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. 10
Palo Alto High School • 50 Embarcadero Road, Palo Alto, CA 94301 • www.thecampanile.org
Friday, May 19, 2017
New suicide bill passes EDAN SNEH
ONLINE EDITOR
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ith many having spoken out about the government's inability to adequately examine prevalent issues regarding teen depression, Marc Berman — a former Palo Alto city councilman now serving in the California State Assembly — proposed a suicide assessment bill that was passed by the State Assembly Education Committee last week. Berman’s goal with this bill is to create a more rehabilitative approach for depressed or suicidal students who are using or distributing illicit substances. This suicide assessment bill, Assembly Bill 1261 (AB 1261), aims to review students' mental health records and assess whether they are eligible for any types of treatment, instead of merely assigning black-SUICIDE BILL
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Law protects education rights of sexual assault perpetrator
New gymnasium prepares to open
KTVU Fox 2 News report on on-campus sexual assault inaccurate
Fall marks end to 18-month gym construction
RENEE HOH
NEWS & OPINION EDITOR
KIRAN MISNER
SPORTS EDITOR
PAARTH SHARMA
MANAGING EDITOR
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alo Alto High School administrators were upholding the law that required them to continue educating a student who has been convicted for one count of sexual assault and one misdemeanor of consensual sex with a minor stemming from three separate incidents. Two of the incidents did not occur on school campus or to or from campus, according to police reports. The incident that occurred on campus was not ruled a sexual assault, but a misdemeanor by the court. Neither expulsion nor suspension were considered because the offense that occurred on campus was ruled a misdemeanor, according to court documents. “[What] is really important for people to understand is there was never a conviction or charge for sexual assault on this campus,” said Paly Principal Kim Diorio. “There has not been a sexual assault on this campus this year that has been reported to us. The other incidences that we became aware of this spring happened to non-Paly students.” Facing criticism from the community for allowing the accused student to continue attending Paly, administrators emphasized that the suspect did not meet the criteria for suspension or expulsion detailed by the Education Code 48900: only if committed or attempted sexual assault or sexual battery occurred “at any time while on school grounds, going to or coming from school, during lunch, whether on or off campus and during or while going to or coming from a school-sponsored activity.” The incidents — one at a house party, another in a church bathroom and the third, most recently, in a Paly bathroom — were publicized on KTVU Fox 2 News on May 10 in an investigative report. Since then, the student has left the school and the baseball team and has
chosen to pursue education outside of Paly campus. Due to the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA), which protects the rights and privacy of minors, the district is unable to release the name of the accused student. The most recent incident occurred in October 2016 inside a boys bathroom on Paly campus. In an interview with KTVU, a Paly freshman said she first met the suspect in her Spanish class. She said the two had become “friends” before the assault occurred. According to her accusation, the nature of the friendship changed from platonic to sexual after the suspect started touching and stalking her without her consent. The suspect also allegedly sent her nude photographs of himself via Snapchat. Soon after, the two met up in a boys bathroom on campus, where the suspect allegedly forced her to perform oral sex. “I was very shaken,” said the girl in an interview with KTVU. “I couldn’t speak. I was very confused as to what I just let happen.” According to the suspect’s attorney, the student was convicted of a misdemeanor — having consensual underage sex — for the incident at Paly. KTVU had originally reported, erroneously, that the charge was a felony of sexual assault.
[What] is really important for people to understand is there was never a conviction or charge for sexual assault on this campus.
Kim Diorio Principal “Although the student in question has been in compliance with all court orders... and the district attorney’s office has declined to file anything against the student other than consensual underage sexual activity as a result of the conduct on campus, the student has elected not to complete the school year on campus,” said Stephanie Rickard, the attorney rep-
resenting the suspect. One of the earlier incidents of sexual assault transpired in a church bathroom in October 2015 with a girl who was then 15 years old.
[The] district attorney's office has declined to file anything against the student other than consensual underage sexual activity as a result of the conduct on campus.
Stephanie Rickard Attorney The suspect was convicted of the felony charge “oral copulation by force, violence, duress, menace or fear” in juvenile court. Following the incident, the victim, who currently attends Menlo-Atherton High School, said she received a letter from the suspect apologizing for his actions, according to KTVU. According to a written submission to KTVU from a third alleged victim, a separate alleged incident of sexual assault occurred at a house party in Redwood City in January 2016; a police report has been filed, although no charges have been brought, according to the mother of the girl, who was interviewed in the KTVU report. The KTVU report had multiple inaccuracies, causing unnecessary community concern. One of the inaccuracies was that the incident on campus was an assault, but in fact it was deemed consensual by a judge. Diorio appeared on InFocus, Paly’s live broadcast program, on May 15 to notify students of additional counseling and available staff able to provide support in both the Wellness Center and Guidance Office. Additionally, the Palo Alto Unified School District Board of Education took action at the May 16 special meeting to hire a law firm to look into the way district administrators, including Diorio, Superintendent Max McGee and Chief Student Services Officer Holly Wade, handled the investigation. This story will be continuously updated on www.thecampanile.org.
ALLISON CHENG/USED WITH PERMISSION
This shiny new basketball court shows one of many amenities of the new building.
BETHANY SHIANG
SENIOR STAFF WRITER
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fter nearly three years of faulty fire alarms, blocked roads, dust-filled air and the excrutiating-but-inevitable sounds of construction, Paly's new gym has finally arrived. As the construction of the new gym, Peery Family Center, is finishing off its final touch-ups, generations of Palo Alto High School students are ready to make new memories in the coming decades.
The new gym rivals any college [gymnasium] and it’s similar to a smaller division III college.
Jason Fung Physical Education Department “The old gym that everyone remembers was like a pit because when you played basketball everybody watched down on you and no other gym was like that,” said Paly Physical Education (P.E.) teacher Jason Fung. “Watching the game was like watching a battle; it was a feeling of competition.” The new gym has been under construction for the past 18 months. It will have an east and west side, the east side being the stadium with box seats and the west side being the side for P.E. classes.
Additionally, the Peery Family Center will include a smaller side gym, a weight room, a dance room, an aerobics room and locker rooms that are much larger than past practice rooms. There will also be rooms for different coaches, athletic teachers and a variety of sports activities.
The old gym that everyone remembers was like a pit because when you played basketball everybody watched down on you and no other gym was like that.
Jason Fung Physical Education Department “The new gym rivals any college [gymnasium] and it’s similar to a smaller division III college,” Fung said. “A lot of people can use it for all sports so it’s very beneficial for the school and athletic department. It’s bigger, so we can have numerous teams in there to have practice and workouts, which will be a plus for our sports program.” The school had initially planned to use the donations to fix some of the existing problems in the old gym, including lack of proper air ventilation, poor acoustics and outdated equipment. NEW GYM
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INSIDE News....................................A1-A4 O pi n i on . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . A 5 - A 7 E d it or i a l . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . A 8 Lifestyle . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .B1-B3, B6-B8 Spotlight...............................B4-B5 Sp or t s . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . C 1 - C 6 , C 8 Sports Opinion . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . C7
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Check us out at www.thecampanile.org
NEWS
DONNESH FARMAN/PALY VOICE
WEISS & PAARZ/CREATIVE COMMONS LICENSED
EDITORIAL
RAFEEQI FAMILY/USED WITH PERMISSION
LIFESTYLE
U.S. ARMY/CREATIVE COMMONS LICENSED
SPORTS
Weighted GPA decision
FERPA, Title IX and Paly
Have dinner with a Muslim
Psychology of sports fans
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PAGE B1
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After much deliberation, the weighted GPA saga has concluded.
Exploring contradictions between FERPA and Title IX regulations.
This is an initiative created by a Paly student to fight xenophobia.
Studies show links between sports fans' mentality and teams' success.
The Campanile
Friday, May 19, 2017
A2
NEWS
NEWS TO KNOW
District announces weighted GPA decision The decision to instate weighted GPAs for all PAUSD high schools is met with various reactions AVI TACHNA-FRAM
SENIOR STAFF WRITER
HISTORYINPIX/FAIR USE
@ HistoryinPix The skeletal remains of a Roman-era couple reveal the pair has been holding hands for 1,500 years.
@CBSNews State senator introduces bill to legalize marijuana in New Jersey
@thehill Clinton launches PAC to fund Trump resistance groups
@CNN Protesters brought torches to a protest over plans to remove a statue of Confederate Gen. Robert E. Lee in Virginia
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ries of elation filled a crowded room in the back of the District office as the Palo Alto Board of Education agreed to adopt weighted grades for all future students. The decision, seven months in the making, received much hearty debate late into the night at the Tuesday Board meeting. Most of the dispute surrounded whether or not to weight freshman grades. At a previous board meeting, Superintendent Max McGee recommended that freshman grades should not be weighted, arguing that freshman year is a time for adjustment and incoming students should not feel pressure to take Advanced Placement (AP) or honors classes before they are ready. This has been controversial in the community for some time, with the majority of the school board, many faculty members at the high schools and some parents expressing support for McGee’s recommendation. However, a minority of the school board and many parents had concerns that refusing to weight freshman grades would be unfair to those taking advanced classes as freshmen, some of whom enrolled in classes that would be weighted if they were in any other grade. At a previous meeting the student
Board representative from Gunn, Ankit Ranjan, spoke out in favor of weighting freshman grades and brought up many of the concerns that were voiced at the most recent Board meeting. However, after he learned that Career Technical Education (CTE) enrollment is down for the next school year and he talked to students and faculty and had a change of heart. “I had to very critically re-examine [weighted GPAs} when students were coming to me about enrollment issues,” Ranjan said. “From what I’ve heard about the eighth grade interest in taking honors courses for next year [from the Gunn administration] it seems that the weighted GPA issue is also important and also consequential in determining which courses students take in freshman year.”
"Doing the mathematics we see that if a student takes two [weighted] courses freshman year, that’s a difference of .08 on the final weighted cumulative grade."
Max McGee Superintendent At the meeting on Tuesday, McGee took time to address concerns about his recommendation. He pointed out that the GPA boost most freshmen would receive is inconsequential and argued that “the increase
in academic pressure, competition, homework, and stress [weighting freshman year courses] would add to the current cultural pressures of our high schools would be deleterious to the health and well-being of more students." “Doing the mathematics we see that if a student takes two [weighted] courses freshman year, that’s a difference of .08 on the final weighted cumulative grade,” McGee said. “It is erroneous to think that that would make a difference on college admissions. Will 0.08 impact a student's scholarship [opportunities]? Maybe it will, maybe it won’t. We have not heard of any [scholarships with margins that] narrow, but if it were we would take significant efforts to intervene at the school.” However, opinions varied. Board member Todd Collins stated that he felt not weighting freshman grades would discourage students from taking challenging courses and that is not what he, as a Board member, should support. Collins also pointed out that grade reporting is only a small part of a much larger conversation regarding student stress. “GPA reporting is a tiny, tiny, part of that equation and we’re making a mountain out of that tiny tiny mole hill,” Collins said. “It’s like we’re looking through the wrong end of the telescope and we’re focusing on this little tiny piece when there's a whole range of things that drive why
students and parents choose certain courses and what creates stress about them.” Ultimately the Board decided not to weight freshman grades with Board President Terry Godfrey, Board Vice-President Ken Dauber, Board member Jennifer DiBrienza as well as the two student Board representatives David Tayeri and Ankit Ranjan voting against weighting freshman grades.
“I had to very critically reexamine [weighted GPAs} when students were coming to me about enrollment issues,”
Ankit Ranjan Gunn Student Board Representative With the recommendation that the board eventually approved, in addition to weighting all honors and AP courses designated as honors in the high school’s course catalogues, the District agreed to create a process to review the status of honors courses in the grade book and advocate for the UC system to approve the honors statues of chemistry honors. Despite the already lengthy process the board has taken to approve weighted GPA, the saga will continue. Part of the approved recommendation tasks the District with creating a team to evaluating weighted grades in 2019 and every year after that for at least three years.
AAR Showcase displays students' research Students enrolled gather to exhibit their year's work to parents and guests in the Media Arts Center @EVANROSSKATZ/FAIR USE
@Weird There's a new 'romper for men' called the RompHim
@MarketWatch SolarCity CEO (and Elon Musk's cousin) Lyndon Rive to leave Tesla: report.
JORDAN QUIGLEY
SENIOR STAFF WRITER
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he Advanced Authentic Research (AAR) Celebratory Showcase gave students the opportunity to showcase their dynamic projects to the Palo Alto community. AAR piloted its program last year, but this year is its first year with University of California (UC) approval. The course is designed for students to work on year-long projects on topics
which ranged from the achievement gap to idle energy consumption. The AAR classes consist of a combination of Social Justice students and regular students who are interested in learning more in-depth aspects of a certain research topic. Social Justice students are required to take this class because it helps them with their Capstone Project, which is their required research project and paper, due at the end of the year.
All year long, AAR students diligently worked on their posters, which contain a cumulative compilation of the research and data they collect. These posters show the most important aspects of the students' projects such as their hypothesis and conclusion of their experiments. Every student is required to gather data either through a pre-existing source or by conducting an experiment. For example, a student might choose to study reading levels by giving a group of students a reading examination and correlating their score to their reading habits. This experiment is useful for students who want to see if reading levels are affected by certain factors. If factors are identifiable, one can then proceed to take actions to ensure that their time reading is as effective as possible by minimizing those factors. Many AAR experiments were conducted with student participants through surveys or assessments.
The final poster contains organized data and some background information on the project. This class is held during an eighth period either during lunch or after school once a week. During class time, teachers go over the necessary components for the AAR poster and guidelines for the showcase. There are sometimes presentations on various topics, such as how to properly speak publicly through poster presentations, and the rest of the class time is spent working on journal entries or exit tickets.
All year long, AAR students diligently work on their posters, which contain a cumulative compilation of the research and data they collected. The AAR showcase is the presentation of all of the students’ posters to parents, board members and other audience members.
UPCOMING EVENTS MAY
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MAY
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MAY
BACCALAURATE 2017 The unicycle kid is performing.
NO SCHOOL—MEMORIAL DAY A memorial for your GPA before finals.
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FIRST DAY OF FINALS Suck it, juniors and underclassmen.
MAY
GRADUATION CEREMONY Your four years of misery results in one glorious sheet of paper!
JUNE
LAST DAY OF SCHOOL Get that special someone's number before summer starts!
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Friday, May 19, 2017
The Campanile
NEWS A3 Bill to help prevent suicides Bell schedule settled PAUSD strong advocate for legal reform on drugs as coping tools Changes to InFocus and advisory featured CONTINUED FROM A1
and-white form of punishment. AB 1261 is focused on building upon AB 2246, a bill enacted last year that requires schools with grades seven to 12 to have a suicide prevention policy. With AB 1261 in action, groups with high risk of suicide will be addressed, including youth with substance use disorders. Therapists in the Palo Alto nonprofit Children’s Health Council agree that substance abuse in teens can often be caused by underlying depression, anxiety or stress. Illicit drug use is also one of the most frequent risk factors for suicidal behavior. California’s current bills do not have any accommodations for teens dealing with drug use, so many teens who have used drugs often do not feel comfortable seeking aid, in fear of being punished instead of being helped. The proposed bill aims to strengthen the state’s initiative of suicide prevention. While expulsion and suspensions are typically the consequences for a student with drugs, based on an assessment as to whether the student is at risk of suicide, a re-
ferral to a mental health professional may be the alternative with this bill in action. For students attempting to take advantage of the proposed bill, it does not guarantee immunity to students with mental health issues in possession of drugs. “AB 1261 highlights the nexus between substance use and suicidal behavior and requires schools to take into account that a one-sizefits-all, bright-line rule for discipline of substance use may not be in the best interest of students,” Berman said. While previous versions of the bill required schools to see if the student met the criteria of a student in need of the alternative accommodations, a newly revised version of the bill only encourages administrators with zero tolerance policies to ask questions before they follow through with immediate punishment. Palo Alto is the largest driving force in promotion of the bill, as high school students in Paly and Gunn face struggles with high stress rates. The Palo Alto school board has approved of the bill, and many former Palo Alto local government officials,
such as Berman and former Palo Alto mayor Vic Ojakian, have been gathering support for the bill. These Palo Alto schools will most likely be affected by the bill, which is speculated to prevent student suicides and decrease drug abuse, through these alternate rehabilitations. Berman’s goal with the bill, as a graduate of Paly, is to prevent more suicide tragedies from occurring in Palo Alto and more broadly in California. “My biggest hope is that this bill will help prevent these tragedies from occurring…” Berman said. “Schools should be asking why substance use is occurring because they may be missing opportunities to refer students to mental health professionals so that they get the help they need, rather than expelling them from school.” AB 1261 still has time before it is in action. “Right now I am focused on moving this bill through the legislative process and getting it signed by Governor Brown,” Berman said. “AB 1261 will be next heard in the Assembly Appropriations Committee which examines the fiscal implications of the bill.”
ANNA MORAGNE
STAFF WRITER
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fter months of deliberation, the Palo Alto High School Bell Schedule Review Committee came to a decision for the 2017-18 school year calendar. Next year, the allotted time for InFocus will be increased from five minutes to 10 minutes on block days and shown at the end of third and fourth period, rather than the beginning. Additionally, there will be required flex time on Thursday for students who do not have advisory. California public high schools are required to have 54,000 instructional minutes per school year yet it was discovered earlier that Paly was not meeting this requirement. Once this discovery was made, the Paly Bell Schedule Review Committee worked to combat the issue. The additional minutes from the extended InFocus, as well as the required flex time on Thursday, will make up for the current loss of instructional minutes. Before deciding upon a final decision, the Bell Schedule Review Committee seeked the advice of the
students themselves. Students had the option to vote in a survey from a selection of different proposed schedules for the upcoming school year and further in the future. Several of the proposed ideas included abandoning C-days. One option was to have alternating even and odd block periods throughout the entire year; however there was concern that students would get confused week-to-week on what classes they had on which days. Another option was to get rid of C-days and only have Mondays as alternating even and odd blocks. However, there was still concern about having the same block two days in a row. For example, there would be some days where students would have Monday and Tuesday as both even blocks or Friday and Monday as both odd blocks. Students were concerned that this would not give some classes enough time to finish the homework assigned, as the time spacing would be skewed. Ultimately, it was decided that the best solution for the 2017-18 school year was to keep C-days and add in extended time for InFocus as well as a second day of advisory.
Gym on schedule to Classroom work performed live open this summer as a joint Paly and Gunn project Hefty donation funded gym construction
Student pieces from Creative Writing chosen for “Page to Stage” RIYA KUMAR
STAFF WRITER
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ALLISON CHENG/USED WITH PERMISSION
The new gym will feature two basketball courts, a dance room, weight room and pool.
