The Winged Post - Vol 13 No 5

FEATURES, page 10

DOUBLETRUCK, pages 12 &13

LIFESTYLE, page 17

Renowned improv troupe to perform

2012 election candidates

Movie shot entirely on smartphone

Winged Post FRIDAY, JANUARY 27, 2012

the

THE HARKER UPPER SCHOOL STUDENT NEWSPAPER, VOL. 13, NO.5

500 SARATOGA AVE. SAN JOSE, CA 95129

Accreditation team to visit next week priyanka mody

editor in chief Next Monday, representatives from the school’s member associations, the California Association of Independent Schools (CAIS) and the Western Association of Schools and Colleges (WASC), will be visiting the campus as a part of a re-accreditation process.

“The school’s full six-year term of accreditation expires this year,” Head of School Chris Nikoloff said at the beginning of the year in his Matriculation address. Last year, the entire community took part in a self-study, the results of which were shared with the accreditation committee.

Ten individuals from the accreditation team will arrive on Sunday, January 29 when they will be welcomed at a reception and given a campus tour.

Throughout the following three days, the group will divide itself among all three campuses and conduct their evaluation. The process will culminate in a presentation to the K through 12 faculty and administration on Wednesday.

Achieving re-accreditation signifies that the school both has and is upholding a strong mission statement. According to the CAIS website, this process, which is approved by the National Association of Independent Schools, aims “to assist a school in

engaging the energies of all community members in reviewing and clarifying the school’s purpose and goals for students.”

Members of the accreditation team include educators who review the school’s written self-evaluation, which answers questions about every facet of the institution.

“We have been working on our self-study and action plan for the past year and are excited to work with the visiting accreditation committee for the future growth and development of the school,” Nikoloff said. “We view these accreditation cycles as a structure to guide our growth as an institution.”

Epidemiology study begins Students collaborate with Penn State researchers

Aided by a student visiting Rice, the JCL team of Nik Datuashvili (11), Richard Fan (11), and Kevin Duraiswamy (10) beat two other teams from Texas by a large margin to win Rice University’s Owl Certamen competition, which was created by alumna Ruchi Srivastava (‘08).

“We were very confident in victory even before coming there,” Nik said. “We expected a thorough victory.”

Nik and Kevin earned top scores on their respective tests, while Richard took second place in his.

Their next competition takes place on February 4 at Woodbridge High School in Irvine, CA.

Bandwidth upgraded

APOORVA RANGAN - WINGED POST

pavitra rengarajan & patrick yang features editor & tech editor Twenty two Upper School researchers, part of a team called Harker Influenza Project (HIP), are working with Pennsylvania State University researchers to investigate disease transmission.

The study, led by Dr. Marcel Salathé and colleague Dr. Vicki Barclay of Pennsylvania State University, is a continuation of the study from two years ago during which students were requested to wear motes throughout the day. Last Tuesday, they once again asked students to wear motes. “[Two years ago], we mapped the network where the disease might spread, but now we want to see how it spreads,” Salathé said. “An analogy would be that last time we mapped the road network, and now we want to measure the traffic on this network.”

They used the data from their last study to write a paper in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS). Barclay considers the last study a great indicator for the potential success of this one.

“Last time, we had a 96 percent participation rate, which was huge,” Barclay said. “His study was the first to use wireless sensors, which was huge because you could track people who interacted over the course of the day without having them try to remember who they had talked to.”

JCL Certamen victory

INFLUENZA PROJECT Motes, like the ones pictured above, were handed out to participating students on January 24 to track networks of student interactions as part of the Harker Influenza Project (HIP).

The 22 students of HIP are split into five smaller student-led groups, each with its own goal. One group aims to develop a smartphone application related to the project, the second hopes to study how environmental factors on campus can assist in the spread of microbes, another will examine surfaces for their ability to contain disease-causing pathogens, yet another will compare surveys with diseases collected from motes, and the last will collect and analyze data from nose and throat swabs throughout the next few months.

Student lead investigator Indu Seeni (11) feels honored to be presented this opportunity. “It’s really cool.

This is something they started a couple years ago and was successful, and now they’re picking us,” she said.

Fellow student investigator Divyahans Gupta (10) agreed. “It’s a great experience, having [this research

opportunity] in a school setting. You can do all the research right here,” he said.

School Director of Nursing Debra Nott, R.N. is also assisting in the study. Aside from helping with logistics, Nott will be swabbing students who come down with flu-like symptoms and volunteer.

“I’m very excited to be in this program. These researchers are of the highest caliber,” she said. “It takes quite a lot of preparation and planning and brilliant ideas to get the Center for Disease Control to fund a project.”

Salathé heard about this school through French teacher Nicholas Manjoine, who used to be his neighbor. He found the Upper School to be perfect for conducting his research.

“There was this initial link that was helpful, but when I started talking to people at Harker, it became clear that there is this interest in science and research, so everything was kind of

perfect,” he said.

Head of the science department Anita Chetty considers HIP a special opportunity for our students. “It’s more than just the opportunity for these students to work with researchers at Pennsylvania State University,” she said. “They’re dealing with research that is very timely; it affects everybody, at any time.

Salathé is excited about having an entire student-led team working with him on his project. “It’s a great experience for students and really adds value because we have opportunity to look at other questions you wouldn’t fully anticipate otherwise,” he said.

Barclay has high hopes for the HIP team. “I hope it helps them understand scientific research and prepare them for the type of research they may perform in college and in the future,” she said. “The potential for these projects is huge.”

On January 24, the school upgraded its Internet connection to the outside world, doubling the bandwidth from 50 Mb/s to 100 Mb/s. According to Dan Hudkins, Director of Instructional Technology, students should hopefully notice an immediate improvement in the speed of the school’s Internet connection, and he hopes the upgrade will improve the student learning experience.

“As we find more and more academic uses for video, software as a service, and the wealth of digital resources, we wanted to be confident that bandwidth was not limiting learning,” Hudkins said.

Snack bar relocates This month, the snack bar has temporarily been relocated to the menu boards in the Edge in order to create room for a larger freezer near the gym kitchen. It will soon move permanently to Carley’s Cafe in front of the old snack bar.

Although there is a freezer in the gym kitchen, it is very small, and most of the food had to be stored in the lunch kitchen.

Because the snack bar has physically decreased in size, larger machinery, such as the smoothie maker, has been removed for the time being. Once the snack bar relocates to Carley’s Cafe, the kitchen staff plans to expand the variety of products sold by incorporating more hot items.

FRESHMEN: Only class to save egg English teacher Sharron

MERCEDES CHIEN - WINGED POST

photo editor

EGG DROP Vincent Lin (10) helps other members of the sophomore class build their contraption for the egg drop on January 25.

Each class had one hour to work after the surprise spirit event was announced.

Three. Two. One. And the eggs dropped.

On January 25, the classes competed in an egg-dropping competition, in which the freshmen placed first, juniors second, sophomores third, and seniors last.

The objective was to create and design in one hour a platform that would sustain the egg when dropped from a two-story building. A target was placed on the ground, so if the egg cracked, judges could measure the distance from the egg to the bulls-eye to determine the winner. The class of 2015’s egg was the only one to survive the drop. “[This] was a different type of event where it wasn’t running or sports, so we got other people […] to come out this time [and] step up and showcase their talents,” Arjun Goyal (10), Class of 2014 President, said.

Each class was given a bag full of random supplies to construct their structure. Accessories included items such as bubble wrap, soap bubbles, and balloons.

However, the process was not

made to be simple. The egg had to be visible and able to be touched when placed inside the final product.

Shreya Dixit (9) believed designing early significantly benefited her class as the majority of the time was spent solving problems involving the shortage of construction items.

The juniors faced similar problems.

According to David Lindars (11), Class of 2013 Secretary, simultaneously building a base with such strange material while abiding to the rules was the biggest struggle. “[This task] required us to be imaginative in a way [and work as] one full effort,” he said.

Although the seniors lost, Albert Wu (12) enjoyed this particular competition since it required people to “think outside of the box.”

“It involved a lot of different facets from the more artistic, design side to the more physics, science side,” he said.

As the first ever egg-dropping contest, this spirit competition provided an opportunity for athletes and scientists to work as a team.

Mittelstet steps down priyanka mody editor in chief

On Monday, January 23, Head of School Chris Nikoloff announced at school meeting that English teacher Sharron Mittelstet has been diagnosed with Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease and as of November has stepped down from her teaching position.

According to Nikoloff, Mittelstet first began teaching here in 1992 at the Middle School. Outside the classroom, she was the head faculty cheerleader in many of the first Homecoming games and was also a popular choice among students for college recommendation letters. She often enjoyed going to movies of a variety of genres and kept a jar in her desk filled with movie ticket stubs.

Students from all grades, especially juniors and seniors, have expressed support on a few different levels. As a teacher who shared her love of literature and more importantly her love of students, Mittelstet has “touched

PRESTIGE PHOTOS

mercedes chien

MITTELSTET English teacher Sharron Mittelstet’s school photo was taken at the beginning of the 2011-2012 school year.

many lives,” Nikoloff said. “She had a great sense of humor and is loved by all for her warmth.”

Mittelstet is currently at home with her family and is enjoying limited visits; students may contact Spanish teacher Diana Moss to coordinate timings.

Additional thoughts and cards may be sent through Lori Villarreal, Assistant to the Head of Upper School.

SANJANA BALDWA - WINGED POST

thew Harley near the beginning of the year. lifestyle editor “I was really happy to find out During winter break, seniors that my hard work paid off,” Gene Gene Wong and William Chang were said. “Four hundred dollars is not too awarded $400 each for being Santa bad for an hour’s work!”

Clara Lodge finalists in the Most The application consisted of an Valuable Student Scholarship Contest essay, an official transcript, SAT/ACT sponsored by the Elks National Foun- scores, and a counselor recommendadation. tion. The foundation Gene and also accepts “exWilliam were two hibits,” or suppleof the 33 male mental materials contestants in the that emphasize the running for the student’s achievedistrict-level judgments in scholaring round. William ship, leadership, qualified for the athletics, drama, state-level as well, community serand if he makes it vice, and more. through that round, “Filling out he will be in the the scholarship running for the nawas pretty easy tional round and SCHOLARSHIP Seniors Gene since I just reused will be required to Wong and William Chang received most of my college submit a secondary $400 in scholarship money in the application mateMost Valuable Student Scholarship application to the Contest sponsored by the Elks Narials,” Gene said. foundation near tional Foundation.

William the end of March. was happy to be recognized for his An awards program is held in early work and believes that other students May to honor all finalists. should take advantage of these smaller The foundation awards 500 four- opportunities. year scholarships to high school stu“I really think people should be dents who are US citizens at the time more watchful because it’s not just of their application. Males and fe- Intel that will give money,” he said. males compete separately. The schol- “There’s nothing like a little extra arship competition was introduced to money to pay the bills.” the senior class by class dean Dr. Mat-

2012: New laws go into effect anishka agarwal & emily chu reporters

SHARK FIN BAN Starting from 2013, those with a predilection for shark fin will no longer be able to purchase or eat this food in California after Governor Jerry Brown signed the ban on the possession, sale, and distribution of imported shark fin at the beginning of this year. Although fins already in the state can still be sold until July 1, 2013, the importation of fins is illegal starting this year.

Shark finners remove the fins of shark before releasing the shark back into the ocean. Impaired by its missing fin, the sharks face difficulty in surviving without the ability to swim well. “[The ban] is good. It’s disgusting that [shark finning] has been going on

reporter

As the time for the Hoscars approaches, Student council is actively preparing for the show.

Auditions for students to showcase their talents will be held during long lunch and an hour after school Tuesday through Friday, from January 30 and February 6. Students are encouraged to sign up for a 10 to 20 minute time slot. Auditions will be held in front of two panels of judges, consisting of both the Student Council and the Global Empowerment Outreach (GEO) club, who are working together for the auditioning process.

According to ASB Treasurer Max Isenberg (12), Student Council has been split into publicity, tech, and auditioning groups. Each of these groups is working to get their parts ready for the show. While the auditioning group organizes auditions, the publicity group rallies up the school, and tech

will mostly work the day of or a few days before the show to coordinate the actual events.

Though progress has been made, Max said most of the work done is preliminary.

“Publicity will have more of the tangible stuff coming in the next week or so—getting up the posters, making the announcements, really getting the word out,” he said.

The actual show, which will be held March 8, will be different from last year’s event. Student Council is trying to organize the show better this year. For example, whereas the last year’s Student Council worked to incorporate videos, the current council will probably stray from that idea as it did not go smoothly before. However, this year’s show, like last year’s, will feature two assembly periods—one for the actual show, and one for the results.

Students may sign up for this year’s Hoscars through the ASB Athena 2 page or by emailing Max directly.

Student publications

HELM and Sans Limite sarah bean reporter This spring, the newest issue of HELM, the school’s literary magazine, will be published and distributed.

HELM is going to be published in a different format this year: unlike previous issues, this edition will be printed in the style of the magazine whereas in the past, HELM was bound like a book. Moreover, the quality of the paper may be different, but according to the club advisor Dr. Anne Douglas“[HELM] hope[s] that the artworks themselves and poems are still […] very rich.”

HELM publishes a wide range of material by students and faculty members, including submissions of literary works, visual art, and even musical pieces. “ I t ’s nice that [students and faculty] look COVER OF 2010-2011 ISSUE to [HELM] as [a club that] could publish them and expose their creativity,” co-editor Justin Gerard (11) said.

Pieces that appear in HELM are chosen by the members of the club based on the skill of the composition and appeal to the members.

Co-editor Kaitlin Halloran (12) said, “We really want to spread this art and writing through the school especially since [...] we’re thought of as such a math-science school. It’s nice to see that we have a creative side.”

emily lin reporter Sans Limite, the second annual French National Honor Society magazine will debut early this February.

The magazine, whose title translates to “without limits,” will consist of articles about French culture and lifestyle, including a feature on French speaking countries, a review of the movie Paris Je T’aime, a comparison of French and American culture, and some traditional French recipes.

Sans Limite’s primary goal is to garner a widespread appreciation for French language and culture, according to the magazine’s co-editor in chief Pavitra Rengarajan (12). Some of the articles will be written in French, while others will be written in English, so that all students are able to understand and appreciate the work.

COVER OF 2010-2011 ISSUE The magazine allows students to practice and refine their French skills while gaining experience in a new context.

“It’s a way for [students] to write about something they’re really interested in and share it with not only other students in French, but with the rest of the school community,” said Nicholas Manjoine, one of Sans Limite’s advisors.

This year, as participation in the magazine continues to grow; around half of the 40 French NHS members are involved in the magazine as editors, writers, and page designers.

for so long. This ban should have happened 50 years ago,” Julia Fink (10) said.

Because shark fin is often featured in traditional Chinese soups, Tiffany Chu (10) believes that the law is “unfair” because it “targets Chinese people.”

Most students who do not eat shark fin regularly support the prohibition because it diminishes the slaughter of sharks. However, some, like Joseph Wang (11), fear that the ban is not enough to “significantly benefit” the sharks since eating shark fin soup serves as a “status symbol” in some countries.

FIN SOUP Shark fin will no longer be available for sale starting in 2013 due to a ban on the food product.

LGBT EQUALITY AND EQUAL ACCESS IN HIGHER EDUCATION

Council continues HOSCARS: Student setting up for the show mariam sulakian

On October 10, 2011, Governor Jerry Brown signed several new laws that went into effect January 1, 2012. Of the wide variety of new regulations implemented, there are three in particular that may affect students: a shark fin ban, LGBT Equality and Equal Access in Higher Education, and an amendment to the Vehicle Code regarding the parking of electric vehicles. Here is more information regarding those three laws.

WILLIAM CHANG - WINGED POST

sanjana baldwa

EQUALITY State universities and community colleges are now required to protect LGBTs from harrassment on-campus.

Effective this year, state universities and community colleges are required to not only form and enforce campus policies that protect LGBTs from harassment but also appoint specific employees to oversee on-campus LGBT issues.

Abel Olivas, Spanish Department Chair and Gay Straight Alliance (GSA) Advisor, describes the law as “fantastic.”

“A lot of bullying happens on every level, so the more legal protections as people can have, the better. It sends a strong message about what we, as a so-

ciety, do not want to tolerate and want to discourage,” Olivas said. “It also sends a message to the LGBT community about their dignities as members of the society.”

While they agree the recently enacted law is “great,” Kaitlin Halloran (12), GSA President, and Alice Tsui (11) point out some issues. Kaitlin would like it to be extended to cover not just public schools but also private ones, while Alice believes it is “sad” that there has to be a law to prevent bullying in the first place.

ELECTRIC VEHICLES Starting January 1, 2012, a law requiring that electric vehicles (EV) be plugged in when parked in an EV parking space has been enforced in California. Furthermore, nonelectric vehicles are not allowed to occupy those spaces.

Forensics Teacher Gregory Achten, whos own an electric car,

said “[He] does not think the law is a problem because charging the car only helps.” Achten charges his car not only at his house but also at school.

This law calls for cars, fully electric or not, parked in a designated electric vehicle space to be towed if they are not being charged.

ANISHKA AGARWAL - WINGED POST

Students receive award from Elks

News

PLUG Beginning this year, electric vehicles must be plugged in when parked in a electric vehicle only parking space.

HBC competes at the DECA NorCals Many students place in top three in their respective events monica thukral reporter On January 13, around 60 Upper School students traveled to the DECA Northern California Career Developing Conference (NorCals) in San Ramon.

Harker Business Club (HBC) members competed against businessinterested students from several other schools in Northern California. The conference was designed to prepare DECA members for the statewide tournament.

Students prepared for this conference for several months prior to the event with study sessions and business plan reviews.

“You have to work really hard at DECA, but the experience is really rewarding,” HBC officer Mabel Luo (10) said.

Throughout the weekend, as with all DECA conferences, students participated in business-related events, writing and presenting business plans, and enacting role plays of business situations. These events give high school students the experience of being in the business world and allows them to explore a possible career opportunity.

Students also have the chance to network with other high school students with similar interests and with business professionals.

In addition to competing and preparing for events, the students had free time during the weekend, when they could work on homework or spend time with friends and other DECA members.

Many of the students who participated in this conference were new DECA members, and NorCals was their first DECA conference.

Ariana Shulman (10) is in her first year of DECA. At the conference, she

Special to Winged Post held in San Ramon

the Winged Post

ANISHKA AGARWAL - WINGED POST

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january 27, 2012

CONFERENCE The Harker Business Club (HBC) poses for a group photo after the DECA Northern California Career Developing Conference (NorCals). Students began preparing several months prior for the event.

participated in a written event, Fashion Merchandising Promotion Plan, and a role play event, Apparel and Accessories Marketing.

“At first I thought it would be a lot more competitive, but everybody there was really nice, [...] they were really friendly, and they all wished me good luck,” Ariana said. “I thought it was a really good experience because it was surprisingly realistic how in the future, if I went into business, I would have to present to potential clients.”

Ariana was recognized as one of the top performers for her written test.

She credits her success to taking the Economics class at school.

On Sunday morning, awards were presented. Students were recognized for being in the top ten for each event and individual awards were given to first, second, and third place winners.

Emily Wang (11) was the only Upper School student to place first in

her event. Second place awards went to Kevin Lin (11) and Michaela Kastelman (11). Emily Lin (10), Connie Li (10), Allison Sun (10), Tiphaine Delepine (11), Laura Pedrotti (11), Mabel Luo (10), Muralikrishna Joshi (12), Rachel Yanovsky (11), Nikhil Narayen (12), Akshay Jagadeesh (12), and Sachin Vadodaria (10) each won third place.

“Everyone should try [DECA] because it teaches a lot skills outside of just business and gives you a lot of depth into the world as well,” said Andre Jia (11), Vice President of Competition of the Upper School DECA chapter.

At the end of February, many students will be traveling to Irvine for five days to compete at the state career developing conference and to qualify for the International Career Developing Conference (ICDC).

january 27, 2012 the Winged Post

News

Tahoe: Record-low snow thus far aditi ashok & alyssa amick sports editor & reporter

SPECIAL TO THE WINGED POST MANTHRA PANCHAPAKESAN -- WINGED POST

THEATER The Upper School Orchestra and Jazz band held their 2012 Winter Concert at the Mexican Heritage Theater for the first time on January 13.

manthra panchapakesan reporter

”

No. 1 in E Minor;” “Russian Easter Festival Overture, Op. 36,” and “Overture to William Tell.”

The Mexican Heritage Theater, located in San Jose, turned out to be a suitable location for the Winter Concert.

Chris Florio, Orchestra and

ly every commercial retail store in the city, some students have not been impacted by the new rule.

“I didn’t really realize that they banned plastic bags,” Rebecca Chen (10) said. “I just noticed that they stopped giving me the ‘paper or plastic’ option at checkout.”

Some, like Kaitlin Halloran (12), had stopped using plastic bags even before the new policy.

“I think [the ordinance] will have a beneficial impact, environmentally speaking, but I haven’t even really noticed it,” Kaitlin said. “It hasn’t really impacted me because I use my own

variety of activities. At Northstar, non-skiers can participate in pottery painting, candling making, and jewelry design. Additionally, trails for hiking and bike-riding are open, giving seasonal skiers an opportunity to see a different side of the mountain.

“I was really excited to get a chance to hang out with my friends on the slopes,” Delaney Martin (9) said. “Maybe next year the snow will be better and we’ll get to go.”

However, the weekend of January 20-22 brought a turnaround to the Tahoe Area. According to the National Weather Service, between one and two feet of snow fell over the weekend with another 15 to 30 inches on Monday, January 23. The Service has issued a Winter Storm Warning as forecasts predict large amounts of snow in the coming weeks. They advise travelers to be aware of road conditions and carry chains for cars without four-wheel drive.

ing the use of reusable shopping bags, multiple factors were specifically considered during the City Council’s administrative hearing of the proposed ordinance’s Environmental Impact Report (EIR).

Major concerns included “plastic litter entering waterways and flowing to San Francisco Bay,” reduction of the “500 million single-use carry-out plastic bags given away annually in San Jose,” and “clog[ged] catch basins in the public streets […] and endanger[ed] fish, turtles, and birds in local creeks and the Bay,” according to the transcribed impact report.

AP Environmental Science teacher Jeff Sutton notes the impact of the bags.

“A lot of these bags end up on the roadside, in the water, and they’re petroleum for the most part, so they don’t degrade and end up in landfills,” he said. “In hundreds of years they’ll still be there, which is less than ideal.”

bag.”

Others at the Upper School have high hopes for the efficacy of the new San Jose policy.

“I think the policy is great, because we’re filling our world with trash,” English Teacher Dr. Pauline Paskali said. “The plastics do stay around for a very long time, and I think it’s wonderful that they’re being banned.”

Brian Oldziewski, Upper School Network Administrator, was surprised that the ban was passed with little resistance.

“It’s a little inconvenient, so I’m surprised they were able to do that without a lot of people getting upset,” Oldziewski said. “My first impression was like ‘Oh, I don’t want to shop [at impacted stores],’ but I got over it.”

District 1 Councilman Pete Constant was the only dissenter in an earlier vote on the ordinance, and remains opposed to the ban.

“It [is] the wrong time to make this sort of change, as it has placed unnecessary costs and inconveniences on our business community as well as our residents in difficult economic times,” Constant said.

Additionally, he notes the many needs the now-banned plastic bags had served.

“Many people reuse their grocery bags as trash bags, or save them to use then they take their dog on a walk. These bags will all have to be replaced […] and people will have to buy [them],” he said.

Regardless, at only a month in effect, he believes the full effects of the ordinance are yet to be revealed.

“The goal of the ban was to reduce litter […], but it’s tough to make an assessment on whether it has had an impact,” Constant said.

McClurkin-Nelson is more optimistic and less concerned with the economics behind the ban.

“I can’t speak to how it’s going to impact the plastic industry, but I think that whole industry needs to be looked at very carefully,” she said. “There’s going to be some bumps and a transition period, but overall I think it’s going to be a positive.”

Congressional redistricting samantha hoffman

Jazz Band Conductor, was impressed by the difference from the theater at Blackford. “[The Mexican Heritage Theater] was different [from school] in pretty much every way. [The stage] is the appropriate size for our group, and it’s comfortable with great seating, so all the audience members can view the concert,” he said.

He also felt that the theater had great acoustics, which enhanced the sound. Cellist Melody Huang (12) agreed that the sound quality was much better. In her opinion, having the Winter Concert away from school made the occasion feel more important.

“There was much more hype about it because we did just come back from London. [...] We were all really proud of what we’d done, and really excited to show everyone else what we’d been working on,” she said.

Altogether, Florio felt that the new location of the Winter Concert had been successful.

“Overall,” Florio said, ”it just felt like much more of an official concert.”

Orchestra and Jazz Band will perform again at the California Music Educators Association (CMEA) in March.

The new district divisions released last year by the California Citizens Redistricting Commission (CRC) on August 15 went into effect this January, leaving some of us with new representation in Congress and other legislative assemblies.

