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March 24, 2016
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MSJ teams selected as Summit Diplomats in Conrad Challenge Four teams qualify for the Spirit of Innovation Summit By Ashley Chang & Bindhu Swaminathan Staff Writers Several MSJ teams were selected as Summit Diplomats in the Conrad Spirit of Innovation Challenge and are invited to the Spirit of Innovation Summit at the Kennedy Space Center Visitor Complex in Florida from April 20 to 24. The Conrad Spirit of Innovation Challenge promotes innovation and an entrepreneurial spirit by encouraging students to create products that target global issues. Teams submit portfolios regarding research on their product, and those who receive high scores are chosen as Summit Diplomats. The team Avenir, which consists of Juniors Jessika Baral, Kate Lin, Jeffrey Liu, and Stephen Tian, produced the Congenital Heart Abnormality Detector. “Playing to our team’s interests and strengths in biomed and computer science, we knew we wanted to develop some sort of software in the field of bioinformatics,” said Lin. The detector uses color doppler echocardiography, which utilizes ultrasound to examine the heart and blood vessels, to detect a congenital heart disorder and calculate its severity. It then compiles all of the information into a patient profile. Though the team has decided not to attend the Spirit of Innovation Summit, they hope that hospitals around the world can use their software to improve the accuracy of the disorder diagnoses in the future.
German exchange students visit MSJ By Chloe Velasquez Staff Writer Students from Otto-Hahn-Gymnasium in Göttingen, Germany, visited MSJ as part of the German Cultural Exchange Program on March 11. As a welcome to the community, ASB hosted a luncheon for the exchange students in N7 the day they arrived. The German Cultural Exchange Program was founded at MSJ under the auspices of the Fulbright Commission after Ethnic Studies Teacher Risha Krishna participated in the Fulbright Program to Germany in 2010. “Since Germany is such a large part of the content in state standards for world history, I really wanted to travel there myself to experience these major historical sights and see what I could bring back to the classroom for my students,” she said. Since her visit, Krishna and Math Teacher Charlie Brucker have led this reciprocity program, which occurs every other year. MSJ’s partner school for this program is Otto-Hahn-Gymnasium, which is similar to MSJ in terms of academic achievement and focus. Gymnasium takes place from grades five to 13, which is the equivalent to junior high and high school in the US. Over the past summer, MSJ Seniors Samantha Bernstein, Dominic Melville, Shivam Parikh, Neha Shah, Mohini Vaidya, Chloe Velasquez, Lucas Williams, and Courtney Yu, and Juniors Ella Chen, Isis Chu, Sarah Deng, and Sayan Ghosh, participated in the German Cultural Exchange Program. The MSJ students lived with their Ger-
Sophomore Carolyn Ge and Freshman Jonathan Ko, under the team name Novus, created Pluvia, a device that attaches to showerheads and alerts the user when the water reaches the right temperature. “We knew pretty early on that our project would have something to do with water conservation, as the California drought is one of the biggest threats facing our state,” said Ko. The duo will decide whether they will go to the Spirit of Innovation Summit when the Challenge sends out travel information. The team DARC 9 is composed of Sophomores David Hou, Andrew Kan, Robert Lin, and Crystal Su, and their product is the HKSL Drone Evasion System. They had first envisioned their product to be a free, software package that people could download to allow drones with cameras to move around obstacles. However, they settled on making a more feasible drone evasion simulation that can supply the drone with a suggested path and how long it will take. DARC 9 will not be attending the Spirit of Innovation Summit. The team TENDDD, consisting of Freshman Vinit Majmudar and Sophomore Ayush Gaggar, created the Safe Driving Wheel, a steering wheel cover that has a movement tracker, a heart rate tracker, and a hand placement tracker. These components aim to curb dangerous, drunk, and distracted driving. “After being personally affected by a drunk driver, we wanted to make the world man exchange partners in Göttingen and visited various other German cities, including Heidelberg and Berlin, from June 11 to 24, 2015. This month, these MSJ students are welcoming their German exchange partners to their homes from March 11 to 25. The participating Otto-Hahn students were Franziska Fangmeier, Malte Gerland, Jannik Hartmann, Vivienne Heise, Lina Herbig, Moritz Knaak, Helen Lafère, Maira Mühlberg, Laura Schult, Alena Siebert, Marie-Theres Kerl, and Philipp Unger. The ASB luncheon was the first of several activities planned for the Otto-Hahn students. At the luncheon, ASB served Mexican cuisine to expose the Otto-Hahn students to foods unique to their culture. Krishna gave a short speech, formally welcoming the Otto-Hahn students and discussing her excitement for their two-week visit. Leadership Teacher Ben Breazeale also gave a warm welcome, explaining the Leadership course and his duties on-campus. “I’m looking forward to learning more about the American culture and also improving my
staff writer bindhu swaminathan
Top left: Team TENDDD: Freshman Vinit Majmudar, Sophomore Ayush Gaggar. Bottom left: Team Novus: Freshman Jonathan Ko, Sophomore Carolyn Ge. Top right: Team DARC 9: Sopomores Andrew Kan, David Hou, Robert Lin, and Crystal Su. Bottom right: Team Avenir: Juniors Jessika Baral, Kate Lin, Stephen Tian, and Jeffrey Liu.
a safer place for young kids with bright and likeminded imaginations,” said Majmudar. The team will be attending the Spirit of Innovation Summit and hopes to place first. Winners of this challenge have gone on to pat-
ent their inventions and receive international acclaim for their products. “[The] Conrad Spirit of Innovation Challenge,” says the official website, “will be the leader in connecting students and mentors to develop world changing solutions.” ▪
English,” said Hartmann at the ASB luncheon. On March 15, the MSJ students gave their exchange partners a tour around San Francisco, walking them through iconic places such as Coit Tower and Fisherman’s Wharf. Both the MSJ and OttoHahn students even attended a Golden State Warriors home game the day after, preceding a visit that the Otto-Hahn students took to Googleplex, the corporate headquarters of Google, in Mountain View. Other activities included a visit to Alcatraz, Monterey, and Yosemite. On the last day of the Otto-Hahn students’ trip, the MSJ students threw a farewell party to honor the relationships they built with their exchange partners over the months. Krishna said, “The goal of the Fulbright Commission is to build international relationships and share cultures across borders.” Krishna is pleased with the outcome of the cultural exchange program and looks forward to the upcoming exchange trip scheduled to occur during the summer of 2017. ▪
Larsen named 4th best high school principal in CA By Anu Asokan Staff Writer Mometrix Test Preparation, a private company, recently ranked Principal Zack Larsen fourth on its list “The 30 Most Influential California High School Principals.” The list was created based on data regarding awards won by MSJ, school rankings, test scores, and more. In recognition of this accomplishment, the Smoke Signal asked Larsen about his experiences so far and his goals for the coming years.
Smoke Signal: What were your goals
when you first became a principal? Larsen: When I first became a principal, I wanted to unite the staff [and] build trust and camaraderie among all the staff on campus. [I also wanted to] ensure that students felt that it was a safe school to attend, that their voices mattered, and that learning was engaging and relevant for all levels of learners, whether someone was taking college prep or honors or Advanced Placement courses. SS: Do you think you’ve succeeded with those goals? Larsen: We’ve made progress. I don’t think I can say all the boxes can be checked off and
Otto-Hahn-Gymnasium students with MSJ students as part of the German Cultural Exchange program.
SCIENCE OLYMPIAD
MSJ team places first in regionals, and will advance to the state competition.
new computers installed in library
Read about the new iMacs which were recently installed in MSJ’s library.
INTERVIEWS WITH NEW ASB OFFICERS
Check out what next year’s ASB officers have in store for MSJ!
courtesy tracy mao
See LARSEN NEWS Page 2
FOR MORE COVERAGE,
VISIT www.THESMOKESIGNAL.ORG
2 News
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LARSEN| Award
The Smoke Signal
Thursday, March 24, 2016
MSJ Speech holds annual showcase
continued from page 1
MSJ performers display their talents through the spoken word
we’re done; there’s a lot of work still to do. I’m happy with the way things are progressing and I look forward to new challenges. SS: What are your goals now, and have your priorities changed? Larsen: My main focus continues to be what’s best for kids. With any policies that we create or decisions that we make, I’m thinking about how it impact kids . . . then the question has to be, “Why are we doing it?” [sic] We want to move from an adult-centered environment to one that looks at the needs of all learners and how the adults on campus support those needs. SS: What are some obstacles you’ve faced? Larsen: One of the obstacles is communication. By that, I mean a difficulty in encouraging the community and all stakeholders to come together with direct communication. Features such as MSJTalk, which is not affiliated with the school, enable people to share opinions, sometimes accurate but many times not accurate. With that comes a breakdown in trust from both staff and parents, whereas direct communication enables people to not operate on rumor or conjecture, but rather deal with the person and the facts directly. SS: What prompted you to pursue a job in education? Larsen: Both of my parents, combined, taught for 87 years, so growing up I saw that they were passionate about their jobs, and they loved their jobs. I knew I could have an impact on future generations. SS: Are your parents the biggest influences you’ve had on being a principal? Larsen: I would say they are the key influences, but also my grandfather was an English professor at the college level, and teachers that I had throughout my career at Chadbourne and Mission San Jose High School were really instrumental in helping me decide that this would be a career that I would enjoy. SS: What is one of your biggest motivations for coming to work every day? Larsen: The phenomenal kids. They amaze me. Every day, students here accomplish something that I either didn’t know about or didn’t think was possible. Knowing that I can be part of creating an environment for them to thrive in and hopefully go off and make the world a better place is what motivates me and makes me happy to come every day. SS: What are you most proud about? Larsen: It’s tough to say just one thing that I’m proud about. I think one of our biggest successes is the Mission Expo, and our conversion of the Open House of years past to the current format. Working with Mrs. Cohen as our lead with that, we really changed the tide of what Open House looks like and what the community sees in terms of what our high school offers. ▪
By Ishika Chawla & Andrew Chen Staff Writers The annual Speech Showcase was held Sunday, March 13, offering an evening of entertainment, drama, and fun. Held in C-120, the MSJ Speech’s Showcase exhibited nine performances that Speech members have been working on all year, featuring three out of the five Speech members who qualified to the state tournament in Santa Clara. The showcase brought in a crowd roughly half the size of C-120, and is one of the speech team’s biggest fundraiser events with profits from tickets and food used for funding the team the following Junior Anthony Chen and Senior Abhishek Singh perform a Duo Interpretation. Junior Ria Tomar performs an Oratorical Interpretation.
