Issue 8, 2016

Science Bowl team wins big nationally

BY AURELIA YANG

O

n May 2, Lynbrook’s Viking Science Bowl Team placed second in the U.S. Department of Energy’s (DOE) National Science Bowl (NSB) competition, a nationwide academic competition where high school students compete in a “Jeopardy”-style forum to solve technical problems and answer questions in all branches of science and mathematics.

The Viking Science Bowl Team, led by advisor Lester Leung and consisting of seniors Jeffrey Chang and Richard Liu, juniors Pranav Lalgudi and Sean Meng and sophomore Abhinav Naikawadi, competed against 69 other high school teams, prevailing in numerous elimination rounds against teams from all across the nation.

In order to prepare for the rigorous competition, the team held practices every week at team captain Chang’s house, reading textbooks and browsing online sources for hours on end.

The team practiced old question sets that covered a variety of science disciplines and often wrote up their own questions, trading them with other science bowl teams to increase their knowledge span.

“Despite what many people think, practices weren’t only about studying,” said Naikawadi. “A lot of the times, we would fool around and have fun for a while and then begin the actual studying process.”

Beginning in January 2016, more than 9,000 high school students and 4,500 middle school students competed in 70 high school and 50 middle school regional Science Bowl tournaments to compete for the limited slots available for nationals. Lynbrook was one of the 69 high schools to prevail at regionals and advance to the next level.

NSB, held in Washington D.C., consisted of �ive days of science activities, seminars and competitions, in which top tier teams from all over the country attended and competed. More than 250,000 students have participated in NSB throughout its 25-year history, making it one of the nation’s largest science competitions. The team had the chance to meet teams of different backgrounds, making a myriad of new friends and learning new competition strategies from their out-of-state counterparts.

“My favorite aspect of the entire competition was meeting all the other teams,” said Chang. “A common misconception is that a place like NSB is a place where everyone is really tense and competitive, but in reality, it’s the exact opposite of that.

Most teams are really friendly and the entire experience was a really great opportunity to make new friends from all over the U.S.” On the �inal day of competition, the team, with their reddyed hair for school spirit, took on the remaining eleven teams through a series of elimination rounds.

“The day started out pretty rough,” said Chang. “We could only afford to lose one more game, and we lost that game in

the morning. After that, two of our members had a dispute, and our team spirit became pretty low. Luckily, we ended up coming together as a team and made it to the elimination competition in the afternoon.”

The team did not let the con�lict hinder them from competing at their maximum potential -- the day that started out poorly had inevitably evolved into one of the team’s most exciting and successful occasions as they advanced to the �inal.

The team placed second, right behind Montgomery Blair High School located in Maryland, taking home a grand prize of $1000 as well as an all-expenses paid trip to Yellowstone National Park. To commemorate the memorable event, the school also bought the team a huge cake and threw a party to celebrate. Undoubtably, the team garnered the respect of the community as well.

“I think that both team collaboration and extensive studying largely affected the team’s success,” said Lester Leung, Science Bowl advisor. “Them working together, supporting and encouraging one another were integral factors in motivating them to study more and to improve a lot as a team. It was really encouraging to see their work come to fruition.”

Throughout the tournament, the Viking Science Bowl Team proved its extraordinary work ethic and its science prowess, prevailing in competition as well as in its efforts to succeed as a uni�ied team.

USED WITH PERMISSION OF THE DEPARTMENT OF ENERGY

Next year’s homecoming to have significant changes

BY KATHLEEN CUI

P

rompted by the exponential expansion of Homecoming over the past years, the class of�icers next year will be implementing speci�ic changes to curb the growth of the annual celebration and decrease the standard amount of work required in the process.

These adjustments range from the number of decorated planter boxes to a genderneutral Homecoming court. Many of these changes are intended to address the considerable time, effort and money that students have traditionally invested.

Meanwhile, the gender-neutral Homecoming Court will allow for the experience to be more inclusive and progressive, speci�ically by considering students who may not identify with a speci�ic gender.

“The gender-neutrality of the Homecom-

ing Court helps our rules adapt towards accepted societal norms,” said 2017 class president Adhiv Dhar. “Why must it be necessary that a girl and boy are nominated if perhaps two girls deserve it the most?”

Although class of�icers and members of Homecoming have been encouraged to decrease the amount of work and personal monetary funds that are invested into projects, such efforts have not succeeded in slowing the expansion of Homecoming, especially given the increasing levels of competitivity and effort that have developed.

“As a class of�icer who has been heavily impacted by the monetary funds of Homecoming, I believe that these changes are necessary to reduce stress for the students involved and for the class of�icers,” said next year’s ASB Treasurer Lilian Chen.

While certain changes are still being debated, as of now administration and class

leadership have con�irmed that next year there will only be two planter boxes, optional teacher decorations and no food or decorations provided at the judges’ tables. Other changes were not approved by administration, but may be suggested again in following years.

Among other guidelines, next year’s decorations for the gauntlet and planter boxes cannot exceed eight feet in height without administrative approval, while the Homecoming Court will consist of two spots open to all gender orientations, rather than one spot open to a speci�ic gender as in years past.

Various other smaller changes will also be implemented, such as a clock display for dancers during the skit, and modi�ications for start times and deadlines of decorations and skit setup. see HOMECOMING on page 2

RETIRING TEACHERS //pg. 7

continued from HOMECOMING page 1

Finals Week Schedule Finals for freshman, sophmores, and juniors will take place between May 31 and June 2. Students will take their third and sixth period �inals on May 31; �irst, fourth and seventh period �inals in June 1; and second and �ifth period �inals on June 3. The full schedule can be found on the school website.

Final Day of School The �inal day of school for the 20152016 school year for freshman, sophmores, and juniors, will be on June 2.

There will not be any student checkouts as done in previous years.

by Harsh Jain

SHIVATEJA VEMIREDDY--EPIC

Baccalaureate Date and Time Lynbrooks annual Baccalaureate ceremony will take place on May 31 at 7 p.m at the Church of Ascension. The event will feature both senior student speakers and a word from the 2016 Class advisors. The event will be open to non-seniors as well.

PHOTO BY SHIVANI RANGWALA

“When coming up with these changes, all of the class of�icers agreed that our goal was to reduce stress, reduce clean-up, reduce the monetary cost of executing Homecoming, and improve school culture,” said Chen.

While the standard number of four planter boxes is the traditional and normally expected number of decorations, the general consensus of the of�icer teams was that decreasing the number of planter boxes would be one of the most effective solutions to Homecoming stress. Rather than downsizing what usually goes onto the planter boxes, the current plan is to maintain or improve the quality of planter boxes while decreasing the quantity.

“In regards to planters, there simply is no other option,” said Chen. “Telling classes to spend less money on Homecoming hasn’t worked in the past, and won’t work now due to the competitive nature of Homecoming.”

Although the change will likely lessen the workload that the decorations committees of the four classes will have to take, it was made while keeping the opinions of students who might prefer the older method of having four planter boxes and traditional Homecoming Courts in mind.

“We’re changing things for the better, keeping in mind the perspective of both the general student body and the elected of�icers,” said Dhar.

Yearbook Distribution Come out to the library on Thursday, May 26th (Today), and Tuesday, May 31st and to Room 209 on Wednesday, June 1st and Thursday, June 2nd to pick up the 2015-2016 yearbooks. Today, Seniors will be able to pick up yearbooks form 1:30-2:15PM, Juniors from 2:15-3:00PM, and Freshman and Sophmores from 3:004:00PM.

Senior Graduation Ceremony This year the 2015-2016 graduation ceremony will take place on June 3. The ceremony will start around 9:30 a.m on the football �ield and will continue through the afternoon. It will feature student speakers as well as a commencement address delivered by Principal Maria Jackson.

SHIVATEJA VEMIREDDY--EPIC

News in Brief

SHIVATEJA VEMIREDDY--EPIC

HOMECOMING|new and upcoming changes

GRAPHIC BY RAKSHA NARASIMHAN MICHYLA LIN - EPIC

MICHYLA LIN - EPIC

“I think that having two planters is a good idea because decs does cause a lot of stress, and its enough as long as you have organization and time management.”

FRESHMAN// Brandon Qin

MICHYLA LIN - EPIC

“I think that a money cap would be nice because it allows people to be more creative under the same circumstances, so the decs will be done in a more candid fashion.”

SOPHOMORE// Ravi Varma

“It probably would reduce stress. but you lose out on participation. I think that a money cap would make people think outside of the box more.”

SENIOR// Catherine Zhao

Drama club hosts its annual Improv Night Letter from the Editors Dear readers, This last issue has been handed over to the Editors-in-Chief of 2016-2017: Jessica Luo and Shreyas Iyer. We have full faith that they can continue to carry on the legacy of the Epic and make us proud.

We would like to say goodbye to members of the senior class of 2016. Through the ups and downs, AP tests, ditch days, and homework, we would like to thank the administration, our teachers, and most importantly, the fellow members of our class.

You all have supplied these past four years with some of the most remarkable moments we have had. Read our senior pullout (pg. 7) to look back on our past accomplishments, read bequeathals, look to the future in the map, and reminisce on this year’s graduating class.

Thanks for following us all year, and have a great summer.

Stay cool for the summer, Kristen Wong and Stephanie Lu

BY ALEXANDER XU

O

n May 16, the Thespian Society hosted its annual fundraiser, Improv Night, in Studio 74, which showcased the Thespian’s impressive improvisation abilities.

The Thespian Society is a drama club closely intertwined with but separate from the drama department. It is af�iliated with the International Thespian Society and plans its own shows, such as Improv Night.

“We want to encourage all people to enjoy theater,” said senior Kriya Giresh, president of the Thespian Society. “We teach members about acting, technology behind the scenes, costumes, props and more. It gives the people not taking drama the chance to learn things from their peers.”

Improv Night was a comedy show that had the crowd howling with

laughter as its participants bantered onstage. The Thespians, divided up into two teams, competed to see who could best engage the audience through improvisation games. Their success was then judged by the audience, who voted by holding up �lags. The green team captain, junior Evan McCormack, and the blue team captain, Giresh, worked to prepare their teams prior to the event.

“We help run the event,” said McCormack.

“We have to cast teams of equal skill, organize rehearsals, make sure that each of our teams improve and know what they’re doing, as well as design our team t-shirts.”

The improv games, coordinated by emcee junior Claire Dunn, involved several scenarios, some of which included guessing a preassigned occupation or playing an alternate form of charades. A few of these games required suggestions from the audience, who happily participated.

“I had to write a script for the order of games and worked with both teams during

rehearsals,” said Dunn. “This is the �irst time we’ve had a student emcee, but it was really fun because this is always a high energy show.”

The winner was chosen through a tiebreaker round between the two team captains, with the green team emerging victorious.

“Despite it being portrayed as a competition, it was more about the whole improv team putting on a show together,” said Giresh. “I thought we did a fantastic job of entertaining the audience while we were up on stage.”

After a short closing ceremony, the improv team was pleased that all their hard work had come to fruition with a successfully sold out crowd.

“We wanted a good performance, and we got one,” said Kyle Sung, a member of the blue team. “Everything worked out �ine, so it feels good. I feel like I’m on top of the world!”

PHOTO BY MICHYLA LIN || GRAPHIC BY RAKSHA NARASIMHAN

The various advantages of taking a gap year

BY ESHANI MEHTA

M

alia Obama’s recent decision to take a gap year before attending Harvard University is akin to thousands of other students who will also be taking a break from the standard schooling system. The White House announced her decision on May 1 and while the general reaction was positive, some individuals were displeased with her decision. Taking a gap year, which is a year between high school and college that some students choose to spend participating in non-academic activities, is becoming an increasingly popular option for high school students who want to gain real-world experience for a year before starting college, which is relatively more sheltered. On the other hand, many people view gap years with hesitation because they fear it will lead to academic atrophy.

A gap year, however, can be an enriching experience that helps students mature and gain perspective before college. Parents and college counselors should not hesitate to encourage gap years if a student is interested in taking one.

While gap years may not be a common choice at Lynbrook, they are not unheard of. Some Lynbrook students need a break after the stress of high school to think about their goals and what they want to study or simply enjoy a year of a relatively stress-free environment. “[Taking a gap year] just seemed like a good opportunity to grow and learn to be more independent before coming to college,” said Lynbrook alumna Jessica Cao, who won a scholarship for the CongressBundestag Youth Exchange gap year program in Germany and is now a freshman

at UCLA. “I just really wanted to learn about a different culture because I had never been to Europe before.”

A student has the opportunity to participate in a variety of activities during a gap year, including traveling, interning and volunteering. The variety of opportunities allows students with diverse interests to take a gap year that will add on to their college experience. A break can help students think about what they want to study, what their goals are and how they can achieve said goals.

“There are a lot of students that have worked really hard and need a break to prevent burnout before they embark on the next journey,” said College and Career advisor Barb Takahashi. “You can make your adventure, but it’s important to do something a little risky or outside of the box. Don’t just do the same thing you’ve been doing. You’re not going to grow from the experience.”

A common worry for students taking a gap year is �itting in during their �irst year of college. Many students worry that they will have a dif�icult time making new friends and adjusting to the fact that they would graduate college after their high school classmates.

However, college is about new experiences, and graduating a year after one’s high school peers can have many bene�its, such as being able to get important advice.

“I don’t regret taking a gap year at all because I was able to ask the friends who I graduated with for advice about college,” said Cao. “In terms of making friends, I haven’t found it to be that dif�icult to make friends with people who are 17 or 18, even though I’m 20 right now. It’s de�initely quite unusual but it’s not an issue at all. In college, there’s a lot of variation in students’ ages.”

Gap year participants have also been proven to perform better in college and be more

satis�ied with their careers in the future. Taking a gap year can help students realize the importance of their college education, which can give them purpose and help them focus on their education. A study conducted by the authors of The Gap Year Advantage, Karl Haigler and Rae Nelson, found that 60 percent of participants reported that the experience in�luenced or con�irmed their choice of major. Robert Clagett, who served as a senior admissions of�icer at Harvard, found that students who take a gap year have GPAs that, on a 4.0 scale, are 0.15 to 0.2 higher than the average student. “[After a gap year], you come in so much more mature and con�ident and assured that you can handle yourself,” said Cao. “In my gap year, I was able to get a lot of the experimentation out of my system. When I came to college, I was really able to focus on my academics and focus on making connections and getting involved at school.”

Students taking gap years will not only have an academic advantage, but the experience can allow them time for personal re�lection, help them develop as a person, increase their maturity and self-con�idence and help them �ind purpose in their lives. A gap year can be a life-changing, enlightening experience and all students should consider taking this opportunity.

