Volume LIX, No. 8

SMOKE SIGNAL

VOL. 59, NO. 8

CHANGES IN ENROLLMENT AND CLASS SECTIONS AT MSJ

By Shuhan Jin, Jeffrey Li, Vidyuth Sridhar & Ethan Yan Sta Writers

BACKGROUND

Enrollment in FUSD decreased from 35,431 in the 2019-20 school year to 33,107 in the 2023-24 school year. Reflecting this reduction, MSJ student enrollment has also decreased, dropping from 2,046 students in 2018-19 to 1,971 in 202324. Furthermore, FUSD projects that MSJ’s student body will reduce from 1,822 students during the 2023-24 school year to 1,742 students during the 2024-25 school year. This, along with the MSJ’s current 30-students-per-class mandate, means that the school can not o er courses with low interest. “[One of] the courses … we couldn’t o er is French 2 because we had less than 10 kids sign up for it. … [We] can’t run a class with just 10 kids,” Principal Amy Perez said.

Recent changes in the budget may also impact MSJ courses. State revenues for the 2022 tax year were around $25 billion lower than what policymakers expected. As a result, Gov. Gavin Newsom reduced the minimum amount of education funding set by Proposition 98 by $13.7 billion for the 2024-25 fiscal year. According to SURFBoardE Representative Sophomore Diya Sharma, these budget cuts could impact course format and quality. For instance, because of funding, MSJ could not keep Peer Resource as a zero-period class and had to make it an elective, and due to subsequent low interest, the class will be removed for the 2024-25 school year.

IMPACT ON TEACHERS

As a result of declining enrollment, the amount of classes o ered at MSJ has correspondingly decreased for the next school year. “[The declining enrollment] is not going to change how we teach or what we teach, it just would a ect the number of teachers that we have [at MSJ]. We have to have the correct number of teachers for the number of students, so if we have fewer students, you’d need fewer teachers,” Math Teacher Melissa Saldivar said.

In the face of a student enrollment decrease, teachers may choose to exercise their contractual option to be transferred to another FUSD school — a process known as voluntary surplussing. If a sta surplus still exists, tenured teachers may be reassigned to parttime or full-time positions at other FUSD schools. “Tenured teachers, per their contract, don’t lose their jobs. It goes by seniority … If we didn’t have enough classes to give [to every tenured teacher] in a department, the last-hired person … maybe they work part-time here, and part-time at another school,” Assistant Principal Jeana Nightengale said.

In addition to shifting employment, some teachers worry that a continued trend of enrollment contraction could increase overall class sizes. “My classes have been full this year, but I am anticipating it to be as full next year. In the future, if enrollment numbers keep going down and they are shrinking the number of teachers, our class sizes [may] get bigger,” English Teacher Flora Kang said.

“I currently think that the largest strain on FUSD’s budget is the introduction of new classes and infrastructure projects that were unable to fully follow through and are on such a large scale that they don’t benefit a large percentage of the student population.”

— SURFBoardE Representative Sophomore Diya Sharma

As the 2023-24 term comes to a close, MSJ teachers and administration have been working on the master schedule of class sections for the upcoming school year. Factors like student course selection and enrollment may influence class sizes and sections, leading to potential changes for both students and teachers. The Smoke Signal interviewed students, teachers, and administration to examine the updates in enrollment and courses and their impact.

“Other factors that involve us losing sections or sta ng ... [include] the overall status of enrollment. ... As an entire district, actually the whole state of California, enrollment has been going down. So when enrollment goes down, they reduce sta ng, and when we reduce sta ng, that means less teachers, meaning less classes.”

— Principal Amy Perez

IMPACT ON STUDENTS

When it comes to available courses for students, most students’ class placements will not be severely a ected by enrollment changes because the courses available each year are largely based on student interest rather than the school population. “Class sections are always based on student enrollment, so however many students we have enrolled, that’s how many classes we get,” Nightengale said. “We build our master schedule based on what [students] put on your course request sheets … It’s always about 30 students per class.” As a result, however, some classes may have to be removed or combined due to insu cient interest. For instance, according to French Teacher Herveline Sartori, MSJ will not o er French 1 and 2 next year, and French 4 and AP French will be combined into one class. If enrollment continues to decline, each class would require higher interest to approve, leading to more and more classes being cut from the course list. A decrease in enrollment may also lead to increased class sizes, which could have a negative e ect on student learning. “The larger class sizes would a ect the attention [students] will get from their teacher,” Kang said.

FUTURE

With the fluctuations in enrollment every year, the future of classes and sections at MSJ is unclear. However, MSJ administrators hope to reignite interest and increase enrollment at MSJ by expanding promotion e orts at events like the Spring Exposition (Expo) that took place on April 18, which showcased the school’s courses, clubs, and activities for middle schoolers. “We sent out mailers to homes, we’re inviting food trucks, we’re inviting all the clubs, we’re having sports, the band, everyone trying to showcase what the school has to o er so that the community could see and hopefully want their students to attend our school,” Perez said.

Amidst the changes for the 2024-25 school year, MSJ administrators are working to make the adjustment process smooth and serve everyone’s best interests. “We try to get students all the classes that they’re asking for, and as for teachers, we try to make sure that all teachers have a position at the site,” Perez said.

Number of Students

Other cities across the nation have already used AI to find potholes, trash, and graffiti.

San Jose rolls out a new artifcial intelligence tool to battle homelessness.

The city of San Jose is piloting a program to use artifcial intelligence (AI) to detect homeless encampments. A driverless car equipped with cameras collects information on parked cars and RVs. This technology could be used for mapping tent encampments as well in the future. Advocates for the unhoused fear it will be used to conduct sweeps which further displace people, but offcials say they hope to connect more individuals with services or shelter. Although the program will not be used to identify license plates or record faces, many privacy concerns remain.

Football legend and actor O.J. Simpson dies at 76.

On April 10, football star and actor Orthenal James Simpson passed away in Las Vegas, NV at 76 years old from prostate cancer. Simpson’s life was marked by triumphs and controversies, notably his 1995 acquittal in the trial for the murders of his former wife, Nicole Brown Simpson, and her friend, Ronald Lyle Goldman. Despite his legal victory, Simpson faced challenges including a civil suit that found him liable for the deaths and ordered him to pay $33.5 million in damages. In subsequent years, Simpson grappled with legal issues, including his involvement in a 2007 armed robbery, for which he received a 33-year prison sentence. Simpson’s legacy remains a complex part of history, from his rise in football to his laters years marred by controversy.

More than 50 aftershocks were recorded.

Taiwan experiences their most extreme earthquake in 25 years.

On April 3, 2024, Taiwan got struck by its strongest earthquake in 25 years, with a 7.4 level magnitude. The impact reportedly killed nine people and injured more than 1,000 on the Wednesday it occurred, and also led to about 50 people going missing. The earthquake struck at about 8 a.m., causing mass landslides and accumulating debris. Inhabitants were forced to live in tents and shelters as emergency workers attempted to clear up as much of the damaged properties as possible. The earthquake hit at a depth of 21 miles and automatically set off a tsunami warning in Japan and the Philippines, which was later lifted.

SplashoMania 2024 makes a splash in the Fremont community

The iconic SplashoMania water sprinklers mimicked India’s monsoon season.

By Navya Chitlur & Arushi Singh Sta Writers

On April 6 from 11 a.m.-4 p.m., Radio Zindagi and Gurus of Dance: An Aditya Patel Company hosted SplashoMania, an exuberant community event celebrating the Indian festival of Holi. A large crowd gathered at Ohlone College, along with several vendors, performers, and food trucks. While attendees received unlimited gulal, the customary color powder used during Holi, the main attraction was a large dance area with four sprinklers that simulated rain. The event drew many attendees, who wholeheartedly celebrated this unique and wild festival of colors.

Holi is an ancient Hindu festival that welcomes spring and is widely celebrated in India, Nepal, and other South Asian countries. The holiday traditionally begins with bonfres to mark the downfall of the demoness Holika, and the festival encourages for-

giveness and celebrates new beginnings. The following day is known as Rangwala Holi, or Holi with colors, which is a celebration of renewal. Despite its Hindu origins, everyone is welcome to participate in the holiday. “[Holi] is one of the most beautiful festivals — it doesn’t matter where you belong, which caste, creed, or background you come from, you are here to be colored in just one common color — love,” Radio Jockey Vishal Kapoor said.

Around 11 a.m., attendees began to trickle in. Children armed with water guns headed to the Kid Zone, which contained infatable pools, water guns, bubble makers, and other attractions. Adults, meanwhile, had the opportunity to explore the Indian food trucks and purchase jewelry and clothing from vendors. At 1:20 p.m., the frst SPLASHMOB began. Under the four overarching sprinklers, performers from Gurus of Dance danced with attendees to Bollywood beats. The crowd cheered and jumped under the simulated rain, which mimicked the heavy rains in India’s

monsoon season. Although Radio Zindagi had incorporated these unique rain dances previously, good weather allowed the 2024 festival to be able to have lengthier periods of stimulated rain.

Throughout the event, sponsors of SplashoMania offered raffe prizes. Bricks 4 Kidz handed out a free tablet, while Empowerly presented two internship opportunities to attending high schoolers. The event also hosted booths by other local businesses, such as Mirage Collections, which sells jewelry and Indian shoes. “[This event] gives [small businesses] a lot of exposure, helps them with word of mouth, and it helps them to introduce their products and services,” Organizer Shuchi Agarwal said.

As the event approached its end, the dances picked up and almost the entirety of the crowd stepped onto the stage. The fnal series of performances and SPLASHMOBs began at 3:15 p.m. accompanied by not only the fying colors and water sprinklers, but also two stage sparklers. As the crowd continued to cheer ecstatically, the fnal performance was followed by a celebration onstage for all the organizers, performers, and radio jockeys who made the event possible. “It looks like everyone has left their worries behind [to] have fun together, and that’s what matters to us. That’s exactly what we’ll aim to achieve next year as well, to make this event even bigger and even better,” Kapoor said.

To this date, SplashoMania remains one of the biggest Holi festivals in the Bay Area, thanks to Gurus of Dance and Radio Zindagi’s constant effort to improve the event with each coming year. “This is an event for the community to come together … There is no other festival that is like Holi,” Agarwal said. ▪

City of Fremont hosts frst-ever joint Engineering Expo

With slingshots, claw machines, and more, the expo served as a hub for elementary, middle, and high school students interested in engineering.

By Hannah Bi & Tushara Devapatla Staff Writers

From 5 to 7:30 p.m. on April 11, the city of Fremont hosted the frst joint Fremont Engineering Expo at the Downtown Event Center, in collaboration with Berbawy Makers, FUSD, and MVROP. Attracting parents and children of all ages, the event spotlighted innovative engineering creations made by high school, middle school, and elementary school students throughout FUSD. The buildings’ rooms were flled with countless exhibitions, with each room assigned to a different age division. The event also featured a variety of manufacturing companies, such as Tesla, as well as career path booths from Ohlone.

Founded in 2016, nonproft organization Berbawy Makers is based in Irvington High School and offers STEM summer camps for 11-15 year old students. They featured many of their students’ Intro to Engineering Design class projects alongside several other FUSD students at the event. Before this year, the event was focused specifcally on Irvington High School students, now expanding to engineering students across the district.

As the event began, guests poured into the main room, which was flled with high school student projects and exhibitions.

From a talking Harry Potter Hogwarts Sorting Hat and a Farnsworth Nuclear Fusion demonstration to a miniature air hockey match with a robotic defender and an urchin-collecting underwater recreational vehicle, the booths featured a variety of innovative creations. Throughout the area, exhibitors animatedly introduced their projects to excited young kids and parents, showing

them the basics of how they coded and created their contraptions and demonstrating how each worked or moved. “What’s crazy is that every single kid that comes by wants to play with this [air hockey game against a robotic defender]. It’s so engaging, and I’ve had kids ask me ‘What language did you code this in?’ and ‘How do I make my own?’ Seeing cool stuff like this makes them want to go and build their own cool thing too,” Irvington Junior Vaibhav Jayakumar said.

