Epic Issue 8 2017

USED WITH PERMISSION OF FRANCIS LIN

Lynbrook hosts first ever hackathon

BY JOCY HE

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n May 20, Lynbrook hosted its first student-run hackathon, VikeHacks, in the school’s library from 7:30 a.m. to 8 p.m. The event was organized by Lynbrook’s Creative Game Design and Website Development clubs, partnering with companies IBM, Make School and Sticker Mule.

The event registration started at 7:30 a.m. and was followed by an opening session to introduce VikeHacks.

Mentoring and guidance were available starting from 9:00 a.m., with mentors providing direction to participant projects. A variety of workshops were available from 9:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m, during which attendees built games, created websites and designed logos for their creations.

“I really liked how my friends and I could sit down and get work done on specific coding projects, because it’s hard to find an environment to do so anywhere else,” said junior Rhee Kang. “Also, being in the hackathon helped me gauge my coding skills and allowed me to network with other people who enjoy and are skilled at coding.”

Projects were judged and awarded at the end of the night. Besides additional sponsor prizes from IBM and Make School, first, second and third place winners were awarded Amazon Echo Dots, Raspberry Pis, a miniature coding computer, and Google Cardboard virtual reality headsets respectively. First place awards were given to

senior Parmita Bawankule as well as seniors Trevor Aquino and Henry Jang; second place was awarded to senior Nathan Wang, while junior Nikhil Vytla and sophomores Nikash Walia and received third.

Logistically, the planning team faced several difficulties.

The coordinators shortened the length of coding sessions, since the event was only open for 12 rather than the usual 24 hours. Additionally, students from other schools had to bring a guardian for every ten student participants. Promoting the event, as well as acquiring donations, was also challenging.

“For a hackathon, getting any monetary sponsorship is extremely difficult,” said Avinash Jain, head of front end in the Website Development club. “We had cold emailing, phone calls and meetings, but once we got a response, it felt great.”

The sponsors, event and activities took the organizers around 50 hours to organize and plan. In total, the two clubs hosted eleven meetings. Despite facing challenges, they had many memorable takeaways from this experience.

“I thought it was a success,” said Jain. “Overall, the facility, the hackathon experience, prizes and everything came together pretty well. For our first hackathon at Lynbrook, It was better than anything we could’ve ever hoped for.”

In the future, the clubs hope to host the event again with several improvements. They plan on expanding the event to the FUHSD district and increasing awareness for the event.

“We’re creating a foundation for the future,” said senior Matthew Sotoudeh, president of Website Development Club.

SADHANA SARMA—EPIC

DECA organizes incubator entrepeneurship competition

BY HARSH JAIN

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ynbrook’s DECA Business club held its first ever incubator entrepreneurship competition on Friday May 12, from 3:30 p.m. to 6:30 p.m.. The competition was held in the Lynbrook library and participants were judged on a product they created. Competitors could enter in two categories: designing a mobile/web application or a physical product.

Junior Vinay Senthil, one of the main coordinators of the event, wanted to give students who were not in DECA an opportunity to explore business and marketing.

“I wanted to create an event that encouraged students to pitch their ideas to real judges and entrepreneurs and receive feedback while in a competition format,” said Senthil.

“Rather than focusing on the business plan, I wanted participants to focus on creating feasible ideas in a way that convinced a judge.”

The event consisted of an afternoon of workshops, competitions, and guest speak-

ers, allowing students to explore different aspects of DECA. Audience members had a chance to explore all competitors’ projects, as well as ask questions. “[The team] was trying to make an event that was about entrepreneurship and giving [students] an outlet to talk to venture capitalists,” said DECA adviser Brad Fulk. “They were trying to open it up to more than DECA members. I think it really well for being an early attempt.”

At the beginning of the event, contestants, in teams of one to three people, set up their project displays and both audience members and judges were able to view each project.

The guest speakers and a local entrepreneur judged the projects, taking into consideration factors such as originality, impact and presentation. Both guest speakers then spoke about their respective professions and how youth can get involved in starting companies and pursuing business ideas. Finally, awards were presented to five finalists at the end of the event. Clean Currents, Fit ME and Guru

placed in third, second and first respectively.

Created by junior Avinash Jain, senior Brian Lin and Staples High School senior Dylan Diamond in January of this year, Guru is an iOS application that aims to connect students who have trouble on certain academic topics.

“Our goal is to make Guru accessible to anyone who has a device so that everyone can easily get help whenever they need to,” said Lin. “Guru is different from traditional methods in that it is easily accessible, cheap, instant and flexible.”

Although the team was happy with the event, they plan to make additional changes in the future.

“Some improvements we will try to implement in the future is marketing it to get more people involved and trying to start planning a little earlier,” said Fulk.

Despite being its first year in commission, the DECA Incubator was a great event that spoke to the attendees. With more to come in the future, this event will hopefully become a staple for Lynbrook students.

LAUREN OKAMOTO //pg. 13

English Learner contest celebrates ten years

BY JESSICA LI

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n May 11, Fremont High School hosted the tenth annual English Learner (EL) Speech Contest, which is aimed toward helping English Language Development (ELD) students improve their language and oratory skills. Out of the 325 English Learner students from FUHSD who competed, several Lynbrook ELD students won awards and placed as finalists. Many Lynbrook juniors and seniors also served as judges for the competition.

The EL Speech Contest, founded by FUHSD EL program coordinator Welton Kwong in 2007, was originally created to challenge non-native English speakers. Students are expected to prepare and deliver a three-to-five minute speech on any topic in either the persuasive or informative categories, accompanied by an optional visual aid such as pictures or posters.

“I wanted to think of ways to allow students to demonstrate how much English they had actually acquired in a short time with us in the district,” said Kwong. “I wanted students to remember the Speech Contest as an event where they would experience success because they had to put a whole lot of work into it.”

To p - p e r f o r m i n g students are selected to advance to the final round after two preliminary rounds of speeches are delivered in front of judges comprised of nearly 150 district volunteers.

In the final round, students

are split up into groups of eight according to their speech category, from which the first, second and third place winners are chosen.

Junior Reo Saito, who served as a judge this year, was a participant in the speech contest herself during her freshman year.

“Even though I was a candidate in freshman year, I don’t think I could have made a speech of that quality right now,” said Saito.

“I think [that’s why the contest] is super important, because EL students don’t have a lot of opportunities to speak in public except for this contest.”

From Lynbrook, sophomore Starr Gong won second place and junior Katherine Kim won third place in their respective speech groups. Several

ELD students also advanced to the final round. From ELD 2, sophomore Mindy Hsieh, senior Ayumi Takase and freshman Haruya Takase placed as finalists. From ELD 3, freshman Kevin Yang, junior Brian Liu, junior Winona Kang and freshman Jewel Yang also placed.

All Lynbrook ELD students are expected to compete in this contest. From peer and teacher editing to memorizing speeches and presenting them in front of the class, each participant prepared for weeks prior to competing to present the products of their hard work on contest day.

“I think that I’ve grown a lot since the past year since I got seventh place last year, and this year I showed a lot more improvement in the results,” said Kim, who discussed ways to successfully maintain a diet. “I still felt really nervous and I forgot all of the things I had to say, so I had to make up some stuff on the spot.”

A t the end of the contest, an awards ceremony is held to honor the students’ perseverance. As e a c h w i n ner’s name a n d school w a s called out, they were all greeted with loud applause and cheering from their friends and classmates as they walked to the stage to receive their trophies.

As for the future of the contest, Kwong hopes to keep providing invaluable experiences for ELD students by continuing on the contest for GRAPHIC ILLUSTRATION BY NEWS SECTION years to come.

News in Brief

Yearbook Distribution Starting May 24, Valhalla’s yearbook for the 2017-2018 school year will be distributed.

Seniors can pick up their yearbooks from the library between 1:30 and 2:15 p.m., juniors between 2:15 and 3:00 p.m. and sophomores and freshmen between 3:00 and 4:00 p.m. Distribution will continue the following Tuesday, May 30, until June 1.

Baccalaureate Ceremony The annual Baccalaureate ceremony will be on May 31 from 7 p.m. to 8 p.m. at Sacred Heart Church. Come out to enjoy speeches, singing and refreshments. The event will serve as a time for graduating seniors to say farewell and reflect.

Graduation Ceremony The graduation ceremony for the Class of 2017 will take place on June 2 from 9:30 a.m. to 11 a.m. on the football field. The ceremony will consist of student speeches as well as a speech from Principal Maria Jackson. Seniors will then be able to attend their Grad Night Party starting at 9:30 p.m.

Track and Field CCS Finals On May 26, the Track and Field CCS Finals will be taking place. Seniors Tarab Ansari, Maryam Jawid, Dylan Bouzigues and Julia Catolico will be representing Lynbrook.

The exact time and place is TBD.

Charlie Wedemeyer High School All Star Football Game The 43rd Annual Charlie Wedemeyer High School All Star Football Game is being hosted on June 24 at 6 p.m. The event will be held at Levi’s Stadium and showcase graduating football players from around Santa Clara County. Be sure to come out to cheer on Lynbrook’s representatives, Jeff Wallis and Dylan Bouzigues.

By Sadhana Sarma

Nichols honored with Athletic Director Award

BY JESSICA LUO

Letter from the Editors Dear Readers, This issue represents a passing of the torch: at the beginning of the month, we handed off Editor-in-Chief duties to next year’s team, Catherine Huang and Eshani Mehta. These two are highly skilled and we have the utmost confidence that they will do great things with the Epic next school year.

We bring you this last issue of the Epic with one week left of school, one for seniors.

All of us have experienced a year full of love and stress, laughs and losses, and now we take a step back to reflect on the people who have supported us along our path. Specifically, we think back to the accomplishments and events of the graduating class of 2017 as we pay homage to them with the senior pull-out.

We hope you enjoy this final issue. Best wishes for the summer and good luck to our graduating seniors.

Signing out, Shreyas Iyer and Jessica Luo

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n April 27, P.E. teacher and department chair Linda Nichols was honored with the Retiring Athletic Director Award by the Central Coast Section (CCS) Athletic Directors Association for her service at Lynbrook High School.

The award is given to members of the Athletic Directors Association who have served 10 years or more and are retiring. The recipient is honored at a breakfast with all members of the association.

“Ms. Nichols did an outstanding job serving as Lynbrook’s Athletic Director,” said Jeff Lamb, president of the CCS Athletic Directors Association.

“We waited until she was retiring from teaching to honor her. We missed her a lot when she had to resign from the CCS-ADA Board. We’ll miss her even more now that she is retiring. However, she has earned her retirement!”

Nichols plans to retire this year after 42 years at Lynbrook. Over the course of her career she has coached field hockey, basketball, golf and softball. In addition to coaching, Nichols

served as the Lynbrook athletic director for 13 years and was named CCS Co-Athletic Director of the Year in 2011.

“It was a great job,” said Nichols. “I loved being part of the association and talking to other athletic directors in central California. It was fulfilling and I enjoyed doing it. It helped improve students and their opportunity to play sports.”

Nichols also teaches freshman P.E. classes and is the P.E. department chair.

Her time spent as a coach and teacher has impacted students in several ways.

“She’s worked really hard at what she does and it definitely shows,” says junior Angie Cheng, who had Nichols her freshman year and is a member of the girl’s golf team. “She has a certain passion that not every teacher has and you see how much she enjoys being around the students and helping them through all their events and whatever they’re going through.”

The Retiring Athletic Director Award emphasized Nichols’ contribution to Lynbrook athletics and the CCS organization.

“I was very honored,” said Nichols. “I was able to see some of the athletic directors I worked with previously [at the breakfast], and when it comes from your peers, it means a great deal.”

SADHANA SARMA—EPIC

Protestors advocate for fact-based evidence

March for Science endangers objectivity and credibility of scientists and researchers

BY HSIN YEN HUANG

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n April 22, Earth Day, thousands of concerned American citizens, disturbed by the Trump administration’s effortless dismissal of scientific research and fact-based evidence, gathered in cities all over the U.S. to participate in the March for Science. Rallies and protests advocating for the importance of scientific research took place on an international scale in over 600 locations all over the world. At first glance, the March for Science appears to be an effective way for researchers to get their voices heard, but supporters have overlooked the negative long term effects of these protests. Supporting a partisan movement politicizes science, portrays scientists as an interest group and undermines the credibility of researchers, all of which undercut the importance of scientific research.

“The March for Science could skew research because participants in these marches do tend to be more open and liberal,” said junior Susan Zhou. “So that in itself means that the scientists might be pressured to deliver results and messages that the public wants to or is expecting to hear to maintain credibility.”

Trump has mentioned in public statements that he believes climate change is a hoax, casting aside numerous studies that have proven its existence.