ART ILLUSTRATION BY SOPHIA LING

Revamp Lynbrook’s cheating policies with a school council

F

ollowing the purported instances of cheating during the AP US History (APUSH) �inal on May 18-19, History teacher Kyle Howden decided to administer a completely new test in response. This decision, in compliance with district regulation surrounding cheating, created considerable outcry among students who were angered at the actions of the few conspirators. While cheating is neither a novel nor hidden tactic of obtaining a good grade, the recent events surrounding the APUSH �inal exam have made cheating a prominent topic of discussion yet again. Due to this instance of cheating, school administration should consider developing a school council composed of administrators, teachers and students to attempt to target the roots of cheating in the hopes of preventing future infractions.

Academic dishonesty is de�ined by the FUHSD board as “using a person’s work, concepts, designs, data, ideas, research, or documentation, without giving proper credit to the source.” This policy includes “cheating, using or providing unauthorized materials in preparation for an exam/test/quiz,” as was the case with the APUSH �inal.

In America, academic dishonesty has be-

come an epidemic; a recent Stanford report claims that roughly 75 percent of college students surveyed admitted to cheating while in high school, far from the 20 percent of students who admitted to cheating during the 1940s.

“With all of the pressure of doing well academically and meeting the expectations of peers and family, and just the environment in general, cheating is de�initely one of the bigger problems we have here,” said junior Nathan Wang.

The sheer number of causes, from parental pressure to college applications, creates an environment that promotes cheating.

“Cheating is not a unique phenomenon,” said Howden. “You’ve got a myriad of issues that you’re dealing with that cannot be remedied by one thing. You’re never going to get

rid of cheating, but you can mitigate it. I believe that [invalidating the �irst exam] was an attempt to mitigate cheating in the course.”

A possible solution lies not with administrations, but with students themselves.

“When teachers tell you to not cheat, a lot of students probably think, ‘You don’t understand me, you don’t know my situation, you can’t empathize,’ said Wang. “But if a peer were to tell you not to cheat, you would think, ‘Why not?’

Students, more so than teachers, can best relate to the issues of the student body. For many students, the parents and teachers that make up their community create the pressure which leads to cheating. Many students �ind the authority members of the community to be unapproachable due to a perceived lack of under-

Staff Editorial

The Voice of the Epic

“IF A PEER WERE TO TELL YOU NOT TO CHEAT, YOU WOULD THINK, ‘WHY NOT?’

NATHAN WANG JUNIOR

standing by said people. Fellow students, the other victims of said atmosphere, stand to be the people in the community who can most accurately empathize with cheaters.

As such, Lynbrook administration should propose a student-staff organization to implement methods of toning down cheating and to work with administration in delivering just punishments toward offenders.

“Students mostly cheat out of desperation to get good grades,” said sophomore Leia Chao. “The community has been working to lower stress levels and pressure of doing well in school. That will de�initely help especially if we emphasize it at Lynbrook.”

This organization would work with students to curb cheating and develop speci�ic policies to combat cheating on a case-by-case basis. Such a policy will best allow for decisions that best empathize with those in Lynbrook’s highly-competitive environment.

Howden’s decision to alter the APUSH �inal is testament to the pervasive nature of cheating at Lynbrook. In order to best counteract this environment, students and staff should create an organization to explore how to best improve cheating polities to deter cheating and its subsequent ills.

Diverse representation needed on currency

BY WILLIAM GUO

O

n April 20, Secretary of the Treasury Jacob Lew announced that Civil War activist Harriet Tubman would be the new face of the $20 bill, and that other female faces would be put onto the back of the $10 and $5 bills. The decision to have diversity on U.S. currency is a long overdue positive step toward equal gender representation in America.

The U.S. is the 49th country to have a woman on its currency; a stark contrast of its record of being a global leader in innovation and change.

People still pushed for this change, and the movement was spearheaded by a viral movement labeled #WomenOn20s on Twitter. #WomenOn20s managed to obtain over 600,000 signatures on a petition that called for women to be on the face of U.S. currency, speci�ically the $20 bill, as they believed that such a major bill should not have included Jackson, and rightfully so. Jackson was infamous for his racism and bigotry, exempli�ied by his passage of the Indian Removal Act, an action that rivals genocide.

Ironically, Jackson also vetoed the Second National Bank of the United States.

Harriet Tubman on the other hand, is a symbol of the American ideals of selflessness and of the �ight for freedom and equality for all Americans. She was a Civil War activist and a �igurehead for the Underground Railroad, risking her life to save other slaves and transport them to safety. She later worked as a spy for the Union, passing information to the government. Tubman’s achievements make her a well quali�ied candidate for the bill, contrary to Jackson’s racism.

WomenOn20s presented their campaign to President Obama as well as the Treasury Department on May 12, and the announcement for the new faces on the bills was released a month later. While the bills may not be released anytime soon, it puts women into the spotlight, acknowledging that women have contributed just as much, if not more, than the founding fathers of this country.

This movement was not without opposition, however, since many people argued that the previous �igures’ faces should not be replaced, such as Alexander Hamilton’s face on the $10 bill.

“I was appalled to hear of Treasury Secretary Jack Lew’s decision last week to demote Alexander Hamilton,” said Ben Bernanke, the former chairman of the Federal Reserve. Bernanke’s opinion was further bolstered after the success of Lin-Manuel Miranda’s hit play “Hamilton,” for which Miranda received the Pulitzer Prize. The attention garnered by the play brought more people to side with

the argument to keep Hamilton on the bill.

While Hamilton’s popularity should be taken into account, it is important to remember that similar cases could be made for each current face on the bill, and that the point of putting a woman on the bill is to bring more attention to her and her accomplishments.

The many contributions of women in America are often dismissed, and it is time that they gain recognition for their actions.

“As a child I noticed that women were never represented on things, and I was really surprised that this happened. I am happy that it was passed, because people tend to be resistant to change, so women like Harriet Tubman are rarely represented,” said sophomore Amara Khan.

Lucretia Mott, Sojourner Truth, Susan B. Anthony, Elizabeth Cady Stanton and Alice Paul will be reprinted on the back of the $10 bill, and Martin Luther King, Jr., Marian Anderson and Eleanor Roosevelt will be on the the $5 bill.

While these changes have already been made with compromises made as to who would stay as the face on the bill, the move for representation of a more diverse America is still there.

While the changes for new faces on the bills have been announced, the �inal designs are to be announced in 2020, after Obama and the current members of the Treasury will have stepped down.

Nevertheless, the progress for improved women’s representation is still under close examination by

“BECAUSE PEOPLE TEND TO BE RESISTANT TO CHANGE, WOMEN LIKE HARRIET TUBMAN ARE RARELY REPRESENTED.”

#WomenOn20s. The movement remains vigilant, continuing to strive for equal gender and racial representation in America.

“We will continue monitoring progress on these initiatives, and the promises that have been made will be kept,” said Barbara Ortiz Howard, founder of WomenOn20s. “We will be involved in the review of the iconography to insure that it is respectful, meaningful and re�lective of our values, and continue our efforts to educate about the contributions of women.”

AMARA KHAN SOPHOMORE

GRAPHIC ILLUSTRATION BY CATHERINE HUANG

STEPHANIE LU//IN MY OPINION

Taiwanese does not mean Chinese

Y

ou can say what you want about the politics, but don’t even try to say that China and Taiwan are culturally congruous.

First off, Taiwan was never really affected by the Cultural Revolution. My family never had to go through what Mainland families did under Mao’s regime, and to equate Taiwan and China by ignoring that fact is almost disrespectful. Histories shape the public psyche, and Taiwan and China don’t have the same ones.

It’s not just the whole communism vs. democracy thing either. For instance: the island of Taiwan was never the Han Chinese’s (aka the ethnic Chinese) to begin with. The original residents of Taiwan were the Taiwanese aborigines, who are Southeastern Asians and whose land was colonized by the Han Chinese centuries ago. The Mainland has its own dark history, but no Mainlander’s ancestors aggressively took from and assimilated an indigenous group for their own bene�it.

But in more recent history: your World History textbook might’ve told you that the Kuomintang (KMT) �led to Taiwan after losing to the communists, but you probably don’t know what they did there.

What happened was, Mandarin became the language of power, since that’s what the KMT spoke. Prior to their arrival Japanese was the language for of�icial business (since Japan controlled Taiwan for a long ass time, which isn’t true of the Mainland), so Taiwanese residents who’d formerly held high positions because they knew Japanese had to step down. Taiwanese Hokkien (the native dialect of most Han Chinese in Taiwan) and other non-Mandarin dialects were banned, and kids were whipped and �ined for speaking anything other than Mandarin at school.

But because Mandarin was introduced so late in Taiwan, pretty much any elderly Taiwanese person can only speak Taiwanese, though some of the more educated ones (like my maternal grandmother, whose middle school education put her so high above other Taiwanese people she became a teacher) can speak Japanese as a holdover from the Japanese regime.

So while the KMT was doing its thing in Taiwan, Mao’s regime was snuf�ing out explicit displays of Chinese folk religion in the Mainland. As a result, most Mainlanders wouldn’t have grown up openly praying at Mazu’s temples or not going swimming during the entire seventh lunar month (because ghosts, obviously) like my parents did.

Actually, the two things that seem to be everywhere in Taiwan are ghosts (a 2006 survey of Taipei college students found that 87 percent of them believed in ghosts), and the goddess Mazu. Mazu’s big in parts of southern China too, since that’s where the coasts are and she’s supposed to look after seafarers, but folk religion in China is way more varied. Not everybody lights up for Mazu in China like they do in Taiwan.

But since most Han Chinese in Taiwan are from southern China, Mazu’s kind of Taiwan’s gal--the one all Taiwanese people pray to for everything.

I’ll admit: I get why non-Taiwanese people would think that China and Taiwan are the same place. We look roughly the same (barring those with aboriginal ancestry), we eat similar foods and we speak similar languages. But years of political and geographical separation don’t exactly create the same cultures. And that, at the very least, should be understood.

Debaters make Lynbrook history at TOC

F

rom April 30 to May 2, two Lynbrook students participated in one of the most prestigious speech and debate competitions at the high school level, Tournament of Champions (TOC). Juniors Varun Venkatesh and Nisarg Shah �lew to Lexington, KY, where they competed against the best debaters from all over the country.

TOC, an annual debate tournament held in Kentucky, allows students to qualify for competition by obtaining bids, which are granted to students who place in the top levels in debate tournaments. Generally, the top two debaters in the tournament receive bids, but a few tournaments such as Stanford and Berkeley award more bids because of the larger competition pool. Two bids are required to qualify for TOC, which may seem like a small number, but the level of dif�iculty to acquire those bids makes TOC one of the most prestigious high school debate tournaments.

The tough competition and the familiarity with the prompt makes TOC truly different from the local state tournaments that debaters compete in. TOC uses a prompt that has been announced around four or �ive months before the actual tournament date, which means that the competitors will have already thoroughly explored all the surface level arguments.

Therefore, the only way to stand out in this competition of professional-level participants is to �ind a unique point of view or argument that the opposition has most likely not seen.

“We had preparation from January, February and March already stacked up,” said Shah.

“But, we did try to write some unique cases and positions because it is the �inal tournament and it is when people will pull out all the stops just because it is their last chance to debate. We had some pretty interesting and innovative strategies that threw a couple people off guard.”

Shah won a bid early competing at the Stanf o r d tournament and later narrowly quali�ied for TOC by winning a bid in the Berkeley tournament, the last regular tournament of the year. Venkatesh, on the other hand, quali�ied for TOC through a less common process. Venkatesh only received one bid, during the Presentation tournament, but he went through the “At Large” process which gives debaters with only one bid a chance to be selected for TOC.

“It is basically a quali�ication process where people with only one bid, if they are deserving plus other reasons like luck, who they debated, who their judges were or any other variable factors which [the debater] can’t control,” said Shah.

“They just let those types of debaters get into TOC.” Once at the tournament, competitors must participate in series of seven speci�ically bracketed rounds where they are paired up against competitors with similar debate statistics.

For example, a student with three wins would usually have to go against a competitor with three wins. Once a competitor reaches �ive wins, he will compete in elimination rounds in which one loss can lead to a complete elimination. Shah went through the tournament with three wins and four losses while Venkatesh won four rounds and lost three.

“I was 4-2 going into my seventh round and if I had won that round I would have been able to break, but I ended up losing that one,” said Venkatesh. “But, it was still a great experience overall especially for junior year, I think I met my goals and am excited for next year to see if I can build off on that.”

Although Shah and Venkatesh did not make it to the elimination rounds, they still made Lynbrook history as the �irst juniors to qualify for TOC, a senior dominated tournament, in over 10 years.

Lynbrook has sent multiple competitors to TOC in recent years, all seniors.

In 2007, one Lynbrook student actually won the tournament, but the debate program at Lynbrook signi�icantly

decreased since then.

From their progress this year, Shah and Venkatesh have reached their self-established goals and have already set improvements to achieve next year.

“Our goal for junior year was to make it [to TOC] which required a bidding process,” said Shah. “But next year we are trying to drill over the summer and put a lot of effort in next year to win some of the local tournaments. Stanford and Berkeley are tournaments that are there, but they are not like TOC, they still have their own elimination rounds, so we would try to win those tournaments as well as to try to break at TOC. So, it is just a continuous effort.”

Although Venkatesh and Shah did not win, they remain optimistic about their performance next year. Using this year’s experience to guide them, they aim to win more local tournaments to prepare for the 2017 Tournament of Champions.

“Going to the TOC in junior year is supposed to be an educational experience because you’re competing against the best seniors,” said Venkatesh. “So we feel that it has given us a lot of experience to do well next year and build on success from this year at TOC and hopefully make it to the elimination rounds.”

SHIVATEJA VEMIREDDY — EPIC

BY SHIVATEJA VEMIREDDY

How to give a perfect thank you gift to anyone

BY CATHERINE HUANG

A

s the end of the school year approaches, there may be certain teachers, coaches or fellow peers and friends that you want to thank. What better way to thank them than to get them a small token of appreciation for their help and support throughout the school year? Here are a few simple tips on how to get anyone the perfect gift without stressing yourself out.

Create a list of the interests of the receiver.

Instead of opting for a basic gift card or cash, consider gifting something more personal. If you don’t already know them well enough, browsing through their Facebook timeline or scrolling through their Instagram feed to get a good feel of their interests, passions and personality often does the trick. Does your teacher post about Beyonce’s newest album? Consider getting quality lemonade. And when your coach shares a picture of her dogs?

Time to hit up Petco for a personalized leash! Don’t be afraid to check out posts they’ve “liked” on social media in the past-they will thank you for being so thoughtful later.

Identify a gift that the gift recipient needs.