While the main room displayed high school projects, kids from middle and elementary school showcased their own booths in two surrounding rooms. With smaller mechanisms such as a claw machine or foosball table built from cardboard, middle school students displayed their clay crafts and handmade games, drawing in a large number of visitors. The elementary students’ room featured projects such as spam call alert shields and light-up helmet and hat gear, with tall trifolds detailing the specifcs of their ideas.

Several student booths also lined the outside of the Downtown Event Center, demonstrating projects such as nerf-bullet slingshots to fascinated young children. Next to these exhibitions, Tesla representatives provided a Tesla Cybertruck for children to explore.

With all the rooms housing student exhibitions, the main hall catered free pizza, lemonade, and fruit punch for the visitors, along with live music. Guests lined up to grab a bite before mingling and continuing to visit the booths. Though it was the frst joint expo to feature students from all FUSD schools, meticulous planning and organizing ensured the event’s huge success. “This is our frst joint [engineering expo] with the city and the school district as well as some of our companies and MVROP. This is our frst one for middle school and high school, but you can see this type of event attracts families, attracts younger students, and attracts a lot of our community members,” Fremont Mayor Lily Mei said.

Many student presenters had been involved in engineering for years and were excited for this opportunity to discuss their research and projects with the local community. By exploring the different exhibitions, younger children discovered inspiring projects and gained valuable insight from their seniors. “There’s so many things that you could do with a little bit of tech and a dream. I think it’s just really important that we have expos like these for people to see that ‘Hey, this is possible. I can do this too,’” MSJ Senior Felix Lin said. ▪

Compiled by Navya Chitlur, Tanvi Deshmukh & Arushi Singh Staff Writers

Central News Agency via AP

Simpson served nine years in a remote northern Nevada prison before being released on parole.

Getty Images

Francine Orr / Los Angeles Times

Attendees celebrate Holi by throwing colored powder in the air.

By Padma Balaji, Rajorshi Chatterjee & Catherine Qin Staff Writers

“At no tme in the past quarter century has there been such a rapid divergence between the views of young men and women,” Daniel Cox, a scholar at the American Enterprise Insttute, said. The reshaping of the politcal landscape has led to the emergence of the phenomenon of gender polarizaton, as men and women fnd themselves steeply divided across party lines.

According to Gallup, a polling site, young women are more than 15% more likely to identfy as liberal than men, a signifcant increase from a gap of 3% in 2000. Young men are more likely to identfy as conservatve, with 29% of respondents identfying as conservatve compared to 25% of those who identfy as liberal.

While gender polarizaton has existed at some level throughout history, social media has exacerbated the divide, contributng to the birth of counter-movements to feminist movements such as #NotAllMen, and antfeminist spaces that promote misogynist rhetoric and further perpetuate polarizaton. This polarizaton pits men and women against each other, hindering the social progress of movements like feminism and instead, leading to the rise of new, ant-feminist movements that are partcularly popular among young men.

Gender polarizaton has been a long-standing issue in politcs. Since 1996, a majority of women have pre -

Women

Men

ferred the Democratc presidental candidate, and according to Rutgers University, men and women tend to prefer diferent candidates, a patern occurring since 2000. However, this trend of gender-based partsanship surged recently among Generaton Z youth. In the last six years, the number of women aged 18-29 who identfy as liberal has grown from 30% to 40%, while the number of men identfying as liberal has remained constant at around 25%, according to Gallup. The rightward drif of young men can be traced back to the #MeToo movement, which emerged in 2017 to bring awareness to sexual assault, created a generaton of feminist women, but also led to ant-feminist pushback from young men.

Counter-movements such as #NotAllMen emerged as a way for men to defend their adverse reactons to #MeToo, ofen claiming that “not all men” were perpetrators of sexual violence and that #MeToo was unfairly villainizing them as such. Social media also played a crucial part in the erupton of ant-feminist spaces, amplifying divisive content and creatng echo chambers that constantly reafrmed users’ beliefs and pushed them into extremity. Mi - sogynistic spaces like the “incel” — “invol - untarily

celibate” movement, popular on Reddit and other forums, push frustrated young men to blame women for their lack of sexual experience. These groups speak to young men’s insecurites and exploit them to perpetuate the misogynistc sentments that all women are inherently manipulatve. These forums also create echo chambers, feeding into an ‘us versus them’ mentality that only furthers division and polarizaton.

However, the most signifcant driver of ant-feminism and movements like #NotAllMen can ultmately be atributed to feelings of insecurity among young men, prompted by the rise of feminism. Many young men have begun to adopt a zero-sum view of gender equality, believing that if women gain power and rights, men will inevitably lose their infuence, and thus be lef behind and unacknowledged. Men feel that their struggles are unrecognized by feminism, with nearly half of them saying men in America face discriminaton, according to a 2023 survey from the Survey Center on American Life. As a result, young men, feeling abandoned and isolated by society, ofen turn towards fringe ant-feminist movements like #NotAllMen or incel forums that make them feel more heard. “[Antfeminist spaces] appeal to [their] audience because [they] speak to the very real lives of young men under the above factors — romantc rejecton, alienaton, economic failure, loneliness, and a dim vision of the future,” Curts University researchers Ben Rich and Eva Bujalka said in an artcle in The Conversaton.

Consequently, antfeminists neglect the fact that movements like feminism are not inherently misandrist just because they shif the focus toward women’s issues. This was evident afer the 2014 Isla Vista Killings, when Elliot Rodger, afer publishing a 140-page manifesto announcing his intent to “punish” women for rejectng him, shot and killed six people before taking his own life. In many incel forums, Rodger was regarded as a hero, gathering a following of young men who idolized him for his actons. In 2018, Alek Minassian made a post on Facebook that touted Rodger as the “Supreme Gentleman” and wrote that the “Incel Rebellion” had begun, just one hour before he plowed a van into a busy Toronto sidewalk, murdering 10 people and injuring 16 others. Although fringe spaces foster extreme misogyny and encourage violent acts against women, the blame also lies with movements like #NotAllMen that fuel complacency by denying the misogynistc and ant-feminist undertones of Rodger’s actons. Despite Rodger’s undeniably misogynistc motve, #NotAllMen gained popularity afer the killings, spurred by sentments that Rodger was an outlier in his beliefs and actons, and was hence not refectve of all men. “I’m all for women being equal to men, but … I feel like the feminist community has used [the shooting] to further their views,” said one Reddit user in regards to the Isla Vista shootngs. “This issue is about one man’s belief that he alone deserves everything. I don’t know why feminists are making this their issue.”

By paintng Rodgers as an outlier, the #NotAllMen movement dismisses the greater social implicatons of his actons, not only for women, who bear the brunt of misogynistc rhetoric but for the numerous others who are afected by acts of violence. This ultmately hinders productve social progress, shifing the discussion around feminism into a fght between men and women rather than an efort to make change.

When assuming that every step forward for women is a step back for men, it becomes difcult to generate productve change. As young women have grown to become more feminist in recent years and younger men have grown to become more ant-feminist, especially regarding women’s rights issues, such as aborton. According to a poll from Harvard University, women 18-29 are 13% more likely to identfy as prochoice than men. However, even with a vast amount of support, productve change in issues such as aborton gets inhibited by counter-movements. Many antfeminist movements support ant-aborton candidates and actvely oppose pro-life eforts.

“This creates a feedback loop, frequently discouraing women from running for ofce at the same levels as men. The lack of female representation also creates a less diverse pool of politicians, leading to policies that do not adequately address the concerns of women or underrepresented groups."

Gender partsanship has also led to the lack of female representaton in politcs. Women have a higher voter registraton and votng turnout compared to men and are 20 percent more likely to vote for a woman candidate than men according to YouGov. However, there are just not that many female candidates running. Out of the nine candidates in the Republican presidental nominee race for the upcoming 2024 electon was a woman. Although female politcians are no less capable than their male counterparts, they are less likely to run due to beliefs that they are “not the right sex” or that electons are “highly compettve,” according to the Citzen Politcal Ambiton Panel. Many of these beliefs can be ted to the biased percepton of the electoral system from generatons of its lack of female representaton. This creates a feedback loop, frequently discouraging women from running for ofce at the same levels as men. The lack of female representaton also creates a less diverse pool of politcians, leading to policies that do not adequately address the concerns of women or underrepresented groups.

As soon-to-be young adults, MSJ students have likely encountered and will contnue to encounter gender polarizaton on social media. To combat this phenomenon, it is vital to remember that social media is a bubble that strs confict for engagement rather than refectng actual discourse or debate. In order to avoid the traps of division that these platorms readily promote, it is important to actvely engage with sources and people with difering viewpoints, in order to critcally challenge and understand opinions and potental biases. One efectve way to do this is to converse with others outside the Internet who share a multtude of viewpoints. MSJ is home to numerous organizatons that foster conversaton and healthy debate: MSJ Mock Trial, MSJ Model United Natons, and MSJ Municipal Journal are just some clubs that regularly engage with issues society faces. Students can also take classes such as Women’s Studies in order to engage with feminism and healthy discussions around feminism in a classroom setng. In additon, many peers, teachers, and administrators are willing and enthusiastc to partcipate in civil discourse regarding these issues. Sufering is indiscriminate, not a gender-based competton. As such, in order to make progress, people must set aside their divisions and be open to exploring and acceptng more diverse perspectves. ▪

2020 voters classi ed by gender

THE SMOKE SIGN AL

Mission San Jose High School

1964

59, No. 8 April 26, 2024

www.thesmokesignal.org

41717 Palm Ave.

Fremont, CA 94539

510-657-3600, ext. 37088

MISSION STATEMENT The Smoke Signal’s mission is to represent the voices of the MSJ community and serve the public by providing accurate, meaningful, and engaging information presented through print and digital mediums.

SCHOOL POPULATION 1800 students

EDITORS-IN-CHIEF Karina Han, Julia Peng

NEWS Vedesh Kodnani, Kaylee Liu

OPINION Annika Singh, Annie Xu

FEATURE Anushka Vasudev, Callie Yuan

CENTERSPREAD Chloe Gao, Ashley Pang

A&E Goonja Basu, Sanah Bhardwaj

SPORTS Aaryan Suri, Aaron Zhou

GRAPHICS Jiyun Guo, Hannah Shen

WEB Waylon Li, Elton Yu

TECH Keerti Koya

BUSINESS Sarah Hu

CIRCULATION Maryam Naseer, Vidyuth Sridhar

ADVERTISING Tushara Devapatla, Lucy Yao

EVENTS Anandita Devata, Shuhan Jin

WRITERS & PHOTOGRAPHERS

Padma Balaji, Hannah Bi, Rajorshi Chatterjee, Angelina Chen, Novak Chen, Navya Chitlur, Tanvi Deshmukh, Sahas Goli, Sally Han, Abha Kulkarni, Naisha Koppurapu, Jeffrey Li, Brittany Lu, Howard Lu, Ivy Lu, Trisha Parikh, Catherine Qin, Michael Qu, Daphne Senecal, Priyanka Shah, Arushi Singh, Stella Wang, Ethan Yan, Fiona Yang, Lucas Zhang, Alice Zhao

ADVISER Sandra Cohen

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Making the most out of your experiences

By Annika Singh Opinion Editor

You click a button, heart palpitating, hands clammy, unable to speak or even breathe. Your screen loads, seconds feeling like decades, and the result? A waitlist letter from your dream school.

College decisions are eerily similar to situationships — they lead you on, can make you smile and cry at the same time, and are incredibly confusing. Going into the process, I felt unsure about my career path and the schools I wanted to go to. But now that I’m o cially done with decisions, I nally know why people call the college admissions process an opportunity for understanding and growth.

