a deep breath and remind yourself that you are loved and lovable. Only then can you begin to truly accept yourself and all of your opinions.

This is a big deal, and it can take years. You don’t have to accomplish this alone. This is a crucial time to turn to trusted peers and adults if you have them in your immediate situation. If you don’t, there are many more people more than willing to support you if you need it. Support centers are a call away, and I will provide the numbers at the end of this article. Counselors are ready and willing to help you at school in the Wellness Center. Adolescent Counseling Services are also available during school days. It is very admirable of you to admit that you need help, and even if it can be very uncomfortable to reach out, trust me,

Messages of love and acceptance need to become more widespread than those of fear and hatred no matter where you live, who you are or what is happening in the political sphere.

It’s uncomfortable to be in a minority, racially, sexually, politically or otherwise, and solutions are scarcely addressed. These are some topics that are often the proverbial “elephant in the room” since many simply don’t know how to talk about them. This effect can be felt perhaps more strongly in Palo Alto since most desire to be politically correct at all times. It can often feel as if we aren’t talking about topics that need to be addressed which results in awkwardness when

The most creative, thematicallylayered and thought-provoking episode is the seventh. The whole half-hour is made to look like a real talk show, mixed with satirical commercials.

In crisp 30-minute episodes, the show manages to lay out hard-hitting social issues in an approachable way by presenting them under unconventional spotlights. In “Streets on Lock,” Earn waits in jail for his case to be read. While he’s waiting, he witnesses the prison workers violently beating a man with an obvious mental illness. In another harrowing scene in “Go for Broke,” Darius and Alfred carry out a drug deal in the middle of the woods where they witness someone being held captive, and later shot as he tries to get away. Despite this traumatizing event, the mood of the episode isn’t dark. Dark themes like police brutality, incarceration, shootings and drug deals could coagulate into an oppressive, depressing gloom,

but “Atlanta” manages to weave in humor and bizarre moments to avoid depressing and demoralizing viewers.

Then there are episodes that aren’t dark, but merely strange. In “Juneteenth,” Van and Earn attend a Juneteenth celebration in a high-class neighborhood in an effort to network to secure Van a high-paying job. The white husband of the interracial couple that Van and Earn meet is obsessed with black culture and makes several uncomfortable attempts to connect with Earn. We watch his failed casual handshake when they first meet, then his insistence that Earn must visit Africa to connect back to his roots, then him making Earn sit front row while he performed a spoken word beginning with “Jim Crow has the name of a man, but is a ghost, but Jim Crow is haunting me.” In this episode, Glover tries to suggest to the audience that no matter how hard white people try or how good their intentions are, they can never truly empathize with African-Americans or know what it’s like to be African-American.

The most creative, thematically-layered and thought-provoking episode is the seventh: “B.A.N.” The whole half-hour is made to look like a real talk show, mixed with satirical commercials that almost seem real. In one memorable commercial, a kid’s cereal much like Trix or Cookie Crisp is being advertised. But then, the carnothing is more important than your health.

Once you begin to accept yourself, you can look at other people’s unaccepting natures through a different lens. We all have our reasons for our opinions, and we all have our opinions. Your parents have different ones than yours, but that doesn’t mean they have to conflict. Their job is to take care of you and raise you.

Be kind, be loving, be accepting and be strong.

Staunching your opinions is not an area they should be stepping into.

It may be extremely tough if your views don’t align with your parents’.

Sure, other people with different opinions may bother you, but your parents, adoptive or not, often have the most influence on you. It’s going to take a lot of courage to stand up and break any silence that you may feel is imposed upon you. But if you are compromising your mental health now, that should be a sure sign that things at home need to be righted.

Political beliefs are a small thing compared to one’s value as a human being. Your parents should not hurt you emotionally or hate you over trivial political beliefs. It is unfair that you have to go through this — your parents are at fault for acting inappropriately, not you. If conflicts at home don’t resolve or worsen, talk to someone immediately. Talk to friends, teachers, counselors or whomever you trust, but reach out to someone.

At the end of the day, never let anyone make you feel silenced or oppressed about any aspect of you — you are an amazing person who deserves the right to think or feel any way they choose. Certainly in this situation you can choose to do nothing at all, and that is perfectly okay. Just make sure that you are taking care of yourself, because it can be very difficult to face the situation you’re in.

It is unfortunate to say the least

toon character, something resembling a wolf or wild dog, tries to steal the kids’ cereal and is wrestled to the ground and handcuffed. While the animal is being arrested, the children are trying to convince the officer that the animal can have their cereal, but he ignores them. This depiction of police brutality is in such an unorthodox place that only Glover could have thought it up.

The “talk show” features Paper Boi arguing about racial and gender identity with another guest, a fictional white, liberal feminist named Deborah Holt. Holt tries to warp Paper Boi’s words to portray him as a transphobic, ignorant and objectifying rapper. But at the end, much to the host Franklin Montague’s dismay, the two make amends.

Interestingly, the last episode of the season does not feature a lot of the dry humor and jokes, which creates a somber effect. When dark things happen, like when Alfred, Earn and Darius see someone get shot, the mood remains heavy, the scene lacking an offbeat joke or weird spiritual observation from Darius.

“Atlanta” sparks the conversation about race in weird, unconventional ways.

In the final scene, as the parties, club scenes and banter between the three are stripped away, Earn is left sleeping on a makeshift bed in his storage unit with his headphones in.

It is obvious that Paper Boi did not become hugely successful, but Earn’s relationship with Van is stable, and there’s a sense of acceptance of his state in the world as he sifts through two crisp Benjamins from Paper Boi’s profits.

“Atlanta” adds to the conversation about race in weird, unconventional ways and portrays an authentic version of African-American culture.

Each shot, each image, each mannerism of even the most peripheral characters is methodical. Glover’s heavy-handed sureness and presence imbues startlingly human emotion in “Atlanta,” which lends the show a depth and relatability that allows the audience to profoundly understand Earn and each character. that people still refuse to accept everyone for who they are. For now, there are more important things than the presidency. You may not be able to change the outcome of the election, but do make your voice heard if you feel you need to do that. You can express yourself in so many ways, including voicing political beliefs, having conversations with people you trust and spreading messages of kindness or other values through your actions.

A most important aspect of your life is going to be how you deal with other people and their beliefs. You may be afraid or have many other emotions regarding other people and their opinions, which may or may not be stirred by the election. What needs to be righted are harmful stereotypes and misconceptions of societal aspects, because they are the ones that have indirect or direct effects for you.

This is a tall order and our people can only begin to become more fair and just little by little. And this journey — it starts with you.

Be kind, be loving, be accepting and be strong. Nobody else can oppress you if you accept yourself for who you truly are, and you need to allow yourself to do that, no matter who society may say today. We have a lot to look forward to in the coming years, and it is on us to create positive change.

WITH LOVE, Annalise Wang Mental Health Service Administration Helpline: 1-800-662-4357 Crisis Hotline: 1-855-278-4204 LGBT National Youth Hotline: 1-800-246-7743 LGBT National Hotline: 1-800-843-4564 National Suicide Prevention Lifeline: 1-800-273-8255 7Cups: A chat site with an online therapist to discuss your problems: https://www.7cups.com/

Friday, November 18, 2016

The Campanile

How to prepare for alumni interviews

LIFESTYLE More high schoolers find jobs Small businesses unable to compete with tech company's wages

ANNA MORAGNE

SENIOR STAFF WRITER

B

I

etween turning in early applications and preparing to turn in Regular Decision applications, you seniors may think that the only thing you have to worry about is perfecting your last few supplements.

Unfortunately, you’re wrong. College alumni interviews are another obligation that must be added to the end of your very balanced and manageable to-do lists. While a few colleges require interviews, many institutions will offer them as an optional way for you to show your interest in the school. But is anything really optional?

What to Wear What you wear to an interview is critical because, let’s be honest, we all judge a book by its cover. Dig in the back of your closet to find that one semi-fancy shirt that your mom bought for you to wear to one of your parents’ work events. If you happen to own a coat, tie or heels, wear all of these items (regardless of gender).

You may stand out from all the hipsters working on their laptops in the coffee shop, but as we have all heard at numerous college talks, “standing out is what gets you accepted.”

Drink Order Almost all of your alumni interviews will be held in coffee shops, as these are casual common grounds between you and the interviewer. If your interview is in a coffee shop, it is important to order a drink and order the right drink. Your drink order tells a lot about you and can show your interviewer whether or not you are prepared for college. If you order something like a “lightly iced grande soy caramel macchiato,” your interviewer will automatically be put off by you.

Try to order the simplest drink you can; either black coffee or iced tea.

Extra points for you if you order it decaf, showing your interviewer that you manage your time well enough to still get an adequate amount of sleep.

What to Say It is always good to research a school before you go into an interview, but if you haven't had the time to do so, don’t sweat it! Just come prepared with a few general statements that you could apply to almost any school. When they ask why you want to go to their college you can just bring up the “close student community” and the “ideal size” as well as location. Feel free to draw inspiration from the “Why ___ college?” supplements that you had to BS. And if in the end your interview still goes terribly, take comfort in the fact that you probably weren’t getting into Harvard anyway. Good luck!

How to prepare for the Gilmore Girls revival

YAEL BEN-SHACHAR

SENIOR STAFF WRITER

How to Prepare After fumbling through about ten back-and-forth emails with an alum of whichever school you have decided is your top choice, you will finally settle on a time and location that works for the two of you. Make sure to mark this date on your calendar and circle it so that you do not have any conflicts – rescheduling makes you appear to be bad at time management. Before you go to an interview, make sure to pull together a complete portfolio of all your work to show your interviewer. Your interviewer knows nothing about you prior to your interview, so you should be sure to bring an extensive, preferably laminated, resumé for them to look at as well as your high school transcript. Additionally, you should bring along the self portrait you did in your required 6th grade art class or a full-length video of a play that you spoke one line in to show off your creative side.

B3

f you are anything like me, Gilmore Girls has been a huge part of your existence. You have watched each episode a million times, and have had countless conversations with friends about who Rory should have ended up with and what those final four words are. All of these questions will finally be answered when the Gilmore Girls revival premieres on Nov. 25. It will be made up of four 90 minute episodes, each named after a different season. Here are some steps to prepare for the reboot of the beloved show.

GRACE KITAYAMA/THE CAMPANILE

Countless students have been finding jobs in small businesses as a result of more experienced workers working at tech companies.

GRACE KITAYAMA

STAFF WRITER

S

trolling through the magical, twinkling streets of downtown Palo Alto at night and ordering a pearl milk tea or grabbing a slice of pizza, high school students might find themselves running into several familiar faces from the other side of the counter.

The presence of students in foodservice jobs, such as Creamistry, Lemonade, T-4, Chantal Guillon and Pizza My Heart has become increasingly common in the past few years, with “Help Wanted” signs in windows of almost every shop downtown.

Local businesses are more desperate than ever before to hire new employees. Though this abundance of opportunities for jobs may be good news for Paly students looking to make a little extra cash, countless businesses are struggling just to stay afloat in the increasingly expensive downtown Palo Alto.

I submitted a paper application in-store, no resumé, and a few weeks later I was called in for an in-person interview.

Katie Look Junior Mark Rovner, Consultant of Communications at Sea Change Strategies, perhaps best encapsulated this pattern when he spoke to the National Public Radio (NPR) in 2005.

Rovner observed a phenomenon he dubbed the “bad barista index” or “BBI.” If the service staff at any food establishment — in Rovner's case, a coffee shop — was below his standards, this signified that the economy was doing well because all of the ‘good’ baristas have theoretically been hired by a better, higher paying, company.

“When the [BBI] goes up, that has to mean that the economy is doing pretty well,” Rovner said in a commentary for NPR. “And folks, I'm here to tell you from San Francisco to [Silver Spring, Maryland] , the BBI is way, way up.”

Rovner’s astute observation does beg one question, however: where did all of the good baristas go? For the answer, one needs to look no further than the local tech giants in or near Palo Alto that have been outbidding the local restaurants for food service staff recently due to their countless resources.

Companies such as Facebook, Apple, Google and even Palantir offer better salaries and benefits to all of their employees that smaller local businesses simply cannot afford to compete with.

As a solution, local businesses in Palo Alto are turning to high school students who are willing to work part-time and usually do not require

the extra benefits that the majority of technology companies offer, such as higher wages.

Students looking for part-time jobs are in luck, as the process of finding and acquiring employment has never been easier in Palo Alto. Many students who work downtown have described their interview process as very casual and painless.

“I found out about the job opportunity through a friend,” said Maddie Hare, Paly junior and Creamistry employee. “My interview was informal, [and the] application process was easy.”

Application processes have become more lenient at local businesses in order to attract more workers. This method also allows for less experienced workers; thus, more students have been working at jobs that used to only be occupied by non-high school students.

