MISSION SAN JOSE HIGH SCHOOL
VOL. 49, NO. 9
June 6, 2014
41717 PALM AVENUE, FREMONT, CA 94539
Page 1: • MSJ’s first ever FUN RUN takes place • Mission: SOS efforts spotlighted by tv station • L2 unveils Campus beautification efforts • students and faculty pitch in for relay for life Page 2: • Speech showcase raises funds
MSJ holds first ever Fun Run
Page 3: • 2013-14: the YEAR in review • Four Albums on an Island: Check out our interactive spread of staff picks for four albums they would listen to while stranded on an island. • HOMSJ: See what seniors had to say • Wearhaus ARC: Learn about Alumnus Richie Zeng and the new wireless social headphones he launched. staff writer peter chew
MSJ’s Fun Run was held on May 24. Participants competed in a series of obstacle courses and contests.
Mission: SOS Rising Seniors Workshop
By Peter Qiu Staff Writer MSJ’s Fun Run, a new replacement to the annual Family Festival, was held on May 24 here at MSJ. Participants from grades K-12 competed in a challenging series of obstacles and contests. Food trucks and face-painting booths
provided entertainment for those not competing. The Family Festival and the Fun Run were very similar; both were family based, consisted of challenging obstacles, and could be enjoyed even if one was not participating in an event. The Fun Run was organized by L2’s Events Committee, and all proceeds went to MSJ ASB. Participants competed in seven challenges
L2 reveals beautification efforts
on a three kilometer course, which was separated into three categories: Green, Yellow, and Red. Each color was at the elementary, middle, and high school level, respectively. Challenges included standard military style tire obstacles,
See RUN NEWS Page 4
Behind the scenes of Relay For Life By Grace Dong Staff Writer
can be found in museums all over the world. L2 advisor Ben Breazeale said the idea for a statue popped into his head while he and the Campus Beautification Committee were thinking of different ways they could implement further campus improvements. The whole gist of the statue is that of critical thinking, which is very appropriate for an academicallydriven school like MSJ. “Environment affects emotional mood, and campus beautification can make the school look and feel like a better environment,” said Breazeale. He said that L2 explained its purposes for buying the statue to local companies, who pooled $10,000 worth of donations towards funding for the statue. The statue was bought from The Large Art
MSJ Relay For Life took place from May 17 to 18, but the 48 teams and 435 participants were in action long before that. Relay for Life is a 24-hour walkathon hosted by the American Cancer Society to raise awareness and funds for cancer research and cancer treatment. This year, MSJ went above and beyond to raise more than $43,000, surpassing last year’s event, which raised around $34,000. Team Kancer, a group of 15 MSJ students, have been fundraising since the beginning of the year. Team leader, Sophomore Karen Trinh said, “Many of our members have prioritized fundraising over work and sleep these last few months, but as a team and community, we know that everything we’ve given is going to be worth it.” Team Kancer has raised funds through doing casual and formal photo shoots and selling desserts in the community. The team has sold baked goods such as Twin Choreos, chocolate chip cookie and Oreo combinations created by Sophomores Ashley and Brittany Miu; Nagata Mango Mousse, made by Sophomore Chaz Nagata; and Bread of Life products, various breads from the Old Oakland based bakery. Another MSJ team, Team Answer for
See CAMPUS NEWS Page 2
See RELAY NEWS Page 2
staff writer rebecca wu
Seniors Richard Liang (left) and Andy Lai (right) speak about their experiences with the college application process at the Rising Seniors Workshop.
By Rebecca Wu Staff Writer MSJ’s Mission: SOS held its annual Rising Seniors Workshop at 6:30 PM on May 22 in C120. The workshop was dedicated to helping “rising seniors”, or current juniors, learn how to navigate the entire college applications process for the upcoming fall season. At the Rising Seniors event, a panel consisting of current senior students and MSJ administrators provided information and resources covering the college application process. Staff speakers included Records Clerk Jean Faust covering transcripts, English Teacher Katherine Geers covering teacherrecommendation letters, and Career Center Counselor Lindsay Rotter covering counseling. Seniors Jonathan Lu, Richard Liang, Andy Lai, Kerrie Wu, Sarah Mueller, and Aamir Rasheed made up the student panel that sat together onstage to answer questions. Mission: SOS selected a diverse senior student panel to include a well-rounded
See SOS NEWS Page 4
staff writer megan ren
(From left to right) FUSD Board Member Lily Mei, Superintendent James Morris, retired MSJ Principal Stuart Kew, Principal Zack Larsen, L2 advisor Ben Breazeale, and ASB President Tammy Tseng pose with the new statue at the afterschool unveiling on May 16.
By Megan Ren Staff Writer MSJ usually welcomes changes to the campus toward the end of the school year, namely the legacy brick project which has continued since its inception in 2012. This year, additional features have also been added, including a seven-foot replica of French sculptor Auguste Rodin’s famous “The Thinker” statue. The original 27-inch statue of “The Thinker” was made in 1880 as a depiction of the poet Dante, but has since then become a symbol of all philosophers and creators. The larger-than-life cast was not made until 1904, and numerous reproductions of this large model
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MSJ Speech showcases talent By Anand Balaji Staff Writer MSJ Speech recently displayed their talents for an eager audience of students, parents, and guests in their fourth annual Speech Showcase. The event, which took place on May 4, featured a variety of performances by of the speech team, many of whom have won national or state level awards in their respective events. The team took an active role in selling tickets and promoting the event, the proceeds of which go towards helping the speech team retain its coaching staff and resources. The event began with an introduction by the coach of MSJ Speech, BJ Cruz who talked about the history of MSJ Speech and also discussed the format of the different speech events. This was followed by an original, comical piece performed by Sophomore Abhishek Singh. In the piece, Singh shifted out of different characters to tell the story of a man who juggles on the sidewalk to earn a living. After this, Freshman Nikit
RELAY| Effort continued from page 1
Kancer, has been fundraising by selling a wide assortment of products. Together, Team Answer for Kancer has sold Italian sodas, but each member has been selling items as well. Freshmen Makenna Fong and Chitra Dassapa sold customizable tie-dye shirts and shorts, Freshman and Team Captain Kristie Chiang sold hair bows, and Irvington High School (IHS) Freshman Jessica Lee sold beanies. Fong said, “Our team has been trying so hard to reach its fundraising goals! I hope for us to be able to raise as much money as we can for cancer [research] because it’s such a noble cause.” Out of all the teams at MSJ, Team Glory Days, led by English Teacher John Boegman, has raised the most money this year. With the team to-
Sophomore Christine Arnstad was one of the several speech members to have a solo performance.
Shingari acted out a heartbreaking piece in an event known as Dramatic Interpretation. When asked about his experience performing in front of the crowd, Shingari (the youngest performer in the event) said, “Performing on the big stage was an outstanding honor… I am so humbled that the team allowed me to represent Mission Speech.” This was followed by a Duo Interpretation piece by Seniors Haroon Syed and Stephen Kania. In a speech event with a partner, you are tal reaching over $4700, the group’s time and effort has paid off. Team Glory Days has been fundraising since late 2013 through small, daily activities; team members spend 15 to 20 minutes after school every day picking through the MSJ trash cans for recyclables that can be turned in for five cents for each bottle or can. This diligent effort resulted in raising more than $100 each month. In addition, Boegman sold instant snacks such as instant noodle and hot chocolate in his classroom. The team has also fundraised through neighborhood canvassing, a monthly door-to-door weekend effort of asking for donations and handing out Relay for Life fliers. Team Glory Days sported a new slogan this year, “Honk for your Ankh,” which represented their Relay activity. For only $2, Relay participants could create their own
(From left to right) English teacher John Boegman, Sophomores Grace Dong, Chrishanti Pathman, Nicole Hsu, Melissa Cai, Anita Yen, Joshua Liu showcase their pride at Relay for Life.
not allowed to touch or look at your partner for the duration of the event, making the timing of each action and line essential. Junior Arti Patankar recited a speech that she wrote herself arguing for the importance of looking past regret in an event called Original Oratory. The other acts of the evening included a duo piece by Junior Claire Dobyns and Senior Supriya Yelimeli and solo performances by Senior Shayaan Saiyed, Sophomore Christine Arnstad, Dobyns and Yelimeli. When asked about the event,
Yelimeli (President of MSJ Speech) said, “It was amazing to see the talent that the younger members of the team brought to the stage. We’re really appreciative of everyone who came to watch and hope the team will continue to grow with the support of the community.” A large crowd of roughly 60 spectators and 20 MSJ Speech volunteers cheered the performers on. The volunteers helped sell food as well as tickets for the various raffle baskets that the speech team put together. As a fun-
draiser, the showcase was extremely successful; Treasurer Anu Asokan estimates that they made around $1,500 from the event. The money will be used to pay for the 2014 state tournament and the remainder will be saved for upcoming years. The fourth Speech Showcase was an engaging event that showed off some of the incredible talent of the MSJ Speech team. If any students missed this year’s performances, they can certainly stop by next year to join in on the fun. ▪
(From left to right) Senior Supriya Yelimeli, Juniors Claire Dobyns and Arti Patankar, Senior Shayaan Saiyed, Sophomore Christine Arnstad, Speech Coach BJ Cruz, Sophomore Abishek Singh, Senior Stephen Kania, Freshman Nikit Shingari, and Senior Haroon Syed, pose for a picture at the conclusion of the event.
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photos by staff writer anand balaji
continued from page 1
Relay for Life teams set up camp on the MSJ track and field.
beaded bracelet or necklace. For every mile a participant walks, Team Glory Days gave them a card with a cancer fact. Each card was redeemable for five beads. The fifth mile was awarded with a “Hope” bracelet charm, and the tenth mile was awarded with the “Ankh” charm, the sign of life for Ancient Egyptians. Upon receiving their Ankh, participants could proudly honk the Team Glory Days trumpet, to let everyone know of their accomplishment. All the MSJ teams have put months of time and effort into making this year’s Relay for Life successful and memorable. This would not have been possible without every member’s efforts, and as the Team Glory Days motto said, “I am only one, but I am one. I cannot do everything, but I can do something. And I will not let what I cannot do interfere with what I can do.” ▪
Company for a total of $13,000, and ASB paid for the other $3,000. The Thinker was brought to MSJ on May 13 and unveiled on May 16 next to the legacy brick mural as part of this year’s campus beautification project. A crowd of students gathered around as Breazeale and ASB President Tammy Tseng gave short speeches introducing the statue and explaining the inspiration behind it. FUSD Superintendent James Morris, FUSD Board Member Lily Mei, retired MSJ Principal Stuart Kew, and Principal Zack Larsen were among those who attended the ceremony. Junior Katie Mei said, “I think the statue is a cool addition to the school. I saw a lot of kids taking pictures with him and a few of us even dedicated rubbing the nose as an action of good luck!” L2 further introduced new ele-
L2’s legacy brick project enters its third year.
photos by staff writers kevin chen and lillian zhao
L2 installed a replica statue of “the Thinker” between the B wing and C wing.
ments to our school by continuing the legacy brick project which was started by the Class of 2012. This year’s brick mural lies beneath the two murals of past years and takes the phrase “Excellence For All.” Regarding this particular quote, head of the Campus Beautification Committee Senior Satwik Bebortha said, “It’s part of the school motto. We were looking at ideas and symbols of the school and we thought the school motto would be something unique to put on.” The individual customized senior bricks take up the bottom two rows of the mural. L2’s Campus Beautification Committee said that they look forward to seeing more plant projects, murals, and renovations at MSJ in the future. ▪ photos by staff writer megan ren
for the april 17, 2014 issue
News page 2: The German exchange students visited a basketball game. Principal Zack Larsen’s name was misspelled. Junior Anand Balaji will be the MSJ debate president for the 2014-15 school year. Centerspread page 12: Sophomore Divyaratna Ramachandran’s and Senior Anvitha Pillati’s names were misspelled. Neha Saxena is a freshman. A&E page 17: The Filmfare Awards was misspelled.
contracostatimes.com NewPark Mall will begin renovation this summer, including the construction of a new cinema.
Compiled by Staff Writers Vivian Liu, Andrea Tam & Katie Sun
Newpark Mall to begin renovations Rouse Properties, owner of NewPark Mall, announced the renovation of the mall after a decade of unfulfilled plans for upgrades. The mall will enjoy a new cinema complete with twelve screens and one IMAX screen, more mall entrances, new restaurants, improved food court, outdoor seating, and glass panes amongst other changes. Construction of many of these features will begin in June.
latimes.com Wildfires in California have become widespread and resulted in large property damage.
Wildfire season worse than most California is experiencing one of its worst wildfire seasons in recent years. According to the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection, there have been about 1,500 reports of wildfires, nearly twice the number for an average year. Governor Jerry Brown says 5,000 firefighters are working to fight the blazes and that the state has budgeted $600 million for firefighting. Fires have ravaged a number of areas in California, including a major San Diego incident that happened in May.
reuters.com The Sewol ferry disaster resulted in the deaths of a total of 286 passengers.
South Korea rethinks coast safety South Korea plans to break up its coast guard after a ferry disaster resulted in the death of close to 300 people. In its place, President Park Geun-hye proposes a new safety agency to handle rescue duties, with investigative and information functions passing to a newly established department for national safety. Public outrage at the lax safety standards and the failure of the crew to act accordingly as the ship floundered has contributed to this development.
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By Michael Hsiu, Lillian Zhao, and Madeline Zheng Staff Writers How did/do you feel about late start Wednesdays? (1 = horrible, 10 = awesome)* *Data from an online poll conducted in May, with 54 voluntary respondents.
In September:
In May:
7.0 8.4
photos from smoke signal archives and by staff writer madeline zheng and news editor nina krishnan, layout by staff writer michael hsiu
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SENIORS| Workshop continued from page 1
FUN RUN| L2 continued from page 1
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Counselor Lindsay Rotter speaks about tools and resources available to students.
pool of students who were pursuing college education at a variety of colleges and universities: two private schools, two out-of-state schools, and two UC’s. Around 250 students and parents alike filled into the rows of seats in C120 to listen to teachers, students, and school counselors give advice on how to ask for recommendation letters as well as talk about the pros of the community college transfer program. Staff members shared stories of past students, while guest student speakers shared stories of their own. The student speakers advised students to remember to honor their parents yet still find a balance by choosing a college and major that they themselves would like to pursue. The speakers also shared their own experiences with combating college essays in choosing how to manage time and what topic to write about. Assistant Principal Jeff Evans said, “Everybody did a great job at the workshop today—the counselors, speakers, and guest students. I was very happy to see them cover a variety of pathways that students may take, and I liked the emphasis on choosing a college because it fits and appeals to oneself; not because of parents or ranking, but because of the student’s heart.” “We hold this event every single year,” said Mission: SOS Vice President Dustin Chiang. “The Rising Seniors Workshop is a great way for eager students and parents who are nervous about the college application process to de-stress, learn helpful, useful information, and get ahead.” ▪
Capture the Flag, and basketball and soccer events, among others. In the Green division, Jeremy Eltho won first place and an Ultra Stomp Rocket by D+L Company, Audrey Li won second place and a S107G 3.5 Channel RC Heli with Gyro by Syma, and Anya Guliani won third place and a CraZLoom Bracelet Maker Kit by Cra Z Art. In the Yellow division, Andy Ho won first place and two Cinemark Theatres Platinum Supersaver Tickets, Jessica Wang won second place and a CandyShell case for iPhone 5 by Speck Products, and Cynthia Yip won third place and black Panasonic In-Ear Headphones. In the Red division, Senior Dennis Liu won first place and a full tuxedo rental from Formal Headquarters, Junior Alex Spry won second place and a $50 Firehouse Subs gift card, and Freshman Albert Chen won third place and 2 Cinemark Theatres Platinum Supersaver tickets. MSJ’s Fun Run debuted as a clear success, and L2 hopes that it continues to grow in popularity. L2’s Zer Keen Chia said, “The Fun Run was pretty successful for the first year. Next year, we hope to expand it and reach out to the Fremont community as a whole, not just MSJ.” ▪
staff writer peter chew
Senior Bryan Yan greets a cloud of paint at the finish line of the fun run course.