It’s cliche to believe it, but facing both rejection and acceptance truly opened my eyes to possibilities and opportunities I had never considered. At this time last year, I was worried about my impending AP tests and my college list. is year, I’m watching my friends y across the country to visit their future homes. It’s weird to think about how far I’ll be from the people I love in just four months, but I’ve started to realize that regardless of where I’ll be, I’m the only one in charge of my future.

It’s incredibly easy to let stereotypes in uence you. When multiple TikTok videos claim that 99% of students are depressed at your future school, you automatically feel dejected. But, at the same time, there are hundreds of individuals out there who love their college experience. With the

more I learn about my potential second home, I’m beginning to understand that college, just like any other experience, is truly what you make of it. And it’s not just college — in the last four years at MSJ, I’ve subconsciously followed this principle. MSJ is known for being academically toxic and rigorous, and don’t get me wrong, it is. But at the end of the day, there’s so much more to MSJ than just the courses and the workload.

I’ve met my best friends through writing articles for the Smoke Signal , laughed more than humanly possible during airband practices, and found people who I love, appreciate, and admire in every class. It’s easy to fault the environment you’re in, especially when it’s reputable for being highstress, but it’s especially hard to appreciate all the good it’s given you. I’ve still had my battles with MSJ, but with a month left here, I can’t help but reminisce on what I’m going to be leaving.

I’ve been having doubts about the school I’m choosing for college. In all honesty, I’m scared I won’t nd my place. But each time I think about a potential negative experience, I remind myself about what I’ve learned from this school community. Because at the end of the day, no matter where you are, MSJ or halfway across the country, your future is in your own hands. Your experiences and your happiness is determined by what you make of the opportunities you get.

The Opinion of the Smoke Signal Editorial Board

Save your brain from brain rot

From “spell ICUP” to ll-in-theblanks sitting in trees, grade-school recess has always served as a spawning point for colorful, laugh-inducing childhood language. However, within the past few years, these juvenile quips have taken on a di erent form. Knock-knock jokes have transformed into “skibidi toilet,” “rizz,” and “Ohio” — random phrases that have adopted an arti cial meaning. In fact, “Ohio” doesn’t refer to the state, but to an ultra-speci c TikTok video. However, amidst the rise of this absurd verbiage, it’s the youth who su er most when opting to use chronically-online signi ers to express themselves instead of nuanced language, resulting in a palpable disconnect between words and feelings.

Dr. Erica Munnik, a clinical psychologist in the Department of Psychology at the University of the Western Cape, said that “If [children] are unable to communicate or speak about what they saw, they may begin to act out or become withdrawn.” In the constant overstimulation of social media platforms such as TikTok — which relies on lightspeed media circulation, personalized algorithms, and content virality — children are exposed to both the Internet’s best and worst. Brand new ideas ash by in the blink of an eye, leaving no time for psychological digestion. us, all that sticks are the soundbites: short, memeable words that are repeated incessantly, video a er video. Better yet, one doesn’t need to understand the background of “gyatt” and “sigma” in order to use them; their novelty lies in their

popularity and absurdity. As these terms are used more frequently, they overtake linguistic eloquence. However, since these terms are created and spoken in a farcical vacuum, they cannot successfully communicate internal feelings in a ful lling manner.

erefore, Dr. Munnik’s quotation comes into full e ect: when children cannot properly express themselves, they are frustrated, lost, and confused, contributing to a lifetime of haze that can only be remedied by consuming more online content.

e issue of online content consumption also brings up concerns in the educational system. Online media is now dominated by “brain rot content,” videos and images promoting silly opinions, thoughts, and language that people typically develop when spending too much time online or in niche internet communities. However, this is pushing aside educational and political content.

For example, Instagram and reads are currently making a change in their platforms that will no longer recommend political content to users by default. Instead, platforms are using their algorithms to push more “brain rot” content onto users’ feeds due to positive interactions, which is leading to classrooms lled with students who not only lack an interest in educational content, but struggle with it.

According to a federal assessment conducted by the US Department of Education and released in June 2023, scores in both math and English have hit their lowest levels in decades among 13-year-old Americans.

Valuing diferent felds of study

By Annie Xu Opinion Editor

In my midnight hunts for a life goal (college major), I’ve seen a lot of lamentation over the state of the humanities in higher education. e New Yorker published their article “ e End of the English Major” on February 27, 2023. According to a May 2022 report by the Federal Reserve, almost half the college graduates who majored in humanities regretted their major. From 2012 to 2020, Boston University lost 42% of its humanities majors, and more than 60% of Harvard’s class of 2020 planned to enter technology, nance, and consulting jobs. “I could go on and on about the failings of Shakespeare,” entrepreneur Sam Bankman-Fried said, commenting on Shakespeare’s misuse of language and using statistics to depict the improbability that the greatest writer was born in 1564.

I nd it di cult to imagine that a few centuries ago, people rebelled against rationalist ideas, believing that optimization turned society into a dreary mass and forced people into oppressive labor mills. Nowadays, we run on e ciency and objectivity of numbers. During the pandemic, all I saw were charts and charts of rising cases, statistics to demonstrate the necessity of vaccines. Culture was controlled by science, and stories were only worth listening to when they had statistics applicable to the masses. In that sense, it makes sense that fewer people are turning to humanities majors; college is an investment, and paying tens of thousands of dollars to learn to interpret books feels like nurturing a hobby, not building a career.

However, I nd this perspective — one that hails numbers as infallible, and inevitably treats humanities as studies of

Additionally, in September 2023, several teachers went on TikTok to express their concerns about students lacking the ability to read, write, or comprehend. More than 10 years ago, most rst graders were eagerly reading the Magic Tree House series, but now, they’re creating memes about “Turkish Quandle Dingle” from the TikTok Rizz Party. Brian Ishiba, a teacher and TikTok content creator, made a video stating that, “general education fourth-graders do not know the alphabet, but they keep moving them up, because that’s what’s expected.”

In this era of mass social media usage and ever-growing sources of entertainment, it is imperative that students and parents try their best to separate online jokes from reality. News and educational content shouldn’t be treated as entertainment — they should be used as opportunities for learning and understanding. Students can also involve themselves in organizations such as SURFBoardE, MSJ History Club, MSJ Civics Club, and MSJ Municipal Journal to educate themselves about societal issues and expose themselves to diverse viewpoints. By researching trustworthy news sources, setting up content restrictions for minors, and slowing down media consumption in general, we can bridge the gap between words, feelings, and education.▪

leisure with no real application — apathetic and inherently awed. My curiosity for learning started with reading. It was Hermione Granger whipping out potions and spells that not only taught me the beauty of words, but also made me interested in science. rough reading, I learned di erent ways to experience life through perspectives that I could never imagine. In English class, I listen to my peers unpack complex themes and the context behind the works, expressed through the unique techniques of di erent authors throughout history. ere’s incredible depth there, and it’s a process that hones crucial skills such as critical thinking and problem-solving.

Beyond that, the humanities have so many real applications to my life. I needed to know how to write to complete my college and job applications.

To understand the complexities of politics, it’s crucial to read between the lines of policy and debate, more than just the basic comprehension a shallow skim can get you. More than that, skills in the humanities are necessary even in STEM elds — good writing makes scienti c research digestible in published articles. People who understand ethics and philosophy can also steer pure scienti c discovery in a healthy direction for society, especially when evaluating uncharted territory such as arti cial intelligence. I’m not saying that everyone should now switch their majors to something in the humanities. It is objectively true that job prospects are much easier to come by in STEM and business elds. Still, the humanities are the glue that holds civilization together, and we can’t forget that. ▪

By Kaylee Liu & Stella Wang

News Editor & Sta Writer

TikTok Ban: Balancing National Security and Global Connectivity

By Novak Chen, Abha Kulkarni, Michael Qu & Ethan Yan Sta Writers

Released by the China-based company ByteDance into China’s app market in September 2016, TikTok is an ubiquitous social media site in countries across the world. From September 2018 to October 2018, the app surpassed Facebook, YouTube, and Snapchat in downloads. However, in September 2019, leaked documents that detailed the site’s moderaton guidelines revealed that TikTok censored topics deemed sensitve by the Beijing government, such as the Tiananmen Square massacre and Tibetan independence, creatng concerns over relatons between the company and the Chinese Communist Party. Given past privacy scandals between the US and China, the Chinese social media platorm was faced with skeptcism from many internatonal users because of the potental leakage of government or classifed informaton. Due to concerns over privacy and security, numerous countries, including Canada, India, and France, banned TikTok from their country. With the passage of the HR7521, dubbed the ‘Protectng Americans from Foreign Adversary Controlled Applicatons Act,’ through the House of Representatves on March 13, the US seems to be following the precedent set by these countries. With the bill now headed towards the Senate for possible revisions and the fnal vote before being sent to President Biden, who has already declared that he supports and sign HR7521, the removal of TikTok seems imminent. The ban will undoubtedly send ripples throughout the social media framework, infuencing the lives of sumers natonwide and holding both positve and negatve implicatons.

PRO

Lessening mental stressors

According to a Statsta survey conducted in January 2023, adults in the US spent an average of 52 minutes per day on TikTok during 2022. By the end of 2024, it is estmated that adults in the U.S. will spend an average of 58 minutes per day on the short-form video platnextlevelrecoveryassociates.com, a low-efort dopaminereward system built into scrolling TikTok encourages the user to keep using the app through the brain’s release of dopamine that causes feelings of pleasure. The app uses consumer usage as input for an algorithm to develop content recommendatons. Over tme, this, in combinaton with other factors like increased dopamine tolerance can lead to addicton as users become more and more dependent on the positve feelings associated with TikTok, according to Healthline Media, a medical news publisher. Consequently, according to a study by the Brown University School of Public Health, excessive use of TikTok leads to a decrease in productvity and an overall decrease in quality of life.

Mental health issues are further exacerbated by the prevalence of certain trends on TikTok. These trends, ofen featuring edited and idealized physiques, perpetuate unrealistc body standards and lowers self-esteem. For example, legging legs, a trend that promotes having a thigh gap as ideal for wearing leggings, encouraged anorexic behavior by glorifying lean legs and slender fgures. A study published in the Internatonal Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health in March 2021 showed that “widespread use of social media in teenagers and young adults could increase body dissatsfacton as well as their drive for thinness, therefore rendering them more vulnerable to eatng disorders.” A 2022 study conducted by professors from University of Tennessee, Knoxville and involving 778 female college student partcipants arrived at the same conclusion, fnding a positve correlaton between TikTok usage and body dissatsfacton.

Reducing exploitaton of minors

Minors are 20.2% of US TikTok users and are vulnerable to predators and explicit content due to a lack of content regulaton. In additon, content moderaton for minors is questonable at best, with creators circumventng the moderaton algorithm using a variety of methods, including changing or inventng words to replace slurs. In 2022, a report by Bark, a parental control applicaton company, found that 9.4% of tweens and 14.2% of teens have encountered predatory behavior online. Adolescents, who are in a period of social and moral development, are susceptble to manipulaton, exploitaton, grooming, and lastng psychological harm from predators and other bad actors. Ultmately, the inability to verify the identty of these dangerous individuals makes this platorm a hotspot for illicit actvity, something the ban will eliminate.

Removing sources of disinformaton

Misinformaton is inevitably a pervasive part of a large social media platorm like TikTok. With short and easily digestble content being the norm, TikTok creators ofen omit details and reshape informaton for user consumpton. As a result, the unverifed content on the platorm can create misunderstandings and accentuate biases, such as when a viral 2020 TikTok video erroneously claimed that garlic could prevent COVID-19. Misinformaton on TikTok ofen takes the form of harmful trends that promote unsafe products. For example, in 2020, the Benadryl challenge encouraged people to take 12 tablets of Benadryl, an over the counter allergy medicine, to induce hallucinatons, resultng in a teen overdose and several hospitalizatons. Unsafe TikTok “challenges” often go viral and gain tracton among potental partcipants. With many people jumping on the bandwagon to ft in and look cool, these trends can take an unsafe turn. The removal of the platorm ensures that unhealthy trends do not spread and forces people to turn to educated experts for scientfcally accurate informaton.