Josefin Kenrick, a Paly alumna, worked at Pizza My Heart in its downtown location from January 2013 until May 2014 when she attended Paly. According to Kenrick, a resumé was required at her interview, whereas Paly students who work at Pizza My Heart currently were not required to present a resumé in order to get the job.

“I submitted a paper application in-store, no resumé, and a few weeks later I was called in for an in-person interview,” said Paly junior and Pizza My Heart employee Katie Look “They called me that night to tell me I got the job.”

Although it may be easier for Paly students to be hired for jobs, once they start work, many students face a longer work schedule than students have in recent years, largely due to understaffing.

For example, Look is expected to work approximately 30 hours a week, while Kenrick, who worked at Pizza My Heart only two years ago, maintained a schedule of only 20 hours a week. Businesses simply cannot find enough workers, and as a result, ask their employees to work much longer shifts.

“I felt it was unreasonable for me to be asked to work over 30 hours in a week,” Look said. “A lot of [the issue with long hours] has to do with the fact that we're currently understaffed.”

The makeup of the staff has also changed at many businesses downtown. Many of the employees are Paly students, many are college students or students from other nearby high schools. Previously, employees were more likely not to be Palo Alto residents. However, because of Palo Alto's high prices, the majority of minimum wage workers can no longer afford to live in Palo Alto on their own.

“My favorite part of the job was hanging out with my co-workers because they were very different from my friends at Paly and that helped

me disconnect a bit from when Paly was too toxic of an environment due to all of the stress and social pressure,” Kenrick said. “My coworkers were different because [they were] older with different backgrounds, ethnicities, socioeconomic status[es], goals and career paths.”

Students who work downtown, however, may not have the same work experiences that Kenrick had while working while in high school a couple of years ago.

Even though the excess of job openings may seem like a good thing for high school students at first glance, some students might be not be able to work with the increasing hours.

Not only do students with jobs face the possibility of being overworked, employers lack an adequate amount of employees to run their respective businesses effectively, which can cause even more problems for employers and employees.

Yet despite the change in how students attain their jobs and their long hours, many still think the experience, as well as the ability to gain some financial independence is well worth the change in the service work environments downtown.

Junior Angelina Wang has been working at Chantal Guillon for over three months and is fond of her job in addition the people that she works with. She is thankful for the job opportunity that she may have not gotten otherwise.

“I really enjoy talking with my coworkers; it feels more like we’re hanging out and customers are interrupting, rather than straight-up work,” Wang said. “My manager is also super sweet and fun to talk to, because she’s a college student, and can relate to a lot of what we’re going through or are interested in.”

I really enjoy talking with my coworkers; it feels more like we’re hanging out and customers are interrupting, rather than straight-up work.

Angelina Wang Junior Regardless of whether or not this new trend of growing job opportunities for Paly students at small businesses continues, the majority of high school students in search of jobs will likely continue to work at whatever business is willing to hire them. Furthermore, downtown Palo Alto’s employees will most likely continue to consist of students from high schools and colleges nearby instead of older employees, as small businesses in Palo Alto might have seen in previous years.

Consequently, the next time you go out with friends for some coffee downtown, do not be surprised when the local barista serving your beverage is a classmate or friendly face.

Binge watch all the episodes If you haven't seen Gilmore Girls yet, you better clear your schedule in order to watch the entire series — it will only take you about 115 hours (five full days), and trust me, it's definitely worth it. For those of you who have seen Gilmore Girls a million times like me, I know ever since the show ended, you cannot stop rewatching it, causing your friends who don’t watch Gilmore Girls to wonder why you are so obsessed. Now, you finally have a legitimate excuse to rewatch — you must prepare yourself for the revival. In doing so, you will recall why you love so many of the characters, such as Emily and Paris, and why you hate the ones that ruined your favorite characters’ lives, including April and Christopher. Furthermore, you will remember all of the terrific quotes that slipped your mind over the years, like your favorite catchphrase, “Oy with the poodles already,” or the best advice ever given, “If you’re gonna throw your life away, he’d better have a motorcycle.”

Brush up on your pop culture references In typical Gilmore Girls style, the revival will likely be full of pop culture references — the trailer even mentions Amy Schumer and John Oliver. It is essential that you are up to speed with all of the most recent movies, television shows and celebrity drama to ensure that you can keep up with the Gilmore girls’ quick banter. However, as hard as you may try, you’ll never be able to understand all the references, but don’t worry — you can always search it up on the Internet.

Stockpile on junk food and take-out Let’s be honest: there’s no way you can watch Gilmore girls without being in a complete sugar coma. I recommend loading up on coffee, pizza, Chinese food and leftover Halloween candy in preparation for the premier.

Feel free to experiment with your snack food — possibly even making dessert sushi or deep-fried ice cream, as Rory and Lorelai did when they travelled to fake Asia wearing kimonos. Even though you’ll be acting like a Gilmore girl, don’t expect to have the same speedy metabolism as them: you’ll probably gain quite a bit of weight if you continue to eat like them.

Dissect every second of the new Gilmore Girls trailer I am certain that you have already seen the trailer — if not, you really cannot call yourself a devoted Gilmore Girls fan — but make sure that you re-watch it multiple times in order to uncover all its clues. The trailer has undoubtedly brought up lots of questions: why are Lorelai and Rory holding coffee cups from Al’s and not from Luke’s? Why is Kirk at the obligatory grandparents' Friday night dinner? Is one of the Gilmore girls pregnant? Are Luke and Lorelai living together? Married? We only have to wait until Nov. 25 to find out!

Friday, November 18, 2016

B4

The Campanile

SPOTLIGHT Text and Design by Nick Melvin Staff Writer

The Roots Ben

Buried under ea

1934: Lucie Stern donates Children’s Theater

1942: Japanese Americans in Palo Alto forced to leave their homes for internment camps

1894: Palo Alto founded

1906: San Francisco Earthquake leaves Palo Alto largely unharmed

1951: Stanford Industrial Park found

1941: US Enters World War II after Pearl Harbor

1945: World War II ends

Leland Stanford, Stanford University Founder

“I remember that day so clearly because I could just feel myself sinking slowly down into my seat and was just in tears. That was when I felt my citizenship was stripped from me.”

Cherry Ishimatsu, Former Internee

New Town

World War II

“I want, in this school, that one sex shall have equal advantage with the other, and I want particularly that females shall have open to them every employment suitable to their sex.”

I

n the 19th century, the majority of American cities and towns were located near major centers of transportation — such as waterways, railroads or crossroads — or at least near valuable economic resources such as gold and oil. Palo Alto, however, was different. The community we know today was born from nothing more than the vacationing preferences of one railroad tycoon: Leland Stanford.

Palo Alto was a farm owned by Leland Stanford, a vacation home where Stanford would ride his beloved horses when he hoped to get away from the poor weather and stress of San Francisco. But that all changed during one fateful vacation to Europe.

While traveling with his wife, Jane, and son, Leland Stanford Jr., Stanford Jr. became very ill and spent three weeks in a dark room in Florence, Italy. Stanford Junior finally succumbed to typhoid fever at the tender age of 15. After this, Stanford despaired, feeling he had nothing left to live for. But before he could give up, his son came to him in a vision, telling him to “live for humanity.” Stanford decided that he was destined to build a university; he would go on to dedicate it to his only son.

He originally planned to create a college with a village on campus, but he later abandoned this plan, which meant that his university lacked a town to go with it. Stanford reached out to the nearby community of Mayfield, offering to let them be the town of the college under the condition that they closed down all of their bars and saloons — Stanford wanted a dry town. The city of Mayfield rejected this offer, which eventually led to their demise, as they were annexed by the city that Stanford was soon to build.

Needing a town for his new college, Stanford decided to take matters into his own hands. He hired Timothy Hopkins, who owned land in nearby Menlo Park and was the treasurer for the Central Pacific Railroad, in order to develop nearby land into a town. Hopkins bought land from the Seale family and the Greer family, then developed all of the land, and opened it up for sale in an auction in 1890.

Attended by 3,000 people from all across the state, the auction prices of the 106 plots ranged from $122.50 (equivalent to $3,000 today), all the way up to $287 (equivalent to $7,000 today).

Years later, after the 1906 earthquake, Palo Alto suffered minimal damage. Taking advantage of this, citizens printed out “Why not live in Palo Alto?” posters, hoping to attract nervous San Franciscans to their quiet little abode. After this, they sat back and watched as the population steadily grew, nearly doubling over the next ten years, setting the seeds for a future of prosperity in Palo Alto.

“They were building ho the Eichlers out here w went to a girlfriend’s hou in the field on the corne shopping ce

Mimi Dewolfe, longti

P

alo Alto, like the rest of the country, was energized with patriotism during World War II. As the “Greatest Generation” fought overseas, Palo Altans back home showed their support for the war in a variety of ways, including planting hundreds of “victory gardens” to grow food at home for soldiers overseas. One such garden at Jordan Junior High School, now David Starr Jordan Middle School, produced nearly one ton of food for soldiers.

Residents also found other ways to help the war effort. Some stored grease to be used for explosives. Others held massive drives to collect scrap metal and rubber from tires. Still others wore special clothing made from less fabric to conserve material.

However, the city contributed more than just conservation efforts.

Hundreds of Palo Altans fought overseas, and many lost their lives in the Allied struggle. From Palo Alto High School alone, 73 alumni fighting in Italy and Japan paid the ultimate price for their country; many earned awards posthumously.

At the time of the war, Palo Alto was home to roughly 200 Japanese-Americans. Just two days after the bombing of Pearl Harbor, the Palo Alto Japanese-American Association expressed their loyalty to the United States. They demonstrated their continuous, unwavering support the army by buying thousands of dollars worth of war bonds. Unfortunately, it made no difference to the federal government.

Only a few short months later, Palo Alto’s Japanese-Americans were arrested by the FBI. They were given one week to sell all of their property, including homes and family businesses that they had owned for decades.

Just days before they were forced to leave, as these men and women were in the process of being evicted from their homes by a government that unfairly stereotyped them, when the country they had given so much for turned its back on them, they responded with nothing but class, sending a heartfelt letter of gratitude to the community. The letter was published in the Palo Alto Times.

But the war would eventually come to an end. The world of rations, victory gardens and internment camps all reached a sudden conclusion on the afternoon of Aug. 14, 1945, when the Japanese finally surrendered to American forces after three and a half years of battle.

Instantly, the city erupted in celebration. The Stanford University band marched down University Avenue, surrounded by thousands of onlookers who threw makeshift confetti and lit firecrackers. For Palo Alto, the celebration represented the end of an era.

T

Gro

hroughout the war, refuge ers followed flooded into nearby military outposts. P ing to let them in, creating sig housing. In order to accommod Alto residents bought into the “ opened their garages, attics, ba coops to the estimated five to day.

As the war drew to a close remained a large issue in Palo A homes needed to be built. Palo A that at least 1,000 homes neede To most efficiently utilize builders, architects and develop an attempt to properly equip th ful residents. More than 30 new They were located in newly a Park, which was at the time un being annexed by the city, and surely, the dairy farms to the so making way for more subdivisi housing, a new boom of housin egon Avenue, allowing for a lar including 2,380 homes in 1952 Many Palo Altans benefitte 1947, total retail sales came to million today. As the City grew ing in Palo Alto increased, cons roof, more than doubling to rea year 1956.

Along with retail, another in was architecture. In order to b to design them. A major benefi who built inexpensive “six min minute” Eichler houses — the n take them to burn to the groun Today many Eichlers still st a large number of houses throu However, today, while they longer burn down in 6-12 min succumbed toppling down on t Before becoming a builder, wholesaler by trade, but took ad in the post war era and forever history.

The Campanile

Friday, November 18, 2016

SPOTLIGHT

B5

neath the Tree

Text and Design by Paarth Sharma Staff Writer

ach city is a story

PALO ALTO HISTORICAL ASSOCIATION/USED WITH PERMISSION

ded 1980: Apple IPO

1952: Severe flooding displaces almost 1,000 Palo Altans

1989: Loma Prieda Earthquake causes major damage at Stanford 2016: The Campanile publishes an in-depth Spotlight on the history of Palo Alto

1969: ARPANET created

1967: Vietnam War protests erupt across Palo Alto & Stanford

ouses out here, you know were just starting to go, I use... and there were cows er... across from where the enter is now.”

ees and families of defense workcities along the Pacific that were Palo Altans were more than willgnificant demand for additional date these newcomers, many Palo “share the home“ campaign. They asements, sheds and even chicken 10 new families moving in each

e, the lack of sufficient housing Alto. In order to solve this, more Alto's building inspector reported ed to be built to solve the issue. the postwar shortage of space, pers stormed through Palo Alto in he city to house the influx of hopew housing tracts were opened up. annexed land as well as in Barron nincorporated county, before later d also on county land. Slowly but outh of Oregon Avenue vanished, ions. Out of a necessity for more ng options shot up south of Orrge number of houses to be built, 2 alone. ed from this building boom. In about $42 million, roughly $574 w and the number of people livsumer spending shot through the ach a total of $105 million by the

ndustry that took off in this period build homes, somebody first had ficiary of this was Joseph Eichler, nute,” “eight minute” and “twelve names based on how long it would nd. tand as they continue to make up ughout Palo Alto. still burn down quickly, they no nutes, as all of the weaker houses themselves. , Eichler was an egg-and-butter dvantage of the need for housing r etched his name into Palo Alto

2001: Dot-Com Bust results in financial meltdown

“Over just a few years I saw it all build up and up. At first it was just Hewlett-Packard and Lockheed, and then more and more came until all of a sudden there were nothing but businesses.”

