Issue 6 - April 2019

M O N DAY, A P RI L 7, 2019

The Prospector Student Newsmagazine of Cupertino High School

8 | FEATURES

12 | OPINIONS

16 | INVESTIGATIONS

A Spotlight on CHS Library’s Puzzle Corner

Why Obligatory voting is necessary for a better democratic process

A Look Into Cupertino High’s Political Spectrum

VOL. 61

NO. 6

THE PROSPECTOR ISSUE 6 TABLE OF CONTENTS NEWS Bui Wins Teacher of the Year College Scandals World Class Winter Percussion

FEATURES

Cupertino High’s Puzzle Corner

OPINIONS

LIFESTYLES 4 5 6

Anime VS Americanized Cartoons Military Sponsorship for Transformers The Destruction of History

20 21 22

SPORTS

Cupertino High’s Gymnas8[CONTENTS] tics Team

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Raphael Tourrette: Competitive Diving

26 12 14 Drug Liberalization PERSPECTIVES INVESTIGATIONS The Hypocrisy of Prom Facebook Groups 28 A Look Inside Cupertino Satire: How to Get High School’s Political Spec16 Rich Quick 29 trum For more coverage on Cupertino POSTSCRIPT High’s political spectrum and the Compulsory Voting

results of our surveys, including topics such as the spread of political beliefs in the classroom, visit chsprospector.com!

COVER PAGES DESIGN BY CHRISTINA SHAO CONTENTS DESIGN BY SANTOSH MURALIDARAN

Words that Don’t Exist

Column: Casper Wu

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WE’RE ALL ONE SCHOOL

The Prospector

A LETTER FROM THE EICs

2018-2019

STAFF

editors-in-chief aashna shah taha shafiei news editor stella jia opinions editor kenneth jeon features editor angela ma lifestyles editor sydney liao sports editor keerthi lakshmanan

A melting pot. If we could sum up Cupertino High School in three words, that’s exactly what it would be. “A melting pot.” It brings us great joy and pride to say that we go to a school full of diversity, where we’re able to share our cultures and ideas without fear of judgment.

There are hundreds of thousands of political and social ideologies out there. But what we often notice is that some political and social beliefs are validated more than others, due to an overwhelming majority of students supporting them. Check out pages 16 to 19 to read an investigation conducted by staffers Kavya Gupta, Alexandria Hunt, Santosh Muralidaran, and Stella Jia to examine the results of our randomized survey on the ideological majorities and minorities, as well as some of the experiences that our students go through in regards to their personal beliefs.

As diverse students, we all have different experiences that lead to us adopting differing mentalities. Staffer Casper Wu details his experiences in water polo, which led him to adopt the mentality of focusing on the positives during some of his most difficult moments.

While we are most definitely diverse, there are also things that bring us together. Our experiences here at Cupertino High remind all 2000+ of us that we are one school, united. Ever had a feeling or experience that you weren’t able to describe? Check out a list of some of our common experiences and some words to describe them, written by Esha Radhakrishnan and I (Aashna).

Diversity is liberating. It allows for self-expression and belief, for us to tap into our own hidden potential. Diversity also exposes us to our own flaws and weakness and highlights a path towards strengthening and bettering ourselves through this exposure. We hope when you read this issue of The Prospector, you are exposed to something new and diverse. Thank you and see you next month!

Aashna Shah and Taha Shafiei Editors-in-Chief of The Prospector

investigations editor alexandria hunt suchetha kalluri

business manager ariana fahri online editors darshini vijayakumar kavya gupta sanat singhal news assistant leo rassieur opinions assistant casper wu features assistant christina shao lifestyles assistant tal ashkenazi sports assistant neerali shah

perspectives editor investigations assistant brandon hong santosh muralidaran postscript editor sarah pollans

perspectives assistant esha radhakrishnan

copy editors ariana fahri jeffrey xiong lawrence fan

postscript assistant claire warner

photo editors anthony zhu ashley kang yooni park

online assistant varun shenoy advisor ann peck

Editorial Policy “The Prospector” is an open forum of expression for student editors to inform and educate their readers. It will not be reviewed by or restrained by school officials prior to publication or distribution. Advisors may and should coach and discuss content during the writing process.

The staff of “The Prospector” seeks to recognize individuals, events and ideas and bring news to the Cupertino community in an accurate, professional and unbiased manner. “The Prospector” will not avoid publishing a story solely on the basis of possible dissent or controversy.

If you believe an error has been made or wish to have your opinion expressed in “The Prospector,” please contact us via mail or email. Letters sent become the sole property of “The Prospector” and can be edited for length, clarity or accuracy.

“The Prospector” editorial board reserves the right to accept or reject any ad in accordance with its advertising policy.

Contact Us The Prospector 10100 Finch Avenue Cupertino, CA 95014 prospector.chs@gmail.com

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NEWS

THE

MAN

WHO DOES IT

ALL

Law Teacher and ELD Program Coordinator Sean Bui Wins Teacher of the Year TAL ASHKENAZI

T

lifestyles assistant

eacher Sean Bui was officially awarded teacher of the year on Tuesday, March 19. Bui has worked as the advisor for Mock Trial and Writing Lab, as the English Language Development (ELD) department chair, and teaches Law at CHS. Bui is also renowned for being the voice of Cupertino football, having commentated the games for the past three years.

When he first heard the news, Bui was honored to have been chosen to receive the award. “There are so many passionate, dedicated, caring teachers out there.” Said Bui “There are so many teachers here that deserve this award. And the fact that I was chosen means a lot to me.”

A large part of why Bui was nominated for the award was not only his great teachi n g but also

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his passion for every student’s future and involvement in Mock Trial. Said Bui, “I want students to discover their career path, and to find a job that they’re really passionate about” Senior and Mock Trial Captain Mehul Sharma commented on how Bui cares for his students. Said Sharma, “If a student is going through some problems at home or is really stressed out, he [Bui] always lets them prioritize their life over the class. It’s more like: ‘take care of yourself ’”

Bui was recognized for his hard work.

Said Sharma, “I think he’s one of the most inspiring and passionate teachers I’ve ever met. He’s the one who inspired me to become a lawyer and like, continue your passions in life, so I’m glad that he got recognized for it.”

For Bui, the growth as a teacher and person never stops. He continues to improve in his capacity as a teacher. Said Bui “I’m always trying to learn to become a better teacher, whether it’s in

“I’m a better teacher because of my students, but a better person because of my law students, my ELD students, and also my mock trial club students. My students make me better.”

Mock Trial has been a big part of Bui’s time at Cupertino and he continues to be inspired by the students involved. “I think one memory from this year was my mock trial club became a family. Everyone on mock trial supported each other and if I can kind of foster that in my students, then I feel like I’ve done my job.”

Students and members of Mock Trial have been happy to hear that

planning curriculum, but also in adjusting my teaching style.”

Bui is extremely passionate about making the class environment better for his students. His dedication and for teaching and helping others can be seen clearly from students and teachers alike.

When one walks into his room, his positivity and enthusiasm radiates throughout the whole classroom.

One of Bui’s biggest inspirations for growth is his own students. Said Bui, “I’m a better teacher because of my students, my law students, my ELD students, and also my mock trial club students. My students make me better.”

College Admissions Scandal Bay Area Parents and Influencers Charged in College Admissions Scandal VARUN SHENOY

F

online assistant

ederal prosecutors charged 50 individuals on March 12 in a case that alleges record falsification and athletic coach bribery as a means to gain admittance to some of the world’s most elite universities, such as Yale, Stanford and USC. Many of the accused are from wealthy backgrounds and occupations that include Hollywood actors, high-ranking business executives, hedge fund managers, and more.