According to the CRC website, the boundaries of representational districts are redrawn every decade after the federal census is taken in order to accurately and fairly represent the current population. The divisions must take into consideration minority representation, must be of equal population size, and, “shall not be drawn to favor or discriminate against an incumbent, candidate, or political party.”

Starting this year, cities like Sunnyvale, Saratoga, Palo Alto, and parts of San Jose including our school, which were previously district 14, are now considered congressional district 18. Because of the new divisions, Representative Anna Eshoo (D) replaces Representative Mike Honda (D) as the representative for that district.

Additionally, Los Gatos, Cupertino, parts of Silicon Valley, and other sections of San Jose, formerly district 15, now occupy the 17th congressional district and remain under the representation of Representative Honda.

Many students were unaware of the new legislation.

“I didn’t know there was redistricting,” Matthew Giammona (11), said. “I don’t think it’ll make a real difference to us though.”

Despite the representational change, students can participate in similar advisory roles to those set up

by Representative Honda, such as the Student Advisory Board and several internship programs.

In response to doubts about the necessity of redistricting, the CRC posted that, “how the district boundaries are configured can make the difference between empowering and maximizing the voters’ voices or minimizing and muting those voices.”

The CRC is responsible for delineating the state Assembly, Congressional, Senate and Board of Equalization districts and dividing a population of almost 37,000 people equally.

JACKIE JIN - WINGED POST

on attending the trip prior to the cancellation. “[I am] disappointed, but hoping for another opportunity in the near future,” he said.

In order to compensate for the shortage of snow, several resorts have been using other measures to attract tourists, such as making their own snow or opening up other activities for customers.

Northstar California Resort has benefited from its previous investments in snow making technology, according to Communications Manager Jessica VanPernis. “[Northstar has] the most open terrain in Tahoe currently—[77] trails offering top-to-bottom skiing and riding—as well as a 22- foot Superpipe,” VanPernis said. “And, hopefully you’ve seen there’s a series of [snow] storms in the forecast that are to arrive [soon]!”

Most of the resorts include villages at the base, which offer a wide

chief in training

Chris Florio, Conductor

On January 1, an ordinance passed by the city of San Jose a little over a year prior went into effect, making the city the largest in the state of California to ban plastic carry-out bags.

This ordinance (No. 28877) effectively bans commercial retail businesses within San Jose from the free distribution of single-use plastic bags at checkout, as well as requiring businesses to charge customers for the use of paper bags that contain less than 40 percent recycled content.

Though the overarching goal of the ban on single-use bags is to lessen environmental impact by encourag-

CLIMATE CHANGE This winter, Squaw Valley slopes are green and grassy.

Due to unusual weather patterns, Tahoe has seen a lack of snow.

First performance at Mexican Heritage Theater

“

Plastic grocery bags disappear TALONWP editor in chief

Winter Concert

Overall, it just felt like a much more of an official concert.

New ban goes into effect

jackie jin

Due to record-breaking low levels of snowfall at Lake Tahoe and the surrounding area this season, winter sport enthusiasts around the state were forced to cancel their skiing and snowboarding plans.

According to Scott McGuire, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service in Reno, this snow level was “definitely below normal this winter season, as a whole region, not just in Lake Tahoe,” primarily due to the La Niña conditions of La Niña this year.

La Niña is considered to have the opposite effect of El Niño and produces warm and dry conditions compared to the cold, wet season of El Niño, according to a government website on the phenomenon.

“Essentially, we’re getting a nice subtropical moisture path coming across the Pacific all the way up to the Hawaiian Islands, which will combine with the jet stream and push everything right into the area,” McGuire said in an interview with The Winged Post. “A high pressure system […] acts like a block, and it kind of makes everything override it or go up around it. So now that [the system is] out of the way, it kind of opens a door, if you will, that lets the storm shift in the Western United States.”

Because of the shortage of snow, the annual Upper School ski trip, scheduled to be held on the weekend of January 14 to 16, was cancelled. The trip was supposed to include two hotel nights and two all-day lift tickets at Squaw Valley for $330 per student.

Many were disappointed that the trip was cancelled.

“It’s a bummer that there was no snow,” said Kerry Enzensperger, Community Service Director and Activities Coordinator. “However, there is a chance we could do a day trip over the February break!”

Michael Wu (12) was planning

On January 13, the Upper School Orchestra and Jazz Band performed their Winter Concert off-site at the Mexican Heritage Theater for the first time.

The concert began with four pieces performed by the Jazz Band: “Jive at Five,” “Misty,” “Straighten Up and Fly Right,” and “I Be Serious ‘Bout Dem Blues.” After a short intermission, the Orchestra took the stage and played four pieces: “Overture to Candide,” “Norfolk Rhapsody

3

“

[The ban] has placed unnecessary costs and inconveniences on our business community as well as our residents in difficult economic times.

”

Pete Constant, District 1 Councilman

Suzanne McClurkin-Nelson, Chairperson of the Silicon Valley Environmental Partnership, agrees on the negative influence of the plastic and supports the new plan.

“The plastic bags have an enormous impact on the environment,” McClurkin-Nelson said. “There’s a tremendous problem in the Pacific, and I think from an environmental point of view, it’s a huge positive step.”

Though the ban has affected near-

4

News

january 27, 2012 the Winged Post

Fiber optics connections replaced due to mice

patrick yang & vasudha rengarajan said Upper School science teacher Eric the phones to use the other five pairs. tech editor & reporter

Likely damaged by mice chewing the cables, the fiber optics connection in Nichols has recently been replaced.

The problem affected some teachers’ phones, but for the most part these issues did not affect students, as the school’s Internet traffic is wireless and does not go through the fiber optics cables.

“When they sent out the email, I went ‘Huh? The phones were broken?’”

Nelson.

Two weeks ago, the school phones in Nichols Hall, which use the underground fiber optics cables to connect to the rest of the school and the outside world, started having intermittent issues.

According to Director of Instructional Technology Dan Hudkins, after lengthy diagnostics, the school determined that one of the six pairs of fiber optics cables that go to Nichols had stopped working.

As a temporary fix, the school changed

Within a few days, the phones started to have issues again, and it appeared as though another pair of cables had failed. According to Hudkins, the chances of two pairs of fiber optics cables, which usually have remarkable longevity, failing within days of each other is “astonishingly unlikely.”

The school called in an outside contractor for an evaluation. Since there was not any heavy construction that could have damaged or jostled the

cables, the contractor concluded that the likely issue was mice that had found their way into the conduits and were chewing on the fiber optics.

Twelve armored pairs of cables have replaced the six pairs of fiber optics cables that run in underground conduits between Main Hall and Nichols. The conduits were sealed shut with foam, and rodenticide was placed inside. As of the time of publication, the problem appears to be resolved.

“In the future, as we open other

vaults for whatever maintenance reason, we’ll fill in the ends of the conduits, and we’ll put rodenticide in the vaults. We only did this [procedure] on the path we know would have the problem,” Hudkins said.

The school is not actively taking measures with the other conduits, but Hudkins has stated that if the administration encounters the same issue, they will most probably solve the problem in the same way, by sealing those cables with foam and applying rodenticide.

Extra help: Juniors begin college counseling Freshman Honor Council

elections at lunch today

priyanka sharma sports editor

sindhu ravuri reporter

PRIYANKA SHARMA - WINGED POST

During extra help period on January 24, juniors attended their first college counseling class of the next two semesters.

With a new year, many changes are to come. Nicole Burrell, Co-director of College Counseling, said that adjustments to the timeline of classes will be made to accommodate the increasing number of early applicants each year.

“There was a little bit of shifting of the timeline, or acknowledgement that the timeline has shifted, and there are some things that we can put into play to make sure that everyone is on that timeline,” she said.

Moreover, a new informational meeting for parents of juniors will be held in addition to the parent nights in January and September.

Erika Rojas, Support Specialist for College Counseling, said that the college counselors have been meeting multiple times to discuss different processes in the upcoming year. “[I am excited to meet] all the new students and get to know them as they start their process,” Rojas said.

Junior Emily Wang shares Rojas’s excitement. She feels that college counseling is similar to “a rite of passage” for the juniors.

“I don’t really know what to expect about the entire college applica-

MEETING Co-directors of college counseling Sandy Padgett and Nicole Burrell speak to juniors in Nichols Hall Auditorium in the first of many counseling classes.

tion process, so hopefully college counseling will explain and illuminate some of the procedures,” Emily said.

Many juniors feel they are ready to embark on the college process; however, some are partly upset.

“I’m disappointed that extra helps are going to be gone, but I feel that it is necessary. I expect to learn more about colleges and what colleges fit me,” Joshua Tien (11) said.

Juniors such as Chau Nguyen and Tara Rezvani agree that while losing extra helps will be difficult, they will learn much from the college counseling classes.

“I think it’s going to be beneficial

for us in the long run, even though when we think about it, we are agonizing it,” Chau said.

Burrell added that dealing with juniors who have not started the process is different from dealing with seniors who have finished it.

“It’s always fun for us to start at this again,” she said. “Sitting down with a senior is so different, and [with a junior] I have to take it back to square one and just start all over from the basics.”

The juniors will meet in either the auditorium, the Edge, or the college counseling office for their weekly classes.

Freshmen will be voting at lunch today for one out of the 12 candidates who are running for election for the Honor Council, a position in which these candidates will have an opportunity to represent their peers and make a difference for the school.

Honor Council faculty chair Dr. Pauline Paskali believes that the Honor Council “is a way for the [freshmen] of the community to represent their peers in matters of academic integrity, and it also presents them with an opportunity of fostering an honest environment.”

She said she is “looking forward to the upcoming elections and expect[s] great things from the freshmen candidates.”

Although the voting process this year is mostly the same as those of previous years, a new voting software produced by Prag Batra (12) will be used.

According to members of the Honor Council, the old software could only handle a total of eight candidates, unlike this year, where the software can handle as many candidates as needed.

The 12 freshmen candidates are Zabin Bashar, Nathan Dalal, Rahul Jayaraman, Daniela Lee, Ayush Midha, Apoorva Rangan, Sahana Rangarajan, Glenn Reddy, Mariam Sulakian, Vivek Sriram, Vedant Thyagaraj, and

Zoë Woehrmann.

All the candidates strongly believe in the representation and establishment of integrity in the school’s community, and that they can successfully uphold this honest environment.

“Honor is about who we are. […]

If we don’t uphold honor, then we are subjecting ourselves to corruption. […]

I believe honor is an essential part of the school community,” Vedant, one of the candidates, said.

Another candidate, Vivek Sriram, agrees with this notion.

“No matter who you are, there will be some point in your life where you make a poor decision. But the question is: will your character be judged for it?

If I am chosen for the Honor Council, I will never judge your character based upon one instance where you went wrong,” Vivek said.

The current members of Honor Council, such as junior Emily Wang, are also looking forward to the Class of 2015’s future contribution.

She said, “Honor Council is [a] great opportunity to get involved in the community! For those of you who [are running,] being on the council is so rewarding, and such a growing experience. […] We are all excited to see freshman faces to represent the wonderful class of 2015 on the council.”

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january 27, 2012 the Winged Post

2010-2011 Gold Crown 2009-2010 Silver Crown 2007-2008 Pacemaker Award 2010-2011 Silver Crown: TALONWP 2009-2010 Gold Crown: TALONWP

Editor in Chief Priyanka Mody

Assistant Editor in Chief Michelle Deng

Editor in Chief in Training Samantha Hoffman

Managing Editor (Business & Design) Kevin Lin

Managing Editor (Copy) Nayeon Kim

News Editor

William Chang

Opinion Editor

opinion

Assemblies: All of us are worthy of celebration

At a certain time of year, a surprise assembly is not too much of a surprise. The whole campus is abuzz with chatter; the senior class becomes particularly excited because several of their classmates will likely become the surprise itself.

Ah, yes—Intel Science Talent Search assemblies! They are a glorious, prestigious tradition, and they recognize the incredible work of dedicated students. However, the school perhaps warrants a true surprise once in a while: recognition on the same level for non-science accomplishments.

After all, even though we certainly have brilliant mathematicians, scientists, and engineers posing as students, we also have incredible artists, writers, and athletes.

Indeed, you name any field, and our campus will surely provide more than one specimen of excellence to represent. We know we’re a diverse, well-rounded bunch. We see it every day through both classroom discussions and lunchtime chatter. We pride ourselves on it.

Yet, it seems like time and time again, people let those talents fall to the wayside, as if they just aren’t as important as our science and math successes. Why are we supposedly the “it school for our next Einsteins?”

It begins with recognition. These Intel presentations take up approximately half an hour and are filled with bright balloons, larger-thanlife checks, and dramatic speeches. (And bad jokes, which we shall pardon.) Intel-hired press trail the winners afterwards for photos and interviews.

On the other hand, it seems like 90% of those other talents are recognized merely by clipped announcements at school meeting or in a curt line on the Daily Bulletin. Unacknowledged by many, forgotten by even more.

Certainly, society regards Intel STS as one of the premier science competitions with a long

history, and the students recognized by STS have done exceptional work.

But it’s important to remember that the recognition on campus is furnished solely by Intel. If representatives of a publishing company wanted to come celebrate a student who wrote a novel, the school probably wouldn’t stop them.

Rather, we believe the school would be entirely supportive.

But in the absence of people willing to come throw a party, we think the school should throw the figurative party itself. Our students have won medals at international Olympiads, won national debate tournaments, and qualified for Junior Olympics in the past!

We’re not calling for as egregiously long an assembly, and certainly not for all those eyerollinducing comments—we just wish for something that makes the other brilliant minds feel as appreciated as our scientists.

EDITORIAL THE OFFICIAL OPINION OF THE WINGED POST The question then arises whether students actually need incentives like huge checks and special assemblies to motivate amazing work.

Certainly not.

As we said earlier, remarkable talent already exists among our student body even without such incentives, and it will continue to exist even if nothing changes. Our excellence usually is born out of passion and is fueled by intrinsic motivation.

Nevertheless, incentives do ... incentivize, for lack of a better word. The thrill of reward can prompt someone just exploring a field to try it

out, maybe just for fun, until it grows absorbing and even consuming, until this person is producing the caliber of work recognized by national competitions (and, let’s be fair, the admissions committees of the colleges and universities to which we aspire).

We work hard because we want to be good; we work even harder for a reward that affirms that we are good, and in the process, we grow better. Athletes, musicians, scientists—regardless of the field, people who have risen to the top often say that the competition is not what fueled them but ultimately did make the pursuit of their goals more challenging and perhaps more meaningful.

Returning to the Intel assembly, it is hard not to feel just slightly excluded when it seems as if only science and math are significantly celebrated, especially if you are one of those potential “humanities majors.” You do not have to be a fame-hungry monster to want some occasional appreciation or recognition of the work you do; it’s perfectly human and respectable.

We know a reaction to this editorial could be of muffled laughter. You’re journalists, you say.

Of course you’re offended.

However, remember this: our Winged Post editorial board includes two Intel semifinalists.

Many of our writers call Nichols a third home and are all too familiar with the scientific method or abstract mathematics. We also have competitive dancers, singers, photographers, and, of course, writers—the whole spectrum.

We’re not calling for “consolation” recognition; we’re calling for equitable treatment. Regardless of field, two achievements of equal significance should be accorded the same honor. We try to do so in our own publication.

Now, the most important question comes up: can we get an “Amen?”

Daniela Lapidous

Tech Editor

Patrick Yang MEGAN PRAKASH -- TALON

Features Editor

Pavitra Rengarajan

Lifestyle Editors

Sanjana Baldwa & Alisha Mayor

Global Editor Shilpa Nataraj

Sports Editors

Aditi Ashok & Priyanka Sharma

Photo Editor

Mercedes Chien

TALONWP Editor in Chief Jackie Jin

TIME:

Constantly saying yes can be cured with a reality check

apoorva rangan reporter

Advisor

Chris Daren

Reporters Anishka Agrawal

Emily Lin

Alyssa Amick

Samar Malik

Sarah Bean

Diba Massihpour

Meena Chetty

Manthra Panchapakesan

Emily Chu

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Jason Chu

Sindhu Ravuri

Nikhil Dilip

Vasudha Rengarajan

Darian Edvalson

Rachel Salisbury

Kacey Fang

Sonia Sidhu

Riya Godbole

Shannon Su

Corey Gonzales

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Allison Sun

Juhi Gupta

Monica Thukral

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Allison Kiang

Felix Wu Cartoonist: Megan Prakash

Visit The Winged Post Online at www.talonwp.com Follow us on Twitter www.twitter.com/talonwp The Winged Post is published every four to six weeks except during vacations by the Journalism and Advanced Journalism Newspaper Concentration courses of Harker Upper School, 500 Saratoga Ave., San Jose, CA 95129.

The Winged Post staff will publish features, editorials, news, and sports in an unbiased and professional manner and serve as a public forum for the students of The Harker School. Editorials are the official opinions of The Winged Post.

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The Winged Post is the official student newspaper, and it is distributed free of cost to students.

If you open the bottom drawer of the hutch in my room, you’ll find about 20 diaries stacked in neat rows.

Flip them open, and you’ll see a couple of pages with movie reviews or stories about long-forgotten crushes, but the rest are just blank pages. My diaries had an average lifespan of about two to three weeks.

Now that I think about it, some of those articles were actually about my aversion to commitment, ironically enough.

When I was 11, I diagnosed myself as a “yes man,” someone who takes on everything that’s offered to them without truly weighing the relative importance of each engagement. It was hard to realize I was overwhelmed.

At first, the yes-mannerism started out benignly. I took on a leadership role in my history group’s presentation the following day, forgetting about my dance practice and flute lesson that evening. I plowed through my homework at a little bit above my average pace, getting things done just in the nick of time. I got to bed at eleven, tired but satisfied.

But what if I was not doing enough? High school wasn’t supposed to be this easy, right?

I started to feel inadequate, so I spread myself thin.

Everyone else seemed to be able to handle a giant platter of extracurriculars and other commitments, so it only made sense that I should too.

Starting a flute quartet doesn’t seem to take too much time, so I did it. My mom racked up a thousand miles on the car every week driving me to and from classes, school, and youth orchestra.

I signed up at an excessive number of clubs at Club Fair, not because of the free food but because it filled the void of inadequacy.

There were going to be so many things on my college application even Harvard would accept me.

Then, things began to fall apart. I headed in to first period math and fourth period Spanish and realized that I forgot to do homework for both the classes, getting a ten percent deduction on the

assignments. Flute quartet ended up crashing and burning since my group couldn’t schedule around my other commitments.

I don’t know how much my lack of time management will hinder me in the future. I’m pretty much allergic to planners and iCal. I haven’t opened my student planner since the first day of school, and iCal sits in a lonely little corner of my MacBook, untouched.

For some reason, I thought that if I couldn’t see the behemoth of obligations piling up, they must not exist.

“

What if I was not doing enough? High school wasn’t supposed to be this easy, right?

”

Imagine a balloon. Blow helium in it and watch it expand. If you stop at the right time with just the right amount of air, the balloon will fly swiftly and smoothly.

If you keep going past that point, the balloon will be stressed and fragile to the touch. Blow past that and the balloon will burst.

Forgive my lack of metaphorical creativity.

I’ve overestimated myself sometimes. It’s been difficult to accurately judge my limits and even harder to stay within them, as I’ve been told by my family to never lose a single opportunity.

The temptation of recognition is just so tantalizing, the work required to get to the result doesn’t seem that disillusioning.

I think that’s the core problem: wanting too much fruit without the labor. And that’s not realistic, unfortunately.

It’s not feasible to expect success at every endeavor, and taking on more obligations won’t bring me success or happiness.

In order to better myself, I’ve got to improve my time management and fix my inability to prioritize.

There. I just did it. What, you ask? I just launched iCal for the first time.

Always on the move rachel salisbury

reporter To you, this school is probably home. Some of the students here have been here since Kindergarten, and have had years to be integrated into the Harker community. Even for newer students, everyone has a school that they grew up in, an elementary school where they have life-long friends.

For me, this school is my eighth school and my eighth community in the ten years I’ve been going to school. Becoming part of a community is an important part of feeling comfortable at your school and in your city.

I am not saying that I have never felt like part of a community, but I have never stayed somewhere for long enough to really become part of my school and neighborhood.

Moving is considered “one of the most stress-producing events a family faces [besides divorce, illness, or death of a loved one],” according to American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry.

So, it was no surprise that adults and teachers would be concerned with my well-being after being shuffled from school to school.

Throughout my childhood, a lot of people have been worried about how my development would be affected as I moved to a new school almost every year.

Although they were right to be concerned, I would hardly consider moving one of the most stressful things I have gone through. It may have put a lot of pressure on my mom, but for me and my siblings, moving became an exciting custom that always had upsides.

The twelve-hour car ride when we moved from Indiana to Canada, including an unfortunate stay at a nasty hotel and waiting for hours at the border for customs, was turned into a fun family bonding trip.

We could make clubhouses out of brown paper boxes and we got to redecorate our rooms when we arrived in the new house.

Along with redecorating my room, moving to a new location or a new school gave me a new chance to choose how I appeared to other people. My new friends would never have the impression of me that all my old friends had, so I could give form a new version of myself.

The Rachel Salisbury that attended the Blythwood Public School in Toronto would not be easily recognized by my current

friends. She was clad in camouflage and her face was hidden with unruly hair. It might be shocking to people who know me now to know that I was painfully shy at some of my other schools.

Being given a chance to reinvent yourself isn’t something that can be easily abused. I was taught a valuable lesson when I tried to lie to my school friends about things that had happened at my previous school. In every lie there is a missing piece in the story that gives away the truth, so every facade that I would create to impress my new peers would inevitably shatter.

Eventually, I became proud of who I was at previous schools, even if it wasn’t how I wanted people to see me. The positive changes that I made in between were nothing to be ashamed of.

Moving is not an opportunity to discard who you were before. Just because I had moved away from people I got into fights with, that did not mean that I did not have to learn how to solve conflict. Any emotional issue that presents itself will follow you if you move away from it.

I don’t suffer from severe social disorders from moving around a lot, although my fourth grade teacher would have argued otherwise, but moving around has had a slightly negative impact on my life.

I have lost contact with a lot of great people who I was lucky to meet, because the distance makes it a lot harder for me to make time for them. Saying, “We’ll keep in touch through Facebook!” is easier said than done. Between school, journalism, sports, trying to hang out with the friends I have now, and working around my long-distance friends’ schedules, I’m lucky if I get to video chat with my old friends once a month.

I certainly don’t blame my parents for making me move so much. Our current house is my mom’s 43rd home, as her father was a foreign correspondent whose job caused him to relocate constantly, so she understands the repercussions of being uprooted so often.

Every time we have moved it has been for a good reason, like my mom’s job, and I have usually moved schools because one school ended or another school offered a better education.

In the end, every move was worth it to have had all the great experiences I have, and to end up where I am now.

Opinion l

crunching the numbers priyanka mody

editor in chief I can undeniably say that math has always been a struggle for me. I remember feeling on top of the world in first grade when I was assigned to G++ math, only to be quickly reassigned after week one.

Since then, I’ve battled with multiplication timed tests, engaged in one-on-one combat against the utter confusion of word problems, and have finally conquered the imaginary number, i.

Throughout Lower and Middle School, my parents patiently sat by my side as I worked through pages of arithmetic.

How I hated those practice problems. It was a complete nightmare, one that cost me tears and tantrums, but ultimately paid off.

Those late nights that I spent crouched over my textbook beside piles of scratch paper comprise not only my memories of elementary school math, but just my overall relationship with math throughout life. My mom was able to phrase my feelings so aptly: if you don’t like math, math won’t like you.

Needless to say that at the time, math and I weren’t

“

even Facebook friends.

I did eventually take these words to heart, even if this revelation came only in the last couple years.

I embraced the fact that math would always be a challenge to me.

So, when I signed up for AP Calculus BC, I wasn’t blindly stepping into a class that I imagined would be a breeze. In fact, I had listened to advice from students who had just finished the course, and ultimately, I decided to go for it.

Perhaps my personal struggle with the subject fueled my initial frustration. When I entered my calculus class on the first day, I was dismayed to find that I was one of only four seniors.

Naturally, we all huddled together at the same table group, and, thus, this seating chart became our default. I felt so perfectly comfortable and secluded from the rest of my classmates. My mistake.

I used to think that some people had an inherent gift for taking derivatives and integrating, as if it were handed to them from some divine being. At least, the underclassmen in my calculus class seemed to have this magical power. They could solve warmup problems in less than half the amount of time it took me to even comprehend what was being asked of me.

I wallowed in my defeat for the first few weeks.

And unfortunately, at times, my own psychological preconceptions and hesitations prevented me from soliciting assistance from many of the bright classmates who would have been more than willing to offer help.

In this new semester, though—my last one of high school—I’ve determined to shed this false aura

talk around campus

”

of hierarchy. As seniors, we sometimes forget the fact that we were once underclassmen, too. Having freshmen and sophomores in my class constantly supplies a diverse outlook on life, with both their inane and insightful comments.

Plus, their cute class t-shirts so aptly describe the relationship that we should have with them: “f15h are friends, not food.”