Sophomore Rohan Srinivasan performs a solo piece.
year. The event kicked off after a few words of introduction from the events’ hosts, Speech President Senior Anu Asokan and Speech Secretary Junior Angela Shalizi. Speech events are extremely diverse and can range from interpretations of certain pieces to original works, and even include impromptu speeches that can be given on a particular topic. Starting off, Freshman Samir Banerjee performed a Humorous Interpretation, presenting Pinnochiante by Allen Harris. Banerjee’s performance, which won 1st at the State Qualifier Tournament, incorporated peculiar sound effects and personal interpretation to tell the classic story of Pinocchio. Next, Junior Ria Tomar presented her Oratorical Interpretation of “How You Define Yourself ” by Lizzie Velasquez, which dealt with who we are. The composer, Velasquez, is a motivational speaker with a rare congenital syndrome and her speech dealt with perseverance and finding identity. Impromptu came next, changing the pace, and from the available topics of “college,” “purple,” or “creativity,” Senior Captain Christine Arnstad delivered a 5-minute speech about college and the definition and achievement of success, composed on the spot. After that, Senior Sahiti Vemula presented her original “The Flame of His Soul” as a spoken word piece, telling the story of struggle and perseverance in the Great Depression. Although not a specific speech event, spoken
word demonstrates the wider application of public speaking beyond competition events. Finally, wrapping up the first half with Original Prose and Poetry, Senior Abhishek Singh performed “Life at ‘The Kings,’” which dealt with a son’s reconciliation with his father’s abandonment. Despite the alcoholic nature of the protagonist’s uncle, the protagonist learns what true family and support are, finally coming to terms with his parents and taking the audience through a rollercoaster of emotions. The second half of the showcase began with Freshman Rahul Iyer, who performed an Original Oratory, which he titled “A New Dance Partner.” His persuasive speech discussed the flaws of having a mentality that is based upon the words, “if only,” describing how people should focus on making things possible rather than blaming external factors. This was followed by a Dramatic Interpretation, performed by Sophomore Rohan Srinivasan. Unlike a Humorous Interpretation, a Dramatic Interpretation provides students with the opportunity to explore more somber and powerful themes in order to make the audience feel extreme emotion. Srinivasan performed a piece by Tony Kushner titled “Angels in America” about a homosexual man dying from AIDS and the struggles that arose from his personal life and illness. The performance
was extremely passionate and left the audience in awe, and in some cases tears. The serious tone continued with another Oratorical Interpretation performed by Freshman Esha Nair. Her piece, “To This Day . . . for the bullied and the beautiful” by Shane Koyzcan, was based upon the concept of bullying and was intended to inspire the audience to not let negative comments get to them. The event ended on a light-hearted note with a Duo Interpretation by Junior Anthony Chen and Singh, who had previously performed. Chen and Singh went the humorous route, performing a condensed version of “Back to the Future” by Robert Zemeckis whose one-liners and plot twists left the audience roaring with laughter. After the conclusion of the speeches themselves, all the performers went on stage together for a bow and continued their annual tradition in which each performer dedicates a rose to someone who inspired them that year. In regards to the showcase, Asokan said, “We didn’t have the crowds we expected, but I am so thankful to every single person who performed or helped out or came to watch us. Our team has grown so close this year and we’re just getting stronger and stronger. The Showcase was a success because both the performers and the audience gained a little knowledge or experience or just had a good time.” ▪
Junior Angela Shalizi, Senior Sahiti Vemula, Junior Anthony Chen, Senior Abhishek Singh, Sophomore Rohan Srinivasan, Junior Ria Tomar, Senior Christine Arnstad, Freshman Esha Nair, Freshman Rahul Iyer, Freshman Samir Banerjee, and Senior Anu Asokan stand on stage for a final bow. photos by staff writer andrew chen
corrections
for the FEB. 26, 2016 issue News Pg. 1: Junior Kristie Chiang’s name is misspelled. One out of three adolescents is affected by teen dating violence. Edward Jiang is a past CEO of StudentRND. News Pg. 2: Funding from the Carl D. Perkins Career and Technical Education Act is
NEWS IN
brief
not exclusive to California high schools. National Newsbyte was by Staff Writer Mustafa Ahmed. Opinion Pg. 4: Sophomore Harshitha Arul Murugan’s name is misspelled. Centerspread Pg. 15: Peer Resource holds two events a month. Peer Resource does not fulfill A-G requirements. Arts & Entertainment Pg. 16: “Sk8er Boi” is misspelled.
Compiled by Staff Writers Carolyn Ge, Mallika Gupta & Anthony Chen
abc7news.com The ACE train derailed en route from San Jose to Stockton after hitting a tree.
nbcnews.com The NFL recognized a direct connection between playing football and later-life brain degeneration.
houstonchronicle.com Go master Lee Se-dol won against the AlphaGo program after suffering three losses.
ACE train derails into Alameda Creek An Altamont Corridor Express (ACE) train derailed after hitting a fallen tree on March 7 during a heavy rainfall. According to authorities, four people were seriously injured, but no one was killed. The ACE train, with more than 200 passengers, was en route from San Jose to Stockton and hit the tree near Niles Canyon Road between Fremont and Pleasanton. The ACE train system closed in the area overnight, and announced the reopening of the tracks the next day.
NFL acknowledges link between football and brain disorders NFL’s executive vice president for health and safety policy, Jeff Miller, acknowledged a direct link between playing football and developing degenerative brain disease. Despite paying $765 million in compensation to thousands of families in a 2013 lawsuit, the league admitted that the former players’ injuries were caused by playing football. This is the first time any NFL official has affirmed a direct link between the sport and later-life brain degeneration.
Go master takes victory over Google’s AlphaGo After losing three straight Go matches to Google’s artificial intelligence program AlphaGo, South Korean Go master Lee Se-dol took a game from AlphaGo on March 13. Google DeepMind Chief Executive Demis Hassabis said that Lee’s victory shows that AlphaGo can still undergo improvements. Lee pointed out in a press conference that AlphaGo performed better playing with white stones, and challenged it to play with white stones in the final game of their best-of-five series.
Thursday, March 24, 2016
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3D Printing Club holds second annual designathon Participants learn about 3D printing through various projects By Sayan Ghosh Staff Writer The 3D Printing Club held its second annual designathon, a competition during which participants can design models to print using a 3D printer, on March 5 in C-120. The event attracted students from MSJ, Irvington High School, Challenger School, Hopkins Junior High School, and Rolling Hills Middle School in Los Gatos. The 3D Printing Club was established in 2014 to teach students how to use 3D printers, in particular the Makerbot Replicator 2 printer and the Type A printer and how to use computer-aided design software such as Tinkercad and Autodesk Inventor. Last year, the club was invited as the only high school club to UC Berkeley’s 3D Printing Designathon, a 24-hour event during which each participant would be able to design and print his or her own creations. The Berkeley designathon served as a model for the club’s own designathons. The designathon was open to anyone who was interested in learning more about 3D printing and computer-aided design. Several interactive workshops and tutorials were held throughout the event in order to introduce absolute beginners to fundamental 3D printing concepts. The competition itself involved designing a useful object or tool related to a certain theme. This year’s event’s two themes were tools to help students and space-related objects. After hours of designing, the participants were able to submit their design files. The designs were judged by a panel of judges including the club’s officers and Math Teacher Charlie Brucker on factors such as creativity
Junior Kosh Kumar works with 3D Printing Club Adviser Charlie Brucker.
and feasibility. The six winners were chosen at the end of the event and were able to actually print their designs, as well as receive their own 3D printed trophies. Winners included designs for objects such as a bookmark that can be used in space and a portable waffle-making device. Although the competition was a major part of the event, the club emphasized that at its core, the designathon was an outreach event to encourage more students to explore 3D printing. Many participants had no prior experience with 3D printing or computer-aided design. “I feel that skills such as computer- programming, computer aided design, and 3D printing are necessary to learn nowadays, and this event really helped introduce me to the fundamentals,” said Freshman Pawan Sarma. Seventh Grader Dhruv Kanumuri from Rolling Hills Middle School in Los Gatos said, “I had some previous experience with 3D printing, but I still learned a lot from this event.” He was also inspired to host similar events through his school’s 3D Printing Club. “The event was definitely a success because every participant, whether they were a beginner or an expert, was able to design something for our challenges,” said 3D Printing Club President Junior Vaishnavi Dornadula. In the future, the club plans to make the designathon a 24-hour event similar to the UC Berkeley designathon and allow all participants to print their designs during the event. They would like to expand the event to even more students and encourage them to pursue 3D printing and computer-aided design. ▪
The 3D printing machine and 3D printed awards are laid out on a table. photos by staff writer sayan ghosh
Students participate in Illuminate class registration MSJ integrates new online registration process By Carolyn Ge & Lucille Njoo Staff Writers This year, administrators and counselors integrated a new method of class registration in which students entered their own course choices into the Illuminate program, the database system that the district uses for class scheduling. Students participated in the online registration program to make the process more efficient and gained experience with entering their own schedules into the database. From March 8 to 10, current freshmen, sophomores, and juniors went to the B-Wing cafeteria during their primary math classes. With help from counselors and administrators, they logged into school Chromebooks using their FUSD student emails to enter their classes on the Illuminate website. Then, counselors and administrators checked to make sure the information students entered matched the choices on their registration packets. The whole process took only about 20 minutes, and students resumed class afterwards. Sophomore Lavanya Singh, who used the new system, said, “[The new registration process] didn’t take too much class time, and it was a good way to ensure that the process is completed much faster. It also helped reduce the chance of error, since each of us would be really careful when entering our classes into the computer. The counselors, Ms. Kim, and Mr. Larsen were really helpful with the registration process.” Before MSJ implemented the new class registration system, the counselors and administrators would manually enter in the schedule for each individual student. This process used to take about a week. With the new method of entering course selections, however, all current freshmen, sophomores, and juniors were registered in three days. Math Teacher Tyler Robinson said, “It takes
away most of the work from the counselors . . . I think delegation of work is amazing . . . While 20 minutes is a drag to lose from class, it easily makes up itself just by the sheer amount of work [that] doesn’t have to be done by the counselors.” The counselors decided to incorporate students into the process this year not only because it would save time, but also to increase student involvement. Assistant Principal Carli Kim said, “It’s more valuable because the students have a little bit more interaction with their schedule. They feel a little bit more ownership, and it also gives administrators and counselors an opportunity to check in with each one of the students, as opposed to when we just entered in all the registration forms and then called in students when there were conflicts or issues.” The new system also allows counselors and administrators to address students’ questions in advance and makes the process more accurate. Once students have entered their courses, the Illuminate program is used to create the master schedule. Based on what courses students select, administrators determine how many sections of each course need to be built into the schedule. Then, they balance out the class numbers and match them with the number of staff that FUSD allocates to MSJ each year. The Illuminate program then runs algorithms to place students into their selected classes. Since the process this year was a success, MSJ plans to continue using this method of student registration in the future. Principal Zack Larsen said, “It helps students understand the complexity and difficulty of the courses they’re choosing, and may make them think a little bit more carefully about making sure they’re making a balanced choice for what their future course decisions will be for the next year.” ▪
Career Specialist Catherine Castillou works with students to implement a new online registration method.