“Families want the best for their kids and because [they] have a lot of money, these families decided to use their resources.”

-Senior Raymond Ji

From creating fake athletic profiles that incorporated doctored images to hiring standardized test proctors to help students cheat their way into top institutions, the FBI claimed that wealthy families were able to circumvent the traditional admissions pipeline that relies on integrity by colluding with Rick Singer, the supposed mastermind of the entire scandal. Rather than obtaining an acceptance letter through hard work and merit or contributing a large sum to a university’s endowment fund, Singer opened a self-proclaimed “side-door.” In the competitive admissions field, neither of the former choices provided assurance to parents. Singer arranged for bribes to athletic

coaches and test proctors. Not only did this make it easier for rich, privileged students to get into top schools, but also stole seats from deserving students who applied using conventional methods.

“Families want the best for their kids and because [they] have a lot of money, these families decided to use their resources,” said senior Raymond Ji. “Coming into this process, I knew it was very random. However, you still have a decent amount of control over essays, extracurricular activities, and test scores.”

In a competitive high school such as CHS, it is clear that this nationwide fraud is a reason for disillusionment in current students and counselors. This case suggests

that applicants have even less control in their final decisions than they previously believed.

“Richer families always have an advantage in college admissions. A lot of students are also on financial aid and this wouldn’t be possible without accepting students with a lot of money. So I feel [the admissions system] having a bias towards wealthy families is debatable but I have no pity towards [the families involved in the scandal],” Ji said.

Ji also noted the controversial legacy system, where some admissions offices favor candidates whose parents had attended the university in previous years.

While the senior class is anxiously waiting for college decisions and deciding where to attend in the fall, other students, such as junior Pulkit Singhal, are preparing for, perhaps, the most critical time of their high school careers. Despite recent events, Singhal stays optimistic.

“Growing up in the Bay Area, I feel the idea of going to a top university is blown out of proportion. Everyone wants to go to a good college but I feel it honestly depends on what you do [there] or after in the workforce. Your experiences [at college] matters more [than the name of the college itself],” Singhal said.

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Winter Percussion

ANGELA MA

C features editor

upertino High School’s 2019-2020 Winter Percussion has recently risen in rank to become a world class team. Their March showcase, ‘Not Good Enough,’ uses music to convey the feelings and insecurities Bay Area students experience.

World Class is the highest division in the Winter Guard International (WGI) competition. There are two levels of classification of the competition: scholastic and independent. Cupertino falls into the scholastic category. There are three levels in each classification: Scholastic Marching A , Scholastic Marching Open , and Scholastic Marching World. For many Tino students in winter percussion, this rank means more.

“World Class means a lot to me. When I was in 8th grade, the CHS winter percussion team was competing in the Scholastic Marching A Category. In my freshman year, we moved up to Open Class. This year we moved up to the Worlds,” said junior and drumline member Preena Patel, “it means a lot because that means that as a team in four years since it started, we moved up from the smallest division to the biggest, from 2015 to 2018, the CHS winter percussion has been getting better.”

As the top division, World Class is extremely competitive and challenging. Cupertino students are thrilled by rising to this rank, but also anxious to maintain their position.

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“For people that have been in the program before, we know it’s a very big step. The skill level in world class is much higher than Open Class, and the competition is much more fierce. It requires a lot more dedication and performance quality,” explained junior and cymbalist Ethan Hang.

“We want to stay in World Class and improve our shows. Being World Class means that we have to work a lot harder for what we want and make sure that previous years of hard work won’t go to waste.” said Patel.

On March 21, Winter Percussion also had their Spring concert with a theme “Not Good Enough” which demonstrates the mentality many Bay Area students have. This show was a way for winter percussion to show their friends and families all the hard work they put in this year.

“We put a lot of sweat and dedication over the past few months, and to showcase that was truly an amazing feeling,” said Hang.

Percussion turned their show into a piece of social commentary, reflecting on the toxic mentality many Cupertino students have.

“It was basically about how the stress of school builds up within you from outside influences and even the voices within you. This feeling builds up throughout the first three movements, and the fourth movement is the realization that as long as you’ve tried your best, that is all that matters,” Hang explained.

The Cupertino Winter Percussion ultimately had a successful season and are striving to even better next season.

Ultimately they had a successful season and are striving to even better next season.

COURTESY OF JAY CHENG

FEATURES

8

SUCHETHA KALLURI investigations editor

CLAIRE WARNER postscript assistant

When people say there are activities for every interest on campus, they aren’t wrong.

There are clubs for public speaking, music and bullet journaling, classes for leadership, writing and art. There is even a safe space for puzzle enthusiasts: the Puzzle Corner, located in the library. Run by Librarian Susan

Fr a t u s , the Puzzle Corner allows puzzlers to complete puzzles as a team.

Doing puzzles in the Puzzle Corner is not your typical team activity, but puzzles at the Puzzle Corner are a different story.

They are often completed by individuals and small groups, with people coming and adding to the puzzle during their free periods, creating a cohesive and collective piece of art.

Fratus started the Puzzle Corner two years ago during a peak in anxiety and stress: finals season. “ A s a way to relieve some of the pressure, we thought that a puzzle corner would give the kids something different than their studies

to focus on. It’s fun and it makes you think, but it’s not stressful,” Fratus said.

Fratus also acknowledges the

value of puzzles to more introverted personalities.

Said Fratus, “I think that it [gives] some people who may not be very social a way to have their peace: their own little corner to do something they like.”

Fratus credits her mother with her appreciation for puzzles, ultimately leading to the Puzzle Corner’s rise.

“My mom always had a puzzle going, and she did puzzles way into her 80s. I visited her one summer and thought ‘we need to do puzzles’ so I bought a bunch of puzzles and I had them out on my kitchen table. It took off from there.”

According to Fratus, there are about 20 puzzles in rotation.

She recently added 3D puzzles to the collection, as they take longer for students to complete and require more strategy.

“Some of the puzzles go faster than others, so I’m at a place where we need to start doing them again or get some new ones. I do have some new ones coming,” Fradus said.

Although completing the occasional puzzle may not sound like a lively activity, the Puzzle Corner hosts a variety of personalities and a great passion for the quiet pastime.

“The Puzzle Corner has picked up a lot of speed. As soon as one’s done, I have people coming up and saying ‘is there another puzzle?’ and now we have people who want to check them out and take them home,” Fratus said.

SARAH POLLANS

postscript editor

For most students at Cupertino High School, free periods are spent doing homework, watching Netflix, sleeping, etc. However,

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s o m e, like freshman Aishwharya Meenakshisundaram, choose to pass the time in a more old-fashioned way: solving puzzles.

Said Meenakshisundaram, “Solving puzzles is a task I’ve taken up to increase my patience because doing 500 piece puzzles is a process.”

Though she has only recently begun exploring her admiration for puzzles in depth, Meenakshisundaram has always had an interest for them.

“Puzzles have always fascinated me because it means forming such a big picture using small pieces. It’s always fascinated me, but I’ve never taken it on as a hobby,” Meenakshisundaram recalled.

After having being exposed to different types of puzzles, her love and passion for puzzles grew. Recently, Meenakshisundaram discovered The Puzzle Corner. The Puzzle Corner is a way for students to pass the time during lunch, brunch, their free period or any

other time of the day they have free. Meenakshisundaram is one of these many students.