With their eagerness to work ahead in class, explore projects beyond the assignment, and genuinely exemplify a deep passion for the subject, I’ll admit that I have been inspired by the freshmen in my class.

I can point to several instances where I am awestruck by the sheer genius that they exhibit when it comes to numbers, the way an equation just rolls off their tongue.

Calculus is far from what I expected—it has challenged me like no other class I’ve taken, sometimes to the point where I feel as if my mind will explode from an overdose of integrands, functions, and sigma notation symbols. Nonetheless, I walk into class eager to step out of my comfort zone.

A personal success in math gives me that feeling of triumph in even the smallest of endeavors.

I derive happiness from correctly solving a practice problem in class, or contributing to my table discussion, or even being able to understand some of the intangible mathematical theorems that surface in a discussion by a few of my brilliant classmates.

And to my mother, whose wise words always seem to be true in the end: I think that math and I might be friends after all.

What do you think about the presidential race? meena chetty

TALONWP managing editor “I think Obama has an advantage because the Republican candidates are criticizing each other and insulting each other a lot more.”

“My first thought is that we shouldn’t allow anyone to campaign until the year of the election. I’m a little saturated with information, hearing about the race.”

- Kelly Horan, Psychology Teacher

- Nik Datuashvili (11)

“I think the Republican party is in chaos, almost. Nothing is making sense. For a while, Romney looked like he was ahead, but then Gingrich won South Carolina, [...] so they’re clashing. I feel like both sides really dislike each other.”

“There’s obviously mixed feelings about who should get re-elected.”

- Agata Sorotokin (9)

- Noah Levy (12)

“The Republican side is just throwing hits at each other and I don’t think that’s the right way to win an election.”

“I think it’s a very funny thing to watch. [...] I’m probably going to vote for Obama, mostly because I don’t think the [Republican candidates] will do anything to improve our economy.”

- Abhinav Khanna (12)

- Preeya Mehta (11)

“I don’t really watch the races too much.

I probably would if I were older. I think that Obama will have the lead because he is already [president].”

“I’m happy Michelle Bachman isn’t in the race anymore because she [seems] uneducated. I don’t really have an opinion about [the current candidates].”

- Claudia Tischler (10)

- Krishan Kumar (10)

Continually waiting for happiness leads to more of the same michelle deng asst. editor in chief I’ve passed so much of my life chasing the horizon of the future.

Back in elementary school, I wanted to be a big kid ’cuz big kids were awesome and people listened to them.

It was in middle school that the yearning became raw: life had become a whirlwind of cliques and drama and pressure to be cool, pretty, and smart yet not nerdy.

I couldn’t wait for high school, when we were freer to be.

At long last, high school came, but the waiting and wishing only became more insistent. In fact, when I look back over the past three years, I can think of very few extended periods of time during which I’ve been wholeheartedly content.

The dissatisfaction ranged from the little to the big, from the immediate to the distant. Sometimes, it was just the typical cycles of stress and relief that burned “this month might be hell but it’ll get better soon” into my head on repeat.

Other times, it was weightier. During the spring of my junior year, I worked so hard to earn a research experience that I thought would make everything complete.

Throughout last fall, I poured my soul into those college applications, fingers crossed for relief to come. It wasn’t just with academics and extracurriculars though. I dreamed about social life, about my physique, about … life.

It’s not like I never got what I wanted—I’m fortunate to be able to say that most dreams have come true.

But what I had was never quite enough; when I got what I wanted, I wanted something better. Paradise still lay in the future.

But it was okay if I wasn’t happy, I said to myself time and time again. I just needed to hold on

and keep striving for the mind, body, and soul I wished to have. It was okay, because it would eventually pay off, and in second semester senior year, life could begin.

I think a lot of people at this school feel similarly. I’ve spoken with many students in different grades who have a burning desire for something better in the future—not necessarily for the same things, of course, but just for something—and who are not happy as a result. It’s not the best way to live.

Well, after years of anticipation, the golden age finally arrived two weeks ago. And I had gotten so many of the things that I had wished for. I should have thrown a party.

“

I often forgot to enjoy the journey. In that sense, I lost part of my youth.

”

Instead, that weekend, I stared at iCal and clicked past February, March, and April, counting the days till graduation. The upcoming semester would be an inconsequential gap of squandered time, a meaningless spell of paralysis.

In college, life could really begin.

And then I flipped back to January. Smack in the middle, on January 17, it read, SECOND SEMESTER!! (: I’d written that last summer, eager as could be for this month. And now, I was eager as could be for this summer. What was I doing? What was wrong?

I thought back to my blissful winter vacation.

Thanks to the school’s wonderful no-homeworkover-break policy and a stroke of luck, I’d had no pressure to do anything over break.

So during that time, I read a book for fun. I baked apple pie cookies and red velvet cakes. I slept.

I watched movies (on repeat). I ate elegant crêpes and sandwiches with friends. I joked and smiled with family.

Interspersed through all that fun was “productive work” as well. I didn’t want to be swamped in January, so I read ahead for a couple of classes, continued my research, and played hours and hours of piano.

And through it all, I was utterly happy. With pressures lifted, I enjoyed the activities that had seemed so burdensome earlier in the year. I enjoyed the process.

And that enjoyment was what I had been missing. Intrinsically, I do like most of the things I do.

I love learning and challenging my mind. I love journalism, fine arts, and music. I love jogging around my neighborhood. I love meeting new people and learning new stories.

But so focused have I been on the future—on those intellectual, social, and physical destinations— that I often forgot to enjoy the journey. In that sense, I lost part of my youth.

I want to make clear that I don’t regret the things I did. Most of my efforts did pay off fantastically. I just regret the way I went about doing them.

It’s taken me three-and-a-half years of high school to come to this conclusion, and I so wish that I had earlier—last year, in sophomore year, in freshman year … the earlier the better.

Knowing my personality, I probably would have still done the same activities at similar levels of intensity, but I would have savored the process and smiled far more. But it’s fine because it’s not too late to change.

Through the 120 days until summer, I’ll try not to drown in senioritis as time washes past.

I’ll try to remember that even if what I do ultimately doesn’t matter in college, it can still color my life with new experience and knowledge, and I can still have a blast doing it.

I’ll let the moments count.

january 27, 2012 the Winged Post

7

on the

DL

daniela lapidous opinion editor

The month was young. I was eating out with friends at Sushi Boat, an average-but-geographically-convenient kind of place. I was determined to stay frugal, to get a good deal on my Japanese food fix. After all, I was trying to understand the meaning of money.

From January 1 onwards, I had decided with my mother that I would spurn my (co-signed) credit card and use a debit card with a specific monthly allowance instead. My allowance covers food, gas, groceries I buy, clothes, and essentially everything except for school supplies.

I willingly made this arrangement because I felt guilty about how much I spend; sometimes the temptation of flash-sale sites like Gilt or ideeli is strong. My allowance is still more than I need, but I think this is a good exercise–as I head off to college relatively soon, I’d like to understand my own spending habits now rather than later when I am in a new place with lots of beautiful things to pay.

So, yes. I was with my friends, thinking I could be the picture of good budgeting by only plucking a couple of small trays of sushi off of those cute little rotating boats. No entrée for me, no sir. We ate and laughed, and by the time the bill came, I was feeling pretty good about myself. Until I looked at it.

Now, the way I’m building this thing up, you’d probably think I ended up spending a whole hundred dollars on some kappa maki and a spider roll.

No … but, in my mind, the outcome was just as offensive: $17. Seventeen dollars. For what! For a small amount of mediocre sushi! With tip, I ended up laying a twenty down and walking out relatively hungry! The injustice! The waste! I could have gotten a way better dinner ten minutes away, or at least gotten an entrée for less money!

Silly as it may be, “Sushi-gate” (isn’t that how all betrayals, minor or major, get dubbed?) opened my eyes to what is “worth it” in the face of some spending limit, whether it is large or small. Just as people grumble about wasted time they can never get back, food especially are of the same ilk.

Besides this one moment, I feel pretty confident about this month. I decided that I would buy no “stuff ”–no tangible items like clothing, books, or anything else–until February 1, and it has been surprisingly easy.

In general, I thought I would miss shopping or at least browsing the Internet for cute things. It seems I found other ways to fill my time; perhaps that is how I ended up spending a lot on food and gas. And sure, I made one $6 impulse purchase. Sue me.

My spending, however, seems representative to me of what I like to do: eat, especially while chatting with friends, and go on adventures. I had fun experiences that didn’t add to the piles of clutter in my room, and whenever I thought about a purchase I pined for, I usually forgot about it the next day–a sure sign I didn’t really need it.

Overall, it’s funny how fast my attitude toward spending changed when I viewed my allowance as “my” money, say what you will about it still belonging to my parents.

Before, if I had a doubt as to whether something was worth purchasing, I would think, “Would my mom get mad? No? Then, it must be fine.” Now, I look to my own judgment and can look at the same item and recognize myself that I should just put it back down and back away.

Call me naïve, spoiled, or too old to be learning this lesson now … but I would say that late is better than never, and I definitely know many teenagers who are learning this alongside me or have yet to. In the same way, there are very responsible teens who support their own “allowances” with jobs.

Money may be a touchy subject, but let’s have these conversations before our parents have to call us up in the dorm room, asking what all those Amazon charges were for.

If my experience isn’t motivation enough for you to consider imposing a budget on yourself, consider this: since money spent seems to be an expression of priorities, who knows?

Maybe managing your finances will give you the answer to those pesky “what matters to you” college essays.

8

features

january 27, 2012 the Winged Post

Upper School welcomes three new faculty on campus As the second semester begins, new faces have appeared in the classrooms and offices of the Upper School.

English teachers Stephen Connolly and Tia Barth and Administrative Assistant Cindy Banh share with The Winged Post their experiences leading up to and working at the Upper School.

Stephen Connolly has been through a range of experiences, including living on both coasts of the country playing baseball, and writing online tutorials. Yet they all have led to where he is now: a substitute teacher at the Upper School.

Connolly, who has been working at the Upper School since the beginning of the school year, will be teaching Sharron Mittelstet’s Literature into Film elective for the remainder of the semester.

Connolly has lived in California since moving from Massachusetts to San Jose during high school. He attended high school at Bellarmine College Preparatory in San Jose and completed an undergraduate program at Loyola Marymount University in Los Angeles. Upon graduation, he returned to San Jose to earn his master’s degree in English at San Jose State University.

Connolly became connected to the Upper School through his father, Joe Connolly, Dean of Students at the Lower School, who was able to help him set up an interview for a substitute teaching position. After substituting for a few teachers near the beginning of the year, Connolly

years before taking a break to raise three children, two of whom are in the Lower School and one who has not started school yet. She also substituted for Mittelstet last year for some time.

Though getting acclimated has been difficult for Barth mainly due to logistical changes, she has really enjoyed getting to know the students and being in an educational environment again.

“From the moment I stepped in and started talking with the students, it’s been so fun,” she said. “They are so responsive, engaged, funny, and hardworking, and it’s just great to interact with them.”

Barth thinks that as a teacher, her job is not just to impart wisdom to her students.

“I just hope that they feel that the things they do in the classroom have meaning to them beyond the grade and the class,” she said. “[My job] is to help them find that for themselves and maybe ask them some good questions to get them thinking.”

Tia Barth

************ At the beginning of the academic year, Cindy Banh joined the Upper School as a part-time administrative assistant, managing attendance records in Dobbins Hall.

Banh has spent her whole life in the Bay Area. She attended Oak Grove High School, Mission Junior

Stephen Connolly

College in San Jose, and Mills College in Oakland, where she majored in Biology. After graduating, she went on to work as a pharmacy technician at Kaiser Permanente, where she utilized her background in biology.

“Generally, I helped dispense medications and made sure that patients were getting the right medications in the right dosage amounts.

[Helping them] was very rewarding,” Banh said.

After working at Kaiser, Banh applied for a job at the Upper School because she wanted more flexibility in her schedule to spend time with her fiancé’s children. She and her fiancé are planning to marry in March.

“My position at Harker allows me to have the school days and summers off to spend with [my] kids. Hopefully, they will be able to attend Harker.”

Banh enjoys her current position and likes working with her colleagues at the Upper School. However, she would like to expand her job to fulltime.

“I love it here. I love the kids. I love the positive environment; it’s very different. Even though I do have to deal with sick students [in the attendance office], I enjoy this type of work more than patient care,” Banh said.

Banh has found her time at the Upper School wonderful and everyone constantly welcoming.

Cindy Banh DARIAN EDVALSON - WINGED POST

lifestyle editor & TALONWP lead

was offered an extended substitute po- learning to create lesson plans, grading sition for Mittelstet, which he gladly assignments, and performing other duaccepted. ties that are not required of substitute “I enjoy teaching literature be- teachers. cause it is more about facilitating a discussion and approaching ************ literary works from a critical, Her favorite authors are John analytical perspective. I defiSteinbeck and Toni Morrison. nitely feel more She loves trail runs and half in my element marathons. She enjoys watching in the Engsports. Some know her as Evan lish classroom,” Barth’s wife, but others just Connolly said. know her as Tia Barth, Connolly is curthe new teacher for rently working toSharron Mittelstet’s wards becoming a American Literature permanent teacher, classes. using his extended Barth completed substituting expeher undergraduate edrience as an opucation at Stanford portunity to gain a University and better understandher master’s ing of the job. He degree at is hopeful that a fullBoston College. time position will “I have alopen up as early as ways loved school,” she SANJANA BALDWA - WINGED POST next year, and he feels that said. “I really just loved the Upper School would be the perfect learning, and that was sort of my startplace for him to teach. ing point.”

“This school is unique. I mean, Reading and writing were two the students are really about as passions that carried on into her coldiligent as they legiate studies and her career. come,” Connolly “In my spare time, I did find mysaid. “It’s excit- self loving to read, loving to write, so I ing to come to just sort of gravitated toward that in my school to teach studies,” she said. “When I got to coland know that lege, it was so wonderful to just be able the students will to, for my schooling, do something that be interested in I loved to do anyway.” what you have Barth became a teacher because of to say, and they her experiences with some of her teachare excited about ers and coaches throughout her life. learning, or at “I had some incredible teachleast willing to ers and coaches, particularly in high get all of their school, and just really was inspired work done.” by them and felt like, besides my At the parents, those people really had same time, he made an impact on me,” she knows that there said. “I felt like I would like to will be challeng- be that figure for other people.” es with switchThis year is not the first ing to a full-time year Barth has taught at the teaching posi- Upper School; she taught tion including American Literature for two DARIAN EDVALSON - WINGED POST

sanjana baldwa & darian edvalson

MICHELLE DENG - WINGED POST

Nichols Aquarium: Not all organisms are healthy

AQUARIUM Over the past semester, several species in Nichols Hall’s saltwater aquarium have vanished or perished. Biology teachers and Jeff Jacinto, head of SeaLife Aquarium Maintenance, have been speculating the causes for this change.

michelle deng asst. editor in chief Nemo has gotten into another fight. Dory has a lesion in her head and dark splotches on her side. Some surrounding coral has vanished as well.

What is going on? Is this Finding Nemo 2?

Unfortunately, it is not. Rather, similar events have played out in Nichols Hall’s saltwater aquarium. Over the past semester, the ecosystem there has changed considerably.

Several creatures have died or disappeared. These include a naso tang (a large gray fish with a yellow stripe), a few gobies, a cleaning shrimp, three orange starfish, a clam, and a variety of corals, according to biology teachers Anita Chetty, Dr. Matthew Harley, and Jeff Sutton, and to Jeff Jacinto, who heads SeaLife Aquarium Maintenance and cares for the tank. A coral introduced just a couple of weeks ago has almost completely receded and died.

Other creatures, such as the Doryesque blue tang and the Nemo-esque orange clownfish, have grown injured or ill but have not died. Some of the corals have also receded or bleached.

Certainly, not all the changes have been bad. Over the semester, a number of new fish and coral have been successfully introduced. Several corals

have grown considerably larger and have visibly feeding polyps, and the “rather quick” growth of coralline algae signifies “excellent water quality,” according to Jacinto. In fact, he said, particularly given the rich biodiversity in the tank and the immense challenge of raising a saltwater aquarium, “overall, [he] would give the tank an A-minus.”

He and the biology teachers have proposed a number of theories as to why the creatures are not doing as well as they would like. They said that some creatures, like the starfish and new coral, were severely weakened by transportation and could not survive in the tank; the school has since indicated that it will not receive any species whose chances of surviving the move seem low. As for the other losses, several teachers cited the difficulty of maintaining the perfect environment needed to sustain life on a reef.

“It’s a new tank,” Sutton said.

“Getting all the parameters established—the pH, the salinity, the types of salts, the concentration of calcium ions, the solutions that moderate the pH—they’re all sort of in flux right now.”

Since certain species have, in Chetty’s words, a “narrower tolerance range” of these factors, the fluctuations may have harmed the organisms’

health.

Jacinto, on the other hand, attributes problems not to the water chemistry, which he said is “testing out perfect,” but to the unusual LED lighting in the tank. LED lights were originally chosen over conventional metal halide lights because LED ones have far lower wattage and do not require the installation of an energy-consuming cooling unit.

“This is the first time [SeaLife has] tried out these LED lights,” he said. “We’re kind of suspecting that we don’t have enough lighting in the tank to support the coral life, so we’ll be adding more lights within the next week or two.”

The teachers also suggested that natural interactions among animals in the aquarium may have caused harm to some. Even though the species were chosen to avoid clear predator-prey relationships, according to Chetty, the fact that the mix of species in the tank would never be found in the wild left the possibility of negative interactions, and like many animals, these fish are “very territorial.”

“Part of what’s going on in the tank itself is behavior that these fish are exhibiting,” Chetty said.

Indeed, Sutton described a fight between a skunk clownfish and an or-

ange clownfish over sea anemone.

“The skunk clownfish won,” he said. “Nemo had bites out of his back.”

Jacinto suspects that other animals, the blue “Dory” tang included, injured themselves by rubbing against the coral and possibly getting stung.

Other teachers voiced concern about bacteria and fungi causing those “wounds.” Fortunately, the tang seems to be recovering. Chetty adds that the corals too are animals and naturally send out chemical signals into the water—possibly affecting neighbors.

There is also the possibility of mere age: Sutton and Chetty said that the school does not know exactly how old these critters were upon arrival, and perhaps it was just time for them to go.

“I don’t think there’s a disease; I don’t think there’s a sickness in the tank,” Sutton said. “It’s not a doomsday story.”

Dr. Harley does not find the cause of losses that important.

“I want to get away from that blame of why they’re dying, because we don’t know,” he said. “It’s great that we have this teaching tool, as well as spruce up the Atrium, […] but it’s not worth it if we can’t maintain sustainability. We would need to reevaluate keeping it if we can’t decrease the mortality rate.”

It seems as if the mortality rate has reduced somewhat, at least for the fish. As a member of Dr. Kate Schafer’s first semester Ecology class, Gerilyn Olsen (12) observed the fish regularly through the last several months.

“At the beginning, we had a lot more deaths, but now it’s a lot more constant, so maybe it’s finally balancing out,” she said. Like the teachers, she noted that there are “a lot of specific requirements for adjusting to the tank, and it’s just a trial-and-error process.”

The school is trying hard to meet the challenge of supporting a saltwater aquarium. Several science teachers rotate feeding and adding calcium and buffer solutions to the tank twice a day.

Moreover, every Friday morning—and during the week if requested—Jacinto’s

professional aquarium services assess the water quality, filters, lights, temperature, chemical balance, and salinity of the tank, as well as watch out for unhealthy or dying organisms.

If possible, sick animals are removed. Corals are sometimes “fragged”—that is, a part is broken off and put into another substrate, perhaps in a different tank, to raise a new colony. However, there is generally “no way to medicate [other creatures] because the medication would harm the coral,” Jacinto said, and “it’s impossible to catch the fish for quarantine tanks because they’d just dart back under the rocks.”

Corals that do die are placed in a tank hidden below the main tank to recalcify the water; other organisms are disposed of.

Nonetheless, by Jacinto’s estimate, around 20 species of coral are flourishing in the aquarium, along with many other fish, invertebrates, and algae— and it is satisfying what Chetty calls its “most important use”: for “students to actually study the reef itself and the corals that are in there.”

Biology teacher Dr. Kate Schafer agrees.

“We have an obligation as a science department to use that as an effective educational tool. Otherwise, we can’t really justify potentially taking those animals off the reef,” she said.

Thus, her Ecology class began what turned into a semester-long project to create an interactive iPad app for those who come into Nichols Hall to learn about the species in the tank, general facts about coral reefs, and myriad other related tidbits. Dr. Schafer said that the students are still putting a “few final touches” on the program; they hope to purchase the iPad soon and have the finished app installed in a display by the tank by the end of the school year.

Dr. Harley called himself “cautiously optimistic” that the aquarium would eventually stabilize into a “sustainable environment” and a lasting educational tool. Jacinto thinks “the Aplus will come with time.”

january 27, 2012 the Winged Post

Features

9

Fashion Show SAT and ACT: Understanding the differences

mercedes chien & sheridan tobin

sonia sidhu

photo editor & reporter

Aside from garments from these retail stores, the show will also promote clothing from three couture brands: Cool Kids Couture, LHC Couture, and Ken Chen. Cool Kids Couture will provide clothing for models in kindergarten through fifth grade, while the other two brands will provide clothing for models in 12th grade.

“At the end of the day, it is a fashion show, so if you can bring in couture designers, that’s really cool,” Prutton said.

Lauren Crafford, the designer of LHC Couture based in Los Gatos, will custom-make gowns for the senior girls, while Ken Chen, based in San Francisco, will supply apparel for the other aspects of the high school senior act.

In addition to these changes, the show will also feature surprise numbers that have not been performed before.

“We’ve been waiting to do this for years, but we’ve been waiting for the right theme. This gives us the right theme. It’s a surprise for everyone!”

Prutton said.

For the models in the show, highlights include not only the fashion and performing aspects of the show, but also their chemistry with other performers. “[I’m looking forward to] seeing everyone there and having my friends in the fashion show. It’s always a fun experience,” model Jeton Gutierrez-Bujari (9) said.

Likewise, as this will be her first time involved in the fashion show, Kathryn Wolfson (12) believes this experience will last with her for a lifetime.

“I’m so excited [for] walking down the runway because I’ve never done [anything like that] before,” she said.

Faculty members also anticipate a memorable experience.

“I think it will be fun to interact with the other faculty and students in a different context,” Mathematics teacher Lola Muldrew said. “I’m also excited to learn how to [model] walk.”

All the changes will benefit the fashion show, allowing a variegated manifestation of designs, a wider and more spacious lobby, and new entertaining and startling surprises.

reporter College applications. Those two words permeate the life of teenagers anxious to get into their dream school.

An application is comprised of many factors, one of which is the standardized test one takes: the SAT or the ACT. The debate between the SAT and the ACT has become a more pressing issue recently, as a greater number of students are taking the ACT. The number of test takers in 2011 increased approximately 30 percent since 2006.

Nonetheless, according to the

“

The ACT is not an IQ test, it is not an aptitude test, it is not measuring potential. We are measuring learning.

”

Ed Colby, Head of Education Services for ACT

College Board website, the SAT still is the most widely taken college entrance exam in the nation, with roughly 1.65 million students who took the test in the 2010 to 2011 school year.

The ACT exam is shorter than the SAT exam by 50 minutes, is scored out of 36 and does not penalize a student for incorrect answers unlike the SAT. It has an additional science section

Senior Charles Levine took the ACT exam and felt it was easier for him than his PSAT had been.

“ACT is more subject based […]

It’s like the SAT subject tests; you can do well if you are familiar with the fundamental subjects,” Charles said.

Sally Rubenstone, a Senior Advisor at College Confidential, understands that many students feel stress related to the SAT exam.

“Stories of students with solid scores who were rejected from firstchoice schools only [serve] to fan the

What test did students take or plan to take?

175 STUDENTS POLLED Many colleges state that an applicant’s admission will not be affected based on which test he or she takes. A 36 on the ACT corresponds to a 2400 on the SAT; likewise, a 35 is the equivalent of about a 2340; a 34 a 2260.

In a poll of 175 students, 106 revealed that they took or were planning on taking only the SAT. Most take this test because they feel more familiar with the format after taking the PSAT or SAT for a summer program.

“I had taken [the SAT] when I was younger for CTY,” Angela Singh (12) said. “It’s also more common.”

Some juniors such as Apurva Tandon (11) plan to take both tests but typically take the SAT first and perhaps take the ACT later depending on their score on the former.

flames of anxiety […] students feel enormous pressure to score well on these exams,” she said.

Co-Director of College Counseling Nicole Burrell thinks that GPA and class schedule matter more than the test scores.

She said, “[GPA and class schedule] are a result of work throughout years of high school and the test is only a couple of hours, and colleges know that.”

Whether students decide to take the SAT or the ACT, the scores comprise only a part of the student’s application and help colleges determine how a student performs compared to national standards.

