The Lowell April 2012 by The Lowell

■ The modern norm for

transparency on nutrition prompts exploration of origins and treatment of cafeteria food.

Page 14

Backpage

Spotlight

Lowell High School, Red Edition, Vol. 217 No. 4, April 27, 2012, www.thelowell.org

Lowell The

A locavore’s dilemma

News

Pages

1-13

■ Drama department wins first place at Ohlone ■ Kermesse delayed one week to coincide with debate tournament and minimum day schedule; classes end at 12:25 p.m. today

Sports

Pages

15-22

■ High school students break age barriers, carry the torch to compete in Olympics

Columns

Pages

23-25

■ Senior comes to terms with his eventual departure from high school, battles senioritis

Opinion

Pages

26-27

■ Boy argues for stricter, more legitimate medical marijuana license laws

Page 28

By Isabel Boutiette

with 240 students enrolled this u e to overenroll- year and 390 sign-ups for next ment in Physiolog y year. After announcing the new and under-enrollment non-AP Environmental Science in Advanced Placement Envi- course, the 390 enlisted total ronmental Science, the science dropped to 364 students. Though students in the regudepartment is introducing two sections of non-AP environmen- lar environmental science course tal science next year, contingent will cover some of the same topics as those upon the level in the AP, the of student inPhysio... had been i n s t r u c t i o n terest in the be less inclass. growing, with 240 will depth, accordThis year there are six students enrolled ing to AP Environmental AP Environthis year and 390 Science teachment a l S cience classes sign-ups next year. er Catherine Christensen. with a total Although of 190 upperclassmen enrolled, according the regular Environmental Scito assistant principal of student ence course will be taught by support services Michael Yi. the same teachers as the AP However, the number dropped course, naturally the class will to 49 student sign-ups for next not be centered around preparyear. In contrast, the Physiology ing for the exam in May, and See APES on Page 5 enrollment had been growing,

Inside

pretenses of beauty: what is beauty, and why do we conform?

elective added to alleviate overenrollment

Today

What’s What’s

■ Ponder society’s

‘Girls run the world’ New science

In the news In the news

ave you been counting down the days, waiting for the inviting aroma of lumpia and latkas to once again waft into your classroom, making you drool with desire while staring at the whiteboard? Well, wait no more! Kermesse is here, teachers and students head on down to the courtyard to celebrate with some tasty multicultural delectables! From 10:10 a.m. to 1 p.m., you can explore culture from Mexico to China, experiencing a delicious blend of the world’s best flavors in the comfort of our school. All profits go to the World Language department to help with the cost of textbooks and supplies.

Flawed faces? Not!

chris lee

Lowell Dance Company members juniors Sophia Warren (left), Kimberly Verzano (center) and senior Ingrid Chu (right) strike a pose to “Keepin’ It Major,” a mashup of songs, at the dance concert on April 21.

Sci program equipped with high-tech By Audrey Yu

ecently, the Lowell Science Research Program purchased new technology including computers and software to benefit both students in the after-school program and students enrolled in science classes. Physics teacher and Science Research Program sponsor Richard Shapiro purchased new Apple equipment with help from alumni donations. In the past two years, this program has received “over $250,000 and counting from various Lowell alumni,” according to Shapiro. “With every donation made to the school, the Lowell Alumni Association agreed in 2010 to

donate a matching gift up to a total of $200,000,” Shapiro said. Recently, the program received a donation of $100,000 from an alumnus and his wife. With these funds, Shapiro purchased technical equipment for the research program and the science department to use. Shapiro bought 30 13” MacBook Airs, 10 MacBook Pros, 3 Dukane media carts, 5 iPads and plenty of equipment to gather data during experiments from other technical companies like Bernier and Pasco. “I ordered a lot of equipment used to measure not only the basic temperature, weight, length, but also heart rate and velocity,”

Shapiro said. “That’s how real science works.” Both the Science Research Program and all science classes have been utilizing the implements since Shapiro and his fellow students installed them. “Fortunately, it didn’t take too long to install the three lab rooms because my students did most of the work and are so tech-savvy,” Shapiro said. The result of receiving the equipment has been positive. “It’s fantastic. It’s the 21st century and we really do need this technology. Also, our students are really adept so it’s nothing new to most of them,” science department head Dacotah Swett said.

Congresswoman visits the school to share inspiring anecdotes with students By Isabel Boutiette

in order to investigate whether the he dramatic one-acts Rev. Jim Jones, the leader of a cult that usually inhabit the walls church called the People’s Temple, of the Steve Silver Theater was forcing his followers to stay in were replaced on April 12 by a local Jonestown, Guyana with him. During the investigation, Jones congresswoman relating the drama became paranoid that the govof her life story. During Mods 6-7, Advanced ernment investigators were going to return to Placement the U.S. with a C omp ar at ive Speier was shot five negative report Government his church, students, staff times, left for dead, of and ordered a members and a couple of and then rescued 22 group of his followers to attack stray Lowellites hours later. the delegation filed into the at the airstrip. theater to hear Congresswoman Jackie Speier’s Congressman Ryan was mortally inspirational — though at times wounded and Speier was shot five tragic — life story. When Speier times, left for dead, then rescued was 28 years old and an assistant 22 hours later. Remarkably, she to Congressman Leo Ryan, she survived. “I thought she was a very See SPEIER on Page 5 and Ryan went to South America

photo courtesy of kai matsumoto-hines

Congresswoman Jackie Speier shakes the hand of a student after her presentation on April 12. Along with her politics, Speier spoke about her experience in the 1978 Jonestown massacre and how she survived.

2 NEWS

April 27, 2012

NEWSBRIEFS

Bill introduced to raise funding

The California Federation of Teachers proposed a new bill that would increase taxes on people earning over $250,000. The money made through this tax increase would be given to public schools. The proposal, often nicknamed the “Governors Bill” due to Governor Brown’s support or the “Millionaires Tax”, is estimated by the United Educators of San Francisco to bring in anywhere from $6.8 billion to $9 billion to the state’s schools for 2012-2013. In the following five years from 2013-2018, the tax could generate as much as $7 billion annually to fund schools, according to the UESF petition. The bill’s main purpose is to restore some of the funding lost to education during the recession. It promises public K-12 schools 89 percent of the tax revenue and community colleges the other 11 percent. A petition is being circulated to qualify the bill onto the ballot for the Nov. 2012 election. The UESF, which represents more than 6,000 SFUSD employees, and the San Francisco Unified School District are in the midst of contract negotiations. As part of the process, UESF has begun a campaign called “Enough is Enough!” The campaign revolves around two main goals. The first goal is “to get the SFUSD to rescind every layoff notice sent this school year,” according to a UESF eNews sent out on April 17 to the union members. If layoff notices were withdrawn, would help return up to 500 educators at schools across the district who received pink slips. “The district has plenty of money, Matthew Hardy, communications director at UESF, said. “They should rescind all notices to teachers.” Secondly, their goal is to stop the district from asking for “$36 million in concessions, despite having over $80 million in reserves and unexpected revenue to spend,” according to the UESF petition. These figures are based on the union’s estimate of district funds, including $11 million in revenue from the recent sale of a SFUSD-owned building on Font Boulevard. Connected to that goal is the union’s demand for a 2 percent raise for all UESF members. Teachers have not received a raise since their 3 percent pay raise in 2008, even though the cost of living is estimated to be up 3 percent from last year. The proposal is the result of frustrated SFUSD workers, who are not only repeatedly denied raises but are paid less due to five annual furlough days, which are unpaid as they are a money-saving effort instituted two years ago. The union has charged the district of typically ending the school year with a surplus, and as demanding more financial transparency. SFUSD has saved 10 percent of their budget from last year, more than any other urban city in the state, according to Hardy. — Elena Bernick

School plans to repaint building

f o r t h e c o m p l e t e v e r s i o n s of stories, please visit

The Lowell on the Web

www.thelowell.org

Yi tells Cultural Revolution tales By Samantha Wilcox

n administrator spoke with a freshman history class during Mods 6-7 on April 10 about his time as a high school student in China during the Cultural Revolution, bringing real life experiences to add to the books. Modern World teacher Thomas Martin invited assistant principal of student services Michael Yi to speak with his three freshman classes due to the relevance of Yi’s story to the Modern World curriculum. “Yi went into great detail,” Martin said. “His presentation was very well put together.” Although initially hesitant about telling students about the sensitive subject of his youth, Yi accepted the invitation. “Five or ten years ago, I might not have been willing to make this presentation,” Yi said. “However, I believe more and more that students deserve to learn from real life experiences on top of the books.” Yi was a junior in high school when the Cultural Revolution began. The revolution, spearheaded by the late Chairman Mao

caitriona smyth

Assistant principal of student services Michael Yi speaks to students about his experiences growing up in China during Mao’s Cultural Revolution.

Zedong, lasted from 1966 to 1976, and was intended by Mao and his supporters to rid Chinese society of capitalism, according to Yi. According to Yi, education wasn’t considered important by the Chinese government because they were trying to enforce socialism, a policy of equality and began to close down schools. “Classes were all of a sudden canceled, and students were sent to the countryside to learn from the peasants,” Yi said in the presentation. “I was out of school for ten years, and I didn’t have a job for the majority of that time.” In 1976, universities began to accept students again. “I did fairly well on my entrance exam in 1977,” Yi said. “I got an average of 79.5 percent on four courses, but was not admitted. Nevertheless, my scores made me eligible to become a substitute teacher at a Shanghai middle school. I did a lot better on the exam than many others.” From Yi’s position as a substitute teacher (while he was still in China), his determination to succeed propelled him further. “When the schools were closed, I focused on enriching myself in any way I could,” Yi said. “This helped me keep up with my learning of English and other subjects. I eventually got a job and managed to complete my college education.” Students were humbled by Yi’s presentation. “At first, the significance of what he said didn’t hit me,” freshman Tristan Sa’aga said. “However, I realized that our lives are really good here at Lowell.” One of the more notable events of the Cultural Revolution was the formation of the Red Guards, a group of revolutionary young adults and occasionally children. They were born into families who were deemed supportive of the Revolution and its principles and given the task to enforce the rules of Mao. However, Red Guards destroyed or stole property to enforce socialism and publicly humiliated people who went against socialist principles. “The Red Guards were only youngsters, some as young as elementary school,” Yi said, “But looking back on it, they were definitely used to promote and push the agenda of the Cultural Revolution.” The Red Guards were motivated to carry out Mao’s will, because people who were not Red Guards were looked down upon by society. “I was not a Red Guard, but many of my peers were,” Yi said. “I saw them march the distance between Shanghai and Beijing by foot in 39 days. They were very dedicated to their cause.” Many of Martin’s students were inspired by Yi’s story. “Mr. Yi helped me realize that the Cultural Revolution was more than just a chapter in my textbook,” freshman Sabina Wildman said. “He helped me notice that there were people with their lives and education on the line.”

Mathlete team competes at Berkeley

The school took part in the Berkeley Math Tournament for the first time in the history of the club, sending six eager mathletes to puzzle their brains over the most difficult of problems on April 7.

lthough mathletes may not be considered schools have a coach to prepare them,” Chan said. “But because athletes, these competitors are just as dedicated and we are a public school, we don’t have the funding to get a coach.” hardworking as if they were charging down the end The problems given to the students are very different from zone on a football field. textbook work. “The math problems are abstract,” Chan said. On April 7, six of the Lowell Mathletes competed for the Students have a time limit in which to solve problems. “You first time in the Berkeley Math Tournament. This new site is either know it or you don’t, and you basically have two to five an addition to a Stanford event attended the past four years. minutes to figure out how to approach it,” Chan said. “They treat the competition like a This puts a lot of pressure on students sport because the students practice because they don’t know what their question a lot and they have to be mentally will entail, and all the answers are either prepared before the competition,” You either know it right or wrong. mathletes sponsor and math teacher To practice for the tournaments, the or you don’t, and Mathletes meet every Tuesday after school Tom Chan said. This is also UC Berkeley’s first Chan. “They do practice drill problems you basically have with time hosting a math competition. that might come up during the competition,” However Mathletes president junior two to five minutes Chan said. Sam Lee did not think it was a sucBecause they don’t have a separate coach, to figure out how to Lee sometimes steps in to coach when Chan cessful tournament. “I’m not too happy about the results,” Lee said. is not available. Lee trains every one to two approach it. “We weren’t used to the math probweeks with the World Wide Online Olympia lems presented to us because we had Training Program. “I use what I TOM CHAN, learn from the program to teach studied different types of problems, math teacher them and help prepare us for the but I hope we can improve next year.” Most years, the Mathletes comcompetition,” Lee said. pete in the Stanford Math Tournament, sponsored by the StanAlthough the Cardinals have not made many ford University Mathematical Organization. “At least twenty wins, being on Mathletes is a sure benefit. “It helps schools compete from other parts of the country, or the world, students think more freely,” Chan said. “The problem such as China,” Chan said. “The tournament is usually the is that now students memorize what’s in the book to get through entire day, so students do math for six to seven hours straight.” tests. They don’t apply their knowledge to real life applications. There are different formats for competitions in the tourna- Mathletes help students find out that there’s more than one way ment. According to Chan, the individual test is where students to solve a problem.” are given twenty questions and an hour and a half to complete Next year, the Mathletes are eager to do better. “One of the them. main goals is to ask the PTSA for some funding so we can get The other competitions are the group tests where they either a coach,” Chan said. all work together to solve problems or they do a relay. In a relay, But with only seven to ten consistent members, it will be one student does a problem, then the next student uses that difficult to keep the Mathletes going. “We also hope to recruit answer to solve another problem and so on. more people,” Lee said. Although the students are glad to participate, they find it Anyone can join, so whether you are a math fanatic or just hard to achieve the awards. “We rarely win because most of the interested in improving your math skills, join the Mathletes!

“

club

The administration held a vote this month on a new color palette for the school. The district will paint everything except the bungalows and the science building gray with a red trim during summer break, according to assistant principal of building and grounds Ellen Reller. Administrators surveyed the staff through vote sheets at the sign-in area of the main office, put samples on the catwalk for students for three mods on April 4, and surveyed members of the Parent Teacher Student Association. All of the designs had some shade of cardinal red as a trim and another color to accent it. Option one was a tan-leather color along with brick-red as the accent. Option two, the school’s final choice, was a combination of a steel-grey and brown-grey with a reddish-brown trim. Option three was a beige-grey and rock-grey with a brownish-red combination. “They all have their own flaws; I don’t like the brown option because it’s too dark,” junior LSA dance coordinator Hiromi Fujita said. The district is paying for the project through a bond measure that was passed by the city last November. Reller has not been told the cost entailed. The district plans to finish painting before school starts in the fall, according to Reller. “The district is going to do their very best to try and finish before school starts in the fall,” she said. “If the weather is too damp, windy, or foggy, it will affect the amount of painting they can do.” — Kai Matsumoto-Hines

Lowell High School

The Lowell

April 27, 2012

CAMPUS

Trikkes for teenagers introduced in P.E. classes By Zoe Kaiser

curriculum

hat has three wheels and rock ‘n’ rolls? Physical Education teacher Michael Prutz’s freshmen P.E. classes are learning the answer as they race around on spanking new Trikkes. Not to be confused with tricycles or scooters, these exercise vehicles present a challenge to students of all ages and are just one of the ways P.E. has modernized with updated technology and a new concept of health. These three-wheeled vehicles are built to let the rider lean into a turn while the wheels remain on the ground. The Trikke sways side to side and as the turns grow wider, the momentum of the vehicle increases. The steepness of the ground being traversed has a huge impact on the difficulty. “It’s fun going downhill but uphill is hard,” freshman Kate Yachuk said. The P.E. department purchased 45 Trikkes in early March for approximately $13,000, according to Prutz. This purchase was financed with money from Proposition H, which gives additional money to schools; a third of the money is allocated for P.E., the arts and libraries. Prutz was inspired by a presentation during a San Francisco Unified School District professional development meeting where a speaker mentioned using Trikkes with his P.E. class. “It’s important to keep the P.E. program novel and interesting with activities focused on lifelong health and wellness,” he said over SchoolLoop on April 9 and 10. “The Trikkes looked new, fun and interesting.” Prutz wanted an engaging aerobic activity and Trikkes met that requirement. Trikkes work all major muscles groups while remaining low impact — meaning that minimal stress

is placed on the joints of the knees, hips and ankles. The Trikkes require the skills of turning, leaning and shifting weight with perfect timing to propel the Trikke forward, which sharpens coordination, balance and agility. Most of all, Prutz was excited to use a vehicle he had no prior experience with. “I try to create units that are new for me, so that I experience what my students experience,” he said. “I gain knowledge while I teach.” Learning how to ride the Trikkes has not come easily for the majority of students. “The Trikkes are way too hard to learn; by the time we learn to use them the unit will be over,” freshman Sopiko Kharadze said. Students were in agreement over the Trikke’s difficulty, but some gave the wacky vehicles a positive vote. “The Trikkes are not something you see everyday and that makes them interesting,” freshman Allison Lee said. “They are not necessarily practical, but if you take the time to learn it’s a fun exercise. Just don’t be afraid of falling, and make sure to shift your weight. ” Even as students praised the Trikkes, they compared the vehicles to their more commonly used cousin, the bicycle. “Trikkes aren’t as effective as bicycles because they are harder to learn,” freshman Seric Kaewkan said. “Trikkes are really good exercise, but I would rather use bikes. ” After a brief introduction over a few days in April, the remainder of the Trikke unit — the part where everybody could hopefully become proficient — has been postponed because Prutz is on medical leave for approximately a month. His substitute, Emil DeAndreis, decided to put the Trikkes away after discussing the issue with P.E. teacher Christine Hosoda. “I’ve been here one day and already seen an injury take place and heard about another one,” he said. “I’m going to postpone this activity

people are unfamiliar with until someone with a wider knowledge base about these Trikkes can take over.” DeAndreis’ classes moved into soccer after Prutz left. As with classic stories of learning to ride a bike, sometimes people take a spill. Prutz reported that a student fell off the Trikke due to his inability to apply the breaks, sustaining minor cuts on his hands and knees. As part of safety precautions, all students riding Trikkes are equipped with helmets that Prutz checks for fit. Students expressed feeling safe on the Trikkes. “They are stable so I know I won’t die,” freshman Salina Ngyen said with a smile. Still, the Trikkes are now available to the P.E. curriculum and Prutz plans to continue t h e unit when he returns, as well as include it in the future. After piloting the lesson, he plans to recommend the vehicles to other P.E. teachers, who can incorporate the Trikkes into their semester. Prutz has more innovative plans for the future. “I hope to build an outdoor recreation unit that might include hiking, camping with additional outdoor focused activities... anything to get students out of their houses and away from their computers/televisions,” he emailed over SchoolLoop on April 10.