To avoid getting useless items that are thrown in the closet, never to be seen again, ask yourself what this person may need, but never has the

time to get for themselves. Whether it be a physical item like a whiteboard, or something more impalpable like encouragement, use this information to your advantage when choosing the gifts. Have a disorganized sister in college? Perhaps you can get her a closet organizer for her clothes. If there’s nothing substantial to give, something more generic like an article of clothing or a new pair of headphones will do the trick just as well!

Make something homemade or sentimental.

If you’re on a budget or have already made many everlasting memories with this person, then consider a gift that highlights the fun experiences you two have had so both of you can reminisce. Something homemade or sentimental shows effort and thought, so your gift will most likely be greatly appreciated. Simple room decor, a fresh batch of cookies or a personalized photo album are all simple yet great gifts for your teachers, coaches or friends that will make them feel loved.

Consider gifting an experience or your time.

Gifting someone an experience can be more memorable or interesting for both you and the gift recipient, so you can get creative with this one! An all-expense paid spa day, a dinner date or tickets to a Warriors playoff game will surprise and excite anyone you want to thank or impress. If the person you want to thank is

constantly busy and stressed, gift your time by offering to do yard work or babysitting their siblings--whatever prevents them from getting a good night’s sleep. Whatever you decide, planning an adventure or volunteering your time will surely have a lasting impression on the recipient of your gift!

Akamichi and Torp retire from teaching Surviving the end of the school year

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lthough I am fully aware that the realm of time is a human construct and doesn’t actually exist, it still surprises me how fast a year of school can wind down to an end. For some, this hails the beginning of an incredibly uncomfortable four years of self-discovery and bad skin. Or the calm before the storm of standardized testing and college apps. And for others, it signi�ies the last few days of their high school career. Either way, we can all agree that enduring until the summer is going to involve some of the hardest hours of sitting in a classroom you’ve ever experienced. When counting every ceiling tile doesn’t help, here are a few tried and true methods to survive the last few days of school.

Scream out your worries Historically, animals have used calls as a way to communicate their emotions to one another. Fast forward a few million years and humanity’s biggest threat is no longer angry lions, but the terror of boredom. Screaming is just another one of our instinctive reactions toward distress. Or at least that’s what you’ll tell your teacher when you get reprimanded for interrupting her lecture.

Alternative methods include screaming into a containing device, such as a backpack or a jacket. A water bottle would also work, for more advanced screamers!

Pick up doodling Some people prefer to use their old worksheets to study for �inals and review what they’ve worked hard to learn that year, but for you, that old binder is your new canvas.

Your pencil box of red pens and jammed pencils is your new palette. And you, my friend, are the newest artistic genius to bless this world. Some ideas for subject matter include portraits of your teacher (which also make great thank-you gifts, by the way), landscape pieces of the �luorescent-lighted classroom around you, or maybe even an abstract portrayal of your inner turmoil.

Start philosophizing Lying in your bed late at night isn’t the only time to speculate about the whimsies of life. There are far too many topics to get headaches thinking too hard about, so why not get a head start right now? The kid asleep next to you in English might be drooling, but deep within his consciousness the next Aristotle is just waiting to be discovered. The intricacies of love, politics and personal discovery are just a blank stare away.

Don’t lose hope Above all, the best way to ensure you don’t survive is to lose hope. It’s easy for one to break in the harsh conditions of the average classroom, as only the strongest can persevere sitting in a cold plastic chair for 45 minute intervals, �ive days a week. When the temptation to drop out and move to the Swiss Alps to start a simple, goat farming life becomes far too strong, remember what you have to continue on for. Many �ind that crying brings them comfort, but pinching yourself helps as well.

If none of this tips work out, have faith knowing that you’re already a few minutes closer to vacation just by spending time reading this column! Whether you are �lipping through your �irst Epic or your hundredth, I really appreciate you for following my journey this year of sarcasm, complaining and diabetes.

Thanks for sticking around!

Sophia Ling (Boba count: 80/50! I am both impressed and disgusted with myself.)

BY URMILA VENKATARAMANI

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fter teaching at Lynbrook for 29 years and 14 years respectively, Art Department Chair Lee Akamichi and English teacher Fritz Torp will be retiring.

Lee Akamichi Over the course of his career, Akamichi has tried to adapt his teaching style to �it what is becoming an idea-driven economy. Instead of focusing on technical skills like drawing or painting, he now prefers his students to focus on the conceptual, to actually �ind meaning and purpose behind what they create. “[Teaching here] has added tremendously to the purpose of my life,” said Akamichi.

After announcing his retirement, many of his former students have reached out to him.

“A lot of times they remembered the technique and the materials we used, but mainly it was me they re-

membered.” said Akamichi.

Akamichi has also had a profound impact on the students he currently teaches.

“He really changed my life,” said senior Jimmy Zhi. “I went from thinking I wouldn’t go to college to having too many options.”

Of all the things he will miss about working at Lynbrook, interacting with his students is at the top of Akamichi’s list.

“My room is �illed with laughter, and I love that,” said Akamichi. “I love the fact that the kids can get to be themselves; I get to see the best of them, and they’re amazing.

Fritz Torp One of the main things Torp hopes his students remember about his class is what he considers to be the most important question to ask oneself. “‘How should a person live his or her life?’” said Torp. “If my students take away one thing from my class, I hope it is how to address this.”

One of Torp’s favorite memories at Lynbrook has been co-writing the staff skit during homecoming each year.

“I started working very closely with Dr.

Stevens on Link Crew, and she has always been instrumental in making the staff skit happen every year,” Torp said.

“So we started talking and we started writing together, and it turned out to be a great creative relationship.”

Torp believes his time at Lynbrook has changed his way of interacting with students. At his previous teaching job, he was required to be more focused on making sure students were able to keep up in his classes. At Lynbrook, Torp believes that the academic independence of students has given him the freedom to be goofy in class.

“Mr. Torp cared about trying to make us better people,” said junior Ali Chen. “I remember the quote on the wall he always talked about; he tried to make us think about our actions.”

After retirement, Torp plans to get some sleep, exercise and focus on his health. Additionally, he is looking forward to traveling to places he has never been to before, such as Norway, and picking up the guitar again.

MICHYLA LIN — EPIC

Rap music from Drake’s point of view

BY HARSH JAIN

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GRAPHIC ILLUSTRATION BY SOPHIA LING

inger and rapper Drake’s newest album, Views, was of�icially released on Apple Music on April 29. The 20 song album is Drake’s fourth studio album, which spent nearly two years in the making after he �irst released his intentions to create a new album in July 2014.

The album begins with Drake’s smooth voice singing the song “Keep the Family Close,” about Drake’s realization that his family is the most important in his life. He speaks in regards to a girl, whom he thought he was perfect with, but evidently things don’t work out. It begins slowly, but throughout the song begins to increase in intensity. The drums are a great touch to the song, as it makes for a very grandiose song to begin the song with.

All of the songs in this album can be categorized in two groups; the �irst, pop music, is catchy and has a relatively fast beat, and the second encompasses the slow and thoughtful songs. The album is set in a way that songs in both of these groups, for the most part, alternate.

Views strays away from the more conventional style of rap

music, especially the type of music that Drake makes. In his 2015 album, What a Time to Be Alive, he includes several hard hitting songs, with bass heavy rap lyrics. In Views, Drake has more of a mellow style, with slower songs, such as “Weston Flows Road.”

This slower style is similar to songs from his mixtape-album If You’re Reading this it’s Too Late. In that album, a few songs have a Carribean-esque production. Similarly, in Views, songs like “One Dance,” “Controlla,” “Pop Style,” and “Too Good,” are also exotically produced. The use the same tempo and instruments of many Caribbean and Jamaican songs, in the production of the music. Most of the songs have drums in the background that really add a sense of rhythm to the music.

Similarly to his previous albums, Drake’s lyrics contemplate his experiences and emotions with love and heartbreak. Furthermore, many of his songs are either about him �launting his wealth or talking about his feelings.

These lyrics don’t set the album apart; in fact, these lyrics re�lect what has become the new standard in rap; bragging interspersed with the occasional melancholy song.

What is more interesting about this album is that Drake does not feature any popular or mainstream artists; instead, he chose to collaborate with artists like Kyla, PARTYNEXTDOOR, Pimp C, dvsn and Rihanna. Other than Rihanna, these artists seem to be the future of the rap and music industry. PARTYNEXTDOOR and dvsn are young and coming artists from Toronto, Drake’s hometown.

These songs show the evolution of Drake and the hip-hop industry, as it shifts from hardcore rap to mellow and soft pop music.

YOU WISH YOU WERE A SENIOR I

f you look back far enough, you can see our tiny awkward selves thrust into Lynbrook’s environment, walking onto campus half carrying the glory of our middle school years. But we were afraid – different bell schedules, increased homework loads, and intimidating upperclassmen kept us holed up in our niches, content in our comfort zones. That was us, the freshman class of 2016. We traveled to London that Homecoming, reenacting scenes from Sherlock Holmes and practicing our fake British accents. Little did we know we were still forging our identities, trying to distinguish ourselves from the classes of freshmen who had come before us.

We wanted to be unique – that much was for certain – but we still had a lot to prove.

As sophomores, we grew stronger in our spirit and abilities. It was a time of exploration and discovery, as we joined new clubs, took more dif�icult classes, and began to �ind our footing at rallies. We were no longer the youngest, the most unsure of ourselves; we had a whole year of experience under our belts and we put that to good use. We came at

homecoming this year with a renewed sense of purpose, channeling our inner wanderers and dreamers through Alice in Wonderland.

Then junior year came, and our spirit stayed strong – we killed it in homecoming with our elaborate decs and epic men’s dance, bringing our class to ancient roots with Grecian mythology while at the same time remaining forward-thinking in our motives and ideas. We were �lustered with AP work, standardized tests, and the other pressures that came with impending college applications; but we would overcome.

Senior year: the apex of high school, the year when the “two-zero-one-six” chant carries the most meaning and we carry the most pride. We can be proud of ourselves for making it this far: for surviving the Goderator’s savagery in spoons, the cursed �irst semester senior life, the weighing dread of college decisions and so much more. We learned. We grew. We became the people we are today. and held nothing back. Everything comes full circle eventually. This is the Class of 2016: You wish you were a senior.

SENIOR I, Adam Askari, bequeath to Abhi, a positive attitude, to Krish, a deeper voice, to Mihir , my ball handling skills, to Vibhav, less salt, and to Brandon Kim, my Bass Clarinet/ Java “skills,” a frog and clam repellent, a supply of Agam meds, and a defense against the red man.

I, AK, bequeath toxicity to Irene, and cutting practices to Aaron, the donut drives to Chacko and Angela.

I, Adish Jain, bequeath the future of Speech and Debate to Nisarg, Varun, and Harrison, awkward waves from across the campus to Anya, the quad squad to Raj and Eric, and all my funny jokes and great stories to Julia.

I, Aditi Lahiri, bequeath upon Marilyn Kung my zen skills, upon Preethi Varadharajan my sarcasm and dislike for calculus, upon Manasvini all my knowledge about Donald Trump and upon Prerna lots of PMT.

I, Aditya Kotak, bequeath objections to Alina and Kat, minimum club attendance requirements to Harrison and Robert, falafels to Vaishnav, nothing to Raj, and Drake and my stan status to Kavi.

I, Aileen Lu, bequeath proactivity and cuddles to bannerbunny, a politics-free season to Aya, my locker to Yuta, exuberance to EricEmu, hipbumps to Sube, shipping to Christine, caring to Sean, Sean-hugs to William(s), photography duty to Ryan, Biology knowledge to Shawn, tact to Blair, and happiness to everyone because wordcount.

I, Ajinkya Nene, bequeath literally everything to Alex M. Xu.

I, Ajit Vijayakumar, bequeath my roasts to Harsh Chobisa, my PR legacy to Andrew Destin, my trash talking and dunks to Jon Liang, the legendary Mukajoo Instagram account to Mira Thekdi, and lastly my bread and pulling skills to Srikar Mallipedi.

I, Akhil Bhandaru, bequeath my prized frisbee to Roy, my epic case of senioritis to Irene, my weirdness to Katherine, AOST to Aaron, some bacon to Alina, SCIOLY to Pranav, my god like smash skills to Kavi, and to each split evenly: my endless reserves of luck and love.

I, Alekhya Surepeddi, bequeath my confusion to my lil baby of the confused in physics squad Soob, my polaroid obsession and love for DECA to the CSP cubs Manoj, Leia, Felicity, Matt, Riya, and Maya, and ofc my deepness to all my cinnamon rolls in Aletheia

I, Alexa Ziegel, bequeath my ability to make volleyball practice as fun as possible to Sara M, Alice C, and Amy S, work hard and play harder, good luck next season.

I, Ali Chen, bequeath my senioritis and dumb jokes to Amy Hung, KC to Kathy and Nora Lam, and Most Outstanding Section^TM to Danhee, Jessica F, Jessica S, Amy, Emily, Eileen, Ye Sol, Kristie, Rachel, Victor, Ashley, Sube, Eric, and Meera.

I, Alison Kou, bequeath my band-tuning responsibilities to Matthew Tran, my leaving-pencils-on-the-�ield tendencies to my alto babies, my morning sass to Marilyn Zhang, and epic dance skills to my brother (jk he already has them).

I, Allison Hsieh, bequeath struggles and wows to Brian Lin and Rahul Khare, unpublishable �ist pumps to Davin Tjong, favorite-neighbor-ness to Jamie Chang, berry goods to the not-berry-goods, improper use of “tfti” to Sube Bhattacharya, and unconditional love and support to marching band.

I, Alvin Fan, bequeath my gorgeous looks and swole muscles to Kevin Huang, my amazing driving skills to Katherine Li, my hard League carry skills to Doreen Zhao, my coordination and �inesse to Audrey Ham, my (in)ability to pick up girls to Vidit Katyal, and deez nuts to Denver Yu.

I, Alyssa Zhang, bequeath salmon cream cheese to Grace, Jihwan, Rachel, Joshua, and Tiffany; bball skillz + rishabh to Avinash, Juhi, and Neha; the infamous RC bell to Aarushi and Maryam; LAUvely donuts to CCIC’ers; 10/10 facials to Dolcissima; and a �istful of dirt to future AP Lit students.

I, Amrita Iyer, bequeath my inner shrew and “pulling an Amrita”-isms to Shivani, my tem and muscle crew love to Arsh, Elton, and Shikhar, the “Cups” song and pandas to Shikhar, and “Qualquamm”, Dinochat, laundry skills, butter mops, and my obsession with online window shopping and honey mustard and onion pretzels to Ria.

I, Amulya Raju, bequeath the lunch table to Amy, backstage blunders and succulent corsages to Talya, “science” to Claire and Evan, socks to Sharon, tutoring to Tiffany, barely passing chem grade to Pallavi, strontium nitrate to Katherine, Interact love to Ashley and Kat, and my room to Varun.

