The Epitaph, Volume 56, Issue 8 by The Epitaph

Wednesday, May 29, 2019 Vol. 56 Issue 8 Homestead High School 21370 Homestead Rd, Cupertino, CA 95014

The Epitaph

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AP students face repercussions for academic dishonesty By Andrea Sun, Saanvi Thakur and Renee Wang A wave of AP class cheating scandals have coursed throughout campus, all within a span of a few months. AP Chemistry, AP U.S. Government and AP U.S. History are the AP classes affected by the scandals with offenses ranging from falsified participation grades to cheating on finals. Despite the many occurances of cheating in such close proximity, this event was not an anomaly as cheating occurs sporadically throughout campus, dean Lisa Pinelli said. The recent cheating scandals align with the fast changing cheating trends in high school. According to Stanford University, in the past, it was more common for students who were struggling in class to cheat. Today, it is the “above average, college bound” students who are more likely to cheat, An anonymous source said two pairs of students were caught cheating in AP Chemistry by teacher Susan Mrozack. The teacher noticed the students had identical lab reports when grading them. In AP U.S. History, students were caught buying a stamp that was a replica to the stamp teacher Greg Russo used to mark participation grades, in addition to cheating on homework assignments, according to junior Atharva Shah. As a result of the cheating, Russo decided not to input participation grades for all students, regardless of whether or not they were implicated in the cheating scandal. “Participation [has the potential] to [really help your grade],” Shah said. “Once you get into the habit [of cheating], it is detrimental not only

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for you, but also your classmates.” In AP U.S. Government, several students were found to have cheated on the final when a substitute teacher had taken over, AP U.S. Government teacher Christy Heaton said. “I was thinking … I [almost] spent the entire year without [cheating] happening, which is kind of remarkable,” Heaton said. “I don’t know why [the students that cheated] did so when they were completely capable of doing fine on their own.” The consequences for cheating can be especially severe for seniors taking classes such as AP U.S. Government. “[The students caught cheating] ended up having an F on the final, which dropped their grade by two letter grades, [potentially affecting] their eligibility for college,” Heaton

said. In instances where students may have already been accepted into college, Pinelli said there are typically consequences that follow academic dishonesty. “If a student is caught cheating in an incident … [it] will result in that student’s grade dropping to a D, or even an F potentially,” Pinelli said. “So then when you go submit that to your college, university … those universities sometimes will call us to ask what happened.” One junior involved in both the AP Chemistry and AP U.S History scandal was rescinded from Brown University. This was a result of the zero he received in AP U.S History, which

RECENT CHEATING SCANDALS have been causing troubles with college admissions.

Illustration by Renee Wang

brought his grade down to an F, breaking his agreement with the university to keep his grades above a D, the anonymous source said. Though, in this instance, the student was rescinded from the university, school administrators have the ability to notify colleges about students’ behavior and actions. “The other thing that that we haven’t done but we could do and have discussed doing would be to attach a note to the transcript … letting the university know that there is a red flag here,” Pinelli said. The root of cheating has not been directly addressed, but students will receive consequences based on the teachers’ discretion, Pinelli said. Despite the detrimental consequences that come from cheating, it remains a prevelant issue on campus. Shah said he has seen some form of cheating in all of his 6 classes within the past month. According to Stanford University, the stigma of cheating has lessened as admission into universities has become increasingly competitve, creating a culture in which students become more willing to do anything to obtain an A. “[It is a] competitive environment, [here] with [factors such as] pressure from parents and the stress fron junior year,” Shah said. In addition, another factor that may prompt a student to cheat is the availibility of resources online. “[Perhaps] its just apart of the culture nowadays where you can just get things online, so you should be able to use that instead of doing it on your own,” Heaton said.

Miscommunication leads to new leadership structure next year

CHEATING SCANDALS TEAR THROUGH CAMPUS

CONTROVERSY ARISES FROM CLASS ELECTIONS

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STUDENTS WHO SUBMITTED their written applications for elections late were accidentally added to the ballot.

By Shruti Magesh When the class election results were posted on the door of the ASB classroom on May 3, a plethora of controversy ensued. This controversy stemmed from a mistake where students who did not run for a spot in the leadership team were placed on the voting ballot. The falsely placed candidates ended up winning the election,

leading to an argument about the authenticity of their elected status. The deadline for the written component of the application for candidates closed around 9:30 p.m. However, due to some miscommunication, people continued to submit their applications after the deadline, Jessica Kirby said. “I had forgot to take two of the applicants out [because they applied late], so when we created our online system for voting ... I transferred the names over, and I forgot to take the two names out, so they accidentally got onto the application,” Kirby said. This mistake was not initially noticed, as there was a considerable amount of people running, Kirby said. In addition, Kirby did not have access to the voting portal, which allowed the mistakenly placed candidates to stay on the ballots. “So what happened was those people [who were not initially running] won,” Kirby said, “and it wasn’t brought to my attention until after I immediately posted the results, that I had made this error.” The initial reaction of the leadership team was to hand the position to the student who received

the next highest amount of votes, since it was deemed unfair to allow those who had not campaigned to receive the position. However, after meeting with the administration and rest of leadership team, this decision was revoked. “We ended up deciding as a team that I should just give it to both the social managers with their permission obviously,” Kirby said. “So we sat down with them and admitted our mistake ... we said ‘you know what, let’s go ahead and offer it to all four of them,’ and they all decided to take it”. The mistake regarding the class elections started discussion about the effectiveness of the election process. “The system of elections is just broken and it’s not suitable for the environment that we’re running,” freshman Benjamin Sun said. “I think there’s too little campaigning involved, too little preparation and there’s not that much thought that goes into it.” This led students to suggest more efficient forms of campaigning, that draws attention to what the campaigners stand for. “I think there needs to be more

work while campaigning, because right now campaigning is limited to ... you put up 6 posters at max and you walk around and show your face and even then,” Sun said. “Not many people will vote for you and listen to you.” Popularity plays a major role in determining who will recieve the positions, rather than other factors Sun said. The issue that arose with the class elections will be prevented in the future through various means, such as double checking all the candidates who are running, Kirby said. “It will never happen again, this is the only time we will ever have two social managers for those two classes,” Kirby said. “It was an oversight on my part, so I’m just going to make sure that I am double checking.” Although the mishap that occurred led to some initial confusion and disputation, it also gave way to opportunities to try out a new structure for leadership positions. “In a weird way, even though it was a mistake, I feel like this was a good opportunity to try something a little bit new,” Kirby said.

PAGE BY KACEY REBSTOCK AND LEILA SALAM

News

Wednesday, May 29, 2019

NANCY DAFFERN RETIRES AFTER 24 YEARS

HHS Financial Specialist reflects on favorite moments

STAFF

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Looking to the fu“Just working ture, Daffern made with kids … you plans to travel and guys are fabutake classes at lous. I’m going Berkeley, as well to miss that. as volunteer It’s going to within the be really community. strange “ M y to wake husband up next and I do August a lot of and realt r a v e l l i n g,” ize I’m not Daffern said. going to see “We have a whole any of you,” bucket list. This Daffern said. summer, we’re going “Each of you to Ireland … have difand then the f e r e n t “IT’S A GOOD job, that’s why I stayed following goals and here for so long. I’m only the third peryear my aspirations son to have done it here.” Daffern said. husband and each of is going to you are very interesting people, sometimes it’s retire and we’re going to France like working with 2,400 comedi- for 3 weeks.” When talking about leaving ans.” Daffern said her motivation the school, Daffern said that the for retiring stems from wanting decision was bittersweet, but she to spend more time with family looks forward to spending the next phase of her life with family and friends. “A lot of people we do things and friends. “It’s a life change when you with are retired,” Daffern said. “I guess I was sort of getting a little graduate from high school, it’s a wistful that I wished I could have life change when you graduate done more with them right now. from college, and then when you I started thinking about it more get married and start a family, all and more before talking about of those are different phases. This it with my husband and our is just the next phase,” Daffern said. financial advisor.”

financial matters of the school, including managing all the ASB and athletic accounts, handling student civic permit requests to use school facilities, AP testing, pre - SAT registration

Throughout the day, students trickle into Financial Specialist Nancy Daffern’s office with a variety of questions, all of which Daffern answers. With her two decades of experience, Daffern has been a longstanding presence in the ASB office. “I started on Aug. 28, 1995, so this is my 24th school year,” Daffern said. “There were 1,600 students when I started, and now there are almost 2,500.” Before she worked at HHS, Daffern was a HHS parent and worked at Stanford Bookstore doing their weekly cash audit. These skills would help her when the then principal of HHS recommended she apply for the position. “There wasn’t a lot of variety to [working at the bookstore] ... I’d been on the budget advisory committee for the Cupertino schools … so they knew that I understood how school accounting worked,”Daffern said. Her job encompasses all

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and yearbook distributions.But, despite the financial aspect of her job, Daffern’s favorite memories at HHS include working with students.

THE LAYERS OF A ‘MIDSUMMER NIGHT’S DREAM’

Drama department puts on a comedic Shakespearean play By Nika Bondar and Emily Chung

The play also managed to weave together elements of suspense with those of humour. “I like the final scene that we did, the play within the play… it’s just stringing it out f o r comic

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confusion of these relationships, ending with a play within a play. “This is the first real, content-filled, deep, challenging play that I did, and so I feel a very strong connection to it,” senior Ron Barzilay said.