Heather Perrotta becomes transportation supervisor juhi gupta & apurva gorti reporters Behind the wheel or off the road, new Transportation Supervisor Heather Perrotta has a rich history with the school, and has unique pastimes and memories to share.

Before Perrotta began driving buses here, she had a more unusual job: she worked as an archery instructor, when it was offered as a winter sport.

Also hired as a softball and volleyball coach, her school-year jobs mostly revolved around teaching sports, which probably came from her love of doing “anything being outside” During t h e

summer, Perrotta managed the summer camp archery program, doubling as a camp counselor; simultaneously, she was also involved with the boarding program- she was a live-in house mom for boarders at the school, and spent her time with kids then as well.

Once the boarding program closed down, she became a full-time bus driver. Her job as the transportation supervisor stemmed from there.

“I had to stop coaching since driving the bus was at the same time as sports,” said Perrotta.

Although she never envisioned herself driving buses, Ms. Perrotta enjoys her job: she said that her favorite part is the “kids, definitely the kids,” the numerous students that board the buses daily.

Perotta doesn’t believe that anything too crazy occurs on or to her buses, but thinks that the most unusual thing to have happened would probably be the bus breaking down.

Even though nothing too se-

rious happens on the buses, the transportation department still has a great deal of work: the Transportation Supervisor, specifically, has a lot of technical and organizational work.

“My job entails ensuring the buses and drivers are safe and in good working order,” said Perrotta, “I do all of the coordinating and scheduling between campuses for the campus shuttle, field trips and sporting events.”

Aside from driving buses, many of Perrotta’s interests focus on the outdoors and open-air recreation. Some of her favorite hobbies include hiking, walking her dog, and watching hockey as a self-proclaimed Sharks fan. The beach is a place one might find her on a day off. Even when she was a child, she still had an affinity for the outdoors and athletics: Perrotta fondly remembers off-roading in her father’s dunebuggy, and playing softball and volleyball in school. What she would love to do someday involves the natural world as well. “[One thing I wish I could do is] travel the world indefinitely. I love traveling.” says Perrotta. “[I want to travel to] Italy, to track down some of my family.”

When asked about JUHI GUPTA - WINGED POST

Birthday parties. Graduation. College acceptances. Weddings. Anniversaries. These celebratory events inspired the planning of Celebrate! K Through Life! this year’s annual fashion show which, according to Director of Upper School Volunteer Programs Sue Prutton, features new acts, clothes, and surprises that plan to bring entertainment like never before.

The fashion show is the largest fundraising event that is held each year.

This year, multiple changes will be implemented including adjustments in venue, designers, and program.

After hosting it at the Santa Clara Convention Center, a location many found to be too small to cater to the grandeur of the show, the fashion show will return to the San Jose Convention Center on February 22.

Furthermore, featured apparel will not be provided by Macy’s, as it has been in past years, but by an assortment of 11 different stores and couture designers instead. These suppliers include retailers from Santana Row such as Blue Jeans Bar, The San Francisco Shirt Company, and Oakley, and stores from Westgate Mall such as Old Navy and Ella.

“As a result, we’re actually going to have a better show for fashion than we’ve had in a number of years,” Prutton said.

with questions about science-related passages and interpretation of graphs.

On its website, the Princeton Review, a test preparatory company, the reading section of the two tests differ: ACT questions are more directly related to the passage and test understanding of specific lines, while the SAT includes these questions along with additional inference questions.

The math section of the SAT tests lower level math than the ACT, as the SAT does not test trigonometry. Also, the figures are drawn to scale unless specified so students may be able to intuitively arrive at the answers to some geometry questions.

The ACT can be taken with or without an essay section, but the essay became a required part of the SAT in 2005. Many universities require that applicants submit the ACT with the essay, so that can be compared with applicants who take the SAT. To determine which test to take, Excel Test Prep representative Ashika Maharaj recommends taking a practice test for each exam and determining which one feels like a better fit.

“We have [the students] find out what test works best for them. If a student is more science-focused or doesn’t like writing, [we recommend the ACT],” she said.

According to the Princeton Review’s website, the SAT is considered more of an aptitude test, while the ACT is a curriculum test, signifying that the questions on the ACT tend to be more challenging in terms of content, while those on the SAT tend to be focused on reasoning.

“The ACT is not an IQ test, it is not an aptitude test, it is not measuring potential. We are measuring learning,” said Ed Colby, Head of Education Services for the ACT. “Students who have taken challenging courses in school and done well in those courses are likely to do well.”

the best piece of advice she’d ever been given, Perrotta offered valuable pointers, including “just go with the flow” and “don’t get stuck in the midst of things”. Recently, she says her new phrase has been “it is what it is”, a simple, carefree approach to life in the present.

With her extensive agenda at

“

My plan [for the future] is simple: live every day to its fullest. It’s about the journeys in life.

Heather Perrotta

”

work, one may wonder what Perrotta’s plans for the future may be. Her answer to this is straightforward and concise: “My plan is simple, live day to day to its fullest. It’s about the journeys in life, not necessarily the destination of the ‘future’.”

Perrotta’s position as Transportation Supervisor is an attainment that, although holding some similarities to being a regular bus driver, opens the door to new opportunities and an altered perspective.

Features 10 Improv troupe Baby Wants Candy to perform at school january 27, 2012

the Winged Post

editor in chief & asst. editor in chief

sync, they follow what Shelton calls the “Yes-And” rule. First, a person with strong ideas makes a first move, an “initiation,” which establishes a tone, fleshes out characterizations, or advances the plot. For the ensemble, the initiation could be a song or a line of dialogue; for the band, a change in beat or harmony.

The other performers then say “yes,” adapt to the development, and add some of their own ideas to the mix.

For Shelton, that “Yes-And” rule is “the most important rule in improv” and is “100 percent” what Baby Wants Candy does.

“We build something together,” he said.

Given the importance of cooperation to the success of their musicals, Samuels and Shelton add that the troupe strives for that closeness and comfort gained from spending ample time together on and offstage—that dynamic they call the “group mind.”

“It’s really very, very important for our show,” Samuels said. “So one of the things we look for when we bring in new people is do they hang around?

Do they get that group mind?”

Because of the variety of shows they put on and the frequency of travel, they “have to recast all the time,” Shelton said. For larger shows, they may have six actors onstage and six members in the band; for smaller ones, such as the upcoming one at this school, they might have just four actors and Shelton acting as a one-man band.

But as long as the newer members meld into the group mind, the shows proceed smoothly.

“A lot of people that are with me on SPECIAL TO THE WINGED POST

Imagine getting ready to perform in a musical. Along with your friends, you will sing and act, while a band conjures up the melodies and rhythms to spice up the story.

Now imagine you suddenly forgot what story you were supposedly performing. Worse, none of your fellow actors or musicians remember either. But the show must go on, so all you can do is improvise. And you have to improvise everything: the lines, the plot, the music, the lyrics, the timing.

Everything from scratch, without a moment’s hesitation.

Sounds difficult, right?

Well, that is what Baby Wants Candy goes through routinely—except they are not forgetting anything.

A professional musical improv group, they improvise entire one-act musical comedies based solely on the first phrase the audience offers as a title.

Based in Chicago, the troupe has performed extensively in Chicago, Los Angeles, and New York as well as in other major cities in a number of countries. Having befriended the Pippin cast at the Fringe festival in Scotland this past summer, they will come here to perform at Blackford’s theater on February 4.

The group comprises two parts: the band of instrumentalists and the

ensemble of actors. In a phone interview with The Winged Post, co-founder and ensemble member Albert Samuels and musical director Jody Shelton described the group’s process of putting on such impromptu shows.

A show begins with instrumentals: about five to 10 seconds after the audience calls out the title of the musical, the downbeat of the score must ring. It is up to Shelton, who as musical director both plays music and conducts the band, to decide the mood and setting of the musical.

“I have to think fast and communicate my ideas to the band as quickly and efficiently as possible,” Shelton said. “I’m thinking like a musical or a film score: musically, what is evocative of that title?”

Using his fingers to make numeric cues that correspond to chords, he signals to the band the first notes, and the music begins.

Meanwhile, Samuels said, the actors onstage experience similar thought processes. As soon as they hear the title, they have a few seconds to consider what the words mean and, as music begins to sound, what feelings the melody evokes and what kind of world—what time period and location—the characters might inhabit.

When the lights first come on, it is almost certain that each person onstage has a different conception of what the plot entails. To stay in

Hufnagl: Experiences with dance anishka agarwal reporter

ANISHKA AGARWAL - WINGED POST

English and dance are both prominent passions for in Marc Hufnagl, Department Chair of English, as he has dedicated 30 years of his life to becoming a ballet dancer, modern dance student, and modern dance choreographer.

Coming from a family and an environment that is based on the arts, Hufnagl initially had interest only in music. It was not until college that he truly became dedicated to ballet. Even in college, he was originally focused on musical theater, but he began taking ballet classes when he was told that if he wanted a good core and basis, he should study ballet technique first.

“I seriously studied ballet for eight years with a very focused ballet teacher who had graduated from the Conservatory in Prague and actually was a Bolshoi student,” Hufnagl said. “[We worked] on a technique that was very strict; it is called Vaganova technique, and I became pretty strong as a dancer.”

During the 10 years Hufnagl dedicated to ballet and the 20 years he put into modern dance as both a student and a choreographer, he committed an average of 12 to 15 hours per week in classes and

DANCING PAST English teacher Marc Hufnagl spent thirty years involved with the dance community. He has moved on from dance and now focuses purely on English.

rehearsing. He was a part of two dance companies and also created his own company called the Motion Project. He has choreographed over a dozen musicals, danced in Chicago, Omaha, and New York, and performed in many works including a two-week production of West Side Story in Illinois. He has even been awarded with three fellowships from the National Endowment for the Arts.

“

In ballet, you learn a very strict language, structure, and architecture...Literature is the same way.

Marc Hufnagl

”

However, he eventually gravitated away from ballet and towards modern dance as he did not start of at a young age and also began to suffer lower back injuries.

Furthermore, Hufnagl “felt much more success in modern dance than [he] did in ballet.”

His two favorite factors about ballet were its exactitude and the concept of defying gravity. Yet, he was more intrigued by the antithesis for modern dance, the ability to feel liberated, and working with gravity and earth.

Hufnagl said he would never go back to ballet because of the physical toll, and he believes that it is a dance style for young people.

“I would teach it,” he said. “I could actually have toyed with the idea of offering a master ballet class for the summer for the dancers that are already part of the program.”

Although he has thought of choreographing for modern dance, he said that doing so may be hard with the lack of time.

During the past 10 years, dance has no longer played such an enormous role in his life. However, there is one very prominent correlative relation he derives between ballet and literature.

“In ballet, you learn a very strict language, structure, and architecture. Once you have learned that solid foundation, you are supposed to work from it and not be locked in it,” Hufnagl said. “Literature is the same way; [there is] a foundational core, but then after that, it kind of frees you to enjoy and appreciate literature as a free art.”

He no longer watches ballet performances; yet, he would still buy a ticket to go see Kirov’s “Swan Lake” because to this day his breath is taken away by the “preciseness” and “perfectness” of those ballerinas.

stage I may not even know that well,” he said. “Some I’ve known for 10 years, and some for 10 minutes.”

Indeed, Baby Wants Candy started out quite different from the musical comedy troupe it is today.

While training in Chicago for an upcoming performance, the founding members—Ali Davis, Peter Gwinn, Bob Kulhan, Stuart Ranson, and Samuels—decided to form an improv troupe.

“At first we weren’t in musicals, but when we started improvising musicals, we found out it was really well received by the audience. They loved it,” Samuels said.

After rising in popularity in Chicago, the troupe branched out to other major cosmopolitan cities, particularly Los Angeles and New York City.

However, a couple of years after the group’s inception, the performers were going to split up. According to Samuels, they planned to have a few last performances in Edinburgh, Scotland.

Those shows went “really, really well—so [they] decided to stay together,” Samuels said.

Soon after, Shelton came on board as musical director and “really took the group to a whole new

level,” Samuels said.

To further expand, they regularly solicit new performers and set up casting sessions.

On its website, the group offers a few lighthearted reasons as to why they chose the name Baby Wants Candy, including an anecdote about pacifying a crying baby with candy and an explanation about finding inspiration from a movie character.

However, their name hardly compares to some of the bizarre titles that they have received for their musicals.

Samuels’s and Shelton’s favorites include “The Adventures of Super Badger,” “Vampire Beauty Pageant,” and “Occupy Sesame Street,” among many others.

“You have to be prepared for anything,” Samuels said regarding their rehearsals and warm-ups. “It’s physically impossible to prepare for something you don’t know.”

While it is part of their job to make any title work, they strive to make each performance creative and surprising. Their musical on February 6 will be preceded by an improv workshop for students during the first half of the show. Tickets are currently on sale and can be purchased at tickets@harker.org.

PAST IMPROV TITLES How the Backstreet Boys Won the Civil War The Musical!

Meat Loaf is My Best Friend The Musical!

Lady Gaga Marmalade The Musical!

My Left Foot...Looks Like a Dinosaur The Musical!

The Mighty Swordfish The Musical!

Revenge of Thomas Jefferson The Musical!

The Liver Bringing Truck The Musical!

The Department of Redundancy Department The Musical!

The Narrow Boat of Death The Musical!

A Venetian Affair

Annual Winter Ball is hosted in Nichols Atrium michelle deng & mercedes chien asst. editor in chief & photo editor

It was truly a Venetian affair.

The annual Winter Ball, which was held at the Nichols Hall Atrium on January 21, gave students a chance to relax after the first week of second semester. For the first time ever, students were allowed to wear masks, which were incorporated into the elegance of the theme. Approximately 250 students attended the dance, which was set up and organized by the Spirit Club.

ALL PHOTOS MICHELLE DENG AND MERCEDES CHIEN - WINGED POST

priyanka mody & michelle deng

january 27, 2012 the Winged Post

Features

reporters

POS ED ING

Junior Varsity dancer Madhu Nori (9) said.

The show will feature several genres of music, ranging from early 20th century Broadway numbers to modern hits in pop music, with an intermission break separating the past and the future.

“The more organic style of the earlier dances combined with the more

T

The dancers paraded across the stage, fists pumping into the air, shoulders loosening, and smiles widening as they moved to the rhythm of Britney Spears’s hit song “Till the World Ends.” They seamlessly transitioned from pirouettes to classic hip-hop, conveying this year’s theme of the Upper School’s annual dance production, “Dancing Through Life: Celebrating the Past and Looking to the Future.”

The dance teachers chose this theme as a reflection of the school’s tagline, “K through Life.”

“We really feel like this year we’ve been able to bridge [students] K to 12 within the dance department,” said Amalia De La Rosa, dance instructor and co-director of the dance production. “We’ve been teaching [a lot of these students] since they were at the Lower School.”

“I’ve been dancing ever since I came to Harker in second grade, and since then, dance has been a way to meet new people interested in dance like I am,”

-W

sician,” Golka said.

He grew up in Texas as part of a Polish family that was musical to the core. His father, George Golka, is a piano technician, and his mother, Anna Golka, taught him and his two brothers the art of playing the piano. Influenced by his parents and teachers, Golka realized his desire to become a pianist when he was nine years old. At 15 years old, he studied piano and worked towards a college diploma at the Texas Christian University.

“When I was a teenager, everybody was always saying, ‘You know, you’re still very young. When you grow up, you’ll be more mature, [and] you’ll understand the music better,’” he said.

“Now I’m 24, and I feel like I actually know less about it than I did when I was 16 or 12.”

Besides the music, he feels that the perks exclusive to his profession include travelling the world (which also serves as a drawback) and meeting different people. One of his favorite experiences occurred during a trip to Venezuela, when he worked with a youth orchestra called the Teresa Carreño. Although they were all 16 to 22 years old and from poor or disadvantaged backgrounds, Golka claims they were one of the best orchestras he had ever played with in his life.

“I think it really comes down [to] that age doesn’t matter,” Golka said.

Serena Wang (9), who plays piano, anticipates the Concert Series recital to be an intriguing performance.

“I expect that since he’s won so many awards, he’ll give a very polished performance. All his awards show how hard he’s worked, and I’m eager to see the results,” she said.

Florio will rent a piano worth $150,000 for the occasion.

The concert will be on Saturday, February 4 at 8:00 p.m. in the Nichols Hall Auditorium, with a pre-event reception at 7:00 p.m. Tickets can be purchased online at www.vendini.com.

AN

In an age of modern music when hit songs are rarely found without lyrics, pianist Adam Golka brings his audiences back to the piano classics.

On Saturday, February 4, 24year old Golka will be performing at the Nichols Auditorium in the third recital of the Concert Series this year.

The program includes two Beethoven sonatas, some intermezzi by Johannes Brahms, and “Mephisto Waltz No. 1”

by Franz Liszt. Of the two sonatas, one is called the “Hammerklavier.”

“Part of being a pianist is having to do lots of different kinds of things, but [for this performance] I chose pieces that I worked on and love and that make a very good combination,” Golka said in a phone interview with The Winged Post.

When selecting his repertoire, Golka enjoyed putting together a program with pieces that complement each other, sometimes in subtle ways.

The two sonatas that open the show and bring down the curtain are both

by Ludwig van Beethoven and incorporate a fugue, yet they differ in their personalities. One is crisp and lighthearted, while the other is “colossal,” Golka said. He takes even more pleasure in allowing the audience to speculate about the link between the other two composers.

“I love to put Brahms and Liszt together because they were the most famous musical figures that wrote for the piano in the second half of the nineteenth century, and they absolutely despised each other,” he said. “Both of the pieces come from deep romantic sentiment, but they go about it so differently; it’s almost unbelievable.”

Orchestra Director Chris Florio, who helps organize the Concert Series, first heard of Golka’s talent when arranging the Afiara Quartet’s appearance in March. He decided to book Golka’s performance because he felt aspiring musicians in the school could relate to the pianist’s passion for music.

“It’s rare that you see somebody of really superior high quality [who is] only actually a few years older than a lot of the students here,” Florio said.

“It’s really going to be inspiring.”

Though a young performer, Golka has already claimed numerous awards including the 2008 Gilmore Young Artist Award and the 2009 Max I. Allen Classical Fellowship Award of the American Pianists Association. He has worked with orchestras worldwide at venues such as the Carnegie Hall in New York and the Concertgebouw in Amsterdam.

“Hopefully, [I want to do] a lot more of what I’ve done so far.

I want to keep growing as a mu-

apoorva rangan & vasudha rengarajan

ANG

reporter

SPECIAL TO THE WINGED POST

kacey fang

A look into the dance show

OR VA R

New York pianist to give performance as part of Concert Series

APO

Adam Golka

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urban and modern style creates a really cool effect,” dancer Shazdeh Hussain (10) said.

As opening night grows closer, production details have begun to take shape. Practices increased in number, lighting and stage effects were tested, and costumes were distributed and altered. Rehearsals were held for four days during the week of the show.

“That week is called ‘Tech Week,’ so all of the dancers rehearse Monday through Thursday from four to seven in the theater,” co-director Karl Kuehn said. “Those rehearsals are very important. We’re on stage, we’re using lighting [and] costumes, and we’re doing show run-throughs and working on our finale routine which [includes] the entire cast.”

According to Tech Crew member Nicky Semenza (10), images relating to the theme will be projected on the sides of the screen to “tie the tech into the theme.”

De La Rosa considers costumes as an integral part o f the final product presented on stage.

“There’s a lot to be taken into account,” she said.

“The costume has to go with the music. We want it to look good on all of the dancers, it has to move freely, and it has to fit the overall theme of the actual number.”

The dance production will be held tonight at 7:30 p.m. and tomorrow at 2:00 p.m. and 7:00 p.m. at the Blackford Theater. Tickets can be purchased at the door or via email request at tickets@harker.org.

the race to be presid

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Iowa, New Hampshire, and South Carolina: the first three tests of the Republican presidential candidates’ mettle have resulted in former Speaker Newt Gingrich garnering the most votes in South Carolina, former governor Mitt Romney placing first in New Hampshire, and former senator Rick Santorum narrowly winning the Iowa caucuses.

With Florida’s primary scheduled for January 31, there is plenty of time to get educated on each candidate’s stance on particular issues before California’s election on June 5. Besides helping you stay informed, our breakdown of the Republican race just may win you brownie points with your AP Government teacher or even your parents.

Unless otherwise attributed, facts are from candidates’ websites, and the candidates selected are those who have officially declared their candidacy and remain in the race, according to the New York Times and several other news sources.

Paul

primary | january 10 | 12 delegates

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upcoming events

fter placing first in the South Carolina primaries with approximately 40 percent of the vote, former Speaker of the House Newt Gingrich has rebounded from his poor showings in New Hampshire and Iowa.

To stabilize the economy, Gingrich proposes halting Obama’s 2013 tax increases and instead implementing a permanent rate and cutting both the corporate tax and the capital gains tax to encourage foreign entrepreneurs to invest in American businesses. Gingrich would also try to slow the increase of the national debt and start paying it off.

His energy plan entails reducing foreign dependence on oil by expanding oil drilling on American soil. An “Environmental Solutions Agency� would replace the Environmental Protection Agency, offering more incentives to the energy industry and monitoring job production and energy costs.

Like the other candidates, Gingrich has criticized Obamacare. His “Patient Power� plan would focus on more openness in the

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healthcare industry and offer consumers tax credits or deductions to make their health insurance more affordable. Gingrich also plans to increase competition by allotting more options in Medicare and allowing insurance purchases across state lines in order to lower costs.

In addition, Gingrich intends to allow states and local districts to regulate educational policies; he would put in place a “merit pay� system for educators. Math and science education would be reinforced to ensure technological advancement of the military. Another one of his military goals is to combat radical Islam.

So far, notable endorsements have included former candidate and Governor Rick Perry (Texas), Governor Nathan Deal (Georgia), as well as Chuck Norris, and former President Ronald Reagan’s son Michael.

The media attention surrounding Gingrich’s multiple marriages and divorces has become a liability for his campaign. On January 19, CNN’s South Carolina debate moderator John King asked Gingrich about the interview one of his ex-wives gave to ABC News, in which she said that Gingrich requested an open marriage.

Gingrich took the opportunity to lambast the media and the moderator for asking him the question and denied the veracity of his ex-wife’s statement. “I am tired of the elite media protecting Barack Obama by attacking Republicans,� he said.

Gingrich spent 20 years in the House as one of Georgia’s representatives, including four as Speaker. He resides in Virginia with his wife Callista.

Mitt Romney

ack in action after losing his attempt at the nomination in 2008 to Senator John McCain, Mitt Romney has had stable surges and surprising stumbles in the race after a very narrow second place finish to Santorum in Iowa and then a first-place victory in New Hampshire. In South Carolina, he won 28 percent of the vote, which drove him to a second-place finish.

Dr. Bruce Cain, a professor of political science at UC Berkeley, said that the GOP race is “unstable� because Romney is “never going to please the conservative base of the party.� “Right now he’s saying conservative things, but he was relatively moderate in what he did as

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governor,� Dr. Cain said. “The real question is, ‘Who is the real Mitt Romney?’�

Dr. Cain said he would be surprised if Gingrich defeated Romney in the California primary on June 5.

Romney is perhaps well known as both the Mormon candidate and the one who emphasizes that he is not a career politician: he has spent much of his life in the private sector, including founding the investment firm Bain Capital. He was also the Governor of Massachusetts from 2003 to 2007, during which his campaign website claims he replaced a $3 billion deficit with a $2 billion “rainy-day fund.�

Romney tends to contrast himself with President Obama by emphasizing his own business and economic experience as “someone outside Washington�; he has also been attacked for cutting jobs in his time at Bain Capital. One of the five bills he would submit to Congress on his first day on the job is a reduction of corporate income tax to 25 percent. He also proposes a cap on spending at 20 percent of the gross domestic product (GDP).

Romney has numerous endorsements, including from Senator McCain, former President George H.W. Bush, former candidate Jon Huntsman, and five sitting governors.

According to National Public Radio (NPR), Romney opposes gay marriage but supports equal rights in jobs and housing for gay couples. He also would repeal Obamacare and reduce regulation in general, including the power of the EPA. More power would lie with the states to design healthcare solutions.

The Governor has five sons with his wife, Ann, and resides in Massachusetts.

A

fter taking fourth place in South Carolina and losing to Santorum, U.S. Representative Ron Paul’s campaign has fluctuated, with his popularity rising in GOP youth polls, according to Forbes magazine.

AP United States History teacher Ramsay Westgate believes that Paul has garnered more support from the younger generation because of Paul’s belief that “government doesn’t work.� “There’s been greater doubt of government. Part of it is that he speaks to young people’s dissatisfaction with [how government is being run],� he said.

His goal to “Restore America Now� entails making cuts of at least one trillion dollars; in three years of his presidency, he would seek to balance the budget and make the federal government much smaller by cutting at least five departments, including the Departments of Education and Energy. To combat the economic recession and to prevent “reckless� spending by lawmakers, Paul would not allow Congress to raise the national debt ceiling. He also would permit offshore drilling in order to decrease domestic oil prices.