P.E. has dramatically changed over the years, according to P.E. teacher Juan Lopez, who recently taught a unit on combative skills, which included the Brazilian martial art forms of jiu-jitsu and capoeira. This subject area initially focused on competitive sports, but the national concern over the increasing obesity made P.E. go in a direction that incorporates fitness. The P.E. department is keeping up with the shifting times. “We try to modernize teaching so it’s not what people taught 30 years ago,” Lopez said. “We adjust our teaching styles as generations change.” They also aim to obtain up-to-date resources to supplement learning. “We provide the most current teaching styles and current equipment so that students benefit from that aspect of fitness,” Lopez said. “The department is talking about technology and providing a P.E. entertainment room with XB Connect, Dance Revolution, and other games to get the body moving — fun for a rainy day.”

y ation b

Illustr

hoi leu

Youth program explores service with artistic twist

By Ying Sham

Most Lowell students were introduced to the program through a presentation for the class organized by Advanced Placement Studio Art teacher Kirsten Janssen and Youth Arts Manager Laurel Butler. Since October, the YAAW teachers and a multitude of guest speakers from various arts disciplines have taught the students a wide range of skills. From salsa and tango to spoken word with Youth Speaks, and from the common art form of drawing to the more unusual aerial acrobatics at Zaccho Dance Theater, the students have learned it all. In addition to lessons, these young artists are given free access to art galleries all over America and receive a $225 monthly stipend. The program provides these students with everything an artist could dream of. “Do art, get paid, make friends, improve your art,” said senior Niyjale Cummings, a sculptor whose participation at YAAW led him to a four year scholarship to Academy of Art University in San Francisco. “It seemed too

good to be true. YAAW receives funds from The Kimball Foundation, Wells Fargo Foundation, JPMorgan Foundation and more to pay for the young artists. “YBCA feels that the job of an artist should be validated as a viable form of making a living, and that young people deserve the opportunity to be paid for their artistic work,” Butler said. As a residency program, YBCA provides financial support, space, time, creative collaborators and aesthetic inspiration to resident artists on all artistic genres, except singing. “Unlike other paid programs for teens in arts institutions, we don’t pay our YAAWs to staff the floor, lead tours or do administrative work,” Butler said. “We are paying them to BE artists, to investigate what it means to selfidentify as a contemporary artist and begin to construct an artistic way of living in the world.” YAAW seems to be a haven for new artists. “I fell in love with the program immediately because I have tried different types of art, and have never really settled down on one kind,” se-

nior Hannah Moore said. “YAAW seemed like a perfect opportunity to do what I love and try new things.” Once a month, YAAW invites local artists to hold inspiring workshops. Their most recent guest instructor was Lauren Elder, a sculptor who teaches at California College for the Arts. For three days, she taught the class how to use paper and cardboard to create a three-dimensional art installation pieces. The students utilized these new skills to create the ‘Cardboard City Installation’ for the final performance on April 27. Along with providing young artists the opportunity to display their work, YAAW also provides free art for its community. Beyond the City Installation and dance sneak peek, the rest of the performance is shrouded in mystery. “There’s going to be a surprise at the event,” Cummings said. “I can’t say what it is, but I can tell you one thing; it will blow your mind.”

arts

an Francisco might not be the home to Van Gogh, Celine Dion, Walt Disney or Oscar Award winner Meryl Streep, but the city holds a few talents of its own. At 5 p.m. today, the members of Yerba Buena Center for the Art’s award-winning Young Artists At Work program will present their newly acquired skills in a multidisciplinary arts performance at Yerba Buena Center Gardens titled “Urbanian.” Through visual and performing arts, the students will communicate to the audience four contemporary social issues that impact youth, according to their performance website (www.ybca. org/urbanian). Their focus will be on the 4 E’s — Education, Environment, Economy and Equality. “As a group, we talked about issues going on today that we felt strongly about,” said junior Hoi Leung, who is also an illustrator for The Lowell. “As a result, we came up with the four E’s; it was a coincidence that the four topics worked out so well,” Leung said. For the performance, the members were split into four groups for each of the E’s. For mont hs, t he y planned and designed one slice of the performance, using a wide variety of art

forms taught to them by their mentors and teachers. The entire show will be two hours of meticulously-planned, action-packed art. Details of the performance are considered top secret though, and the artists are forbidden from saying too much. But Leung has provided a sneak preview, stating that they will utilize an art form called installation art for the grand finale. “It’s a very popular contemporary art genre,” explained Leung. “It’s three-dimensional and location-based, meaning you can put artwork in a specific place, or you can transform the place itself.” The result will be a city-themed landscape, which they will use to contrast utopia with dystopia. In October 2011, over 25 talented high school students from the Bay Area, including 11 Lowellites, were selected to take part in YAAW, a youth activism and artist residency founded to keep youth off the streets, and dedicated to educating San Francisco’s high school teens in all mediums of art, according to their website (www.ybca.org). The lucky few who are admitted each year are submerged in a nine-month long multidisciplinary arts program of workshops, public presentations, collaborative discussions, arts leadership lessons and internships, according to the host YBCA’s website.

photo courtesy of victoria otero

Lowell students (left to right) Jonathan Wong, Anna Lei, Colette Aro and Christine Espino engage in a physical theater exercise, led by program manager Laurel Butler, with their fellow Young Artists .

April

g n i t s e t d e z i d r

012 2 , 27

Page

a d n sta

ge that a passa tment g n i d ar clu test in from the dep ause s ipleu bec lt f u d o e m any iariz t, a g n e la o ed p t m s ll e s a u ld c dn’t cit sd asse nglish efulnes com- wou t company ha tion,” s E u e s h t it a While has reduced the tes g a key inform o missin pointed out its sources of k it’s really st, of a e ls t a s e lt s a ic u s o h in re ter it w for c g the CLA a she said. “I th e imporple. Rit errors, iewin am designed d content a writing sam ave made the th v h t c e n a r e e e ex he a ld h t— d to t sessm p on t u r id n s a o n e a ources w e h t n w t a o m le t p ic p tr ar A .” Th citing s he f o e c new dis ssmen, a dep s contained “a writing sam ’ assessment rt of the CL n ta en t ult la ot p a ming t ly w h r i hentic c t n o e c u s r s underc m and its res ‘a a r e o ie w r c lt te - mo riting ability y had difficu to Ritter. e exa t’s m a g that th ead Bry w d i s t r i c l somean h in p f t d o n r m e y o o c n c found m c a e rt tment” use the e comp ubric, a ls mod h depa errors. arch 8, Englis and disappoin that beca h a grading r ed by a privat rding to a ng like g t o f e hi cc On M up wit LA was crea d i c at i n “disbeli goal, a “provide t t. I’m was in d a rep or t in the district eC whose r o ha t e , Th t t s s it is e , R s ) w s an e nt .” .com s tel-A s eceive formed belo Common m n e r e I s d that v s e d a o h e r call intelh2 i mp y gla y d i d ( c b t w hen eshmen per r e a e n it d e h s e M t t d b , a we stu t cre y 21 fr he itter g Lowell n the Februar cording to R grad- their s t h at d r i v e the exam is ducators t re c t t hat, bu initial red fla c r t , ir o e l h e o A e t e u . f c k h n t g s rial is a r t o e a e e n u t t r t e s B a a e t m m e h r m aver o s t r a t a s f d e h t p t o passe g Asse ording “only t the fac ad that sort USD in A did Learnin at indicated h graders had him Acc h rom SF it h Intelf n io s d t r h , the CL cess e t e e s w in v t k u n r r p a i o e u c h p h e B re o ft rk” ent pro none o n ch m a n i e s nAesrssess to asseussdethnts to me.”hough accordinugstim a provem ers,” sevp ers and e district be m o lt t o A u th each of s he c t a contin back from t t impressed b losely ng within t ogress i c o r u r a g p e e s r r t e h s o d d s a o m i ee W “un s m ludes f s were n rtion of the to look t, where he t ow ard standards. u c i ng d ich inc glish teacher e o o h t es p t r a w ia s l t e p r n a r h r r t o e p at r eland, alifo s e ve r age A c te d er En a C a u t h o r t g a t c o n h n l t a ne Fre lts. o a ’s L r c n d t e h e i A s ic D i , ; li v S t r g b s e o n s t FU su h n rd eo ns wer standa n and it’s no “wS i t h I n t e l -irAas bs eility with th. eNEinth grade utesainc g the CLAin’sstrreuction questio a r k e d w i t h n m exam n the pl an o l inform my align with ously ucatio based o our assessd e s n ot swers. hn e it’l n o a e d s not g k t n li e dme wro .” feel est doe to Jo lu t e o c t ’t g e v n h in i in o t t , d ; d s r d I aid. , e it Acco effec ent nee n g w i t h “ ough to utiliz dards,” she s HenaRITTER e r v i s or m p N u A s Y i n a Nicole s in R n a k r , t e B r e e s d o o h k c a c r m w e a is e u o a B anc ing classro ninth grade te sments she h at ment h ustomiz San Fr Disdepart sts to c rovide my th es ly, li s r in the h d l s a a s e i o a t li il c o c r e g e h u p p im n r c S E S n oth onst ity to tent s c o il n s ly b o u r a ent,” c il c o Unified h i e v e m e n t b ir o d m ill f eir a s an so po t, the ssess w r h s a e t n c s a , e h e e t A w h c r t , n t a a is t e s o e r t cu alidpan e te f f ic ial nt c tric e nt s o ce. “Th like it’s an ac uestion the v so ay, the the assessme nslated into S ents for spec d la m t s p a s r h e e t s f s q As ater answ n ents tra assessm n’t feel kes, wa uality o riously orrect error. L er key and ra assessm vide modified the overall q e dis- I do es said. “I se o many mista together the inc ue to human w s s r n e a r s n m ro -tak cted sd Hena nts and ay throw ug h s o ity to p hat had key wa d in the corre e Lowell CLA n stude said. Altho e test results ity of a test t cted, so hastil mistake.” Hen io t e h a f t c t e u e ic z d u sh a li r e s im i . t e t r e ” t , s r e s t o u e distr g n s f is c , , a lio a rodu aver rly co sults used ults w geles lts, th o s p e t o t f n u r e t o o s r r ic r A i p r e n t d o e t r s s e p h e t o is is t d L da trast A rs st t new ove the with the up estions, or such as staff, the CL t the fir hat she prefe pare-and-con ive b , a s a h t t d ic e r r u t ir n q ct sco to g ed t com rade he 25 er, eve ing the contra res add hich include h as the CLA Howev d that 6 of t f the ninth g k- in judg valuations. 011-12 ly 2 e c t e w a u h . s t , t e a o s s e , s t e t e xim notic swers, m percen teacher ding to Burk 0,000, appro rades men , etc., to exam “real world” t e ar n i ng Ritter g r L s tely 24 t have clear an response. 21 a o y a $ in c a f n t s c s o o s im s t l A e o x n m e c o e e D stud id no appr C om the f ssess ssible d s 0 o s A , 3 n t 0 “SFUS p l1 n m ,0 io e a 0 e e t a t 2 s 2 e d x h n I e ic r4 ue stu 012h at t m 2 t o t r a e f d English than one cho iguity in the q re ac- with er student fo i h h t a t k s Fo r elief db a c p r ke e e b b 0 u re e w f o m e B .0 s a h 5 , r e m t t s $ e h a t g a in or ate en bor te s ed nsw muc expres aying a priv t Ass essm ue to incorp achers colla nt.” was so es that two a n, Ritter said 2-11. r e e r t e it e R Th e “ dg sme sag er, ntin ve t be p de ditio eir pas rent bu nt will co as well as ha ign the asses thods Howev should not . In ad the tenth gra , r u id c a s ’s and th r e s D t te ns on achers Assess to de are several me “We nswers f SFUS d ist r i c or l y s p le,” Rit light o A “p o n books te lceptab the 26 questio incorrect a result the L e re t e in C n h I y t e exam. , n h h e a ly o of wit ed t Burk clear on the pent ith a comp m s t o w t d g e u e b a ck a e that 2 g p a b in h d t c in in a a feed rs t’s d cord . He CL A vide hould s are produ s c e s n o i h r e v t A s s i p a a r m li h h o s c g t t s se En ds” nie d it’s eache hers that as nt. dminis rict fun at the compa education an or teac m for t s p e g a f t r n s o is i f a d v a w e le h A rc te vide the CL district orpora f 7.6 pe ead. “W t o p r o back, an error o the first year as before the demic inst tandard; it’s c . o t ed d ca cific fe har This is the district, is subs ive,” he said s for y uring A l o s l t a t e s s a c i s addres r e M e o ( l ff r i A r e c P a L a t t A m C o s i d e ’ n M c o t t he tere led s , Rit tent of a test tit t me e t h i n k i portance of n a ny o n e tdo wc i t h Instead s for t I piloted nce). The in rriculum tha asures e t a e u dvoc ma the im rrectly whe r e s p eovneral focus Perfor ools plan a c ndards and m h and ter a created by h c a e t a t t h t a s s c l e s M t at rs iona del us, osu p s t o c o l es co help o c r s , or a A cove 2-12 and m educat r u L e s ia C o h l n s e c r a a o i f s e gr t . “Th de ew ation Cali i ng ater m rogress Arts for gra 2-8,” Burke l e a s t a r e v i t n f or m h e i p ’s t t t c n c e i le d tr stu age ades men b ot h t Langu d to be s for gr d e p ar t o r e the dis m].” ab out t r at i on English anguage Art s are intende assess by f e b T, inis ds nt o hL giaris a l MOFFIT r a d m ntent of the Spanis ese assessme eachers use t urke, h e a s t i s a d p R [ E IF B te st Th JENN ache and co d of the said. “ any measure According to LA to t h e t e r e d t o glish te n s E i C m ” . the en from n f e e i o c h one om t rvey at r m an s m e nt s . “ T h e r o u f lt f s u ams r s s e e lt e n p r u s t e onli with te edesign n d a e studen can access re n plans. “Th trict’s s tu d t can do a k d r n o r ts CLAs a ddition we w nt to design/ of the p lesso ctor, the dis ing distric ,” Ritter d lo o studen e e a o v g e m n t u .A par ar. I nat re Dire etter em d l l ow he CLA ould be ye urriculum de ummer. The y changes t help th ble via Data nt system, a e and lot b There are n o s n es e ila nc the c aid. “ uestion nd; it c ring th when a are ava ata managem ss performa the s ly 25 or 26 q at in a weeke ests du cts how and ,” Burke said. g t e a in d l z h c t e li i n n e h t t o e d ts on l i by u nalyz ack aff the tes r t m e nt h e a can do er view ponses rs to a an int ach- feedb are made to a eacher e easily.” t p n y e i n teache l student res . d a d e e v h s e d t t to gi ua aid or edit n at e l y, m at n ot i c e t a . ne quit t from rke st a individ reports,” he s s i nt e n d e d a s n ot ic do owe ver, Bu s accept inpu their own tu h r m o e s F r it s d a d a e a le t b c w e H b t do . h am ds se A an d t funds a ic C m ents’ a t proavaila e t h e C L A r L e e t d s h C h u is a t t t d s h n m t e e Wh i l that th SD departm eedback from ed in Tho on t h e m a k that distric s the of their at “it has no f U w to rs n idea th olv e hin o F a o v t r S h id m s s “ r in r a e o n e . such a e s e s o o lc r r h r d mo teac e we , he ing ments r m d e s h e , Ritte information s W t e e e v s e e h . c e s t u s s n m a a w g a a c o o d s in ely. H on perform ] with any s; it has simply o lost agen open to hav cess if that is e spent ent more wis im t e im d t ls r o h a p n n a r s vided [ ch [his] stude exams. We’ve o Rit- We velopment p ,” he said. nt- a uld be e comme s CLAs co ea de in gt h t t t t e d r in t e e h ffi c d t t t t r e o s r e e o a r r b cc co ich w nifer M e inte em.” A be help tion to they ar h teacher Jen the CLA (wh it had frustra e by giving th ” test would e s u s f a li o e c s g n u be ed En e t versio ts beca class tim perly design und] is nice e can the firs ed to studen shocked by th o o w r n r p a o o “ s n d a r , e s , u r y t k e ll e t ter k a e y is e ic w r n e qu two . If a I was admin ful. “[Th evaluated in the classroom could not rism issues). “ is I ia , t in g t s pla ation the te concep t inform tand a use tha didn’t unders t,” he said. ts tha studen ttle more on li focus a

___ _ _ _ _ __

_ _ E M NA

“

ALL ILLUSTRATIONS BY HOI LEUNG

April 27, 2012

The Lowell

Under the sea

NEWS

Speier looks at unfortunate incidents in positive light, spurs students to do same From SPEIER on Page 1 Francisco and two-thirds of San good speaker with a really en- Mateo County. thralling story where she’s shot She makes it a habit to return and left without medical attention,” to Lowell about every two years. senior Timothy Werby said. “Speier has had some very trauAs her history continued, matic and tragic experiences and it Speier told of other tragedies — was really inspiring to hear that she multiple miscarriages, the death never gave up and fought for what of her husband in a car crash and she wanted despite her extreme her responchallengsibility as a es,” senior People can make tons S o p h i e widow with two chilosenof money, but if they Rmoss dren: Jacksaid. son, born Speier’s don’t do good, they in 1988, and speech to aren’t really valuable the group Stephanie, born in as fopeople in my book.” wcused 1994. on Through sharing JACKIE SPEIER, life lessons all of her Congresswoman setbacks, with stuSpeier looks at her situation with dents. She encouraged the audithe most positive attitude possible. ence to pursue good things that “I made a pact with myself then they are passionate about, rather that I wasn’t going to spend the than be driven by money. “People rest of my life as a victim, that I can make tons of money, but if was going to be a survivor.” they don’t do good they aren’t reDespite of the hardships, Speier ally valuable people in my book,” still managed to become the con- Speier said. gresswoman for District 12, which With her own life serving as includes a southern part of San a model, she urged students to

“

photo courtesy of audrey yu

Senior Christie Yeh observes a jellyfish exhibit at the Monterey Bay Aquarium during science teacher Dacotah Swett’s Marine Biology field trip on April 24.