CONTINUED FROM A1
After receiving a major donation, Paly decided to build a completely new gym. The total cost of the new gym was $44 million. “It’s going to be one incredible place,” Vice principal Jerry Berkson said. “Just think about what an incredible place it’s going to be and multiply it by five.” Paly plans to open the gym by the
end of the school year to allow sports teams to practice over the summer. The new gym will also host rallies and a variety of events next year. “[The old gym is] going to be a place that a lot of people miss because that was [the gym that] we knew,” Fung said. “The generations to come will enjoy what we have now because they won’t know about the old gym, but will make their own memories in the new gym.”
hirty of both Paly and Gunn’s Creative Writing students’ work will be performed at the Children’s Theater next Tuesday in a project called “Page to Stage.” This project was created in an effort to allow students to gain more experience in creative writing and realize its immense power. “I want students exposed to creative writing,” said cocreator and Paly English teacher Lucinda Filppu. “I also think writing is really healthy for mental health. It builds community, it lessens stress, so I wanted to showcase what our writers can do because they have a lot of talent.” The students in Ms. Filppu’s Writer’s Craft class started this project of writing pieces that will be turned into a script following various themes chosen beforehand.
“[Writing] lessens stress, so I wanted to showcase what our writers can do because they have a lot of talent.”
Lucinda Filppu Paly English teacher “Some themes we wanted to cover in our writing [were] secrets, bravery and resilience,” said Hana Morita, a student in Writer’s Craft.
When students arrived at the Children’s Theatre, they got their creative juices flowing with a variety of different activities before writing their actual pieces. “For one of [the prompts], we wrote down a secret we had and then these cards were collected and given out to other people,” Morita said.
“We didn’t know what to expect going into this workshop field trip, but I think everyone was pretty excited about having a field trip. It was really interesting to see how these actors interpreted our work.”
Hana Morita Writer’s Craft student They continued their work with additional activities, such as one where they asked the writers to work with partners in order to build the background of their characters and their relationships with each other. “[The prompts] helped us start writing down ideas and just get into the right mindset,” said Marie Davis, another Writer’s Craft student. “It’s hard to start writing a piece so they were like baby steps to get us started.” Students finished the brainstorming activity with a free-writing activity that was based on the three themes of their main story. “What was the most difficult chal-
lenge to your life — and how did you get through it?” was asked to focus on the theme of resilience. For the theme of secrecy, questions such as “When you were little, what were your secrets?” and “How do they differ from secrets now?” were asked. As they were collecting ideas, actors were there to help act out parts of their story.
“Some themes we wanted to cover in our writing [were] secrets, bravery and resilience.”
Hana Morita Writer’s Craft student “It was pretty neat to have our work performed,” Morita said. However, this is was just a preview for their final work, which was also written during their trip to the Children’s Theatre and will be showcased. According to Davis, the script for the performance will combine pieces from all of the students. She finds it exciting to be able to see her work presented in a different form. Morita also shared her excitement for this project. “We didn’t know what to expect going into this workshop field trip, but I think everyone was pretty excited about having a field trip,” Morita said. “It was really interesting to see how these actors interpreted our work.”
Friday, May 19, 2017
The Campanile
A4 NEWS Castilleja expansion updates Paly choirs scored Plan includes an underground parking garage and fewer trees cut by CMEA judges TRISTAN WANG
STAFF WRITER
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arlier this month, Castilleja School released its latest iteration of expansion plans, hoping that changes, such as an underground parking structure and tree preservation, will appease residents opposed to the project. Through these proposals, Castilleja school officials hope to modernize school facilities and therefore increase enrollment. Ongoing plans involve restructuring current academic buildings, terracing a lowered campus center to permit fluidity and allow amphitheater seating and moving the pool below grade for noise reduction. These modifications intend to keep historic characteristics of the school while creating a greener campus that blends in better with the neighborhood, school officials said. In accordance with the new plans, the exit ramp of the proposed garage will align with Melville Avenue. This change will divert cars away from private residences. Both the new building and garage will be redesigned to preserve the existing wildlife, as many trees can not be relocated. Ninety percent of campus trees will be kept, and 70 percent of campus trees will remain their current location In addition, 22 newly planted trees will be added to the campus. Nine palm trees will be relocated off campus and five trees would be removed. A sixth tree, a 100-foot redwood, was removed after a consulting arborist and the city’s urban forestry department determined that the tree was diseased and potentially hazardous. The revised plans, which have been made public until the end of May 12, include more than 30 new documents, including a comprehensive environmental impact report with arborist consultations, noise studies and topographic surveys.
The new proposal is the school’s most recent effort to obtain a conditional-use permit that would increase campus enrollment to 540 students over four years. The underground parking garage will accommodate cars from both students and employees, replacing two single-story homes owned by the school. It is among the most concerning aspects of the expansion plan for residents, as cars will exit directly onto Emerson Street before and after school hours. “We have more demand for this school than our current facilities can accommodate,” said Castilleja Chief Operating Officer Kathy Layendecker. “It seems wrong to turn away students who really want the education.” However, nearby residents of the “Protect Neighborhood Quality of Life” neighborhood group remain unsatisfied. Forty-five residents found the changes to be largely insignificant and delivered a petition to Castilleja on May 3 reiterating their opposition against the underground parking garage, fearing it will only worsen traffic congestion. “It is distressing to see that [Castilleja] continues to imply that the neighbors of the school are in favor of the underground garage,” the petition stated. “This is not an accurate assessment of the neighborhood.” In response, Castilleja school officials have expressed concerns that some neighbors have misunderstood the garage’s purpose, which was to address the congestion around the school by moving the cars off the street to underground lots, not to encourage more student and faculty members to drive to school. Castilleja school officials have also cited their current traffic-management program, which includes van pick-up to Caltrain, carpooling, morning shuttles and staggered bell times.
“I think that traffic congestion is not a fair term to describe what occurs around [Castilleja],” Layendecker said. “We’ve actually fully embraced our responsibility to reduce traffic in Palo Alto.” Layendecker also revealed that Castilleja has reduced traffic in the surrounding neighborhood by 20 percent over the last three years, a figure confirmed by an independent auditor who measures peak traffic levels around the campus. Castilleja school officials also agreed to regulate itself if it exceeds maximum enrollment or fails to keep traffic at the current level of 440 peak trips. The first and second violations would require the school to increase its traffic-demand-management efforts, and upon a third violation the school would be forced to reduce enrollment by five students every year until the number of peak trips drops below the limit. Petitioners also remarked that Castilleja is already over-enrolled and should revert back to the 415-student quota it was granted by a permit issued in 2000. Castilleja was fined by the city in 2013 for enrolling up to 448 students, and has subsequently submitted a plan to reduce enrollment to 438. Addressing concerns that Castilleja is not engaging in meaningful dialogue with affected residents, Layendecker remarked that all of Castilleja’s recent expansion proposals, including the initial plan submitted in June 2016, were the result of a continual effort to find common ground with nearby residents. “Castilleja has been on a process over the last four years of soliciting and responding to feedback from neighbors … in order to get to a place where Castilleja can provide a good education for young women … and the residents can live in the neighborhood comfortably,” Layendecker said.
PETER GOLD/THE CAMPANILE
Paly choirs judged as superior in CMEAs, a competitive choir event hosted in the PAC.
KATE DEANDRE
SENIOR STAFF WRITER
T
he California Music Educators Association (CMEA) adjudicated the various Palo Alto High School choirs at Palo Alto High School the week of May 8. CMEA is a music festival that students in California schools can participate in. Students can opt to be in the program, or have their school take part in the program. “CMEAs give us a chance [to] showcase our songs and receive feedback on how to become a better choir,” said senior choir member Joao Gabriel de Piña. The students who desire to participate in this program choose three songs for their repertoire.
CMEAs give us a chance [to] showcase our songs and receive feedback on how to become a better choir.
Joao Gabriel de Piña Senior Throughout the week of May 8, CMEA came to Paly to judge the students who wanted to participate in the program. The Spectrum, Madrigals and concert choirs performed songs from the spring concert in front of the adjudicators.
All CMEA adjudicators have previous experience in music education, making them more qualified for judging. Three adjudicators score the performance of the school on a multitude of criteria. The criteria they are graded on include the following: tone quality, blend and balance, rhythm, precision, facility, articulation, direction, interpretation, style, phrasing, expression, sensitivity, dynamics, choice of music, stage presence and effects of presentation. The performance is scored as fair, good, excellent or superior. The Paly choir received an unanimous score of superior by the adjudicators. After the performances of the different songs, there is a sight reading portion. In this section of the adjudication, the students are given one minute to review the rhythm that is given to them. Then, the students must perform the rhythm with clapping or speaking different words that symbolize the given note. The first performance is a practice so teachers can analyze and instruct the students on what to fix. The students are then asked to perform again and are judged on that performance. Finally, the students are given a score to sing, either a solfege or a vowel. They are again given a minute to review, allotted a practice performance with feedback from teachers and then have to perform for a second time to be adjudicated.
The Campanile
Friday, May 19, 2017
OPINION
A5
Freedom of speech needs to protect all speakers
NOAH BAUM
NEWS & OPINION EDITOR
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hen the National Socialist (Nazi) Party of America scheduled a demonstration in the predominantly Jewish town of Skokie, Ill. in 1977, it sparked outrage among the townspeople before the demonstration commenced. The Illinois Appellate Court and eventually the U.S. Supreme Court upheld the Nazi Party’s right to march and display the swastika emblazoned on their clothing as symbolic speech protected by the First Amendment. In these scenarios, the First Amendment serves to protect citizens’ freedom of speech and expression, regardless of how controversial or unpopular they are. In practice, however, only the unpopular opinions, such as those of the Nazi Party, truly need First Amendment protection because popular opinions generally go unchallenged.
It is important to point out that by permitting unpopular speech, we do not necessarily need to agree with it. Earlier this year, protesters stormed the campus of University of California (UC), Berkeley, outraged that provocateur and former Breitbart editor Milo Yiannopoulos would be speaking on
campus. When protesters started fires, destroyed storefronts and provoked fights, UC Berkeley administion canceled the scheduled speech. What UC Berkeley did is oft-referred to, in legal terms, as a heckler’s veto, in which an entity restricts free speech or expression based off the negative reaction of the masses. “[UC Berkeley] has catered to certain groups of students’ desires to be shielded from speech that challenges them with a different way of thinking,” said Harmeet Dhillon, a conservative attorney well-known for pursuing civil rights cases, including the First Amendment and other constitutional rights. More recently, UC Berkeley canceled the appearance of conservative commentator Ann Coulter. UC Berkeley once again capitulated to the heckler’s veto, justifying the cancellation of Coulter’s appearance by citing concerns for student safety. Despite the cancellation, Coulter stated that she would give her speech as planned, to which they offered her another time to speak, only on a day when there were no classes, at a distant off-campus location and at a time when Coulter was unavailable. Coulter understandably rejected the patronizing offer. Conservatives, such as those who wanted to listen to Yiannopoulos and Coulter, are considered the political minority on the UC Berkeley campus. Because the First Amendment is
aimed at protecting unpopular speech, conservatives at UC Berkeley are the primary beneficiaries of freedom of speech. However, it is important to point out that by permitting unpopular speech, we do not necessarily need to agree with it. By allowing the Nazi party to share their message in Skokie, the Supreme Court was not endorsing them; rather, the Supreme Court was ruling that an opinion, no matter how reprehensible, cannot be silenced simply because it is decided that the idea is unpopular or controversial. “[UC Berkeley] is validating the utterly false premise that a university should be a place where only certain thoughts and certain speech are welcome,” Dhillon said. Long before Yiannopoulos and Coulter were denied the opportunity to speak at UC Berkeley, the university had a much different philosophy. From 1964-65, the UC Berkeley campus was filled with student protesters, but instead of protesting opposing political views, most of the students were demanding the university to lift the ban against an on-campus political organization. These protests, which came to be known as parts of the Free Speech Movement, showed America that universities could not restrict the exchange of ideas in a public university setting. Now, it seems as if UC Berkeley has reversed its ideals and began to
censor political diversity. The First Amendment only harbors a few exceptions, none of which impede on controversial political speech. However, some may argue that even though UC Berkeley canceled politically-contentious speakers, the cancellation did not directly violate the First Amendment because Yiannopoulos and Coulter could have made their opinions available to the public through mediums other than speaking at Berkeley. However, this does not account for the lack of access to oncampus conservative speakers. “[UC Berkeley] is a very liberal school with very liberal people and students do not have the opportunity to hear live speakers on conservative issues in their classrooms, usually,” Dhillon said. For the most part, both liberals and conservatives have denounced the universty’s actions. The Berkeley Republicans and the Young America’s Foundation, the latter of which asked Coulter to appear at Berkeley, have filed lawsuits against UC Berkeley. Various liberal groups have also criticized UC Berkeley’s censorship of conservative speakers as well. Even though UC Berkeley was once the birthplace of the Free Speech Movement, but it seems now that both liberals and conservatives must remind the university of the ideals that inspired the movement just 53 years ago.
content geared exclusively towards teenagers. The prevalence of such accounts is significant enough to classify memery as a cultural phenomenon. The posts with the most student traffic generally deal with names of sadness and unmanageable commitments, which are fine to joke about in small doses. However, nothing around here is ever done in moderation. If you are friends with a Paly student on Facebook, you are likely bound to see people tagging one another in the comments of these self-deprecating pictures on any night of the week. After a certain time — admittedly a short one — this perpetuation of selfdeprecation turns to self-loathing; that self-loathing can, in turn, spiral out into mental illnesses. The fact of the matter is that meme culture is now synonymous with stress culture. At universities especially, where Facebook pages like “UC Berkeley Memes for Edgy Teens” and “Columbia Buy Sell Memes” pick up thousands of student members, a cry for help lies just below the surface of
sarcastic jokes about crippling depression. It seems like the higher up the educational food chain one goes, the worse the situation gets. Many topranked colleges, such as the previously-mentioned Berkeley and Columbia, as well as Washington University in St. Louis and the University of Chicago are all struggling with student mental health support while simultaneously boasting some of the world’s most visited meme pages. Students who attend these schools are on course to becoming some of the world’s most powerful people someday and their personalities, sculpted in part by memes, will be instrumental in shaping the future. This is not to say that all memes should be condemned. A pick-me-up laugh once in awhile is a universal necessity, and spending hours on purely comedic memes, ones that do not emphasize stress and ineptitude, is harmful only in that it wastes time. So where does this all leave Paly students? It is crucial in our high-pressure community to stay positive and
pick ourselves up rather than put ourselves down. Far and away, the most frightening part about meme culture is that it is taken entirely with a grain of salt. You laugh at things that make you laugh, disqualifying them from being problems; memes are jokes and jokes supposedly do not cause major mental health epidemics.
Meme culture should moderate demeaning content
PETER MAROULIS SENIOR STAFF WRITER
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arlier this semester, The Campanile published a spotlight on breaking Palo Alto’s ideological “bubble." But there is also an equally troubling problem which has received less attention: how do we break the bubble surrounding ourselves? The answer cannot be simply phrased. A variety of factors — namely stress, pressure and competition — conspire against Palo Alto High School students on the daily. With heavy course loads and extracurriculars, a toxic shadow looms over many of the brightest minds of our school, trapping them in a mental prison. My prognosis? Death by meme. Many students at Palo Alto High School are well-versed in “meme culture.” Memes, for those far enough removed from society to not know, are humorous pictures captioned by short sentences. In the past few years, thousands of social media accounts have gained popularity by posting meme
The fact of the matter is that meme culture is synonomous with stress culture. If you choose to be active in meme pages, do so sparingly, or at least consciously. Hours spent degrading who you are as a human being is guaranteed not to help you achieve great things. Be mindful of what you put into your body, especially when what you are absorbing into your body are distorted Spongebob screencaps. In this way, we can all begin to burst the aforementioned bubble around ourselves. We consume memes all the time; at what point do memes begin to consume us?
The Campanile
Friday, May 19, 2017
OPINION A6 Administration needs to reform fire alarm system
KAI ODA
SENIOR STAFF WRITER
NICHOLAS MELVIN MANAGING EDITOR
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ver and over, the soul-crushing and heart-shattering siren calls students out of their comfortable places within the enchanting walls of learning. These fire alarms pry students from their aspirations and force them to spend a moiety of their inimitable time baking in the hot summer sun while standing ankle deep in black pellets of impending cancer. April 24 marked the start of a harrowing week for Paly students who enjoy learning, when many hapless seniors and juniors were mired in Advanced Placement (AP) finals. After a year of hard work and a few hours of
haphazard cramming, they were ready. However, Paly had other plans. During the week, the campus fire alarms went off four times. However, none of the alarms signified an actual fire. Instead of the halls being filled with silent students shuffling towards the field in an orderly manner, each fire alarm was greeted with screams of frustration. Most students took precious seconds to place their notebooks and pencils in their backpacks before strolling out of the classroom talking with their friends, and did not account for the possibility of an actual fire The most recent string of false alarms is not a first for Paly students and did not account for the possibility of an actual fire. Paly students have been battered by false alarms from the start of the year — mostly as a result of the construction on the new gym. The gut instinct for students is to point
their fingers at the administration and say, “Fix the dang alarms.” And, for the most part, administration has addressed the problem. Over April 24 and 25, they identified the faulty wire that was causing the alarms and fixed it. However, administration needs to be more attentive to the presense of false alarms. One or two a year is tolerable. Four in one week is ridiculous. The danger is clear — very few Paly students take fire alarms seriously. As evidenced by the past alarms, students take the luxurious time to pack their “essentials” before leaving the classroom. Most students reason that in a “real” fire they would be much more focused. However, most deaths are rarely due to the actual fire, but are rather caused by the carbon monoxide emitted by the smoke. Carbon monoxide is an odorless, colorless gas. In the time it takes students to put their
notebooks in their bags, they might begin to have trouble breathing. By the time they try to run down the stairs, it would already be late. Carbon monoxide steals oxygen away from hemoglobin protein and the victim would pass out within two minutes.
The danger is clear — very few Paly students take fire alarms seriously.
The danger of fire is real, and the carbon monoxide it causes is perilous. The fact that most students no longer acknowledge the alarms is alarming. The administration needs to reconsider the alarm system as a whole — obviously it is flawed and rarely predicts actual fires. Students also need to take the alarms more seriously or at least distance themselves from the buildings before relaxing and joking.
Letter of recommendation process must be streamlined RENEE HOH
NEWS & OPINION EDITOR
S
pringtime marks the beginning of sports such as track and field, badminton and swimming. However, asking teachers for letters of recommendation is often overlooked as a sport. When asking for their letters, students strategically intercept their teachers at the end of class, drop by their offices bearing gifts or corner them at the vending machines; as a second semester junior, I participated in this practice. In order to make their college applications as appealing as possible, students often take standardized tests multiple times or seek the aid of tutors and college counselors. However, one important aspect of the application process is left out of the students' control: the teacher letter of recommendation. Because some admissions officers do not have access to in-person interviews, letters of recommendation demonstrate to college admissions officers who students are, not just through their rankings or scores. In fact, the letters showcase what students will offer to the campus as learners and participators. As a soon-to-be-senior, I have had the pleasure of asking two teachers for letters of recommendations. Oblivious to what happens behind the scenes, I had expected my portion of the job to be completed as soon as my teachers accepted the task. I soon realized that this was not correct.