“It’s always been such a nice culturally diverse environment, which i still is, but there’s a lot of money there now and a lot of dot-coms so it’s a little bit different now.”

Silicon Valley

Dot-Com Era

Ole Christensen, Founder and longtime owner of Ole’s Car Shop on Alma Street

ime Palo Alto Resident

owth

1977: 294 Stanford students arrested in anti-apartheid sit-in

I

n 1951, Frederick Terman, determined to convert Stanford University from an impoverished school into an educational powerhouse, pushed the university to set aside 700 acres of land in the foothills for technology companies. This plot of land, known as the Stanford Industrial Park, was reserved for technology firms to set up their headquarters. The region soon became a hotbed of technological activity, filling up with companies that would become household names, including Hewlett-Packard, General Electric and Lockheed Martin.

Palo Alto quickly gained a reputation as a center of technological innovation and, in 1963, it was chosen as the site of a secret meeting involving J.C.R. Licklider, a Pentagon official, and some of the brightest minds in the technological community. In this meeting, Licklider introduced the novel concept of a network of computers that was to be used as a medium of communication for all.

This vision would soon become reality when the ARPANET was established in 1969. This network of computers connected four research institutions and became the predecessor to the Internet. On Oct. 29 of that same year, Stanford obtained the first ever message between computers when a UCLA student sent a message to the ARPANET computer at the Stanford Research Institute. Thus, the Internet was born.

The invention of the semiconductor just a few miles south of Palo Alto led to the growth of a whole new industry. Companies producing computer hardware and software popped up all around the Bay, and other companies popped up to invest in them.

In 1972, the venture capital industry put down roots in Palo Alto when Kleiner Perkins opened an office on Sand Hill Road.

Other venture capitalists began to set up shop along the same road, eyeing the industry that was churning out revolutionary inventions by the month.

It didn’t take long for money to follow the success of local technology companies. In 1980, Apple Computer went public, boasting a $1.3 billion IPO that funneled money into the area.

This influx of money transformed not only the town of Palo Alto, but also helped Stanford University finish its transition from a local university to a world-class educational institution located in the heart of America’s most innovative region.

Ole Christensen, the founder of Ole’s Car Shop on Alma Street, said: “From my backyard, I could look all the way across to California avenue and there were nothing but a few buildings.

Over just a few years I saw it all build up and up. At first it was just Hewlett-Packard and Lockheed, and then more and more came until all of a sudden there were nothing but businesses.”

Les Claypool, Rock & Roll Sensation

I

n 1995, the Internet opened to the world, and the Valley became the center of the great dot-com bubble. The presence of a new domain resulted in the stock market growth on a level few had ever seen before, and a new air of confidence surrounded the Valley.

New companies were born nearly every day, many of which had no real purpose or no way of actually making money.

“It was volatile. Many people believed their stock options would make them rich,” said longtime Palo Alto resident Meredith Meyers. “There was a lot of greed in the air.”

Yet Silicon Valley remained passionately optimistic. The boom of the Internet appeared to be the second technology boom: the grand ending to a storied chapter in Palo Alto’s history; the final step after decades of innovation.

But as the saying goes, everything that goes up must come down. All of a sudden, the dot-com bubble that surrounded Palo Alto and the rest of the Bay Area popped.

With it went the scores of investors, the new businesses and most devastatingly, the optimism that had filled and elevated Palo Alto for decades. This optimism had allowed the city to become one of the largest high tech centers in the history of the world.

Palo Alto, a college town with a vibrant atmosphere, suddenly appeared to be drained. Billboards that once advertised the next big Internet business now informed rush-hour traffic swarms of local bankruptcy lawyers.

Business after business closed its doors. The stock market took a nosedive, and the traffic that once swarmed Highway 101 ground to a sudden halt. All of a sudden, the energy that had charged Palo Alto for generations was nowhere to be found. In its place festered a dark cloud of impending bankruptcy.

But it didn’t take long for the city to rebound. In 2002, companies that had managed to hang on through the bust quickly emerged as household names.

People across the country began using Google, the brainchild of two Stanford students, to scavenge the internet for information. At the same time, Palo Alto based VMWare emerged as a software giant.

Palo Alto soon became an incubator for tech giants, pumping out companies including the likes of Facebook, PayPal and Tesla Motors.

Once more, the world stopped and watched as the small city by the Bay churned out success after success. To this day, Palo Alto remains one of the most educated cities in the world, and to this day, Palo Alto remains the most educated and greatest city in the world.

The Campanile

Friday, November 18, 2016

B6 LIFESTYLE Balanced lifestyle enhances academic performance Good nutrition, physical activity and healthy sleep cycles are beneficial and essential for high school students PHILIP ERICSSON

STAFF WRITER

T

he life of a high school student can be overwhelming — it is difficult to juggle schoolwork, clubs and activities, internships and various sports all at once. At such an important time in one’s life, it is essential for students to balance the various aspects of their lifestyles — most importantly, their exercise habits, sleep cycles and diet.

It may seem to many students at Palo Alto High School that one does not have much time to spare in between coming home from school, finishing homework and studying for upcoming exams. However, it is important that students spend some of their free time doing a bit of exercise each day.

Not only does working out build muscle and overall fitness, but it also exercises the brain. Those who perform cardio exercises for brief periods of 20 minutes experience immediate improvements in creativity, memory and the ability to concentrate.

Perhaps the greatest benefit of working out is that one’s brain cell count actually increases with continued regular exercise. After a few weeks of continued exercise, new brain cells are developed in the hippocampus, the memory center of the brain. If continued exercise is performed for a period of six months, the coupling patterns — which are the magnetic interactions between neighboring, non-equivalent NMRactive nuclei in the brain — are strengthened.

Low intensity exercise, such as walking, is also shown to benefit high school students’ brains. According to a study by Anders Hansen, who is a senior physician studying psychiatry at the Karolinska Institutet in Stockholm, Sweden, students memorize 20 percent more vocabulary and important facts when performing low intensity physical activity, such as walking this is because the blood flow to your brain is increased by 20 percent.

Next time you really want to ace that math test, take a quick jog before you sit down with those meticulous class notes and extra problems from the back of the textbook in order to potentially significantly improve your score!

Mikael Mattsson is a Swedish re-

BETHANY SHIANG/THE CAMPANILE

Exercising, sleeping and eating well can help enhance student performance in everyday life and lead to long-term health benefits.

searcher from The Swedish School of Sport and Health Sciences who is currently working as a visiting assistant professor at Stanford University.

Mattsson earned a Ph. D. in Medical Sciences-Exercise Physiology at Karolinska Institutet in Stockholm, and currently competes at the international level in Adventure Racing, a competition where teams compete in expedition-length races. These races involve two or more sporting disciplines, often running, mountain biking, climbing, kayaking and elements of navigation and orienteering.

His main focus of study at Stanford involves the Exercise at the Limit-Inherited Traits of Endurance (ELITE) program. Mattsson’s study pertains to sports genetics, and he aims to characterize the genetic determinants of human performance by studying the world’s most athletic people.

“Simply put, we are looking for the fittest people in the world and trying to understand what makes them great,” Mattsson said. “We are recruiting athletes from all over the globe, including Scandinavia, the U.S., the U.K, Spain, Japan, Brazil and Kenya, who are successful in endurance sports such as running, cross country skiing, triathlon, cycling and rowing.”

Even though a small percentage of high school students is considered “athletically elite,” the studies and conclusions drawn from those studies can help a wide range of people, young and old, improve their physical effectiveness and ability to perform at a high level in their respective daily activities. Exercise is a critical activity, more critical than many perceive it to be, and Mattsson describes it as an “investment in time.”

“You should not view exercise as some leisure activity that you can cut back on if you have a busy schedule,” Mattsson said. “Training is an investment in time! In the long run, every minute of exercise gives you approximately five minutes of extra life, but more importantly, your immediate performance will increase.”

Mattsson also describes a study involving sleep patterns and how the amount of sleep a Stanford University collegiate basketball player gets correlates directly to a heightened ability to perform on the Stanford University men’s basketball team.

High school students often voice complaints that long hours of studying cuts into the amount of time students have to sleep. But how much sleep is really necessary for us to get, and can more sleep improve our ability to perform in school and sport re-

lated activities?

The amount of sleep needed by any given person is dependent on the amount of strain that is put on one’s body during any given day. When that amount of sleep is not met, the body’s immune system is one of the first things that is greatly impacted by a lack of sleep. If you sleep less than five hours per night, the risk of contracting an infection, such as a cold or flu, is three times greater than if you sleep seven hours or more each night.

Adults typically need around seven to eight hours of sleep each night, but a growing high school student needs to get eight or more hours of sleep each night to be able to stay as healthy as possible and perform to the best of their ability.

Apart from exercising and getting sufficient sleep, to live a balanced lifestyle, a high school student should try to pay attention to proper nutrition.

In the sleep study of the basketball team, the amount of sleep each player got was increased from eight to 10 hours per night, and the results of the slight increase was dramatic.

The team’s performance in both precision activities (free throw and

3-point shooting) along with physical tests (15 second sprints) showed improvements of nine and four percent respectively after only six weeks.

“It is important to understand that if you sleep too little, the body will prioritize restoring and recovering bodily functions and cut back on the type of sleep which recovers the brain,” Mattsson said.

Apart from exercising and getting sufficient sleep, high school student should try to pay attention to proper nutrition. “Proper” nutrition does not mean following a rigid diet, but rather in the sense that you need to consume high quality good for your specific bodily functions to work optimally.

“It is quite striking to compare nutrition to gasoline and oil for your car; it will still work if you add products with lower quality but it will perform worse, need more maintenance, and break down easier and sooner,” Mattsson said.

Energy and nutrient content in the form of vitamins and minerals need to be taken into account when deciding if a food is “high quality.”

If you overeat, you will gain weight, which can eventually lead to different sorts of health problems such as diabetes and cardiac disease. If you eat too little, you will lose weight, which can also lead to health risks.

Nutritional quality is the products with the same amount of energy can have different nutritional content: compare, for example, soda with vegetables. Soda and a certain portion of veggies may each have an equal amount of calories, but their nutrients vary greatly as soda has almost no nutritional value while vegetables have their respective vitamin and mineral quantities. Somewhat paradoxically, people who exercise can be less strict with their food intake due to energy demand increases nutrient demand and when more food is needed one may slack off in terms of eating a balanced amount of foods healthy for their body.

It is vital for high schoolers to take into account what can be done to ensure that we are performing to the best of our ability in each facet of our lives. Though it may be another burden to undertake, living a balanced lifestyle is a key way to ensure success and it is an investment for life which will always pay off.

Paly students achieve success through specialization Three talented students have sacrificed time, freedom and balance in dedication to favored extracurriculars NIKLAS RISANO

STAFF WRITER

S

uccess is valued more than anything else within American society, and whether it’s success in sports, school, or music there are an infinite number of ways to get there. The status quo is to do as many activities as you can during adolescence, and then choose careers and focus on more specific interests during college. However, there are certain students who circumvent the norms by adopting a tunnel vision of sorts in their quest for success.

Throughout this article, the stories of three Paly students and the sacrifices which led them to their successes are explained, and the cons of specialization are explored.

Cameron Akioka Cameron Akioka began playing piano as a 7-year-old and never looked back. Today, piano has become a core element of Akioka’s identity — she has compromised both her academics and even her physical health to pursue her musical passion.

“Choosing piano as my first priority has sacrificed both my school courses and my physical health,” Akioka said. “I used to play on a Stanford club soccer team, but I quit.

In terms of course load, I chose relatively easier classes each year. I’m only taking two AP classes.”

Not only Akioka’s sacrifices, but also her accomplishments have led to immense successes. Besides winning a few local and state competitions, Akioka was also named a national scholarship recipient by the Chopin Foundation, a honor which is only given to 10 high school musicians

each school year.

As for Akioka’s long term musical goals, she hopes to continue her piano career in college, and beyond.

“I would love to attend a music conservatory for college,” Akioka said. “Having a career as a pianist would be the job of my dreams.”

Akioka cites her laser focus and specialization as how she became the pianist that she is today.