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Mission San Jose High School Est. 1964 Vol. 49, No. 9 | June 6, 2014 www.thesmokesignal.org
41717 Palm Ave. Fremont, CA 94539 (510) 657-3600 Editors-in-Chief Jin Peng, Grace Wu News Nina Krishnan, Kerrie Wu Opinion Sanjay Sreekumar, Catherine Wang
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Sanjay Says
Nothing Was the Same
Here Comes the Sun By Catherine Wang Opinion Editor “What the heck should I do this summer?” I asked last year. At the time, my parents were bent on me attending a science summer program. My friends all seemed to be applying to COSMOS (California State Summer School for Mathematics and Science). So this little girl promptly jumped on the bandwagon and did that, too. Before I even started the application, I felt conflicted. I knew my parents were pressuring me to apply for my own sake, but ironically I was doing it for their sake. After submitting my hastily written application, I felt awful for days. It seemed like I had wasted my time and, much worse, that I had wasted the time my teachers spent on my recommendations. More than anything else, I felt guilty for pretending to be passionate about something that didn’t truly excite me, and this guilt weighed much more than the rejection e-mail that came a month later. My take-away from that experience was that I ought to be more open-minded about how to spend my summers. When we’re considering what to do between now and September, we shouldn’t be milking our time to end up with the most attractive college apps. Finding ways to explore our own passions is most important. Rejection from a summer program isn’t altogether a tragedy. Summer programs are popular because they offer valuable learning and networking opportunities under a “brand name.” But there are so many other ways to explore interests, too. Didn’t get into that top-notch medical program? Try contacting your doctor and inquire about shadowing opportunities. Didn’t make the cut for a writing program?
Spend the summer writing your own pieces and submit them to the Scholastic Art and Writing Contest. The bottom line is that competitive, expensive summer programs aren’t necessarily the best or the only way to spend a productive summer. When we assume that they are, we box ourselves in and ignore other individualized, creative opportunities. Entering COSMOS definitely wouldn’t have been a waste of time, but I should have listened to myself before letting my parents or peers take the wheel. I think there are many other students who try to place college admissions before individual passions and end up regretting their decisions. It’s not always easy to figure out what we want for ourselves, and it took me a surprisingly long time to realize that I had lost myself in my race against others. Until recently, my goal had been to exceed others’ expectations when it should have been to create my own expectations. Looking back on junior year, I – along with everyone else – can attest that it’s been difficult. I’ve never experienced less sleep or more failures, and it’s disappointing that school is feeling more and more like a battlefield. But I am optimistic, because at least I’ve finally started doing things my own way. It no longer bothers me that the prestigious humanities program I dreamed about attending rejected me a while ago. I’ve still promised myself that this summer will be my best one yet. And if you’re curious to see what I mean, stop by Ardenwood Historic Farm on a weekend in the next few months. I’ll be there teaching visitors about local history, learning how to farm sustainably, and swishing around in a Victorian dress. Hey, to each his own, right? ▪
EDITORIAL: Our Lives in the Balance The Opinion of the Smoke Signal Editorial Board It’s 7:30 PM. You hear your parents’ call for dinner, the sole sanctuary of familial time left, but then you glimpse the piles of projects and unfinished homework sitting before you. You hesitate as you turn, and somewhere in your mind you hear that familiar excuse of time and priorities. Family can always wait for another day -- and so you say that you have more important work to do, slipping back into busy isolation. This is an unspoken choice made by countless MSJ students each day, merely one sacrifice out of many that we dismiss in the name of grades and future success. It is a problem that is not just a small daily decision, but a sign of a deeper-rooted problem within our lifestyles. The circumstances differ with each individual, but the problem thrives in many. There have been innumerable situations in which we have pushed aside cherished parts of our lives as just another “assignment” we can make up for in bulk. Consider, for example, personal relationships with others: as busy as we are in truth, the urgency and importance of our work become an excuse when we suddenly have no time to spend with anyone. We say to ourselves that there will always be countless opportunities to make up for those social aspects of life, while in academics we never stop chasing that deadline. And it’s not just about interpersonal relationships that we neglect. Just as much as we are able to forget about others, we’re able to forget about ourselves. All too often we choose not to spend time on the activities and clubs we truly enjoy, but the ones that look good on a resume. We try to push our true interests and passions into the corner of our minds, instead choosing the paths that we believe will lead us to the greatest nominal success. We need to recognize this is a habit that stays
with us as long as we choose to tolerate it. It follows us after graduation and into the real world, nipping our heels to postpone that coffee break with our friends and skip calling home to finish that annual report. Hard work is a virtue, but it is a doubleedged sword -- there is such a thing as “too much,” and we need to catch ourselves before we entrench ourselves too deeply in our work. At the end of the day, what we’re trying to point out is that pursuing extrinsic motivations may be rewarding, but ultimately it’s nurturing intrinsic values that make a life fulfilling and worthwhile. Treasure your relationships with family and friends, dedicate time to the hobbies that you love, take special care of your personal well-being, and above all, keep your priorities in good perspective. This isn’t a dichotomy: it’s about being able to achieve equilibrium to the best of your ability. Attaining that balance is incredibly difficult, but compromise on both sides can go a long way towards making you a more wholesome human being. We know you’ve inevitably heard about the importance of having a balanced, well-rounded lifestyle -- understandably, the notion might even feel so cliché that you don’t even genuinely consider it, especially at a school like MSJ. As MSJ’s 50th anniversary approaches, we are presented with an opportunity to look back and take pride in the great things we have accomplished, but at the same time recognize areas of our lives that may have collected a little dust. It’s a learning process, but we are confident that in placing more value on our friends, family, and ourselves, we can pave the way for a more fulfilling future. ▪ Send letters to the editors to opinion@thesmokesignal.org
By Sanjay Sreekumar Opinion Editor A couple weeks ago, I had the chance to catch up with a rising senior in college who I had first met when she was a senior at MSJ. The last time she saw me was when I was a wide-eyed freshman, and we were meeting for the first time in four years. When the discussion came to what I was doing, the first thing I blurted was “Do you think I’m different?” She looked at me for a couple seconds and said, “To be honest, I don’t really see any difference.” For some reason this bothered me. In less than a month, I’m about to leave high school with a diploma and I was still the same person? If I hadn’t really changed then did I fail? I entered high school hoping to grow as a person, but if I looked and acted the same way then what was the point? Faced with an existential crisis, I started looking at the mirror and at the choices that I did and didn’t make over the past four years. MSJ students often don’t get a chance to reflect. Our entire lives we’ve been taught to anticipate the future but never really to embrace our past, however short or forgettable our past might be. What’s behind us seems inconsequential in the grand scheme of things. Why should I stop to look back when the whole world is moving forward? Good grades, prestigious colleges, high-paying jobs; these are all part of our future if we put our nose to the grindstone and focus on what’s now. Things have changed in four years. Four years ago, 33 miners were
rescued in Chile, Julian Assange shocked the world by leaking countless government secrets (sounds familiar?), and the fact that Miley Cyrus was seen smoking pot was big news. But have I really changed? People talk about high school as a defining experience in a young person’s life, where the choices you make truly shape your future. In reality, many of us still do the same things that we did before. The issues that I hoped to fix when I “grew up” still plague me today, such as procrastination, fear, naivety, and an occasional lack of decisiveness. I’m going to legally become an adult but I still feel like the same person. I’m going to college in a couple months but I still feel like I’m going to make mistakes. I’m going to get my first substantial paycheck but I still feel like I’m not ready. When I started looking closer at my mirror, however, the differences really became apparent. I had grown. Four years ago, I was the kid that was clueless enough to walk into the girls locker room on the first day of school. I had the emotional range of a teaspoon and the physique of a baby walrus. High school changed me, thankfully for the better, not for the worse. In one week, the class of 2014 will gather to receive a slip of paper, our only “real” confirmation of the last four years. We will hear many things about our “future”, the abstract goal we’ve been chasing for seemingly forever. But as the hats go up and the confetti falls down, make sure to take the time out to look back. ▪
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Bias in the Media: Selecting Stories denouncing Sterling’s actions while the kidnappings remained on an undercurrent. As more agencies picked up on the story of a celebrity and failed to address the morbid details of immoral crimes in Africa, a bias developed in order to satisfy the public’s hunger for more details. “Sterling” eventually popped up more than “Nigeria.” Multiple studies have been conducted examining the existence of bias within media. In 2002, Professor Jim A. Kuypers published his examination into over 800 press reports on race and homosexuality. Kuypers discovered that among 116 mainstream US newspapers (including The New York Times, The Washington Post, Los Angeles Times, and the San Francisco Chronicle), a common trend of bias towards liberal beliefs could be observed. In the same study, he noticed that for topics such as welfare reform, environmental protection, and gun control, the press had injected its own opinion into the coverage and had favored a more liberal point of view. Kuypers also noted that in general, politicians with liberal views were actively covered and supported by the news agencies, while those with conservative views were either unfairly criticized or labeled as a minority point of view. Regardless of party, political leaders who spoke outside of the narrow range of liberal views that the press supported were ignored or received negative coverage. From a business standpoint, David Baron of the Stanford Graduate School of Business proposed a game-theoretic model of mass media based on the idea that at any one point, journalists collectively favor either liberal or conservative views. Given this idea, Baron’s theory stated that one reason
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media outlets have an inherent bias towards one view is that it is easier for them to hire journalists that agree with their political alignment. Another theory on political bias developed by Jimmy Chan of Shanghai University and Wing Suen of the University of Hong Kong states that bias arises due to people with a certain political preference following media with a similar bias because they can trust what the agency in question reports. Kuypers’s examination, combined with the theories proposed by Baron, Chan, and Suen, provide clear evidence of media bias even in modern society. As mankind and society have developed to be more intelligent and aware, proper reporting of news has, in some ways, fallen into the public’s hands. In order to gain readership and therefore profit, news agencies must tailor their agendas to serve the public interest. Therefore, it is important for us to recognize bias and its influence on journalism. The key to preventing biased reporting is modifying how we, as viewers, decide to accept news. If we choose to devour celebrity gossip or liberal-favored reporting, the media will continue to provide us with what we want. But if we hold these companies to a higher standard and call for adherence to objectiveness and unbiased reporting, ultimately we can bring about change. The media relies on its viewers in order to survive and continue publishing. By utilizing this advantage, we can improve and maintain the standards of journalism. ▪
UKRAINE STOPS
Bias in media is a problem that has existed since the first practices of journalism. Despite decades of development in news, this fundamental issue continues to plague the industry today. Whether it be through online articles, printed stories, or magazines, bias can still be found in nearly all of the content that the public sees every day. As readers, we depend on the media to provide us with information regarding events in the world. The relationship between viewer and presenter eventually becomes a shift in responsibility where the media choose stories based on what the public wants. As a result, it is in the public’s best interest to recognize bias in media sources, and the impact it has on our judgment and perspective. A clear and recent example of bias has been developing over the past few weeks: on April 25, articles were released all over the Internet about Clippers owner Donald Sterling telling his girlfriend not to bring black people to his games. The shocking story of a high-profile white male in a predominantly black organization making racist remarks quickly set both the media and public abuzz. Yet several days before, another more frightening story had already begun developing: the abduction of 234 Nigerian school girls. Ages ranging from 16 to 18, the young girls had been taken from their dorms in the town of Chibok on April 14, and forced into trucks at gunpoint. The speed at which Sterling’s story proliferated across the Internet greatly outmatched that of the Nigerian kidnappings, with thousands of people across America publicly
By Jacinta Chang, Kevin Chen, & Aamir Rasheed
BRITISH GOVERNMENT TO RELEASE 1.2 MIL ILLEGALLY HELD DOCUMENTS
SHOVEL GIRL FIGHT TMZ GUCCI MANE GUILTY TMZ JUSTIN BIEBER COWBOY ATTIRE TMZ LADY GAGA
8 Opinion
ALEC BALDWIN ARRESTED CNN WERE ALL THE PINGS FROM FLIGHT 370? CNN DID BEYONCE’S SISTER ATTACK JAY-Z? pond5.com, layout by opinion editors sanjay sreekumar & catherine wang
MSJ voices:
What are your thoughts on the recent Smarter Balanced test administered to juniors?
Students
“I thought the math part was really funny because the instructions were to “I think that the concept behind using computers is pretty listen carefully to your math teacher’s lecture for Common Core, so we were clever and fitting testing to the individual student will show a learning the terminology for house building, but everything turned out to wider spectrum of academic abilities, but at the same time I be trigonometry so I didn’t really see a point in wasting a math class just don’t know how they can effectively grade individualized stanto learn the different types of house frames.” dardized testing. For example, how are they going to analyze -Zixin Chen, 11 writing if it still has to be standardized?” -Kelvin Lu, 11 “I really wish it were more direct. I wish that the questions didn’t come with a whole lot of backstory and that instead they got straight to the point.” “While I think the idea to get students to think critically while incorporating -Willie Jin, 11 technology into learning is great, I felt like the implementation and the method of implementation of SBAC was riddled with mistakes. For instance, on the first “SBAC is inherently flawed because despite its claim to focus on critifew days, there were a lot of mechanical errors with the laptops. In terms of the cal thinking skills, it is still a standardized test. Standardized testing test, I didn’t think that the questions actually tested critical thinking. For exsimply does not foster critical thinking skills by nature and never ample, asking someone to explain how they knew a math problem isn’t as useful will. Individualized thinking can’t thrive when competition is involved. as giving them a problem that actually requires complex thinking.” Making it harder for students who have been trained their entire lives -Anant Hari, 11 under a regimen of memorize-regurgitate-forget does nothing but force them to adapt and learn how to work the new system for high “I liked how we didn’t waste copious amounts of paper by using computers results. The end result is really no different from STAR testing.” and how there wasn’t a super long introduction before the test where the -Annette Cheng, 11 proctor explained the obvious. I disliked how the interface was a bit slow and crashed multiple times.” -Arsalon Pirzada, 11
Faculty
“I’m skeptical on using it for higher math, but we can try it. The tech went smoothly; there wasn’t a single student who couldn’t access the website. Ms. Brumbaugh did a good job of getting me prepared.” -Charlie Brucker, Math Teacher “I like that it’s harder to cheat. The questions are a lot more open-ended, so students are forced to come up with their own answers.” -Freddy Saldana, Math Teacher
“The testing actually went better than I expected. There were a few bumps with the technology, but these were resolved quickly...Hopefully, next year there will be a better, longer time frame to do [Smarter Balanced] testing because this year we had to squeeze it into the schedule with Spring Break and AP tests.” -Diana Brumbaugh, Assistant Principal “I think it’s very challenging and will be very hard for students to prepare for unless they actually learn something. They really need to get the technology working.” -Jean Dotson, English Teacher
theyec.org, layout by opinion editors sanjay sreekumar & catherine wang
Friday, June 6, 2014
The Smoke Signal
www.thesmokesignal.org
A DAY IN THE LIFE OF... A student vs. a Teacher
How many hours in a typical day do you spend on...
Students
By Iyesha Puri & Madeline Zheng Staff Writers
Teachers 2.5
Helping others?
2
Chores/housework?
1.5
1.5
We interact daily with teachers and other students, but what is the average day for students and teachers really like? We might all be in school together, but other than that do we really have much in common in our daily routines? Here the Smoke Signal explores a day in the life of a typical MSJ student versus one in the life of a typical MSJ English teacher. The information presented in this graphic is the composite of results taken from five English teachers and eight MSJ students, one of each gender from each grade.
5
Working on what you planned to do?
10 6
8
Listening to /Delivering lectures?
7.5
4.5
On computer/phone for work? On computer/phone for fun?
7
Exercising?
3.5
2.5
1.5
1.5
Time with family?
3
Homework/Grading Work?
9.5 *Each item represents 30 minutes of time.
7.5
Eating?
Feature 9
3.5
3
What do you wish you could do less of and more of?
Less: More: “Focus” “Homework” “Procrastination” “Spending time with family” “Social Media” “Reading” “Exercising” “Video games” “Distraction”
Students
K-12
“Hanging out with friends”
More:
Less:
“More quality time with family”
“Planning”
“Exercising”
“Grading” “Calorie Counting”
Teachers
“Enjoy life” layout by feature editor vivian jair & staff writer megan ren
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10 Feature
Staff Farewell
www.thesmokesignal.org
Janet Aldinger
The Smoke Signal
Attendance Clerk Wendy Walvick will be retiring in June 2014 after more than six years of working with MSJ staff and students. Prior to her job at MSJ, Walvick worked as an attendance clerk, secretary, and registrar at various schools in the Bay Area. Throughout her six-year long tenure, Walvick has developed meaningful relationships with students, colleagues, and parents alike. “One of my favorite parts of coming to work is the people. I share a lot with the students and staff, both good times and bad times,” says Walvick. In addition to managing the attendance of the sophomore class, Walvick also interacts with people and lends an ear to those in need on a day-to-day basis. “I will miss this school and the people here, but feel it is time to go discover myself and start the next venture of my life,” says Walvick. Walvick looks forward to traveling, taking classes, exercising, and spending more time with her granddaughter during her retirement.
