Issue 4: Dec. 7, 2021

Tuesday, Dec. 7, 2021

PALO ALTO UNIFIED SCHOOL DISTRICT PALO ALTO HIGH SCHOOL 50 EMBARCADERO RD. PALO ALTO, CA 94301

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

Vol. CIV, No. 4

Bloomington announced as new sibling city Valerie Chu

Managing Editor

HELP WITH HOUSING

To create a partnership for facilitating the exchange of cultural, economic, business and civic ideas, the Palo Alto City Council approved a sibling city relationship with Bloomington, Ind. at its Nov. 15 meeting.

While Palo Alto is already a sister city with eight other cities, including Tsuchiura, Japan, Bloomington will be its first sibling city –– a partnership that is domestic rather than international. This domestic partnership is the first of its kind in the U.S., Palo Alto Mayor Tom DuBois said.

“Bloomington and Palo Alto — being the first cities to do this — we’re kind of the guinea pigs,” DuBois said. “I think it’s going to be a lot of fun. When I visited (Bloomington), I was reading the newspapers there, and I saw a lot of the same issues we have here, just with maybe a little different twist.”

Andie Reed, the Palo Alto coordinator for this partnership, said she is excited to be working on something that has gained support from local politicians and citizens. She said community involvement, including participation from students, is an important part of the partnership.

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Tiffany He

Staff Writer

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espite concerns about its location and rising cost, the LifeMoves housing project on San Antonio Road was approved by the Palo Alto City Council at its Nov. 1 meeting.

The vote was 6-1 with councilman Greg Tanaka casting the lone no vote.

LifeMoves, a homeless shelter network in San Mateo County and Santa Clara County that offers programs and services to help people find permanent housing, is now waiting for final approval of its construction application.

“Our hope is to get it in within the New Year,” LifeMoves Programs Operation Manager Anneliese Gretsch said. “The idea would be trying to move people in, possibly in the summer or fall (of 2022). We work with people experiencing homelessness as well as people who may be about to experience homelessness, and then we work with people post-homelessness as well.”

Gretsch said case managers in LifeMoves help those experiencing housing insecurity find safe and consistent housing by finding them apartments, checking their background and approving them for housing.

“We look to make sure the person is not going to be a safety risk to the rest of the community,” Gretsch said. “We really want people who have been experiencing homelessness for a long time, the chronically homeless, and people who are struggling.”

In a previous project, LifeMoves Mountain View provided 100 interim housing units for people experiencing homelessness. Gretsch said they plan to act similarly in Palo Alto.

“We have our LifeMoves Mountain View site that was started in November

of last year, and we had people move in March of this year, which has been really great,” Gretsch said. “It’ll function very similarly.”

One difference between LifeMoves Mountain View and Palo Alto is the location. The site where LifeMoves plans to build the Palo Alto housing project holds Los Altos’s solid waste and recyclables processor GreenWaste.

LifeMoves and Palo Alto must move the GreenWaste site before approaching any construction for the housing.

Gretsch said the construction team plans to analyze the site and ensure its safety before any clients move in.

“It’s great that we have this land that we can use, and the county and the city wants to use it for this reason, but we need to make sure that our clients and our staff aren’t in hazardous work environments,” Gretsch said.

City Council Member Greer Stone said alongside construction work, GreenWaste could pose future problems for the city.

“I know there are members of staff and some of my colleagues who also want to make sure that the location is preserved for a possible future water treatment plant,” Stone said. “That is a further complication. But we have been able to at least identify the site for this to be able to happen so our complications are not precluding us from moving forward.”

Gretsch said LifeMoves Palo Alto will include 88 housing units compared to Mountain View’s 100 units. While the Mountain View project cost $25 million, LifeMoves Palo Alto is predicted to cost $26 million, compared to the initial estimate of $17.6 million.

Gretsch said this change happened because LifeMoves miscalculated during its planning process.

“The team miscalculated the number Housing continues on A3

Sibling cities continues on A3

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Bike, pedestrian bridge connecting Palo Alto, Baylands now open Parker Wang

Science & Tech Editor After 20 years of planning, a bike and pedestrian bridge connecting south Palo Alto to the Baylands opened to the public with a ribbon-cutting ceremony on Nov. 20.

California State Senator Josh Becker, representative of parts of Santa Clara County and San Mateo County, said he was thankful for the community leadership and funding organizations that helped make the bridge a reality.

“Access to open space is incredibly important for all the communities, particularly for Palo Altans,” Becker said. “Opening this

bridge will provide year-round access to the Baylands and its wonderful trails.”

This $23 million project allows people to take a scenic and shorter path to the Baylands and cuts significant time off the commute to work for many.

Palo Alto native Alice Mansell said she has been involved with the Palo Alto Airport for decades and is grateful the city made it easier to access with the new bridge, just south of the runway.

“For people who are commuting to work, if you are in South Palo Alto, it’s a pain in the neck to get to the old crossings,” Mansell said. “I’m also glad Palo Alto put a little bit more art into this bridge, and it is great for bicyclists.”

The bridge’s artwork includes the Baylands’ reeds as fences and decorative round metal seats that double as a resting place on the east side.

Mansell said the bridge is unique because of its pop-out area where people can enjoy a view of the Baylands, along with the artistic accoutrement.

Bay Area resident Susan Kulawik said she has been waiting eight years for the bridge to open and is also looking forward to a more enjoyable bike ride on her way to the Baylands.

“Although it is really loud, it will make it more fun to bike over here,” Kulawik said. “It is also much less inclined compared to the other bridges north and south of here.”

PARKER WANG/THE CAMPANILE

A biker uses the new bridge which provides direct access to the Baylands. “Although it is really loud, it will make it more fun to bike over here,” Kulawik said.

The Campanile

Tuesday, December 7, 2021

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News

CHARLOTTE HALLENBECK/THE CAMPANILE

The relocation of students from Palo Verde and Hoover to Greendell due to construction on campus will cause some families to change their routines. “(My son) would rather be at Palo Verde because it’s closer, it’s more convenient, and he’s gotten used to the layout of the campus,” Palo Verde parent Deborah Shubb said. “But at the same time, he is relieved that all of his classmates are going to be (at Greendell) too.”

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ue to construction at the Palo Verde and Hoover Elementary School sites, the Board of Education unanimously voted to approve the temporary relocation of students at these schools to the Greendell campus.

Palo Verde students will be at Greendell for the 2022-23 school year, while Hoover students will be there from the fall of 2023 to the spring of 2025. This decision, made at the board’s Nov. 2 meeting, has faced community criticism, especially from those with students at Palo Verde.

Parents are concerned about the longer commute to Greendell and the impact it will have on their family’s routine and schedule, especially if their student will need to be driven when they previously walked or biked to school.

Greendell, adjacent to Cubberley Community Center, is used by the Palo Alto Adult School and PAUSD’s pre-kindergarten program.

These programs will continue to operate at Greendell and will not be impacted by the relocation of Palo Verde or Hoover. Superintendent Don Austin said it is only a matter of scheduling to ensure the yard is not being used by everyone all at once.

Austin said Greendell’s buildings are in good shape, and its outdoor play area is better suited for kids than most of the district’s elementary schools.

“It has a big grass area that’s fenced and multiple play structures,” Austin said. “For example, I just walked over to the campus at El Carmelo, and they have two (play structures) and one is predominantly for the kindergarten area. Greendell has six, so they’re nicely

equipped. I think we’re going to be able to use the fields at Cubberley, and we’re working on gaining access to the pavilion, their big gym.”

Austin said some of the community concern related to these temporary relocations has to do with confusion about which school is being moved into — Cubberley or Greendell.

Palo Verde and Hoover will only be moving into Greendell or portables that will be less than 200 feet away from the campus.

“When I started receiving questions from parents, they were talking about what bad shape the Cubberley buildings are in,” he said. “And they are a mess, but we’re not putting anyone in there so it’s OK.” Palo Verde parent Deborah Shubb said she is displeased with the move because the commute is inconvenient for her family.

“My son isn’t a regular biker because he’s always walked to Palo Verde, so in that sense, it’s going to hold me up,” Shubb said. “I work, and now I am going to have two schools that I am going to have to commute to, and that might make it difficult for me to be on time for my job.”

She also said she is disappointed this relocation takes place during her son’s final year of elementary school. She was hoping he would be able to complete his elementary school experience at Palo Verde.

Shubb said her son is likewise unhappy

about moving, but is trying to stay positive about it because he knows all of his friends will have the same experience.

“He’d rather be at Palo Verde because it’s closer, it’s more convenient and he’s gotten used to the layout of the campus,” she said.

“But at the same time, he is relieved that all of his classmates are going to be (at Greendell) too.”

The construction being done at Palo Verde is significantly less than Hoover’s, so the Board decided a temporary relocation was more suitable for that school as opposed to staying on campus. By moving locations, construction time is cut in half, Austin said.

“We were going to have to put portable classrooms on Louis Avenue which is terrible because it would take up the very few parking spaces they have there — they already have one of the most limited pick up and drop off areas in our entire district on a narrow street — so we didn’t love that,” Austin said. “We were also going to have to build a construction road right through the middle of campus as we were knocking down buildings. It would’ve been non-stop noise, vibration and dust.”

Austin said the plan is to eliminate all the portables at Palo Verde by building new classrooms and modernizing pre-existing ones.

The school will also be getting a new multipurpose room and administration area. Since Hoover will be moving to Greendell immediately after Palo Verde, one area of concern is

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what will happen to Hoover’s planned relocation if there are any construction delays.

However, the approved plan includes Palo Verde moving back while construction is still occuring, Austin said.

“All the classrooms will be done, but they’ll probably still be working on the multi-purpose room and a couple other spaces,” Austin said.

“But then that turns into a construction project like we do all the time with students there.”

Austin said the decision to relocate Hoover to Greendell was straightforward because a temporary school was the only option. Since the school opened in 1974, Hoover has not been renovated.

“It’s so far behind that if we did the (less expensive option) and spent about the same amount of money on it as the other schools, it would instantly be the number one on the list to be touched again,” Austin said. “(Hoover has gone) so long without being touched, it made more sense to just knock it down, even if it is pretty dramatic and different from what the district has done in the past.”

While Greendell will be used for the relocation of Palo Verde and Hoover, Austin does not expect the district to use Greendell to this extent in the future.

“We see Greendell as a good option for these two projects because they are both larger in scope than usual,” Austin said. “But I don’t see anything on the horizon that would require a relocation, so Greendell will return to normal after these two projects.”

Charlotte Hallenbeck Business Manager

FROM THE COVER

!"#$%!&'()"*%+,,-&./0%1&2/*/00%1&'0"(3%,*+(4%2+$%5+)/%5'(6"(3%)1+**/(3/0 of units at different sizes as well as additional expenses includspecialist. So we have an employment specialist position that’s ing adding solar (panels) and moving GreenWaste,” Gretsch fully funded by LinkedIn. So that’s helping the cost.” said.

Stone said he will also work with the city council to help City Council member Tanaka voted for the original plan but offset the difference in cost between the original proposal and cast a dissenting vote at the most recent meeting, citing the cost the current one. difference between LifeMoves Mountain View and LifeMoves “The LifeMoves project is being funded through the state Palo Alto as a main reason for voting and county grants, as well as from no. Tanaka said the extra details for the various private donations and partnerPalo Alto site are excessive. ships,” Stone said. “And we’ve received Features of The LifeMoves Homeless “Why do we have to have the deluxe an anonymous $5 million donation Housing Project in Palo Alto version here?” Tanaka said. “There’s a from a very generous resident.” solar panel system which is good, but Stone said the location of the site and Mountain View Palo Alto buys solar-powered energy could bring disconnect between people so our electricity is already carbon-free. living in LifeMoves housing and comMountain View Palo Alto Branding wise, it looks good, but we munities across Highway 101.

• 100 units • 88 units have a lot of clouds. Having solar pan“It’s located on the other side of • $25 million • $26 million els in a desert is more practical.”

Highway 101 and doesn’t have good total cost projected cost Tanaka also said he is worried that public transportation around it,” Stone the higher costs will cause the city to said. “So that’s going to be a complica• Does not in• $17.6 million take money from other areas of fundtion: finding a way to incorporate our clude solar panels initial estimate ing. new neighbors into the community.”