“I’ve seen puzzles and people there. At first, I wasn’t sure that everybody was allowed to do it, but I asked a few of my friends, and they said anybody was allowed to do it,” Meenakshisundaram said.

After recently moving to Cupertino, she has connected with some of her peers through the puzzles in the library.

“I have met a few more people in my grade [through puzzling]. Especially a girl [who is] in a couple of my classes, I’ve gotten to know her better,” Meenakshisundaram explained.

For her, puzzling is a creative outlet, a way of dedicating her time to an activity with a specific goal in mind.

“You need a strategy.

You need to consider every move, and you cannot do anything wrong in solving a puzzle. Every time you solve a part of a puzzle, or a main part of the puzzle, [it] gives you a confidence boost,” Meenakshisundaram said.

As Meenakshisundaram increases her time solving puzzles, so has her patience, confidence and passion. Though doing puzzles seems like an unusual way to spend one’s time, for her, it is natural.

Said Meenakshisundaram, “ Doing puzzles is like a hobby. Not everybody needs to be into it, but it gives you something to ponder upon.”

SANAT SINGHAL online editor

“I walked by the puzzle corner while I was in the library once and I was like ‘oh, there’s nobody here but there is a Lord of the Rings puzzle’ and started solving it during lunch,” says Sydney Chen, a senior at Cupertino High School. Over time, this secluded corner of the library has become a second home to Chen.

At first, it was hard for Chen to integrate puzzling into her life.

“I couldn’t find the time to go over to the library until I cleared out my lunches, clubs and other things. Then starting junior year, I was consistently going there during lunches. Now I go almost every day,” Chen said.

The puzzle corner has a unique, serene feel to it. It is not surprising, therefore, that being there is a nice change of pace for Sydney.

“It is relaxing, to be in a quiet area in the library and very satisfying to put something together honestly,” said Chen.

“Puzzles have always been something I enjoy, because it involves logical thinking, problem-solving and thinking analytically instead of creatively,” Chen said. Her love for them is not limited to jigsaw puzzles. “[I like solving] all kinds of puzzles, ranging from physical 2D puzzles, like those at the puzzle corner, to 3D puzzles and even escape rooms,” Chen said.

Besides the inherent pleasure of solving puzzles, the puzzle corner has helped people like Chen interact with other students who share similar interest.

“I made friends like Woody

[a freshman who frequents the puzzle corner].

I probably would not have met him if it were not for the puzzle corner, but through it, we have become good friends,” said Chen. “We solve puzzles together, discussing the puzzles and progress made.”

Sydney is not alone in her love for puzzles and the puzzle corner. She has found that it serves a broader purpose at our school.

“For some people, the puzzle corner might be a stress reliever, a chance to relax after some tests.

For people like me, who simply enjoy solving puzzles, it is a

good chance to work on them in a focused, quiet environment,” Chen concludes.

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OPINIONS How mandatory voting could energize the democratic process ASHLEY KANG photo editor

LEO RASSIEUR news assistant

The contradiction in inclusive representation lies in the distorted version of universal suffrage in which modern democracies have granted voting rights to all citizens while simultaneously allowing them to abstain from exercising them. On the surface, the existing system seems appealing — granting its constituents the liberty to manage their political rights as they please. Abstention from voting indeed appears innocent enough when framed as an individual choice and not a political act.

However, the exclusive nature of voluntary voting is problematic in its adherence to the political ideology of limited suffrage, the antagonist of universal representation.

The political and cultural dispositions that characterized each era of history in which compulsory voting has been opposed are critical in accounting for why particular arguments against compulsory voting are used. The defense of a supposed ‘right to abstain’, for instance, was often grounded on conditions of administrative corruption and experiences of political obstruction. Since such problems have, for the most part, abated in modern democracies, this argument is contextually refutable.

Modern opposition to compulsory voting has since morphed from a virtuous defense of free will and liberty of conscience to the advocacy of exclusion.

Supporters of voluntary voting argue that culling unreliable voters by a measure of capacity is necessary, seeing as we live in a hierarchical society in which not all are ‘capable’ of developing the political consciousness and judgment needed to cast a ballot. However, this exclusive alternative to compulsory voting remains severely flawed, posing problems that

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have persisted and will continue to persist.

Most notably, non-compulsory voting has produced a trend in which two classes of citizens arise: one that is empowered and vocal, and another that is marginalized and silent. In Belgium’s electoral reform of 1893, the Liberal Party attempted to defend voluntary voting in terms uncannily similar to those which favored keeping suffrage a privilege reserved for wealthy and educated citizens. Charles Graux, a Liberal member of the Belgian House of Representatives, described abstaining voters as poor and miserable social outcasts, who were ignorant of political affairs and incapable of casting a conscious vote.

The Belgian Liberal Party and similar voluntary-voting advocates seem to have in mind an ideal electorate restricted to voters who are informed, autonomous, serious and self-motivated, possessing a genuine interest and ideological conviction in addition to the capacity to reflect, deliberate and judge. Obviously, this sort of electorate does not, and will never exist.

Admittedly, it would be misguided to deny that a notable portion of the American electorate is ambivalent toward the electoral process, and potentially barred from the political sphere due to structural barriers, such as lack of a civic education, stringent voter ID laws, and a lack of a federal election holiday. Along the same lines, it would

be reasonable to conclude that those Americans lacking ideological conviction might voice uninformed or ill-considered opinions. However, to dismiss all citizens who do not vote on Election Day as unreliable and politically irrelevant is an equally dangerous supposition. Instead of disqualifying lower-class voters for their shortcomings, our country should demand their political participation precisely because such obligation would remedy those very incapacities, resolve their lack of experience and potentially foster a genuine interest in elections.

In this sense, obligatory voting would guarantee universal suffrage, a notion that would otherwise stagnate in its present state. Instead of justifying exclusion — as the Belgian Liberals did — ignorance should serve as reason for compulsory inclusion, ensuring integration into the democratic system and the political agenda of the weakest and least-educated of citizens. In doing so, passive citizens — who participate in elections solely because they have to by law — would gradually assimilate into the authentic and deliberate electorate body.

Although implementing compulsory voting will not in itself salvage the bane of American democracy, it is certainly worth considering in the pursuit of equality.

Contemporary discussion among political theorists should, therefore, center on

inf rep

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nte

the importance of compulsory voting: not only as a means to increase voter turnout from neglected demographics and encourage deliberative citizenship but more importantly, attain democratic moderation in which all individuals hold an equal degree of influence over political decision-making.

This forms the moral and rational premise for compulsory voting laws — that is, legal means to require citizens to vote — such as fines, difficulty in attaining public sector jobs and other minor punishments as an encouragement to comply. Although such an idea might seem bizarre in a nation like ours, The Guardian accounts for a total of 31 countries, many of which being European liberal democracies, who have currently an implemented compulsory voting statute.

Of course, imposing a punishment as harsh as detainment for those who fail to adhere to a compulsory voting law is hardly healthy for an at-times-fragile democracy like ours. To avoid the perils of disengaged voters swinging the results of the election toward an outlandish or extremist candidate, the incentive to vote can be implemented differently. Belgium punishes consistent non-voters by revoking their right to vote for 10 years. Naturally, those who did not value that vote in the first place will perhaps swallow the moderate fines of their abstention, ultimately doing little to distort the outcome of the election.