Counselors DeAnne Andrews and Joanna Jensen collect and review student registration packets. photos by staff writer lucille njoo
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The Smoke Signal
Thursday, March 24, 2016
Thursday, March 24, 2016
the
Smoke Signal
Mission San Jose High School Est. 1964 Vol. 51, No. 7 | March 24, 2016
The Smoke Signal
Mission Statement: The Smoke Signal’s mission is to represent the voices of the Mission San Jose High School community and serve the public by providing accurate, meaningful, and engaging information presented through print and digital mediums. School population: 2105 students
Editors-in-Chief Alice Cheng, Katrina Cherk News Michael Hsiu, Apoorva Rajanala Opinion Grace Dong, Harshita Gupta Feature Chakshu Hurria, Katie Sun Centerspread Neha Shah, Annie Tang A&E Sarina Chitre, Andrea Tam Sports Amrith Krishnan, Rishab Ramapriyan Graphics Kevin Chen, Monica Tang Web Jacinta Chang, Nithya Rajeev Tech Andrew Chen, Brian Tseng Business Shivane Sabharwal Circulation Tanvi Raja Ads Andrew Choi, Sayan Ghosh Events Deeksha Raina, Ruiwen Shen Writers & Photographers Mustafa Ahmed, Anu Asokan, Ashley Chang, Ishika Chawla, Anthony Chen, Ella Chen, Kylie Cheung, Michelle Dalarossa, Carolyn Ge, Mallika Gupta, Andrew Kan, Amber Lee, Kevin Li, Lucille Njoo, Ansh Patel, Tanushri Sundar, Bindhu Swaminathan, Zen Thumparkkul, Chloe Velasquez, Didi Wu, Cindy Yuan, Richard Chenyu Zhou, Victor Zhou
Adviser Sandra Cohen Send letters to the editor to opinion@the smokesignal.org. Letters under 300 words may be considered for publication and must include a full name and school affiliation. The Smoke Signal reserves the right to edit for clarity and length. To advertise in the Smoke Signal, email ads@ thesmokesignal.org. Advertising that is included on the pages of, or carried within, the Smoke Signal , is paid advertising, and as such is independent of the news and feature content. The Smoke Signal’s right to freedom of speech and press is protected by the First Amendment of the Constitution. All policies on distribution, corrections, and bylines can be found at www.thesmokesignal.org/ about.
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Don’t use the shortcut, connect
When we were young By Grace Dong
By Harshita Gupta
Opinion Editor
Opinion Editor
A little over a month ago, Facebook launched “Reactions”—an addition to popular “like” feature. Reactions allows users to express alternate responses to a post, image, or other Facebook content; the five Reactions currently available are “love,” “haha,” “wow,” “sad,” and “angry.” According to Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg, Reactions are meant to allow more nuanced expression and recognize that emotions like empathy, righteousness, and support are not always accurately expressed via a single thumbs up. Zuckerberg said, “Not every moment is a good moment and if you are sharing something that is sad, whether it’s something in current events, like the refugees crisis that touches you or if a family member passed away, then it may not feel comfortable to ‘like’ that post.” While Reactions are a responsible recognition of the fact that human emotions are not one-size-fits-all, it’s worth wondering: is this giving us the “easy out”? As another feature layer that attempts to make social media more realistic and human, is Reactions devaluing real insightful interaction, like writing comments or individually messaging each other? According to a Facebook blog post, reactions “give you more ways to share… in a quick and easy way.” Moving towards the “quick and easy way” makes strategic sense for Facebook: in December 2015, 90 percent of its daily users were mobile users. Typing a meaningful and communicative comment on a small touch screen isn’t the most
Opinion 5
grace’s gray area
harshita hashes it out
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“efficient” way of using the platform, and hurts user retention. Having no “easy” option makes users less likely to interact with a sad or atypical post that they must put in more effort to interact with. Is Reactions Facebook’s way of pandering to its users’ shorter attention spans and busier lives, and encouraging them to be instant rather than insightful? Although Reactions might serve a dual purpose of nuance and efficiency, it’s important to be aware of the less obvious implications of the new feature. When we hit the “love” or “sad” button to express support when someone posts about a loss, do we become less likely to leave something in the comments section or privately reach out to the person? If that is the case, the effort has backfired—instead of a genuine, thoughtful conversation, we take the easy way out and simply “react.” As the generation that grew up around Facebook, we’ve given social media a purpose that its creators never foresaw. While the first social networks like MySpace and Orkut were made to interact with people we don’t see on a daily basis, Facebook means something else for our demographic: it’s primarily to communicate with people we already meet every day. While nuance and better expression on social media is always a good thing, it’s up to us to make sure that we don’t let features and ease of use allow us to recede further away from in-person connection. ▪
For many of us, part of growing up and growing older is becoming busier. Whether it’s due to increased homework load or responsibilities at home, it’s not uncommon to hear the excuse “I’m too busy.” Our liberal use of it, however, means we stop valuing the activities we used to love. This year, a younger team at my dance studio has a dance called “When Your Feet Don’t Touch the Ground” and I somewhat embarrassingly admit that I teared up on watching its first dress rehearsal. It’s my senior year and the final competition season of my entire life— “competition dance” doesn’t exist past high school. Watching the younger girls perform a piece based on Finding Neverland that captures the feeling of being a kid and having dreams as high as the sky hit very close to home. Watching them made me remember being 12 years old and having six years of competitions ahead of me. With this remembrance came the realization that my time is ticking away. For myself and other seniors who participate in events that are exclusive to high school students or younger, such as National History Day competitions, FIRST Robotics, and more, we only have a precious few months before we officially graduate from our various extracurriculars. It was significantly easier to attend every dance practice with energy and enthusiasm before the brunt of high school hit me. I constantly wanted to improve my technique, artistry, and work ethic. When I was 12, I fully intended to become a better dancer every day that I walked into the studio, but by the time I was 16, I only went to dance rehearsals out of grudging obligation. Most dance classes went by in a
blur—my only goal was to make it through the hour so I could go home and crash. I had stopped wanting to get better at something I used to be passionate about—in short, I had stopped aiming for the skies. Despite the busy schedule and the heavy school workload, I wish I had realized I was throwing away time I could’ve spent on achieving the goals of my 12-year-old self. The refreshing and invigorating desire to improve seems to decrease severely as we progress through high school, yet we don’t realize the wasted opportunity. Many of these activities are exclusively for minors and thus create incredible learning environments that we won’t find once we graduate. It is in these environments, with these activities that we are passionate about where we can grow immensely—but only if we continue working in a manner that would make our younger selves proud. I didn’t realize how much I regret not cherishing my time until I saw my 12-yearold self in those junior dancers. Now, I’m trying to come to terms with the fact that six years have flown by, and I have less than six months in the competition dance world. But in these upcoming months, I plan to go back to viewing dance the way I used to. Too often, we don’t realize our hopes are being extinguished until seemingly too late, so for all of us, it’s not a bad idea to take a moment and become aware of what we’re sacrificing each time we claim we’re “too busy.” To any Warriors who may feel the same way or are beginning to feel this way, even if it seems like it’s too late, I encourage you to recapture the energy and hope we had when we were young. ▪
the Opinion of the Smoke Signal Editorial Board that your beliefs have been challenged, or you’ve gained perspective by speaking to someone with different life experiences
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Expanding Perspectives
“Last summer, I went to South Korea and volunteered at an organization called Korean Young Dream Orchestra (KYDO), where I was able to play in an amazing orchestra alongside kids from all over South Korea, China, Russia, and the U.S. Everyone there came from different backgrounds, many of whom lacked the musical opportunities that we have. I met a few kids who deeply loved music and put in effort to have access to their instruments. Some of them lived on small islands and lacked music teachers or orchestra programs in their towns, so they took a ferry to the mainland early in the morning every week to play in a small orchestra. Another girl started out her music career with a $40 violin because it was so hard to find instruments in her small town. Meeting and talking to these determined young musicians made me realize just how lucky I am to be able to afford my very own flute and music lessons.”
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“In Government/Economics class we were encouraged to bring in guest speakers. One speaker was an African-American that had worked in a manual labor intensive job, moving crates for a company. When his time slot was filled, he did not go home. Instead he would try to learn what people in higher end positions did, and if he could help them out. His flexibility was admired, and when a higher position was available not only was he capable, he had already learned what was required of him. Hearing that hard work and spending time learning new skills to climb a career ladder was massive to me, as I had previously believed the position you are hired at is where you are likely to stay.”
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reconciling foreign cultures and perspectives with our own, as in MSJ’s German Exchange Program. Many similar opportunities can be found closer to home, and can be encouraged with supportive school programs and ecosystems. Irvington High School students participate in Question, Understand, Experience, Service, and Testimony (QUEST) which gives them an opportunity to pick a question they want to answer and complete related service outside the Irvington area. The implementation of a QUEST-like program at MSJ, with an emphasis on interaction outside Fremont’s confines, would encourage students to break their boundaries to gain valuable insights. To promote the expansion of our perspectives, MSJ can initiate large-scale exchange programs, where we partner with another local school that has different demographics, and on a single “exchange day” freshmen and sophomores from our school would go to theirs, and juniors and seniors from their school would come to ours. That way, our freshmen and sophomores could interact with their freshmen and sophomores at their school, and a similar situation would occur with their juniors and seniors. Students could have large discussions about the unique challenges and experiences they face. Groups with similar interests, such as sports teams or Gay Straight Alliance, could share the differences in exploring their shared passions. By pursuing mindsets beyond the ones that have been ingrained into us, we can challenge our core beliefs, empathize with people we’d never see otherwise, and exchange ideas with them. It is no longer about the academia or our transcript, but instead about opportunities to cultivate different perspectives that will invaluably shape us as people and affect the way we act and think. ▪
have been times
of
Since 2010, MSJ students have been traveling to Germany during the summer as part of the German Cultural Exchange Program lead by Ethnic Studies Teacher Risha Krishna and Math Teacher Charlie Brucker. Beyond the sightseeing and touring, programs like this offer students like us the chance to immerse ourselves in and meet people from a foreign world outside of our local comfort zone. The “Mission Bubble”—we’ve all heard of this MSJ stereotype that equates MSJ student mentality with stress, academia, and pressure. However, the bubble is rooted much deeper in the fact that we rarely step outside our homogenous community. Our values and expectations derive from the concerns of a community of likeminded socioeconomic, ethnic, and political backgrounds. To acknowledge that we live in a Mission Bubble is one thing, but to completely realize where it comes from and the implications it has on our community is another. In the documentary “Living on One Dollar,” students from Claremont McKenna College left their affluent, southern California bubble to live on one dollar a day for two months in a rural village in Guatemala. Even as they suffered through severe malnutrition, fatigue, and illness, they found friends in villagers who generously helped them and realized that sharing the human condition expanded their perspectives and empathy. Such perspective exchanges can help put some of our MSJ-esque concerns in a new light and open up worlds that allow us to grow into our own people. We can reevaluate our current values and develop our own beliefs. However, too often, when opportunities for exchange such as summer programs or study abroad come our way, we view them simply as ways to beef up resumés or college applications. Visiting a different school, city, state, or even country comes with broaching a new environment and meeting new people—and consequently,
What
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Editorial: Expanding Perspectives
photos by staff writers mallika gupta & tanushri sundar
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Thursday, March 24, 2016
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Thursday, March 24, 2016
The Smoke Signal
New service learning policy discourages service
“I’m against it. First, this doesn’t encourage people or kids to continue doing service hours. Second, we were not notified of the policy at all beforehand. Third, this doesn’t benefit students or policymakers.”