“Ms. Aldinger is super kind and willing to go out of her way to help students with whatever they need.” -Aditi Harish, 10
“Here at MSJ, we’re more than employees. We’re like a family. We’re really sad that [Walvick’s] leaving, but I know we’ll keep in touch. She just puts a smile on everyone’s face.” –Attendance Clerk Leti Vargas
“Ms. Aldinger is one of the most resourceful people on campus and has really helped me try to get a clearer picture of what I want to do.” -Sriya Vutukuru, 10
New Maze Day Textbook System By Grace Dong & Abigail Wong Staff Writers
A new textbook checkout system will be in place during the 2014-15 Maze Day on August 19-20, 2014. This new program is expected to be more brief and efficient than the previous method of checking out books in which teachers would handrecord students’ book numbers. In the 2013-14 school year, MSJ was the only high school that did not use the scanning system due to technical difficulties, but with MSJ perfecting the new method, all high schools in Fremont Unified School District will have transitioned to this textbook checkout system next fall. On the 2014-15 Maze Day, each wing of MSJ will hold a reservoir of books designated to a specific subject field such as science, math, or social studies. After picking up their ID’s and schedules per usual protocol, students are expected to head to
By Tiffany Huang, Hairol Ma & Tanvi Raja Staff Writers
Wendy Walvick Kathryn Cochran
Janet Aldinger, MSJ’s beloved college and career specialist, is retiring after eight years of working with MSJ staff and students. She was commonly found in the Career Center advising different students about summer internships, colleges, career paths, and more. “I have so many amazing experiences that have happened here. It has been a wonderful place to work and I will miss all the connections I’ve made through MSJ. Above all I will miss the students and staff,” says Aldinger. She has thoroughly enjoyed her dayto-day jobs—whether she is helping students or working with the staff. “...I hope that students find a future they enjoy because when you truly enjoy what you do, you do good. It goes without saying that in life you should be content, and it shows in everything you do—family, friend, or career related,” says Aldinger. She looks forward to traveling across the US in her RV with her husband and spending time with two soon-tobe grandchildren during retirement.
“Ms. Aldinger is an extremely helpful and friendly person who has extensive knowledge about every single thing in the career center. She’s always happy to help and never fails to put up a big friendly smile on her face!” -Devanshi Thakar, 10
Friday, June 6, 2014
After 26 years of working at MSJ, World Language Department Co-Chair and Spanish teacher Kathryn Cochran will be retiring in June 2014. Cochran started teaching at MSJ in 1986, taking a year off to study music. From 2001-2002 she taught music for one year at Mattos Elementary School, but dedicated the rest of her time to teaching at MSJ. “For me, teaching is a series of innumerable memorable moments: those times when a student who has struggled to master a particular skill or concept ‘gets it’ and both student and teacher feel a wonderful sense of satisfaction and accomplishment,” says Cochran. Cochran will miss all the wonderful students and staff she has worked with during her time at MSJ. “Live your academic lives as you intend to live the rest of your life, with integrity, respect and balance,” Cochran advises students. After retirement, Cochran looks forward to spending more hours playing Renaissance and Baroque music on the recorder and bassoon, hanging out with her dog, reviving her knowledge of German, and taking a noontime swim every day, and travelling the world.
“She’s been so responsible and hardworking. She’s been a huge help.” -Spanish Teacher Laurie Malone “Ms. Cochran spends a lot of time on her meticulous lesson plans and she is always very patient with us.” -Anna Tang, 11
“My favorite memory is when Brandi dressed up like a dirty old man for Halloween. No one recognized her. She had the grunts, voice, and walk down perfectly.” -Attendance Clerk Wendy Walvick
“Ms. Cochran has always been a really great teacher. Her class is always really interesting.” -Deborah Chew, 11
“We’ll miss her smile, poems, and witty sense of humor.” –Attendance Clerk Donna Hanna
photos by staff writers tiffany huang, hairol ma & tanvi raja, layout by feature editors vivian jair & anjali kanthilal
the respective wings that house the mandatory textbooks for the courses they will be taking. Parents, student volunteers, and teachers will aid in the checkout process; a scanning system records every student’s ID information and checked out textbooks. Upon checking out a textbook via scanning its barcode, the textbook is now attached to the student ID, meaning the same textbook must be returned before the student graduates. With this scanning system comes an online program called TIPWeb, a popular software that many schools already use for textbook distribution. Every single time an ID card is scanned, the list of textbooks attached to that particular ID shows up on the website, which is connected to the student information center at the district. This also will help school staff determine the owner of a lost textbook or the record of a student who has not turned all of their books in. At Maze Day, volunteers will help encode student data into TIPWeb using a simple handheld scanner plugged into a laptop through a USB drive. It is highly advised that students come to Maze Day this
year in order for the transition to the new technology to be more successful and for teachers to begin the year’s curriculum as soon as possible. With the new system, teachers can have textbook assignments on the first day of school instead of spending a class period distributing books. If students cannot make Maze Day or if they have switched classes and need to switch textbooks, specific times and dates will be set to scan out textbooks again. This process will be much more time consuming so administrators urge all students to attend Maze Day. Although textbook distribution next year is a new change in orientation protocol and may take longer with added steps, MSJ’s school administrators hope that the new technology will ultimately benefit both the students and teachers in the long run. As MSJ’s Assistant Principal, Jeff Evans, stated, “This gets the year started more efficiently. Kids will come to school ready to go, teachers don’t have to worry about books: passing them out, lugging them around, so I think this helps the teachers, it helps the students, it helps the school.” ▪
Friday, June 6, 2014
The Smoke Signal
www.thesmokesignal.org
Summer
Bucketlist
Feature 11
By Ishan Goyal, Hairol Ma & Hanson Wang Sports Editor and Staff Writers
After an exhausting 180 days, summer is finally staring us in the face. As the cloud of stress and anxiety looming over your head gradually drifts away, you might find yourself facing a new dilemma - what can you possibly do with all this free time? Thankfully, the Smoke Signal is here to wash your worries away. Read on to get inspiration for what you can do to keep yourself busy and entertained from now until the end of summer. a Le rn
Knowing how to cook seems pretty mundane, but it’s actually a life-changing skill. Not only will you be able to stop complaining about your mother’s cooking, but your future college roommates will hail you as a messiah for sparing them from eating bland cafeteria food. Aspiring chefs have plenty of help; recipes for virtually any dish can be found online, and you can rest assured that Gordon Ramsay isn’t hiding around the corner to blast you whenever the chicken is raw.
to
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The days of getting the recommended hours of sleep are coming to an end. With incoming junior year sleep deprivation, you should consider every minute your eyes get to remain closed during the summer a blessing. Create a shrine beside your bed for sleep and pray that you will be given sufficient rest for the next two years of your high school education. Apart from cherishing every moment of sleep, learning to nap effectively will also become an invaluable skill. Check out the Smoke Signal’s napping spread on our website to quickly learn the advantages of napping.
En
Sophomores
Ne
w
Of course, you have to remember that while in high school, you are the epitome of the heart broken and emotionally unstable heroine in every Taylor Swift song or the manly masculine Flo Rida man. However, it’s time for a change- grow out of your moody teenager shell and explore new music that will personify a new you. Jumpstart your junior year and make motivational study playlists on Spotify and Souncloud. Wave goodbye to Taylor and Flo Rida; these two music players will introduce you to a plethora of Indie artists and steer you away from mainstream music and Miley Cyrus’s music videos.
sic
The summer following freshman year is one of few that are relatively worry-free. Take advantage of this time to explore the world around us, whether by taking a plane to a foreign country or taking a road trip to a different state. A trip could also serve as a time to bond with family and friends, as the shared experience of exposure to a different environment is well worth any price.
Mu
Ex plo r Wo e t rld he
Freshmen
a t ar ook St apb r Sc
High school is one of most memorable times in one’s life, and what better way to remember all the memories than with a scrapbook? Making one is simple; just get an empty notebook, and start adding pictures that capture momentous events. By the time graduation comes, one’s scrapbook should capture the past four years in a nutshell, and all the pictures and memories will truly make high school an unforgettable experience. After all, a picture is worth a thousand words.
w Ne ds o er ov t Fo sc Di mon e Fr
No more will you have to spend your lunches sitting on the cold hard benches of MSJ. Since you and many of your friends will have the opportunity to get a license and leave campus for lunch, make sure to explore Fremont for food places over the summer. Make sure to take into account the distance from school in traffic and how long it takes to order when creating a list of places you can go.
ing
gg
Vlo
Because you’ll undoubtedly be busy working prestigious internships and participating in numerous summer programs, or living the life around the bay, starting a summer vlog can help you keep a virtual diary. You can film at any time, day or night. Vlogs can be recorded with just an iPhone camera and uploaded to your laptop. Vlogging is a fun way to look back on your last summer as a high school student.
Juniors
p
e Pr ge s lva ok Sa Bo
Right after school ends, kiss your beloved APUSH and SAT books goodbye. What better way to end the school year than to amass the tear stained books and burn them in a great bonfire, Fahrenheit 451 style, right in your own backyard? While this idea certainly sounds very attractive, a more practical suggestion is to sell your old test prep books and earn a little cash while you’re at it. That way, you can kiss goodbye fond memories of Eisenhower and the military industrial complex and swap it for some cash (to make up for the price of all those AP tests, of course).
A pp Te rec ac iat he e rs
TV
Ma
ra tho
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Now that Junior year has finished opening up a new world of 4 am bedtimes, what better way to test your new resilience to sleep than to marathon movies and TV shows all night (morning) long? Step beyond your normal boundaries and watch some mindblowing movies, or play it safe by watching the worst movies ever made.
An integral part of every freshman’s life is to admire a couple of seniors and strive to be exactly like them. These freshmen spend hours on end going through seniors’ Facebook pages, but are too timid to approach them in reality. To leave an honorable legacy behind, spend a few lunches finding freshmen and holding conversations with them. The best thing to do before leaving is to impart some lasting advice in the younger classes so they can excel during their remaining time at MSJ. Not only will your actions make their day, but also it will give you a sense of fulfillment.
F Fr ind es hm a an
Seniors
Regardless of whether the teacher passed you or failed you, it’s essential you go back and visit all your teachers and express your appreciation. Most students spend more time with their teachers than they do with their parents so its only fair to show them the same amount of love. Something as simple as going into their rooms and thanking them for influencing your education or getting a small gift satisfies this requirement.
ke ns Ma ctio e nn
Co
As a second semester senior, you can shift some of your academic focus to making lasting connections with your peers along with putting more effort into extracurricular activities. Throughout the summer, make sure to keep in contact with people in your class and don’t drift just because school has ended. Even if you are going to a college on the opposite end of the country, there is always a high possibility you run into someone at graduate school or while looking for a job. Regardless, make sure to keep your friends close and expand your network.
nutritionalcookingsolutions.net, michelephoenix.com, imgfave.com, netparents.org, trinityprep.org, businessinsider.com, battenhall.net, powerofpositivity.net, toptenstuffs.com, commons.wikimedia.org
, layout by feature editor vivian jair & staff writer megan ren
12 Photo
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The Smoke Signal
Friday, June 6, 2014
Friday, June 6, 2014
The Smoke Signal
www.thesmokesignal.org
Photo 21
LAYOUT BY GRAPHICS EDITORS SHIRBY WANG & ANNA ZENG
Friday, June 6, 2014
The Smoke Signal
I, Aamir Rasheed, bequeath the ways of the spacewalkers to Laura Chen, my name-punning talent to Nicholas of the sCai, a logical style of writing to Lara Khamisy, and the spirit of my piano to Haroon Rasheed. I, Aaron Lin, bequeath other seniors’ bequests to Aurick Zhou, my bad luck to Tiancheng Qin, a tractor to Chompy, and even more gold to Au-rich Zhou. I, Abhinav Prasad, bequeath the MSJ boys’ tennis team to freshmen Abhi Akkaraju, Neil Patel, and Eric Zhang. I, Akaash Nayak, bequeath my amazing dancing ability to Ilanji Rajamanickam, Avi Banerjee Hershal Bhatia, and Samir Panjwani. I also bequeath my awesome beatboxing skills to Sagar Samantarai. Lastly, I bequeath my 5.0 GPA and 2400 SAT to Sougat Pradhan, Nishant Nayak and Jessika Baral. I, Akash Pelala, bequeath my passion for life and tardiness to Kelly Lee and Justin Sun, my wise words to Yash Bisen, caffeine to my Rose, a beautiful smile to Grace Chen and J Money, my open-mindedness to Anand BallerG, and success to Shubham Mahajan and Shivani Gans. I, Albert Hung, bequeath my title as MSJ Badminton’s Wild Hot Outstanding Rowdy Elephant to Jim Ouyang. I, Alex Chen, bequeath my dashing good looks, musical ear, leftover clothes, and most importantly, the drive to succeed to my sister Yvonne in hopes that she’ll keep her head up high through tough times. I also give Brendan Liu strong willpower to work hard (I’ll be watching).
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I, Alex Hancock, bequeath teamwork to Austin Whaley, sturdier limbs to Adam Hancock, Happy Days to Joanie and Chachi and eternal happiness to Cade Nauman. Or at least some fried chicken. And, a special shout-out to Mr. Geschke, the ability to solve for A. I, Amal Nanavati, bequeath my perseverance and love of thought-provoking conversations to Steven Wang, my incessant questioning to Arti Patankar, and my running PR’s, Japanese, Dandiya Raas team, time-management skills, and work ethic to Anuj Nanavati. I, Amber Ma, bequeath MSJ’s Syncopasians to the new director Laura Chen! I also bequeath my love for treble choir to Erica Mao, and my spontaneous lunch adventures to Samuel Liu. I, Amy Hoffman, bequeath unto Mina Afnan the special dance move; Unto Angela Hu I relinquish the reins of NAHS; To the polo team I leave Jolyn hot-tubbing; to Laura Chen I leave chuckyness; To Jamie, Urmi, Sage, and Ashley I leave the no-look shot from the 6 in 6-on-5. I, Amy Huang, bequeath my DECA legacy to Shiv Kapur and Sanaea Kakalia, my 1D craziness to Megan Ren, my milk tea obsession to Melissa Cai, my “99 problems” to Zuhayer Quazi, and love for gossip to Jacinta Chang. I, Amy Xia, bequeath Amber Chen more sleep, Claudia Ho my superb calculus skills, Michelle Ko juicy gossip, Annie Lee the title Baennie, and Joani Wong the future of “green team VIP” and my general awesomeness.
Photo 13
I, Ananya Kumar, bequeath my senioritis to Sean Li, my makeup to Joshua Chao, and my “enthusiasm” for senior year marching band to Kelvin Lu, Derek Feng, David Diao, David Zheng, Aurick Zhou (I’m still not your friend), and Anant Hari. I bestow my expert Japanese skills to Charlie Han and Codey Huang. To Sunny Su I leave my fangirl fits and rant sessions. I leave my matchmaking skills to Brian Zhao, waves to Casey Liu, and bossiness to David Shi. Stay awesome guys~ I, Andy Lai, bequeath to Shazib Elahi, Allen Wan, and Dillon Peng the future of the trumpet section, to Luke Wang and Nicholas Cai my blazing speed (kidding), and to Kelvin Zhang my Dreamhack skills, my pomsky, and the location of the taco truck. I, Angela Liu, bequeath to Michelle Zhang all the good memories of eating and laughing with close friends. To Karen Liao, Stephanie He, Allison Li, I leave my fanatic passion for Kpop. And lastly, to Jennifer Liu, I leave all my SAT and AP textbooks and my devious prank-concocting tendencies. I, Anjali Kanthilal, bequeath Mission: SOS to Dustin Chiang, Peer Resource $$wag to Harshita Gupta, Smoke Signal Feature Editor struggles to Katie Sun and Megan Ren, my sassiness to Divya Patel, and my punniness TingTing Bi. I, Anjali Suresh, bequeath best wishes and lots of love to Lynnea, my militant feminist rage to Valerie, a hug to everybody in my French class who mistakenly thinks I’m cool, and a terrifying glare to everyone who has the audacity to be both younger and taller than me. I, Anjuli Sandhu, bequeath Tanish Ambulkar my charming good looks, Austin Whaley my Greek yogurt and great jokes, Ashna Guliani endless clam chowder, Cat Ha and Adrienne Peng my southern accent, and Juhi Dalal all the boys bands in the UK. I, Anna Chen, bequeath happiness and my portion of every meal to Allison Chen, my name to Anna Chen (‘16), my senioritis and love to my twin Amanda Nguyen, my love for BTS to Ashley Chen, and my prep books to anyone who wants to buy them.
