News

Letter from the Editors

Dear Vikings,

We hope you all had a spooky Halloween! Seniors, congratulations on submitting early applications. Only two more months to go!

As we head into the final stretch of the semester, we would like to welcome you to Issue 2: learn about Lynbrook’s first programming competition in News; uncover the politicization of school boards in Opinion; explore stories of alumni in Features; delve into LGBTQ+ representation in the media in In-Depth and congratulate Lynbrook’s girls golf team for a successful season in Sports.

Did you know that we also have content exclusively online? Visit our website lhsepic.com for a review of Taylor Swift’s monumental album Midnights. If you’re feeling nostalgic about Homecoming, take a travel back in time through a behind the scenes video featuring class officers, leaders and participants on our Youtube.

We encourage you to submit Letters to the Editors, your opinions on any published stories this year such as our Staff Editorial reevaluating Lynbrook’s Homecoming culture or our In-Depth story about male body image. We’re excited to read your Guest Columns, first-person articles that focus on the your perspective and experiences, and would love to celebrate our first Guest Column, written by Minchae Kim on her experiences with cheerleading. Submission guidelines can be found at lhsepic.com/ submissions and those chosen will be published on print and/or our website.

Thank you for your readership. Stay in touch for Issue 3!

Rock on, Elizabeth Cheng & Amy Liu Editors-in-Chief

“Gender in Classrooms” project takes effect

BY MEERA NAMBIAR

To create this project, Dhanda worked with Principal Maria Jackson and Assistant In hopes of making the Lynbrook community a more inclusive place for LGBTQ+ students, senior Venus Principal Yukari Salazar to find feasible solutions that would help students feel heard. Dhanda “As someone created the who’s part of “Gender in Lynbrook’s Classrooms” G e n d e r Girl Scouts Sexuality project, in Alliance and which she the LGBTQ+ presented community, I a workshop noticed that I to teachers was very lucky at a monthly to have people staff meeting around me on Oct. 12 who were okay and created with me being a website open about with public my identity,” resources. Dhanda said.

Through “But I knew that the Girls Scouts Gold Award project, which a lot of other people didn’t have that same aims to promote long-lasting changes in support system, and I didn’t want kids to deal the community, Dhanda wanted to help with that because of who they are.” queer individuals who struggled to gain Dhanda interviewed teachers like GSA support from family and teachers. Rather adviser Jessica Lu for background information than focusing on how queer individuals and measures teachers can take to promote could adapt to uncomfortable situations, inclusivity to add in the presentation, which Dhanda decided to provide others with focused on how to ensure that students resources to make them feel welcomed. can feel respected and safe and included

“I wanted to help educate teachers on practices that staff can implement to be more how to approach queer students,” Dhanda inclusive. Dhanda also included scenarios to said. “Teachers have a lot of influence help staff visualize situations queer students over their students, considering they’re might experience in classrooms. some of the most important adults in “I hope that teachers implement these students’ lives.” little things and that queer students feel more

PHOTO BY MEERA NAMBIAR Senior Venus Dhanda led “Gender in Classrooms” to promote inclusivity in classrooms. heard and included, rather than having to go out of their way to be included,” Dhanda said.

Many teachers have already started initiatives in classrooms to further inclusivity for LGBTQ+ students.

“When my students fill out their notecards at the beginning of the year with your information, there’s a field for pronouns, although it’s optional, because you don’t want to out someone if they don’t want to share their pronouns with you,” Lu said. “So in general, I try to foster an environment in my class where everybody’s different strengths and personality are celebrated.”

Dhanda has also been working with student organizations like ASB and Valhalla about changing gendered terms for Homecoming royalty and dances, as well as using students’ preferred names in yearbooks instead of dead names.

Dhanda hopes to expand her project and have presentations by the GSA become a regular part of staff meetings. She hopes that her work with GSA clubs at other FUHSD schools will allow members to share resources like the website that Dhanda created to show student experiences.

“Ideally, the hope is for more inclusivity in all classrooms so LGBTQ+ students feel safe at school,” Salazar said. “This workshop did a great job including tips for teachers and very doable things to be accepting of all gender identities. Hearing how students are feeling from the students themselves can be powerful.”

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GRAPHIC ILLUSTRATION BY ALYSSA WANG

Funky Monkeys robotics team gears up with a new practice field

BY VALERIE SHU

Plans for a new robotics practice field are in the works after a three year campaign by Lynbrook’s Funky Monkeys robotics team. The project relied on the passing of Measure G, a $275 million school bond for repairs and upgrades to FUHSD facilities. Part of this money will fund the construction of a robotics field to be shared by the district’s five teams.