Loss of support for small businesses

A study done by Oxford Economics, an economic advisory frm, in March 2024 found that TikTok increased small business revenue by $14.7 billion. With TikTok being the second most popular social marketplace and 36.1% of users having used the marketplace, according to the market research frm Insider Intelligence, small businesses lose an important marketng platorm, reducing the reach of their products. TikTok is also a strong stakeholder in the broader natonal economy, contributng $24.2 billion to the US gross domestc product in 2023 and supportng 224,000 jobs. With TikTok facilitatng far-reaching advertsing and entrepreneurship, the removal of the platorm would result in the loss of opportunites and livelihoods for millions of Americans.

Increased Sinophobia

The Congressional hearing of TikTok CEO Chew Shou Zi, which was supposed to discuss natonal security concerns, involved Sinophobic and racist questons about Zi’s tes to the Chinese Communist Party. However, Zi is a Singaporean citzen with no tes to China, as stated several tmes in his testmony, and the irrelevance of Zi’s ethnicity to the TikTok hearing sparked outrage and called into queston the motves behind the hearing. Due to the tense situaton between China and the US and because TikTok is ted to China, many also view this bill as a win against the Chinese Communist Party. Even though Congress claims the ban is to ensure data privacy, no such actons have been taken against US tech giants with data security controversies such as Facebook and Google, which insinuates the Sinophobic motves behind the hearing. Harder to get teens socially and politcally engaged

The #LearnOnTikTok initatve, which encourages learning through the platorm, has more than 800 public fgures, publishers, educatonal insttutons and subject mater experts bringing educatonal material to the app. TikTok is a revolutonary platorm accessible to millions of Americans and whose only prerequisite is Wi-Fi, and the platorm’s removal would stunt these educators’ ability to teach millions of Americans. Additonally, with a survey by Pew Research Center reportng that 63% of the 1,500 teens surveyed use TikTok, a ban would afect the ability of politcians to reach an increasingly relevant votng bloc. Gen Z is set to add 8 million eligible voters in 2024 and become the largest votng bloc by 2028. According to a study by the Center For Informaton & Research on Civic Learning And Engagement, 57% of youth, ages 18-34, were extremely likely to cast a vote in the next presidental electon. If news becomes less accessible, misinformaton spreads faster and reduces public awareness of social issues. Public support is the keystone of societal change which means that ultmately, politcal and social progress would be negatvely impacted by the ban.

In the seemingly likely event that TikTok is banned, the loss of a major networking platorm to engage young Americans in politcal and social actvism may be an opportunity to diversify the methods used to reach out to young voters. Rather than simply postng their politcal views or liking reels on TikTok, students can atend speeches, rallies, and even get involved with their local representatve’s ofce to support local initatves. In additon to getng involved with local public ofces, students can join actvism clubs on campus such as MSJ BASTA and SurfBoardE. If TikTok were to be passed through the Senate and signed by President Biden, the US social media industry would lose a major platorm, but the government would solve a major security issue.

MSJ VOICES

“I think there are individual creators whose livelihood will suddenly be gone and they're going to have to scramble to fnd a new way to make their income.” — AP World History Teacher Katherine Williams

“The intenton Congress has is good. Our data should be monitored, but I don’t think this is the right way to do it.” — Daojing Lin, 10

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"Recently, FUSD unanimously approved Resoluton 030-2021 Edu catonal Response to the Climate Emergency and established the Climate Literacy and Educaton Network (CLEEN) commitee to carry out the objectve of increasing environmental-conscientousness in district policies. Some of the planned policies for the district include the Roosevelt Resoluton, which is focused on transitoning from a zero-waste to landfll system. With FUSD moving towards a more environmentally friendly system, what do you think about their new changes and what do you think the district can do to further prioritze the environment?"

"Establishing the CLEEN commitee and having more directed eforts towards combatng climate change is a great step in the right directon & I'm really happy FUSD has made a real, tangible commitment to this issue. To expand upon their existng measures, FUSD can work on developing & implementng a more comprehensive climate literacy curriculum to beter inform students about climate change. [The district] can also petton to expand the amount of green infrastructure available at schools, like solar panels & other renewable energy sources, such that we can lower our emissions as much as possible."

“I think it’s good that they’re trying to solve more stuf about the climate, and the district could do a lot more for the environment. For example, maybe they could take out the recycle more ofen or open out in diferent ways more than they already do. I think the district could be more environmentally friendly in a lot of ways, like changing the food utensils from plastc to paper. Also, everything that used to be on paper is being transferred online to save paper and resources. I also feel like the integraton of climate change in the curriculum shouldn’t be done all at once and should be eased into the curriculum in smaller bits more ofen while stll addressing this serious issue.”

“I applaud FUSD's eforts to prioritze the environment. If these changes result in a net reducton in expenses, then its great, but if it costs more while student educaton is being hurt by the state funding cuts, then FUSD has a lot of other priorites that come before being environmentally reponsible.”

“These new policies responding to the climate emergency seem to be a step in the right directon, but there is defnitely more that can be done. Plastc waste and its long term efect on the environment is stll a large but fxable issue. At the school level, I believe we can shif our habits by adaptng to sustainable or reusable utensils during lunch. Clearly labeled compost, recycle, and trash bins would also be helpful to increase environmental literacy. Then we could expand our compost programs, which can be used to enrich school garden soil on campus beautfcaton projects.”

“It’s great to see tangible acton items towards a green future, and these are great frst steps. It’s my frst tme hearing of this, and I think that FUSD would beneft from disseminatng this informaton to all students. Transparency and communicaton are key, and us students would be able to provide diferent perspectves and help the cause where we can if we knew about it.”

Club Spotlight: MSJ Indian Student Association

By Naisha Koppurapu & Maryam Naseer Staff Writers

With a signifcantly large Indian population on campus, an Indian Student Association (ISA) has been a much-awaited addition to MSJ. Bridging the gap between those excited to learn about Indian culture and those excited to share it, MSJ ISA provides many students with the opportunity to immerse themselves in the unique aspects of Indian culture — from iconic music to traditional foods and celebrations. Formed last December, the relatively new club hopes to bring the diverse Indian community together with awareness of traditions and heritage, led by Co-Presidents Sophomores Esha Nankani and Anvi Narula, Vice President Sophomore Ishita Jalan, Secretaries Sophomores Shreya Chatwani and Aarav Khandelwal, Treasurer Sophomore Samyak Patel, Activities Chair Sophomore Haasini Bhupalam, Activities Coordinators Sophomores Bhavika Mehndiratta and Diya Vinodh, and Publicity Manager Sophomore Prajna Srikanth.

“The purpose of this club is to bring together all people from both the Indian community and others [so] that way we can all learn [a] bit more about each other.”

— CO-PRESIDENT SOPHOMORE ESHA NANKANI

MSJ ISA’s formation was inspired by neighboring high schools that held events throughout the year to celebrate Indi an holidays. Noticing a lack of Indian activities on campus, the club hopes to host events to inform oth ers about the culture by celebrating festivals and holidays together.

“The purpose of this club is to bring together all people from both the Indian community and others [so] that way we can all learn [a] bit more about each other,” Nankani said. However, during the process of forming the club, the offcers faced diffculties in fnding a club adviser. Since many teachers already serve as advisers for many clubs, the offcers had to search for new teachers and found Chemistry Teacher Shilpa Sattiraju to advise the club’s meetings.

With offcers from southern, northern, and central backgrounds across India, MSJ ISA stresses the importance of recognizing the diversity of languages and cultures throughout the country. During their introductory meeting in early

January, the club offered attendees mango lassi, an Indian drink commonly found in the northwestern part of India, and for their frst fundraiser, they sold samosas, a tea-time snack that is widely enjoyed across India.

importance of the Holi festival, ending with a fun Quizlet. “We plan to have many more meetings that are engaging [and] still share a bit about Indian culture, whether it be [about] Bollywood history or festivals we commonly celebrate today, but we also would like to make sure that it’s fun to keep students engaged and interested,” Nankani said.

“We plan to have many more meetings that are engaging [and] still share a bit about Indian culture, whether it be [about] Bollywood history or festivals we commonly celebrate today, but we would like to make sure that it’s fun to keep students engaged and interested.”

Aside from cultural treats, the club’s meetings offer enjoyable games that spread knowledge about Indian history, pop culture, and festivals. Their engaging approach fosters a welcoming atmosphere for people of all backgrounds to join in on the fun. For example, offcers held a meeting with a simple contest challenging participants to identify famous Bollywood songs. In another informational meeting, they discussed the

— CO-PRESIDENT SOPHOMORE ESHA NANKANI

Motivated by the booming success of their previous meetings, ISA plans to host more events to bring the Indian community together, also potentially inviting students from other schools to celebrate Indian culture. “We’re trying to plan [a] Bollywood night and there’s a lot that goes into the process, especially if we want other schools to join us,” Chatwani said. While the new club overcomes the obstacles and hurdles that come with planning such a large event, they ensure a spectacular outcome upcoming next school year, bringing Indian food and festivities to the MSJ community. As the excitement builds, ISA looks forward to cultural festivities and enriching the school environment. ▪

Left to right: Samyak Patel, Ishita Jalan, Shreya Chatwani, Diya Vinodh, Haasini Bhupalam, Bhavika Mehndiratta, Prajna Srikanth and Aarav Khandelwal. Bottom: Esha Nankani and Anvi Narula

DIEHARD TRYHARDS: TERRARIUMS p k p k

By Hannah Bi, Stella Wang, Fiona Yang & Lucas Zhang Staff Writers

Hannah Stella Fiona Lucas

1st 2 3rd

As a succulent enthusiast with years of “gardening” (a.k.a. flower-picking) experience, I can safely say that I’ve got this challenge in the bag. From burro’s-tail to echeveria, I’ve encountered a wide variety of plants while jogging past my neighbor’s beautiful front yard of succulent arrangements every day. Although I’ve had little actual hands-on involvement in gardening, I spent an unbe-leaf-able amount of time admiring others’ garden positioning choices, and have no doubt whatsoever in my expert arranging abilities. I’ve got this in the bag — after all, when it comes to DieHard Try-

furthest possible color from green. The only plant with the misfortune of falling under my care was a succulent, which I promptly killed. Yes, a succulent — the desert flora regarded as the ultimate low-maintenance houseplant. I certainly can’t rely on my meager gardening experience to give me an edge over my opponents, and my secret weapon (the miniature section of Michaels) happened to be unavailable on the day I was planning to shop. Armed with only my proficiency in drawing and a heart set on a theme inspired by my favorite game, I can only hope

4th

From my childhood experiences of staring mindlessly into fish aquariums adorned with coral plants and zoos full of greenery, I am confident that I have the most aesthetic capabilities to outwit the others. Surely this challenge will be easy — after all, I only need to dump soil, moss, and some decorations into a glass jar, and voila! With my unmatched decorating skills — that being house building in Adopt Me! on Roblox — I am confident I will seize victory. To my competitors, you better be terraria-fied of me!

before before before before after after after after

ered from my last DieHard TryHards loss to reclaim my rightful place at the top of the podium once again. Although I would love to take all the credit, I have to hand it to The Home Depot for this one. After deducing that none of the weeds in my own yard would be aesthetic enough for this project, my new favorite home improvement retailer promptly came to my rescue with their shockingly wide variety of succulents and cacti. Thank you, oh great store. I will never forget your gracious help in my time of dire need.