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The advanced drama department’s production of Shakespeare’s “A Midsummer Night’s Dream” was a two-hour comedic play, presented to the student body from May 2 to May 4. Performing the play was an exhilarating experience for the actors and everyone else involved, as drama performs Shakespeare only once every three years, drama teacher Leslie Lloyd said. “Before the show,” sophomore Shaqued Orr said, “we have this ritual called the energy circle where we all gather around and do this chant…it is very cult-ish but we get so riled up and so excited and the energy, you just get lost in the moment and tonight our energy really transferred onto the stage.” Emotional build up is found to be helpful for energetic delivery. “A lot of my acting, I try to fuel it with how I am feeling,” said sophomore Lotus Taylor. In “A Midsummer Night’s Dream,” two pairs of ill-fated lovers are thrown in the middle of a mischievous fairies’ drama. The play revolves around the

relief...I Similarly t h i n k to Barzilay, it’s just other cast geniously m e m b e r s written,” believe that Barzilay said. performing T h e Shakespeare has a u d i e n c e been a unique appreciated experience the humor YARDEN ZINGER (12), TZLIL cause of the NAHUM (10), HUNTER MCDIVITT(9), presented in Joseph Huang (10) are captivated alternate form the play, as by the action on stage. of linguistics well. and the “I think the different worlds of the play. funniest part for me at least was… “This play is really cool in a the donkey, Bottom. The duality sense that there’s a couple differ- of him not understanding what ent realms going on at the same happened, Titania not seeing time,” Orr said. it, and all the others realizing.

I [thought] it was funny,” Orr’s mother and audience member, Sophy Orr said. Another unique aspect of the play is that it was directed by the students themselves: groups of students were given the responsibility to draw out and direct each one of the scenes, with the opportunity to incorporate their own interpretations, with some occasional guidance from Ms. Lloyd, sophomore Taylor Lotus said. “I was really impressed and very proud of them. They took what I directed and made it their own which is always nice to see,” Lloyd said.

Correction Box In the past issue published on May 1, 2019 in page 14 the deck states “Senior recounts his journey toward Olympic Qualifiers in kickboxing,”. However, Carlos Gonzales is not a kickboxer, he is a boxer. We sincerely apologize for this mistake.

Editors

Editor-in-Chief Andrea Sun Editor-in-Chief Renee Wang Senior News Editor Shruti Magesh Senior News Editor Dexter Tatsukawa Senior Opinion Editor Melody Chen Junior Opinion Editor Sahil Venkatesan Senior Lifestyles Editor Katelynn Ngo Junior Lifestyles Editor Nika Bondar Senior Entertainment Editor Steven Lefaive Junior Entertainment Editor Saanvi Thakur Senior Sports Editor Jackson Faria Senior Sports Editor Jane Park Senior Design Editor Jaqueline Beaufore Junior Design Editor Kacey Rebstock Junior Desgin Editor Miya Liu Business Manager Yukari E. Zapata

Reporters Leiyonee Bose Emily Chung Anika Karody Shreya Partha

Leila Salam Jack Zhikai Xu Patrick Yu

Natalie Owsley

Adviser

The Epitaph is a non-profit publication at Homestead High School, 21370 Homestead Rd, Cupertino, CA 95014. The Epitaph is a forum for student expression and not subject to prior review, in accordance with Education Code 48907. The staff is composed of Homestead Journalism students. Views expressed do not necessarily represent views of the school, its staff, or the district. Editorials are opinions of the editorial board. The Epitaph welcomes all letters to the editor but reserves the right to edit all submissions. Letters should be limited to 300 words. Include contact information. Unsigned letters cannot be published, but names will be withheld upon request. Send via homestead. epitaph@gmail.com, or drop letters in the newsroom or the office mailbox. If the Epitaph has made an error, please send corrections to homestead.epitaph@gmail.com. The corrections will be published in the corrections box for the next issue. To reach the Epitaph staff in C105, email homestead.epitaph@gmail. com

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Donors Jason Halden David & Charline Sun Catherine Hansa Spencer Fung Thomas Kendall Manjari Patel Laurel Schmidt Greg Tatsukawa Dexter Tatsukawa Julie Tatsukawa Angela Wipfler Morpheus Tatsukawa Bridget Wipfler James Tatsukawa Katelyn Wong Sadae Tatsukawa Katie Yasuda Margaret Batek Virginia Uchiyamada Christopher Zeren Hinoko Tor

Page by Shreya Parthasarathy and Jack Xu

Opinion UNITING TOGETHER IN A TIME OF CRISIS

Wednesday, May 29, 2019

STAFF EDITORIAL Anti-Muslim hate crimes have spread through the U.S. one after another, overwhelming the public with the mass amount of shootings and bombings throughout the country. As the media alerts us to the next hate-filled atrocity, we look on unaffected until tragedy strikes the city we live in. Recently, the location of such a hate crime was only 2 miles away from HHS. Sunnyvale resident Isaiah Joel Peoples is facing eight counts of attempted murder after plowing through a crowd of pedestrians at the intersection of El Camino Real and Sunnyvale-Saratoga Road on April 23. According to ABC News, Peoples, an army veteran suffering from PTSD, targeted the crowd based on his assumption that they were Muslim. Among the victims is a 13-yearold Sunnyvale Middle School student who is currently on life support. According to Mercury News, seven other victims suffered broken or fractured bones, abrasions, lacerations and other injuries. The FBI, as well as the Sunnyvale PD, are investigating the incident and prosecutors have yet to determine if they will file additional hate crime charges against Peoples. Yet, this alleged hate crime is no different from the Christ-

church mosque shooting in New Zealand or the Poway synagogue shooting in San Diego. The formation of anti-Muslim hate groups has rapidly increased in the U.S. According to the Southern Poverty Law Center, 14 anti-Muslim hate groups have been reported in California in 2018, double the number recorded in 2011. The rise of antiMuslim hate groups in recent years exemplifies the division and animosity sweeping through the country. However, as we see our beloved Habit Burger Grill and Panera Bread among the backdrop of the photos portrayed in the media, we realize that such acts are not restricted to the screen. California has been portrayed as a safe space, exempt from the hate crimes faced by the rest of the country, and this was true to a certain extent. However, even when we are partly shielded from the crimes in the rest of the country, we should not believe that we are totally exempt from prejudice. Such a period of safety does not mean we should be compliant. When such events shift to our diverse community, it is crucial

that we take a clear stand against discrimination. In such a time of distress, it is important that we gather together as a community and rally towards further unification, instead of promoting division. But, more than ever, we need to recognize that in order to stop the instances of hate-fueled events, the root of the issue — ignorance — needs to be recognized. According to the American Psychological Association, people are more willing to lump individuals of a group they are unfamiliar with into a “single-disliked category.” A deeper education about the Muslim community may be effective in deterring misconceptions and hate crimes, according to Ervin Staub,

professor of psychology at University of Massachusetts. So, as we send our thoughts and prayers to the Muslim community, let us also gain a deeper understanding of the cultures that are misrepresented by the actions of a few. While we as individuals may not be able to stop large-scale incidents of discrimination, we can speak out against the everyday instances of prejudice and intolerance.

By Melody Chen

Illustration by Saanvi Thakur

WHEN WE EDUCATE ourselves on different cultures, we have an arsenal of knowledge to fight against intolerance.

ABORTION TAKES ONE STEP FORWARD, TWO STEPS BACK

New abortion ban in Alabama sets back women’s rights By Katelynn Ngo The Alabama Human Life Protection Act bill was approved by the Senate on April 30, and it is the closest thing America has seen to a total abortion ban in a state. The most appalling aspect of this bill is the refusal of exemptions for rape and incest, and the fact that doctors may now potentially serve more jail time than an actual rapist. Now, the bill has become the most restrictive abortion bill to date since Roe v. Wade, which determined that women had the right to privacy, and therefore, the right to have an abortion. It will make null all of the victories women have achieved leading up to and even after Roe v. Wade. All the monumental progress that led to the passing of Roe v. Wade will be completely undone. Now, women’s rights is back to square one, forced to start the fight for their autonomy all over again. Once again, women are being told what they can and cannot do with their bodies by men, which made up the 25 members of the Senate that voted to pass the bill. Policymakers don’t realize that when you force a woman to give birth to child against their will — especially when they don’t have the resources or mental capacity to raise that child — it’s extremely detrimental to that child’s life, the life policymakers swear they are trying to protect.

Alabama’s new abortion law doesn’t differentiate between bad mothers and good mothers. The abortion ban also seems to be neglecting the fact that all it really does is ban safe and legal abortion. Women who want abortions will do whatever it takes to get them, whether or not it’s against the law. They’ll turn to more dangerous and risky methods of abortion, which are often life-threatening. According to Guttmacher Institute, unsafe abortions are much more common in places where laws are more restrictive. It’s analogous to people not supporting gun control because they claim those who really want guns will get them one way or another. The abortion law itself offers protection only when a woman’s life is endangered — it is only then that they can freely perform an abortion — but women don’t want their protection. What they want is choice, freedom and control over their bodies. Even though there seems to be an alarming number of states — at least 13 so far — that have begun placing restrictions or straight-up bans on abortion, not all hope is lost. This is especially true in California, where, according to National Association for the Repeal of Abortion Laws (NARAL), it is one of the few places where 95 percent of women live in a county with abortion providers,

THE MELODIC LINE

and where abortion rights are heavily protected. However, that’s not the case in other states. If you ever find your reproductive rights being threatened, there are steps you can do to protect them. You can join the fight by donating and volunteering for NARAL Pro-Choice America, or any group that protects women’s rights. You can write to your state elected officials objecting unconstitutional abortion bans. You can sign the Planned Parenthood petition to put a stop to all the current sixweek abortion bans (which Illustration by Saanvi Thakur ban abortions before women even realize they’re pregTHE NEW ABORTION bill nant). strips women of their rights. For women in states with strict abortion laws, you can help them by donating PROTESTORS OUTSIDE THE to local reproductive-rights or- Alabama State House defend the ganizations like the National Net- human right to accessible abortions. work of Abortion Funds (NNAF), or just verbally criticizing extreme abortion bans to expose the dire implications they present. In the end, I’m not asking you to support abortion. I’m just asking you to support women’s fundaPhoto courte sy of Washing mental rights. to n Post

If you choose to irk a billionaire, feel free to call it a fat cat, silk stocking or moneybags. After all, these expressions are not close to half of the euphemisms that describe a billionaire. However, has the euphemism culture veered too far? Take the ex-CEO of Starbucks and multibillionaire Howard Schultz who went as far as to refuse to call himself a billionaire and instead referred to his distinguished class as “people of means,” according to The New York Times. Yet, just as the truth seems to slip away from the folds, it magnifies the reality — inflating the expression until it pops and unveils itself. Euphemism — a softer word or phrase that substitutes the blunt and harsh-sounding tone in language — is overused especially at a time when we refuse to accept the truth. In fact, it is not in our nature to confront the things we avoid to talk about. Take the many euphemisms President Donald Trump has proudly wielded: patriotic assimilation, “tender age” shelters and tax relief. According to MSNBC, Trump even avoided saying the “wall” altogether, and began referring it as “steel slats”— a phrase you may hear in a construction site. Trump essentially used coded language to negate himself from the weight of such words. Rightly so, no amount of euphemism can alter reality. Despite its intention to dispel fear and mystery surrounding the truth, euphemisms instead highlight such emotions. As an expression gets tangled up in “neutral” language, we become curious to steal a glance of the truths that lie beneath — even if that requires us to dodge the speculations. Language is as beautiful as it is deceiving: it could spark a conversation or it could be manipulated to serve the interest of the speaker. And especially, when we sugarcoat this language to insulate the truth, we create a language that sucks out the life of the language itself. PAGE BY MIYA LIU

Wednesday, May 29, 2019

PAGE DESIGN BY YUKARI E. ZAPATA

Lifestyles CHOIR TO COSTA RICA FOR ANNUAL TRIP

Wednesday, May 29, 2019

Members make memories singing at churches and more

Photo courtesy of Jeff Morton

STUDENTS WHO ATTENDED the trip toured the forests and saw the waterfalls of the Central American country.