I, Andrew Lee, bequeath my maple syrup collection to Andy Zhang, historical inaccurate games to Andrew Si, dank maymays to Vinay Kukutla, and increased energy levels to Edward Lee. I hope you use them well tbh fampai.

I, Angela Hu, bequeath my vast senpai knowledge to Jordan Morris, my fashion sense to Maia Sumanaweera, my best smashes to Catherine Chi, Dolcissima to Katherine H. Li, and my stay out of trouble skills to Maggie Pan. Lastly, I bequeath my accomplishments and discoveries to the entire Dolcissima.

I, Angela Kuo, bequeath my art skills to the sky, so when I leave California and head off to my new home, the sky will be painted in warm sunsets over the place I will miss forever. CALI LOVE.

I, Angela Sun, bequeath my ability to �loat to the swimmers, sarcasm to Yulee, monster to Kasper, “after 9pm craziness” to my stalkers, eyebrows to Michelle, car rides to Ryan/Eunice, streaks to Alan, achievements and happiness to Bradley and Nathan, and room but not belongings to my dearest sister, Jennifer.

I, Anh Tran, bequeath tans and good luck+skills for college applications to Prachi, Divya, Amanda, Kristina, Nina; fun and life advice to Iryl, Amanda, Ye Sol, Allison, Sammy, Rhea. Science skills and deep discussions to Marilyn Kung.

Adventures and cookies to Marilyn Zhang. Cuteness appreciation and spontaneity to Michelle Lang.

I, Ankush Rayabhari, bequeath the love for Function.bind to Bryan Chen, the original kush to Kushal, the struggle of Web Dev to Matthew and Adhiv, and the dif�icult position of dealing with nonstop glissando and plucking from an intoxicated Tarab to Tiffany Hsia.

I, Anna Sussenguth, bequeath Kevin the Sussenguth kick, Angela and Maryam my love of running, Vibhav, Avaneesh, and Aaron my ability to tilt everyone, Leslie my independence and creativity, Irene my love for learning, Ben, Andy, and Ambuj my work ethic, Edward and Andrew my league skills (or lack thereof).

I, Annie Nicole Zhu, bequeath my foodie-ness to Kyle Huang, happiness to Mulan, everlasting hugs to Furbie Lin, Flume tracks to Sean Jergensen, Mah-Jong talent to David Xu and Daniel Israel, PMT to Shiva, and af�inity for nature and culture to the one and only, Casey Markert.

I, Ariela Guadiamos, bequeath the table outside the band room to Amy Hung, onstage sel�ies to Kate Sanders, the record board and the third lane from the wall to Eunice Kan, applesauce to Yulee Jang, Jolyns, my patience, and positivity to the Lynbrook Swim Team.

I, Arvin Ng, bequeath my daily brunch appointments with TCF to Sophia and Shefali, 3am registration struggles to Karthik, ma�ia skills to Gautam, kindness to Tejasvi and Andrew, hats to the ICDC squad, and Oreos to my pet monkey (aka my dear brother).

I, Astha Goel, bequeath my long stories to Arnav Gupta, jokes to Ria (good one!), unachieved aspiration to become a vlogger to Mira, innocence to Karthik, hugs to Ritik, and “momness” to Claire, Talya and Evan.

I, Austin Hsieh, bequeath my insane clarinet skills to Jiayi Shen, Teresa Yang, and my protégé and secret lover, Alex Zhao.

I, Austin Kwon, bequeath by archery skills to Ah-Young Joo, my musicality to Eugene Yang, my ships to Joy Feng, and my procrastination to Hope Safranek.

I, Alex Bakaleynik, bequeath my roto skills to Reece Breuckman, and Vape Nashh patriotism to Collin Pratt.

I, Bobby Ma, bequeath my Debating to Nathan Cheng, Calc Binder to Stephanie Li, college essays to Chelsea Pan, normal face to SKim, AP scores/Alice’s Calc Binder to Joy Feng, Chem knowledge to Irene Han, height to Alina Wan, awesomeness to Michelle Zhou, and DECA skills to Jonathan Xu/Jessica Peng.

I, Brandon Piercy, bequeath my shirtless wrestling ability to Athrv Khoche.

I, Brandon Strong, bequeath my love of Interact to Misaki Otani. I bequeath my lack of art skills to Ysabel Li and Noela Bae, as well as my passion for all things green tea. I bequeath my sarcasm to Ariana Lin, and my stress to Ashley Wang.

I, Brian Chen, bequeath my blueberry bagels to Cindy Wong, Simran Bhandarkar, and Bhavani Panda, my 3DS to my brother Austin Chen, and �inally my ego to Alex Hays.

I, Cat Zhao, bequeath unsalty cookies to Jennifer, endless corsages to ArtReach of�icers, productiveness to 3rd period art squad, dog therapy sessions and orphan-�inding skills to editerz and Valhalla, and <3 to everyone.

I, Catrina Nguyen, bequeath the pain and terror of college apps to any juniors I ever even looked at. Good luck, kid.

(Just kidding! You’ll be �ine! :) ) I, Celine Tsai, bequeath my presidential powers to Hannah, procrastinations skills on weekly PPT to the jclub of�icers, endless laughter to Sherina, AP Japanese struggles to next year’s APJ class.

I, Chetan Somani, bequeath my supply of strawberry milk to Mihir Pandya, my hair to Alex Xu, my stats textbook to Kushal Tirumala, and my Teatop stamp cards to Andrew Park.

I, Chris Kim, bequeath the duties of policy team mom to Alina, Emily, Eric, Felicity, Nathan, Nikhil and Venkatesh, jolly ranchers and love to the rest of the policy team, my last chair cello skills to next year’s chamber cello section, and my godlike physics expertise to Joy and Felicity.

I, Chris Lee, bequeath lame jokes and my fashion sense or lack thereof to Sub, sassiness and attractiveness to Eileen, ability to sleep with eyes open to Yuta, poor life decisions to Jenny, poor Chinese pronunciation to Matthew, antisenioritis to Eric, and lastly huggableness, cuteness, and warmness to Rachel.

I, Christina Tani, bequeath supreme power to Brass Babies, sassiness to Sassy-Brass, title Mello Mommy to Ankita, high-�ives to Sube, free haircuts to Eric Wu, pokes to Jae, driving skillz to the guys, supreme reed chipping ability to Trannie, Boboes to Davin, and peepo cancer to Ethan.

I, Christopher Duggan, bequeath my swagtastic introverted skillz to Collin Pratt along with my super sprint skillz also to Collin Pratt

I, Christopher Jin, bequeath my sketchy serves to Nathan Wang, my league skills to Sahlik Khan, and my ability to chill to Sherina Hung, who needs it dearly.

I, Clarence Lau, bequeath to my brother, Raymond Lau, and sister, Breanna Lau, all family pranks we have pulled together. May the two of you �ind new pranks to use on

this school. Enjoy Junior and Senior year!

I, Codie Chang, bequeath my artsiness to Tuhina, math skills to Julia and Bahaar, soccer skills to Sasha, love for animals to ASAP of�icers, and spoons savviness to Ashley.

I, Cynthia Wang, bequeath love of cute cacti to Carolyn, slimjim to Jennifer, my love to Kevin, being perpetually small but angry to Terz, angry glares to Yinan, punctuality on deadlines to John, cute DIY projects to friend David, and c-wang legacy to Christine and Chris.

I, Cyrus Cheung, bequeath my social skills to Daniel, dead baby jokes to Jason, cat eating skills to Shruti, sarcasm to Aina, looks to Ivan, paparazzi skills to Brian, spaceship to Alina, voice to Krish and super fast swimming to Casey.

I, Daniel Chin, bequeath my aikido skills to Leslie Sern, Nyanpasu to Amber Hsu, the nonexistent fried chicken to Daniel Li, my unending list of music to Marco Chin, my luck to Amy Huang.

I, Dara Jovkar, bequeath my glass and 6-speed semi-automatic Acura MDX to Jon Liang, my camera body to Kevin Huang, dank memes to Alex Xu, Peter/Jasmine to Saif Kausar, mad dancing skills to Arsh, Ritik, Daanish, and Varun, and my J.crew gift cards and fashion sense to Seena Jovkar.

I, Derek Li, bequeath love of rap, 80s music, and “as well” to Sarah Isola, Bridget Naylor, Emily Leung, Estella Lin.

I, Divya Narayan, bequeath a memorable four years to the soccer team (seriously I love you guys), my “Photoshop” skills to Fiona Law and Maya Shah (even though your way better), fun lunches to Phoebe Soong, great driving to Bre Devil, and rides to Tea Top to Amanda Beck.

I, Diya Kalaimani, bequeath my voice to Katherine, Joyce, Mickey, and the rest of my choir babies, maroon hoodies and midget hugs to Samhita, boss parent-pleasing skills and book collection to SuriBoori, and all my love for EXO to Cindy (jk I’m keeping that).

I, Durga Ganesh, bequeath my sisterly love to Raghav; HOSA’s resilience to Bahaar, Shivanee, Sharon, Jennie, Christine, and Alina; passion for research to Vennela, Anusha, Tanvi, Saba, and STEM; S4L’s expansion to Cassandra and Natalie; heartfelt discussions to Aletheia; cool projects to NHS; calmness to Marilyn; and music to Asrita.

I, Edward Lee, bequeath Andrew Lee my horrible taste in games and Jasper Huang with the Ocean Science Bowl team. Have fun dude. I’ll be watching! ;)

I, Elin Chee, bequeath my spunky side to Irene, pretty bad love advice to Chacko, tank-ness to all of Lynbrook XC, “sorry”s and random singing to Lynbrook soccer girls, Beyonce moves to Jalwa gals, sass to Ahana, plaster skills to Tony, chatting tips to Saif, and spirit to future classes.

I, Emily Min, bequeath my burning passion for biology and hunger for Chipotle to John Um, a lifetime supply of Shin Ramen Black to Minsub Lee, insane violin skills to Nathan Wang, and my unstoppable Stop abilities to Bryan Chen.

I, Emily Zhong, bequeath tiny erasers to Jennifer, Cosmopolitan snapchats to Teresa and Yinan, my impeccable pasta party attendance to Jessica, hotel room workouts to Angela, “How to Train your Dragon” to Chacko, and irreplaceable long run convos and tamale Tuesdays to Irene.

I, Eric Su, bequeath my “mom” title to Davin, hours of practice to Alvin, happiness to Shruti, dank memes and mechanics to Nick, ability to waste countless hours of time to Nicole, smashes to Brian, and spirit and dedication to the badminton team!

I, Eric Zeng, bequeath my battery �lipping skills to Shikhar and Nathan, my over-the-goal polo shots to the varsity polo team, my wasted volunteering time to Andre and Alex, and my nihongo skills to Kumi’s Jap 3 class.

I, Erik Zhao, bequeath my physics knowledge to Bahaar, a salt shaker to Teresa, my luck to Alina, and my randomfact-memorization skills to Katherine and Marilyn.

I, Esha Patel, bequeath Renee Cai’s confused in physics �ish face to the physics crew. Thanks for always �illing me in when I forget to listen. Have fun watching Buzzfeed food videos in class next year! I’m out of here fools.

I, Emily Lo, bequeath my endless salt to Bryan, essay-editing expertise to Oscar, a memorable senior year in choir to Amy, Ashley, and Michelle, JNHS love to Katie and Kohei, and my handwriting, subject-verb agreement, and study habits to my dear little brother Jason.

I, Ethan Chee, bequeath my fashion game to Shreyas, a drama-less life to Nicole, Link Crew qualities to Yajur, good ankles to Gio, my calm, non slipper beating nature to Misaki, and my hair game to charity (it’s up for grabs).

I, Eunice Ko, bequeath my weird jokes and skype calls to Danlin Lillemark, McFlurrys and rants to Pallavi Thawani, pantz zoots and dogs to Alan Lin, my love for chem and kans to Ryan Tang, my loudness to Tiffany Chang, and red hair dye to Sean Meng.

I, Gargi Kand, bequeath my obsession with IPKKND to Tanvee, my lowkey sarcasm to Shruti, my night cramming sessions to Amiya, undying love for Starstruck to Riya, senioritis words of wisdom to Katherine, judging our Java squad to Simran, SSV prank calls to Krithika, and humerus science puns to WiSTEM. I, Gauri Jain, bequeath annoying end-of-show arcs to the Fluties; green jacket, ping-pong-skills, foot-heater, and guard-huddles to Siri/Daphne, Kavitha, Raksha, Catherine/Kasey; tardiness to Ryan; Japanese, phone#, dancemoves, knuckle-taps, crying, dotbooks, Taiwanese duets, piccolo; birthday presents to Amy, Danhee, JFeng, Rachel,

Sube, Eric, Annie, Ashley, Emily, JShu, Surya, Kristie, Eileen

I, Ghanshyam Patel, bequeath the $20,000 worth of AudioVisual equipment ASB has to Aayush Shah, Alison Chen, and Francis Lin.

I, Grace Lam, bequeath long chats to Rachel, craziness to Morgy, hamsters to Michelle, H+ to Ka, e- to Waylence, noncommutativity to Amber, test-cramming to Bradley, clothespins to Daniel & Minsub, tininess to Jasmine, iPhoneography to Cynthia, star-threading to Nick, blood drive to Aarushi & Maryam, books-for-kids to Katherine & Eric, and love to link kids.

I, Han Chong, bequeath sanity to my section, but you already took it; the holy BSCL10 to Brandon, then to Iryl when the time comes; tech things to Timothy and Matthew. What exists of my pretrialing to Alina. Stories to Eileen. Responsibility to Eleanor, Hannah, and Andrew.

I, Hazel Shen, bequeath �lute expertise and Aiono army to Amy, life talks and acai bowls to Rachel, game and gossip to Danhee and Jessica, hysterical laughter to Andrea, hot dogs Eric and Sube, SASS to the �lutes, the royal pain in the neck to FClub, and stresssssss to ACS. I, Heather Evans, bequeath my position as Alpha-Shrew to Travis, my cooking skills to Hannah, and my procrastination skills to Jeff.

I, Hinten Mui, bequeath my massive forehead to Hanzen Mui, BMI to Nathan Wang, my ankle injuries to Ivan Wu, my tiny hops to Anson Li, my cancer plays to Sahlik Khan, my buttery sets to Raj, my minecraft account to Brian So, and my Kevin Chu to Tiffany Chang.

I, Howard Lin, bequeath my squats to Richard Huang, and the TBF’s from Dynasty Academy to Alex and Alex.

I, Indu Pereira, bequeath lots of laughter to Anushka, roleplay skillz to Abinayaz, love for Faure to Maia, Dolcissimama-hood to Shivani, Katherine, and Sahana, DECA struggles and smiles to Sophia, Karthik, Andrew, Tejasvi, Matt, Manoj, Maya, and Leia, and sleep during HC to Saif, David, Adhiv, Joshua and William.

