Class of 2009 reunites ten years later BY SHARLENE CHEN
�inished medical school and is starting on his medical residency. en years have passed Recently, Loury visited Lynbrook and since Lynbrook’s Class of admired the new campus improvements 2009 graduated. such as the new quad, cafeteria, �ield house, On Nov. 30, they d a n c e studio and weight hosted a reunion room. He is pleased that at BJ’s Restaurant students at Lynbrook get and Brewhouse to to enjoy the state of the relive high school art facilities. Numerous memories and other former students reunite with their echo his sentiment. old classmates. In addition, they The event reminisced about their organizers included high school teachers’ Monica Shieh, Anna impact on their lives. Sheng and PJ Loury, Melanie Savala said who were the former that her teachers class president, vice helped her realize president and ASB that she wanted to rally commissioner, pursue a career in nd a e e L SHARLENE CHEN — EPIC Ruby respectively. To plan math. n e h C Ch ri y stina Nguyen an Emil for this event, the d Lynbrook’s PJ Loury, Nyas Ramasubramani Luke Manalo and Joe Peng event organizers sent pressure-�illed interest surveys to environment also their class Facebook impacted alumni group until alumni and gave them agreed upon a location slightly negative and date. Hanna Yelavich, an alumna who memories of high capsule previously worked as a part-time wedding activity school. Although for planner, helped coordinate the logistics alumni to open the rigorous and the �inal venue. The Class of 2009 also another academic training did help in college, many ten previously held a �ive-year reunion, which years later. The in alumni came to the conclusion that none of saw lower turnout than this event. remaining tables had a variety of photos the Bay Area, what they valued immensely, such as grades The reunion was a great opportunity for from high school scattered across them. she dabbled around in a few jobs within and academic standing, in high school classmates to reconnect, reminisce about When asked about their most memorable the technology industry, but she felt that mattered much in adulthood. They said that old memories and catch up on their current moment at Lynbrook, almost all the alumni the culture was not for her. She left to run they put too much weight on numbers like pursuits and interests. mentioned their senior homecoming where equestrian club for a few years until she their GPA and disregarded other aspects of “We all live such busy lives, and this Vishak Visvanathan, Brad Williams, Jordan found a new love for jewelry design and their life like their mental health. reunion is such a nice excuse to actually get Plecque and others pseudo-graf�itied the settled into a job in luxury retail. The alumni also wanted to pass along together and catch up with those that we Viking mural with thin paper and blue “I’m de�initely not in the career �ield I helpful tips to the current students of may have lost contact with after graduation,” painter’s tape. Visvanathan looks back fondly would have thought to be in, but it’s unique, Lynbrook, including advice to build good Laura Yelavich said. study habits and work hard. Others said at that time, remembering how he got up at and I love it!” Yelavich said. The organizers put out three tables labeled 4:30 a.m. and blasted Kanye West’s “Good Others, ended up doing exactly what they to enjoy high school while it lasted and get Past, Present and Future that displayed Life” as they worked. involved with social events like Homecoming, planned on pursuing in high school. various artifacts and small activities. The The alumni have all taken different life “I loved speech and debate back when I rallies and sports games. Past table presented old school newspapers, paths since their graduation, with some even was at Lynbrook, and I’m currently �inishing “Spend more time �inding your passion yearbooks and shirts. The Present table experiencing drastic career changes. Yelavich up law school,” said Narayan Subramanian. and what motivates you than always meeting asked classmates to pin where they live now graduated with a bachelor’s in �ine studio Likewise, Nikhil Jain, who had planned your parents’ expectations,” said Paige on a map, and the Future table had a time arts, but after feeling the pressure from living on going into medicine in high school, has Hodges.
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GRAPHIC ILLUSTRATION BY MELISSA CHEN
Interact supports education in Nicaragua BY ELLIU HUANG
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nteract Clubs from all �ive FUHSD schools held a fundraiser, A12 Annual Charity Mixer: “A Carn1ival 2 Remember,” at Cupertino High School on Nov. 15. The dance was part of its yearly international project titled “Build for Tomorrow,” which aims to help Nicaraguan youth receive education. Interact will send the money raised to nonpro�it organization BuildOn, which will use the money to build a new school in Nicaragua. Lynbrook Interact Club of�icers collaborated with of�icers from other FUHSD schools to organize the fundraiser. BuildOn’s goal is to increase literacy in third-world countries and to improve the quality of education. It organizes events and projects and opportunities for students to volunteer in impoverished areas around the world. Rural areas of Nicaragua have poverty rates of 50 percent and more than 100,000 illiterate youth due to lack of local schools. At Interact Club, students work together to solve local and international issues through volunteering events. Interact offers many opportunities for volunteer experience and promotes leadership, service and integrity.
“We live in an area where many are privileged, but there are many others in the world who are not as fortunate.” said freshman International Project Committee (IPC) member Edward Sha. “I think that since we have some extra resources, helping Nicaraguan children would be great.” The IPC plans an event every year during �irst semester to raise money. This year, 10 IPC chairs from the �ive FUHSD schools met to plan speci�ics for the dance, while Area 12 International Project Coordinator Kayla Wong worked with BuildOn to manage the money through the district’s bank account. IPC chairs worked together with IPC members to �ind chaperones and a DJ, coordinate the location of the dance and make decorations. Two weeks before the dance, IPC Chair senior Yiling Zheng needed chaperones to monitor the dance. Right before the deadline, she found retired adults who could chaperone for the dance. At the dance, members of Interact volunteered at the event to get service hours by setting up decorations and selling food. Volunteers had to work together to coordinate speci�ic jobs and ensure that the event ran smoothly.
Interact Club co-president senior Emma Nguyen estimated that approximately 200 people attended the dance. Interact earned around $1600, which is a major success compared to previous years’ results. Although the dance was very successful for their �irst event of the school year, Nguyen believes that more time to inform people would help increase participation. Many students could not go to the dance because they had other plans for that day. “The promotion was a little rushed,” Nguyen said. “We could have had more time to sell the event. If the event were made a week later, I think that would have made the event more successful because people would have more time to see the pro�ile picture and hear about it.” Interact’s fundraiser will not only help illiterate children in Nicaragua receive education but also increase students’ volunteer experience. The dance was a great success in terms of money fundraised, but much of the planning could be re�ined to increase participation. With these improvements in mind, IPC hopes to better plan another big event in February — the talent show.
SNEAKERHEAD// pg. 7 Nguyen shows off his shoe collection