W i t h o u t a c c e s s t o i n-pers on interviews, letters of recommendation demonstrate to college admissions officers who you are, not just what your rankings or scores are. In fact, in my case, the quality of my letter is proportionate to the amount of effort and time I put into answering lengthy questions and collecting past coursework. Of course, the ideal teacher to
write such a letter would be the one with extensive knowledge of and consistent interaction with the student; however, this personal connection is very often not realistic. Teachers may cycle through hundreds of students each semester, which may result in an inability to foster close relationships with individual students. Especially at Paly, where most students are collegebound after graduation, the workload of the application process inevitably falls upon our teachers. For example, World Literature and Communications teacher Melissa Laptalo has written upwards of 40 letters each year. Although teachers do not want to reduce students to common generalizations in their letters of recommendation, they often face the difficulty of constructing thoughtful letters in absence of the necessary tools. Laptalo credits her self-created form for students to fill — complete with questions and a list of coursework — as what streamlines and ameliorates her process. “I felt like I needed to do right by my students and I really worried about it and labored over it,” Laptalo said “It probably took me about two hours to
write one letter [when I first started] and now it probably takes me 20 to 30 minutes,. If I didn’t [use the form], it would probably take me days to write a letter.” If students wish to receive optimal letters of recommendation, they must assume as much responsibility for the quality of the letter as the teacher does. Although teachers and advisors are the ones who physically write the letters, they will lack the personalization that admission officers look for without students’ guidance. “The reflective questions I ask are really interesting to me because sometimes [the students] experience something in my class that I am totally unaware of,” Laptalo said. With answers from survey questions and past coursework, Laptalo aims to "discuss some really specific examples [of ] either work they produced or something that happened in class that highlights their strengths in her letters of recommendation." Another issue regarding the topic of letters of recommendation is that the process to submit short forms needs to be expedited by creating a uniform method of collection. Short forms are written by students’
coaches, employers or any individual aid teacher advisors who may have less interaction with students compared to teachers writing the counselor letters. Currently, the standard short form paper slip is only one of the many systems teacher advisors use to collect outside information, in addition to Google Forms or simple emails. “Every student who asks for a short form has a different teacher with a different system [so] even just navigating that is difficult,” Laptalo said. “ [Each teacher advisor] might have different deadlines as well.” Therefore, in order to create a more streamlined system of communication between teachers and advisors, the short form system is also in need of upgrade. With varying amounts of technology available to the Paly community and the use of the Common App as a guide, a website for short form submissions should be produced, catering to the different needs of teachers, students and advisors. Paly can benefit from more students taking on the responsibilities in the letter of recommendation process as well as creating a standardized system of short form submission.
Friday, May 19, 2017
The Campanile
A
OPINION
A7
Turnitin should not be used as sole plagiarism detector GRACE KITAYAMA STAFF WRITER n such a competitive academic environment like Palo Alto, it is inevitable that students will look for ways to cut corners in the academic process, whether it be through plagiarism, or other forms of academic dishonesty. There seems to be no crime greater than cheating, especially in our educational climate. Thus, many teachers utilize Turnitin.com, a website created to stop plagiarism by comparing student work to material available on the internet. The design of the website is simple: students turn in their work through a third-party website that examines the content for material that has been previously published on the internet, therefore cracking down on plagiarism in academia. Naturally, there will be a small percentage of similarity in students’ original work; problems only arise when similarity percentages (the amount of work of which Turnitin has found elsewhere on the internet) reach over 20 percent. This high similarity rate can sometimes be due to quotes from the text that students are referencing. However, after this threshold, students’ work are questioned and their grades are at stake.
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Students’ grades can be massively depleted if teachers base their grading system on the similarity percentage given by Turnitin. It is entirely possible for students to have similar ideas to content on the internet, even if they came up with them entirely on their own. When hundreds of students are required to write essays on the same book each year, it is highly probable that there will be similarities in essays, as well as ideas from external websites that analyze books, including Sparknotes, Shmoop, CliffsNotes and eNotes. Furthermore, similar ideas are also found on general answer sites such as Yahoo Answers, Ask and Quora, and may make students appear to have plagiarized without their knowledge. All of these websites may have similar ideas that can be shared with a student’s own, original work. In addition to these similar ideas, no matter how original one tries to be, there is a finite amount of ways in which a sentence can be organized
and rephrased without being repeated by someone else on the internet. Students’ grades can be massively depleted if teachers base their grading system on the similarity percentage given by Turnitin. If a highschool student fails a class because of plagiarism based on Turnitin, the student not only suffers a lower grade point average, but also falls subject to a mark on his or her transcript, which could heavily interfere with their chances of being accepted into particular universities. Palo Alto High School has its own academic integrity policy in which three basic levels of consequences are imposed upon students depending on varying levels of academic dishonesty, the worst in which the student becomes ineligible for scholastic scholarships offered by the district and is cited with concerns of academic integrity on his or her records. If Turnitin were to mistakenly accuse a student of plagiarism, the student’s entire academic career would be jeopardized. The consequences for plagiarism in college are far more severe. While some universities fail students who are accused of plagiarism, others go
as far as expelling students for copying someone else’s work, a seemingly innocent task. According to Turnitin, the website is used by 6,000 institutions in 90 countries, including Harvard University and Georgetown University. When universities rely solely on Turnitin for detecting plagiarism, there are bound to be inaccuracies in differentiating between substantial acts of academic dishonesty and those that are untrue. Turnitin is first and foremost a for-profit business. It charges fees for its services and archives the work that is turned in. Therefore, it becomes susceptible to bias if the company, for instance, were to be bribed. The company also archives student work for future reference, violating the rights of students to be in control of their own intellectual property, and profiting — at least partially — from students' work. Though this widely-used cheatingdetector may serve its purpose to a certain extent, it should in no way be a teacher’s sole use of measuring academic dishonesty. There are several lesser-known plagiarism scanning websites that are far less problematic
than Turnitin. Unplag, for example, does not archive students' work but still checks for independently-created work. Yet, even Unplag as well as other plagiarism checking websites are not without their faults. The website is also a for-profit business like Turnitin, and charges a fee to be used. Since the website is used less often, it can face the possibility of being less accurate that Turnitin (an organization that has been in existence since 1998.)
Though this widely used cheating-detector may serve its purpose to a certain extent, it should in no way be a teacher’s sole use of measuring academic dishonesty. Though Turnitin may help students and teachers to a certain extent, there is no plagiarism-detector that will be perfect. The only way for educators to ensure the uniqueness of a student’s writing is to communicate with their students as well as use their most accurate judgement before dismissing and distrusting a student and their work that is given a high similarity percentage by Turnitin.
Students need more non-college post high school options It can also be helpful for those with dual-citizenship for foreign aid. “I was always going to take a gap year in Norway to get more in touch with my heritage,” Carpenter said. “But it was also nice to know that I’ll be able to enter with other kids the same age. Plus, my dual-citizenship will help with scholarships that will carry over to my time at University of Oregon.”
Many people either do not realize the full potential of these options or have simply not been thoroughly educated about the subject.
JOANNA FALLA
SENIOR STAFF WRITER
G
rowing up in Palo Alto comes with both benefits and drawbacks. Paly and Gunn are nationally recognized, and the amazing opportunities provided to students give them the skills to compete in the real world. However, the fast pace of this incredibly driven environment makes it hard to go against the majority by choosing a different path without facing an uphill battle of scrutiny and unanswered questions. For some students' post high-school plans, they look for higher education at a four-year college. Others choose to complete their degrees at a community college for four years or transfer to a university after two years. Though many Paly students will go on to earn a degree from either a twoyear or four-year institution, there are other options that are available. Many
people either do not realize the full potential of these options or have simply not been thoroughly educated about the subject. Some use a gap year to work and others seen it a an opportunity to travel before returning back to school. Planning a gap year can be a daunting task, and while there are pre-organized programs, it can be hard to find one well-suited to the individual. For people looking for a once-in-a-lifetime experience, the multitude of gap year programs can be scary to process. Whether it is during the rare occasion that seniors have a scheduled advisory, during a meeting with a college counselor or at the public seminars held at school, Paly needs to show more initiative in educating its students about the pros and cons of taking a gap year. There should be more information on how a gap year would benefit or hinder the college process for any
future decisions after the gap year; it is not well-known that students can apply for college during their senior year of high school and notify the school of their choice to take a gap year. Although not all colleges will hold a spot for the student the next year, the process of looking for a college can coincide with looking for a gap year program. For example, senior Stella Carpenter will be taking a gap year in Norway. “I didn’t ask for any information from the College and Career Center,” Carpenter said. “If anything, they mainly told me to not fill out the [financial aid form], which was unhelpful.” Gap years can serve as a religious or cultural connection for people looking to use a year off before school for introspection or to work. Gap years are also taken by kids with earlier birthdays who want to enter college with people of the same age.
Even though the majority of Paly students choose not take a gap year, they are at least aware that they can take a year off before reassessing their plans for the future. However, there is another form of education that is often overlooked and underrated: vocational schools. Vocational colleges provide education to a particular skill or profession for a specific career. A school like this can provide technical skills in nursing, working in rehabilitation centers, welding or other careers requiring a specific set of skills; they work well for students who know exactly what they want as a career and how much money they plan on spending. In this current day and age, vocational schools are often seen as obsolete and useless in the shadow of more brand-name schools providing general education, but bigger is not necessarily better. If a student wants to be a nurse and applies to a university, the student would have to take general education classes that are not relevant to nursing in order to get enough credits to graduate. However, by applying to a nursingonly school, the student will be allowed to focus solely on nursing and will be provided with the necessary skills to succeed in the workforce.
Friday, May 19, 2017
The Campanile
A8 EDITORIALS FERPA muddles AP testing process needs reform sexual assault case F
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s the news broke last week about a Paly student who was allowed to stay on campus despite being convicted of an off-campus sexual assault, many felt confused and frustrated due to a lack of information. Much of the confusion was caused by a partially inaccurate KTVU news report, which misreported on one instance of alleged sexual assault on Paly campus. While the instance on school grounds was consensual, the student was convicted of an off-campus sexual assault. Despite the potential risk this student may have posed to other students, the District was unable to release information about the student in question due to a law known as the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA). FERPA is a federal law that protects the privacy of students in federally-funded schools by restricting access to educational records that would otherwise be available to the public. These records include birth and medical records, parental contact information, academic records, attendance records, disciplinary records and other personal information that could identify a student. Under the law, the records are available to both custodial and noncustodial parents, and the right to view those records transfers to the student when he or she turns 18.
If a student has been confirmed to have oral sex on campus, and is also confirmed to have been convicted of forced oral copulation, then how could the school ever justify keeping this student in school from a moral perspective? Before FERPA, there was no policy to keep student records private. The law was adopted in 1974 to combat the “growing evidence of the abuse of student records across the nation,” according to the law’s primary advocate, Sen. James Buckley of New York. However, in light of the recent on-campus sexual assault allegations and off-campus convictions against a Paly student, The Campanile feels compelled to question whether this law — designed to protect students’ privacy and well-being — is actually keeping the majority of students safe. The student convicted of the offcampus sexual assault remained in school until recently, and no parents or students were ever alerted to his presence on campus. Since various allegations, both on and off campus, have come to light, the student decided to leave Paly. In contrast to the initial story reported by KTVU, the acts that occurred on campus apear to be fully consensual. Principal Kim Diorio has repeatdly denied any arrest or conviction of the alleged assailant for sexual assult or sexual harrasment on Paly campus. Furthermore, the lawyer for the alleged assailant, Stephanie Rickard, claims that the only crime her client is guilty of is underage sex of
a consensual nature. Despite the alleged consensual nature of these acts, the female student filed a restraining order and moved over 100 miles away after the incident. According to Title IX regulations, there are strict and clearly-outlined procedures that must be followed after a sexual assault complaint. The laws of Title IX would dictate that the school thoroughly investigate any sexual assault allegations. Assuming the school followed these procedures, it seems they concluded that the student was not a victim of sexual abuse despite what was initially reported. While we do not know the details of this specific instance of sexual acts between minors, we do know it was introduced as an accusation of sexual assault. Title IX leaves little to interpretation regarding how schools must handle sexual assault allegations. We urge you to remember that we can only assume the school acted in accordance with Title IX, but cannot independently confirm it. However, we can confirm that they determined the on-campus sexual incident to be fully consensual. Another thing which has become increasingly clear according to all reports is that the student was convicted of an off-campus sexual assault. This conviction was not released to the public due to laws involving privacy of minors. The Campanile believes that FERPA should only protect student information which it was intended to protect, none of which explicitly included instances of sexual assault. We would like to stress that it is unclear whether or not the school ever knew about the off-campus sexual assault conviction, but if they did then a obvious flaw in logic is present. If a student has been confirmed to have oral sex on campus, and is also confirmed to have been convicted of forced oral copulation, then how could the school ever justify keeping this student in school from a moral perspective? Although it is understandable that minors’ rights and privacy should be protected, perpetrators of sexual assault, whether on or off campus, should be put up for consideration for expulsion. Factor in a conviction for underage oral sex on school grounds, and it seems even more likley that FERPA must be to blame. The Campanile urges its readers to stay open-minded and level-headed during these tumultuous times, and recognizes that no good will come from condemning victims or the administration without knowing the full story. It is likely that their hands were tied by the law when dealing with these issues. We hope that the student body will continue to think critically about the information they are presented with, and we know that Paly will continue to support victims of sexual harassment or assault. We hope this editorial gave you more insight into the laws that dictate the aftermath of sexual assault, and implore you to keep these ideas in mind as new information surfaces.
MAY’S TOP TEN LIST Top Ten Ways to Prepare Yourself for Finals 10) Tag your friends in school memes to feel socially connected. 9) “Study” in the MAC on a bean bag chair.
6) Eat your emotions out at the new fried chicken place. 5) Listen to music “in the background.”
Students should be allowed to choose and prioritize which AP classes they need to study the most for. But once the two caffeine-fueled AP testing weeks come to an end, students and teachers are left with three vacant weeks before summer break. Some teachers, in a desperate effort to keep class periods productive, continue to teach new material, assign labs and facilitate finals and tests even after the AP exams.
However, the purpose of taking an AP course is to prepare the students for the exam in May; by continuing instruction, teachers often inadvertently place an unnecessary burden on students.
Many AP classes require students to complete excessive amounts of practice that is unnecessary for many students. Admittedly, many AP class teachers do introduce projects after the tests as a means of cementing the AP test information in a more diverse manner, which is definitely a beneficial way of showing students versatile applications of the learned material throughout the year. Another alternative would be to make AP periods after the exam flex periods. With the three weeks preceding summer break, students could pursue independent research projects on topics they are passionate about or catch up in other classes. All material on the AP tests should be taught before students take the test, because the main objective of an AP class is to prepare students for the exam. Thus, The Campanile believes that after the tests, students should not be taught new information pertaining to AP material, but should rather be allowed to use these classes as free periods to study for non-AP classes or to work on pertinent projects that represent extensions of the subject at hand.
The Campanile Editors-in-Chief Maya Homan • Niklas Risano • Ehecatl Rivera Allison Wu • Ashley Zhang Online Editor Edan Sneh
Managing Editors Nicholas Melvin • Paarth Sharma
News and Opinion Editors Noah Baum Renee Hoh
Lifestyle Editors Vivian Feng Kesi Soundararajan
Sports Editors Eric Li Kiran Misner
Multimedia Editor Philip Ericsson
Board Correspondent Shannon Zhao
Business Manager Edward Kim
Staff Writers Maya Bailey Yael Ben-Shachar Josh Brigel Ethan Bundy Charlotte Cheng Uma Choudhury Joanna Falla Mary Fetter
Mackenzie Glassford Cole Hechtman Eli Gwin-Kerr Grace Kitayama Riya Kumar Raj Lele Will Leighton Jacques Manjarrez Peter Maroulis Mads McCluskey
8) Worry. 7) Study at a Philz because it has the right vibe.
practice and should have the option of choosing their preferred use of time in AP classes, especially in the crucial weeks prior to their exams. Additionally, finals for AP classes are often held during an unofficial finals week, which generally occurs a week before the AP exams begin. Since this week is not one that is officially designated for finals, there is no review week where homework is banned. Thus, there is also no designated limit on the amount of schoolwork that can be given in other classes. Consequently, teachers do not refrain from assigning excessive workloads and homework assignments, which in turn creates even more chaos and stress for those participating in AP tests. The Campanile believes that — at least for juniors and seniors — the week preceding AP testing should be considered an official finals week, with a specified review period, in order to alleviate student stress during this already-stressful time.
or many students at Paly, the Advanced Placement (AP) exams constitute the culmination of all the knowledge that they have acquired throughout the school year. These exams provide students with the opportunity to display their understanding of certain subjects at the collegiate level. In this way, the weeks before, during and after AP testing mark a stressful time for students. Therefore, The Campanile believes that the process of these exams must be reformed to further facilitate the process of AP testing. Paly has always strived to offer personalized learning catered to each student’s individual learning style, something teachers seem to forget in their last desperate dash to prepare students for AP tests. Classes in the weeks before the exams are blocked off for copious practice problems and students are forced to bubble in answer after answer on practice tests for weeks on end, regardless of their level of preparedness. While practice tests are certainly beneficial to improving students’ performance on the exams, they should not be mandatory during class time. Many AP classes require students to complete excessive amounts of practice that is unnecessary for them. Instead, students should be allowed to choose and prioritize which AP classes they need to study the most for, because their readiness for one AP test may not equate for their readiness in another. Thus, students should not be required to partake in extortionate amounts of in-class
Photographers
Kai Oda Peyton Wang
Peter Gold Jordan Schilling
Jacky Moore Anna Moragne Kai Oda Jordan Quigley Gillian Robins Bethany Shiang Jared Stanley Avi Tachna-Fram David Tayeri Ethan Teo
Annalise Wang Peyton Wang Tristan Wang Clay Watson Jessica Wong Sam Yun Byron Zhang Alice Zhao
Illustrators
Kate DeAndre Renee Hoh
Jacques Manjarrez Samuel Vasquez
4) Suddenly befriend that one kid who is prescribed with Adderall. 3) Wake yourself up at 3:00 a.m. to post how hard you’re working on your Snapchat story. 2) Use the irrelevancy of finals to flex your college results. 1) Sleep through finals.
-KESI SOUND & PAARTH SHARMA
Advisors Esther Wojcicki
Rodney Satterthwaite
Letters to the Editors: Email all letters to editors to theed18@googlegroups.com The Campanile prints letters on a space-available basis. We reserve the right to edit submissions. The Campanile only prints signed letters. Advertisements: Advertisements with The Campanile are printed with signed contracts. For more information regarding advertisements or sponsors in
Writing Coaches Evelyn Richards
Elisabeth Rubinfien
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L FESTYLE
Friday, May 19, 2017
The Campanile
YUSRA RAFEEQI’s MUSLIM INITIATIVE Incentive
T
he current xenophobic attitudes and disputes regarding immigration policies have catalyzed much of the U.S. population to post any and all political mumblings to the Twitter battlefield. Yet, those who are xenophobic are often unwilling to listen to the opposing argument or look for a means of compromise. In response to this hotly-contested controversy, sophomore Yusra Rafeeqi started the initiative “Dine with a Muslim Family” in order to dispel misconceptions about Islam and help the Muslim community assimilate into the American society. Groups of American citizens such as Muslim-Americans and Latino-Americans are at the center of the polarizing debate over immigration. Through their initiative, Rafeeqi’s family welcomes those from around the San Francisco Peninsula to join them for a homemade Middle-Eastern cuisine. “Dine with a Muslim Family” aims to invite and spark conversations with locals about the injustices that Muslims often face, as well as shed a light on how regulations like President Donald Trump’s travel ban negatively affect the Bay Area communities. “I [wanted] to [start the initiative] because I want my community to know [Muslims] as Americans and not terrorists,” Rafeeqi said.