I blame Disney and all the motivational artist posts I’ve seen. Hopes, dreams, and instincts are not the tools you want to rely on when wrangling fake plants into aesthetic formations, especially when said plants are falling all over the place. Roses are red, violets are blue, this project was supposed to make me buy glue — an important crafting tool that I’ve been bereft of for nearly three years! Yet in the end, I still somehow forgot to retrieve those precious Elmer’s glue bottles. Now that I think about it, my own procrastination may have played a role in my downfall, but in typical fashion, I didn’t notice until it was too late. After having laid eyes on the pristine, carefully crafted terrariums of my competitors, I’ve learned a valuable lesson — do not bring a 5-gallon fish tank to school — but I’m still honored to sit second.

wilt in sadness over. Simply being on the podium is a win for me! Turning my imagination into reality proved to be no easy feat, that’s for sure. What matters is that this competition gave me a chance to relax my eyes by looking at plants, and I must admit that touching grass is not of any particular di culty after all. I’ll definitely cherish the latenight bursts of artistic creativity that came to me while creating this terrarium. With all that said, I’m sure it’s well deserved to give my fellow competitors a round of applause for creating such awe-inspiring terraria.

Ever since third grade, I have been a StarWars enthusiast, eager to recreate the lush scenery of Dagobah and the stunning landscapes of other locations far, far away from my domain (my small backyard). Today, the small budget allocated for my garden-in-a-bottle is not stopping me. With a few terrarium starters from Walmart, I am free to forage for (real and Lego) flora within my property and compile it in a glass container. I hope that any thorns or weeds in my terrarium don’t scare the judges away from

how unparalleled my competition was. It seemed like the judges couldn’t quite wrap their vines around my plant placement decisions. Whatever e ort I spent to make my garden more faithful to real-world environments seemed to dry out in comparison to my competitors’ beautiful, artistic design choices. What else could I have expected when facing three former DieHard TryHards champions when I’ve only participated in one other competition? I guess I need to shed more (sun)light into pleasing garden layouts when crafting future terrariums.

Building up excitement for Homecoming, the graduating class dressed up to unique themes each day to show their spirit. Seniors were dressed vibrantly around campus wrapped in makeshift togas from old bedsheets, hunched over walkers with baby-powdered hair, or accompanied with pots and coolers in place of their backpacks.

“I love dressing up for spirit days and always make sure to go all out! remember being a sophomore, jealous of the senior Homecoming dress-ups, and it felt so surreal when I realized that was now a senior getting to do them. Senior citizen dress-up day was my favorite because stuffed my butt with a Squishmallow to look big.” — Angelina Ching, 12

Senior Dress-Up Days

Due to the coronavirus pandemic, the senior class spent their freshman year online, and the Class of 2024 participated in their Following an Aladdin theme, airbands pieced together separate videos of each performer after rehearsing together over Zoom calls.

“My freshman year online was de nitely a mixed bag. I really enjoyed being able to take tons of naps in between classes, but really missed the interactions that had with my friends and peers in person, so dealing with that was dif cult. [Homecoming] online honestly doesn’t feel like it was a real experience. remember recording the voiceover clips for the performances that we would post on MSJTV and feeling so strange.” — Adwithi Yarida, 12

“Senior Sunrise was bittersweet because nally processed that we were seniors and that it was our last year of high school. Watching the sunrise on my last rst day of school with people who I’ve known my entire life made me realize how quickly the past four years went by. The most memorable part was when we did the lip dub to ‘Night Changes,’ and we were getting emotional over how well the lyrics resonated with us.” — Harika Tammineni, 12

Senior Sunrise

Freshman Year Online Justice for Juniors Sophomore Homecoming

After placing third overall in the Homecoming class competition, the newly upperclassmen united in pursuit of justice, believing they deserved a higher ranking. Wearing black shirts to symbolize their solidarity, students rallied and spread the message of “#justiceforjuniors” on social media.

“#justiceforjuniors was a fun little joke that we had after [Class of 2024] was robbed during Homecoming 2023. I didn’t think it would gain so much attention but everyone started adding on as a joke and Katie even made a cake about it. I’m glad it happened because the whole class uni ed and everyone got a good laugh out of it, and it was de nitely one of the most memorable moments in high school!”

— Pranav Shilwant, 12

Sophomore year marked the rst in-person Homecoming experience with the lively theme of “It’s Sophomore Year, Charlie Brown.” As the Class of 2024 took the stage, the sophomores chanted “Can’t ignore 24!” in a wave of class spirit.

“A lot of us had just transitioned from online learning, so it felt like we were still freshmen. However, on sophomore day, a lot of us were representing our class, wearing face paint, yellow clothing, and buying other spirit based items. wasn’t in the audience since was doing the ght scene that year, but remember the sophomore class being relatively loud for all performances, which was really motivating.”

— Prathul Ganesh, 12

spent the whole day going down different slides, pushing each other into the water, and relaxing in the lazy river. It lived up to the

Water World

spectator Having spray the On their last rst day of school together, the senior class huddled together at Old Mission Park to watch the sun rise. During Senior Sunrise, the seniors lip-synced to “Night Changes” by

Senior Storybook

By

From 7-10 p.m. on April 13, the Class of 2024 enjoyed their senior cruise on the Cabernet Sauvignon Commodore. As the ship sailed towards the Bay Bridge, students on board moshed on the dance oor, took photos at the photo booth, gambled in the fake casino, and enjoyed a delicious meal, all while appreciating the beautiful night sky.

“Senior cruise was actually pretty fun. Moshing to 2010s hits was awesome but have bruises on my feet from people stepping on them. The food was alright and the weather was super windy. Overall, had a pretty good time.” — Savanna Lee, 12

With all of the recent rains in CA brought by the climate pattern El Niño, it is the perfect time to explore the wildfowers around the Bay Area. The Smoke Signal visited and photographed six wildfower spots near MSJ to capture the beauty and colors of spring. For specifc plant identifcations, visit the East Bay Parks’ website: www.ebparks.org/.

GUIDE TO W dflow Vie ng Spots

Coyote Hills Regional Park, located on 8000 Patterson Ranch Road, is a quick 20 minute drive from MSJ for hikers looking for easy access to the famous California poppies coupled with a spectacular view of the bay and picturesque views of the wetlands. Coyote Hills’ paths meander along the bay and the small ponds, but wildfowers can be seen all along courses like the Quail Trail, Glider Hill Trail, and Red Hill Trail. While the poppies begin to close at around 4 p.m., other wildfowers like the vivid purple lupines can still be spotted easily against the lush green grass. Additionally, Coyote Hills offers naturalist-led programs that tour the marsh and explorations of Ohlone culture, and the Nectar Garden boasts a thriving bird and butterfy conservatory. M g T t y Re al Pr ve Coyote H ls Re al

Located in Livermore, Morgan Territory Regional Preserve is home to lush sandstone hills — perfect for sightseeing. Besides horseback riding, picnicking, and camping, the territory’s rolling hills and for ested valleys offer many unique species of wildfowers. One of the most popular trails, Coyote Trail, presents lush oak, buckeye, and big-leaf maple, concealing the wildfowers that reside 1.4 miles further along Stone Corral Trail. Here, the hillside gardens are flled with yellow buttercups, red Indian paintbrush, California poppies, blue lupine, and more. These fowers can also be found in several of the other trails, including the Volvon Trail and Coyote Loop. Furthermore, since Morgan Territory connects with Mount Diablo State Park, visitors can take the Diablo Trail into the neighboring park.

Located at 1101 Quema Drive, Sabercat Historical Park provides a relaxing location for a scenic stroll among felds of wildfowers. Vivid California poppies surround the park entrance. The most abundant fower is the yellow feld mustard, which illuminates several rolling hills with its bright colors. Under the pedestri an bridge, visitors can view purple vetch creeping up on the fencing and California blackberry bushes displaying small white fowers. Bright yellow Bermuda buttercups pepper the landscape, with edible, lemony, clover-like leaves. Located around a mile from MSJ, this paved trail pro vides explorers with beautiful native species of fowers, alongside a winding creek and green hills.

Quarry Lakes Regional Recreation Area, located at 2100 Isherwood Way, about a 20 minute drive away from MSJ, displays lovely views and an inviting Demonstration Garden with native plants, as well as a few wildfowers for people to explore. About half a mile into the Western Pacifc Trail, the eye-catching fower garden features the native sticky monkeyfower, California poppy, and California hummingbird sage. Complementing their red and orange hues, several purple, white, and yellow fowers attract bees, hummingbirds, and other pollinators. Other than the man-made Demonstration Garden, the park has a few scattered patches of the purple long-beaked flaree, white and purple wild radish, yellow feld mustard, and the pink evening primrose. Although Quarry Lakes consists mostly of manicured lawns designed for picnics or recreation, wildfower lovers can still fnd plenty of fower varieties surrounding the lake’s natural beauty.

At Sunol Wilderness Regional Preserve on 1895 Geary Road, visitors can spot dozens of different wildfowers within a mile of the visitor center. To get the most out of a trip to the park, about 10 miles from MSJ, people can join free wildfower tours led by naturalists on the Valley Floor Meadow Walk during the springtime. The hour-long walk introduces lesser-known wild fowers — like the tiny white rooreh or the wavyleaf soap plant — to budding wild- flower enthusiasts and educates visitors on their signifcance to the Tuibun Ohlone people, the native tribe of Su nol. Hikers can fnd several yellow felds of johnny-jump-ups, spotted with purple owl’s clover and vibrant orange California poppies. For a more adventurous climb, the Indian Joe Creek Trail features pretty pink phlox and yellow buttercup felds along the 2-mile round trip journey. The Sunol Wilderness Regional Preserve offers hikers of all levels easy access to many varieties of vibrant spring

With rolling hills and spectacular views, Mount Diablo State Park, which is located around 1 hour from MSJ, is also known for its rare wildfowers such as the Mount Diablo globe lily, native ferns, and grasses that thrive in the 20,000-acre park. With several trails for visitors to choose from, paths vary in elevation and diffculty. Mitchell Canyon Road, which is seven miles long with an elevation of 390 feet, is a perfect beginner-friendly trail where hikers can fnd the native purple Ithuriel’s spear and yellow Mount Diablo globe lilies. More diffcult trails include Donner Canyon, Middle Trail, and Falls Trail. The scenery makes the hike worth the challenge, as the path presents mini waterfalls, cliff-side scenery, and eye-catching wildfowers like the hot pink warrior’s plume and baby blue eyes. Mount Diablo is home to many rare wildfower species, such as the globe lily, which is often hidden in wooded or hillsides or canyons. Mount Diablo’s many natural trails make it the perfect place to spot unique wildfower types, while enjoying stun ning landscapes.

By Shuhan Jin, Ivy Lu, & Arushi Singh

By Angelina Chen Staf Writer

On April 5, singer-songwriter Conan Gray released his third studio album Found Heaven, demonstrating his versatility within the pop genre by delving into 80s-inspired experimental synth sounds and heartbreak in romantic relationships. Known for his indie bedroom pop sound, Gray departs from his usual lyrical style to experiment with harsher beats and power ballads in Found Heaven e album is a nostalgic, yet bold rendition of heart- break and loss.

Although Gray had been releasing covers and original songs on his YouTube channel since 2013, his meteoric rise as a musical artist began with his debut 2020 album Kid Krow. His distinctive bedroom pop sound had unique appeal for teenagers, addressing universal experiences of coming of age and loneliness. His career gained further traction when his singles “Heather” and “Mani- ac,” both from his debut album, became sleeper hits after gaining popularity on TikTok. Additionally, Gray’s sophomore album Superache achieved critical acclaim with its dance- and indie-pop roots, cementing his status as a burgeoning icon.