In self-evaluations the team found their current practice setup to be one of their biggest obstacles. With a cramped machine shop and robots being stored in students’ garages, a new facility would provide desperately needed space. The team also recognized the value of being able to practice against fellow FUHSD teams and host scrimmages with other school districts. Without a real field, they couldn’t test certain mechanisms or program autonomous routines until immediately before competitions.

“Every day, we have to roll out this massive fraying carpet to practice,” senior and robotics team co-president Arjun Kumar said. “It’s a lot of work, and a field will make practicing a lot more convenient and accurate.”

The Funky Monkeys attended a district office board meeting to campaign for the new field in 2019. Afterwards, former Associate Superintendent Graham Clark reached out “One of the big things we recognized is that having machines on the field gets very loud and it’s hard to work on your robot at the same time, which is one of the reasons why we want the field at Lynbrook, where it would be right next to the machine shop,” Dhadwal said. The location of the facility remains undecided between Lynbrook and Cupertino High School with issues being considered for both sites. Cupertino’s designated construction area is larger but farther away from their machine shop, causing supervision and convenience concerns. At Lynbrook, the building would be placed on the blacktop basketball courts with easier access to offer his support for the initiative. He to their machines. continued meeting regularly with the team The field itself will be a standard and became FUHSD Superintendent in FIRST Robotics Competition field housed in July 2022 with enriching FUHSD’s robotics a facility similar in size to Lynbrook’s field programs as one of his main goals. house. The building will include a central

“Robotics is an important program and arena, bleachers, designated storage spaces we want to support it the best we can,” Clark and pit areas for the teams to work on their said. “Hundreds of students across the five robots. The team hopes that having a more schools are involved in it and a field would prominent and accessible facility on campus really help our teams grow.” will introduce more students to robotics. The

To lobby for support in the community, field is expected to be fully operational by the team reached out to parents via social 2028. media and mailing lists. Students also posted “I’m very excited for the incoming classes more than 1000 flyers on the houses of who will have access to the field,” junior registered voters in local neighborhoods. team member Aishwarya Poolla said. “We’ve Measure G was approved on June 7 with just been working very hard on this initiative and 55.71% of votes in favor, barely surpassing it’s great finally seeing it come to fruition.”

USED WITH PERMISSION FROM THE FUNKY MONKEYS The Funky Monkeys and their head coach, David Giandomenico, met with Superintendent Graham Clark to discuss the field. the 55% of votes required to pass. “When it was finally approved, we were ecstatic but we recognized that there are a lot of other projects besides the field,” ze/zir senior and robotics team co-president Yuvraj Dhadwal said. “This is why we’re pushing for it to get started first.” The teams are working with Clark and architects to draft plans and incorporate custom components in the field design. In September, the Funky Monkeys showed Bellarmine College Preparatory’s field to Clark and in October, representatives from all five FUHSD schools toured the NASA Ames Research Center’s robotics field to ask Team 1868, a girl scout troop robotics team, about challenges and features of their field.

BY CATHERINE ZHOU

PHOTO BY CATHERINE ZHOU

Noa Bronicki is a Homestead graduate and equity fellow at The Children’s Movement.

On Oct. 19, a virtual career seminar hosted by the Asian American Parents Association, Cupertino Library Foundation and Bay Youth featured a panel of FUHSD alumni. More than 100 students and parents attended and explored fields of government, finance, nutrition, data science and advocacy.

The seminar began with an introduction of the five panelists: Gregory Moe, a Monta Vista High School graduate and senior business analyst at Capital One; Carl Shan, a Lynbrook graduate and data scientist at LinkedIn; Jade Niu, a Cupertino High School graduate and dietitian nutritionist; Noa Bronicki, a Homestead High School graduate and equity fellow at The Children’s Movement, an advocacy group for learning opportunities; and Tara Sreekrishnan, a Monta Vista graduate and trustee on the Santa Clara County Board of Education.

AAPA is led by a group of parents dedicated to providing a better learning environment for students by addressing concerns in K-12 education. The Cupertino Library Foundation provides financial and creative support for diverse educational and cultural programs. The organizations worked together to advertise the event and recruit panelists. Guided by seniors Jason Shan and Ethan Feng, each panelist answered a set of questions on why they pursued their careers, which extracurricular activities were impactful to them and the roles their parents played in their career choices. The panelists advised students on finding success after high school, stressing the importance of pursuing genuine interests and echoing that students should put less pressure on themselves in high school.

“It was a good reminder of what really matters” Feng said. “It’s easy to only focus on things like college applications or grades, but as the speakers said, the things they cared about in high school had almost no impact on their current lives.”

Since all of the panelists attended FUHSD schools, they provided valuable insight into the impacts of the school environment.

