The Roundtable Volume 10, Issue 3

February 11th, 2016 | vol. 10, issue 3

Hall & Heart Start Thinking Internationally a look into the International Baccalaureate program

Nick Hom Layout Editor or juniors and seniors at The Hall, AP classes are the go-to for those who want to excel in their learning and earn college credit. The Advanced Placement courses offer college level courses for high school students which allow colleges to get a better glimpse into the minds of their prospective students. For many years, the AP classes have been a large part of high school education, and most high schools have implemented them into their curricula.

Lately, the Schools of the Sacred Heart in San Francisco have applied to be a part of an international program known as the International Baccalaureate (IB). This program promotes many educational values which the Schools of the Sacred Heart strive to pass on to their students. Sacred Heart students are already being trained to be open-minded, knowledgeable, caring, risk-takers, and principled, and the IB wants to educate students who can be those things and more.

The authorization process started in 2013 and ever since then, Convent and Stuart Hall have been in the candidacy stage for this program. Now, the process is almost complete, and the 2016-17 school year will bring the program to junior students at The Hall.

Over the past summer, several of our teachers, including our artist-in-residence, Ms. Hellstrom, travelled to Rice University in Houston to become trained as IB teachers. When asked about her experience, Ms. Hellstrom said, “It was a very intensive, several-day training that involved learning about the IB, learning about how the IB is scored and learning how to create a curriculum.” In particular, Ms. Hellstrom stated how it was sort of a “boot camp” for her, as her goal going was to finish her curriculum for the following year.

The International Baccalaureate is a world-renowned

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International Baccalaureate | with permission

curriculum which offers a different approach to education. Students in the junior and senior grade levels will be enrolled in seven courses which will span their final two years at The Hall. Students will take one IB course in each subject category of mathematics, science, language, English, history, and the arts, along with a separate, IB-specific course known as Theory of Knowledge. The Theory of Knowledge class is centered on the overarching question of “How do we know?” In this class, students will learn how to be “aware of the interpretative nature of knowledge, including personal ideological biases – whether these biases are retained, revised or rejected” (IB.org). This is a central class around which the entire program revolves, and it is one in which students will be able to look back to throughout the rest of their educational experience.

The IB will be bringing something new to The Hall and San Francisco. As of now, the only other school in the city which provides the IB is the French American International School. Even in the entirety of our Sacred Heart community, only the Carrollton School in Florida and Forest Ridge in Seattle provide the IB, though Jose-

phinum Academy in Chicago was recently accredited and will be providing IB classes in the fall. By implementing the IB, the Schools of the Sacred Heart in San Francisco are pioneering a new method of education. And, while Convent has been around since 1887, Stuart Hall High School is only 16 years old! In that time, they have already established themselves as one of the top Catholic high schools in the nation. There are several other top tier private schools in the city, and they have established their reputations as well. But one thing that will set us apart will be the IB program, as it is something that will continue to further our academic value past the many other established high schools in the San Francisco County.

Students who enroll in the IB Diploma program will be dedicating their junior and senior years to IB classes. The seven classes students take will be graded in two ways: 1.

By Stuart Hall High School where students are given grades on an A-F scale, and 2.

By the IB program where students will be graded on a 7-1 scale. For the majority of people who enter the IB Diploma Program, they will be taking three Higher Level (HL) classes and three Standard Level (SL) classes, with the

A New Age

option of taking an extra HL class in place of an SL class.

But along with the completion of these classes, students will also have to complete a 4,000 word “Extended Essay” on a topic of their choosing.

This essay is written over the course of their junior and senior years with the help of an advisor. This essay is graded along with your classes and is incorporated in your overall “score.” The IB Diploma is awarded at graduation along with your high school diploma. The diploma is awarded to students who score 24 or more points in their total IB “score.”

Already, Mr. Marquette and Ms. Chuakay are working hard with Ms. Pfeiffer and Ms. DeMartini-Cooke over at Convent in finding ways for our daily schedules to be able to merge with the IB program. The IB schedule will be something different than what we are used to. For the most part, the students in the program will all be taking their classes together. Being co-ed, this means that students will probably be travelling between campuses much more often than before. This is good for the school, as they are striving to really bring the two high schools together; the IB program is a bridge that will help with this goal.

During the second quarter of their sophomore year, prospective IB students set up a meeting with Mr. Marquette and worked with him to plan out a course list for their junior and senior years.

In February, as the rest of the school pre-registers for next year’s classes, students interested in the IB will be registering in their IB courses.

Students may either elect to enroll in the IB Diploma program, or take normal classes with one or two IB classes à la carte. Students enrolled in IB classes will not be able to switch courses or drop out once they have begun, as each course spans over the last two years of high school. Along with the seven required courses, the school will continue

a non-IB theology class. As a Catholic school, we still teach the students the values of religion and faith. This is one of the school’s priorities which the IB fails to provide by itself, as theological teachings don’t fit within their intended goals for students. But, with the extra class, students will still be receiving lessons on ethics, morality, and social justice that regular junior and seniors take.

The IB Program is meant to be a program which challenges students in the ways they are educated. There will be different teaching methods, grading scales, and standards.

That said, the IB is already much more in line with our current classroom experience than any other externally-graded curriculum. The IB Program consists of a larger amount of writing than regular classes here at The Hall, so prospective students should be ready to write. While the IB Program will take a lot of time to complete, there will still be time to enjoy other hobbies, such as sports, music, acting etc. In fact, the IB requires students to accomplish at least 150 hours of extracurricular activities in order to complete the Creativity, Activity and Service (CAS) element.

So for those thinking that this program will eat up all of your time and prevent you from having fun outside of school, you shouldn’t worry.

Students will still have time to play their respective sports and compete wholeheartedly, and in fact those activities will actually “count” for something due to the make-up of CAS. The International Baccalaureate program will be coming to the school next year for the 2016-2017 school year.

It is something that all current and even prospective students should look into going into their junior years. The IB will bring a new level of academic excellence at The Hall, and it will be a program which should grow to be a staple of Schools of the Sacred Heart San Francisco education.

personal devices now allowed on campus Nick Everest Reporter he school-owned iPad program known as ePack 1-to-1 gave every student on our campus access to an iPad to improve the efficiency of learning and keep our school on the cutting edge of technology. However, many students still wanted to use their personal laptops

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at school, which meant that an official decision had to be made. To arrive at this, a four-school 1-to-1 Device Task Force was created to explore the topic and make a formal recommendation. In the meantime, students can now bring their laptops to school after going through a process facilitated by Mr. Enevoldson, Ms. Saltveit, and the tech department over at the Broadway campus. An email by Mr.

Farrell has been sent to all students and parents which provides more information if interested.

Mr. Enevoldsen is very involved in the process and shed some light on the process of implimenting this program.

At the moment, 86 students have already requested to use their personal laptops instead of their iPads. The process is quite simple, too. Just find the

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February 11th, 2016

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News Table

Connecting the Schools with a New Look

from the voices of our community leaders

SIA As the school is a month into the last semester of the school year, the SIA Team is working hard to engage our students in more community service, as well as create more leadership opportunities for our members. Along with increasing the amount of service done among high school students, the goal of every SIA Team is to foster an environment where students are encouraged to be leaders. Our group is 42 members strong, and this many bodies is something the group has never had. We are beginning to play around with our operating structure to make being a part of Students In Action more engaging, meaningful, and beneficial for those participating and those who we are serving. Our restructuring plan was inspired by a self-evaluation form that all SIA members took. After consulting Student Body President Michael Tellini, the leaders of the SIA Team felt that having a self-evaluation would be beneficial to us and let us know if we’re being our very best. Seeing it work for the Student Council encouraged us to do the same.

As of right now, the SIA Team is working day and night in preparation for our upcoming Service Day that will be on Friday March 11, 2016. The logistics of the day continue to change and to see our guys work so well in this project embodies what it means to be a Students In Action member. Some juniors on the team have taken it upon themselves to already plan for next year’s Service Day as these guys recognize the responsibility and time commitment an event like this takes. The SIA Team is looking forward to leading the school in yet another great day of learning and service engagement.

Our One Less Hungry service event created by Senior Aurelio Jimenez is still going strong and meeting once a month. We encourage everyone who would like to participate to do so because this is a great way to serve those most in need.

The trip to Costa Rica that all of my classmates and I embarked on three short weeks ago, was one that I don’t think many of us will forget. Outside of the memories that we have of jumping off waterfalls, rafting down rapids, and ziplining through the rainforest, the trip was memorable for other reasons.

It’s not one specific memory that sticks with me.

Overall, I am blessed to have many from the trip. Instead it is the change in my perspective that influences me daily, that stands out to me from my time abroad. When we all left our phones in San Francisco the night that we left, the way we would interact with each other for the next week would be dramatically changed. For as long as I have been a social being, I have had my phone with me in all social situations.

Whether I liked it or not, I have always had this device when I met new people or spent time with old friends.

This device, whether it was in my hand or not, changed the way that I socialized with other people. It gave me something to hide behind in uncomfortable situations and something to distract me from my own imminent reality. I didn’t really know what it was to socialize with people without a device, and it wasn’t until after I touched down in San Francisco, that I really thought back on how it changed my relationships.