School thanks Native American tribe for lending a helping hand after 1906 earthquake tragedy

By Melinda Leung

Arrow Creek Nation students, participated in a live 30-minute video confern April 5, a live Internet session through webcam was held ence with Lowell High School. Gladys with a Native American tribe and Richard Hansen, as well as assistant in Room 220 to show appreciation for principal of administration Ellen Reller, a timely donation made over a hundred gave words of appreciation. Choirs from both schools sang songs years ago. After the April 18, 1906 earthquake through the webcam. Broken Arrow was had devastated San Francisco, over 20,000 awarded two certificates of honor from students and 400 teachers lost their the county and the city of San Francisco, schools and homes. Thirty-four schools one signed by the mayor and the other by the Board were burned of Supervidown and approximately six I was surprised that the sors. In addimillion dollars community of Broken Ar- tion, drama were needed to rebuild schoolrow remembers the event. tTeearc eh se ar hous es. Word spread quickly It was a moving experience Bookwalter and Spanaround the counfor me because my grand- ish teacher try. A recent parents went through this GC roel gl oi nr ys study by Gladys shared stoHansen, City Artraumatic event.” ries of how chivist Emeritus, founder of the TERESA BOOKWALTER, t h e 1 9 0 6 San Francisco drama teacher earthquake affected City Guides and of the Court of Historical Review as well their families. “The night before this conas an expert on this historic cataclysm, ference, my mother called me and told me revealed that boys and girls from Broken to tell this story from her mother, Anne Arrow Creek Nation, referred to his- Corbett,” Collins said. “My grandmother torically as an “Indian territory,” gave the was thirteen during the 1906 earthquake first money contributions to rebuild the and remembers women and children begschools, influencing other places to help. ging the men to stop drinking even after “San Francisco was an important queen the orders from the army to evacuate to city back then — it was the largest city in Twin Peaks. She learned that in face of the west of Chicago,” Richard Hansen, son disaster, you should be strong, alert and of Gladys Hansen and curator from the ready to do what you have to do instead of Museum of the City of San Francisco, said. trying to escape this catastrophe.” When the earthquake struck, being a “It was spectacular for this tiny school and wooden building, Lowell withstood the poor area to be the first to make a donation, and we are pleased to bring this new tremors, according to a document about Edith Pense, a junior during the time of information out.” Students from Centennial Middle the earthquake. Her original school, Girls’ High School of Broken Arrow, Oklahoma, the renamed school of the original Broken School, was a four-story brick building

“

which had collapsed. “The main effect on my school life was that the school officials decided that Lowell students should attend classes in the morning, while Girls’ High School would attend school in the Lowell building in the afternoon,” she stated in the document, where she expressed appreciation of the helpful youth. “Lowell High School students were always ready.” However, most schools were destroyed or renamed after the earthquake. Gladys Hansen’s personal connection to the school enhanced her decision to have the internet conference at Lowell. “My mother, Gladys, was a graduate from Lowell and it is close by to our house,” Richard Hansen said. “In addition, my sons, Kevin and Brian Hansen, both attended Lowell as well.” Through webcam, Lowell recognized this kind contribution by the boys and girls. “Broken Arrow Creek Nation back then wasn’t one of the wealthiest nations, and it made me realize that people have always looked out to help others,” Reller said. “It gave me a warm feeling.” The live internet session has created a sense of community between the two schools. “It was a wonderful connection tying the two cities together,” Bookwalter said. “I was surprised that the community of Broken Arrow remembers the event. It was a moving experience for me, because my grandparents went through this traumatic event.” In the future, the Museum of the City of San Francisco plans to make April 5 a day to commemorate the generous act. “Next year, we can try to have students from Broken Arrow and San Francisco write about relatives who donated the money or lost their schools in the earthquake,” Richard Hansen said. “Students can share stories about their family during that time period. We will continue our best to discover more places to thank for their help over a hundred years ago.”

disregard setbacks or fears when reaching for their dreams. “Speier struck me as an amazingly strong and brave person who stands up for what she believes in and devotes her life to making positive changes in the world,” Rosenmoss said. Currently, Speier serves on two committees for the House of Representatives: Armed Services and Oversight. She is running for Congress again in the upcoming election, with a focus on war issues, such as withdrawing troops from Afghanistan and eliminating unnecessary Pentagon spending. In the near future, Speier hopes to address the epidemic of rape in the military. Additionally, she is motivated towards providing affordable health care to all American citizens, including fighting for women’s abortion rights. In closer-to-school issues, she spends some time addressing issues of bullying. “Speier just seemed like an amazing role model for anyone, not just people considering a career in politics.” Rosenmoss said.

photo courtesy of jenna fiorello

Science teacher Catherine Christensen explains a concept to junior Patricio Trejo-Lerdo during her Mods 11-12 Advanced Placement Environmental Science class on April 24.

Regular Enviro Science added because APES sign-ups fell

From APES on Page 1 thus the coursework will not include free response questions nor other AP-style assignments, according to Christensen. The new offering had not been advertised before course requests were distributed because counselors were not expecting the movement of student interest from AP Environmental Science to Physiology. Therefore counselors will have to visit registries to sign students up for the class, according to Christensen. Although counselors and teachers expect sufficient interest in the class because of its reduced workload, they only have 12 confirmed signups for the class as of April 24. “I would consider taking Environmental Science because it’s nice to have the option of a non-AP class, especially when I’m interested in the material, but my schedule is uncooperative to the extra work or mod restrictions,” Cate Stern said, who is currently signed up to take Marine Science as she is a sophomore. According to science department head Dacotah Swett, the school attempted to offer a regular environmental science course two years ago, but was forced to cancel the class after only 11 students signed up.

6 NEWS

April 27, 2012

Lowell High School

Cyberbullying As teens turn from conventional, face-to-face physical or verbal bullying, schools struggle with how to deal with a new form of bullying — cyberbullying. By Cooper Logan

ecently, traditional face-to-face bullying has been replaced by cyberbullying, leaving schools needing to fine-tune their role and clarify responsibility for intervention and consequence. Cyberbullying is the act of teasing, harassing or acting in a cruel or hostile manner using technology, like cell phones or social networking sites, often between minors. Unlike face-to-face bullying, which administrators and teachers can monitor to some degree, cyberbullying is rarely observed by adults. Many social networking sites are blocked on school computers, making it difficult to administer punishment. In response to this, California has passed several

Washington high school

At Washington High School on March 7, three seniors were suspended for cyberbullying teachers, though the decision was later reversed. The students submitted ideas for memes — or photographsW of teachers with mocking captions — to a Tumblr (www.tumblr.com) page titled “Scumbag Teachers,” according to a student involved in the incident who would speak to The Lowell only on the condition of anonymity. The student said she contributed to the page but was not the creator. “I just submitted an idea to the blog,” the student said. “No one really knows who created the blog.” The student said the memes were not intended as weapons of cyberbullying. “Our intent was definitely just to joke around,” she said. “Tumblr is a place to post sarcastic comments.” After classifying the memes as cyberbullying (as per the SFUSD student handbook), the school took action im-

laws specifically targeting cyberbullying. On April 16, a bill, AB 1732, was passed in the California assembly, allowing schools to punish cyberbullying on social networking sites with suspension or expulsion. Another recent bill, SB 1411, effective on Jan. 1 2011, made maliciously impersonating another person online a misdemeanor, punishable by time in jail and a fine. A 2001 law requires the Department of Education to make model policies on bullying available and allows the school district to choose which policies to enforce. Later legislation expanded the definition of bullying, as stated in the above law, to include electronic bullying. On page 53 of the 2011-2012 SFUSD Student and

mediately. The administration called the student into the office, where the principal, the vice principal, the dean, and a counselor talked to her. “I was in a room with four adults, and they were interrogating me about the Tumblr page,” the student said. “They kept asking if I had made the page, and I would say I hadn’t, but they didn’t believe me.” The student was then suspended for three days. Three days’ suspension constitutes a withdrawal of school privileges, including prom, graduation and any position on student government under Washington High School school policy, according to the student. The school then took further measures to investigate the Tumblr page. “They went through my bag, took my phone, and read my texts out loud,” the student said. Some of the text messages did discuss ideas for the Tumblr blog, and two friends, who had each submitted ideas for the blog, were also suspended for three days by administrators.

Parent/Guardian Handbook, cyberbullying is defined as a subset of bullying. “Bullying is prohibited, including, but not limited to, bullying committed by means of an electronic act, directed specifically toward a pupil or school personnel.” Several incidents at schools in the San Francisco Unified School District have prompted controversy about how schools may appropriately and effectively deal with this new type of bullying. The challenge to schools to deal with the issue of cyberbullying has become a national issue. “Schools these days are confronted with complex questions on whether and how to deal with cyberbullying,” stated a June 27, 2010 New York Times article “Online Bullies Pull Schools Into the Fray.”

The student said she didn’t know how the administration learned of the memes or her involvement with the page. The creator of the page was not caught, and the student assumed he or she probably took the page down due to the school investigation. The student said her mother was outraged at the actions of the school, and contacted the American Civil Liberties Union. The ACLU argued that the school had violated several laws, including search and seizure by confiscating the phone and reading the texts, which is permitted only when a student is suspected of cheating on a test, according to the student. “They said First Amendment rights were violated because the school can not just tell us to stop because they feel victimized,” she said. “Also, the idea for the meme was submitted outside of school, from my home computer. They didn’t provide a translator for our parents when they came to pick us up, which they were supposed to do.”

The school’s action was reversed by the district, allowing the students the option of attending their senior activities, and the suspension was erased from their records, according to the student. Despite the reversal of the decision, the student said the suspension was academically damaging. “I had to miss a few days of school, and AP testing is coming up.” When contacted by email on April 18, Erica Lovrin, principal of Washington High School, said she could not discuss the incident. “I cannot share any specifics regarding this situation since I have to protect the privacy of the students involved,” Lovrin said. “I am unable to comment due to this reason.” The student said that, in her opinion, the fact that school staff was targeted in the memes had to do with the response. “If students had reported cyberbullying, the teachers wouldn’t have reacted so quickly,” the student said. “They wouldn’t have immediately called the cops and suspended people.”

FOR THE COMPLETE VERSION OF THIS STORY COVERING FURTHER INCIDENTS AT LOWELL AND LAKESHORE ELEMENTARY, PLEASE VISIT WWW.THELOWELL.ORG.

The Lowell

Lowell Football team

During Oct. or Nov. 2009, the football season of the 2009-2010 school year, some members of the JV football team created a false Facebook (www.facebook.com) account for teammate junior Marcello Peray-Genovese, who was then a freshman. On the falsified account, four players uploaded a picture taken in the locker room of Peray-Genovese starting to lift up his shirt to change and a video of him showering in the locker room in boxer shorts after football practice with other members of the JV team. They also posted false statuses and “chatted” with friends while impersonating Peray-Genovese on Facebook. Peray-Genovese noticed social repercussions soon after the account was created, a year before he discovered it. “I didn’t understand why at the time, but after the winter break of 2010 people started avoiding me,” he said. “I asked a couple of people why they were avoiding me and they just kind of blew me off, they didn’t want to say to my face ‘because you’re f***ed up.’” Peray-Genovese discovered the existence of the account when he was approached and harassed by a group of students while at Stonestown with his sister during winter break of the 2010-2011 school year, according to Peray-Genovese, a year after the page was started. “They started saying that I’m gay, everyone knows about it, it’s all on the Facebook,” he said. “We didn’t know what the hell was going on.” Worried by the incident, Peray-Genovese checked Facebook and found a profile in his name, though he had never signed up for an account. “We went home and looked up my name on Facebook, and there was this fake profile of me that talked s*** to other people,” Peray-Genovese said. “It mostly said homosexual comments, that I was gay or that I liked penis.” One teammate who was involved in the bullying spoke to The Lowell on the condition of anonymity. He said he had taken full responsibility with the administration because he was the one who originally created the account. Fake Facebook accounts had been created before this incident, but not with the names of actual people. The incident was not a form of hazing, according to the student who created the profile. However, according to the SB 1411 law mentioned in the introduction of the article, which took effect this year,

April 27, 2012

impersonation like this could now be punishable by the law, as a misdemeanor. The student said he was still participating in the account when the locker room photo and video of Peray-Genovese were posted. Other posts included listing the sexual orientation as “Interested in Men and Women,” on the profile, according to the student. According to Peray-Genovese, they also posted ethnic stereotypes about being Italian. After viewing the page, Peray-Genovese compiled a list of students who regularly posted on the wall of the fake account, and that teammate was among them. After creating the page and posting on it for about a month, the student said he did not have any dealings with the account for a year. “After a while it got old, and I just didn’t touch it,” the student said. “Then about a year later it came up again. The dean called me into his office, and there was a police officer, and they’re like ‘What’s this Facebook thing?’ And I’m like ‘What Facebook thing?’ and they brought it all up. I was thinking that that’s pretty old, but, hey, it resurfaced.” Despite the resemblance of the page to a prank, PerayGenovese had not heard from others at school about the account. “People on there [the page] were saying ‘This isn’t Marcello. What are you talking about?’ even though no one had cared to tell me, so I didn’t find out for a year and a half,” Peray-Genovese said. The day after he found out about the false Facebook account, Peray-Genovese said he called the police. After a joint police-administration investigation, the administration disciplined the one student who had created the account, although the uploading of the locker room photo and video on the Facebook wall had been added by a different student, according to Peray-Genovese. “No other students were suspended because he claimed full responsibility, even though there was a picture and a video on there of me changing in the locker room, which I didn’t know they took,” he said. Cordoba and principal Andrew Ishibashi declined to go into specific details about the case due to privacy issues. However, Ishibashi discussed standard steps schools may take to help alleviate a bullying situation, including mediation if the family of the victim wishes. Both student sources said there was no mediation between the bullies and the victim. “We never sat down and talked about it person-to-

NEWS

person,” the student who created the account said. Peray-Genovese and his parents filed for a restraining order, but the court denied the request on the grounds that no physically violent attacks occurred, according to Peray-Genovese. Peray-Genovese said he heard rumors of threats from the alleged bullies through friends, but he was never harmed or confronted by the bullies following the incident, he said. The student expressed that he felt that the administration and victim saw the account differently than he had intended, and more seriously. “I made a fake Facebook account, as a little gag we had. I know it was a bad thing, a problem, but I wasn’t meaning any harm. But the way people interpret stuff is different.” The student said he did not think the punishment, three days’ suspension, was too harsh, and that he did feel regret. “Basically it’s like a slap on wrist for that first time,” he said. “I don’t think what I did was the worst thing in the world. I learned from it, and I haven’t done something like that since.” The student who created the false account expressed that he felt the incident was managed well by the school, but added that he thought the school should take a different approach to educating the student body about the issue. “At senior and junior class meetings, the dean brings in a police officer and he talks about this issue. I think that it helps and that it is very important that people do take cyberbullying seriously. However, people don’t take class meetings seriously in general, so when a class meeting has only one-sixth or one-seventh of the students in that grade, how can the whole student body know about it?” After the incident, Peray-Genovese didn’t feel comfortable playing football with the alleged bullies. “I loved playing football, and after that, since they stayed on the football team, I was no longer able to participate,” he said. “I was in the sport for two years, and then I switched to cross country this year.” The student who created the account said his outlook has changed. “It really helped me realize that there is a problem with cyberbullying,” he said. “I didn’t mean any harm, but there are times when people are threatening other people or intentionally trying to hurt people and it is a serious problem. People bring stuff up that other people would not want to be put out there in the public; because on those social networking websites, everything can be seen by anyone.”

GAVIN LI

8 ADVERTISEMENT

April 27, 2012

Lowell High School

summer 2012

terry z.

Megan L.

Lowell 2012 Accepted to: Princeton, UC Berkeley, UCLA SAT Reasoning: 2310 Increased: 430 points!

St. Ignatius 2013 SAT Reasoning: 2310 Increased: 265 points

Shirley X.

Sean L.

Lowell 2011 SAT Reasoning: 2210 (800 on the Writing Section) Increase: 305 points

UC Berkeley 2014 Lowell 2010

SAT Reasoning: 2300! (Superscore) SAT Writing: 800/800!

“At TestMagic, the teachers teach, not lecture. Witty jokes and personalized attention makes class feel like spending three hours with a friend -- who happens to be incredibly knowledgeable. On top of that, the administrators are young, friendly, and always eager to help.”

We now offer College Applications Assistance for our students! • Work one-on-one with a TestMagic professional English teacher to work on your UC or Common App personal statements. • Attend our annual Admissions Essay Workshop and Admissions Essay Review. • Receive information about scholarships, grants, extracurricular activities, college admissions and many more.

Bring this ad to your local TestMagic and get 5% off your tuition for any summer class! This offer ends on May 31, 2012. be a fan of TestMagic on Facebook! facebook.com/testmagic Become a fan of TestMagic on Facebook! Receive hand-selected, custom-written challenge SAT vocab daily. Learn more about our leading-edge SAT Prep classes, our success, and our students. Visit facebook.com/testmagic today!

Con ta c t U s

Irving

Geary

1722 Irving Street 6902 Geary Blvd. SF, CA 94122 SF, CA 94121 415.665.6988 415.386.2700

Millbrae

1331 El Camino Real Millbrae, CA 94030 650.288.0850

SAT Word of the Day Receive hand-selected, important SAT Vocabulary in your email every day from TestMagic. Subscribe to our WOTD newsletters by going to www.testmagic.com and entering your email address in the left hand box! We respect your email privacy.

new.testmagic.com | facebook.com/testmagic

Ask us about our year-round courses!

April 27, 2012

The Lowell

NEWS

Students place in a Spanish literary competition

By Micheelle Huang

ourth-year language students earned a place as finalists in a literary contest sponsored by a foreign country. Nineteen students from Spanish teacher Victoria Maquiñana’s Advanced Placement Spanish class submitted essays to the Escribo en Español (“I Write in Spanish”) contest. “Since we must practice a lot of writing in this course, I thought it would be a good idea for my students to participate in the essay,” Maquiñana said. The contest, established in 1992, is sponsored by the Spanish Embassy’s Office of Education, the California Department of Education and the Magellan Study Abroad Program. 900 essays were submitted to the statewide contest on Jan. 20, and 28 essays were finalists, according to Maquiñana. Maquiñana only accepted ten essays from each of her two AP Spanish classes and submitted 19 to the embassy. From 1999 to 2007 a total of 13 finalists from Lowell competed and placed as finalists, with four first place winners. This year Lowell supplied another first place winner and two fi-

nalists: junior Cambria Chou-Freed took home first place and juniors William Frankel and Ellande Tang placed fourth and sixth, respectively. This year, the prompt was to describe an unforgettable academic experience. According to Maquiñana, the essay had to fulfill the requirement of a good academic essay with 750-1000 words and was judged on content and fluency. Chou-Freed wrote about her experience as an educator to fit the theme. “I wrote about a summer when I worked as a teacher’s assistant at SummerGATE, a summer school for kids,” Chou-Freed said. “I thought it was more interesting to write from a teacher’s — or teacher’s assistant’s — perspective, instead of a student’s perspective. Kids in first and second grade do really crazy things — sometimes cute and sometimes a little scary. I wrote about one kid who stapled his finger and another who fell down and was too scared to go to the office to get a band-aid; just in general how the kids loved to talk with the T.A.’s almost more than with their friends. I also wrote about how I led an activity where I taught the class origami.”