An er
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“I feel like the cap on service hours is a good idea because, as Mr. Breazeale said, ‘It’s for quality, not for quantity anymore.’ In the past people have been scrambling around to random places to just make the number of hours they have higher. They think that the more hours they have, the better it looks for colleges. Enforcing the cap makes it so they look for service opportunities that are worth it. Also, the cap doesn’t mean that you stop at 40. While the school will stop verifying after 40, you can still self-report extra hours. So in the end, it’s not actually capping anything. It just makes work for the office easier. As for implementing it starting this month... I feel that they should let all the current students do however much they planned to and start the cap with next year’s freshmen.”
Will you pursue a different number or type of service opportunities now? If yes, how?
Brend
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“I will not. I think that my passion for service will definitely continue, whether or not there is a numerical value attached to it, because I am deeply invested in service that I provide not only to the people around me, but to the greater picture and other Jo n a people outside the school as well.”
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“Obviously I’m not going to be as motivated to get a lot of service hours because no matter how many I do, it doesn’t really count anymore.”
Julie
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“I would still participate in the activities that I’ve enjoyed over the years, but that is because as an underclassman, I was encouraged to try different activities. These activities are now so important to me that I do not mind the fact that I will not receive additional service hours. However, I can imagine many underclassmen losing the incentive to explore new opportunities.”
Does the new policy change the way you view service? If yes, how?
ha vet a Jay Sh
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“I personally think the cap is something that should’ve been implemented a while ago. Service hours were created as a way to help students become more involved in their communities and learn more about how they can help make a difference by doing so. Over the years, service hours have instead become more of a competitive race instead of being a learning opportunity for students. Before the cap, students were competing back and forth for a high hour count, mainly for college applications. With the cap, that pressure is relieved off of students, and students can resume doing service hours the way they were intended.”
Be th
“Yes, because it kind of limits the way I want to do service. Before when there was no cap, I could do as much as I want and it would show on my record that I was really passionate about doing it. Now, because there’s a cap, I don’t care as much. I’m just like ‘I need to get my forty hours’ and it doesn’t matter.” o
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NO 83%
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“Against, because I think if someone’s really passionate about volunteer work, they should be able to express that on their transcript.”
Ruchi
What do you think the cap should be?
Conducted as an online survey posted on Facebook; received 63 total responses.
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Do you think setting a maximum of 40 required hours is an effective way to make students focus on the quality of their service?
“I feel against the cap on service hours because it takes out the incentive for a lot of students to go out and do meaningful service and it kind of also takes the volunteers away from the service places that they could really use.”
9
YES 17%
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Will you continue to do service after you have reached 40 hours even if you cannot submit them due to the new regulations?
Trisha S
an
How many service hours have you completed?
Service Hour Policy Changes
u,
The process to acquire service hours starts in freshman year, with the goal for many being to collect as many as possible. However, students in FUSD high schools now face a cap on the number of service hours that will be recorded on their transcript upon graduation. “After a student has completed 40 hours of service, they are encouraged to continue volunteer work; however, additional hours will not be documented by the school’s service learning coordinator,” says the Board of Education’s updated policy. Although the policy itself seems beneficial to the already busy student body, it mars the meaning and purpose of service itself. After March 24, MSJ students will not receive acknowledgement for hours completed beyond the graduation requirement. This modification has been made to decrease the load on the administration and encourage students to focus on the quality, rather than the quantity of their service hours. However, while it seems to be backed by good intentions, this revision to the policy takes away the recognition students can get for their service, removing the opportunity for students to show their hard work to colleges and other institutions that look at their transcript. Whereas some students show their prowess through academics or sports, many show it through their commitment to service. More importantly, while the idea of focusing on quality over quantity intends to promote meaningful service opportunities, this cap doesn’t encourage students to pursue long-term volunteering. Students that go above and beyond the 40 hours of required service will no longer be recognized for the impact of their work, potentially shifting their focus to simply fulfilling the requirement rather than contributing to the community beyond the 40 hours. Due to this mentality, the value of service itself greatly deteriorates, given that for students and parents there is no longer a possibility for a student to be considered “outstanding” based on their service work, making it simply not worth students’ time. The policy before the cap provided students with
Are you for or against the cap on service hours? Why?
2 g, 1
Staff Writers
the incentive to reach out and consider more opportunities to make a difference both locally and on a larger scale for more personal reasons. As students worked within the previous system, logging in hours encouraged them to think about the service done when writing the required reflection, pursue more opportunities to contribute to the community, and seek out impactful activities they feel passionately about, allowing them to grow and expand as individuals. Regardless of the reasoning behind the volunteering, whether it be college applications or concern for certain issues in the area, students should be encouraged and recognized by the school for their service to their communities. By no longer allowing students to submit hours after reaching 40 hours, it makes the graduation requirement just that — a requirement. Furthermore, service clubs will also be negatively impacted by the policy change. The three major service clubs on campus, MSJ Key Club, LEO Club, and MSJ Interact maintain extremely high membership by incentivizing students with service hours earned through their events, through which they then can see the value of the impact their service can hold. However, with the integration of these policies, membership may shift drastically towards underclassmen who are simply trying to fulfill the requirements before their time gets increasingly limited as juniors or seniors, as opposed to students who are looking to dedicate themselves to the club’s mission. Although recording a student’s achievements on their transcript isn’t a particularly meaningful way for a student to gain recognition for their service, it encourages them to dedicate themselves towards a volunteer-based opportunity, and it is a way for students to show their aptitude for something other than academics. With many students spending upwards of a hundred hours volunteering at hospitals, homeless shelters and other organizations with the previous system, it seems like high schools should be doing more to encourage sustained community work, and recognize that volunteering is something much more meaningful than simply a check through a requirements box. ▪
Opinion 7
an
By Ishika Chawla & Mallika Gupta
www.thesmokesignal.org
o ,9 yW n a
“I think it’s something now I’m just doing for school. I think when you’re able to do more hours, it’s like it can turn into something where it’s like it’s a long-term thing, when you invest a lot of time and stuff into it, now I think more people are just like, ‘Oh, I only need to do forty. I can’t even get over, so I don’t need to try as hard.’” photos by staff writers carolyn ge & tanushri sundar
8 Opinion
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The Smoke Signal
Thursday, March 24, 2016
Why we need Women’s History Month By Tanushri Sundar Staff Writer
“Oh, if I could but live another century and see the fruition of all the work for women! There is so much yet to be done.” Suffragist Susan B. Anthony said this on the eve of the 19th century, and her message is still applicable today. We recognize March as Women’s History Month and allocate 31 days to the promotion of female achievement in libraries, schools, and the media. However, “there is so much yet to be done,” as Anthony said. Women’s History Month is a stepping stone towards a larger goal. We need a total integration of women’s history in mainstream history curricula, for currently, our nation’s focus on women’s history is lacking. How many of us have heard of Fatima al-Fihri, the woman who founded the oldest university in the world? Or Rosalind Franklin, who helped discover the double helical structure of DNA? How about Ching Shih—a fearsome female pirate who dominated the seas two hundred years ago? We have only started to include these figures into the central narrative of history with Women’s History Month, a relatively new celebration passed by Congress in 1987. Women’s History Month is a powerful tool for social change and gender equality, yet it is only so when women’s history is taught with a strong connection to today. Women’s history serves a real-time purpose to inspire young girls, so it must focus on the “now” as much as the “then.” Exploring women’s rights in countries such as Iran, Cambodia, and Afghanistan is just as important as studying the impacts of Sonia Sotomayor and Marie Curie. Women’s history must be comprehensive. It should not read like a laundry list of female achievement.
Unfortunately, Women’s History Month leans towards this trend, clearly displaying why periodic recognition is no substitute for women’s history as part of core curriculum. We learn about the “firsts,” such as the first female black astronaut, Mae Jemison, but less about the women of color who work for NASA. This disproportionate importance on “firsts” conveys the message that female accomplishment is only worth recognizing if it is novel, not necessarily noble. Therefore, we have limited connection with these revered figures, as they are often inadvertently glorified as an unachievable standard of success. Just as it can be difficult to relate to historical women we traditionally learn about, it is impossible to be inspired by women’s history over the course of a mere month. Female contributions to history are continuous, yet women’s history is often just seen as supplementary material in textbooks. This promotes the false attitude that history taught in schools is comprehensive and that women are not included because they were restricted from contributing. We are essentially taught that women do not matter as much, a teaching that contributes to the unequal statuses of men and women in society. We begin to accept that women are meant to play a smaller role in history than men are. The way women’s history is taught has its flaws, but until we redefine history to be equitable and relatable, Women’s History Month is necessary. We require Women’s History Month to inspire young women while their traditional education fails to do so. Women’s History Month ensures that we receive access to critical information, but we must examine and fix its shortcomings in order to truly showcase the roles of females in history. ▪ staff writer zen thumparkkul
Toeing the line between privacy and safety By Brian Tseng & Lucille Njoo Staff Writers
Syed Rizwan Farook and his wife Tashfeen Malik opened fire on a San Bernardino office holiday party on Dec. 2, 2015, killing 14 employees. Since then, the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) has been investigating Farook and Malik’s possessions to determine the motives for their terrorist attack, with the suspicion that they were involved with the Islamic State. The FBI have a warrant to search Farook’s county-issued Apple iPhone 5c, but they are unable to get past the phone’s passcode without the risk of it selfdestructing and erasing the potentially helpful data inside. When they requested Apple to help them hack into the phone, Apple refused. A court order was then issued by a US District Court in CA, ordering Apple to create a way for the FBI to access the phone. Apple again refused, sparking a nationwide debate about the balance between personal privacy and national security.
“In the wrong hands, this software—which does not exist today—would have the potential to unlock any iPhone in someone’s physical possession.”
-APPLE CEO TIM COOK
What the government has asked Apple to do will jeopardize the privacy of millions of their customers’ information. In his message to Apple customers, Apple
CEO Tim Cook said, “In the wrong hands, this software—which does not exist today—would have the potential to unlock any iPhone in someone’s physical possession.” Building a backdoor into the iPhone is equivalent to making a master key that has the potential to unlock any iPhone, which could be devastating in the wrong hands.
“We give law enforcement access to data based on valid legal orders. But that’s wholly different than requiring companies to enable hacking of customer devices and data.”