By Katelynn Ngo Every other year, choir goes on a big trip. In previous years, they have been to Disneyland, New York and Hawaii. This year, for their annual singing trip, choir went on a performance tour in Costa Rica during Holy Week. The 41

members who went experienced a contrasting culture to that of the Bay Area. Costa Rica is a country that choir has been to, and has stayed one of the most culturally exciting trips, choir teacher Jeff Morton said. “At the end of last year I wasn’t sure I wanted to do Costa Rica again and I asked [the seniors]

how important it was,” Mortom said. “[Everything is so heightened] because it’s a different country. You’re meeting new people [and] bonding with people on the trip.” Morton said that previous students believe that the trip was a bonding and growing experience for them. The group sang at several venues, one being a church in the heart of the Monteverde rainforest, with the help of a travel company called World Projects that specializes in musical tours. “We sang at a Catholic church on the day of Easter, which was a really big day for them, and I thought it was special for them to allow us to be a part of that,” junior Chianie Chi said. Aside from singing, the group also got a chance to explore different parts of Costa Rica and participate in team bonding activities such as zip lining. Once the group became as familiar with the music as they could, everything just started falling into place, especially during the concert held right after they went zip lining, Morton said. “The concert was really good in part because we’d sung all the music a lot, and after the rush of

the ziplining and downtime and a nice rehearsal, it was just a really gratifying concert,” Morton said. “We sounded good, the audience really appreciated us. It felt like everything came together in that moment.” Although Costa Rica was an enjoyable way to experience choir in a different country, junior Eefay Wang said she believes that there are other parts of choir that are just as important. “It’s not really about the trips,” Wang said. “For us, choir is fun because we like to sing. Choir provides a lot of opportunities to get engaged with music [and] to be more involved in the music program. The trips are just a fun addition and [a way] to get to know the people around you.” Senior Ryan Watanabe expresses this sentiment, even though he wasn’t originally aware of what choir entailed when he first joined. “Last year, I really wanted another music class, [but] I didn’t know what class to take. My friend said that he was in choir, and that he’d be doing it again,” Watanabe said. “I kind of just took it not knowing what to expect, but it turned out to be really fun.”

SUMMER SCHEMES: A RECHARGE OF PASSION Dedicated students show summer not all fun, games By Jane Park Summer is right around the corner and students are preparing for their exciting summer plans after a long, gruelling year. Students have plans like getting summer jobs, attending various arts programs, and traveling abroad. One of these students is sophomore Kayla Ji, who will work as an intern to a counselor at the Summer Operations Internship at Camp Galileo from June through July. “The counselor is the manager and advises me what to do,” Ji said. “I’m working for the morning shift, so I’ll be doing a lot of the office work, like making posters and organizing shirts.” Her motive for applying to the internship lies in her affection for children and her admiration of the camp. “I love working with kids and I [respect] Galileo’s [mission] for improving innovative thinking,” Ji said. “My parents are really proud of me because this is my first job, and I got a job before my 18 year old sister.” Other students will follow their passion through music programs. An example is junior Will Belford, who will be playing the tenor drums with the Blue Devils B Drum and Bugle Corps (BDB). “Drum corps is pretty much marching band, [but has] all brass instruments,” Belford said. “It’s an independent version of marching band unrelated to any school program.”

Belford said that auditioning for a place in the group was exciting but very demanding. “You get to meet a lot of new people from different schools around the area who also want to take [their passion] to the next level with an independent group,” Belford said. “Meeting all those people is cool, but [it’s] a stressful experience because you’re put on the spot and it’s a lot of mental work.” Over the summer, BDB will have a few weeks of daily rehearsal, three shows in Northern California, more weeks of rehearsal, then a tour in Southern California. Meanwhile, senior Sylvie Xu is going to Europe after school ends, a trip supervised by English teachers James Ratti and Shawnee Rivera. They will go to Europe for 10 days, exploring Rome, Italy, Paris and Greece, Xu said. One of the reasons Xu is excited to go to Europe is because she will be able to practice her

language skills there. “I took AP French, [so] I’m going to be able to communicate with the natives. I can actually know what they’re saying,” Xu said. Although summer presents time for students to relax after a gruelling year, the three month break can also be used as a time to bolster students’ knowledge of the world. AFTER SIX SEASONS of marching band, junior Will Belford is following his passion and will be playing for the Blue Devils B Drum Corps.

Photo courtesy of Will Belford

HERE AND THERE By Andrea Sun “Oh my God, I just loved Milan. The fashion capital of the world! What’s not to love.” Well, there’s a lot not to love, in reality. From Paris to Fiji, cities around the world get millions of tourists a year, searching for the awestruck high one gets from going some place amazing. But not every place is worth it; they become overrated. Take Tokyo, for example: a city that appears in an absurd amount of movies and TV shows and the home of 11.9 million visitors a year, according to tourism numbers in 2018. Personally, there are so many aspects of the Japanese capital to love: quick and delicious ramen, vending machines on every corner and incomparable cherry blossoms. But whenever I am there, I cannot help but look around at the insane amount of people stuffed into the subway cars, the lines for everything and difficulty fitting in as a tourist or visitor. Not to say that Tokyo is not a great city to visit or live in, but I just do not enjoy the city the same way as the millions of other tourists do. There are places that I think are overrated, but underrated at the same time. Venice was one of them; while the insane amount of people and overpriced gondolas were off putting, there were so many aspects of the Italian city that were amazing. Staying in an Airbnb apartment above a small square and walking through the streets at night as locals and tourists drank wine in the summer air allowed me to fully enjoy the city and push past the parts I disliked. One place that is completely underrated is Ljubljana, Slovenia. Home to Lake Bled and many castles, the Central European city is hidden between hills and rivers. The food is unique to the area, the produce is incredibly fresh, there are not many tourists and the air is crisp and light. The purpose of travel is to find places that you love and can manifest the best version of yourself. If that means discovering the quiet parts of a busy city or joining in the crazed culture of another, so be it. Despite what others (including me) say about places being overrated or underrated, follow the tiny voice in your heart that tells you where to go. PAGE BY LEIYONEE BOSE AND SAHIL VENKATESAN

Lifestyles WELLNESS WEEK BRINGS MENTAL HEALTH TO SPOTLIGHT Wednesday, May 29, 2019

Students share thoughts about letter writing activity, stress

By Melody Chen and Steven Lefaive

Illustration by Saanvi Thakur

THE LETTER WRITING activity is an invigorating opportunity for students to practice mindfulness.

In an effort to shed light on mental wellness, Mental Health Awareness Club, Science for Change and Yoga/Fitness club came together to outline a weeklong mental health campaign in the week of April 21. With AP testing and finals as defining aspects of the last few months of high school, stress is not uncommon. Senior ZhiYing Chua, co-president of Yoga/Fitness club, stressed the tendency of students to remain well on the outside under stressful circumstances. “Students feel the need to take on all of these responsibilities, while also not really asking for help,” Chua said. Recognizing the stigma of seeking help, Wellness Week invited health professionals to speak about the topic and introduced healthy lifestyle habits among students with the integration of activities throughout the week. The clubs organized activities such as

writing letters to their future selves, stress ball making and a yoga session in the quad to promote mindfulness. “We want to give students the opportunity to find… methods of coping with stress,” Chua said, “and [how] to maintain their own wellness in this very stressful environment.” Students have also agreed on the importance of maintaining their mental health. Among the students who participated in the letter-writing activity, freshman Richard Zhang said it helped him open up. “The letter-writing [activity] was stress-relieving because I felt like I could drop my feelings at that time,” Zhang said, “and then later, by the time [I] relive the situation during finals week, I think, ‘Oh, I used to like that girl?’ But now I don’t because she rejected me!” Junior Monami Nagai found the letter-writing activity therapeutic, as well.

“Students can write down the things that they’re stressed about to help get everything out,” Nagai said. “If everything is in your head, your [mental] health will get worse.” Not only did the letter-writing activity allow students to voice their feelings, it hleped them reduce stress. Co-president of Mental Health Awareness club, Eefay Wang, said the letter-writing activity provides a platform for students to communicate with themselves and perhaps, with other people. “People aren’t comfortable talking about things they’re not familiar with,” Wang, a junior, said. “So, what we’re trying to do is [to] make it more common to be able to talk about [mental health] with others, and so that people who do struggle with it can access the resources they need comfortably.” In the future, Wellness Week is expecting more mental health involvement.