Since assuming the presidency, Trump has authorized budget cuts for the Environmental Protection Agency, the National Institutes for Health and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, leaving scientists frustrated about scientific research being compromised for political and economic purposes. The original idea to hold

a movement celebrating science came from an anonymous Reddit user who posted a comment on the same day of the Women’s March, another worldwide protest that advocated for women’s rights in the wake of the Trump presidency, regarding the need for a similar scientists’ march. Dozens of Reddit users responded positively to the idea, which led Jonathan Berman, a postdoctoral fellow at the University of Texas Health Science Center to create a Facebook page, Twitter feed and website for the nonpartisan movement that would become the March for Science. On the day of the March for Science, the movement accumulated hundreds of thousands of supporters who participated internationally.

Although the protest was intended to remain nonpartisan, a march modeled after the Women’s March protesting the government’s actions would obviously be politically charged.

This takes away from the objectivity of science and reflects poorly on the scientists’ image, leading people to suspect that the work they produce may be used to further their own ends and running the risk of researchers becoming a leftwing interest group in the public’s eyes.

Over time, this could harm the credibility of researchers since their work could become politicized and unreliable.

“It is important that research is as unbiased as possible because people look to scientists and experts to provide substantiated answers or ideas,” said Zhou. “I think people are becoming more skeptical about ‘facts’ and wary of expertise, and it is important to preserve the integrity of scientific reporting so that the population does not have more reason to doubt what experts are saying.”

Some participated in the march to protest sexism and racism in various fields of science.

The organizers of the March for Science had also released a statement regarding the importance of diversity in science, causing critics of the movement to accuse the march of favoring leftleaning politics. While these are legitimate causes to stand for, mixing social justice issues with the original cause of the march develops an image of all scientists being liberals, making conservatives more hesitant to pledge their support for science, thus defeating the march’s purpose.

“Scientists are linked to other issues when social justice issues are mixed, hurting their credibility as they are now marching for individual beliefs not all of them may hold,” said freshman Cindy Xu. “By painting science with the mark of a political party, a conservative-liberal gap between research-believers and deniers is created and other parties are more hesitant to take scientists’ research as the

truth because of possible political undertones.”

The march also furthers the divide between scientists and the state. Melissa Flagg, deputy assistant secretary of defense for research during the Obama administration, argued that the march develops a “you’re with us or against us” message about research. This could intensify the issue of policymakers’ indifference toward science as the federal government and researchers drift further away, resulting in the opposite from what the organizers of the march originally intended. A distant and removed government would be even more unable to sympathize with scientists, exacerbating the current issues of the status quo.

“The administration may feel attacked and view the scientific community as an opponent, rather than as an ally, making it harder for researchers and the administration to work together since they distrust each other,” said Xu. “The administration is likely to denounce the March for Science if scientists are presenting facts that go against the administration rather than those that support the truth of research.”

With the possibility of scientifically-based policymaking becoming uncommon, it may seem tempting to turn to familiar forms of expressing dissent: rallying and protesting. It is, h o w e v e r, imperative to note that standing up for research is a different kind of issue, one that cannot be dealt with in the same way as social justice movements. The objectivity of science should be protected as it is the aspect that makes scientific research valuable in the first place.

GRAPHIC ILLUSTRATION BY DIVYA NELAKONDA

Awareness of emergency protocols needed to ensure safety

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ynbrook’s multiple recent fire alarm incidents have shown that safety procedures need to be better communicated to students. Many students are simply unaware of the protocol for both drills and emergency situations, whether these be evacuations or lockdowns.

On April 3, a lockdown at nearby Homestead High School during lunchtime brought attention to the fact that many Homestead students were unaware of how to respond in the event of a code red, especially when class is not in session.

A code red, or lockdown, is initiated when there is an imminent danger or threat to school safety. The last code red drill at Lynbrook took place during the 2014-2015 school year, which means that about half of Lynbrook students have never experienced a code red drill at Lynbrook, nor have they learned about “Run, Hide, Defend,” the procedure for code reds implemented by the Santa Clara County about two years ago. In “Run, Hide, Defend” students run away from the intruder if it is possible and safe to do so. If they cannot run, students then resort to hiding in a barricaded classroom. If in serious

Staff Editorial The Voice of the Epic “I would really love the idea of partnering danger, teachers and students who choose to with some students or a club on campus to do so may defend themselves as well.

To ensure that students understand such address emergency related concerns,” said protocols for their safety, in addition to drills, Eric Wong, assistant principal in charge of the school can educate the student body school climate.

These videos would better establish stuthrough videos, school-wide text messages dent knowledge of standard procedures. and posters in all classrooms.

Videos detailing how students should During recent fire drills, students have been heading back to their classrooms respond to differbefore the all-clear sigent emergencies nal has been given. should be shown It is apparent at the beginning that many of the year and updo not realize loaded to the Lynthat they are brook website so stusupposed to stay dents can access them at the field for roll any time. These videos call by their teachcould be created in colers. laboration with student “Just because the sigroups on campus, such ren is off does not mean as Red Cross Club or ASB. GRAPHIC ILLUSTRATION BY MICHELLE LUM

the situation is clear,” said Jose Ramirez, student conduct specialist. “We turn off the siren because the loud sound may prevent firefighters and staff members from communicating effectively.”

To prepare students and teachers for a code red, each classroom should have a simple diagram that outlines how barricades should be built, which should be specific to each classroom.

Additionally, school-wide text messages should be sent to students and parents to inform and update them on emergency situations. This would be especially useful to notify students who are off-campus if an emergency occurs at lunch.

“Text messages are an easy solution to implement,” said sophomore Jeff Liu. “At FBLA conferences, an app called Remind is used to send announcements to a group of people.”

Informational videos, text messaging and diagrams in all classrooms are effective ways to aid administration in facilitating the dissemination of information and increasing the frequency of updates about emergency procedures in order to ensure safety on campus. *the Epic voted 27-1 in favor of the stance

New Airbnb regulations curb racial discrimination

BY DIVYA NELAKONDA

create online profiles to use services, such as Uber. A study conducted by researchers n April 19, following a year of from University of Washington, MIT and complaints of racial discrimina- Stanford found that African American users tion causing rental denial, Airbnb experienced longer wait times and more cansigned an agreement with the California cellations than white users on online transDepartment of Fair Employment and portation networks. The shift from offline to Housing (DFEH), voluntarily acting to online mediums for services in the hospitalcounter racial bias. These actions include ity and transportation industries has forced guest acceptance reports and fair house hosts to rely on minimal customer informatesting. Although receiving public help tion to make potentially biased decisions.

In the agreement signed by the DFEH and for its discrimination problem may affect Airbnb’s public image, Airbnb must take Airbnb, California could test over 76,000 these steps to remain a reputable hospi- Airbnb hosts for compliance with fair housing laws, through conducting racial discrimitality service. nation audits, where “Airbnb needs trained individuals creregulations to curbate profiles and act as discrimination,” said “[NEW POLICIES] SHOW THEY prospective guests to sophomore Risa Mori.

ARE TRYING TO DO SOMEgather information. The “Prioritization of cerTHING ABOUT THE PROBLEM, hosts tested are those tain races, may affect AND THAT THEY DO NOT with at least one disrental decisions.”

Racial discriminaCONDONE WHEN PEOPLE ARE crimination complaint.

For better understandtion in rental markets RACIALLY BIASED.” ing of which demographhas improved in the are racially targeted, last decades, but the LESLIE ROBLEDO ics Airbnb is required to shift of rental transacBUSINESS TEACHER submit reports of guests’ tions online, on platacceptance rates based forms such as Airbnb, on race to the DFEH. The allowed smaller landlords to enter the market. Now most anti- DFEH also recommended Airbnb make their discrimination laws only reach landlords nondiscrimination agreement more prominent on Airbnb’s website and mobile app. of larger infrastructures.

Airbnb’s algorithm allows hosts to se- Lastly, the DFEH advised Airbnb create a gallect or reject guests solely based on names lery on host’s profiles to collect information and profile pictures. This design enables on guests rejected by the host. This gallery discrimination, as people make decisions would be seen by only the host and Airbnb as exclusively on superficial factors, which a means of curbing discrimination.

“You cannot have a business the size of has led to lawsuits against Airbnb. Researchers from Harvard Business School Airbnb without regulation,” said business conducted an experiment to check recep- teacher Leslie Robledo. “It will improve their tivity of 6000 listings on Airbnb in five cit- public image. It shows they are trying to ies in the U.S. Guest accounts created were solve the problem, and do not condone identical except for either distinctly Afri- racial bias.”

Airbnb plans to offer bias-awarecan American or white names. Those with African American names were 16 percent ness training for California emplyees. less likely to be accepted than those with Airbnb will also provide information white names. Both African American and on how to file white hosts discriminated against African American guests, indicating that discrimination is growing within Airbnb.

Similar issues have become prevalent in other companies where customers

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discrimination complaints.

These are progressive strides for Airbnb after it has been subject to bad press due to discrimination. Though effects of these changes are yet to be seen, Airbnb is engaging in an important discussion about biases on its platforms, paving the way for similar companies to resolve racial discrimination. The company is actively taking steps to halt discriminatory conduct, beyond simply introducing new changes; it is willing to measure the results of these changes to implement feedback based actions.

Unlike similar companies, such as Uber and Lyft, that continue plowing through bad publicity and endless allegations, Airbnb is thoroughly evaluating their practices and acting responsively to customer complaints. Concerns regarding Airbnb’s public image when accepting government assistance are faulty, since its public image is already fragile.

In order to salvage itself, Airbnb must be willing to resolving customer issues to continue to be respected in the hospitality industry.

“With this news out, people know Airbnb’s system fed racial discrimination. It might discourage minority people from using the service,” said Mori.

“Now Airbnb is solving this problem, so people can feel safer using it.”

The changes executed by Airbnb go above the anti-discrimination standards required by state law, demonstrating Airbnb’s willingness to address user issues. While it will be hard to eliminate discrimination from a network of hosts characterized by irreversibly internalized biases, Airbnb’s efforts encourage more ethical practices and ultimately the expansion of a reputable hospitality resource.

GRAPHIC ILLUSTRATION BY PATRICIA WEI

SHREYAS IYER//IN MY OPINION

Revamp Saratoga’s desolate downtown

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s I depart for college in Evanston, I’ll surely miss many things about my hometown of Saratoga; the people, the weather, the food—but not, however, the downtown. In my mind, the town of Saratoga has always retained the ambience of a quiet, quaint town—a place preferred for its high-end dining over anything else.

There is little to do recreationally, and the lack of big name brands removes much of the glamour and attention that Saratoga could receive. At times, this environment has been great for a solitary person like myself, but for others, the lack of a true social scene has dampened the town’s aura. Interestingly enough, although Saratoga High School is just one block away, the downtown area has struggled to attract customers ever since I have been old enough to remember the glistening Christmas lights and aromatic cafes that dot the town streets.

What makes ‘Toga’s downtown different from other more bustling districts like those in Los Gatos, Mountain View and even Cupertino’s recently-opened Main Street? It starts with size. Unlike its counterparts, downtown Saratoga stretches for just four and a half blocks, almost seven times less than downtown Los Gatos does.

Furthermore, many Saratoga residents prefer the picturesque and old-fashioned appearance of the town and shun any bigbusiness interference; for example, one of the few large corporations to have established a location in Saratoga, Starbucks, is located at the periphery of the downtown.

While Los Gatos has Apple, Gap and White House Black Market, Saratoga lacks an equivalent set of trendy boutiques, making Los Gatos more appealing to newer residents, millennials and students. Additionally, the majority of the eateries in Saratoga are geared toward the upper-middle class and above; there is little variety in terms of cost, leaving local students for the most part with larger restaurant bills.

In order for Saratoga to help its resident small business owners, investing in larger businesses in its downtown would be a great bet to boost the stagnant commercial district. Possibilities for expansion include adding chic fashion brands such as Gap or Banana Republic, along with luxury brands such as Tory Burch or Michael Kors; these additions would bring both a contemporary flair and a sense of grandeur to mend the current banality of downtown Saratoga.

Big name outlets will attract local residents to the downtown, and Saratoga can then offer visitors its more famed local eateries and restaurants, including staples such as The Basin restaurant, Plumed Horse and la Mére Michelle. Thus, the town won’t have to compromise its local, older establishments in favor of newer, faceless brand names—after all, turning Saratoga into a modern commercial metropolis would remove the charm of the town, ruining its appeal.

If Saratoga does not take action in sprucing up its downtown, it will continue to lose attention from newer generations of Saratogans who will instead choose other local bustling downtowns to find entertainment and cost-efficient food. As such, renovations are imperative if Saratoga ever hopes to help its struggling businesses to sustain themselves; by adding a few select big brands and modernizing an otherwise lacking area, Saratoga will find itself in a sweet spot, boasting just enough charm and fashion to keep both the old and the new satisfied.