-GOOGLE CEO SUNDAR PICHAI Making such a powerful tool would be irresponsible in a world filled with hackers and cybercriminals. “We give law enforcement access to data based on valid legal orders,” said Google CEO Sundar Pichai, “But that’s wholly different than requiring companies to enable hacking of customer devices and data.” Complying with the FBI would also set a dangerous legal precedent expanding the government’s authority over digital security. The government could order Apple to create software for surveillance, such as intercepting messages or recording conversations, which would violate people’s right to privacy. The government argues that the matter is of great import to national security. Farook’s iPhone might contain critical information about the San Bernardino terrorist attack, and the FBI believes
it is its duty to follow this lead to the best of their ability to protect American citizens from future attacks. FBI Director James Comey posted on Lawfare Blog that “We owe [the victims] a thorough and professional investigation under law.” The federal motion to compel Apple to assist the FBI also suggests that Apple is exaggerating the situation to promote the security of their phones for customers. Comey claims that Apple’s assistance would be harmless “because the technology continues to evolve” and because they only require assistance for one phone. While it is true that terrorism is a very real threat and that Apple might be exaggerating for self-promotion, the government still is not justified in demanding Apple to build the backdoor to the iPhone. Government politicians are inherently not as knowledgeable about the dangers of technology as engineers from a tech company like Apple. Cook says that the government’s request “ignores both the basics of digital security and
“The relief we seek is limited and its value increasingly obsolete because the technology continues to evolve. We simply want the chance, with a search warrant, to try to guess the terrorist’s passcode without the phone essentially self-destructing and without it taking a decade to guess correctly. That’s it. We don’t want to break anyone’s encryption or set a master key loose on the land.”
-FBI DIRECTOR JAMES COMEY
the significance of what [they are] demanding.” Although national security is important, what the government asked Apple to do is one step too far. Apple has already handed over all the data it had and provided its own employees to advise the FBI to the best of their ability. Building the software necessary to unlock Farook’s iPhone would create a dangerously powerful tool that could all too easily fall into the wrong hands. People use smartphones to store personal information ranging from private conversations to financial information, and building a backdoor would put everyone with a mobile device at risk, including many high school students. Forcing Apple to undermine its own encryption is beyond the powers granted to the government by the All Writs Act of 1789, which courts have used in the past to compel companies’ assistance. The All Writs Act can only be used if it’s not an unreasonable burden on the company, and if the company isn’t too far removed from the situation. Forcing Apple’s compliance raises questions about what else the government could order private companies to do. Setting such a precedent would give the government the power to access data from any device, threatening personal freedoms and individual privacy. Though terrorism is a real threat, the government should not put people’s safety and liberty at risk, and while the FBI has good intentions, weakening security will only put citizens in more danger. ▪
Thursday, March 24, 2016
The Smoke Signal
teach someone else The best way of knowing whether you understand a concept is to teach someone else about it. Practicing this often tests whether you have a superficial or complete comprehension of a concept since being able to teach another person requires you to deeply understand the concept yourself, simplify it, and be able to answer specific questions.
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Feature 9
study before sleeping Studies have shown that facts, names, numbers, and other pieces of information are embedded into your brain during non rapid-eye movement sleep. If you study right before you sleep, you will be more likely to retain challenging concepts and information. Just be careful not to pull all-nighters!
spaced method system the method of loci Famously used by Sherlock Holmes (Benedict Cumberbatch) in the BBC series Sherlock, the method of Loci, also known as the memory palace method, involves associating terms and/or concepts with things such as geographical locations and linking them together in a structure akin to a graph. For example, you can memorize dates for a history test by associating them somehow with objects in your own home.
By Sayan Ghosh & Tanvi Raja Staff Writers
A new phenomenon called “Life Hacks” which allow people to complete tasks with more resourcefulness and efficiency has recently taken the virtual world by storm. Some of the most useful onesv include information about how to improve study habits. The Smoke Signal has listed tried and tested studying “Life Hacks” that will reduce long nights everywhere.
Spaced repetition systems such as Anki are often much more effective than traditional flashcards. Anki in particular helps reinforce concepts by dissecting information into small chunks and helping you learn them over time. For example, if you are studying vocabulary, it repeats the words that you have a harder time memorizing more often. You can also embed pictures, video, and LaTeX markup, a document preparation system for high-quality typesetting, with your Anki flashcards and create custom schedules.
pomodoro technique
create test questions
The Pomodoro Technique is one way to eliminate burnout while studying. Rather than studying hours on end continuously, the technique involves studying in 25 minute sessions with breaks between each session. Initially, the breaks are five minutes each, but they get longer the more and more you study using the 25 minute sessions.
While studying, try to create the same types of questions that your own teachers use in their own tests. This will not only force you to consider which types of concepts you have to comprehend, but also give you a better understanding of how your teachers work when they create the questions for their tests. productivityist.com
10 Feature
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Exit Zine publishes first issue
The Smoke Signal
Thursday, March 24, 2016
Teenage Driving: Getting your driver’s license is a much anticipated day in the life a teenager. The feeling of freedom a vehicle gives you is something hard to describe, but there are some things you need to consider before you start the car.
slow. Believe it or not, a Police Officer can give you a citation for excessive speed in a parking lot on school grounds. The parking lot of a school is considered a “public area” and therefore the Vehicle Code applies here.
Provisional Driver’s License: If you get your driver’s license between the ages of 16 and 18, you will get a Provisional Driver’s License. This means the first 12 months of your license only allows you drive a vehicle during the hours of 5 a.m. to 11 p.m. You also cannot transport any passengers under the age 20 years old (you can drive your sibling to school), unless you are with a licensed driver over the age of 25.
The other problem I see is horseplay while driving a vehicle in the parking lot area. I see students hopping on the side of vehicles or hopping onto the engine cover or trunk area and taking a ride. It’s all fun and games until someone gets injured. You need to use some common sense while driving. You, the driver, are responsible and need to tell the student messing around to knock it off.
Driving on Campus: The biggest problem I see are students driving too fast on campus. There are numerous students who walk or ride their bike to school and cars are zipping by them like they are not even there. Drivers need to slow way down while in the parking lot. The speed limit is only 5 MPH, and that is really
Last but not least: Most collisions occur when someone is in a hurry. Plan your day accordingly and don’t be in a rush. Get up a little earlier and leave earlier giving yourself plenty of time to get where you’re going.
photo courtesy exit zine
By Anu Asokan Staff Writer
Exit Zine, a semesterly feminist magazine, joined the ranks of MSJ’s publications, which include Costanoan Yearbook, the Smoke Signal, and Phoenix: Art and Literary Magazine, in late 2015. Its first issue will be released late March. Created by Junior Melissa Dalarossa, the magazine has a permanent staff of four artistic contributors, four editors, and around eight writers, but will also publish guest articles. Dalarossa had read through another feminist magazine and was surprised because she didn’t know that feminist magazines even existed. She and a group of friends decided to create Exit Zine, formed the club at MSJ, and began publishing articles online in February at medium.com/@msjexitzine. Juniors Kamini Menon, James Barrie, Anita Carraher, Stella Rae Bradley, Michelle Dalarossa and Marina Dalarossa co-founded the club alongside Melissa Dalarossa. They chose the name Exit Zine, pronounced “zeen”, because they wanted the magaZINE “to help people ‘exit’ the patriarchy and oppressive societal constructs,” according to Dalarossa. Dalarossa, who is Editor-in-Chief of the magazine, said, “We want students to have the opportunity to learn more about a topic that is extremely important and that personally affects everyone at Mission and around the world. With Exit Zine we hope to dispel misconceptions surrounding
photo by anu asokan
Pictured is Exit Zine staff.
feminism and stop the spread of misinformation, at least within the Mission community.” Both she and other staff writers stress that Exit Zine is a trustworthy, informative source that will demystify feminism and its goals, rather than “convert” students. Junior Tanushri Sundar, who is a staff writer, explained, “I’m not particularly interested in changing anybody’s opinion, I just want to put out some good food for thought, and I think that the Zine is the perfect place to do this.” Exit Zine will include more than informative pieces or opinion editorials: it will also have prose, poetry, art, and testimonials of how writers have encountered feminism or the lack of it in their lives. The articles will “look at various topics current events through a feminist perspective,” according to Dalarossa. In addition, Exit Zine is a way for writers to gain
alumnus spotlight
Kristi Yamaguchi
experience and learn about feminism themselves. Sundar said one of the reasons she applied for Exit Zine was because she wanted to learn about feminism. She said, “I thought that this would be a good opportunity to understand why my peers are feminists and how feminism affects their lives.” Some of Exit Zine’s recent online articles discuss rape culture, women in the military, men’s roles in feminism, and female celebrities. The print issue itself will be distributed at the Bell Tower, and will be twenty to twenty-five pages long, front and back. The club will use money from sales of the magazine as well as fundraisers to print the magazine. Dalarossa said, “We hope to display works that both showcase Mission’s talent and give people an idea of what students at Mission think about feminism.” ▪
By Carolyn Ge Staff Writer
Always Dream Foundation MSJ alumna and Olympic gold medalist Kristi Yamaguchi was featured on FUSD’s Community Conversations series for her outstanding work in her Always Dream Foundation. Community Conversations is a weekly TV show by FUSD dedicated to promoting news from around the district and educating the FUSD community on local stories. Yamaguchi was interviewed on the show by Community Conversations Host KK Kaneshiro and District Superintendent James Morris. Yamaguchi shared her story starting from her high school years at MSJ to her career in promoting education around the world today. The following information has been collected from her interview. For Yamaguchi, growing up in Fremont and attending schools in FUSD played an important role in her upbringing and career. Yamaguchi first attended classes at MSJ in her junior year. The school was very flexible with her competition schedule, so she was able to work out a plan with the administrators and ended up attending three classes on campus while continuing independent study outside of MSJ. Although Yamaguchi is most famously known for her gold medal in figure skating at the 1992 Olympic Games, she is also a strong advocate for education in underprivileged areas. Yamaguchi attributes her love for giving back to her parents, who instilled that value in her when she was young. As she began to achieve success in her skating career, her parents encouraged her to give back to the community. Yamaguchi felt very fortunate and thankful for all her support. Therefore, in 1996, Yamaguchi established her Always Dream Foundation, which focuses on inspir-
ing underserved children by providing innovative reading programs and advocating for early childhood literacy. For the past five years, the foundation has been focusing on early literacy. Yamaguchi and the Foundation team reached out to the education world and created a literacy program, Always Reading, which they brought into kindergarten classrooms. Currently, the program is in 17 schools and more than 64 classrooms. The foundation plans to expand to two or three schools every year. Always Reading partnered with Reading a Reader to provide teachers with book bags for their students. In addition, the foundation also partnered with Leapfrog this year in order to reward FUSD students for reading. Yamaguchi provided a generous donation of book bags, each with 10 Leapfrog books, for every kindergartener in FUSD. Morris said, “It was just an unbelievable gift… That just amazed us.” The Fremont Education Foundation honored Yamaguchi for her donation on February 26 at the Excellence in Education Gala. When asked during her FUSD’s Community Conversations interview to give a piece of advice to students about how to stay focused on their goals, Yamaguchi said, “You might have your big main dream out there, but setting small goals for yourself, daily or weekly, will make it seem like it’s more manageable. There’s going to be challenges for sure, so most importantly, don’t be afraid of hard work.” ▪
student spotlight
dwayne bhatia
By Michelle Dalarossa Staff Writer
Naval Scholarship Recipient Senior Dwayne Bhatia recently received an $180,000 scholarship from the Naval Reserve Officers Training Corps (NROTC) to be allocated towards any four year college of his choice. After his graduation, he will immediately become a Naval Officer and serve five years of active duty in the Navy.