I, Ishita Dubey, bequeath my daily struggles in class and general life confusion to Shefali Vijay, my passion for hockey players and chicken fries to Kat Cui, and my deep, deep love for making Spanish Honor Society powerpoints to Trevor Aquino and Pranav Lalgudi.

I, Jackie Chou, bequeath nothing to Kavi, beautiful layouts to Jennifer and the rest of Valhalla, the note C4 to Jeffrey Han, and my best musical wishes to Asrita, Nicholas, Alison Chen, Vidit, Pragna and Prapurna (aka matchymatchy), and Shreya Munnangi.

I, Jane Kuang, bequeath my sass to Dana, Lex Ishimoto to Kathy, giggles to Tiffany, passive aggressive chats to Ashley, appetite and BTS to Alicia, death glares to Amy, French legacy to Mahima, amazing budget to FHS of�icers, procrastination to Eileen, cheezits to Nicholas, and wholehearted love to my Valks.

I, Janice Chan, bequeath my lack of French skills to Tuhina, ships to Ashley, Interact spirit to Kat and Lisa, senioritis and saltiness to Harrison, sassiness to Selena, luck to Isha, PF love to Alanna, Aarushi, Meghna, Aishwarya, Ram, and Sarvesh, lame puns to Sally, and debate crushes to Amber.

I, Jeffery Yang, bequeath my trombone skills and �ire for playing music to Davin, my native pro�iciency of Japanese to Ken and Yokiya, swag handshakes to Mohan, and my cooking skills and overall weirdness to Sherina.

I, Jeffrey Chang, bekweeth Romeo the Koala and the Beacon of Light and Reason and Science to Pranav, my two pet rocks to Abhinav, my indices of refraction to Sean, my elliptical curves to Matthew, my vim to Kushal, and my spoontistics to Bryan Chen.

I, Jennie Li, bequeath my senioritis, boba cravings, and some grapes to Andrew Bom Chom Park, Cheer Captain struggles (start crying now) to Rachel Lee and Aly Echanove, and wonderfully free afternoons to Hannah Lee <333.

I, Jessie Chen, bequeath Net�lix binge watching and Bath and Body Works obsession to Kathy Lam, physics struggles to Selena Huang, brawl skills to Antonio Jen, driving skills and dog walks to Justine Chen, Key Club and soccer love to Annie Pan, and pasta party attendance to Jessica Zheng.

I, Jim Sussenguth, bequeath Vibhav my entire collection of dank memes, my speed and kick to Andrew and Edward (who need it), my attitude and ability to have a good time to Kevin, a better car to Mehmet, and my sexy dance moves to Casidy. YAAAS SLAY.

I, Jimmy Zhi, bequeath my conceptual arts to my “only friend” Jennifer, passion towards Model U.N. to Jessica & Catherine, life long appreciation to Aletheia, desma acceptance to Tony, extracurricular involvements to all my EL peers, and leadership skills to Hannah and Alie.

I, Jissell Jose, bequeath my geometry powers to Faven Desta, my awesome jokes to Fatima and Joelle, sick eye rolling to Hailey. Amnesty to Juney and calc struggles to Chelsea.

I, JJ Ignatescu, bequeath “sh*t in-depth says” and in�inite sassiness to Alex, patience and the board of ever-changing layouts to Catherine, the ability to draw out dummies and weed brownies to Nanda, my Pinterest board and shortness to Renuka, future unforgettable moments on indepth to Aurelia, a big heart and the con�idence to lead with justice to Shiva, Claire, Jessica and Shreyas, and endless adventures before, during and after production to the rest of the Epic staff.

I, Joanne Her, bequeath hugs and kisses to Yokiya Ito, my dying love for Interact to Sean Jergensen, all the bobas to Daniel Kao, and my dog Coco and forever love to Jon Liang.

BEQUEATHALS I, Jocelyn Sun, bequeath my section to Sherina and Janie; blue pearl knowledge to Aaron, Shruti, Sho and Matthew; ability to make hair look fabulous to people who have complimented it before; and college admission luck to any of my junior friends who need it.

I, Jonathan Lin, bequeath my cons trophies to Ethan Chuang and Ryan Tseng, my water bottle to Ashley Chen, my racket to Nicholas Ho, my years of training to Angela Zhang, and my car to Catherine Chi.

I, Joshua Otani, bequeath my legendary hops to Anson Li, dancing ability to Isaac Hou, Physics brain to Vibhav Parimi and David D Kim, tardiness to Athrv Khoche and Matt Zhou, you knowww, and Interact drive to Misaki Otani. The Man, the Myth, the Legend, Poshua Hons Otiny, is oussa.

I, Julia Jin, bequeath my minimal Japanese skills to all future generations of Japan Bowl, a sliver of my in�inite love of books to Joyce, my mediocre physics knowledge to Jenny, and a raised brow to that alarmingly energetic corner of Japanese Club de�ined by Ali’s impassioned screams.

I, Kabir Kapoor, bequeath my carefreeness to Michelle and Ashwin, my semidiurnal sleep schedule to Gautam, a welldeserved large pizza to Peggy, and my compelling “business activities” to Yiu-On.

I, Karen Li, bequeath an amazing high school experience to Colleen, my “ugh freshman” phrase to Amiya, my blunt humor and glares to Angela, my listening ears to Kennedy, my eyebrow raises to Faven, my lack of boy drama to Rita, my constant teasing to Sinja, and all my love to the fabulous Wonder Table.

I, Kavya Nambiar, bequeath sleep to Chelsea, rad shin guard tans to Olivia, Yinan, Michelle, Danlin, and Juney, Hi’s in the hallways to Pratibha, Barry Allen’s Flash suit to Srikar, boss MC scripts to Mira, speech skillz to Riya and Interp, and my santa suit to Will, Josh, and Anushka.

I, Kayla Bonser, bequeath my use of the word “bae” to Jeremiah the Bullfrog Tripp, my teenage big-sister angst to Walter Bonser, my love for everything hippie to Kat Harless, and my love for green to Travis Fehr.

I, Ken Yanagisawa, bequeath ASB PR to the trustworthy Rita Wang! I hope you can continue the monthly video legacy. Shout out to Abinaya Srikant for organizing this with us! You’ll always be part of the PR fam with us <3

I, Kenny Yuan, bequeath burrito-�illed walks to Nick; �iery class-spirit to Aayush; ham to Lilian; sexy JavaScript to Bryan, Kushal, Matthew; shady FBLAdventures to Joshua; smooth choreo to Isaac, Will, Adhiv; height to Juney; shooting accuracy to Denver; maaassive hugs to Katherine, Saif; and the pursuit of happiness to Maggie.

I, Kevin Dai, bequeath the insanity of the hurdle crew to Mehmet, raw speed to Andrew, Edward, and Dylan (the gods), hiding in the bathroom and avoiding warmups to Chelsea, 4-steps to Shaiva, reading Reddit posts and cringing to Kosuke, dabbing to Alex, being lazy to Sun, and Photoshop skills to Tony.

I, Kirsten Chai, bequeath the fate of the soccer team to grandan, sadh, pannie, and soccerlord23, all of my senior wisdom to the my favorite 3rd period APUSH kiddos, amazing goalkeeping skills to Nikita Rangwala and Selena Huang, and passion for soccer to Emma Chase I, Krithika Giresh, bequeath my thai food obsession to Talya patience to lead thespians, workouts and party planning to Claire, my car and sanity to Riya, my hugs to Holly, getting the most CSF points to Rhea, my panic to Baahar, and my improv win to Evan.

I, Kristen Wong, bequeath endless hiking trips, my 3-person social quota, and my amazing soccer ball drawing abilities to Tuna, my $40 Seahawks apparel, my ability to socialize, gold stars and ice to Rhea, the Force, my spitting tendencies, and laughter at your dumb injuries to Dani, responsibility to Annie, secret sister love to Sadhana, mission peak 2.0 to Rachel, sandwiches and that one parking spot to Sasha, my soccer passion to Emma Chase, 4th place to the girls’ varsity soccer team, my kind generosity, unconditional love for Ross, FB hacks, sketchy eating venues, and rotten food in the media room to Jessica, my Chelsea love to Shreyas, all my love, faith, and con�idence to Claire, my inability to plan socials to Shiva, and the Epic to the ed board – remember, soccerbeatsgolfanyday I, Lawrence Cheng, bequeath my (non-existent) French skills and (too-existent) French struggles to Sean, Justin, and Clarence, former Geometry Dash addiction to Allen, weak arm-wrestling technique and Ankush dank memes to Kaveh, and APCS productivity (lmao) to Robert and Kevin.

I, Leigh Williams, bequeath my Japan Bowl legacy to the team, height and bananas to Alie, evilness to Ashley, JNHS powerpoint-making and speaking skills to Katie, Kohei, Kai, Horace, Sasha, and Pato, my love of BTS, Sumikko, and boba to Grace, Claire, and Ablert, and college acceptance to Sho.

I, Margaret Chien, bequeath my Connect Four losses to Bryan Chen, Double Reed Sectional fun times to Matthew Tran, and amazing Chinese TA skills to Kevin Lo & Vincent Cheng.

I, Maryam Sabeti, bequeath compassion and appreciation to CSF, passion for everything Yearbook to the #valhallafamily, dependence on the arts to ballerina buddies and Dolcissima sisters, determined derpiness in labs/dissections to Pre-Med and AP Bio/Stats juniors, love of Lynbrook to Link Crew, and excessive cheerfulness to everyone.

I, Masha Koubenski, bequeath my endless piano duties to Maggie Pan, my limited driving abilities to Matt Zhou, and the party life to Vidit Katyal.

I, Megumi Kawamura, bequeath my love for the golf team, hilarity, cooking skills, and ability to throw a golf ball over a creek to Jessica Luo, mile time and love for food to Me-

gan Yang, and passion for winning to the entire golf team.

I, Melody Hsu, bequeath my Chinese stories to Jessica, golf fries and free food to Megan and Angela, secret sister asian snacks and pro golf skills to Angie, mendy struggles and Taiwanese pride to Joshua, violin skills to Morgan, and my best wishes to keep piano club alive to Andrew.

I, Mel Chen, bequeath my ability to get 120 CSF points in three weeks to Rhea, my lack of ability to dance to Ravi, my physics mastery to Ivan and Alexian, and my hopes and dreams to the Key Club of�icer team.

I, Meryem Guler, bequeath my love to the guard, my guard skills to Conner and Annika, my driver duties to Sho, a water bottle to Amara, my angry face to Jenny, my senioritis and constant stress to Amy, and a tedious senior year full of college apps to my brother.

I, Michelle Chiu, bequeath eyebrow hair to Dana, boys to Tiffany, hair gel to Kathy, lunch dates to Ashley, piggyback rides to Eileen, masseuse degree to Alexian, cafeteria pizza to Andrea, Kula to physics squad, capital letters to Austin, marketing to my Frenchies and intimidation to Valks.

I, Mukund Hari, bequeath Athletics Unlimited to AU Crew 3.0, Riya my good looks and cuteness, Srikar my acting skills, Mira my muscles, Riti my love for biology and jazz, Harsh the legacy of #harshkund, Shiva my ears, and Jon my “I’m scared.”

I, Nancy Xu, bequeath my 2013 pictures to Myra, Marilyn, and Katherine (shoutout to MnMk, shootshootshoot!), of�icer meeting struggles to the #NeuroBureau/SfN, dance struggles and fun runs to Megan, blazing LinAlg skillz to Bryan, pats to Winston, ping-pong ability to Alex, and a “bird-costume” to Leslie for your beautiful drawing.

I, Natalie Yang, bequeath squishy hugs and derpiness to Amy, JNHS love to Katie Chen, Kohei, Horace, Kai, Sasha, and Patricia, and Chinese homework correcting skills to Rita.

I, Natasha Nema, bequeath all my interp skills to Neha, sassiness to Muf�in, inability to do Calc to Vib and Ankur, amazing memory of names to Renuka, 3-0 tennis matches to Jennie and Mish, my spirit to Anushka, Riti, and Abi, and love of dance to my Nazaara baes.

I, Neha Kunjal, bequeath math skills to Rhea, chirpiness to Marilyn K, locks and dysfunctionality to Annie, long walks to Marilyn Z, Riley Curry videos to Patricia, penguins and hacking skills to jellybelly wu, CS rants to Alina, lame puns to WiSTEM, and failed overheads to the tennis team.

I, Nicholas Wong, bequeath my airbowing skills to Nathan Cheng and Eugene Yang.

I, Nicolas Liang, bequeath my captaincy to Noah and Trevor, head-winning abilities to friend David, head-giving abilities to Mohan, boba addiction to Denver, 100 pace to Ryan, defensive duties to Seiya, inability to bulk to Matt, and APoverload to CS god-squad (A-bird, Teja, Swolemaster Kou).

I, Nidhi Khandekar, bequeath the future of FHS to Will, Alex, Alan, Helen, Marianne and Jeffrey, my meager soccer skills to Alina, my titration technique to Claire, my franglais to Rupsa, and my awk bollywood dancing to Samhita.

I, Nikhil Rati, bequeath my interest in astronimical events and black holes to Raj’s nose, three day trials to Adhiraj, ability to look high all the time to Atharv, and Udyog, Adhiraj, Yajur, and Kiran the Dawg to each other. Hail Hydra.

I, Nikhila Udupa, bequeath my kuzy enthusiasm to Amy Hung, all my future dance experiences to Rhea Kamath, and my love of platonic hand-holding to everyone who hasn’t yet tried it.

I, Owen Li, bequeath F1-esque driving skills, late night ‘adventures’, pranks, and car crew to Shikhar, my CNC to Ria, sketch electric longboard(s) to Arsh, video skills to Elton, puns to Jing-Chen, shooter to James, hype to Aayush, gestapo to Team 846, and TA shenanigans to Jeffrey and Rebecca.

I, Phoebe Winters, bequeath the opportunity to have a quali�ied coach to my BAB homies, my swimsuit struggles & excited leg kicks to the girls swim team, my ability know case materials better than opposing attorneys to the mock trial team, and my planning skills to the new GSA of�icers.

I, Prachi Khandekar, bequeath my nonexistent softball and booty skills to Megan, my chopstick pro�iciency to Nick, my French rap and snapchat obsession to Alan, and my sexy horse abilities, chill fam awkwardness, newfound dancing passion, and poster-making dexterity to Katherine H. Li.

I, Prad Raghunath, bequeath my varsity starting spot and playing time to Calabazas squad, my senior Prad Pitt shirt to Eric, Sarvesh, Vidit, and Athrv, my van to EVERYONE I’ve driven, and I thank Raj Mehta for allowing me to escape the event horizon of his nose for college.