Jojo Chen opens Ineffable Muse store

BY KELSEY LU

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stand before, such as the legal aspects of starting my own shop online and communicating with different manufacturers to get the highest quality possible for the lowest prices.

I n e f fable Muse is unique because of its responsive, efficient customer service and broad variety of products.

“It is really cool that she started her own store as a sophomore in high school,” said sophomore Michelle Chen. “Also, her products, such as necklaces and earrings, can be worn on different occasions and aren’t just fixed to be worn to certain events.”

Chen also had people working behind the scenes with her to ensure that the fast shipping expectations and satisfaction of her customers were met. Chen wants to make sure that her customers are always happy with their purchases and asking others to help, ensures that goal of hers.

“One of my good friends, Charlotte Zhang, helped me ship a couple of items when I was gone from the store and it really helped the store stay on track,” said Chen.

To make her online store more noticeable in the Lynbrook community, Chen promoted Ineffable Muse over social media platforms such as Facebook and Instagram. She also contacted other Lynbrook students, reaching out to photographers .models and other talent to help out with the project and make it what it is and will be.

“Working with Chen was very re-

laxing and fun and one of my favorite parts about this experience was seeing the photos on Ineffable Muse,” said sophomore photographer Michelle Zhou. “Getting to see other students’ reactions to the overall website was also very exciting to see as well as rewarding.”

Soon after selling necklaces, Chen expanded her store to sell earrings, sunglasses and bath bombs. She is currently working on designing clothing as well as selling more accessories such as phone cases and other body products. Chen eventually wants to grow her store to the point where she can get storage space for her items.

“In the future, I am looking to expand the content of my online store and hope to transform my online store into a larger company like Forever 21,” said Chen.

of my favorite traits from the Indian culture.

See, most people know that India’s population is growing at an alarming rate, but what is not commonly known, is the fact that the country is getting a foot smaller every year. It has something to do with the tectonic plates making the Himalayan Mountains a foot taller each year and India a foot shorter. But, with a combination of these two events, people are going to start plopping off the edge of the country into the ocean. This physical lack of space, however, forces people to bond with the people around them, and this sense of community continues well beyond the confines of the country. I have found many times that I can walk into a room full of strangers and feel a mutual connection with any Indian person who happens to be there. It isn’t really a matter of race, but the fact that we can relate to similar experiences, or sometimes even a literal genetic relationship.

If you didn’t know, my full name is Shi-

vateja Reddy Vemireddy. Yeah, I know what you’re thinking, “Wow! Reddy is his middle name!” Yes it is. But more importantly, the “Reddy” part of my name is kind of like a caste name, so I am more closely related to other people with Reddy in their name than just another Indian. The easiest way to make a connection with an Indian person is to find out their heritage. For example, if you are South Indian or North Indian you have can get an instant fist bump with a person from the same half as you. Additionally, if you delve further and find out that you are from the same state and maybe even city, congratulations, you have a new friend! If they speak the same language and even have the same caste name as you, watch out you are either meeting your relative or getting an arranged marriage. I am a South Indian from Hyderabad/Kadapa, Andhra Pradesh who speaks Telegu. If you fit the same descriptions and have “reddy” somewhere in your name, I

guess you and I are friends now.

Being Indian sometimes has its drawbacks (as you have probably learned by now), but also its benefits and I can attribute many of my successes to my cultural experiences.

My parents are probably the most hardworking people that I know. I’m not just trying to be a good kid here and kiss up to my parents, but they literally had to pick themselves up from a village overrun by cows and somehow make it halfway around the world. My link to India stems from my parents and the experiences and beliefs they have shared with me.

Their work ethic, interesting traditions and great taste in food have all come from India and they have allowed me to share these experiences with you. I know that Indians aren’t the only ones who can relate to my stories and I didn’t write them just for Indians.

These are my views from India and they are meant for everyone.

Thanks for tuning in!

ALL GRAPHIC ILLUSTRATIONS AND PHOTOS BY MEERA BALAJI

olorful bath bombs and aesthetic jewelry are a few of the many items sophomore Jojo Chen sells on her online store, Ineffable Muse. In April 2017, Chen expanded the range of products on Ineffable Muse because she wanted to create a store with a “lifestyle brand” that would appeal to teenagers.

Ineffable Muse first started out as an Etsy shop in July 2016, a good starting ground for Chen to sell necklaces and learn the basics of business. In April, Chen decided to move her store onto its own domain and created her own website because she felt that Etsy’s individual store templates were restricting.

“I wanted freedom to sell things other than handmade arts and crafts,” said Chen.

“I wanted more control over the branding and overall look of the store. Though it’s easier for people to find my store on Etsy, moving to my own site allowed me to explore more aspects of e-commerce.”

Chen was inspired to start the business after developi n g an

appreciation for crystal necklaces, a popular trend in 2016. Chen wanted to purchase a crystal necklace of her own but saw that many were overpriced after browsing different websites and stores.

“I decided to make my own store that would provide teenagers a more affordable price on those types of necklaces,” said Chen.

“With that idea in mind, I went to different manufacturers — even some from China — and had them make the different parts of the necklaces before I assembled them.”

Chen spent around two months expanding her Etsy shop into her own online store.

During that period, she searched for new trends to bring to the store. She also learned numerous skills throughout the process, such as how to manage e-commerce.

“Everyday, even still, I am learning new things about startups, business and e-commerce,” said Chen. “I still run into problems and issues today, but I always try to overcome them by doing more research on them.”

Although Chen knew about the process of creating an online store, she still came across several challenges, ranging from getting noticed by buyers to efficiently shipping products. A big difficulty Chen had to overcome was getting noticed by customers.

“When I first started out on Etsy, it took a while to get noticed by buyers, but as I focused more on making the products better and making sure my customers were h a p p y, m o r e people started noticing me,” said Chen. “While moving Ineffable Muse to its own domain, I came across numerous things I did not know about and under-

My love for India

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iews from India has sort of become a trashing-on-Indian-culture column over the past year, so I will try to go for a more positive approach. Despite my constant nagging, I can’t imagine being where I am today without being a part of this community. And the sense of community is one

How to have an enjoyable summer

BY SADHANA SARMA

I

ronically, planning your summer vacation can ultimately become considerably stressful. You may feel pressure to be productive, but finding time to relax is equally important.

Follow these tips and you will be able to make the most of your summer.

1. Make a summer bucket list A summer bucket list will help you organize your ideas and plans before you get swept up in the chaos of summer vacation. Before you know it, it will be Aug. 13 and you will have spent the whole summer binge watching Netflix. Make your bucket list prior to summer vacation and use this as a guide to achieve all your goals. Be sure to place your prioritized activities (summer jobs, internships and classes) at the top of the list. Planning a timeline of when you want to undertake each activity will be especially helpful while deciding when to squeeze in all the other fun items, like a trip to the beach or a night out with your friends, on your bucket list.

2. Reconnect With a busy schedule during the school year, you may find yourself losing touch with old friends or giving up old hobbies. Use the sum-

mer to reconnect with these people and activities or you may find yourself regretting not having reconnected with them sooner. Doing so can be extremely satisfying, and give you something memorable to reflect on while reminiscing over the summer. If you’re feeling especially proactive, you can even relive an old hobby with an old friend — kill two birds with one stone! For example, grab a buddy and cook an extravagant meal together.

3. Become a Tourist in Your Own Town Summer is the optimal time to travel. You can go on adventures to far-off lands, such as France, Italy or Great Britain. If you have not saved up enough money or don’t have the time for such an extravagant excursion, your own area is a great place to start. After living in one city for a long time, it is likely that you will lose interest in exploring it. Places such as local landmarks, art museums and farmer’s markets, as well as the town’s schedule of summer activities, may be both fun and rewarding to explore. The key is to think about what a tourist would do, and you will be well on your way to having a unique and extremely fun summer.

4. Stay active Find ways to stay active. The summer is a

great time to not only work out, but to also find new activities to participate in. Always wanted to hike up Mission Peak? Grab a buddy and do it. There are also great, longterm workout programs, such as P90X, that you can commit to during the summer. Maintain an open mindset when it comes to being active, because there are so many different ways you can approach the task. If you want to be active, but don’t have the motivation to do so by yourself, join a team or group. There are plenty of great summer camps and fitness groups, like those at the YMCA or Bay Club, out there just waiting for you to join.

5. Relax If you do not enjoy or are sick of exercising, that is completely fine. Use the summer to relax. Go ahead and ignore everything from the previous tip. Ultimately, what you do with your vacation is up to you, and relaxing is definitely important. Remember that relaxation can be both physical and mental. Go to places like the beach or even your couch — wherever you find yourself most at peace — and have a nice, chill day. Remember it is called summer VACATION for a reason.

Make time to relax amid rigorous work during the summer.

GRAPHIC ILLUSTRATIONS BY FEATURES SECTION

F

lashback to early August, 2013.

Upon stepping foot for the first time on Lynbrook, we freshmen gazed, starry-eyed, as the magnitude of high school unfolded before us during Viking Days. With banners of CCS Champions of the past, we slowly took in our new surroundings, prepared to face the daunting challenges that lay ahead. How would the Class of 2017 create its own legacy, and what would it be? Determined, we set off on our journey.

Freshmen year was ripe with growing pains—the half-hearted cheers during our first rally, the awkwardness of 1st period P.E. swimming, and our “Pandora” puns—but throughout, perseverance was the key, as we gradually learned the in’s and out’s of Lynbrook.

As sophomores, we were ready to face the beast; Chemistry Honors roared like a dragon and incinerated our GPA’s with its flames. We still barrelled ahead, full of the confidence that comes with overcoming obstacles. As juniors, the burden of SATs and AP’s momentarily held us down, but, like the phoenix, we rose

from the dead to enlighten our peers, challenge our intellects, and blaze paths toward success. After these treacherous ordeals, we were well-prepared for college applications and SSS apathy come senior year.

Flash-forward three and a half years.

As we lay at the doorstep of the next great frontier, college, let’s turn back, to the four unforgettable years we spent at Lynbrook. The legacy that we leave behind is one of both leadership, and creativity. As the leaders of Lynbrook, we introduced gender neutrality in Homecoming Court, awarded the gold spoons trophy to the first female Spoons champion and performed Homecoming skits that not just entertained, but inspired.

As we leave Lynbrook, we’ll never forget the memories we made, the friendships we formed, and the challenges we overcame. Although we will each be taking our own separate journey into adulthood in regions spread across the world, we will always be united as the Class of 2017. The legacy we leave behind won’t be forgotten.

USED WITH PERMISSION OFFRANCIS LIN

I, Adhiv Dhar, bequeath Sally the task of disbanding Build, Lilian my “____” squirrel-drawing capabilities, Robyn life stories, Pranav my nonexistent license, Nikhil empty pizza box, Rohit better racket, Jason (my) Dong, Will Yu-Gi-Guo Cards, Avinash an interview for unpaid internship at my future startup, Anushka resilience for senior year.

I, Aditya Garg, bequeath my legend status to Andrew Destin, my math skills to Nihal Mahajani, #BALLISLIFE to Brice Contreras, swoop game skills to Harsh Chobisa, and NBA 2K skills to Justin Hu.

I, Alan Lin, bequeath my dank memes and dabs to Hansen, ability to swim fast and win sprints to Nathan, submarines and lobs to Matthew, breaststrokes and money collection skills to Kasper, statistics genius to Abhinav, physics jokes to William and blagues du jour to Jeffrey.

I, Alex Tai, bequeath bad Stephen A Smith impressions to Baller Squad, unproductive yet fun track practices to fools like Andrew Shao, Edward Choi, and Jessica Peng, and my lack of understanding in physics to Amy Steinmetz and Alex Minooka, saving me countless times.

I, Alex Zhao, bequeath drumstick whacking and planks to Kelly and Sean, louder playing to the clarinets, the first row of Wind Ensemble to Bill, eternal love to Davin, good lucks to Darren, brain damage to Iryl, Ariel, and Jennifer, and fist bumps to Jamie, Janie, and Emily.

I, Alexander Xinyao Xu, bequeath literally everything to Jeffrey Tao.

I, Alexander Xu, bequeath fleeting motivation and everlasting apathy to William Guo, incredible competence to Catherine Huang, affection and apprehension to all of Epic, sageness and riches to Michyla Lin, kwonledge (sic) to Andrew Shao, academic success to Daumoney Liu and Kevin Le, confidence to Robert Yang, nothing to Eshani Mehta, a lack of APGP knowledge to Peter Wu, and additional responsibilities to Sarvesh Kalwit, Ram Damodaran, and Kulsoom Ahmad.