DIFFERENT TEACHERS IMPLEMENT CONTRASTING CLASSROOM POLICIES Multiple factors go into enforcing, creating rules By Shruti Magesh and Katelynn Ngo Every classroom has different policies, and there are many factors that are considered when creating and enforcing them. For example, math teacher Shawn Southerd has strict test policies, but more lenient technology policies. “Cell phones, I’m a little bit looser with because I do play Kahoot a lot or look up things on the phone,” Southerd said. With tests, Southerd is more careful because he wants to minimize cheating as much as possible, although he admits that it is never 100 percent enforceable. “People come in, put their backpacks up front, all electronic devices away. I check people’s watches,” Southerd said. “My hope is that that’ll help to avoid cheating, but I’ve had students in the past try to bring notes or sneak something in. I try the best I can, but I’m sure cheating happens

one way or another,” Southerd said. Other teachers, such as math teacher Gary Auten, choose to enforce policies because they believe it helps the classroom run smoothly and efficiently. Auten said he chooses to be stricter with more immediate policies, while being more loose on policies that are less important. “I’ll be lenient with items that are most important to the students and least important to me in terms of time management,” Auten said. Similar to Southerd’s policies, Auten said he does not condone cheating, but is less strict with cheating surrounding other assignments. “I don’t really care if students cheat on homework, but tests are a different matter,” Auten said. “Typically, students who provide the correct answer without showing work, I don’t give

Illustration by Saanvi Thakur

SCHOOL POLICIES HELP students learn various life skills.

any credit [to].” Auten reasons that such policies will prepare them for the future. Although it’s always nice to be in a classroom where policies are flexible, there are also consequences of being given too much freedom. “I feel like there are downsides to [being lenient],” junior Sandy Sanchez said. “It has to be somewhere in the middle or else students will start thinking they can do other things [during class].” PAGE BY SAANVI THAKUR AND PATRICK YU

Entertainment

Wednesday, May 29, 2019

SISTER SCANDAL

Feud between James Charles and Tati Westbrook takes many unexpected turns

By Anika Karody Hey Sisters! Unless you’ve been living under a rock, you’ve probably heard about the feud between beauty gurus James Charles and Tati Westbrook. If you haven’t heard about it yet, here’s the tea. Westbrook has been a beauty blogger since the earlymid 2000s, so she has a lot of experience in the industry. She and her husband helped kickstart Charles’ career, propelling him to his current fame. Westbrook owns Halo Beauty, a vitamin company, and when she asked Charles to promote the vitamins via Instagram, he declined, saying that it wouldn’t cater to his audience, which is comprised of teens and young adults. Later, Charles and some of his friends attended Coachella, but had security problems during the second weekend. Without thinking, he contacted Sugar Bear Hair, Tati’s rival company, and they provided him and his friends with security. This caused a rift between the two beauty gurus, and in response, Westbrook posted a series of videos of her crying in disappointment via Instagram stories. Around the same time, she also posted a video titled “Bye Sister,” where she talked about the situation and called Charles a sexual predator. The video was around 40 minutes long and has since been deleted. Charles apologized in a short video, although fans were quick to call it fake. Following the upload of

SPILLING THE TEA

Ten Ren’s traditional teas prove to be tasteful; fruit teas are another story

By Steven Lefaive

Photo Illustration by Anika Karody CHARLES AND WESTBROOK had a misunderstanding over the latter’s vitamin company.

Westbrook’s videos, Charles lost 3 million subscribers on YouTube along with his reputation, while she skyrocketed to 10 million. In addition, many of his fans turned against him, and some went as far as to burn his eyeshadow pallette. Many notable celebrities such as Kylie Jenner, Kim Kardashian West, Shawn Mendes and Halsey unfollowed him on Instagram. Mutual friend Jeffree Star continuously tweeted about the feud and expressed his disgust at Charles for flirting with his boyfriend Nate, but also made offensive remarks about Charles’ brother, Ian. Westbrook followed up with a second, shorter video where she explained her actions. She said she didn’t expect to gain the attention she received and that Charles should start to behave more maturely as he grows up. Breaking into tears, she

apologized to everyone and also told them to stop spreading hate during the process. Charles pulled a reverse card and created a video, “No More Lies,” where he gave his testimony. He showed all of the screenshots from his chats with involved parties as well. Similar to Westbrook’s video, he requested his fans to be kind. He also called out Star for making false claims about him and his brother. With this, he was able to gain back 2 million subscribers and counting. Westbrook is yet to comment, but after the upload of Charles’ video, she is facing serious backlash for the allegations she made.

Ten Ren has some of the best tea I’ve ever had — but there’s a catch. While Ten Ren excels at crafting scrumptious traditional teas like roasted oolong and jasmine green, it fails to reciprocate such quality in their fruit teas. I began my review by tasting Ten Ren’s traditional teas. I ordered the silver needle white tea and pearl jasmine, both of which can only be ordered hot. The temperature of the tea was only a small complaint in the back of my mind as a more pertinent issue arose — the sweetness, or the lack thereof. Both drinks were sugarless, and the pearl jasmine was bitter. If you’re someone who needs sugar in their drink, order from Ten Ren’s milk tea or fruit tea menus. Despite the sweetness, the drinks were great and, arguably, the best traditional teas I’ve ordered from a tea shop. The flavoring in the drinks comes from authentic tea leaves and flowers in a tea bag, and tastes better than artificiallzzy flavored drinks. Be wary not to steep the tea for too long, hence why my jasmine pearl tea got too bitter.

Next, I ordered Ten Ren’s basic jasmine green and oolong teas. These drinks, comparatively, can be ordered cold and with sugar. Both were exactly how I would imagine an ideal “jasmine” or “oolong” tea should taste. The jasmine tea was light, but not watery, and the oolong was pungent, but not overpowering. Last, but definitely least, I tried Ten Ren’s green mango green tea. Before I even swallowed the tea, I wanted to wash it out with water because it tasted like mangoflavored chemicals. The tea had too much sugar, even at 50 percent sweetness, and the so-called “tea” was extremely pungent and distasteful. Next time you swing by Ten Ren, order one of their traditional teas if you’re looking for a refreshing beverage. Want something fruity? I recommend shops like Tea Lyfe and Happy Lemon instead.

Ten Ren

Pricing: $4-4.75 Location: Cupertino

SPOILERS MAY IMPROVE A PLOT

Benefits, damage brought from spoilers By Jack Xu

Whether a film reviewer before watching the film— is reading or writing about wondering who dies, or movies that won’t be whether the protagonist released for months, or will get off the island. even years, there is a thin In fact, spoiling key plot line between feeding your points improves frenzy and preserving the final experience of the movie for others. Most people think that spoilers are terrible because they tell everyone the details in the story and Phot o Illu how it ends, stratio n by making people Steve n Lef aive have less of an interest in watching it. EVER SINCE ENDGAME has While an unwanted been released, spoilers have spoiler does take told everyone how Avengers: Endgame ends. something away, it may not take away the pleasure of actually reading a story; the plot itself is or watching a story. The only simply a distraction that thing spoilers take away keeps us from enjoying the rest of it – the sensory from is the anticipation

descriptions, the character development, the satire, the artistry. Spoilers clear away the need to think about the plot and allow you to enjoy the rest of the story. Titles tell you something about a piece of media. Summaries tell you something about a piece of media. Trailers tell you something about a piece of media. All of these are, essentially, spoilers. They are revealing plot details to you. Whether we like them or hate them, it’s all about compromise, and as long as we don’t go out of our way to ruin a piece of entertainment’s plot points for others, then we can coexist peacefully, regardless of what we think about spoilers. PAGE BY NIKA BONDAR AND JANE PARK

Wednesday, May 29, 2019

Sports

ONE WIN ON THE SEASON IS MORE THAN TRACK FINISHES YEAR ENOUGH FOR BOYS’ GOLF OFF AT CCS Boys’ golf overcomes new team dynamic resulting in tremendous improvement

Athletes qualify to participate at CCS finals in Gilroy

By Emily Chung

By Jackson Faria

Photo Illustration by Emily Chung

BOYS GOLF ENDS the year on a high note with drastic improvements in team chemistry.

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HHS track and field has had quartet ran a collective 3:27.78 a phenomenal season, with multo place seventh to qualify. tiple athletes qualifying for the Athletes returned to Gilroy CCS Finals meet. High for the CCS finals meet The qualifying meet took on May 17. Ma had another implace on May 11th PIEKARZ (11), and Ryan Ma pressive showing at Gilroy High in the 1600m, School where finishing 9th five Mustangs with a 4:24.36 placed top mile, almost ten in their identical to respective his time events in the during qualit h e fying meet. meet S e a week nior Ryan prior. Ma set the After tone for the that, Chow Mustangs afplaced 9th in ter being the the 800m with a first to qualify time of 1:58.74. To Photo by Jackson Faria that day. Ma ran a finish off the meet, 4:24.12 in the 1600m race to place the 1600m relay team raced and tenth. placed 7th despite the fact they Next to qualify was senior were seeded 4th in the event and Quentin Chow in the 800m. expected to be a contender to Chow set a new personal record, qualify for states. clocking in at 1:57.30 and placing Although the athletes put ninth, allowing him to move on forth their best efforts, none of to the finals meet. them were able to place in the However, Chow’s evening was top three of their events in order not over yet. He also competed to qualify for states. The team is in the 1600m relay team with julooking forward to another comniors Ben Piekarz, Jeffery Shao petitive season next year. and senior Sahil Morchi. The SH

he started to how he finished,” Bonvechio said. Senior AJ Collins, who has been playing golf for eight years, notes definite growth during his practices while being on the team all four years. “I think I am always improving and I’m certainly better than I was at the start of the year, ”Collins said. Collins’ efforts paid off because he qualified for the league playoffs, but missed qualifying for CCS Sectional Championships by one stroke. Despite the letdown, Collins enjoyed his experience playing at Laguna Seca Golf Ranch. “It’s fun to compete against people in other high schools,” Collins said. Although the team won only one game at the end of the season against Wilcox High School, Coach Bonvechio was satisfied with their performance and development throughout the season. “I thought it was a success; our record didn’t indicate a lot of wins, however, I thought where we started as a team with the scoring to how we finished at the end was a [huge] improvement,” Bonvechio said.