“The extra $9 million for the capital Despite his doubts, Stone said, plus the ongoing expenses is a lot of especially after viewing the Mountain risk and a lot of expenditures,” Tanaka said. “It means we’re say- View site, he is confident that LifeMoves Palo Alto will provide ing no to something else, but we don’t know what we’re saying a bright future for the homeless. no to.”

“When I arrived to visit LifeMoves units in Mountain View, Gretsch, though, said LifeMoves plans to complete the there was this woman sitting out by the bus stop with a bunch funding gaps with outside sources and encourages community of her belongings,” Stone said. “She was celebrating the fact members to get involved. that she was moving to permanent housing, and found a job “What LifeMoves can’t find people to pay for, we will through project LifeMoves and the services that were provided stress for (through donations),” Gretsch said. “For example, at there. And that was the best testimony that I could possibly Mountain View, LinkedIn supported us with an employment receive on just how effective this program is.”

LIFEMOVES/USED WITH PERMISSION

LifeMoves aims to give homeless families with children a warm welcome with its outdoor playstructures. “We really want people who have been experiencing homelessness for a long time,” LifeMoves Programs Operation Manager Anneliese Gretsch said.

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News

U.S. avoids defaulting on debt

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n order to prevent a historical default on the national debt, President Joe Biden signed a bill that will raise the national debt limit by $480 billion until early December.

Economics teacher Grant Blackburn said the purpose of the debt ceiling is to limit national spending.

“The idea is that there should be a limit on the amount of money that the United States government borrows,” Blackburn said. “If you hit that limit, you need another authorization before you can borrow more.”

However, in recent years, Congress has raised the debt ceiling frequently. The most recent, though temporary, was on Oct. 14.

“It was kind of a partisan issue where neither Democrats or Republicans wanted to agree or take responsibility for being the ones to raise the debt ceiling,” Berkeley business major Pallav Chaturvedi said.

So why have a debt ceiling if raising it becomes a political issue? A big reason to is to keep government spending in check, Chaturvedi said.

“You wouldn’t want to have unlimited spending, because you need to have checks and measures in place to ensure that the government is spending responsibly,” Chaturvedi said.

However, Blackburn said there are pros and cons to a debt limit if the limit is constantly being raised.

“On the one hand, the debt ceiling can be seen as a good way to prevent run-amok spending,” Blackburn said. “But it can also be seen as just being really annoying.”

Blackburn also said government spending is important for the economy, and debt is how the government finances its operations and expenses, whether that be for funding new infrastructure projects, funding foreign aid, general operations or to keep the U.S. economy healthy.

“You can use that budget as a way to influence the economy, because the government — on its own — accounts for 20% to 25% of all spending in the economy,” Blackburn said. “The prescription is during a recession, you want to raise government spending and lower taxes.”

For example, during the pandemic, the government gave stimulus checks as a way to boost spending when a lot of people were saving money.

“So for the pandemic instance, some people just got cash,”

Blackburn said. “Other funding went to businesses, and (the government) said, ‘If you have a certain number of employees, we’re going to give you a loan to help continue to pay for your employees.’”

Blackburn also said the purpose of government spending on the economy is to create more consumer spending, which should create growth in the economy.

“The idea is that there’s all kinds of ways that you can spend your money or reduce your taxes so that more people have more money, and when more people have more money, they go out and spend it, which causes growth,” Blackburn said.

One way that the government accumulates debt to finance spending is through bonds.

“Bonds are the way that our country goes into debt,” Blackburn said. “So when a government wants to borrow money, they sell bonds to the economy, whoever’s willing to purchase it.”

According to Blackburn, the reason people may buy government bonds is that there’s interest paid back, meaning the person who bought the bonds gets paid a small amount until their bond expires, and they get the money they put in, along with the interest. Interest on bond payments is in case the government doesn’t pay it back.

However, this has never happened.

“And because the United States government has never defaulted on a debt, it makes it extremely safe,” Blackburn said.

A clean historical record of always paying back debt makes bonds a safe investment, Chaturvedi said.

“Sometimes it’s considered to be what's called a risk-free asset,” Chaturvedi said.

“So if you have a risk-free asset that actually has a risk of default, it would have a pretty big impact on the global bond market.”

Chaturvedi said if U.S. bonds were to suddenly become risky, interest rates would need to rise accordingly, to compensate for the higher risk.

In fact, there are classifications for how risky bonds are. For example, the S&P has its own credit rating system, ranging from AAA to D, which would indicate that the entity has already defaulted on its debt payments.

The U.S. has had a historically high credit rating, with a AAA

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rating from the Dominion Bond Rating Service and from Fitch Ratings. However, in 2011, the S&P downgraded the U.S.’s credit rating from AAA to AA+. This rating still stands today.

“And so what it really came down to is that they had lost confidence for a few weeks,” Blackburn said. “It’s like, ‘I know, you haven't screwed up yet, but we’re worried you might.’”

The fear of not being able to pay back debt could come back as Congress fights against defaulting on the expiration of the temporary raise of the debt ceiling. When this happens there could be a downgrade in the U.S. credit rating due to the higher risk of default. However, both Blackburn and Chaturvedi said bond ratings don’t have as large of an effect as people may think.

“A lot of people in financial markets take credit ratings with a grain of salt,” Chaturvedi said. “They don't actually have as much meaning as people like to believe.”

And despite some people’s concern with government debt, Blackburn said it is important for the U.S. economy.

“All of the money in the United States is created through debt,” Blackburn said.

“Our currency is a fiat currency, meaning that it is not based in value on anything other than supply and demand.”

So if suddenly some of the money’s value turned to dust, the value of all of the other dollar bills in circulation would have no limit as to how low it could go, he said.

“Because we could default on it, let's keep in mind that if we were to get rid of all of the debt, at least under the current system, all the money would go away,” Blackburn said. “They would need to create a new monetary system.”

And while raising debt avoids the problem of voiding the value of the dollar, raising the debt ceiling only pushes the problem for the future.

“If you think about it, logically, I think it’s kind of odd because that just means they’re delaying the problem maybe by a few months,” Chaturvedi said.

“So I think in a couple months, you’ll see the same thing play out.”

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In an attempt to help students destress during finals week, ASB is planning events including wellness animals, ugly holiday sweaters and hot chocolate.

Also during finals week, the Food for Thought program will return, and students will be able to study for finals in the MAC and library until 8 p.m. with food provided. Peer tutoring will be available, as well as study groups formed around specific classes.

ASB Senior Class President Mathew Signorello-Katz said his group has felt the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic in planning these events.

“The pandemic has made things a bit difficult, but we’re lucky enough in terms of the case numbers, so that has allowed us a little bit more flexibility,” Signorello-Katz said.

ASB is adapting COVID-19 regulations when planning for the winter rally that will be finalized in January.

“Your traditional winter rally is the one that’s held in the big gym, and it’s similar to a spirit week rally where you have games and cheers,” SignorelloKatz said. “Of course, we’re keeping the games and cheer element, but at least right now, it’s predicted that it will have to happen outside.”

ASB is also planning a fishbowl discussion about student wellness near the end of the semester. Topics in the discussion include the district’s Title IX policy, 504 and IEP plans and returning to school after staying at home from the pandemic.

“It’s an opportunity for students to be able to go to a meeting and then discuss their feelings and what they feel is working well and what needs to be improved within ASB,” Signorello-Katz said.

Senior Site Council Representative Gabe Galper agrees.

“We’re trying to get a general sense of what ASB can proactively be doing, rather than reactively, which is what the Wellness Center is for,” Galper said.

Galper also said ASB is trying to be more transparent in its plans and inclusive of all opinions.

“It’s hard to proactively take action when you don’t have things to take action on, especially considering that there is a distinct lack of opinion diversity this year,” Galper said.

“That’s one of the reasons why we’re revising our constitution to make sure that our student body government is more representative, but in the short term, we really do need more student opinions.”

FROM THE COVER

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Valerie Chu

Managing Editor “Under the current destructive (political) polarization, anything that we can do to get people to know each other and form relationships and then to cross those divides is what this is about,” Reed said.

Reed said while the sibling city project is an official relationship sponsored by the City of Palo Alto, it does not have any fiscal cost. The first step was for the Palo Alto City Council to approve the sibling cities partnership. The next step is for the Bloomington City Council to approve the project in December and for the two cities to plan for a virtual launch in early 2022. From there, Reed said the two cities will continue working toward their long term goals.

“The lofty goal is to design opportunities — to build bridges and learn and benefit from each other, to pull the country together,” Reed said. “But it’s not like you can just force people to see each other’s perspectives. It takes a lot of work to build up to that.”

Bob Wenzlau, president of Neighbors Abroad, which represents the City of Palo Alto in its relations with its eight sister cities and Bloomington, said Palo Alto and Bloomington will be connected on many different levels as sibling cities. City government and

staff can share ideas, and non-profit organithe humanity in each other,” Veenker said. zations based in each city, such as art centers “This is an aspirational program; there will be and community service organizations, can some people who are skeptical. There will be also work together. some people for whom one part resonates and “It’s (about) creating relationships and in- another doesn’t. But everything we can do to teractions where we’re able to have a discusincrease understanding, fight disinformation sion about issues of gender, issues of equity, with direct information and give people an issues of race, issues of economic disparity — opportunity to realize the phenomenal assets and learn from each other,” Wenzlau said. that exist across this country — that’s got to To establish the move us to a better place.”

Palo Alto-BloomStudent exchange ington sibling city programs, which Palo Alto partnership and already has with its eight successfully reach sister cities, are part of this these goals, Neigheffort. Senior Wallie Butler bors Abroad will participated in a four-week work with the two exchange program with cities’ mayors, Reed students from one of Palo and Sibling Cities Alto’s sister cities, TsuchiUSA. Sibling Cities ura, Japan, while in middle USA founder Vicki school. She said she Veenker said it is a enjoyed the balance of benon-profit which ing able to visit landmarks aims to match up like a tourist, while also cities based on simiexperiencing the Japanese lar goals. She said way of life by staying with Sibling Cities relaa host family. tionships operate on “I think going anywhere three pillars — comoutside of your usual YAEL KSANDER/USED WITH PERMISSION munity, commerce environment is a valuable Bloomington mayor John Hamilton and civil discourse. experience,” Butler said. “I stands in front of their City Hall.

“You have to see think it’s really important

that people should get to experience (other environments) because we can all use more perspectives on everything.”

Senior Laura Lengre, who participated in the same program as Butler, said based on her own positive experience with a sister city student exchange program, she supports establishing more exchange programs domestically with sibling cities.

“I think (international exchange programs) definitely seem more fun and different, but different states and different areas of the country can also be great … (especially) for anyone who hasn’t really learned another language,” Lengre said. “There, it’s just English and they wouldn’t feel uncomfortable about having to learn a whole new language for an exchange program.”

Veenker said she receives emails every day from people in both Palo Alto and Bloomington who are thrilled about the idea of a Palo Alto-Bloomington sibling city partnership being successfully established.

“When I go around talking to people about this idea, I don’t have to sell it,” Veenker said. “It sells itself — because Americans right now, they don’t like the situation we’re in, and they are yearning to get past it, yearning for a way that feels accessible and doable. They see that in this program, and I have been delighted with the way it has been embraced by such a broad variety of people.”

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ew Paly students can say they have been in all three math lanes. But senior Anneke Salvadori can.

“Freshman year, I took geometry honors, and then I dropped into the ‘A’ lane,” Salvadori said. “Then I took Algebra 2/Trig A, and I took IAC last year. I could have been set up to go into the AB Calculus lane, but I didn’t really see the point.”

Math laning, separating students into welldefined levels of consecutive math classes, is the basis of PAUSD’s math instruction model.

Starting from middle school, students are split into either a regular lane or an accelerated “A” lane, a process that feeds into the regular, advanced “A” and even-higher honor “H” lanes in high school.

Math Instructional Leader Natalie Docktor said the laning system is designed to ensure students perform well in their math classes.

“Kids aren’t successful if they don’t have the proper prerequisite,” Docktor said. “They get Cs and Ds, and they don’t feel good, so we (implemented laning) to help our students feel better. This is really just a system of prerequisites.”

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Despite the district’s intention of serving its students best through math lanes, PAUSD parents raised various concerns over the previous laning system.

As a result, PAUSD adopted a new plan for middle school math in 2019 in order to improve overall achievement in the district.

Drafted by Assistant Superintendent Sharon Ofek, a former PAUSD middle school math teacher, the program was meant to help meet the PAUSD Promise goals of “Equity & Excellence” along with “High-Quality Teaching & Learning.”