“I was able to focus more on music rather than a mix of different subjects at the same time,” Akioka said. “It would be impossible to juggle hard classes and piano and a sport this year.”

Max Jung Goldberg Since he was four years old, junior Max Jung Goldberg has been hitting dingers and fielding ground balls on the baseball diamond. Jung Goldberg, who verbally committed to the University of San Diego to play Division I baseball, has made many sacrifices to get to where he is.

In the fall, Jung Goldberg practices a few times a week; during the high school season, Jung Goldberg practices two hours every day, with multiple games every week. Even when the school season concludes, Goldberg continues playing during the summer. In addition, Goldberg plays three to four times per week on his own, and has games nearly every other weekend.

“The sacrifices I make for baseball include that I’m not very social outside of school,” Jung Goldberg said.

“I’m usually taking ground balls, or at a batting cage.”

Jung Goldberg also quit basketball, one of his passions, earlier in high school in order to further focus

JACQUES MANJARREZ/THE CAMPANILE

Max Jung Goldberg, Tanay Krishna and Cameron Akioka have dedicated hours of their life to pursue baseball, debate and piano.

on baseball.

To balance the many different sacrifices which Jung Goldberg has made are many major successes.

“In addition to being committed to USD, I was first league player on the varsity team last year, and also received a 2016 Perfect Game Underclass High Honorable Mention,” Jung Goldberg said.

Jung Goldberg knows that baseball is what he wanted to do for the rest of his life, and he’s taken steps to bring him closer to that goal.

“I want to be a professional baseball player more than anything,” Jung Goldberg said. “Baseball is everything to me, and I want to continue towards my end goal.”

Tanay Krishna Two teenagers, one parent judge and a hearty discussion. That’s what

junior Tanay Krishna has devoted much of his free time to over the past few years. Speech and Debate is an activity which Krishna began upon entering Paly. In the two short years since, it has become a central piece of his life.

Krishna knew debate was for him after his first tournament at Harker School in 2014. Since then he has spent hours preparing evidence, arguments and attending tournaments.

The sacrifices have been substantial.

“I’ve tanked a few tests, and completely neglected some homework assignments as a result of my borderline religious devotion to debate,” Krishna said.

In addition, Krishna stopped playing tennis in order to further pursue his debate career.

“After freshman year, I decided I

wasn’t going to try out for the tennis team any longer,” Krishna said.

“It just didn’t fit into my schedule anymore.”

Krishna’s sacrifices have led him to great success, especially of late. During freshman year Krishna won the Western State’s Lincoln Douglas debate tournament, and just last month he won the annual Lincoln Douglas debate tournament at the University of the Pacific.

Overall, Krishna recognizes that there have been certain negative effects as a result of focusing on debate so heavily, but at the end of the day, he has no regrets.

“Although it’s time and effort, the arguing and research skills which I have harbored through debate will be with me for my whole life,” Krishna said.

The Campanile

Friday, November 18, 2016

LIFESTYLE

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Vine shutdown imminent despite self-made stars Iconic social media moguls made famous on the app’s platform are seeking to remain relevant after closing

comments, adding links to Vine captions, a better recommendation page and a more functional suite of editing tools. User Jon Paul Piques told news website Mic that Vine ignored their comments and dug their own grave.

“We told them how critical it was to implement these things right away,” Piques said. “They never made changes, or when they did it was too late.”

Money was another issue for the company. Viners were not being directly compensated for their work, and had not yet reached a level of fame that would make them money outside of the app.

They were hoping to capitalize on the exposure provided by Vine and use it as a starting point for their acting, singing or comedy careers, as well as support themselves on promotion and advertising deals. However, it became evident that they had jumped on the trend too late, and this ultimately led to the aforementioned meeting which sealed Vine’s inevitable decline.

MACKENZIE GLASSFORD

SENIOR STAFF WRITER

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rnest Hemingway made famous the six word story: “For sale: Baby shoes, never worn.” Much like Hemingway’s stories, the video sharing app Vine utilizes increments of six on its platform — but instead of words, Vine’s units are seconds. After seeing a meteoric rise to fame upon its creation in 2012, Vine’s parent company, Twitter, has announced plans to shut down the app, although the website will remain accessible.

The shutdown comes as a shock to many, but famous Vine users known as Viners, were prepared for and may have even expected this outcome.

After its release, Vine was instantly heralded for its artistry and novel concept. The six second looped video was an ingenious idea that had not been explored before, and it proved to be an appealing one. Even now, with Vine in decline, it averages about 200 million users monthly, according to DMR Digital Statistics. The number of Vine loops played daily is about one billion and the annual statistic tops out at more than half a trillion loops.

At the height of its fame, Vine catapulted many of its users into the mainstream media spotlight. Singer Shawn Mendes started off on Vine posting snippets of himself covering popular songs, which earned him a massive following of 5 million users.

He went on to sign a huge record deal with Island Records.

His social media influence has spread to Instagram and Twitter, with 15.3 million and 7.9 million followers respectively. Nash Grier and Cameron Dallas took a different route, choosing to angle for comedic content. They went on to tour the country with other Viners, and have since broken onto the movie scene, starring in a 2015 movie called “The Outfield.” Hayes Grier, who has 4.4 million Vine followers, competed on “Dancing with the Stars” when he was just 15 years old. Across the world, popular Viners have demonstrated Vine’s influence on pop culture, and

KGM DIGITAL/COMMONS LICENSING

Vine’s most recognizable faces, such as Nash Grier (top second to left) and Cameron Dallas (top middle), pose for a promotion.

what success on the app could potentially mean for one’s career.

However, Vine began seeing heavy competition from other social media platforms. Instagram introduced a 15-second video feature in 2013, which was later upgraded to a full 60 seconds.

The shutdown comes as a shock to many, but Vine creators, known as Viners, were prepared for and may have even expected this outcome.

They also promoted celebrity accounts, producing a popular “explore” feature that gave its users the exposure that Vine could not. Meanwhile, Snapchat was becoming the casual life-sharing app that Vine’s founders had originally pitched to investors, and thus began Vine’s decline. Vine began losing marketers to Instagram

and Snapchat, and its decline was not helped by its unstable leadership.

Vine has seen many executives come and go since its creation which likely contributed to their unimpressive profits. Ankur Thakkar, Vine’s former head of editorial, told news site The Verge that this lack of stability in leadership affected everyone involved with the app.

“A couple of things were plaguing Vine at the time, and they all stemmed from the same thing, which is a lack of unity and leadership on a vision,” Thakkar said. “It trickled down to everything they were doing.”

In 2015, some of its top users sensed Vine’s expiration date was fast approaching. 20 top Viners, including King Bach, Amanda Cerny and Marcus Johns met with Vine executives in an effort to save the app. These users asked for $1.2 million each and in return claimed they would draw viewers in with 12 pieces

of original content a month. If Vine said no, they would all walk.

At the time of the meeting, many of these users had already shifted their efforts to other social media platforms. Vine did not accept the terms, and as a result lost nearly half of its most successful users.

Prior to abandoning the platform, the Viners continuously met with Vine executives to give feedback on the application.

Although these Viners may not have ended things with Vine on the best of terms, they are all thankful for the exposure it gave them. User Gabbie Hanna told Mic that she owes her current success to the app.

“At the end of the day, I have 2.5 million YouTube followers because of A couple of things were plaguing Vine, I have two million Instagram followers because of Vine and I’m Vine at the time, and they all making all my money and getting stemmed from the same thing, auditions because of Vine,” Hanna which is a lack of unity and said. “So for me to sit here and say leadership on a vision. ‘f*** Vine,’ I just can’t.”

Ankur Thakkar Vine star Alex James shares her Former Vine Executive sentiment. Vine may be dying, but the platform has provided a creative Prior to abandoning the platform, outlet that allowed many people to the Viners continuously met with rise to fame.

“There ain’t a Vine star out there Vine executives to give feedback on the application and persuade them to who isn’t a millionaire,” James said to fix what they saw as its main prob- Mic. “We’ll be fine, but it’s sad the lems. These included negativity in the way things worked out.”

“Doctor Strange” follows classic Marvel movie formula Superhero movie is well received, though similar to past movies of its kind produced by movie giant Marvel JACQUES MANJARREZ

SENIOR STAFF WRITER

M

arvel is killing the film industry. Here’s their toxic recipe: First, take a character from a second-rate one-off comic book from the 1930s that nobody has ever heard of. Make sure that this character reflects simplistic ideals of selfishness, blind patriotism or honor. Make sure he is portrayed by a well-known, handsome actor.

Next, throw in a formulaic story wherein the character acquires super abilities and learns of their responsibilities of saving the world. Following that, recognize how ridiculous it is that this is still a marketable franchise, and use sarcasm and dry humor to convey said message. Throw in a useless female character whose sole purpose is to add “depth” to the protagonist, lightly season with a few token races, and there you have it — a Marvel blockbuster.

Don’t worry if it seems too overdone or shallow: your audience will eat it up like a diabetic cannibal at a “deep-fry” spa.

We have to be the ones to break the cycle of shallow media influence, because the studios certainly won’t unless we show them that we can truly be trusted with better cinema.

Written and directed by Scott Dirkenson, “Doctor Strange” follows an arrogant neurosurgeon who abandons his practice after a terrible accident renders his hands useless. He then joins an ancient order of sorcerers that defend the earthly plane from extra-dimensional timeless beings of terror.

Don’t think that I didn’t like the

TIMES/CREATIVE COMMONS LICENSED

A cinematic promotional poster for the film “Doctor Strange” depicts the powers of Dr. Steven Vincent Strange, who goes by the superhero alias Doctor Strange in the film.

film — I did. I found the visuals mesmerizing and the fight scenes to be fairly well-coordinated. Indeed, a lot of other people liked it too. What annoys me is when moviegoers deign to call films like this “good” and give unwarranted praise and analysis.

In 1938, the English philosopher R.G. Collingwood argued for a distinction between two kinds of art: Amusement art and Magic art.

Amusement art was escapist art — art that took you away from your present reality. To name one modern example: J.K. Rowling’s Harry Potter — an empty pair of pant legs that any reader can put on and experience the wonders of being “special” without any of the flaws that come from being a real character, or whatever that is.

Magic, ironically, is different.

Magic art is innovative. Magic art is influential. Magic art would outlast

any other media through the trials of time. A modern comparison would be AMC’s “Breaking Bad,” a show that will remain timeless for its brilliant acting, writing and character complexity.

“Doctor Strange” follows an arrogant neurosurgeon who abandons his practice after a terrible accident renders his hands useless.

With modern cinema, the problem is that the magic art is getting harder and harder to come by because producers are becoming overly wary of taking risks. The problem with superhero films is that you have an audience before the first picture is even shown. These viewers are nostalgic adults, ignorant kids and sheep just

looking to follow the crowd.

The fact that this dependable audience only makes the effort to go to the theaters to watch these films perpetuates a dangerous cycle in which the studios want to milk a given franchise dry.

This is the problem with Marvel — Marvel is just Amusement Art. We can try to read into a superhero film into being more than just an escape from our dull, meaningless lives, but that would just further diminish our overall standard of film when we start comparing escape media with real “magic.”

There’s nothing deplorable about the occasional binge of “Amusement Art.” However, we do have a responsibility as consumers to digest a bit of magic alongside our amusement. We have to be the ones to break the cycle of shallow media influence, because

the studios certainly won’t unless we show them that we can truly be trusted with better cinema.

The problem is that the magic art is getting harder and harder to come by.

If we reserve our trips to the theater exclusively for the next Marvel movie starring Chris-Downey Cumber-Biscuit, Marvel will keep blitzkrieg-ing our theaters with shells of escapism, blinding us with the constant rain of empty media.

When the rain falls, we can’t keep our heads down — we need to look up; see the storm in all its glory.

I give “Doctor Strange” a solid 8/10. A visual thrill-ride, but a shame that the sorcerer supreme just can’t wield the magic that counts.

Friday, November 18, 2016

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C life.

The Campanile

LIFESTYLE

Capturing Paly Student Photography apturing a photo may seem like an easy task, but becoming a skilled photographer comes with practice and an eye for detail.

Several Palo Alto High School students have experienced firsthand how photography can become a consuming part of one’s

At Paly, student talent is found in abundance. From athletes to musicians to artists to actors, seniors Jordan Schilling and Yi Ge and junior James Poe have made names for themselves as photographers in the Paly community.

All of them have personal histories with photography that are as unique as their individual styles, and they have each learned many lessons from simply clicking a button on a camera.

Coming from families that had the equipment to take photos, all three students first started taking photos with cameras from home.

“I started out just using a cell phone,” Poe said.

“But later on I got my father’s Jordan Schilling old DSLR (Digital Single-Lens Reflex camera) and began learning how to use it.”

The only way to get better at something is to practice. With photography, it may take hundreds of photos before a specific one can capture the right moment.