When you have nothing to hide behind in a fight, your only choice is to fight.

That was my approach when it came to how I interacted with my classmates in Costa Rica. Obviously not to fight them, but to use a confident approach when it came to my interactions with them.

3,000 miles from home with many people that I had never talked to before, there was nowhere to hide. I have always thought of myself as

Julian Moreno

a shy person when it comes to talking to people I haven’t met before, but as I previously mentioned, I didn’t really have a choice. Long flights, bus rides, and risky situations are not conducive to monosyllabic conversations. Left with no other choice, I had to leave my shy disposition with my phone in San Francisco and employ some false sense of confidence. What I was shocked to find in this social experiment was that every other person who I talked to over the short week, employed the same confidence and kindness that I did. Whether it was comfortable or not, the conversations that I had on the trip were some of the most memorable that I have had in my short life.

There were a lot of variables in my quasi social experiment considering that we were all in a foreign country, struggling to function in a world far from our own. However, the one difference that really sticks out to me when I think about the interactions I had, was that I didn’t have a shiny, black object in my pocket. The stories I heard and the jokes I laughed at were all enjoyed because I had nothing to hide behind.

It is my experience of laying down what makes me feel less vulnerable, in favor of becoming more vulnerable that has shown me what it can do for a person.

I hate the feeling of being uncomfortable or exposed and so I try and stop myself from feeling this way at all costs. However, I believe that it was these feelings that helped me to meet new people and grow as a person.

It means that pulling my phone out of my pocket to help assuage these feelings might be easier in the short term, but might prevent me from becoming a better person in the long term.

Owen Fahy

Laptops on Campus

removed from our school in the near future. Many students would agree as laptops are gy. Allowing students to bring more efficient and offer more in their laptops from home features with higher reliability. just adds to this.

In the coming years, students With all of these changes, will see how the 1-to-1 prowhat role will iPads continue gram evolves as the allowance to play at our school moving of laptops starts a shift away forward? At the moment, they from iPads. While all of this will still be the go-to option for goes on, we can make sure to in-school work, but for how take advantage of this new much longer? Many teachers privilege while we await the have been quite vocal about decision from our 1-to-1 Detheir dislike of iPads, favorvice Task Force sometime this ing of laptops or even the year. old-school method, pen and If, in fact, our school gravpaper. Mr. Enevoldson, who itates away from iPads comhas taken a large role in the pletely, it can be trusted that technology at our school, said they will make the transition that he hopes iPads will be swift and easy. At the moment,

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email from Mr. Farrell and fill out the form. Following that, all one needs to do is to visit a member of the tech department and download an antivirus software for their computer. Once this is all complete, they will sign you into the school Wi-Fi and you’re ready to use your laptop. According to Mr. Enevoldson, if you have the form filled out and your laptop is registered, approval can be as quick as a minute.

The efficiency of this process is a huge attraction as our school prides itself on being ahead of the curve in terms of technolo-

student council Student Council jumped right into the second semester with yet another impressive event. The team’s hard work was evident at our Casino Royale themed Winter Formal that took place on January 8th when 257 students turned out for a night of dancing and casino games.

Highlights included a photo station, made possible due to a collaborative effort with the broadcasting club, a raffle for $100 in value of Amazon gift cards, and boxes on boxes of delicious Pacific Puffs. The dance’s attendance set a new record for highest in the past four years. Each successive dance this year has had a higher and higher attendance count.

The trend can be attributed to the dedication of your elected leaders to continually improve on their success.

As the dance season comes to a close, the council aims to focus on slightly smaller scale projects such as class events. The class presidents, vice presidents, and representatives have been planning events for their respective classes for the past few months and hope to hold them soon. In the past, class events have been a great way for classes to bond over fun events such as go-karting.

Recently, we also launched a new initiative to give $200 to each class council for their use to improve student life and community on campus.

The purpose was to give leaders on the class level an opportunity to follow through on election promises while also benefitting students and our community on Octavia street.

Far too often only the executive level leaders have control over capital deployment; we wanted to empower some of the younger members to take on a larger role. With prom, Congé, and various other events still left on the calendar, the group is not done quite yet. Look out for several free food giveaways and a possible three point shooting contest in the next couple months. To find a more detailed analysis of the first semester, look at the Bulletin Board in the back of the Columbus Room, where each Council member has a paragraph explaining their contribution in 2015.

Michael Tellini

all work done on the school iPads is up in the cloud, on either Google Drive or another application of similar design.

If the transition to laptops is made, all can expect a smooth and reliable change. So far, the 1-to-1 program has been a success due to the nature of efficiency caused by having technology in the hands of every student at the school.

Online projects, classwork, and assessments have never been easier. Therefore, the only thing to do is to improve upon the original design plan.

While iPads are great tools for all students, they tend to be more efficiently used by kids in Kindergarten through the

8th grade due to their simple design and ease of use. At the high school level, students found that the more advanced capabilities and potential of laptops favor their style of learning. On top of that, laptops allow for more customization to the preferences of the user in comparison to the more static iPads. As we continue to experiment with new models of learning, our school will undoubtedly find the most effective option. Whether it be iPads, laptops, or some new brand new technology that is just around the corner, we can be safe knowing that the best option will be found.

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Words from The Hall editor’s corner

February 11th, 2016

Will Kahn Artist or years, the joint logo that Stuart Hall and Convent shared was “Hall and Heart” in a circle. The new logo consists of a ribbon shaped like a heart and the silhouette of a lion with a background of different shades of blue.

The new logo is no longer two common colors rather many colors which can grab anyone’s attention when walking by it.

For all four San Francisco Schools of the Sacred Heart, this is an important moment as for the past 7 years, the heads of schools and their faculty have been trying to find the perfect logo. Not only is the logo attractive but it binds all four schools without leav-

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Heart and Hall gets a new logo

ing any school behind or making one more important than the other. The new logo will now be seen on the school website, brand new school apparel, and sportswear that our teams will proudly wear to their big games and around the city. Mr. Michael Buckley, a history teacher, cross country coach, and track coach, is a fan of the new logo as it is “attractive and more integrative” but he is also sad to see the old logo go as he has been a member of our community since the school started, so it is fair to say he has seen it all. The new logo has struck a chord among many staff members at The Hall

as they have been seen wearing more and more school apparel with the new logo (all of which can be found at the online school store). The new logo is making its way around the student body at The Hall with people who are all for it, some who have mixed feelings, and others who don’t have an opinion. Ryan Murray ‘17, a high level photographer says, “The new logo is good for all four schools but I don’t think it is the most fitting logo for our athletic teams”.

Seconding Mr. Buckley, Ryan also said the logo incorporates all four schools much better and in a much more appealing way.

With the change of

the school logo, some students are starting to adjust from the old shield at The Hall to the new logo. The new change was a surprise amongst most of the student body and some are working on ways to incorporate it.

For example, Coach Johnson and I began to design where the new logo could be printed on athletic gear. During a break while studying for last semester’s finals, I sketched out different designs with the new school logo. I showed Coach Johnson who was a big fan right away, had me send the designs off to a sock company located in Seattle called Strideline. Within a couple of hours, the company

had sent back some digital designs and we placed an order.

Recently the socks arrived at The Hall and were a big hit among the students who received a pair.

In the 15 years that our school has been around, we have seen many changes such as school location, the beginning of co-ed classes, and growth in the number of students. With the change of the new logo, the school has made continued progress. As the famous playwright George Bernard Shaw said, “Progress is impossible without change, and those who cannot change their minds cannot change anything.”

A Life Saving Donation Stuart Hall hosts annual blood drive

Jackson Rhodes News Editor

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ccording to a statistic done by the American Red Cross, a single pint of blood can save up to three lives.

Three lives! For many years, Stuart Hall has hosted a blood drive to help distribute healthy blood to those in need. In our very own Columbus Room, from the hours of 9 a.m. to 1 p.m., students ages 16 and over get a chance to make an impact on others’ lives.

The most recent blood drive was held at the beginning of this month, January 2. In addition to the ethical motivation for donating blood, Mr. O’Connor was generous enough to give heart service credit to students who donated. I was curious to learn if the incentive of heart service had any effect on students.

I had a chance to talk to Elliot Hayne ‘16, and he humbly said “I chose to give blood not for reward, not for gloating rights, just because I can. It is an opportunity to help others.” Elliot is a perfect example of the kind of men the Hall pumps out: those

An Inside Look Into the Sophomores’ Trip to Costa Rica

who are willing to help others out of their own hearts.

The drive was hosted by Blood Centers of the Pacific, a non-profit organization that has been coming back year after year to set up the blood sucking equipment for The Hall. On the school’s end, Mr. O’Connor has been running the blood drives since they started. When asked when that was, O’Connor said “Wow.. Wow. Hmm. Let’s see.”