As the first place winner within the nonfluent Spanish speaking contestant section, Chou-Freed was offered a full-cost scholarship to attend Magellan Study Abroad program in Europe for 31 days. According to the Magellan Study Abroad Program’s website (www. magellanstudyabroad.com), first place winners will stay in Salamanca which is in the region of Castilla y León. They will stay there for 20 days in a student residence then home-stay with a family. The winners will also get to participate in activities such as art workshops and historical excursions. The students will then visit La Coruña in the region of Galicia, north of Portugal for eight days. For their last three days, the participants will be in Madrid. Chou-Freed is grateful for the opportunity to study abroad, especially as she has never been to Spain, though she describes herself as world traveler having been to Luxembourg, France, Belgium, and Taiwan. “At first, I was too shocked to really say much,” she said. “But then I was just so overwhelmingly happy, because I’ve wanted to go to Europe (particularly Spain

and France) for years and I’d just been offered this incredible opportunity to go study in Spain. It feels absolutely amazing.” Writing an essay in a foreign language is challenging, as it requires great fluency. “I was very surprised and honored to be chosen as one of the finalists,” Frankel, who started with Spanish in the first grade, said. “After so many years of taking Spanish, this is the first year that I have really been able to fluidly communicate my ideas through speech and writing, which on its own is an amazing reward of taking another language.” Frankel expressed gratitude for the opportunity to use his education. “I think it was a great reward for the years of hard work I’ve put in, and also gave me a better appreciation for all my teachers who have helped me throughout the years,” he said. Maquiñana believed the true goal of the contest was a real-world outlet for students to use their Spanish writing skills. “Even if they don’t win they still win because they get to practice with the language,” she said. “There’s nothing to lose, so why not go for it?”

Drama students win big at Ohlone theater contest

By KT Kelly

he drama classes stole the show on March 16 and 17 by coming in first place at a regional theater competition. The school’s thespians performed monologues, scenes, one acts, musicals and improvisation, contending in 24 different categories at the Ohlone Theater Festival for high school students in Fremont. The students were overjoyed by the win of not only individual trophies, but also the sweepstakes award, a five-foot tall trophy taller than some of the actors. The actors compete in front of a panel of judges against two or three other acts performed by other high school students. Each piece is performed twice and then winners are asked to perform in the finals. The school that accumulates the most points wins the sweepstakes award. One of the first place one acts was a dramatic one act, Medea, an ancient Greek tragedy by Euripides. Senior Casey Roos played the vengeful Medea, betrayed by her lover Jason who left her to marry the daughter of King Creon. Jason exiles Medea, fearing what she might do to herself or their children, but later chases after her. The drama department competed against other northern

California high schools, including their rival, Bishop O’Dowd High School, a Catholic college preparatory in Oakland. According to sophomore Alexandra Beem, a curse has followed the two schools; one year, one school wins, and the next year the other. “Lowell and Bishop O’Dowd have been alternating for the big sweepstakes award, the biggest award you can win, the big shebang,” Beem said. “The school with the most points in total wins it. This year was our turn to win it, and we did, but if we win next year, we break the curse.” The prize did not come without stress though. According to junior Quinn Francis, the team’s charter bus broke down on the second day of the trip. “The first day of Ohlone is the welcoming ceremony where they call attendance,” Francis said. “The second day is when the competitions begin.” The actors left their props on the bus they travelled in the first day, thinking they would receive the same one the next day. However, that bus broke down and the company sent another one. The actors had to rush to the broken bus and then to Ohlone College in order to obtain their supplies. Although they were late for their first competitions, the players still performed their best. “If Ohlone teaches you anything,

Azerbaijani visitors the converse with the JSA cross

By Isabel Boutiette

hree delegates from Azerbaijan visited the school’s chapter of a political organization on April 10. The Junior Statesmen of America, a national organization that aims to encourage responsible political participation amongst high schoolers through club activities such as debates and bill writing, hosted the visitors. According to Jaime Contreras, JSA Northern California Program Director, the visitors were brought to the school through the U.S. Department of State International Visitor Leadership Program. This opportunity for national sharing brings over 5,000 selected visitors from various countries to America every year “to provide them with an enhanced understanding of the culture of service in the United States,” according to Karen Nossiter, Program Officer at the Institute of International Education, in an email to Contreras dated March 13. Azerbaijan is a country that is located in the Middle East next to Caspian Sea, and its government is a presidential republic. The visitors, Ulvi Faxraddin Oglu Hasanov, Konul Saxavat Qizi Jafarova and Etibar Eyyub Oglu Mammadov, were hand selected by the American Embassy of Azerbaijan for their influential roles in social and educational work throughout Azerbaijan. Hasanov is studying in a university in Azerbaijan but is also involved in many youth groups and nonprofit organizations. Jafarova has a leading role in nonprofits as well as setting up debate tournaments for youth in Azerbaijan; she was nominated by Peace Corps members in Azerbaijan to

attend this trip to America. Mammadov currently works in the Azerbaijan Sports Department, and also actively participates in nonprofits. The meeting was a learning opportunity for both parties. The Azerbaijani visitors left with a more thorough understanding of life in America and the role of youth as leaders in American society. According to Nossiter, the visitors were “particularly interested in learning more about the different types of causes focused on by youthled programs and the role of social media and social networks in their work and activities.” During the discussion, the visitors — two with the help of an interpreter — mostly asked about JSA members’ involvement in their communities. Jafarova’s questions covered a lot — the students’ extracurricular activities, topics such as marijuana legalization and abortion discussed in JSA debates and the students’ main means of communication, such as texting, Facebook, or Twitter. “My favorite part of the meeting was talking about extracurricular activities and what they meant to each of us. I really liked sharing that part with Azerbaijan visitors because they seemed to be very interested in that topic as if it was something completely new to them,” senior and president of the Lowell chapter of JSA Rachel Nghe said. The delegates expressed their belief that the biggest problem with Azerbaijan’s educational system is a lack of motivation from youth to participate in extracurricular activities. The delegates will also travel to Oklahoma, Wisconsin and New York.

it teaches you to be a trooper,” Francis said. After the stress of almost losing the props, Lowell’s One-Act Musical, You’re a Good Man Charlie Brown by Clark Gesner, had to go on stage without their pianist. Instead of live music, the artists had to sing with a recording that was slower than what they had practiced. “We were worried that we weren’t going to make our ten-minute time limit, but thankfully we did,” sophomore Rebecca Hughes said. Even though the tempo wasn’t on top of the beat, the actors pulled off the performance without a hitch. The students had been working on their pieces since late January. “We’d work on one-acts in class and work scenes and monologues after school or during free mods,” Beem said. Students prepared for the festival by practicing during class, after school, and even on the weekends. “They rehearse to death,” drama teacher Terry Bookwalter said. “I want them to be comfortable acting in front of the judges.” The young actors also performed their pieces for a Lowell audience in the Steve Silver Theater on April 4 during the school’s annual Ohlone Night. Friends and families were encouraged to come out and support the performers.

word Across 1 Acronym on a memo 5 Got the better of (someone) 11 Men in Bethlehem 12 Enforced 13 Not odd 14 Venetian setting 16 cafè au ___ 17 A ___ of laugh 18 Stock market launch. Abbr. 19 Crazy 21 Calamari topper 23 Money dispenser, for short 24 Orchard fruit 27 Staff member? 28 Aurora setting 30 Reason for a ticket 33 Evil witches 34 Moves 37 Hits the tarmac 39 Take over 41 Bee cousin 42 Yesteryears 45 ___ California 46 Atlantic shipwrecks setting 48 Silver-tongued 49 Guinea pig replacement 50 Fido’s reward 51 Twitches 52 Ones going bananas over bananas

Down 1 Pioneer Earhart 2 Rain man, e.g. 3 Senioritis? 4 Columbus ship 5 Snap at 6 Austen matchmaker 7 Peter Pettigrew actor Timothy 8 Rocky outcrop 9 Inuit language 10 Tyrant 14 Discourse 15 Back to ___ 20 Popular radio show, for short

22 Surround 25 “___ boy!” (“Good job!”) 26 Pythagoras’ shape 28 Go figure? 29 CBS forensics drama 30 Cement piece 31 Juries 32 Capture 34 More than a canter 35 High-___ gas 36 Glides 38 San Antonio team 40 ___ the Hutt 43 First of all? 44 ACT alternatives 47 Grad student degree

Crossword courtesy of junior Francesco Trogu. (See “Wordsmith crafts clever puzzles,” The Lowell, Feb. 2012). For answers, please visit thelowell.org.

10 NEWS

Lowell High School

Tracing the Races

ByAdam Chac and Ying Sham

April 27, 2012

owell recently landed the 28th spot on U.S. News’ Gold Metal List, a ranking of the nation’s 100 best public high schools. The school also was noted for a different achievement: of the finalists, it was listed fifth for “Highest Asian American Enrollment.” This designation reflects the school’s 74.6 percent Asian American student population. Lowell and several other San Francisco Unified School District high schools are well known for their lopsided demographics, and past decades have been a roller coaster of court cases, complaints and reforms. Diversity has been a controversial issue in SFUSD high schools. Post-Brown v. Board of Education (1954), San Francisco outlawed separate but equal schools in an attempt to end de facto segregation. However, the 1978 court case NAACP v. SFUSD deemed the district schools racially segregated, and the U.S. District Court set forth a Consent Decree — guidelines requiring schools to have no less than four racial groups, capping off each ethnicity at 40 percent (later raised to 45) of the total enrollment. As an alternative way to meet these percentages, the district began the Optional Enrollment Process, in which a student’s acceptance into a preferred school was given priority through selected criteria that targeted students who lived in the 94124 Bayview area code, students of Hispanic and African American background and students interested in attending the same school as a sibling, would give families priority, according to SFUSD’s website (www.sfusd.edu). A lawsuit with a different purpose arose in Ho v. San Francisco Unified School District (1994) when a family concerned about admission to Lowell objected to the OEP, namely the use of race as an admissions factor. The 45 percent cut off was abolished when the court questioned the need to have required percentages after 10 years of the Consent Decree, and the district altered its goal from “Academic excellence in SFUSD” to “Excellence for all.” For admissions, the district conceded and adopted the diversity index system, which encompassed socioeconomic status and native language as admission factors rather than ethnicity.

The district’s compliance with the judges’ ruling on their admissions process may be responsible for lack of diversity in some of San Francisco’s public schools today. According to SFUSD’s website, the district’s high school demographics in 2008-09 displayed a 48.9 percent Asian population, yet Lowell’s student body was 74.3 percent Asian, according to the District Profile of Lowell High School (2008-09). The numbers for Asian American enrollment were higher for Lowell than for other SFUSD high schools, such as School of the Arts, which had a 30.5 percent Asian demographic in 2009, according to the U.S. Department of Education (www.ed.gov). Though Latino and African American students made up a combined 33.5 percent of the student body across the San Francisco Unified School District’s high schools for the 2008-09 school year, this group, consisted of only 9.9 percent of Lowell students. This trend, though there were slight variations in the numbers, continued to the present — hence the Gold Medal listing. Examining academic support for minority groups and academic progress on the district level, in March 2011, the Education Trust-West education advocacy group gave SFUSD a less than satisfactory grade for its achievement gap, the difference in academic performance between two or more groups, often ethnic and socioeconomic. The Ed TrustWest group uses the Academic Performance Index, compiled from the results on the California Standardized Test and California High School Exit Exams. The organization ranked SFUSD second to last out of 128 districts with a grade of “F” for the subsection “Size of Achievement Gap Between African-American and White Students.” API scores for the two racial groups reflected an over-200 point difference – out of 1,000 possible points – on the API scaling. Overall, the district was rated with a “D.” Despite both recent rankings, the U.S.

News and Ed Trust-West, many students are unfazed by the lack of diversity at school. Junior Penina Valencia, who is of Samoan, German, Irish, Filipino, Portuguese, Spanish and French descent, knows a thing or two about variety. “Other people who don’t go to Lowell think that all there is is Asian,” Valencia said. “On the contrary, I feel we have a pretty good amount of diversity. Clubs like La Rasa and Fil-Am have really mixed groups.” On the other hand, junior Ariel BarbieriAghib, a member of Jew Crew, acknowledges some ethnicity patterns in the classroom. “Language classes seem to have the least diversity,” Barbieri-Aghib said. “ I guess because everyone leans toward learning their own culture, like you don’t see as many Asians learning Italian or white people learning Chinese.” And junior Melita Chan sees both sides. “Racially, the ethnicity statistics do not reflect the fact that San Francisco is a diverse place,” Chan said. “Filipinos only make up six percent of the student population, but Fil-Am is one of the largest clubs at Lowell. Even though the population at school seems pretty homogenous, there’s a lot of ethnic spirit.” Chan is a supporter of abolishing affirmative action, in which schools seek to increase

diversity in schools by attracting more minorities to balance populations and reflect the area the school is from. “If increasing diversity means that some students can score lower and get into the school while some students can score higher and not get into the school, then it’s not fair,” Chan said. Junior Julian Quilatan, a member of FilAm, also feels that the numbers do not accurately represent the atmosphere of the school. “Admissions are based on the individual, so I think the system is entirely fair,” Quilatan said. Valencia agrees with Quilatan, stating that she noticed a greater variety of students in the freshman and sophomore classes. “It seems like we’re getting a bit more mixed over the years,” she said. Junior Kristina Medina feels that her background sometimes influences the way she is seen or treated. “At times I do believe that because I am underrepresented at the school, I am treated differently,” Medina said, adding that some academic expectations, especially in her Spanish class, are preset for her. “I feel like just because I am Latino, people expect me to know almost everything and get all A’s in Spanish.” In addition, junior Regine Bailey, secretary of the Black Student Union, pointed out that, as the member of a minority, teachers tended to be more supportive and took more notice of her academic performance. In the reality of the mixed levels of ethnic balance in San Francisco neighborhoods and schools, the future of diversity within SFUSD schools depends on the political climate of the administration and the families’ efforts when choosing schools. Over the decades, as various efforts to balance school diversity waxed and waned, ethnic populations in San Francisco have remained mainly static — more so than the ups and downs of PHO TO ethnic populations in the ILLU STR ATI schools. ON BY

JER

YV AR

A version of this story first appeared on www.thelowell.org

The Lowell

April 27, 2012

NEWS

Dance ‘til you drop...

ON APRIL 20-21, LOWELL DANCE PRESENTED ITS SPRING CONCERT INSIDE/OUT. (TOP) INTERMEDIATE DANCE PERFORMS “CAN’T FALL DOWN”. (CENTER RIGHT) SENIOR INGRID CHU PERFORMS A CREATIVE INTERPRETATION. (BOTTOM RIGHT) JUNIOR FLORENCE WONG LEAPS GRACEFULLY. (BOTTOM CENTER) SENIOR TIRA OKAMOTO LEADS A STUDENTCHOREOGRAPHED PIECE. (BOTTOM LEFT) SENIOR ALISON ONG SOARS IN HER SOLO. (CENTER LEFT) DANCE COMPANY ROCKS A HIP-HOP PIECE.

ALL PHOTOS BY DANIEL GREEN AND CHRIS LEE

12 ADVERTISEMENT

April 27, 2012

Lowell High School

The Lowell

April 27, 2012

NEWS

Advanced choir performs in the Big Apple

By Adam Chac

he school’s advanced choir traveled to New York to perform at Carnegie Hall over spring break as a result of placing in a contest last spring. The Lowell choir was invited last year by the Distinguished Concerts International New York organization after they placed second in the gold category of choirs at a festival in Anaheim (See “Advanced choir carols its way to Carnegie Hall”, The Lowell, April, 2011). The Lowell choir sang together with seven high school and college choirs from Mississippi, Texas, New Jersey and Florida and an adult choir from Switzerland in a concert called “This Shining Night” on April 1. They were directed by Grammy award-winning conductor Eric Whitacre. “It’s hard, you have to sing with people you’ve never sung with before, learn from a conductor you’ve never been conducted by before, but it worked out really well in the end,” junior Marissa Choy said. “I think we sounded really good.” Whitacre also composed many of the pieces that they performed, including Go Lovely Rose, With a Lily in Your Hand, Cloudburst, and a 5-part suite called The City and the Sea, according to senior Rose Dodgen. They also performed a piece called Dirait-on (French for “As They Say”) by Morten Lauridsen, professor of composition at the University of Southern California Thornton School of Music. Whitacre has a more contemporary style, with dissonant chords that are more difficult to sing, while Lauridsen’s style is more traditional, more like classical music, according to choir teacher Jason Chan. Carnegie Hall’s Stern Auditorium / Perelman Stage, seating a maximum of 2,804 people, is designed so that tones from the stage are able to reach to all five levels of audience seating clearly. “The most memorable part was performing at Carnegie Hall,” sophomore Priscilla Melo said. “Eric gave great advice to us as performers and was a really funny guy.” Whitacre’s advice was very pertinent to the eight groups of singers. Choy added, “Eric said that you really need to focus on blending; you don’t want your voice to stick out when you’re singing with that many people.” The audience was receptive, which meant the atmosphere at Carnegie Hall was pleasant. “When you go on that stage, you feel so comfortable and warm; it’s like the audience is hugging

photo courtesy of jason chan

The school’s advanced choir performed songs such as The City and the Sea with several other choirs at Carnegie Hall last month.

you,” junior Ryan Hoang said. Without financial support, the trip would have cost almost $1,400 per person without any fundraising or grants, according to Chan. Grants from the Lowell Alumni Association and the Parent Teacher Student Association, along with fundraising efforts, reduced the cost of the trip to about $700 per person. The choir students had lots of time to go sightseeing, since they only had 3-4 hours of rehearsal each day. They visited locations such as Ellis Island, Central Park, Times Square and

Broadway. “The most memorable part of the trip for me was probably seeing the Phantom of the Opera,” junior Nick Bourgault said. “I was awestruck the whole time because I couldn’t believe I was seeing an actual Broadway show!” At the end of the concert, the combination of choral groups received a standing ovation. “When every single audience member stood up in a giant wave of applause, all I could feel was triumph,” Dodgen said. “I don’t know if I’ll ever feel that ecstatic and triumphant in front of an audience again.”