Found Heaven opens with the title track, utilizing darker 80s-inspired harmonies to beautifully articulate the drama and chaos of post-breakup emotions. e inspiration from this era continues throughout the album: its emotive, intense feel enables listeners to relate to songs on a personal level. For instance, “Eye

GAMEBYTES

By Lucy Yao Staf Writer

Wacky pencils, cluttered books, and a mischievous tabby cat — all factors of the most adorable organization game: A Little to the Left Originally released on Nov. 8, 2022, this cute level-based puzzle game is all about sorting and organizing items around a home into their respective categories. e game itself is inspired by its creators, Max Inferno’s, own daily lives, with the goal of “making curious games that surprise and delight” according to their blog. With over 75 episodes, along with a Daily Tidy puzzle, players have plenty of options to train their organization skills. Some levels even have multiple solutions. However, players also have to be careful of the cat lurking around, occasionally messing up their entire board if they take too long.

e art style of the game is sketched, fit with a pastel palette that brightens up most of the levels to fit this cozy home. ough, the dark blues used to color the cat’s shadow are a bit too ominous, causing a jarring cut between it and the overall happy pastel themes of the game. e music also immerses players into the aesthetic, using light instrumentals that highlight main instruments, such as the harp, piano, or marimba, occasionally backed by washes of strings, synths, or toms to provide ambience. Again, at times, the music can come off slightly too empty and assuming, but overall fits the calm, cozy vibe. All in all, the puzzles, although sometimes a bit too easy, are perfect for scratching that organizational itch.

e game is sold at $14.99 and can be found on Steam, Nintendo Switch, the App Store, Xbox, and PlayStation. It has also received five award nominations over the years, and recently released a new DLC titled A Little to the Left: Cupboards & Drawers, now on sale for $5.99. ▪

Grade: A

Of e Night” resembles Bon Jovi’s “You Give Love A Bad Name” in composition and beat, accentuating the vulnerable nature of relationships. With Gray’s deadpan vocal delivery and repeated usage of synths in “Lonely Dancers,” he draws further parallels with the musical era defining the ‘80s. Ultimately, Gray’s wider vocal range and heavy reliance on synths help evoke the ‘80s, adding greater depth to his previously whisper-pop, Y2K brand.

By embracing the splendor of the ‘80s and real events occurring in his life, Gray establishes honest lyricism as a cornerstone of the album. is quality reflects his raw lyricism in the lead single “Never Ending Song.” He laments that “You and I / Sacrificed my adolescence / Just to waste my time...” introducing a consistent theme of bitter heartbreak that permeates the remainder of the album. is characteristic enables listeners to explore the complexities of heartache and loss through lyricism alone. While the shifts in vocal style alone emphasize the album’s experimental features, the production

quality suffers from its exaggerated qualities. Despite the sincere storytelling, Gray fully embraces the most ostentatious parts of ‘80s music, straying towards a caricature of the era rather than a true homage. e maximalist perfection of songs like “Fainted Love” and the theatrical nature of “Alley Rose” belie their motifs of desperate heartbreak. Ultimately, the juxtaposition of melodramatic melodies and relentless beats with inhibited lyricism adds an inauthentic feel to the album. Found Heaven ultimately provides commentary on the nature of heartbreak and the unraveling of control, with brief nods to Gray’s adolescence, social class, and toxic love. e album culminates in a poignant, reflective listening experience through its crooning vocals and honest lyricism. While production quality limits the album’s authenticity, Found Heaven is polished, yet experimental. ▪

cowboy carter: Beyoncés illustrious country debut

By Priyanka Shah Staf Writer

On March 29, Beyoncé released

COWBOY CARTER, the follow-up album to RENAISSANCE, released in 2022.

COWBOY CARTER rep- resents Beyoncé’s southern heritage through a complete country album, featuring hoedowns, banjos, and iconic country stars. With twenty-seven unique tracks, this album rewrites the very fabric of country music history through Beyoncé’s powerful lyrics coupled with her strong vocals.

Rebuilding her image, by divert- ing from her usual genre, Beyoncé uses this album to fight for Black mu- sicians who have struggled in their music ambitions due to segregation in the South. Her album does not fail to provide a message of resilience and strength while providing brilliant vo- cal range and outstanding lyricism.

“TEXAS HOLD ‘EM,” one of her first two singles for the album, gives listeners the first glance into what is in store for the album. It begins and ends with a traditional country hoedown, perfect for line dancing. e second release, “16 CARRIAGES, ” is a powerful statement underlying the obstacles that Beyoncé had to overcome to enter the limelight. In this ballad, she exclaims, “Sixteen carriages drivin’ away / While I watch them ride with my dreams away / To the summer sunset on a holy night / On a long black road, all the tears I fight.” ese lyrics refer to the period in time when her journey towards fame began and she was a part of Destiny’s Child.

COWBOY CARTER does a mesmerizing and effective job at paying homage to the intricacies of Af- ro-American heritage and identity. rough bold statements and catchy rhythms, the album evokes themes of Western imagery and the charm of cowboy culture. In “AMERIICAN REQUIEM” Beyoncé discusses the true meaning of country music.

While describing her Southern her- itage, she cries, “ en the rejection came, said I wasn’t country ‘nough / Said I wouldn’t saddle up, but / If that ain’t country, tell me, what is?” serving as an anecdote from her past.

While serving as a musical diary for Beyoncé, this album also show- cases collaborations with various musical stars across several tracks and presents unique interpretations of song covers. Her iconic cover of “JOLENE” by country star Dolly Parton takes a unique twist as she reminds Jolene that she is still a confident country girl from Louisiana. is cover takes on a more spirited and bold version of this country classic.

ough COWBOY CARTER shares a strong message amongst listeners, there tends to be a slight monotony within the repetitive banjo background and ballad-type songs in many of the tracks. For ex- ample, “TEXAS HOLD ‘EM,” and “RIIVERDANCE” both begin with a similar riff sequence on the banjo, along with related guitar patterns found in a few other tracks.

Despite this, the album remains a revolutionary win for the country music industry. It is a declaration of Beyoncés true country heritage as she depicts her experience within the industry and fights for the African-American identity. ▪

Grade: A-

By Daphne Senecal Staf Writer

As the exciting directorial debut of actor Dev Patel, Monkey Man is the action-packed story of a man who grows from simply seeking revenge for himself to an avenger for the silenced. Released April 5, the film parallels the Hindu legend of Hanuman, following Kid (Patel) as he learns to make use of his suppressed rage.

e movie begins with Kid working as an underground ring fighter named Kong, named after the monkey mask he wears. ough constantly being beaten up by his competitors, the job has allowed him to build up muscle in order to get revenge on the police chief, Rana Singh (Sikandar Kher), who killed his mother. After being hired at the

prestigious nightclub Queens where corrupt elites, including Rana, frequent, Kid must embark on a violent yet spiritual journey to get his vengeance.

With all the typical gore and violence of a revenge movie, Monkey Man adds an additional layer to the action genre with its references to the very real police corruption and government protests occurring in India. While the tie-in to current events certainly adds further depth to the story, what makes it enjoyable to everyone is that the viewer does not need to have kept up with the news in order to understand what is happening. rough the occasional flashback and point-of-view change, the film is able to establish the political climate of the setting in a way that is easily digestible. It combines aspects of a good revenge tale like exciting fights scenes while making

the viewer aware of circumstances beyond what is happening directly to Kid.

What truly makes this film special was how it begins as a straightforward revenge plot, but evolves into something more complex. As Kid meets new people that have been outcast and oppressed by the society they live in causing him to no longer only fight for his own personal grudges but for the abused to be treated with dignity. For being faced with so many different social injustices, the story does not simply follow the “revenge is bad” trope but twists it, showing that the real problem with revenge is that it is not enough; Kid can only complete his mission if is willing to stand up for everyone.

While Monkey Man has undoubtedly some of the most strongest writing in theatrical releases

this year, the quickness of the movie makes it difficult to digest what has happened before moving on. e sudden switches from fond childhood memories to bloody fist fights end up creating confusion rather than the intended contrast.

Despite some minor issues with pacing, Monkey Man is overall a successful directorial debut for Patel, creating excitement for what the actor — and now director — has in store next. What started out as a seemingly average film about retribution for a loved one’s death was able to surprise the audience by being so much more. All in all, Monkey Man is worth every minute of watch time and more for its infusion of culture and politics into what could have easily been a film of mindless violence. ▪

Grade: A-

SPOTIFY COM

Wanting truth is not the same as demanding it

Tushara Devapatla & Stella Wang Staf Writers

On March 17, a docuseries by Maxine Productions took the screen and revealed information that would change perceptions of favorite childhood shows forever. Quiet on Set: e Dark Side of Kids TV features victims like Drake Bell exposing the hostile behind-the-scenes environment that television channel Nickelodeon and showrunner Dan Schneider created for child stars and minority staff. Serious cases of abuse occurring involved dialogue coach Brian Peck, who repeatedly assaulted a then-15 Drake Bell; production assistant Jason Michael Handy, who sexually harassed, abused, and took pornagraphic photos of multiple young girls; and freelance animator Ezel Channel, who performed sexual acts on minors at his workplace. Amidst the accusations, there has been an outpour of fan outrage against the channel and support for the victims; however, along with the support, many fans went on to harass coworkers of the victims, asking them to reveal personal information about their time at Nickelodeon. Fans harassing actors only detracts from the stories currently being revealed. Instead, fans of Nickelodeon should focus on hold-

ing the company accountable for their ignorance rather than badgering celebrities for more information.

Many fans have pointed out that there are scenes with sexual undertones being performed by children, such as the many shots focused on the actors’ bare feet and inappropriate innuendos — including a scene where a teenage Ariana Grande pours water on herself while lying on a bed. Fans have begun to speculate about Schneider’s true intentions in filming them, and they have demanded that Grande speak out. A Youtube short with more than three million views titled “We’ve Had Enough of Ariana Grande” theorizes that her silence is a result of taking hush money, a rumor that is not only unfounded but also has caused fans to lash out at a potential victim. Videos such as these drive attention away from the real victims of the story and change the narrative. It is important to understand that respect and sensitivity are vital when discussing these topics, especially online, where anyone — including the victims themselves — can see and interact with content that treats the abuse as pieces of entertainment. eories and conspiracies should not be discussed in place of the real truths that victims have come out with because speculation works against the original intention of shedding light on hidden mistreatment. Rumors overshadow the testimonies of those who have come forward and conjure misconceptions about the victims’ intentions that place pressure on them, far less productive than demanding that the rules enabling the abuse to happen in the first place be changed.

While transparency is necessary and important, it’s not always possible for a celebrity to come out about abuse without risking their careers and personal safety. Abusers are

often in positions of great power, and their connections are what make it difficult for victims to speak out unscathed. Wanting transparency to illuminate the situation is reasonable, but demanding full transparency not only ignores the fact that obtaining all the facts is unfeasible, but also places the emotions of the victim beneath the curiosity of onlookers. Preventing victims from suffering in silence is vital; but screaming at celebrities to reveal major parts of their lives only drowns out the voices of the victims who deserve to remain quiet until they’re ready. Instead, users should seek to create a welcoming environment for victims to come forward by reacting to revealed information rationally. People should preserve victims’ agency by respecting their choice to reveal or hide information. Focus should be placed on using the testimonies that have already been given to protect victims and reform the present, not on forcing celebrities to relive traumatic memories or comment on

situations they might not be aware of. By doing this, audiences can focus on pressuring show runners to enforce change, rather than demanding victims to undergo more pain. Users on social media want more evidence from victims surrounding the allegations against Dan Schneider, ignoring the evidence that has already been released and the fact that there could be hundreds of high-power officials in the entertainment industry preying on stars that have managed to stay in the shadows of the spotlight cast by his scandals. It is incredibly important to hold wrongdoers accountable; however, change does not occur through forcing victims to speak. Refraining from bombarding celebrities with comments, reporting or reducing engagement with exploitative content, and calling for better legislation and background checks to protect current child stars are all ways to create positive change. Fans must direct their energy not at those hurt by the situation, but rather at those whose harmful behavior caused the issue in the first place.