A key component of the proposal is de-laning middle school math classes.

PAUSD has de-laned sixth and seventh grade math and plans to finish the de-laning process by the 20222023 school year, accelerating all students to Algebra by 8th grade.

In a district report, Ofek said heterogeneous classes with varying levels of math knowledge result in a deeper understanding of mathematics for high-achieving students while simultaneously raising the achievement of struggling students. The report also acknowledged that 80% of PAUSD students are at or above gradelevel standards in math.

According to Greene Middle School math Instructional Leader Kourtney Kientzy, while students in each grade formerly were separated into a regular lane and an advanced “A” lane, all current sixth and seventh graders are now in a single lane.

“We have tried to re-calibrate the curriculum to teach all the standards that were traditionally in what was considered the more advanced math lane,” Kientzy said. “Algebra was the higher lane option in eighth grade in the old lanes, so every kid is actually accelerated to that lane. It provides more options for kids in high school.”

While all students get the same direct instruction, those who want to exceed the basic level of math have optional enrichment opportunities.

“Where the differentiation comes in is sometimes in individual practice,” Kientzy said. “For more advanced kids, they might want to do version C. That’s their option.

If you need a little more support, you might want to do version A.” While the plan has benefits, Kientzy is also concerned about merging all students into an accelerated lane.

“People can work better with each other and also if you’re differentiating, there’s plenty of opportunities for all kids where they’re at,” Kientzy said. “With that said, I don’t know if every kid is ready for algebra in eighth grade.”

Erik Olah, the administrator overseeing the math department at Palo Alto

Tuesday, December 7, 2021

The Campanile

A5

∫potlight

r v u nd the c e

7(0/1&7)*,/(&58(4*96&.):'80(&)1)0/'(&45/'5.0+)(,+&4.)'',' High School, said that because the high school laning system is dependent on the current middle school system, there are still many questions to be answered for high school math.

“Do we drop it down to two lanes, and would those two lanes continue all four years?”

Olah asked. “Or, do we go back up to three lanes after that? Is it more appropriate to have more lanes going forward again?”

Regardless of what happens, Olah said the math department is anticipating the changes that will arise once the middle schools change their laning system.

“I think it’s going to be about two years out when we’ll really see the kids coming in from middle school with a different math experience,” Olah said. “We’re going to have to make some adjustments.”

“When the question of dropping lanes inevitably comes, many of the teachers persuade the boys to stay and persevere,” Romfh said.

“But many of my friends who are girls have been told by their teachers to just drop to the lower lane immediately.”

The demographics of the Paly math lanes also demonstrate racial inequities, as 93% of students in AP Calculus BC are either white or Asian. In comparison, in Algebra 1, the lowest course lane offered at Paly, 70% of students are ethnic minorities.

Another allegation in the lawsuit is the district unnecessarily prevents students from moving to a higher lane in high school math, which Wang said becomes even clearer when compared to nearby districts.

“I was talking to the superintendent at Cupertino and asking about their math program, and it’s totally fluid. But in Palo Alto, it’s completely different,” Wang said. “The tests Parents file lawsuit against are very, very difficult, so it’s hard to transition up, and the math leaders really discourage district for equity it. They’ll basically try any trick to keep you down, so it’s easy to transition down but not In June 2021, four families filed a lawsuit up.” against PAUSD accusing the district of sysWang also said the middle school valitematically preventing students from advancdation tests, or skip tests, that determine ing in math. whether or not a The lawsuit student can move accuses the district to a higher math of violating the lane are intentionMath Placement ally difficult and Act, California inconsistently Education Statute scored.

51228.2, which “It is intended prohibits students to fail most kids,” from repeating Wang said. “Even math classes, and kids who have !"#$%&'(#)*+,-.*)#/0-#/#1-/0# Title IX of the scored nearly perEducation Amend2-34.,#5--0)#4.#.-4632!04.6# fect on the Math ments Act. section of the SAT Avery Wang, at the beginning ,4)*047*)#4.#8/*3 one of the plaintiffs of 6th grade have in the lawsuit, said failed the test and he and the other plaintiffs think PAUSD’s been forced to sit in 6th-grade math. But effort to create equity, in reality, causes more most of the kids who passed the test were harm than good. somehow cherry-picked by the administration.

“Imagine being in a class like Math 7 The placement process has no credibility and where some kid has already finished Algebra PAUSD should be ashamed.” but is there because (they’re) being held back,” In a response to the lawsuit, the district Wang said. “It is not motivating when you denied the existence of any bias in the middle know that no matter how hard you try, you’re school validation tests. not going to catch up to that kid.”

PAUSD students do perform well in New California math mathematics compared to the state average.

According to the California School Dashframework in contention board, a tool used to evaluate the performance of schools against California’s school accountability system, PAUSD students performed In February 2021, the California State 83.2 points above the state standards for math, Board of Education released a draft version of compared to California students as a whole a new mathematics framework. The framescoring 33.5 points below standards. work sought to respond to issues of inequity But Wang said the district is still not doing in mathematics learning, arguing against enough for its high-achieving students. gifted and non-gifted math classifications and “The reality is that PAUSD’s top 45% of that math should be used to advance social students are about one year behind their peers justice concepts. in math in neighboring districts,” Wang said.

The proposal, hoping to provide a more “All we are asking for is for PAUSD to have applicable math education, would provide the same flexible attitude towards math place- alternatives to calculus such as data science. ment as our peer districts.”

It aims for all California students to graduate Compared to nearby school districts, from high school with data literacy and have PAUSD’s math performance does lag behind. access to an introduction to data science class Students in the Fremont-Union District score in their K-12 experience. In response to the 94.6 points above standards and Saratoga movement, PAUSD plans to introduce a data Unified District students score 131.6 points science course in December. above standards.

“PAUSD will continue to offer Calculus as Wang also criticized the district for diswell as continue its partnership with Footcouraging students from gaining external help hill Community College for courses beyond from paid tutors.

BC Calculus,” Ofek said. “Students currently “If you want to play soccer at the varsity level, you pretty much have to be in a league, and it’s okay,” Wang said. “You can get private coaching for athletics and nobody has a problem with that. Then if you wanted to do it for math, a lot of people have a problem with that.”

The lawsuit also raises issues of gender equity in the district’s math program, alleging that the math laning system disproportionately places more boys than girls in higher math lanes. For instance, in the AP Calculus BC course, which is the highest level of math offered at Paly, 64% of current students are male, and 60% of students who dropped the course were female, despite initially making up just 42% of the class.

Senior Kirtana Romfh, who is taking AP Calculus BC this year, said she thinks girls receive a disproportionate lack of support compared to their male counterparts in higher math lanes.

45%

have access to elective math courses, and, in December, a new elective math course in Data Science will be proposed to the Board of Education.”

The new framework also argues that students who take advanced courses also suffer from a faster-paced and often shallower mathematics experience, advising against high-level accelerated classes.

Romfh agrees and said PAUSD should focus more on adapting its math curriculum to ensure all students master the content.

“Time and time again, we’ve shown that Paly math, while very rigorous, is also often past the standards,” Romfh said. “I do think that there are certain parts of the curriculum throughout all of Paly math, which are probably very rushed and not very comprehensive.”

“When you go to college, everyone’s starting at a different place, and Paly is already so much more ahead of the rest of the country in terms of preparing people for college,” Berry said. “Even if I had taken AB Calc versus BC Calc, I felt like I would be in the same place as I am now.”

in BC s t n e d stu e girls r 36% of a y l a P s at Calculu

Students weigh in To students such as Salvadori, the competitive environment of Paly stands out in accentuating the disagreements over the math lanes.

“For a lot of people at Paly, even if you plan on going into the humanities, you still feel a lot of pressure to do well in the STEM fields,” Salvadori said. “I think the school should work on making the honors lanes and everything below a less toxic environment.”

Since she does not want to pursue a career in STEM, Salvadori decided to lane down.

“I didn’t think it was important for me to be stressed over taking an AP class in a subject that I didn’t like and that was not going to be useful for my future,” Salvadori said.

Caity Berry, a Paly graduate and current junior at Bowdoin College majoring in math, agreed that students should only take higher levels of math if they are truly passionate about it.

“A lot of people would work really hard to be in the highest lane of math even if they didn’t necessarily enjoy math or even want to do math in the future,” Berry said. “But people’s value definitely should not be based on what lane of math they’re in.”

Berry also said, based on her college experience, Paly is ahead of other schools in math, to the point where the difference in lanes doesn’t really matter.

ANG VERY W AND A PAUSD M O R TICS F STATIS

All we are asking for is for PAUSD to have the same flexible attitude toward math placement as our peer districts.”

— Avery Wang, parent

The Campanile

Tuesday, December 7, 2021

A6

Opinion

Facing fixed futures W

hen I was 5 years old, my teacher gave my kindergarten class toys to play with — from dolls and trucks to wooden blocks. I was drawn to the dolls.

When my parents arrived at the end of class, my teacher, signaling to the doll I was still holding, told them that I was preparing to become a mom.

This should have been an insignificant comment. But she made no remark about the boys who were also paying attention to their dolls.

Likely in her mind, those boys were not preparing for fatherhood, nor did their playing with dolls insinuate their future roles. Whether consciously or subconsciously, she related gender with parenthood.

Her assumption is often portrayed in American society: women are associated with parenthood, whereas men are not. So why is maternity associated with girls at a young age?

Since I was a child, I’ve been told that I need to prepare to have children. When caring for my dog, I’ve heard, “You’re going to be such a great mom.”

Or when helping someone, I’ve heard, “Your kids are going to be so lucky you can help them.”

And as I’ve gotten older, these comments have become more common.

What people fail to realize is their seemingly innocuous words deny women and girls the opportunity to consider whether parenthood interests them. After years of hearing these comments, I feel confined to society’s traditional lifestyle expectations and find myself asking if I want kids or if my community does.

So when people around me, including my teacher, comment on my aptitude for motherhood, I feel trapped in a future and position I don’t want.

Given the feminist movements challenging societal shortcomings, from #MeToo to Title IX discussions, how come these comments have not yet been addressed?

According to a study conducted by three psychology professors from the University of Wisconsin, “The role of motherhood is seen by society as central to a woman’s

identity. Men perceive fathering as something they ‘do,’ whereas women experience mothering as something they ‘are.’”

These expectations force an interrelation between a woman’s self-identity and parenthood.

While people may make this comment about a girl’s future with positive intentions, such comments hurt more than support. So, for those who find themselves relating a girl with parenthood, I encourage you to ask yourself some questions before saying anything.

First, is this what a girl wants to hear? Unless you know she would appreciate the comment, it usually isn’t.

Second, is this what a girl needs to hear?

Suggesting parenthood to a young girl is unnecessary and can be confusing or hurtful.

And most importantly, will a girl benefit from your comment?

Best case, she won’t.

Worst case, you reinforce outdated social roles and bind her to a future she may not even want.

When I was 5 years old, my teacher told me I was going to become a mother. Since then, it seems people have already determined my future, one of motherhood. So my problem is realized: society determines a girl’s whole life when she is a child but allows a boy to determine his own.

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Margot Blanco

Staff Writer

Student exchange programs should be established !""#$%"&'(')*+,-()$."(*//*&0+#102(0*("3/"&1"#4"(,15"(1#(*0)"&(4*+#0&1"'6(7&*$-"#(0)"1&()*&18*#' Eric Fan

Senior Staff Writer

Paly’s academic focus has caused the school to lack experiential learning opportunities, in particular exchange student programs, which is a disservice to students because of how life changing these opportunities can be.

My family moved to Palo Alto when I was 2, and we’ve lived here ever since. Because of this, I think it is natural that I would be a bit ignorant toward how the rest of the world lives — to have a bias for the Bay Area culture and atmosphere.

I understood that people’s lives are different all around the world. However, a part of me assumed that everyone has experienced the vibrant multiculturalism, the suffocating competitiveness and the liberal techie culture Bay Area citizens experience.

When I signed up for a 7th grade exchange student program to go to Tsuchiura, a Japanese suburb near Tokyo, I didn’t expect to be surprised by anything. Sure, the food and language would be different, but a suburb is still a suburb and people are still people, right?

Yet, when I arrived at Tsuchiura, I realized it could not have been more different than Palo Alto. A green carpet of rice patties blanketed the landscape. No grey, tech-company office buildings in sight. The slow pace of daily life was a breath of fresh air from the hustle and bustle of Silicon Valley. The polite collectivism contrasted the independent, do-it-yourself attitude prevalent in the Bay Area.