Word-whiz alumnus wins Kermesse postponed to save time, debate crossword competition tournament hosted By Melinda Leung

class of ’95 alumnus won a national crossword puzzle tournament held March 16-18, reclaiming the title for the third consecutive time. Daniel Feyer, who is also a former staff member of The Lowell, won the 35th Annual American Crossword Puzzle Tournament held in Brooklyn, New York. Anyone is eligible to play, though participants are placed into groupings based on age and previous rankings in the tournament. Contestants are entered into as many divisions as they qualify for, and each category awards its own set of winners, including a $5,000 grand prize. Contestants solve crossword puzzles on the spot and submit them to judges, who base scoring on accuracy and speed. Everybody solves the same puzzles, and the top three in each division advance to the final round. Feyer placed first in Division A, which is eligible to everyone, after completing eight rigorous puzzles designed especially for this competition. He won the grand prize. The second place winner for Division A was Tyler Hinman from San Francisco and third place was claimed by Anne Erdmann, also from California. “I always have fun at the tournament, because it’s one of the few times each year when crossword enthusiasts get together — like an annual convention for word nerds,” Feyer stated in an email dated April 16. The tournament was founded in 1978 and is now directed by New York Times crossword puzzle editor Will Shortz. This is the nation’s oldest and largest crossword competition, according to the ACPT’s web site (www.crosswordtournament.com). In a New York Times article dated March 17, a computer called Dr. Fill competed in the competition as well, but was not eligible for the prize, as it is not human. Dr. Fill can complete puzzles at the lightning fast speed of one minute. Although he currently works as a pianist and music director in New York City, Feyer’s past has always been filled with words. “Doing crossword puzzles is the perfect pastime for bright students, because it’s educational and fun,” Feyer stated in

an email dated April 10. Feyer competed in the National Spelling Bee in 1991 as an eighth grader and edits crossword puzzles as a part-time job now, as well as publishing two books of word search puzzles for Sterling Publishing. “I have always been good with words,” Feyer stated. “I served as chief copy editor of The Lowell my senior year, a position that journalism teacher Pete Hammer created for me, because I was finding errors that he missed while proofreading.” Feyer was already a crossword dabbler, solving books of New York Times puzzles on the subway and occasionally at home, when he came across the movie Wordplay in 2007, a documentary about people’s passion for crosswords, which included scenes of the ACPT and inspired him to enter the competition. “For the next few months I started doing puzzles obsessively — downloading several every day and ordering a bunch of books online. I found that all the practice was making me a faster solver,” Feyer stated. In addition, Feyer has created a puzzle that was featured in the New York Times on October 4, 2011. It was published on a Tuesday and the theme was “Juggling Pins,” where the letters P-I-N were spread around the grid as if they were being juggled. “Creating puzzles is a whole other ballgame,” Feyer stated in an email dated on April 11. “Although I am not a particularly good constructor, the most important part of making a puzzle is coming up with a theme or gimmick that’s unique, clever, or funny.” Feyer has competed in this contest five times already, winning three of the five, and plans to continue competing. He did offer one word of wisdom to those interested in crossword puzzles. “The only proven method to get good at crosswords is practice,” he stated. “Once you understand the conventions of clues and puzzle themes, you’ll be able to attack harder and harder puzzles, which are more and more rewarding as you finish them.” And practice he does! As Feyer admitted, “I’m pretty sure that nobody in the world has done more crosswords than me in the last five years. I’ve done 35,000 to 40,000 puzzles in that time.”

By Elena Bernick

ermesse was postponed from April 20 to April 27, the same day as speech and debate tournament, to save instructional minutes. The change may cause a decrease in revenue for clubs and overall attendance to the festival. The school day will be unusually short but full of activity. Classes will be 30 minutes, with Kermesse starting at 10:10 a.m. School ends at 12:25 p.m., but Kermesse will continue until 3:30 p.m. Students will not be able to access the main building or the science building after 1 p.m. that day because the Speech and Debate tournament requires the use of all rooms in the school. Being faced with the chance to miss school altogether might be too tempting of an offer for most to stay at school for the rest of Kermesse after 12:25 p.m. “I’ll probably stay a little bit, but not too long,” sophomore Katherine Popovich said. The Speech and Debate tournament, which includes a total of 1,100 students from 149 California high schools, was organized by the Forensics team and will begin today, April 27. The tournament will end on April 29. “The tournament happens at a different school every year,” assistant principal of administration Ellen Reller said. The move surprised most teachers, who learned of the date change just days before students. “I think they would’ve wanted to know sooner,” Reller said. “We wanted to celebrate the end of CST testing with Kermesse.” Italian teacher Judith Branzburg agrees the date change is less-than-ideal. “It’s unfortunate our day has to be cut short,” she said. “I’m concerned about making less money.” Lowell faculty did not propose the idea of moving the date of Kermesse. Last spring, administrators planned to host the tournament on April 27 of this year. However, the date never made it to an official copy of the school calendar. “When we found out they promised to make it a minimum day, we called union representatives right away,” Reller said. “The union representatives suggested moving Kermesse, but Mr. Ishibashi made the decision. They figured since there were going to be 30-minute classes anyway, teachers would feel more comfortable having it on April 27.” Administrators hoped the move would relieve the stress that often hounds teachers on food days. “There’s a lot of pressure on teachers to let kids out early; they don’t want to say no,” Reller said. “In order to have one full day on April 20, they moved Kermesse to be on the same day as the tournament.” Other than rearranging schedules, the Kermesse committee has run into numerous problems dealing with the date change. Typically, most students are able to perform for the annual showcase. However, this year it might be difficult to fit all routines into the schedule. Another challenge is there may not be enough tables. The school district is unable to supply our school with tables for April 27 because another school is renting them out.

A Close-up look

cafeteria By Elazar Chertow and Henry Hammel

hether you are intrigued by the delicacies of the cafeteria or buying school lunch for the first time, one thing is for sure: few of us have delved into the background of the meals provided in the cafeteria. The bottom line is that only packaged items in the cafeteria have nutritional information directly available to students as they purchase food. Fortunately, the food provided by the cafeteria follows national health regulations, however, in this day and age of food-awareness, people have gotten acclimated to information about ingredients and food sources. Many students may want to check their food’s ingredients and nutritional facts but have to make an uneducated decision regarding their lunch in order to eat on campus. Due to the Child Nutrition Reauthorization Act of 2004, standards defined by the U.S Department of Agriculture have been instituted in the San Francisco Unified School District, as well as the entire State of California’s school cafeterias. The Act insures, among other regulations, that no caffeine is served to kids, no food is more than 35 percent sugar by weight, and that cookies do not weigh more than two ounces, according to the SFUSD website (www.sfusd.org). Recently, the subject of lean finely textured beef additive — otherwise known as “Pink Slime” — has swept the nation, which has made students and families wonder just what exactly goes into the hamburgers that come out of the cafeteria. “Pink Slime” consists of disinfected meat scraps, which, prior to new anti-microbial technology, had previously been served to dogs, according to an April 1 article on USA Today’s website, (www. usatoday.com). For sterilization, the meat product is also coated with ammonium hydroxide, an edible ingredient which is also a component in many household cleaners, and is commonly found in many meat items (not just pink slime) at fast-food restaurants across the country, such as hamburgers and sloppy joes. Ammonium hydroxide has been known to cause coughing and trouble breathing. Although considered safe to eat, many people shy away from foods with this meat product additive, which is not surprising due to the nickname. Chemistry teacher Bryan Marten believes there are worse things to eat than pink slime. “I should be more worried about pink slime, but the thing that gets me the most is the treatment with ammonia,” he said. However, this media controversy does not hit close to home, the SFUSD beef is not treated with ammonia. A March 9 memo sent from the director of quality assurance at Preferred Meal Systems, the company that produces much of SFUSD’s food, James Gunner, to the district’s director of Public Outreach & Communications Heidi Anderson was published on the SFUSD website in an attempt to quell any doubts the SFUSD community may have about the quality of meat provided in school cafeterias. “Please be assured that Preferred Meal Systems does NOT use any lean fine textured beef in any of the burger or meat crumble products we produce. All of the beef we use comes from ‘block beef,’” — 100 percent beef with no fillers — according to the memo. Although the school’s beef products do not contain Pink Slime, Preferred Meal Systems does not go so far as to offer the free-range, grass-fed beef recommended by health-conscious consumers. “The high cost and limited availability does not permit its use,” Public Relations Officer Ken Trantowski stated in an email on March 28. According to Trantowski, a large portion of the beef served in the cafeteria is from the United States Department of Agriculture. The use of regular beef is understandable, as the average reduced cost of free-range, grass-fed beef per pound is about $3.70, while the average subsidized cost of regular, corn fed beef per pound is around $1.30, according to the USDA Food and Nutrition Service website. Still, students are curious as to what exactly is in their food. “I have never seen nutritional information or a list of ingredients in the cafeteria,” sophomore Ilya Verzbinsky said. Although available on the SFUSD website, nutritional information about prepared menu items served is not available in the cafeteria. A list of ingredients is available upon request, however. People with free or reduced lunch may not have an option as to where they eat, but information could help their selections in cafeteria lines. “If you don’t have a choice,” Verzbinsky said. “You should

food have the right to know what you are eating at school.” Marten eats school lunch several days a week. “I know that school lunch is made by the lowest bidder so I know what I’m getting into when I eat it,” he said. “I have a choice — I could walk to a restaurant or bring a lunch from home — but I know that there are kids without choices so it’s important to get information about the food out there.” Marten supports making nutritional information available at the time of purchase. “It would be ideal to have nutritional information available in the cafeteria,” he said. “Even better would be little videos showing conditions on the farms where [the food] comes from and what kind of drugs such as antibiotics and growth hormones they use.” Providing nutritional information would serve people on diets, people with allergies and even people who just care about how their meat is treated. To address allergies, the cafeteria avoids using foods that cause common allergies, such as peanuts and shellfish, according to cafeteria manager Elaine Choy. However, the 30 percent of students that eat free or reduced-fee lunch everyday may not have the convenience of going online to check dietary information. The beef that the SFUSD serves is free of artificial ILYA VERZBINSKY chemicals, but what about the other food options such sophomore as the bagged vegetables? According to Trantowski, most fresh fruit and vegetables are from farms within Northern California. “All the produce such as fresh fruit that is served daily and fresh vegetables that are also served daily on salad bars are sourced locally from local farms when available and are distributed from a local produce vendor,” Trantowski stated in an email on March 27. These vendors include Irigoyen Farms, located in the San Joaquin Valley, who farm 28 different vegetables, 6 of which are organic; G. Ratto Farms, who farm 60 percent of their fruits and vegetables organically, and well as Epic Roots, who grow Mâche, a salad green, year round in the Salinas Valley. Due to limited funding, the district is not always able to purchase organic produce. “Some fruits and vegetables are organic when they are available at prices that are within the SFUSD budget,” Trantowski stated in an email on March 28. “The price availability occurs at different times throughout the year. Whenever possible we try to use organic items.” Due to the Food, Energy, and Conservation Act of 2008, as well as countless other agricultural subsidies legislation, the crops of small family farms cost more than those of a “factory” farm because the government does not subsidize smaller farms as heavily as industrial ones. Although originally intended to help small farmers, according to the CATO Institute, now 90 percent of agricultural subsidies go to farmers of five crops — wheat, corn, soybeans, rice and cotton because they are United States’ largest agricultural exports, many of these farms have thousands of acres of land and the newest farming technology. This leaves out the small guys,, forcing the prices of their crops up, and leaving the consumer to make a tough choice. According to Trantowski, bread is bought from bakeries in the San Francisco Bay Area. Berkeley Farms — owned by the worldwide corporation Dean Foods — provides the milk for the SFUSD schools. On the other hand, most of the entrees are not quite as local. “The entrees served are produced in our plant in Berkeley, Illinois, using USDA donated foods to help offset district costs,” Trantowski stated in an email on March 27. The entrees are frozen and then packed into transport trucks, where they spend between two to three days traveling 2,140 miles to Brisbane, CA, just south of San Francisco. The entrees are then shipped to their individual districts, and finally schools. The cafeteria workers do cook a few of their dishes — the ingredients of which are available upon request — including the fried rice and teriyaki, according to Choy, Since founded in 2004, the Lowell Student Nutrition Committee has faced this issue head on, posting photos of healthy foods and recipes on SchoolLoop in an attempt to give factual information regarding cafeteria food to the student population. “The truth is, most of the food options just are not appealing, especially because of the packaging,” nurse Maryanne Rainey, who acts as an advisor to the committee, said. “We try to promote good nutrition and cooking.” Rest assured that the food served in the cafeteria is healthy and complies with all USDA regulations. The current SFUSD school lunch is a vast improvement compared to Ronald Reagan’s California of 1980, where he addressed concerns about balanced school lunches, saying that “ketchup is a vegetable.” But if students and staff are more picky about where their food comes from and how it is treated, they will either have to be selective a b o u t what they put on their tray or bring their own lunch. While the school does make an attempt to include organic fruits and vegetables, the cafeteria offerings are affected by economics and the transparency of information is lacking.

have never seen nu“ Itritional information or a list of ingredients in the cafeteria.”

ALL

NS ATIO

STR ILLU

BY Hoi g

leun

Exceptional high school athletes make it to Summer Olympics. Page 17

Lowell High School April 27, 2012

Page 15

Gavin Li

Sophomore pole-vaulter Noah Penick releases his pole as he launches himself over the bar during a meet against Aragon High School on March 8 at School of the Arts.

4 by 800 relay team breaks school record By Deidre Foley

thletes tie their shoelaces, crouch in the starting position, and at the BAM! of the blank, they try their best to fly past the competition. On April 21, the Cardinals ran at the Bearcat Invitational in San Mateo against high schools from around the Bay Area. Varsity girls ranked first at the meet, varsity boys ranked fourth, frosh-soph girls ranked 13th and frosh-soph boys ranked seventh. “We had several athletes run personal and season best performances,” long distance head coach Andy Leong said. Notably, senior varsity long distance runner William Chen ranked first in the 800-meter event, senior varsity sprinter, thrower and jumper Melanie Speech ranked first in the 200-meter dash, shot put and long jump, and girls’ varsity ranked first in the 4x400-meter relay. Leong, who is in his 25th year of working with the track team at Lowell, sprint head coach Charles Hatch, throwing coach Miguel Mallorca, assistant sprint coach Michael Speech, assistant long distance coach Thomas Tran, assistant long distance Yoongi Tom — who also works with injured runners — and assistant hurdler coach James Thomas coach over 130 athletes in the various events of track and field. The team has competed in seven meets and eight invitationals so far this season. “We’ve got some injuries but that’s expected when we have as many people as we do. We’re working through these things,” Leong said. Shin splints are the major injury, according to Michael Speech. Though a team of many talented and dedicated athletes, they still have tough competition. “Lincoln is the defending boys and girls varsity champs. We lost the titles last year for the first time in 16 years for varsity boys and 24 years for varsity girls. Lincoln has got some really good athletes but they don’t have our numbers. We are the overall best team and the defending champs for boys and girls frosh/soph. Washington had a good girls frosh/soph team last year and we barely beat them.” Some members ranked statewide in late March. Sophomore varsity sprinter Mandy Che ranked in the top 30 for the 400 meter event; Melanie Speech ranked in the top 50 for the shot put and long jump events; senior distance runner William Chen ranked in the top 10 for the 800 meter event, according to Leong. “Our sprint medley actually got into the state top ten, but the time was incorrect,” Leong said. “The correct time would have still put us in the top 25 in the state. That was Adan Marrufo, Nick Balestieri, Noah Stier and Max Niehaus.” Recently, the varsity boys broke the school’s 4x800 meter record by two seconds and are currently ranked 24th in the

state, according to Leong. “It was at the Stanford Invitational on April 7,” he said. “We took fourth in that race. Max Niehaus led off and Brian Nguyen went second — he had taken Donald Chen’s place because Donald was starting to come down with the flu — Noah Stier was third and William Chen was fourth.” Sprinters generally run distances between 100 and 800 meters, run relays and do events that involve jumps — hurdles, long jump, etc., according to Leong. “Different days we do different stuff for practice,” Michael Speech said. “Most likely the days before meets we do more technical stuff, like handing off batons, and we also do weight lifting. We’re trying to get a full workout in — after the past month of watching other teams, I realize a lot of other teams are not in good shape, but we’re in pretty good shape.” For example, a team may start out getting good times at a meet, but by the 4x400 meters event, their time decreases by five or six seconds because the athletes are tired, according to Michael Speech. Long distance runners compete in events from the 200 to 3200 meters, according to Leong. “Just because you are a distance runner doesn’t mean you are slow,” he said. “Track is about running fast no matter what the distance.” Long distance training consists of interval training two to three times a week, and long runs anytime else, according to senior varsity long distance runner Caroline Chan. “Long runs are usually down Sunset, around the lake or down the Great Highway,” she said. “Our weekly mileage goal is about 20 to 25 miles a week, but with the weather being so iffy lately, it’s hard to get there some weeks. Practices have been pretty consistent throughout the different seasons, but we started harder intervals sooner this year.” Throwers do shot put and discus events. “We start off by throwing either discus or shot put, and depending on the day we’ll do some kind of running conditioning, or we’ll lift weights,” Mallorca said. “As a whole team, I think our strengths are that we’ve actually had a lot of new people step up to the plate. Whatever we’ve told them to do, they’ve done it.” The school does not have a pole vaulting coach but vaulters are still able to train for and compete in pole vault at meets. “With Lincoln, we are coached by a league coach, coach [Allen] Eggman, three days a week at Lincoln,” varsity junior pole vaulter and long distance runner Max Niehaus said. “We do some laps, work out and practice jumps. It’s been going pretty well for us so far as a team, and we’ve been doing consistently well at meets.” Although the team already has been clocking in with over 100 athletes, Michael Speech believes others would benefit

from joining track. “But I’d like to see other sports come out to run track, too,” Michael Speech said. “Kids say track is too hard, but it isn’t. Different sports are actually running more. In basketball you’re actually running down the court for 20-40 min. In soccer, half an hour to an hour and a half.” With sprint events in track, one only runs about a minute for some races, according to Michael Speech. “It helps with other sports and makes you a better athlete,” he added. Come cheer the team tomorrow on at the Viking Invitational, which will be held at Montgomery High School in Santa Rosa at 9:00 a.m.