“I’ll have my college degree, I’ll have outside things I’ve done, I’ll have Navy recommendations, so it’ll show that I have experience.” -SENIOR DWAYNE BHATIA Ever since his childhood, Bhatia has been interested in the military. His friendship with several other people who had served in the Air Force and Navy initially piqued his curiosity and led him to consider a career in the military. Eventually, he had decided to pursue a mechanical engineering degree in college when he discovered the NROTC scholarship, which would allow him to both complete an engineering degree and join the Navy, combining two of his dreams into one opportunity. To select its recipients, the NROTC looks not only at academic standings, but also at community service and physicals, with a specific focus on leadership. With the help of Fremont Navy Recruiter John Silva, Bhatia filled out the application at the beginning of the 2015-16 year. Once Bhatia completed the application, he was interviewed two separate times by Senior Naval Officers, once over the phone and once in person at the Fremont naval station. After this rigorous process, Bhatia received word in early February that he had been accepted. Although Bhatia will not join the Navy until after he graduates from college, he will attend leadership workshops and physical training throughout his college career, preparing him for the five years of active duty he will serve once he completes his degree. The large focus this program places on leadership is meant to equip recipients with skills and training that will aid them once they be-
photo courtesy dwayne bhatia
come Naval Officers post-graduation. As a Naval Officer, Bhatia will be expected to lead and manage other people. While academic and STEM scholarships are relatively common at MSJ, military scholarships are more unusual, even throughout FUSD. One student from John F. Kennedy High School received a similar scholarship from the Marines this year, but Bhatia is the only MSJ student to receive a Navy scholarship this year. With this scholarship and his future position as a naval officer, Bhatia hopes to encounter new opportunities after his college and naval career that may otherwise have been unavailable to him, saying, “I’ll have my college degree, I’ll have outside things I’ve done, I’ll have Navy recommendations, so it’ll show that I have experience.” ▪
Thursday, March 24, 2016
The Smoke Signal
www.thesmokesignal.org
THE
DIEHARD TRYHARDS go to prom ELLA As a struggling junior, I am currently attempting to make it out of third quarter unscathed. Quite frankly, I am in no way, shape, or form ready for prom. And so I’ve been putting off thinking about prom season for as long as possible. I really don’t have time to plan all the logistics—hair, makeup, and nails—when I should really be doing practice calculus problems.
ANTHONY
The last time I publicly asked a girl to a dance, she asked whom I was asking. That was when I finally learned that people unofficially ask their dates before they do a public ask. Go figure. I’d like to think that I’m experienced when it comes to going to dances, whether it’s crashing a dance stag or going with a date. I’m a battle-toughened veteran and have learned from my past. Hopefully, this time around my date will know that I’m asking her.
Feature 11
By Ashley Chang, Anthony Chen, Ella Chen & Andrew Choi Staff Writers
Don’t let the pictures fool you. Prom is not all the glitz and glam you imagine. Amidst their already hectic schedules, four junior Smokies take on the stress of planning the perfect night away from home.
ASHLEY
Over time, I’ve become slightly disillusioned with dances involving dates. Standing at 5’7”, I need all the help I can get to find a guy tall enough to be on par with this girl and her heels (there’s no way I’m giving those up). However, I know that expectations can’t always be met, so I may have to lower my standards. Literally.
ANDREW
I used to think that being somewhat vertically challenged (I’m like 5’6.578” on a good day) was a problem, but throughout the years I’ve realized that this is only a problem if I make it a problem. My Winter Ball date last year was a good 2 yards taller than me, and my (probable) prom date is around a yard-and-a-half taller than me, but that won’t stop me from having a great night.
the ask
My date is honestly the least of my worries because I have been graced with my boyfriend as a ready option. I can pair some fierce heels with my dress (advantages of being on the shorter side), and I don’t have to worry about proper table etiquette when he’s around. For the most part, it is a winwin situation, because he gets to see me put some real effort into my appearance and I get to tease him for being a bad dancer.
When it comes to choosing a date, the most important thing is finding someone who has chemistry with you. Unfortunately, I don’t take chemistry anymore, but my date does! Cheesy jokes aside, it’s essential to go to prom with someone you know you’ll have a good time with, and oftentimes you don’t need to look too far to find him or her. My date’s a fellow Smokie, and she’s a Ge-nius who shares my odd sense of humor.
After spending hours online shopping, I thought I knew exactly what type of dress I wanted. So I expected to walk into Group USA, grab the first dress I fancied, and be done in 15 minutes. Not the case. I was in the fitting room for hours as my mom passed me dresses of all lengths and colors. And after so long, we wound up buying the first dress I picked out—a long, blue gown that made my dad faint from scandalous horror the first time he saw it.
The only thing that’s blue about prom is my date’s dress. At least, I think it’s blue. Unfortunately, not knowing how to name colors makes coordinating attire very difficult for us. She says her dress is light aqua, but all I can say is it’ll be extremely aqua-rd if I show up in a bow tie of the wrong color. Who made up the rule that the guy mustn’t see his date’s dress until the day of prom anyway? Whatever, I know she’ll amaze me at prom. We’ll make it work, I prom-ise.
I found out recently that I’d been added to a prom group without my knowledge, so at least that’s out of the way. People who know me well know that I am perpetually late to most important events, and I’m almost certain that a prom photoshoot will be no exception. But hey fashionably late, right? I imagine myself arriving with perfect, wind-blown hair and makeup on fleek. But in reality, I’ll probably trip over my own feet and pin on my date’s boutonniere through his chest wall.
I’ve never been to any photo shoots in my entire life, so I honestly don’t know what to expect. I just hope that the photo shoot is picture perfect, and all the logistics and people will come together and “click” like the camera does. Whatever happens though, it’ll be a great way to lead into an unforgettable night, which will probably flash by like lightning, because my date’s going to steal all the thunder.
My original date’s parents won’t allow him to go anymore, so I guess I’m going stag. This predicament seems to have spread to my friends as well, since most of us are date-less once again. I won’t deny that going stag is a bit of a downer, but who needs guys when you can hang out with your girls? Sisters before misters...right? On the bright(er) side, it looks like it’s time to pull out those 5-inch heels.
the clothes
I take it back. It looks like it’s time to put away those 5-inch heels. I ordered my dress online, so I wasn’t entirely sure how long it would be, and it turns out that it can only sustain heels that are at most 2 inches tall. But I shouldn’t complain because in terms of height, the fellows in the neighboring columns have it tougher than I do. Other than the length, the overall quality was impressive considering the dress’s relatively low price and the fact that I bought it off a website based in China.
Obviously, I’m in incredibly high demand, with the ladies flocking to me as soon as the class officers signaled the start of prom season by creating the Facebook event. After careful deliberation, I decided to go with one of my best friends… only for her to tell me a couple weeks later she probably couldn’t make it because of other problems. But as I write this article two weeks before prom, I remain cautiously optimistic that I can go with her. If not…well, I’ll cross that bridge when I get to it.
To be perfectly honest, us guys have it lucky. We don’t have to visit a billion stores to find that perfect dress— only to discover that your best friend already bought the same one. Neither do we have to spend hundreds of dollars on finding the most beautiful dress out there. It truly is simple for me; once my date decides on her dress, I’ll just find a tie that matches and rent a tux. How hard can that be?
the pre-prom pics I’m the type of person who would rather make a goofy face than risk the chance of taking a not-so-dazzling picture when I actually put in the effort. But alas, it’s prom, so even if camera shutters make me shudder, I’m forced to put my face on default setting mode: the plain old teeth-flashing smile. I’ve got it all planned out. Don’t blink, chin down, stand up straight, tilt the head 32 degrees. Hopefully, with these careful calculations, the pictures won’t turn out to be as horrid as my school IDs.
Ah, pre-prom pictures—the most important part of prom, no? Honestly, I’m planning on just showing up when and where my date tells me to—she’s the one that’s planning everything. Hopefully, we get to go to a nice venue and enjoy ourselves while we take some gorgeous pictures that we can look back to for years to come. photos by graphics editor kevin chen & staff writer mallika gupta
12 Centerspread
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Thursday, March 24, 2016
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Centerspread 13
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Thursday, March 24, 2016
C R I T I C S’ C O R N E R M u s i C : d e s i i g n e r | ke n d r i c k l a m a r | F i l m : Lo n d o n h a s f a l le n | z o oto p i a
Under the Radar
London Has Fallen and can’t get up
Music review
By Shivane Sabharwal Staff Writer Not many artists can say they’ve been signed to a major record label before they’ve graduated high school, but Sidney Selby III, otherwise known as Desiigner, has recently been signed to Kanye West’s label, G.O.O.D. Music. Desiigner is a young rapper from Brooklyn that exploded in popularity, almost overnight. He only had a few features completed until he released his breakout single, “Panda,” which has racked up more than eight million plays on music sharing website, Soundcloud. Soon after, he was noticed by West, and flown out to Los Angeles where he was signed to G.O.O.D. Music. Desiigner hasn’t released new music since then, but was featured twice on West’s most recent album, The Life of Pablo. West employs Desiigner for hooks on both tracks, building “Father Stretch My Hands, Pt. 2” around the hook from “Panda” and adding a short outro hook by Desiigner to “Freestyle 4.” Although he’s from New York, his style closely resembles the sound of many Atlanta rappers— simple, catchy trap beats and lackluster lyricism—and he’s even received some criticism for sounding similar to one of Atlanta’s biggest stars: Future. Like Future, Desiigner raps over stellar production, has some infectious hooks, and some indecipherable verses. vvWith limited music out, it’s unclear whether Desiigner will ride his fame to stardom, or whether he’ll fall short as a one-hit-wonder. One thing’s for certain, with West’s support and the wild success of “Panda,” this definitely won’t be the last we hear of Desiigner. ▪
By Sayan Ghosh Staff Writer
imdb.com
By Kylie Cheung Staff Writer
London Has Fallen picks up roughly where Olympus Has Fallen, a 2013 film following US President Benjamin Asher (Aaron Eckhart) and his Secret Service agent Mike Banning (Gerard Butler) as they ward off White House invaders, left off. Not only does it bring back the same cast and characters, but it also recycles the predictably cliché patriotism of Olympus’ plot. Set in London as Western world leaders unite to mourn the British Prime Minister’s unexpected death, the film quickly explodes into a blur of shoot-outs, car chases, and bombings rendered with subpar special effects. A disappointingly stereotypical bloc of Middle Eastern terrorists led by Aamir Barkawi (Alon Moni Aboutboul), seeking revenge for a US drone attack that cost him his family, attempts to kidnap and publicly execute Asher. Banning struggles throughout to protect Asher, with help from British MI6 agent Jacqueline Marshall (Charlotte Riley), while Vice President Allan Trumbull (Morgan Freeman) does his utmost from
back home in the US. Written by Creighton Rothenberger and Katrin Benedikt, London Has Fallen feels exploitative and fear-mongering, released after the devastating Paris terror attacks just months ago and in the midst of underlying Islamophobia and racial tension in the West. Its depiction of Middle Eastern culture is rooted in racist clichés of savagery and ideological barbarism, while its unnecessarily grotesque sequences of violence bring to life dangerous stereotypes that are already far too ingrained in Western culture. The rest of the film, shot in London under director Babak Najafi, offers little to compensate for its questionable portrayal of race. Its entire cast delivers two-dimensional performances with occasional, cringe-worthy and poorly placed attempts at humor. Driven by neither plot nor character, London Has Fallen is just one apparently low-budget CGI explosion after another set to the often overly dramatic orchestral sounds of Trevor Morris, who previously wrote far more dynamic soundtracks for historical dramas such as The Tudors and Vikings.