After just seconds of Google Drive navigation, O’Connor noted “My earliest record of the blood drive is in 2003.” If I did my math correctly, that’s

13 years of blood drives! Sheesh! I was curious about how Mr. O’Connor initially got into running the drive every year, and he explained “I like doing blood drives because I learned the importance of giving blood from a young age. My father gave blood often during my childhood, and I started giving blood often in high school.

Another reason why it’s really important for me to do this is to introduce students to become lifelong donors. Whenever I see first time donors, it makes me really happy.”

I had a chance to talk to a first time

Angel Padilla | the roundtable

donor myself, school president Michael Tellini. Tellini ‘17 mentioned, “It was my first time giving blood.

I actually fainted, but overall it was a good experience.” Holy smokes! Thank you for your bravery Michael.

I asked Mr. O’Connor if fainting was a common occurrence and he said: “When you give blood, your body is having a new experience it isn’t used to because so much blood is extracted at once.” He said it is not uncommon for students’ skin to become ashen and pale after they give blood because of the amount that is drawn.

Although giving blood

has its risks, the saved human lives outweighs the risk by far.

For every pint given, three lives are saved.

Giving blood is a small thing we can do as healthy humans that that creates a big impact on other’s lives, and we thank Mr. O’Connor for his hard work in organizing the blood drives every year. If you are interested in donating some of your own crimson life juice, the next opportunity will be on May 18th of this year. I know I’ll be giving a pint of blood on the 18th, that’s for sure. Will you be?

Anson Gordon-Creed Reporter It’s been three weeks since the Sophomore classes of both Stuart Hall and Convent left for a one week stay in the Central American country of Costa Rica. Now, what can I say that hasn’t already been said?

The trip isn’t for the easily bored.

The several hour flights back and forth are preceded or followed by almost equally long bus rides. And this is all without any electronics. But when you finally do reach the hotel though, it starts to be worth it. Las Villas Del Rio is not your standard hotel of one big building with multiple floors of rooms.

Instead, there are several small buildings, each with four rooms, located in a somewhat rural area. As you’d expect with the country’s world famous biodiversity, the scenery is divine. The hotel food is also pretty good, and during our downtime at the hotel, I really got to know my classmates a lot better.

There are three main activities you do while in the country: Horseback riding, school service, and zip lining.

My personal favorite was horseback riding, because every part, from the truck ride to the waterfall (or back, depending on which order you went in), to the riding itself is both relaxed and fun.

Zip lining was the only time on the trip I actually got bitten by any mosquitoes, which is very unusual for me. But provided you don’t have an extreme reaction like me, you should find the activity also pretty fun. Even a fear of heights or laziness can’t ruin this one, as the walks between cables are short, and the wires themselves aren’t actually all that high up.

But the big one everyone talks about is the service. As service is an important component of the trip, every student is asked to buy extra school supplies to bring with them.

Not only are you helping those less fortunate than you, but you’re also supposedly gaining a new perspective on life. I say “supposedly” for a reason: it’s really not all that impressive.

Don’t get me wrong, I was a little taken back by the shanty towns we saw, or just how small the school meant to teach several different grades was, but really, we all knew this kind of stuff existed. We painted some walls and desks and handed out supplies while playing with the kids, which was fun, but it really didn’t help all that much in the long run, and we did it in a very disorganized fashion. Sure, it’s different to hear about it or see pictures of it than to experience it for yourself. it’s not much worse than than what we see doing community service for hours around the city.

Overall, the trip was good, but could have been vastly improved if we spent more time on actual service, and less time on leisure activities.

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February 11th, 2016

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February 11th, 2016

News Table

Flying High

A Warming World

Colin Carr soars high above the clouds Jackson Rhodes News Editor We’re soaring, flying, there’s not a star in heaven that we can’t reach.” This inspirational quote from the timeless High School Musical is something that is always in Colin’s head as he soars through our skies himself.

Colin Car ‘16 is a full-time student and a part-time pilot.

I first met Colin during the summer of sixth grade at an aviation camp. It was delightful to reconnect with him freshman year and hear that as my interest in aeronautics slowly decreased, Colin’s interest in aviation grew stronger as he entered high school. While some students spend their time after school participating in school sports or other hobbies, Colin climbs in the cockpit and mans a flying machine.I had the chance to ask Collin a few questions about his hobby. When asked how he initially got into aviation, Colin mentioned, “I was heavily influenced by my dad.

He was always into aviation and got his private [license] at a young age (19). As well as that, I was exposed to flying at a young age. The first time I was in a prop [plane] was when I was 6 or so and I really loved it.” Colin’s passion for

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flight grew from that point on, and he is currently working on getting his license.

I was curious to learn more about the process of getting a pilot’s license. Is it similar to getting a driver’s license? Well informed about this subject, Colin said, “The process for getting a pilot’s license is a lot different than getting your driver’s license.

For flying you have to have a certain amount of hours as well as completing a solo [flight], several cross country flights (landing at multiple airports), and a certain amount of night time flying.

Then you have to get a check ride to confirm that you know what you’re doing inside the cockpit. You also have to take a written test too.” That sounds a lot more tedious than the process for getting a driver’s license, that’s for sure! He doesn’t own his own plane--apparently they can be a little pricey--but he uses his flight instructor’s. Colin tries to get in the air as often as he can at Sonoma Skypark, but he notes, “I do not have my license yet. I have soloed multiple time as well as completing all the flying portions necessary for my license, but with senior year as busy as it is with sports and college

the future of global warming

apps, it was hard to find time for the written test and prepare for my check ride.” Colin is planning on finishing his written portion of the test this summer when the pressure of college and school let up and he has time to study. I can’t

imagine flying a small prop plane, especially alone!

We wish Colin the best of luck in getting his license.

It was nice to reconnect with him and learn about his unique hobby. If you are interested in learning more

Colin Carr | The Hall

about aviation, or the process of getting a pilot’s license, feel free to pick Colin’s brain.

Jackson Rhodes, signing off.

an alternative look at currency

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or most of human history, civilizations have used barter systems, where one object of subjective value was traded for another. But as society developed, problems arose with this.

Food, for example, was often used in such exchanges, but could be eaten or go bad. One person could have plenty of one commodity, but it could have little value.

Though bartering still exists informally in many situations, most countries now use a standardized banking system that uses government issued currency. The currency represents a commodity that a community considers to be valuable, such as precious metals or oil. On its own, the currency usually has no value itself. Most countries use coins and/or bank notes as their official currency. These coins and notes work fairly well, but there are some glaring flaws.

In order to be mass produced, the currency must be made out of an abundant resource like paper or standard metals, but that makes it is easy to forge. Most governments combat this by giving each currency a complex design, and a special code to verify its authenticity, but forgery is still ultimately possible. (Life hack: If you think a bill might be counterfeit, compare its paper with that of

Nick Watts Reporter limate change is the large scale change in climate that affects entire ecosystems and has an even more impactful effect on humans and their resources.

While climate change, and most notably global warming, has been an issue for decades, warming and decline of the planet’s resources has been of notice lately. Global warming has already created massive droughts in places such as California, India, and East Africa. The majority of the United States is unfortunately unknowledgeable about the issues at hand. There are many factors at play with global warming and climate change. Factors include jobs at stake, government spending, taxes, transportation, and an ongoing energy crisis.

I believe that climate change is one of the biggest issues plaguing America and the world, however the solutions are very complex. As Americans we do need to understand the impact of these global decisions and how they affect our fellow Americans as well as the rest of the world.

In the United States, 63% of Americans believe in climate change and the effects it has on their livelihoods. A number that can be seen as both good and bad, depending on viewpoint. In California, people have experienced extreme cases of global warming including the extensive drought over the summer and fall months in 2015, as well as the storm system, El Niño that is currently hitting California with torrential rainfall. California is ranked in the middle of the U.S. in terms of energy production and does not rely on energy as its main economy. At 70%, California has one of the highest percentages of climate change believers in the U.S. West Virginia has experienced little to no physical changes in climate and ranks among the bottom ten states in education. They have a very poor economy and a much lower population than the

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What’s in your Wallet?

Anson Gordon-Creed Reporter

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rest of the country. Compared to California it is poor and undeveloped. West Virginia is ranked as the fourth largest energy producer in the United States and about 35,000 people are employed by energy companies. At 54%, West Virginia has the least amount of climate change believers.

At first glance many people will direct their attention at West Virginia and think that they are ignorant, stubborn, and inferior to California and the rest of the country. On the contrary, West Virginia has very good reasons to not believe in global warming because coal mining and other forms of energy productions are the top industries in West Virginia. If climate change reforms hit West Virginia regarding coal mining and the use of coal, it would be devastating to the economy and the people who live there.

Also West Virginia has not been impacted as extremely compared to states who have endured vast environmental issues as California. On the other hand, the percentage of people in California who believe in global warming is misleading. While the statistic is accurate, based off California’s proclaimed environmental awareness, that number should be at 100%.

In California, I have noticed a smugness among people and most notably in big cities such as San Francisco, that Californians tend to be isolated from the rest of the states, resulting in an “idea bubble,” limiting their viewpoints of other ideas. In West Virginia that number of believers is realistic as their livelihoods depend on developing energy, most notably coal and natural gas. American ignorance has blocked many changes therefore people must learn to work together and create compromises around climate change. Compromises are unfortunately unlikely and America as a whole will not make a significant change to our ways of life until we feel the drastic effects of global warming.