I, Pransu Dash, bequeath my unmatched skills in BSm roleplays to the entire DECA family (Karthik, Sophia, Andrew, Tejasvi...and literally all the sophomores), the destruction of my miletimes to Irene, unlimited tilts to Vibhav, and success and happiness to Isa for putting up with the goat!

I, Prashant Pokhriyal, bequeath my QOTDs to Anushka, passion for service to Will, Head VIC position to Morgan, better v-log skills to Mira, ROTDs and fashion sense to Adhiv, PPFC to Abi, roasts to Juney, Nocturnal Clownery to Nicole, Ysabel, and Josh, and my heart and soul to Lynbrook ASB.

I, Raaghav Minocha, bequeath sketch night walks to Morgan, Rainbow park to Isita, stolen Snickers to Claire, Talya, and Evan, a healthy knee to Aayush, bomb hype videos to David, my (platonic) love to Ria, Peter to Saif, game to Avaneesh, long stories to Asad, cool sound buttons to Max.

I, Rahul Iyer, bequeath the glory of another FRC season to the Funky Monkeys, extreme glissing and pizz/slapping

skills to Tarab Ansari and Tiffany Hsia, all the “conversions of linear to angular motion” to Bryan Chen, and being late to Nicholas Guo.

I, Raka Mukherjee, bequeath the future of MUN to Daisy, logistical things to Yichen, and the party life to Vidit.

I, Renee Cai, bequeath my cat-�inding and sour-�lower skills to Irene, my hatred of the pool and love of jolyns to all my polo babies <3, my baking skills to Sally K, and my carefree don’t-work-play-hard mentality to all my underclassmen :’)

I, Revati Go, bequeath all my positivity to Jan because child you can do it all if you believe! To Kathleen, Leslie, Natalie I bequeath laughter and great advice skills. To Juney, Eileen, John, Veronica, Amy I bequeath patience for Amnesty! And to David good luck L O L ~ <3

I, Richard Liu, bequeath my intuition, guessing skills, and energy™ to Sean and Abhinav, clutch math bonus carries to Pranav, astoundingly dumb luck to next year’s Science Bowl team, competitive success and hacking skills to FBLA, and the position of Wind Ensemble concertmaster to Marilyn.

I, Rishabh Swarnkar, bequeath Jokes Mawa to Rohit, Ambuj, Athrv, Vinay & Avinash; Spont to Juhi, Daanish, Ritik & Joseph; Brown Mamba to Talha, Joe, AC & Johnny; razor to Vidit; Omkar’s car to Agrima & Meghna; donuts to Riya J., Krishna, & Raj; a cookie to Maya & Sean; and love+best wishes to Rithwik.

I, Ruchi Gupta bequeath my love to Nanda, my intelligence to Riya S, my Net�lix password to Simran and my luck for Junior year to brown town :)

I, Rujuta Munshi, bequeath my love for dance to Riya, Ria, and Shreya and my ability to wake up and get to school on time to my brother Aditya.

I, Rupa Ganesh, bequeath my charm, hilarity, Net�lix, sass, and overall lack of enthusiasm to Sasha Kipnis and Kyle Huang, and my love for Brielle to Daphne Liu.

I, Ryan Eckert, would bequeath my immaturity to the trombone section and my incompetence to Band Tech, but y’all really don’t need it. Instead, I bequeath my responsibility to responsibility to Matthew Thepc, my ultimate BSing skills to the low brass freshies, and my common sense to Timothy Yang & Sho Ota because you guys sorely need it.

I, Sally Wan, bequeath the dank art of popping-off to Benfrom-ASB; 1-AM-damnit-Ben-texts and lots of love to baby Saif; godfatherhood to friend David; macarons to Harrison; prank wars to Matthew and Adhiv; Alex and a never-ending supply of plane tickets and chocolate to William; and all of my love and support to Rita.

I, Samvardhini Sridharan, bequeath my coon skin cap and fruit cup to Marilyn Kung, my Bollywood repertoire to Manasvini, my homes in Nome and Puntas Arenas to Varshni, my tendency to exaggerate to Pragna, and my French notes to my favorite freshman Kuhu.

I, Sana Sharfuddin, bequeath my love for Taylor Swift to Sarah, swag to Zia, non-existent raving desires to Ruhi, MigoLand noodles and pandas to Saba, thoughtfulness to Zaheer, baller Curry skills to Zakir, undying love to all of the Epic, happiness to Hiral and Raina, media room rants to Jessica, courage to Claire, deep talks to Renuka, managing editor talent to Shiva, and ability to talk for 24 hours in a row as well as all my endless love to my modern family buddy.

I, Sanjana Gupta, bequeath my feelings and my abilities to �ind a professional on time to all of my Aletheia babies! <3

I, Sarah Lee, bequeath my laziness to Tony Lee, unladylike like skills to Amy Nish, InDesign to Andrea, Praka, Amy, Evalina, and Christina, sass to Ivan Yo Wu, driving skills to Tiffany, and my single status to Alexian.

I, Sarah Tatley, bequeath my ability to sit in a chair to Iman Haq and everything else that makes me who I am to Rachel Tatley #whatisthose.

I, Sera Choe, bequeath my good looks to Rebecca, my cute animal obsession to Shaiva, and my Aikido skills to Daniel.

I, Shailja Somani, bequeath late night prep/music sessions, Mountain Dew runs, my collage-making skills and our amazing team to Varun, Nisarg, and Harry, awful nicknaming skills and bad puns to Nikhil, Chris, Anya, Susan, Yichen, and Rohan and my sass and love to the whole team.

I, Sherrie Guan, bequeath willingness to go on adventures and willpower to make good decisions to Sun Lee, promises to see Odesza again to Hannah Lee, electric cars and hype clothing to Lois Chen, and best wishes to underclassmen who are as forgetful as I am when writing bequeathals.

I, Shirley Sun, bequeath my appreciation for horror movies to Andrew, friendship with Urmila on Facebook to Pranav, hair that didn’t cost $500 to Tony, ability to think about something not college-related to Kavi, (lack of) caricature drawing skills to Tuhina, and JSA love to Anushka.

I, Shivani Rangwala, bequeath the moon to Udita, chemistry skillz to Pallavi, body rolls to jalwa girlz, (lack of) soccer talent to Emma, tetris ability to Kathy, leadership to JSA of�icers, sarcasm to Isita and Nisarg, better dabbing to Trevor and procrastination abilities to my Engage babies and Nikita – good luck <3.

I, Shreya Kumar, bequeath my aggressive facial expressions to all my Jalwa bbys, my love for Philz and hatred for swimming to the Robe Squad, my constant positivity to Matt Zhou and Athrv Khoche, batches for Sasha Kipnis, and my whole existence to my one tru fam Nandini Nag.

I, Shyam Karthick Ravikumar, bequeath my identity to Karthik, deep V-neck to Tejasvi, DECA legacy to Gautam, intellect to Manoj, swag to Sophia, chill to Andrew, happiness to Athrv, humility to Michael, and TV shows to Harrison.

I, Simran Aswani, bequeath my Kdramas to Shivani, terrible art skills to Swaathi, and terrible sarcasm to Aruna.

I, Sinclair Chen bequeath my blunt courting skills, compersion, and food to Alexis; my taste in blogs to Ariel and Vivian; my af�inity for children’s card games to Cassandra; my ambitions, ease, and unreturned book to Marilyn; and my leetness to Neha and Sean.

I, Sky Kim, bequeath my dropping skills and �lappy arms to baby Sarah, my loud and quirky voice to baby Julia, my dance skills to kathy aegi :3, my napping hours to Angela aegi, and good luck and love to all my baddie babies for their future badminton years in high school �.

I, Smarana Gadepally, bequeath my creepiness to Neha, love for pigeons to Cathy, �lirtiness to Holly, energy bursts to Nanda and Simran, my holiness to Prerna, Marylin and Manasvini, “sexy” dance moves to my bollywood team, and overly dramatic personality to my drama fam!!

I, Sophia Meng, bequeath the dominating “dictatorship” to Terz, \_/ to Kevin Huang, unrequited love to Jen Xu, avocados to Yinan Su, “making happiness” to Maggie Yuan, icy water to my Valhalla babies, “being a” to Sally Kim, apple bagels to Chelsea Pan, and the best of wishes to FBLA. I, Spencer Peterson, bequeath to Shawn Liu my stolen drum sticks and inability to use them, to all of my alto kids my unparalleled perpendiculars, to Ethan Liu my music annotating abilities, and to Ricky Lee absolutely nothing.

I, Stephanie Lu, bequeath radicalism to Jessica, less racism to Shreyas, happiness and Taiwanese pride to Claire, good health to Shiva, the best hugs to Samhita, all the world’s PMT to Aurelia, snark to Eshani, the photo editor legacy to Michyla, strong nerves to Will, loud rap music to Harsh, quiet competence to Chelsea, and all my love to the Epic and its new ENCs. I, Stephanie Wang, bequeath boba/burritos to Aurelia, naptime to Alicia, harmonies to Nick, and bunnies to Katherine.

I, Tanvi Varma, bequeath passion for social justice to my prodigy Richard, my positive outlook on life to my sweetheart Renuka, and my ambitions to driven child Marilyn.

I, Ted Leung, bequeath Vidit Katyal with my swag, charm and awesome guitar skills. Good luck next year buddy.

I, Tiffany Chen, bequeath my derpsketeerhood to Katherine H Li, my BBC period drama collection to Maia Sumaneewara, and AlegeFrench skills to Wakana.

I, Tiffany Tzeng, bequeath my social inadequacy to Alexis, a fraction of my nerdiness to Surya, my procrastination skills to my lil sister Felicia, my mediocre �lute playing to the band (both marching and symphonic), and my eloquence to Vertigo. Thanks Lynbrook; it’s been a hectic four years!

I, Tiffany Yang, bequeath my gongcha cards and height to Siriwan, my rap career and pregame warmups to bless Daphne, my hard cookies and college app turnips to Catherine, and all my icecream and macaroni to Hope.

I, Tim Sireci, bequeath my football skills to Hayden Ito, my massiveness to Anson, my voice to Zayhaan, and my height to Arjun & Ashwin. Thanks to Zay for making me a fan page.

I, Tzu-Han Hsu, bequeath my unicornness to es hawn and jae, eyes to Hannah, enthusiasm to Varshni desire to continue doing marching band for the alto fresh babies, my desk to Yi-Wei, and my triangular gift to someone’s sax case.

I, Urbi Saha, bequeath my bedroom to Udita Saha, cooking skills to Jada, poki bowl to Brandon Qin, hair skills to Neha Palvai, key club points to Annie Pan, secret sister gift to Jessica Zheng, and my soccer ball to Sadhana Sarma.

I, Urmila Venkat, bequeath sass and class to Irene, germs and game to Will, my amazingness and humility to Eshani, common sense and tumblry obsessions to Michyla, love and support to the three of you. ability to tolerate Will to Harsh, fourth meal trash talks to Jess, Claire, Shiva and Shreyas, speed to Leslie, =^.^= to Michelle<3, luck to Renubeti, cool grooves to Nanda, justJingchenthings to Francis, and all the food in my house (and all my love) to Swaathi.

I, Vaidehi Duraphe, bequeath the anxiety and excitement of Silsilay to Ria, Srikar, and Mira, all the of�ice’s chocolate to Olivia, rage and slick dance moves to my Jalwa disciples, marketing magic to Karthik and DECA, and my aggressive lack of sleep to Rachel.

I, Valerie Batino, bequeath my “not with that attitude” quote to Kasey, shoulder tapping skills to Sandy, hooligan skills to the softball team, bgirl repping to Amy, ridiculous dancing skills at lynbrook dances to Tyler, and longboarding skills to Shannon.

I, Vania Wang, bequeath my Mock Trial non-abilities and gossiping to Alina, Virtual Enterprise cookie business skills and life advice to Stephanie, and hopeful dreams of Angie and Sprinkles’ friendship to Christine and Sharon.

I, Weixin Ding, bequeath my motherly love and canned raviolis to Miya, my snacks to Amity, my wise words of wisdom about teenage boys to Megan, my rave glory to Veronica, my pecs to Louis, my Happy Donut sticky buns to Jordan, and my tiny bunny hops to Sandy.

I, Whitney Li, bequeath Pablo to Marilyn, Mythili, and Shrila, squishy vegetable stickers to Julia, Natalie, Amber, and Cassandra, senioritis to Jiayi, motherly fashion to Amy Nishijima, height to Tiff Wong, driving skills to Tiff Chang, sistering skills to Mohami, and undying love to the Valks.

I, Yash Joshi, bequeath my “largest trombone” to Davin, better-than-Jeffery trombone-ness to Alina and Siddhi, my EPL following to Matthew T (because he’s massive), scouting skills to Shreyas M and Arsh, 5/7 memery to Elton, “Hey, guess what” to Shikhar, steroid pills to Nathan Lee, TI 84 tetris to Peter W, and everything else to ___ Cheung

ARIZONA Arizona State University Matthew Tai University of Arizona Akansha Mukherjee Nikhil Rati

CALIFORNIA

Durga Ganesh Edward Lee Jeffrey Chang UC San Diego Karen Li Rena Jiang

Catrina Nguyen Daniel Chin UC Merced Sarah Tatley Sinclair Chen UC Riverside

Jocelyn Sun Julia Jin Kavya Nambiar Lawrence Cheng Maryam Sabeti Neha Kunjal Nicolas Liang Nikhila Udupa Wei Tung Chen Weixin Ding UC Santa Cruz Adam Askari Alex Bakaleynik Emily Zhou Spencer Peterson University of Redlands Jenny Holland University of Southern California Renee Cai Nikita Seth Tanvi Varma Tiffany Chen Urmila Venkat Adam Haba Esha Patel Krithika Giresh Tim Sireci

Dane Erikson Kayla Bonser Neiloy Chowdhury

University of the Pacific

West Valley College

COLORADO

Ken Yanagisawa

Amrita Iyer

University of Colorado, Boulder William Yang

CONNECTICUT Yale

GEORGIA Emory University

ILLINOIS

Sally Wan

Northwestern University Lucy Kim Melody Hsu Loyola University Chicago Anna Sussenguth University of Chicago University of Illinois, Urbana Champaign

Celine Tsai Diya Kalaimani Emily Mok Kevin Dai Ithika Mirji Jennifer He Prad Raghunath Prashant Pokhriyal

Tiffany Tzeng Aileen Lu William Wang Bryant Liu Eunice Ko INDIANA Kristen Wong Nancy Xu Indiana University, Bloomington Atulya Saraogee Tesia Huang Vania Wang Purdue University Alekhya Surepeddi Gargi Kand Ajit Vijayakumar Nan Nan Liu Alexa Ziegal Owen Li Ankush Rayabhari Urbi Saha Brandon Piercy Bryan Wu MARYLAND Howard Lin Meryem Guler Johns Hopkins University Maggie Luo Natasha Nema Michelle Chiu Mukund Hari Shailja Somani Sai Vemireddy