I was shocked — I didn’t realize how vast the world was until that moment. I didn’t

realize how many perspectives and experiences people have. A Japanese quote I learned still sticks with me: “井の中の蛙、 大海を知らず” or “A frog in a well never knows the vast ocean.”

When I became a Paly student, I thought I would have the opportunity to participate in another exchange program, to have my eyes opened a second time. Yet, I found that even in a resource-abundant environment like Paly there are virtually no student exchange programs. But why was my high school unable to provide a program equivalent to one I experienced in middle school?

I thought one reason might be the bureaucratic nightmare involved in organizing any school-sponsored, long-distance field trip, much less an exchange program. Schools have a hard time approving something with so much risk and responsibility.

Teachers and administrators naturally don’t have an incentive to dedicate so much time to something that doesn’t directly contribute to academic learning. Not to mention the amount of paperwork, communication and diplomacy needed to send students to a whole different country.

Another factor could be the lack of parental support for these programs. It’s understandable that parents may have a hard time letting their not-of-age child live halfway across the world. It’s also hard for parents to justify paying the hefty price tag that comes with such a program.

Still, did the program that I participated in middle school have more administrative knowhow or parental support? No. Paly certainly has the resources to support an exchange student program.

Palo Alto has seven sister cities, which are all connections waiting to be leveraged.

ERIC FAN/THE CAMPANILE

Tourists visit and take photos of a temple at Nikko, Japan. Landmarks all over the world should be available for Paly students to admire through exchange programs.

PAUSD has the money to provide scholarships for underprivileged students. In fact, Paly students traveled to Japan over the summer just 15 years prior. I knew the true reason laid elsewhere.

After talking to teachers, I soon realized that the heart of the problem is that Paly students don’t have enough interest or time to become exchange students.

That’s why it’s such a shame. During arguably the most impactful years in their lives, most Paly students will never get to live such a life-defining experience.

That, in an era of mass globalization, we can’t experience life in another country. That, like a frog in a well, it’s our own closed-mindedness that keeps us from broadening our own horizons.

Tuesday, December 7, 2021

The Campanile

A7

Opinion

ART BY WALLIE BUTLER

Small environmental changes should be encouraged, not shamed !""#$%&'()#(&#)*+$#$,+-'&,.$,(/#,&#.*(($'#0&1#).*""/#)0&2"3#4$#5'*-)$36#2,0$*"(07#5$'8$9(-&,#,&(#,$$3$3 Rachel Feinstein

Social Media Manager

E

very year, 39 million cows are slaughtered in the United States for food. What’s more, eating an eight-ounce steak has an equivalent negative impact on our climate as driving a car for 29 miles, according to the Federation of American Societies for Experimental Biology. But if everyone went vegan, the world’s food-related emissions would drop by 70% by 2050 according to the Proceedings of National Academy of Sciences.

What might surprise you is that I’m not vegan or vegetarian, and my goal is not to convince you to go vegan. My mission in life is not saving the environment.

The truth is, I love cheeseburgers. I drink cow’s milk for breakfast every morning.

My clothes are from the biggest retailer in the country. I take really long, hot showers, and the Amazon delivery guy is basically my best friend.

Despite this potentially harmful lifestyle, I understand that wildfires, hurricanes and high temperatures plague our planet. And I want to help the environment without sacrificing my other priorities: time with family and friends, grades and happiness.

Some might call my reasoning selfcentered, but the reality is changing every aspect of our lives all at once is unrealistic, unnecessary, time-consuming and dangerous to our mental and physical health.

Instead of promoting this toxic mentality about environmentalism and lifestyle, we should encourage an inclusive and collaborative effort to help the environment through small changes most everyone can implement.

In the past, I didn’t make significant changes to my lifestyle because I didn’t know where to start. According to social media, I needed to transform every aspect of my life at once without being overwhelmed. In fact, I was supposed to do it with an organic matcha latte in my hand. And I felt that if I didn’t, I might as well have not bothered trying because a failure is weaker than an apathete.

I believed that if I was going to change, I had to do it perfectly, and perfection scared me.

To add to this fear, changes I made were not enough for society, which discouraged me from making any adjustments to my lifestyle. People assume that less significant changes should lead to

larger, more drastic ones, otherwise those small changes are a waste of time.

In the vegan community, many influencers view small changes, such as replacing a hamburger with a veggie burger, as training wheels to help people transition into veganism. There is an assumption that at some point, the training wheels come off, and that person can happily ride off into the sunset with a diet entirely composed of whole, unprocessed vegan food.

Small changes or food substitutes should not be perceived as a stepping stone to a greater lifestyle and a high ground, moral or otherwise, because every step, small or large, should be considered part of an environment-conscious lifestyle.

Creating the impression that a person is not complete or worthy until they are as eco-friendly as possible is dangerous, as is sacrificing your relationship with food and happiness along the way.

Even then, someone might face criticism and be perceived as a work in progress if their ideal environmentalist lifestyle is not the same as someone else’s. Not only does this mindset cause fear and discourage an attempt at change, but it fuels a culture of comparison and competition.

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In addition, the idea that everyone’s end goal must be entirely plant-based isn’t right for everyone; food restrictions can lead to an unhealthy relationship with eating and dieting.

According to Owensboro Health, restricting meals implies food is good or bad, rather than nourishment for our bodies. This can lead to cravings, binge-eating and poor mental health.

To avoid jeopardizing our mental health, we need to focus on doing what we can at any given moment, no matter how insubstantial it may seem. If everyone contributes, our actions will make the planet a cleaner place. We need to avoid guilting people into becoming eco-friendly and equating self-worth to quantity of service.

According to international environmental organization The Nature Conservancy, if the majority of the American population implemented small changes, we could accomplish up to 37% reduction in admissions by 2030. To help, buy cleaner food, eat out less, shop local or second-hand and walk or bike more.

To encourage people to continue to make positive changes, we should celebrate those who choose to help the environment in any way they can. Just like any other challenge we face, environmental progress only comes if we lift people up instead of tearing them down.

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Colleen Wang

Senior Staff Writer

ART BY MEYA GAO

:*7"-;0(#)*+-,;)#(-.$#2,,$9$))*'7/#3*($3 Daylight savings time ended Nov. 7 resurfacing long-standing questions of health and safety about the annual jump backwards.

Contrary to popular belief, it was Germany, not Benjamin Franklin, that first implemented daylight savings time in 1916 as an effort to conserve fuel, and multiple European countries soon followed suit.

The U.S. adopted the time change in 1918, but it was quickly abolished due to its unpopularity. However, President Franklin Delano Roosevelt instituted a year-round daylight savings time program called war time in 1942 that lasted until World War II ended in 1945. Daylight savings time did not return until 1966 with the Uniform Time Act, which created time zones across the country. Today, Arizona and Hawaii are the only states that don’t observe daylight saving time.

However, daylight savings time in the modern age has various problems. First, its stated function of energy saving during wartime is obsolete — we are clearly not in a global war. Additionally, any energy saving that might result from the time change is minimal at best, studies show.

Second, daylight savings time has the potential to cause confusion. I can recall a sense of intense worry when I first realized, for no discernible reason, the time had changed, throwing my schedule out of whack. The feeling persists, and year after year, I find myself caught off-guard by it.

Daylight savings time can also damage sleep schedules. Humans have a finely-tuned biological clock that organizes their wakesleep schedules; this phenomenon is known as the circadian rhythm. Daylight savings time messes with circadian rhythms, and the effects can take weeks to overcome, even though the change is just one hour. This can cause effects such as unexplained hunger, warped sleep schedules and more.

To save our sleep schedules, I believe that we should skip back to a time before daylight savings.

Shantanu Deshpande Senior Staff Writer

I entered my first-period class on Nov. 1 and found a lot of empty seats. This trend continued throughout my classes, but I wasn’t surprised — after all, it was the day many early college applications were due.

While the deadlines for applying early to college have passed and many seniors have successfully submitted their applications, students should be OK with not applying early and simply submitting applications on a regular deadline instead.

The main draw for applying early is the seemingly high acceptance rate for early applicants. For example, Brown University’s early decision acceptance rate was 15.9% compared to its regular decision acceptance rate of 5.4% for the class of 2025. These comparatively higher acceptance rates lead many seniors to believe that they have a better chance of being accepted if they apply early, which is not entirely true.

Although the numbers seem attractive, there is more to college admissions than a percentage. Many students who are applying early to colleges are legacy students, meaning their parents attended or worked at the school, or are athletes who have guaranteed admission and are committed to playing a sport. These higher acceptance rates inflate the overall early acceptance rate.

Sure, there may be a small boost to your application if you apply to a college with binding early action or early decision to demonstrate your commitment, but you are likely going to be competing with other highly qualified applicants who are also just as dedicated to that college.

ART BY RACHEL LEE

Applying to colleges early isn’t worth forcing yourself to quickly make up your mind about what college you might attend for four more years just to accommodate the restrictions colleges often have for early applicants.

If you apply to a college with a binding early application, you lose additional time to further compare colleges as well as their financial aid packages. Some colleges don’t offer merit-based scholarships or financial aid packages for early applicants, most notably Tulane and MIT. You may also be waiting on the results of some scholarships that may not arrive as early.

The regular admissions cycle offers so many more choices in colleges to apply to and gives you more time to build your resume and plan for financial aid. In comparison, the only benefits to applying early are a slightly higher chance of acceptance and the relief of finishing some of your college applications early.

So seniors –– if you didn’t apply early, don’t stress. Early applications are not the end-allbe-all in your college application. The most important thing is making sure your essays are the best they can be and encapsulate you as a person, and it’s OK if you need a little more time to do so.

The Campanile

Tuesday, December 7, 2021

A8

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ART BY KYLE PARK

Math system needs revision !"#$%"&$'#()*+,'"-.+/-/0$'1#./&$#')2'31+"2)%0"14#'0/5'-1$('2%1-/5)%6

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he California Department of Education has proposed new guidelines for mathematics instruction which promote real-world application in problems and de-emphasizing their “giftedtalented” programs.

In addition, the new framework offers data science and statistics as alternatives to calculus in advanced math courses.

While these guidelines are non-binding, The Campanile hopes PAUSD considers implementing many aspects of the CDE’s plan into its math laning system, giving students a more accessible math education and more choice in terms of how they want to pursue the subject.

Utilizing elements of California’s proposed math framework will give PAUSD students a more balanced, equitable and applicable mathematics curriculum.

PAUSD should offer more advanced math alternatives to Calculus. While Paly offers statistics courses, they are generally taken as an elective rather than an alternative to calculus, which is generally regarded as the capstone math course in PAUSD. But Statistics and Linear Algebra are more relevant in most STEM fields, and providing more advanced math electives like these as Calculus alternatives, will give students more choice and real-world application opportunities.

PAUSD should reform its gifted-talented math system. PAUSD prides itself on its rigorous, in-depth math program. However, this high level of difficulty can be inequitable. At Paly, the courses in the honors math lane consist of almost exclusively white and Asian students, with more males than females.

The vast majority of students who enter the honors lane as freshmen in high school drop down before senior year. 30% of students who begin AP BC Calculus drop before the end of the school year.

Paly’s rigid laning system can prevent many students with an interest in math from pursuing their passion.

In other nearby districts, moving ahead in math is significantly easier. At Menlo-Atherton High School, students in the highest math lane can take AP Calculus BC their junior year, a year ahead of when Paly’s highest lane can take it. This offers students significantly more flexibility in schedules.

PAUSD’s current math system can also be restrictive for students. It has three lanes — honors, advanced and regular — which students are placed into based on teacher recommendation.

If a student has a grade of B- or below by the first quarter, teachers will often recommend that they lane down, which they generally listen to. Yet it is difficult for students in lower lanes to lane up, because the process involves summer courses and extra content.

Because of this, the laning system can have long-term consequences, academically and socially.

Since laning is decided purely on grades and tests without regard for students' interest in the subject, many students report that their peers judge them based on their math lane. Instead of purely basing lane recommendations on grades, teachers should also weigh a student’s interest in math.

To help solve the problem of inequitable access to math, PAUSD should reopen afterschool tutoring programs, which were open for sometime during the 20-21 school year.

With only one PRIME period per week this year, there is limited time students can get additional help in math. While after-school tutoring is not perfect, it will give all students more access to help in math.

