Burtonian
the Vol. 1 No. 2
www.burtonhighschool.net
May–June, 2010
Immigration legislation fuels strong reactions Benjamin Lam The Burtonian
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n April 24, 2010, Arizona Governor Jan Brewer signed immigration law SB 1070 that states that law officials has the right to stop any suspicious citizens that appear to be illegal immigrants. Hispanics in Arizona and all throughout the nation have been outraged by this event because it will limit their freedom and will clearly separate them from all the races. More than 1,000 protestors arrived in front of the capital building, using a peace protest in hope of making the government reconsider this law. During the protest, Hispanics shouted out, “Yes we can. We are human and we have rights!». Attorney William Sanchez, an employee of the Justice Department, stated that, “In addition to this law being illegal, if this law goes into effect, we expect it to have a dramatic affect on the state with U.S. citizens, legal residents and others moving out of the state out of fear of being singled out. This event has a nationwide effect, for even in San Francisco Hispanic student Hector Flores is astonished. “It seems we are starting over the racist acts again. Later on they might past laws on other races if they allow this law,’ Flores stated. Many students from Arizona State University are reassessing if they should go to the school in state that seems to create a boundary between races. Some have even dropped out of the university and looked for other colleges to attend. The law has brought out many emotions and effects not only Hispanics, but all races in the U.S.A. Nearly 70% of Hispanics opposed the law and 27% supported it. Moreover, they feel that in the future there will be racial discrimination for even legal Hispanics.
Illustration by Aldrich Tiam
Budget cuts are bad for our life Rain Zhang The Burtonian
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he California State Government significantly cut education funding because of a serious budget deficit. The government decided to cancel some courses and after school programs. Teachers were laid off or have gotten their salaries cut. On March 4, students, parents and teachers in more than 30 states marched to protest public education budget cuts. And now, people are still protesting. Phillip & Sala Burton High School is also facing big dif-
ficulties. According to School Nurse Susan Kitchell, Burton High School will have 16 fewer teachers in the near future. These 16 people are either resigning, retiring, beeing consolidated or have been laid off. That means classes will be more crowded, there will be less elective classes and Burton High will lose more young teachers. Students will lose a lot of fun when they study. Nurse Kitchell said, “I think [the budget cuts] are terrible. I think all the students should have classrooms and we have a few studentswho need teachers to pay more attention. And budget cuts that
result in loss of 1,100 jobs in San Francisco are disgraceful. I think the school district has a lot of ways that they can save the money. They can stop using so much money to address problems right now. Burton High School Parents Liaison Susanne Raynard also thinks budget cuts are terrible. She wishes more money was spent on education. California is one of the lowest states in the US for the amount of money we spend on each student. “But we have many students who have extra needs. For example we have many students who need extra help learning English be-
cause they have moved here from other countries. She said “Don't save money, we need more money”. People think we have a lot of ways can save money bsides education budget cuts. For example, America should reserve allocation of education funding to California from other states. Because San Francisco education funding is among the lowest in the entire country. This is not fair. “They can stop using consultants. The time is now.” said Kitchell.
DEDICATED TO PILLIP & SALA BURTON’S GRADUATING CLASS OF 2010
2 The Burtonian
May–June, 2010
Farewell to Class of 2010 Katarina Yohanes & Aysha Choudhery The Burtonian
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lthough we will be sad to see them go, the Class of 2010, with four years of hard work behind them, will graduate and finally advance into their bright futures. These students have done something special; they led our school in the right direction for these past few years and have created a model for our future. They all have experienced the ups and downs of high school and the many sleep-
less nights of studying and completing projects; but, with perseverance, these intelligent young men and women have overcome all of these things and will soon be walking across the stage to receive their hard-earned diplomas. The teachers, deans, and student body would like to wish this year’s class good fortune and Principal Kappenhagen would like to send them off by saying, “Every year the graduating class of Burton High School gets better and better. The class of 2010 has proven to be the best yet!”
We all hope you look back at what you have accomplished here with pride and a sense of community and we will try to embellish on the legacy you have built as we continue to represent your beloved Phillip and Sala Burton High School.
Asian Americans targets of violence Paul Yang The Burtonian
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ecent attacks on Asian American community in San Francisco have sparked anger in the Asian community. In San Francisco, there is a large number of Asian Americans living in the city. Some of them have been victims of African American violence against the Asian Americans. Earlier in May, a large rally gathered in front of City Hall in San Francisco to deal with the violence of Asian Americans. There were protests signs saying “Stop the Violence,” “Asians
Read the
are not punching bags.” In San Francisco, there have been at least three recent attacks against Asian Americans at or near San Francisco Municipal Railway T-Third light rail stops. One of the victims, 83-year-old Huan Chen, died in March after being beaten at a bus stop near Third Street and Oakdale Avenue. Police Chief George Gascón held a town hall meeting Tuesday May 11 that was supposed to focus on crime against Asian Americans. The response from many African Americans was, “Where were you when we were the victims?”