Clarence Lau Smarana Gadepally Tyler Strong

Austin Kwon

Divya Narayan Ethan Chee Ishita Dubey Jeffery Yang Jessie Chen Jimmy Zhi Nidhi Khandekar Rahul Iyer

Omkar Shanbhag Cal Poly San Louis Obispo Pauline Lee Ali Chen Prachi Khandekar Ariela Guadiamos Pransu Dash Christopher Duggan Raaghav Minocha Cynthia Chang Richard Liu Jissell Jose Shirley Sun Megumi Kawamura Shyam Karthick Ravikumar Natalie Yang Sid Idgunji Sanjana Gupta Valerie Tan Shivani Rangwala Whitney Li Shreya Kumar Tina Quan UC Davis Alicia Siu CSU Monterey Bay Alison Kou Tiffany Yang Allison Hsieh CSU Long Beach Annie Zhu Tzu-Han Hsu Brian Chen Chapman University Chris Lee Arianna Behrens JJ Ignatescu De Anza College Joanne Her Brandon Strong Revati Gottumukkala Eric Jeong Rujuta Munshi Heather Evans Sai Namani Valerie Batino Stephanie Lu Foothill College Zoe Minshall Ghanshyam Patel UC Irvine Loyola Marymount University Andrew Gu Beatrice Li Benedict Chua Dion Dang Chris Kim Dara Jovkar Mission College Jonathan Lin Yuval Kapilevich Stephanie Tseng San Diego State University Eshna Narayan UC Los Angeles Hinten Mui San Francisco State University Ted Leung San Jose State University Sana Sharfuddin Sky Kim Santa Clara University

Stanford University

UC Berkeley

Adish Jain Aditi Lahiri Aditya Kotak Alvin Fan Andrew Lee UC Santa Barbara Anh Tran Arvin Ng Cynthia Wang Elin Chee Emily Zhong Esther Kao Gabby Delforge Han Chong Indu Pereira Jane Kuang

University of Cincinnati University of Maryland, College Park NEW HAMPSHIRE Adhithya Kannan Dartmouth Catherine Zhao OREGON

MASSACHUSETTS

Codie Chang

RHODE ISLAND

Brown University

CHINA

Beijing Film Academy

JAPAN

Sophia University

Marion Lynch

Leigh Williams

Jennie Li

University of British Columbia Christina Tani

McGill University

OUT OF COUNTRY CANADA

University of Washington, Seattle Austin Hsieh Emily Min Sophia Meng Kevin Kuo Sherrie Guan Washington State University Arka Bagchi

Pacific Northwest College of Art Amherst College NEW YORK Lauren Platzker TENNESSEE Margaret Chien Columbia University Vanderbilt University Boston College Kenny Yuan Jennifer Deng PENNSYLVANIA Nicholas Wong Cornell University Akhil Bhandaru Carnegie Mellon University Boston University Chetan Somani TEXAS Bobby Ma Astha Goel Derek Li Rice University Gauri Jain Cyrus Cheung Edward Liew Emily Lo Janice Chan Gordon College Hazel Shen Eric Su Kabir Kapoor Joy Tang Lydia Huang Jackie Chou Marisa Chang Masschusetts Institute of Technology Maggie Chou University of Texas, Austin Grace Lam New York University Sarah Lee Ryan Eckert Rupa Ganesh Northeastern University Srinjoy Majumdar Stephanie Wang Melvin Chen Pratt Institute Vaidehi Duraphe Vinay Kukutla Catrina Nguyen Kirsten Chai Wendy Chen University of Massachusetts, Amherst Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute of UTAH Lehigh University Simran Aswani Technology Shawn Silverman Brigham Young University Yash Joshi Penn State University Joshua Otani MICHIGAN Amulya Raju Utah State University OHIO University of Michigan Jim Sussenguth University of Pennsylvania Joanna Yeh Case Western Reserve University Andrew Si WASHINGTON Angela Hu Masha Koubenski Eric Zeng University of Puget Sound Meenakshi Anilkumar Oberlin College Phoebe Winters Sera Choe Eric Zhao Raka Mukherjee

THE MULTILINGUAL ADVANTAGE

Exploring the multi-faceted benefits of learning foreign languages

BY SAMHITA HONAVALLI & HEDY ZHOU

A

GRAPHIC ILLUSTRATION BY ALEXANDER XU

s the world becomes better connected through global communication and social media, the ability to speak a second language becomes increasingly bene�icial. More opportunities will open up, communication with people of different backgrounds will become easier, travelling will be made easier and one’s cultural awareness will inevitably be enriched.

One of the most practical bene�its of learning a widely used language is the increase in employment opportunities, as certain jobs require applicants to speak multiple languages. For example, knowing Mandarin Chinese would be helpful in international Asian-American businesses given the ethnicity of the store’s customers.

“Technically speaking, it isn’t a requirement to be able to speak Chinese, but it is a huge plus, as I �ind that half the time I speak Chinese to the customers because that is the language they’re more comfortable speaking,” said junior Eleanor Wang, an employee at Teatop. “This applies to the owner of the store, too, so when I see people coming in and interviewing for a potential job, I know the ones who can speak Chinese will most likely have a better chance of getting the job.”

Knowing another language can also bene�it those who aspire to travel and experience different cultures or lifestyles. For frequent travelers, speaking a foreign language serves a practical purpose, as they must navigate a foreign country and speak to locals.

“I know how to speak four Indian Languages: Konkani, Marathi, Hindi and Kannada,” said senior Omkar Shanbhag. “When I moved to India, this knowledge helped me to adjust more easily, as it was easier to converse with others.”

Beyond merely asking for the location of the bathroom, learning a country’s native language can help prevent tourists from being swindled by businesses. In addition to some stores being heavily priced, many

foreign store owners often try to cheat more money out of buyers who do not understand the native language.

“When my family was doing a business transaction in India, my father asked my mother not to speak in English because he knew that the realtor would charge extra if he heard us doing so,” said Shanbhag.

Travellers who are familiar with the local tongue have greater chances of receiving assistance from locals, who are generally more willing to help those who speak their native language. This is largely due to the common mindset that a tourist travelling to a foreign country should make an effort to learn at least some of the language as a basic form of respect. It may seem disrespectful to ask a native for help as a tourist without knowing their language.

“Whenever I go to a different country I always try to learn the language out of respect,” said Lynbrook Student Advocate Jamieko Gruenloh.

Familiarizing oneself with a new language also leads to an increased sense of cultural awareness, which includes learning about the country’s indigenous people, food, traditions and architecture.

“In Spanish class, we learned about the different music, food and holidays that we wouldn’t normally be exposed to,” said sophomore Shrila Senthil. “When I learned about the myths and legends behind the Hispanic culture, it made me appreciate a whole new culture that I knew nothing about before.”

Speaking more than one language can also prove to be bene�icial in the household, as well as in corporations or foreign countries. It is often easier to express certain words in one language than another, which will prevent miscommunication and increase understanding.

“When I talk to my mom, we like to speak in Korean because some words exist in one language but don’t exist in another one,” said junior Ariana Wang, whose has a Korean mother and Chinese father. “And I always speak in Chinese with my dad un-

less we’re talking about school,then we speak in English.”

Greater cultural appreciation is another societal advantage of learning a non-english language. Sharing the same language allows an individual to start a conversation with others, making foreign languages a gateway for new connections.

“Sometimes when there are French people around I talk to them in French and that affects the conversation in a way because we would talk about things related to France,” says junior Dylan Bouzigues, a French native.

For a majority of students, grandparents or relatives may live in a different country and are not comfortable speaking in English. In such situations, speaking in the native language allows conversations to go beyond salutations.

“It is easier to talk to my grandparents and I think the relationship is really good as I know how to speak Hindi, my native language,” said freshman Mahima Sinha.

Bene�its of speaking the same foreign language are also apparent at school. Conversing in the same language as another individual can lead to more friendships and common points of interest.

“I actually met my best friends because we all speak the same language,

and it was our parents who �irst connected through the language,” said Shanbhag.

“Speaking the same language acted as an icebreaker and led to our friendship.”

Learning popular foreign languages is inevitably becoming a prerequisite in many countries. Adopting a new language will help an individual gain a better sense of cultural awareness and will also optimize means of communication.

GRAPHIC ILLUSTRATION BY SHIVA VEMIREDDY

Your desires and wants on demand

Understanding the science and addictiveness of binge watching

BY ESHANI MEHTA AND MICHYLA LIN

A

fter �inishing her tenth consecutive episode of the Korean drama Descendants of the Sun, sophomore Cathy Kim paused to send her friend a snapchat. When she swiped right to display the time �ilter, she was shocked to �ind it was seven in the morning; she had unknowingly pulled an all nighter by watching episode after episode of her new favorite show.

Binge watching is most commonly described as watching at least four episodes of a TV program in one sitting. According to a study conducted by Net�lix in 2014, over 61 percent of people admit to binge watching regularly, and with the steadily growing popularity of streaming websites such as Net�lix and Hulu, binge watching has become so ubiquitous that it was named word of the year by Collins Dictionary in 2015.

“More [people] are turning to TV as an escape from reality, from the demands of everyday life and from our connections with family and friends,” said clinical psychotherapist Havi Wolfson Hall, Licensed Clinical Social Worker. “There are also social incentives to binge watching; our on demand society also contributes to the desire to binge watch so that we are not the only one left out because we don’t know what happened.”

Science behind binge watching The desire to binge watch is not only attributed to a person’s inherent curiosity and inclination to procrastinate, but also to one’s physiological makeup. When one has an addiction there is a shift between two chemical reactions that occur within

the brain: a stress hormone called cortisol and dopamine, the “feel good” chemical.

When one feels depressed and cortisol levels are high, he or she might turn to TV to escape stress. This causes cortisol levels to decrease and dopamine levels to increase.

“Depending on what you are watching, [binge watching] might actually increase your levels of cortisol,” said Hall. “So our cortisol levels get spiked again leading us to believe that if we see just one more show our dopamine levels will once again increase; it is a vicious cycle and one that creators of streaming content bank on.”

Streaming websites are speci�ically geared toward encouraging viewers to continue watching the show using features such as Net�lix’s Post-Play feature and Youtube’s autoplay feature, which give users a brief countdown before automatically playing the next episode or video in a series or playlist. Once all the episodes have been viewed, Netflix will even offer a list of related titles to start watching.

Additionally, TV shows often utilize plot devices

and attention-grabbing storylines, such as clif�hangers, to ensure that the viewers will feel the urge to continue watching.

“I had to know what was going to happen next… and it got to the point where I literally had to get glasses after watching this TV show,” said sophomore Saumya Nimmagadda. “I didn’t even care; I understood that my eyesight was waning, but I was like ‘I could also just watch the next episode and my life would be better.’”

Medical effects Binge watching entails a prolonged amount of time sitting, eating and missing exercise opportunities, leading to an increased risk of weight-related chronic disease and premature death. A study published in the American Journal of Preventive Medicine found that every four hours spent binge watching TV everyday increases the risk of death from weight related chronic disease by 15 percent, compared to people who watch less than an hour of TV a day. Among the more than 221,000 adults monitored during the 16-year study,

those who watched seven or more hours of TV every day had a 47 percent increased risk of early death.

“Most studies will point to excessive amounts of TV watching [to be the cause of] obesity, procrastination and mental health issues such as anxiety and depression, but it is really a matter of perspective,” said Hall. “Those who already have a proclivity towards anxiety and depression are exactly the ones who �ind solace in their favorite TV shows so they may escape the stresses of reality.”

Intervention Measures to stop binge watching can be made, such as turning off the Post-Play feature on Net�lix and Autoplay feature on Youtube, which can help a person stay more aware of the number of episodes they are watching. An avid TV watcher should also take the time to plan out their tasks for the day to ensure their time is being used productively before starting a new episode.

“Binge-watching takes students away from their school work, family and social life, sports and exercise for health, sleep and other activities that balance their life,” said psychotherapist Lily Lu, Licensed Marriage and Family Therapist. “Students can monitor their own show-watching, set limits for themselves and give themselves consequences if they violate their own limits.”

Binge watching has become part of a lifestyle, but can have many negative repercussions if allowed to continue to an extreme. Despite its popularity, people with an addiction can try to keep a balance in their life, which is essential for a better, healthier lifestyle.

MICHYLA LIN — EPIC

The heartbreak behind famous heartthrobs

Investigating the causes and psychology behind celebrity crushes

BY RAKSHA NARASIMHAN & SOPHIA LING

C

rushes are a common topic of discussion and cause of angst amongst teenagers. An enormous amount of time and emotion is spent thinking about crushes, even to the extent of fantasizing about having an amorous relationship with them. Oftentimes the subject of one’s attraction is someone that they have

MICHYLA LIN — EPIC

never talked to or seen outside of a magazine article or music video.

Media portrayals of celebrities are often one-dimensional, which may lead to a glori�ied false perception. Many models and actors are primarily known for their physical features and positive actions, such as donating to charity, are usually carefully orchestrated to improve their public image. As a result, one has no way of discerning a celebrity’s true intentions.

“I would say my celebrity crush is based mostly on physical features, like her facial features and body type,” said sophomore Andrew Chen, whose celebrity crush is model Gigi Hadid.

“The media never really focuses on Hadid’s personality--or on any model’s personality, for that matter--for me to like her based on it.”

The emphasis on the physical features of celebrities is so great that some are famous solely for their appearance. The Kardashians, for example, rose to fame not for their merit but for a viral sex tape and connections to an infamous murder case.

The family has a total net worth of hundreds of millions of dollars and are idolized by many for their appearance.

Celebrity crushes affect people in differ- it touches a part of me because I feel connectent ways based on how deeply their attrac- ed to him and proud of him,” said sophomore tion lies. People commonly follow celebrities Diana Magnusson, whose celebrity crush is as a hobby and �ind entertainment in keeping Broadway actor Christian Borle.

After crushing on a celebrity for a long peup with their favorite star. This type of celebriod of time, the realization that there is no rity crush is relatively low in intensity.

Celebrity crushes can help teenagers feel chance of reciprocation can be upsetting.

“Sometimes it just makes me so happy to more comfortable and �it in. It is much easier for a teenager to admit that they are attract- see him perform something, and other times ed to a �igure that is widely acknowledged as it makes me sad, because he’s never going to good-looking and well-liked than it is to con- know me or want to know me the way I know him,” said Magnusson. fess an attraction to a fellow classmate.

The glori�ied, one-sided views of a fan’s However, teenagers and young adults who crush may escalate to have yet to establish an the point where they emotional and psychological independence “A LITTLE ADMIRATION FOR will ignore any of their actions. can be negatively affectA CELEBRITY IS NORMAL AND questionable It insinuates the belief ed by celebrity crushes.