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GENERALIZATIONS
any Muslims have experienced abominable acts of discrimination, such as service refusal and xenophobic remarks. Rafeeqi and her family have had first-hand experience with anti-Muslim behaviors, so false stereotypes about Islam hit close to home. Rafeeqi herself was inspired to pilot this initiative after bearing witness to discriminatory acts against her sister and mother. “My sister wears a headscarf, so it is more prominent to people that she is Muslim,” Rafeeqi said. A hijab is a headscarf that some Mus-
lim women wear. Oftentimes, Muslims depicted in the media wear hijabs, thus making them a well-known attribute that can be used to identify them. One specific experience angered Rafeeqi, when her sister was verbally attacked in a public park by men based on her appearance and assumed religion. “[My sister] took her one-year-old daughter to the park and she was approached by a group of males that started shouting that she was a terrorist and a rag-head and telling her that her daughter would be a part of ISIS (Islamic State of Iraq and Syria),” Rafeeqi said. “Stuff like that made me really angry and made me want to change the perception of Muslims to all Americans.”
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MISCONSTRUCTIONS
afeeqi believes that anti-Muslim comments like the ones her sister encountered are the results of a misunderstanding of the personal connections pertaining to the Muslim community. Within the past few years, the terrorist group ISIS, who claims their acts are based on the Koran’s teachings (the Muslim Holy Book), has gained an abundance of media coverage. Due to the fact that ISIS has had an increasing amount of much media coverage, many Americans forget that most Muslims do not actually support ISIS and are not a part of its cause. In this way, Muslims are often perceived as terrorists or dangerous people. However, they are obviously not at fault for the actions of ISIS. This misconception needs to be elucidated and modified immediately to ensure the safety and proper assimilation of Muslims into our society. Rafeeqi and her family are one of many Muslim-American families who struggle with the discriminatory remarks made by those who stereotype all Muslims as terrorists. By inviting others to her home, she hopes of forming an intimate connection with each of her guests and to spread knowledge and clarify the true teachings of Islam. “[People who support the Muslim ban] don’t know us; they don’t know what Islam really is,” Rafeeqi said. “They see these things about Muslims and terrorists and they think we’re terrible people. People should get to know Muslims. People should educate themselves on Muslim-
Design By Philip Ericsson & Alice on
Why SSS is overrated
Americans and how we are apart of the American community.”
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COMMUNITY ACTION
he setting for Rafeeqi’s initiative — a home-cooked dinner in her family home — was a very deliberate decision in itself. The comfort of sharing a meal together brings neighbors from all backgrounds together to converse and recognize that everyone, from Muslims to Jews, is united as a single, collective American people. By fostering a more united group of people, Rafeeqi hopes to teach her community that religious or racial stereotypes within the country must be eliminated. The meal cooked by Rafeeqi’s mother further personalizes the experience and makes it more intimate. In hopes of expanding this effort, Rafeeqi aspires to encourage her friends of Muslim background to support her idea by helping with cooking and preparation or by publicizing the initiative and potentially starting a lunch club at Paly.
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IMPACT
afeeqi plans on continuing to invite people to her abode to learn more about Islamic culture. Since the terrorist group ISIS claims that their actions are based off the teachings of the Koran, the media focuses on that one particular destructive interpretation of Muslim culture, instead of off publicizing the general Muslim interpretation of their holy book. By focusing on how detrimental ISIS has been, people who are knowledgeable about Islam assume that all Muslims associate and support ISIS, which is not true. Rafeeqi’s initiative takes a step to try to help people realize that the generalizations about the Muslim community simply are not true. Dinner is the setting where guests break bread with their hostess and feel open to converse about Muslim discrimination.
Text & Design By Vivian Feng
SAM YUN
SENIOR STAFF WRITER
S
econd Semester Senior year, otherwise known as SSS, is the supposed pinnacle of your four tedious years of high school. College apps have been sent out, your GPA can afford to drop a full point and you receive countless congratulatory likes for university acceptance posts on Facebook from people you’ll likely never talk to again. Yet the expected euphoria of relaxation is completely smothered as you are blindsided by the inexplicable stressors of this final semester. Secondary Stressful Semester would be a more accurate depiction of this portion of your high school life. Yeah, you no longer have to worry about writing those 500-word essays for your dream school, but for the first three months, you’re going to have to live with said school torturing you with emails asking you to like their Facebook page, flexing about how wonderful their various curricula are and all-around boasting the fact that they have a 12 percent acceptance rate that you probably don’t fall under. Suddenly, Subpar Safeties and a few targets begin to send out your acceptance letters. They obviously aren’t bad schools, but unless you’re one of the gifted few going to Stanford or an Ivy League, your days until May 1 are spent congratulating everybody while secretly wishing you could’ve been one of those admittees. Plus, don’t stress about the fact that you’re only picking where your life is going to be located for the next four years. It isn’t that big a deal, but hey, at least you have two whole weeks to decide! That’s 14 whole days (20,160 minutes)! So Stop Saying things like “I bet you’re having fun during your second semester!” Because not only does the pressure of college loom ever closer, you’ve also got to prepare yourself to say your goodbyes to the incredibly loving friends you’ve made throughout your Paly career. Whether your buddy is going to college on the other coast or if they’re one year behind, school will definitely be different without those people in your life, and that sucks. Sure, you can still visit and there’s a whole summer ahead for you to goof off together, but the departure will always be more bitter than sweet. But… Summer Seriously Stinks. You may have a senior trip planned, but what’s next? After two weeks touring Europe with your friends, you’re faced with the dilemma of finding a productive, or at the very least enjoyable, task for the rest of your summer. If you’re attending a university that follows the quarter system, you effectively have one-third of the year from the end of high school to the start of college working at Teaspoon and going to tedious college orientation sessions, preparing you for the 3 a.m. nights and 3.0 GPA that is your post-high school education. So you know what? Suck Some S***, senior year. I’m going to college.
SECTION
Class of 2017 in review and in photos The 2016-17 Editors-in-Chief reflect on their bittersweet high school experience, share pictures of their favorite moments within and beyond The Campanile and say goodbye to their home of four years: Paly. PETER GOLD/THE CAMPANILE
PAGE B3 & B6
MOVIES
ROGER EBERT/FAIR USE
RESTAURANT
KAI ODA/THE CAMPANILE
FASHION
JILL MORGAN/FAIR USE
Five coming-of-age films
Student Center review
Fast fashion vs. consumer
PAGE B7
PAGE B7
PAGE B8
Menheras discusses his five favorite films in celebration of graduation.
An in-depth perspective and review of our very own Viking Cafe.
Fast fashion is harming the environment in many ways.
Friday, May 19, 2017
B2
The Campanile
LIFESTYLE
Costly summer programs target local students Overpriced summer programs reward students from high-income households, contribute to achievement gap BYRON ZHANG
STAFF WRITER
F
rom summer camps to volunteering to internships, many disregard an actual “break” during the summer. Especially in high school, students are constantly looking for more achievements to add to their college applications. Many look into elite summer programs that may further their academic progress. However, these summer programs are not available to all students — many summer institutions require astronomically high tuitions, which favors students of high-income households. Internships Adults are generally paid for working. In contrast, many high school students must pay to work through internship opportunities. Although these internships give students quality working experience, participation in such internships can cost $2,000 or more, putting them out of reach for low-income students. Palo Alto’s service-learning organization, Get Involved Palo Alto, provides students with the chance to enroll in a month-long research internship that ends with a celebratory showcase to present their findings. Last year, Get Involved Palo Alto gave students the opportunity to conduct surveys and analyze data for Project Safety Net, a mental health organization that stresses the importance and relevance of mental illness in our community. Although this institution offers great opportunities and reaches many Bay Area residents, the internships cost about $2,290 per student, which could amount to one or two months of rent for some underprivileged families. In this way, such internships seem to strongly favor wealthy families who can afford the hefty prices. “I think the price is too high,” said junior Hua Zheng. “It is understandable because the program just started, but I think they should lower the price a bit so more people will sign up.” Summer School Although the Palo Alto School Unified District offers its own summer school, its resources are still not comparable to those of established universities. Programs like California State
U.S. NAVY / CREATIVE COMMONS LICENSED
A student participates in engineering as part of the Naval Research Enterprise Internship Program, under the guidance of a materials engineer in Jacksonville, Fla.
Summer School for Mathematics and Science (COSMOS) offer math and science courses that are taught by University of California, Berkeley faculty and researchers. According to the COSMOS website, students enrolled in the program participate in hands-on labs, field activities, lectures and discussions. Again, this greater resource comes at an additional cost. The tuition for COSMOS is $3,570 for California residents and $6,000 for non-California residents, which again favors the privileged. “COSMOS has a very good reputation because from what I’ve heard it actually provides students great experiences,” said sophomore Annie Tsui. “It would be perfect if the price can be lowered a tiny bit.” Financial Aid The apparent solution for families unable to afford the expense is to apply for financial aid.
Thrift shops becoming favorable fashion after years of disinterest
BRENT MOORE/ CREATIVE COMMONS LICENSED
Thrift stores such as this one in Tennessee contain a variety of objects, from used clothing to children’s toys.
SHANNON ZHAO
BOARD CORRESPONDENT
S
econd-hand, vintage, consignment or however you want to refer to it — the clothing resale market is a billion dollar industry, with approximately 25,000 resale stores across the United States and over 80 in San Francisco alone. Thrifting is quite possibly the most rewarding shopping experience due to its effect of simulating “treasure hunting,” and who doesn’t love finding hidden gems? Despite the aforementioned thrill, buying and wearing used clothes have been stigmatized for years. Many people feared that secondhand clothes were dirty and carried diseases having not been appropriately cleaned by the stores. Additionally, those who were superstitious believed that the misfortunes and misdeeds of the previous owner would be passed on through the clothing.
The vintage craze in recent fashion and home decor has drawn attention to thrift shops due to the wide selection of antique clothing that these stores offer. Today, thrift shops are no longer reserved for the penny-pinching, but attract shoppers from all financial backgrounds. The vintage craze in recent fashion and home decor has drawn popularity in thrift shops due to the wide selection of antique clothing that thrift stores offer. Fashion bloggers strive to set new clothing trends to avoid looking like everyone else. Thrift stores provide the perfect solution to developing one’s own unique style with one-of-a-kind pieces at affordable prices. Many shoppers also find interest in thrifted items because they carry the story of the previous owner, and therefore have
more character and life. Clothes whose only journey is from the manufacturer to the store lack this appeal. In the sea of mass-produced clothing, shoppers are seeking more ways to express their individualism and flair. Television shows like “Thrift Wars” and “Thrift Hunters” are loosening up people’s perceptions of thrifting and the idea of buying used clothes. People are swarming to thrift stores to hunt for clothes and furniture to upcycle into DIY (do-it yourself ) projects. The Grammy award winning song “Thrift Shop” by Macklemore and Ryan Lewis also contributed to the popularity of thrift shops among the younger generation. Many thrift stores donate a significant portion, or even all, of their proceeds to charities supporting both local and global causes. The “Out of the Closet” nonprofit chain of thrift stores, operated by the AIDS Healthcare Foundation, donates their revenue to provide medical assistance to patients with HIV/AIDS and offers free HIV testing in their stores. Other thrift stores such as “Community Thrift” support their neighborhood on a smaller scale. “It’s the best job I ever had,” said one Community Thrift store manager. “We benefit over 200 local charities, so we’re really giving back to the community.” According to “The True Cost,” a documentary that aims to raise awareness for the environmental cost of the retail market, the average American discards 82 pounds of textile garbage each year, totalling up to 22 billion pounds of clothing from the U.S. alone. In addition, most of these textiles are not biodegradable and many sit in our landfills for over 200 years. Thrift stores may be our best bet to save the environment. Resale is eco-friendly and keeps clothes from filling up our landfills. By shopping at a resale store, you are supporting local business, donating to charities and saving Mother Nature, all while looking stylish.
Numerous summer programs indicate that a student’s acceptance is not affected by whether or not they apply for financial aid. This statement acts as a soothing charm to the many students who are paranoid by the fact that only a small percentage of them will be granted financial aid. In this way, financial aid is a largely flawed system. Most students from low-income families are more likely to have less impressive academic achievement records than students from wealthy families. However, financial aid is offered to financially-disadvantaged academic superstars exclusively. An application for financial aid usually indicates a weak financial background. There is a tremendous achievement gap between low-income and high-income, so it is unfair to judge students without looking at their socioeconomic background, along with
other aspects of their application. Solution Summer programs should start lowering tuitions or increasing the amount of financial aid given to low-income students. The caveat is that camps need student tuition each year to continue running. The best way to offer quality local summer programs to all students in Palo Alto is for the city to use its own resources. Our city has the financial ability to offer inexpensive and high-quality summer education as opposed to just offering the few courses at our summer school program. For example, Paly now has a whole row of empty science buildings during summer break that could all be effectively utilized for students to gain more laboratory experience. Do not let the achievement gap continue to widen over the summer.
The Campanile
Friday, May 19, 2017
SENIOR SECTION
The class of
2017
B3
Where they’ll be: Theeds17
IN PHOTOS
ALICE ZHAO DESIGN BY JACKY & ALICE DAVID TAYERI SENIOR STAFF WRITERS PHOTOS COURTESY OF ALYSSA GEE and the paly class of 2017
A
s the Class of 2017 nears the end of its time at Palo Alto High School, we former Editors-inChief of The Campanile have compiled photographs of our favorite moments from the four years that our class has spent together at Paly. We are incredibly proud of all that our class has accomplished. From clinching first place in Spirit Week to winning the Staff vs. Students soccer game to camping, the Class of '17 has demonstrated its unity and competitive spirit time and time again. Our legacy is memorialized in the following pages; they commemorate the unforgettable moments of our time at Paly, and offer an opportunity for reminiscing and reflecting on our accomplishments. They also serve as the best evidence of how we have grown over the past four years and of how far we have come since we first called ourselves Vikings. — Ethan, Jacky, Jessica, Kai and Peter
Now that our five esteemed Editorsin-Chief (Theeds) of The Campanile have relinquished their Theedship, what’s next in their lives? Spoiler: only some of them peaked in high school. Let’s fast forward a couple of years to find out what they’ve been up to. We thought it best to start with our very own Southern belle: Jessica Wong. After spending four years in the heart of Tennessee at the highlyesteemed ivory towers of Vanderbilt University, Wong became completely immersed in Southern culture. Following a fruitful college experience, during which she made many lifelong friends in Hank house, she decided to pursue a career in Nashville’s thriving music industry, which has been responsible for the "music careers" of some of her favorite artists. She now works as an agent for country artists. “I have a lot of experience, um, interacting with the target demographics of country music,” Wong said in her Music Row office. “I think this gave me a considerable advantage in identifying the next big country stars.” Next, we caught up with Ethan Teo back in the Bay Area. He is seen greeting customers at one of the stores of his successful boba tea franchise. Teo’s inspiration for this comes from his high school pet peeve: mispronunciation of his last name. “I call it ‘Teo’s Tea,’” Teo said. “See, the beginning of ‘tea’ is the same as the beginning of ‘Teo.’ Let me repeat that just so we’re clear: it’s ‘Tea-o.’” We found Kai Oda at a local surf shop, sporting a Billabong bro tank, pink swim shorts and Birkenstocks. Oda barely had time to interview with us, as he explained, due to commitments such as "shredding the gnar," and "ripping fat ched." His perfectly-tanned abs serve as the most excellent of complements to his frosted tips, which dance in the wind with a truly Oda-esque elegance. The man who hopped from one dance date to the next in high school is now happily married and the proud father of six lovely children, each named after a member of the beloved Theeds16. Instead of shaking hands with us, Oda proceeded to perform a 20-step handshake followed by the longest “suhhh dude” the world has ever heard. “Bro, I’ve just learned to let loose and hang loose,” Oda burped after pounding down a brewski. We then go halfway across the world to find Peter Maroulis in Moscow, where he is currently pursuing a relationship with the withering Vladimir Putin himself. His minor in Russian Studies seems to be paying off, as he is effortlessly winning Putin’s affection. Maroulis utters something in Russian and we are immediately escorted out of the building. Lastly and certainly most heinously, we catch up with “Big Wacky” Jacky Moore during halftime at the National Basketball Association (NBA) Finals. Moore appears to have successfully terminated the Womens National Basketball Association (WNBA) using only a phone call, a paper clip and a piece of string. Following that, she was recruited to be a point guard for the Warriors, earning herself the title of the second woman to play in the NBA, after Lauren Klass (Theeds16). “I like to call myself a ‘Woman Warrior,’” Moore said. “We should all be warriors — warriors for women’s rights. #freethenipple.” Theeds17, wherever life will take you — good luck, and we’ll miss you. Sort of.