As President, Paul would repeal Obamacare and allow the purchase of health care across state lines; for ex-

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aving not been present in any of the major televised debates, former governor of Louisiana Charles E. “Buddy� Roemer III has had the least publicity out of all the candidates. Roemer touts himself as the “the only candidate with executive, legislative, and private sector experience� –he was a four-term Congressman, a one-term Governor, and the CEO of Business First Bank. Roemer notably switched from the Democratic to the Repub-

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Rick Sant

ormer Senator of Pennsylvania Rick Santorum rose to the description by narrowly beating Governor Romney in the Iowa caucus by 34 votes upon further verification of the casted ballots. He had previously come in fifth place in New Hampshire and recently placed third in South Carolina with 17 percent of the votes, four points ahead of Ron Paul. “[Santorum] has been the most rightwing candidate in this election, but his congressional record is not one of a Tea Partier,� said James Martel, Chair of the Department of Political Science at San Francisco State University.

Economically, his views line up with other candidates’ preferences: he would reduce personal income and corporate taxes and would increase tax deductions for families.

Santorum would encourage domestic onshore and offshore drilling as a means of increasing both jobs and supply. He also intends to remove bans restricting oil drilling, encourage increased natural gas drilling, and reduce the Department of Energy’s regulatory power.

Santorum supports reducing the role of the federal government in education as well; instead, he prefers more personalized learning via parents, local districts, and online and charter schools.

Like his rivals, Santorum opposes Obamacare; he wants to repeal it and block grantbased Medicaid. He would make healthcare more patient-oriented by enforcing Health Savings Accounts and deductible insurance programs.

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campaign for re-election:

State of the Presidency

design by michelle deng asst. editor in chief

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onomically, Roemer would focus on g immigrants in order to increase the of skilled workers in America. Roould do so by adjusting immigration o match the needs of the labor market. would emphasize “Made in America” o stimulate the economy. Drilling for l and weaning the United States off oil are his main energy priorities. s wife, Scarlett, and three children ocy join him on the campaign trail.

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stem in the Middle East. In particular, m would team up with Israel and promilitary plan to “eliminate the Iranian threat immediately,” according to his gn website. ntorum’s endorsers include billionCEO of News Corporation Rupert h and major conservative leaders from

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President Barack Obama

Among his actions in office, Obama’s reforms in health care, which aimed to expand health care coverage through Medicare and insurance changes, stand as some of his most controversial. The Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (PPACA) was signed into law on March 23, 2010. According to the Census Bureau, the number of uninsured 19 to 25 year olds had declined by 1.9 percent as of September 2011. However, those not in favor call the increased government oversight unconstitutional.

Seniors who will be 18 before November look forward to the 2012 presidential election.

“Even if [Obama’s] popularity has waned, I think [Democrats] will vote for him since he’s the [only] Democratic candidate,” Alex Hsu (12) said.

In a phone interview with The Winged Post, Democrat Mary Anne Groen, Chief of Staff for San Jose council member Rose Herrera, expressed her belief that Obama’s healthcare reforms

april 4, 2011

Obama announces bid for re-election.

july 21, 2010

Obama enacts the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act, bringing the largest JOHUNLZ [V Ä UHUJPHS YLN\SH[PVU since the New Deal.

“Occupy” protests begin.

Democrats lose the House to Republicans during midterm elections.

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The debt ceiling crisis, which nearly SLK [OL NV]LYUTLU[ [V KLMH\S[ ends the Budget Act.

december 18, 2011

march 23, 2010

Obama signs Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, often called “Obamacare.” It greatly increased medical spending and public access to health insurance.

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11

cation: Localize control of education nomy: Cut and eliminate taxes lthcare: Repeal Obamacare; enforce S[O :H]PUNZ (JJV\U[Z onal Security: Pro-American Excepalism; strike against Iran migration: Anti-illegal; secure border; e legal immigration easy ironment: Pro onshore and offshore ng; reduce regulation Marriage: Traditionalist PA: Opposed; concerned about copyt protections

Osama bin Laden is killed.

20

a glance

may 2, 2011

Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell is repealed.

october 9, 2009

Obama awarded Nobel Peace Prize for his “extraordinary efforts to strengthen international diplomacy and cooperation between peoples.”

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2012

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ntorum was a senator for four years and a House Representative for 12 years. He currently lives in Virginia with his wife, Karen, and their seven children.

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and pro-technology stance will impact young people.

“One of his biggest issues is pushing for more jobs and getting Americans back to work,” she said. “That affects San Jose and Silicon Valley around this region.”

The Bureau of Labor Statistics charts the current unemployment rate at 8.5 percent of the labor force, a 1.5 percent decrease from its peak rate during October 2009. In an effort to counter the recession, the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA) was passed by both the House of Representatives and the Senate in February 2009; the act combined tax breaks with spending on infrastructure projects, extension of welfare benefits, and education.

Edsall considers the passage of this bill to be one of Obama’s greatest accomplishments in his presidency.

“I think [Obama is] better than the alternatives. A majority of young people will still vote for him and probably still like him,” he said. “I think he represents to many young people somebody new and fresh: he’s the first black president. He seems to be pretty honest, and there have been very few scandals compared to presidents over the last 40 years.”

Wheeler looks forward to seeing how the public opinion of Obama during this year’s race will have changed since his iconic 2008 campaign.

“It’ll be interesting to see if that same buzz and appeal that was so contagious in 2008 [still] exists,” she said.

“When you see all the stuff with the Republicans happening, it’s going to be fascinating to see how the American people evolve.”

After three years as a United States senator, Obama won the 2008 presidential election, making history as the first African-American president of the United States and the first president born in Hawaii. According to polls from Gallup, Obama’s popularity in his first year in office averaged 57.2 percent. In the second year, the statistic dropped to 46.7 percent. Now, at the end of his third year, Obama’s job approval averages 44.4 percent.

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at a glance

tions.

Political analyst Thomas Edsall, who has worked at publications including The Washington Post, The New York Times, and The Huffington Post, expressed his views in a phone interview with The Winged Post.

“He’s had a very bad economy, and his efforts to improve it have not brought unemployment rates high enough,” he said.

History teacher Julie Wheeler believes that Obama is addressing pertinent and important issues, but that it is too early to judge the effectiveness of his policies.

“Everything seems so new that it’s hard to really gauge what has or has not been accomplished,” Wheeler said. “But it’s nice that there’s effort involved.”

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Californians could buy health care regonian providers and vice versa. e is also a staunch supporter of hooling and personal choices in on and has declared that partment of Educaould be eliminated placed with local of curm and ng op- Education: Localize control of education

With the 2012 presidential election around the corner, President Barack Obama is faced with the challenge of maintaining support in the eyes of the American public.

In his State of the Union address on January 24, Obama recognized the nation’s ongoing problems as well as accomplishments over the past year.

He proposed solutions in reforming issues including the American market, higher education, illegal immigration, energy innovation, and housing pricing declines.

Obama urged Congress to help manufacturers follow the success of the recovered auto industry. To limit outsourcing jobs, he offered a threetiered proposal to reform tax codes in favor of businesses that stay in the country. In response to the lack of qualified people available to take on jobs, Obama encouraged flexibility in schools and partnerships between businesses and community colleges.

Despite the Solyndra loan controversy, Obama stood by his support of clean energy and announced a plan to allocate public land to further the cause.

Obama started and ended his address by acknowledging the American soldiers’ contributions in Iraq and Afghanistan. With Osama Bin Laden no longer posing a threat, the last of the troops in Iraq have returned home.

10,000 troops have left Afghanistan as the war calms down.

“These achievements are a testament to the courage, selflessness, and teamwork of America’s armed forces. [...] They’re not consumed with personal ambition. They don’t obsess over their differences. They focus on the mission at hand. They work together,” Obama said. “Imagine what we could accomplish if we followed their example.”

Obama hopes to reverse American expectations of the government with cooperation between political parties and a ban of insider trading with Congress.

Thus far in his term in Washington, Obama has overseen pushes towards the passage of health care reform measures, the death of Osama bin Laden, and the lifting of restrictions on embryonic stem cell research, among other accomplishments.

Nonetheless, Obama’s popularity has declined over the past few years, and he has had to cope with the Republican success in the mid-term elec-

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14

january 27, 2012 the Winged Post

Global

Tamagawa orchestra conductor experiences music program

“It’s very simple, and everybody’s very, very kind.”

Mary Mortlock travels to Africa over break daniela lapidous

AFRICA Mary Mortlock feeds a giraffe in Nairobi, Kenya; she later recounted that giraffes have purple tongues. During their trip to Africa, the Mortlocks enjoyed the scenery and wildlife.

wood and cow dung. They had no electricity or running water.

Although this is typical, Mortlock pointed out that the Masai people keep cell phones and asked them often for English soccer scores.

Rose and the students are required to speak English at school, but Mortlock learned a few words in Swahili, too. “‘Jambo’ means hello, so you go around saying ‘Jambo!’ to everybody, but really what ‘Jambo’ means is, ‘I’m a tourist, this is the only word I know, and please speak English to me,’” she said.

Rose and a few friends showed the visitors around the Orkeeswa School, and the Mortlocks brought her a backpack and a bag full of “everything from origami paper to pencils and socks and soccer

shoes.”

While the Masai do not keep age or birthday records, Rose believes she is 16 and has two years remaining until graduation.

The Mortlocks’ and Rose’s relationship began five years ago, when a man from Fresno, Peter Luis, founded the Orkeeswa School at the age of 26.

“Rose was in the first year, and there were 400 applicants for 30 places, and she was one of the lucky ones,” Mortlock said.

The Mortlocks felt that supporting the school was a good idea because they had friends who visited already, so they were sure that the money was going to an honest cause.

Since their meeting, Mortlock said it will be easier to continue exchanging letters and report cards with Rose.

“She’s not the top of the class, but she has a nice smile and is kind to others, so that’s important,” Mortlock said.

One of the major lessons that Mortlock took away from her trip, she said, was a return to basics and how to relax: “It’s all right just not to sweat the small stuff.” http://mortlocks intoafrica. blogspot. com.

ROSE The Mortlocks took a trip to Africa over winter break to visit Rose, a Tanzanian girl, whose tuition and uniform costs they have sponsored.

Global journalism project will be continued next issue

The global journalism project is a collaboration between The Winged Post and several other international schools in which an article topic is agreed upon and written about. Each school writes and edits its own article, which is then published as received in our publication. For the next issue, the topic will be about the different levels of global and national political awareness at our respective schools.

HARRY HAMBURG

SHILPA NATARAJ - WINGED POST

Some people go to Hawaii for winter break to enjoy the sunshine. Meanwhile, math teacher Mary Mortlock goes to Africa for an adventure.

“We just felt we needed to do something worthwhile [this holiday],” she said.

The thought struck her: the Mortlocks had been sponsoring a girl in Tanzania for three years, paying for her school uniform and tuition. Why not pay her a visit?

Mortlock, her husband Ed, and two of their friends flew to Nairobi, Kenya in December. A driver took them to the border of Tanzania “via Mount Kilimanjaro, which is as spectacular as you see it in all the photographs,” Mortlock said.

“I really like Kenya; it’s very simple, and everybody’s very, very kind,” she said. Driving around the country was less simple: “If you’re stuck in a traffic jam, you just go over the central divide and drive on the wrong side of the road and nobody seems to mind.”

The driving continued to Ngorongoro Crater on Christmas Day. Finally, the group reached their ultimate destination: Monduli, Tanzania, to meet Rose, the girl they sponsor.

Rose did not believe the visitors were coming until she saw them.

Rose and her relatives gave the Mortlocks tea in their home, which was constructed of

SPECIL TO THE WINGED POST

opinion editor

ORCHESTRA Kouya Asahi of sister school Tamagawa Gakuen conducts the Upper School orchestra. For two weeks, Asahi visited all three school campuses to see the school’s music program.

shilpa nataraj

global editor Tamagawa Gakuen orchestra conductor Kouya Asahi believes in the balance of both “good feeling” and technique when playing music.

Asahi has observed and participated in the Lower School, Middle School, and Upper School music programs for the past two weeks, and he said he was inspired to come visit after having a “good time” with Middle School conductor David Hart and Upper School conductor Chris Florio when they had visited Tamagawa in previous years.

Asahi said that the teachers and students he has encountered here are “very good people and kind.” He said, “I am happy to be here.”

In particular, Asahi has conducted the orchestra and taught music lessons to sections in the Jazz Band. He said that the Upper School orchestra and Jazz Band were both “amazing” and “very great.” “[The students have] a very good response and good passion,” he said.

Flutist Krishan Kumar (10) enjoyed having Asahi conduct the orchestra and felt that

music transcended the language barrier.

“I think it’s really interesting, despite the very slight language barrier there is, that we can still communicate through this language of music,” Krishan said.

Asahi said that the Strings Section at the Upper School is better than that of Tamagawa, while the Winds Section is about the same. Additionally, he said that at Tamagawa, orchestra is an after-school activity, with two-hour practices every day, even in the summer.

At the Tamagawa orchestra, Asahi said that in the Japanese-style, “the most important skill is technique” and the emphasis is on “focus and practice.” “[By contrast, the Upper School orchestra] has good feeling and good passion, [which] I think is so very important.

Good feeling and good passion is good music,” he said.

Asahi said that when he returns to Japan on January 27, he would like to inculcate to his students the importance of “more feeling” when playing musical pieces.

He said, “Music is alive: life, energy, and emotion are all present in music.”

january 27, 2012 the Winged Post

Global

Tamagawa Gakuen seniors visit

Alumni abroad

Rina Sakuraba and Maki Shibata experience American culture for four weeks

meena chetty & manthra panchapakesan

TALONWP managing editor & reporter

nayeon kim ALL PHOTOS NAYEON KIM - WINGED POST

managing editor Three weeks ago, they were strangers living more than 5,000 miles apart in different countries. Now they affectionately call each other sisters while living in the same house and going to school together everyday.

Since January 7, two seniors from the Tamagawa K to 12 School in Japan, Maki Shibata and Rina Sakuraba, have been staying with their respective hosts, Maddy Rao (12) and Rachelle Koch (12).

Both Maki and Rina wished to participate in the sister school exchange program to improve their English skills while interacting directly with Upper School students and teachers.

“Because I’m applying [to] Hawaii Pacific University, I want to learn English in daily conversation, and I want to take classes in English,” Maki said.

Similarly, Rina believes that English is “a very important language” and expressed hopes of becoming more fluent during her month-long stay here.

Meanwhile, Maddy and Rachelle desired to host the Japanese students for different reasons.

“I’m really into foreign languages and culture, and I love making friends with new people. So I thought this [experience as a host] would be perfect,” Maddy said.

As a former AP Japanese student, Rachelle had visited Japan during the summer before her junior year and home-stayed with a local family. “[Because] I know that my host family [in Japan] had done a lot for me, I wanted to repay in a way,” Rachelle said. “I wanted to give someone else the opportunity to do an exchange like I had.”

Since their arrival here, Maki and Rina have been shadowing their hosts to classes and attending other classes of their interest as well.

FOREIGN EXCHANGE From January 7 to February 5, Maki Shibata and Rina Sakuraba, two seniors from Tamagawa Gakuen in Tokyo, Japan, are staying with their Upper School hosts, Maddy Rao (12) and Rachelle Koch (12), respectively. The Japanese students have been shadowing their hosts to classes and participating in various activities after school as well. For example, on January 18, Maki and Rina joined the Upper School cheerleading team practice after school in the gym. Maki, who is a member of her school’s cheerleading team in Japan, plans to cheer with the Upper School team at an upcoming boys’ basketball game.

“At the beginning [Maki and Rina] were kind of shy, so they were hesitant to communicate with [other students,] but by doing pair practice and small group activities, they talked about their life in Japan,” Japanese teacher Keiko Irino said. “It’s a great opportunity to learn about the foreign culture and lifestyle of [teens] who are the same age as our high school students.”

While observing and participating in Upper School classes, both Maki and Rina noticed differences between the classroom atmosphere here and in Tamagawa.

“In Japan, the teacher speaks a lot.

Students only [listen] and [take] notes.

Here, [there is] a lot of conversation during class,” Maki said.

Rina also noted that although Upper School students were more “intense” in studying, classes were still “fun.”

Outside of class, Maki and Rina have also taken part in extracurricular activities such as cheerleading practice.

Maki plans to join the cheerleading team in its performance at the boys’ basketball game next week. “[Maki and Rina] were both really eager to learn and had the technique down,” cheerleading captain Saira Ahuja (12) said. “They were really interested, which was good for us.”

In addition, during the weekends, Rina and Maki have visited local sites such as San Francisco, Santa Cruz Beach Boardwalk, Stanford University, and the Stanford Shopping Center with their host families.

“We teach her about our family traditions. She eats Indian food at home, and she loves it,” Maddy said.

“I’m a dancer too, so we dance together.

We’ve been doing a lot, so it’s been really fun.”

Maddy’s mother, Sudha Rao, also said that she regards Maki as her “third child” as Maki even helps her make dinner and is very much involved in their family life.

“From the day she arrived, she just immediately adjusted to everything—

the food, the schedule, the needs. It was like I always had her in my house,” Rao said. “She’s just the sweetest person I’ve ever met. She calls me Mama and Maddy’s dad Papa, and we enjoy every day with her. [...] She’s kind of bringing in the best to all of us.”

Rachelle’s family also has built a special relationship with Rina while creating many memories together such as watching the Harlem Globetrotters perform at HP Pavilion.

“Hosting Rina at our house has been the most rewarding experience,” Rachelle’s mother Zeynep Koch said, in an e-mail response. “It is amazing to feel like you have grown your family and added a new member. Rina will always be part of our family from here on.”

Rina and Maki will be staying in the Bay Area with their host families until February 5. They both enjoyed their first school dance at the Winter Ball and plan to attend upcoming shows such as the Dance Production.

Chinese New Year: Students celebrate with family and food reporters Chinese New Year, or the Spring Festival, was celebrated on January 23, marking the first day on the Chinese calendar and the beginning of the Year of the Dragon in Chinese zodiac tradition.

The festival is typically celebrated with parades through the streets, lion dances, a wide array of pyrotechnics, and gift-giving. It also marks the world’s largest human resettlement as hundreds of millions of people return to their rural hometowns in droves to visit their families. Other traditions include having a family dinner, hanging the word fu (meaning “good luck”) on one’s door, and giving Red Envelopes (or hongbao) with money to children.

Mandarin teacher Dr. Shaun Jahshan thinks that Chinese New Year

signifies the reshaping of one’s life.

“It’s the beginning of the year when all debts must be paid, when you get new clothes, when you clean your house, when you forgive debts if you’re so inclined to do that,” she said. “So it’s all about new beginnings and welcoming the end of a cold, dark part of the year. So it’s an ancient harvest festival, but it’s also very important economically and, of course, culturally.”

Elizabeth Teng (10), who lived in Taiwan for two years, shares a similar sentiment.

“Chinese New Year is a time when families gather together and not [only] think back on the previous year but also think of resolutions and what they hope for the new year,” she said.

Like in Western culture, the arrival in the New Year is a time for people to evaluate their lives, and set goals for the upcoming annum. Eric Swenson

(11) believes Chinese New Year is a rare chance for him to visit his friends and family.

“It’s a fun time to hang out with some people [who] I don’t always see,” he said.

Various foods are popular during Chinese New Year, most notably fish, as the Chinese character for “fish” is a homonym of the word for “wealth.”

Dumplings, mandarin oranges, roast pork, and porridge are also common treats. Another traditional dish is niangao, a sweet, sticky glutinous rice cake whose name literally means “year high.”

Eating it is believed to bring a year of good fortune.

Chinese New Year is celebrated not only in China, but also in other Asian countries including the Philippines, Singapore, and Malaysia.

Recipe for Niangao

EMILY LIN - WINGED POST

emily lin & felix wu

Ingredients: · 1/3 lb sugar · 1 bag (16 oz) regular rice flour · 1 bag (16 oz) sweet rice flour · 3 cups water · 1/2 cup dried cherries · 1/4 cup dried raisins Directions: 1. Mix the sugar, sweet and regular rice flours, water, and cherries in a large bowl.

2. Pour batter into a 9 inch pie pan.

3. Sprinkle top with raisins.

4. Steam for 40 minutes on medium heat.

Two British teenagers living in London share their experiences and stories nayeon kim

managing editor At the 2012 London New Year’s Day Parade and Festival, two British girls participated as flag bearers alongside more than 400 American student musicians including the Upper School orchestra members.

In a subsequent interview with The Winged Post, Rachel Kahn and Sotiroulla “Roulla” Mouis, both age 1 5 , have d e -

15

scribed their passions and day-to-day activities in London, providing a new perspective of foreign teen life.

Both Rachel and Roulla live about 40 minutes away from the parade route located near Westminster Abbey.

While Rachel attends St. Albans High School for Girls in the city of St. Albans, Roulla goes to Southgate School in Hertfordshire.

Similar to the Upper School, both schools require students to take core subjects such as math, English, and science and allow them to choose the rest of their classes. However, unlike American students, British students in Years 10 to 11, such as Roulla and Rachel, take nine or 10 twoyear long courses to prepare for the General Certificate of Secondary Education (GCSE) examinations.

Of all her classes at school, Rachel’s favorites are drama and music.

“It’s just really fun. You SPECIAL TO THE WINGED POST

LONDON FLAG-BEARERS Members of the Upper School orchestra met Rachel Kahn and Roulla Mouis in the 2012 London New Year’s Day Festival and Parade. The girls carried the flags of the Olympic Nations alongside a large group of American student musicians from seven different schools.

can be yourself,” Rachel said. “We all get along really well, and we produce some good work.”

Apart from acting, Rachel also loves to sing and play musical instruments such as the clarinet and the guitar.

On the other hand, Roulla’s favorite class at her school is physical education. She enjoys playing sports and is a team member of netball, which she describes as “a female version of basketball,” without dribbling. In addition, Roulla likes to do art.

“I just love making things, drawing and painting things,” she said.

When the girls come home from school around 3 or 4 p.m., they usually spend the afternoon completing homework, but on Thursday nights, Roulla and Rachel attend ballet class together.

“We kind of just do it for a laugh,” Rachel said. “Of course, we enjoy it, but now because we’ve been in ballet class since we were so young, we’ve kind of grown up together, and I think most of us do it just as a social thing.”

Every four years, the girls in the ballet class put on a big show at a theater. Some works that they have previously performed include Cinderella and The Nutcracker. According to Rachel, living in the center of London allows her to develop her interests in performing arts.

“We have loads of theaters in London, so you can kind of go out whenever you want to see a show,” Rachel said.

Although neither Rachel nor Roulla has traveled to America before, both expressed hopes of visiting in the near future.

“I really want to go to New York,” Rachel said. “I really want to go see what Broadway is like there.”

Similarly, Roulla wishes to visit famous shopping venues in America that sound “amazing” to her.

In the past, Rachel and Roulla watched the London New Year’s Day Parade at home or by the streets as spectators; however, this year, they had the opportunity to be a part of the show for the first time. Rachel’s father, who is in charge of the first aid organization in the parade, had asked the girls if they would be willing to help volunteer as flag carriers.

“Most of the parade [was made up of ] Americans, which is quite surprising. [Roulla and I] got to be Americans for a day,” Rachel said. “It was a really good experience, and it was really nice to meet [everyone].”

While Rachel hopes to study either medicine or drama, Roulla desires to continue her passion in art and potentially become an event organizer of weddings and parties.

Instead of following the standard track of attending an American university after finishing high school, several Upper School alumni are completing their collegiate studies in foreign countries. Victoria Chan (‘11), Laena Keyashian (‘04), and Elodie Nguyen (‘10) shared with The Winged Post their experiences adjusting to new environments at international universities.

Victoria Chan (‘11) Victoria Chan is currently studying at the University of Hong Kong, located in the Pok Fu Lam district in Hong Kong Island.

Victoria chose to study there because her father was from Hong Kong, and she had visited the country every summer. However, her own love for the city also influenced her decision.

“I just love the city life at Hong Kong,” she said. “It’s so lively that you’d never get bored.”

Victoria faces the challenge of being unfamiliar with the most common language in Hong Kong, Cantonese. She also realized firsthand that studying internationally meant that she had to make more decisions by herself with less help from her parents.

“I had to actually proactively go around and figure out how to learn,” she said.

Nevertheless, despite the initial challenges of becoming acquainted with new traditions, Victoria said that she did not find the change too shocking. She explained that, besides having visited the city multiple times on vacation, she had participated in a program for international students at her university, making her transition a lot easier. She feels that her time studying in Hong Kong has been altogether enriching.

Laena Keyashian (‘04) Laena Keyashian completed her undergraduate schooling at the University of St. Andrews in Scotland and fulfilled her junior year of college at the University of Bonn in Germany.

Laena’s initial desire to go to school abroad stemmed from her experience at a program in the University of St. Andrews during the summer before her senior year of high school.

“I just kind of fell in love with the campus,” she said. “[Going there] was the best decision of my life.”

Laena found a few differences in the educational systems among the U.S., Scotland, and Germany.