Focusing too much on HARMLESS, AND CAN EVEN that as long as a perthe life of an idol can HAVE A POSITIVE IMPACT ON son is attractive and fadistract from the devel- TEEN’S SELF-ESTEEM AND SENSE mous, they do not have to be responsible.. opment of a teenager’s OF BELONGING.” “I’ve de�initely own individuality. Teenknown people who agers may believe that ELINOR WAHRMANN have had crushes on cethe only way they can be MARRIAGE AND FAMILY THERAPIST lebrities that have done desirable to their peers something really stupid, is by changing their apbut they still actively pearance or personality support and defend them,” said junior Dana to be more similar to a popular celebrity.

“A little admiration for a celebrity is nor- Morgan. “When you have a crush on a celebmal and harmless, and can even have a posi- rity you kind of put them on a pedestal. It’s tive impact on teen’s self-esteem and sense easier to not see them as ‘normal’ people and of belonging,” said Marriage and Family that way you don’t have to hold them as acTherapist Intern Elinor Wahrmann. “Howev- countable for the stuff they do.”

Whether it is through watching a favorer, too much focus on others can cause high stress levels, anxiety, depression, isolation ite movie or listening to a new album, many teenagers may �ind themselves harboring and poor body image.”

As with other crushes, one often expe- crushes on celebrities. Celebrity crushes are riences intense feelings of pleasure when just another classic occurrence throughout in contact with his or her celebrity crush, a teenager’s life. These attractions are perwhether it be by attending the famous �ig- fectly normal, however being infatuated with ure’s concert or simply by mounting and someone whose image is carefully cultivated by media can lead to a skewed perception of looking at a poster of said celebrity.

“When I see [my celebrity crush] perform, attraction and desirability.

Athlete Karen Li swims her way to Stanford

BY ANYA POPLAVSKA

F

or the past eight years, senior Karen Li has been an intensely competitive synchronized swimmer, so much so that her life has become a routine of school, practice and sleep. Li’s continuous hard work, however, paid off recently when she was admitted to Stanford University’s Class of 2020 as a member of its prestigious synchronized swimming team.

When she was 10 years old, Li injured herself practicing gymnastics and quit, hoping to transition to a new activity. Feeling inspired by the synchronized swimmers at the 2008 Beijing Olympics, Li attended a summer camp to learn the sport.

She became serious about synchronized swimming after her �irst year of trying out the sport; during her second year, with new experience and training, she joined a competitive program at the Santa Clara Aquamaids, which is currently her regular training center. “[Synchronized swimming] was de�initely a big transition from gymnastics based on commitment and practice,” Li said.

“But, I liked working in a team aspect, which is one of the things that motivated me.”

Li went to practice early and trained many hours outside of the team practice schedule to catch up to her teammates and to ultimately reach her goal of making the national team. She speci�ically focused on improving her choreography, strength and �lexibility, in addition to working on coordination with the rest of her team. With her dance and gymnastics background, Li excelled in synchronized swimming.

“The sport came very naturally to me,” said Li. “My club is also one of the best in the world, so I really had a solid foundation my �irst few years.”

Later, her career took off when, at the age of 12, she competed at the Pan-American Games in Peru as a member of the junior national U.S. team.

Li is currently ranked 14th in the U.S., and has won seven national championships and 11 international titles with her team. She has also received the Jerry Smith Sportsmanship award: an award given to athletes with excellent sportsmanship and achievements. This year, Li and her team took gold at the U.S. Junior National Championships, at which Li placed fourth for her duo event.

For the love of the game, shame on English soccer

T

he odds were 5000 to 1. It’s the same chance that Elvis is still alive, the Lochness Monster is proved to exist, or Kim and Kanye’s next child will be named “Sinner.” In perhaps the greatest underdog story in sports history, Leicester City, a small English soccer club, beat those odds, winning the Barclays Premier League on May 2 with two games left. I applaud their victory, for as a four-year Lynbrook varsity soccer player, I know what it’s like to beat one or two top teams and experience the sweet taste of a spoiling victory. But Leicester’s feat, while undeniable, must be considered in the con-

“I am so proud of Karen, as she has managed to train hard and become a national champion, as well as a stellar student,” said Patti Andresen, Li’s coach. “Karen is the type of teammate everyone hopes to train with.”

Synchronized swimming requires strength, �lexibility and endurance, especially since swimmers need to ensure that they can hold their breath underwater for long periods of time.

The technical aspect of the sport is intense, consisting of a combination of swimming, gymnastics and dance.

Swimmers perform elaborate dance routines underwater; they listen to the music needed for their routine through water proof speakers as they perform twists and lifts, never once touching the bottom of the

text of the Premier League, notorious for its direct and simplistic style of play. The underdog win is great for the players and the fans, whose loyalties have undoubtedly deserved the championship this year, but for the love of the beautiful game, Leicester’s magical Cinderella season may be less enchanting than it appears.

What all the glory and emotions of an underdog win hides is the appeal of soccer not as a betting ground for preposterous odds, but as a game that rewards skill and inspires viewers with players’ technical brilliance. Watching Leicester, however, did not inspire any soccer-playing �iber of my being, and their lack of technique bodes poorly for English soccer.

Leicester’s soccer style is, at best, an entertaining show of teamwork and counterattacking strategies. Yet more often than not, they play a cruder, rougher game reliant on physical aggression and relentless hustling.

According to whoscored.com, Leicester’s passing accuracy percentage is 70%, which seems relatively high, but compared to Barcelona, Juventus, and Paris-Saint Germain (PSG) - the top teams of the Spanish, Italian, and French Leagues respectively - the numbers are underwhelming. The three aforementioned teams each have roughly 60% possession and 85 to 90% passing accuracy, a strong indicator of both their dominance

pool or stopping to rest.

“It’s been tough the past few years, especially after I entered high school,” said Li. “There are many nights when I want to quit, but ultimately this is what I love. I love having something that pushes me to work hard and be the best version of me possible.

Li trains 30 to 40 hours a week year-round at the pool with her team and also attends competitions around the nation. Due to her busy practice and competition schedule, however, she is unable to spend very much time with her friends.

“THERE ARE MANY NIGHTS WHEN I WANT TO QUIT, BUT ULTIMATELY THIS IS WHAT I LOVE. I LOVE HAVING SOMETHING THAT PUSHES ME TO WORK HARD AND BE THE BEST VERSION OF ME POSSIBLE.” KAREN LI/SENIOR

“When I’d ask her to hangout she’d say she had practice, and on weekends she’d have meets throughout the school year,” said senior Shivani Rangwala, a friend of Li’s.

When Li entered high school, she noticed that her teammates, who were only 15 or 16 years old, were beginning to get recruited by colleges. She soon made it one of her goals as well.

“She’s always been really into synchronized swimming, and I’m glad she got into Stanford because she worked really hard for it,” said Rangwala.

Stanford piqued Li’s interest since it was one of the few schools with a synchronized swimming program. Karen kept in touch with Stanford’s head coach, who happened to be her former team coach, during her junior year.

Before she was recruited, Li would send videos of her performances to the head coach, in hopes of being accepted. Finally, after a long awaited decision, Karen was of�icially accepted into Stanford’s restrictive early action program in December of 2015.

“That was the best day of my life,” said Li. “Stanford has always been one of my dream schools to go to.”

Though Li was recruited for her synchronized swimming abilities, she plans to focus on her academics rather than professionally pursuing the sport.

PHOTO COURTESY OF KAREN LI

on the �ield. Leicester’s 70% passing accuracy puts them at the very bottom of each of the three mentioned leagues. Playing to their aggression, Leicester also wins an average of 19 aerial duels per game, which is a signi�icantly higher number compared to the other leagues’ top teams. Taken together, Leicester’s playing attributes may best be related to those of a wolfpack: �ierce, loyal, combative and deadly at times. But what the wolf has in ferocity it lacks in elegance and grace.

In some ways, Leicester is less the champion of the Premier League than they are the champion of the English style of soccer. Characterized by long balls and team hustling, English soccer is not pretty by any means, but it gets the job done. England’s utilitarian method nonetheless fails against other countries’ more complex and elaborate soccer styles: it’s the reason why Gareth Bale thrived in Tottenham as a speedy winger but became a laughingstock when he moved to Real Madrid, unable to compete with the Spaniards’ skill.

England must work to adapt to a different playing style as soon as possible or else get left behind -- just ask U.S. men’s soccer coach Jurgen Klinsmann, who has spent �ive years and counting molding America’s youth into dynamic and adept young stars instead of big, fast and strong athletes. If, with their championship glory, Leicester becomes the face of

a winner, it would surely be a step backward for soccer leagues around the world, whose focus on acquired technique would be undermined by Leicester’s paragon of innate brute strength and speed.

And when it comes down to it, the problem with Leicester, and with the entire Premier League for that matter, is its inherent lack of skill. Skill in soccer is more subtle than, say, Ronaldo’s inane and �lashy stepovers or Neymar’s cheeky �licks and nutmegs. Skill is the slight shift of your body when you trap a ball, the ever so gentle lay off and then the heavy weight of the second pass, the velvet touch and the unseen through ball.

There is no doubt Leicester’s historic win will be conducted in the sports underdog hall of fame, and you should expect a “based on a true story” movie in no time. Don’t get me wrong, I’m grateful to have witnessed a miracle in my lifetime, yet this year’s demonstration of English soccer was disappointing with sparse displays of skill that drag soccer down into poor graces. Maybe Leicester fans go wild when their lead goalscorer Jamie Vardy slams the ball into the back of the net from a high cross in the box. But to watch Messi, Suarez and Neymar dribble like lightning down the �ield, passing in triangles around the opposition’s defense, and �inally curl a shot into the upper left corner of the goal? Now there’s a bet I’d be willing to place.

SENIOR ATHLETES REMINISCE BEFORE GRADUATION Taking a look back at seniors’ high school athletic experiences

BY CHELSEA LI Senior Maggie Luo joined cheer her freshman year, after trying out for the team at the end of eighth grade. She is now one of the two team captains, and being on the cheer team for the past four years has brought her many rewarding experiences and unforgettable memories. Cheer has allowed Luo to meet many new friends as well, and helped her gain con�idence.

“You’re introduced to so many people outside your friend circle, and it de�initely pushes you to be more brave and self-con�ident as well,” said Luo. “I [met] a lot of people I wouldn’t have gotten to meet otherwise.”

Luo will be attending John Hopkins University after graduating; however, she does not plan to continue cheerleading, as the school does not have an established cheer team.

One of her favorite memories from her four years of cheerleading was the team’s success at last years’ Nationals, an annual competition in Anaheim.

“Last year, when we hit every single stunt at Nationals, that was an awesome feeling,” said Luo. MICHYLA LIN—EPIC

PHOTO COURTESY OF NATALIE WOODMANSEE

Senior Phoebe Winters has been swimming since �irst grade, and decided to join Lynbrook’s water polo team freshman year, due to her mother’s encouragement. This proved to be a good decision, as Winters has continued to play for Lynbrook for three more years.

After graduating, Winters plans to attend the University of Puget Sound, and hopes to continue swimming there. “[Water polo is] a very demanding sport, both physically and mentally,” Winters said.

At �irst, she played goalie for Lynbrook’s team, and later switched to playing in the �ield.

“The goalie’s responsibility is making sure other people know what’s going on in the game,” Winters said. “When I started playing in the �ield, that really helped because I knew more of what was going on.”

Although her journey was not easy, being on the team has brought Winters rewarding experiences and new friendships.

Senior Jonathan Lin played badminton recreationally before joining Lynbrook’s badminton team. Lin currently plays in Bay Badminton Center, a competitive badminton club outside of school. After graduating, Lin plans to attend the University of California, Irvine, and continue the sport there.

“Training competitively, I used to do about thirteen hours a week,” Lin said. “Badminton is a lot more expensive than people think.”

He enjoys the sport because of its quick pace and attentiveness to detail. “[Badminton is] really fast paced,” Lin said. “You need a [lot] of precision for each shot.”

Lin believes that his height was an advantage for him.

“I always thought I was at a disadvantage because I was shorter,” Lin said. “[But because of that,] I have more reaction time and easier reach for certain shots.”

Lin is looking forward to continuing the sport in college with more competitive players.

PHOTO COURTESY OF JONATHAN LIN

PHOTO COURTESY OF ADHITHYA KANNAN

Senior Jim Sussenguth has been on Lynbrook’s cross country and track team since freshman year.

Throughout the years, he has learned a lot about himself, and is planning to continue with the sport during college at Utah State University in the fall. Originally, it was track coach Jake White who encouraged Sussenguth to join the team.

“He got me on the team, and everyone [there] got me to stay,” Sussenguth said.

One of the most impactful events Sussenguth has experienced throughout his time at Lynbrook was the �irst time he attended Arcadia Invitational, one of the most competitive meets in the country.

“It was sophomore year, and I saw how fast everyone was there, how talented everyone was there, and I felt pretty bad,” said Sussenguth.

“It was eye-opening, [and] it was a learning experience.”

Through his years in track and cross country, Sussenguth has not only gained physical experience, but also learned a lot about himself.

Fashion and style by Indesign

BY MICHYLA LIN

L

ights �lash and the rustle of programs dissapates as a hush rolls over the crowd. After a few moments of silence, the music begins and a model sporting a �lirty �loral crown and a �lowing purple gown inspired by a

Top: Senior Sheila Metz models an armorlike chainmail top and bright red silk wrap skirt designed by junior Chereen Tam for the Costume Party Theme.

Bottom: Senior Sarah Lee’s masquerade ball gown, worn by senior Angela Gehn, lit up the night and brought the show to a close.

Beach Bon�ire strides down the runway to welcome guests to the annual Indesign and ASB fashion show on May 20th.

Every out�it had at least one piece that was entirely made by student designers in the Indesign club. All models in the show were also students of all classes from seniors to freshmen.

This year’s runway features

themes such as Winter Wonderland, VIP Red Carpet Gala and more to display each designers unique style. Designers may take the stage in the �inal walk following the individual displays of each out�it.

Here are only a few of the many magni�icent out�its made by student designers of the Costume Party and Masquerade themed runways.

Top: Sophomore Nicolas Rios displays the stylish skeleton suit designed by sophomores Martin Thurman and Moosaa Jaladin.

Top: Senior Renee Cai poses in a dress with a skirt made completely out of different colored Maxi Pad wrappers designed by sophomore Nandini Nag.

Bottom: Senior Jimmy Zhi poses for the cameras in a one-shoulder cutout cape and mask made entirely out of intricately cut paper by junior Jennifer Xu.

Bottom: Junior Amy Huang shows off her unicorn dress complete with a rainbow tail created by freshman Emily Leung.