Friday, May 19, 2017
The Campanile
B4
SENIOR SECTION
The Annual Campanile
post-paly MAP 2
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COMPILED BY The 2016-2017 Editors-in-Chief
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New Foot Bost Brow Univ UC S Cal P UC R Und Wel UC S Stan UC D Carn Was San
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Und Und Univ UC B John Und Ree Univ Univ UC S Und Univ Buc Nor Colu Und Und Univ Univ Univ Und Scri Drex Ren Cosm Und Und Univ Univ Brow Lew Unio UC S Und Univ UC B UC L Cal P Nor Und Und Und Und Und UC D Lehi Ree
The Campanile
Friday, May 19, 2017
B5
SENIOR SECTION Fe Hmelar - Work and travel (Dominican Republic, Europe) Leanne Miron - Personal medical maintenance Leila Sidow - Lab work in Europe Layla Solatan - Internship and homestay (Ecuador) Georgia Touloukian - South Korea
GAP YEAR: David Anwyl - Mountaineering Program Josh Code - Gap Year Donnesh Farmanfarmaian - Work Mackenzie Ferrell - Work and travel
2017
Ryan Tri - Work Rachel van Gelder - Work and travel abroad
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FL
Emory University (1) University of Alabama (2)
Spencer Morgenfeld Brianna Munoz Zahra Muzaffar Anmol Nagar Evan Nagesh Kaitlyn Nakamura Avanika Narayan Eric Neuman Tanner Newell James Ngo Tai Nguyen Serina Nguyen Isabel Nichoson Robbie Nixon Lauren Nolen Blake Novak Rory Nyffenegger Catherine O’Connor Andrea O’Riordan Daniel Ochoa-Rodriguez Kai Oda Alice On Tyler Packard Naveen Pai Rima Parekh Jongseo Park Katie Passarello Chloe Patterson Anisha Patwardhan Kogulan Paulmurugan Avery Pearson Sophie Pedersen Gaby Pelayo Brendon Pena Stephanie Perez Jason Pollak Dylan Polley Yotam Ponte Jonathan Prabhu Kathrin Pramstaller Tess Preising Josue Pulido Stefan Quach Jordan Quigley Jonathan Rastegar Thomas Rauner-Swan Emily Read Magdalena Renteria Erin Reynolds Christian Rider Yusuf Rizk Gillian Robins Johnny Rohrbach Sean Romeo Jeremy Rosenbaum Sukar Ross Santiago Ruiz Nicholas Russell Iban Sadowski Gabriel Sanchez Alain Sandraz Deepali Sastry Isaac Satz Dillon Scheel
Pennsylvania State University (2) Carnegie Mellon University (4) Bucknell University (5) Bryn Mawr College (3) Lehigh University (1) University of Pennsylvania (3) Drexel University (3) Lafayette College (1) Swarthmore College (1)
California Institute of Technology Undisclosed Undisclosed Wellesley College Tulane University Rochester Institute of Technology Stanford University Undisclosed University of Arizona UC Santa Cruz UC Los Angeles Undisclosed Wellesley College University of Washington Stanford University University of Colorado Boulder University of Michigan Undisclosed UC Los Angeles Undisclosed UC Santa Barbara UC Davis Stanford University Carnegie Mellon University UC Santa Barbara Cogswell Polytechnical College Boston College Western Washington University American University Seton Hall University George Washington University Undisclosed Harvard University Undisclosed Undisclosed California Institute of the Arts New York University New York University Undisclosed Undisclosed University of Washington Undisclosed Washington University in St. Louis Bucknell University UC Riverside Undisclosed CSU Humboldt State
Foothill College University of Colorado Boulder Chapman university Foothill College Tulane University Tufts University UC Davis Undisclosed Foothill College Foothill College Undisclosed Undisclosed UC Santa Cruz San Jose State University Brandeis University Swarthmore College University of Michigan
Jordan Schilling Derek Schoenberger Zoe Sego Marion Sellier Matthew Seto Sarah Shapiro Siddarth Sharma Liam Sherlock Tomer Sherman Bethany Shiang Allison Shih Mayerly Short Michel-Ange Siaba Laura Sieh Jack Simison Kent Slaney Tommy Smale Corinne Smallwood Nick Smallwood Adrian Smith Peter Snodgrass Alex Song Brendan Sperling Siddharth Srinivasan Jared Stanley Angus Stayte Rianna Steiner Ethan Stern Matthew Stevens Theodosia Stewart Flavia Stiglich Charles Stoksik Zachariah Strassberg-Phillips Alexandra Stump Yuhao Su Kobe Sullivan Sarah Sundermeyer Avi Tachna-Fram Isabel Taggart Andrew Tam Daniel Taratorin Alexander Tarng David Tayeri Shahram Tayyebi Miles Tention Ethan Teo Flynn Thompson Yashvi Tibrewal Ailyn Tong Brian Tracy Elenoa Tulua Chinmay Tyagi Max Usman Maryland Valdez-Gonzalez Emma van der Veen Rutger Van Hulsen Dalia van Zyll Andrew Vargha Edith Vences Samarth Venkatasubramaniam Neil Verwillow Katelyn Vi Galilea von Ruden Candace Wang
Wellesley College (4) Smith College (1)
Seton Hall University (1) Princeton University (1) University of Maryland, College Park (2)
MD DE
American University (3) George Washington University (1) Johns Hopkins University (1) Maryland Institute College of Art (2)
University of Wisconsin University of Maryland, College Park Bryn Mawr College Brown University University of Washington Vanderbilt University UC Santa Cruz Trinity College Dublin Undisclosed Case Western Reserve University Chapman University Undisclosed CSU Humboldt State
University of Chicago University of Washington Massachusetts Institute of Technology CSU Chico State Southern Methodist University Elon University CSU Long Beach Northwestern University New York University Undisclosed Drexel University Bucknell University Undisclosed New York University Lafayette College Undisclosed University of Seattle University of Texas at Austin UC Los Angeles Cal Poly San Luis Obispo UC Santa Barbara Undisclosed Maryland Institute College of Art Pomona College University of Michigan Undisclosed Stanford University New York University Undisclosed Occidental College Gap year; Foothill College Undisclosed UC Berkeley Undisclosed UC Santa Barbara UC Berkeley Brown University Undisclosed UC Irvine Lewis and Clark University Undisclosed Pomona College University of San Diego UC Santa Barbara Arizona State University Undisclosed UC Berkeley Trinity University UC Riverside California Institute of Technology UC Berkeley
Annalise Wang Alexander Wang Michael Wang Linus Wang Clay Watson Molly Weitzman Evan Welsh Alexandra Westgaard Ty Wilcox Elizabeth Wilkinson Dylan Williams Blaine Williams David Willner Celia Willner Elena Willow PJ Wisowaty Tiaira Witherspoon Trisha Wittenbrink Mason Wittman Jessica Wong Elise Wong Georgia Wood Jackson Wood Ian Woodfill Matthew Woon Trevor Woon Jordan Wooten David Wu Georgina Wu Jessica Wu Yuan Wu Ericka Wu Brandon Wu Spencer Wycoff Fan Xu Kathy Yan Nancy Yang Joseph Yang Maki Yasuda Andrea Yau-Chan Andrew Yin Justin Yip Sean Young Jonathan Young Flora Yu Dhara Yu Sam Yun Luca Zaharias Nathan Zeidwerg Mara Zenger Kevin Zhang Alice Zhang Alice Zhao Grace Zhao Nancy Zhong Ally Zhu Jennifer Zhuge Jonathan Zwiebel
Vanderbilt University Undisclosed Undisclosed Princeton University Columbia University Chapman University Foothill College UC San Diego Undisclosed New York University UC Davis Gap year; University of Colorado Boulder
University of Southern California Undisclosed UC Davis American University Undisclosed University of Southern California University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill Vanderbilt University Chapman University UC Berkeley University of Pennsylvania University of Michigan Undisclosed Undisclosed University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill Northwestern University in Qatar Boston Conservatory Wellesley College UC Davis Columbia University Undisclosed Undisclosed Undisclosed Northwestern University University of Pennsylvania Undisclosed Bentley University Cal Poly San Luis Obispo Emory University Tufts University University of Pennsylvania University of Utah UC Los Angeles Stanford University University of Washington Undisclosed Gap year; Kenyon College Westminster College Washington University in St. Louis Columbia University UC Berkeley Stanford University Parsons School of Design Drexel University Claremont McKenna College Stanford University
Good luck to all seniors on their future endeavours. From all of us at The Campanile, we wish you well! 2-0-1-7! - Edited by Ethan Teo and Kai Oda
Friday, May 19, 2017
The Campanile
B6
SENIOR SECTION
Freshman Year First Day Streaker Aug. 17, 2013 was a hot, dry day — perfect weather for starting one’s high school career. It was also evidently the perfect weather to get buck-naked and run across the quad, which is exactly what a then-senior did. Paly has a long and storied tradition of streaking, which was instantly shattered by a more tightly-laced administration. Newly-minted principal Kim Diorio was not amused, and showed her mettle that evening by sending out a mass email to parents with a clear message: the era of streaking had drawn to a definite close. Of course this all proved to be cock and bull (or c**k and balls as the case may be). Streaking has luckily experienced something of a renaissance thanks to several members of the Class of 2017, whose bravery made running au naturel cool again. We can confidently graduate knowing that people are no longer afraid to flaunt their birthday suits. You’re welcome. Uneventful Year To be quite honest, we were perfect freshmen. The year passed without much controversy, which more or less cleared the path for all of our future stunts.
Junior Year First Place Float This once and for all proves that Spirit Week is not rigged. Our class banded together and produced an outrageously good float after a hellacious amount of labor. This effort was enough to win us the float competition, which almost gave us hope in the overall points tally. Of course this effort still could not prevent the Class of 2016 from taking home the whole shebang, despite an admittedly lackluster performance in the other Spirit Week categories. People might gripe about three consecutive Spirit Week losses but, to be perfectly frank, winning it all once was good enough. In all honesty, though, we probably could have won the title if we had been a little more fired up; too bad Ms. Paymer wasn’t on our side. Flex Tutorial There are many things that we will miss about Paly. Flex is most certainly not one of them. Dreamed up by Kimmy D and the boys over at the tower building, Flex would probably best be likened to the Maginot Line, or a chip if you’re rusty on your French history: everybody’s dipping. Officially, school ends at 2:45 on Tuesdays, but unofficially 1:45 is still quitting time. However, most of us still enjoy an awkward hour every week which is mostly spent goofing around at various locations around campus. Freshmen have especially taken to the MAC, where they throw/rub various parts of their bodies on the beanbags.
Sophomore Year Opening of MAC Paly’s multi-million dollar Media Arts Center (MAC) is a true hallmark of our robust journalism program. In this building, hours of student labor are converted into thousands of copies of our nationally-renown publications. Even Verde gets to be in here from time to time! The MAC is a breeding ground for creativity, as well as a sanctuary for people who like to vape or play Starcraft. It’s a lovely place to be, so lovely that some administrators even like to bike around in it. Chemistry Fire Prometheus is known in Greek mythology for being the demigod who gave humankind the gift of fire. Former Paly teacher Cilja Paymer inspired her own canon of mythology after giving herself this very same gift on April 1, 2015 in front of her chemistry class. In an ill-fated experiment, Paymer managed to light herself on fire after using the wrong type of gas to fill an empty soda bottle. Thankfully, another teacher extinguished the flame. Paymer may well have been responsible for sparking the term “it’s lit” among Paly students after this one. Ironically (or maybe not?) she was fired that year, but we at The Campanile think she probably just flamed out.
Senior Year Senior Deck Repairs A couple of world-class morons made a splash at the beginning of the year by grafitiing “Harambe” on the Senior Deck, which threw the entire Class of 2017 for a loop. The spray-painted name followed several concerning past instances of student graffiti, which administration usually took care of promptly. But, wise and mature as we have become, the entire senior class managed to work together and cover up the offending paint job with a pleasant camo pattern that remains today. Class unity is something we lacked going into high school, but something we clearly acquired along our way out. While initially shocking, we can all look back proudly on this instance given how well and quickly we were able to amend the situation. Citation free The first and only rule of Fight Club is that you don’t talk about Fight Club. Likewise, the only real ordinance governing Senior Ditch Day is the assurance that people don’t talk about Senior Ditch Day. Let’s just say that in years prior there have been a fair share of citations for various activities our government deems “illegal.” This year, naturally, our wholesome and law-abiding senior class did not receive any such punishments. It’s safe to assume that the day was probably spent picking daffodils or frolicking in safe, verdant fields.
The Campanile
Friday, May 19, 2017
LIFESTYLE B7 A beginner's guide to navigating 'Viking Cafe' Paly's cafe provides inexpensive and nutritious meals ranging from sandwiches to salads to clam chowder KAI ODA
SENIOR STAFF WRITER
P
ufferfish is a delicacy prepared by only the most skilled Japanese chefs; the fish must be prepared expertly to avoid a deadly toxin from leaking into the flesh. As a consumer, part of the thrill is waiting to see if your chef has failed. If so, you’ll be dead within minutes. Paly has its own pufferfish on campus: our high school’s cafeteria, the Viking Cafe, located conveniently in the Student Center. If you are feeling the Las Vegas luck, forget Town and Country — this is the best place to go for lunch. Food There is a plethora of culinary options offered in the Viking Cafe, from chicken sandwiches to clam chowder, and almost all are excellent. Moreover, meals are only $4.50 and come with complimentary fruits, vegetables and a carton of milk. Everyday, the Viking Cafe offers four basic food types: warm burgers, cold sandwiches, pizza and the “meal of the day.” The last item is always the most interesting — options range from a taco salad to a tuna sandwich. However, the “meal of the day” provides much room for error, as it is prepared daily by the cafeteria staff as opposed to being warmed up on the premises. The cheese in the nachos is sometimes old and lumpy, and the clam chowder can be over salted if you come by on the wrong day. It is also worth mentioning that there is an inherent problem with the freshness of food served. For the most part, early days in the week offer fresh fruit, but the chances of receiving fresh fruit sharply decline as the week wears on. As the saying goes, “The early bird
ANNALISE WANG
SENIOR STAFF WRITER
DEAR ANNALISE, I've been struggling to trust my friend who lies about almost everything: his grades, test scores, interests and social life. My friend group and I are concerned that he'll continue this lifestyle in college next year, and we are unsure what to do. Any suggestions? — CONCERNED FRIEND DEAR CONCERNED FRIEND, I would first like to commend you for being a genuinely kind friend and for being concerned about this person’s future. You are noticing not only that their lying is problematic, but that it could come back around to hurt them in the future. The good news is that he has an amazing, caring friend group, and this can positively influence his choices in life. The bad news, however, is that there isn't always an easy fix for someone like your friend who has lied habitually and become used to getting away with lying. Regardless of why they’re lying, it’s very important to make sure that they know that they are valuable, especially when they aren’t lying. It’s critical that they know it’s okay to be themselves and be comfortable in their own skin despite their imperfections. That’s a pretty tough feat for any teenager, but you can encourage it by listening and being supportive of your friend. It’s not necessarily the best idea to overtly call them out about their lying when it happens, as that can result in potentially hurting them
KAI ODA/THE CAMPANILE
The Viking Cafe features an eclectic variety of cheap and unique options including fresh fruits and vegetables such as jicama and packaged snacks foods such as granola bars.
gets the non-rotten food.” Despite the aforementioned issues, the Viking Cafe does a good job of providing students with affordable and nutritious food. Dollar for dollar, it offers the greatest quantity of quality food of any restaurant within a mile of Paly. But every pufferfish has its deadly toxin. Let’s examine the Viking Cafe’s major flaw.
Service The Viking Cafe is a simple cafeteria, but there are still critiques to be made about its service. For the most part, the staff is comprised of helpful, cheerful people. But, every once in awhile, they leave the “cold” sandwiches in the freezer, so you end and it may negatively affect how they view themselves and your friendship. In order for him to really take your concerns to heart, find a time when the two of you are alone and start out by saying something kind to him to remind him that you support him. Then, be honest with your friend and share your observations with him, for example “Last week you said that.” It would be best to do this from a place of love and understanding, rather than treating it as a confrontation or intervention. Give your friend a specific situation where he has lied in the past, and let your friend know how his actions have been affecting you, by saying “It makes me upset when you tell me these things, because I want to trust you but it’s hard to when you’re not always telling the truth," or something similar. It’s best to let him know how specific behaviors are affecting your personally. Additionally, when he’s being open and truthful with you, it could help to say something to reinforce this honesty. My advice would be to keep checking up on him. Do your best to let him know that he can come to you, other friends, trusted adults or counselors if he’s feeling insecure or doesn’t know how to deal with things in his life Lying can take a hold on a person’s life, and now would be an optimal time to stop it before it becomes a compulsive habit. I have not been immune to the pressures of being an adolescent in the community we live in and openly admit that I have told the occasional lie about how I did on a test or even tweaked a detail or two in a story to make it sound a little more important. It’s normal to tell little lies here and there when it isn’t directly harmful, even if it’s not the most morally correct or necessary thing to do. However, it’s helpful to know the limits of the grey areas of lying. Sometimes a lie may simply be an ego-boost, while other times, it could be indicative of a deeper problem. Thank you for being such a supportive friend! I wish you and your friend the absolute best of luck with college next year. WITH LOVE, ANNALISE Dr. Moira Kessler, a child psychiatrist at the Stanford University Department of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, offers feedback to the column writer. She is not providing any clinical services.
up eating ice instead of food. However, the real problem is the myriad of students cutting in line which makes buying food extremely frustrating. If you stand in the wrong line, you can go from 10th place to 30th place as people bypass the natural order to stand with their friends. There is a plethora of culinary options offered in the Viking Cafe, from chicken sandwiches to clam chowder, and almost all are excellent.
This may cause up to 15-minute delays depending on the day, so aggravate the problem and bring a
friend to entertain you in line! Alternatively, you can practice the “door dash” strategy. Simply wait for the bell to ring and then dash out the door, sprint across the Quad and reach the cafeteria before anyone else does to avoid the line entirely. It’s also worth noting that wait times will depend on the type of food being served that day. Pre-prepared meals like taco salads are handed out immediately because of easy distribution, but some meals like nachos, require cheese and beans to be ladled onto every tray before consumption, significantly furthering the delays. This method results in warmer, better tasting food, but unless you are one of the first people to enter the
cafe it also means a frustratingly long line.
Overall rating Using simple math, if you average the scores of the two aspects have been reviewed, then you come out to three out of five stars. The nature of the Viking Cafe is its inconsistency in food and services. You can either be in and out in less than a minute or stuck in a never-ending line. The sandwiches are either going to be ice-cold or perfectly heated. You might end lunch feeling contently full or on the toilet emptying the semiliquid contents of your bowels. So now, the real question is: “Do you feel lucky punk?”
Coming of age movies to watch Five films about teenagers to reflect on at the end of the school year JACQUES MANJARREZ
SENIOR STAFF WRITER
W
ith the end of the school year fast approaching, I thought it would be good a idea to share my favorite high school films so that we can look back, reminisce and feel envious of the fictional characters that had a much better time than we did. Usually a review like this would start with the worst one, thus building suspense as they approach the reviewer's top pick. The problem with that is that it makes for some awkward, incohesive reading — and to cause you, the reader, any inconvenience or discomfort through unfamiliar rating methods would be the last thing I would want to do. So here you have it — my top five coming-of-age films, starting with my favorite. City of God Have you ever felt like the whole world was conspiring against you? Like after you leave a test that you just dropped on Hiroshima and you feel like you just got sucker-punched by the Common Core? Well, you disgust me. You genuinely have no idea what millions of kids all over the world have to deal with on a daily basis — all their suffering and pain as they lay dying in the dirt from an infected gunshot wound while you complain about your World Lit class and how it’s “super hard”. Watching Fernando Meirelles’ 2002 film “City of God” is like if the new exchange student from rural Brazil got fed up with your incessant whining, sat you down, inquired as to whether or not you knew what “pain really is”, and then proceeded to beat you down with brilliant cinematography, perfect pacing, skillful storytelling, and real development of character. And as you lay bloodied and bruised on the floor, face frozen in awe at the sheer majesty that was “City of God”, you can’t help but feel a tinge of guilt for complaining about anything that wasn't related to your family getting murdered by druggangs. 10/10 - highly recommended.
Superbad Of all the immature teen comedies, Greg Mottola's 2007 film “Superbad” is king. The sheer quantity of liquid absurdism the film pours out is enough to drown Tim Burton in an olympic-sized swimming pool. The plot follows actors Jonah Hill and Michael Cera as they try to buy beverages of the alcoholic variety for a party during their last few days of high-school. Shenanigans ensue. In short, if you’re planning to waste your time with a Franco highschool drama, you might as well go for something new for a change — you worthless pile of soiled carbon.