Honest Indian Fremont Authentic Street Food Hits and

By Padma Balaji & Brittany Lu Sta Writers

Known for their signature spice blends, Honest Indian Vegetarian Restaurant was originally based out of Ahmedabad, Gujarat, and began as a family-run street cart in 1975. Now found all over the globe, they promise fresh ingredients and a commitment to cooking from scratch, bringing their authentic cuisine to Fremont with their new location at 3658 Capitol Ave, Suite M.

a delectable blend of spices and avors, with just the right amount of heat. However, for the staggering price of $14.49, there were only two pieces of pav provided for the entire bowl of bhaji, leaving stomachs empty while the bowl was still full.

The other fusion dishes, however, did not per-

Misses

was stuffed with every vegetable imaginable — tomatoes, onions, bell peppers, cabbage, peas, potatoes, and a slight amount of chutney (sauce) that seemed to be sweet and savory. Although the variety of vegetables was not inherently negative, it clashed almost immediately, with every bite producing a different combination of vegetables and avors for an extremely varying and distasteful experience.

“They promise fresh ingredients and a commitment to cooking from scratch ...”

Located in the heart of Fremont’s emerging downtown, Honest Indian boasts an appealing aesthetic, with ceiling length windows, ambient lighting, and a catchy playlist of Bollywood hits. Though the restaurant has the feel of a formal, high-end dining spot, it mostly services to-go and takeout orders and is pay- rst. In addition to serving food, Honest also sells its own white bread and pav, an Indian bread, as well as sweets and ice cream.

Honest Indian prides itself on its authentic street food style dishes that are made from scratch with quality ingredients and fresh food.

“Everything is prepared instantly like freshly, and without any storage, and we trash everything at night. That’s the speciality,” restaurant manager Sravya Thota said. Although they are mostly known for their Gujarati and Bombay style street food, such as Bhaji Pav, Bhel, and Vada Pav, their menu also expands into a variety of other styles and cuisines. They offer Indo-Chinese food, such as Gobi Manchurian, as well as American fusion foods, offering Indian Bhakri pizza and Bahubali and Kattappa sandwiches, named after characters in a blockbuster Bollywood lm.

The restaurant’s street food options largely live up to the high expectations, its Bhaji Pav — the Gujarati term for the street food Pav Bhaji —

“Honest Indian prides itself on its authentic street food style dishes that are made from scratch with quality ingredients and fresh food.”

form to expectations nearly as well, such as The Bhakri pizza, a Gujarati style of pizza with Bhakri, a rice our atbread base, and toppings like bell peppers and onions. Though the pizza style itself is drastically different from traditional American or Italian pizza, having its own unique avor, incorporating Indian and American elements, Honest’s pizza felt more like a microwaveable dinner rather than authentic restaurant quality food made with fresh ingredients. The pizza consisted of a tomato sauce base, bell peppers, and onions on a rice our atbread base, which was entirely smothered and buried by unmelted shredded cheese. Despite the absurd amount of cheese, the type used was incredibly light and almost tasteless, immediately becoming overpowered by the tomato sauce, which was incredibly sweet and unpleasant tasting in and of itself. Combined with an overtoasted base that

“Overall, the biggest letdown was the execution of the dishes themselves ...”

was hard and crunchy, the pizza fell very short of an appealing experience.

The Bahubali sandwich, one of the restaurant’s most popular items, also fell prey to a similar phenomenon. Made with what was seemingly Honest’s signature white bread, the sandwich

The high price point set expectations for an above and beyond meal, but what arrived fell far short. Adding insult to the injury, the lukewarm water served in imsy plastic cups also cheapened the dining experience. Overall, the biggest letdown was the execution of the dishes themselves, and the bizarre fusion of sweet and spicy avors in both the Bahubali Sandwich and Bhakri Pizza simply did not work. Instead of complementing each other, the spices clashed, leaving

“The high price point set expectations for an above and beyond meal, but what arrived fell far short.”

a strange aftertaste. Additionally, the variety of ingredients in the sandwich did not help at all, resulting in a strong cucumber taste in one bite and the next being completely sweet. Although both dishes were smothered in cheese, there was absolutely no taste of it.

Honest Indian boasts healthy dishes made from scratch, which is what sets them apart from other restaurants. Unfortunately, the execution of their fusion dishes falls disappointingly short, so although the dish is healthy, there is no enjoyment in eating it. With its expensive pricing and emphasis on authenticity, Honest Indian sets a high bar it cannot consistently meet. ▪

Grade: C

By Tanvi Deshmukh & Jeffrey Li Sta Writers

Junior Edric Zheng’s archery career commenced unexpectedly on his trip to China during the summer of 2017, when he spontaneously decided to try archery at a cafe for fun. is experience ignited a passion for the sport within him, and upon returning to the US, Zheng signed up for archery lessons. Since then, Zheng has dedicated himself to competitive archery everyday, reaching numerous milestones and national recognition throughout his journey, including ranking 5th in the California Cadet (U18) Men’s Recurve division as well as many other national and international accolades in the sport.

Archery originated more than 22,000 years ago, but didn’t develop as a sport until the mid

Athlete Spotlight: Edric Zheng

19th century, when the Grand National Archery Society was founded in New York in 1844 and strict rules were formed to set the basis for a sport. Presently, archery is recognized as an o cial Olympic sport and is widely enjoyed across the globe. Athletes using di erent types of bows are grouped in separate divisions and compete in separate events. Zheng competes in the Recurve division, which involves using bows with limbs, the exible portions that store and release energy, that curve away from the archer when unstrung.

Zheng currently trains at the Hye Youn Park Junior Olympic Archery Development (JOAD) Archery Club in Campbell, where he has weekly lessons with his coach. He aims to practice daily at home, although the demands of school often limit his availability to four days a week. Despite this constraint, Zheng remains committed to honing his skills and pushing the boundaries of his archery prowess. Outside of his direct involvement in archery, Zheng is also an avid consumer of archery content and videos related to the sport. He eagerly absorbs information on technique, equipment, and mental preparation, constantly seeking ways to re ne his approach and elevate his performance.

“[Practice is important to success in archery] because a lot of it is just a repetitive motion … Through building your habits and skills during practice, you can shoot well under the pressure [at competitions],”

Junior Edric ZhEng

Zheng competes in USA Archery, the National Governing Body for the Olympic sport of archery. On average, he places in the top 5 at

the State competitions, and within the top 20 at the National competitions. Zheng’s greatest achievement in archery is receiving the Grand Slam State Archers of California (SAC) Award in the Cadet Recurve Men Division in 2023, which is presented annually to the archer with the best combined achievements in the California State Indoor, California State Outdoor, and the Paci c Coast Championships. “[When I received the Grand Slam], I was surprised but proud, because this is probably the highest award I’ve achieved,” Zheng said. is year,

Zheng was a recipient of the JOAD Olympian award, which is part of USA Archery’s Achievement Award program. e award, exclusive to USA Archery members in registered clubs, honors exceptional archers who demonstrate dedication and commitment on the eld. Zheng’s exceptional scoring achievements accumulated through national competitions have earned him multiple recognitions throughout his career.

As a student-athlete, Zheng often nds challenges in balancing archery with his other commitments, like school and marching band alongside other activities. “[I have to] prioritize and choose what is more important, and usually, that’s archery,” Zheng said. For Zheng, passion is the key to maintaining a busy schedule year-round. Much of his encouragement stems from bonding with his friends throughout competitions, which in turn, inspires him to continue practicing and attending competitions, improving time and time again.

“There’s only so many targets [at competitions], so there’s usually four people assigned to the same target. The people you meet during the competitions you end up becoming friends with, and then you see them again and again”

Junior Edric ZhEng

Looking ahead, Zheng aspires to continue playing competitively, and intends on joining an archery team or club in college. Re ecting on his remarkable journey thus far, Zheng strongly believes that the time and e ort he dedicates to practicing his sport has propelled his success in archery. “When I see results from all the practice I put in, that really serves as my concrete motivation,” Zheng said.

MSJ Badminton triumphs 9-8 over American High School

By Novak Chen & Naisha Koppurapu Sta Writers

On April 11, MSJ Varsity Badminton competed against the American High School Eagles in the MSJ gym. After a close 9-8 victory at American last time the two schools faced o , the Warriors came ready to determine the superior team in the ongoing Warriors-Eagles rivalry. With American and Irvington High School being the only teams to have come close to beating MSJ recently, the three have developed a friendly rivalry. “[American] has a solid roster, [but] they haven’t beaten us this year,” Badminton Coach Brandon Lee said before the match.

Varsity Badminton entered the game with a 8-1 MVAL record, only dropping a single game to Irvington due to a depleted Varsity roster, many of whom were attending the 2024 Yonex US Junior Selection tournament and unable to play at the meet. Losing this match against American would also have set up the possibility of an unprecedented three-way tie for rst

place for MVAL between American, Irvington, and MSJ.

“Mission has never lost two meets in a season before, [so] everyone doesn’t want to be the frst Varsity team to do that,”

Badminton coach Brandon LEE

e meet started out fast and furious, with MSJ leading with multiple 2-0 match victories. Led by dominant performances from Co-Captain Senior Wenlu She and Co-Captain Junior Alice Wang in Girls Doubles 1, and the Senior-Freshman brother duo Kyle and Caden Wang in Boys Doubles 1, MSJ quickly built up their momentum. In addition to a quick victory by Freshman Grace Zeng and Senior Adam Tay in Mixed Doubles 1, MSJ won the rst six matches and set the tone for the rest of the meet.

Despite the initial outpour of match wins for MSJ, American fought back to make it incredibly close, with a series of upsets that closed the gap to 6-5. A hard fought battle by Seniors Shyam Sundararajan and Siddharth Ramnarayanan in Boys Doubles 2 nished in favor of American, going 27-29, 21-7, and 18-21.

Freshman Brianna Lee was upset in a poignant 1-2 loss in Girls Singles 1. Sophomore Muyang Li also faced defeat in the Boys Singles 1 match, nishing with a score of 0-2. Regarding the strategy going into the meet,

“[We] knew that we were [going to start] up six [points] because we pulled out our best Varsity players frst. However, their varsity roster was more versatile, and so they were able to outsmart us in that, besides the fact that our roster still has some missing players,”

Badminton

coach Brandon LEE

As the meet drew closer and closer to the nish line, the situation appeared bleak for

MSJ. e score was 8-5, and although MSJ only needed one more match win to secure the meet, American held the momentum after winning multiple matches in a row. Ultimately, a timely victory by Sophomore Oscar Meng in Boys Singles 4, much like the identical match that secured the team’s last win against American, pushed MSJ past the 9-win mark to guarantee the meet win.

Although MSJ won, Lee still acknowledges that there are still many areas to improve on for the entire team. “I didn’t know [for sure] that we were going to win, but there were de nitely some matches that we should have won for sure. We just need a more versatile team [overall],” Lee said after the game. is win also secured MSJ a rst place nish in MVAL while providing a morale boost for the players as well as they go into o season tournaments. “Since we only have ve more matches left, this [win against American] will turn the tide after our last loss [to Irvington], and a positive outlook for the team,” She said.

Edric Zheng loads his bow to shoot in competition.

Freshman Andy Zhang and Senior Annabelle Zhou prepare to play a game.

Sophomore Layton Wen dives forward to hit the shuttlecock.