Yale Project on Climate Change | with permission

Globally, there have been many warning signs leading up to the serious effects of climate change. Greenhouse gases became a big problem with the birth of the Industrial Revolution. During the era, factories overused their resources such as coal, burnt fossil fuels, and emitted dangerous gases into the atmosphere, jumpstarting climate change and the issues of global warming. After industrialization, carbon emissions created by human activity only intensified and people have not made changes to climate changes until recently. Compromises in order to decrease global emissions are pretty impossible, and solutions often do not work.

Among the largest contributors are the United States, China, Europe, and India who together contribute 75% of global emissions. Throughout the world, we realized the importance of halting carbon emissions levels however, the plan created during conference COP21 is unsustainable.

With the agreement carbon levels will still be high and cutting emissions will be costly. For example, by 2020 China will still be emitting 14000 tons of carbon dioxide into the atmosphere, far more than any other country. The agreement for each country is not regulated and there will not be any control over whether or not each country

will hold up their end of the bargain. As of now, the issue with global energy is that big countries, such as the U.S. and China, are benefiting from the production of energy and will thus have the money to improve its renewable resources; smaller countries, on the contrary, have not had the same type of economic success and therefore cannot improve their renewable resources. The agreement has created a global monopoly in which the wealthy and powerful have the opportunity to decrease emissions however smaller countries will be unable to do so.

At Stuart Hall, we have a much smaller impact on climate change, however each person still affects the environment, simply by living in the United States. Since we live in the largest energy producing and consuming country in the world, our global footprint is much larger than that of smaller, less developed countries. Americans have gotten used to luxuries provided by our great country, however public services such as plumbing, public transportation, and other public services that are a part of daily life, including park maintenance, street cleaning, and garbage collection have all contributed to our global footprint. Overall, Americans no matter how environmentally conscious they are, must

rely on the government to make substantial changes to our daily lives in order to reduce our impact. An online simulation that all sophomores participated in showed that even the most “green” person in America would still need about 3.1 worlds for everyone to live comfortably.

Personally, the test concluded that my family would personally be accountable for about six worlds, which was a pretty average number based on the website.

What does this mean for Stuart Hall? It means that if you are looking to change your lifestyle on this planet, you must cut down on your usage of nonrenewable resources. However, making a realistic change to climate change is only achievable through politicians and government. People must ask themselves whether they are willing to accept less in exchange for a less polluted planet. In terms of being an optimist, innovations such as the car company Tesla shows that people can still live in luxury while still being globally conscious. These innovators are vital to our planet’s success as we must rely on safer and less polluting forms of energy.

Hovering Above the Law stricter laws hope to regulate hoverboard use

Adrian Medina | the roundtable

another bill. Real dollars are made of a special combination of paper and cloth, that makes them softer and less stiff than regular paper.) Paper notes can also be easily destroyed, and coins are often too heavy and cumbersome, especially in large amounts, to be utilized properly.

The use of precious metals or oil as a commodity to back the money up also has its fair share of problems, but that will be touched on in the next article.

Even with technology still on the rise, and the invention of systems like banking cards and Bitcoin, there are inevitable situations that will require a physical currency. A perfect physical currency would be one that is extremely difficult to forge, hard to destroy, but also light and easy to carry in large amounts. Coins roughly the size of a tiny battery, made of a light but tough alloy only possible to create with resources of a government would be perfect. They would

have their value and serial number engraved on the sides, confirmed by both a color code and special textures to help people—including those with disabilities—to distinguish them. (Why do you think some coins have ridges and some don’t?) A special hand held machine could scan the serial number and allow merchants to determine their authenticity. And should the owner want to make it digital, banks would deposit the coin’s value in the person’s

account, and melt the physical coin down to be shipped back to the government and used to create more coins.

I know it seems like tackling the issue of international economics and completely changing the national currency may seem out of the league of a high school paper, but a secure currency system would be a massive benefit to the world economy, and thanks to the rise of social media, it’s in forums like these where world changing ideas begin.

Adrian Medina Photoshop Technician n today’s society, hoverboards have taken over.

The two-wheeled machines have benefited many people’s’ lives. However, they have also created a lot of controversy around the world.

There are lots of different hoverboards with varying costs because they are made from numerous companies.

Although they tend to range widely in price, the ones that tend to cost more are the ones that that can be more benefi-

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cial for you. At the start of this year, California government passed regulations on hoverboards that state the following: 1. You must be 16 years or older to ride the hoverboards, 2. You must wear a helmet, 3.

Hoverboards are only permitted on streets with a maximum speed limit of 35 mph.

Laws have been established over the last couple of months because of the injuries to both children and adults. There have been many injuries due to the lack of safety and the foolishness of

Adrian Medina | the roundtable

the people who ride, along with board explosions. The main reason that explosions have occurred is because the hoverboards are being charged overnight or for more than 2 hours. Owner’s manuals clearly state charging times, but people either do

not read the manuals, do not believe them, or both.

The positive thing about hoverboards is that they help transport people faster from place to place. If someone is tired of walking, they have the hoverboard to help. As a hoverboard owner, I have

noticed that if I go too fast on the board, there is a beeping sound and the board becomes unbalanced. The key to riding hoverboards safely and avoiding possible mishaps is to read the owner’s manual and to follow the rules of the road.

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Features Table

A Trip to Remember

February 8th, 2015

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Roundup

Nighttime Activities

the sophomore class heads to Costa Rica Owen Fahy - Sam Cormier - Nick Everest the roundtable

Service

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plit into two groups in San Francisco, the sophomores landed in the capital of Costa Rica, San Jose, on January 17th. One group of fifty or so students flew to Houston, Texas while another group of fifty students flew to San Salvador, El Salvador. Following a long bus ride, the two groups met up at the Villas Rio Mar in Dominical on Sunday night. Over the next three days, the group of 104 students was split into three different groups who went zip lining, horseback riding, visited a school to do service for the local children.

Evening activities included cooking, salsa dancing, and a walk through a medicinal garden. Zip lining allowed the sophomores to ride eight different lines after a hike through Costa Rica’s beautiful

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large blue tour bus pulled up outside the fenced-in compound where fifty small, excited, faces peered through the fence to catch a glimpse at those who had come to visit.

Roughly thirty Convent and Stuart Hall sophomores unloaded the bus and entered the school compound to greet the children who ranged in age from five to ten. The kids peered excitedly as they organized into lines and yelled in one cohesive voice, “Hola, como estas?” From there, two, new, blue soccer balls emerged out of Mr. Vasquez’s bag, and were immediately picked up and brought to the soccer field. Amazed by the charisma and excitement of the kids, half of the sophomores, predominantly Stuart Hall boys, followed after the kids. From there, teams were made, and the kids showed their skills. For two Stuart Hall students, playing soccer with these kids meant more to them then most. Carlos Armendariz ’18 and Adrian Medina ’18 are elite soccer players who really looked forward to playing “fútbol” with the kids. The two sophomores lead a tournament where

the little kids were allowed to show their skills. Two of the kids, Jeremy and Ivan, separated themselves from their peers as they showed their skills over the course of an hour. Their talent was not lost on Carlos and Adrian who spotted these kids and later in the day called them over. The boys came over and expected to say a final goodbye to the boys from a far away land, but were met with a heartwarming surprise. As the boys walked over, Carlos and Adrian removed their shoes, Adrian signed his pair, and the two Stuart Hall boys knelt down and handed them to Jeremy and Ivan. A crowd of touched Americans and Costa Ricans looked on as Carlos and Adrian, now only in their socks, exchanged words in Spanish with the two boys.

The giving did not end there.

Through the donations of the families of the 104 teenagers who made the 3,000 mile journey south, each kid at the series of the three schools who were visited by Convent and Stuart Hall were given their yearly school supplies.

The high school students then picked up paintbrushes and repainted the sun beaten walls

of their respective schools, and sanded and stained chairs and tables. “Through our school service, I got to learn from the children and they got to learn from me, and our mutual experience and excitement helped us to connect even if we didn’t speak the same language,” said Fiona Mittelstaedt ’18 when asked of her experience at one of the three rural Costa Rican schools visited by Convent and Stuart Hall. Each school was served through donations of school supplies, a boost to their school infrastructure and a fun day of activities with the foreign teenagers.

“Going to the schools and seeing the children was a very eye-opening experience for us privileged teenagers from San Francisco,” said Emilio De Anda ’18 as he reflected on his time from a hostel in San José, where the class stayed the night before their departing flights. The trip as a whole was a fun experience for all who partook, as rafting, zip lining, and horseback riding are activities that most of the students do not get to participate in back in the U.S. However, serving the local people left a small, lasting, im-

print in the hearts and minds of every student who saw the happiness in the kids’ lives. “I had never seen a kid so happy being handed a soccer ball, as it was obvious that receiving that gift meant a little more than usual,” said Sinéad McKeon ’18. The smiles of the little kids infected the hearts of the Stuart Hall and Convent teens and helped to inspire them with a little bit of happiness as they flew home with memories of the little kids with contagious spirit.