Gascón brought his top brass and San Francisco's chief hate-crimes prosecutor to Southeast Community College in the Bayview district and spoke about new crime-prevention efforts in response to a wave of violence, including the killing of an 83-year-old Chinese American. In response to demands by some Asian Americans for hate-crime prosecutions, Gascón renewed his assertion that the attacks have been “mostly crimes of opportunity” that were not motivated by race. Illustration by Anna Tam
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The Burtonian 3
May–June, 2010
The Environmental Service Learning Initiative is taking action by having students help with taking out classroom recycling bins and placing them near the ones located in the back parking lot of the school. Photo Monica Mendez
A step to becoming green Monica Mendez The Burtonian
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lobal Warming affects not only one person but the whole world. As the atmosphere gets warmer more changes occur in the world. Some of these changes include having less water available due to having warm weather. The cause of global warming ranges from pollution of cars, littering, and recycling. Changes are being made, but in order for them to occur people must begin by changing habits to produce a healthier environment.
At Burton High School the Environmental Service Learning Initiative, known as ESLI, is taking action and bringing changes to the school. Their purpose is to bring environmental education into classrooms through service learning and youth empowerment. The coordinator of ESLI, Carlos Gonzalez, defines green as sustainability. “Before we start changing anything at school we really need to teach each other about what it means to be green before we can become green” said Gonzales, implying that a community has to be built within school class-
rooms. Sponsored by ESLI, the Eco Club's first task at hand is to draft a school-wide recycling program and to make sure that all classrooms have a blue bin for paper and bottles. They are trying to davelop a way for it to be a school-wide team effort by having students help with taking out the bins and emptying them in ones located in the back parking lot of the school. The students in Eco Club are doing what they can for Burton to become a greener school. ‘I did take an interest in Eco Club because of the fact that I felt like I needed to give back to my community because at one point in time I was being disrespectful to my environment” said David. Juliana and David are members of the Eco Club and sophomores at Burton who want to change the school into a new modern system. This includes the recycling bin program and future programs, including composting. The first step, according to the Eco Club, is to build a community among students and inform them about the changes to keep them on board. This is only the first step at Burton High School, but in the future with the help of ESLI and the Eco Club, Burton can become a green-friendly environment.
Students practice during their free salsa lessons that are offered by the Beacon afterschool program. Every Monday lessons are held in the dance room for students and faculty. Photo Jose Salazar
Salsa dancing class Jose Salazar The Burtonian
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id you know the beacon offers free salsa lessons after school every Monday? The Beacon afterschool program has been offering the salsa lessons in the dance room behind the gym. They are being taught by Francisco, who is from Cuba. Despite the availability of this fun and invaluable resource, students at Burton are not taking advantage of this opportunity free lessons. Only three seniors are the attending
the free lessons. One participant, Ryan Lopez saw flyers but he could not attend because he was playing baseball during that time. Ultimately, he made room in his schedule to take advantage of the lessons. Currently only three students are going to the lession, Ryan said. “Brenda Nevarrez, Elena Galan and me, Said Ryan. Students should take advantage of the free lessons because not every school or afterschool program has a professional dancer to lead the classes.
The importance of video games Raymond Gee The Burtonian
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ideo games have the power to control whether a person lives or not. Whether or not a game is addicting or not can decide the fate of a person. There are video games all around the world based on anything you can possibly imagine. Whether it be cooking or socializing with others, there is a video game based on it like Cooking Mama or Sims. Having a video game for anything you can imagine makes it possible to attract a variety of consumers that are interested in a variety of things. As the consumer can choose what they are interested in, they begin to become sucked into the virtual world. They begin to develop a sense of fun through the game and spend more time playing the game, than their usual activities. Things like homework and chores are less prioritized in comparison to the video games. “Gaming is like fishing, you play it until
you catch your prize”, said current junior at Phillip & Sala Burton Paul Yang. Over time, some gamers become addicted to playing the game and are willing to do anything for it. CNN had a report about a couple in Korea in March had gotten so absorbed into raising their virtual daughter in a popular game called Prius Online, that they had forgotten to feed their real daughter, resulting in her death. Koreatimes reported another man named Oh in the previous month February from Korea, had murdered his mother for bothering him about obsessive gaming, and continued to play his game in an internet cafe after doing so. To these people, the game meant the world to them; more than reality. And are willing to sacrifice anything for it, even their own parent. The importance of video games should not be looked down upon. It has the ability to make smart people make stupid decisions. And these decisions will be stuck
A Burton video game consumer takes some time to spend in the virtual world of gaming. Photo Raymond Gee
with them for the rest of their life, whether or not they are willing to change afterwards. After realizing this, comes regret. Most people regret that they hadn’t used their time www.burtonhighschool.net
wisely and taken things like school seriously because of their current position if life. “If I hadn’t started playing video games I would have gotten so much more done. Then maybe I would have
achieved something greater than what I have now”, said past Phillip & Sala Burton graduate Nancy Wu.