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tices. “It is fun to play with different people because you can learn from everyone,” Moyer said. For Moyer, he started playing golf right before the season started, but progressed dramatically as the season went on. “[Moyer] started out as my number four player, but finished the season as my number two player and was consistently in the low 40s at the end, so he had a drastic improvement from where

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“Nice shot! Keep your head up! Don’t get so down!” Golf coach Kyle Bonvechio said as the boys golf team worked tirelessly to refine their performance. Despite a rocky season, the team’s hard work paid off at the end, leading to their close win of 236239 in the last game with Wilcox. Although there were many new players that joined the team, Bonvechio was pleased with the players’ positive mindset throughout the season. “I am very happy with the growth of our team. We were very young, and there were a lot of students [with little golf experience]. We weren’t as skilled as the other teams, but our work and growth throughout the year is what made it a success,” Bonvechio said. Despite a difficult season, the losses did not affect their work ethic. The more experienced golfers acted as leaders, giving advice about mechanics and encouraging each other when they hit a good shot. “During practices, we are always trying to help the team get better so that we can win a match,” sophomore Matthew Moyer said. The players also tried their best to have fun while hanging out with friends during the prac-

THE TRUTH BEHIND SPORTS FUNDING IN GYMNASTICS AND CHEER

Lack of resources leaves gymnastics, cheer team struggling By Shreya Parthasarathy and Saanvi Thakur

Through different fundraising, the ASB account is not used. ing options such as the Parent “[The cheerleading team] has Teacher Association and parent their own booster’s group where boosters club, sports on campus most of their money is used so are able to perform to their full- {the parent boosters club] kind est potential. of becomes their [ASB] account,” However, for sports like gym- Puccinelli said. nastics and competitive cheerSimilar to other sports on leading, fundraising is a struggle. campus, the cheer team does “The vast majority of athlet- fundraising in order to buy bows, ic funding is from ASB; we get leotards, and other materials but a portion from ASB sales and many team members are not parking permit money,” Pucci- aware of where the money goes. nelli said. “We have state fund“We don’t get our fundraising ing...and the head varsity coach money. I remember fundraising has control over the funds and around $100 and I never saw can choose what to do with that any of that money. I don’t know money.” where it went,” Elizabeth White, Each sports team uses the a junior on the cheerleading money left in their ASB ac- team, said. count from the previous Aside from fundraisschool year and ing for uniforms and simultaneequipment, the school disously fundraises montrict pays ey through and prothe parent vides payb o o s t e r ment for the cheer club but for coaches cheerleadIllustrations by Jacqueline Beaufore

according to Nancy Daffern, a financial specialist at Homestead. In addition to the coaching fees, cheer members are also required to pay $450 each season toward their booster club which again pays for the coaching fees. “You pay the money [$450 per person] for the coaches or you can’t be on the team,” said White. The cheerleading coaches did not respond to requests for an interview. Like the cheer team, gymnastics faces a similar plight. While the gymnastics team should also have an ASB account, the account does not exist, according to Steve Lavelle, athletics director.

“Gymnastics is very low [in funding] and to be honest, it is possible that they don’t even have an active account.” said Puccinelli. Consequently, the gymnastics team members feel alienated and not prioritized. As a result of the lack of equipment due to inadequate funding, the team has been practicing at CHS. “It’s much easier to talk to the Cupertino team than our team which is awkward because we practice with them.” said Frances Jing, a freshman on the team. “The team could have a stronger bond if we went to practice together,” Jing said. Many students are not aware of the gymnastics team even though

they are interested in learning gymnastics or have prior experience in the sport. “I think a lot of people don’t know about the team and we have less people because of that, so if we could hold tryouts or we had a coach or equipment then more people would join because there is definitely a lot of talent at HHS that hasn’t been shown,” Ananya Verma, a senior on the gymnastics team, said. Overall, funding plays a critical role in determining the size of a team, the equipment provided, and being able able to participate in competitions. At HHS, fundraising is the largest avenue athletes are able to fund themselves to make sure that they can play their sport without financial constraints. PAGE BY EMILY CHUNG AND YUKARI E. ZAPATA

PACK YOUR BAGS

P AGEDE S I GNBYHANABAI G, KAT E L Y NP ANANDAL F ONS OP I T COI I I P HOT OSCOURT E S YOFBAT OOLAL J ABI RY , BRE NDACAS T I L L O, T HOMASDE NOME , KAT I EF UNG, AI S HWARY AJ AY ADE E PANDS AL E ANAY ANG

Senior Spotlight

Wednesday, May 29, 2019

SAN DIEGO

California

A l t e r n a t i v e Redefining Success paths: Gap Year Chelsea Liang

By Gianella Ordonez

ate Shani

ian na Burse

Much of the class of 2019 eastern University, which is looking to cherish these he has already committed last couple of months before to, and will be double mawe all go off to pursue our joring in entrepreneurship/ respective post-high-school business and engineering. plans. In fact, there is also a Nate Shani is also going fair amount of students to Israel to volunteer, who have decided as well as figure to take a gap out what he year before truly wants continuing to do betheir edfore comucation. ing back Shaina to college. Gallarde T h e started volunteer planning work that o what she Shani will y s urte o c was going to be doing in o Phot do during her Israel will maingap year at the beginly consist of helping ning of this school year. out with agricultural secu“I did not want to rush rity, education and low ingoing to college and I did come neighborhoods for 10 not know what I wanted months, after which he’ll reto major in,” Gallarde said. turn to go to college, he said. She will be volunteerHe is also planing in the Philippines for ning on traveling. four to six months Cianna Burse will Gallarde said. spend her gap year After her practicing and gap year, perfecting her Gallarde technique in is going the field of to reapstage manply to aging, which c o l l e g e, consists of hoping doing everyto major thing from Pho bi to b a J in an envihair to makeup l y Batool A ronment-relatat various shows. ed field of study at She will travel for a San Diego State University. year in Portugal with her sisAs Gallarde spends her ter, where she is also planning time in the Philippines, on participating in multiple Omer Nisenbaum will be go- theater programs, Burse said. ing to Israel after graduation. “I want to go out there to “I’ll do mainly 3 things: see what their techniques are traveling, volunteering and and what they do differently learning more life lessons, because it’s a way different not just math, sciexperience than over ence or tests,” here,” Burse said. N i s e n Burse wants baum said. to build her While resume and h e ’ d experience known before she since the comes back beginto go to Footning of the hill, then to year that transfer to a yo tes r u he wanted to four year. “I am o Photo c take a gap year, very excited; I need a he still applied to break from school,” Burse private universities that ac- said. “I just want to be able to cept deferrals. After his gap do whatever I want to do.” year, he will go to North-

Photo Courtesy of Chelsea Liang

By Batool Al-Jabiry “Do what makes you happy, the money will follow,” A common saying for individuals who are pursuing careers that don’t make a lot of money. Living in the Silicon

Valley, careers in STEM are a popular choice and looked at with pride, which can leave individuals pursuing nontraditional routes a little scared for the future. For senior Chelsea Liang, an aspiring nail technician, she could relate to the skepticism, because she felt it too. “I always thought, ‘That’s what I want to do, and I’m going to do it.’ “But after further reflection, I realized, I live in the Silicon Valley,” Liang said. The expensive lifestyle of the Bay Area had Liang

feeling worried about how she could fulfill her dreams and be financially stable. Cosmetology school doesn’t guarantee a successful career and starting a business requires money to begin with. She plans on attending Foothill College under the radiology and technology program and maintaining her dream by doing nails on the side, until she has the means to fully pursue it. “There’s always a fear like, what if I don’t make it? What if people don’t like what I do? What if I’m not good enough?” she said. “But I believe I can do it. I mean right now, I have a good amount of clients that have told me they really like what I can do and since I have a backup plan, I’m not letting my fears stand in my way.”

Ryan grey chooses coast guard By Harley Anderson Ryan Grey’s post-highschool plan differs from most who are in the graduating class of 2019 here at HHS. He is one of the few, if not the only person who is taking the military route, by going to the Coast Guard. The main reason behind him going to the Coast Guard, he said, is so that he has more time to find out what exactly he wants to do. Not only does it allow him to have more time to figure out what he wants to do, but it also will allow him to have college paid for afterwards. His decision behind choosing the Coast Guard over the other branches came from him wanting to stay in the U.S. and also because his dad recommended him to choose it over the other branches. “There are more chances and more opportunity to grow compared to other branches, because it is smaller,” Grey said.

Photo Courtesy of Ryan Grey

RYAN GREY PLANS to join the Coast Guard to have more time to decide future plans.

As of right now Grey is still unsure of what he wants to do, but is sure that the time he will spend in the Coast Guard will help him figure that out, whether he decides to go to Art School after, or if he completely changes his mind and does something different.

But what can be said about his future is that he will be doing something that he actually wants to be doing. “In the end I hope to do what I like to do, rather than settling.” Grey said.