The schools did not inspire much hope that they had a lot of resources at home. The one resource that these kids had in ample supply was happiness.

The sophomores were struck by the excitement and joy that they were met with by the little kids. “I had never seen a kid so happy being handed a soccer ball, as it was obvious that receiving that gift meant a little more than usual,” said Sinéad. The smiles of the little kids infected the hearts of the Stuart Hall and Convent teens and helped to inuse their hearts with a little bit of happiness as they flew home with memories of the little kids with contagious happiness.

rainforest at Hacienda Baru.

Students saw exotic bugs and animals, like toucans and sloths, and learned a history of the rainforest from one of the local guides. Horseback riding left many first time riders pleasantly surprised and many sophomores faced their fears and jumped off of the waterfall at the end of the ride. The horses scared a few students and chaperones, and while the experience differed for everyone, a consensus was agreed upon that jumping off a 35 foot waterfall was well worth the long horseback ride. The general consensus was that the hardest part of jumping off of the waterfall was climbing up through the rushing water to the summit.

Four guides assisted in the climb, but the water came fast and furious and made it

very difficult to ascend the rock face. Service at the local schools was satisfying, yet different, for every group, as each group visited a different school. Each group would play soccer and other games and then donate school supplies and help improve the infrastructure of their respective schools. Every night, after dinner, music was played and people danced. On the second night, a live band came in and played, while the sophomores showed off their recently acquired salsa dancing skills.

After the first three days, the sophomores went white water rafting and helped preserve the Costa Rican beaches, along with aerating the soil in the turtle sanctuary. The rafting was underwhelming for some as Costa Rica is currently battling a drought, so

and Convent students went on a half hour eco-hike. During this hike, the students saw many animals and learned about the habitat. Students were pleasantly surprised by the termites nutty taste after originally being scared to eat a bug. After the hike, the students then went ziplining from eight different platforms in the upper canopy. The eight ziplines were fifteen second long, exhilarating rides through the rainforest, suspended from a harness. The views while zipping through the foliage were spectacular and added even more to the amazing adventure.

nother one of the adventures that the students embarked on was horseback riding to Nauyaca waterfall and the opportunity to jump off the waterfall. When the students got down to the area where the horses were, they walked up to the many different sized horses and began to pet them.

After an exciting 45 minute horseback ride, students arrived at the waterfall and the tour guides set up ropes that allowed all of the students the opportunity to jump off of the waterfall which was an astonishing 35 foot jump. The record for number of times that a student jumped off the

Ziplining

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ne of the three rotations that students took part in was a hike through the Hacienda Baru National Wildlife Refuge rainforest, which included a zipline adventure through the upper forest. The Hacienda Baru Wildlife Refuge was founded in 1972 by former hunter Jack Ewing and occupies 830 acres of protected forest and 2,780 meters of beach. Some of what students saw in the lower and upper canopies were sloths, termites, toucans, monkeys, leafcutter ants, and much more.

After splitting into groups and getting ziplining harnesses strapped up, the Stuart Hall

the rapids were not rushing as aggressively as usual. Nevertheless, a significant number of Stuart Hall and Convent students were tossed from their rafts which kept students on the edge of their seats. The sophomores then returned to Hacienda Baru to dig canals for turtles and clean up the local beach. The final beach day gave students a chance to experience the unbelievably warm water as well as peek inside the caves at the beach.

The undertow and large waves gave students a reason to be weary, but lifeguards made sure that all risk was removed from enjoying the water. It will be a week to remember for all who attended, as there were more than enough memorable experiences to go around.

Horseback Riding

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waterfall was 11 times by Lizzie Bruce. The students then switched groups on the way back from the waterfall with the students who had ridden horses to the waterfall, taking the trucks and vice versa. In the middle of the journey home, the students stopped for lunch at a local Costa Rican’s home where they enjoyed a traditional Costa Rican meal of chicken, rice, potatoes and beans. As sophomore Gordon Smit fondly remembers, “The chicken that I ate on the way back from the waterfall was the best meal that I have ever eaten in my entire life.”

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very afternoon after the day’s activities, students engaged in more educational activities provided by the organizers of the trip. One such activity was a medicinal walk, where the sophomores learned about remedies that can be made from the plants around the hotel. It was amazing for them to see how much diversity exists in such a small country. There was also a cooking class that taught the creation of local cuisine.

However, the most popular afternoon activity was salsa dancing. The students were nervous at first, but there was quickly an atmosphere of intense focus in the room as people learned to groove with the music. During the hot nights after dinner, the novice salsa dancers were able to showcase their skills, and everyone got in on the fun.

These fun bouts of dancing were exciting of course, but equally as sweaty. Dancing was almost always followed up by dips in the pool, after which students would be sent to their rooms for a shower and bed. On the second to last night, a talent show was held to showcase the talents of both teachers and students.

There was an expectation of the trip that classmates from both Stuart Hall and Convent would get to know each other on another level, and this trip definitely fulfilled that expectation. Local bands and dancers joined in the fun, providing the local touch needed for the students to feel the Costa Rican vibes. Overall these dance sessions made up the majority of the nights, but no one who participated was complaining.

Rafting

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fter the three rotations were over, the students were then split into two groups for rafting and service.

For many students, the rafting was the highlight of their trip. Stuart Hall and Convent students arrived at Iguana Tours at around 8:30 in the morning. Then there was then was a 20 minute van ride to the Savegre river. This was followed by a short safety talk, which included an introduction to rafting lingo; the commands were “paddle forward”, “paddle backward”, and “stop paddling”. After the safety talk was over, students then chose their boats, and they were off on their rafting adventure.

Right off the bat, there was a strong rapid which caused one boat to get stuck on the rocks and another boat to capsize.

Sophomore Nick Shkolnikov said, “After my time on the river, I now feel like a person who has actually done something with my life.” The boredom of the flat water set the stage for students and guides to engage in races, splash battles, and even pirating other people’s boats. After the students finished rafting they were treated to fresh pineapple from the Costa Rican forest which was perfect for the students’ appetites after their rafting adventure.

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Sports Table

The Struggles of a Student Athlete the controversey over students leaving school early

Harry Billings Sports Editor Over the fall and winter sports seasons, I have been hearing the same issue coming up over and over again. Both in my own home, and all across school from students and faculty alike. This is the topic of leaving classes before dismissal in order to get to a sports game. From time to time, entire teams will generally leave school half an hour or so early from class.

This is obviously a necessary thing to do for games farther away from school. In order to have warm up time before games, leaving on the bus early is the only way to give yourself that time.

As it pertains to wrestling, there are actual rigid league rules that mean wrestlers must leave class early in order to be weighed in for the meet. According to Mr. Woodard, the head coach of the wrestling team, The NFHS rule about this states that “wrestlers have to weigh in at least an hour before dual meets and no later. For tournaments, they must weigh in at least two hours before”. In this case, to compete in these events and represent their school, it is absolutely mandatory that wrestlers leave class early to weigh in. Mr. Woodard takes both his team and his classes very seriously, and he looks at athletes balancing school and sports as a very good thing.

“I think that it is great that

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student-athletes are challenged with balancing school and sports. There’s a reason it says student-athlete on their college applications. The fact that we are challenging them to live up to the title student-athlete is a good thing.

They need to be able to find that kind of balance in their life.” Obviously as a coach and a teacher, Mr. Woodard sees both sides of the work and drive it takes to be a student athlete. Some other teachers, however, see leaving classes early as an obstacle that forces students to spend additional time outside of class, which does not always happen. The implementation of sports into an academic career tends to leave many students unnecessarily behind on work and class material.

Mr. Teixeira, who feels very strongly about the issue, is one of the teachers that believes that we should try and mitigate some of the negative impacts. Ultimately, he thinks it’s unfortunate that sports and schoolwork are competing for a student’s time.

“While I recognize that there is great value in students participating in athletic programs and committing themselves to the dynamic of group sports, I do wish that students’ participation in athletics didn’t have to compete with their academic responsibilities as well as their time in class.

Ultimately, it is the student’s responsibility to check in with

Angel Padilla | the roundtable

a teacher regarding missed notes, in-class assignments, etc. when they’re absent, but the unfortunate reality is that very few students ever do this.” Mr. Teixeira realizes the same thing as Mr. Woodard does, that the balance of these two things is a good challenge for students. Making up missed work requires meeting with teachers outside of class, and that is where Mr. Teixeira sees the problem. Whether it’s the students forgetting to check in, or just not doing it at all, Mr. Teixeira doesn’t see enough evidence of students actually trying to balance responsibilities as students and as athletes. This difficulty in striking a healthy balance between the two often impacts negatively on

a student’s grade, and unless that changes, Mr. Teixeira feels that something should be done.

This issue has stock on both sides, but the bottom line is clear. There is going to be change soon. There are good reasons for teachers to be worried for students’ academic success, but is this challenge a good or bad thing? All of these lingering questions have been asked for months, and the answer seems to be near.

