T U ES DAY, J A N UA RY 30, 2018
VOLUME 60 NO. 4
FLIP SIDE page 16
Supreme INSIGHTS page 12
LIFESTYLES page 8
Space vs. ocean exploration
Hypebeast culture
Uncovering sexual harrassment at CHS
The presence of SoundCloud
Sports page 11
OPINIONS page 5
Finding value in volunteering
The Prospector
CHSPROSPECTOR.COM
Student Newspaper of Cupertino High School
10100 FINCH AVENUE, CUPERTINO, CA 95014
FRESHMEN CLASS OF 2021 TO DONATE APPAREL MONEY TO VICTIMS OF CALIFORNIA WILDFIRES
CATHERINE SEOK
AASHNA SHAH lifestyles assistant
On Jan. 1, The 2021 class council announced that it will be donating 50 percent of their apparel profits to the United Way Bay Area Wildfire Relief, an organization that assists residents in the North Bay who were affected by the wildfires. All donations to United Way Bay Area Wildfire Relief go to those affected by the recent Bay Area wildfires. This will help in providing basic needs, services to individuals and help fund food and rent costs to those who have “lost employment, case management services and mental health counseling.” The idea arose when the class council was brainstorming on how the apparel sales could benefit the community. Said Jonathan Dinh, 2021 class president, “Our advisors told us to think about ways that we could give back, so then I started thinking about how the wildfires were happening and I wanted to do something more local rather than donating to a big organiza-
tion, so I brought the idea to the council. Everybody was pretty on-board with it.” Dinh got the idea after seeing the aftermaths of the wildfires and the hundreds of people who were impacted. Said Dinh, “I saw everything in the news and how people are dying, and everything has been destroyed for a lot of people. The fact that it’s happening so close and it’s not too far away just makes it more real.” The 2021 class council is anticipating high apparel sales. Said Vinayak Bagdi, class of 2021’s vice-president, “Apparel sales are going really well. I think we’ll make a good profit from our apparel and a good amount of that money will go to what we are trying to fundraise for. Right now, we have over 120 people who have ordered, which is a lot more than I was expecting. Our goal, as council, is that we want to get to 160 orders, so by the time apparel sales close, I hope we’ve reached that goal.” Many freshmen have been motivated to buy apparel this year, knowing that the money they spend is helping thousands in the Bay Area. Said freshman Soumya Sridhar, “I’m glad that a lot of the
NEW SIGN LANGUAGE CLUB LILY ROSEN MARVIN online editor
On Jan.12, the American Sign Language (ASL) club held its first-ever meeting. The club is designed to be similar to a language class in which students will learn vocabulary and engage in skill-building activities, only in sign language. Members will meet every other Friday to learn new signs and practice. The officer team has designed a curriculum for this semester and is excited to share it with their members. Said sophomore and vice president Aarabhi MICHELLE MA
ASL CLUB | Officers Anagha Atawale, Aarabhi
Achata and Pavana Atawale spell out “ASL” using sign language
Achanta, “the plan is to teach ASL basically the way [the officers] learned. Starting out with basic conversation and moving onto more advanced words and topics. Towards the end of the semester we want to have small group discussions about relevant issues either in the deaf community or in current events.” The team hopes to give their members a basic understanding of ASL with this semester serving as an introductory course. However, the officers are hoping to build a curriculum that goes beyond an average language class. They will also be teaching members about the deaf community and some of the issues they face. Said Achanta, “We figured out that a lot of people don’t know about [ASL] and there is this barrier between deaf and hearing people. We wanted to help bring that together.” In an attempt to help bridge that gap the officer team is hoping to bring in guest speaks to talk to the club about their experiences and some of the issues the deaf community faces. Said Achanta, “My dad and his side of the family are deaf. Maybe one of them could come in and talk to us in ASL and we could either translate or get an interpreter. It would also be super cool to see if [members] could follow some of the main points
CHS ASL, continued on page 2
money is going to a good cause, especially because I wasn’t really planning on buying apparel until junior or senior year. The fact that they are donating the profits made me want to buy the apparel this year as well.” Said 2021 rally chair Diya Aggarwal, “A lot of people have actually come up to me and asked where we’re donating it, and after we told them all of the information, they said that was great and they would buy the apparel. However, many students have expressed a concern that donating this money will lead to less funds when the time comes for the class of 2021’s junior and senior prom. Said Aggarwal, “Although we are going to have less money, we all agree that it’s worth it because even though we might have a couple hundred dollars less, we can always do more fundraisers to make that up.” The 2021 class council is eager to donate money that will improve the lives of many people in the Bay Area and help the general populace.
CHS TO ADOPT NEW SCHEDULE IN AUGUST XINYI ZHANG copy editor
Urged on by inconsistent district-wide schedules and poor student sleep habits, the Fremont Union High School District publicized their goal of creating a more consistent “late-start” schedule during the 2016-2017 school year. After narrowing down two possible schedules with a staff vote held midJanuary, Cupertino High School FUHSD has decided now has two possible schedules for schools to adopt next August. After a staff vote held mid-January, Cupertino High School is projected to implement the variant with four block days each week. As with any major change to school operations, the district needed sufficient evidence that the transformation will prove beneficial. After-school activities, class and teacher collaboration time, state laws and survey results were all factors in the schedules’ formulation. According to a FUHSD superintendent letter posted last June, the one year delay between the plan’s confirmation and implementation was necessary to ensure an optimal plan along with a successful district-wide transition. Careful consideration yielded two potential candidates for a final schedule that met the two main goals of the school district. One features four block days per week (with Monday being the non-block) while the other is structured similarly to the one currently in use. However, there was no consensus on which to implement among the schools. In the end, the district left the choice to the schools themselves. This gave teachers and staff at each site additional flexibility in determining what CHS New Schedule, continued on page 3