According to Schilling, the best way to become a better photographer is to take as many pictures as possible.

“There’s only so much you can learn on the internet,” Schilling said. “But going out and actually practicing is how you really learn.”

As for Poe, he has looked up to photographers such as Marc Adamus, Jeff Isy and Emilie Ristevski for inspiration.

“I really enjoy Marc Adamus’s landscape photos because he sets up his shots in amazing ways and the way he composes his photos really draws you into those settings,” Poe said.

“Emilie Ristevski’s travel photography just captures all of her worldly adventures in such a magnificent way. It

"Through photography, I've learned how to tell a story by using visual aids and how to lure the viewer in with just a photo."

inspires me to get out there and see new places and try new things.”

Another important aspect of photography is to showcase the art to the public. By showcasing their work, photography can display a message that the artist is trying to convey. The three students use photography as an opportunity to display their talent using a different medium than other students use to express their artistic creativity.

Ever since middle school, Ge has had a photography blog. The blog was a curation of something she was especially passionate about: fashion.

One of her followers really admired her work, and even gave her a job opportunity to be a photographer at a modeling agency.

“I basically got into the fashion industry and was given the opportunity to go to fashion weeks,” said Ge. “I was able to photograph things I liked [on the runway] and models backstage.”

Throughout their different careers in photography, the three students have learned that photos can convey messages that words simply cannot.

Finding something to take an image is a decision of the photographer.

"I usually just take photos of my life and I try to express how I’m seeing the world from my eyes."

James Poe

“I usually just take photos of my life and I try to express how I’m seeing the world from my eyes,” said Poe. “Since I carry my camera around with me literally everywhere, I can stop and capture a moment whenever I feel like it’s something I want to remember.”

To Ge, taking photos is about more than just capturing her interests. Instead, she takes photos of subjects intriguing to her, which often might not be mainstream.

“As a society, there is such a fixation as to what is beautiful,” Ge said.

“But I think ugliness or a lack of beauty in itself is way more interest-

ing.”

Having all taken photos for at least a couple of years now, these three photographers have learned important lessons through their work.

“Through photography, I’ve learned how to tell a story by using visual aids and how to lure the viewer in with just a photo,” Schilling said.

With all the different publications offered at Paly, most students have the option of only being a part of one of the publications.

However, Schilling’s case is different. With his passion of being a photographer, he has become a photographer The Campanile, the school newspaper and also the design director C-Mag, the arts and culture magazine.

“Working for school publications has allowed me to grow as a photographer,” Schilling said.

“I am able to listen to the writer’s ideas and design a photograph that captures and conveys the right message.”

As for pursuing phoYi Ge tography in the future, these three students do not want photography to be their career, but instead, a hobby.

“Pursuing photography as a job is an option which stays open to me,” Poe said.

“But, I enjoy it much more as a hobby because I like doing what I want with my photos without having to satisfy others’ expectations.”

Ge, wanting to incorporate photography with a future career, wants to study philosophy in college. With that, she wants to understand how people perceive beauty.

“I want to study philosophy and I like aesthetic theory,” Ge said. “So how people see things and what they see as beautiful or ugly.”

With their experiences in mind, these three student photographers will continue to pursue the art that has changed their lives to convey their own powerful messages with just one push of a button; after all, a picture is worth a thousand words.

"As a society, there is such a fixation as to what is beautiful.

I think ugliness, or a lack of beauty in itself is way more interesting."

ALL PHOTOS COURTESY OF JAMES POE AND JORDAN SCHILLING

TEXT AND DESIGN BY: CHARLOTTE CHENG

DESIGN BY: GRACIE KITAYAMA

The Campanile

Friday, November 18, 2016 Football Report

S ORTS

The Vikes made it to the playoffs, where they faced off against Los Gatos High School.

C2

The Downfall of ESPN: The Entertainment and Sports Programming Network (ESPN) has lost 300,000 subscribers each month for the past two years. $52 million was lost in November alone. Football traffic has decreased 24 percent. Revenue is expected to decrease from $7.5 billion to $6.1 billion. This begs the question: what will happen to ESPN?

S

ince its founding in 1979, ESPN has invariably been regarded as one of the primary networks for sports fans to watch. With substantial coverage of not only beloved sports like football, basketball and baseball, but also popular original series and talk shows, it is impossible for sports fans to avoid the network, and the numbers agree. In 2015, ESPN was given an astronomical value of $7.5 billion — the next most expensive being the NFL Network recorded at a meager $1.16 billion — making it the biggest business in sports.

With its unparalleled access and broadcasts, one might expect the company’s viewer base to continue to increase; however, this is not the case. On Oct. 28, Nielsen, a data and measurement company, reported that ESPN had lost 621,000 subscribers in the month of November alone. This drop equates to a decrease in revenue of $52 million,

the worst loss in ESPN’s history.

Unfortunately, this was not simply a bad month. This event has uncovered ESPN’s progressive decline in viewers for longer than one might expect. In fact, ESPN has been losing nearly 300,000 subscribers each month for the past two years, and this number is only growing. This decline can be credited to a number of factors, but is ultimately centered around a larger trend.

While events such as a 24 percent reduction in Monday Night Football’s traffic have exacerbated the subscriber’s losses, the greater cause lies beyond ESPN itself, mainly in cable television. The expeditious degeneration of cable subscribers has negatively affected nearly every sports network, yet ESPN has been impacted the most due to its seven dollars per month fee for cable subscribers. ESPN’s price is three times more expensive

than the next most expensive network. This means that every cable viewer pays approximately $80 dollars each year to watch ESPN. While surprising at first, the prodigious number is necessary for the network’s accumulated sports rights. In 2017, ESPN will pay a collective $7.3 billion for all of its content, a number more than any other source, including Netflix, NBC, CBS and Amazon.

If the current rate of subscriber losses persists — considering November’s numbers as unusually high — ESPN will lose approximately three million subscribers this year, leaving them with 86 million subscribers in 2017. At seven dollars a month for each of these subscribers, that would earn ESPN $7.22 billion, as well as nearly two billion from advertising.

Even with its drop in viewers, it’s safe to say ESPN will still be profiting in 2017.

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ESPN

Text by: Cole Hechtman Design by: Will Leighton SPORTS

Therapeutic Use Exemptions

Read about the misuse of Therapeutic Use Exemptions: a loophole being used by many athletes to get an unfair advantage via consuming performanceenhancing drugs.

JACQUES MANJARREZ/THE CAMPANILE

PAGES C4-C5

HARVARD SPORTS ANALYSIS /FAIR USE

Top Five Sports Rivalries

A look at some of the oldest and heated sports conflicts.

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BLEACHER REPORT/ FAIR USE

SUSAN POLGAR/ FAIR USE

Team Chemistry vs. Power

The Queen of Chess

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Player interaction can make or break a team, regardless of talent.

Susan Polgar explains how she paved the way for women in chess.

Friday, November 18, 2016

The Campanile

SPORTS

C2 VIKING REPORT football RECENT SCORES

Paly vs Wilcox 10/14 , W, 25-21 Paly vs. Los Gatos 10/21, L, 35-6 Paly @ Mountain View 11/4 , W, 36-29 FINAL GAME

Paly @Los Gatos 11/11, L, 31-6

XC RECENT SCORES

Clovis Invitational 10/8, Boys 4th, Girls 18th SCVAL Meet #3 10/18, Boys 1st, Girls 3rd UPCOMING GAMES

SCVAL Championships 11/1, 1:45 p.m.

CCS 11/12, TBA

Girls Wopo RECENT SCORES

Paly vs. Fremont 10/29, W, 4-3 Paly vs. Salinas 11/1, W, 12-3 Paly vs. Menlo Atherton 11/3, W, 9-6 Paly vs Leland 11/5, L, 15-8

Boys wopo RECENT SCORES

Paly @ Los Gatos 10/20, W, 9-7 Paly vs. Los Gatos 10/27, W, 10-8 Paly @ Gunn 10/29, L 10-9 Paly vs Menlo-Atherton 11/5, L, 9-8

girls golf RECENT SCORES

Paly vs. Cupertino 9/7, L, 253-255 Paly vs. Lynbrook 9/22, W, 218-223 Paly @ Cupertino 9/29, W, 167-219 Paly @ Lynbrook 10/6, L, 178-176

tennis RECENT SCORES

Paly vs. Wilcox 10/13, W, 7-0 Paly @ Fremont 10/18, W, 7-0 Paly vs. Santa Clara 10/20, W, 6-1 Paly vs. Los Altos 10/25, W, 4-3

volleyball RECENT SCORES

Paly vs. Lincoln 10/22, W, 2-0 Paly vs. Lynbrook 10/22, L, 2-0 Paly vs. Lynbrook 10/25, W, 3-0 Paly vs. Spurlock 11/16, L, 3-0

Football season wraps up on bittersweet note Vikings fall to rival Los Gatos 31-6 in CCS quarterfinals in the seniors’ final game NIKLAS RISANO

STAFF WRITER

D

espite experiencing substantially more setbacks than victories during this season of bipolar occurrences, the Vikings found themselves facing Los Gatos in the playoffs after an impressive victory against Mountain View High School on Oct. 4.

Senior quarterback Jordan Schilling, who began the season starting, had a negligible impact on the game against Mountain View High School, with a few rushes totaling 17 yards. Sophomore quarterback Jackson Chryst played the majority of the game, but completed only two passes of 10 attempts. The key to the Vikings 36-29 victory turned out to be their running game. Junior running back Paul Jackson III put the whole team on his back with 24 carries for 223 yards and three touchdowns.

Additionally junior Sione Latu and sophomore Paul Thie both ran their way into the endzone for two additional touchdowns.

On the defensive side of things, sophomore Wes Walters once again had a stellar performance, this time with a team leading 13 tackles.

On the night of Nov. 11 it was time for the Vikes to face their play off opponents, the Los Gatos Wildcats. The Wildcats were held to no passing touchdowns, but made up for it with four rushing touchdowns.

Paly on the other hand was kept

PHOTO COURTESY OF KOREN HICKEY

Quarterback and receiverJordan Schilling (#10) attempts to make a catch during the Viking’s final game against Los Gatos High School.

scoreless until trash time when Jackson III managed to find the endzone on a run. Chryst had a decent game, completing nine of 19 passes, five of which were to freshman phenom Jamir Shepard who had 102 yards receiving. Senior Peter Snodgrass had some comments about Shepard’s outstanding performance: “He has all the tools to be the next great Paly wide reciever like Davante Adams or Eli Givens,” Snodgrass said.

Paly’s defense was led in tackling by senior Josh Brigel, who had 13 to-

tal tackles on the night. Besides this solid individual performance, Paly ultimately failed to slow down the Wildcats prolific offense, who had 427 total yards on the night.

All in all, a tough season was to be expected after a change in coaching.

The fact that the Vikes were still able to make the playoffs with a somewhat small roster, young quarterback and the previously mentioned coaching change is encouraging. Another sign of good things to come can be seen in Paly’s outstanding underclassman.

Although it has been a tough season

for the young quarterback, Chryst has shown tremendous potential, and has gained some much needed experience this season. Additionally, the late emergence of Shepard as a receiving threat is extremely exciting. Yet another promising sign is the consistently solid performance of Paly’s JV team, which finished 9 in 1.

Add to that the return of Jackson III and there’s definitely reason for people to get excited for the 2017 season.

“I think our program is back on the right path,” Snodgrass said. “Next year is going to be a blast to watch.”

Boys water polo ends Cross country wins big season in a tragic loss Team to race at Elite State meet in Fresno Vikes fails to move on after quarterfinals MADS MCCLUSKEY

MULTIMEDIA MANAGER

D

reams of a CCS championship washed down the drain as the Paly boys water polo team lost to Menlo Atherton High School (M-A) on Nov. 5 in the Central Coast Section (CCS) playoffs. Due to their nearly perfect record during the regular season, the team earned a top spot in the playoffs. They hoped to beat M-A and continue on to play Los Gatos High School, but their hopes fell short after a crushing 8-9 loss. Since CCS is a single elimination affair, the season has come to a bitter close for the boys.

“After the second quarter we started to fall apart,” Smale said. “Our offense wasn’t moving the ball as well and we were taking a lot more outside shots rather than going in. Defensively, we were not as strong either.”

The Vikings previously played Henry M. Gunn High School on Nov. 29 for the League championship title, but the game ended in a loss for the Vikes.

“We were so close,” said senior captain Alex Beaudry. “We lost in triple overtime and I really thought we had it because I scored a goal in the last 40 seconds and we were up.

I thought we had it, but they scored [with] 11 seconds to go, so it sucked.

It went to two overtimes with no points scored.”

Despite the major loss in personal, the team is looking forward to a succesful season next year.