PHOTOS BY STAFF WRITERS ANAND BALAJI, JACINTA CHANG, KEVIN CHEN, TIFFANY HUANG, APOORVA RAJANALA & ABIGAIL WONG, LAYOUT BY STAFF WRITERS KEVIN CHEN & LILLIAN
14 Photo
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I, Anna Zeng, bequeath Lillian Zhao and Kevin Chen the magic of Smoke Signal Graphics and 3 terabytes of hard-drive space, Valerie Choung and Kevin Zeng the legacy of the CompSci Club, and my brother Kevin Zeng all of my awkward, quiet sisterly love and test prep books. I, Anne Saleem, bequeath my spazziness to Adele, Anum, Vipula, Nithya, Julian, and all my other underclass men homies! I bequeath (some of) my awesomeness tomy lil’ bro, Matthew. I, Anvitha Pillati, bequeath my dancing abilities to Chelsy Simran, good looks to Hershal Bhatia, rock hard abs to Samir Panjwani, body rolls to Ilanji Rajamanickam, my love for deepika to Avi Banerjee, my priceless reactions to Ainsley McClure, my desi swag to Austin Whaley, and Moan to Maya Krishnan. I, Armaan Gill, bequeath the derb life to Jordan. I, Ashley Hsu, bequeath my Ash-ness to Ashna Guliani who will forever be the other half of (Ash)^2 and one of my favorite people. I, Ashley Lin, bequeath the Mantle of responsibility to Rustie Lin and John Wang, the future of Picture Perfect to Jennifer Wang, and the remnants of my engagingness to Sean Li and Ella Chen. No one knows what the future holds; that’s why its potential is infinite. Tabemasu. I, Ashley Yang, bequeath to my love of music to Tiffany and Tammy Sung; my best wishes to Alves/Ruebling’s first period class; any leftover luck to next year’s French 4 class; and to Asta Yang, Nicholas’ “common sense”, because she needs it more than me. I, Ayushi Sharma, bequeath my SAT prep books, graphing calculator, and misery to my freshman brother, Karan, and my fashion sense to Neha Dubey because let’s be honest she could use it. I also bequeath my uncanny ability to get through college apps to Pooja Dubey; good luck <3. I, Beth Scrutton, bequeath my pile of standardized testing study books to my “little” brother Tom. I don’t need them any more and
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I want them out of my room. ASAP. I, Betty Bei, bequeath my bassoon to Sagar Samantarai, my guard skills to Sherlene Hung and Ada La, and my dazzling smile to Austin Pan. I, Caleb Han, bequeath Youth Alive to prayer warriors Derek, Ivy, Josh, Lucille, Stacy, Deborah, Aaron, Claudia, and Daniel, my punctuality and photography skills to Catherine Ha, and my stellar dance moves to Abby Choi and Ms. Jieunhyunjoong. I, Catherine Lo, bequeath my dedication to L2, love for food, and undying sass to Annie Lee and my impeccable humor and sarcasm to MANsi Shah because she needs it. I, Charlie Lin, bequeath my affable spirit to the friends I made in 2nd,3rd and 5th-may they remain ever so friendly and talkative; to the underclassmen, the habit of greeting old and new friendsdon’t be shy, say hi; and finally, my performing spirit to the performers of future HC/MC spectacles! I, China Lau, bequeath Heater VVang muncadragon’s love for me and my infatuation with watermelon and Lazeragna Fridays, John Tu my 100% humidity and kumquats, Adrienne Peng my height, Justin Nguyen China Lau, Inc., Brett Whaley my grace, and Annalisahu gets nothing. I, Christie Neo, bequeath the future of a greener MSJ to Raquel, Stanley, Haroon, and Sean, the violas to Damon and Nivedha, endurance to Jelena, ambition and thanks to the XC-team and JV Girls for the wonderful memories, and love to the rest of you all. Go do great things. I, Colin Liu, bequeath my fair skin and box of caramel apple lollipops to Lesley Lu, and my senioritis to Kevin Tang. I, Connie Kim, bequeath my smarts to Alisha Matharu, my jokes to Kelly Lee, and my ability to talk slower to Nick Wu. I, Crystal Cheng, bequeath my Cheng-ness and all its glory to Alvina Cheng, my Sugoi Senpai Skills to Jacinda Ni, Alison Li, Alex Lee, Joshua Chao, and Sean Li, my mad dance skills to Julie Kim, my kawaii desu desu-ness to Sophia Huang, and Catbug
Friday, June 6, 2014
for everyone. I, Crystal Jiao, bequeath my stress and love to next year’s yearbook staff, my knowledge of Adobe programs to Amber Chen, my iPhone games and math knowledge to Claudia Ho, my sassy quips to Mansi Shah, and my best wishes to you. I, Cynthia Jiang, bequeath LEO Club to the 2014-2015 officers, my excellent driving record to Claudia Ho and Mansi Shah, my snapchat screenshots to Melody Song and Sharon Li, my witticism, love, and L2 sponsors to Cari Gan and Natalie Sin, and wushu to Shenlum, Jemmy, and Alyssa. I, Danica Fong, bequeath to my sister my everlasting procrastination, to Pooja my driving duty, to Neha my awesome music taste and fashion sense, and to the gymnastics team a great season. I, Daniel Zhu, bequeath my shirtless spotlight to the young men on the distance team, especially to 2 of my favorite juniors, who have brought awesome into my life for the last few years, Nicholas Cai and Luke Wang. Go far in life you two, and don’t you dare wear shirts! I, Darren Li, bequeath our third of the M-Wing Planter and my library of music and software to Donna Li, may she put it to good use. I also bequeath joint command of MSJ Orch violins to Jelena Lee and Sean Li, who are not related in any way. I, David Kim, bequeath the sweetest, funniest, cutest, and best smelling female ever, Karen Trinh, and I guess Andrew Nguyen is cool too hahaha #turnip. I love you guys! Oh and baby, always remember... you da bomba :) I, Dennis Liu, bequeath Jonny Chao a prickly pear; Jimmy Qian, my spot on varsity cross country; k-n0n, several Arizona iced teas; Nick and Luke, bottles of sand; William Zeng, my Asics spikes; and my best wishes to everyone on MSJ XC/T&F. “Be the change you want to see.” I, Destin Trang, bequeath Andrew “OHNOOOES” Kim my video game prowess, Mark Sui the Melody Of A Sunken Ship, my two biggest fans, Heather Wang and Annie Lee, the ownership of the
PHOTOS BY STAFF WRITERS ANAND BALAJI, JACINTA CHANG, KEVIN CHEN, TIFFANY HUANG, APOORVA RAJANALA & ABIGAIL WONG, LAYOUT BY STAFF WRITERS KEVIN CHEN & LILLIAN
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tinikling sticks, and to my favorite sister, Colin Trang, nothing. I, Divya Mohan, bequeath my willingness and enthusiasm to attend school to Priyanka Chary, my unparalleled musical prowess and associated fame to Pragathi Guruprasad, and my soul to Simba Guliani. I bequeath to Devanshi Thakar everything else. I, Doen Lee, bequeath the team to Claire Dobyns, my vault to Jen Chin, cartwheel skills to Melody, “Beaches love us” to Austin King, 50 IQ points to Roy & Benjamin, my work/play ethic to Brian Ng, Lee legacy to Kush, and love to Dustin, Andrew, and Tiffany. I, Edward W. Li, bequeath Mark Sui my pants, Andrew Liu my spicy volleyball manuevers, Kush Patel and Andrew Kim the free poon, Allen Hsiao my love for nature and Eskimo brotherhood, Danman117 my diamond Vayne mechanics, Hagrid’s Hut Mr. 305, and Eric Li my BD. I, Emerald Swei, bequeath the choral pitch pipe to the future star of the show, Kathy Liu, in the hopes that she will continue to keep Chorale in key or at least slightly sharp, my sense of humor and driving ability as well as drama-free social life to Rose Chang, and all my love for singing to Hannah Folk. I, Eric Deng, bequeath the Deng family awesomeness to my sister, Sarah, my math luck and skill to Brian Ng and Anuj Desai, and my underwater superpowers to Christopher Ha, James Chong, Austin Whaley, Ash Balgovind, and the rest of the polo team. I, Flora Fang, bequeath my Bay Area know-how to Wenming Zhai and my undying love and affection (and judgemental face) to Lillian Dong, the hubs. I, Grace Wu, bequeath my podium, Smokie love, and attempts to stay calm in stressful situations to Tingting Bi and Laura Chen. My freedom from running miles to Elsie Yi. Extremely awkward moments and luck in college applications to Irene. ACJC to Apoorva and Business Club to Nancy and Vineet. I, Hannah Lee, bequeath Sports Queen title to Katherine Tsay, a splendid #SSS to L2 Class of 2015, HC swag to Julie Kim. I give
The Smoke Signal
my Yearbook editor position to Sharon Li. Lots of love to Annie Lee, Hagrid’s Hut, and Victor Tu. High school be good to my sister. I, Irisa Lee, bequeath a year’s supply of potatoes to Lillian Dong and, my orange baritone to the MSJ band euphonium section. I, Ishan Goyal, bequeath DECA to Sanaea Kakalia and Shiv Kapur, Reddit to Shivam Patel, my education skills to Kush Patel, the use of the word friendaloo to caribelly, Tim Hortons to Megan Ren, a corgi calendar to Hairol Ma, my baller skills to Mudit Mittal and my love for running to Lillian Zhao. I, Ishita Shah, bequeath an extremely overdue invitation to Samir Panjwani, every accidental curly to Aditya Jayachandran, and The Laughing Monsters to Maya Krishnan. I, Izzy Gow, bequeath C^2 to Lillian Wang, my middle name, Win, to Kush Patel, infinite rides to Roy Lo, and the Bella Win Gow legacy to my little sister Annabella Gow. I, Jacinda Chan, bequeath my picture-taking tendencies, baking skills, and nights of ‘it’ to Gracie Chan, chalk-butt handprint greetings and late-night talks to my Varsity gym girls, the iPhone wiggle (courtesy of Josh) and a heart to serve to Youth Alive, and the words ‘Rabbi’ and ‘luscious’ to Tiffany Chang. I, Jacob Pingue, bequeath my room, RSX, and filipino swag to my brother Jared, and awesome hcmc performances to my TKD and Hiphop kiddies. I, Janis Lee, bequeath the second violin section to Sean Li and the legacy of the Sad Little Calc Group to Rebecca Wu. I, Jebby Zhang, bequeath my ability to bullpoop to Anusha, my art skills to Fran, all my love and ten corgis to Erica, a poop pie to Sam, saturday schools to Lam, a ring to Rebecca, and love to everyone else I forgot; I did this really late!!! I, Jeffery Chang, bequeath all my love and peaches to Kelly Shi. I, Jeffrey Chen, bequeath the reins of MSJTV to Sriya Maram and Shubha Swamy, my love for music to MSJ Band, and all the wishes of success to my brother, Kevin Chen.
Friday, June 6, 2014
I, Jennifer Chao, bequeath my clothes, special “studying” habits, and my comfy sweater for sleeping in class to Samantha Lin. I, Jennifer Yin, bequeath my diligence, patience, and luck to Jason Yin, my logic and reasoning to Zita Alamparambil and Chloe Wei, and my college app writing abilities to Renee Yen. I, Jeremy Mak, bequeath my AP books to Samuel Liu, my SAT books to Benson Chyr, and my old textbooks to Ivy Chan. I also bequeath my Senioritis to Daniel Jean and my constant stress to Katrina Cherk. My apathy goes to Howard and my leftover muscles to Jeffery Chen. I, Jerry Wu, bequeath the unofficial headcoachship of MSJE Mathcounts upon Alvin Kao and the mandate to blind-flip upon Erich Zhao. I, Jimmy Lau Jr., bequeath Annie and Heather more pho dates to come, Kush Patel my 3-0 playlist, Stephanie Lee my decisiveness, Zach and Andrew luck for the next two years, and as official honorary member of TP, I bequeath its booty talent to Hagrid’s Hut. I, Jin Peng, bequeath the Smoke Signal’s poppin’ new backroom crib to Laura Chen and Tingting Bi, the glory of Google Drive to Melody Song, all of my affection to Dustin Chiang, none of my sass to Mansi Shah, and my sandwich to the brave soul who stole my lunchbox. I, Jon Kan, bequeath Leslie Cruz my love of food, and Sharan Singh my biceps. I, Jonathan Chew, bequeath the MSJ tennis team to Alex Lam, Ryan Chiang, and Jonathan Chen. I, Jonathan Lu, bequeath MASTRFL to Julian, my 120 decibel voice to Brian, Allen, and Tony, sanity to Jessika, my workouts to Wilson, manliness to Yoon, Minji, Lydia, and Mavis, awkwardness to Lara, Centerville to Abirami, and car-dodging skills to Andy and Louis. I, Joshua Lu, bequeath Lesley Lu, Cari Gan, Rebecca Wu, Lara Khamisy, Kevin Tang, Kyle Liang, and Joshua Chao all the study guides, prep books, and homework help that they may ever de-
PHOTOS BY STAFF WRITERS ANAND BALAJI, JACINTA CHANG, KEVIN CHEN, TIFFANY HUANG, APOORVA RAJANALA & ABIGAIL WONG, LAYOUT BY STAFF WRITERS KEVIN CHEN & LILLIAN
16 Centerspread
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UC BERKELEY (20) Arshi Aggarwal Lewis Chen Aditya Chopra Alankrita Dayal Arnav Gautam Melissa Huang Connie Kim Rachel Lai Kelsey Lam Alton Lin Clay Shieh Neil Shieh Sanjay Sreekumar Nisha Subramanian Anjali Suresh Brijen Thananjeyan Warren Tian Kevin Wu Peter Xu Christopher Zhang
UC DAVIS (31) Zain Budhwani Jacinda Chan Selena Chen Andrew Chin Joanne Chin Natalie DeForest Karishma Harry Louisa Hua Taylor Jang Emily Kao Priya Khoot Helena Kim Sonia Krishna Jee-Ho Lee Stephen Ling Sarah Liu Aaron Lui Joyce Luk
Michelle Mao Riyaz Merchant Christie Neo Michelle Paek Sushil Ravoori Suhail Sidhu Jocelyn Tanaka Sarosh Vachha Stephen Wang Zaw Win Brian Wu Susan Young Michelle Zhu
The Smoke Signal
Albert Wang
UC MERCED (3) Samie Azad Jeremy Mak Xiaosong Tang
UC RIVERSIDE (19)
Sunny Chen Kody Cheung Aaron J. Ching Tiffany Chou Linpu Gao Laura Marsh Tony Phan Vaibhav Sarma Julia Shih Julian Tuminaro Nathan Wang Shirby Wang
Krishna Bhalodia Taylor Che Brian Cheng Nancy Gao Triveni Gore Basava Jonnala Jonathan Kan Cindy Lee Katie Lee Rachel Leung Katelyn Liu Akash Pelala Vamsi Sanagala Sunaina Santhiveeran Andrew Scott Mohammed Shaikh Jagvir Tamber Satkaran Tamber Andre Wang
UC LOS ANGELES (13)
UC SAN DIEGO (34)
UC IRVINE (12)
Kushal Chatterjee Alexander Chen Jeffrey Chen Joshua Ho Karishma Laungani Richard Liang Benjamin Lin Liang Yen Liu Sara Lo Victoria Ng Terri Shih Emerald Swei
Friday, June 6, 2014
Carlos Gee Cynthia Jiang David Kim Karthik Kribakaran Jimmy Lau Colin Liu Tarush Mohanti Yash Pal Rey Tang Tiffany Wong Alexander Wu Nathan Wu Joseph Yang Zexi Yang Supriya Yelimeli
Rahotham Bharanidharan Jerry Chang Crystal Cheng Jonathan Chew Alex Hancock Esan Hassanzadeh Tej Kalakuntla Anjali Kanthilal Abraham Kong Curtis Lee Pranav Lodha Aiden McClelland Haroon Syed Lilian Yao Austin Yen Shuai Zhu
AMERICAN UNIVERSITY (1) Nina Krishnan
Andrea Brandle
BANGOR UNIVERSITY (1)
HARVARD UNIVERSITY (2)
Beth Scrutton
BENTLEY UNIVERSITY (1)
CAL POLY POMONA (3) Zhengdong Hou Shehzad Serang Yik Hin Wong