In 2019 PAUSD de-laned its middle school math programs. The plan, already in effect for sixth and seventh graders, puts every student on course to take Algebra I by eighth grade, before being placed into a Geometry lane in high school.

Postponing laning until high school prevents students from being set on a permanent academic course at such a young age. Utilizing multiple elements of California’s proposed math framework will give PAUSD students a more equitable, applicable mathematics curriculum.

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%*79$",'#+#--$",?-*)8$(5,B#37$&)$&4'*5&@+#$#C,57 Palo Alto City Council’s approval of a new $26 million housing project marks an admirable cornerstone in overcoming the city’s substanstial housing instabilities. It’s a plan which The Campanile supports.

The Bay Area Council Economic Institute has reported record high housing insecurity across the peninsula, which this project addresses.

Despite complications, including an over $8 million increase in costs from the original proposal, City Council’s efforts to pursue the initiative highlights the value it places on the homeless population.

By supporting this initiative, Palo Alto fosters a more humanitarian environment for the entirety of its residents.

City council member Greg Tanaka — the sole member to oppose the updated, more expensive proposal — told The Campanile that granting an additional $8 million to the project would remove crucial funding from future initiatives.

While $8 million is certainly a costly increase to the project’s bud-

get, it is a worthy one nonetheless considering the program’s capacity to bring affordable housing to over 130 homeless people.

While the additional funding could have been used to support future projects, the city’s current list of approved projects are primarily composed of retail, office and parking spaces, all worth objectively little compared to the fundamental human need of housing the funding could provide instead.

That said, the housing project will not solve many of the underlying issues of homelessness itself. One of these central issues is substance abuse.

If City Council had allotted the housing project the $17.6 million it initially agreed upon, it could have then used the additional $8.4 million towards hiring social workers, nurses and psychiatrists or increasing funding for existing, lo-

cal rehab institutions, which would have shown a genuine dedication to resolving the city’s homelessness crisis.

The project, either way, will provide a great deal of benefits to the city’s homeless population, yet begs the question, why not a little bit sooner?

Even as Palo Alto is one of the wealthiest cities in the nation, they have failed to effectively address homelessness at this level until this current project.

Even so, City Council’s current efforts to fund affordable housing are commendable and set a valuable precedent as a first step in overcoming the homelessness crisis.

The Campanile urges cities throughout the Bay Area to follow suit, prioritizing their homeless populations and funding initiatives aimed at providing them with affordable, accessible housing.

BY PARKER WANG & JOY XU

Editors-in-Chief Gina Bae • Gianna Brogley • Jack Galetti Braden Leung • Austin Xiang News & Opinion Editors Ben Antonow Maya Singer

Managing Editors Valerie Chu Ajay Venkatraman

Sports Editors Lauren Chung Zack Silver

Lifestyle Editors Anaya Bhatt Joy Xu

Art & Photo Manager Kyla Schwarzbach

Science & Tech Editor Parker Wang

Socia Media Managers Justin Gu Rachel Feinstein

Newsletter Editors Cayden Gu Jerry Xia

Business Manager Charlotte Hallenbeck

Graphics Lead Wallie Butler

Margot Blanco Lillian Clark Dinu Deshpande Shantanu Deshpande Eric Fan

Staff Writers

Erik Feng Lucas Guan Tiffany He Christie Hong Ali Minhas Ken Ogata

Aidan Seto Cole Sturino Shiki Toyama Colleen Wang Brianna Zhou

Illustrators & Photographers

JT Bard James Churchley

Phillip Churchley Meya Gao Anushe Irani

Rachel Lee Kyle Park

Adviser Rodney Satterthwaite Letters to the Editors: Email all letters to editors to theeds22@googlegroups.com. The Campanile prints letters on a space-available basis. We reserve the right to edit submissions. The Campanile only prints signed letters.

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Note: It is the policy of The Campanile to refrain from printing articles that misrepresent or alienate specific individuals within the Palo Alto community. The Campanile would like to thank the PTSA for supporting the mailing of our newspaper.

Our Vision Statement: The Campanile has upheld the highest standard of student journalism for the last century by engaging the community through various mediums of storytelling.

Our coverage of news, culture and athletics aims to represent the diverse perspectives of our student body.

Tuesday, December 7, 2021

The Campanile

Lifestyle

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espite the large space that the Savers thrift store occupies, every inch is covered with rows of clothing. When senior Owen Rice shops there, going through all of the clothing could occupy hours, but he said there are several tactics that he uses to make thrift shopping trips less overwhelming and more successful.

Rice said defining one’s personal style before walking into a thrift store is important.

“Some thrift stores are kind of crowded and big, but you just have to know what you like,” he said.

Inspired by clothing brands and musicians he likes, Rice said he often buys oversized, fitted clothes.

“I really like fashion that has to do with my interests, like outdoors fashion or repping a band that I like on a T-shirt,” Rice said.

Even after defining a personal style, knowing what specifically looks good can be difficult. To tackle this problem, sophomore Clare Antonow said she looks for specific color schemes.

“For me personally, I know neutral colors and greens look good,” Antonow said. “I kind of base it off of the season too, I feel like that also changes what looks good on me.”

Sophomore Clara Persson said repeatedly flipping through rows of hangers can be a tiring job, so once someone discovers a personal color scheme, forming a good agenda is the next step.

“Especially if I don’t want to look through all the clothes, I go to the accessories,” Persson said. “I actually just got this beret hat from Buffalo Exchange which I love.”

Although most accessories will fit everyone, finding clothing that fits is another obstacle that thrift shoppers commonly experience, Persson said.

“A mens size medium blazer looks like a good oversized jacket until you

try it on and it goes past your knees,” Persson said.

Antonow has a solution to this problem, which she keeps in mind while shopping for clothing in thrift stores.

“One thing I like to do is to memorize my own measurements,” Antonow said. “I keep my waist and inseam measurements in mind so I have an idea of what tends to fit me.”

But even for those who love shopping, taking measurements can feel like the extra mile that no one wants to venture.

Rice proposes another solution: belts.

“I own some pretty large pants, and I’ve seen people using different tactics like shoelaces as a belt, but honestly I just take my belt and scrunch it tight,” Rice said.

Once size is no longer a problem, Antonow recommends a shopping rule she likes to follow — making sure that what she buys will go with her current closet.

“I usually won’t buy something unless I can think of three things it can go with from my existing closet,” Antonow said. “You just have to make sure you’re spending your money on the right things.”

Antonow also said the results of thrift shopping can vary greatly. One day a thrift store may carry everything you want to purchase, while another may leave you empty handed — but one

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thing that exists at all thrift stores is staple basics.

“I recently got a pair of black, high waisted jeans from a vintage store downtown, and it’s so versatile that I can just wear it with anything on top,” Antonow said. “If you just take your time and look through everything, you’ll most likely find something you love that’s unique to you.”

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For fans attending Travis Scott’s “Astroworld Festival” in Houston, Tex., the event was supposed to be two days of fun in November. However, the second day of the festival was canceled due to a crowd surge that resulted in 10 deaths and over 300 people needing urgent medical care.

About 50,000 people attended Astroworld, and once Scott began performing, crowds began running up to the stage, leaving no space to breathe, causing many people to pass out or require CPR. The incident at Astroworld has brought much expected attention to Travis Scott, who continued performing as the crowd surged forward. But junior Ayush Singh said Scott couldn’t have seen the injured in the crowd since there were so many people in attendance.

“I don’t think it was Travis’ fault for what happened because it’s not like he purposely tried to get people killed. It was just a really sad thing that happened because of the amount of people in the crowd,” Singh said. “I think it happened at his concert specifically because he has such a big fanbase.”

Several videos from the festival have surfaced, showing Scott briefly pausing the concert to try and get the crowd in order. But sophomore Jessie Slafsky said Scott should have done more and stopped the concert when he saw the mayhem.

“Travis definitely should have stopped the concert, since there were paramedics and ambulances trying to get into the crowd to help the people who were injured, but they couldn’t get there because the concert kept going,” Slafsky said.

“He probably could’ve prevented a lot of people from getting injured if he stopped the concert earlier.”

For junior Alexis Chiu, factors such as the general admission policy, concert security and Scott himself all played a part in the tragedy.

“The way that it was set up, it was super unsafe, so that needs to be changed in the future,” Chiu said.

“I think the problem was that too many people were in too small of an

area, and in the future they need to make capacity limits so that people can’t compress together, which was the cause of people getting trampled or injured.”

Singh said the security, or lack thereof, was a big contributor to the deaths and injuries at the concert.

“I’d say for Travis’ concert, they would need better security if so many people were able to break in.

I saw some videos of a bunch of people hopping and trampling the fence, and there wasn’t any security nearby,” Singh said. “There were probably way more people who could’ve broken in and weren’t caught on video.”

The deaths and injuries at Astroworld have generated hesitance for some students regarding future concerts. While Chiu said she usually feels safe at concerts, she recognizes all events like this have some risks.

“I think concerts can be dangerous, but they don’t have to be,” she said. “It depends on the type of people who go, like if they all decide to violently mosh, then it gets really dangerous.”

Brianna Zhou Staff Writer

The Campanile

Tuesday, December 7, 2021

B2

Lifestyle

Unloading about guns

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ragments of broken clay pigeons lay scattered among the golden grass. The echoing booms of shotguns firing echo in the distance. At a range in Coyote Valley, just 40 minutes from Palo Alto, senior Anton Tompert and his family can spend a fun afternoon at various shooting stations set up around the property.

“It’s fun because it’s kind of like golf,” Tompert said.

“There’s different ways they let out the clay pigeons, and then you drive around in a golf cart to go to different sites.”

Tompert said it can be difficult to have pro-gun beliefs in the liberal atmosphere of Palo Alto. Tompert said he believes the nation is too politically divided for any productive discussions concerning gun culture to occur.

“I’ve had conversations with people that are strongly against (gun ownership), and it never really results in an actual discussion,” Tompert said. “People are more concered about whether a policy is right or left, not right or wrong.”

While guns have always been a controversial topic, debates surrounding gun control have once again been thrust into the national spotlight after two monumental judicial cases: the Kyle Rittenhouse trial and the Supreme Court’s impending decision on a New York concealed carry law.

In the controversial trial, a jury acquitted Rittenhouse of all criminal charges after he fatally shot two Black Lives Matter protesters amid the chaos of the protests in Kenosha, Wisc. in 2020.

In the shadow of the Rittenhouse trial, the sound of gunfire can conjure up a different scene.

Sophomore Anna Van Riesen said her first encounter with guns was five years ago in San Francisco.

Van Riesen was helping her cousins in San Francisco move into a new house when she suddenly heard shots coming from down the street.

“I thought it was fireworks at first, so I put my head against the car window,” Van Riesen said. “And then my dad was like, ‘No, get down, get down!’ My brother has special needs so we just lied on the floor of the car and hoped that nothing bad would happen.”

While Van Riesen and her family were able to make it out safe, she said that this experience gave her a new perspective on the threat of guns.

“I’ve always heard names like Columbine and Parkland in the news, but hearing people yelling and screaming made me realize that it’s not just numbers,” Van Riesen said. “It became real.”

Van Riesen said she was upset by the verdict of the Rittenhouse trial.

“It made me sad, but what I came to realize after my emotions died down was that these people are still dead,” Van Riesen said. “If a minor with an automatic gun can cross state lines and kill two people, there’s something wrong with the system.”

Tompert said the Rittenhouse trial was a good example of why he thinks open carry is

a bad idea as it increases the potential of people getting hurt.

“Open carry just makes the situation so much more tense,” Tompert said. “It really does nothing to ease tensions.”

And if the Supreme Court rules against a New York law that limits citizens from carrying concealed guns in public, it may invalidate California’s laws against concealed carry, potentially allowing more Californians to carry firearms outside of their homes.

The presence of guns in American society can come as a surprise for international students such as junior Alex Gao who moved to the United States from Shanghai in sixth grade.

“We never have any guns in China, so we never really get to experience it,” Gao said.

“Once you come here it’s like: Hey, people can own actual firearms outside of the police and army officers. That was a shock.”

Gao said he sees no need for people to carry firearms in public.

“In their house, sure. But in public spaces, no,” Gao said. “I think Americans are fixed on the idea that if you’re holding a gun, you’re holding on to power. I don’t think we need to make the issue worse.”

And Van Riesen said she sees no need for an increased presence of guns in public, given the fear surrounding them.