Rather than a GPA, she received a score on a 20-point scale in Scotland. Additionally, schools in Scotland require students to take classes only specific to their major.

Since German was one of her majors, she decided to spend her junior year in Germany, where she took German language literature courses in addition to Spanish, French, and German.

Laena said, “[This experience] helped me understand that I could live anywhere I wanted to.”

Elodie Nguyen (‘10) Elodie Nguyen went to study at McGill University in Montreal, Canada for three years.

Elodie chose the foreign school because its tuition is significantly lower than that of many schools in the U.S. even after adding the international fees. She also felt the school would provide her with quality education.

Unlike those in the U.S., Canadian undergraduate education consists of only three years; students from the U.S. start at what is called “year zero” because Canadian colleges begin during the period that would be considered the sophomore year of college in the U.S. However, since Elodie completed AP courses, she was allowed to start at year one instead.

Elodie said that almost the entire grade is based solely on the midterms and finals.

“That’s what really makes it different for studying [here],” she said.

Overall, Elodie encourages anyone interested in “[experiencing] cultures firsthand” to at least experiment during college.

Lifestyle

the Winged Post

From low end to high end mascara, foundation, and lipstick

LIN’S

lessons A

HOW-TO BUSINESS COLUMN:

MAKE AND SAVE MONEY

kevin lin

managing editor [Cue infomercial actor] Are you short on cash, not legally old enough to get a job, or unsure about what to do with that heavy and fat piggy bank? If you answered yes to any of these questions, then here’s a howto guide to literally find coins and turn them into cold, hard cash. Once again, if you’ve answered yes to being short on cash, being too young for a job, or having too many coins, then follow this how-to guide on how to find coins and turn them into cold, hard cash. Soon you’ll have hundreds of cents worth of pennies. [End cue infomercial actor] The process of getting coins is pretty self explanatory, but what the heck, I’ll give you the steps anyways.

First, locate the coin. Next, bend over and pick it up. Lastly, place it in a piggy bank or other such coin containers.

I personally keep my coins in a large Tapioca Express cup.

The tricky part about finding coins is where to actually look for these shiny objects. Some places are obvious, but the rest, not so much.

First, the obvious locations.

In the car: Change is bound to accumulate slowly in your or your parents’ car. This may be due to all the countless drive-thrus. Try checking all the compartments near the driver’s seat for a higher coin-finding probability.

In your house: Coins have got to be hidden inside random drawers, underneath sofas, or between couch cushions.

(The following is for extremely desperate coin collectors only.)

Fountains: If you know you won’t get a guilty conscience after stealing people’s dreams and wishes, and if the fountain owner allows it, try collecting coins in public fountains. Bring waterproof boots. DISCLAIMER: THIS COLUMN DOES NOT ENDORSE FOUNTAIN COIN COLLECTING. I REPEAT, THIS COLUMN DOES NOT ENDORSE FOUNTAIN COIN COLLECTING. After collecting your coins and recovering from what I like to call the “confused passerby stare effect,” now is the time to exchange your coins for cold, hard, and actually usable cash.

Or . . . use up the coins in a gumball machine. Your pick.

If you take away anything from this issue’s column, make sure you understand how great Coinstar is. The Coinstar machines count your coins, so that you can get back bills, receive an e-certificate/gift card, or donate the money of equal or lesser value.

Stores such as Safeway and WalMart usually have Coinstar machines.

To find the nearest Coinstar machine, go to coinstar.com and use the machine locator search.

If you choose the option to receive cash, the Coinstar machine will print out a redeemable receipt that you can exchange for cash at the store’s register. However, there is usually a fee that applies when exchanging the coins to a bill amount.

Fees vary by location, but according to coinstar.com, it is usually 9.8 cents per dollar here.

Free coin counting is available if you choose to turn your coins into an e-certificate or a gift card. Some of the following stores are partners with Coinstar: iTunes, Starbucks, Amazon.com, and Banana Republic.

The last option is to donate. You can choose to help charities such as the American Red Cross, Feeding America, and World Wildlife Fund, to list a few.

A review of price-ranging cosmetic brands

When it comes to make-up there seems to be an infinite variety. Whether one chooses a casual look created by brands such as Benefit and Urban Decay, an affordable appearance allowed by Covergirl, or a more formal work-style look formed with Lancôme products, finding the brand that matches one’s personality is a way to bring out your inner beauty.

meena chetty & rachel salisbury lar choice for everyday schoolwear. and it does not create a distinguishable with lip gloss and is very discernible.

Although the mascara looks professional, it becomes clumpy and heavy Macy’s makeup department stylonce applied and is excessively formal ists from these companies created a for a regular basis. Available for $25, natural look using mascara, foundathe product may be beyond a student’s tion, and lipstick to exhibit the epitome budget. of each brand for The Winged Post. All “Because of my age, I don’t think prices are as listed at Macy’s. makeup is important enough to waste From one of the classiest and most that type of money on. Drugstore expensive brands of makeup, Lancôme’s makeup will work just as well,” Delaney Hypnôse Doll Lashes Mascara works Martin (9) said. as it is advertised. The conical shape of “They’re Real!,” a mascara by Benthe brush effectively lifts and gives volefit, feels and looks natural, while it also ume to the eyelashes; however, it crelengthens and lifts eyelashes. The linates a less natural cat-eye look. ear shape of the brush gives eyelashes The extreme volume of the eyelash volume while simultaneously curling lacks the natural look that is a poputhem, creating a natural look fit for students.

However, the mascara is not evenly distributed across the eyelashes once applied, causing a slightly unbalanced look. More affordable than Lancôme, the mascara is still rather pricey at $22.

Urban Decay’s Supercurl Mascara is not as obvious as the other two mascaras, creating a look appropriate for an everyday environment at a slightly lower cost of $20 at Macy’s. However, the brush shape is a crescent, causing the mascara to clump on the edges and distribute unevenly along the eye.

Additional l y, COSMETICS Reporter Rachel Salisbury gets her make- the mascara’s lack of up done at Benefit. This brand is not too high-end and a volumizing effect seems to be the most suited for a daily school-appropriate equalizes it to a noryet classy appearance. mal drugstore product TALONWP managing editor & reporter

MEENA CHETTY - WINGED POST

16

january 27, 2012

DRIVE: william chang news editor

Tips to be efficient on the road and maximize mileage per tank safely by gradually building momentum from and slowly coasting to a stop.

“Don’t be in a hurry, you’re putting everyone’s life in danger by speeding number one, and you will save fuel [by slowing down],” she said.

Lighten the load.

Another reason to finally clean out the trash and unnecessary items from the car is that for an extra 100 pounds of weight carried, vehicle mpg could be reduced by up to two percent.

The statement holds more for smaller cars than bigger ones such as trucks or SUV’s, but the idea is the same: get rid of excess weight.

Rethink your method of transportation.

Consider either driving a more fuel efficient vehicle or carpooling.

“Bigger cars definitely take more gas. Get a small four-cylinder car [and], you’re going to save a lot of fuel that way,” Mendoza said.

The difference between a 20 and a 30 mpg vehicle is 15,000 miles on the DIGITAL & OFFSET road per year, or $845 worthPRINTING of fuel at $3.38 per gallon.

Carpooling with someone who drives a fuel-efficient vehicle can help increase the savings, cutting back on as much as half of fuel costs per year.

At a time when increasing numbers of students get their licenses and begin to drive, the price of gas hovers ominously around $4 per gallon. Assuming an average sedan with a 20 gallon tank, each refill could cost as much as $80. To save some money at the pump, here are some tips to help maximize the mileage gained from each and every drop of gasoline when driving.

Obey traffic laws.

Driving safely and obeying the rules of the road will help to reduce the amount of fuel consumed on a trip.

According to Jan Mendoza, Information Officer at the Department of Motor Vehicles, the number one way to save gas is to follow the speed limit and not be an aggressive driver.

“If you were going to test your car going 10 miles down the road at 55 [mph], then do that same 10 miles at 85 [mph], I guarantee that you’re going to be burning [...] more fuel [for the latter],” she said. “You’re going to make a big difference just slowing down.”

Fueleconomy.gov, the official U.S. Government source for fuel economy information, backs that claim, stating that “gas mileage usually decreases rapidly at speeds above 60 mph.”

Rapidly accelerating and braking *All statistics and figures taken from from or to a stop can also increase fuel www.fueleconomy.gov consumption, as well as the risk of getting into an accident. Mendoza instead SAVE MONEY Drivers can save gas money by obeying traffic laws, recommends lightening their car’s load, and driving rethinking their method of transportation or vehicle.

ALISHA MAYOR - WINGED POST

look.

Teint Miracle Foundation, a sheer-moderate coverage foundation

by Lancôme, gives a natural finish to any look. Once applied, the foundation is extremely light and provides a complete appearance even without additional application of powder.

“It’s good for various skin tones, and you can’t tell you’re wearing it,” Jolie Laines, a representative from Lancôme, said.

Although it is an expensive foundation, available at Macy’s for $37, benefits of the oil-free foundation include SPF 15 protection. Lancôme’s wide variety of foundation makes choosing a color suitable to every skin tone easier, eliminating awkward unbalances between skin tone and foundation color.

Costing $30, Benefit’s tinted moisturizer, “You Rebel,” available at Macy’s, gives a smooth look that also appears natural. In comparison to Lancôme, it is much more subtle and suitable for daily use.

However, the product results in a less finished appearance. To create the same complete look as Lancome’s foundation, Benefit’s “Hello Flawless!” powder and “Boi-ing” concealer by Benefit are also neccessary.

Urban Decay’s unique oil-free cream-to-powder foundation is a creamy base that changes into a powder a few minutes after it is put on. Once various colors are tested, a person can identify her perfect shade by finding one that disappears into the skin.

The foundation significantly covers blemishes and blends in with the skin. However, at a higher price of $34, the product is more time-consuming to apply than the other foundations because it takes a while to disappear.

At $29, Lancôme’s L’absolu Rouge Lipstick with built-in moisturizer is not the ideal lipstick for students, as it needs to be retouched every three hours

Its use is better suited to the work environment, as it glides on heavily due to the moisturizer and does not provide the same glossy effect as many other lipsticks do without the additional application of gloss. The product also proves to be potentially problematic because it comes off easily.

“Do Tell” is a lipstick by Benefit that gives a full finish and lasts all day.

Although it has no SPF or moisturizer, the silky finish provides the same consistency as chapstick or lip balm and does not feel heavy after application. Additionally, the lipstick does not come off easily unlike Lancôme’s.

“It’s really about fun. That’s actually our motto,” said Emily De Vries, who works with Benefit.

The colors of lipstick that Benefit offers are much more playful and perfect for making one’s day-to-day look more exciting.

Costing $22, Urban Decay’s Naked lipstick feels smooth to wear and provides a balanced consistency similar to chapstick as well without gliding on too thickly or heavily. In addition, it appears naturally glossy.

Like Benefit, Urban Decay offers a variety of unusual colors. Although some do not look very natural, the colors are vibrant and cheerful, suited for special occasions.

“I don’t like crazy-colored makeup for school because it’s too gaudy for a daily basis,” Pooja Chirala (10) said.

After comparing all three looks, the Benefit brand seems to be the most suited for a school-appropriate yet classy appearance. Although Urban Decay and Covergirl are more affordable, they don’t look as natural as Benefit once applied. Lancôme’s products ensure quality; however, the price, combined with its more formal look, don’t make Lancôme the most convenient option for students.

Taiwanese food like a home-cooked meal jackie jin & kevin lin

TALONWP editor-in-chief & managing editor It is easy to imagine becoming as filling as the overflowing Taiwana regular at Tai Kee Won Ton. Just a ese sandwich. hop, skip and jump from the Upper For the main course, the rice School on Saratoga Avenue, the small with stewed pork dish is Asian comChinese restaurant has fast service, a fort food at its finest. Four tender cuts friendly setting and MSG-free food o f pork, though just a touch reminiscent of a favorite local diner. oily, lend savory subFinding a seat during stance to hefty servdinner hours is not a ings of white rice, problem; Tai Kee seasoned broccoli,

Won Ton is wellpickled vegetables, bam equipped with plenty boo shoots and a tea egg. True to of tables and two seatthe high standard set by its appetizers, ing areas. In terms of setting, Tai Kee Won Ton also combines texthe restaurant’s atmosphere leaves lit- tures and flavors in this main course tle to be desired more. The ceilings are dish for a well-cooked, well-seasoned comfortably high, the well-lit rooms and delicious result. are lined with mirrors, and traditional Lastly, no trip to a won ton resChinese décor tastefully adds an au- taurant would be complete without a thentic touch. Altogether, the setting taste of the house special won tons. makes the food that much more en- However, though the resident noodle joyable. and won ton soup was winning in its The Taiwanese sandwich cer- broth and won ton components, less tainly did not disappoint. Served appealing were the bland, soft noowith a toothed knife and overflowing dles. The broth was well-seasoned, with cilantro, stewed pork, sweet and complemented copiously with bean sour sauce, pickled minced vegetables sprouts, cilantro, and minced pork. and ground peanuts, the TaiwanThe won tons were enjoyable as ese sandwich was well: the filling was juicy and generously flavorful while the wrapportioned ping was melt-in-yourand held mouth thin, leaving the together diner wanting more. with a soft Unfortunately, the overwhite bun cooked noodles seemed KE and two tooth- VIN LIN to dominate the dish; we WINGE POST D suggest skipping the noodle soup picks.

Equally appealing was altogether in favor of the simpler won the onion pancake appetizer: a sa- ton soup. vory flatbread dish served alongside Coming in at just over $22 for a sweet and spicy sauce. Crispy and main courses and appetizers for two, crunchy on the ends and chewy in the Tai Kee Won Ton offers plenty of center, the onion pancakes were a per- bang for your buck within walking fect combination of textures and fla- distance of campus. Friendly, fast servorful without being oily. With three vice and tasty, filling meals earn this pancakes of four thick slices in each local restaurant four-and-a-half stars: serving, the onion pancakes were just we will certainly be visiting again.

17 Students consider voting in upcoming elections Lifestyle

trisha jani

reporter With the GOP primaries in full swing, many students are developing political opinions and finding their voices. Although some seniors who are eligible to vote are undecided or have decided to forgo voting, many seniors look forward to voting in the 2012 presidential elections.

Many seniors consider voting in the upcoming presidential election practically a duty as a citizen. For example, Sona Sulakian (12) believes that citizens of the United States have the privilege to vote for their officials and the opportunity to improve the country and their lives.

“If we do not exercise this privilege, then we are only passive half-citizens. Voting is a chance to serve your country by electing the best people possible to run it,” she said. “Plus, it’s fun.”

Several seniors also believe that it is important for the teens of America to place their vote because it will lead to

arrival of new ideas.

“Now is the time for the younger generation to take control of their right to vote because with bills such as the Stop Anti-Piracy Act [SOPA] on the horizon, not voting is the equivalent of throwing your liberties away,” h e said.

changes that will directly affect them as they choose their careers.

Ashima Agarwal (12) is excited for the upcoming election and hopes President Obama is re-elected. In her opinion, now that he has resolved international affairs, if he is re-elected, he could focus on strengthening the country’s economy.

“I feel that it is important for young people to vote, especially women, because people fought for this right,” she said.

Aaron Bisla (12) strongly looks forward to voting in the upcoming presidential election as well because he believes the stage has been set for a huge remodeling of the political system.

According to him, between the discord of finding a suitable GOP candidate and the debate over controversial bills, the political land- scape has become fragile and vulnerable to the

A few seniors also look forward to voting because they believe it allows them to make their voices heard. “I want to vote because it’s my way of influencing what’s going on in the political world

january 27, 2012 the Winged Post

around us,” Cole Manaster ( 1 2 ) o n said. “One of the names that ballot will be the n e x t leader of our country, so it’s crucial that the people who are able come out and vote to express their opinions.”

Although Rohan Bopardikar (12) is likewise excited to have his political opinion heard, he does not think voting is necessary.

“Because of the nature of the Electoral College system, [voting] is something that’s not completely urgent because California isn’t a swing state,” he said.

Other seniors have already made the decision to abstain from voting in the presidential election.

Although he will not be old enough to vote in the upcoming presi-

dential election, Max Maynard (12) said that he would not have voted regardless.

“I probably wouldn’t vote because I’m not really interested that much in politics yet--or possibly ever,” he said.

Neda Ghaffarian (12) is also leaning towards not voting in the upcoming election.

“I feel that politicians always promise things that they never pull through with when they are in office, so I would not want to give my vote to someone who will do that,” she said.

Another undecided voter, Jaya Chandra (12), has recently started to pay closer attention to the ideas of the presidential candidates.

“This year’s election is probably the most important one since whoever is chosen will be making changes that will directly affect me throughout college and as I prepare to enter the workforce,” she said.

If she ends up voting, Jaya will consider which candidate provides the most ideal solution to the current glob-

emily chu & samar malik reporters

As the smartphone skyrockets in popularity, it has been stretched beyond its basic uses of calling and texting to filming movies worthy of the big screen.

Hooman Khalili, a budding young director, and co-director Pat Gilles embarked on a journey to film the first full-length feature film using a smartphone. He thought of the idea for the film’s plot in December of 2009, Khalili said, inspired by a number of obstacles he was facing.

“I was going through a time in my life when I was a little depressed. When that [happens] you can embrace the difficulty and see what comes out of it,” Khalili said in a phone interview with The Winged Post.

After deciding to film the movie using a camera phone, Khalili and his team searched for the best smartphone for the project. Eventually, he settled with the Nokia N8.

DUCT TAPE: dora tzeng

“I tried to shoot some stuff with my Palm Pre, but every time I blew up the picture, it would pixelate so much that I could not make out anything. Then I started searching on the web and decided Nokia was going to be the first company to come out with a phone with a high definition camera,” he said.

The eventual outcome was Olive, a film about a young girl who, as billed by the producers, “transforms the lives of three people without speaking a word.” As Khalili had planned, Olive was the first feature film to be shot entirely on a smartphone.

One advantage of shooting the film with a smartphone, Khalili mentioned, was that filming overhead scenes was a lot less expensive.

“We were able to strap the cellphone onto a remote control helicopter and get an overhead shot that way,” Khalili said. “It was very, very inexpensive compared to getting an overhead shot with anything else, like renting a crane and get-

Unexpected material makes offbeat fashion statement

“[Duct tape] comes in so many different colors, the possibilities are endless, and it’s easily found,” she said. “[It also] gives you an opportunity to re-imagine something we use in everyday life.”

For a segment in the 2010 Fashion Show, Bhikha designed an evening gown out of turquoise, hot pink, and silver duct tape. She also made five other dresses out of “everyday” materials such as lollipop wrappers and CDs. Bhikha is currently concentrating in The Visual Aesthetics of Fashion Design and Interior Design at New York University (NYU). She is designing a collection that incorporates duct tape for an upcoming NYU fashion show.

One of the biggest websites that sell duct tape products is DuctTapeFashion.com. The founder, Keith Drone, wore a roll of duct tape on his wrist in high school, but both the principal and assistant principal deemed his action inappropriate. Consequently, Drone, as well as roughly 200 other students, wore duct tape on their clothes, hands, lockers, and backpacks.

“Ultimately, [wearing duct tape] was to annoy my high school principal, a fellow with absolutely no sense of humor whatsoever,” Drone said in an email interview with The Winged Post.

His first idea was to make an adjustable duct tape guitar strap after seeing several band members wrap the colorful tape around their guitar straps. With two friends, Drone then came up with new products and ideas such as wallets and hats, and their story reached a few newspapers and the Associated Press. Drone was even featured on the “Kathy & Judy” show on World’s Greatest Newspaper (WGN) radio.

However, making things out of duct tape “quickly went from a fun hobby to almost an obligation,” Drone said.

“I realized the pitfall in that, though, and decided to never take it too seriously—having fun with it kept it going for me,” he said.

Anika currently does not have any plans for duct tape designing in the future. On the other hand, Drone is trying to get more colors and types of tape available to the public, while Ashwin is attempting to make shoes and purses for people to use.

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DUCT TAPE Ashwin Chalaka (10) designed this wallet out of duct tape. Sold today in myriad colors and patterns, a tape originally used by the army has grown in the fashion world and now appears in diverse types of clothing and accessories.

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reporter Though it was once a drab olive tool used to repair military equipment, duct tape now comes in all colors and patterns from fluorescent pink to zebra stripes. Students use the versatile tape to make clothing, purses, decorative roses, and more.

Making duct tape accessories and clothing has become a hobby for many.

For Ashwin Chalaka (10), making duct tape creations is “a stress reliever.” About three years ago, Ashwin’s friend showed him a duct tape wallet he had made. He was impressed with how the colors and design represented his friend’s personality, so he decided to learn how to make his own wallet.

Aside from wallets, Ashwin has designed and made a t-shirt for his cousin in India, rings for a few of his friends, and even a birthday card complete with cut-out duct tape letters.

Several people have asked him to start a duct tape business, but he came up with a different idea.

“Instead of asking people to pay me money, I ask them to give me duct tape, so I can make what they want,” Ashwin said. “That would be their payment.”

Likewise, Anika Gupta (10) was inspired to make duct tape bows after a friend made one for her in seventh grade.

“We looked at some YouTube videos of how to make [duct tape] things, and we bought lots of different colors from Michael’s,” she said.

Anika has not only created duct tape bows but also several roses and bracelets and decorated her backpack, laptop case, and headbands with duct tape.

“The vibrant colors and the fact that it’s so easy to make things with duct tape […] attracted my attention,” she said.

Alumna Priya Bhikha (‘10) agrees.

ting a permit. That [costs] tens of thousands of dollars while we were able to get it for 600 bucks.”

Khalili admits, however, that he still faced many difficulties on the set trying to film using a smartphone, but he and his team refused to compromise the quality and content of the film to fit the limitations of the Nokia N8’s camera.

“We had to do a lot of tampering and hacking. We pushed the camera to do what we wanted it to do,” he said.

Despite the problems he faced using the cellphone to film, Khalili believes that the smartphone has the potential to play a larger role in the future of the film industry.

“Your cellphone is going to be able to do everything in the near future. It’s going to pay your bills ... it’s going to sing for you. It’s going to be able to shoot a feature film.”

The film held its first theatrical presentation on December 16 in Los Angeles, with an objective to be screened in more than 2,000 theaters

HOOMAN KHALILI

Olive: First feature film recorded with smartphone

SMARTPHONE Olive, starring two-time Oscar nominee Gena Rowlands, is the first feature film to be filmed entirely with a smartphone. Director Hooman Khalili chose to use the Nokia N8 phone for its high definition camera.

across the nation. Right now, Khalili is working on “getting more eyeballs” on his film before he can “take it to the next level.”

Lifestyle 18 in the What teenagers can do to build credit bay january 27, 2012

the Winged Post

Financial responsibility

samantha hoffman & kevin lin number can be compared to the na-

1 2 4 5 5 8 19 19 22 25 28

chief in training & managing editor

Turn 18. Go to clubs. Get a license. Get a tattoo individually. Join the military. Start building credit...?

According to chase.com, credit is “financial trustworthiness” and is one of the “most important factor lenders San Jose Sharks v. Dallas Stars consider when you apply to borrow money.”

7:30 PM Although there may not be immeHP Pavilion

$43-248 diate benefits to building a credit score now, the purpose of independently esMuseum Day @ Charles Schulz Museum tablishing credit when students turn all day 18 is to build a credit history and score Charles M. Schulz Museum, that will help you save on deals later on Santa Rosa FREE in life.

Sunday Brunch @ Dolce Bella One way to build credit score is to Chocolate Café establish a long credit history. Another 9:00 AM way is to not max out your credit card.

Dolce Bella Chocolate Café For example, if you obtain a $3000

varying credit limit, don’t spend close to or at Museum Day @ California the $3000.

Academy of Sciences A very good credit score, accordall day California Academy of Sciences ing to creditscoring.com, is above 770,

FREE out of the possible 850 points. This Campbell Poetry Circle Workshops 6:30 - 8:30 PM City of Campbell Library

FREE

Young the Giant Concert

8:00 PM The Fillmore, SF

$34 - $255 Bay Area Travel & Adventure Show 10:00 AM - 4:00 PM Santa Clara Convention Center

$9 - $15

velop bad habits in the future.”

While having a credit card is one of the primary ways for students to begin building credit, it is not without its disadvantages.

“It’s very easy to swipe a credit card and lose track of your spending,” Economics teacher Samuel Lepler said.

“Students need to be careful and realize that a credit card is both a wonderful privilege and something that can help you later on and a real dangerous thing that can end up with a large debt that you suddenly realize is due and you can’t pay it.”

In order to prevent such situations, Lepler and many banks suggest setting up an auto-payment system by which credit card balances are regularly deducted from your checking or savings account, assuring that your payments are consistently made on time.

Most importantly, once you have established credit history, be sure to make decisions that will enable you to maintain a good credit score. Allowing debt to pile up, maxing out your credit

card and not paying on time will adversely affect your credit and remain on your credit history for seven years.

Bankruptcy, a more serious problem, will be reported for up to 10 years, not to mention the added interest amount that you will have to pay.