Gavin Li

Varsity junior sprinter and hurdler Will Frankel successfully clears a hurdle.

16 SPORTS

April 27, 2012

Lowell High School

Badminton hopes for redemption in champs

By Sean Wang rmed with racquets, the badminton team didn’t just watch the birdie, but swished it over the net, dominating the competition and leading the Academic Athletic Association league with an undefeated record of 12-0 as of April 20. Now they are looking to bring home the championship trophy for the first time since 2009. On April 19, the Cardinals faced Balboa at Lowell for the second time this season, winning the match 5-2, losing only the first boys singles and second boys doubles matches. Despite their already impressive record, the team continues to tack on wins. “We were in control of most of our matches and fought for every point,” senior singles player Kaiming Tan said. Lowell easily won their previous game against the Buccaneers on March 6, which happened to be their first matchup of the season. Lowell won 6-1, losing only the number one boys single match. “This win showed how much we work during practices and how it paid off,” senior captain Jenny Wong said. The badminton team consists of 18 players, led by Wong and coach Christine Hosoda. This year there are only two seniors, Wong and Tan. Because of this, the team must rely on its younger members to step up and help the team win crucial matches against their biggest competitors, like

Washington. “At the start of the season it was nerve-wracking to play in the matches, but I’ve gotten more confident since then,” sophomore doubles player Stephanie Joe said. Tryouts began on Jan. 30, and the team has been training hard since then. Practices are two hours long, six days a week, Monday through Saturday. Usually practices consist of a combination of drills, conditioning sets and scrimmages to perfect the players’ game. Some days the team will condition by running sprints around the track and doing bleacher drills, and on other days they will work on practice matches. “It’s hard work, but it really shows how much dedication we all have to the team,” Tan said. Badminton has become increasingly popular over the past few years, and as a result badminton in the AAA league has recently become co-ed. Previously, playing badminton was only a possibility for girls, so some boys who were interested in the sport became managers for their school teams. “Before the sport was co-ed, I was the manager and it was tough not being able to play in the matches, so now it’s awesome that we can actually compete,” sophomore doubles player Kenneth Chan said. Ever since the league’s rule changed last year, the badminton matches consist of seven total matches: one boy and one girl singles match, two boys and two girls doubles match and one co-ed doubles match. Whichever team wins four matches first

wins the entire match. Due to the make-up of the competitors, recruiting a gender-balanced team is key, but easy to accomplish as this sport is a popular draw. On the Lowell squad, there are ten boys and eight girls. “It’s a lot of fun playing on a co-ed team; the guys often have different strategies on how to play points so its good to be able to see the way they play,” Joe said. Last year, the team placed fourth, falling to Washington 4-3 in the semifinals. Two seasons ago, the Cardinals had met the Eagles in a championship Battle of the Birds and were defeated 3-2. “Washington has been our rival for years, we’ve lost to them the last two years in the playoffs,” Tan said. “They always have really skilled players who train professionally, and last season the boys on their team had more experience than the boys on the Lowell team.” Lowell faced Washington on March 14 and took the win, 6-1. The Eagles are the Cardinals’ rival, but Lowell was able to defeat them easily this time. “This year they’re not bad; though they lost some of their key players this season. But we also played really well,” Hosoda said. Tan added, “This year we focused a lot on match play and conditioning, so our mental and physical game has gotten a lot better.” The Cardinals are preparing for their next match at 4 p.m. on May 1 at Washington against the Eagles.

JV baseball smokes Galileo, leads league By Nadine Kahney he JV baseball team has hit this season out of the park with 11 games in the bag. On April 24 the Cardinals won the championships, beating the Washington Eagles 5-3. The Cardinals have been batting 1000, winning all but one, earning an 8-1 record. They dominated the teams in their league, which includes the Lincoln Mustangs, the Washington Eagles, the Galileo Lions and the Balboa Buccaneers — their biggest competition being Washington and Balboa. Co-captains sophomore catcher Justin Talbott, sophomore center fielder Mica Jarmel-Schneider, and sophomore left fielder Jeffrey Liu lead the team to success. The team, made up of 9 returning sophomores and 11 freshmen benefits from new assistant coach Michael Sera, a Lowell baseball alum class of 2011. “He brings an intensity and an energy that we didn’t have before, as well as making it fun,” Talbott said. “He really knows his stuff, and it’s good to have him there, teaching us.” Head coach Jesse Raskin is pleased with the team’s success this season. “The leadership brought by the returning sophomores this year has been the key to their success,” Raskin said. “The sophomores help show the freshman how to play Lowell baseball: with the right mix of confidence, hustle, enthusiasm and above all, good

CONGRATULATIONS

TO JEFFREY WONG AND THE CLASS OF 2012! WE WISH YOU THE BEST AND THANK YOUR TEACHERS AT LOWELL! - ALEX, HELEN, JONATHAN AND KIMMIE WONG

~ ~

PAID ADVERTISEMENT

San Francisco Admissions Advisors

Let Us Help You Navigate The Admissions Process

Juniors, get a head start on your college applications this summer! 10% discount for Lowell students! Our team of Certified College Admissions Advisors is dedicated to helping all students find the right fit for their college education.

sportsmanship.” The Cardinals stuck together and kept their heads held high, facing the challenge. Coming back with a score to settle due to their rivalry, the Cardinals defeated the Eagles and the Lions to secure a top spot. “Last season was different. We were fighting a lot more for our ranking in the AAA league, and it was just a different group of guys,” sophomore center fielder Jarmel Schneider said. “This year, we’re finding some great competition in league and out-of-league games and against ourselves in scrimmage.” The team has been focusing on conditioning, defense, pitching and teamwork. “We do a lot of defense intensive work in practice, along with some hitting drills,” Schneider said. “It’s usually a mix of throwing, defense, and hitting. Depending on the practice, the infield and outfield may split up, so each can practice the specific drills for their position.” The freshmen have had a steep learning curve for new skills from their mentors as they adjust to the intensity of the team. “Joining the Lowell baseball team has been a great experience,” freshman first baseman Nick Rolph said. “I’ve gotten to work with great coaches and teammates, as well as improve my attitude toward life and athletics. The Lowell team is a big commitment and sometimes it is hard to manage time, but the improvements in our team and players has been noticeable so it’s worth it.”

27, 2 2 01

High Schoolers Take Over The Olympics

il pr

Page

By Sean Wang

This summer at the 2012 London Olympic Games, a handful of youth athletes will compete with over 10,000 swimmers, runners, leapers, rowers. They have trained for their entire lives, earning themselves a chance to represent their country at the Olympics. Among them is fencer Alexander Massialas, representing the United States, and diver Tom Daley, representing Britain.

lexander Massialas is currently an 18-year-old senior attending Drew High School in San Francisco. He qualified for the US National Fencing Team in February and will be competing in the individual and team men’s foil events in London this summer. Alexander has been fencing since he was seven years old. At fourteen, he began competing in and winning international competitions. When he made it onto the roster of the Cadet World Championship team in 2008, he knew he could do something big in the sport. “Ever since I was a little kid I always wanted to go because my dad was a 3-time Olympic fencer and Olympic coach, and I have countless Olympic souvenirs at home, so I really think it’s an honor to be able to go out there and represent our country this summer,” Massialas said. For Massialas, the toughest part about being an athlete in high school is having to manage his time. Competing at a high level, an Olympic level, requires hours of daily practice and a lot of time spent on planes traveling to tournaments and competitions. As a result, Massialas is often absent from school because he is frequently out of the country competing. “It just takes a lot of determination; Drew has been really supportive of what I do, and a lot of it goes out to the teachers and headmaster for being so lenient about my absences, but I always have to make it up with tests and working hard during the weekend.” Despite being one of the youngest Olympic competitors, Massialas is not very worried. “Sometimes it’s tough being one of the younger ones, but it also puts more pressure on the older guys because they don’t want to lose to a younger guy,” he said jokingly. What he may lack in years, Massialas makes up for in his ability to take control of crucial points. “When most fencers get to tight situations, that’s when a lot of people get nervous, but for me, I kind of like the pressure,” he said. “It really accentuates the skill in each fencer; it’s the time where you’ll see who’s truly the best competitor.” Although it is his first time competing in the Olympics, Massialas has great aspirations. “It’s a little ambitious, but I hope to win the Olympic gold,” Massialas said. “I think you gotta dream big if you want to do big things.”

nother high school athlete competing in the Olympics this summer is 17-year-old British diver Tom Daley. This will be his second time attending the Olympic Games; at 14, Daley was the youngest member of the team at the Beijing Olympics in 2008, yet he made the finals of both the individual and synchronized 10 meter platform competitions. Daley began diving when he was eight, and by the time he was 11 he was already called one of Britain’s best gold medal hopes for the 2012 Olympic Games. Though Daley is just like every other teenager, going to school on weekdays and doing homework each night, unlike others, he was a high schooler who devoted an additional 27 hours at the gym and pool each week, according to an article in The Guardian on Oct. 29, 2010. For four hours a day, Monday through Friday, he trained. On Tuesdays and Fridays he also put in two additional hours before school, and on Saturday he trained for another three hours. But because he still had to keep up with his studies, he still only devoted half as many hours to his athletics as his competitors. It’s the Olympics, after all. Despite being one of the youngest on the diving board, his past experience in Beijing will help him control his nerve. “Of course I was nervous. I’m 14 years old, thinking: ‘Oh, crap, I’m really at the Olympics.’ I’m glad I’ve now been through that experience, as I won’t be overwhelmed in London,” Daley said in the interview with The Guardian. In an Oct. 2010 interview with the British Broadcasting Corporation when he was eleven, Daley had already set huge goals. “My biggest dream is to get a gold in front of a home crowd in London,” he said. “It’s just everyone’s dream when they are a little kid, everyone wants to be an Olympian and get an Olympic gold medal.”

Illustrations by Hoi Leung

18 SPORTS

April 27, 2012

Lowell High School

Gymnasts soar high at final home meet

By Michelle Hwang hite chalk dusts the air as a slim girl flies through the air, doing tricks while swinging on two uneven bars. This year the number of the varsity gymnasts has increased from 7 last year to 15, according to gymnastics coach, Lesley de Dios. “The team grew so much because there’s a rule in place that states if you’re a senior you cannot be on any junior varsity team — no matter the sport,” she said. “This rule is dangerous and unfair in a lot of ways because like any other sport, without the proper time spent for training, the risk of injury goes up. However, gymnastics is a dangerous sport and throwing a kid in varsity just because they’re a senior means throwing them in a group with a much higher skill level — making it hard to compete with. For example, in JV they might have been really good, winning different events and such, but in varsity they’re limited to one maybe two events. It’s unfair because they spent three years prior on JV and everyone likes to end their high school career on top and for me to tell them they aren’t allowed to compete JV was really difficult. But we have to abide by it so we moved five our girls to varsity as floor specialists. We also have a number of freshmen who tried on and made out junior varsity squad.” The increase in numbers has led to a few growing pains. It is difficult for the girls to practice together efficiently. “Since we have such a big varsity team now, we kind of have to fight for our time on the equipment,” JV gymnast Tamara Chan said. Although sharing the gym with the badminton team and boys’ volleyball is difficult, the girls still get to practice two to three hours Monday to Saturday. They challenge themselves to develop their skills such as flips and tumbling and strength on the equipment, as when they swing from high to low. “I like doing bars the best because I love swinging and it makes me feel like I’m flying through the air,” freshman JV gymnast Sarah Chou said. “Although it is painful getting rips, it’s definitely worth it. I also like it because, unlike floor routines,

there’s no real rhythm or musicality involved, and unlike beam there’s no time pressure, so you aren’t really rushed.” De Dios expressed appreciation for how well the girls bond, from the depth provided by experienced gymnasts and the excitement of the newbies. “It’s not just JV bonding with JV and varsity bonding with varsity; we’re all coming together and are really supportive of one another, which is a great strength this team has,” de Dios said. “Coming to practice day in, day out and, back-to-back meets can get tiring, but they’re having fun and that is what’s most important.” Out of the four events, the team is having the most trouble with the uneven bars and their strongest event would be floor. “Our weakness, gymnastics wise, would have to be bars; however, having a large team has helped tremendously and we are quickly becoming stronger,” de Dios said. The veterans help the new gymnasts improve their form “The juniors and sophomores on JV helped me learn and perfect my floor and beam routine,” Chou said. “The returning juniors and sophomores on JV helped me learn and perfect my floor and beam routine. They also give us advice about how to execute a certain skill, like say, a round off back-extension roll.” Gymnastics demands daring movements and unfamiliar moves can feel a little edgy. “The most challenging part is probably learning new tricks,” freshman JV gymnast Samantha Wong said. “Doing new things can be really scary, but you just have to trust the people spotting you.” The independent skills built by being on the team also give the girls a chance to shine with confidence. “It’s different being on gymnastics where when I compete, it’s just me and I’m being judged on my own performance, so it’s not really a place where I can just hide behind another person,” senior JV gymnast Shirley Ng said. “But this does break me out of my comfort zone and helps me be more confident in my own abilities.” Support the girls at JV finals on May 4 at Classic Gymnastics in Tracy at 4 p.m.

Boys’ golf content with new coach

By Areln Pan he undefeated boys’ varsity golf team has skillfully outplayed the competition, leaving them stuck in the bunker as the team currently dominates the San Francisco golf section with a 12-0 record. Their most recent match on April 17 had the Cardinals scoring their season low of 205, soundly defeating the Balboa Buccaneers’ 241 and O’Connell Boilermakers’ 332. In golf, a low score indicates fewer strokes to score the ball — and the lowest score wins. On April 11, the Cardinals were pitted against the Lincoln Mustangs and the Marshall Phoenix, with the Cardinals leading with 208, one of the season’s lowest scores. The Mustangs and Phoenix were left behind with scores of 252 and 310 respectively. The boys’ golf team managed to score a season low through collective teamwork, though recognizing that there is still room for improvement. “We shot a season low as a team because Tom played well and Alex played very well, which was a nice surprise,” junior golfer Scott Bang said. “That is what a team is about, and scoring so low as a team even though individual efforts weren’t very good shows our capacity to be very consistent.” However, with rival Washington Eagles trailing behind in the standings, the team cannot afford to relax during the season. While the Cardinals still remain undefeated, the Eagles currently have 11 wins and 1 loss to the Cardinals. Their match on April 2 had Lowell scoring 213, achieving a 17-stroke margin from the Eagles, who scored 230. “Even though we beat them that time, on any given day, either of our teams can still beat each other, so we can’t afford to grow complacent,” Bang said. When the previous golf coach Mitchell Wagner left his position last year, athletic director and varsity boys’ basketball coach Robert Ray has taken the position along with Juan Lopez as coach for this season’s team. They provide supporting and administrative roles while the team continues improving on its own. “We haven’t actually changed practices, except that we do practice more and play courses like Fleming and Lincoln more often,” Bang said. “As a result, we’ve actually improved a lot from last year. We’re much more consistent.” However, the new coaches are unable to fully train the team due to their relative inexperience with golf. “There isn’t really someone to teach us, and no one to fix what’s wrong,” Ebergen said. “We have to rely on more peer-to-peer corrections for any mistakes.” With 14 members on the team this year — 6 more than last year — the team finds more room for improving the players and bringing in diverse competition between themselves and against other schools. According to Bang, with more teammates, the team can switch golfers into the starting lineup and have competition for the starting spots. “That kind of depth on the team wasn’t really there before, as we had exactly six set starters,” Bang said. “Now, we have eight or nine guys that could step in and start on any given day and play well, so there’s definitely a competition for the last couple spots on the team, motivating us to play better.” Freshman golfer Sam Miller stays confident in the team, despite the minimal formal instruction. “I feel that the team is really strong but still relaxed,” he said. “The juniors and seniors really help the freshmen and sophomores when they’re practicing.” Though proud of their uncontested record, the boys still find that they have a lot of room to improve if they want to break their personal and team bests. “We definitely need to improve our short game and putting, as a lot of us lose strokes in those areas,” according to Bang. Ebergen, as the team’s captain and team member for all four years, finds that there is still more potential for individual members. “We could still put in a lot more dedication, and put in more time and personal practice,” he said. Watch the Cardinals at 3 p.m., May 2 at the Lincoln Golf Course tee off against the Eagles.

Softball readjusts to new roster, leads

AAA with 11-1 record

By Kayla Huynh espite losing a large number of graduates last year, the girls’ softball team has worked their way through a grueling yet rewarding season. Throughout their entire season, the Cardinals came out victorious in all of their games until they clashed with the Washington Eagles at the Battle of the Birds. “It was a tough loss,” senior captain Michelle Willis said. “We were all pretty nervous because Washington is our biggest competitor.” However this setback motivated the team to do better in their next game, defeating the Bears 18-2, despite Mission’s notoriously strong defense. “After Wash, we practiced more on our offense so we didn’t make the same mistakes,” said Willis. Their loss at the Battle had helped the team realize they needed to step up their game. “I feel like it helped us in a way,” sophomore third baseman Vanessa Lee said. “It showed that we may be not as good as we were last year and we need to work harder.” Most of the 18 players on this year’s team did not see the field much last year due to the —seniors who dominated due to experience, but now they are starters who are expected to lead the field. “Everyone had to step up their game; the seniors this year have to step up to lead the team,” Lee said. “Last year we were a ‘dream team’ because there were so many experienced players, but this year isn’t as strong.” Although the team has recently been on a victory streak, closing each game has been noticeably harder. “Winning this year is definitely more challenging than last year because many of our starting lineup haven’t had much playing time or game experience until this season,” junior first baseman and pitcher Majenta Strongheart said. “When we play more competitive teams we have to make sure we don’t lose our confidence just because we are a newer team.” The new players this year are challenging themselves to catch up with the experienced ones. “It’s a big change of difficulty from middle school ball,” freshman utility player Nora Hazenbos said. “We have practice six times a week for three hours. But it’s really fun and the experienced players are very helpful.” The freshmen’s hard work is recognized and appreciated by the team. “One of the highlights of the season was seeing the rookies work so hard and improve so much,” Lee said. Yet again, and practically a tradition in high school sports, next season will surely be a challenge with a majority of this years’ experienced players graduating. “I’m kind of nervous about losing some of the senior players because they’ve really brought the team together,” Lee said. Confidence is key if they want to keep up their winning streak. “Next year will be more difficult, but I think we can work harder and be as great as we have done this season,” she added. Come cheer on the girls’ softball at their playoff match at 3:30 p.m. on Tuesday, May 1.