PAGE BY BATOOL AL-JABIRY, HARLEY ANDERSON AND GIANELLA ORDONEZ

Senior Spotlight

Wednesday, May 29, 2019

SENIOR SUPERLATIVES

Photos by Andrea Boyn, Nicole Fuller and Laurel Schmidt

David McAllister and Reet Mishra

Next Steve Jobs

Every year, there are defining people, places and things that make Hhs what it is. Below are superlatives that represent the best of our school for the class of 2019. Valerie Hu

Most likely to . . .

do what a mustang would do

Seth Markley and Elizabeth Mirov

Most likely to . . .

wear their uniform to their wedding

Jannie Zhong and Kelly MacDonald

Emily Song and Ron Barzilay

most

Mostlikely likelytoto. . . . Most

Sunny Arattukulam

Most likely to . . .

start a "drama" mosh pit -tic at a rally

Most likely to

BECOME A CULT

BEST Advice for Underclassmen:

MostNlikely to . . . MARCHI G BAnD

Photo courtesy of Jim Zumsteg

“Surround yourself with people that make you happy and do things you genuinely enjoy.” Divya Ramamoorthy

B O A R D WA L K BEST teachers:

Best Place to go out to lunch: “Taco Bell because it has a drive-thru, especially when it is raining.” Yooju Choi “I like Chipotle and Super Burrito because I really like Mexican food and each of them have their own different spins on it.” Sean Chen

Marc Gonzales

Lisa Clausnitzer

Favorite clothing trend: “Cuffed jeans, I had it all four years.” Lucas Newman “Probably Jesus sandals, I love myself a good pair of Birkenstocks.” Natalie Long

“When [people] say try your hardest in high school they mean it, don’t let what they are saying go in one ear and out the other.” Alexandria Gniadek

Best way to procrastinate: “It’s challenging to stay focused and choose to do work instead of taking the easy way out and watching Netflix.” Sophie Jacquemin “Usually I get distracted by watching Netflix.” Noah Thurm

get a green And white award in every class

“Do your work, have fun, be happy.” Patrick Anderson

“I would study hard in high school, that’s very important.” Joey He

Favorite class in high school: “Orchestra

because Mr. Burn is the best.” Suvan Agarwal

“Am Lit Honors

because I feel like the discussion in the class was really good.” Jessica Du

“Chem Honors

allowed me to academically challenge myself but also thrive as a person.” Ali Ambach PAGE BY ANDREA BOYN, NICOLE FULLER AND LAUREL SCHMIDT

Senior Spotlight

Wednesday, May 29, 2019

Before becoming a hub for innovation, the Silicon Valley was nicknamed “The Valley of Heart’s Delight.” The streets we pass were once acres of orchards yielding apricots, prunes and tomatoes. Just as the landscape of the valley has transitioned from grassy fields to the center of technology, the class of 2019 will begin their journey of change. Congratulations, seniors, and good luck with your future endeavors!

United States Arizona - AZ Arizona State University Dimitar Atanassov Jacob Diffenderfer Varun Kiragi Shiraj Mishra Grand Canyon University Harley Anderson University of Arizona Jake Pageler Omar Villegas Kevin Xu University of Phoenix Patrick Carey

California - CA Academy of Art University Josue Mendez Art Center College of Design Ziyi (Hanson) Ma Azusa Pacific University Jared Chan Cal Poly San Luis Obispo State University Ryan D’Amour Jianna Gladfelter Jack Hauser Honoka Kishino Ben Leistiko Natalie Long Michael Mabee Vivek Madasu Jacob Nachshen Amin Najmi Whitney Poyer Chanel de Smet Aya Snell Ananya Verma Cal Poly Pomona State University Yena Cho Binnie Karki Claire Son Karina Wong Chapman University Nicole Fuller Romtin Rezvani Clarissa Tadros Mira Wadehra Terisa Woo Chico State University Brandon Ligeti City College of San Francisco Alejandro Lozano Claremont McKenna College Michali Bachar College of San Mateo Darrell Page De Anza College Elillee Abebe Juan Aldaco Ziv Alfiya Sanjay Arattukulam Hana Baig Angeli Barros Uri Benzion Skyler Berry Emilie Chartier Ashley Chavez Xavier Choo

De Anza College (cont.) Sarah Correll Shonali Das Daniel Dorogov Joel Dos Santos Liam Drummond Kevin Fletcher Alexandria Gniadek Genesis Gomez Allison Hampton Saray Hernandez Yuvraj Hothi Zheng Hu Kelly Kim Erastus Kuria Isabelle Law Conner Lee Jungwin Lee Jennifer Lopez Ryan Louie Kenneth Lue Alexis Madrid Tyler Massey Geetarth Meduri Christine Mendoza Nichole Mendoza Filip Murawski Jacob Murray Nitheesh Murugan Aaron Odour Ronny Osovsky Sophia Palmerin Sebastian Perales Audrey Phoa Noah Ethan Z.C. Pilkerton Abraham Ponce Mitchell Rebollo Pablo Renteris Byron Roberts Nathan Say Laila Shadabadi Elnaz Shehni Kishore Srinivas Maria Sukhanova Jack Vazquez Edgar Vega Ryan Vu Brandon Welty James Wyman Jiayhan Zhang Zaria Zima Abdullah Zubi Dominguez Hills State University Julliana Hernandez Foothill College Paola Arellano Kelly Chung Niv Cohen Julio Correll Ruiz Sarah Curry Anshul Ghatge Anna Hilbun Chelsea Liang Arthur Lin Niko Matkovich Chirayu Phoemphoolsinchai Kathy Rodriguez Neel Suthar Namiko Turner Molly Vainish Max Villa Amir Voloshin Tyler Vu Foothill College Overseas Exchange Jimmy Nell

Long Beach State University (cont.) Jaide Chen

Wednesday, May 29, 2019

f o y e l l a V he

Pepperdine University Clair Hsiung Pomona College Ryan Ma Sacramento State University Alexa Cendejas Zoey Sun San Diego State University Patrick Anderson Kasey Chan Cassidy Kinderman Hannah Liao San Francisco State University Madison Algarin Niki Atri Hannah Catalan Minji Choi Samikshya Karki Jun Kim David Palomares Alfonso Pitco III Jose Rendon San Jose City College Sam Scott San Jose State University Pranavi Abburi Nima Borhani Amanda Cardenas Samantha Cardenas Raine DeLeon Rashmi Desale Sreya Doppalapudi Ryan Fujii Sophia Greben Svitlana Kuklenko Albert Le Craig Liang Jung Lim Alma Martinez Nejra Mujkanovic Lucas Ng-Newman Junyoung Park Ajay Rao Sebastian Ruiz-Hurst Saul Schrader Shivansh Shukla Samantha Tan Camy Totah

Grossmont Community College Khari Crawford

Santa Clara University Rachel Chung Junhe Cui Kevin Ham Catherine Kim Gianella Ordoñez Jiliane Saputra

Long Beach State University Jehan Bhandari Andrea Boyn

Sonoma State University Alex Landaverde Stephany Orellana

Stanford University Brenden Koo Lauren Lowe University of California, Berkeley Ron Barzilay Nadav Bronicki Shannon Cheung Eugenia Chien Yooju Choi Carson Chou Shaylan Dias Gilbert Feng Jason Hou Nikki Iyer Ishika Jain Aishwarya Jayadeep Abhishek Kattuparambil Julien Kehon Nora Kim Massimiliano Lucas David McAllister Reet Mishra Sahil Morchi Akhil Sanka Anika Sanyal Erin Tsai Alex Wang Michael Wang Laeticia Yang Julia Ybarra Justin Jungse Yim Tony Yu Tiffany Yuan Jessica Zhang University of California, Davis Denise Cerna Claire Choi Emily Choi Noopur Dekate Aarya Gupta Richard Qin Ashna Reddy Laurel Schmidt Lindsay Schmidt Neeraj Senthil Claire Volkmann Katie Williams Adrial Wong University of California, Irvine Michelle Bekku Vy Cao Jacklin Chang Jessy Chen Calum Chu Karthik Kalyanasundaram Arthur Lafrance Elizabeth Mirov Juhi Patel Jacqueline Qu

University of California, Irvine (cont.) Helen Terada Alexandria Wang Sylvie Xu Jozephine Yen University of California, Los Angeles Sean Chen Anisha Chandra Kate Gabrielson Peyton Gee Rohit Ghosh Hannah Haesung Oh Mira Khosla Nathan Kim Joyce Kuo Jeffrey Ma Matthew Origel Helen Wang Christine Yang University of California, Merced Aishwaria Rangasamy Mohammad Syed Tim White University of California, Riverside Nikhil Marudai Nithya Ramesh Ethan Wan Univeristy of California, San Diego Brent Delano Ben Gu Amit Klein Thanh Luong Ken Wu Sam Woo University of California, Santa Barbara Will Borlick Cara Cleveland Anastassia Dardenne Tyler Detering Jessica Du Sonia Hsuan Megan Ikeya Sarah Kondo William Lei Jannina Mock Zoe Norton Isabella Wahab Ryan Watanabe

University of Redlands Elizabeth Beck Tori Zielinski University of San Diego Alison Ambach Jarrett Conkin University of San Francisco Samuel Li Anusha Manjunath Scott Ngo

University of Hartford Erica Trautman

University of Illinois, Urbana Champaign Claren Dai Benjamin Ding Justin Kim Lily Li Andrew Scott Meera Srinivasan

District of Columbia DC

School of the Art Institute, Chicago Yixun Li

Georgetown University Noah Thurm

Indiana - IN

Connecticut - CT

The George Washington University Kelsey Van Horne

Florida - FL University of Florida Sophie Jacquemin

West Valley College Lexi O’Connor

Emory University Irene Chen Katherine Dong

Colorado State University Gabi Labovitz Zachary Podlesh University of Colorado, Boulder Brandt Hedgpeth Dylan Xu

Wisconsin - WI

Ohio State University Bella Myers Oberlin College and Conservatory Suvan Agarwal

Oregon - OR University of Oregon Quentin Chou Adam Kovar Izzy La Rue Mridul Raghav Itamar Zohar University of Portland Jessica Allan Ronni Ariel Victoria Gibbs Govind Menon Erin Slaney Angela Wipfler

Pennsylvania - PA Bryn Mawr College Silvia Alemany

Indiana University Ben Ambach Purdue University Sehar Panesar Gautam Raghu Brandon Tso Jeffrey Wang William Wu

University of Miami Emily Song

Massachusetts - MA

Georgia - GA

Boston University Yash Bengali

Georgia Tech University Caleb Chang

Illinois - IL DePaul University Nikhil Kulkarni

University of Denver Yarden Zinger

Northwestern University Brandon Fu Timothy Fu

Western Colorado Community College Alex Groat

University of Chicago Anke Hao Omar Shohoud

Brandeis University Ben Bar Zvi Rebecca Mendelson Emerson College Cassandra Phan Massachusetts Institute of Technology Trinity Gao Mount Holyoke College Ellen Switchenko Northeastern University Ozioma Anudokem Alec Neilly Anthony Rosset

Olin College of Engineering Isabel Serrato Smith College Jane Andrews Tufts University Kelly MacDonald