“Even more disadvantageous than not establishing credit is goofing up your credit,” Lepler said. “Be careful.”

CREDIT SCORE FAST FACTS National Average Credit Score: 692 Statewide Average Credit Score: 690 Around 13% of the nation has scores above 800

Around 15% of the nation has a credit score lower than 550 SOURCE: WWW.MONEY-ZINE.COM

Ingrid Michaelson brings new style to her latest work allison sun

TALONWP editor

Out with the old ukulele-strumming, lighthearted, quirky girl, and in with the new pensive, mature artist. In National Geographic Travel her recently released album, Human Photo Conference Again, singer-songwriter Ingrid Mi9:00 AM - 4:00 PM Fort Mason Center, SF chaelson artistically paints an entirely

$195 different image from her usual style, Creative Writing Café for Teens revealing a deeper and darker side full 3:30 - 5:30 PM of raw emotion.

Cupertino Library Released on January 24, Human

FREE Again is Michaelson’s fifth album and Foothill Music Theatre Presents consists of 13 songs. Although she Rockin’ Musical Comedy outgrows her whimsical character and “All Shook Up” crosses into new boundaries of music, 8:00 PM the beautifully crafted collection of Foothill College Lohman love songs continues to charm listeners.

Theater She immediately presents her

$10 - $28 darker side in the first song of the al50 Years of Bay Area Art bum, “Fire,” which sets off the album 11:00 AM - 5:45 PM SFMOMA to a blazing start. With a primar $11 ily strings-driven instrumental in the

background and the emergence of soaring vocals, there is a notable difference from her past albums such as Be OK. Although, Michaelson’s ukulele reappears in the first few seconds of the following song, “This is War,” she reverts to the recurring wistful theme of the album and sings, “It’s a wonder how I survived this war between your […] heart and mine.”

In the subsequent songs, “Do it Now,” “I’m Through,” and “How We Love,” she creates a soothing vibe by portraying a melancholic and mellower side. The minimalist ballads showcase her strong suits: lyrical prowess and a pure, flowing voice.

Picking up the pace in “Black and Blue,” Michaelson incorporates a medley of funk and pop with a strong beat fueled by finger snaps.

Her lead single “Ghost,” which was released before the rest of the al-

bum last November, continues to express the darker shade of the album.

Haunting yet beautiful, the song has a rich vocal tone and heartfelt lyrics without the overshadowing accompaniment of keyboards and orchestration.

She delves into her past and exposes her wounds from previous relationships.

To end the album, Michaelson perfectly concludes with “End of the World,” a passionate track that finally suggests glimmers of optimism amidst all the gloom and despair of previous songs. In the memorable chorus, she thoughtfully sings, “At the end of […] the world, will you find me?”

Although her exploration with new styles of music was a bold move, at times, she sounds excessively like the sappy mainstream artists that dominate today’s music industry such as in her song, “In the Sea.”

CABIN 24

february 2012

tional average credit score which, according to money-zine.com, is 692.

You don’t have to wait until you’re a legal adult to start building credit history, however. According to ehow.com, being added to your parents’ credit accounts as an authorized user not only serves as good practice for managing credit in the future but also provides you with the benefits of your parents’ credit history, an important tool in gaining the bank’s trust.

David Dominguez (12), who started maintaining a credit card at age 17 under his parents, uses his card to purchase items and products such as clothing, electronics and occasionally food.

“My parents force me to maintain good credit or else my card will get revoked. In a sense then through punishment and lessons, I will have to learn good credit building skills,” David said.

“If you learn to manage your money now and gain good credit building skills, you will be less inclined to de-

MELODIES In her newly released album Human Again, singer Ingrid Michaelson showcases a darker, neverbefore-seen side of her musical style.

Nevertheless, Michaelson does not fail to prove her musical growth along with the versatility of her voice and her originality and depth in lyrics.

BREAKFAST: Four quick choices for a healthy morning meal shannon su

A yogurt parfait is one of the fastest options for busy mornings; all you need are fresh berries, yogurt, and granola. Many yogurts will look like healthy choices but have as much sugar as a dessert, so choose the low-fat variety. Feel free to pick out any type of berry but select organic ones for a better alternative.

Granola may have too much sugar, so you can either choose a type with less sugar or add whole grain cereal instead. All you need to do is pour the yogurt onto the bottom of a cup, then layer with granola and berries.

One of the most popular dishes for breakfast is scrambled eggs. From protein to vitamin A, scrambled eggs can help boost your morning with the energy you need. Just break the egg into a bowl and thoroughly mix. Heat up the pan and add butter on top and when the pan is fully heated, pour the egg mixture onto the pan. As it starts to solidify, move the egg around with a spatula and continue to do so until everything is cooked. Adding other ingredients such as bacon, ham, or green onions gives flavor to this meal.

reporter Cereal comes in many different brands and flavors.

Although sugar-filled cereals do have a great taste, they are definitely not the healthiest choice available.

When picking out the right cereal, be sure to look for ones that promise a whole grain meal. General Mills, for one, guarantees whole grain in all its cereals. If desired, add fruit into the cereal or take it for the car ride to school.

ALL PHOTOS SHANNON SU

Steel-cut oatmeal is high in fiber and perfect for a breakfast meal, but the instant type will work well when you are in a hurry. With only a couple minutes of preparation time, this dish provides many of the key nutrients that a great breakfast should have. To begin, microwave the instant oatmeal after adding cold water to it and start to stir the mixture. Next, you can add toppings such as frozen blueberries, almonds, or flaxseeds. To sweeten the flavor, you can add a little cinnamon or honey.

Criminal investigation shows differentiated through problem-solving methods and humor sell, the lead detective who enforces rules that he believes are best for the team in a way similar to that of absolute monarchs.

Actors Marg Helgenberger and Eric Szmanda portray Catherine Willows and Greg Sanders, respectively.

They are determined detectives on opposite ends of the spectrum: Willows is emotional and sensitive, while Sanders is rough and thick-skinned.

All crime scene shows, needless to

Aside from the detectives, the analysts and forensic researchers add an edgy and unconventional vibe to the tension and comedy of NCIS. Abby Sciuto (Pauley Perrette), the gothic computer nerd, hides in the lab room and rarely interacts with the other investigators; however, when she does, she always makes insightful comments, which usually direct the team towards another clue.

ing the reason for gathering a suspect’s DNA is necessary for engaging viewers as the intricate plot of the episode may gradually lose their interest.

Even though the science is often overdramatized to attract watchers, the vivid depiction of analysis outweighs the inaccurate data and experiments.

Making his first appearance last year, actor Ted Danson plays D.B. Rus-

CBS

Special Agent Jethro Gibbs (Mark Harmon) of NCIS, D.B. Russell (Ted Danson) of CSI, and Lt. Anita Van Buren (S. Epatha Merkerson) of Law & Order all focus on one task: to convict the perpetrator. Despite how convoluted the situation may be, each lead detective arduously examines the evidence and meticulously analyzes each detail to pinpoint the suspect and cause of crime in their respective TV series.

Nonetheless, differences in technicality and organization distinguish engrossing, captivating shows from monotonous, tedious ones.

Naval Criminal Investigative Service’s (NCIS) Gibbs tends to lead a more effective team than Russell and Buren because of his amicable personality and conciliatory behavior.

CBS’s NCIS follows the cases involving naval officers. Each episode is directly related to the previous one, creating centralized long-term plot.

Directing the team, Gibbs efficiently solves each case by successfully balancing his power and his friendship with his staff. He treats each detective equally, as if there were little to no gap between their ranks.

Detectives like Special Agent An-

CBS also runs Crime Scene Investigation (CSI), which follows the lives of detectives in Las Vegas who solve cases from those pertaining to rape to those involving burglaries.

The show incorporates scenes depicting the science behind the evidence, attracting viewers interested in the subject. Such shots clearly explain-

NBC

photography editor

thony DiNozzo (Michael Weatherly) and Ziva David (Cote de Pablo) are the key to the success of NCIS. Their humorous dialogue provides viewers with joviality uncommon in crime-based TV shows.

CBS

mercedes chien

say, are not at the caliber of the two series mentioned above.

NBC’s Law & Order, which ended in 2010 but survives through a number of related series such as Law & Order: Special Victims Unit, focuses on

the criminal justice system. Episodes are organized into two sections with the first half focusing on the investigation and the second half following the prosecution aspect of the crime.

Lt. Anita Van Buren (S. Epatha Merkerson), supposedly the highest rank at the office, is only seen critiquing the detectives’ work and demanding more evidence and reason. Furthermore, viewers rarely see comedic behavior; the detectives mostly discuss recent evidence and possible connections between the victim and the suspect. Even though watching them put together a jigsaw puzzle is amusing, Detectives Cyrus Lupo ( Jeremy Sisto) and Nina Cassady (Milena Govich) could at least report the data with some enthusiasm or interest.

Despite the seemingly vapid dialogue, creator Dick Wolf adds a twist to this series by depicting what happens to the suspect while solving a case. Law & Order episodes show the arraignment and the sentencing of the suspect.

If ever in need of some dramafilled, suspenseful TV shows, crime scene series are the best option, but do keep in mind, while some episodes may be based on story headlines, all plots are exaggerated and false.

tech

january 27, 2012 the Winged Post

19

Dreams to reality: Space travel soon to be available to the public editor in chief & TALONWP managing editor In 1961, humankind performed the unbelievable when astronauts ventured into outer space for the first time. Nearly 50 years later, this exclusive dream has become a reality available to the general public. Space tourism has arrived.

Beginning in 2001, the Russian company Space Adventures sent seven passengers aboard Soyuz spacecrafts to the International Space Station located in orbital space. These passengers were required to pay a price ranging from $20 million to $35 million for an eight to 15-day flight.

However, after the recent termination of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) Space Shuttle Program, many have questioned the future of space travel.

For some, space tourism represents a continuation of our exploration of space.

Since then, several companies have been attempting to advance space tourism for people other than professionally trained astronauts. One of the leading organizations in this field is Virgin Galactic, a branch of Virgin headed by Richard Branson. Unlike Space Adventures, Virgin Galactic will only charge passengers a total of $200,000 per seat aboard a new vessel called SpaceShipTwo, allowing a broader range of people the possibility of space travel.

“I’ve seen articles saying they might be opening up a space station [and] like how they might be able to get that done in a couple of years. I’m really surprised at how fast this thing has been going,” Eric Kong (12) said.

SpaceShipOne was the winner of the Ansari X Prize, which was a reward of $10 million given to a private company that could reach approximately 100 km in suborbital space twice in a period of 14 days.

Burt Rutan from the aerospace company Scaled Composites in Mohave, California designed the winning ship, sponsored by Microsoft co-founder Paul Allen. SpaceShipTwo is a modified version of this spacecraft and will

SPACE TOURISM Spaceport America, illustrated here in an artist’s depiction, will be Virgin Galactic space tourists’ training facility once it is completed in Las Cruces, New Mexico. The company already has over 415 reservations, and it hopes to start sending its first passengers into space by Christmas of this year.

carry six passengers unlike its predecessor, which had a capacity of two.

However, unlike the Soyuz crafts, SpaceShipTwo will only enter suborbital space at speeds one-sixth of the 18,000 mph required for orbital space.

Tony Cardoza, an accredited space agent for Virgin Galactic and President of Cardoza-Bungey Travel located in Palo Alto, acknowledged this shift from the government sector of space programs to the private sector.

“All those [government-sponsored space programs] are coming to the end of life. So lots of people are saying, what’s going to be next?” Cardoza said.

The total cost of traveling to space includes a “three-day experience” at Spaceport America in Las Cruces, New Mexico, which is currently being completed. During this time, passen-

gers will be tested, trained, and given the opportunity to meet their fellow travelers.

Anyone of the age of 18 or older will be eligible to board a flight, although people of any age may sign up.

There are currently people with ages ranging from 16 to 84 signed up, according to Lynda Garrett, another of Virgin Galactic’s accredited space travel agents and president of Alpine Travel of Saratoga.

The flight is scheduled to last for about two-and-a-half hours. Beginning with a normal runway takeoff, the mother craft and space craft will be joined at takeoff. At an altitude of about 50,000 feet, the mother craft will release the space craft and the rocket will ignite within a few seconds. This is called an air launch, a safety feature differing from that of space shuttles in the past, which typi-

cally did ground launches. Passengers will experience a “floating, weightless” sensation in space for approximately five minutes before they return back to Earth.

Garrett compares the perils of ground launches to “sitting on a bomb.” Since ships that blast off the ground are traveling at high speeds in denser atmospheric surroundings, they have a greater frictional and drag effect, causing a need for more fuel.

Due to the large amount of weight, if everything is not coordinated during ground launches, the ship runs the risk of destruction.

“I think going to space [would be] cool, but it seems kind of dangerous because there’s a risk of exploding like the Challenger,” Lea Daran (10) said.

However, Virgin Galactic’s air launches are meant to ensure maxi-

VYONYX

priyanka mody & meena chetty

mum safety and a low chance of detonation because the mother craft only releases the space craft at a point above the majority of the earth’s atmosphere.

“People are willing to accept higher risks for novel experiences, and those who have accumulated enough wealth to afford a seat on a space plane did not get there by avoiding risk,” Physics and Computer Science teacher Dr. Eric Nelson said.

At the moment, Garrett said that Virgin Galactic has not found a significant reason that a passenger over 18 would not be qualified to board SpaceShipTwo. However, the company will be testing the space ships step by step to guarantee complete safety onboard; within the next six months, the model will be sent into space for a test flight. The main challenge for potential clients at the moment is accepting that space tourism is a reality.

“Some people, especially in the Bay Area, are wanting to see it before they believe it,” Garrett said about space tourism.

Cardoza also emphasized the importance of the completing the testing phase and ensuring safety. He did not specify an exact date for when the first flight would be conducted.

“There’s a lot of rigor to make sure the testing of [the] mechanism is clear,” Cardoza said.

Because the flight actually takes passengers, Virgin Galactic is working with the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) to follow a similar structure with regards to safety, according to Cardoza.

At the time of publication, over 415 people have made reservations, the first 85 of which are by invitation only. Richard Branson and his two children will be the first to travel to suborbital space on SpaceShipTwo. “Certain people get really excited about the idea, and they want to sign up right away,” Cardoza said.

Branson has stated that he hopes to send SpaceShipTwo, the vessel that will carry the company’s first space tourists, into space by Christmas of 2012 as long as testing continues as planned.

20 Website protests delay votes on SOPA and PIPA Tech

january 27, 2012

the Winged Post

nikhil dilip & allison kiang

TALONWP editor & reporter S everal websites, inc luding Wikipedia, Google, Reddit, and TALONWP, participated in “Internet Blackout Day” on January 18 to protest two bills that looked to prevent online piracy.

Users who clicked on Google’s logo, which was blacked out, were directed to a petition against the Stop Online Piracy Act (SOPA) and the Preventing Real Online Threats to Economic Creativity and Theft of Intellectual Property Act (PIPA) of 2011. Google reported that 4.5 million people had signed its petition on January 18 alone. The two bills are similar, but SOPA is a House resolution, whereas PIPA is the Senate counterpart.

“While we regret having to prevent the world from having access to Wikipedia for even a second, we simply cannot ignore the fact that SOPA and PIPA endanger free speech both in the United States and abroad, and set a frightening precedent of Internet censorship for the world,” Wikipedia founder Jimmy Wales said in a press release.

Last month, users of Reddit convinced GoDaddy and Representative Paul Ryan (R-WI) to drop support for the bill. “[I think the protest was] pretty effective […]. I’ve seen it everywhere on social networking sites, Wikipedia, [and] Google,” Sarina Vij (11) said.

“Having the Internet is a privilege, and it should be open to anyone.”

Even though the online protests raised awareness for some, other students were not affected.

“I don’t go to websites like Wikipedia and Reddit that often, but I heard people complain about it,” Daniel Pak (10) said. “I realized that people have grown to live with the Internet, and [these bills] would force people to change their ways.”

After the blackouts, Representative Lamar Smith (R-TX), who proposed SOPA, and Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV) postponed voting on the two bills “indefinitely,” according to press statements released by the respective congressmen.

As of Wednesday, 117 Representatives and 22 Senators have declared their opposition to SOPA and PIPA, respectively. 24 Representatives cosponsor SOPA, and 33 Senators support PIPA. Before voting on the bills was delayed, both of California’s Senators, Barbara Boxer and Dianne Feinstein, supported PIPA, while local representatives Mike Honda and Anna Eshoo opposed SOPA. SOPA (H.R. 3261) has been applauded by major corporations of Hollywood’s entertainment industry but has come under fire from tech companies of Silicon Valley.

As a piece of legislation created to prevent online piracy and illegal web activity, SOPA intended to deny

about

THE ANTIVIRUS patrick yang tech editor

PROTEST In a “blackout” on January 18, Major sites such as Wikipedia and Reddit shut down their sites to protest SOPA and PIPA, which they claim would severely limit freedoms of Internet users. Shortly after the protests, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV) declared that voting on the two bills would be suspended “indefinitely”; PIPA was originally scheduled for a Senate vote on January 24.

“U.S. capital to notorious foreign infringers,” according to Section 107 of the bill.

“Because the U.S. produces the most intellectual property, our nation has the most to lose if we fail to address the problem of rogue sites. [The bill] shows Congress’s commitment to combating rogue sites and ensuring that profits go to American innovators, not criminals who steal our products and damage our economy,” Smith said in a press release.

“

[I think the protest was] pretty effective... Having the internet is a privilege and it should be open to anyone.

Sarina Vij (11)

”

According to the Recording Industry Association of America, over 70,000 jobs were lost due to piracy in 2007. “[Torrenting] songs and software is really unfair to the companies who produce the [material],” Zabin Bashar (9) said.

SOPA would consider electronic copying and distribution of copyrighted work as infringement.

The U.S. Attorney General would be allowed to sue against owners of sites found to be perpetuating piracy or even seize the website or domain name both domestically and internationally.

Lawbreakers could be given up to five years of imprisonment, according to the bill. Internet users have criticized it, as it implies that much of user-uploaded YouTube content may eventually be considered illegal because of the “streaming of copyrighted works in violation of criminal law.”

Senator Patrick Leahy (D-VT) introduced PIPA (S.B. 968), a similar bill, into the Senate Judiciary Committee on May 12, 2011.

After initially rejecting the proposals to postpone voting on PIPA on January 14, Reid delayed voting last Friday after Internet protests.

“There’s no reason that legitimate issues raised about PROTECT IP can’t be resolved,” he said.

Senator Leahy wanted the bill to pass and was disappointed in Senator Reid’s decision.

“I understand and respect Majority Leader Reid’s decision to seek consent to vitiate closure on the motion to proceed to the PROTECT IP Act,” he said in a statement to the press. “But the day will come when the Senators who forced this move will look back and realize they made a knee-jerk reaction to a monumental problem.”

The White House also released a statement following massive petitions on its official blog and petition site, We the People.

“We will not support legislation that reduces freedom of expression, increases cyber security risk, or undermines the dynamic, innovative global Internet,” it said.

In opposition to SOPA and PIPA, Senator Ron Wyden (D-OR) and Representative Darrell Issa (RCA) have proposed a new bipartisan act entitled the Online Protection and Enforcement of Digital Trade Act (OPEN).

OPEN was introduced to the Senate on December 17 and to the House on January 18. Currently, 24 Representatives and four Senators support the bill.

According to OPEN’s website, the act differs from SOPA and PIPA by “protect[ing] access to social media and legitimate websites” and “ensur[ing] intellectual property (IP) cases resolved by IP experts.”

Senator Mike Thompson (DCA) said that the bill would only pursue legitimate cases of copyright infringement.

Also, contrary to SOPA and PIPA, OPEN would require the International Trade Commission to regulate infringing sites.

Tech companies such as Google and Facebook support this alternative, but the Motion Picture Association of America (MPAA) and other entertainment companies still oppose it.

OPEN continues to undergo revisions and is also posted online at keepthewebopen.com for the public to make suggestions for editing.

Two new programs to help Upper School students

Prag Batra creates new HHMS application and polling system TALONWP editor Prag Batra (12), an avid programmer, recently developed a Harker Homework Management System (HHMS) application for the iPhone as well as a voting program that may possibly be used in the Upper School.

P r a g made the H H M S application to help students who have iPhones and need to quickly

look at their homework. The features of his application are that HHMS can be accessed offline and is formatted to fit the screen of an iPhone. Some, such as the Daily Bulletin, will be available in an update, while other features like the ability to view individual teacher pages may not be available.

Prag was introduced to programming through the Upper School’s summer Programming course, which he took before his junior year.

“After [my class], I got really into programming. I [realized that I] really enjoy making websites and apps.

That’s where it started,” Prag said.

He continued on to the AP Computer Science course and founded the Tech Club.

He developed his first application, which allowed people to access their Google calendar on their phones, at an application development competition held by the Tech Club. Although it was only a “minor [application],” he loved the process, so he decided to DARIAN EDVALSON - WINGED POST

darian edvalson

Patrick Ponders

create more applications.

“After that app, I remember thinking the next app I wanted to make [was] an iPhone app, so I started learning the language, iOS,” he said. “I found out it was a lot more work than I thought it would be.”

He began developing the HHMS application last summer and continued his work through the beginning of the school year. Although he had to take a break to work on his college applications, he was able to finish the project by the end of winter break. His brother Pranav Batra (10) helped him code, and his sixth-grade brother Praveen Batra assisted in designing the icon. “[The application] came on the market about a week [after winter break] after an intensive process that you have to go through,” Prag said.

“That’s why it takes so long, because [Apple] is running it by hand… But it had about 120 downloads on the first day, so that was cool.”

Prag’s other project, the voting website, will probably be used during the first time during the Freshman Honor Council elections. Voters put in a code and choose their candidates, just like with the current system. The main difference is that the new system can accommodate as many candidates

as needed, not just the eight the current voting website is limited to, a problem at this past year’s student council elections.

“

I [...] really enjoy making websites and apps. That’s where it started.

Prag Batra (12)

”

“While we were fixing a few problems [with the old system], we thought that we might as well make a new system entirely and make it web based, so it could be used from anywhere on campus,” Prag said.

Wilbur Yang (11) and Pranav helped Prag with coding, Shantanu Joshi (11) designed the website, and Nicholas Semenza (10) translated the design into code.

Prag is currently working on new projects, but he wishes to not disclose much information about them, other than that we can expect two more applications by the end of the school year.

When I first got my own laptop in sixth grade – my dad had recently upgraded, and he had left his old one to me – I was elated. I’d had access to the family computer for years already, but it was bulky and slow, and my mom and brother would both constantly ask to use it as well. With a laptop, I felt the personal freedom to browse what I wanted on the Internet and download whatever I felt like.

My dad, the infallible computer expert of my 12-year-old world, gave me a few rules to keep my computer safe from viruses: always have the antivirus and firewall running, never open attachments in emails from people you don’t know, and don’t click Internet links that look suspicious. I took these three to heart.

I remember crying on the phone to my dad when my computer said the antivirus subscription was about to run out; he was on business in China, and wasn’t there to help me renew it. I felt like a deep sea diver who had suddenly lost his protective suit, exposed to the dangers of the world.

Looking back, I put 100% faith in my antivirus and firewall to keep me safe – and why not? My dad promised me they’d work.

So I was beyond surprised when one day, near the end of middle school, I was browsing the Internet and suddenly a slew of popups appeared on my computer. I thought nothing of it, but even after I closed my web browser, they kept showing up, advertising shady products and services.

It was a virus all right, and it had made its way onto my computer despite all my layers of security.

Thankfully, the virus turned out to be relatively harmless (partially because it announced its presence very loudly), and my dad manually cleaned it off within days.

But that got me thinking – how much can we really trust our antiviruses alone to keep us safe?

As it turned out, antiviruses are by no means perfect. Even today, one often hears stories of friends who have their emails or Facebook accounts hacked. It’s frightening, the prospect of someone gaining access to personal chats or information.

It turned out the virus that attacked my computer came from some malicious code hidden in an ad on an untrustworthy page.

Sometimes it’s really that easy for a virus to get onto a computer. So how can we defend against these dangerous, stealthy programs?

Having an antivirus is a good step towards being safe in our increasingly Internet-reliant world, but I think being vigilant on the Internet is more than half the battle. Computer user awareness isn’t emphasized nearly enough.

Some specific tips: Whenever you’re entering personal information online, be sure you’re at the URL that you think you are. Most web browsers have an icon in the address bar that indicates when a site has been verified legitimate; it’s a simple check that stops most “phishing” cold.

Same for downloading files-–make sure you trust the source.

Most people can disable the Java and Adobe PDF Reader plugins in web browsers. These plugins are two of the most common ways for newly created viruses to get into a computer. Most websites nowadays don’t use Java anyway, and you can always turn it back on if you do need it. It’s part of being aware – knowing exactly what your browser is using Java and Adobe PDF Reader for.