Although the outcomes of mandatory voting laws differ by demographics and political climate, it is resoundingly clear that they, on average, tend to substantially increase voter turnout, producing a more reflecting electoral outcome and obligating citizens to engage in the political sphere. Venezuela, for instance, saw a whopping 30% decline in voter turnout following the 1993 repeal of obligatory voting. While this certainly was not the sole cause of its present political state, it is possibly an indication of compulsory voting’s relationship to a healthy, lively democracy. Elsewhere in the world, from Luxembourg to Australia, we consistently find compulsory

voting laws improving voter turnout and reducing the chance that a minority of voters would effect a lopsided electoral outcome.

Implementing these European political ideas won’t be as easy as a word-for-word replication, however. Given our lack of a federal voting holiday, restrictions on polling places creating long commutes to vote and many states’ feeble early voting rights, it is true that the working class would be disproportionately coerced by a compulsory voting law. Not only are the minor fines more likely to hurt this demographic, but taking time off of work to vote is simply not a risk most paycheck-to-paycheck Americans want to take.

But that is precisely why implementing this vision in an American way is critical. Instead of targeting employees, such a law might target employers by fining them for not providing paid time off of work for citizens’ to exercise their democratic rights.

Tackling the root of this predicament — states’ inconsistent provisions for polling places and early voting — would likely necessitate a constitutional amendment. But limiting ourselves to the impact of only a mandatory voting law would hardly be a baby step: one can only imagine the difference that sixty million more Americans making the venture to their polling places would make.

If America were to implement this kind of law in advance of the 2020 presidential election, it would be unlikely to remedy the deep wounds in our political and social institutions. But it will, at minimum, represent a closer step toward a proportionate representation for working-class America in conjunction with several states’ recent move to demand their presidential electors honor the popular vote. Perhaps the hope that obligatory voting will entice voters into caring about the votes they cast and the right to vote itself is a touch naïve. Yet if we are not willing to fundamentally change the way that we interact with politics in this country, we will never see the future that Americans are so keen on: one where elections are decided exclusively by the people.

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Drug Liberalization ANTHONY ZHU photo editor

The worst event of the Nixon presidency was neither Watergate nor the Pentagon Papers. Nixon’s gravest sin, one that Americans are still feeling the consequences of today, was his declaration of the War on Drugs. Allegedly an effort to reduce drug usage in the United States and punish dealers, his massive, multi-policy campaign spent large amounts of money and police power imprisoning and punishing as many drug users as possible and blocking supplies of drugs coming in from foreign countries.

Although the publicized reason for the War on Drugs was for the benefit of public health, the actual motive behind it was a purely political and racist one. In a Harper’s Magazine interview, John Ehrlichman, Nixon’s advisor for domestic affairs from 1969-1973, stated, “The Nixon campaign in 1968, and the Nixon White House after that, had two enemies: the antiwar-left and

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“...when Portugal decriminalized all drugs in 2001, they saw overdose rates plunge by 85%, and an overall decrease in the usage of drugs.”

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black people. We couldn’t make it illegal to be either against the war or blacks, but by getting the public to associate the hippies with marijuana and blacks with heroin, and then criminalizing both heavily, we could disrupt those communities.

We could arrest their leaders, raid their homes, break up their

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meetings, and vilify them night after night on the evening news. Did we know we were lying about the drugs? Of course we did.”

Therefore, it makes sense that Nixon’s policies have been counterproductive in solving the issue of drug use and has perhaps even exacerbated it. Portugal, a nation which has taken the exact opposite route in terms of combating drug abuse, has seen great numbers in terms of both decrease in overdoses and drug usage. According to the New York Times, when Portugal decriminalized all drugs in 2001, they saw overdose rates plunge by 85%, and an overall decrease in the usage of drugs. It is also important to note that only possession of a small-supply of drugs should be decriminalized, so drug pushers and illegal sellers can still be prosecuted. In Portugal, this limit is set at a 10-day supply of drugs. The United States should adopt a system similar to Portugal and decriminalize all drugs, so that we can rehabilitate drug abusers in a way that actually works.

First, policies that serve to shame and attack drug-users are ineffective at stopping drug usage and do nothing to rehabilitate addicts. Despite the government pouring billions of dollars into these campaigns, we still have among the highest rates of drug usage and the highest rate of drug overdoses in the world. Furthermore, many non-violent drug offenders are filling up jails, costing large sums of taxpayer money, and causing these non-violent “criminals” to turn to into actual, hardened ones. Since 1971, we’ve spent 1 trillion dollars on the War on Drugs, and a large portion of that money is used for incarcerating drug users.

Perhaps it is time to consider the more effective strategy of decriminalizing smallscale possession of drugs, and to treat drug use as more of a public health issue rather than a criminal one. Instead of our current

Tackling the root of the problem system of mass incarceration, we should offer drug users access to treatment centers, and other resources that can help them move off of their addiction or at least, lead healthier lives. According to the American “...policies that serve to shame and attack drug-users are ineffective at stopping drug usage and do nothing to rehabilitate addicts.”

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Civil Liberties Union, (ACLU), 80% of people arrested for drug use are for possession only, with no violent offenses. Instead of burdening these people with prison, a lifelong criminal record, and a distrust of law enforcement, we should try to solve their problems at the source by treating their drug addiction. Decriminalization makes it much safer for drug abusers to seek help; therefore, they will be more likely to do so. A newfound trust in health workers would mean that diseases spread by unsanitary needles and such could be effectively prevented. Instead of spending billions on catching nonviolent criminals, taxpayer money would be more effectively spent on education and rehabilitation.

This issue is getting costlier and costlier each day, both in terms of money and in terms of lives. There were more than 70,000 drug overdose deaths in 2017, and that number is only rising. We must recognize that the current system is not working and that we must seek out a more meaningful change. Only then can we gradually repeal and replace our current drug policies so that they actually work for our society.

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INVESTIGATIONS Looking at Cupertino High School

Through A Political

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al Lens

IINTRO ntro 8.3% Republican

9.9% Other 50.2% Democratic 31.6% No association

Out of a Randomized Survey of 301 CHS Students ALEXANDRIA HUNT investigations editor

Politics, as defined by the Merriam Webster dictionary, is “competition between interest groups or individuals for power and leadership.” This word provokes mixed responses — some scowl with disapproval, some initiate debates, and others simply do not engage.

Especially after the 2016 presidential election, politics have become more heated than ever. Due to the contradicting beliefs of various parties, it has become increasingly difficult for people to understand each others’ viewpoints.

This issue becomes especially severe when a majority of a society or school has a common political belief, making it difficult for those of other political groups to share their opinions without being shunned. According to a conducted survey of 301 students at Cupertino High School, 50.2% identified as Democratic, 8.3% as Republican, 31.6% as neither, and 9.9% as another party (Green, Libertarian, Independent, or another third party). However, in the United States, 31% of people identify as Democrats, 24% as Republicans, and 42% as independent.

The political involvement of students at CHS, the impact of Cupertino’s “liberal bias” on teachers and students inside and outside of the classroom, and the factors that influence students’ views on politics are becoming increasingly important issues. In this issue, The Prospector investigated the topics formerly introduced — continue reading to increase your awareness of the political spectrum at Cupertino High School.