Despite its nearly endless laundry list of flaws, London does contain redeeming facets, however few. There’s the deservedly famous power of Freeman’s voice, which lends intensity to otherwise failed attempts at dramatic scenes. However, Freeman’s prowess is disappointingly underutilized, as his character does little else save appear shocked by footage of the terror attacks on large TV screens. The film finally manages to build a diluted form of suspense in some of its final scenes, when Asher is on the brink of a gruesome death and audiences can only wonder how Banning will pull off an inevitable rescue. But following the admittedly exciting blitz that ensues are celebratory scenes that exude artificial patriotism. London Has Fallen is not the film for anyone seeking a coherent, original story or well-drawn, relatable characters. But, it might just satisfy movie-goers seeking the trite explosions, shootouts, and car crashes characteristic of most of today’s plot-less action flicks. ▪ Rating: D-
Zootopia hops to the top
A&E
Updates By Ashley Chang Staff Writer
E. T. the Extra-Terrestrial Film Concert
davies symphony hall |3/23, 3/25, 3/26 Relive the timeless tale of friendship through the San Francisco Symphony’s performance of E. T. the Extra-Terrestrial’s Academy Award-winning score alongside a screening of the ever-memorable film.
Mind of Mine Zayn | 3/25
Having already received recognition for his hit single “Pillowtalk,” Zayn Malik releases his first solo album, Mind of Mine, after his departure from One Direction. Infused with R&B tones, the album is influenced by his life experiences over the past several years.
Rachel Platten The Wildfire Tour The Regency Ballroom |4/4
Known for her vivacious melodies in “Fight Song” and “Stand by You,” Rachel Platten rose to fame after a long underground career, and she now embarks on her first tour in support of her new album, Wildfire.
Carrie Underwood Storyteller Tour Oracle Arena | 4/10
Grammy Award-winning country singer Carrie Underwood goes on her first tour featuring a 360-degree center stage, which offers fans on all sides of the arena a more intimate experience as she delivers songs from her fifth album, Storyteller.
foxmovies.com
By Adele Shen Staff Writer
In Zootopia, Disney tackles stereotyping and minority oppression that reflects American society today, deftly weaving heavy topics into hilarious banter and intense action scenes. The city of Zootopia is a utopian metropolis, where all mammals, prey and predator, have evolved from their “savage” roots and can live in harmony, but inter-species tension and prejudice need to be kept at bay daily. The movie follows Judy Hopps (Ginnifer Goodwin), a bunny who refuses the complacency of staying on her family farm and aspires to be the first police officer of the prey species. Judy refuses to stereotype, labeling her grade-school bully as a common jerk rather than as a “standard sly fox” and prohibiting elephants from refusing service to foxes. Through the “Mammal Inclusion Initiative,” the mayor’s attempt
to promote inclusion and diversity in the workforce, Hopps is accepted and graduates from the police academy at the top of her class amidst huge male elephants, tigers, and bears. However, the police chief puts her on parking duty while the bigger, predatory animals tackle missing animal cases, showing his species and gender bias. Though Zootopia seems like a progressive place, with climate-specific subdivisions like Tundratown and Sahara Square that enable all kinds of animals to live in harmony, Hopps still works tirelessly to promote mindfulness and erase special bias. “It’s ok when other bunnies call each other cute. But when you do it, it’s kind of—” she gently says to a snow leopard, who frantically apologizes for carelessly stereotyping. Since no one in her police department will help her, Judy collaborates with Nick Wilde (Jason Bateman), a fox who, due to previous isolation and bullying by prey species, had
succumbed to societal pressure and became a “sly fox.” Wilde uses his business tricks to crack a missing animal case that Judy had over-zealously taken on to prove herself. Through small side comments (“the mayor only made me Assistant Mayor to get the sheep vote. I’m just a sort of glorified secretary sheep”), Disney really packs a punch in social commentary. In fact, the main conflict of the movie centers around the vilification of a minority group by power-hungry figures and the media. Hopps and Wide’s easygoing partnership and the hilarious characters, like a Jersey-Shore-type mouse with ridiculously teased hair and a DMV that employs only sloths, soften the edges of this poignant and thought-provoking movie. The complexity of this movie, from the beautiful animation to the issues it tackles, really shows Disney’s prowess among any and all age groups. ▪
“What is competition? I’m trying to raise the bar high,” said Kendrick Lamar in 2013 in his infamous verse on Big Sean’s “Control.” In the same track, he mentioned fellow rappers J. Cole, Big K.R.I.T, as well as countless others, daring them to challenge him as well as themselves. Lamar himself has since backed up his claims of being the king of rap, releasing To Pimp a Butterfly in 2014, arguably one of the best recent hip-hop albums, with complex and layered instrumentation, insightful and emotional lyrics about race, depression, and countless other themes. Songs such as “Alright” have since become anthems in this age of increased racial tension, and Lamar is now a leading figure not only in music, but in many social movements. untitled unmastered, however, is not a sprawling, complex masterpiece like To Pimp a Butterfly, but rather a collection of tracks that were conceived during the same period, representing pieces of incomplete musical ideas. This is reflected in the length of the album. Compared to To Pimp a Butterfly’s 80minute runtime, untitled unmastered is just barely over half an hour long. “untitled 02,” the album’s second track, features a slow-moving, ethereal beat and smooth yet strangely aggressive rapping from Lamar, which creates an eerie atmosphere. The track successfully combines trap-influenced drums which are so pervasive throughout modern hip-hop with the jazzy instrumentation heavily featured in To Pimp a Butterfly, a combination that very few artists can successfully utilize. “untitled 03” was performed live for the first time during the last show of The Colbert Report. It is a classic Lamar track, with ambitious lyrics covering topics from Buddhism to greed in society. “untitled 05” is one of the best and most complete tracks on the album. The backing instrumental feels more like a jazz groove session, featuring saxophones, pianos, and interesting bass lines interspersed throughout the track, all over a short repeating cymbal loop. It also features Jay Rock, another artist signed to Lamar’s label Top Dawg Entertainment. “untitled 06” has a very relaxed and smooth instrumental that is evocative of bossa nova, a Brazilian genre of music that combines samba and jazz. “untitled 07” features another simple, eerie instrumental that features trap-style drums. It is a testament to Lamar’s talent that an album that is essentially a collection of demos and throwaways can contain moments of utmost quality. The album features a wide variety of musical styles that ended up on To Pimp a Butterfly such as jazz and funk. It also contains snippets of the very politically and racially charged lyrics that feature heavily on the same album. The album lacks cohesiveness and is much less aggressive and insightful than To Pimp a Butterfly, but this does not significantly detract from it. In a way, it may signal Lamar’s farewell to the To Pimp a Butterfly-era sound. Lamar transitioned to this sound after releasing good kid, m.A.A.d city in 2012, an ambitious album that featured different sounds. He may already be preparing for another transition, and his fans await what may come from one of the foremost voices of this generation. ▪ Rating: B+
Rating: Ahiphopdx.com
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Thursday, March 24, 2016
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Arts & Entertainment 15
By Kevin Li, Ansh Patel & Deeksha Raina Staff Writers
photos from dreamstime.com & haikudeck.com
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Thursday, March 24, 2016
The Smoke Signal
Winter Sports In Review
By Mustafa Ahmed, Kylie Cheung, Zen Thumparkkul & Cindy Yuan Staff Writers
Girls’ Basketball Although the team lost four seniors from last year, Girls’ Basketball managed to close their preseason at 9-3. The team tied with Newark Memorial for third place in MVAL at 10-4, with Captain Senior Erikka Linn winning the title of All-League Most Valuable Player (MVP), Linn and Sophomore Shannon Chau named as part of the FirstTeam All-League team, and Senior Jonai Na Standfield and Junior Stephanie Tu placing All-League honorable mentions. The team also qualified for their eighth consecutive year of NCS, but unfortunately did not advance to its second round. According to Head Coach Doug Sakamoto, the team’s goal for next year is to replace the seniors that will be leaving this year. “We’re going to have to find players that are going to step up leadership-wise. We’re going to need to find players who can score and run the team’s offense,” Sakamoto said.
Boys’ Basketball Although the Boys’ Basketball team finished the season with a 7-19 record and thus was not able to compete in postseason play, many of the games they lost were decided by ten points or fewer. The team had some high points when they beat Kennedy and American High School by double digits and when they placed second in the Steinbeck Tournament in Salinas, losing only to San Lorenzo High School in the final. The team is hoping that it will be able to improve on this year’s overall record and will try to do so even after nine seniors leave this year. Current sophomores and juniors must quickly assume leadership positions in anticipation of a major shakeup in the team’s lineup next year.
Wrestling
With longtime Coach Tom Thomsen stepping down from his role as head coach, the players were led by new head coach Waylon Miller. The team was at a disadvantage as only five returning upperclassmen were part of the team this year. Despite all the hardships they faced, they finished the season with a respectable 3-3 record. The team also participated in the 41st MSJ Invitational Wrestling Tournament, where they finished 23rd out of 70 teams. “I hope that we will be able to keep the MSJ legacy alive, have a much bigger team, and bring some guys to states for next year and beyond,” said Captain Senior Eric Yang.
Girls’ Soccer Girls’ Soccer had a rough beginning to the season, with a young team of mostly freshmen and sophomores, but as the season went on, the team came together and improved greatly. They tied with Washington High School in a shutout and played well against James Logan High School, two of the most dominant teams in MVAL. Overall, they placed in the middle of the league. Next season, with most of the team returning, they hope to achieve a better outcome alongside new coaches, as both of the Girls’ Soccer coaches resigned this season. “The highlight of our season was probably our game against Washington. Even though it ended in a tie, we fought really hard and that was a really good game for us. We played with a new formation that game, and it just worked so well,” said Junior Hayley Arima.
Boys’ Soccer Boys’ Soccer focused on building bonds between team members and working towards smoother communication. With their new head coach Fodé Doumbia, they improved greatly from the previous season, winning one match in the league and playing many extremely close games. Their highlight of the season was winning the match against American High School. Next season, Boys’ Soccer looks to continue improving their team chemistry and communication, which will ultimately pave their way to winning games and placing higher in the league. Head Coach Fodé Doumbia said, “I would say the highlights were players dressing up on game days, and coming into my room to meet and take pictures, for me that was the most important, the friendship, the family of the players. For me, that was the highlight.”
Cheer Cheer performed at all home basketball games, performing routines and stunts at halftime. Cheer did not participate in any competitions but regards their performance at the Winter Sports Rally to be the highlight of their season, requiring them to master various new stunts. Cheer’s goals for next year include increasing recruitment and improving on current skills which include motions, chanting, tumbling, and stunting. “I really hope to see MSJ Cheer grow in number and in skill over the years,” Senior Lydia Chen said.