I, Alicia Kuang, bequeath any math skills I have to the one and only Amber Hsu.

I, Alina Ying, bequeath my multivariable struggles to Joy. My joy in soccer and early-morning-chats to Jenn. Messing around in diff-eq to Jess, Jeffrey, and Bill. Varsity soccer to Julie. Chemistry happiness to Advait! My love for accounting to Abi and Anushka. The legacy of Overture, to Raksha, Kavya, and Divya.

I, Allen Chen, bequeath the power of dance to LHS JUMP, my badminton skills to the badminton team, CS Club to next year’s officers, and the quad bench to everyone else.

I, Aly Echanove, bequeath my frustration as captain and unconditional love for the team to Marie and Yuriko, my flying skills to Izzy, and my spanish skills and willpower to get through the rest of high school to Jake.

I, Amanda Beck, bequeath Amanda White for keeping the legacy going even though she made us lose in round 6, Sadhana Sarma for being my mini me, Emma Chase for being my cripple buddy, Aruna Priya and Kiana Hatam because they made me, and the Lynbrook Girls Soccer family.

I, Amanda Shu, bequeath my bad jokes and badassery to Angeline Zhang, my claw machine estimation ability to Ryan Lin, my happy hellos to Reo Saito, my occasional workouts to Daniel Roh, my meme making skills to Annie Niu, and my passion and high toes to all the marching trumpets.

I, Amiya Dutta, bequeath all of my Physics struggles to Ellen Xiong and Rita Wang, the memory of our late night cram sessions to Ellen, the memory of listening to all of your stories and helping out with your essays to Rita.

I, Amy Huang, bequeath all love and support to InDesign and Kruk, my fried chicken eating skills to aikido club, Boba addiction to Caroline Ho, dancing and dabbing to Albert Han and Chelsea Li, and makeup skills to Amber Hsu. I, Amy Hung, bequeath my bike and dog to jessicafeng123, red hats to dcnhee, handshakes to Angeline, pineapplepicture-skills to Hannah, piccolo-ear-pains to Emily Du, brazeel nuts to Eshani, falling-asleep-in-class skills to Isha, rick rolls to Nandini, the GWC ig/website to the ’1718 officers, and my love/incompetence to the flute babes.

I, Ananya Gupta, bequeath the bay section leadership team and several tedious officer reports to Anusha Fatehpuria, my polished sarcasm and driving abilities to Myra Cheng, smiles and infinite lectures from our favorite teacher to Rohan Goel, and my endless love and best wishes to Anushka Srivastava.

I, Anmisha Vaikuntam, bequeath my high school surviving skills to Thishitha and her friends, and my awesome tennis captain skills to Nishita, Mohana and Michelle.

I, Anna Chi, bequeath my math stress to Amity Chen and Navya Rao, club strikes to Evan Liew, cosplay skills to Athena Chen, badminton skills to Wendy Zhang and Cynthia Shi, top choir riser position to Jeffrey Han, school spirit to Estella Lin, and Endless Lake skills to Thomas Lin.

I, Anna Lund, bequeath, to all my lovely bananas on the water polo team my skillz for an InTENTs season. Much love to all you ladies, you made my high school experience so wunderbar!

I, Antonio Jen, bequeath my abs to Jonathan, awkward third wheeling to Nicholas, art skills to Daanish, Rohan, and Evan, anime watching to Zack, Ethan to Johnson, walks in the park with parents to Justine, and rides, lunch, bench, shoes and girls to Ken. I, Arnav Virmani, bequeath my skiing skills to Nikhil Ajjarapu and my dog loving skills to Mohamed Soufi.

I, Arsh Malhotra, bequeath my whips to Ritik, Daanish, Varun, “swag” to Rohit, Aayush, Brandon, fashion to Saif, petness to Mahima, senioritis to Nandini, CRAYness to Eesha, glamour to Riti, Anna, driving to Arthur, and rep to Ravi, Elton.

I, Ashley Wang, bequeath Vidit and Anya fun adventures to unknown lands, Aayush, Peyton, Zay and Varun my ability to never know what’s going on, and the Valks officers my love of formations.

I, Aya Ide, bequeath the section to Kelly and Sean, Popeyes to Yoi, grapes to Ryan, William, Christine, Tiffany, Kiran, Matthew, Darren, Eric, Nandini, Vincent, and Yutong, college acceptances to Bill, Ellen, Mohan and Lucas, memes to Danhee, Holt Physics answer keys to Timmy and Andrew, and therapy to Jiho.

I, Biswadeep Chatterjee, bequeath more sleeping time to Anushka, apathy for work to Avinash, and my trash serve to my peeps on the tennis team.

I, Blair Chen, bequeath my B’s to Bill, mathing skills to Alvin, scribblings to Catherine Hwu, punniness to Janie, the backs of my sheet-music to Christine, dislocated shoulder to Ariel Wang, all makeup to Yangelina, and a zipperless wallet to “Turd” Tjong, mon amour et haine pour le français à Mme. Schang.

I, Brandon To, bequeath my gainz to Calvin Kung and Eric Zhong, the football team to Hayden Ito and Garret Riley, and my Shot put skills to Marcus Perlas, Artin Oghabian, and Rahul Ravi.

I, Brian Jeong, bequeath my physics tutoring skills and my hot guy friends to Ellen Xiong and horrible handshakes to Ian Au.

I, Brian Lin, bequeath my poor money spending habits to Danhee Kim, arm waving skills to Rahul Krish and Akshata, cluelessness to Jason Gu, fiery roasts to Stephanie Li, hatred for walking home to Kleo Ku, artsy food pics tricks to Iryl Tan, and mad coding skills to Avinash Jain.

I, Brian So, bequeath my Spanish knowledge to Mohan Bhakta, nonexistent dash and smash skills to Ashley Chen, essay bsing skills to Nicole Cheng, positive attitude to Nicholas Ho, perseverance in math to Yulee Jang, flick serve to Jay Kim, and filthy frames to Nikesh Thadani.

I, Bryan Chen, bequeath my violin to Andrew, 6/10 quizzes to Angie, keyboard magic to Jeffrey Chou and Andy, stocks to Bill, perfect pitch to Jeffrey Tao, classical music to Ellen, sexy javascript to Arthur, club membership to Patricia, blaze to Peter, and jisho to Aina and Albert.

I, Catherine Chi, bequeath my title of humanity snake to Derek Guo, my python abilities to Joy Feng, my tiny snapchat streak curse to Andrew Chen, my perpetual hunger and fatigue to Christine Cheng, my senioritis to Selina Li, my passion for physics to William Chen, and all my love to the mun fam.

I, Chelsea Pan, bequeath my nonfunctional license to Pranav Saravanan, my never ending stress to Robyn Lee, positivity and smiles to Anushka Srivastava, and clubs jurisdiction to Andrew Lin. I, Christine Wang, bequeath an endless amount of love and Baskin Robbins trips and anti-dabbing sentiment to my fav granddaughter Michelle; love for dance to Joella, Indali, and Mckenna; strength and resistance to roasts to Emily; and art skillz!!! to Helen and Arushi.

I, Claire Chiang, bequeath boba runs and content editor to Aurelia, Epic mom to Will and Eric, the future of Epic to Catherine and Eshani, kpop at production to Chelsea and Michyla, hard work to Meera and Divya, features editor to Justine, photo strugs to Sadhana, second semester senior struggles to Matthew and Athrv, my brother to Jocy, my car to Bryan and my clothes and room to Anna.

I, Claire Dunn, bequeath “Mama” to Diana and Isabella, my car to Mia, my Modcloth gift cards to Holly, my painters tape and chapsticks to Lucy, and Suzanne Dunn to the entirety of Lynbrook Drama.

I, Clarence Geoffrey Chan, bequeath my grailed.com wishlist to Matt Zhou, lily and icicles to Jessica Peng, my dancing skills to Marcus Pearce, my athleticism to the varsity water polo team, and my pöbis to Jason Gu, Justin Hu, Lucas Hong, Mohan Bhakta and Nathan Cheng.

I, Daisy Ni, bequeath a banana and the fun of MUN to Yichen Zhu, “feminine wiles” to Bala Pichumani, proper slang to Amol Singh, outdoor voice to Indali Bora, and all my best wishes to the next MUN club and team in their endeavors.

I, Dana Morgan, bequeath the cove aux cord to Tiffany, my table manners to the sophomores, and my love of dance to the freshmen (and I guess the rest of the valks too).

I, Daniel Li, bequeath my DNA to Sarang Hwang, my bio

grade to Amity Chen, and my amazing aikido skills to Becca Liu.

I, Danlin Lillemark, bequeath my memes to Hansen, dabbing to Sakin, cheeto defense to Katherine, hair sausages to Juney, ramen to Maanvi and more wins to field hockey <3 rah hockey!!

I, Daphne Liu, bequeath quirkiness to KLi, “lit up”-ness to CHuang, bank threes to Kasey, southpaw power to Raksha and Kavitha, driving skills to Rock, baby love to Katie, hard drives to Jennifer, em steals to Emily, rolls to the team, Vegas to Jonny, and Jimin to Austin.

I, David D. Kim, bequeath my studying skills to the kids in my Chemistry Honors class and wish them the best of luck in the rest of their high school career.

I, David Lee, bequeath my paint stained clothes to Anna Chiang, Ben Shapiro, Saif Kausar, and Aayush Shah, high fives to Juney Lee, and my constant love and support to Julie Lee.

I, Deepthi Pittala, bequeath my parliamentary procedure expertise to Myra Cheng, my capability to talk quieter than 100 decibels to Saba Sharfuddin, all my tiltedness to Raj Mehta, and my homework quiz guessing skills to Emily Gu. I, Divya Kriplani, bequeath reality TV shows and a lit States experience to Ishika, my kingdom to Natalie, my swimsuit to Trisha, contact to Amanda, my inability to play water polo to Astha, and ugly swim tans to the the girl’s swim team.

I, Doreen Zhao, bequeath my physics prowess and general intelligence to Eric Zhong, my street knowledge to Arthur Zhang, my “weird dancing” to McKenna Shieh, and my flexibility, amazing turns, and timeliness to Joella Judalevitch and Indali Bora.

I, Eileen Mao, bequeath epic dance skills to Floria, Lydia, Ritik, and Daanish, a new advisor to Juney, much needed stress relief to Jessica, Eugene, Jason, Diya, and Samiksha, college apps to Advait, wax rings to Claire, Aaron, and Bridget, T-tests to Isha, and a sibling legacy to Michael Mao. I, Eleanor Wang, bequeath my non-existent guard skills to Conner, Annika (hon-buns and weapon tosses to Annika and movement to Conner), and the rest of the Lynbrook Colorguard, love and hugs to my freshmen, endless smiles and happiness to Gabi, Surya, and Emmaline, and smol struggles to Emily Zhang.

I, Emil Irimpan, bequeath my cross country skills to Kevin Chacko and my stats knowledge to Tejasvi.

I, Eric Lin, bequeath my Madden Mobile coins to Rohan Dhesikan, YAK to Catherine and Joshua, XC stamina to Victor Zhu, Warriors tickets to Andy Cai, left-hand-writing skills to Phoebe Lin, roast-tolerance to Athrv Khoche, Baller Squad to Arjun “Steph Curry” Nair, and financial talent to Aditya Kuppili.

I, Ethan Chuang, bequeath my badminton skills to Nicholas Ho, my collection of memes to Angela Zhang, my Katy Perry playlist to Kathy Cai, and a bucket of paint to Leo Shaw.

I, Eunice Kan, bequeath my car keys to Rohan, weekly katsu trips to Allison, Lane 5 to Saif, Yulee, and Luca, the CCS relay team to Jessica, Erin, and Tiffany, and awkward swim suit tans and sun burns to the water polo and swim team.

I, Francis Lin, bequeath my better vlogging skills to Joshua Chiang, exploration adventures to Owen Lai, my constant AP Bio struggles to Ram and Vedika, getting bias wrecked to Alvin Han, food runs to Saketh, and the endless love and support from the Tech Gang Gang to Aayush Shah, and Alison Chen.

I, Hanzen Mui, bequeath my amazing math skills to Nikesh Thadani, legendary badminton skills to Kris Satya, and my tall height to Jeffrey Chou.

I, Harrison Wang, bequeath my $54 rainbows to Kasper Cheng and Natalie Woodmansee, baby blue shorts to Ashwin Nathan and Raksha Narasimhan, street gang knowledge to Malaika Khan, Facebook roasts to Abhinav Naikawadi, Marvel Netflix addiction to Grace Tan, frugal shopping skills to Chloe Lai, and potatoes to Yulee Jang.