Alex Beaudry Senior However, this loss was ultimately a blessing for the team, as it placed them in an easier bracket for the CCS playoffs. The Vikings were placed in the sixth bracket, one lower than league champion Gunn, who played in the fifth bracket. “[In the playoffs] I think we to-

tally were a completely different team than we were at the beginning of the season,” Beaudry said. “The team at the beginning of the season probably would have given up on that game before the first half, so I think that the fact that we were able to keep [up with] Gunn, which is a really good team, is amazing.”

[In the playoffs] I think we totally were a completely different team than we were at the beginning of the season

Alex Beaudry Senior Despite falling just short of their goal to win the league title, the team has continued to see these improvements over the course of their season and is reflecting on their accomplishments.

“There is always room for improvement,” Beaudry said. “Probably keeping our eyes open and recognizing we have opportunities [is one area of improvement].”

However, hopes are not as high for next year’s season. The team will be losing a substantial number of talented players, and recovering from this will be challenging.

“I don’t want to make assumptions [about how the team is going to do next year] but we’re losing so many people it is going to be hard to recover,” Beaudry said. “However, if we have the same drive as we did this year I think we’ll be okay.”

The boys water polo team will lose over half of its players this year due to graduation. Despite the major loss, the team is looking forward to a succesful season next year. Some players to look out for in the pool next year include sophomore goalie Benjamin Rapperport, junior Matthew Nemeth and junior John Anderson.

Varsity coach Aaron Johnson is coming back next season and hopes to take the team even further. “I’m coming back and we are going for the CCS championship,” Johnson said.

KIRAN MISNER

SPORTS EDITOR

T

he phrase, “All I do is win win win, no matter what” was once penned by pop icon and record producer DJ Khaled, and the Palo Alto High School cross country team has taken these words to heart.

Throughout the season and at the Crystal Springs Central Coast Section (CCS) meet, both the girls and boys teams raced their way into qualifying for the California Interscholastic Federation (CIF) State meet, one of the biggest cross country competitions for high schoolers in California.

At the CCS meet, the boys team ran exceptionally well and finished an outstanding second place across all competitors behind Bellarmine College Prep. Despite being in the top tier of cross country teams in the meet, senior varsity runner Ben Beaudry still believes that second place was still a bit of a disappointment.

“The CCS meet did not go as planned,” Beaudry said. “We were hoping to beat Bellarmine and have our top six runners go under 16 minutes. We accomplished none of those.”

According to Beaudry, the reasons that the boys were unable to achieve the goals that they had set before the meet were due to bad strategic planning of the race as well as injury. “[We lost] due to the sheer amount of people ‘rabbiting’ at the start of the race and going at a much faster pace than they could hold, blocking the course for us,” Beaudry said. “We also lost Sam Craig in the first 100 meters due to a hamstring injury, as he was one of our top five runners.”

The fantastic performance at Crystal Springs was no fluke. Before the CCS meet, the boys and girls raced in the Santa Clara Valley Athletic League (SCVAL) meet. It was not surprising to the team or the spectators watching that the Vikings squad was a tier above the rest of the competition. Not only did some runners beat their personal best, the boys placed a stunning first place across all of the teams in SCVAL. For junior runner Elliot Clark, the near perfec-

tion execution at the SCVAL meet was due to great team chemistry and an encouraging outlook on the meet.

“Overall, everybody had high spirits going into the meet,” said Clark.

“The general positive attitude that was held throughout the entire team really fueled us to performing well and running as fast as we needed to.”

Furthermore, clutch performances from senior Kent Slaney and sophomore Henry Saul sealed a win.

“As usual, Kent dominated the league as he did all season," junior runner Noah Yuen said. “Henry placed second for Paly, which is extremely impressive because he is still a sophomore.”

Although the CCS meet did not go as hoped for the boys, they still believe that the State meet will give them a chance to beat Bellarmine and end the season on a high note. “[Losing to Bellarmine] was a learning experience and now we have [the State meet] to race them again, and I think if we work together like we’ve been doing all this year, and really push ourselves we can pull off beating Bellarmine in Fresno,” Beaudry said.

In order to fulfill their expectations at the State meet, the team has adopted a different style of training. “[Unlike regular season training], post season training consists mainly of harder workouts and then a good length of tapering before races,” Beaudry said.

Furthermore, the girls cross country team also ran exemplary races, though they finished fifth in the CCS meet, which sadly means that they were eliminated from State contention as a team. However, a standout performance from freshman Miranda Jimenez allowed her to qualify for the State meet solely based on a superb individual time. Jimenez’s great run at Crystal Springs makes her the first girl from Paly to qualify for States since 2013.

The final race of the season for the cross country teams will take place on Nov. 26 in Fresno, Calif., where spectators should expect a superb final performance from the lads of Palo Alto.

Friday, November 18, 2016

The Campanile

SPORTS C3 Water polo struggles ahead to CCS quarterfinals Despite frustrating last minute loss at the end of the season, the Lady Vikes shoot for the championship PAARTH SHARMA

STAFF WRITER

S

ometimes, in the darkest of moments, a glimmer of light appears at the end of the tunnel. For the Palo Alto High School girls water polo team, many times this glimmer of light has ended up being a train rather than the end of the tunnel.

After a discouraging 8-5 loss against the Los Altos High School Eagles at the Santa Clara Valley Athletic League (SCVAL) Championship on Oct. 27, the team found themselves in a position they had come to know all too well over the course of the season. But this time, the Lady Vikes were prepared for the onslaught that was in their path.

“We had a challenging stretch ahead but we’re hardworking and very resilient,” said junior Alyssa Ibuyan. “Our coach had faith in us and we believe in one another very much.”

This belief in one another and

the mutual trust between teammates proved to quickly become a rallying cry for the team. With their season on the line, the team proved once again that 2016 is the year of comebacks. What happened next was no less than a massacre, the likes of which have not been seen since the last Paly-Gunn football game.

On Oct. 28, the squad made their way to Cupertino High School, and once again, made the Cupertino High School Pioneers look like amateurs.

Junior Sophie Frick led the onslaught with four goals, and freshman Chesnie Cheung quickly caught fire, torching the Pioneers for six goals, four steals and two assists. The Lady Vikes passed the ball, with six different players all aiding in the demolition of Cupertino’s water polo program. Thirsty for more victims, the team then played Fremont High School in what can only be described as a defensive thriller. As usual, goalkeeper Joanna Falla became a brick wall, if brick walls were impenetrable to the velocity of water polo ball that

Falla has by now become accustomed to. The team eventually ground out a 4-3 win, riding Falla’s godlike abilities in the goal to what was later described as a win that was almost too easy to obtain.

Three short days later, the team headed to Salinas for the first round of the CCS playoffs to face Salinas High School. Once again, the team put on a performance rarely matched in sheer obliteration. The team scored in every quarter, including a five-goal second quarter which more or less ordered the funeral service for Salinas High School’s season.

Riding a three game win streak, it seemed as though the return of the messiah was at last upon us. As the squad rolled into Atherton on Nov. 3 to take on the mighty Menlo-Atherton Bears, the entirety of Palo Alto High School held its breath.

The Bears put up a good fight, but, much like actual bears, were slaughtered out of the state of California as the Vikings sealed the stamp on their magical season with 12-6 win.

MADS MCCLUSKEY/THE CAMPANILE

Paly senior Haley Chalmers passes the ball to a teammate to prevent Leland from scoring.

But all good things must come to an end. On Nov. 5, the world stopped and watched Palo Alto’s favorite girls water polo team engage in a fearsome crusade against the Leland High School Chargers with their season on the line.

But the magic simply ran out for the Lady Vikes, who suffered a 15-8 defeat at the hands of the Chargers.

However, the season was not yet lost. Instead, the team made it all

the way to the quarterfinals of the CCS championship, a long way for a team who at one point looked more lost than Gucci Mane in excessive amounts of sauce.

Indeed, the team proved its doubters wrong in this aspect. While most expected the team to lose in the first round of the playoffs, the team caught fire and won not only a string of playoff games, but also the hearts of Palo Alto.

Girls tennis claims first place in league Girls golf ends season Vikings boast undefeated season after 12-match winning streak ALLISON WU

Team proud of overall performance despite unsatisfying outcome of Norcal finals

STAFF WRITER

T

hroughout history, sports teams have consistently achieved great triumphs through talented individual players and effective team chemistry. Palo Alto High School’s girls tennis team is no exception to this phenomenon.

After months of perfecting their skills and maintaining team unity, the team has reached greatness, as evidenced by their winning streak of 12 consecutive matches in the El Camino League.

By remaining undefeated in all of their league matches, the Vikings deservedly clinched first place in the league, which opened up a spot for them in the Central Coast Section (CCS), where winning schools of different leagues and regions across Northern California play against each other.

There, the team started off strong, conquering Aptos High School 6-1 on Nov. 7. However, they were sadly defeated 6-1 by Cupertino High School the day after, marking the end to an awe-inspiring season.

“CCS was really good this year,” said junior Mailinh Truong. “I think all of us really learned from our matches over the season because it’s really amazing that we won all of our league matches. I am really proud of everyone on the team, and the chemistry between the team members throughout the season was phenomenal.”

As the season comes to an end, junior Ankita Amberkar reminisced on the Vikings’ valiant feats and described how they continuously prevailed both on and off the court.

with disappointing loss GRACE KITAYAMA

STAFF WRITER

T

CHARLOTTE CHENG/THE CAMPANILE

Paly senior Alice Zhang returns an explosive serve against her opponent from Aptos High School.

She attributes much of the team’s overall success to new talent — which has strengthened the team — as well as distinguished individuals who have proven their commitment to the team as well as the sport.

“This year, we received three really talented freshman who made our team even stronger,” Amberkar said.

“Also, Mailinh Truong was an absolute beast and successfully filled the shoes for number one singles. She has an amazing work ethic and is truly a role model for the entire team.”

Throughout the season, senior team captain Meredith Cummings has been a driving force for the team and played a critical role in sustaining team chemistry through constant encouragement and support.

“I am very proud to have led such a talented group of girls this year and am so unbelievably proud to have won the El Camino League this

year,” Cummings said. “Tennis has been such an important part of my high school experience and I am so grateful to be a part of this everlasting community!”

The end of this fall season is particularly bittersweet, as the team will lose six of their seniors: Cummings, Brin Elliot, Avanika Narayan, Avery Pearson, Mayerly Short and Alice Zhang.

Next year, the team aspires to maintain its legacy with team unity and adept talent, especially with ranked freshmen Claire Li and Anuva Banwasi.

“While the remaining seven are quite strong, in order to do as well next year we need all the help we can get, which means practicing in the off season and gearing up for the regular season,” Amberkar said. “I am really excited to see what we will be able to achieve in the upcoming season.”

wo thousand sixteen has been a year filled to the brim with unimaginable and unexplainable injustices. A 17-year-old gorilla shot and killed for the life of a young toddler, Britain left the European Union and Donald Trump — a nonpolitician — won the presidency.

However, none of these are even slightly comparable to the disgrace that was the outcome of the Palo Alto High School girls golf team that was met with a disappointing score, finishing sixth in the Northern California (NorCals) finals.

‘‘We’ve done really well this year and it has been a lot of fun. The team dynamic has been great and I think Paly will have a really strong golf team next year as well.’’

Elise Kiya Senior The team was disappointed with how they placed in NorCals, but proud of how they performed during the season regardless.

Junior Stephanie Yu, the second place winner of the individual title for her team, was hoping to score higher.

“We placed sixth out of 12 teams, even though I feel like we could have secured fourth if we played a little better,” Yu said. “We are already at a disadvantage because the top three

teams at NorCals have only tournament players in their starting lineup, while we have a few who only play for school.”

The team shot a combined 417 in the finals losing to Saint Francis High School who shot a combined 380. Though dissatisfied with the final outcome, freshman Katherine Sung is still proud of how the team played this season.

“I think we did great as a team, especially advancing all the way to NorCals,” Sung said.

Though the team’s senior night was two weeks ago, the finals marked the last game for six members of the team.

It is evident that all of seniors will be missed by the rest of the team. Senior Elise Kiya reflects on the past season and looks towards the team future without her.

“I’m proud of how well the team did and what we accomplished this season,” Kiya said. “I’m sad that the season is over especially because it was my last season. We’ve done really well this year and it has been a lot of fun. The team dynamic has been great and I think Paly will have a really strong golf team next year as well.”

Yu will especially miss the seniors, who have been her team members for three years.

“I’m very sad to see them go, because I’ve grown so much as a golfer with them these past three years and cherished their support and team spirit. I wish them the best of luck in college,” Yu said.

Volleyball places second overall in CCS championships After a winning season, Lady Vikes suffer defeat in the last set against rivals Los Gatos in semifinal round of CCS ASHLEY ZHANG

NEWS AND OPINION EDITOR

C

harging into the NorCal Championship tournament with the same level of dedication, perseverance and ferocity that has propelled them throughout this season, Palo Alto High School’s girls volleyball team is looking to end their season as impressively as they started it. After a successful season of 11 wins and one loss in their league, the team launched into the quarterfinal round of the Central Coast Section (CCS) tournament on Nov. 5, where they emerged victorious with a dominant 3-0 win over Alisal High School.