CAL POLY SAN LUIS OBISPO (9) Alexander Chamberlain Stephanie Chin Meridith Hirsch Kimberly Kwong Sabrina Leung Juliana McCuaig Katherine Peterson Boris Tam Salonee Thanawala
CSU SAN MARCOS (1) Daniel Dueñas
DE ANZA COLLEGE (3) Bontu Gobena Michael Korotin Joseph Vu
EX’PRESSION COLLEGE FOR DIGITAL ARTS (1)
Alexis Gaines
FOOTHILL COLLEGE (3) Asia Koliner Anvitha Pillati Caroline Whitney
CALIFORNIA COLLEGE OF THE ARTS (1)
FRESNO STATE (1)
Gurleen Gill
Andrisa Randall
CALIFORNIA INSTITUTE OF TECHNOL-
LANEY COLLEGE (1)
OGY (1)
Charlie Tong
CALIFORNIA INSTITUTE OF THE ARTS
Ryan Walleman
LOYOLA MARYMOUNT UNIVERSITY (4)
Jessica Zhang
Stephen Kania Ivonne Kwan Kha Lu Edward Njoo
CHAPMAN UNIVERSITY (1)
OCCIDENTAL COLLEGE (3)
(1)
Hannah Lee
CHABOT COLLEGE (1) Zeki Yasar
CSU EAST BAY (5) Annie Chen Preston Chen Punya Gill Neilan Mehta Sindhuja Merugu
CSU LONG BEACH (1) Kathleen Nguyen
CSU MONTEREY BAY (1) Nikki Edmiston
CSU SACRAMENTO (1) Erin Cochran
Leah Feuerman Ryan Henderson Naomi Jeulin Hong
OHLONE COLLEGE (28) Reshad Arash Mark Asuncion Brooke Bowling Bruce Cao Julie Chau Rachel Grade Amy Hoffman Megan Jose Medina Kohzad Wayne Kuo Brent Lee Allie Medeiros Yi Chun Mu Melissa Ng Rachael Platt Michael Rosten Humza Siddiqui Kathryn Smith Hilay Wardak
Osaiy Wardak Lea Woodward Yanhe Wu Deyi Xie Mengru Xu Christopher Yan Hamed Yazd Meng Xin Zhang Paul Zupp
POINT LOMA NAZARENE UNIVERSITY (1) Kiley Tchang
POMONA COLLEGE (1) Alex Nguyen
SAN DIEGO STATE UNIVERSITY (2) Marisa Harris Connie Wong
SAN FRANCISCO STATE UNIVERSITY (6)
Calvin Chen Wan Xin Chen Celeste Francisco Mugdha Kulkarni Amber Ma Kayla Santo
SAN JOSE STATE UNIVERSITY (18) Paul Borgzinner Kelly Burns Jeffery Chang Chirag Chaudhari Nicholas Gadjali Vishal Gajjar Steve Go David Hu Ananya Kumar Aditya Mandyam Bryan McKernon Ibrahim Moinuddin Jacob Pingue Vishaal Prasad Ishita Shah Andy Thai ZiYang Wang Jessica Wu
SANTA BARBARA CITY COLLEGE (1) Andrea Ayad
SANTA CLARA UNIVERSITY (6) Nicholas Fong
Catherine Kang Catherine Lo Hayden Shieh Lindsay Taylor Jennifer Yin
ST. MARY’S COLLEGE (1) Cecilia Leng
STANFORD UNIVERSITY (2) Grace Wu Anna Zeng
THE ART INSTITUTE OF CALIFORNIA LOS ANGELES (1) Ru Sia
UNIVERSITY OF SAN DIEGO (3)
Vincent Tu
BOSTON UNIVERSITY (5) Lawrence Luo Gavin Poon Abhinav Prasad Shriya Reddy Veronica Zhang
NIA (3)
Eric Deng Milan Goyal Amy Xia
WHITTIER COLLEGE (1) Peter Kurrell
KASTURBA MEDICAL COLLEGE, MANGALORE (1) Akaash Nayak
MACALESTER COLLEGE (1) Sohini Ghosh
BROWN UNIVERSITY (1)
MASSACHUSETTS INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY (4)
Joshua Lu
BRYN MAWR COLLEGE (1) Tiffany Wang
CARNEGIE MELLON UNIVERSITY (7)
UNIVERSITY OF SOUTHERN CALIFOR-
Swaraj Patankar
Jonathan Chen
UNIVERSITY OF SAN FRANCISCO (11)
Vasundhara Acharya Mitchell Chang Young Chen Albert Hung Charlie Lin Juston Lin Amanda Lo Alexander Xu
INDIANA UNIVERSITY BLOOMINGTON (1)
Joseph Shih
CARLETON COLLEGE (1)
UNIVERSITY OF THE PACIFIC (8)
Raghu V. Dhara Zongning Zhang
MARYLAND INSTITUTE COLLEGE OF BRIGHAM YOUNG UNIVERSITY (2) ART (1) China Lau
Terence Hu Emerald Luh Monika Siu
Anna Chen Isabella Gow Simran Gulati Dana Gurion Shagun Kaza Vanikaa Keswani Ashley Lin Arti Patel Christopher Vu Aaron Wong Christopher Wu
GEORGIA INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY (3) William Hsu Janet Liang Kunaal Naik
ARIZONA STATE UNIVERSITY (1)
Rao Vinnakota
Annetta Wong
Centerspread 17
UC SANTA CRUZ (16)
BARD COLLEGE (1)
CAL MARITIME ACADEMY (1)
www.thesmokesignal.org
The Smoke Signal
Anish Kannan Darren Li Edward Li Hu-An Lin Dennis Liu Rishabh Malhotra Angie Meng Trisha Nguyen Joyce Qiao Aamir Rasheed Mihir Sathe Guhan Sundar Varun Suresh Lily Tang Yu Chien Tang Krushi Vemula Karan Wadhera Timothy Wang Jason E. Wu Young Jin Yun George Zhang Jason Zhao Luping Zhao
UC SANTA BARBARA (15)
Siddhant Ambulkar Sahil Bansal Satwik Bebortha Katherine Chang Angela Chen Peter Chew Flora Fang James Fu Sylvia Gong Ishan Goyal Crystal Jiao
Friday, June 6, 2014
Janis Lee
Mark Cho Christie Chong Aishwarya Guda Hao Nan Guan Divya Mohan Amal Nanavati Bryan Yan
CASE WESTERN RESERVE UNIVERSITY (2) Alicia Chang Aesha Rajan
COLUMBIA UNIVERSITY (3) Zishuo Li Jin Peng Kasey Yu
Amy Huang Aaron Lin Jerry Wu Kerrie Wu
MCGILL UNIVERSITY (1) Anjuli Sandhu
MONTANA STATE UNIVERSITY (1) Sarah Mueller
MOUNT HOLYOKE COLLEGE (1) Irisa Lee
NEW YORK UNIVERSITY (5) Betty Bei Sana Kalyanpur Justin Lo Angel Lu Shayaan Saiyed
NORTHEASTERN UNIVERSITY (2) Kevin Fan Cathy Tripp
CORNELL UNIVERSITY (4)
NORTHWESTERN UNIVERSITY (2)
CREIGHTON UNIVERSITY (1)
PARSONS THE NEW SCHOOL FOR DESIGN (1)
Ashley Hsu Louis Leung David Ma Jason F. Wu
Minhtuan Ngo
DREXEL UNIVERSITY (1) Yoshita Suthar
EMORY UNIVERSITY (2) Mandy Chan Ayushi Sharma
Zer Keen Chia Caleb Han
Emily Chan
PENNSYLVANIA STATE UNIVERSITY (4) Brian Hong Sonia Prasad Neel Sharma Neal Vasan
PRESENTATION COLLEGE (2) Zavier Cabral-Artero Ben Torrez
PRINCETON UNIVERSITY (4)
UNIVERSITY OF MICHIGAN ANN ARBOR (2) Dora Li Vaishnavi Raman
Jonathan Lu Tammy Tseng Lindy Zeng Patrick Zeng
UNIVERSITY OF MINNESOTA (1)
PURDUE UNIVERSITY (5)
Calyne Maria Lewis Ariana Monges
Arjun Banerjee Vincent Jiang Charlie Su Joanna Wu Rachel Yeung
RINGLING COLLEGE OF ANIMATION (1) Sagar Arun
RUTGERS UNIVERSITY (1) Arthur Kwong
SCHOOL OF THE ART INSTITUTE OF CHICAGO (1)
Tiffany Yang
UNIVERSITY OF NEVADA RENO (2) UNIVERSITY OF PENNSYLVANIA (3) Krishna Bharathala Ryan Chen Vivian Jair
UNIVERSITY OF PORTLAND (1) Nathan Nusaputra
UNIVERSITY OF TEXAS-AUSTIN (1) Hannah Shih
UNIVERSITY OF WASHINGTON SEATTLE (8)
Shivani Patel
Jordan Allred Jonathan Lam Feiyao Li Kevin Li Vikas Peddu Michael Sui Sylas Sun Daniel Zhu
TOKYO INTERNATIONAL UNIVERSITY (1)
UNIVERSITY OF WISCONSIN-MADISON (1)
TRINITY COLLEGE (1)
WASHINGTON STATE UNIVERSITY (1)
Kristina Wong
SYRACUSE UNIVERSITY (1) Nomaan Chandiwalla
TEXAS A & M (1)
Miyako Vasquez
Peter Dentinger
TULANE UNIVERSITY (1) Praveena Fernes
UNION COLLEGE (1)
Doen Lee
Austin Lee
WELLESLEY COLLEGE (2)
Sarah Chang
Genevieve Huang Aaroshi Sahgal
UNIVERSITY OF HAWAII (1)
YALE UNIVERSITY (1)
UNIVERSITY OF ILLINOIS URBANA-CHAMPAIGN (12)
US AIR FORCE (1)
Catherine Chao
Sonia Wang
Brandon P. Trang
Dinaz Bamji Omar Choudhry Nimay Desai Danica Fong Andy Lai Young Li Michael Lin Ronak Modi Mason Qian Abhinav Shah Renee Tso Howard Yang
UNIVERSITY OF MASSACHUSETTS AMHERST (1) Tarika Srinivasan
compiled by staff writers tanvi raja, nithya rajeev, andrea tam, hanson wang, lillian zhao & madeline zheng. layout by centerspread editors tingting bi & lindy zeng and staff writers katrina cherk & vivian liu
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sire. Also, Davy. I, Joyce Qiao, bequeath Catherine Hou ACPA senior status, Florrie Li hugs and music sheets, Lesley Lu my job <3, and Hannah Folk the burden of Mc Chinese folk hahahahah. WILL MISS YOU ALL and I’m sorry if I forgot important people because I wrote this in five minutes. I, Justin Kou, bequeath the powers of Anime Club to Jacinda Ni, Alex Lee, Hisham Malik and my other children. I bequeath my weird to the 3 kids that rock, Justin Seo, Ricky Chu, and Jason Stiltz. I, Kasi Manikumar, bequeath my rhymes to DaRealShane, my luck to Keshav, my gains to Avi, and my manlihood to Samir. I, Katelyn Liu, bequeath my “superior” parking skills and love of people to my little one Annie Lee, my unburnt marshmallows to my littlest one Heather Wang, and microwaveable cup noodles to Aditi “Harfish” and Tracy Mao. I, Kathleen Nguyen, bequeath my water polo arm to Catherine Ha so her shot can have twice the strength that it has now. I, Kenny Win, bequeath all my tofus to Harrison Chu. I, Kerrie Wu, bequeath the Smoke Signal news knighthood to Michael Hsiu and Tiffany Huang, MSJTV journalism to Alice Cheng and Shefali Sastry, Scioly to Nathan Fong and Catherine Hou, epoxy memories to Lara Khamisy, senioritis+PE to Nancy Xu, and derpy funtimes to Tiffany Wong, Taruna Neelakantan, and Shradha Menghrajani! I, Kevin Chan, bequeath my hugs and late night drives to Alan Chuang, my awesome PAD skills to Gary Zeng, my gorgeous derp face to Lydia Li and Jordy Supandi, my GREAT studying habits to Angela Zhang and Anna Tang, and my love and baddy skillz to the badminton team! I, Kevin Li, bequeath Kush Patel my position of Tech Head, Arvindh Natarajan my ‘Ignorant Function’ playlist, Mansi Shah my sense of humor, Alisha Matharu my sense of sarcasm, and my sister Tiffany Li all my lectures and warnings about potential
The Smoke Signal
boyfriends. I, Kiley Tchang, bequeath my amazing water polo skills and love to Aditi Harish, who will be on Varsity next year <3 To my dear friend, Anastasia, I bequeath both sass and beauty, both of which she doesn’t need, cause she’s perfect. To Marilyn, I bequeath love. To Jenn Dutra, I bequeath nothing, because I hate her sassy guts so much <3 I, Kimberly Kwong, bequeath my derpiness to Max Wu, wisdom of MSJ to Arthur Kwong (c/o 2018), and my HWD/quirkiness in badminton practices and games to Jeffrey “Eric” Wang, Kevin Nguyen, Wesley Gong, Jessica Cao, and Kelly Shi. I, Krishna Bharathala, bequeath Academic Challenge to the newly appointed officers Hemang, Kelvin, Peter, Melissa, Karthik, Brian, Damon, and Alvin, my love for marching band to my freshmen Vivasvan and Alex, my QuizBowl frauding to skills to Karthik, and 5151 Infinity Robotics to Sayan, Karan, and Jeffrey. Best of Luck! I, Kristina Wong, bequeath Monica Kraft’s love for me to Heather Wang, my HBIC Tinikling position to Adam Schaps and Annie Lee, and my passion for guard to Sherlene Hung and Ada La. And my ability to escape dress coding to all my females. I, Kushal Chatterjee, bequeath my unceasing condescension, sarcasm, and ability to concoct ridiculous analysis of literary works from nowhere to my amigos de Espanol, Tejas Bharadwaj, Justin Sun, Bill Cai, and Bryan Chang. I, Lindy Zeng, bequeath moon papayas to Mavis Zeng, iKnit to Yoon Lee, the lind to Lydia Chew, Minji Koo, and Akila Nallappan, fizzy izzys to Lizzy Hu, nose-spoon-balancing to Nicholas Cai, Centerspread to Katrina Cherk and Vivian Liu, swag legacy and sugarcubes to Tingting Bi, and carry skills to Luke Wang. I, Louis Leung, bequeath HAKEEM, ROSE + DANMAN FOREVER, JESSICA, DACO. lovis lovis lovis kelsy will u go 2 prom with me I, Louisa Hua, bequeath a 2x2 square feet plot of land to Peasant
Friday, June 6, 2014
Wu, my Pokemon mastery (!!!) to Willie, my “I feel fine, all of the time”’s to Sam, Team 4 to Josh, Courtney, and Sage, and my eternal love to Aimee and Zixin. Friends good luck!! I, Marisa Harris, bequeath #cheersistersarerealsisters to Jiti and Tarj, creepy winks to baby Shiv, and finally being a real senior to Nini. I, Mark Cho, bequeath the power of the apples to my boy TC, all the violas and orchestra freshmen to Damon, and the legacy of the Pink Fruffy Unicorns to Advaith and David. You guys got this. I, Mason Qian, bequeath my abnormally sized butt to Andrew Chang, my love to all the officers of next year, my glasses to Joani Wong (what....), and all my complaints about being hungry to Hairol Ma. I, Master Fong, bequeath. I, Megan Jose bequeath homecoming/ multicultural tahitian to Jason Wong. I, Melissa Huang, bequeath a happy senior year and many exciting adventures to John Tu, Sanaea Kakalia, Palak Goel, Brian Ng, and Jerome Sun. Also, I wish Natalie Sin the best of luck with the rest of high school and dance! I, Melissa Ng, bequeath my polo steals to Jamie Ng, the kickouts that I was never called on to Cat Ha, my endurance to Hesper Wu and Amber Chiang, and my head-up freestyle to the polo team. I, Meridith Hirsch, bequeath my leadership and teaching skills to Emily Rotter and my ability to work through a bad round or celebrate because of a good round to the girls golf team. I, Mugdha Kulkarni, bequeath Lady in Ted to Jelena Lee and Take the A Train to Damon Pham. Good luck in future, my kiddly beans! I, Naomi Hong, bequeath Sean Li Mission’s kawaii Japanese club, Sandhya Chari all my life skills, and Arthur Wang an A+ in chemistry. I, Natalie DeForest, bequeath my dance sweat sisters: Cari,
PHOTOS BY STAFF WRITERS ANAND BALAJI, JACINTA CHANG, KEVIN CHEN, TIFFANY HUANG, APOORVA RAJANALA & ABIGAIL WONG, LAYOUT BY STAFF WRITERS KEVIN CHEN & LILLIAN
Friday, June 6, 2014
The Smoke Signal
Claire, Jessica, and Natalie, lots of swag and many fun times. To AJ and Jessica, the rooting reflex; to Natalie Sin, Nat^2 pride; to the tennis team, endless wipeout games and froyo runs; and to my Youth Alive family, many blessings. I, Nathan Nusaputra, bequeath my swimming skills to Albert Tran, Evan Nusaputra, And James Chong, my height to Samir Panjwani, my normality to Melissa Cai, my finance skills to Zuhayer and my friendship to Adrienne Peng. I, Nathan Wang, bequeath to Brian Ng and Andrew Liu my BD, to Andrew Kim my brother, and to Zachary Wang everything that I don’t take to college. I, Neal Vasan, bequeath my swoleness to my sister, my clothes and shoes to Rohan Nair and Greg Pham, and everything else to Sharan Singh. I, Nina Krishnan, bequeath my impeccable driving abilities to Avi Banerjee and Ilanji Rajamanickam, my entrepreneurial shadiness to Kush Patel and Samir Panjwani, my JSA enthusiasm to Harman, Ryen, Suveena, my award-winning DECA skillls to Keshav Rao and Rohan Nair, and my Smoke Signal News Editor position to Michael Hsiu and Tiffany Huang. I, Paul Zupp, bequeath all of my laziness and sugoiness to the Japanese 3 class of next year. And finally, to Anneke Wustenhoff and Raiha Ghatala, all of my abnormalities to survive this next year, you’ll need it without me around. I, Peter Chew, bequeath my questionable study habits and high school struggles to Dominic Melville, Andy Lai, and Rustie Lin. I, Peter Xu, bequeath the fabulous A&E section to my talented successors, Melissa Peng and Andrea Tam; may the two of you do great things. To Sayan Ghosh, Jeffrey Ni, and Karan Sharma, I leave them Team 5151 Infinity in the hopes that they’ll go farther than we ever have. I, Pranav Lodha, bequeath my brother Roshan my spot on the Boys Tennis team. I, Ram Sethi, bequeath the MSJ Boys’ Tennis Team for having the