Sports 17
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Erikka Linn
Starting in third grade, Captain Senior Erikka Linn began her basketball career as part of St. Joseph Catholic Youth Organization League. This season, Linn scored an all time high of 31 points, in addition to winning the title of MVP in the entire league. “[Basketball] shaped me into who I am...and has helped me create so many memories,” said Linn.
l l a b t
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Yuvraj Dhanoa
Captain Senior Yuvraj Dhanoa led MVAL in scoring and was recognized as a part of the First-Team All-League. Dhanoa said that his game against Moreau was the highlight of his season, as although MSJ lost by a narrow margin, his performance buoyed his confidence and gave him the mindset that he could compete with anyone.
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Eric Yang
Captain Senior Eric Yang was first drawn to wrestling when as a seventh grader he watched wrestlers brave grueling workouts and admired their perseverance. Yang finished this season with an overall record of 37-5, placed first in both MVAL and NCS, and was a semifinalist at the state tournament. Yang is looking forward to wrestling in college.
g n i
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Maleni Morales
Junior Maleni Morales is the goalie of the team, and was named a First-Team All-League player for three consecutive years, and also plays for a nationally top-ranked soccer club. She considers the game against Washington High School to be the highlight of her season, as she had an extreme amount of saves, completely shutting out their forwards.
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Ryen Teo
Captain Senior Ryen Teo is a forward for the team. Teo started the sport when he was five, and has been in love with it ever since. His personal highlight of the season was scoring a goal against James Logan High School at a critical moment, catching up and tying the score. Teo hopes to continue playing soccer at a collegiate level.
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Lydia Chen
Senior Lydia Chen initially had experience with dance but not cheer. She considers receiving the AllAmerican award from the National Cheer Association (NCA) as a major accomplishment of her cheer career. She regards Cheer earning first place at NCA’s cheer camp as the highlight of her season and looks forward to Cheer’s growth and success.
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photos by staff writers mustafa ahmed, kylie cheung, zen thumparkkul & cindy yuan, courtesy lydia chen, yuvraj dhanoa, erikka linn & eric yang
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Sports 19
E-Sports Spotlight jxe
Competitive video gaming, more commonly known as electronic sports (E-Sports), has recently been on the rise. The Smoke Signal spotlights four of the most popular games at MSJ and some notable gamers.
Hearthstone Hearthstone is a free-to-play, turn-based, collectible card game that was released on March 11, 2014 by Bliz-
By Andrew Kan & Richard Chenyu Zhou Staff Writers
Voices from Players
zard Entertainment and is available on mobile and PC. A player can play one of nine different classes, each of which has its own exclusive cards and unique play style. Players can obtain cards by playing the different game modes, completing quests, and selling other cards and crafting new ones. There are seven game modes, adventure, arena, casual, duel, practice, ranked, and tavern brawl of which Ranked is the most competitive. The goal of each game mode is to reduce your opponent’s health from 30 to 0 using spells, minions, hero powers, weapons, and secrets. An average game lasts from five to twenty minutes. The major Hearthstone tournaments are BlizzCon, World Cyber Arena, and DreamHack. In tournaments, players play best-of-five matches using three different classes in order to reduce the impact of luck inherent in card games and allow more strategic deck planning.
Hearthstone “It’s just fun, and I like the high level of competition that allows me to understand the deeper echelons of strategy.” –Justin Wang, 11 Counter Strike “I like playing with my E-Sports Entertainment Association [ESEA] team. It’s kind of the same league professional players play in. It’s really competitive, especially for a video game, and I’m a very competitive person.” –Brandon Armstrong, 10
Counter Strike Counter Strike is a first-person shooter franchise published by Valve Corporation. Originally a modification to
Valve’s Half-Life, the first game in the series was released on June 19, 1999 for Microsoft Windows. Since then, three other games have been released, the most recent being Counter Strike: Global Offensive (CS:GO). In the game, one faction, the Terrorists, try to detonate a bomb, while the rival faction, the Counter-Terrorists, try to defuse the bomb before it explodes. The gameplay is reminiscent of other old-school shooters like Quake and Unreal Tournament. CS:GO has a very vibrant competitive scene, with Valve sponsoring many tournaments. The largest of these tournaments include DreamHack, Intel Extreme Masters, and Electronic Sports League One, but many smaller local events are also hosted.
Super Smash Bros. “Smash is that party game that everybody loves. It bonds people together, forms friendships with people you would never have met. I used to be a shy timid child but Smash helped me overcome my shyness. Instead of watching people play, I started to ask if I could play with them.” –Prabhjot Sandhu, 12 League of Legends “My favorite experiences came from [playing] around with friends from school, and playing certain champions in roles they weren’t meant for and still somehow winning the game.” –Christine Wu, 12
Super Smash Bros.
Super Smash Bros., often called Smash, is a fighting game franchise published by Nintendo and is one of the longest running franchises in video game history. Its debut title, Super Smash Bros., was released on January 21, 1999 for the Nintendo 64 console. Other releases include Super Smash Bros. Melee for the Nintendo GameCube, Super Smash Bros. Brawl for the Nintendo Wii, and the most recent title, Super Smash Bros. for Nintendo 3DS and WiiU. Smash’s gameplay stands out from many other fighting games. Instead of depleting a life bar, players attempt to knock each other out of the stage. As a player’s percentage of damage increases from getting hit, he/she is knocked farther back when hit. Super Smash Bros’ competitive scene consists largely of locally organized tournaments, called “locals,” but larger events are held, including tournaments at Apex, Evolution, DreamHack, MLG, Genesis, and The Big House, attracting thousands of players and fans. The most recent of these events, Genesis 3, had over 3,500 competitors, and was sponsored by Nintendo of America.
League of Legends League of Legends is a free-to-play, third person, Multiplayer Online Battle Arena PC game that was launched
on October 27, 2009 by Riot Games. It has one major five versus five game mode called Summoner’s Rift and several smaller game modes. Players control one of 129 different champions and assign themselves to the top lane, middle lane, bot lane, or jungle. The objective of the game is to destroy the enemy’s base nexus while killing enemy champions, minions, enemy towers and inhibitors, and neutral objectives. An average game lasts around 40-50 minutes. The North American competitive scene is called the League of Legends Championship Series (LCS). Each year, there are four major international tournaments: Intel Extreme Masters, Mid-Season Invitational, World Championships, and All-Stars. Korean Team SK Telecom T1 won the most recent international tournament, Intel Extreme Masters Katowice, on March 6. At the 2015 League of Legends Worlds Championship, there was an average of 4.2 million concurrent viewers, and 36 million unique viewers over the entire tournament. photos from hypesrus.com, us.battle.net,
“I used to play to be the best, but after a while it wasn’t worth the effort. I enjoy how intricate the game becomes at a higher level. A lot of people assume people at high ranks just have a really good reaction time and stuff. But honestly, half of it is thinking and working with a team, I find that really rewarding.” –William Yue, 12 logos.wikia.com, the-arcade.ie, gamefaqs.com, gamemaster2700.blogspot.com, mightybloke.com
Boys’ Tennis Dominates Senior Eric Yang places sixth at State Championship against Kennedy
By Amber Lee Staff Writer
By Carolyn Ge & Sayan Ghosh Staff Writers
The Smoke Signal sat down with Wrestling Captain Senior Eric Yang, who placed sixth place at the CA State Wrestling Tournament this month. Currently, in addition to wrestling for the MSJ team, he wrestles with a club called Wrestling Prep year-round as well as during the summer, gaining an impressive list of accolades in past years.
Smoke Signal: Can you tell us about your experience with North Coast Section and the CA State Wrestling Tournament? Eric Yang: The top three competitors at NCS move on to the state competition. NCS was a great tournament because I had an easy first day. I was seeded third, and on the second day, I had the second-seeded wrestler in my semi-final match. I lost to him before, but I beat him in overtime this time. It was a great match because it was really close and my win took me to the finals. At the state competition, there were 512 of the best wrestlers in the state. The state competition was great too because I placed sixth out of the 40 in my bracket.
SS: What milestone do your successes at NCS and the state competition mark in your wrestling career? EY: I would say that it was more of a continuation of my career than anything; you don’t turn into a state placer in a day. It’s definitely a culmination of not just the whole season, but the past five years that I’ve been wrestling. It really showed me how all the hard work I put in paid off. SS: Who has been a big influence on your wrestling career, and how so? EY: I have two big influences. One is Coach Thomsen here at MSJ. He really took me in and taught me a lot, and all the other MSJ coaches also helped me build my foundation in wrestling. Also, another important influence was my club, Wrestling Prep. I got all my off-season training done there. I refined all the techniques that I learned, and I improved my body positioning. I would definitely attribute my success to both my MSJ coaches and my club coaches. ▪
SS: Which was your best match? EY: In my finals round, I faced off against a wrestler from Freedom High School. I had wrestled him a couple of times before: once during pre-season and two times during the season. I lost all three times, but I was making significant progress every match. In the finals, I finally beat him and I got my win. He was just this roadblock; I couldn’t get past him. My coaches were telling me all throughout the year, “Get him where it counts [sic].” And I really did, so that was a satisfying match. courtesy eric yang
Freshman Ian Wong and Captain Junior Kevin Li give a strong performance at the match.
Boys’ Tennis squared off against the Kennedy Titans on Monday, March 14. MSJ dominated throughout the event with both the varsity and junior varsity teams winning all their matches. Before the game, Boys’ Tennis Head Coach Tom Thomsen gathered the team into a huddle and gave words of encouragement. The team members were then paired off with opposing players from Kennedy. The varsity team played both singles and doubles matches, while junior varsity played singles. Each match was the best of three sets, with the side that gained two sets first winning the overall match. Although Boys’ Tennis does not have any seniors this year, an obstacle for the team members, they still played hard and showed their skill with each hit of the ball. With Kennedy’s players also putting up a strong fight, some of the fiercest matches lasted about an hour. Captains Jonathan Chen and Kevin Li, both juniors, played an intense doubles match against formidable opponents. Freshmen Ian Wong and Simon Zhang also played in drawn-out, suspenseful singles matches.
Ultimately, MSJ pulled through and prevailed over Kennedy. “They all won their matches pretty quick and handily, so I think they’re a good team, and I think that I have a lot of expectations for them, you know, later on in the season that they’ll do very well,” said Thomsen. However, the team members agree that there is still progress to be made. Junior Roshan Lodha said, “The team overall, I don’t think we played our best, but our results were good, and we still won.” Li also said, “Team spirit’s been good; there’s a lot of stuff we can improve on still, but so far it’s been pretty good.” This game against Kennedy was the third victory in a row this season for Boys’ Tennis. The team is optimistic about future matches and hopes to continue its winning streak. “This year, we lost our top five [players], so I guess we’re just trying to work really hard to rebuild our team. We were really lucky to have a lot of good freshmen players that are coming in, and a lot of the sophomores and juniors have worked hard to get better this season, so hopefully we’ll be able to keep up the good work,” said Chen. ▪ photos by staff writer amber lee
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