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Politics in the Classroom STELLA JIA news editor

Does political activity belong in the classroom, a place for students to expand their knowledge and learn to critically think? The discussion of political topics may disrupt the learning environment but at the same time, it introduces relevant ideas for students to become aware of. According to the survey released, a majority of people selected four on the one-to-six scale with six representing that they strongly think teachers should share their political opinions. Overall, 50.4% of students voted three and under while 49.6% of students voted four and up, resulting in a close to perfect divide.

Said Sophomore Brandon Pan, “When [teachers] end up discussing their opinions about politics in class, it is very conflicted because their responsibility is to educate the students so they shouldn’t be allowed to influence students in terms of politics. Unless it’s in a nonbiased and educational manner.”

Based on survey results, 54.8% of students are aware of their teacher’s political view.

Teachers are generally not encouraged to voice their opinions on political topics, however in

humanity-heavy classes like history, government, economics, and literature, it can be hard to avoid. For example, in a class like World Core, the first semester is dedicated to teaching students the fundamentals of the government structure and various characteristics of it.

Throughout that learning process, students participated in debates and wrote essays to support their beliefs on what makes a government ideal. The curriculum itself is closely related to politics while in a class like Biology, it is not as relevant.

Said Pan, “Whenever there are big events, like significant events, politics does occasionally come into play even when it’s completely unrelated to curriculum.”

An instance of this is last year in March when students had the choice to participate in a school walkout. Students were allowed to leave their classes early to join the walkout urging for stricter gun control in response to the Parkland Shooting.

Through the experiences of teachers and students at Cupertino High School, one can note that politics is a hefty topic that is brought up in the classroom. Though it is rarely prominent in STEM classes, it is a common topic of discussion in humanities-based courses.

Youth Activism KAVYA GUPTA online editor

In a world that continuously becomes more complex, there has been a noticeable upward trend in the involvement of today’s youth in modern politics. The students of Cupertino High School are not exempt from this movement. In fact, according to the results of a school-wide survey, over 53% of Cupertino students claim to be politically engaged to a certain degree.

Student activism comes in numerous forms, including school walkouts, large-scale protests, and even social media.

Pro-feminism and pro-LGBTQ+ accounts have become commonplace on platforms such as Instagram and Tumblr, and are often managed by teenagers and young adults. However, students do garner mixed opinions on the idea of youth partaking in modern politics.

While some feel that political awareness is a must in today’s society, others would rather stay uninvolved.

Said Kumar, “Students most definitely have a responsibility to show an interest in community politics. Local engagement is one of the most effective ways to create change, as students are able to directly engage within their communities, are more familiar with

the issues, and can have a more profound impact at a local level.”

The City of Cupertino also has a Cupertino Teen Commission, a council of students who collaborate to represent the voices of the youth, of which Vanitha Vemula is a member.

“[The Teen Commission] works with city council members regularly in terms of creating city legislation as well as providing a youth perspective with any policies or actions committed by the council,” Vemula said. “We have the power to introduce and pass legislation through city council, which can have a lasting effect on the community.”

The impact of youth activism is considerable. Students receive little say on school matters, such as advisory lessons, but when they do, the influence has been significant.

“The March for Our Lives brought and is still bringing unprecedented awareness on gun violence, the walkout on climate change helps spur momentum to motivate young people to take action on climate change, and throughout history, it’s been clear that young people’s voices are one of the key drivers of change,” Kumar said.

As youth activism continues to increase in power, so does the need for public recognition of these voices. It is time students and administrators came together to find common ground on modern issues in our society and recognize what the other can bring to the conversation.

Political Minorities

Survey Data

SANTOSH MURALIDARAN investigations assistant

“If a conservative student makes a comment, they will be bashed, shamed and isolated for their beliefs. But if a liberal student makes a comment, they will be celebrated by teachers and students alike for being so ‘accepting,’” an anonymous CHS sophomore wrote as a response to a question in a randomized survey of 301 students conducted by The Prospector. 66.4 percent of respondents reported that they believe the majority of students and teachers at CHS would lean toward the political left (liberal) side, and 46% believed that there is a “liberal bias” at CHS. Consistent with this belief, 50.2 percent stated that the majority of their views align best with the Democratic party, while only 8.3 percent answered with the Republican Party (the remaining having chosen either a third party, independent, or answered that they were unengaged in politics).

Some students who do not identify as liberal or Democrat face experiences that exemplify the anonymous sophomore’s claim. “Someone threw a water bottle at my face,” Brandon Pan, a current sophomore recalled when discussing his experience in the National

While those who do not identify as liberal or Democrat are undoubtedly political minorities as CHS, it would be inaccurate to group each of their complex stories under one label.

Walkout at CHS last year.

In the Walkout, which was intended to demand stricter gun control laws after the infamous school shooting in Parkland, Fla., Pan marched with a sign that read “No to senseless reform” and “Yes to gun owner rights”—right-leaning sentiments that challenged the pro-gun control ideologies of the Walkout.

He faced verbal criticism throughout the march. Upon reflecting on his experience, stated Pan, “I do not think things have changed that much for me since [then].” Added Pan, contextualizing his experiences, “but we are in California... in Cupertino...the most blue [Democratic] area. It is not a huge shock to find out Hey, my opinions are not that popular.”

However, not all political minorities share similar stories as Pan. Colin Zhou, CHS senior part of the 8.3 percent who answered on the survey that their views best align with the Republican Party, is pro-life, opposes stricter gun control, and supports free-market capitalism. Yet, remarked Zhou, “even though the majority of CHS is liberal, I do not feel that I am being oppressed in any way. I feel pretty safe expressing my political opinions.”

Citing the reason for this, stated Zhou, “[My friends] are open-minded and are willing to see both sides of most issues—it is very nice of them.”

Michael Lo, Sophomore and conservative who identifies as a “constitutionalist” and ardently supports gun ownership rights and limited government, expressed similar sentiments. Said Lo, “[At CHS], I do not think conservatives are necessarily ‘targeted’ perse.”

Thus, while those who do not classify themselves as liberal or Democrat are undoubtedly political minorities as CHS, it would be inaccurate to group each of their complex stories under one label—as individuals from the anonymous sophomore and Pan to Lo and Zhou have contrasting experiences interacting with CHS’s liberal community.

A randomized survey regarding politics was conducted at CHS and garnered 301 responses.

To what extent should teachers be able to share their political beliefs in class?

13%

16%

1

2

Not at all

22%

3

24% 14%

4

5

11%

6

Completely

Do you believe there is a “liberal bias” at CHS?

Somewhat - 42%

No - 12% Yes - 46%

How politically engaged do you characterize yourself as?

25%

27%

28% 16% 4%

1

2

Very unengaged

*Graphs not to scale

3

4

5

19

LIFESTYLES

ANIME VS. AMERICANIZED CARTOONS COURTESY OF GOOGLE IMAGES

COURTESY OF GOOGLE IMAGES

COURTESY OF GOOGLE IMAGES

TAHA SHAFIEI editor-in-chief

LAWRENCE FAN copy editor

With over 45 million users, Crunchyroll, an anime streaming platform, rivals streaming giants Netflix and Hulu. A unique brand of animation with an extensive history, Anime, is becoming increasingly popular with people outside of Japan.

The beginnings of anime can be traced back to the birth of Japan’s film industry in the early 1900s. However, the art form started to become more widespread when Toei Animation, the first modern Japanese animation company, international release of its first feature film. Toei Animation pioneered animation both in Japan and around the world, releasing the first color anime film in 1958 and developing the “money shot” technique, which saved money through emphasizing important shots, animating them with more detail than the rest of the work. Today, Toei Animation is known for producing anime hits such as Dragon Ball Series, Mazinger Z and Clannad.