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most astonishing past few seasons ever; my passion for Key Club and my favorite freshie, Fendy (Fendz) and of course the coolest guy in the world Chaz and lastly to mah boi Zack Larsen for being a great leader for the Class of 2014. I, Rao “Eswar” Vinnakota, bequeath the plate and all it’s responsibilities to Spoorthy Vemula, talking crap to Hanson Wang, and that all around swag to every junior I know. I, Rey Tang, bequeath my looks to Benson Chyr and my Chicken Tikka Masala to Katherine Tsay. I, Richard Liang, bequeath my bow breaking technique and the spirit of Das Cello to Aimee Xu, Sarah Chong, macklim8, and the rest of the illustrious cello section, and also the goodness of beef fried noodles and hope for humanity to my lovely VAMS officers. I, Rishi Malhot, bequeath my swag to Tron Swagkumar, happiness to Steven Wang, manliness to Jimmy Qian, track career to Amin Khan, good looks to Muizz Jivani, intellect to Arjun Umashankker, sadness to Nishant Nayak, love to Sunny Pasumarthi, and finally, my frisbee skills to Tejas Kaladi. I, Roselin Yao, bequeath my passion for service to all the Key Club officers of 2014-2015, my sense of humor to Arsalon Pirzada, my leadership skills to Sierra Lou, my “math” knowledge to Rachel Suk, my sass to Nick Wu, my SAT books to Caitlin Chan,my great-ness to Yoon Lee, and my passion for publicity/ Key to Brian Wu! I, Ru Sia, bequeath my fabulous humor and sarcastic remarks to Sherlene Hung and Ada La, my performing skills to my secret sisters--Julie Wang and Anjali Joseph, and my voice to Joycie Pi. Also, a watermelon for my one and only, Andrew Kim. Everything else, I bequeath to my lil’ brobro. Love you all! I, Ryan Chen, bequeath one of my seven duckies, my senioritis, and a pair of fuzzy pants to Dominique Huang. I, Ryan Henderson, bequeath Vincent Ding my basketball handles, Zuhayer my swag, Justin Han my starting spot, Austin King my hops, Cade Nauman my smarts and good looks, Yvonne
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Chen my amazing personality, Deborah my Spanish skills, and Jeffrey Chen my height. Good luck to my basketball and baseball juniors next year! I, Ryan Ribar, bequeath my collection of selfies to Julian, my style to Chaz and my accent to all those from Alice. And to Divya (Pad), a great prom night. Bestie <3 I, Salonee Thanawala, bequeath pink shirt white shirt, love for Zack Morris, and my room! to Suveena Thanawala, my love for chips, dip and salsa and Jack to Neha Shah, and my love for sharks and punk-pop music to Simren Kaur. I, Sanjay Sreekumar, bequeath the “sriracha” Opinion Section to Alice Cheng and Catherine Wang, the MSJ Debate team to Anand Balaji, Rebecca Hong, Shivane Sabharwal, and Paras Shah, my DI skills to Sanil Gupta and Palak Goel, and my swag to my favorite debaters. I, Sara Lo, bequeath my flexibility and calves to Kathy Liu and Samantha Lin, my Interact love and sass to Lillian Zhao, Apoorva Rajanala, Urmi Mustafi, and Pooja Nair, and my baking skills and sense of humor to Kelvin Zhang. I, Sarah Chang, bequeath Gregory Pham my Starbucks addiction and daily Starbucks runs, my yearbook staff the best of luck, and Amber Chen all my love and “EVERYTHING!!!” I, Sarah Mueller, bequeath the execution of Mysteree 2015 to Cara, Cristen, and Christina, my APES gratitude to Lydia, Adrienne, and Claudia, and the representation of Two Sentinels at Mission to Julia. I, Satwik Bebortha, bequeath my swag to Andrew Chang, Justin Sun, and Mansi Shah, chillness to Kush Patel and Austin King, beard growing powers to Sagar Samantarai, cuteness to Nishant Nayak and Sougat Pradhan, and girl power to Vayum Arora. I, Shirby Wang, bequeath many seasons of immaturity and laughter to the XC and track team, a new bike to John Wang and to Kevin Chen and Lillian Zhao our precious Smokie Photo and a photogenic year to come!
PHOTOS BY STAFF WRITERS ANAND BALAJI, JACINTA CHANG, KEVIN CHEN, TIFFANY HUANG, APOORVA RAJANALA & ABIGAIL WONG, LAYOUT BY STAFF WRITERS KEVIN CHEN & LILLIAN
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I, Sid Ambulkar, bequeath my charming good looks and study habits to my brother Tanish and my swag to the most ghetto person I know, M-A-Double T. I, Simran Gulati, bequeath my sassiness to Amrin Khurana, my late night driving privileges to Maya Krishnan and Sanaea Kakalia, my fashion sense to Yash Bisen, and all my pyaar to my jaan Alisha Matharu. I, Sonia Wang, bequeath MSJ LIVERight to Tiffany Huang and her awesome team of officers next year. I, Stephanie Chin, bequeath my sister, Jennifer, Harvey and the right to take him out to lunch whenever she so desires. I bequeath the gym team my love and hopefully a fifth consecutive MVALs championship, and I bequeath the future Events committee the rights to the awesomest committee in L2 (and hopefully a great event)! I, Sunaina Santhiveeran, bequeath my darling freshie neighbor my ability to binge-watch while cramming- ahem- studying for finals. I also bequeath the rest of the younglings I know my horrible humor and “sparkling” sarcasm. You’ll need it to survive the next four years… Seriously though, have fun and stay caffeinated! LLAP!! I, Sunny Chen, bequeath my driving skills to Mina Afnan, my tall people problems to Rose Chang and Cari Gan, my brain and my ability to concentrate to Arthur Lin, my extra hours of sleep to Natalie Sin, and all my love and humor to the rest of my underclassmen. I, Supriya Yelimeli, bequeath Anu Asokan and Alice Cheng my sass, Catherine Wang my irrational fear of the Speech email account, Laura Chen my knowledge of all questionable topics, and Claire Dobyns my Speech family and all the happiness it has brought me. Good luck little ones! I, Sylvia Gong, bequeath my amazing spelling skills to all the kouhai-tachis I’ve become senpai to over all these years. My sparkles, magical knowledge, and occasional odd mind I give to
The Smoke Signal
the potato posse. I leave motivation to the brother who probably won’t read this, and some others who need it. Last of all, my cheesy sentimentality go to all of you who will cringe from taking it. Accept it. I, Tammy Tseng, bequeath my charm and good looks to Roy Lo and Kelvin Zhang, the glorious A&E section to Melissa Peng and Andrea Tam, my presidential swag to Dustin Chiang, and the MSJ Tseng legacy to Brian Tseng. I, Taylor Jang, bequeath obscure Spongebob quotes to Elizabeth Hu. I, Tiffany Chou, bequeath my love for leadership as past class/ ASB treasurer to Brian Chou, my passion in attending school to Arthur Lin and Samantha Lin, the future student body and L2 class to Dustin Chiang, and my charm and beautiful faces to Tiffany Chang. I, Tiffany Wang, bequeath Jenni Lin with my senpai level, Christina Guan with my photoshop powers, and Jennifer Lau with the booty. Use these well. I’ll miss you guys. <3 To Arthur Wang, my brother, I bequeath some of my height because he needs to grow taller. I, Trisha Nguyen, bequeath Youth Alive to my freshmen and juniors Lucille, Josh, Derek, Claudia, Aaron, and Daniel, I love you all so much. I also bequeath my door handle to my favorite sophomores Parry, Sonya, Vanessa, Chaz, Jamin, Shashank, Spencer, and Aimee. I, Triveni Gore, bequeath all my stupidity and brilliance to Hetav Gore in hopes that he continues the Gore legacy. I also bequeath all my application hard work to Vivek Calambur and Raghav Chari in hopes that they will make good use of it. I bequeath my awesome dance skills to Ritika Ravi and all of my good times to the junior class. May you have the best senioritis ever! I, Vanikaa Keswani, bequeath all my patience and charm;) to Vineet Advani so you can handle the crazy family friend parties after I’m gone :D and my “senioritis” and amazing math and
Friday, June 6, 2014
driving skills to Lillian Dong. Have fun and enjoy the rest of your MSJ years, love you guys!:) I, Victoria Ng, bequeath my height to Sean, my paleness to Mavis, my healthy knee to Lizzy, my voice to Lillian, my sleep to Akila, all my love to the cross country and track teams, and my dead skin cells to the dust mites inhabiting our school campus. I, Vivian Jair, bequeath my Photoshop adventures and Feature throne to the Sun Katie and Rein Megan. Best of luck to my incoming officers of Phoenix (especially Xinxin and Valerie) and Writer’s Block (Alex, Catherine, Michael, Derek, and Kylie). To Tiffany Huang I leave my struggle Snapchats and pineapples, and to my brother Eric my video games and lots of love! I, Yoshita Suthar, bequeath my Bollywood sass and garba attitude to Tulika, Nitya, and Ria, my relay for life spirit to Tanvi, and my oh so amazing charm to my brother, Rudrik. I, Zer Keen Chia, bequeath my love for Mrs. Ha to Roy Lo, my love for Leadership 2 to Andrew Chang, my Wildcat prowess to Brian Ng, Anuj Desai, and Jerome Sun, Team 5151 to the freshmen and most importantly, my sass to ASB President Dustin Chiang. I, Zexi Yang, bequeath my kicking skills to Austin Whaley, devilish good looks to Chris Ha and Albert Tran, ability to be Team Leader to Ariana Chen, height to Adrienne Peng and James Chong, and all of my water pistols to the freshmen varsity swim team boys... and Jeffrey Chen. I, ZiZi Zhang, bequeath my plethora of AP/SAT books to my beloved sister, Emeri Zhang. Best of luck in your future endeavors, and always remember that you are fabulous. EZxZZSwag PCE We, the senior flautists (Jason Wu, Janet Liang, Annetta Wong, and Kunaal Naik), bequeath the underclassmen flautists our lyres, in hopes they will follow our footsteps in committing to the life-altering experience that is four years of band and bequeath the junior flautists the responsibility of leading them! :D
PHOTOS BY STAFF WRITERS ANAND BALAJI, JACINTA CHANG, KEVIN CHEN, TIFFANY HUANG, APOORVA RAJANALA & ABIGAIL WONG, LAYOUT BY STAFF WRITERS KEVIN CHEN & LILLIAN
22 Arts & Entertainment
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The Smoke Signal
Friday, June 6, 2014
SUMMER UPDATES CALENDAR By Alice Cheng, Grace Dong & Peter Qiu Staff Writers
June SANTANA ROW
7-8
Santana Row’s sixth annual summer fashion event will feature two exclusive runway shows with the season’s best fashions at 1PM and 4PM on June 7.
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x ED SHEERAN
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TRANSFORMERS 4: AGE OF EXTINCTION PG-13
ALAMEDA COUNTY FAIR At the Alameda County Fairgrounds in Pleasanton, the Alameda County Fair will include horse racing/betting, competitions, concerts, and amusement park attractions.
UNION STREET. SF The 38th Annual Union Street Festival will feature many booths for arts and crafts, food, and community. The festival stretches through six blocks with unique themes such as Fashion, Culinary, and Tech.
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6/18-7/6
JULY DAWN OF THE PLANET OF THE APES Not Yet Rated
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U.S. AIR GUITAR CHAMPIONSHIPS
FUTUROLOGY Manic Street Preachers The Manic Street Preachers, an alternative rock band, is scheduled to release its twelfth album on July 7. Songs include “Walk me to the Bridge” and “Divine Youth.”
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11
25-27
HERCULES PG-13
Watch contestants compete in the semi-final competition for air guitar in San Francisco. Champions will go to Finland to compete for the world title.
GILROY GARLIC FESTIVAL Held annually on the last weekend of July, the Gilroy Garlic Festival is one of the largest food festivals in the nation. The celebration features a garlic cook-off and fun for the whole family.
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AUGUST 1
FREMONT FESTIVAL OF THE ARTS
GUARDIANS OF THE GALAXY PG-13
2-3
The Fremont Festival of Arts is completely free and will feature hundreds of artisan booths, multiple music concerts, and a wide variety of culinary delights perfect for family fun.
CHECK ONLINE FOR MORE STORIES Visit us at THESMOKESIGNAL.ORG
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PAUL MCCARTNEY AT CANDLESTICK PARK
NEON FUTURE
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Steve Aoki
The 49ers are moving out of Candlestick Park this year, and Paul McCartney has confirmed to be performing as part of a send off show. The Beatles last played in Candlestick Park in 1966.
4 ALBUMS ON AN ISLAND Find out which four albums faculty would bring with them to a stranded island.
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STERN GROVE FESTIVAL
THE EXPENDABLES 3 R
6/22-8/24
The Stern Grove Festival is a free performing arts festival held near the Golden Gate Park, and it will run intermittently from June 22 to August 24.
RESTAURANT REVIEW Check out our Editorial Board restaurant review of Falafel, etc.
cbslocal.com, craftcouncil.org, deviantart.com, eweb4.com, fanpop.com, filmonic.com, flickr.com, gigwise.com, imdb.com, jamesfike.com, josepvinaixa.com, mixmag.net, openroadtv.com, sanjose.com, wordpress.com, layout by a&e editors tammy tseng & peter xu, staff writers melissa peng & andrea tam
Friday, June 6, 2014
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6/9/2014
6/23/2014
2 WEEK CRAM COURSE, Monday through Saturday, (10 am to 1 pm)
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6/10/2014
7/8/2014
Mondays 10 am to 1 pm, Tuesdays 10 am to 1 pm, Thursdays 10 am to 2 pm
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6/11/2014
7/9/2014
Mondays 10 am to 2 pm, Wednesdays 10 am to 1 pm, Fridays 10 am to 1 pm
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7/9/2014
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Mondays 10 am to 1 pm, Tuesdays 10 am to 1 pm, Thursdays 10 am to 2 pm
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7/19/2014
Saturdays 10 am to 1 pm, Sundays 10 am to 2 pm, Mondays 6 pm to 9 pm
SAT-1406136-FM
6/21/2014
8/2/2014
6 WEEK WEEKEND COURSE, Saturday 2 pm to 6 pm, Sunday 2 pm to 5 pm
SAT-1406114-FM
6/24/2014
7/22/2014
Tuesdays 10 am to 1 pm, Thursdays 10 am to 2 pm, Fridays 10 am to 1 pm
SAT-1407115-FM
6/30/2014
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Mondays 2 pm to 5 pm, Tuesdays 2 pm to 6 pm, Thursdays 2 pm to 5 pm
SAT-1407116-FM
6/30/2014
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Mondays 10 am to 1 pm, Wednesdays 10 am to 2 pm, Fridays 10 am to 1 pm
With Excel Test Prep’s help, we scored a Perfect 2400!