The Lowell

April 27, 2012

Athlete of the month By Reilly Fitzpatrick

RIBBLING DOWN THE FIELD, 5’3” sophomore Mitra Shokat is a key force in the girls’ soccer team lineup. Shokat can be relied on to weave through opponents and deliver a solid pass to the forward, so that teammate can score yet another goal for the Cardinals. Since she was a freshman, Shokat has been a valuable asset to the Cardinals, making significant advancements to the team that helped lead them to last year’s 16-0 record. This season she continues to make solid contributions as a result of her passion and skill. Shokat started playing soccer in pick-up games at the age of seven. “Originally, I was turned on to soccer by my friends,” Shokat said. “We decided it would be fun to start a team so we did.” The casual games fueled Shokat’s interest in the sport. “I initially played for fun,” Shokat said. “I never really thought I’d stick with it this long!” As a result of her hard work in soccer, the

Cardinals have benefitted from Shokat’s skills. With her 11 seasons of club and one AAA Championship under her belt, she is always improving. “I like the fact that I play midfield for Lowell and foreword for my club team,” Shokat said. “It helps me be-

come a more wellrounded player.” Shokat’s adaptability has been an important skill for the success of the team. “It doesn’t matter where Coach Marcos puts her,” senior Caley Ritman said, “Mitra always tries her hardest and it shows on the field.” As to which position she prefers, Shokat ultimately settles on midfield. “It’s a new position for me, and it requires me to be much faster. It’s a challenge, but a good one,” Shokat said.

SPORTS

Mitra Shokat

In order to prepare for the stamina required by midfielders, Shokat’s coaches implement conditioning exercises such as meant to increase speed and agility. “Cardio is very important in soccer,” Mitra said. “And especially for my size, it’s crucial to be fit.” Shokat’s workout consists of running intervals, usually sprinting for 15 seconds and then jogging for 45 seconds, and agility training which includes shuffling with changes in direction. “Most of all,” Shokat said, “My coach emphasizes knee exercises, since women athletes are more prone to knee injuries. We jump forwards, backwards and side to side over a cone to strengthen our knees.” Shokat’s size is anything but a disadvantage. This 5’3” dynamite is “silent but deadly”, as senior defender Baily Armstrong. “I have never played with a player so calm and grounded,” Armstrong said. “You pass her a ball and you

know she’ll take care of it and distribute it well.” This talented soccer star doesn’t only excel on the green. Shokat also owned the court in the fall as a member of the girls’ tennis team. “Balancing two sports can be difficult,” Shokat said. “But I think it’s a good way to practice my time management skills.” Shokat stays on top of her school work by spending her time efficently and staying focused. “It can be hard, especially when I have tournaments for my club team that take up the whole weekend. We usually end up doing homework between games!” As for her future plans, Shokat is unsure whether she’ll play soccer in college. “Ultimately it will depend on which school I go to,” Shokat said. “If I end up at a small school, it may just be something I want to do.” To witness Shokat’s dedication and hardwork yourself, head on down to watch the Cardinal’s playoff game at 4:15 on May 2 at Boxer Stadium.

20 SPORTS

April 27, 2012

Lowell High School

Spring sports’ By Samantha Wilcox

trying as hard, as possible to get faster,” Pasquinzo he water is your friend… you don’t said of his team mates. “Also, Coach Jojo isn’t only have to fight with the water, just my coach, but a life-long friend.” When not swimming, he makes others smile. share the same spirit as the water, “Nicholas is not just a and it will help you move,” great swimmer, but an Olympic gold-medalist overall great person,” swimmer Alexandr Popov sophomore JV swimsaid. However, this menmer Jessica Weiss said. tality is not just embodied “He is always funny and by professional swimmers. energetic.” Senior varsity swimmer The Cardinals have Nicholas Pasquinzo feels a maintained an undesimilar love for the sport, feated record in the Acaand it shows. The Lowell ’s demic Athletic Assochoice for the swim team’s ciation this season, and most valuable player is they could not have done Pasquinzo. so without key swimPasquinzo grew up with mers such as Pasquinzo. the Cardinals swim team, He has also attended since his uncle used to NICHOLAS PASQUINZO many elite competitions be the coach. Now, PasSENIOR VARSITY SWIMMER against swimmers from quinzo has been swimming around the world, such throughout his four years at as the Junior Olympics Lowell, mentored by head coach Jonathan Reilly, also known as “JoJo” to swimmers; he intends to and Far Westerns, a very prestigious competition compete next spring at University of California for top swimmers around the country. Come cheer on the Cardinals as they race for San Diego. Pasquinzo is not the only Cardinal swimmer a title tomorrow at 1 p.m. at the All-City JV and varsity Championships with an intense zeal towards at the City College of San their sport. “I never go to pracFrancisco. tice and feel as if someone isn’t

“T

By Michelle Hwang

gymnastics

HE LOWELL’S choice for the gymnastics team’s most valuable player is junior varsity gymnast Jordan Ahn. Her team members applaud Ahn’s outstanding performance and ability to regroup and improve. “I believe Jordan Ahn is a very hard working athlete and shows good sportsmanship, even when she messes up,” senior JV gymnast Shirley Ng said. Ahn’s strong commitment to the team and encouraging words show her belief that ‘relax’ and ‘focus’ are key in competitions. “She is completely dedicated to the team and cheers every single person on, she is an all around excellent human being and gymnast,” junior varsity gymnast Heather Weiss said. After watching the girls practice for the whole season, JV and varsity girls’ gymnastics’ team coach, Lesley de Dios noted Jordan’s strengths and qualities as the most valuable player. “Jordan is solid,” she said. “She shows up to just about every

practice, is always in a good mood, and we can count on her to hit all four events in a competition. As a former competitive gymnast and student in Advanced Dance at Lowell, Jordan blends the two well and is a beautiful gymnast to watch. Plus she’s just a junior so she still has another year with the team.”

HE LOWELL’S choice for this season’s most valuable player is senior co-captain and catcher Madison Donahue-Wolfe. Donahue-Wolfe has been working her way to the top since freshman year and now has earned her place as MVP. “She has the strongest arms in the league,” Taylor-Ray said. “And her personal records are one of the

best with an over .500 batting average, .900 slugging percentage and over .500 on base percentage. As a catcher, Donahue-Wolfe rarely fails. “If you’re looking to steal and she throws down on you, you better hope you make it to the base safely,” junior second basemen Yun Li said. As team co-captain, Donahue-Wolfe stays on task with her responsibilities, and goes beyond w hen it comes to handling logistics. “As a leader she directs the rookies, makes sure transportation is set and keeps the team organized,” Taylor-Ray said. “ She’s a good member for everyone to look up—how they have the potential to play as well as she does.” Her teammates see her as a role model on the field. “She reminds us that we need to work hard for that win, but to stay humble at the same time,” Li said. “When we’re batting, she’s an example of that double, triple or homerun we all want so badly to follow up on.” As a senior, Donahue-Wolfe will not be on the softball team next year, however, she does wish to continue the sport wherever she is. “I don’t know whether I’m going to play on varsity or a club softball team, but I do know that I want to play softball,” DonahueWolfe said.

softball

STEFANI KAHOOKELE SOPHOMORE FENCER

By Lina Anderson

HE LOWELL’S choice for the fencing team’s most valuable player is Stefani Kahookele. Despite the fact that she’s only a sophomore, she is one of the top fencers on the Lowell team. “She destroys everyone she fences,” fencing coach Scott Cunningham said. Kahookele practices at a private fencing club, and competes in national competitions. “She has amazing agility and speed; she’s really swift,” sophomore Donna Wang said. “She’s the kind of person who takes risks, and doesn’t just play it safe. Our fencing team definitely looks up to her for that.” Even after all of her success, Kahookele is still looking ahead. “I want to try to beat the one fencer I lost to next season,” Kahookele said. “My goal is to get first in All-City and All-State.”

fencing

HE LOWELL’S choice for most the track team’s valuable player is senior varsity sprinter, jumper and thrower Melanie Speech. As a varsity runner since freshman year, Speech holds second place on the all-time Lowell record list for the 100-meter dash, long jump and shot put. Her personal records include 39’ for shot put, 12.21s for the 100-meter dash, 25.88s for the 200-meter dash and 18’3.25” for the long jump (See “Nationally-ranked track star continues to rise,” The Lowell, March 2012). Speech does a lot of independent conditioning. “Off season, I practice on my own or with college kids,” Speech said. “I’m also on a summer team and sometimes practice with them.” Speech finds motivation from both her wins and losses at meets. “Last week I had a jump off with a girl from Mt. Pleasanton High School,” Speech said. “She jumped farther than me, but I ended up beating her but I fouled by scratching. I keep trying to progress since that jump, now that I know I’m capable of doing better.” “She is our MVP,” long distance head coach Andy Leong said. “If we win the girls championship, she will be responsible for a big portion by herself because she does four individual events. It’s been that way since she started in her freshman year.”

JORDAN AHN JUNIOR, VARSITY GYMNAST

MADISON DONAHUE-WOLFE SENIOR VARSITY CATCHER

By Kayla Huynh

By Deidre Foley

track&field

swimming

MELANIE SPEECH SENIOR VARSITY SPRINTER, JUMPER, THROWER

The Lowell

SPORTS

April 27, 2012

MOST VALUABLE PLAYERS By Pasha Stone

DEEDEE PEARCE SENIOR MIDFIELDER CO-CAPTAIN

By Ian James

soccer

and frequently getting on base. Talbott and his co-captains set their goals early in the season, making sure to accomplish them. “ Our goals were to win championships, make each other better players and better people in general,” Talbott said. His teammates appreciate the energy Talbott brings to his team. “Not only is he one of the best people on the team but he is also really good at pumping up the team and giving us constructive criticism,” freshman first baseman Nick Rolph said. Freshman pitcher Justin Sujishi thinks that Justin is a great leader and is very supportive. “When I or any other player is pitching, he not only calls the right pitches and signs as a JUSTIN TALBOTT catcher,” Sujishi said. “But he also helps the SOPHOMORE JV CATCHER pitcher when they are struggling by giving them encouragement and tips, or telling them HE LOWELL’S pick for Most Valuable a joke to keep their heads up.” Player this season is sophomore catcher Talbott is modest and is all about being a team Justin Talbott. player. “I encourage them while on the bench, supOne of the three co-captains, Talbott shows his port them when they need it, and push them to be strong commitment by coming better players and to practice ready to play at his better people,” best. He excels in hitting leadoff, Talbott said.

JV baseball

By Sean Wang

HE LOWELL’ S choice for the varsity badminton team Most Valuable Player is senior team captain Jenny Wong, who plays doubles. As the only current player to have been on the team since freshman year, she brings a lot of experience to the table and mentors newcomers to help them stay focused and positive during their matches. “She is a leader on and off the court, always has a positive attitude and continues to set an example for the rookies,” coach

By Arlen Pan

Christine Hosoda says. Her teammates have a lot of respect for the amount of effort she puts into fulfilling the duties of a team captain. “Being the only team captain of a co-ed 18 player team is actually a lot of work,” senior singles player Kaiming Tan said. “It takes a lot of time to coordinate our team events, like pre-season conditioning and fundraisers.” Fellow teammates are thankful to have Wong as a captain, and each of them knows that she can help them with their game. “She always has good feedback for us after matches such as how

HE LOWELL’S choice for Most Valuable Player of the boys’ varsity golf team is senior golfer and captain Tom Ebergen. As winner of the individual championships two years ago, Ebergen ties the team together as both a player and a leader. “He has probably had the most influence on us this year,” junior golfer Scott Bang said. “He’s an awesome team player, and he is the one that organizes a lot of the practices and gets us to perform better in matches.”

we should play the crucial matchdeciding points,” sophomore doubles player Stephanie Joe said. With the season drawing to close, Wong hopes to lead the team to its first championship in three years. So far, the Cardinals have a great shot with their undefeated record. “The key to winning this year is staying motivated and focused and trusting ourselves during the pressure points,” Wong said.

fencing

HE LOWELL’S choice for the girl’s varsity soccer most valuable player is senior midfielder and cocaptain Deedee Pearce. The athletes have won all nine of their games, outscoring their opponents 56-0 this season — enhanced by Pearce’s efforts, who has been on the team for four years. “You can tell when Deedee is playing,” sophomore midfielder Joy van Hasselt said. “She connects the play and spreads the ball across the field. You can always rely on her to be there and she rarely makes mistakes.” One of the highlights of Pearce’s game is her determination, in both games and practice. “No one on the team is perfect and everyone has room to improve, but they need to be willing to improve,” assistant coach Gene Vrana said. “Deedee has this characteristic — she works hard and you can tell she has improved, even in the course of the season.” As co-captain, Pearce also plays an important part as a communicator for the team. “Players are encouraged to talk to the captain with issues like playing time,” Vrana said. “Any player can approach the coach but sophomores and freshmen can sometimes be apprehensive, so they can tell their issues to the captains.” The captains are also in charge of communicating with the referee, according to Vrana. Pearce also has a positive effect on the level of focus of her teammates. “She is also very calm on the field and this makes the entire team play with more composure,” Van Hasselt said. As befits a most valuable player, the coach cited a litany of ways that Pearce contributes to the team. “Deedee stands out as a player because of her vision of the field, her almost Houdiniesque abilities to avoid defenders and dispossess attackers, her ability to play through pain, her generosity to her teammates, her work ethic, accurate corner kicks, her commitment to the game and her team, and her love of competition,” head coach Marcos Estebez said.

ELIJAH SAUNDERS JUNIOR PITCHER

baseball

JAKE SIMONS JUNIOR CATCHER

HE LOWELL’S choice for the offensive Most Valuable Player is junior catcher Jake Simons. Donohue praised Simons, “So far, Jake Simons hitting .409 overall and .600 in Phoenix (6 for 10, double and a triple) and got him selected all-tournament.” Simons also boasts a .449 on base percentage. He has showed great discipline, only striking out once out of 49 plate appearances and has scored 12 runs. But Simons’ strength are not limited to his ability at the plate, he also has speed, second only to Saunders in stolen bases, at 10. For pitching, the MVP is Elijah Saunders. Donohue has complimented Saunders on numerous occasions, and talked about his pitching highly. “He throws a lot of strikes, and he has the ability to get a lot of players out,” he said. Saunders has proven himself to be Lowell’s ace with his outstanding stats. He is second in ERA, first in strikeouts, second in wins, and first in innings pitched.

Ebergen, while contributing as the team captain, still maintains a strong game. “He handles a lot of the practices and still plays very well on the field,” freshman golfer Sam Miller said. After the departure of the previous coach Mitchell Wagner, Ebergen shouldered a lot of the responsibility of teaching and assisting new members of the team. “I feel like he’s the one who brings our team together as a whole,” Bang said.

golf

22 Lowell High School

April 27, 2012

SPORTS

Baseball two wins away from champs By Pasha Stone

he Cardinals have exploded to a strong 12-0 record in league play, obliterating their league opponents with a combined score of 223-78. On April 18 and 19, Lowell faced Balboa twice, winning both in come from behind victories. On the 18th, Lowell was down by 7-2 in the fifth, and stormed all the way back to win 11-7. The following day, the Cardinals found themselves down, yet again, trailing 4-2 in the 5th. In the 7th and final inning, junior outfielder Andy Glickfeld hit an RBI single, to knock in senior infielder Nick Magyari, tieing up the game. Later, junior pitcher/shortstop Elijah Saunders scored sophomore pitcher/infielder Lincoln Chapman, who was pinch running for Glickfeld, for an exciting win in walkoff fashion. Don’t crown the Cardinals champions just yet. Lowell’s toughest opponents are yet to be faced. The CIFSF Baseball league is set up in such a way that there are two divisions, the higher division, division A, and the weaker division, divison B. Lowell faces each team from the weaker division once, and then plays each team in division A twice. Lowell is a perfect 5-0 in division A play, and have clinched a playoff berth. They faced the Mustangs twice on March 7 and 8, winning the games 11-1 and 9-1 respectively. Lowell resumed divisional play on April 16, cruising to a 10-0 shutout of Galileo. Lowell’s success is not just limited to San Francisco. The Cardinals have challenged non-league competitors too, going 8-5 in inter-league play. Lowell has participated in three tournaments this year, including the Dick Murray Tournament, in Silver Terrace, San Francisco from February 2-March 6. The Cardinals traveled north for the Willie Stargell tournament in Alameda, California from March 3-5, and flew out to Surprise Arizona for the Coach Bob National Invitational from March 26-28. This year, the varsity baseball team spent most of its spring vacation in the deserts of Arizona playing in the Coach Bob National Invitational. The team won its first game against Niwot High School of Colorado 5-1, as Saunders went the distance, in a complete game. Lowell won the next game in extra innings against Hillsboro High School of Oregon, scoring 10 runs in the top of the ninth, to put away the game. The final score was 17-9, and junior pitcher Jasper Scherer picked up the win after coming in as relief in the fourth. In the third, and final game, Lowell gave some of their starters a rest. “The third game versus Rampart of Colorado Springs allowed me to start some people that don’t always play and I was happy that we were still competitive,” Donohue said. Lowell tied up the game in the bottom of the seventh, but fell to the Spartans in the ninth, losing 6-3. The Arizona trip was another addition to the tradition of going to an out-of-state tournament. Last year, Lowell was outscored 43-8, ending with a 0-4 record in the Florida