Michigan - MI University of Michigan Lawrence Jing Vinayak Kumar Kyla Kwan-Liu Divya Ramamoorthy Alissa Rebagliati

Missouri - MO Washington University in St. Louis Janice Choi Brian Sun

New Jersey - NJ Seton Hall University Saleana Yang

New York - NY Columbia University Dan A. Cohen Jannie Zhong Cornell University Michael Chen Valerie Hu Pace University Leigh Bauer Pratt Institute Sanjana Dantuluri New York University Abigail Han Yuki Ishii

Milwaukee School of Engineering Thomas Dudley University of Wisconsin Madison Akshay Gokhale Joey He Arjay McCandless

Wyoming - WY University of Wyoming Patrick Sadowski

Canada British Columbia Simon Fraser University Eden Pollitt University of British Columbia Amit Aloni Ross Davies

Quebec McGill University Theo Bride

Japan Okayama Okayama University Dana Bilderback

Mexico Yucatán

Carnegie Mellon University Arleen Liu

University of Anáhuac Mayab Andrea Mendez

Swarthmore College Sean Cheng

Slovakia or the Czech Republic

Texas - TX

University of Southern California Sarah Chan Eric Cheng James Edwards Ashley Hutchinson Megan Ong Dean Tessone

Colorado - CO

Vassar College Trina Chou Catherine Hansa

Ohio - OH

University of California, Santa Cruz Ava Sanders Scott Zhang Eduard Mirzoyan Sanjay Shrikanth Yehan Weerasuriya University of the Pacific Zoe Clydesdale Gianna Gonzales Kailey Wong

Washington State University Seth Markley

North Carolina State University David Root

d n o y e b and

Pasadena City College Ryan Belfor

St. Johns University Liam Colwell

Elon University Thomas Denome

Notre Dame de Namur University Casey Latini Occidental College Claire Torii

University of Washington (cont.) Iris Zhou Shani Zuniga

North Carolina - NC

t h g i l e D s ’ t Hear

Mission College Batool Al-Jabiry Zach Douglas Ethan Lam Brandon Pitts Jakeb Ralston

Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute Max Lopez

Baylor University Yun Chuah University of Texas, Dallas Daniel DeAnda Varun Joshi

Utah - UT Brigham Young University Curtis Covington Emily Covington Hannah Parent

Daniel Risko

United Kingdom England Chelsea Independent College Shreeya Moharir

Other Army Reagan Lause

Washington - WA

Gap Year Ran Bar-Niv Cianna Burse AJ Collins Shaina Gallarde Lavie Levi Omer Nisenbaum Oron Neta Shani Brissa Solorio Jonathan Wellingstein Yuval Zach

Gonzaga University Sydney Tan

IDC Herzliya Roy Raz

University of Puget Sound William Lum

Israeli Defense Forces Gal Ben Haim Yael Kadar Daniela Khirman Yotam Nahum Einat Senderovitz

Virginia - VA University of Richmond Jordan Huang Shenandoah Conservatory Nathaniel Wright

University of Washington Milo Forbes Katie Fung Jason Halden Harrison Lee Alyssa Liang Samantha Lieberman Yuhsin Lin Joanne Liu Veronica Luu Kai Mizuta Reuben Narad Curran Ozawa Burns Vicky Shinkawa Manisha Srivatsan Rohan Theophilus Bridget Wipfler Ryan Yi Lilly Xu Stephanie Zhang

SoundCloud Rapper Nicholas Quan Teaching Abroad Yuval Ricklis Undecided Brenda Castillo Vanesa Castillo Yanis Chenna Sherin Jolly Lucas Nolan Frank Stadler U.S. Coast Guard Ryan Grey

PAGE BY EMILY CHOI, RYAN D’AMOUR, THOMAS DENOME, EDEN POLLITT AND IZZY LA RUE

Senior Spotlight

Wednesday, May 29, 2019

Long Beach State University (cont.) Jaide Chen

Wednesday, May 29, 2019

f o y e l l a V he

Grossmont Community College Khari Crawford

Santa Clara University Rachel Chung Junhe Cui Kevin Ham Catherine Kim Gianella Ordoñez Jiliane Saputra

Long Beach State University Jehan Bhandari Andrea Boyn

Sonoma State University Alex Landaverde Stephany Orellana

University of Redlands Elizabeth Beck Tori Zielinski University of San Diego Alison Ambach Jarrett Conkin University of San Francisco Samuel Li Anusha Manjunath Scott Ngo

University of Hartford Erica Trautman

University of Illinois, Urbana Champaign Claren Dai Benjamin Ding Justin Kim Lily Li Andrew Scott Meera Srinivasan

District of Columbia DC

School of the Art Institute, Chicago Yixun Li

Georgetown University Noah Thurm

Indiana - IN

Connecticut - CT

The George Washington University Kelsey Van Horne

Florida - FL University of Florida Sophie Jacquemin

West Valley College Lexi O’Connor

Emory University Irene Chen Katherine Dong

Colorado State University Gabi Labovitz Zachary Podlesh University of Colorado, Boulder Brandt Hedgpeth Dylan Xu

Wisconsin - WI

Ohio State University Bella Myers Oberlin College and Conservatory Suvan Agarwal

Oregon - OR University of Oregon Quentin Chou Adam Kovar Izzy La Rue Mridul Raghav Itamar Zohar University of Portland Jessica Allan Ronni Ariel Victoria Gibbs Govind Menon Erin Slaney Angela Wipfler

Pennsylvania - PA Bryn Mawr College Silvia Alemany

Indiana University Ben Ambach Purdue University Sehar Panesar Gautam Raghu Brandon Tso Jeffrey Wang William Wu

University of Miami Emily Song

Massachusetts - MA

Georgia - GA

Boston University Yash Bengali

Georgia Tech University Caleb Chang

Illinois - IL DePaul University Nikhil Kulkarni

University of Denver Yarden Zinger

Northwestern University Brandon Fu Timothy Fu

Western Colorado Community College Alex Groat

University of Chicago Anke Hao Omar Shohoud

Olin College of Engineering Isabel Serrato Smith College Jane Andrews Tufts University Kelly MacDonald

Michigan - MI University of Michigan Lawrence Jing Vinayak Kumar Kyla Kwan-Liu Divya Ramamoorthy Alissa Rebagliati

Missouri - MO Washington University in St. Louis Janice Choi Brian Sun

New Jersey - NJ Seton Hall University Saleana Yang

Milwaukee School of Engineering Thomas Dudley University of Wisconsin Madison Akshay Gokhale Joey He Arjay McCandless

Wyoming - WY University of Wyoming Patrick Sadowski

Canada British Columbia Simon Fraser University Eden Pollitt University of British Columbia Amit Aloni Ross Davies

Quebec McGill University Theo Bride

Japan Okayama Okayama University Dana Bilderback

Mexico Yucatán

Carnegie Mellon University Arleen Liu

University of Anáhuac Mayab Andrea Mendez

Swarthmore College Sean Cheng

Slovakia or the Czech Republic

Texas - TX

University of Southern California Sarah Chan Eric Cheng James Edwards Ashley Hutchinson Megan Ong Dean Tessone

Colorado - CO

Vassar College Trina Chou Catherine Hansa

Ohio - OH

University of California, Santa Cruz Ava Sanders Scott Zhang Eduard Mirzoyan Sanjay Shrikanth Yehan Weerasuriya University of the Pacific Zoe Clydesdale Gianna Gonzales Kailey Wong

Washington State University Seth Markley

North Carolina State University David Root

d n o y e b and

Pasadena City College Ryan Belfor

St. Johns University Liam Colwell

Elon University Thomas Denome

Notre Dame de Namur University Casey Latini Occidental College Claire Torii

University of Washington (cont.) Iris Zhou Shani Zuniga

North Carolina - NC

t h g i l e D s ’ t Hear

Mission College Batool Al-Jabiry Zach Douglas Ethan Lam Brandon Pitts Jakeb Ralston

Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute Max Lopez

Baylor University Yun Chuah University of Texas, Dallas Daniel DeAnda Varun Joshi

Utah - UT Brigham Young University Curtis Covington Emily Covington Hannah Parent

Daniel Risko

United Kingdom England Chelsea Independent College Shreeya Moharir

Other Army Reagan Lause

Washington - WA

Gap Year Ran Bar-Niv Cianna Burse AJ Collins Shaina Gallarde Lavie Levi Omer Nisenbaum Oron Neta Shani Brissa Solorio Jonathan Wellingstein Yuval Zach

Gonzaga University Sydney Tan

IDC Herzliya Roy Raz

University of Puget Sound William Lum

Israeli Defense Forces Gal Ben Haim Yael Kadar Daniela Khirman Yotam Nahum Einat Senderovitz

Virginia - VA University of Richmond Jordan Huang Shenandoah Conservatory Nathaniel Wright

SoundCloud Rapper Nicholas Quan Teaching Abroad Yuval Ricklis Undecided Brenda Castillo Vanesa Castillo Yanis Chenna Sherin Jolly Lucas Nolan Frank Stadler U.S. Coast Guard Ryan Grey

PAGE BY EMILY CHOI, RYAN D’AMOUR, THOMAS DENOME, EDEN POLLITT AND IZZY LA RUE

Senior Spotlight

Wednesday, May 29, 2019

GROWING MEMORIES

At times, it seems as though the class of 2019 doesn’t have a lot in common, but there are some shared experiences that have brought us — maybe briefly — together. And in spite of our varying views of them, it means there’s something we share, after all. Like each of the rings on redwood trees, representing the years of their lives they carry within them, maybe we’ll carry these common memories, too.