I, Harsh Jain, bequeath lots of love to the Free the Children club, and wish it tons of success in the future, a lot of love and movies and late nights at IHOP to my main manz Will Guo and Eric Wu, my dog mocha to jassooo, lots of luck and pica boxes to Divya, Mehek and Noela, all of my streetwear and weight machines to lophia singz, my muscles and butt to Matt, DECA luv to my mains Eric and Raj, comrade k love to Sarvesh and Athrv, lots of math textbooks to Yulee, insane mad love to my brother from another mother, and constant love for the celtics and patriots to Uday, and last but probably least, everything except for my tom brady posters to my favorite sister Diya Jain.

I, Heyang Liu, bequeath my height and strength to Junting Han, love for K-Drama and candy to Sunny Chen, random novel to Yunting Lin, food to Chengfang Ho, bow tie ribbon to Weihan Chen, my love for anime to Han Lin, advance Chinese skill to Andre Ng.

I, Irene Han, bequeath my writing inspiration Raksha

and Vertigo, fun runs to the XC girls, traffic awareness to Aaron, the role of “Team Leader” to Angela, my microwaving abilities to Andrew and Edward, a parallel universe to Kevin, and my social life and unbeatable humor to Alvin.

I, Ivan Wu, bequeath the section to Aina, dank memes to Daniel Cai, sanity to Jason and Jayson, tuba blasting skills to Wakana and Tanvi, maturity to Raj, pimp game to Daniel Lien, car rides to Oscar, inner flare to Minsub, and sobriety to Anson.

I, Jeffrey Chiu, bequeath dinosaur memes to Chris, tacos to Sally, pecan pie to Bala, cats to Ian, joy and smiles to Yuehho, my dabbing legacy to Michelle, chairs to Calvin and Radence, spice to Andrew, pourquoi to Joy, boys to Ashley, girls to Daniel, unlimited money to Evalina.

I, Jeff Wallis, bequeath my football skills to Hayden Ito, my baseball skills to Diego Arias, and my locker to Eric Macpherson.

I, Jennifer Xu, bequeath doorbells and husbands to Sally Kim, hyperness and cupcake eating habits to Zainab Nasir, WANS and best friend status to Christopher Wang, dried mangoes to Michelle Zhou, healthy eating habits to Lilian Chen, sheet cakes to ArtReach Officers, and the ability to meet deadlines to Valhalla.

I, Jessica Luo, bequeath the absence of missing links to Catherine and Eshani, x-shaped legs and fruit tarts to Will, no oxford commas!!!! to Chelsea and Aurelia, mass boba runs to Michyla, loud snoring to Eric, and lots of production pizza to the Epic. I bequeath patience to Angie, Amity, and Angela, terrifying workouts to Megan, and Deep Cliff fries to girls golf.

I, Jessica Shu, bequeath my flute responsibilities to Jessica Feng and Danhee Kim, French struggles to Kristie Wu, determination for excellence to Eileen Tzng, and enthusiasm for marching band to Eric Wu, Meera Srinivasan, and the rest of the flute section.

I, Jiayi Shen, bequeath my setting abilities to Shannon Kuo, epic dives to Sara Mandic, 20 episodes in 1 hour to Alice Cai, nonexistent math skills to Jennifer Sun and Jessica Luo, proneness to injuires to Amy Steinmetz, Taeyeon to Jihwan Kim, and lots of luck to varsity vball ‘18.

I, John Um, bequeath my League skills and paying for PMT to willchung127, my headlines to Chris Wang, joyfully ringing to Eileen Choi, my gym membership to Michelle Zhou, Choco Shrooms to Mohan Bhakta, and my cheeks to Eileen Yang.

I, Joshua Soong, bequeath Wargame: Red Dragon to Jonah, my fundamental analytical techniques to Luca, my Hong’s Gourmet discount to Maggie and Joseph, my statistics expertise to Myra and Emily, my Chinese skills to Amy, my driving doughnuts to Robert, and my mahjong talent to Sean, Jason, Jonathan, and Cynthia.

I, Julia Catolico, bequeath an Arcadia medal to Andrew, control of warmup drills to Edward, yoga fusion classes to Adam, 40 foot jumps to Margaret, purple batons and perfect handoffs to Kayli, Shannon, Joanna, and Nicole, berries to Amberli, a driver’s license to Raj, and a dish to Eric.

I, Karthik Ravikumar, bequeath a new belt for Raj’s dad, ABHM to Eric + Athrv, snake food to feed abi and tejas, a razor to Vidit, fake j’s to Andrew, Vinay, + Gpoo, supplements for matt cause he small af, fashion show skills to sophia, and a new flirt to DECA ;)

I, Katherine H. Li, bequeath NCHS to Jason and Shannon, Dolcissima’s alto section to Cindy and Jessie, eyebrows to Catherine, lots of hot cheetos to Nathan, spicy dm-sliding to Jamie, Devil Way to Ysabel, one more year of the Mehta parentals to Raju, unwise bets and Lawrence to Vidit.

I, Katherine S. Li, bequeath my unquenchable optimism to Kathryn, love of everyone to Lynn, audacity-in-frontof-crowds to Rohan, no-facebook-until-done-studying to Robert Yang, perkiness to Isha, puns and mathematical suffering to Joy, meticulous organization to Vivian, problem-solving-grit to Andrew Li, essay-writing-passion to Austin, and big ear-to-ear smiles to Helen Sun. I, Katherine Xiao, bequeath childhood memories and pizza socials to Joshua, Catherine, and YAK, jumping crickets and afro praneurons to Andrew Li and Neuroscience Club, overdue boba and hangouts to Cindy Pham, Five Guys and encouragement to Daumoney Liu and Samantha McCoy, and the neuro-dy puns legacy to Myra Cheng.

I, Kathleen Cui, bequeath my SuperCue trips, truancy, & eternal love to Anya; happy hour, pong skillz, & wholehearted trust in Vidit; brunches to Malaika; future of Mock Trial to Alina, Meera, & Room 209; future of Interact to Jessica & Heather; comfy bed to Christina; the best of Epic to Opinion Section 2016.

I, Kathy Lam, bequeath my room to my baby sister Nora; my love for dance to valks; h-mart adventures to Ivana Chou; toilet talks to Tiffany Wong; piercings to valks sister Megan Yeh; my love for puppies and sour patch to Andrew Chen, and procrastination to the rest of Lynbrook.

I, Kaushik Ravikumar, bequeath my fire music taste to Malaika, blessed tennis racket to Rohit, senioritis to Raj, karaoke skills to Akhil, drenched water balloon fight clothes to Vidit, artistic abilities to Nikhil, nonexistent bougieness to Ishaan and Bala, constant smiling to Anushka, and my third wheel to Saba.

USED WITH PERMSSION OF FRANCIS LIN

I, Kavi Nelakonda, bequeath a pawn to Gerald, knees to Jason, tree-ing to Nikhil, a calculator in physics to Raj, two serves to Jasper, an officer meeting to Ashwin, a much needed W to the tennis team, members to CGD, and a bearable junior year to my sister.

I, Kayla Choi, bequeath my undying love for cats and animal shelters to Kleo Ku.

I, Kimberly Ku, bequeath my suffering to Kleo, and my beauty and talent to Jay. That is all.

I, Kristina Leong, bequeath perfect eyebrows to Justine and Leslie.

I, Kyle Chang, bequeath my love for medicine to the PreMed officers, strange hand salutes to the CardioMed officers, basketball skills to the tennis team, and eternal affection and devotion to Ms. Fong. Furthermore, I bequeath everything I know and own expressly to Tejas Iyer. You’re the best, Tejas.

I, Leslie Sern, bequeath fun-runs to Catherine Hwu, guitar solos to Sonakshi, a trashcan full of memes to Elissa Hou, the power of O’ Sensei’s beard to Seike Sensei and next year’s aikido officers, nice weather for XC/track runners, candy wrappers to Kruk, and anatomically-correct hearts to Mr. Lee. I, Lucille Luan, bequeath my great ability to talk to guys to to all the Lynbrook underclassmen girls, my prom makeup skills to Rhea C., and my love for accounting to Tiffany W..

I, Maggie Pan, bequeath my eyebrows and youtube fame to Louis Lee, my wildness and memory making to Oscar Yeh, my party life to Vidit Katyal, never ending piano accompaniment to Amberli Chiang, and lots of love to the Dolcissima girls.

I, Manasvini Hothur, bequeath my random French songs and one night stands with l’ane to Aishwarya, my dank mafia and pictionary skills and my bollywood obsession to Samhita, my love for key club to Veronica, my experience as a PR to Danielle.

I, Marilyn Kung, bequeath Helen sCreECheS and loca, Albert spOOnz poWeRz, Shrila, Mythili, and Susan Pablo Panda, Emmaline engINEERING scReAMs, Michelle teddy grams, Olivia fud, Grace a someBODY, Angel fantuan, Yanru fiziks, Julia moar hats, Iryl caterpillar safety, Eugene chem fun, Joshua ESPAÑOL, Link kids and Jay best of luck!

I, Marilyn Zhang, bequeath literature&luck to Vivian H, design “skills” to Eshani, bad jokes to Susan, niche to WiSTEM; everlasting supply of (bad) musical puns to Joy, Joshua, Vivian C, Janie, Rhea, Aditi, Phoebe; rain jackets and “lobe” to Myra; and infinite happiness to my younger brother Alex.

I, Maryam Jawid, bequeath road rage and trendy radio songs to Tanya, all things Red-Cross to Aarushi and Joshua, more maturity that i’ll ever have to Hannah, and giving Jake someone to yell “get going” at to Angela and Chacko.

I, Maryrose Lund, bequeath my magical finesse and gamespeed to all my water polo BABs, my Jesus high to my bible studs, and love to all my underclassman fam who have made my time at Lynbrook memorable, good luck!

I, Matthew Hase-Liu, bequeath my conscience to Andrew Lin, William Hu, Austin Lei, Stanley Wang, and William Luo; Mr. Leung’s cringe to Jeffrey Tao, Abhinav Naikawadi, Leslie Pu, Charlie Huang, and Isha Mehrotra; my RSI rejection letter to Advait Patil; and the entirety of Project Euler to Jason Dong and Jasper Huang.

I, Matthew Sotoudeh, bequeath the strobific Tech to DingDong and Yangry; beautiful Blue Pearl to Rahul and Aina; keep-ASB-on-its-toes LEG reppin’ to all the underclassmen reps; “HowToMeetLadies” knowledge & club to Avi and Shannon; band managering to Rachel (a bit late oops); learn-a-new-instrument “skills” to Eric; and positivity to Davin, Rachel, Shruti, Alvin, and Ryan :)

I, Mayer Adelberg, bequeath my fifth amendment rights to MistaBale (he’ll need ‘em), my filmmaking skills to Patricia, my sarcasm to Diana, my fake quotes to Misaki, my GoPro to Greg, and to Mr. Torp the bow I wore on the first day of your class #firstamendmentviolation.

I, Mira Thekdi, bequeath my windshield wipers and canva. com to Michael Shen, Wednesday afternoons to Lilian Chen, Fetty Wap albums and dabs to Aayush Shah, weird nicknames and Jane the Virgin reruns to Adhiraj Hangal, and all of my unwavering support, love, facetimes, and Thursday afternoons to Diya Jain.

I, Morgan Chan, hereby bequeath 3.00 grams of humility to William Luo, 100 mL 1.0 M NaCl solution to Amber, 76 grams of hope and positivity to Angie, solo Bach and chemical concepts to Andrew Lin, and tropical frogs at night to Joy, Eugene, and Emily Hsu.

I, Mulan Lin, bequeath all my love to my baby Andrew Chen, my lack of Interact volunteering to Juney Lee, my dedication in Java and Chinese to Daniel Israel, and JSA to the future officers

I, Nanda Pandian, bequeath my driving skills to Tanya Goel, motivation to workout to Nishita Katare, excessive sarcasm to Neha Palvai, confidence to Tanvi Narvekar, Gilmore Girls addiction to Samhita Honnavalli, the use of “yikes” to Catherine Huang, tight hugs to Eshani Mehta, a

phone that works to Celina Day, pickup lines to Maya Shah, “endless love” to Justine Chen, vlogging skills to Sadhana Sarma, money for food to Meghna Allamudi, and annoying vibes to Eric Wu.

I, Nathan Wang, bequeath a much needed vertical to anson, my mechanics to oskrrt, my teal snail to the OG’s, and my boostedness to evilfluffybear.

I, Nicholas Guo, bequeath my extra elite barbs to Andrew Lin, saltiness to William Luo, confusion and fat to Bill Zhu, inability to play defense while in the air to Anson Li, meowing to Oscat and Darrescat, and my CDO, motherliness, and everything else to Joy Feng.