The film showcases the vibrant, untamable Mexican spirit as it puppeteers the souls of our protagonists through a wildly explicit and questionable adventure. Good films like this flood the genre, and you have the audacity — the AUDACITY — to watch anything else. No wonder this generation is going to the pits. If you want to make sure what you watch isn’t super-bad, try “Superbad”. God help me. Available on Netflix. 8/10 - pretty good. Y Tu Mama Tambien Why are you even still reading? I’ve already suggested two perfectly good distractions from your worthless life. The only rational excuse you could possibly have is that you’ve already seen both of the above films, in which case I highly encourage you to watch Alejandro Cuaron’s big 2001 debut film, “Y Tu Mama Tambien”. A slice-of-life film about a couple of Mexican teenagers exploring the tumultuous post-socialist Mexico, the film showcases the vibrant, untamable Mexican spirit as it puppeteers the souls of our protagonists through a wildly explicit and questionable adventure. My parents, both having come of age in Mexico, claim that the film accurately depicts the discordian reality of Mexican youth —- and now having seen the film myself, I am beginning to question my own upbringing
under their roof. 12/15 - yeepers, what a film. Moonlight “Boyhood” was, in my opinion, the worst film of 2014. It wasted 10 years with a story that was completely reliant on the nostalgic appeal of youth rather than the thrill of watching a real coming-of-age story. Following a character's journey from an unremarkable youth to an edgy teen to finally realizing his true calling as a pretentious young adult, the film doesn’t waste effort in investigating the evolution of a genuine character and rather follows the life of the most punchable face in film history. Now the film “Moonlight”, directed by new-face Barry Jenkins, was certainly not “Boyhood”. Its main protagonist, quiet and reserved like that sorry-excuse-for-a-Humanbeing Mason, has a character that you watch develop through a journey of self-discovery from preadolescence to adult in his low income neighborhood. 122/165 - pretty weird. The Breakfast Club Because it wouldn’t be a “coming of age films” list without a mention of the abomination-monger John Hughes — who single-handedly headed the vanguard that aimed to destroy the credibility of the 80’s as a reputable decade for media. I can never forgive this man for the damage he has done with this film. Arguably the one good thing this man has ever done with his life was direct the 1985 drama/comedy “The Breakfast Club”. In it, angsty teens sit in an angsty circle and talk about angst. While watching this film, I’m reminded of the nursery rhyme “Nobody likes me” but with some slight variations in lyrics. “Nobody likes us, everybody hates us, think I’ll go get high!” If I haven’t sold you yet, let me just say that this film is worth watching if you want to understand why your parents are so screwed up in that weird way. 4/5 - What better way to show teenagers bonding than a classic bonding rain-dance? So go and enjoy yourself.
Friday, May 25, 2011
The Campanile
LIFESTYLE
B8
a consumer’s revolution: moving away from fast fashion
#Second Semester Junior
EDWARD KIM
BUSINESS MANAGER
Y
ou walk into Forever 21 and spot a cute top. Only $12? What a steal! But if you look past the price tag, there is more to it than meets the eye. The industry of fast fashion — a term for clothes that are mass produced and, in turn, disposable and cheap — is riddled with waste, pollution and human rights violations. The production of “fast fashion” clothing requires heavy amounts of chemicals and water — one pair of jeans usually costs about 7,000 liters of water, according to environmental organization Greenpeace. According to Fortune Magazine, consumers are like to discard garments after only seven or eight wears due to low costs and expendability; in 2013, 15.1 million tons of textile waste were discarded. Zara, Adidas and Forever 21 are just a few names that are prominent in fast fashion. These brands flourish due to the fact that everyone loves a good deal and it is tough to get customers to change their buying habits. However, there are a few brands in the fashion and makeup industry pushing for increased transparency and waste reduction. The skincare and makeup brand Glossier is reexamining the beauty industry and cultivating a revolutionary set of new beauty products. The online makeup store started as a blog called “Into the Gloss,” which was home to various product reviews and interviews with makeup experts. In order to ensure customer sati s fac-
Text by Gillian Robins
art by ALICE ON
Design by Edward kim & Noah Baum
tion, Glossier makes products based on customer feedback. They communicate with customers frequently and ask for input via social media. While the brand’s collection is minimal, the products they do make are extremely popular. Through this method, Glossier has created a cultlike following. Through their new methods of production, they are being more conscious of the products they produce and are transparent in their production methods and materials. In their product descriptions, Glossier states exactly what goes into each one of their products. By creating precisely what customers want and using sustainable ingredients, the amount of waste created is low. Based in San Francisco, e-commerce fashion site Lisa Says Gah also focuses on fostering a close relationship with the consumer to bring them the best products from sustainable, ethical fashion brands. Through this relationship, founder Lisa Williams says brands are taking ownership and increasing transparency in the design and production processes. “I’m not filling a stylecount quota with Lisa Says Gah,” Williams said in an interview with the blog “The Messy Heads.” Tidal Vision is another clothing startup that pushes for sustainable products made from ocean w a s t e , such as salmon skin and crab shells. It was created by Craig Kasberg, who spent years working on an Alaskan fishing boat where he realized how wasteful the fishing industry is. He negotiated with fishing companies for their fishing scraps which they would otherwise dump in the ocean, to create usable products that textile companies can buy for garments. One of the startup’s most popular product is their salmon leather, which is less wasteful to produce than cowhide leather. Several books have exposed the detrimental world of fast fashion, including “To Die For: Is Fashion Wearing out the World?” Author Lucy Siegle pushes consumers to build a more sustainable wardrobe through buying slower, buying vintage and thrifting. The book also touches on the ways that large entities — like the government — can pass and maintain labor laws. Changing the wasteful fast fashion industry begins with educating others and bringing awareness to the issue. Sustainable fashion and makeup brands like Glossier, LSG and many others are already making strides toward changing consumer behavior and teaching consumers to resist the pull of low prices.
It’s that time of year again. The sun stays out longer, as do the majority of teenagers. Weather forecasts creep towards 80 degrees, replacing the plateau of 60s of the past few months. Pastel shorts have replaced khakis and jeans, and sleeves grow shorter and shorter. During this time, the seniors enjoy their well-deserved semester of slacking, as the figurative kings of the school. However, unbeknownst to the majority of the Paly population, a similar phenomenon of apathy has swept over the class of 2018: Second Semester Junior, or #SSJ. Just several months removed from starting their early college applications, one can easily identify an #SSJ by recognizing these traits. Sleep circles underneath eyes This is possibly the easiest way to spot an #SSJ, who are notoriously plagued by lack of sleep. Going through the hardest year of high school, an #SSJ often sleeps the same amount of hours as their GPA. Causes of sleep circles may include, but are not limited to: Advanced Placement (AP) tests, Physics Honors exams, or cramming for the SAT Subject Tests that they completely forgot about. This often comes with the unexpected side effect of consistent whining about being tired. Erratic driving Eager to show off their brand-new licenses, #SSJs can often be seen either driving haphazardly on Embarcadero and Alma or parking in the Southgate neighborhood due to their lack of a parking permit. You can generally attribute it to: the aforementioned lack of sleep, focusing on the handling the AUX cord music or arguing with a friend illegally placed in the passenger seat. Consistently being online An #SSJ will generally have a green circle next to their names on Facebook, signaling an active user. Unfortunately for them, a higher workload directly coincides with a larger amount of procrastination. You can easily identify this by looking out for the following symptoms: starting homework past midnight, excessive tagging of friends and posting in Paly Memes Facebook group for the Dank Youth. Habitual tardiness Having completed nearly three years of Paly, the majority of #SSJs have figured out, or have decided, that attendance is simply not as important as admin makes it out to be. Consistent tardiness can easily be detected with a quick glance at the attendance tab of Infinite Campus. An #SSJ will have a calendar similar to a rainbow, dotted with oranges (tardies), reds (cuts) and greens (for when parents do their kids a favor the period of a test). Capricious internet usage Upon checking the History tab of Google Chrome, one will see a combination of Schoology, Facebook, Google Drive, Buzzfeed and YouTube. Oftentimes, timestamps will be one minute apart, signalling a quick change in attention. A normal #SSJ will have tabs crowding the top bar of their browser, ranging anywhere from five to 20 (when there is a test the next day).
The Campanile
Friday, May 19, 2017 Concussion with Paly Athletes
SP RTS
C6
THE LEGITIMIZATION OF
I
ULTIMATE FRISBEE
n the high tempo, action-packed physical education classes, which flurry of bright red and blue jer- have increased Ultimate’s sphere of seys, a white disk sails overhead, influence onto the Palo Alto comgracefully descending before being munity. In the Bay Area alone, 20 snatched by one of the many hands high schools and 17 middle schools outstretched in the air. The victor have Ultimate Frisbee clubs, many brings the round object close to his of which play competitively. There chest, catching his breath for just a are currently 12,000 participants in moment before throwing the disc Ultimate Frisbee nationwide, makto his teammate in the distance. To ing up more than 700 teams accordmany, this type of intensity and grit ing to Ultiword, a news media site is reserved for traditional sports, like dedicated to the sport. basketball or football. But for some, Contrary to popular perception, Ultimate Frisbee, dubbed “Ultimate” competition in Ultimate is not to be by its participants, provides an ave- taken lightly. Increasingly strict drills nue for a new and training form of comregimens have petition and been set to adrenaline. further teams’ Throughsuccess, much out history, like those utithe act of lized in tratossing frisditional high bees has school sports. stood as a Ultimate is symbol of not glamorleisure and ous either, as Keenan LAurence relaxation. participants Labeled as are expected to JUNIOR toys, these come out with flying discs bumps and were typically used to play catch, bruises if they play at their best level. whether that be with another person “Frisbee as a sport takes as much or a dog. mental IQ (intelligence quotient) as However, the ubiquity of frisbees many of your other common sports, caused fans to look for a more in- such as football or basketball,” said tense way to enjoy this object, thus junior Keenan Laurence. “Physically, creating Ultimate, a non-contact frisbee involves more running than sport that relies on the constant ex- almost all sports besides change of the frisbee to enter an op- soccer.” posing end-zone. This sport is laudThe pervasiveed for its limited rules and minimal ness of Ultimate refereeing, allowing it to be played is epitomized by competitively without tangible Gunn Control, structured leagues. Henry M. Gunn Locally, Ultimate has blossomed High School’s into a popular hobby and activity. Ultimate team, Many students are introduced to this which has taken sport through their the school by
“Frisbee as a sport takes as much mental IQ as many of your other common sports.”
Discover the impacts that concussions sustained through sports have on the Paly community.
storm and become one of the school’s most competitive and exciting sports teams. Created in 2015, the team has even attracted those from outside the school, including Laurence. The team already has two competitive squadrons that face off against each other in tournaments stretching across the state, from San Francisco down to Santa Barbara, Calif. C om p e t i tive Ultimate Frisbee has ballooned to more than 7 million participants from around the world. Matches have become increasingly easier to find in due to new technology, such as the matchmaking website PickupUltimate, an app that allows users to share ongoing Ultimate matches and their periodic schedules. One concern for the sport is the lack of serious connotation it holds in the general public’s perception. For many, frisbee sports will always have a sense of recreation instead of discipline, thus fomenting the misconception that Ultimate is an easy sport to play. As a result, many are dissuaded from playing by the lack of real competition in this particular activity. Ultimate has even captured the attention of the International Olympic Committee, thus gaining
complete recognition as a sport. With Ultimate’s governing body receiving necessary funding and experiencing an increase in popularity, it may not be long before we see this sport introduced to the Summer Games. At its current state, no one knows how far Ultimate will progress. Some deem it a fad that will dwindle in popularity and peter out over the course of time. However, some foresee continued growth and popularity, potentially reaching the esteemed status of much more renowned sports. Only one thing is certain: at its current state, Ultimate is more popular than it has ever been, and there is no doubt that we will see more of it in the future. “I don’t see an end to [Ultimate] in sight,” Laurence said. “There are a lot of Bay Area teams starting up, young kids are getting involved and it’s starting to gain a lot of attraction.”
Ultimate is more popular than it has ever been, and there is no doubt that we will see more of it in the future.
TEXT & DESIGN BY ERIC LI DESIGN BY PEYTON WANG
ATHLETE OF THE
MONTH
This edition featuring:
Joonsung Ha with The Campanile’s own
Eric Li The Campanile: Who are you and what sport are you apart of? Joonsung Ha: My name is Joonsung Ha and I am part of the varsity golf team. TC: How long have you been on the team? JH: I’ve been on the team since my freshman year. TC:What is your favorite part of golf and why? JH: I like playing on different golf courses. My favorite golf course I have ever played in was Silver Creek Golf Course in San Jose because I played well there my freshman year. TC: What is your least favorite part of golf and why? JH: My least favorite part is that it is really time consuming. I was considering quitting Paly golf this year because of my rigorous academic schedule. This year, I feel like I have taken more tests in the testing center than in a classroom. TC: Do you have any pre-game rituals? JH: I like to hit a couple balls on the range before I go play. TC: Even though golf is individualized, how do you think the team environment has impacted your game? JH: I try not to give up, because I’m not just playing for myself; I’m playing for my team. TC: A large amount of the population think professional golf is boring. What do you have to say to these people? JH: In my opinion, if more people played golf and then watched professional golf, they would have more appreciation for those guys out there — it’s much harder than it looks. TC: What other sports do you play and how do other sports compare to golf? JH: I like to play basketball with my friends in my free time, but compared to it, golf is a lot more deliberate. Unlike other sports, the golf ball stays still and there are so many different options that are available to you. The mental side is very important for golf compared to other sports. I think that golf is just as much a mental game as it is a physical game. TC: Your season recently ended last tuesday in the Central Coast Championships last tuesday. What was your favorite memory this season? JH: My best memory was being able to share the victories that we had during the season with my teammates, especially our Santa Clara Valley Athletic League win. TC: Anything else? JH: I just want to thank the golf coach, Doyle Knight, this season for all the sacrifices that he had to make in order to make this golf season a reality.
SPORTS
Prodigies in modern-day sports
The Campanile showcases the most talented young athletes in sports today. These prodigies have gained much hype due to their skills in their respective sports, and are expected to succeed in higher leagues in the future.
GOATLING/CREATIVE COMMONS LICENSED
PAGES C4-C5
TONY THE TIGER/CREATIVE COMMONS LICENSED
Ball family and their brand A look into one of the most polarizing families in basketball. PAGE C7
MIKE MORBECK/CREATIVE COMMONS LICENSED
MAX PIXEL/CREATIVE COMMONS LICENSED
Top seed advantage
Psychology of sports fans
PAGE C7
PAGE C8
Sports leagues should change the way playoff matches are decided.
The effect of sports on the mind stretches through all realms of life.
Friday, May 19, 2017
C2 VIKING REPORT BASEBALL RECENT SCORES
Paly @ Mountain View 5/11, W, 5-3 Paly vs. Mountain View 5/9, W, 7-5 UPCOMING GAMES
Paly vs. Archbishop Mitty 5/17, 4 p.m.
SOFTBALL RECENT SCORES
Paly vs. Gunn 5/5, W, 13-1 Paly vs. Saratoga 5/10, W, 9-0
BOYS LACROSSE
RECENT SCORES
Paly vs. Saratoga 5/4, W, 14-5 Paly vs. Los Altos 5/10, W, 17-5 Paly vs. Los Gatos 5/13, W, 17-6
GIRLS LACROSSE RECENT SCORES
Paly vs. Willow Glen 5/2, W, 14-1 Paly vs. Mountain View 5/5, W, 10-7 Paly vs. Gunn 5/20, L, 4-3
The Campanile
SPORTS Girls lacrosse looks for big win Team ready for SCVALs despite tough setbacks during the season
Swimming races at CCS
RIYA KUMAR
SPORTS EDITOR
STAFF WRITER
Baseball fails to avenge past ERIC LI
BOYS TENNIS RECENT SCORES
Paly vs. Los Altos 4/13, L, 5-2 Paly vs. Monta Vista 4/20, L, 0-7
TRACK AND FIELD RECENT SCORES
Arcadia Invitational 4/7-8 Paly vs. Los Gatos 4/13
SWIMMING RECENT SCORES
Paly CCS Prelims 5/12, W CCS Finals 5/13, W
BADMINTON RECENT SCORES
Paly vs. Lynbrook 4/27, W, 16-14 SCVALS 5/5-6, W
GOLF RECENT SCORES
Paly vs. Los Gatos 5/5, W
I
A
s the girls lacrosse season comes to an end, the team is proud of its achievements despite having faced major obstacles. Throughout the season, girls lacrosse has faced a myriad of problems. First, their goalie, senior Mathilda Kenrick, was banned from playing due to participation in lacrosse in another country. Because of this loss, the team had no one to defend their goal for three weeks of the season. Luckily, junior Mattie Orloff successfully took the position without any prior experience. “We were fortunate to have Mattie step up part way through the season,” said girls lacrosse coach Jamie Nesbitt. Additionally, the team had more injuries than they typically had in prior seasons. “In total, we’ve had three seasonending injuries and lots of other significant injuries,” said senior Quinn Knoblock, one of the three team captains. This resulted in a couple or no available substitutes for some games, and proved to be stressful due to the fear of having no back-ups to switch out tired players. With all of these setbacks, the team was still able to come out with an overall record of 13-8. “I am so proud of what this group of young ladies has accomplished,” Nesbitt said “The adversities and obstacles have helped shape our program into who we are.” According to Nesbitt, uniting as one team should not be a difficult task, due to athletes who bring different skills onto the field. “Another strength our program seems to have year after year is strong sportsmanship and a love for our teammates, which drives everyone to
SPORTS EDITOR
A
year after a heart wrenching 2-0 defeat in the first round of Central Coast Section (CCS), the Palo Alto High School baseball team once again got knocked out before their time. The Vikings were truly dominant during the 2017 season, winning all but one game during league play and brushing aside their foes during the tournament. But one opponent was able to vanquish the Paly juggernaut that was seeded 15 spots higher than them and stood above the rest: the Archbishop Mitty Monarchs. The game was dominated by pitching, as both starting pitchers went the full seven innings, and neither allowed an earned run. The sole difference in the closely contested match was an unearned run that scored on a miscue between senior shortstop Ethan Stern and junior prodigy Max Jung-Goldberg. Even though the Vikings failed to flush their demons of the past and make it past the first round of the CCS tournament, the season was far from a failure. "This year's team was far and beyond the best, most fun team I have ever played for," said senior Michael Champagne. "All of us have grown very close over the course of the year, and even though we couldn't pull out an actual 'W', the time I spent out here with all of these guys was more fullfilling then any stinking ring ever could be." Now, the team looks to build off of what the team has accomplished over the last year. With 13 returning players, there is no doubt it will happen. "We may not have won this year, but you can damn well be sure that we'll be back and ready to play next season, and there will be nothing and no one in the entire CCS that has a shot at stopping us," said junior Jake Varner. "Next year we'll come out with the same mountain lion mentality, just with an extra season of being starved. Nobody will be able to stop us."