“Our school system can be very demanding because there’s a strong focus on academics over social activities,” Sreekrishnan said. “I’ve seen how that’s translated into my adult life, where I still have the same prioritization. My advice is to have a bit more fun, because after graduation, you’ll be wondering why you worried about a lot of these things you find yourself stressing over now.”

Students left the seminar better prepared to take on their futures and parents learned how to support their children in the process. Carl Shan is a Lynbrook graduate and data scientist at LinkedIn.

PHOTO BY CATHERINE ZHOU Gregory Moe is a Monta Vista graduate and senior business analyst at Capital One. PHOTO BY CATHERINE ZHOU

PHOTO BY CATHERINE ZHOU

Tara Sreekrishnan is a Monta Vista graduate and a Santa Clara County Board of Education trustee.

PHOTO BY CATHERINE ZHOU

Jade Niu is a Cupertino graduate and registered dietitian nutritionist.

Upcoming Viking Events

No School, Veterans Day - Nov. 11

Therapy Farm - Nov. 15

ASB will host the Therapy Farm event to relieve student stress with cute animals.

Fall Rally - Nov. 18

Still miss Homecoming? Look forward to the Fall Rally during tutorial in the gym!

Sanskriti - Nov. 18

Appreciate classical South Asian art forms at the American-Indo Student Association’s Sanskriti showcase from 6 to 8 p.m. in the auditorium.

LIMB Craft Faire - Nov. 19

Shop for handmade holiday gifts at the Craft Faire from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. to support the music and guard program.

Thanksgiving Break - Nov. 24 to 25

By Chelsea Lee Photo by Anushka Anand

Food for thought: politics with a side of pizza

BY TANIKA ANBU

Students and parents from Cupertino, Saratoga and Campbell munched on pizza and spoke with their local representatives at the Pizza and Politics event at the Cupertino Community Hall on Oct. 21. Hosted by Campbell and Saratoga’s youth commissions and the Cupertino Youth Activity Board, the event allowed students to learn more about their city mayors and FUHSD board members while cultivating a community of politically-invested teenagers. The event was split into three sessions: the mayoral round table, an FUHSD board members forum and a high school student debate, allowing students to engage with local figures and ask their questions on a variety of levels.

Advertised as “a political event for teens, by teens,” Pizza and Politics was intentionally held before the November midterm elections to emphasize to youth the importance of community and political engagement and prepare them to be educated voters. Voters get to help choose their city and school representatives, which is one of the opportunities highly encouraged at Pizza and Politics, since candidates appeared at the event to pitch themselves to city youth and make them feel involved in important issues. The midterm elections provide residents with an opportunity to help Calif. make decisions on policies for education, climate change, abortion, housing and other proposed amendments to the state constitution.

“Although the audience that Pizza and Politics caters to is too young to vote, their voice is still important when it comes to politics, and Pizza and Politics gives them a place to be heard by political speakers as well as like-minded youth and teens,” Saratoga Youth Commission Chair Nicole Hao said.

Saratoga Mayor Tina Walia, Cupertino Mayor Darcy Paul and Campbell Mayor Paul Resnikoff spoke with students about current issues, like climate change and civic engagement, encouraging students to ask questions. Each mayor stressed the importance of student engagement in local government since young people will be the leaders and changemakers of the next generation.

“It was really interesting to meet three mayors, let alone one,” freshman Ishika Chandra said. “I learned about their stances on issues like climate change and what it takes to be part of a Youth Commission.”

Afterward, four FUHSD board member candidates, Rosa Kim, Naomi NakanoMatsumoto, Andrew Aaron Arness and Stanley Kou, spoke with students in an open discussion. Students asked the board members general questions that allowed all guests to give their input. They discussed a variety of topics including their views on equity and excellence, their goals around social and emotional wellness and more light-heartedly, their favorite boba orders.

“It is intimidating to talk about politics with political figures,” freshman Joyce Cheung said. “But it was nice to understand that they are just normal people. Seeing them make pop culture references, for example, made me realize that they are actual people trying to help our community.” The event concluded with four Monta Vista High School students holding a public forum debate on gasoline-powered vehicles in Calif. Students from both the affirmative and negative sides composed well-detailed arguments and extracted facts from each other’s cases through the cross-fire rounds. Proponents argued that Calif. should pursue the 2035 Advanced Clean Cars II rule, but the negative side won the debate after a brief deliberation from the judges from the Campbell and Saratoga teen commissions.

“Students are the reason we are here,” said current FUHSD Board of Trustees Vice President Rosa Kim. “Our students bring unique insights and ideas into how we can improve our schools, which is why students’ perspectives are important when making decisions.”

To entice students to participate in discussions, youth organizers presented attendees with a large selection of pizzas. Between bites of cheese and bell-pepper-topped pizza, students conversed with each other during the intermissions.