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REDfornia WO ODS

2016 ELECTION NOV. 2016

By Katie Fung and Aishwarya Jayadeep

The results of the controversial 2016 election was the news of the hour in the days after Election Day, catalyzing an interest in politics for some, while for others, it seemed like a confusing mess. “I was definitely not politically engaged, and my teachers all made it seem like it was going to be the end of the world when Trump was elected,” Nate Shani said. “It was kind of scary; I didn’t know anything about politics.” Shani, who said he considers himself politically neutral, added that now that he’s of voting age, he’s more aware of politics. “I don’t just take the things my teachers say anymore,” Shani

said. “I don’t listen to my parents’ [political views] anymore. I have my own opinions.” David Root, a moderate, said he also became more politically engaged after the election. “I was not surprised by Trump winning. There were so many people I knew that voted for Trump simply because they did not approve of Hillary,” Root said. “I was more politically active after the election because I felt that the reason the candidates were so bad was because of the way primaries are held … leading to a very black-versuswhite election.” Elillee Abebe recalled avoiding the news throughout the 2016 election cycle, mostly be-

cause of her aversion to politics. She disliked the polarization she saw within the government, especially the name-calling between the major political parties, Abebe said. “It gets too messy,” Abebe said. “Each side hates the other side. People are either all for one side or all for the other. There’s no in-between. We act like there’s no middle ground we can reach.” But Abebe, who said she now leans left, no longer avoids politics. She credited taking Government senior year with changing her mind and making her more politically engaged. “I grew up,” Abebe said. “I realized that elections are impactful. They matter.”

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BOTC NEAR-VICTORY MAR. 2017

By Brandon Welty

Back in 2017, at the class of 2019’s second Battle of the Classes, there was fierce competition between the sophomore and senior classes. Going into the rally on the final day of BOTC week, it was either class’s chance to take the victory and reign supreme. Seniors held the lead, but the sophomores were right behind them. Freshmen and juniors were in third and fourth place respectively. By the end of the rally, the senior class had won first place in more games, and it was clear to those who knew how points were given out to each class that the seniors me no would ultimately take the win, e P ho t os by Thomas D but when it was announced that sophomores had won, the class of 2019 erupted in victory. Then, out of nowhere, the

PAGE BY AISHWARYA JAYADEEP

seniors rushed the sophomore class, tearing away the trophy from their hands, sending the sophomore class into a state of confusion. The class of 2017 had, in fact, won. Many students compared the miscall with that year’s falsely-announced Oscar for Best Picture. Cassandra Phan recalled the moment she found out about the false announcement. “I remember that everyone was so disappointed because we put a lot of work and team spirit into it, and it sucked that we didn’t win,” Phan said. “But, we came back senior year and we crushed it.” Some students felt as though that the declaration was a setup to throw off the sophomore class. Rumors and gossip spread throughout the school the weeks following the events of the rally. Allison Hampton said she felt as

if it had been on purpose. “It was like being teased and having the prize ripped away at the last minute,” Hampton said. “If it were well-known that the seniors win every year, why would the sophomores genuinely believe that we could win?” Sarah Correll said she wasn’t sure if it was an accident. “It was the same year that Steve Harvey did the thing with Miss Universe so I always felt something was fishy,” Correll said. However, even though some sophomores felt cheated out of the victory, some felt as if it was fine that the seniors won, like Stephany Orellana. “I think it’s good that the seniors won, since it’s like a tradition that they win [BOTC] every year, although it felt rigged in the end,” Orellana said. “It was good to know that we would have ultimately won if it wasn’t for that.”

Senior Spotlight

Wednesday, May 29, 2019

RUN, HIDE, DEFEND

APR. 2017

By Katie Fung

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recognize the alarm as the Run, Hide, Defend initiation. “I remember that nobody knew what the hell was going on,” Brandon Ligeti said. “We were all just kinda staring at each other for a solid 30 or 40 seconds before we actually realized that people were running.” Ligeti suggested that the confusion was not the fault of the administration. “They at least tried to make sure kids knew what was going on,” Ligeti said. “But maybe they should have tested it a few more times throughout the year.” However, Wong said she isn’t sure that more practice would have helped the lockdown run more smoothly. “There’s a fine line between having too much practice and having not enough,” Wong said. “Once there’s too many practices, it’s kind of like ‘The Boy Who Cried Wolf.’ People don’t seem to take it as seriously. But

STUDENT WALKOUT

By Aarya Gupta and Aishwarya Jayadeep out the map to City Hall,” Namiko Turner said. Although other students criticized the march to City Hall for appearing to achieve no purpose, due to Sunnyvale’s already-strict gun control laws, Turner had a response for those comments. “If you want to say that marching to City Hall was pointless, then what was the point of just standing in the horseshoe in the first place?” Turner said. “I think, at the time, we unified as a school in this society, and maybe that was enough to show that at least our school cared.” Neeraj Senthil also participated in the walkout, and believes his actions had an impact because there is strength in numbers.

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and dangerous ran from the police, according to an article published on The Epitaph website on the following day. But the class of 2019, then sophomores, mainly remembers the fear and uncertainty of those first moments. Karina Wong recalled it was lunch when the alarm rang. “I just saw a crowd of people running toward the quad area where I was eating lunch,” Wong said. “Everyone was yelling and shouting that there was a gun, that there was someone that was going to shoot us.” Wong said the scariest part of the lockdown was the lack of information. “You didn’t know what was true and what wasn’t. There was no telling what was going to happen,” Wong said. “You didn’t know if it was a drill, you didn’t know if it was fake.” The lockdown confronted the HHS community with a realization that the school was unprepared. Many students couldn’t

Confusion. That’s the best word to describe April 3, 2017, the day of the only official lockdown experienced by the class of 2019. The lockdown resulted from a case of domestic violence at the nearby 7-11, where a suspect considered to be armed

A month after the shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Florida, students across the country participated in a walkout advocating gun control. The March 2017 walkout, organized at HHS by then-sophomores Romy Bornstein and Shama Tawakol, took place during BOTC week, leading to near-deserted brunchtime cheeroffs and the participation of many current seniors. While the walkout was initially meant to last 17 minutes, some students decided to take it further and proceed to walk to Sunnyvale City Hall. “[Cianna Burse] was the person who originally started the walk out; then Charlie Crane and I ran up to the front and pulled

at the same time, if we don’t do it enough, there are people who don’t know what to do.” Still, for many of the seniors, it was a grim reminder of the times. “You’ve had stuff like Parkland and the Las Vegas shooting, and we’ve all been reminded that this happens,” Ligeti said. “It’s always in the back of everybody’s mind that this could happen to us, and we need to be ready in case it does.”

MAR. 2017

“At the time, I was 16 and not eligible to vote,” Senthil said. “So, marching was one of the most effective ways I had of letting people know that I was against the loss of human life, in this case with respect to guns.” Overall, Senthil said he wanted to honor gun violence victims, and band with classmates to stand up for something. “It’s important to show the community your beliefs, because change can never be enacted with thoughts inside your own head,” Senthil said. “It takes the courage to march, protest, demonstrate and showcase your beliefs.”

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SENIOR PROM

By Anastassia Dardenne and Aarya Gupta A night to remember. That would be the best way to describe senior prom. This year, 529 students attended senior prom at Levi Stadium, in Santa Clara. To accommodate the large number of attendees, the senior class officers chose Levi’s Stadium as a venue because of the quality of the venue and the additional “wow factor” the name Levi’s Stadium provides, according to senior class secretary Sean Cheng. Because the venue was expensive and the leadership team wanted to keep prom affordable, the HHS class of 2019 hosted an assortment of

fundraisers. The officer team also decided to start the ticket sales at the low price of $55, for students with ASB, and $60 for students without ASB, to open up attendance to as many seniors as possible. The prices rose in price dramatically the next day to make sure the expenses were still being covered, Cheng said. This year, HHS partnered with alumna Tifa Yeung to provide customizable corsages and boutonnieres that could be ordered through a Google Form and paid for through Venmo and Paypal. “Last year, I went to RoseCart for corsages and boutonnieres,” Yash Bengali said. “But since HHS had this a service this year, I

MAY 2019

thought it would be a lot easier to just get it from here.” Before heading to the Levi Stadium, Nikhil Kulkarni planned to dine at Castro St., located in in Mountain View — indulging in ramen with his girlfriend, Christina Park. After, the pair planned to head to take photos at the Redwood Grove Natural Preserve in Los Altos, CA because the location is a “nice, boujee place.” “I think a lot of senior year in general is a rendezvous kind of mentality people have. It’s fun to see people go all-out when they maybe haven’t throughout high school,” Kulkarni said. “It’s nice to see new faces and different people there, and to also be in a larger and grander atmosphere.”

PAGE BY AISHWARYA JAYADEEP

Looking Back

Wednesday, May 29, 2019

-Sophie Jacquemin

“[Indopack’s Windian team] was something I normally don’t do, and this was my first time doing this kind of dance. It was also fun to hang out with people I normally don’t talk to that much, and have a separate community outside of school.”

Photo courtesy by Claire Son

Photo by Thomas Denome

-Neya More

Photo courtesy by Divya Ramamoorthy

-Divya Ramamoorthy

PAGE BY CLAIRE TORII

Photo courtesy by Neya More

-Sunny Arattukulam

“It was my senior homecoming during the brunch cheer-offs went I split the sea. I was waving the flag and I planted it on the hill.”

Photo by Thomas Denome

“One that stands out to me was freshman year for marching band. We were in Indianapolis for the Grand Nationals Competition and we had performed in preliminaries. We were all waiting in this huge ballroom of a hotel to hear if we had gotten into semi-finals or not, and we didn’t really expect much because it was our first time there. When they announced our school had gotten into semi-finals, the whole room got up and hugged each other and started crying, because it was really nice after a whole season of spending 20 hours a week on marching band.”

Photo courtesy by Emma Tsao

-Ananya Verma

“My favorite high school memory was getting first place all-around individually at CCS for gymnastics and getting second place as a team with my amazing teammates.”

Senior Spotlight

“I was a member of Future Physicians of America for all four years. This year, we had a workshop during first semester where people had to diagnose patients and everyone got super excited and they were shouting out their guesses. It was really cool to see everyone participating and as excited about medicine as I am."

-dean tessone

“My favorite high school memory was getting second place in BOTC sophomore year.”

What is one thing that will stick with you from your high school experience? From botc to CCS, here are the most memorable events from the class of 2 019 .