“We’re a generation of kids walking around Paly with signs on doors that tell you what to do in an active-shooter situation — it’s burned in our psyches,” Van Riesen said.

“There’s no reason for guns to be more prevalent in a culture where we’re already constantly afraid of them.”

Van Riesen said she is both angry and disappointed in both political parties regarding the lack of productive reforms for gun control.

“I don’t think they necessarily value keeping people safe,” Van Riesen said. “The main value is getting people riled up so that they vote for you in the next election, and that feels fake to me.”

With the recent school shooting in Oxford, Mich., which left four students dead and eight others injured, Reisen said the threat of a potential school shooting at Paly always stays in the back of her head.

“My friends and I were talking about it during lunch, and we all agreed that we wouldn’t go to the field,” Van Riesen said. “We know what we’d do: we’d run. It’s insane that we even have to think about this.”

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ART BY JAMES CHURCHLEY

Ken Ogata

Senior Staff Writer

?@6'+7#6'2+,<%+8*/#2+/;&$+#%&9%#+1;+-$.$&3'/ Kyla Schwarzbach Multimedia Editor

Some people enjoy reading the last page of a book before finishing the first chapter. If you’re one of these unique readers, then “Dune 2021” might be the movie for you. However, if you prefer to experience the twists and turns of a novel along with the characters, “Dune” may not be your ideal movie-night pick. Please note there is a very minor hint to a spoiler in this review, so read at your own risk.

In keeping with the tradition started by the 1984 movie adaptation, the opening scene of “Dune” spoils the largest twist in the book — the value of spice — the fictional drug the book is based around. In the book, the reveal is left for the final pages and forces the reader to re-examine the contents of the novel. To lose this reveal undermines Frank Herbert’s carefully crafted world.

Speaking of misconceptions, Zendaya (Chani) — who was advertised as Timothee Chalamet’s (Paul Atriedes) co-star — only appears in about 10 minutes of the film, and her exceptional range is not utilized. Half her screen-time was spent dramatically turning towards the audience as the score crescendos.

Even in part two (the fact that the film will be split into two halves was cleverly hidden from viewers) Chani will likely not take on a significantly larger role.

Putting this aside, “Dune’s” stars should all look forward to receiving Oscars this spring. Jacqueline West, Paul Lambert and Patrice Vermette’s skill is impossible to overlook. And before you wonder who Patrice Vermette played, know that the average viewer hasn’t heard of any of these actors before because the publicity team has been highlighting the wrong craftsman.

As costume designer, West’s modern creations made me ponder functionality and style across a violent and futuristic universe. Visual effects supervisor Lambert gives audiences effective CGI and Effects and production designer Vermette’s work cannot be overlooked.

The breathtaking design of the world, from the spaceships to the jaw-dropping panoramic views of deserts are thanks to Vermette’s skill.

The phrase “one-note’’ gains a whole new meaning throughout the 2 hours and 35 minutes spent watching

ART BY KYLA SCHWARZBACH

“Dune.” Rebecca Ferguson ( Jessica) and Chalamet, who dominate the screen, present only the slightest changes in facial expression throughout the film. Much of the ensemble was strong, though, especially Oscar Isaac in the role of Duke Leto Atreides. Without engaging leads, the film falls flat. Even if you are familiar with the plot, it will be hard to understand the characters reactions, or lack thereof.

If you’re a devoted “Dune” fan looking for an accurate representation of Paul Atreides, watching Daniel Craig’s portrayal of James Bond in “No Time to Die” will show a far closer representation of the character than the one director Denis Villeneuve and Chalamet create.

Tuesday, December 7, 2021

The Campanile

B3

Lifestyle

A balancing act: identity in multicultural households

C

hemistry teacher Aparna Sankararaman said she had struggled with her ethnicity for some time before meeting her partner. She said she used to not cook Indian food on weekdays, worried of what her colleagues would think of her. Though after meeting her wife, she began to feel more comfortable with her culture.

“Being with her empowered me and made me feel more confident in myself; it made me start reconnecting with the parts that I had lost touch with,” she said.

Multiracial students make up 6.3% of Paly’s student body and the population of U.S. citizens who identify as multiracial raised from 3% to a little over 10% in the past decade. And with the holiday season underway, the different cultures in multiracial families begin to become more apparent.

Sankararaman, who is Indian, said her relationship with her white partner, Alyssa, has created avenues for learning for both of them.

“I think it’s opened us both up to a lot of perspectives,” Sankararaman said. “Her family is predominantly white, and every time I go and hang out with them, they end up learning something new from me, and I end up learning something new from them.”

Being a part of a multiracial relationship comes with complexities, with things like holidays, traditions, foods and languages. According to Sankararaman, a balance exists between her partner’s culture and her own in their house.

“Diwali just passed a week ago, and Christmas is coming up,” she said. “If you look at our house right now, the decorations are actually a cross between Diwali and Christmas because we wanted both represented in (our home).”

Similarly, senior Kenji Tella, who is Japanese and Indian, said even though he is of mixed ethnicity, there is no dominant culture in his home.

“At home, neither culture is very prominent,” Tella said. “However, there are some Hindu and Buddhist religious and cultural decorations here and there.”

But Tella said he sometimes feels alienated due to his mixed ethnic background when visiting other countries.

“When I go to India, I don’t feel as welcome because I look very different, wear different clothes, and don’t speak Telugu,” Tella said. “In Japan, I feel more welcome.

I think in part because modern Japanese culture is more similar to American culture and because I can speak Japanese reasonably well.”

Maia Johnsson, who is Jamaican and German, saidshe feels the same way when visiting countries like Africa or Germany.

“When I was in Africa, I felt like I was more white than normal just because my skin color was lighter than most others, and it’s the same when I am in Germany or Europe,” Johnsson said.

However, Johnsson said at Paly, she rarely ever feels unwelcome.

The president of Paly’s Black Student Union, Johnsson said even though she may have a slightly lighter complexion, she is able to understand the struggles and similarities each person shares.

“I feel quite welcomed in both communities –– with other Black people, even though I may not be as dark as them, we all understand what it’s like to not be fully white,” Johnsson said.

And Sankararaman said though she and her wife may look different, that has never been something that they’ve struggled with.

“Between me and Alyssa, I don’t think we even realize that we look different,” Sankararaman said. “I don’t think that’s ever been consciously a part of our thought process, and I think that’s one of the things that made her so different when I met her: that I wasn’t aware. She didn’t make me feel like there were differences in our culture.”

Sankararaman said this may be due to the changing attitude toward multiracial couples.

“I think I’ve had my own biases in the past, and Alyssa has had her own biases,” she said. “I think if we’d met 10 years earlier, it might have been a slightly different story.

Maybe we still would end up married, but we might have had some struggles to see eye-to-eye on things.”

The changing attitudes towards mixed people and multicultural, ethnic and racial relationships are progressing for the better, Johnsson said because it leads to a more progressive society.

Johnson said, “Being mixed lets me experience multiple cultures and have multiple perspectives … and even though I don’t look like your average German, I think that people are very open and understanding of mixed families.”

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Lillian Clark

Staff Writer

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Art & Photo Manager

!"#$%&!%'()&*+,-./ To call Coupa Cafe on Ramona street a coffee shop is an understatement. It’s a marketplace, lunch spot and dessert haven, but the overpriced, far-too-small coffees are just an excuse to try one of the cafe’s Venezuelan inspired crepes, pastas or pastries.

The atmosphere of Coupa is excellent for those who thrive in bright spaces, with an innovative buzz of chatter and the feeling that everyone around you is working on something new and interesting. I recommend the curbside seating or the back of the shop for working.

01234&"5&62773(8(37)&*+,-./ Straight out of Berkeley, Philz Coffee on Middlefield Road is heaven to those who don’t feel like a perfect fit in Palo Alto’s tech-based climate.

The outdoor seating is a world unto its own. You can choose from the colorful, mural adorned benches on the Loma Verde side of the store or the more secluded dugout space facing Middlefield Road.

Philz on Middlefield is a must for students looking for semi-studious reading and heavy study sessions. However, the social environment means you’re bound to have a fascinating conversation with someone you happen to run into, so introverts ought to proceed with caution.

A unique and indie filtered dream, Philz coffee is delightful –– provided you know what to order.

However, the learning curve in ordering Philz drinks H doesn’t AC RZB ART B Y KYLA SCHWA prove a massive problem as the friendly workers are always there to recommend their favorite drinks.

93#(&9"::3(&!";(()&<+,-./ This perfect coffee shop comes at an outrageous price.

But if you’re willing to pay for it, you’ll enjoy the latest incarnation of an old movie theatre in Palo Alto’s downtown (previously a Barnes and Nobles). The coffee is a smooth, elegant balance between a fine flavor and a taste true to its coffee berry origins. Additionally, Blue Bottle serves its coffee in warm white mugs, or sleek oneuse cups, which fit perfectly into your hand and provide the perfect portion. Blue Bottle may just provide the best coffee in Palo Alto.

Blue Bottle is ideal for long social visits or for hourslong study crusades. It’s a pleasure to sit in a space so full of innovation and creativity that inspires patrons to finally finish their half completed novel, quarter done thesis or not-attempted homework.

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If you ever traverse down the painted Cal Aveadjacent alley at the entrance to Backyard Brew, you’d be immediately struck by how sacred the space is. And once you reach the end of the yellow walled road and find the coffee bar behind the street, this feeling becomes a reality.

Personable, warm, smiling servers allow patrons to come behind the counter to sniff teas and combine the leaves into a new mix. Although the coffee is so-so, their delightful baklava and the fact that the owners are Paly grads make Backyard Brew a great spot.

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The Campanile

Tuesday, December 7, 2021

Lifestyle

Trouble with Theranos

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News & Opinion Editor

S

itting in the San Jose courtroom, former tech CEO Elizabeth Holmes has swapped her signature black turtleneck for a more refined grey pantsuit.

She has been on trial since August 2021 for fraud and conspiracy after her Palo Alto-based healthcare startup, Theranos, folded after allegedly deceiving investors.

Theranos was developing a product that claimed to be able to provide an advanced blood test with only a drop of a person’s blood. We now know that Holmes exaggerated the company’s ability to develop such a product.

In 2014, Forbes dubbed Holmes the world’s youngest self-made female billionaire after Theranos was valued at $9 billion.

However, the company was exposed for malpractice and exaggerated claims.

She stands on trial for her role in the scandal.

Steve Kornfeld was a healthcare investor at Franklin Templeton when Theranos was on the rise.

He said it was briefly on his radar before he saw red flags in the company.

“When you look at advisers or board members, for a large part they weren’t healthcare investors,” Kornfeld said. “It was mainly wellconnected people that had a lot of money. Most healthcare investors said it didn’t pass the sniff test.”

Sure enough, according to the New York Times, a majority of board members did not have a background in healthcare, instead having experience in politics or government.

Kornfeld was also suspicious of Holmes’s attitude and her approach

to doing business.

“My perception was that she was trying to create this Silicon Valley mentality that would promise incredible things, and over time we’ll figure it out,” Kornfeld said. “To get there you sometimes lie, or cajole people, but I think you just don’t do that in healthcare. I don’t think they thought

2003

“There were actually people who had terminal cancer, and they were told they’re going into remission, even though they weren’t. It’s really, really messed up.”

Kornfeld said ethical considerations are embedded in whether companies can make money because unsafe products won’t be adopted.

He said he feels similarly about the ethics of Holmes’s business practices.

“The thing that’s different about healthcare is that people’s lives are impacted by this,’’ Kornfeld said. “So, you may have software that doesn’t work or a consumer app that doesn’t work. The problem with healthcare –– it is so heavily regulated –– is if you have bad information, or the wrong diagnosis, you can have fatal consequences.”

of themselves as a healthcare company and didn’t realize they had to play by the rules.”

One of the more disturbing aspects of the scandal was the lengths Holmes was allegedly willing to go to in order to keep her company afloat, senior Annalise Stewart said.

Stewart said she has been following the company’s rise and fall for quite some time and was especially concerned about the ways they tested their product.

“They tested the devices on a bunch of cancer patients in Tennessee,” Stewart said.

Theranos founded

2007 Theranos valued at $197m

2015 Shortcomings exposed

2016 All medical labs closed

2021 Holmes tried criminally

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ART BY AJAY

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Tuesday, December 7, 2021

C1

The Campanile

Sports

Bye-bye, Buster

3(#/)4%5"1"/*%624)"-%7+4"8%-")(-"4%#9)"-%#%:5+'.:24)"-%'#-""Dinu Deshpande Staff Writer

Giants baseball star Buster Posey announced his retirement from his baseball career on Nov. 6, citing his desire to spend more time with family and travel less. This came as a huge surprise for baseball fans all over the country.