In general, teachers seem to think two ways about this issue. While many appear to not be personally affected by the effects of student athletes, it’s hard to deny that the loss of valuable class time isn’t a hindrance to the learning of

those who take part in sports.

Luckily, the schedule has been configured so that only D and H periods can end a day more than once a week. This limits the amount of class time a student can miss and more importantly, the amount of material. While steps are being made to find a solution to this problem, not enough progress has been made, and there needs to be change. This problem can’t continue to go on if our school wants to continue to attract the high-caliber level of student athletes it currently does. Teachers and students alike have good reason to be worried for the academic success of athletes at our school.

Angeles Dodgers, and the San Francisco Giants. While playing for the Dodgers, he was brought from the bullpen to pitch for one batter, and he recorded a strikeout. As a batter he went 0-2, but fouled a 92 mph fastball thrown by former Giants relief pitcher, Jean Machi. His jerseys and gear were auctioned off, and the proceeds were sent to two cancer charities. Another sports event Will Ferrell has appeared at is the Rose Bowl, where he served as an honorary captain for Chelsea at the coin toss when they were facing Inter Milan. However Will does more than just attend and mess around on the field, he also takes athletic events seriously. Will Ferrell has ran in several major marathons from the Stockholm Marathon to the Boston and New York Marathons. As well as being the captain of his high school basketball team, Ferrell also set a league field goal record as a kicker Will Ferrell has starred in many famous sports movies like Talladega Nights which is about a famous race care driver who loses everything he

owns. Another great film starring Will is Blades of Glory, a movie about two men rivals that team up, which is unheard of because they were the first same sex pair to skate together. Their personalities clash but they eventually become friends and achieve a first place win in the World Winter Sports Games. Sophomore, Phoenix Aquino-Thomas, looks at the film like this: “After watching the film I will never look at ice skating the same”. The first sports movie where Ferrell played the lead was Kicking and Screaming. This movie is about a man whose dad always wanted him to be a pro athlete, but never did.

That causes the man to have a competitive nature, however his son lacks athletic talent.

Will Ferrell’s roles in these movies have changed some perspectives on sports and have played out stereotypes that are shown in everyday life. The impact he has made by doing these movies have offered new views to the world especially with Blades of Glory by having two men skate together for pairs. Will

Will Kahn | the roundtable

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Will Ferrell makes waves in the sports industry

Ferrell will go down as a legend in the sports world and the world of comedy.

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Sports Table

A Dynasty Continues

The Hall looks to win their fifth straight league championship

Sam Cormier Reporter hen the Stuart Hall varsity baseball team kicks off their season, they will be looking to do the unprecedented. The Hall will be shooting for a sixpeat as the BCL West champions. Stuart Hall will have their work cut out as many teams have improved around the league. The Lick Wilmerding Tigers, who have been The Hall’s biggest competitor in the past several years, has come in either second or third place in every one of Stuart Hall’s championship seasons.

The Hall also finds more tough competition in the form of San Francisco University High School who surprised everybody last year when they won the league tournament.

The Hall will look to win league yet again but will also

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An Unlikely Owner

Ben Cross Reporter ou may know him as Ricky Bobby, Ron Burgundy, or Chazz Michael Michaels in the world of comedy. However in the real world he is Will Ferrell, an accomplished actor who has been involved in the sports world. In college he wanted to pursue a degree in sports journalism but decided to take a different path and became a comedian. Now he is back into the world of sports and has recently announced that he will be a part owner of Los Angeles FC with Mia Hamm, a retired professional soccer player who is a FIFA World Cup winner, and arguably the best point guard of all time, Magic Johnson. This is an enormous step for Will Ferrell.

Will Ferrell is an avid sports fan and has been featured many times at different sports events. Last year at Spring Training in Scottsdale Arizona, Will played 10 of the positions including designated hitter. Some notable teams he played for were the Chicago Cubs, the Los

February 11th, 2016

Max Rodriguez Reporter he season is almost over now. Varsity has snapped their six game losing streak and have now won seven of their last nine games with wins against Marin Academy (2x), Urban (2x), Lick-Wilmerding, and International (2x), with losses against St. Joe’s and University. The team is being lead

by Zeke Crawford ‘16 (18.6 ppg), Axavier Byrd ‘16 (11.3 ppg), and Darna Stewart ‘17 (11.8 ppg). Varsity brutally beat Marin Academy, twice, with final scores of 65-27 and 73-55. They won close games against Urban and Lick-Wilmerding with final scores of 51-43, 53-47, and 71-66. They barely lost to a tough St. Joseph’s team with a final score of 44-41 and suffered a six point defeat against University last Friday.

The team now hopes to turn their season around after their, mid-season, six game losing streak. On the other hand, JV has had a season to remember. After starting off

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Ben Cross Reporter

he Stuart Hall wrestling season is coming to an end. They have already had 19 meets and have placed well consistently.

The most important meet of the season, the league meet, is coming up on Feburary 19th and The Hall is training hard to qualify for NCS. Northern California Section (NCS) is the second step, followed

by CIF. Many wrestlers are looking strong and ready for this event like Lucas Horwitz ‘19, who consistently kept a 50% win ratio, and has been a strong competitor especially at the Albany tournament.

look to return to form and make a deep run in the NCS tournament. With last year’s second round elimination fresh on the returning players minds’, there will be extra motivation to make a deep playoff run.

This upcoming season, The Hall will be supplying one of their most talented teams in its young history. Students are flocking to tryout with more students going out for baseball this year than they have any year in the past.

Let’s not get too excited about all of the new talent because Stuart Hall has almost all of its starting lineup returning from last year. Even so, the team lost two starters in shortstop Stephen Everest ‘15 and second basemen Declan Ebeling ‘15, who batted a combined .380 last year. But with improvements made over the

Ryan Murray | The Hall

offseason, The Hall should have adequate firepower to replace them. The offense this year will be centered around shortstop Zachary Avila ‘16, outfielder Alex Palmer ‘16, and reigning league MVP Willie Reader ‘16. The Hall’s other returning starters are outfielder Robbie Vanderlaan

‘16, outfielder Owen Hackel ‘17, Achilles Arnold ‘17, first basemen Jaden Newman ‘17, third basemen Angel Padilla ‘18, and catcher William Kahn ‘18. Unfortunately, The Hall could find itself in a pinch in the early stages of the season with Owen Hackel and Jaden Newman possibly being un-

available during the basketball team’s own NCS run. The Hall’s pitching staff will look to be the best in the BCL West under the direction of new pitching coach, Jordan Haseltine, who pitched for the University of San Francisco Dons all the way up until the end of the 2014 baseball season. As pitcher Robbie Vanderlaan says, “I am really excited to have a pitching coach who has this much experience to help out the team with our pitching mechanics and performance.

Also, him being a lefty like me will make me an even better pitcher.” Coach Jordan will be coaching the Stuart Hall baseball team along with head Coach Joey Railey who has coached the baseball team ever since its first championship five seasons ago.

The Final Push

Stuart Hall looks to have more playoff success the season, 1-2, they have now gone on a 21-game win streak and show no signs of stopping. In their last nine games, they have blown out league rivals Marin Academy (2x), Urban (2x), Lick-Wilmerding, Head Royce, International, and University. Frosh/Soph had been on a winstreak of their own, but it was snapped by the University Red Devils on Friday. They finished their season 12-3 and were 4-1 in league. Frosh/Soph’s one loss follows up their 4-0 week that put a stamp on their successful season.

JV is on the longest win streak in school history at 21 games, and is looking to finish the season on a 22 game win streak, extending the school record. JV has impressed in every area of their game. The offense has looked extremely strong, and they execute all of their plays without a problem.

However, defense is where they have looked at their best.

They have held most of their opponents to just barely 20

Adrian Medina | the roundtable

points and sometimes less.

I talked to rotation player, Chris Cohen ‘18, about how he thinks the team has been all year long, and he said, “The team has been through many ups and downs, but we have overcome those challenges and the hardwork is finally paying off.” The team is balanced and accomplishes positive work no matter who’s

in the game. The Frosh/Soph team used their press, which they worked on in practice constantly to punish other teams. Jonathan Newsome ‘19 spoke on what he thinks about the team chemistry that the team played with this year and he responded, “I really like the relationship of this team. We work really well together and we have proven

that we can win games. I hope the same group of guys can play together on JV and varsity in the future.”

Frosh/Soph’s season may have concluded, but JV and varsity still have games to play. JV finishes up their Friday night in “The Dungeon” with a game against Lick-Wilmerding. Lick-Wilmerding is the second best team in the BCL West and could tie for the championship with a win on Friday, so the JVs have their work cut out for them. As for varsity, the loss against University prevents them from winning the league and showed some of their weaknesses. Varsity’s inability to beat University could prove an issue in the BCL tournament and as they try and make a run in NCS and the state tournament. As the postseason begins, varsity will need to improve if they hope to top the achievements accomplished by last year’s team.