Austin Shin October ‘12 Connie Li
Ramola Baviskar April ‘13
Friday, June 6, 2014
The Smoke Signal
Under the Radar:
Hip Hop’s Newest Faces
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Arts & Entertainment 25
Godzilla Doesn’t Bring Down House
By Melissa Peng Staff Writer
By Sanjay Sreekumar Opinion Editor
On May 5, XXL magazine released its annual “Top Freshmen List,” a list that highlighted some of hip-hop’s top up and coming artists in 2014. Rappers who have been selected before include Kendrick Lamar, Macklemore, Lupe Fiasco, Kid Cudi, Lil B, and Schoolboy Q. The Smoke Signal has featured a couple of XXL’s most notable selections in 2014. Chance the Rapper: Probably the most established artist chosen by XXL this year, Chance the Rapper has already released two mixtapes, the second being Acid Rap, which achieved critical acclaim in 2013. Chance has a very strong relationship with Childish Gambino and has been featured on many of Gambino’s tracks in the past couple of years. Known for his whimsical rapping style, some of Chance’s best songs include “Favorite Song” and “Cocoa Butter Kisses.” Kevin Gates: Kevin Gates has made connections with some of hiphop’s biggest names over the past couple of years such as Lil Wayne, but unfortunately, like Wayne, he has spent a significant amount of time locked up in jail. Despite his “tough” exterior, Gates is known for his unique interests outside his rapping career. He’s an avid reader and his favorite novel is The Notebook by Nicholas Sparks. His song “Wylin” was featured by Rolling Stone magazine as the 40th best song in 2013. Isaiah Rashad: An artist hailing from a city not known for hip hop (Chattanooga, Tennessee), Isaiah Rashad made a splash when he signed with Top Dawg Entertainment (TDE) in 2013. His debut EP Cilvia Demo launched in January 2014 and was met with generally positive reviews by critics. Rashad has a distinct southern flow to his melody and much like his TDE counterpart Kendrick Lamar, his lyrics are introspective and focus on social issues. Rashad is currently working on a follow up to Cilvia Demo, an album that featured memorable tracks such as “Shot You Down” and “Heavenly Father.” Vic Mensa: Vic Mensa was originally a musician for Kids These Days, an indie band from Chicago, Illinois. His former band achieved moderate fame and even performed on Conan O’Brien’s show, Conan in 2012, but split up a year later once Mensa decided to focus on his solo rap career. His first mixtape Innanetape was released late 2013. ▪
xxlmag.com
Remember the Time With Xscape
By Vivian Liu Staff Writer
In Gareth Edward’s reboot Godzilla, Lieutenant Ford Brody (Aaron Taylor-Johnson) and his nuclear physicist father Joe Brody (Bryan Cranston) aim to explain isolated, eerie incidents in Janjira, Japan. The world collapses into chaos as Brody and his father discover ancient creatures awakened from dormancy by nuclear activity. To protect Earth from utter demolition, Brody and company pursue Godzilla and two massive unidentified terrestrial organisms (MUTO’s) across the world in a vicious clash between man and monster. For a typical action film with destruction and giant fiends, Godzilla is passable. The saving grace and real entertainment of Godzilla was the special effects. Bringing to life Godzilla
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and the MUTO’s in the film was no easy feat, given the fact that every monster made skyscrapers appear miniature. Yet, the film managed to animate and edit every creature into a realistic horror. From its spiked spine to its thrashing tail, Godzilla is prehistoric, intimidating, and omnipotent all at once. Any flood, fire, or other tragic circumstance caused by Godzilla or MUTO was executed with detail and thought. The film also did not neglect the sound department. Every roar was chilling and well crafted. The cinematography also impresses whether it’s in the middle of an action sequence or a tense moment. While Godzilla was a stunning piece for our eyes and ears, complete with apocalyptic devastation and piercing cries, the plot and execution of the storyline was not
as phenomenal. The plot is nothing particularly convoluted, but moves quickly and jumps around from city to city. One moment you’re in the Philippines of 1999 and the next you’re in present-day San Francisco with the focus set on the next generation. Additionally, while some characters like Joe Brody are fleshed out and acted well, others like Ford Brody’s wife Elle (Elizabeth Olsen), barely add any substance at all to the movie. For all its pitfalls, Godzilla has adequate redeeming factors. Godzilla isn’t necessarily the go-to film for people looking for a deeper theme or message, but it is a decent film for families and friends prepared for a relentless and intense onslaught of special effects. ▪ Rating: B-
Maleficent Snoozes
By Tingting Bi & Hairol Ma Centerspread Editor & Staff Writer
If Maleficent applied to The Institute of Evil Villains, her personal sob story would guarantee admission faster than the coma-like death induced by a prick of the needle. With exquisite visuals and stunning musical accompaniment, Disney’s Maleficent adds a twist to the classic fairytale Sleeping Beauty. Maleficent humanizes the famous horned villain by unveiling the painful history between our misunderstood protagonist and the jerk of a king Stefan (Sharlto Copley). Disillusioned by the facade of true love, Maleficent (Angelina Jolie) curses the king’s newborn child, Aurora (Elle Fanning) with the classic spinning needle shebang, rekindling an ancient war between the fairy folk and the humans. As if cut by her razor sharp cheekbones (or Photoshop-enhanced features), the audience experiences Ma-
leficent’s pain and anguish through Jolie’s impeccable performance. Adding the perfect amount of sugar and spice to the sinister appeal of the original Maleficent, Jolie single-handedly transforms the movie from an aesthetically-pleasing snooze fest to a relatable tragedy, no thanks to the posse of one-dimensional characters (literally) trailing behind her. Unfortunately blessed with the gift of eternal happiness, Fanning can only giggle saccharinely in all her nature-loving glory. Copley portrays King Stefan as a hateful psycho - a flat manifestation of human avarice. Visual effects, however, are spot on. Director Robert Stromberg’s Oscar-winning talent proves more mesmerizing than Aurora’s beauty. Fly through the air with Maleficent and admire the grandness of her wings, and lose your breath diving into the valley between ragged cliffs. We wouldn’t mind falling asleep deep within the
movies.disney.com
moors, next to the shimmering lake and vibrant scenery, surrounded by mythical fair folk. Even the gloom cast by Maleficent’s rule casts an eerie, gothic beauty to the dark realm. Yet stunning CGI and intense battle scenes cannot make up for the lack of substance to the story. Maleficent aims to delve beyond true love to explore darker human qualities but inadequately portrays these flaws through character development. With strong independent female leads, the underlying feminism of the film is upset by the fact that the entire movie dangles upon Maleficent’s scorn for her lost love. True to the curse, Maleficent threatens to put not only Aurora to sleep, but the audience as well. Luckily, Jolie’s piercing eyes and wicked smirk keep viewers awake long enough to learn the true story behind the original Grimm fairy tale. ▪ Rating: B-
In a career that spanned more than four decades, Michael Jackson developed a trademark artistic style and presence that included colorful vocals, infectious melodies, and overflowing personal charisma. Appropriately dubbed the King of Pop, MJ brought innovative genius and copious amounts of confident swagger to music and pop culture. Given his prominence, it’s not a surprise that record labels have released Xscape, Jackson’s second posthumous album. Xscape is, however, surprisingly good and it’s clear that the album is no cheap cash-grab attempt at exploiting posthumous MJ nostalgia. To create its eight previously unreleased songs, some of today’s most prominent music producers, including Timbaland, attempted to modernize raw material from Michael Jackson’s past recording sessions. The result is a collection of upbeat, fresh pop tracks that grow on you more with each listen. “Love Never Felt So Good” in particular stands out as a slick chrome disco throwback, with rhythms that will make you giddy and warm. The catchy beat in “A Place with No Name” is faintly reminiscent of the one that made “Billie Jean” so wildly popular. Attempts to contemporize Jackson’s songs, however, have gutted them of the vibrant personality that catapulted the celebrity to fame in the first place. The tenacity and energetic conviction that characterized classics like “Black and White” is missing, replaced by admittedly catchy but relatively sterile tracks. At times, the background overwhelms and distracts from the true star, Jackson’s vocals. It’s harder to appreciate or even detect his versatility—his growls, hiccups, falsettos, and everything in between—than it should be from these eight modernized tracks. As a result, many tracks end up completely unmemorable. Xscape is in no way perfect, but no one expects it to be. It isn’t an attempt at a masterpiece, but rather a fun, lighthearted way to discover previously unknown material from a larger-than-life artist and remember the time he was at his peak. Those that find Timbaland’s arrangements too sacrilegiously liberal will be pleased to learn that a deluxe version of the album comes with the original recordings. Indeed, it’s not a matter of black or white, as there’s something for every fan of Michael Jackson or of pop in general, even if that something isn’t incredibly substantial. ▪ Rating: B
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The Smoke Signal
Friday, June 6, 2014
Friday, June 6, 2014
The Smoke Signal
By Leah Feuerman & Ishan Goyal Sports Editors
stern consequences Back in early April, Mozilla CEO Brendan Eich made headlines when he stepped down from his position as a result of the pressure from gay rights activists for his support of Proposition 8, the proposition to ban gay marriage in California. This move, as well as Mozilla’s role in what happened, sparked the debate that has now found increasing traction in many current events. Whether or not a person should be punished professionally for their
usatoday.com
Former Los Angeles Clippers owner Donald Sterling was given a lifelong ban from the NBA after racist remarks he made went public.
own private views has been a topic of discussion. This debate has found a consistent home in the sports world, with several recent controversies including the firing or resigning of prominent sports casters, coaches, and owners making headlines over the last few months. A
profession highly influenced by viewership and fan support, the world of professional sports is greatly affected by this type of controversy. Ever since his racist remarks regarding Magic Johnson, Donald Sterling quickly gained notoriety throughout the sports community. An innocuous call carrying a harsh message to his girlfriend quickly escalated as the contents of the call were leaked to TMZ and then countless other news sources. Having outraged a majority demographic of the NBA, Sterling was given a life ban from the NBA and was stripped of his authority over the Los Angeles Clippers by Commissioner Adam Silver. While his words were definitely insulting and immoral, whether Sterling deserved to be placed in such a position after making a private phone call was questioned by many. As he stated in various interviews, he didn’t intend for his message to be heard by millions worldwide, rather just a single person whom he thought he could confide in. Many other athletes or managers have shared their personal opinions only to be punished for it by their respective organizations. It is not a new phenomenon in the sports world. One of the most controversial cases regarding this topic was Jimmy Snyder’s remark as a CBS anchor in 1988. He boldly stated on air, “The black is a better athlete to begin with because he’s been bred to be that way, because of his thighs and big thighs that goes up into his back, and they can jump higher and run faster because of their bigger thighs and he’s bred to be the better athlete because this goes all the way to the Civil War when during the slave trade…” Even though Snyder said he was expressing his personal opinion on African American athletes he was, in fact, speaking for CBS. His words were addressed to the public and this justified him getting fired by the network. More recently, former ESPN sports net-
Boys’ Golf Wrap- up
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ESPN Sports commentator Rob Parker was let go for his racial comments on the air.
work commentator Rob Parker commented on how Washington Redskins quarterback Robert Griffin III was not “black enough to suit him.” After the statement, Parker insisted that his words were misunderstood, but was suspended for 30 days from ESPN and then let go once his contract ended. Regardless of how Parker meant his comment, the way he framed his words gave off a racist tone that simply couldn’t be tolerated. His words were a reflection of the company’s image and had ESPN not let him go, people would have begun to think that the company embodied Griffins beliefs. Overall, athletic organizations are like any other company, in that they should have the right to fire employees whose actions or words reflect poorly on the company’s image. Businesses are responsible for their appearance and the attitude they portray, and therefore have the right to hold their employees accountable for their own personal conduct. While free speech gives people the right to openly express their opinions to the public that does not absolve them of the consequences from resulting public opinion. Free speech allows the public to boycott, protest, or campaign against people who express unpopular or insulting ideas, just
Sports 27
as it gives those people the right to express them. Naturally, it is up to the company whether or not to let an employee continue working while allowing them to stay harms business and alienates other employees. The NBA, CBS, or ESPN are no different. While no one can control every one of their employees actions, athletic organizations must use their own judgment when dealing with the Donald Sterlings of their institutions because, if history is any indication, there will be many others in the future. ▪ A Special Message from Leah and Ishan: With this being our last column, our time as sports editors has come to an end. While we’ve enjoyed our time informing the MSJ sports community, we are excited to introduce the new sports editors for the 2014-2015 school year, Arti Patankar and Abigail Wong! We know they will do an excellent job to continue the legacy of the Sports section and we wish them luck for next year!
sports editor ishan goyal
By Nithya Rajeev Staff Writer
I think we were just not at some of the other schools’ level yet.” In comparison to last year, the team still showed signs of improvement. At the NCS qualifiers, the team scored 423 while last year, the team scored several points more, ending NCS qualifiers with 431 points. In addition, the team lost to both Irvington and Moreau in league matches last year, but only lost to Irvington this year. Another difference is that the team has been consistently shooting around the same scores this season, whereas last year, the team had both low scores and high scores in each round. The team did not change much in their practices this year, although players had more time to focus on the things they need to fix. Yen said of his team, “I’m proud of how optimistic we are about everything and how we take everything in stride. We are a very closeknit group.” He also adds that he’s proud of the team’s diligence and said, “I’m proud that [the] top six were made up of sophomores and freshmen, so we did well compared to last year’s group of seniors and juniors.” Next year, the boys’ golf team is aiming to get into NCS and defeat their opponents where it counts. The team believes it can be done. “A lot of really good seniors left this year, but in upcoming years, as the newer freshmen get better, we will do better than ever before,” said Wu.
▪
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Swimming Spotlight
By Irisa Lee Staff Writer
Led by Coach Jason Cain and captains Sophomore Benoit Yen and Freshman Vijay Srinivasan, MSJ’s boys’ golf team has seen a season full of new underclassmen. The team suffered a loss of three seniors this year, including some of their best players. Although only four upperclassmen remain on the team, many strong underclassman players who could already play well quickly filled up the ranks. The team competed in league matches throughout the season, as well as the NCS qualifiers. The players would arrive at the range and split up into groups to compete. In league matches, two players from each school combined into four-player groups. In bigger matches, the top six players competed. Each one of the top six played with three different players from other schools. At the end a team score is totaled, and the lower the scores, the better. Notably this season, Freshman William Kim shot a score of 75 at the league tournament, with par at 72. The boys golf team ended this season at the NCS qualifiers, scoring 423, just four points away from the cutoff of 419. They landed at thirteenth place out of the twenty teams that competed. Senior Jason Wu said, “There were a lot of really good freshmen this year, and we did pretty well in our league matches, but
clcker.com
courtesy junior vivy hua
The whistle blows and a series of splashes echo around the pool area as a long line of swimmers dive into their respective lanes. A few moments later, the first few swimmer have touched the wall, and the letters “MSJ” shine on the swimsuit as they exit the water. Such was the result of nearly every race during MSJ’s swim team’s stellar season this year. After seeing a majority of the team graduate from high school last year, the team started this season nearly from scratch, with eight Varsity members being freshmen. Junior captains Catherine Ha, Vivy Hua, and Anthony Yeung along with Senior captain Emil Graversen and Head Coach Cory Audiat placed their focus on team bonding, giving the newest team members experience, and improving all swimmers’ overall times. Success is not a new feeling to the swim team, as it has held a winning record during the season for the last few years. The past few seasons have brought wins in the regular season, Mission Valley Athletic League (MVALs), and at DeLaSalle, which is the school at which the competition against schools not in the regu-
lar league takes place. Despite working with an almost completely new team, the Warriors once again hit the ground running—or, rather, swimming—in their first few meets, and only improved as the season went on. Prior to MVALs, the team’s league record stood at 7-0. Audiat described the team as a “group of MVPs”, and said its motto was “Defense”, which is attributed to the fact that majority of the team was new. Prior to MVALs, swimmers trained for many hours, including during spring break, and worked hard to improve their overall times. The hard work definitely paid off, as there were stellar results at MVALs, with almost 20 swimmers qualifying for relays, individual events, and diving at NCS. Audiat’s goals for next season are very similar to the ones she had for this year’s team. Since only four seniors will be graduating, the focus will primarily be on improving the existing athletes’ times. “[Our goals are] just to continue to grow, and to build, and to get faster. We always like to improve. And just for [the athletes] to grow as swimmers and as individuals. The main goal is to always be successful.” With 19 swimmers having competed in NCS at the end of May, MSJ’s swim team has definitely accomplished that goal. ▪
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Friday, June 6, 2014
Ath-“leaders” of the Year By Purvi Goel, Aamir Rasheed, & Hannah Shih Staff Writers
Though Mission is more commonly known for its stellar academic achievement, sports have always been another activity through which students display their talent and leadership, and build upon their teamwork and sportsmanship. The Athlete of the Season Award and the White Sweater Award strives to honor those students who exemplify these characteristics and who have surpassed the expectations of their peers and coaches.
White Sweater Award
Winter Athlete of the Season
Spring Athlete of the Season
Catherine Ha, 11, Water Polo
Mark Sui, 11, Basketball
Jesse Lu, 11, Badminton
Juliana McCuaig, 12, Overall
According to Junior Catherine Ha, athletic success comes from commitment, hard work, and sportsmanship. She would be a good athlete to ask on the subject—Ha was captain of the girls’ water polo team in the fall. Her athletic career started early; she began swimming competitively at the age of seven. However, it was not until her freshman year that she took up water polo. “I was surprised,” she said, describing how she felt after winning the award. “I wasn’t expecting it at all. [Even now] I still feel honored.” Winning the award, though, did not change her focus. “It’s nice to get recognition for the hard work you put in,” she says. “I think it’s a step in the right direction for me. But I still have to push to do better.”