“Before the game starts, when the Giants lineup is introduced, there is a palpable electricity and anticipation throughout the ballpark to hear Posey’s name be called,” junior Julian Galindo said. “Any Giants fan will tell you if you're at a Giants game, you watch Posey behind the dish. He’s the guy you’re there to watch.”

Galindo said that Posey has always been at the forefront of the team, and that he has always seen Posey as a leader and a veteran for the Giants.

“He was definitely the main guy, the star for the Giants, especially for the public and for the fans. He was always there from the beginning and was always a Giant, and he led his team to a lot of success in his years in the game.”

Posey helped the Giants win three multiple World Series titles in his 12 years with the team and won Rookie of the Year in 2010 and MVP in 2012.

He stayed with the Giants for his entire career, spanning from 2009 to the end of 2021.

Devoted Giants supporter and freshman Cormac White said he's sad to see Posey's career come to an end.

“Over the last 10 years, he’s been the heart of our team and the Bay Area,” White said. “When you think of role models for Bay Area sports, you think of Buster Posey. He’s a huge part of the team, and I think we are all sad to see him retire, but I understand it if that’s what he needs to do.”

Posey’s retirement won’t just affect the perfor-

mance of the Giants team and the spirit of fans.

Oliver Marburg, co-host of sports podcast CO Sports Talk, said Posey’s impact on the baseball community was monumental. He was an idol for young kids growing up playing sports as well as older kids trying to play at the college level and professionally.

“Young kids growing up in the Bay Area that want to play baseball look up to Posey because he represents homegrown talent, drafted by the Giants and brought up through the system,” Marburg said. “He’s just representative of trusting the process, and that’s a real motivation for kids all the way up to the college level. He’s really the blueprint for studentathletes trying to make it to the pros, and I think that’s part of what made him such an icon for kids.”

Posey will be missed by many fans, but his legacy will remain strong in the Bay Area, Marburg said.

“He was really that guy,” Marburg said. “He did everything for the team but even more for the community, and that’s something to be proud of. I know he’s gonna miss the game, but the game’s gonna miss him more.”

PHOTO BY CELESTE BATES/USED WITH PERMISSION

Junior Stephanie Valeros Barrera dribbles past a Woodside defender. Paly varsity girls soccer lost its first game of the season against Woodside 2-0.

Girls soccer optimistic for coming season !"#$%"&'()"*%)+%,+-.%+/% -"0/(/1%'+$$2/('#)(+/% Margot Blanco Staff Writer

After finishing tryouts, junior and defense Adelaide McCarter said she is looking forward to the team’s first preseason game on Dec. 1.

“Practice and tryouts have been super fun, and I’m really looking forward to playing with this group of girls,” McCarter said.

McCarter said she’s also confident about the team’s performance this year.

“There is definitely some tough competition, but I’m optimistic that we will be able to work together and pull through to see results,” McCarter said.

She said players are primarily focused on communicating on the field.

“I think as a team the first few games in preseason are generally where you try new things and learn how to work together and communicate on the field,” McCarter said. “Every team has a different dynamic, so in the first couple games, I think it’s important for us to try new things and learn what works and what doesn’t from our mistakes.”

Junior and center-defense Miya Whiteley also said the team needs to work on its their dynamic.

She said, “I think we need to learn how to play off each other and work as a whole team because right now we are just getting started, and it might take us a little while to find our rhythm.”

Buster Posey career highlights • Rookie of the Year, 2010 • Grand slam to win 2012 NL championship • Comeback Player of the Year, 2012, 2021 • National League MVP, 2012 • Gold Glove Award, 2016 • Seven-time All-Star • Lead Giants to World Series victories in 2010, 2012, 2014

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ART BY GINA BAE

Boys cross country win first CCS title in 32 years ;/%)<-(55(/1%)(":-"#."-=%)"#$%:"#)4%6"55#-$(/"%(/%>?=%'+$@")"4%#)%A;B%4)#)"%$"")

PHOTO BY MALCOLM SLANEY /USED WITH PERMISSION

Sophomore Grant Morgenfield pushes through the third mile of Crystal Springs. Morgenfield finished in third place overall and ran this race at 15:17, the fastest of both schools.

The Paly boys varsity cross country team will compete at the California Interscholastic Federation state meet after winning the Division 1 section of the Central Coast Section Championships at Crystal Springs in Belmont on Saturday.

This marks the first CCS Championship for Paly boys cross country since 1989.

All seven boys varsity members ran at the CIF meet on Nov. 27 in Woodward Park, Fresno.

With both Bellarmine and Paly having scores of 49, 6th-place runner and senior Kenji Tella served as tiebreaker, clinching Paly’s victory, breaking Bellarmine’s seven-year streak as CCS champions. Tella said he was both excited and nervous “I didn’t feel great in the race,” Tella said. “But I knew that I had to work to catch every single person I could if we wanted to win.”

Senior and team captain JT Bard said he felt very proud the victory.

“We’ve been eyeing Bellarmine and the CCS title for the whole season,” Bard said. “It feels amazing to have made it reality, especially since we really worked as a team to do it.”

Though girls varsity didn't win as a team, junior Elizabeth Fetter won the CCS meet individually.

Both Fetter and junior Hillary Studdert scored well enough to qualify for states on their own, placing first and fifth respectively.

Senior and varsity team captain Jimmy Miller saw the trust that each team member had in each other as essential to their win.

“I couldn’t be prouder of the way our team came together today,” Miller said. “We put our minds to the goal of winning CCS and by having faith in each other, we were able to make it happen today.”

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The Campanile

Tuesday, December 7, 2021

C2

Sports

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Junior Allyson Lee drives at the Baylands Golf Links Driving range. Since Lee has been on the Paly golf team, she has not lost a match.

Zack Silver Sports Editor

In 2017, the girls golf team lifted the

trophy at the Helen Lengfeld Tournament, beating rival St. Francis by one stroke.

The tournament marked the beginning of an era of dominance for the team. Since then, the girls have yet to lose a match.

That makes for five years of undefeated golf and appearances in two state championship tournaments in 2019 and 2021, including a 2019 win.

Paly alumna Priya Bakshi, who golfed with the team until her graduation in 2020, said the Helen Lengfeld tournament offered their first glimpse into the team’s potential.

“It was the first time we had ever won a major tournament,” Bakshi said.

“It was a big deal for us, and that was when we realized how good we could actually be.”

The team’s dominance is thanks to a large number of tournament-experienced players, according to head coach Doyle Knight.

“For a few years, we had seven or eight solid players, and you don’t hear that too often,” Knight said. “The girls put the time and effort in to make the program so good.”

Knight also said the best players positively influenced the rest of the team.

“They see what it takes to be at a high level,” Knight said. “They put the time and effort in to be as good as they can.”

Team captain Lauren Sung attributed much of the team’s success to their chemistry they all have among each other.

“We’re a family,” Sung said. “Our top six is really close-knit, and we’re always together.”

As years passed and the team’s undefeated streak remained, Sung said the team began to feel the burden of keeping its success going.

“Paly has a reputation among girls golf and an expectation to win every league match,” Sung said. “It does add pressure.”

The team’s run of dominance peaked in 2019, when they became the first girls golf team from Northern California to win the state championship.

“It was the highlight of my Paly career,” Bakshi said.

The team had gone into the state finals as the sixth seed out of six, and Sung said this underdog status helped them thrive.

“We were going into it with no expectations whatsoever,” Sung said. “Even if you had a bad hole, the pressure was off.”

This year the team once again entered the state championship as the last seed, and they fought their way to a second place finish behind Granite Bay High School.

Despite the team’s dominance, Sung worries that girls golf does not get the recognition it deserves.

“It’s sad to see that we haven’t made an impact among the students here,” Sung said. “It sucks because I feel like we put in a lot of work to gain this reputation in the golf community.”

All seven golfers who were part of the state championship team either are or will play at the college level, with four already graduated and playing at Dartmouth, Lehigh, Amherst and UC Davis, while of the three who remain two will be golfing at Michigan and one will be golfing at Penn.

The entire 2019 team will be gone after this year, but Sung said she’s optimistic about the team’s future.

“Everyone on the team is motivated to continue our streak of winning,” Sung said. “They’re going to continue the Paly reputation and the relationship we all have with each other.”

JUSTIN ZHANG/USED WITH PERMISSION

Senior Justin Zhang skates past his opponents to follow up on a play after his team gained puck possession at a tournament in the Colorado Springs College Stadium. Zhang plays defense on the San Jose Jr. Sharks. “Hockey requires you to make quick decisions, and doing so while controlling a small puck with a stick and skating with your head up to avoid being hit is extremely difficult,” Zhang said.

Ice sports grow in popularity F

or as long as he can remember, senior Ben Schweitzer said he has loved the unique sensation of skating across an icy surface, particularly with a hockey stick in hand and 11 other people in the rink with him.

“My parents loved watching hockey together, and so they had me skating ever since I was 3,” Schweitzer said. “I’ve been playing hockey since I was 5, starting in in-house leagues and eventually moving into high school leagues that travel.”

Senior Justin Zhang has also played hockey for a large portion of his life, 10 years in AA and AAA leagues. Zhang said hockey and other sports played on an ice rink are less popular in the Bay Area than in Canada and northern states.

“The lack of colder weather here makes it so that people have fewer opportunities to skate and are less exposed to sports like hockey and figure skating,” Zhang said. “There’s also a steep learning curve in learning skating that keeps a lot of people from playing these sports.”

Despite this, students like sophomore Haley Oba said she has been figure skating for eight years. Oba said she initially begin skating after being

introduced to ice sports by her brother who played hockey and then later being inspired by a video of Michelle Kwan’s 1998 Olympic performance.

According to Oba, an icy surface sets these apart from anything else.

“Ice sports are much faster and smoother; instead of running, you glide and learn to balance,” Oba said. “I also think since ice is so slippery, it makes all ice sports unique, especially hockey and curling .”

Zhang agrees.

“I like how the ice allows for higher speeds and harder contact,” Zhang said.

“Starting, accelerating, stopping and turning on skates is very different from running, and I think a lot of people like that.”

Zhang also said puck control and quick reactions are one of the most difficult parts of hockey to master.

“Hockey requires you to make quick decisions, and doing so while controlling a small puck with a stick and skating with your head up to avoid being hit is extremely difficult,” Zhang said.

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Oba said figure skating is a psychologically demanding sport.

“For figure skating, the mental aspect is tough because you have to be mentally strong and brave in order to be successful,” Oba said. “Mental blocks such as being scared of falling on a jump and performing an imperfect trick are common issues that decrease practice productivity drastically and ruin a lot of skating careers.”

And each sport comes with its unique rewarding moments, Schweitzer said.

“In any sport, winning a game that you fought for is the best feeling, but in hockey, there’s nothing like being in a dead heat against a team and seeing your team light up in excitement after putting someone on the ground,” Schweitzer said.

While ice sports may be overlooked in places such as the Bay Area, there is hope for them to increase in popularity in the future, Oba said.

“Ice sports are generally less popular because of the lack of accessibility, so if facilities and equipment are more easily accessible, ice sports will probably become a lot more popular,” she said. “Currently, there’s not any place for athletes to practice besides actual rinks, but there are developments such as fake ice that may be able to help.”

Aidan Seto

Senior Staff Writer

6#,%2$"1'&/(78$,%&/(91&(1&2#+"1"1'&+)2,#&29(:.,+#&;"+27% Eric Fan

Senior Staff Writer

ELLA JAUREGUI/USED WITH PERMISSION

Senior and team captain Ella Jauregui faces off against an opponent.

Jauregui placed 7th in the state tournament last year.

Coming out of the pandemic, the wrestling team is looking strong for its first season in two years, Coach Jonathan Kessler said.

Kessler said the center of the both the boys and girls team’s strength this season comes from its powerhouse seniors and experienced captains.

“We have Cade Creighton and Max Felter for the boys who are wrestlers that have goals of becoming state champions,” Kessler said. “And then on the other side, for the girls, we have Ella Jauregui, and she placed 7th at the California Invitational Tournament last year.”

Kessler also said the rest of the team is hoping to make it far this season.