KIRAN MISNER
DAVID HICKEY/USED WITH PERMISSION
Junior Emma Staiger evades three defenders and prepares to make her shot on Los Gatos.
work hard and come together during tough times,” Nesbitt said. Regardless of the outcome of the championship, next season will have a change of leadership. All three spots for captain will be open for younger players to fill next year. “I hope to see new leaders emerge that are as charismatic and kind as our seniors have been,” Nesbitt said. As Knoblock and her fellow captains prepare to leave, she believes that the team’s future is in good hands. “Only three of us will be graduating so there won’t be a significant dent numbers-wise,” Knoblock said. “There are a lot of rising seniors that I think will really embrace and take on leadership roles on next year’s team.” As the season has come to an end,
the girls are proud of their achievements. With a total of 12-3, the team would like to win the Santa Clara Valley Athletic League (SCVAL) championship for the third year in a row, but will face more hardships than before, due to a lower score than the previous two SCVAL-winning seasons. However, Knoblock remains optimistic. “We’re seeded slightly lower than we have been in past seasons, but we feel really strongly that it is a totally feasible goal,” Knoblock said. Regardless of all the issues that could have easily stopped them from maintaining their great reputation, the vikings are is ready to fight for their spot as SVCAL Champions this Saturday.
n an impressive display, the boys and girls swim teams put on a show at the Central Coast Section (CCS) meet, placing the girls team in a position to win big at states. The boys team also hopes to do well at states. According to junior Lhaga Dingpontsawa, the CCS first-place finish for the girls was a memorable victory that will be remembered in Palo Alto High School history for years to come. “CCS was huge for us as a team,” Dingpontsawa said. “We didn’t start off great, but we ended really well and that is a great boost for us before some of the group heads to States.” The boys team, on the other hand, swam their way to seventh place, qualifying senior and Stanford University commit Alex Liang in his individual events as well as two of the other boys' relays for States. The girls team won CCS last year, while the boys placed third; the competition was significantly tougher this year. The team will now move onto the California Interscholastic Federation State meet in Clovis, Calif. starting on May 19 to face off against the very best swimmers and swimming programs that the “Golden State” has to offer. At the state meet, the team wants to end their season on a very high note and make the 2017 campaign a notable one. Last year at States, the girls team placed second, in addition to setting a series of records in the relays and individual events. The boys team placed fourth, with first-place finishes in Liang’s individual events of 200-yard freestyle and 500-yard freestyle. “Our goal is to place high at the state meet,” Dingpontsawa said. “The team did well last year, but we want to improve from last year and maybe come in first place.”
The Campanile
Friday, May 19, 2017
SPORTS C3 Boys lacrosse wins SCVAL after hard fought game The Vikings play a hotly-contested opponent, Los Gatos High School, for SCVAL championships and final game VIVIAN FENG
LIFESTYLE EDITOR
T
he boys lacrosse team is finishing the season on a high note after winning the Santa Clara Valley Athletic League (SCVAL) championships by a score of 17-6. Since the beginning of the competitive season, the boys have been able to defeat every other team in their league at least once. The SCVAL Championship and final game of their season was against the Los Gatos High School Wildcats, and a hotly-contested rivalry has fostered between the schools. Early in the season, the Vikings beat the Wildcats, but unfortunately lost in the subsequent match just one month later. This hard-fought victory was celebrated by drenching their coach, DJ Shelton, with a cooler of water. The Vikings’ last game before SCVAL was against Saratoga High School. During the match, the Vikings asserted their dominance and crushed their opponents by a score of 14-5 win. However, the triumph was of no
surprise, since the team had beaten Saratoga in a regular season matchup. The squad often plays non-conference matches against private schools, such as Menlo School, Saint Francis High School and Sacred Heart Preparatory.
“I think the underclassmen have been able to build together, and I think what makes a good team is a team that functions well on and off the field.’’
Patrick McIntosh Sophomore These games do not count towards league results but serve as opportunities for improvement and as a better determinant for a team’s quality. Although the Vikings had difficulty finding a challenging opponent within their league, when faced against teams that were non-conference, it became evident that there was still much room for improvement. In a particularly memorable nonconference match against Serra High School, the Vikings lost 8-9. The score was tied after regulation, but in double-overtime, Serra score the tiebreaking point.
MADS MCCLUSKEY/THE CAMPANILE
Senior Declan Flanders takes the face St. Francis High School at an away game, but unfortunately the Vikings lost with a score 14-7.
This stressful game was a troubling setback for the team, and it marked their first loss of the year. As the Class of 2017 graduates, the lacrosse team will be losing a whopping 22 senior players. However, the team remains optimistic about the upcoming season regardless of the loss of the powerful senior class. The majority of the current junior
varsity players that will move up to varsity next year are relatively skilled, so a great season is to be expected. Additionally, these incoming players are proficient in maintaining team cohesion. This is a vital theme for success across all sports but especially needed in lacrosse, where communication and cooperation are extremely prevalent. Sophomore offensive player, Pat-
rick McIntosh, spoke out about what he predicts for the upcoming season. “I think the underclassmen have been able to build together, and I think what makes a good team is a team that functions well on and off the field,” McIntosh said. Their last game was the SCVAL Championships on May 13. Their definitive victory was the perfect end of an impressive season.
Boys golf advances to CCS with ease Badminton moves on after Eyes on gold after team sweeps competition at SCVAL tournament
unusually rough season RENEE HOH
NEWS AND OPNION EDITOR
F
COURTESY OF TIMOTHY LIU
Senior Timothy Liu keeps his eye on the ball in a match against Los Gatos High School this year. Palo Alto Vikes finished victoriously.
TRISTAN WANG
STAFF WRITER
W
ith an impressive 7-0 record, the Palo Alto High School golf team topped off its undefeated season by taking first place in the Santa Clara Valley Athletic League (SCVAL) on May 2.
“Hopefully, we can replicate last year’s success and move on to the next round. Either way, CCS will be a wonderful learning experience for the younger guys on our team.’’
Timothy Liu Senior Captain The team plans to carry the positive momentum directly into the fastapproaching Central Coast Section
(CCS) tournament on May 9, with their eyes set on the gold. The stiffer competition of CCS is sure to put the skill and determination of the entire team to the test this week. Paly’s top golfers, juniors Ahmed Ali and Sergi Mata, have both performed admirably throughout the season. Neither have showed signs of letting up. Senior team captain Timothy Liu anticipates that the course will also provide the more recent additions to the team a chance to mature in both skill and overall golf IQ. “Hopefully, we can replicate last year’s success and move on to the next round,” Liu said. “Either way, CCS will be a wonderful learning experience for the younger guys on our team.” The difficult course layout of
CCS is going to be its own challenge as Paly enters CCS. Strong winds and undulating hills can offset a golfer’s shot as well as his judgement. When even the finest of distinctions, like which club to use, are sufficient enough to alter the outcome of the match, consistency is key to success. “What we’re working on is [making] sure we have consistent approach shots, as the short game is key to keeping scores down,” Liu said. Junior Ahmed Ali expresses the cruciality of on-site discernment, something that the team is striving for but has yet to perfect. “The only thing that might be holding us back from playing our absolute best is our decision making,” Ali said. “We know if we play our game we will do well.”
ollowing a rather tumultuous season, the Palo Alto High School badminton team is moving away from its mediocre spring season to the high stakes postseason. The loss of several key seniors has led to an underwhelming 4-8 season. This is extremely disappointing after the team put up a 6-6 record in the past season. “We lost so many good players with the Class of 2016 [graduating], so this year’s team was pretty young,” said senior and team captain Flavia Stiglich. “It wasn’t our best season but we managed to stay in the upper league as well as having some unexpected wins against Milpitas, Lynbrook and Saratoga.”
“I am really happy and excited about our performance even though we still have plenty of things to improve. [I am] also anxious because this year’s CCS is full of many great players.’’
Flavia Stiglich Senior Captain On a lighter note, three Paly badminton players have advanced to the Central Coast Section (CCS) championships. Stiglich, junior Michael Chau and sophomore Raymon Chen will all move on to represent Paly at CCS. All three had impressive and successful performances at the Santa Clara Valley Athletic League (SCVAL) finals. Chen’s strong showing earned him a place in the top four slots in the boys singles division, thereby qualifying him for CCS. Team captains Stiglich and Chau
also took one of the four CCS qualification spots for mixed doubles at the SCVAL finals. Chau is pleased with his performance at the finals despite losing to Henry M. Gunn High School in the last game. He believes that he overachieved, considering his lack of extensive practice. “I’m pretty happy because I do not train [in club badminton] anymore,” Chau said. “I have not trained since I quit about a year ago. It’s a good feeling knowing that I still can compete without [club] training.” Stiglich was also pleased with her showing at the SCVAL finals. However, her focus remains on CCS. “I am really happy and excited about our performance even though we still have plenty of things to improve,” Stiglich said. “[I’m] also anxious because this year’s CCS is full of many great players. Michael and I are looking to do well at CCS in order to qualify for NorCals.” The absence of state-level badminton means that the California Interscholastic Federation (CIF) Regional Badminton Championships, or NorCals, is the highest level tournament a high school player can participate in. Siglich is aware that each coming game could potentially be the last of her high school career. She is appreciative of her short-lived journey on the Paly badminton team. “I’m really grateful for the seasons last year and this year, my only seasons since I moved here my junior year,” Stiglich said. “I wouldn’t have been able to achieve any of this without the help of my teammates and especially my partner Michael.” The three qualified players will continue their individual postseasons at CCS championships. Play started on May 13 at Independence High School.
Softball team greatly improves for CCS KESI SOUND
LIFESTYLE EDITOR
T
he girls softball team has been doing especially well this season, with several key victories in their last three games as the season comes to a close. Despite taking some losses against Saratoga High School and Milpitas High School earlier in the season, the team has managed to bounce back with the vigor and might only a Viking could possess.
“I think our performance shows we deserve to make CCS.’’
Elizabeth Schnaublet Junior On May 1, the team took on Fremont High School and managed to pull off an astonishing 17-1 win,
leaving Fremont ready to say, “Paly, this is your tape.” “It was not our best game but we played well, we adjusted well to the slow pitching, didn’t have any errors in the field, so it was a good game,” senior Maggie Renteria said. The Vikes bats were on fire as they scored four runs in the first inning, eight in the second, and five in the third to round off an incredibly lopsided victory. With this win in hand, the Lady Vikes were ready to take on some stiff competition — the Gunn High School Titans. Luckily, they were able to secure yet another win, obliterating the Titans by a score of 13-1. The sixth inning proved to be a complete rout, as the Vikes scored an impressive seven runs while the Titans were left scoring their only run of the entire game.
The girls final game of the season took place on May 10, and pitted the Paly Vikes against Lynbrook High School. Yet again, the Paly Vikes massacred the opposing team.The game ended with a score of 9-0. This event is sure to go down as one of the great debacles of 2017 for fans of the inferior Lynbrook Vikings. With their strong performance in their last three games, the Vikes are ready to take on CCS. “I think that our team has started and finished this season really strong. We are a good team and I think our performance shows we deserve to make CCS,” says junior Elizabeth Schnaubelt. The teams first game for Central Coast Section (CCS) is on May 17, when they will do battle against the Los Gatos High School Wildcats.
Friday, May 19, 2017
The Campanile
SPORTS SPREAD
C4
The Future Of Sports: MoD
look o young Text & design by kiran misner
S
GianLuigi Donnarumma
Lamelo Ball
SOCCER
Basketball
tanding at 6 feet 5 inches, weighing just shy of 200 pounds and sporting a full-grown beard, Gigi Donnarumma fits in perfectly with the rest of his coworkers as he hits the pitch for practice. He is one of the biggest players on the team, and his confidence in practice does not connote anything unusual about Donnarumma. However, something is very special about the goalkeeper: he’s 18 years old and starting for one of the Europe’s elite professional football clubs, AC Milan. Donnarumma was first brought into the international limelight when AC Milan manager Sinisa Mihajlovic replaced the struggling Diego Lopez and made Donnarumma the youngest goalkeeper to ever start a Serie A match. Unbeknownst to even the die-hard fans of the Italian club, Donnarumma was a shocking choice for Mihajlovic to make. After all, the teenager was not fully grown and neither emotionally nor physically ready to play in a top-tiered league of Europe. Nevertheless, the goalkeeper took charge of his job that day, only conceding one goal in a win against league title contenders Sassuolo. Despite his solid performance between the posts that day, fans were still unsure that the 16-year-old could handle the goalkeeping duties for the club. Fast forward a year and a half to the present, and Donnarumma is being considered one of the surprises of the year and has solidified his spot as Milan’s top shot-stopper. His play has excited fans and last-minute saves against rival Juventus and league competitors Torino have kept an otherwise average Milan team in sixth place in Serie A. Unsurprisingly, the fans were not the only one’s who took notice of his outstanding goalkeeping during the season. Just before his 18th birthday, Donnarumma was given the present of a lifetime: a starting role in Italy’s friendly against France. With a starting spot secured at AC Milan and moving up the ranks within the Italian national team, Donnarumma certainly has the potential to become one of the best goalkeepers to ever play the game. As legendary goalkeepers such as Gianluigi Buffon and Iker Casillas make their way out of football, Donnarumma is a promising talent that fans should see as a plausible replacement for the likes of Buffon and Casillas.
W
hen word got around that high school basketball player Lamelo Ball from Chino Hills, Calif. scored an unbelievable 92 points in a single game, people across the nation had words of either praise or disgust for the young man. Sports journalists from various publications including the Los Angeles Times called Ball a “cherry picker,” and former National Basketball Association (NBA) player Charles Barkley said that he “[has] a serious problem” with Ball’s lack of effort on defense. In contrast, others enjoyed Ball’s offense-only performance, with NBA superstar Stephen Curry applauding his showy exhibition. Hate him for his lack of defense or love him for his offensive prowess, it is hard to disagree with the fact that Ball can actually “ball out.” Ball’s play has earned him the title of the nation’s 16th best player in the Class of 2019 per ESPN. In 33 games played for Chino Hills High School, Ball has averaged an outstanding 21.5 points per game, while also filling up the stat sheet with above average numbers in assists and rebounds. These stats caused college scouts and coaches to recruit Ball at a very young age. As a freshman in high school, Ball already made a statement saying that he had committed to the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA). Even though Ball has already put his future in the hands of the UCLA coaching staff, his commitment to the Bruins has not stopped his dominance. His offensive game is as polished, if not more, as any person playing high school. Shooting-wise, he is a top three shooting guard and is destined to improve. While Ball is a promising young talent, controversy surrounds his family. His father, LaVar Ball, is currently considered the most tendentious man in the sports after multiple hotly-debated comments, having said that “all of [his] sons are going to be one-and-dones in college” and that he could “beat Michael Jordan one-on-one.” Furthermore, the Ball family, made up of Lamelo, fellow UCLA commit LiAngelo and NBA lottery draft prospect Lonzo, have their own brand, dubbed the Big Baller Brand (BBB). Much like the rest of the Ball family, BBB is also very controversial. Their recently released Zo2 basketball shoes were priced at $495 for the public, to raise a slitted eyebrow and bringing more disapproval to the family. As LaMelo continues to mature and become a better basketball player, he must watch his public image if he wants to be the best that sports has to offer.
The Campanile
Friday, May 19, 2017
SPORTS SPREAD
DERN-Day YOuTH Prodigies
out for to g athletes DEsign by Gracie Kitayama
G
Aito IgUchi
Josh Allen
Hockey
Football
oogling “Aito Iguchi” will lead you into an unknown world of what one can do on the ice. Spins, turns and seamless jukes are all a part of Iguchi’s game as he smoothly glides across the ice. First garnering attention through YouTube videos displaying his skills, Iguchi has quickly become one of the best young players in international hockey. Hailing from Saitama, Japan, Iguchi started playing the game at the age of five and has not looked back. Working off of the skills of National Hockey League (NHL) players, Iguchi learned the moves of the superstars he saw on television and replicated them on the ice in his free time. His stick handling and ability to deke even the toughest of defenders made him an Internet sensation. Due to his young age, Iguchi’s biggest problem will most likely be his risk of “burning out,” a common psychological condition that causes many sports prodigies to lose motivation for a sport either because the sport has consumed their life at a young age. Unfortunately, examples of burnout in athletic prodigies are plentiful. One such example is soccer player Freddy Adu, who started his professional career at the age of 14 and never amounted to his potential due to burnout. However, Iguchi’s head coach Brandon Barber believes that his love for the game and desire to become better will help to prevent this. “There’s an old saying in Japan that the nail that sticks out gets knocked down,” Barber said in a video about Iguchi. “He is not getting knocked down. He’s out there having fun, doing all the things we’re told you shouldn’t be doing [at this age].” The level of hockey in Japan does not compare to that of the U.S. and Canada and for this reason, Iguchi decided to take a leap of faith and move to Canada to train with Barber. The move has definitely made him a better player; however, it has been a challenge adjusting to a new culture. “Him moving away from home at eleven years old to pursue this is; it’s insane to me,” Barber said. “The average kid is doing school, they have no job or work. But [Iguchi], he’s taking on a whole lot and he’s doing it with a smile on his face.” For now, Iguchi won’t have to worry about his professional career because entering the NHL draft is still four years away, as the NHL age requirement is 18. Instead, the next few years will be dedicated to refining his skills and becoming as good as he can. Four years may seem a world away, but soon enough, Iguchi could become a household name as one of NHL’s finest.
W
yoming isn’t known for much. It is one of the only states that boasts more cattle than people and currently has more people leaving the state than entering it. However, it does have one thing to brag about: nestled in the state’s only four-year university, University of Wyoming, lies one of American football’s brightest prospects, Josh Allen. Allen is the star player of the Wyoming football team and unsurprisingly, his statistics back up his fame. In 2016, Allen’s sophomore year and first year starting for the Cowboys, the California native threw for a spectacular 3,203 yards. Along with his impressive yardage, the soft-spoken quarterback found his receivers for 28 touchdowns throughout the year, while only throwing 15 interceptions. The year was obviously monumental for him, but according to scouts, it is only the start of what could be a hall of fame career. Allen only had two Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS) schools offering him a scholarship to play football at their school: Wyoming and Eastern Michigan University. Allen played better and better as his college career progressed and when scouts started to notice, he couldn’t stop thinking about the draft. As a returning junior, Allen had all the choice in the world to leave his Wyoming education and go straight to the National Football League (NFL) draft. But, as he pondered his decision, Allen realized that coming back to a program that had shaped him as a player as well as a person was the decision that best fit his life. The next year at Wyoming will certainly be telling about his future as a football player, as fans and coaches alike will see if Allen keeps developing into the player they hope he can be Allen’s biggest weakness is that he does not compete in the highest conference of college football. Wyoming currently competes in the Mountain West conference of the FBS. By virtue of being in this bush did nine eleven league, the team does not face as many top competitors as a team in the Southeastern Conference would, because it doesn’t have many highly ranked teams. Due to this, NFL teams may overlook Allen, citing his success as a result of the easy opponents Wyoming faces. Despite critics, Allen has many strengths that could allow him to be one of the best football has ever seen. His strong footwork, arm strength and accurate passing are all qualities that have to be perfected to translate to the NFL, and Allen has already shown his mastery in these areas. Furthermore, he’s an athletic talent who can operate almost any type of offense, whether it be under center or from the shotgun. Undoubtedly, there is still much unknown surrounding Allen, but if he continues at the pace he has over the past few years, Allen may be able to put his name amongst the greats.