Though politics is typically thought of as an adult topic, the organizers of Pizza and Politics aim to debunk this misconception and foster an environment where students can meet people from neighboring cities and find a community in which they can express themselves.

“As a high school student, you are given the best opportunities to evolve and contribute to society to become the best citizen in this country,” FUHSD board election candidate Stanley Kou said. “It is important to start early.”

The entire event was recorded and posted on the City of Cupertino’s YouTube channel to simulate what it is like for a news channel to cover political events. The Youth Commissions will join forces again in 2024 to discuss more political topics and dig into their next pie.

B. A. C. D.

E. F.

PHOTOS BY TANIKA ANBU GRAPHIC ILLUSTRATIONS BY CHELSEA LEE AND SAMYUKTA SARMA

D. Cupertino Mayor Darcy Paul talks with students about youth engagement in politics. E. Current FUHSD Board of Trustees Vice President Rosa Kim answers questions regarding equity and diversity in schools. F. Campbell Mayor Paul Resnikoff discusses the city’s policies for climate change. A. Monta Vista student Alex Zhang explains his affirmative stance during the debate. B. Students Alan Tai and Saanvi Goyal from the negative side prepare to ask their cross-fire questions. C. Student organizers chat about the event during the intermission.

NEWS

November 07, 2022 Students compete in Lynbrook’s first ProCo

BY LARRY WANG

Story continued from front page.

Each of the problems involved automating a task that required clever uses of algorithms and data structures. For example, one problem asked competitors to optimize the shortest distance between two axolotls on a number line, and another problem asked competitors to print the last sentence of a cow’s book. At the end, prizes were awarded to the three teams who correctly solved the most problems. The first-place winners won speakers, second place won laptop bags and third place won earbuds.

“My team came in with lots of prior competitive programming background,” first-place winner Xue said. “Even so, there was a scary moment when I thought I had the incorrect algorithm for a problem but my teammate, Eric, debugged it and explained how it was actually correct. It felt very, very nice knowing that we had solved every single problem.”

Computer Science Club handled the logistics of the competition, including writing a code of conduct and advertising on the morning announcements. The officers also created the problems and test cases that were used to score participants, helped by members senior Steven Pan and junior David Lee.

“As problemwriters, we would first come up with a list of topics we would test on, such as searching algorithms and optimization techniques,” Computer Science Club president and senior Ryan Chen said. “We would then pick unique topics and brainstorm problems with storylines, before cutting down to our 10 selected problems and writing solutions for them. It was hard work done in an accelerated timeline, but everyone still pulled through.”

Topics tested varied in difficulty and included binary search, dynamic programming and Dyjkstra’s algorithm, which are algorithms that involve pruning redundant operations while efficiently sifting through data points and identifying shortest paths. The problems required creative uses of these algorithms by modifying and extending them to fit a task’s need.

While Computer Science Club created the problems, Web Development Club made the ProCo website to serve as the competition’s submission platform. Participants were allowed to use their coding language of choice and submitted their solutions through the website.

“Computer Science Club needed a website to display problems and receive answer submissions, but preexisting competition-hosting websites were privately run by universities and bigger companies,” said junior Anish Lakkapragada, Computer Science Club Secretary and Web Development Club Vice President. “We wanted to teach Web Development members how to create production-ready products using databases like PostgreSQL, APIs, and reactive frameworks while helping another club in the process.”

ProCo was designed to be friendly for competitors with little competitive programming experience by including approachable problems that test clever thinking. The contest had a large showing, evident by the 300 problem submissions on the website. Most teams submitted solutions to multiple problems, and the first-place team correctly solved all 12 problems. “I hadn’t done much competitive programming before, so during the contest, I realized there were concepts that I didn’t quite know,” sophomore Karen Gao said. “After the contest, I felt inspired to look them up, so I learned more from ProCo than I would’ve thought.”

By making the competition accessible for the beginner competitive coding students, Computer Science Club and Web Development Club hoped to offer a taste of what programming competitions are like and encourage newcomers to get involved in competitive programming. “In my five years as the Computer Science Club’s advisor, this is the first time the club has executed an idea of this magnitude this early in the year,” said Bradley Fulk, Computer Science teacher and Computer Science Club advisor. “There might be improvements to be made as we market future ProCos to the right audience, but in time we’re hoping we get more and more students introduced to competitive programming.”

In time, we’re hoping we get more and more students introduced to competitive programming Bradley Fulk, Computer Science Club Adviser PHOTO BY LARRY WANG

Sophomores Eric Hsu, Jiahe Lu, and Brian Xue take the first-place blue tooth speakers prize home at the first Lynbrook ProCo.