By the 1990s, a significant fan base had been established in the United States.

Anime conventions began opening across America, attracting massive crowds. Today, Anime Expo, held yearly at the Los Angeles Convention center, draws over 100,000 people. Other major anime conventions include Anime Matsuri and Anime Boston, each reporting over 20,000 attendees.

According to Parrot Analytics, the United States is the world’s most enthusiastic market for Anime outside of Japan, with over double the demand for anime titles over the country with the next highest demand for anime.

Yet a question still lingers, what exactly differentiates anime from other cartoons and TV genres? While anime is distinctly recognizable to its viewers, there isn’t a clear consensus of what is anime and what is not.

In general, anime is defined as “a style of animation originating in Japan that is characterized by stark colorful graphics depicting vibrant characters in action-filled plots often with fantastic or futuristic themes”(Merriam Webster Dictionary). On the surface, viewers recognize anime with its vivid, 2-di-

COURTESY OF GOOGLE IMAGES

20

COURTESY OF GOOGLE IMAGES

mensional graphics, as well as characters with exaggerated features, particularly the head and eyes.

Anime usually features far more complex plots than their western counterparts, with a storyline that develops throughout dozens of episodes. It also features more complex characters, with multi-dimensional personalities that are explored and expanded upon over many chapters. This is unlike western animation, which contains standalone straightforward plots and characters that anyone tuning in can enjoy; anime viewers typically follow a show through many seasons and episodes. Because of its intricate storylines, anime is geared towards adults, regularly displaying darker and more violent themes.

Anime, to the most part, is cheaper to produce than Western counterparts. It is often produced in a 2-d animation studio, and its implementation of limited animation, fewer frame by frame animation and stop images drastically cut down its production price. Also, wages go for much lower for animators in Japan than in the US, ensuring that the production costs stay low.

COURTESY OF GOOGLE IMAGES

Pop Culture Critic:

impact of military sponsorship for transformers KENNETH JEON opinions editor

DARSHINI VIJAYKUMAR online editor

While not always readily observable, partnerships between film crews and the U.S. military have played a significant role in the production process for a variety of projects. From platforms such as Youtube and Hollywood, the Pentagon has formed partnerships and sponsorships, with larger corporations to present the U.S military on common media platforms. But with these sponsorships comes the main setback, the issue that the U.S government pressures films and media to include and exclude certain narrative elements, in the work, to portray the military in a positive light.

There are many such examples of the U.S military partnering with films that paint them in a positive light, providing financial support or exclusive props and sets to the films. One such example includes the Transformers franchise, and more specifically, Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen, the second installment of the franchise.

In Revenge of the Fallen, scenes of troops of a mission with giant space robots fighting alongside them paint the military in a “heroic” light, turning the movie into a large military recruitment ad. The movie highlights the army fighting bravely and rebounding back from setbacks and casualties. According to a report from Medium by Tom Secker and Matthew Alford, military intelligence documents describe the inclusion of the line, “bring em’ home,” said by a military officer in reference to desperate American troops, in the first Transformers movie at the request of the film’s Pentagon liaison, demonstrating the extent to which the military will oversee the portrayal of its image. The hundreds of examples span

across decades, from 1965’s Thunderball to 1992’s Patriot Games to more recent films like Iron Man and Battleship, all fictional thrillers or sci-fi stories affirming the honor and superiority of the American military.

Transformers series director Michael Bay publicly announced that he knew what was being initially advertised in Revenge of the Fallen, and released a statement that advertising is a prominent factor that is apparent everywhere and should not be prohibited from being in movies, and other sources of media.

Similarly, some might see the practice of cinematic advertising as a perfectly acceptable business relationship. In fact, it is often the filmmakers who approach the military, usually for access to exclusive props and locations. However, the fact that a governmental entity can so readily shape the public’s perception of itself through fictional stories inevitably raises several concerns about ethical marketing and censorship. With such a stark contrast between cinematic portrayals and the realities of service and combat, the common goal of increasing recruitment through film and television appears very persuasive. And several films have proven to be successful in this regard. For example, significant boosts in Navy and Air Force enlistment followed the release of Top Gun, the hugely

popular and heavily romanticized drama about Navy fighter pilots, in 1986.

Perhaps more alarming is the practice of altering or excising events in a historically based narrative, so as to be presented in a heroic light. Zero Dark Thirty, Kathryn Bigelow’s thriller about the assassination of Osama Bin Laden, had several script elements changed at the urging of the CIA. Most notably, an interrogation scene containing the use of aggressive dogs was completely removed from the script despite documented evidence of this practice in use during the war on terror. Meanwhile, explicitly anti-war and government critical films such as Platoon and Apocalypse Now were “dead on arrival,” as Phil Strub, the Pentagon’s entertainment-liaison officer, described in an Al Jazeera article. These instances dismiss the notion of free expression in films, instead of turning them into a f o r m of government propaganda.

The U.S. military stands separately from most advertising parties. Its status as a governmental entity gives it an added responsibility to promote unbiased freedom of expression. The current system heavily favors movies in unwavering support of the U.S. military, creating an industry aversion to much-valued public debate and criticism.

21

the destruction of history why history and reform are intertwined

JEFFREY XIONG copy editor

Martin Luther King Jr. prophesied that the arc of history would eventually bend towards justice for the long-suffering. More than 50 years after the passage of the Civil Rights Act, it is tempting to say that we have made right on his prophecy and have undone the suffering of African-Americans, the LGBTQ+ community, the impoverished, war veterans, immigrants, and so on. It is enticing to imagine that we are past the peaceful protests of the past and have satisfactorily honored the sacrifices made for progress. But that is not the case. Society has done a grave injustice to the movements of the past by two mechanisms: extermination and sanitation of our accursed history.

Extermination is the process by which systems (communities, governments, social movements, etc.) reject the outside force in its entirety. A example of extermination is nativism, where systems blame outsiders attempting entry as “corrupting forces”. This redirects the universal abstract fears of the present (fears of non-belonging) into concrete ones (“immigrants are bad”): a comforting narrative. This also appeals to the established political order; instead of addressing the internal issues the system has, it externalizes hatred to prevent dissent. The thesis of this method is simple: it is too transgressive, too foreign and dangerous and therefore must be vanquished. No movement (left or right) is immune to this; though right-wing nativists movements can be exterminative, movements that become too focused on strict identity can fall prey to exterminative actions as well, such as trans-exclusionary radical feminists, who attempt to exclude trans women from feminist activism. Fortunately, exterminative forces in history are easy to identify and correct for; it’s pretty obvious when entire movements are outright attacked.

While exterminative forces exist plainly on the surface of society, sanitative forces have a far graver impact on our ideals. Sanitative forces are ones that seek to neutralize and then accept parts of movements; first depriving movements of anything uncomfortably foreign about it, then incorporating the remains into the system to create a perception of itself as “inclusive” or “progressive”, blinding us to the faults

22

of modern governments and campaigns while allowing problematic institutional processes to exist. While exterminative actions often expose the system and encourage critique of harmful norms, sanitative forces bury deeper the underlying flaws of the system and make difficult to create meaningful change. The logic here is clear: before the system can support reform, it must wash away from public memory everything effective that forced it to reform in the first place, else future movements will have more tools. This is the force that is more difficult, but also more necessary, to combat.