The Vikings gained a significant lead from the start, and ended with scores of 25-15, 27-25 and 25-17.

The team advanced to the semifinal round of CCS on Nov. 9 against Los Altos High School, whom the Vikes lost to earlier this season, breaking their winning streak in the Santa Clara Valley Athletic League.

At the game, the team proved their incredible ability to overcome previous defeat by delivering another stunning 3-0 win.

“We all were on the same page and we all really wanted to come out with a win, especially against a team like Los Altos,” said defensive specialist Michelle Li. “Los Altos was the only team that beat us once during league, so it was great that we could overcome our previous loss and push throughout the game. In the end, we had lots of momentum on our side and swept Los Altos in three sets.”

With their semifinal win in CCS, the team advanced to the final round.

The Vikings faced off against league rivals Los Gatos, to whom they had previously beaten twice and lost to once in a non-league match.

Despite their best efforts, the team unfortunately fell short of a win and ended the game with a score of three sets to two. However, by reaching the finals of CCS, they qualified for the NorCals tournament and will resume

KAI ODA/THE CAMPANILE

Outside hitter Chelsea Fan prepares to hit the ball over the net as her teammates cover her and watch the opposing teams counterattack.

play on Wednesday, Nov. 16 against Turlock High School.

As they approach the end of their season, the team hopes to sustain their energy and maintain their skill level throughout the rest of their practices and games.

“I think our team needs to stay

extremely disciplined as the season continues towards its last few weeks,” Li said. “Admittedly, everyone is a little bit tired which is why we need to focus even more to pull through and play to our full potential.”

Four seniors — Cassandra Fong, Fiona Green, Jessica Lee and Katie

Passarello — will graduate in May, but the team hopes to quickly adjust to the losses and continue to improve next year.

“We’ve already made it so far as a team this year,” Li said. “The fact that we won league is a good indicator of how far we can potentially go.”

Friday, November 18, 2016

The Campanile

SPORTS SPREAD

C4

A LOOPHOLE AR

How the flawed Therapeutic Use Exempti pass to use performan

TEXT AND DESIGN BY EHECATL RIVERA

“

Some of the medical conditions used to justify a TUE can be difficult to validate; and as I discovered, an unscrupulous rider and doctor could exaggerate or simply make up symptoms that would merit a prescription and exemption.

David Millar Former Professional Cyclist

F

or as long as sports have been around, athletes have sought every competitive advantage available, both legitimate and fraudulent. Today, professional athletes are given a list of prohibited substances, which is overseen by the World Anti-Doping Association (WADA).

While it is widely known that performanceenhancing drugs are prohibited due to the unfair advantages they create in competition, there have been numerous loopholes around this restriction. An athlete’s ticket to using a banned substance without a penalty: the Therapeutic Use Exemption.

The 2016 Rio de Janeiro Olympics thrust the topic of Therapeutic Use Exemptions into the global spotlight. A TUE is an agreement between an athlete and the WADA that allows the athlete to use a prohibited substance solely for the purpose of treating a legitimate medical condition. TUEs can be granted for anything ranging from Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) to asthma. The debate around TUEs has largely been about whether or not they are being abused by athletes.

Knowing that top athletes use drugs that help them perform better has always left many with a visceral feeling. It continues to be ubiquitous in athletics despite the existing regulations. According to several scientific publications, what often compels an athlete to consume performance-enhancing drugs is the infinitesimally low chances of getting caught.

If the athlete evades getting caught, they often

reap incredible benefits, such as large sums of money through breaking records, gaining sponsors and getting better contracts.

According to Michael Shermer's article "The Doping Dilemma," approximately 50 to 80 percent of baseball and track athletes consume performance-enhancing drugs. Now, with a legal method to attain performance enhancingdrugs, an athlete is given even more incentive to cheat and abuse a broken system. The widelydiscussed issue has highlighted that, provided high enough stakes, any immoral athlete may abuse the flawed TUE system.

An athlete’s use of TUEs is considered confidential, being part of their private medical records. However, following the 2016 Rio Olympics, a group of Russian hackers, dubbed “Fancy Bears,” began leaking an abundance of medical records.

The records, which were leaked in retaliation for the International Olympics Committee banning the Russian track and field team for alleged cheating, detailed the many Olympians who had obtained TUEs accompanied by the substances that they had been consuming and the specific dosages.

The list included renowned athletes, such as Spanish tennis player Rafael Nadal and American soccer player Alex Morgan. Fancy Bears wrote on its website that a TUE is an athlete’s license to dope.

Nonetheless, the plethora of leaked records show no illegal infractions.

“The use of TUEs is not a doping offense,”

said Nicole Sapstead, U Executive, in an interv “And all these athletes ha for, and have been gra within the anti-doping r While there is no ha wrongdoings, the system unprincipled competitor er question: how often a if at all?

The majority of TU leaked records were stim scribed to people wit stimulants also increase ance. Another common glucocorticosteroids, wh perform with greater end While the distributio has strict criteria, several system based on past exp On Oct. 14, David M professional road racing ion piece in The New Yo to get away with dopin his career as a profession quently throughout his that, not only is there taining a TUE, but als is encouraged within th culture.

“Some of the medical tify a TUE can be diffic I discovered, an unscrup could exaggerate or simp

***This reporter attempted to reach out to the following people several times and was unsuccessful in getting any response: D

The Campanile

Friday, November 18, 2016

SPORTS SPREAD

ROUND DOPING

ions system provides athletes with a legal nce-enhancing drugs

UK Anti-Doping Chief view with BBC news. ave legitimately applied anted, medical support rules.” ard evidence indicating m is open to abuse by the r. This begs a much largare TUEs being abused,

UEs listed among the mulants generally preth ADHD. However, awareness and endurnly prescribed drug was hich allows athletes to durance. on of TUEs supposedly l have noted flaws in the perience.

Millar, once famous as a cyclist, wrote an opinYork Times called “How ng.” The article detailed nal who used PEDs frecareer. Millar revealed a facile method to atso that obtaining them he professional cycling

l conditions used to juscult to validate; and as pulous rider and doctor ply make up symptoms

DESIGN BY ASHLEY ZHANG JACQUES MANJARREZ

that would merit a prescription and exemption,” Millar wrote.

Millar’s article also warned about the dangers of consuming performance-enhancing drugs.

“In one sense, it would be like hitting a selfdestruct button: the moment the drug entered my body, I would become catabolic,” he wrote.

“The cortisone would start to strip me down, and I began to use my own body as fuel.”

Despite countless restless nights induced by the effects of the drugs, Millar admitted to having a surplus of energy during his drug-fueled athletic career. Through the use of TUEs, Miller said he would be able to push onto bigger gears for a longer period of time.

“On one occasion, I received a TUE for a fake tendon issue,” Millar wrote. “A doctor simply wrote a prescription for an ankle injury that required an intra-articular injection.”

Another factor playing a role in the TUE issue is the substantial number of banned substances on WADA’s list. The list includes over 300 banned substances, many of which have little research about their effects.

With the list growing rapidly, it is difficult to study the performance enhancing drug qualities of each substance, which leaves the WADA shadowboxing with many of the drugs.

“We’ve seen so many cracks in the anti-doping system that there’s bound to be some cracks in the TUE system,” said Richard Ings, former CEO of the Australian Anti-Doping Authority, in an interview with USA Today. “But this

shouldn’t be about throwing out the entire system. There needs to be a process of allowing athletes to get medical treatment.”

With any flawed system, there must be a call for reform and, as always, the difficult part is prescribing a worthwhile solution to the diagnosed issue. The task ahead should be a reformed system which minimizes the possibility for abuse, yet still allows players to treat their conditions.

What Millar and many other people have suggested as a solution is making WADA implement and enforce a restriction on taking any drugs during competitions. Allowing athletes to have the slightest trace of a performance enhancing drug during a competition gives them a substantial advantage, which in turn should result in a ban, regardless of the TUE. Additionally, people such as Millar are also advocating that TUEs should be reserved only for recovery or during training periods.

“For an athlete’s own well-being, it is better to face the fact of sickness or injury and withdraw from competition,” Millar stated in his article. “And for the sport’s well-being, it is better to avoid a system open to abuse and exploitation.”

The Fancy Bears leak revealed a flawed system that is open to abuse by thousands of athletes across the globe. It shows that, if the stakes are high enough, athletes would be willing to take advantage of a broken system even if it is unethical, so long as it is legal.***

Dr. Richard McClaren, Gordon Matheson, the Stanford Sports Medicine Office, and the World Anti-Doping Association.

“

The use of TUEs is not a doping offense. And all these athletes have legitimately applied for, and have been granted, medical support within the anti-doping rules.

Nicole Sapstead Anti-Doping Executive

C5

Friday, November 18, 2016

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The Campanile

SPORTS

Ranking the greatest rivalries in sports Analyzing heated competitions of sport throughout time both on and off the cutthroat field of play

KIRAN MISNER

SPORTS EDITOR

F

ans roar, passionately losing their voices as they hurl insults, nasty chants and slogans towards opposing teams. On the field, players fight as hard as they can, no matter what the implications are for the rest of the season. Coaches try anything, trick plays or risky strategies in order to win. This is what everybody from the world of athletics lives for: the thrill of rivalry. For some teams around the world, rivalries transcend the expectations of a regular game.

Ohio State vs Michigan Perhaps the greatest rivalry that American sports fans have ever witnessed, the college football gridiron competition between THE Ohio State University and the University of Michigan has brought two of the most constantly polarizing teams together to duke it out on the field.

The rivalry began over 100 years ago in 1898, when an overpowering Michigan team easily defeated Ohio State by a score of 32-0.

Over the next 15 years, the Wolverines beat the Buckeyes 14 times and tied them twice before Ohio State would finally win in 1914.

Fast forward 112 fierce matchups — including six games in which team neither team could manage to pick up a win — and the rivalry still runs deep through the heart of both campuses. In 2006, a top seeded Ohio State faced Michigan who trailed their rivals in the rankings by just one seed. Both teams were undefeated and each had a chance at ruining their opponents season, but more importantly, they each had a chance to be considered the best.

In a heated battle featuring multiple lead changes, Ohio State went on to win the nail-biter with a score of 4239. This season, Jim Harbaugh’s one loss Michigan squadron will face off against Urban Meyer’s Ohio State 6-1 team in a game that could determine both teams’ chances at making the college football playoffs.

India vs Pakistan The American Super Bowl attracted 114.4 million people; India versus Pakistan cricket match, in comparison, attracted 10 times that number of people with a total of 1.4 billion viewers worldwide. While cricket may not be a sport that many Americans watch, its raw number of viewers throughout the world show that this Asian rivalry is one of the biggest in sports.

Organized cricket originated in England and also spread throughout Asian during times of British colonization. It quickly became a game that people of all backgrounds could play, and as an India and Pakistan gained independence, an intense rivalry formed. The partition of 1947 split the countries made the two regions independent countries, creating an official border and making the rivalry even more heated. Across all competitions, the two countries have battled on the cricket pitch almost 200 times, with each match containing the intensity of a championship game. The pressure to win is immense for both sides. Over the past 60 years, fans have issued death threats and have rioted if their teams have lost. While violence is absolutely unacceptable when it comes to the realm sports, the fans have good reason for caring about winning so much. The quality of cricket that each team plays is outstanding and the two teams have each been ranked number one in their tenures as cricket teams. While India and Pakistan will not play against each other until the middle of the new year, expect a crazy atmosphere and a competitive match when they do hit the pitch in June 2017.

Real Madrid vs Barcelona If you ask any person about the biggest match in soccer, the answer will most likely be the same between all fans: Real Madrid vs Barcelona.

‘El Clasico,’ as it is known among fans around the world, is without a doubt the most storied rivalry in soccer, the world’s most popular sport. The two Spanish giants are re-

ALL PHOTOS COURTESY OF GETTY IMAGES

Ohio State vs Michigan (top left), India vs Pakistan (top right), Madrid vs Barcelona (bottom left), Federer vs Nadal (bottom right).

nowned for attracting the best talent available, making for star-studded teams and breathtaking displays of skill. Headlined by names like Lionel Messi, Cristiano Ronaldo, Neymar Jr. and Gareth Bale, watching Los Blancos (Real Madrid) vs La Blaugrana (Barcelona) is a pleasure for soccer fans. No matter which individuals are on the field or in what tournament they are playing, ‘El Clasico’ never fails to produce quality soccer. Since the professional league (La Liga) was established in Spain in 1929, Madrid has won the trophy a stunning 32 times. However, Barcelona is not far behind, having won the trophy 24 times. The teams have played against each other in every cup possible, from UEFA Champions League to Copa del Rey, and Barcelona currently holds the lead in match wins between the two at 109 out of a possible 264 games played.