C5
Friday, May 19, 2017
The Campanile
C6
SPORTS
The damaging effects of concussions on students’ bodies Numerous concussed Vikings have reported the detrimental effects of the injury on and off the field MAYA BAILEY
STAFF WRITER
H
e was wide open deep in enemy territory, or so he thought. But as soon as he reached around to take a shot, junior lacrosse player Peter Gold got slashed on the side of his body by an opposing player and hit his head on the ground, hard. “I spin around, and while I was spinning another opposing player smacks me pretty hard,” Gold said. “I fall to the ground and then another player falls onto my head, pancaking my head to the ground. I was instantly in another dimension. I quickly saw the stars, and I got up pretty quickly. I walked off the field, in which I believe was my adrenaline that carried me to the bench. But once I sat down I couldn’t stand up for at least 30 minutes, and the trainer proceeded to declare my concussion.”
“My current concussion has forced me to stay in a dark room for most of the day. I can’t stand light. I can’t stand noise. I am slow to answer questions. I am constantly nauseous. It’s pretty depressing.”
Peter Gold
Varsity Lacrosse Player When involved in a contact sport, there is a high possibility of getting injured, although the “contact” part of the sport — whether it is football, basketball or soccer — is sometimes a contributing factor to the appeal of the game. Concussions can occur in traditional contact sports but can also occur in non-traditional ones. Oftentimes, concussions happen when a hit to the body is the least expected; when the body is not prepared for contact, an athlete is more likely to be severely injured. Junior Keenan Laurence was play-
PETER GOLD/THE CAMPANILE
Contact sports, such as lacrosse, often are the causes of student concussions, which can have noticeable effects on academic performance and the wellbeing of affected students.
ing lacrosse his freshman year and received a severe concussion, which led to an academic and athletic downfall. He was out for the rest of the season as well as the rest of the school year, and was not able to do anything but rest. Because of the harsh effects of concussions, the majority of students and coaches involved in contact sports are aware of its consequences and how detrimental it can be to not only the students’ health, but also their lives beyond the sport. Severe concussions may result in longer lasting effects that may impact a students’ academic abilities too. Gold believes that his concussion has limited his capabilities in many ways. “My current concussion has forced me to stay in a dark room for most of the day,” Gold said. “I can’t stand light. I can’t stand noise. I am slow to answer questions. I am constantly nauseous. It’s pretty depressing.” In many cases, the worst part of
The current state of U.S. swimming ETHAN BUNDY
SENIOR STAFF WRITER
F
or any student currently attending Palo Alto High School, Michael Phelps has competed in every Summer Olympics that they have ever been alive for and potentially watched. With 23 gold medals, three silver medals and two bronze medals, Phelps has set the record as the most decorated Olympian in history by a comfortable margin. He was a part of all three relay events for the U.S. in the last four Olympics in which he competed in. Now, however, the legendary swimmer has decided to move on from swimming to normal life. That being said — what comes next for the United States swimming team now they have lost their most valuable asset? They must find a way to make up for the loss of a record holder in multiple events as well as replace a leg of all three of their relays.
There is always a possibility that a new swimmer could rise out of the ranks of the normal citizens and come to replace Phelps, but the possibility is very slim. Twelve-time Olympic medalist Ryan Lochte plans on returning for the 2020 Summer Olympics in Tokyo. Unfortunately, he is currently suspended from competing in U.S. swimming due to his high-profile robbery scandal at the 2016 Summer Olympics in Rio de Janeiro. There were rumors that Lochte was going to be banned from the sport forever, but it can be assumed that due to his success in the sport he was treated less harshly than he would have been if he were a lesserknown swimmer. Luckily, his suspension ends this coming July so he will have plenty of time to train, prepare and compete before the next Olympics. Katy Ledecky, the new face of U.S.
swimming will return for the 2020 Games. The dominant swimmer is a gift to the team that will keep on giving. At the Rio Games in 2016, Ledecky set the world record in the women’s 800-meter freestyle as well as the world record in the women’s 400-meter freestyle.
At Palo Alto High School, there are a couple potential current and past students that could be present at the next Olympics. Although Ledecky is an important returning swimmer, her return does not solve the problem of Phelps’ retirement from the men’s team. There is always a possibility that a new swimmer could emerge and come to replace Phelps, but that possibility is very slim. Seeing as Phelps is the greatest Olympian of all time, it is highly unlikely that anyone will be able to do what he has done. Along with the slim possibility of any swimmer in the world in the future comparing to Phelps, there is an even lower possibility that this swimmer would swim for the U.S. team or even be from the country. Despite the unlikeliness, there are a couple potential current and past student swimmers at Palo Alto High School that could be present at the next Olympics, with the opportunity to live up to the Phelps legacy. The two Liang brothers, Andrew and Alex, have proved to be dominant in the sport of swimming. Both brothers attended the 2016 Olympic trials in Omaha, Neb. and will be swimming at Stanford University next year. Alex, the younger of the two, holds two state records in high school swimming. Maybe the replacement for the great Michael Phelps lies within the ranks of our small city. The 2020 Olympics will show whether U.S. swimming has rested solely on the shoulder of Phelps, or if the team will be able to step up and move on without him.
having a bruised brain is that the symptoms are not always easily diagnosed.
In the long run, it is better to play it safe than to risk potentially having permanent brain damage. With a concussion, athletes are oftentimes fully conscious and are eager to go back into the game. This feeling can be frustrating for many athletes, because having the drive to compete and desire to win, but being pulled out of a game, is never a pleasant experience. “It’s extremely frustrating when you work the entire reason as well as preseason to get to the championships, which we were bound to go to [but don’t get to play],” Gold said. “Being taken out of a non-league game especially is extremely frustrating. I played three games prior to
that one, and I was already feeling tired, but when I got hit in the head I thought, ‘Geez, that’s my entire season right there, all in just a second: gone.’” On some occasions, athletes feel the need to hide the fact that they are injured. Athletes do not want to abandon their team, and fear being forced to sit out for long periods of time. They often do not want to face the reality of the concussion. However, according to Kidshealth. org, “continuing to play if you have an injury can make that injury worse. A small stress fracture that might have healed quickly can grow into a more serious, more painful fracture that will take longer to heal. Returning to play too soon after a concussion can increase your risk of serious brain injury.” Although some athletes might feel the need to play after receiving a potential concussion or injury, according to varsity lacrosse coach DJ
Shelton, under no circumstances do Paly coaches ever condone this kind of behavior. Essentially, in the long run, it is better to play it safe than to take the risk of potentially having permanent brain damage. Athletes are becoming increasingly aware of the possibilities of being injured and how it can worsen brain injuries, affecting them negatively. Even still, athletes need to continue to take care of their bodies and take their health and well-being very seriously. “I always pull players off the field even if they don’t want to and check before putting them back in,” Shelton said. “It’s not worth the risk, because winning a game is not worth the possible brain damage. I don’t make it a discussion. I just make it clear. Whenever heavy head contact is made, even if they say they’re fine, there might be symptoms, even ones they’re not aware of.”
Friday, May 19, 2017
The Campanile
SPORTS
C7
High-seeded teams should be given larger advantage
Professional sports leagues should allow higher-seeded teams to select their opponent in postseason matches RAJ LELE
STAFF WRITER
I
n many sports leagues, there are postseason games that ultimately lead up to the championship via regular season records. Prior to these games, the league determines seeding that gives an advantage to the team with the strongest record in their respective conferences and leagues. Despite its intended purpose, the current format in most leagues — such as Major League Baseball (MLB), the National Football League (NFL), the National Basketball Association (NBA) and the National Hockey League (NHL) — only provides a minimal advantage to teams that have had enough success to claim the number one seed. In these leagues, the number one seed is rewarded with home-field, which allows the series to start at the higher seed’s stadium as well as a potential game five or seven to be played at the higher-seeded team's stadium. Unfortunately, home-field advantage isn’t always enough of a boost for the higher-seeded team because a weaker record doesn’t necessarily mean that the lower-seeded team is are inferior to the higher-seeded team. During the 2010-11 NFL season, the Green Bay Packers earned the sixth seed in the National Football Conference (NFC). Despite their low seeding and having to play all of their games on the road, they obliterated all of the higher-seeded opponents, beating the Philadelphia Eagles, Atlanta Falcons and Chicago Bears all by a margin of at least five points. Similarly, in 2014 the Kansas City Royals were on a hot streak going into the postseason, winning seven of their nine series in August and five out of eight of their series in September. Although they played their wild card game at home against the Oakland Athletics and advanced, they proceeded to destroy the numberone seeded Los Angeles Angels and sweep the Baltimore Orioles. Once again, the Royals proved that homefield advantage is practically useless and not much of an advantage to higher seeded teams. Due to the upsets that have occurred in past years, which include countless others, it only seems fair to
AP/FAIR USE
Green Bay Packers quarterback Aaron Rodgers sacked by Corey Webster and Michael Boley in a 37-20 defeat, resulting in the number one seeded Packers taking an early exit.
protect the home team as a reward for their success during the season.
Although they played their wild card game at home against the Oakland Athletics and advanced, they proceeded to destroy the number-one seeded Los Angeles Angels and sweep the Baltimore Orioles. In addition to the home field advantage, there should be a rule that allows the highest-seeded team to choose who they play, instead of the highest seed playing the lowest seed. This rule could have allowed teams like the Eagles and Falcons avoid the Packers and instead play weaker teams like the New Orleans Saints or Seattle Seahawks who limped into the playoffs that season. The whole point of a higher seed is make it to win a championship for teams that have experienced success, and with this rule, that goal is met. For example, the 2011 Green Bay Packers were practically untouch-
Parents grooming athletes to become greatest at sport CLAY WATSON
SENIOR STAFF WRITER
T
he National Basketball Association (NBA) boasts countless athletes that are not only athletic and imposing, with players averaging 6 feet 7 inches, but the league also boasts players who are exceptionally skilled due to years of hard work and grit. While genetics may be the primary reason for the athleticism and size of these basketball standouts, parenting plays a major role in the work ethic and mindset of the athletes as they develop. LaVar Ball is an outspoken parent of three West Coast prospects. His oldest, Lonzo Ball, is a projected high lottery pick in the 2017 NBA Draft, and Ball has brought to light a debate regarding parenting styles and the effects that they have on their athlete children’s futures. Lavar Ball’s approach to parenting has taken the form of a cheerleader, including talking about his children as if they are gods of basketball. Ball has been most quoted saying, “I have the utmost confidence in what my boy is doing. He’s better than [Golden State Warriors point guard] Steph Curry to me. Put Steph Curry on [University of California, Los Angeles’s] team right now and put my boy on Golden State and watch what happens.” This parenting strategy of projecting outlandish future achievements onto their children is not a new phenomenon in the world of sports. The approach worked for Earl Woods and his son Tiger. After several years of lofty projections from Earl Woods, Tiger Woods lived up to nearly all of the hype, becoming one of the most successful golfers of all time. However, this strategy is clearly not foolproof — quarterback Todd Marinov-
ich, whose father Marv Marinovich employed similar parenting strategies, fell far short of his father’s public expectations of becoming a Hall of Fame football player. Ball has notably proclaimed that his children are set up better for future success than the children of professional athletes. “The monsters in the NBA, their dads [weren’t] that good,” said Ball on a podcast with Fox Sports. “They were okay, they [were] players, but the fact the old [Stephen] Curry wasn’t [an] All-Star, he wasn’t cold. He could shoot the ball, though. Kobe Bryant, his dad wasn’t all that, that's why he’s such a monster.”
“I have the utmost confidence in what my boy is doing. He’s better than Steph Curry to me. Put Steph Curry on UCLA’s team right now and put my boy on Golden State and watch what happens.” LaVar Ball, father of Lonzo Ball
These comments shed light on a parenting style that directly contradicts Lavar Ball’s. NBA superstar Lebron James’s children already have high expectations from basketball fans’ despite only being 9 and 12 years old. Instead of taking on the role of an ego booster, James has chosen to serve as a role model never having any trouble with the law, on-court performance through unprecedented work ethic, political activism and charity work. While a star basketball player is the result of both nature and nurture, the nurture aspect can take several different forms. With immense excitement surrounding players like Lebron Jr., Lonzo Ball and Lamelo Ball the effectiveness of different parenting styles will certainly be on display for the years to come.
able after they posted a 15-1 record. However, in the divisional round, they battled against the New York Giants and fell by a score of 37-20. The Packers knew this game would be tough because they had already faced off against New York earlier in the season and narrowly won by three points in a high scoring contest. The Packers’ season could have potentially been extended past the divisional round had they had the ability to choose which opponent they faced. To illustrate this point, the Packers could have alternatively faced the New Orleans Saints, a team they previously beat by a score of 42-34. It's logical to think that the lowerseeded team’s chances of making the championship will be spoiled by this proposed rule. However, the team that's chosen by the higher-seeded team will play with a chip on their shoulder, and with players like Seahawks cornerback Richard Sherman feeling “disrespected.” When players, like Sherman, feel disrespected, they tend to play much better. In fact, the
game in which Sherman felt disrespected, he sealed the win for the Seahawks over the San Francisco 49ers to advance to the Super Bowl.
This rule could have allowed teams like the Eagles and Falcons avoid the Packers and instead play weaker teams like the New Orleans Saints or Seattle Seahawks who limped into the playoffs that season.
Another example of this was when Milan Lucic, then a player for the the Boston Bruins, decided to initiate a verbal battle against the Montreal Canadiens during congratulatory handshakes after the Bruins’ game seven loss in the 2013-14 Stanley Cup Playoffs. Although the Canadiens failed to win the next series, the following season they were able to collect the highest number of points in the Atlantic Division and were second in the Eastern Conference. Many teams already artificially do this, so making the rule official
would incentivize teams to play better throughout the season. This year in the NBA, the Cleveland Cavaliers played for most of the season as the number one seed. However, as the bottom three seeds started to shape up, the Cavaliers decided to play their final stretch of games according to who they wanted to play. The Cavaliers ended up as the number two seed and played against the Indiana Pacers, who the Cavaliers were 3-1 against during the regular season. Had the Cavaliers played to remain the number one seed, they would have duked it out against the Bulls, who they were swept by in the regular season meetings. Not only would this rule make the path to the championship more interesting, but it'd pose several benefits to both high and low seeded teams. Leagues would see higher ratings because fans would get their deserved flurry of emotions, players would bring a new type of intensity, and coaches would develop new strategies to get to their league's championship.
Friday, May 19, 2017
The Campanile
SPORTS
C8
THE PSYCHOLOGY BEHIND SPORTS FANS AN IDEOLOGY THAT GOES BEYOND THE TEAM
DESIGN BY EDAN SNEH & BYRON ZHANG
I
TEXT && DESIGN BY COLE HECHTMAN
f you’re reading this, chances raised when associating themselves are you identify as some kind of with others who are successful. Resports enthusiast. In fact, in a search conducted by Robert Cialdini, study conducted in 2015, 60 per- the Regents’ Professor Emeritus of cent of American people identified Psychology and Marketing at Arias a sports fan, according to Gallup. zona State University, expressed this com. For many, the source of their sports phenomenon by concluding devotion to a certain team varies that a fan’s likelihood of wearing — perhaps from family influence — sports-related apparel after a team’s following an individual player or a victory was greater than following a team’s location. Whatever the case, loss. New fans are also more likely many fail to consider how much of to speak in firsttheir own support person to express stems from variIN MANY WAYS,,,, victories, such as ous psychological SPORTS SERVE AS A saying “our demotivations. fense played well,” Last year, SYSTEM FOR PEOPLE whereas they usuan estimated 5 TO FIND BONDS IN ally use the thirdmillion people DAILY LIFE.. person in poor marched through performances, like Chicago to celebrate the Chicago Cubs’ World Se- “they looked terrible out there.” This innate impetus to increase ries Championship victory, marking it the seventh-largest human gath- our self-worth pushes people to look ering ever recorded. While remark- for broader connections. This idea is able, the event was just one of many prevalent not only in the teams we historic displays of fans taking ex- identify with, but also concepts such treme measures to express their as unification and nationalism. For support. But what exactly is it that example, in the U.S. Women’s Nadrives people to make these sacri- tional Soccer Team’s conquest to their fices? According to research con- World Cup Victory in 2013, chants ducted worldwide, the answer lies of “U-S-A” were heard across the behind psychological concepts of stands in each match, and those who self-esteem, belonging and embrac- never supported the team previously began spectating matches and taking ing larger and arbitrary ideologies. It is a well-established concept part in their celebrations. This pursuit of self-worth through that an individual’s self-esteem is
sports extends deeper into the idea of people’s sense of belonging within different groups. The concept of social connection is an inborn desire for all humans, and is primarily established through interactions. In many ways, sports serves as a system for people to find these bonds in daily life. In the Bay Area, for example, Golden State Warriors fans who are wearing supportive gear can find an instant sense of connection with the other, and this sense of acceptance only becomes stronger as more people become involved. Research by William J. Mcguire, a social cognitive psychologist, reinforced the matter, as subjects in his children’s identities studies demonstrated identifying better with members of their own gender in families outnumbered by children of other genders. Therefore, congregating in sports venues where crowds of like-minded fans are present brings the greatest sense of connectedness, which may explain why tens of thousands of people attend all types of games on a daily basis. Even after identifying the meaning behind these tendencies, pondering the idea of which team an individual chooses to support exposes how arbitrary the process is. People who follow a certain team do not come to the decision after an extensive and comprehensive selection process. Rather, it can be from some-
ART BY JACQUES MANJARREZ & SAMMY VASQUEZ
thing as arbitrary as where someone types of incidents display the ability was born, and is strong enough to of sports to evoke anger and strong lead to a lifelong following and ex- emotion from fans, all for a game tend to a plethora of other seemingly they do not play and players they will never know. For something -strange mannerisms. For example, fans still heavily de- often due to chance, the degree of bate the fairness of a call during what dedication from a fan to their reis known as the “Tuck Rule Game,” spective team is astonishing. Similar ideologies are relevant taking place in a 2001 Divisional Playoff game between the Oakland in more substantial ways based on Raiders and New England Patriots. characteristics, such as where someAfter trailing 13-10 with two min- one grew up. For example, someone born in U.S. who utes remaining, THE DEGREE OF adopts Catholicism Patriots quarterback Tom DEDICATION FROM A and capitalistic policies likely will not Brady was hit FAN TO THEIR realize how many in the backfield RESPECTIVE TEAM of these decisions and dropped were shaped by the football. The IS ASTONISHING.. their lives in Amerreferees initially called it a fumble, but later reversed ica. Had they lived in another counthe call due to his arm’s forward mo- try in their early childhood, their tion, despite Brady starting to tuck it idea of what beliefs were the best into his chest, determining it was an would almost certainly be different. Regardless of which individual incomplete pass. The Patriots maintained posses- teams and players someone may sion scored on the same drive, allow- follow, the concept of sports reing them to continue their playoff mains as a remarkable yet random run and eventually win this year’s way to fulfill three basic human Super Bowl. Had it not been for the needs. Having a sense of belonging, call, the Raiders would have likely a strong self-esteem and significant won the game. To make matters relationships that represent larger worse, the “Tuck Rule” was repealed parts of life are important for anytwo years later. Raiders fans continue one to contain. For this reason, a vato remember the game, which has led riety of sports and their loving fans to numerous acts of violence and ar- will remain a large part of culture guments between both parties. These worldwide for many more lifetimes.