Direct payment to college athletes is unfortunately unfeasible

By Howard Lu & Vidyuth Sridhar Sta Writers

In a rst for college sports, Dartmouth College basketball players voted on March 5 to become the rst college athletes to be represented by a union, and quickly led an appeal with the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) in a legal challenge whose results could have signi cant implications for the future of National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) sports. Dartmouth students, who have signi cant control over their participation on the team, now want to be paid for their work. Student-athletes, who have to balance an intense sports schedule with their regular work, should be compensated fairly for what they do, especially considering the multi-billion dollar revenues of NCAA sports. However, paying student-athletes for their performance would pose untenable challenges to member colleges; instead, the NCAA should focus on expanding opportunities for name, image, and likeness deals. Student-athletes have historically been left out from accessing the pro ts of NCAA sports. For instance, until June 2021, NCAA athletes were prohibited from earning money o of any goods and endorsements featuring

their name, image, and likeness (NIL). In addition to a longstanding lack of revenue initiatives, many athletes su er injuries whilst competing in NCAA games — signi cantly harming their future chances of earning money in professional leagues. According to a 2015 study published by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, there are more than 210,000 injuries per year on average in the NCAA, ranging from minor to fatal incidents.

Supporters argue that paying student-athletes properly compensates them for their time, e ort, and possible injuries. However, directly compensating NCAA athletes via the hourly wage that Dartmouth players are seeking is not feasible across the association. Unlike professional leagues such as the NBA, which consists of 30 teams separately operated by billionaire owners, the NCAA is a collection of 1,100 schools across 3 divisions. Consequently, there are massive variations in the athletic funding and amenities each school possesses. For example, in Division I, the Ohio State University generated more than $250 million in gross revenue as of March 2024, while the University of New Orleans grossed a comparatively paltry sum of about $2.5 million in revenue. If the NCAA permits Dartmouth athletes to be paid, it would

have to allow athletes across all colleges to also earn from contracted salaries, regardless of whether their colleges can reasonably a ord this extra expense. As a result, colleges may be forced to cover the cost of paying athletes by increasing tuition fees or cutting programs, while athletes would continue to be drawn to bigger schools that could potentially pay higher wages — posing competitive concerns. For instance, players may choose to go to colleges that o er and can a ord to pay higher wages, leaving smaller programs behind.

NIL deals serve as the perfect compromise between empowering athletes and preserving the nancial and competitive viability of the NCAA. An early misconception among critics of NIL is that talent would be concentrated among the richest college programs, skewing the competitive balance of sports. Early statistics, however, disprove this misconception of NIL a ecting competition. According to ESPN analyst Jay Bilas, “Principles of economics dictate that compensation for athletes is more likely to spread talent out among more schools than to concentrate talent among the very few.” Bilas also pointed to how “talent was more concentrated when athletes’ decisions were limited to best

coach, best facilities, most exposure, etc.”

Currently, NIL opportunities for NCAA athletes are largely concentrated in high-pro le sports such as football and basketball according to 2024 ndings from the data-collection platform Statista, leaving thousands of athletes across the association’s 22 other sports with little means of pro tability. However, by adopting measures such as establishing incentives and guidelines for brands to partner with athletes in less-popular sports — coupled with establishing NIL deals as a prize for in-season tournaments and championships (a proposal the NCAA is already expected to implement during the 2025 Players Era men’s college basketball tournament) — the association can encourage the expansion of NIL opportunities, fairly compensating more athletes without sacri cing competition or a school’s budget.

Overall, although the unionization of Dartmouth basketball players for fair compensation highlights the lack of nancial incentives for athletes, direct payment poses major challenges; looking towards the future of college sports and athlete compensation, expanding alternative avenues like NIL deals presents a more balanced and pragmatic approach.

Dartmouth College basketball players voted

Saturday,April13

April in Photos

Wednesday,April10

Monday, April 22

By Anandita Devata & Lucy Yao Staff Writers

Saturday, April 20 Thursday, April 18

Japantown’s 57th Annual Northern California Cherry Blossom Festival

For 57 years, the Annual Northern California Cherry Blossom Festival has been held in April at the heart of Japantown in San Francisco. Described by the many organizers, volunteers, and attendees as Japantown’s family reunion, this year’s event was held on the weekends of April 13-14 and April 20-21. In spite of the gloomy weather, the festival was a hit, reaching over 200,000 attendees from around the world. Under a cloud of newly blooming sakura trees, the festival featured numerous events for attendees to experience authentic Japanese culture. At the Japantown Peace Plaza, next to the iconic Pagoda was a colorful pink stage that featured cultural performances, such as local bands and guests, throughout the day. To either side of the plaza were the Japan Center Malls, not only

packed with delicious Japanese cuisine but also with sections speci cally for artists and kids. One wing of the mall held an entire square of artists to sell their prints and stickers, while at the other cafes like screen savor art and coffee offered art for sale alongside its menu of delectable drinks.

Directly outside were Post Street and Webster Street, completely lined with booths and vendors, each representing locally-owned businesses or other cultural organizations. Terrariums, kimonos, stickers, and jade jewelry were available for sale. SF Millinery Owner Sarah Fedaie had a booth dedicated to her business, which sold handmade hair accessories ranging from scrunchies to headbands. “I used to sit and watch the parade and the festivities, as a kid, and I would always have a Teriburger (Teriyaki Burger) … and now [I’ve been] a vendor [here for 3 years],” Fedaie said.

Organizing an event this large, along with their parade held on the morning of April 21, is no easy feat. Because the festival is a completely volunteer, nonpro t organization, it took anywhere from 8-12 months to plan, with Zoom calls held on Wednesday nights balanced with the organizers’ day jobs. In fact, Japantown is expected to get even busier after the festival this year, as in May, the Peace Plaza will be remodeled to have more green spaces and natural seating for those interested in watching the stage.

Apart from the intense preparation for the event, the festival’s unparalleled success stems from the volunteers’ sense of community and belonging. “[The festival is] a very open space where you can learn about a lot of programs for certain cultural groups … anything you may think ‘Is this a part of the culture? Is this something I can look into?’ There’s a 99.9% chance it is … and we have the people here [to direct you] so I think we really pride ourselves on that,” Co-Chair Matthew Nagatomi said.

For those looking to get involved, the festival gladly accepts high school volunteers, and even gifts an annual scholarship to Japanese American high school students who have proven to be dedicated to their community. “I feel like [the festival] is a really big cultural experience for San Francisco, and it’s really cool to see people come to one place and bond over this festival,” Cosplaying Attendee Jennifer Wong said. ▪

PHOTOS

Junior Tarini Sajja prepares to donate blood at the MSJ Spring Blood Drive.

Yellow wild owers bloom at Coyote Hills Regional Park.

Senior Siran Wang poses for a photo aboard Senior Cruise against the backdrop of the Bay Bridge.

Members of MSJ Writer’s Block man their booth at Spring Expo.

MSJ Ishaara performs for attendees at the 2024 Relay for Life rally.

Art 2 and 3 students begin painting a mural titled “Comical Lunch” outside the C-Wing cafeteria.

Seniors celebrate their athletic college commitments with school logo-themed cookies at Signing Day.

PHOTOS BY EDITOR-IN-CHIEF KARINA HAN, FEATURE EDITOR CALLIE YUAN, STAFF WRITERS PADMA BALAJI, HANNAH BI, NAVYA CHITLUR, ABHA KULKARNI, ETHAN YAN & ALICE ZHAO, COURTESY DEVANG RAINA

Fiber crafts are popular art forms that rely heavily on ber sources such as fabric, yarn, and more. Many people indulge in various forms of these crafts, including knitting, sewing, and crocheting, as well as other, more niche forms, such as lace-making and plaiting. For this issue, reporters from the Smoke Signal talked to students and staff who practice these ber arts, discussing what they do, how they started, and why they nd it rewarding.

Universal Performers

Secretary Sophomore Tommy Baria is especially skilled in crocheting as well as in costume design. He has designed costumes for many Universal Performers performances, beginning in his freshman year with the annual Lenaea Festival for the play A Minor Inconvenience. Baria generally focuses on the art of costume designing and works more with fabric, though has recently switched gears and delved into crocheting as a new hobby. He began developing his crocheting skills in eighth grade with Hopkins’ crocheting club, and has since then focused more on crocheting than costume design. “Most of my projects have been cats I made for my friends. Also, my most recent one is the one I sold during Spring Fling — roses — and I sold out,” Baria said.

Sophomore Jessica Cheung began crocheting one year ago, and she has since developed her skills into a hobby. Her skill set improved quite rapidly and despite the short amount of time from when she started, Cheung has already crafted several clothing items such as skirts, sweaters, and more and designs many of these creations as gifts to her friends. “I like crocheting as a hobby and it’s really nice and therapeutic to do in your free time,” Cheung said. She learned the art through watching YouTube tutorials and starting with simpler designs such as squares before moving on to more complex and bigger projects such as handbags. “I’m honestly surprised that I was able to learn that much in a year, but I don’t think of it like that. It’s just really fun to do it,” Cheung said.

Social Science Teacher Rachel Tevlin began knitting 20 years ago, and since then, she has pursued this hobby by creating a plethora of hats and scarves. She mainly knits hats and scarves to give to her family members and as part of her goal of donating handmade clothes to a homeless shelter every winter. With her leftover yarn, Tevlin makes washcloths with her aunt in to diversify and enhance her ber art skills. Currently, Tevlin is working on knitting a quilt made of 50 different individual squares as a gift to her mother. “I’m making that for my mom because she’s a quilt maker, so I thought it would be nice to give her a quilt for once.

That’s my big project right now,” Tevlin said. In the future, she hopes to try out new ber arts, such as weaving, crocheting, and lace-making.

By Rajorshi Chatterjee, Navya Chitlur & Alice Zhao Staff Writers

MSJ iKnit

President Junior Kayla Zhang began knitting at the age of 13, but soon after found her passion with crocheting. She started with crocheting simple squares until she perfected them, then moved on to stuffed animals and other, more complex designs. After a few years of experience, she became MSJ iKnit’s Publicity Of cer her freshman year, then progressed to Vice President, and is currently the President of the club. During her sophomore year, she also started her own small business, advertised on Instagram as @ uffyloopscrochet, where she sells items such as cardigans, handbags, stuffed animals, and more. She used the pro ts of her business to raise funds for women in STEM and other. By pricing the products at generally affordable prices, she showcases her artwork while also raising funds for something she is passionate about. “I realized that a lot of people like my work, so I decided to sell stuff. I sell stuff for [generally] affordable prices because I’m not really pro ting off of them. I donate all my money to charity,” Zhang said.

Having only started in the winter of 2023, Senior Nithila Chintakindi is new to crocheting. Since then, Chintakindi has used patterns found on YouTube to crochet pieces of clothing and accessories, such as beanies, scarves, and headphone accessories, including those sold at Universal Performer’s booth during Spring Fling. While she enjoys the sense of pride that she gets when she uses something she crochets, Chintakindi also sees crocheting as a way to avoid consumerism and shopping from fast fashion brands. “I recently made a mesh shrug top and it took me 4 hours … I [later] saw something similar being sold on Shein, which made me feel a lot better about making the top, since I don’t [have to] support fast fashion,” Chintakindi said. She advises those who want to try crocheting to not hesitate because it isn’t as complicated as it looks.

Sophomore Natalie Lim started sewing when she began making her own Halloween costumes at the age of 5. However, she didn’t take it seriously until she was in middle school, when she started to make her own T-shirts, bags, and tank tops, which she enjoyed because of its practicality. “[That’s when I realized that] I wanted [to make my friends happy by] making things for [them],” Lim said. Since then, she’s tackled more ambitious projects, including dresses, pants, and jackets, which she posts on her Instagram account @natssews. She advises any sewing beginners to start with a project such as a T-shirt. “[Start with] something small or something loose so that you don’t have to worry about it tting perfectly,” Lim said.

Health Teacher Catherine

Ruebling started knitting and crocheting when she was in elementary school. She was taught by her grandmother, who also knitted and crocheted and learned to make scarves from her. Nowadays, she uses ber art to make hats and scarves for her friends. In her own words, knitting “relaxes the mind [and] gives you something to work towards, like completing something.” For those starting, she recommends YouTube, since it shows “how to troubleshoot … without having to take the entire [project].” In her opinion, the best part of the entire process “is seeing [the] end result…because it [takes] a long time.”