4 The Burtonian
May–June, 2010
Junior & Senior prom Francisco Anaya The Burtonian
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The Burtonian 400 Mansell St. San Francisco, CA 94134 Tel: (415) 469 4550 www.burtonhighschool.net Editors in Chief Raymond Gee; Monica Mendez Photo Editor Suzy Salazar Production, Layout & Design Ryan Flores Proofreaders Eva Martinez; Suzy Salazar Writers Raymond Gee; Benjamin Lam; Rain Zhang; Monica Mendez Francisco Anaya; Jose Salazar; Katarina Yohanes; Aysha Choudhery; Paul Yang Photographers Aysha Choudhery; Raymond Gee Monica Mendez; Jose Salazar Illustrators Anna Tam; Aldrich Tiam Ads & Business Manager Jose Salazar Faculty Advisor Eric Chow The Burtonian uses 40% post-consumer recycled paper, soy-based ink and is printed by Southwest Offset Printing Company, Inc.
This issue is the result of a collaboration between Eric Chow’s journalism class at Phillip & Sala Burton Academic High School and El Tecolote newspaper. Founded in 1970, El Tecolote is a bilingual newspaper which has provided free journalism training for Mission district residents and youth. The Burtonian was established in 1984 and has grown from a newsletter to the tabloid-size edition it is today. This project is partially funded with a grant from State Farm and support from Burton High School. www.eltecolote.org www.burtonhighschool.net
The Burton Drama Club unveiled their first production of the play ‘And Then There Were None’ by Agatha Christie. Photo courtesy of Eric Chow
Review of ‘And Then There Were None’ Monica Mendez The Burtonian
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n April 29 and 30, 2010 at 7 pm, the Drama Club of Burton High School unveiled their first production of the play And Then There Were None by Agatha Christie. The play was directed by Ms. Ashkenes, Ms. Perdue, and Ms. Sullivan. Members of the Drama Club put a lot of effort into making the play success. From seeing advertisements on the school hallways and hearing members of the Drama Club asking others if they were going to buy a ticket, were some of the methods to get the word across. Being the first production of a school play, many students and teachers anticipated the final result. «I have never seen a school play before so seeing a play for the first time is going to be interesting» said a student at Burton High School. As the curtains opened the stage set received the first reaction. The set filled with details which include the fireplace, the ten little Indians, and the set furniture all played key roles to the play as a whole. From the set design that took effort from students and teachers during the weekends ended up being the main attraction including the actors
and actresses. The story of ten strangers being left on an island and one by one they die leading to the search of the murderer. The actors and actresses were believable and got into character and kept their composure the whole way through the play. The twist and turns and suspense that the actors and actresses portrayed the thrill of excitement for the audience. With the help of background noises the audience received a better interpretation of the play. With an alternative ending from the written play, audience members ended the play with a deserving applause for the production of the Drama Club. The play impacted the students who were watching. «Being my first time seeing a play at school made me want to see a play outside of school because seeing a play live gives of a different vibe than seeing a film» said a student at Burton after watching the school play. Once it was over the play was a success and made people wonder if there was more to come after. In the upcoming years at Burton, the Drama Club at Burton High School should keep on doing plays because it gives students a time to shine and gives them opportunities for the future.
rom was an experience that will remain in everyone's minds forever. This year's Prom was held in the Hilton Hotel in South San Francisco on Saturday May 1st. From the positive vibe and smooth program, it was obvious that there was a lot of work put in to make this year's Prom the best Burton has had in years. Despite some unforeseen circumstances that forced the organizers to not let people in until 7:30, the evening provided everything for its participants. For the first time, tickets to the Prom included a full dinner at the hotel, saving celebrants the time and money to dine elsewhere. All through the night, students could go into a room dedicated for taking pictures to capture the precious memories. After a lot of dancing, the
Illustration by Anna Tam
Prom Prince and Princess, King and Queen were announced. Henry Drake and Fatima Parayno were Prince and Princess; and Ryan Dela Merced and Elizabeth Calderon were this year's King and Queen. We want to thank Ms. Bowdish, Ms. Tompkins and the Prom Committee who made the evening magical.
Meet the Burtonian Staff
Ads & Business Jose Salazar
Tech Manager Francisco Anaya
Tech Manager Terry Beasley
Photographer Aysha Choudhery
News Editor Benjamin Lam
Editor in Chief Monica Mendez
www.burtonhighschool.net
Opinion & Editorial Rain Zhang
Copy Editor Paul Yang
Editor in Chief Raymond Gee