Laying it all on the Line

wrestling team looks to finish out the season strong

Veteran Alex Macdonald ‘17 is in great form with a 13-3 record. The Hall had to face very formidable teams in their division this season.

This has prepared The Hall for the league tournament where they will have to face Lick-Wilmerding, Athenian, Livermore Valley, John Swett, Saint Patrick, Saint Vincent, and California School for the Deaf. This is the most important part of the season since it decides if The Hall wrestlers are going to qualify for NCS. Veteran Alex Berby ‘17 talks about how: “The team is training hard to do well in the

Lindsay MacGarva | The Hall

league tournament and we are prepared to win.” To prepare for this tournament they have to train inside and outside of

school. Having to make their weight is very important and thatusually means attending last minute workout ses-

sions. Assistant Coach Austin Emerson explains, “The guys have entered into the grind of wrestling season. Our focus is on the league championships which will be at the end of the month”. Both teams, varsity and JV can qualify for NCS if they do well, but if they don’t, their season will come to an end. However, if they do qualify for NCS, they will be wrestling to qualify for the California Interscholastic Federation, which includes the whole state instead of just Northern California.

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A&E Table

Nothing in Sight

the growth of a social media giant

Gabe O’Brien Reporter

How often do you use Snapchat?

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Nick Hom | the roundtable

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A&E Table

The Evolution of Snapchat

Nick Everest Reporter n a generation of expanding social media and short attention spans, Snapchat has flourished. Originally released under the name “Picaboo,” the core concept of a quick and efficient photo sharing app has endured.

However, the main feature that sets Snapchat apart from its earlier competitors was the promise of the photos being quickly deleted. With a rise of intentionally embarrassing and potentially inappropriate photos, this feature pushed Snapchat to the top of the app store charts. In recent years, Snapchat has become one of the most common ways of communicating among teenagers and young adults. As of October 2013, Snapchat was processing over 350 million “snaps” every day.

The genius behind Snapchat is mere simplicity. Even as Snapchat grew to a titanic size, they kept the same core concept with the addition of only a few new features.

Stories, videos, and a texting were all added in recent years which expanded the utility of the app and take over a greater share of the social media market. In 2013, Facebook offered 3 billion dollars to acquire the app. Snapchat’s owners, Evan Spiegel and Bobby Murphy, turned it down. As of 2015, the app is now valued at over 10 billion dollars. Companies can even put ads up on Snapchat for the small price of $750,000 per day. While this may seem high, it’s actually quite reasonable as Snapchat is

February 11th, 2016

now approaching 200 million users. To put this number in perspective, that’s about 62% of the United States’ population.

The app provides a very easy and casual way of sharing even the most random things that happen every day.

Unlike Instagram, which takes on a much more intentional approach to photo sharing, Snapchat allows you to put less thought into each interaction, allowing for a quick share. Another reason for its popularity is the ability to easily share your photos with a large number of people.

While texting requires you to either create a group chat or individually send each photo, Snapchat finds the sweet spot with being able to easily take a photo and make sure all of your friends see it. In the past year, I’ve noticed an even larger use of Snapchat over other social media methods, including texting. With our generation’s need for a fast and efficient form of communicating, Snapchat has risen to the top and shows no signs of slowing down.

continued from previous issue

Author’s Note: I was inspired to write this short story after getting to know the story behind The Tempest. I felt that this had a direct correlation to the Hall and Convent’s theater production, and was something that everybody would enjoy.

I hope that this provides you with a good read and a better appreciation of what is the inspiration for certain stories is.

M

artin was walking aimlessly on an island he perceived to be about 100 miles off the California coast. He thought that he could glimpse Los Angeles from where he was, but he knew that it could simply be a mirage. He was thirsty and filled with an aching hunger. He limped back to the wrecked yacht and climbed up into the destroyed vessel.

He had to hop down 10 feet to what was left of a kitchen. He scoured it for crackers, potato chips, and a gallon of water in case of an emergency. He ate and drank what he could find

since his hunger was killing him. He then had the impulse to look around the ship.

Things were coming back to him. He remembered why the ship was cut off from the dock, why the ship was wrecked with no survivors that he could find, and why his old friend, George, had threatened him with a gun.

He looked around the ship to find clues of what happened.

He found broken glasses and beams that had been ripped off the ship because of the storm. He saw utter destruction, nothing looked the same.

When he finally fought his way out of the ship, he noticed with surprise what looked to be George. Martin was struck with anger, the only reason he was shipwrecked was because of this man. George wasn’t making a move. Rather he was just lying on the ground.

Martin had no idea of his condition but he noticed his wallet and belongings also on the ground. Martin was curious to just take a look at what George had going on in his life.

Martin slowly picked up the wallet and flipped through it. What Martin found later

shocked him. The card of identification in George’s wallet was under a different name than Martin had thought. George Raimi was apparently Martin Robeson.

Martin threw the wallet in disgust. He reached in his back pocket and grabbed his wallet. Apparently, his name was George Raimi. Martin, or whoever he was, ran back into the boat. He looked around the rooms of the boat. There were photographs of Martin and his friends. Documents and letters were signed with his own hand-writing. The name of the boat that he had neglected to find out that night was actually that of Martin’s first dog that he loved. Martin was George.

Martin was the one who cast away the boat. He was the one responsible for all that had happened. Everything that he thought had happened was madness brought on by the island and the loneliness. He couldn’t go back to the mainland because he would surely be arrested. But he couldn’t stay on the deserted island forever, food was running out. There was no hope, and nothing in sight...

A Tasty Breakfast Gabe O’Brien visits Toast Eatery on West Portal

Gabe O’Brien Reporter oast Eatery is a restaurant that serves traditional American breakfast and lunch cuisine, but

T

Jackson Rhodes | the roundtable

with a bit of a modern twist.

The chain has locations across the city, spanning from West Portal to Nob Hill. Two of the locations, the restaurants in Noe Valley and on Church Street, received strong ratings on Zagat. The ratings note how eating at Toast is a pleasurable experience with good food as well as good service.

I went to Toast Eatery on West Portal Avenue. The location is the newest edition to the Toast Eatery chain, and it filled the empty building left by the Village Grill, which was also a diner but with a little more of an Irish flare. I had been to the Village Grill before, yet I was left slightly unsatisfied after an average meal and average service. I went to Toast Eatery and the restaurant was very modern and even had its own coffee bar with a wide selection of drinks. This differs greatly from other dining options on West Portal. The neighborhood is changing and the demographic is becoming younger as more up-to-date locations are starting to pop up around West Portal Avenue.

So how do other people feel about the restaurant?

When walking with David Alvarez ‘16, we passed Toast on West Portal. He pointed out that he frequently goes there: “I go there with my

sister a lot. The breakfast there is really good.” But it is not just this senior who enjoys their food. Kaito Henry ‘18 said about the location, “When I have to meet up a friend around West Portal, I can always count on getting a good bite at Toast.” Even on Yelp, most of the reviews are very good, with most earning five stars!

Toast Eatery isn’t simply a restaurant to eat at, though.

I, for one, drink a lot of coffee.

And finding places other than Starbucks or a donut shop is always nice because it gives me a chance to try something new. Toast Eatery in West Portal is known for their high-tech coffee bar. At a relatively low price, you can get a drink that will satisfy your taste buds. Coffee is a priority for many adults, and this restaurant is catering not only to hungry people. Toast is offering a chance to grab a quick energizer.

I think that what this restaurant offers is good, well-prepared food at a decent price. If you are looking for old-fashioned diner food with new-age flare, I definitely recommend that you go and check out Toast Eatery.

Top 5 Rap Albums of 2015 Rodeo Travi$ Scott

1.

Nick Everest Reporter Rodeo separates itself by being the only album this year to take a risk, and succeed. Travi$ Scott’s sound has always been unique and Rodeo is no different. While it’s nowhere near the most popular album to be released this year, every song brings a feel that is new

and refreshing. The beauty behind Rodeo are the beats and the production. Most will have heard the hits like “Antidote” and “3500,” but everyone owes it to themselves to explore the entirety of this album and see what they’re missing out on.

Unsurprisingly, Drake continued to release some of the best rap in the past year. If You’re Reading This It’s Too Late was dropped without any promotion or hints. What separates this album from most this year was the overall strength. While the top songs

weren’t the best to come out this year, it gave us 17 songs without a single flop. Every single song works and has strong longevity. Songs like “Know Yourself,” “Energy,” and “Legend” were played nonstop for weeks and can still be heard today.

Compton is Dr. Dre’s third and final album in one of the greatest rap careers ever.

Features from artists like Kendrick Lamar, Snoop Dogg, Ice Cube, and Xzibit make this album even stronger and bring a heavy West Coast feel.

Eminem’s feature is arguably

the strongest verse of the year on “Medicine Man” and is a version of himself that we haven’t heard in awhile.

While Compton may have not received much radio time or mainstream success, the overall piece is amazing.

Mac Miller started off his career extremely strong back in 2010 but suffered from two very weak releases of “Watching Movies with the Sound Off” and “Live From Space.”