I, Nick Lui, bequeath a fulfilling last year in Rits to Chris Wang, honor choir experiences to Gaurav, purposeful pursuits to Amrit, grace as upperclassmen to Ryo and Daniel Kim, friendshipz to Jamie and Ysabel, spontaneity to Calista, my best advice to Jennifer Kim, and my Lynbrook apparel to Allison.

I, Nina Gupta, bequeath my tall height to Arjun and Ashwin Kaushik, snapchat and cooking skills to Ravi and Raman Gupta, and dancing skills and salty pie crusts to Rhea Chowdhury.

I, Nisarg Shah, bequeath Raj Mehta a continuation of his endless senioritis, Rohan Mannem a lifetime supply of water bottles, Nikhil Ajjarapu, Chris Wang, Anya Poplavska, Yichen Zhu, Susan Zhou the future of LD debate, and Vihan Virmani and Shane Kim the best broccoli to light up through high school.

I, Olivia Walker, bequeath my Boss Baby skills to Aruna, my sick kicks to Annika (get some real shoes), and my goals on Los Gatos to Juney.

I, Pallavi Chandrasekhar, bequeath my TV addiction and love for apple juice to Mohana, my supernatural and soccer love to Emma, and eating of too many M&M’s to Iman.

I, Parmita Bawankule, bequeath my GWC prez skills to Eshani, my calmness to Isha, my A-grades to Anushka, and my sense of humor to Mythili.

I, Pearl Chanma, bequeath my cluelessness of physics to Nandini, Amara, and Danhee, butt and tongue action to Conner Anthony, twin cups to Annika Javier, no-shame spooning to Jessica Feng, eyebrows to Emily Gu, annoyance to Andrew Chen and Lucas Hong, and lack of rhythm to the 2018 drumline.

I, Phoebe Soong, bequeath my salt to vidit, nathan, raj, eric, & sarvesh; excellent driving skills to saif; happiness to catherine, christina, & emily; laziness to joanna, albert, & jesse; wicked coding abilities to jessabelle, nikita, kyle, and broondoon; brain to ansonliaal; and perpetual love to ysabel & jamie.

I, Pragna Elizabeth Upputuri, bequeath my craziness to Shreya, love for a cappella to Capriccio officers, Alto/ soprano pride to Sanjana, seniority to Gaurav, smile to Raghav, dedication to Ajeet, high voice to Aditya, shortness to Jeffrey, laughter to Leo, and love for music to my choir/orchestra/Capriccio friends.

I, Prakashini Govindasamy, bequeath my amazing InDesign leadership and designing skills to Christina Chen and Evalina Xu, fabulous softball outfield skills to all the outies, ranting and Aletheia dedication to Zahra Attarwala, marvelous sss-skills to Sarvesh Kalwit and Lynn Fernandez aka coble crew, my height to Krish, my sass to Raymond Lau, and my lowkey model status to Chloe Lai, Li-el Greenberg, and Garrett Riley.

I, Pranav Lalgudi, bequeath second to Abhinav Naikawadi, The Warowac to Gèráld Tao, fake rabonas to Chinmay Lalgudi, and Sully to Alisha Yang.

I, Prapurna Rebecca Upputuri, do bequeath my crazy cello love to Edison, my “twinness” to Som, my “section leader-ness” to Nick and my smile to Jay. To Shreya, I give my craziness, Patrick, my love for music, William my confidence on stage, and to my orchestra/capriccio friends, my passion.

I, Pratibha Sriram, bequeath gift hampers and amazing poster-making ability to my favorite person Eshani, many more orange-colored meals to Aarushi, Alison, Breanna, Cathy, Isabella, Lucy, Raina, and Rajita, lots of money to next year’s CSF officers, and eternal physics skills to Ellen and Rita.

I, Prerna Mamileti bequeath my collection of embarrassing snaps and nonexistent antakshari skills to Samhita, my french pictionary skills and amazing franglais to Aishwarya, and my WONDERFUL chamber group skills to Elyssa and Sarang.

I, Raghav Sreeram, bequeath my brain to Saba’s smol brain, my clearly better stories to Raj, my bestie to Malaika, mi español a Sarvesh, and my ability to handle Saba to Bala, Ishaan and class of 2018.

I, Rebecca Chen, bequeath all my amazing dance moves to Eileen, my “athletic” abilities to Raksha, my awkwardness to Xander, and my lack of rhythm to Andrew.

I, Reece Breuckman, bequeath the position of catcher to Andrew Destin, even though he is our only catcher.

I, Renuka Belwalkar, bequeath my silly moments, Jalwa

memories, dance practices and loads of love to Aayush, Agrima, Amishi, Anna, Brandon, Daanish, Diya, Mahima, Rhea, Riti, Ritik, Rohit, Saif, Sinja and Varun.

I, Ria Pradeep, bequeath my sanity to Eesha (you need it), my equal love to Abi and Anusha, my “good-er” english skills to the tennis team, and another great season full of roasting and bad puns to the Funky Monkeys.

I, Richard Huang, bequeath my position as administrator of Skype group calls to Jeffrey Tao and my binder paper to Andrew Shao.

I, Richard Li, bequeath my boundless love for service to next year’s Key Clubbers (good luck and have fun!), my immense wisdom to Jessica (cause clearly, you need it), and my class-A manners to Mardi (although your roasts wouldn’t hurt a gnat).

I, Ricky Lee, bequeath OVO sound radio to Harsh Chobisa, driving skills to Andrew Chang, shoe game to Joseph Liow, pull game to Andrew Destin, “not cutting class” mentality to Yichen Zhu, and failing chemistry grade to Juney Lee. I, Riya Mital, bequeath the table 3 monopoly board to Rohan and all the stuff in my room to Ritty.

I, Rupsa Acharya, bequeath my (minimal) soccer skills to Agrima, my 8hrs of sleep to Isha Mehrotra, my love for Winter Futsal to Emma Chase, my second dinners to Trisha, my brunch stats HW habits to Catherine Jin, and my questionable outfits/dank ass Acura sound system to Raka.

I, Ryan Tseng, bequeath my grades, test taking skills, and undying love to Nicole Cheng, badminton strategy to Leo Shaw, broken knees to Nicholas Ho, waitlist position for UCLA to Ashley Chen, and badminton skills to Kathy Cai and Angela Zhang.

I, Sarah Jang, bequeath my laugh to Eileen, naps to Angela and Kathy, Korean to Celina, singing skills to Jessie and Cindy, racket to Rishika, talkativeness to Yingeng, computer to Lynn, and all my food to Nick and Leo.

I, Sasha Kipnis, bequeath my goal scoring to playing time ratio and the dance to Amanda White and Kiana Hatam, my Heads Up skills to Rachel Tatley, and my speedy driving to Rhea Chowdhury.

I, Sean Jergensen, bequeath love for cringe to Mohan and Daniel, sense of humor and love for Jesus Christ to Tru, functioning kidney to SOPHIA, unnecessary stress and anxiety to Annie, and pathetic coding abilities to Alvin.

I, Sean Meng, bequeath to Abhinav Naikawadi my limited knowledge of energy and my social awkwardness, to Jeffrey Tao the dedication of a math club officer, and to Advait Patil the title of “best human.”

I, Selena Huang, bequeath my spanish to Jojo, super pool techniques to Charlotte, bad luck to Michelle, and fishsnacks, sketchy neighbors in sketchy hotels, and turds to the three of them. I also bequeath my defense skills to my soccer twin Anna, and all the super goalie skills to Nikita.

I, Shaiva Patel, bequeath my Key Club love to the officer board; my track/field love to Nicole, Kennedy, Bridget, Eric, Marcus, Artin, Tyler, and Ethan; my memes to Nathan Cheng and Vidit; my procrastination to baby eggs: Eric, Nathan Lee, and Arthur; and my kdrama obsession to Hannah Faris.

I, Sharon Wang, bequeath my inability to pronounce “Christine” to Michelle, my wobbly turns to McKenna, Joella, and Indali, my patience to Emily, and my DJ-ing skills to Mahdi.

I, Shawn Liu, bequeath my marching skills and bio memes to Eileen Tzng, condolences for AP chem to Emily Du, unanimous goods to Daniel Roh, Janie Kwong and Eric Wu, 5-star Hector and Lucina to Davin Tjong, my epic saxiness to the fipca altos, and my prayers to Forever Fam. I, Shikhar Jagadeesh, bequeath my snapchat series to Elton Chang, my parking spot to Arthur Zhang, my electronics knowledge to Andrew Ng, my relaxed attitude to Alanna Zhou, and all my other skills to Nathan Cheng and Saketh Muvva.

I, Shiva Vemireddy, bequeath my priorities to Raj, senioritis and chill pills to Tejasvi, infinite cheeseburgers to Anya, daily meme tagging to Raksha, maximum Shreyas roasting abilities to Eric Wu, chillest managing editor status to Will Guo, nothing to Eric Zhong because you’re already perfect, the longest bequeathal ever to Matt Zhou because it has to be proportional to the size of your “feet” ;) I bequeath the ability to eat endless Korean BBQ and still keep your six-pack, daily sixth period hangouts to Sophia Ling, the future of the Epic to the Catherine, Eshani, and the current and new staff members, and spoons to the new 2018 class officers ;P I, Shivanee Arun, bequeath my warrior fandom to Raksha, my hamper-giving, cringeworthy entertainment to Eshani, my undue middle school classroom perseverance to the GWC interns, my continued addiction to cheesy tv to Eileen, and my talent for interesting lab conversations during class to Aish and Sam. I, Shivani Bhandarkar, bequeath my snakelike qualities to Catherine, doggo memes to Shaunak, first soprano love to Meghna and Amberli, Capriccio meeting survival tips to

Shreya, and everything else to Dolcissima.

I, Shreya Narayanan bequeath my ability to eat endless amounts of food to Tanvi Narvekar, my AP French survival skills to Hiral Kotecha, and my ability to pretend not to see people to Tanvi Krishnan.

I, Shreyas Iyer, bequeath happinesss and joy to the Epic editorial board, stress relief and sports editor to Noela, SHS pride to Aurelia and Nico, Joe Simas to Mohan, JEETA calls to Justine, happy days with Mark to Meera, a less rigorous schedule to Michelle, 49ers success to Rohan, and 3 more years of Lynbrook to Tejas.

I, Soumya Jagdev, bequeath the lunch area to Nhaveen, my french skills to Avinash Jain and my patience to Tanaav.

I, Srikar Mallipedi, bequeath Aisa to Ritik/Mahima/ Anushka, my randomness to Sophia, my girth to Matt, my L’s to Gautam, and my appeal to Akhil.

I, Subhodeep Bhattacharya, bequeath my boi-reading skills to Emily Du (;D), my senioritis to Eileen Tzng (you need to chill next year), my boi magnet to Hali Wu (gotta wuu people equally), my marching to Kaitlyn Kim (not much but it’s something), and my swing dancing skills to Ankitha Girish.

I, Swaathi Raghunandhan, bequeath my ability to soothe Anna’s panic sessions to Navya, my 7th-period friday afternoon love for french to Samhita and Aishwarya, my willingness to be productive only after the deadline has passed :,) to Ellen <333, and (in)ability to hear ominous breathing and gum wrappers to Stephanie :)

I, Talya Gilboa, bequeath Anne of Green Gables day to Holly and Isabella, Thespian Society to Diana and Isabella, my headset and will to stay awake to Lucy, my dog voice to Mia, my hugs to Shubhra, and my love for Chayton the improv guy to Patricia.

I, Tanvi Asur, bequeath my love for Shrek to Matt Zhou, Sophia Ling, and Saniya Patel #shrek4D #getshreksy I, Tarab Ansari, bequeath my amazing pizzicato skills to Tiffany Hsai, my Track God title to Eric MacPherson and Marcus Peralas, and my football moves to Tyler Scandalous.

I, Teresa Yang, bequeath unison exercises to Matthew Tran and Bill Zhu, FBLA headaches/happiness to Maggie Yuan and Joseph Pang, photosynthesis and cellular respiration to Nathan Cheng and Kevin Chacko, happy yearbook energy to Michelle Zhou and Eileen Yang, and the Valhalla “I hate myself and this organization” spirit to Chris Wang.

I, Tiffany Ching-Han Chang, bequeath my love of reading and drama combined to Emma and Gina (you guys would make awesome SFL officers), and dem keds and sense of style to Kendra.

I, Tony Lee, bequeath my art skillz to Louis Lee.

I, Trevor Aquino, bequeath my love of chicken nuggets to Jessica, Chris Reynolds to Avinash, SHS to Aurelia and Nico, my Spanish skills to Denver, Leslie to Seiya, killer dance moves to Ashwin, Joe, and Marcus, Valhalla clown to Amber, and the title of ‘tbheileen.jpg’ to Eileen.