While die-hard fans and passionate players are a prerequisite for an intense rivalry, ‘El Clasico’ differs from other rivalries due to its comprehensiveness. One might assume that the

rivalry is only heated for when the first team plays, however, both these clubs instill a sense of animosity for each other in their youth academy.

Despite the decrease in quality of soccer from the first team to the youth teams and academies, Real Madrid vs Barcelona still attracts thousands of people to watch their U16 and U18 matches.

Rafael Nadal vs Roger Federer It should come as no surprise that these two are up on the list for the greatest rivalry of all time. After all, Spanish tennis player Rafael Nadal and Swiss tennis player Roger Federer have been the best of the best in a sport where only a few individuals can qualify for each Grand Slam and even fewer can make it to the top. They have dominated the sport, being a part of countless Grand Slam finals and many more memorable matches. Indicative of their rivalry as a whole, the Wimbledon final of 2008 is something that not only shaped their intense rivalry, but the greater sport of tennis. In what is

praised as the greatest tennis match of all time, Federer and Nadal played an excruciating five sets. With rain delay, the final would become the longest Wimbledon final ever played at four hours and forty eight minutes as Nadal eventually outlasted Federer as night approached. The match signaled a change that allowed Nadal to overtake Federer as the number one player in tennis. However, the heated rivalry between the two did not stop; in fact, it only grew more intense.

Since 2008, they have played a total of seven matches. Although Federer and Nadal are rivals on the court, their relationship off the court is very respectable and each holds the other in a very high regard. Over the years, they have been seen bonding off the court. Their friendly relationship is what makes their rivalry so great: unlike many heated matches against each other, their rivalry remains pure.

As both these two tennis legends head towards retirement due to age (Federer) and injury (Nadal), cherish any time that these two play against each other.

Friday, November 18, 2016

The Campanile

SPORTS C7 Chemistry versus star power ESPN followers fleeing Many teams have proven that it takes more than a single player to succeed

CONTINUED FROM C1

CLAY WATSON

SENIOR STAFF WRITER

P

utting together a successful franchise is a daunting task for executives across all major American sports leagues. Managing team rosters, coaching staffs, fan interest, profitability and overall competitiveness are all a part of the complicated equation that yield a winning organization, both on the field and in the front office. One consequential factor that may be the hardest to predict — or even understand — for general managers is team chemistry. If managed correctly, the nuanced blend of ids, egos and superegos can create seemingly unbeatable teams like the San Antonio Spurs.

However, poor team chemistry can lead to toxic combinations as shown in the National Football League’s (NFL) Minnesota Vikings over the past couple seasons. With big-name players coming together to play for the same franchises, fan anticipation is the immediate response. However, team chemistry is the most critical factor in creating successful team.

Former NFL wide receiver Randy Moss was widely regarded as one of the most talented athletes to ever grace the league. Yet, despite his demonstrated abilities, he still managed to get cut from multiple franchises — he was even released from two teams over four weeks at one point in his career. Bouncing around from squad to squad, the dynamic player never really found a home. This is because talent is only one element that coaches and general managers alike take into account when selecting a player for their squad. The reason? Simple: Amongst sports that require team cohesion, the player’s addition to team chemistry is a salient characteristic. A disgruntled employee in the league, Moss constantly had arguments with teammates, executives and coaches, tearing apart team

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Players such as David Robinson and Tim Duncan elevate their play through teamwork.

morale and making him a detriment to NFL teams. This caused management to favor players who were less of a risk off the field, but lacked Moss’ innate talent.

Moss’s star athlete foil is the San Antonio Spurs’ recently retired Tim Duncan. A soft-spoken power forward from the U.S. Virgin Islands, Duncan had one of the most successful careers in NBA history, winning five championships. Is Tim Duncan arguably the best power forward in NBA history solely because he played nice? Of course not. It was his personality, however, which meshed well with his teammates, Tony Parker, David Robinson and Manu Ginobili. This, combined with a certain amount of talent, created a lethal team chemistry that dominated the NBA for over a decade.

With NBA “super teams,” with three or more All-Star caliber players, such as the Golden state War-

riors and the Cleveland Cavaliers, coming together in the NBA over the past couple of years, the relative importance of team chemistry and star power has been a prevalent topic of discussion for sportscasters and fans.

Recently, the Warriors have been most heavily scrutinized in the ongoing debate. While on paper a successful team combined with the addition of a high level all-star should make an unstoppable combination, a team’s roster does not tell the whole story. While talent is undoubtedly an important part of a quality team, if the players do not develop chemistry both in and away from the sport they play, they won’t win games.

As summed up by New York Yankees great, Babe Ruth: “The way a team plays as a whole determines its success. You may have the greatest bunch of individual stars in the world, but if they don’t play together, the club will not be worth a dime.”

However, if these number continue to decrease, ESPN may have a perilous future ahead.

Assuming that ESPN will continue to lose three million subscribers per year, the network will drop to 74 million subscribers by 2021, which will only bring in $6.2 billion in viewer revenue at the current seven dollar rate. Even if they raise their price to eight dollars per month, a revenue of $7.1 billion would still fall 200 million dollars below the profit margin.

It is evident that ESPN’s influence will never be as strong as it once was.

While the network will likely remain relevant for years to come, it will be necessary to cut back on their sports rights spending.

One possible cut may come with Monday Night Football, which is currently the largest sports contract in the world at $1.9 billion a year. In 2021, the contract between the two companies will expire, and it is likely that the NFL will ask for a larger contract, as it has with each past.

Considering Monday Night Football’s approaching 30 percent drop in viewers, as well as ESPN’s decreasing subscribers, it is highly unlikely this will be possible without ESPN taking monumental losses.

On the other hand, ESPN’s NFL broadcasts are a significant part of the program. Not only is it one of the most popular programs offered on the network, but it has also been used as justification for its high price for cable viewers. Without its connection to the NFL, there will certainly be a demand for ESPN to decrease its subscription price. Therefore, removing Monday Night Football could potentially cause ESPN to lose money and viewers.

This quandary foreshadows what might be the upcoming plight of the existing sports bubble. Inflated prices all over sports, including net-

work contracts, player contracts and running costs keep increasing while viewer numbers continue to decrease.

For too long, everyone has ignored these trends.

If no solution is found, it will inevitably collapse, resulting in a colossal, negative ripple effect across all sports.

Apart from enormous contracts imploding, even aspects considered concrete — such as player contracts and the medium through which sports fans find content — may change.

In terms of sports networks, ESPN would take the worst hit, but will likely not be the only sports network to lose money. Evidence suggests that other networks are also beginning to feel the hurt of a declining viewer base, such as Fox Sports Go, which lost 355,000 viewers in November — about half of ESPN’s.

FOX, NBC and NBC are fine because they produce other shows like reality tv so mention this as well.

These networks broadcast some of the most anticipated events, including the World Series, Super Bowl, Olympic, the Masters tournament, Sunday Night Football and more. In theory, it might be possible for ESPN to sell some of their sports rights to these networks, allowing them to maintain their profit margin. Right?

Not exactly. Existing cable television contracts with ESPN promise the cable network’s exclusive events to vindicate its elevated price.

Ultimately, ESPN’s situation is as bad as it appears. The network is facing a potentially detrimental problem, and the fate of sports broadcasting may be determined by how they choose to handle it. ESPN’s collapse would alter the sports world as we know it, but it is challenging to predict exactly what condition ESPN would leave all of its content in. Without changing their business model, ESPN is on a road to ruin, and it will be worrisome to follow the network’s decisions as 2021 approaches.

Friday, November 18, 2016

C8

The Campanile

SPORTS

Susan Polgar: The Queen of Chess Text and Design by Alice Zhao

Design by: Edward Kim Maya Homan

A Tru(ong) Story

Checkmate!

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alala Yousafzai — female education activist and the youngest Nobel Prize laureate. Marie Curie — physicist and chemist who conducted groundbreaking research on radioactivity. Susan Polgar — renowned Triple Crown chess legend. All are women who broke barriers in previously male-dominated fields. Although the trek up was by no means an easy one, these women persevered in the face of discrimination and unequal opportunity. While less recognizable than her competitors, Polgar prevailed in the chess community as the first woman to qualify and win the Men’s World Championship.

Polgar’s father, Laszlo Polgar, wanted to prove that “geniuses are made, not born,” so he set out to make his daughter a genius. After first instructing her in math, he stumbled upon chess and found that Susan showed a strong affinity for it. She won her first tournament at the age of four, with a perfect 10-0 record.

“I got introduced to the game by my father,” Polgar said. “Even though he was an amateur chess player, he believed that he should support my passion.

He made [chess] sound like a fairy tale. By the time I was five or six, I knew that chess would be a major part of my life.”

By the age of 15, Polgar was the top ranked woman in the chess community. Polgar was also the first to earn the Triple Crown in 1996 by winning all three major chess competitions — the World Rapid, World Blitz and World Classical Championships — in the 1996 Women’s World Championship. Polgar is also a five-time Olympic Chess Champion and holds the record for most consecutive games played (1,131 games with 1,112 wins).

The list of her accomplishments in chess are endless — however, Polgar is also credited as a strong advocate for women by breaking almost every gender barrier in chess. In 1986, she became the first woman to qualify for the Men’s World Championship, but was barred from competing because of her gender. After proving her obvious prowess time and time again, Polgar eventually went on to be the first woman to earn the Grandmaster title in the Men’s World Championship in 1991.

The essence of chess is a battle of the minds,” Polgar said. “While the game starts out with equal chances regardless of who you play — whether you’re five years old playing a 50-year-old, a boy or a girl, whatever combination you look at — You can outsmart your opponent. To me that’s the most attractive part about chess.”

Yet, in proving herself to be a world-class chess player, Polgar faced significant misogyny and discrimination. When reflecting on her own experience as a woman in a male-dominated sport, Polgar offered words of encouragement and advice for girls around the world.

“Don’t get discouraged by guys who try to put you down [by those who] don’t believe in you,” Polgar said. “Believe in yourself, you can do it.”

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olgar met Paul Truong at a chess tournament in 1985, and the two quickly became friends. Before meeting again, they each had their own careers and marriages, ending in divorce.

They decided to partner up to coach collegiate chess and got married in the process.

At the age of four, while most of us were still learning to count, Truong discovered chess by accident through a plastic toy chess set. Truong’s father was reading the instructions and playing along with him.

“My father had no idea what chess was about,” Truong said. “[Chess] is like an equalizer. If you look at any other sport, take basketball for example; you basically have to be born tall. In chess it doesn’t matter — chess transcends race, religion, age and gender. We can play the whole game without seeing the board. That’s how we train our minds.”

Truong soon became the top chess player in all of Vietnam, winning the under-21 event at the age of five and the adult event at the age of eight. Naturally, Truong was approached to represent Vietnam in international chess competitions. However, not wanting to represent a Communist country that mistreated its own citizens, he declined the offer.

Truong’s family was targeted during the Vietnam war in the 70s due to his father’s high standing in the U.S. Embassy during the Vietnam War. This forced the family into hiding for years until the fourth anniversary of the war, when they made their escape to the United States. Hundreds of escapees crowded on a boat designed for 65 meant that not everyone made it to shore, but Truong’s family was lucky enough to remain intact.

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SPICE(ing) it up

ince retiring from play in 2006, Polgar has coached the Division I Chess Team at Texas Tech University, helping them to win the President’s Cup known as The Final Four of College Chess. Polgar overcame yet another obstacle by being the first female to coach a Division I chess team to victory.

Most recently, she and her husband founded the Susan Polgar Institute for Chess Excellence (SPICE), a collegiate Division I chess team and three-time consecutive national champion at Webster University in St. Louis. SPICE has been ranked the number one collegiate chess team in the nation since 2012. As a result, Polgar has been named “College Chess Coach of the Year” and “World’s Top Coach.”

SPICE also offers scholarship opportunities to its members for up to full tuition. Its mission includes promoting women’s chess and using chess to enrich education and problem-solving. Polgar trains students every day and a typical student trains twice or three times a week. Players are also required to hone their skills on their own time with individual assignments.

As strong advocators for women in chess, Polgar and Truong were recently in the Bay Area for the North American All Girl Championship for chess sponsored by Polgar. The top high school student was awarded a $48,000 scholarship to Webster University.

Unknown to many, chess also has its own Olympics, with 188 participating nations every two years. Most recently in September, the U.S. took gold for the first time in 79 years. Furthermore, two out of the five members of the American team were SPICE students.

Moving forward, SPICE is looking to win the championship this year to add on to their three year streak.

Although Polgar retired from her own competitive chess career, she continues to inspire women everywhere to work hard for what they want and never back down in the face of opposition.