Lastly, keep Windows and your programs updated! This may seem like a hassle sometimes, but crucial updates come on a regular basis as malware makers and tech corporations battle over security.

tech

january 27, 2012 the Winged Post

21

Three trending games on student smartphones news editor Triple your points with a wellplaced word. Destroy red dots with explosions. Run from the evil monkeys of the temple. Three game apps seem to have taken smartphone screens across campus by storm in recent weeks. The games are listed below; try them all out.

Words With Friends

In a nutshell, Words With Friends is Zynga’s two-player word making game for the iPhone. Players receive a limited number of letter tiles and attempt to form words by placing them on a grid board. Words formed with different vowels and consonant tiles will yield different amounts of points when placed over a multiplier.

The goal of the game is to either use

“

[Temple Run] is really interactive, and you can buy upgrades for your power ups.

”

Roshan Daran (11)

up all the tiles and win by a greater margin of overall points or to force the opponent to forfeit when he or she is no longer able to form a word with the set of tiles.

Players may challenge their

friends by linking their Facebook accounts, or play complete strangers over the internet.

The longevity of this popular app may be attributed to its incorporation of social interaction through player versus player gameplay.

For sophomore Anna Levine, this aspect of Words With Friends makes it a more “personal” gameplay experience.

Derek Tzeng (12) agrees and also likes the fact that “it’s also very casual and not very intense, [which can be a] double edged sword: it can get very slow, and there’s not a lot of action.”

Tilt to Live

continually annihilating dots.

Freshman Thyne Boonmark likes the game because the gameplay feels natural and it is somewhat challenging.

“It’s just fun to play with all the power-ups, [and it’s kind of hard since] the goal is not just trying to kill the enemies; it’s also trying to dodge and survive,” he said.

Temple Run

Currently the number one free app in the Apple App Store, Temple Run has the player as an explorer running from evil monkeys after stealing the Temple’s Idol in a 3-D setting.

Theplayer navigates a maze with a series of swipes and slight tilts, learning to jump over bumps in the rode and slide under traps. Players collect coins to unlock power-ups and more characters over time.

Continuous gameplay gives players access to more power ups allowing players to multiply their score, boost ahead in total distance run, or come back to life after falling into a trap in the maze, which junior Roshan Daran likes about the game.

“It’s really interactive, and you can buy upgrades for your power ups,” he said.

From ivy growing in the swamp to the crum-

Work to live. Eat to live. Tilt to Live. AppAdvice.com’s 2010 Game of the Year has been given a popular revival at the Upper School for the smartphone platform.

Gameplay involves tilting the iPhones to move the character, a white arrow. Each game begins with the arrow at the center of a bounded playing field the size of the screen.

After a three-two-one countdown, red dots of death continually emerge and attempt to smash the player’s arrow into little shards.

“Gameplay is really simple; you never have to touch the screen,” Kushal Ranjan (12) said. “The only pain is trying to calibrate the motion sensor.”

In order to survive, players must avoid the dots and get weapon orbs such as Ice Blast or Vortex, which emerge across the screen, allowing players to destroy the homing dots.

Points are awarded as players wipe out dots; combos are awarded for

bling golden architecture, the Temple Run world recreates a relic-hunting setting in gameplay. The overall experience is quick-paced; a jump over a tree stump may lead into an emergency turn, followed by a necessary slide beneath a fire trap and then a tilt to the left to avoid a break in the brick path.

According to Tiara Bhatacharya (9), the game overall lends itself to an enjoyable experience which insists on being replayed to challenge a high score.

“There are no levels, you can just keep going higher and higher, [and] you feel like you’re in danger,” she said.

PATRICK YANG - WINGED POST

william chang

GAMES Pictured here is Temple Run, a game that tasks players to navigate a trap-filled temple by swiping and tilting. In part because of its graphics, it is one of three smartphone games which have become recent student favorites.

nikhil dilip

TALONWP editor

NO

KI

A

From January 10 to 13, the annual International Consumer Electronics Show (CES) was held in Las Vegas, as hundreds of companies debuted their newest products.

Numerous smartphones, tablets, laptops, televisions, and other electronics were presented, but the show was not open to the public.

Running on AT&T’s 4G LTE network, a data network faster than 3G, Nokia’s Lumia 900 (pictured below), which uses Microsoft’s Windows 7.5 Operating System, was named the best smartphone of the show by CNET for its fast processor, responsive touch interface, and touchscreen display. According to the Wall Street Journal, the phone will probably be released in March.

“Microsoft will give Nokia a next generation platform on which both companies can innovate and differentiate. Our goal is to drive significant volume of Nokia Windows Phones in 2012,” Microsoft spokesperson Annie Truong said. “Both AT&T and Nokia are making big bets on Windows Phone, and we have great momentum with our app offerings.”

The Nokia Lumia series is the first line of phones in the United States made by Nokia and Microsoft together. Microsoft, whose operating system is a distant third in smartphone market share b e -

hind Google’s Android and Apple’s iOS, looks to popularize the phone with manufacturer Nokia, which is also trying to make a comeback in the United States.

“When I’m looking at a new phone, I look for the materials it has, its price, and how intuitive its interface is,” Ram Menon (11) said. “One product I heard [of ] was this ‘smartwatch’ device that runs on Android and can sync with your phone in realtime. I thought that was a pretty neat alternative to picking up your phone every time you need to use it.”

Acer and Asus both released tablets that run on Ice Cream Sandwich, Google’s newest Android software that was previously only available on a few smartphones.

Lenovo debuted its Ideapad Yoga, a Windows 8 device with a keyboard, which allows users to switch between using it as a tablet and laptop. The device weighs 3.3 pounds, which is relatively light for a laptop but heavy for a tablet. In comparison, the Ideapad Yoga is heavier than Apple’s MacBook Air and lighter than Apple’s MacBook Pro. The company plans to sell it later this year for around $1000. It will not launch until Microsoft releases Windows 8, and according to AnandTech, the tablet is a “consumer line,” while Lenovo’s ThinkPad is marketed towards business users.

Similarly, Samsung released its Galaxy Note, a hybrid between a smartphone and a tablet, and it will be available for $749.

The device debuted in Germany in October, but Samsung has not announced its United States release date.

Many of the devices that were introduced at CES will not be released until later this year, and their complete lists of features are yet to be finalized.

ELECTIONS Google has released a new elections tracker that has many features such as current news, trends, and an interactive map. It can be accessed at www.google.com/elections.

Site collects videos and information about candidates

Google releases election tracker jason chu

reporter With the presidential elections spanning from January until November, Google has released a new informational and up to date website available at www.google.com/elections that tracks the 2012 elections.

Google released the site on January 2 and announced the creation of “an election hub where citizens can study, watch, discuss, learn about, participate in and perhaps even make an impact on the digital campaign trail as it blazes forward to Tuesday, November 6, 2012” on their official blog.

This new election hub delivers current news, election results, and information about the candidates, essential issues, and upcoming election events. It is also designed to allow users to study, discover, and

watch this year’s election all at one interactive and simple website. The website’s homepage streams all the recent news and videos pertaining to the presidential candidates and elections. Also, recaps of past debates can be found here too.

Nicholas Semenza (10) believes the new website has made following the elections much easier. “[The best feature is] the ability to view articles about each candidate easily,” he said. “It seems to function quite well.”

Other features of the hub consist of a page with current candidate trends and an interactive map that allows users to discern major events occurring in each state. “On the Ground”, the name of this map, has videos of speeches of the candidates and voters expressing their opinions.

Although the website has all

these features, Edar Liu (9) believes it is still missing some components that can make it better for users.

“One problem I have found is that I cannot filter the different issues and news so that I can just view one candidate’s opinion,” Edar said “Another improvement is to also try and extend the website beyond politics in America and cover the entire world.”

Other presidential trackers, like the one on the Politico website, lack some features of the Google site. The Politico tracker does have an interactive map similar to the “On the Ground” map as well as current news and videos. However, it does not have news about the major political issues or trends of each candidate.

The site has been gaining popularity and over 3800 people have “+1’d” it on Google+.

GOOGLE

Companies debut their gadgets at annual Consumer Electronics Show

Sports

the Winged Post

Daniza Rodriguez (11)

Nikhil Panu (11)

ATHLETES OF THE

MONTH sonia sidhu & sheridan tobin reporters

MEGAN PRAKASH-WINGED POST

After being named San Jose Mercury News Female Athlete of the Week last year, Daniza Rodriguez (11), co-captain of Varsity girls basketball, has continued to excel, contributing to the team’s 10-8 winning record.

Daniza started the season strong, scoring 62 points in the Pescadero Hoop Dreams Tournament, which took place from December 1 to December 3.

She also made the buzzer shot in the team’s 49-48 overtime victory against Castilleja, which was the first time the team had beaten Castilleja in the school’s history.

Averaging about 19.5 points per game, she leads the team offensively. According to teammate Priscilla Auyeung (11), Daniza is always prepared for games and this year, as a captain, brings organization and focus to the team.

“She is definitely powerful [and] has really nice shots, especially far range shots,” Priscilla said.

“She can maneuver her way through people and get the ball in the basket.”

According to co-captain Neda Ghaffarian (12), she frequently calls out plays and leads the team during games and practices.

She typically plays the position of shooting guard, taking shots from the outside, getting rebounds if necessary and using her agility to maximize shooting opportunities in games.

It is clear to teammates and coaches that Daniza has assumed more of a leadership role on the team.

“She’s taking over games the way she needs to; she’s taking on more responsibility, but also, at the same time, she is trying to get her teammates better,” head coach Alfredo Alves said. “She’s stepped it up overall, with her teammates and herself as well.”

Daniza has an ability not only to lead her team when needed but also to keep practices enjoyable, and her competitive spirit rubs off on her teammates.

“I think she brings an intensity that we need.

She is very competitive so she brings this competitiveness and [...] gets everybody fired up,” Neda said. “She never backs down.”

MERCEDES CHIEN-WINGED POST

22

january 27, 2012

GIRLS Daniza Rodriguez (11) dribbles the ball down the court during a home game. Her teammates appreciate her enthusiasm and energy during both games and practices.

Varsity basketball co-captain Nikhil Panu (11) leads the team: he has scored 202 points so far this season, averaging about 12 points per game.

However, according to his teammates and coach, Nikhil’s true leadership is not evinced through the points he scores but rather through his attitude and commitment – whether during a game or simply during practice.

According to his teammate Vikrum Jain (12), Nikhil’s hard work sets him apart from other players and his strong defense gives him an edge over his competitors.

“It’s really his intensity. [...] It pushes us all to be better,” Vikrum said. “He’s a good leader.”

Head Coach Butch Keller noted Nikhil’s dramatic improvement, which started from the team’s game against Priory High School when he scored a career high of 30 points.

Following this game, he scored three three-point shots to take the game against King’s Academy into overtime, eventually leading to a 62-58 victory.

Teammate William Deng (10) stated that Nikhil is a player who is pivotal to the team and whose leadership makes the team more cohesive.

“He helps us work together,” William said.

“He helps a lot with his leadership on and off the court.”

This year, Nikhil is a small forward for the team, utilizing his shooting skills more than in previous years. According to Keller, this improvement can be attributed to Nikhil’s dedication.

“He has an incredible work ethic, [and] his game has improved. He moved from a post player to a guard and small forward, so he’s still learning,” Keller said. “He’s a very good shooter.

His hard work makes all the other things come together.”

BOYS Nikhil Panu (11) looks to take a shot during a home game. Nikhil has improved his shooting this season along with his leadership skills.

Read about the December athletes of the month online at talonwp.com

Eagle

E vents February

Boys Basketball 2/3: Priory 2/7: Crystal Springs Uplands 2/17: Sacred Heart Preparatory

Kick s A gainst Cancer

Soccer teams prepare for third annual fundraiser for Camp Okizu priyanka sharma & riya godbole nated their time and their enthusiasm 1 to support the cause.

sports editor & reporter On February 1, the girls and boys soccer teams will both host the third annual Kicks Against Cancer event, a fundraiser to send children with cancer to Camp Okizu.

The money raised through the event allows Northern California families affected by childhood cancer to attend the programs free of charge.

All of the funds raised during the week go towards Camp Okizu. The goal of the soccer teams is to surpass $8,000, the amount they raised last year, which sent almost eight families to the camp.

“Our goal is really to make this a community event […] and also [to] hopefully increase the amount of people who come to our soccer games as well,” co-captain Nicole Dalal (12) said.

On Friday, January 13, the soccer teams hosted a pizza party dinner at the Upper School with a few families who attend Okizu camps.

“We got to meet the families, and they’re all really nice and really sweet.

It was so cute [because] they brought piles and piles of friendship bracelets,” co-captain Adrienne Mendel (11) said.

Katie Mahon, Executive Assistant and Program Director at Okizu, said that “the team members have do-

to this project,” making Kicks Against Cancer special to her.

“We are so excited to have the Harker soccer teams supporting Okizu through Kicks Against Cancer,” Mahon said. “It was really great to see the students eating and playing with the kids, making friendship bracelets.

I love that this event combines fundraising with a more personal interaction between the team members and our families.”

The teams started selling tickets the week of January 16 for $10.

Along with the ticket, buyers received a purple shirt that has the 2012 Kicks Against Cancer logo on the front. In addition to the shirts, the teams sold wristbands and customized hair ties for three dollars each.

According to girls’ Varsity head coach and English teacher Jason Berry, the girls’ team has put in a sincere and “completely selfless” effort toward making the event come together.

“I’m only furthering the cause that Troy Thiele started, so I am certainly proud to carry on the tradition, and these girls have some of the biggest hearts on campus that I have seen,” Berry said.

The teams encourage students and faculty to wear purple on February

Boys’ Basketball

Overall records

11 Wins

6

Losses

0 Ties

The Varsity soccer teams have come up with many ways to encourage supporting patients with cancer.

Awareness ribbons that commemorate those who are in various stages of cancer can also be purchased for $1. The ribbons will be displayed at the games.

Another way the teams are raising

“

These girls have some of the biggest hearts on campus that I have seen.

Jason Berry

money is through selling raffle tickets for one dollar each for prizes including gift cards, San Jose Earthquake tickets, and an autographed photo of Aubrey Huff.

In addition, the Barnes & Noble at 1600 Saratoga Avenue will honor all purchases and donate a portion of items sold either in their store or online Friday, January 27 to Okizu. Students and shoppers must mention the

Girls’ Basketball

10 Wins

Girls’ Soccer as of january 25

7

Wins

”

specified coupon code.

During halftime, many teachers and coaches have volunteered to participate in “Butts Up,” a playful game in which the faculty stands in the goal with their backs to the shooters and people take shots on them. Each shot can be purchased for two dollars each.

Players from both the boys and girls teams are enthusiastic about the upcoming annual event, especially the first-time team members.

“I’m definitely excited. You get to help kids who’ve been diagnosed with cancer, and they’re really happy about getting to go to a camp where they can have a lot of fun and not have to worry about the normal daily worries of a kid who has been diagnosed with cancer,” Mohannad Khadr (9) said.

Camp Okizu’s goal is to support families with childhood cancer patients. The organization has been holding camps and programs for over 30 years. Camps vary from Oncology Camp for children with cancer to Sibling Camp and Family Camp to help support the siblings and families of afflicted children.

On February 1, the girls’ team will play against Immaculate Conception Academy (ICA) at 3:30 p.m., and the boys’ team will play against Eastside College Prep (ECP) at 5:30 p.m.

8

0

Losses

Ties

Boys’ Soccer

4

2

Losses

Ties

4

Wins

4

Losses

3 Ties

Wrestling Darian Edvalson (10) was victorious in his dual match facing Lynbrook High School at home on January 5.

Against Wilcox High School at home, Daniel Wang (11) won his dual match on January 19.

Girls Basketball 2/7: Crystal Springs Uplands 2/10: King’s Academy (away) 2/21: CCS 1st Round

Boys Soccer 1/27: Pinewood School 2/1: Eastside College Preparatory 2/3: Crystal Springs Uplands 2/10: Priory

Girls Soccer

2/1: Immaculate Conception Academy 2/2: Summit Preparatory High School 2/4: Mercy High School - San Francisco

Wrestling 2/2: Santa Clara High School 2/9: Milpitas High School (away)

Lacrosse 2/28: Pioneer High School

Superbowl XLVI New York Giants vs. New England Patriots Sunday, February 5th 3:30 p.m.

23 Ron Forbes accepts position of Varsity Football Head Coach january 27, 2012 the Winged Post

sports

reporters Strength and Conditioning coach Ron Forbes has just been chosen as the Varsity Football Head Coach for the upcoming fall season.

With previous experience as an assistant football coach, strengthening coach, and football player in both high school and collegiate levels for 15 years, Forbes feels prepared to take on his new position.

“I have a good sense of the player’s perspective [...] and a good background both technically and tactically with the game of football and being on the field,” Forbes said.

He is approaching the program with a clear goal: to raise awareness of the level of commitment and esteem that comes along with being a part of the football program, as well as to match the school’s academic stature with its athletic standings.

“By making sure we have quality coaches that are dedicated to the program and the Harker mission [...] we can

legitimize the program and earn it more respect,” Forbes said. “We’re going to build the program to make sure we place our athletes in a successful position to play.”

“

He understands Harker, and I think the kids really respond to him well and will respect him as a coach.

- Dan Molin

”

Additionally, Forbes is placing off-season conditioning at top priority in order to train and develop younger students as successful athletes in years to come.

“The development of our athletes over a four-year period depends directly on what they do off-season [...] and that’s part of the

commitment we have to developing the program,” he said.

Athletic Director Dan Molin supports Forbes’s plans for the future of the football program.

“He understands Harker, and I think the kids really respond to him well and will respect him as a coach,” Molin said.

Bringing a clean slate to the football program, Forbes hopes to “change the culture and mindset of how students approach the sport as a student athlete.”

Despite the difficulties he may face during the upcoming season, he is motivated “to rise up and overcome” those hardships with his team.

Coach Forbes will be holding a meeting on February 1 during long lunch for any students interested in playing football for the upcoming fall season.

WILLIAM CHANG - WINGED POST

samar malik & apurva gorti

FOOTBALL COACH Ron Forbes demonstrates proper stretching technique during a workout. Forbes will start coaching the Varsity Football Team in fall of 2012.

Recovery: Icing sore muscles may decrease agility You squeeze your eyes shut and will away the heat, soreness, and exasst. editor in chief & photo editor haustion. Just a bit more.

Three …

Two …

One …

SCREEECH! Finally, the whistle blows, and you head off the field straight for that ice pack—for sweet, cold relief.

Ten minutes later, you peel off the ice pack and jog back onto the field, ready to resume play. Or not.

According to a review article published last month in the journal Sports Medicine, icing immediately before or during activity affects performance adversely, contrary to such action after play.

The study, conducted by researchers at University of Ulster in the United Kingdom, analyzed a variety of prior studies that examined the relationship between icing and ICING Junior Spenser Quash ices his sore shoulder muscle performance and found that during his free time. A new study has shown that in most cases, extended icing prior icing sore muscles may actually decrease agility. to play would decrease power, agility, MERCEDES CHIEN - WINGED POST

michelle deng & mercedes chien

jump height, and overall dexterity.

The negative effects were found to increase with the length of cooling time. With 10 or more minutes of icing, dexterity and strength observably worsened, while fewer than 10 minutes of icing saw negligible changes in performance quality.

The study did not examine the reasons behind ice’s detrimental effect on muscle activity. Nonetheless, Dr. Chris Bleakley, the head researcher of the study, said in a phone interview with The Winged Post that there were probably “a number of factors.” He said that the hemodynamic response (blood flow) “might be relevant,” but that a neurological effect was “more likely:” cold temperatures probably have a “much faster and probably much more potent effect on nerve conduction velocity.”

Dr. Jeffrey Blue, the school physician, agrees. Elaborating on ice’s hemodynamic effect, he said, “[ice] causes a decrease in blood flow

Trails review

Hiking guide for the season corey gonzales & diba massihpour reporters and exercise—common knowledge, according to doctors. The following trails are perfect for those who wish to explore the outdoors, enjoy themselves, and burn some calories

Skyline Ridge Open Space Preserve For a quiet, tranquil place to hike, novice hikers should try Skyline Ridge Open Space Preserve in Los Altos. With nearly 11 miles of trails, Skyline Ridge provides access to two beautiful bodies of water: Alpine Pond and Horseshoe Lake. Wildlife that can be spotted on these ponds include fish, ducks, and turtles. The trails are easily accessible and this spot is great for hiking year-round.

-

cons Rattlesnakes have been seen on trails, especially in summer Trails are mostly exposed to sun and can be warm in summer

“[Icing cools my muscles] down, and when [I] take the ice off, the blood rushes back […] and so it feels nice after I work out,” he said.

However, Dr. Bleakley notes that the numbing effect could be a double-edged sword: by masking pain, it may encourage an athlete to return to play with injured tissue.

For optimal performance and minimal injury risk, Dr. Blue recommends that players warm up before the game and remain warm and loose during exercise. He said that cooling is only effective after exercise or right before going to bed.

Dr. Bleakley concurs that icing “depends on what the rationale is for applying cooling. As with any intervention, [athletes] have to weigh the pros and cons.”

For those who do decide to ice during play, Dr. Bleakley said that the “best practice” is to apply ice for short periods and warm up briefly before charging back into full activity.

Harker Students: Words of Wisdom

1. Go to all of your classes.

2. Study hard and get good grades.

3. Establish and maintain good credit.* 4. Get a well-paying job that you like.

5. And go to MOORE Buick GMC when you need wheels!

This hidden gem can be found just past the resort for Swedish-Americans known as Sveadal in the city of Morgan Hill. It is much smaller than Castle Rock State Park, with only around four miles of trails, but there is still an abundance of beautiful scenery and elevation change. A stream known as Swanson’s Creek runs through the park year-round. Many waterfalls are located throughout the stream’s course, and they are perfect for taking pictures with friends and family.

Uvas Canyon County Park

Difficulty Level: Moderate Location: 8515 Croy Rd, Morgan Hill, CA

-

pros

+ Not crowded + View of two lakes + Trails are very easy to follow

Difficulty Level: Easy Location: Skyline Rd, Los Altos, CA

+ +

in the process.

We believe these three locations are enjoyable, and we strongly recommend them to any hiker, whether rookie or veteran.

pros

Not very crowded Stream runs year-round

cons Few trails Can be quite hot during the summer

Castle Rock State Park

Difficulty Level: Moderate/Difficult Location: 15000 Skyline Blvd, Los Gatos, CA

pros

Located high within the Santa Cruz Mountains, Castle Rock State Park features over 32 miles of trails. Many of its paths are hilly and some climbing is involved as numerous boulders and streams block the path. This area is very rocky, so be sure to wear rugged shoes. Hikers are bound to come across many large, unique rock formations and cave structures. An elevation change of around 1000 feet occurs throughout the hike. At its highest parts, the views are absolutely stunning.

+ Climbing over boulders + Beautiful views + Plenty of different trails

cons Gunshots from nearby shooting range can be distracting Park tends to be crowded

COREY GONZALES - WINGED POST

-

can be fun

HIKING TRAILS Uvas Canyon State Park (right) has gorgeous scenery and streams that run yearround. Castle Rock State Park (left) has fairly difficult hikes with a variety of trails.

COREY GONZALES - WINGED POST

As the weather becomes nicer, people begin to spend more time outdoors. From our own experiences, hiking is an excellent way to relieve stress, get out of the house,

to the muscle [and] some stiffness afterward.”

Evidently, icing muscles has its benefits too. It is part of the fourstep routine for treating basic injuries, commonly summarized by the first aid acronym RICE: Rice, Ice, Compression, and Elevation.

For example, ice lowers the elevated temperatures that accompany exercise and numbs pain and inflammations.

For cross-country runner Ragini Bhattacharya (11), who would ice after every practice, that numbing effect makes a “night and day difference.”

“If I don’t ice, the next day my shins will be pounding, but if I ice, then it numbs [the pain]. It still hurts, but it’s at least better,” she said.

Meanwhile, although water polo player Akshay Ramachandran (12) does not ice daily, he believes that doing so does indeed relieve soreness.

*Email our Finance Director, dburt@moorevalue.com, to receive helpful information on Establishing and Maintaining Good Credit

15500 Los Gatos Blvd. Los Gatos (408) 356-8111 www.MooreValue.com We Are Professional Grade

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“

january 27, 2012 the Winged Post

24

[Kicks Against Cancer] brings us together as a community and helps raise awareness [...] and money for a good cause.

- Zoë Woehrmann (9) Sending the money [that the teams raise] to Camp Okizu is a good idea because those kids aren’t as fortunate as [we are].

- Anna Levine (10)

SOCCER Sumit Minocha (11) chases the ball during a game against the Vikings. The boys will host Kicks Against Cancer on February 1 in collaboration with the girls soccer team; all proceeds will go towards Camp Okizu, a non-profit organization which provides children diagnosed with cancer a safe place to enjoy time with their families and friends.

I think it’s a very creative approach to support both the sport and a very important cause.

- Melody Huang (12)

”

MERCEDES CHIEN - WINGED POST

It’s a good cause because it’s helping out kids that otherwise wouldn’t be able to live a normal childhood.

- Curran Shah (11)