Martin Luther King Jr. and the Civil Rights movement is perhaps the greatest example of both exterminative and sanitative forces.. During the early parts of the campaign, the media and the state worked to eliminate the Civil Rights Movement at its core: calling it “subversive”, “dangerous”, “hateful”, “illegitimate” — all examples of exterminative powers. Following the death of King, the movement was sanitized: we remember and revere MLK, but only the parts that make us comfortable, stripping away everything radical about him and the Civil Rights movement. King was a strong proponent of not just de-escalating the war in Vietnam, but against the usage of the military in general as a tool for US intervention, comparing US military practices to that of Nazis — something we fail to remember today as we spend ever more on a military that is bankrolling the starvation of children in Yemen. His frustration at white moderates — who bear stark similarities with modern white liberalism — has mostly been forgotten. His harsh rhetoric on capitalism has fallen on deaf ears; A. Philip Randolph, the COURTESY OF GOOGLE IMAGES head of the 1963 March on Washington, was a radical union leader. Society has annihilated the truth of the movement — and ruined historical memory — twisting the truth to satisfy the wants of the system, preventing everyone — left or right — from accurately remembering our past.

We have made history a wasteland and called it peace. The solution to this cultural problem is runs contrary to how we have portrayed reform movements. We must emphasize what is different about others and recognize how it may radically change the status quo. It requires facing that which makes us uneasy — even unthinkable — and then taking them seriously as possible methods for reform — good or bad, left or right, progressive or reactionary. As we approach the edge of acceptability and consciously leap past it, we push the bounds of what is possible in terms of policy Learn true history, not the one that has been painted over, and we can achieve the seemingly impossible.

TICS AS

GYMN O N I T

CUPE R

SPORTS

the district’s only gravity-defying team SYDNEY LIAO lifestyles editor Brandon HONG perspectives editor

“What makes us different? It’s almost everything,” Junior Rhea Zachariah said when asked to describe what distinguishes gymnastics from other sports on campus.

The Cupertino High School Gymnastics Team appears as an ordinary competitive sports team. However, underneath the surface, the CHS Gymnastics Team is a squad that supports many unique qualities that the outsiders may not be aware of.

Unbeknownst to many, CHS is the only school in

24

the district that has a gymnastics program with a full-functioning team. Unlike many high schools, it provides a facility stocked with the endless support from fellow teammates in addition to the variety of gymnastics equipment for its established and growing team of gymnasts.

Says Senior and Varsity Team Captain Tiffany Zheng, “Other schools are allowed to have gymnasts, but they just don’t have the facilities for them. Therefore, there are gymnasts that come to Tino every day to practice in the mat room.”

In addition to having a facility that fosters growth in its athletes, a major factor of the success of CHS gymnastics is participation.

Compared to other schools, CHS has a higher interest in gymnastics, and the participation has only grown over the years.

Says Zachariah, “This year, a lot more people have joined gym-

w nastics.”

A part of the above-average participation can be attributed to the immense encouragement the gymnasts receive from their coach Garry Deguzman and the flexible practice routine. During practices, there is no strict schedule that gymnasts must follow in order to prepare for competitions.

“For varsity, our coach Garry Degwuzman is really supportive.

If you want to learn something, he’ll let you do it even though it doesn’t necessarily pertain to your routine,” Zheng said. “At prac-

“WHAT MAKES US DIFFERENT? IT’S ALMOST EVERYTHING.”

-rhea zachariah

COURTESY OF RHEA ZACHARIAH

tice, he doesn’t have a regiment, like 15 minutes to warm up, 5 minutes of stretching, etc. It’s not a hard-set routine and we get to do whatever we want.”

The CHS gymnastics team is set apart by their distinctive competition routine. Rather than a single, prolonged game, gymnasts compete in multiple events, much like track and field and swimming. “Competitions usually start with around 45 minutes for warm-up where the whole team stretches and practices some skills.

Then, we organize which people are doing certain events,” Zachariah said.

Says Zheng, “We have four events: floor, beam, vault and uneven bar. All of the Cupertino girls go to a single event like vault and warm up, while another school would be doing another event until we rotate through all of the events.”

As the team competes in these various events, they are scored and evaluated based on their performance, with a maximum point value of 10 for each event. The team’s evaluation is an interesting and intriguing process that involves a couple of unique factors.

“There is ‘difficulty of skills’ and ‘execution of skills’ so if you have enough ‘difficulty’ you have a ten point start value and for every mistake that you do, points can be deducted from those ten points. If you didn’t have as ‘difficult’ of a routine, you start at something like a 9.5 or 9.6. At the end, the team score is the top four scores from all of the events added together to create a final score,” Zheng describes.

As one may observe, due to their differences to other teams and other types of teams in the Fremont Union High School District, the CHS Gymnastics Team is a unique gem that calls Cupertino High School home. With an undeniably special atmosphere, team of gymnasts and season of competition ahead, the CHS Gymnastic Team in all aspects is certainly more than meets the eye.

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RAPHAEL TOURRETTE competitive

D

I

V

NEERALI SHAH sports assisstant

Freshman Raphael Tourette represents the Cupertino High School dive team and competes in intradistrict meets even with the lack of diving facilities at school. Tourette’s passion for sports was sparked at an early age and he has looked up to his older brother for guidance on how to balance academics and athletics.

Raphael’s journey into diving began with his natural affinities to performing sports like dance and gymnastics, thus diving was not as far stretched as one might imagine.

A typical day for Tourette at diving practice consists of practicing dives off of various heights and mastering those routines before advancing to the sets at the next height. Tourette at first had to get accustomed to the heights and had to build the muscle needed to manage these complex movements in the air. He trains seven days a week for two and half hours and has required weight lifting sessions twice a week. Diving is not only physically tolling but one of the most intimidating sports; miscalculating a jump at a height of 10 meters can result in career ending injuries.

Said Tourette, “I have smacked [the water] but pain is temporary. You just get over it, and our bodies are used to it.”

With his training at the Santa Clara Swim Center, Tourette has qualified for Nationals for five consecutive years and last year he was even invited to the Junior World Trials.

He hopes to continue performing in a competitive atmosphere and believes being an athlete at Cupertino will open a new realm of opportunities for his diving career. Although training without a team is difficult, the Athletic Director, Mr. Gilmore, is working closely with Tourette to ensure that he is a part of the diving meets in our district and gives him opportunities to practice with the Lynbrook High School team.

Said Tourette, ”Being alone is a little hard because you don’t have many teammates that can like really relate

26

I

N

G

to what you’re doing. But I just find joy in what I do.”

Tourette hopes that, with his strong will and determination to make great strides in diving, he will advance to CCS and potentially NorCals later in the season.

Said Tourette,”I just love to keep going where I’m headed and continue competing, and try to get better results at Nationals. Diving for Cupertino will be a great motivator for me to achieve the results I want.”

Tourette is one of the few athletes at his club who is a student-athlete. Despite many hopeful Olympic divers beginning the process of being homeschooled so they can spend more time pol-

COURTESY OF RAPHAEL TOURRETTE

“Being alone is a little hard because you don’t have teammates...But I just find joy in what I do.” ishing their diving skills, Tourette aims to thrive both academicallyand in his athletic pursuits.

The Cupertino High School dive team only consists of one person, but over the next few years the program is projected to grow and cultivate many divers to come. Tourette serves as a great example of students pursuing their passions regardless of the resources available and is keen on making our school proud.

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PERSPECTIVES Jprom Tuxedo Group 2019 KEERTHI LAKSHMANAN sports editor

YOONI PARK

NEW ACTIVITY Justin Park Shared a photo It took me two hours to get ready so you’d better like this pic...