As an athlete in one of the most dynamic and fast paced sports on campus, Junior Mark Sui has worked hard from the young age of five to attain his position on the Varsity boys’ basketball team. After playing the sport for over a decade, hard work is no stranger to Sui, who credits basketball for “changing my work ethic and how I think about life, because everything you do, you have to work for”. Accordingly, after winning the award, Sui looks upon it only as a milestone of improvement and further motivation to continue developing his abilities to perform on the court. His athletic success includes “getting my body in shape,” he said, “but the most important thing is getting wins for my team and inspiring everyone around me.”
Junior Jesse Lu has been involved in badminton ever since the summer of his sixth grade. His uncle and aunt, who loved badminton, took him to a training facility to try out the sport, and he found he enjoyed it immensely. Since then, he has been training yearround to get to where he is now. He recently placed third in NCS for boys doubles, and continued to help MSJ badminton win first in NCS. Jesse attributes his success to his team. “Our team views itself as a whole, not a group of individuals,” said Jesse. “When one person does well, everyone does well.” He also felt that his mentality was key to his success, describing it as “Focusing on yourself, and never letting other people who are outperforming you discourage you from enjoying the sport.”
Senior Juliana McCuaig says that “doing something every day and staying consistent” is a key part to her success. True to her motto, McCuaig has been swimming and playing soccer since she was four years old, and running competitively since her freshman year. She now plays soccer in the winter, track in the spring, and swimming during summer. The White Sweater award is given to athletes who often demonstrate prowess in many sports, earning a minimum of 8 varsity letters. Above all, she believes in having passion for the sport. “Without a goal in mind, it’s hard to succeed. When you have a passion for the sport, it’s a pleasure to go out to practice every day and work hard.”
California’s Athletic Director of the Year
Fall Athlete of the Season
photos by staff writers purvi goel, aamir rasheed & hannah shih, layout by sports editors leah feuerman & ishan goyal
Coach Thomsen By Tammy Tseng A&E Editor In his 30 years of working at MSJ, Tom Thomsen has served as coach, teacher, and athletic director. Yet more importantly, his dedication to mentorship and guidance of all students has led him to be awarded the position State Athletic Director of the Year by the California Coaches’ Association. Pete Vaz, Physical Education Department Head, said, “Always is an honor when the longevity and hard work is recognized. For the individual, the school, and community.” The Smoke Signal sat down with Thomsen to congratulate him on his achievements and discover more about the success of the MSJ athletic program under his directorship. Smoke Signal: How is the recipient of the award chosen and what is the significance of the award? Tom Thomsen: The California Coaches’ Association is like any other professional organization that you join based on your profession. In this organization every year, they ask for nominees, and our section, the North Coast section, nominated me, so I filled out an application, sent in all my stuff, and I was notified that I had been chosen by their committee to be the State Athletic Director of the year. SS: How did you first become involved as an athlete and how has that affected your career as a coach and now as an athletic director? TT: I’m from a family of coaches and wrestlers and athletes; I have five brothers, my dad was the first wrestling coach at Chabot. I’ve always just been involved in athletics; growing up and playing sports with five brothers, that’s
just what we did. I think I found out early on that I enjoyed the athletic competition, the dayto-day grind of being a student athlete, and it’s something I really couldn’t see myself doing differently. I think my job as an athletic director, just as with my athletes when I coach them, is to coach my coaches, and try to get them to be the best coaches that they can be, and help them as much as I can so that they can do their job and enjoy coaching as much as I have. SS: How has the MSJ athletic program changed since you have been here? TT: I think it’s changed, but then it’s kind of stayed the same. I think athletes are athletes. They come out and they want to be part of something, they join a team to have their camaraderie amongst the team, to be on a sport that they enjoy. Last year we had about 1200 students still playing some type of sport here which is good – almost half the student population is involved with athletics, and I think that’s been the same since I’ve been here. SS: What are some of the highlights of your time here? TT: I think watching the coaches and the teams do well at the NCS/ state level. That’s what it’s all about: you work hard for four years, coaches watch a freshman or a young athlete come in, and then
by the time they’re a senior, they’ve reached the pinnacle of their sport. Last year, with Ariel [Cheng] placing at the state, our badminton team winning NCS, our swimming program, all the successful programs are a joy to watch because they’re just consistently doing well, and the kids are consistently flocking to those programs and doing well. SS: Has receiving this award opened up any new opportunities for you? TT: No, I don’t see myself going anywhere, I love MSJ, I love being in the community, my two kids went through here, I’m not going to go anywhere. I think what it does is, again, it just validates what you’ve been doing but it also doesn’t mean that you can’t get better, that you have to stop striving to be the best. I think it just makes me want to be better, because okay that’s fine, but how can I be better, how can I make the sports program better here? ▪
a&e editor tammy tseng
Friday, June 6, 2014
The Smoke Signal
www.thesmokesignal.org
Sports 29
playing for College By Katrina Cherk, Hanson Wang, & Abigail
Erin Cochran Sport: Volleyball College: Sacramento State University Major: Undeclared
Juliana McCuaig Sport: Track and Field College: Cal Poly SLO Major: Business Since freshman year, McCuaig has been representing MSJ in various track and field events, including the 100 meter dash, 200 meter dash, triple jump, and 4x100 relay. During her freshman year, she was recognized as Rookie of the Year and was awarded the Most Valuable Player award in both sophomore and junior year. In addition, McCuaig and three athletes broke the record for the 4x100 relay event. As she continues her athletic career at Division I Cal Poly SLO, McCuaig looks forward to joining the athletic community, staying in shape, and improving her times.
Cochran has been playing volleyball since 7th grade and has represented MSJ volleyball for all four years of her high school career. She received the Most Improved Player Award in her sophomore year and was recognized as a 2nd team All-League MVAL player in her junior year. She is most inspired by the quote, “Fake it till you make it,” a piece of advice from one of her past coaches, Coach Masatsugu. Cochran looks forward to participating in Sacramento State’s disciplined athletic program and working with its NCAA Division I coaching staff.
Hayden Shieh Sport: Golf College: Santa Clara University Major: Business
Wong Staff Writers
Playing for college is an accomplishment that is close to the heart, mind, and soul of any high school athlete. This year, nine MSJ athletes will be continuing their athletic journeys in track and field, golf, wrestling, volleyball, and football as they proceed to college. The Smoke Signal contacted these athletes to learn more about their past participation in MSJ athletics and their future sporting careers.
Meridith Hirsch Sport: Golf College: Cal Poly SLO Major: Parks, Recreation, and Tourism An avid athlete at age seven, Hirsch began playing golf competitively during her junior high school years. She has represented MSJ girls’ golf, placing in the top six of her team for all four years of her high school athletics career. In her sophomore year, MSJ girls’ golf reached the state level, an unprecedented accomplishment. A year later, they were able match the achievement and headed to the state tournament once again. Hirsch looks forward to bonding with her teammates and supportive coaching staff at Division I school, Cal Poly SLO.
Shieh has been playing golf since he was 10 years old. In addition to representing MSJ golf during his freshman and sophomore year, he also plays golf outside of school. Over the years, Shieh has attended many tournaments, competing and placing in various events held by the Junior Professional Golfers Association (JPGA), the Junior Tour of Northern California (JTNC), and the Junior Golf Association of Northern California (JGANC), just to name a few. He will be continuing his athletic career at Santa Clara University on a golf scholarship and looks forward to winning the division conference.
Zavier Cabral-Artero Sport: Football College: Presentation College Major: Business
Ben Torrez Sport: Football College: Presentation College Major: Physical Therapy
Cabral-Artero has played two years of youth football and one year of high school football. In his senior season, Cabral-Artero, who played primarily as a defensive end, was selected as an All-League defensive lineman and punter, and was named defensive MVP of the team. For the next four years, he will be playing football at Presentation College, an NAIA division school located in South Dakota, on a partial scholarship.
Torrez has been playing football at MSJ for four years and looks forward to extending his football career for another four years at Presentation College, a NAIA school. He started playing football in 6th grade and was selected as an All-League running back and safety in his senior year. He will be attending Presentation on a partial scholarship and hopes to enjoy the athletic aspect of college life.
Enrique Green Sport: Wrestling College: Chabot College Major: Fire Science
Zeki Yasar Sport: Wrestling College: Chabot College Major: Nursing
Green began wrestling in his freshman year and has represented MSJ for all four years high school. He wrestles at 145-pound weight class and was the MSJ wrestling team’s captain in his senior year. He is an MVAL champion, won second place in NCS, and went 3-2 in the CIF state championships in his final season. Green will be wrestling at Chabot College in the fall and hopes to continue his hard work.
Yasar started wrestling in his freshman year, and he brings four years of experience to the Chabot Gladiators wrestling team. He plans to wrestle in a weight class in the the 160 to 170 pound region at the junior college level. Yasar has enjoyed a successful high school wrestling career, including wrestling in NCS the past two years, coming within one match of placing in NCS, winning the MVAL tournament, and going undefeated in MVAL this past year.
photos by staff writers katrina cherk, hanson wang, & abigail wong, chabotcollege.edu, colleges.findthebest.com, sportlogos.net, layout by sports editors leah feuerman & ishan goyal
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Friday, June 6, 2014
Who to watch in the World CuP By Anand Balaji Staff Writer
Brazil’s star striker Neymar da Silva Santos Júnior has been hailed as the “New Pele” by many of his fans. The 2014 World Cup is where the world sees if he deserves that title. Neymar began his rise to fame in the Brazilian club Santos where he amassed an astounding 136 goals in 225 games from 2009 to 2013. In the 2013-2014 season, Neymar signed on to the Barcelona football squad where he continued his domination. In 2013, he helped Brazil win the Confederations Cup and was awarded the Golden Ball award as the best player in the tournament. Though his track record in recent years has been incredible, this will be his first World Cup performance and our chance to see if he can live up to his reputation. The U.S. team is going to have a challenge this year, having been placed in a particularly hard group, as well as dropping Landon Donovan, the US team’s all-time leading scorer, from the roster this year. However, American soccer fans can still count on excellent play by midfielder Michael Bradley. Bradley has travelled the world playing league soccer having competed on teams in the Netherlands, Germany, England, and Italy. This January, he finally returned to Major League Soccer (MLS), signing with Toronto FC, after an impressive two years playing for the prestigious Italian club, Roma. Bradley has also had a strong international showing, having appeared several times on the U.S. national team and scoring eight international goals. He already has the experience from playing extensively in the 2010 World Cup and is sure to make waves this June. Ronaldo has been Portugal’s powerhouse for the past two World Cups as well as the past three European Championships. In his past at Real Madrid and Manchester United, Ronaldo has become one of the premier stars of European club football, amassing a total of 374 goals in club play. Ronaldo netted eight goals in Portugal’s 2014 qualifying campaign and in March became his country’s all-time leading goal-scorer. One thing is for certain, whenever Portugal is on the pitch, Ronaldo is the player to pay attention to.
The 2014 FIFA World Cup is rapidly approaching with the first match kicking off in only a few days on June 12th. With 32 teams from around the globe all competing for the coveted World Cup trophy, things are sure to get intense in Brazil. The Smoke Signal makes it’s predictions for the big players and underdog teams to watch for in the next few weeks.
The Ivory Coast has had some tough luck in its last two World Cup appearances, getting eliminated in the group stage on both occasions. However, many attribute this to its tough competitors in those pools, Argentina and the Netherlands in 2006 and Brazil and Portugal in 2010. This time, Ivory Coast has been placed in a substantially easier group with Greece, Colombia, and Japan. While Colombia may pose a threat to the team, it’s a safe bet to say they’ll be moving on to round two. The team’s main asset is Chelsea forward Didier Drogba, who holds the scoring record for the country. Midfielder Yaya Toure is also a force to be reckoned with, coming off a strong season with Manchester City. If they proceed to the second round as runner-ups, they will likely face Italy in a match which will be extremely difficult for the Ivory Coast. However, if they are able to best Colombia and come out as first in their group, chances are they square off against Uruguay or England and will have a good shot at moving on to the quarterfinals.
Brazil 2014 will mark Bosnia and Herzegovina’s first ever World Cup appearance. Though this is a fledgling team on the World Cup stage, its performance at the qualifying tournament suggests that the nation could make a strong showing in this competition. Bosnia and Herzegovina scored an impressive 30 goals in qualifiers and came out on the top of their group. The team’s competitors in group competition will be Nigeria, Iran, and Argentina. While besting Argentina may be an impossible task, Bosnia and Herzegovina have the strong offense and momentum needed to beat Iran and Nigeria. Bosnian forwards Edin Dzeko and Vedad Ibisevic make one of the deadliest duos in the game, netting a total of 18 goals together in the qualifiers. If the team makes it past the group stage, they can expect to face off against France or Switzerland in the second round, both of which are strong opponents. However, Bosnia and Herzegovina’s recent record and strong squad lead us to believe they’ll go far in their first World Cup. clker.com, fcbarcelona.com, soccerpro.com layout by sports editors leah feuerman & ishan goyal, staff writers arti patankar & abigail wong
Friday, June 6, 2014
The Smoke Signal
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HOW OLD ARE YOU REALLY? The Hunger Games
By Genevieve Huang, Nithya Rajeev & Katie Sun
Staff Writers A Kaiser study conducted in 2010 stated that it’s likely you’re on the “interwebs” or the TV an average of more than seven and a half hours a day. You’re being productive, of course, because that’s what the internet and TV is made for. Finding that perfect Instagram filter, tracking trending topics, following the red carpet action and scouring a new Buzzfeed article keeps you young! It’s not easy being young and hip and cool like you. But you might not realize that some of your favorite things are older than you think. Tumblr? That is so seven years ago. Game of Thrones? The books are at least as old as you. But no one cares, because age is just a number. Read on to find out how old some of your favorite things actually are. *
League of Legends
Beyonce’s “Single Ladies“
[7|years|ago] Wii Twitter Bird Flu
* Events for THE corresponding year are listed across from the banner.
13
[9|years|ago] Nintendo DS The Notebook Usher “Yeah”
World of Warcraft Facebook
[11|years|ago] iPOD Bejeweled
NO CHILD LEFT BEHIND ACT
[15|years|ago] Google
90
[17|years|ago] A Game of Thrones Book One
[20|years|ago] The first text message sent The first Mario Kart game: Super Mario Kart The First Goosebumps Book
[27|years|ago] Legend of Zelda
[29|years|ago] APPLE’S FIRST MAC
50
Tetris
[36|years|ago]
MSJHS Founded
51 LEGEND Social Media
Historical Events Games
Electronics Music
Books Education MOvies/TV
Feature 31
The Internet The Very Hungry Caterpillar
[51|years|ago] FIRST ACT TEST
[58|years|ago] California became an official state
The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe
[69|years|ago] Mt. Rushmore Completed BARRON’S EDUCATIONAL SERIES (Test Prep)
[77|years|ago] Monopoly
[88|years|ago] Walt Disney Company
[100|years|ago]
[6|years|ago] Tumblr
THE FIRST IPHONE
[8|years|ago] YouTube Twilight The Office Supernatural
[10|years|ago] Finding Nemo Cher “Believe”
Myspace
[13|years|ago] Britney Spears “...Baby One More Time”
A Series of Unfortunate Events
[16|years|ago] Titanic
Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone
[18|years|ago] THe Lion King
[22|years|ago] Rick Astley “Never Gonna Give You Up”
Easy Bake Oven
[28|years|ago] Magic School Bus book
Microsoft windows
[30|years|ago] The Hitchiker's Guide to the Galaxy
[45|years|ago] Doctor Who
Where the Wild Things Are
[55|years|ago] THE FIRST AP TEST
[64|years|ago] The atomic bomb was dropped on Hiroshima
[73|years|ago] Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs
[81|years|ago] FIRST SAT TEST
[90|years|ago] The start of World War I
flaticon.com, designresource.mandarapte.com, socialmediadelivered.com, theamazingworldofgumball.wikia.com, iconfinder.com, oitavabdantegrossi.blogspot.com, lostcloudgame.com, icons.mysitemyway.com, en.wikipedia.org, softicons.com, theisozone.com, clker.com, 123rf.com, layout by staff writer katie sun
32 Photo
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Friday, June 6, 2014
PHOTOS BY STAFF WRITERS JACINTA CHANG, KEVIN CHEN, PETER CHEW, & VIVIAN LIU, LAYOUT BY GRAPHICS EDITOR ANNA ZENG