“We also have wrestlers behind them; their goals are to get to the state tournament this year and a couple of girls are

vying to get to (Central Coast Sections) as well,” Kessler said.

Still, the team is struggling to find wrestlers to fill all 11 weight classes. Kessler said a lot of people quit wrestling over the pandemic and didn’t return to compete for this season.

“We had a lot of kids come out a couple of years ago, and now they’re juniors and they didn’t stick it out,” Kessler said.

Creighton, who’s also co-captain of the team, said that the grit and toughness needed in wrestling can turn people away from the sport.

“The truth is that wrestling is a contact sport,” Creighton said. “It hurts. You’re going to have to lose weight sometimes, and it’s going to be painful.”

Despite the smaller team, Kessler said he is optimistic about the season.

“We’re probably one of the top three schools (in the league),” Kessler said, “Los Gatos and Fremont are right there, and we’re not too far behind.”

Tuesday, December 7, 2021

The Campanile

C3

Sports !"#$%&'%(#$) !"#$ *+$,-&./$-+)0 CIF Championship: 2nd Place

!%&#'()*'+,-.*## '%"#$1 Varsity: 1-0 '%"%2)&!"#$%-& Paly vs. Aptos 11/23, W, 59-42

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Senior Sasha Maroulis plays a game of chess against himself, weighing out the different moves he could make. Maroulis, the captain of the chess club, said he started getting more into the game when quarantine began. “It was kind of an on-and-off thing, until the pandemic hit,” Maroulis said.

Paly vs. Overfelt 11/30, W, 56-25

Non-physical games challenge definition of sport

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!"#$$%&'(%&)*"+(,-&-*.#$&/#012/#&$2.23*/&4#425*62(,%&5(.7#62628#,#$$ Joy Xu

Lifestyle Editor

I

n the lively 1707 classroom during lunch, senior Sasha Maroulis sits at a table in front of one of the 10 other chess boards in the room. Knight G6 or bishop C5, he ponders to himself. As the timer ticks on, he tries to recall the opening moves in the Ruy Lopez pattern.

Aside from traditional sports like football, soccer and basketball, the International Olympic Committee recognizes nonphysical sports such as chess and bridge. Paly fosters a nonphysical sports community in which students can come together and enjoy a game of chess, for example.

“I started playing when I was probably about four,” Maroulis said. “I would play my dad over the board, and he would always beat me. It was kind of an on-and-off thing, until the pandemic hit.”

Maroulis is the captain of the chess club, where students meet at lunch to play a casual game of chess.

“I practice all the time,” Maroulis said. “I’ll usually play at least a few blitz games every day. I also like to spend time solving puzzles each day, which helps me more easily identify patterns in my games.”

In chess, an individual receives a rating after playing several games that determines their skill level. This rating may fluctuate depending on the result of future games and the ratings of opponents. However, according to Maroulis, most individuals in the chess club play casually.

“I don’t play competitively,” Maroulis said. “It’s something that I would want to do, but I just haven’t gotten around to it. Austin (Mei), my co-president, is a rated player though.”

Aside from chess, many students like senior Ronald Sit like playing Mahjong, a four-player Chinese game involving tiles.

“I usually play Mahjong with my parents and their friends,” Sit said. “A lot of the time, they don’t have enough players since it’s generally a four player game, so I just play with them.”

In Mahjong players divide 108 tiles into three categories, with the exception of some extra pieces, like a bonus tile. The three catego-

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ries are numbered from 1 to 9 and look like either dots, bamboo, or Chinese characters.

There’s also the wind pieces and additional dragon pieces. The objective of the game is to have as many matching tiles as possible – arranging them by the three categories, getting all the wind tiles or the extra tiles.

“Mahjong was a game my parents played a lot, so it’s interesting to play since it’s pretty complicated at first, but once you get going, it feels fun to strategize what tiles you’re going to collect and what you’re going to dispose (of ),” Sit said.

The General Administration of Sport of China, which is responsible for all sports in mainland China and administers the All-China Sports Federation and Chinese Olympic Committee, recognizes Mahjong as a sport.

According to the Mahjong International League, individuals can play Mahjong competitively as well, by following the Mahjong Competitions Rules, though these competitions are more frequent in China.

In a pandemic where contact sports may pose a threat to one’s health, these nonphysical sports can be a fun way to pass time and exercise the mind instead.

AR

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Paly vs. Woodside 12/1, L, 2-0 Paly vs. Hillsdale 12/4, W, 2-0

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!"#$%&'(%)*+'($$&,-*.%&%*(%,.& /"+0&%1#"22(3*&4%5&6+5&7#(.1"% !"#$%&'(&)"*(+"$(,#$&(-#".&%.)(/"*)(%0(&12(')"#$( The girls varsity basketball team played their first scrimmage against Saint Francis High School on Monday, Nov. 17.

Team captain junior Kaella Peters said scrimmages are essentially practice games between two teams, and keep no record of scores.

“Overall I think we did really well,” Peters said. “It showed us a lot of things that we had to work on.”

Although being able to finally play with a new team can be fun, Peters said it takes a little adjustment until the team can function smoothly.

“We have a lot of young players on the team this year, so I think that just working on how fast the game goes will be important,” Peters said.

As a new varsity player, junior Caroline Mostofizadeh said the team played very well, especially considering it was all of the freshman players’ first game in high school. Still, Mostofizadeh believes that the team’s next scrimmage will be far more intimidating than their first.

“Our next scrimmage against Pinewood will be significantly more difficult,” Mostofizadeh said “We’ve practiced hard during the past couple months though, so I know we won’t give up.”

Leading up to the game, Mostafizadeh noted some areas of growth that she and her teammates are keeping in mind.

“The most important thing is maintaining a positive outlook during all games because it makes the team dynamic stronger,” Mostofizadeh said. “Personally, I want to improve my shot and make sure I’m communicating with my teammates on offense and defense.”

Mostofizadeh emphasized the importance of the team’s mindset, which can change the course of a game entirely.

“Positivity and communication are key aspects to a good team, and my job along with the rest of the team is to make sure we always have that,” Mostofizadeh said.

Other than games, the basketball team is especially excited about their upcoming overnight trip.

“Every year we’ll go and do a tournament and stay in a house where we get to stay for a couple days,” Peters said. “It’s a really nice bonding experience.”

The girls basketball team held their first scrimmage against Pinewood High School on Thursday, Nov. 18, and their first preseason game the following Monday. The rest of their schedule is unpublished.

Peters said, “I think we have a lot of potential this season.”

SHIKI TOMAYA//THE CAMPANILE

SHIKI TOYAMA/THE CAMPANILE

Shiki Toyama Staff Writer

Girls varsity basketball captain Kaella Peters battles for a rebound during the girls basketball team’s scrimmage against St. Francis on Nov. 17. While the game wasn’t scored, players said they thought it went well. “It showed us a lot of things we had to work on,” Peters said.

The Campanile

Sc ence & Tech

Tuesday, December 7, 2021

Opinion: Safe injection sites should be implemented in San Francisco !"#$%&'%$!(#$)"*+$,-%.$-/$%*.-01$%&-/$'22*"'3&4$%&($5'.$6*('$/&"789$:($0(;% Anaya Bhatt

Lifestyle Editor

S

an Francisco’s overdose rate was 13 per 100,000 people in 2010. In 2020, that number increased to 49 per 100,000.

There is no denying the opioid epidemic is reaching new deathly proportions in the Bay Area.

In the last decade, around the time overdose numbers began to rise, the synthetic and dangerous drug fentanyl made its way to the streets of San Francisco. Users were both knowingly and unknowingly injecting themselves with high doses of fentanyl, resulting in fast overdoses. This drug is not only highly addictive but also more dangerous than typical opioids such as methamphetamine, cocaine and heroin, needing only two grams to be fatal to most.

Now, residents of San Francisco are urging the city to make changes to not only decrease the use of overdoses from injectable drugs, but also reduce the diseases that continue to plague the city that come with needle sharing. When needles are not properly sanitized between each injection, bloodborne infections such as HIV and Hepatitis B and C can spread, leaving users immunocompromised and more susceptible to death from otherwise common infections.

The new opioid epidemic has prompted many politicians to approach the situation the same way President Ronald Reagan’s War on Drugs campaign did: by increasing arrests for possession and use. However, the War on Drugs proved more harmful than helpful, leading to mass incarceration and increased racial inequality. Repeating history is not the solution.

Instead, we need to treat the issue for what it is: a health crisis, not a criminal one.

Implementing safe injection sites in San Francisco is an ethical and effective solution to combating drug usage.

Safe injection sites are medically supervised facilities equipped with trained medical staff, sanitized needles and areas, the overdose reversal drug Narcan and on-site substance abuse counseling where drug users can come to inject their own drugs.

Safe injection sites are especially crucial

in preventing overdose fatalities as many fentanyl and other opioid overdoses cause immediate brain and nerve damage.

Practicing nurse Lisa Loewy said she is a supporter of safe injection sites.

“We already know people are going to use drugs, so at the very least, let’s give them a controlled environment where they are keeping their needles sterilized and there is trained supervision on-site to offer support and medical aid,” she said.

While the concept may seem abstract, safe injection sites have been effective in many international cities.

In 1997, Switzerland began implementing safe injection sites and brought its opioidrelated deaths down by 63%.

Over an 18-month period in North Richmond, Australia, one safe injection site reversed over 3,000 overdoses and saved almost 30 lives.

Over the past 20 years, cities across the globe such as Barcelona, Luxembourg and Vancouver have opened their own safe injection sites and saw a noticeable drop in overdose-related deaths, blood-borne disease and public drug use.

Safe injection sites also offer support to users and encourage rehabilitative methods to help people face addiction.

“Hopefully people come in knowing they have access to others who can support them with their addiction as well as other problems they may be facing like homelessness and trouble finding emotional support,” Loewy said. “Social service options, as well as on-site medical professionals, are available to those willing to get help, which is more than you can say about the street.”

In Sydney, Australia, over 14,500 users were referred and placed in contact with rehabilitation services through safe injection sites, and Vancouver saw a 30% increase in users seeking addiction counseling.

In fact, in 2014, a review of over 75 different studies showed overwhelming evidence that safe injection sites were the most effective way to reduce drug use and overdose.

It has been 40 years since the War on Drugs, and now with more potent drugs wreaking havoc, we cannot afford to make the same mistakes we made then. We need progressive reform, beginning with the widespread establishment of safe injection sites.

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These are real headlines. And, as it turns out, humans cannot physically fly –– yet.

These flashy headlines, often called clickbait, are meant to attract , reader’s attention. Often used by content creators who are willing to sacrifice their viewers’ time to increase their views.

They seem to value money and their own fame over maintaining accurate algorithms that help people find content that actually appeals to them.

Eve Donnelly, who attended Paly from 2016 to 2018, said she was familiar with clickbait as a creator herself, although she doesn’t post regularly anymore because she is now pursuing acting.

As a student who gained a social media following by posting ASMR videos, she said she attracted her viewers on YouTube through shocking content.

Some of Donnelly’s video titles included Eating Leaves ASMR, Cultural Appropriation ASMR, and Eating the Cotton Candy in My Wall.

“To my credit, a lot of my videos were exactly what I said they were, but that doesn’t make the title and thumbnail any less shocking,” Donnelly said. Her channel has a col-

lective total of 2,720,153 views, proving her popularity.

Stanford Assistant Professor of Communication Angéle Christin conducted a study presenting marketing strategies and how clickbait affected the growing journalism industry. She said clickbait could be put to good use if there is high-quality content to back it up.

False headlines and thumbnails may seem like a waste of time –– but they can warp reality to portray a story that the creators believe will appeal to the largest number of people and in this way, clickbait is connected with fake news.

When this strategy of dramatizing content to attract views is applied to real issues that can influence topics from politics to cultural identity, sensational headlines may hold a dangerous amount of power because people are easily influenced by what they see.

And this power is growing quickly. A recent finding by the School of Journalism & New Media at the University of Mississippi shows that almost 40% of media had some relation to clickbait. This number jumps as more content creators post on platforms like YouTube and even so-called reliable news outlets.

Paly students have their own experiences as teenagers turn to social media more and more. Sophomore Claire Zhu said she heard about clickbait and how it affects students who are trying to find content that they want to watch.

Zhu said, “The real problem is that it takes advantage of our emotions and manipulates you into getting interested, only to disappoint you when you find out it was all a lie.”

Christie Hong Staff Writer