However, GO:OD AM stands out as one of the strongest re-

leases of the year. The album’s most popular song “Weekend” has a Miguel feature which always bodes well. Overall, GO:OD AM is the first strong album we’ve heard from Mac Miller in a long time and truly lives up to his actual talent.

G-Eazy’s third album, When It’s Dark Out, follows his extremely successful album These Things Happen, but is equally as impressive. In the past two years, G-Eazy’s career has picked up dramatically and has put him close to the top of the charts. Songs

like “Me, Myself & I,” “Calm Down,” “Random,” “You Got Me,” and “Of All Things” stand out in this already strong album. With good beats and strong rapping, it’s hard not to like this album as everyone will find a song they like within it.

Kaplan Korner

If Your Reading This Its Too Late

2.

3.

4.

5.

Drake

Compton Dr. Dre

GO:OD AM Travi$ Scott

When It’s Dark Out G-Eazy

Up and Comings Friday, February 12 Varsity Basketball vs Lick-Wilmerding @ 5:30 Saturday, February 13-21 Ski Week Golf vs. Bay @ 3:10 Wednesday, February 24 Baseball vs. Berean Christian @ 3:30 Thursday, February 25 Lacrosse vs. San Rafael @ 3:30 Saturday, February 28 Swim Invitational at City College Wednesday, March 2 Badminton at San Domenico @ 4 Baseball at Athenian @ 3:30 Lacrosse at Windsor @ 4:30 Thursday, March 3 Badminton vs. CA Crosspoint @ 4 Fencing vs. Wallenburg @ 3:30 Friday, March 4 No School Baseball at Sonoma Academy Tuesday, March 8 Badminton vs. Drew @ 4 Baseball at Redwood Christian @ 4 Fencing at University @ 3:30 Lacrosse at Washington @ 4:30 Swimming vs. Drew & Bentley @ 4 Tennis at Lincoln @ 3:30

the roundtable

| Stuart Hall High School | Schools of the Sacred Heart San Francisco | | 1715 Octavia St. | San Francisco, CA 94109 | | roundtable@sacredsf.org |

Editors Owen Fahy, Editor-in-Chief Nick Hom, Layout & Online Editor Harry Billings, Sports Editor Jackson Rhodes, News Editor

Reporters Anson Gordon-Creed, News Reporter Ben Cross, Reporter Gabe O’Brien, News/Creative Reporter Max Rodriguez, Sports Reporter Nick Everest, Reporter Nick Watts, News Reporter Sam Cormier, Sports Reporter Zack Hammer, News/Creative Reporter

Graphics Adrian Medina, Photoshop Angel Padilla, Photographer Ben Kaplan, Layout Assistant William Kahn, Artist

Special Thanks Lori Saltveit, Moderator Michael Campos, Editing Reba Sell, Editing

Ben Kaplan Layout Assistant A stereotype is an assumption about a categorized group due to their ethnicity, religion, and gender. Most of the time, people do not know they are being stereotypical, they are just acting the same as their peers. Stereotyping is seen everyday in schools, in the workplace, and even within friendly conversations between family members.

A person’s ethnicity is one of the major ways a person may be stereotyped. For example, TopTenz list about racial stereotypes states that “All African Americans are good at basketball.” Although it is true that over 80% of NBA players are African American, it does not mean they magically know how to shoot a ball and dribble past a defender. These are skills that are developed through practice.

Another stereotype that is constantly heard around many schools are that all Asians are smart. Sophomore Andre Restauro states that, “I hear a lot of people throwing around the idea that all Asians are good at math.” This is currently happening at a bunch of schools anywhere in the world about every ethnicity whether it’s a child’s accent from a different part of the world or because of his or her genetics or what they look like.

Why do you think people are stereotyped? I believe it’s because people are insecure about themselves or need to release anger on somebody. For example, a person who is an average student could be jealous of the straight As that another student earns. To blow off steam about their own grades, he or she tells the straight A student that the only reason he is getting great grades is because of his race. This is unacceptable, but nobody will stop it because they are scared or think it really doesn’t matter. Nothing good comes from being a bystander. Stereotypes are a form a bullying and can be used to demean another person’s opinions or identity.

Are there any good stereotypes, and if so, what? Patrick Dilworth ‘17 says “No. Even the nice ones involve some kind of a judgement that may or may not be true.” People repeat things they hear from their peers, parents, or anyone else they look up to. Stereotypes are passed down generation by generation, so it’s impossible that stereotypes will come to an end. People are unaware most of the time that they are being stereotypical, it’s just a habit for some people.

The main ways that stereotypes are perpetuated is through social media, TV, movies, and even from your friends and family. Social media is a very easy way for stereotypes to spread. People follow accounts on Instagram like @funnystereotypes for their own enjoyment. People then begin to tell their friends about the most funny or hurtful stereotypes.

TV shows or movies include jokes that are supposed to be funny but are very stereotypical. Your family teaches you things from the instant you are born about life to keep you safe, though stereotypes shared by parents to their kids, can be hurtful. Neither parents nor the kids are to blame because stereotypes have been passed down and have been around forever. By discontinuing negative stereotypes we can minimize assumptions that are made. In the end, it’s important to recognize that stereotypes can be very hurtful to people.

of the black community that prevents well deserved veneration. The drug epidemic of Black lives, just as any the 60s, especially crack, play other life, begins at home. a major role in the influence of My father told me, “Who I the conflicts faced in present am and who I will become day. A substantial amount of starts at home.” In the 60s, profit is made by distributing my father’s mother raised him such an accessible, yet deand six of his siblings. His structive substance that nearly young mother instilled values altered black health around into him which he continues the world. Fifty percent of to live by. For example, the the homicides in this country importance of responsibility, are committed in our black looking out for your siblings, communities. Ignoring the valuing education, planning ramification of black crime for the future, not being prej- will decrease our progress in udiced, treating everyone the creating advantages for way you want to be treated, generations to come. respecting authority, and Unfortunately, these cycles working for what you need. have createda situation During the 60s, he grew whereblack men are up in a predominately black incarcerated, dying neighborhood in San Francis- and missing from co. The community in which their families; he lived in had a common leaving young sense of looking out for one mothers to another and an overall comstruggle raising mon bond. However, similar the “statistic”. to many black communities In order to today, there was an outstand- prevent systemic ing amount of police brutality, incarceration of segregation, and black on black men, black crimes while still makaddressing the ing efforts toward obtaining housing, civil rights. According to my education and father, a prime example of an economic impactful black movement development of were the Black Panthers. young black They took action within their men needs to be communities, developing edu- considered. cational programs, providing Predestined to services to the less fortunate, fail in society, protesting against drug and black men and police brutality, and essenwomen suffer tially created black empower- from statistics they ment. live their life In the last 30 to 35 years, fighting to become black communities have lost a part of. Often the original sense of together- times, the obstacle ness. Constantly speaking of is incarceration. matters and social issues, yet Incarceration not compelled to action. Neg- denies many ligent parenting, health, chilmen their right to dren born from wedlock, and obtain jobs, violence are the very cycles which leads to

Axavier Byrd Class of 2016

financial dilemmas for themselves and their family, resulting in a loss of humanity. In other words, once convicted of a crime a man becomes labeled in a society where his services will be refused. In return, he has to obtain money in a way that is disapproved by people who turned away his struggle to provide. Ultimately, this becomes the cycle beyond the confines of imprisonment.

Now, why Black Lives Matter?

Well, why the Black Panther movement?

The gains made since the 50s have been dissipated by negative influence through criticism on social media, appraisals of the “gangstalifestyle”, and forgetting the sacrifices made by many black activists, Black Lives Matter has been perceived as a movement focused solely on police brutality when the purpose is to raise awareness of the torment and deprivation black people still experience.

Non-violent and community building aspects need to

roundtable

be the driving force for the change we wish to see in black lives. If there were more stable schools, households and communities generated, steps towards diminishing classism and racism could be made. On June 1, 2015, John Perazzo wrote an article in Frontpage Mag titled “The Profound Racism of ‘Black Lives Matter’”. His point of views mirrored my own while broadening my spectrum of Black Lives Matter’s intentions and importance. He exclaims, BLM serves as reminder that our nation’s “corrupt democracy” was originally “built on Indigenous genocide and chattel slavery” and “continues to thrive on the brutal exploitation of people of color”; “the ugly American traditions of patriarchy, classism, racism, and militarism” imbuing facets of our society; “structural oppression” continues to “prevent so many from realizing their dreams”; and blacks tend to be “[dehumanized]” and targeted for “extrajudicial killings … by police and vigilantes”, “black on black crimes” in our “white supremacist system.”

This is merely an article in which the life of a white man is being compared to the life of a black man. This isn’t about an economic, social, or political competition, it is about progression in lower income communities that are predominately black that are still suffering from the repercussions of history to present day. Throughout the process of writing this article, conversations with family like my dad and friends helped me formulate my thoughts.

We need to ask ourselves, are we going to change the way we think, or just think that we are going to change?

Axavier Byrd discusses racial equality

Black Lives Matter February 11th, 2016 the roundtable at roundtable.sacredsf.org2222 Broadway San Francisco, CA 94115

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