I, Tuhina Dasgupta, bequeath my love of buttons, online shopping, and french braids to Kendra Chao, all my favorite gay hint anime to VIctor Zhu, my non-hobo clothes to Cameron Holland, my love of Sarah J Maas to Lillian Chen, JSA to all our future officers, and my soccer skillz to all the varsity girls.

I, Uday Tripathi, bequeath sketchy prep in the back of the Parli tourney room to Justin Choi and Arnav Amruth, FBLA email crisis solving to Myra Cheng, the wonders of calculus to Raj Mehta, Aaron Judge’s power to Andrew Destin, vision to Johnson Ku, and epic roasts to Akhil Aggrawal.

I, Vaishnav Balaji, bequeath study memes, headphone splitter for french music, and CGD to Ashwin, FBLA problem solving and français fun to Myra, PwB memories to Sally, Joseph, and Saba, the future of VP Comps to Emily, Misaki, and Tanvee, bio memes to Yulee, and my PMT addiction to Daanish.

I, Varun Venkatesh, bequeath my fight for debate justice to Chris and Nikhil, flight booking skills to Anya, SSS laziness to Raj, Spanish expertise to Eric, roasting to Vidit, annoyingness to Jason, Ben Wyatt humor to Vedika, TA position to Saketh and Chance tickets to Sophia.

I, Vibhav Parimi, bequeath my speed to Andrew Shao and Edward Choi, a CCS championship banner to Kevin Chacko and the rest of the varsity xc team, extravagant fashion and success to Tejasvi and Andrew Kou, my love for accounting to Rohan Goel and Tiffany, and high heels to Avaneesh.

I, William Shan, bequeath invigorating library naps and the stewardship of ASB to Lilian and Sally, incomparable music taste to Aayush and Alison, bonheur à Gérard et Sarah, endless energy to Anushka, fulfilling high school experiences to Cindy and Robyn, and love to eventual Vikings, Jason Shan and Joseph Shan.

I, Yokiya Ito, bequeath my bass splits to Andrew Chen and Emily Gu, Harry Potter marathons to Xander Tse, stupidity to Rebecca Chen/Pearl Chanma/Stephanie Wu/Mulan Lin, and lots of love to Yuzuri/Karin/Mom <3

ARIZONA University of Arizona

CALIFORNIA

Josh Belong

UC Santa Barbara

UC San Diego

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UC Merced

UC Los Angeles

UC Irvine

Anna Chi Brian So Daniel Li Jonathan Liang Jonathan Lin Kevin Chen Sophia An UC Davis

California College of the Arts Mayer Adelberg Cal Poly San Louis Obispo

Cal Poly Pomona Sachita Subramaniam

Chapman University Dana Morgan Mira Thekdi Mulan Lin Claremont McKenna College Julia Catolico De Anza College Akihiko Muraoka Alicia Hsia Atreya Gudipalli Dylan Bouzigues Fatima Khan Justin Imai Tyler Ong Tyler Yamaguchi Fashion Institute of Technology Amy Huang Loyola Marymount University Samantha Chiu Occidental College Noah Pennington Pomona College Daisy Ni San Diego State University Brandon To Rachel Lee Reece Breuckman Ryan King San Jose State University Alexian Lin Andre Ng Anthony Chen Babak Tahernazadi Elizabeth Lee Hannah Lee Kevin Huang Kristina Leong Jeff Wallis Justin Ham Simran Bhandarkar Santa Clara University Manasvini Hothur Scripps College Daphne Liu Justine Iwata Stanford University Irene Han Marilyn Zhang William Shan (class of 2022) UC Berkeley

Adhiv Dhar Allen Chen Amy Hung Ananya Gupta Andrea Pan Aryan Sing Brian Lo Bryan Chen Catherine Chi Danlin Lillemark David Kim Eric Lin UC Santa Cruz

John Um Kavi Nelakonda Kevin Lo Marianne Kanaris Pratibha Sriram Raymond Xu Richard Huang Robert Qiu Sean Meng Shiva Vemireddy Shivani Bhandarkar Sritam Mishra Teresa Yang Trevor Aquino Chloe Rust Ethan Chuang Maryrose Lund Matthew Sotoudeh Raghav Sreeram Sahlik Khan Albert Lin Alina Tu Bhavani Panda Jessica Shu Lisa Cao Moinak Bhattacharya Nina Gupta Ria Parwal Ryan Tseng Alex Zhao Alex X. Xu Ariana Kim Chereen Tam Eunice Kan Hannah Lee Isita Tripathi Kayla Choi Maggie Pan Maia Sumanaweera Michelle Su Nathan Chen Nisarg Shah Pallavi Chandrasekar Sean Jergenson Winston Tsai Ayush Samanta Nanda Pandian Tiffany C. Chang Aditya Garg Hope Safranek Kosuke Kurita Raj Gosalia Shaiva Patel Amanda Shu Eleanor Wang Kartik Rathi Katie Chen Riya Mathur Amiya Dutta Ashley Wang Aya Ide David Lee Elisa Tu Evan McCormack Justin Dong Lois Chen Mehmet Guler Nick Lui Rachel Wu Sarah Jang Alex Thwin

Ben Wilson Cameron Mautino Chantal Naugle Sohini Bhattacharya

Arsh Malhotra Heyang Liu Subhodeep Bhattacharya University of San Francisco Olivia Walker Shreya Narayan University of Southern California Alicia Kuang Jennifer Pan Megan Yao Neilay Shahi Tony Lee Yinan Su West Valley College

COLORADO University of Colorado Boulder Casey Markert Ethan Liu University of Colorado Denver Amruth Nandakumar

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Georgetown University Amanda Dai George Washington University Tuhina Dasgupta

FLORIDA University of Miami

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Tanvi Asur

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The College of Idaho

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Knox College Amanda Beck Northwestern University Pragna Upputuri Shreyas Iyer Prapurna Upputuri University of Chicago Sasha Kipnis Katherine H. Li Kathleen Cui Vincent Cheng Joshua Soong MARYLAND University of Illinois at Urbana ChamJohns Hopkins University paign Claire Chiang Ankith Iyengar Morgan Wu Bahaar Bhatia Rupsa Acharya Biswadeep Chatterjee Shefali Vijay Brian Wang Divya Kriplani University of Maryland at College Park Antonio Jen Kavi Ravuri Clarence Chan Lucille Luan Prachi Guar Justin Won Shivanee Arun Natalie Fine Sounya Jagdev Pearl Chanma Prakashini Govindasamy Siddhi Desai MASSACHUSETTS Swaathi Raghuna Babson College Sumukh Setty Timothy Chan Boston College INDIANA Suemin Choi Indiana University Boston University Riya Jorapur Doreen Zhao Vibhav Parami Hedy Zhou Purdue University Harvard University Ameya Jumde Katherine S. Li Eric Hong Jessica Luo Harsh Jain Matthew Hase-Liu Murugan Dhanushkodi Massachusetts Institute of Technology

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University of Michigan

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University of Minnesota

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Katherine Xiao Nathan Wang Nicholas Guo Shikar Jagadeesh

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Annie Duan

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Alan Lin Allison Yuan Alex R. Xu Brian Jeong Emil Irimpan Kaushik Ravikumar Ryan Tang

University of Rochester

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Parmita Bawankle University of Texas at Austin Phoebe Soong Deepthi Pittala Ria Pradeep Joyce Wang Shawn Liu UTAH Srikar Mallipedi University of Utah Vaishnav Balaji Yuta Tsumori Victoria Chen WASHINGTON Pennsylvania State University Alex Tai University of Washington at Seattle Henry Jang Devansh Goel Ivan Wu University of Pennsylvania Kathy Lam Preethi Varadharajan Ricky Lee Talya Gilboa

University of Pittsburgh

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Case Western Reserve University Rhode Island School of Design Jiayi Shen Jennifer Xu CANADA University of British Columbia David Hsieh Cleveland Institute of Art Owen Quindipan Leslie Sern TEXAS Rice University Francis Lin Oberlin College and Conservatory Christine Wang Yokiya Ito Morgan Chan Amy Song Katherine Hu University of Toronto PENNSYLVANIA Kimberly Ku Amber Masse Alina Ying Carnegie Mellon University Sharon Wang Tarab Ansari Blair Chen Harrison Wang Pratik Gongloor JAPAN Bradley Chen Texas A&M at College Station Iris Zhao Carolyn Zhong Selena Huang Wesley Gu Keio University Kohei Suzuki Eileen Mao Trinity University Varun Venkatesh Jeffrey Chiu Anna Lund

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Analyzing the theory of social facilitation A glimpse into the effects of an audience on performance

BY NOELA BAE AND SRINIDHI SESHADRI

feel more eased to see other people doing the same exact thing but when I’m sitting alone aking his way onto the podium, like doing homework at home or swimming the first candidate for the class by myself, I’m isolated and I don’t like it,” said president position clears his sophomore Ishika Kamchetty. “Groups just throat and looks across the room with ease the whole situation on a greater level.”

Another type of social facilitation is the hundreds of pairs of eyes staring right back at him. He has been preparing for “audience effect,” in which performance is improved through the this speech for weeks mere presence of a pasnow, but as he looks sive spectator or audiat the large audience, he begins to feel over- “I DO THINK THAT IN GENERAL, ence. An experiment whelmed with nervous- PEOPLE TEND TO PERFORM conducted by psycholoness. He takes a deep BETTER IF THEY HAVE AN AU- gist Lee Edward Travis breath and begins to DIENCE WATCHING THEM ONLY in 1925 found that the recite his speech cohe- BECAUSE IT HEIGHTENS THE subjects of his study were better at carrysively and thoroughly, STAKES OF BEING OBSERVED.” ing out psychomotor managing to avoid bluntasks that use ders and humiliation, BRITTANY STEVENS tasks, controlled movements and by the conclusion SCHOOL PSYCHOLOGIST of the body, when they of his speech, is met were in front of an audiwith endless rounds of ence. Similarly, in 1935, applause. Such instances are referred to as social facilitation, psychologist John Dashiell gathered subjects the theory that having people observing and had them do multiplication problems. or working alongside an individual may He noticed that the presence of an audience increased the number of multiplication boost his or her performance.

The first laboratory experiment re- problems each subject completed, and that garding social facilitation dates back to the quality of performance depended on how 1898, when psychologist Norman Triplett the subjects interacted with the audience. If gave children a fishing reel and told them the subjects responded to the audience, they to wind it in. During the study, he observed were distracted from the task at hand and that children worked faster when in the therefore performed poorly.

“It is really hard to have a good experipresence of other children performing the same task as opposed to when working ment that is mimicking real life conditions,” alone. His experiment exhibited the “co- said school psychologist Brittany Stevens. action effect,” a phenomenon where the “But I do think that in general, people tend presence of others performing the same to perform better if they have an audience watching them only because it heightens the task improves one’s performance.

“I feel like if you’re doing something stakes by being observed. It is not just your individually, you’re by yourself and you own performance you have to think about

M

but also what others may think of you.”

As a college student, Stevens participated in experiments related to social facilitation as part of an internship for a professor in the psychology department. Her role was to be a confederate by being the audience for another student and listening to their speech as if she was also just another student. However, she was instructed to react in a predetermined manner, either with negative or positive body language, regardless of how good the speech was. The subjects were then supposed to rate themselves based on how they believe they did.

“The results from the experiment came out with the people who had the positive reaction condition as significantly more likely to say that they had done a good job,” said Stevens. “People who had the negative, were more likely to say that they hadn’t done very well and would rate themselves negatively.”

While interactive audiences have the opportunity to encourage one’s performance, they could discourage the performer as well.

Both the skill level and the complexity of the task play a role in determining how an audience will affect performance. For instance, during sports requiring strength and endurance, such as team sports, the audience’s cheering can boost players’ performances.

On the other hand, sports where finer motor skills and more concentration are required, a loud, cheering audience can be detrimental to one’s performance. For example, in sports such as gymnastics and badminton, a roaring audience may not be beneficial, as the athletes can make mistakes in their timing and lose focus while trying to tune out the crowd.

“I feel more pressure when people who are better than me [in badminton] are watching me,” said freshman Sanjana Narayanan.

“It makes me feel like if I make a mistake, they will think that I can’t play, and that creates more pressure on me.”

As a result, there are several theories that debunk social facilitation. The Distraction-Conflict Theory, for example, states that the presence of an audience creates an attentional conflict between concentrating on a given task and concentrating on those watching for the performer. Especially when people are carrying out complex tasks, they may perform worse due to an attentional overload. Psychologist Joseph Pessin noted this theory in 1933 when he performed an experiment in which the presence of spectators interfered with the learning of nonsensesyllables, lists of syllables that are used to investigate memory and learning.

The effect an audience has on a person depends on an individual’s personality as well. Some people may feel stressed regardless of how large or small their audience is. In contrast, others may not be affected by their audience at all, especially if the audience consists of their peers.