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28

Memories are priceless but her ticket wasn’t...

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RATCHET

TO

ARIANA FAHRI

copy editor / business editor

CHRISTINA SHAO features assistant

Making money is what high school is all about. Right now, you are surrounded daily by potential clients, all desperate for a pen or piece of gum. Imagine the vending machine at our school without a line.

Yeah, not likely. High schoolers love convenience, and that provides you with the perfect opportunity to exploit and take advantage of this opening. Here are some tried and true methods that are guaranteed to make some bank: 1. Charge 25 cents for every piece of paper you hand out. Make sure you buy as much binder paper as you can during back-to-school sales so you can stock up.

However, you may find that people will pull out their paper after you name your price. If this happens, we recommend buy ing the extra-thick paper to make your fellow students feel inferior and too

$$$

ashamed bring out boring lined

to their paper.

2. During lunchtime, hoard ketchup packets from the cafeteria condiment table. Without the usual source of ketchup,

RICHE$

thousands of high schoolers with dry hot dogs will line up to buy them from you.

3. Afterschool, you might be bored and restless without the regular clientele around, so it is crucial to find other ways to keep earning money because the grind never stops. As the weather warms up, it is the perfect time to go swimming and why not hit up your local fountain. You can pick up the excess coins just laying there all while having a relaxing swim. Whoever coined the phrase “you cannot combine business with pleasure,” obviously lacked imagination and entrepreneurial spirit.

4. Auction off your antique and well-loved collection of fidget spinners on eBay. Earning money comes with making sacrifices, and you may have to say goodbye to your precious collection to fund your financial pursuits and aspirations or use it to buy some more fancy paper.

5. If you attempt all of the above ideas and still fail, shave

$$$

$$$

your head bald and sell your hair. You are guaranteed to make a profit, and one lucky person will have a beautiful wig made out of your hair. But first, make sure that your hair is in excellent condition — no one wants your split ends.

6. With the internet at our fingertips, we have countless options available to us, such as opening a GoFundMe to finance your daily boba run, creating a profile on your favorite sugar daddy/mama website or turning your “finsta” into a business using social media sponsorships and ads.

The golden age of technology is a bottomless pool of one’s and zero’s, waiting for you to fish out the money.

After reading this extensive list of ideas, break out your inner entrepreneur, and you will

$$ Ha

ir

$

find yourself no longer able to use the excuse of being a broke high school student.

29

POSTSCRIPT

Finally! A Word

AASHNA SHAH editor-in-chief

to Describe

ESHA RADHAKRISHNAN perspectives assistant

That Feeling When. . .

You know when you feel a feeling so specific that there isn’t a word for it? Well, the Prospector has done you a favor! Here are some new words to add to your current vocabulary rotation for the next time you feel that you’re at a loss for words!

Teranastic

$$ $

PROM?

tera-na-stic

Rasiferical

Frandulant

ras-ifer-i-cal

fran-duel-ant

That feeling you get when a team member willingly says they want to dissect the pig in freshmen bio and goes for the first cut without wearing gloves.

+

D

C-

That feeling you get when you bust a dangerous move during Winter Formal and make awkward eye contact with the principal immediately afterwards.

F+

Holimanic

yert-sick

pronunciation

That feeling you get when you successfully finish writing your topic sentence for your first paragraph in the in-class World Core imperialism essay, and your teacher announces that there are three minutes left.

That feeling you get when you think you aced a math test and walk into class later to see the teacher shaking her head at how low the test average is.

Neologeous CU

CU

Paleoganicious

RTI

PE

O

PE

NO

That feeling when you see your teacher at Costco and run to the next aisle to avoid an awkward conversation with them.

RT PE I

PE

N

neo-log-eous

30

flug-in-ess

That feeling that you get when you realize that you could have saved money on boba from Lattea, if you had just asked about the student discount.

That feeling you get when you thought brunch was going to be boring, but get to watch an extravagant flash mob promposal instead.

Yertsick

Flugginess

paleo-gan-ici-ous

That feeling you get when you just ran a lap in P.E. and get ready to head back into the gym but see that everyone going around again for another!

‘

Why It’s All Good

how these simple words motivated me to accomplish more than i could imagine CASPER WU opinions assistant

It’s all good. I frequently throw around this phrase when strangers accidentally bump into me or friends arrive late. But those words have provided great comfort to me over the past years. Given that they are mostly muttered by me when I am miserable, the expression came to be when I first began playing water polo.

Tired of competitive swimming, I decided to give water polo a shot. In a sport dominated by 6’3’’ manchildren, I was too young to realize that my 5’4’’ chubby 7th-grade figure wouldn’t do me any

ball? Nope. Throwing up in pool gutters after swim sets? Certainly bad (for me and the pool clean-up crew). Stockpiling first-hand evidence, I went back to point out how wrong my Dad was.

“Okay, Dad, what you said makes no sense. Getting beat-up and throwing up is not fun.”

He replied, “It doesn’t have to be fun to be good.”

My dad went on to explain using a slew of Chinese proverbs and tangential anecdotes. To my surprise, he began making sense d e s p i t e my subpar understanding of Mandarin.

Of course, nothing is all good. Sometimes, you will not have the energy to stay afloat and your coach will dish out more sprints to swim. You will come to a point in which you think that you undoubtedly can do no more.

That is when you say you’re all good.

Because if you find yourself so exhausted that you cannot sprint another lap without throwing up, good. That means you’ve invested all the energy you have (and then some) into growing stronger. If you find yourself scratched and bruised after getting the polo ball stolen from you, good. You now have an opportunity to improve on your physicality. If you find yourself freezing in a speedo at night, good. Burn a few extra calories. And at the most fundamental level, if you can still say “good,” you truly are all good because it means you are still above water.

With this in mind, I re-engaged with water polo. Gradually, I was promoted from left-benchwarmer to starting

, d o o g y sa l l i t s an c .” d u o o y o g If all e r a ly u favors. r t u yo Soon, I found myself

“

either getting drowned in the pool by aggressive defenders or swimming in self-doubt (partially because of those same aggressive defenders). I thought the transition from swimming laps to swimming with a ball and six other dudes would be easy enough.

But being constantly told to get my head out of the water during treading drills and out of my a** when learning new plays, I quickly discovered that I thought wrong.

Coming home after yet another rough practice with burning eyes and a fatigued mind, I whispered a flurry of profanities about polo under my breath. Unfortunately, being so tired, I’d forgotten that I was a loud whisperer and that my dad was born nosy. Hearing my choice of words, my dad fluttered in like a lecture-preparing moth drawn to my exhausted flame.

The following conversation was probably a less-than-pleasant montage of me complaining about polo and wanting to quit, my dad trying to encourage me to continue, and then more complaining about how my dad could never understand the pain of sore arms. However, the only thing I vividly remember is my dad saying “When you really think about it, everything is all good” before leaving me in my thoughts.

Everything is all good? That’s simply not true. Freezing in a speedo just to jump into a cold pool during late-night practices?

Not good. Getting manhandled for possession over some yellow

left-winger. As my high school polo career comes to an end and I prepare to hang up the speedo for what may be the last time for a while, this mindset will stay with me. Whether weathering college rejections, combating second-semester-senior laziness, or simply learning how to play fingerstyle guitar, I can confidently say that I have been and will continue to be all good.

PHOTO BY ASHLEY KANG

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