MISSION SAN JOSE HIGH SCHOOL
VOL. 54 NO. 2
November 2, 2018
41717 PALM AVENUE, FREMONT, CA 94539
MSJ Medcorps attends 2018 Walk to End Alzheimer’s Nationwide event raises awareness and funds for Alzheimer’s care, support, and research By Sabrina Cai & Jonathan Liu Staff Writers MSJ Medcorps, a health and service club advocating student involvement in the medical field, gathered with 3,006 Bay Area residents at the Walk to End Alzheimer’s on October 13 in San Jose. The Alzheimer’s Association holds the
walk in 613 communities nationwide, making it the world’s largest event to raise awareness and funds for Alzheimer’s care, support, and research. Today, Alzheimer’s disease is the sixth leading cause of death in the US, affecting more than 5 million Americans. This year, 393 teams and thousands of participants walked a one-to-three-mile-long path, cheering and carrying signs to raise
MSJ Medcorps members pose for a photo at the starting line of the Walk to End Alzheimer’s.
staff writer jonathan liu
awareness of Alzheimer’s prevalence in the US. This is Medcorps’s second year attending the walk, during which officers and members managed event logistics, worked at booths, and encouraged walkers. Sophomore Sriansh Pasumarthi said, “Even though I did not have a huge job in this event, I hope to spread more awareness about the disease ... Alzheimer’s is extremely debilitating, and it has affected lots of people in my family [and] community.” In addition to overseeing logistics, working at booths, and voicing encouragement, Medcorps members were able to watch and participate in the Promise Garden Ceremony. Before the ceremony, walkers choose one of four colored flowers that represent the four types of people who come to the walk — people who have lost friends and family to the disease, people who are actively caregiving, people who are committed to raising awareness, and people who are living with Alzheimer’s. The Alzheimer’s Association Chief Program Officer Claire Day believes that this ceremony is the most impactful part of the walk. Day said, “People who are living with Alzheimer’s disease participate in the Promise Garden Ceremony, and we tell
a little story about why they walk because it resonates with everybody else in the crowd.” After the ceremony, walkers gather and walk the streets of San Jose, carrying their flowers. The Alzheimer’s Association spends more than $405 million for more than 2,600 scientific proposals, in hopes of finding a cure. Day said, “We walk to end Alzheimer’s, and for us, the win is when we don’t have to have an event anymore because we [will] have ended Alzheimer’s. While it may not happen for those living with the disease today, we are confident that it will for future generations, and those scientific breakthroughs are going to be what get us there.” According to Co-Presidents Junior Rishi Jain and Senior Rhea Advani, Medcorps plans to make the Walk to End Alzheimer’s an annual service event, like the Walk for Cystic Fibrosis and the Walk for Sickle Cell Anemia. Jain said, “The [goal] here is to expose our club members to the idea of service and the idea of interacting with our community because a lot of what medicine is is interacting ... and [empathizing] with people, and these events really help us with that.” ▪
Marching Band and Color Guard compete at Tournament of Bands Band and Color Guard place first in their respective divisions By Thomas Chen & Jessica Xu Staff Writers On the afternoon of October 13, almost 200 members of MSJ Marching Band stood poised to begin their performance at the annual Tournament of Bands in Cupertino. Composed of musicians and Color Guard, MSJ placed first in Division 6A. Band reviews are competitions for marching bands to gauge their performance, and the Tournament of Bands is one of the most popular reviews in the Northern CA circuit, making MSJ Band’s placement particularly uplifting. The band opened with a lively rendition of “Ungarns Kinder.” At the beginning of the march, Color Guard performed their flag, rifle, and shield routine at the fore-
front of the band, rotating to the rear midperformance. As the march progressed, the procession was met with applause and resounding cheers from onlookers lining almost the entire length of the street. After the band’s performance, the percussion section separated from the rest of the band and performed their own song and routine. The success at the Tournament of Bands came after weeks of after-school practice following the Newark Days Parade, where they placed first overall. Members practiced on Tuesdays, Thursdays, and occasionally Fridays to overcome challenges encountered during performances. Clarinet Section Leader Senior Michelle Huang said, “During the past few weeks, during our after-school rehearsals, we’ve been practicing keeping in line [and] keep-
MSJ Marching Band performs their rendition of “Ungarns Kinder” at the annual Cupertino Band Review. HOMECOMING PHOTO COVERAGE
Missing Homecoming Week? Relive the Homecoming performances by checking out the photo coverage taken from each performance day.
ing our diagonals straight ... I think that when we were performing today, our work paid off.” Besides Band’s collective victory, Drum Major Senior Nathan Zheng placed second out of all drum majors at the event, driving home a solid victory. Despite their strong showing at Cupertino, members of the band still feel that there is room for improvement. Zheng said, “at the beginning, the music was off — the front and the back weren’t together.” Marching Band also faces unique challenges in terms of practice facilities; they must practice marching on a track instead of on a street. “We do not have a street that is long enough and wide enough for the band to practice on ... the track is different in terms of sound quality,” Band Director Monica Kraft said. “When you get on [a road], it’s different.” She attributes the success partly to the upperclassmen holding the block together and guiding underclassmen. Marching Band and Color Guard have a history of attending the Tournament of Bands. Drum Major Senior Eddie Chang said, “[It] felt like old times.” One difference he noted was that this year’s review occurred later in the day, and he said, “[They] had more energy at this point rather than doing it in the morning.” Relative to past performances, Trumpet Co-Section Leader Senior Shibu Shelat said, “Each year, I feel like we get better and better.”
Freshman Grace Feng marches while playing her sousaphone.
Band’s performance at Cupertino was a stepping stone to prepare for the Santa Cruz Band Review, the most competitive review of the year. By examining their past performances and listening to feedback from judges, members pinpointed areas that needed work. Huang said, “I think we just need to watch videos of what we did today, and then we’ll be able to improve our marching based on the mistakes that we made today.” Shelat said, “This week, we’re going to be grinding every day after school” to place in Santa Cruz. ▪ photos by staff writer jessica xu
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