“In drama, the audience never really hindered my performance, and I don’t think actors are really affected by the audience,” said junior Sultaan Ahmad. “I think this is because an actor is less worried about their performance, since they are representing only a façade.”

From taking an exam in a full room to playing a sport before an audience, one’s overall performance is greatly affected by social facilitation; the presence of an audience can be either beneficial or detrimental. Each individual’s varying response to this social influence can determine the final outcome of the task they perform.

GRAPHIC ILLUSTRATION BY INDEPTH SECTION

A deeper look into why friendships fall apart

BY MEERA BALAJI AND MICHELLE LUM

I

t is the first day of elementary school. A boy and a girl are seated next to each other, and upon first glance, they share a small smile. Almost instantly, the two of them become close friends, exchanging lunches and laughing about inside jokes. The pair declares that their friendship will last forever, but as they transition into middle school, they find themselves pursuing different activities and seeing each other less frequently. In high school, the boy and the girl realize that they rarely see each other anymore. At a high school reunion five years later, they cannot think of anything to say, only then do they realize that they have become complete strangers.

The path that a friendship takes over time is unpredictable, but often, two best friends in elementary school may drift away after many years of close friendship, some as early as in middle or high school.

“My two best friends from middle school and I grew apart,” said junior Alison Chen, president of the Society of Psychology and Sociology Club. “We still talk to each other, but we say ‘hi’ and that is about it.”

Putting this in perspective, a 2015 study of adolescent friendship published in Psychological Science found that only one percent of friendships formed in seventh grade last until twelfth grade.

There are many reasons why friendships end, including differing interests, changes in personality and physical separation.

As people grow older, however, their friendships may begin to grow apart. For instance, students see significant changes within their social circles after high school.

A 2009 study of student friendships published in Science Daily found that only five percent of high school friends remain friends after graduation.

These results reflect how people change their beliefs over time, due to changes in location or circumstance. Later in life, spouses and children may take precedence over friendships. A study conducted by Robin Dunbar of the In-

stitute of Cognitive and Evolutionary Anthropology at Oxford University showed that for every new romantic relationship a person enters, he or she risks losing two close friends.

“Friendships can also end because of priorities,” said Assistant Principal Eric Wong. “When you go off to college or enter a new phase in your life and you’re meeting new people from around the country, you start finding that the friends you make later in life are people that you will have more common interests with. High school is a much smaller pond.”

Personal differences and disputes may also cause rifts between friends. Differences may, in fact, be the cause of decreased communication. As people grow older and form new opinions, they may observe a disconnection between their own beliefs and the beliefs of their friends. As friends move along divergent paths because of their contrasting thoughts, their friendship may approach its end.

The 2015 study from Psychological Science also found that most adolescent friendships end because of differences between friends.

“Friendships end because there are different factors, which can be fights, or sometimes, fallouts when you stop talking,” said sophomore Rita Chen.

“I think a major part of a friendship falling out is that you think you have a lot in common [with a friend] at first, but then you realize that you are not as similar as you thought, and it is okay to acknowledge that.”

Many see a lack of communication as a figurative “bump in the road,” rather than a sign of disinterest. A friendship takes time and effort to build, so one person may feel that certain differences are not worth losing a hard-earned friendship for. In such cases, there is no easy way to overcome the differences; however,

the best solution is open and honest communication between both parties. Furthermore, the other party must learn to accept it and let the friendship go.

“Ending a friendship may be a good thing if you are holding each other back,” said Alison Chen. “Friends are supposed to allow each other to grow, and you are supposed to push each other, but if a friendship is becoming the opposite, it is probably the right time to end it.”

Although ending a friendship may at first be seen as a difficult decision to make, it could also offer benefits and new opportunities to both friends involved. Often, ending a friendship gives one the freedom and the space that they need to discover more about themselves or reach out to new people.

“If people grow apart, and you find you have fewer shared values or there is less support or less respect in the dynamic of the friendship, sometimes, moving away from that and moving in the direction that better suits the individual’s needs can be a relief,” said Mr. Jack Neudorf, school psychologist. “Or if you are investing a lot of time and energy into a friendship that is no longer reciprocal, that time and energy spent can be better used either for personal development or developing friendships that are mutually beneficial.”

As new acquaintances enter one’s life, some friends will no longer be as important as they once were. The natural progression of friendship is inherently unavoidable. Humans are ever-changing beings, continuously forming new facets and personalities, which may bring people together over similarities or separate them due to differences. Since the time spent on each friendship contributes to personal growth, every friend has some influence on the formation of an individual’s thoughts. While the pain of losing a friend is a heartbreak unlike any other, there are innumerable lessons learned from one’s interactions with others, whether they are the beginning or the end of a friendship.

GRAPHIC ILLUSTRATIION BY SRINIDHI SESHADRI AND JESSICA LI

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Lauren Okamoto flips and dives her way into CCS

BY PATRICIA WEI

E

ncouraged by the loud cheering from her teammates and coaches, freshman Lauren Okamoto springs off the diving board and launches herself into the air, performing a series of flips with impeccable form. Moments later, she lands in the water with a graceful splash. As a member of Lynbrook’s diving team, Okamoto’s talent and consistency have helped the Lynbrook Swimming & Diving Team perform well at weekly meets. At Central Coast Section (CCS) finals on May 12, she placed tenth in the diving competition.

“CCS was a new experience and I did not expect to do so well,” said Okamoto. “I’m really happy with the accomplishment.”

When Okamoto practices with the Lynbrook diving team, they use the facilities at Monta Vista High School because Lynbrook does not have a diving board. Throughout the year, Okamoto trains at the Stanford Maas Diving Center for around two and a half hours six days a week. Her practices start with dryland conditioning: cardio and endurance exercises and diving drills on trampolines. She then performs flips and handstands off the edge of the pool. Afterwards, she moves on to diving off of platforms ranging from one to ten meters to perfect the dives she will perform at competition.

The sport of diving combines athleticism with grace. At competitions, divers are required to perform a diverse set of dives that include handstands, twisting and spinning forward and backward. They are scored based on their take-off, flight, entry into the water and execution of the dive.

“Diving is a combination of a lot of elements that help athletes become all-around people,” said Oleg Andriyuk, the head coach at Stanford Diving Club. “Some elements are camaraderie, striving for greatness, teamwork, facing fears, determination and dealing with nerves.”

Okamoto, a former competitive swimmer, discovered her passion for diving when she was nine years old, after she decided to join swimming teammate Remi Edvalson, a member of the USA Diving Junior National Squad.

She started by taking recreational diving classes for beginners and quickly advanced through the levels to join Stanford’s Junior

Olympic team two years later in 2014. Today, Okamoto trains with a team of girls from the Bay Area who share the goal of qualifying for nationals and one day competing at the collegiate or Olympic level.

“When I first saw her, I knew she was talented,” said Andriyuk. “Lauren is the hardest working person on the team. She is one of the strongest athletes, but she doesn’t brag about it. As the oldest person on the team, she keeps the team balanced and composed.”

Okamoto’s hours of practice have been producing stellar results. At the Region 10 Diving Championships in April, she placed first in one meter, second in platform and third in three meter diving, bringing her one step closer to qualifying for the USA Diving National Championships in August. For three to four times a year, she flies to different states for her competitions.

“It’s a big time commitment,” said Mimi Wong, Okamoto’s mother. “Qualifying for nationals involves a series of meets, many of which are far away. Handling the competition is exciting but difficult at the same time.

Lauren is lucky to have a strong support system, and to be training with some of the best divers in the U.S.” When she first started diving, Okamoto was nervous to try new dives. To combat nervousness, she takes a deep breath and counts to three before springing off the diving board each time.

“I’ve learned to be brave and act under pressure because of diving,” said Okamoto.

“When you compete, you only have a few seconds in the air before you land back in the water, so it’s important to trust yourself and not overthink anything.”

Despite her accomplishments in the sport, Okamoto’s greatest takeaway from diving has been the friendships she has made. Her best memories have been spending time with her teammates. She regards her teammate Edvalson, the one who introduced her to diving, as one of her role models.

Coming off of a strong first season at Lynbrook, Okamoto hopes to continue her success at nationals by placing among the country’s top 12 at nationals in August. With a strong work ethic, steadfast determination and support from teammates, Okamoto strives to pursue diving at the high school level, national level and beyond.

KELSEY LU—EPIC

Lynbrook Valks dance their hearts out at Spring Show Throughout the year, the Valks have had multiple shows in which they performed well and earned trophies at several group of passionately dancing girls run through their competitions across the country. This year, the Valks attendroutine with fluid motions and smiles across their ed five tournaments, four of which were regional and one of faces, dancing their hearts out to loud pulsing music which was the Contest of Champions national tournament in in the Cove. All year long, the Valkyries have been preparing Florida. At the Contest of Champions, they placed second in the kick division and third in the lyrical difor their many performances and compevision, an impressive achievement for the titions, their final performance being the team since it was their first time at a naSpring Show held on May 20. tional tournament.

The girls have been regularly practicing “BEING ON THIS TEAM TAKES A LOT OF EFFORT— The girls have not only succeeded in to polish the routines they have worked competitions this season, but have also deon all year in order to ensure a successTHESE GIRLS ARE VERY veloped close bonds and friendships with ful show. The majority of their routines COMMITTED AND STRONG each other. A lot of hours and commitment have already been performed at previous AND THEY HAVE REALLY go into being a Valkyrie, and members of competitions, but they continue to pracGREAT PERSONALITIES.” the team develop character, patience and tice them twice a week on Tuesdays and leadership skills through their many activiThursdays. During the Spring Show, a few dance teams from other local schools, such KRISTA RENTSCHLER ties, such as the camps that they hold every as Homestead, came in to perform with the COACH summer and holiday parties they have annually. Furthermore, their various socials Valks. Every officer on the team moreover and team bondingevents help them grow performed a solo dance of their own, and closer as a team off the dance floor. three seniors MCed the event.

“My experience as a Valk has been really fun — it’s had a “Being on this team takes a lot of effort — these girls are very committed and strong and they have really great per- huge impact on my high school life so far,” said sophomore sonalities that bring a lot into my life,” said Valkyries coach Claire Peterson, an officer of the team next year. “I’ve been Krista Rentschler. “I feel that if I didn’t coach, if I didn’t have able to create bonds and friendships while dancing and dethis team, my life would be very different. I really love them veloping. It’s definitely shaped skills in me like leadership, citizenship and teamwork.” being a part of my life.”

BY MEHEK KAPUR

A

MICHYLA LIN — EPIC

KELSEY LU—EPIC

KELSEY LU—EPIC

CHLOE LAI — EPIC

KELSEY LU—EPIC

ASB x InDesign fashion show hits the stage

BY KELSEY LU & SADHANA SARMA

A

s the audience takes their seats, grasping their cameras firmly in their hands, the music starts playing and the first model walks out of the black curtains. The annual Lynbrook ASB and Indesign fashion show has begun.

This year’s theme, “Lights, Camera, Action!” was prominent as models strutted down the runway and posed at the end, while wearing outfits designed by their fellow students in the InDesign club.

The event occurred on May 19 and took the entirety of the school year to plan and create. Designers spent months working hard on creating the outfits that were showcased in the fashion show.

They hosted sewing sessions, model socials and meetings for everyone involved throughout the school year to ensure a successful fashion show.

The Indesign club started a program called “Dare to Design”. This program invited students who wants to learn more about fashion but may not know where to start.The members of the program learned many new concepts and design as well as creating garments. Some of the members’ outfits got featured in the fashion show.

Indesign club held a model tryout and selected around 30 to 70+ people out of many who tried out.

Ms. Kruk, an art teacher, helped with ideas, setting up the runway and advising the event. Lynbrook ASB Social and Indesign meet to discuss their vision on what the fashion show will be.

They created scripts, promoted the show on social media platforms, coordinated with ASB tech for sound, lighting etc.... ASB Social also invited other Lynbrook students to join in the fashion show, singing or dancing.

On the day before the show, many students — both designers and models —spent the whole day and night at Lynbrook, making sure everything was going to go as planned on the night of the show. Practice after practice, everyone rehearsed their respective roles.

Professional makeup artists and hairstylists aided in the show by providing models everything from touch ups to dramatic smokey eyes and simple hairstyles.

The outfits were separated into different categories: Comedy, Mystery, Drama, Romance and Sci-Fi. Each outfit had its own unique touch to it and told a different story. Some made people laugh with enjoyment while others were from another planet. In all, each outfit was uniquely created. Each designer’s work paid off in the end with another fashion show. Here are a few of the outfits that were showcased.

ALL PHOTOS BY SHIVATEJA VEMIREDDY —EPIC