League High School Invitational. Arizona was a different story, according to Donohue. “This year in Phoenix, we looked like we belonged there,” he said. In the Willie Stargell Tournament, at Willow High School, Lowell suffered a 12-1 defeat in the second round, to Alameda, which was by far the worst defeat of the season so far. The 10 runs Lowell lost by, are four more than the total margin of the four other losses put together. “Some teams have good days, some have bad — Alameda the is sort of team that we could beat, but it just didn’t happen for us that day, that’s just how baseball is,” sophomore pitcher Joe Mueller said. The Cardinals opened this season with two San Francisco private league opponents, playing each in the first and second rounds of the Dick Murry Tournament. Lowell played International High School and Stuart Hall High School, beating them 13-0 and 12-3, respectively. The International game featured a grand slam by Glickfeld. In the semifinals, Lowell made quick work of a familiar opponent, defeating the Lincoln Mustangs 13-0, the first of a three game season-sweep of the Mustangs. Lowell could not get anything going in the tournament final, however, being one hit, as the heavily favored Sacred Heart topped the Cardinals 2-0. Lowell finished second in the Dick Murray Tournament, their best finish ever. Overall, Lowell has outscored their opponents 223-78. Donohue credits the high run production to consistent practice. “We work a lot on our hitting, while other teams tend not to concentrate on all aspects on batting,” he said. The Cardinals have a strong tactic of having shutdown pitching pave the way for offense to take the lead. “Our key to victory is definitely our defense and pitching, while we usually find a way to score. When we don’t, we are not successful,” he said. But Donohue also looked past the numbers, when he talked about his team’s selfless mindset. “The six bunts helping us defeat San Lorenzo says a lot that usually we are unselfish. Elijah’s bunt to bring in run number 17 almost was the difference in a 17-15 win when San Lorenzo hit a three-run homer in the eighth.” Lowell can bunt so successfully, after all the batting practice, the Cardinals also dominate the base paths. Lowell has not been caught stealing once, boasting a perfect 64 stolen bases on 64 steal attempts this season. Saunders leads that stat, holding the team high of nine stolen bases. Lowell’s season high came when the Cardinals stole 10 against Lincoln in an 11-1 win on March 7. The Cardinal’s reason for concentrating on scoring with speed, and not power, is no mystery. Earlier this year, California passed a bill banning aluminum bats this season, in wake of the severe injuries Gunnar Sandberg of Marin Catholic suffered, in 2010, from a line drive from an aluminum bat that hit him in the head. Now Lowell has to play with composite bats that meet the BBCOR (Bat-Ball Coefficient of Restitution) standards. Lowell has found a way to make this work

daniel green

Varsity pitcher Jasper Scherer launches the ball against a Lincoln batter during an 11-1 victory on March 7.

to their advantage, according to Donohue. “With BBCOR bats, small ball (a strategy of baseball using a lot of bunting and stealing) often bothers our opponents,” Donohue said. “Emphasizing top hand on the swings improves our ability to hit the ball hard. Our new assistant coach Tom Ledda has been outstanding in working with our hitters.” But, this season has not come without obstacles. Junior outfielder Jesse Tom injured his leg sliding into second base during a preseason practice session at Big Rec field. However, Donohue is optimistic about Tom’s future with the team. “He had improved so much, and because he is a junior, and still comes to every practice and game, he is going to be solid once he returns,” he said. Some notable batters this season are: Glickfeld, leading the team in slugging. Saunders leads the team in stolen bases and is second to senior infielder Nick Magyari for the team lead in runs, and junior pitcher Aaron Leong leads the team in on base percentage, batting average, and OPS (on-base plus slugging). A few of the Lowell pitchers, that are having noteworthy seasons are: Senior Nick Tam, only allowing two earned runs over 18.1 innings pitched, junior Aaron Leong with a 0.41 ERA over 14.1 and a team high 5 wins, with Joe Mueller not far behind with 4 wins, and Scherer with a fantastic 0.35 WHIP (walks and hits per innings pitched.) Lowell’s remaining schedule is March 25 against Washington on Graham Field, and March 26 against Washington at Nealon Field. Check thelowell.org for updates, and upcoming playoff matchups.

T housandwhso never Succeed thought Smarter Services ess! That Lead To Succ

p • SAT/SAT II/ACT/AP Pre g orin Tut t • Subjec • GPA Management • College Counseling • College Essay • College Application

they could.

Summer Progra m Now Available s

10% OFF M ay Registration

Offer cannot be com bined with any other promotio Participating centers only. Offer expires 5/31 n. /12

888.778.4901 www.c2educate.com

West Portal: 300 West Portal Ave. Unit-C • 415.223.7730

April 27, 2012

The Lowell

COLUMNS

Senior salutes school, stays true to identity By Jeffrey Wong

ccording to Terry Abad, the head of the Lowell Alumni Association, 39,260 Lowell students have walked the halls of the long block building at 1101 Eucalyptus Drive. Every year, a tide of about 600 students circulate into their first “reg,” and another 600 flow out across the graduation stage. Out of the hoards of those out-spoken drama geeks, party boys, and everyday Lowell nerds, who can remember any one of these alumni? Although it all ends in 26 days (at least for me, a second semester senior), I certainly don’t feel nostalgia towards my alma mater yet. The 1 a.m. bedtimes due to piles of work, frustrations with teachers and worries about grades — it’s still real. When I ask alumni about their now-resolved feelings toward Lowell, with their new challenges of college undergraduate issues at hand, they claim that they miss this institution (I interpret this as merely a case of rosy retrospection). Everyday I can’t wait to get out of these walls, thinking about how unimportant my classes seem. But I think about the graduates’ perspective, making me wonder if I will eventually be sad to cross the catwalk for the last time, which raises a question. What is my Senior Will to Lowell — writing these sentimental columns, or diving across the volleyball court to add another dig to my stats? Or will nothing survive? As I write this April column, the last column of my high school career, I realize I am making an attempt to be not overlooked, but remem-

n To ng

Vivia

bered. Initially, I considered writing an “inside scoop” about Journalism and its perks: using S107 computers rather than the 20-minute wait for a library computer, writing articles that helped answer college admissions questions, and grinning at the quirks of late nights. I’d be seen as “that journalism guy” who wrote that column that got so many uber-newbies for the journ program. I also actually considered, after reading 1988 alum Daniel Handler’s The Basic Eight, a novelization of his years at Lowell, writing a parody. I knew that I could unveil the daily dread encountered within these moldy walls dampened by the tears of students who long for A’s. With this, I’d be remembered for braving the ramparts of the institution and liberating the enslaved students with laughter. To me, these ideas sounded unique and witty — ideas that could leave my mark on the Lowell community. But I realized my naïvety when I looked through the 276 columns on thelowell.org that expanded on the niches of journalism and irritation with the education system and teachers at Lowell. It shocked me that an idea I thought so original was a “been there, done that” one. After finding those online columns, I felt that the “Lowell table” had already been full of diverse achievements, and I couldn’t bring anything new to its 156 years of existence. With the Lowell population including many Asian hard-working folk — so similar to me — am I just a serial number at this school? Perhaps as Hamlet believed, we are only a “quintessence of dust.” Does any group besides the class of 2012 know of the 2009 boys’ varsity basketball victory against Lincoln with Yuhki Sakai’s renowned three-point shots? Will my intensity on the volleyball court be

swept away as easily as rewaxing the gym floor? As I clean my room and computer from remainders of my high school life, preparing to pack for college, I find a treasure of memories on shelves and in hard drives. Yearbooks since freshman year, old videos of friends asking girls to Winterball and Mr. Evans’s test on polynomials from Accelerated Math 1 Honors are resurrected. I chuckle to myself; looking at my innocent freshman picture, I am amazed by the maturation from then to now — physically and intellectually. Suddenly the nostalgia is present, allowing me to realize the value of these years. I also had an epiphany — I had forgotten how my friends in sophomore year had played volleyball in reg during CST’s and the substitute teacher Mr. Zawacki scolded us as he took the ball away. Instead of worrying about whether I’ll be remembered in 50 years, it’s more essential that in 50 years, I remember the laughter and sentimental moments, possibly triggered by the future alumni newsletters. Whether I recall getting tired — after a 3 a.m. night of studying — through Dr. Marten’s lecture on the valence shell electron pair repulsion (VSEPR) rules or laughing with friends about Mr. Worth’s hilarious lesson on the British Civil War, the person I became through these experiences is what matters. If you ask my friends, I have grown from an uncontrollable, spontaneous and hilarious boy to now a more controlled — and hopefully still funny — man. Nevertheless, if there was ever a “Most Spastic” award, I would still probably win because probably no one is as lame with jokes or as goofy when dancing as me (except maybe Phil from Modern Family). So that’s my legacy: a “too school for cool,” academicworking, non-stop volleyball-talking, self-loving, and Modern Family’s Phil Dunphy dad-joking kind of man. Some people wouldn’t want this exact lifestyle, but how could I have lived differently? After all, I’m not the captain and quarterback of the varsity football team, the only male dancer on Senior Letter, or president of Shield and Scroll. Those are other students’ legacies, not mine. So while not everyone may love “breaking it down” when Usher’s “Yeah” is played at a party or using the high school newspaper as an outlet to think about high school dilemmas, I do. That’s my story, literally on the columns page — The Lowell with this mugshot of me admiring the 2009 yearbook. This May, I will be “waved” out of Lowell, with 600 new eager students in August filling the void. We have made our mark on the beach of the Lowell community Class of 2012; now the natural tides heralding new waves will continue Lowell’s centuries-old legacy.

Vocal volume 24/7, girl finds comfort in sound By Mara Woods-Robinson

’ve always had a reputation for being a loudmouth. Not in the bad way, like someone who blabs about secrets and can’t resist a snide comment, but literally: I talk a lot, and I talk loud. To teachers, I’m the one to avoid calling on, because I participate too much in class discussions. To friends, I’m the one whose vocal volume draws unnecessary attention to personal conversations. But to everyone, I’m the girl who never shuts up. My loudness manifests itself in a variety of ways. I have never in my life been told, “Speak up, I can’t hear you.” I’m always eager to launch into detailed descriptions of my opinions and heated debates with those who disagree, whether it’s over the pronunciation of the Harry Potter spell “accio” or the 2012 presidential campaign. I can’t help but blurt out whatever I’m thinking, and at times tend to repeat myself, under the misapprehension that I wasn’t heard the first time. Often unconsciously, I sing and whistle my favorite songs in public — much to the annoyance of the students in my calculus class trying to focus on derivatives. But

whether I’m rattling off Jane Austen quotes or belting the lyrics to The Strokes’ “Someday,” one thing is certain: I do love the sound of my own voice. Sometimes, I think I lack the rest of the world’s ability to distinguish between what is loud and what is deafening. When I’m blasting music or watching a TV show in my room, I’m always surprised to hear my mom thundering, “TURN THAT DOWN, I’M TRYING TO SLEEP!” from the other room — I thought she couldn’t hear it! Most of it is probably my youthful conviction that full enjoyment of Mumford & Sons or Doctor Who can only come when the volume is cranked up all the way. I do like noise — I even find it comforting. I feel safer surrounded by the clamorous sounds of banjos and chase scenes than suffocated in the eerie stillness of silence. It isn’t just me, though. I come from a very chatty and argumentative family. In my house, we yell from room to room to recap our days, and interruption is a common offense at the dinner table. As a toddler, I mumbled and had a slight lisp, so I was overshadowed by my chatty and outgoing

big sister. Soon enough, though, I learned to hold my own with my family and started shouting back. Ever since then I’ve been the boisterous, booming loudmouth everyone knows me as: sharp, opinionated and prone to losing my voice at Giants games. I don’t mind that I’m a human megaphone, though. I used to get embarrassed when I’d hear recordings of my voice, screechy and ten times louder than anyone else’s, but I’ve long since gotten over that. When people ask me to pipe down, I do try to be quieter — I don’t want to damage their

ian

viv

Ton

eardrums! Yet I’ve realized that it’s better to be heard too much than not to be heard at all. I would like to apologize to everyone I’ve ever bothered with my incessant chattering, but I won’t apologize for speaking up. Almost everything the world knows about me originated as words in my mouth. My political opinions, my love of British culture, my hatred of mayonnaise — how would anyone know about any of that if I hadn’t told them? My inability to keep quiet is a part of my identity: I am a liberal, I am a bookworm and I am a woman. Hear me roar.

24 COLUMNS

Lowell High School

April 27, 2012

Gooner confesses love for the “Beautiful Game”

By Michelle Wan have a secret to tell. I love Arsenal Football Club. The

GRACE SUN

English Premier League (EPL) football (“soccer” if you live in America) team from North London is my hidden obsession,

but one that I can’t fully explain. I have no fans among my family to inherit it from and no ancestral ties to North London. I’ve never even kicked a soccer ball. But by fate, when I started following the EPL a few years ago, I fell properly in love with The Arsenal. When I feel miserable, I turn to YouTube videos of Arsenal football to lift my spirits. Specifically, I watch highlights of Arsenal’s 2-1 win over La Liga’s Futbal Club Barcelona in last season’s Union of European Football Associations Champions League Round of 16 first-leg tie, and revel in the glory of victory. In Europe’s most prestigious football competition, Barcelona, the team football pundits and spectators alike currently call “the best in the world,” were heavily favored. But with two stupendous second-half goals, we came from behind to hand Barca a defeat. The roar of the home crowd at the Emirates Stadium as the “little Russian” winger Andrey Arshavin side-footed home the winner in the 83rd minute still sends shivers up my spine. I smile with glee at the dejected face of Barcelona manager Pep Guardiola acknowledging the reality of his side’s imminent loss. How I wish I could have been at the Emirates that night jumping up and down in the stands, along with 60,000 fans chanting as one. It was a night of great football, and one that will remain one of my proudest moments as an Arsenal fan. I enjoy watching Arsenal for the same reason I like mint chocolate chip ice cream more than strawberry or why “Shake It Out” loops continuously in my

head; there’s just something about Arsenal. The Gunners are entertaining. Their free-flowing style, complete with fast-paced one-touch passes and cohesive movement, is the way The Beautiful Game ought to be played. The club history is long and illustrious. No other club has the longevity of the Gunners’ 93 successive years in the first division of English football. No other club has gone a full English Premier League season and 49 consecutive league games undefeated. No other club can claim the legends that are Tony Adams, for 22 years a stalwart presence in our back four, or our record all-time goal-scorer Thierry Henry. Following Arsenal has begun to dictate my daily routine. Before I get out of bed, I have to start off my day reading the latest blog posts and news updates on the club. I have the entire season’s schedule saved in my phone. I listen to weekly football and Arsenal podcasts, and even keep up with the personal lives of Jack Wilshere and Robin van Persie on Twitter. Sleeping in on weekends is not an option if I want to watch the matches live, as the time difference between the West Coast and England frequently necessitates setting my alarm for a 7 a.m. kickoff, an appointment I’m happy to keep. I now think I understand the conundrum that is the sports fan. Millions all over the world emotionally invest themselves in the professional lives of people they do not know and in the outcome of games that will have little direct influence in their day-to-day lives. The Giants’ clinching of the National League Western Division title on the last day of the regular season will not change the hour for which most people set their alarms or the route

of their morning commute the next day. These obsessive relationships diehards have with their teams border on legitimate psychosis. It is this rabid fixation that can lead to riots in Vancouver after the Canucks’ loss in the National Hockey League Stanley Cup Final, and numerous attacks by fans on opposing fans at sporting events. While I won’t be joining any riots, I will always wish the worst upon the scum — trash talk for North London rivals Tottenham Hotspur. Yet there is value in sport. Athletics are a point of pride for communities and whole nations. Our athletes inspire us by demonstrating the extraordinary capabilities of the human mind and body. When we watch Shawn Johnson stick the landing on the balance beam, we are on the beam sticking it with her. When we watch Mario Manningham in the fourth quarter make the catch that leads up to the go-ahead touchdown, we are wearing his gloves making the grab with him. Vicariously through our athletes, we as a society can achieve victory also. Being a sports fan is also about loyalty to the team. The sports fan is not Mitt Romney, switching his allegiances to match his teams’ fortunes. Through highs and lows, both the championship titles and the torturous losing seasons, the fan wears the same colors, sits in the same stadium and sings the same chants. The true fan remains ever faithful. Barring some miracle, Arsenal will not win any competitions this year. But I am devoted. Until I die I will wear red and white to the Emirates and sing, “And it’s Arsena-a-a-al, Arsena-a-al FC! We’re by far the greatest team the world has ever seen!”

Sports enthusiast initiates novel athletic endeavors By Natasha Khan

y athletic talents, while very real, have never really been appropriately recognized. Since I am not on a school team, I just don’t have a venue in which to shine athletically. But I have worked hard to change that. Enter Lacrosse Club, my sophomoreyear pet project that lasted a semester but lives on as legend, fueled by the continuing devotion of its members. After my consistent lax throwing and catching skills emerged during PE, I decided to fill the void created by our school’s lack of a team. The club was a big hit, partly because upon joining everyone was bestowed with

a title, from Head of Security to Assistant to Assistant to the President. It was a team like no other, complete with green badges emblazoned with our crossed lacrosse sticks symbol, an original oath of loyalty written by our PR head, and even our own authentic lacrosse stick that I used as a staff. We never actually took to the field, instead spending meetings watching The Office and planning events like our Yankee Swap Christmas party. By the end, “Lacrosse Club” had become a kind of codename for a group of “athletes” with a common interest, even if it wasn’t lacrosse.

Despite my dedication to lacrosse, I discovered my true talent lies in basketball. After shooting at the mini hoop in my room, I realized I have an uncanny knack for sinking those threes. I am in the process of starting a pickup league at school, and the people who’ve joined are already choosing nicknames. You can call me Lebron, and our all-star lineup so far includes Kobe Byrant, Dwayne Wade, Chris Bosch, and even the great himself, Michael Jordan. I’ve already started strategizing for when games start. Since my forte is shooting, I’m planning to wait outside the three-point line for that pass, and then boom, knock down the shot. I have no doubt it will be a swoosh every time. On or off the court, even if we never actually make it to the court, it’s nice to know you can have teammates with or without the team.

CANYON MARKET Open 7am-9pm every day. 2815 Diamond St. San Francisco, CA 94131 415-586-9999

The Lowell

April 27, 2012

Profiles

Aerial dancer soars to great heights, defying gravity By KT Kelly

efore she could crawl, sophomore Alexandra Beem wanted to fly, and now she does as an aerial dancer, making the sky her playground. Since Beem was eight years old, she vigorously trained in the art of aerial dance with Zaccho Youth Company, a department within Oberlin Dance Collective. The past two years, she has been soaring with more advanced dancers. The company has performed for 16 years but is going on tour for the first time to Georgia. “We are doing a one-week residency with another aerial dance company in Georgia,” Beem said. “I am looking forward to seeing how they dance and to work with different dancers.” Currently, Beem has started raising money for the trip by asking friends and family to sponsor her in a fundraiser. They donate for every minute she can hold a front balance, or a pose in which she will balance herself with her hips on a metal bar. After visiting an open house at ODC and trying an aerial dance class, Beem wanted nothing more than to hover above the ground. “I wanted to do a dance class and I went to an open studio where you can try a bunch of different dances,” Beem said. “I tried aerial dance and it was really fun. I felt like I was flying.” Aerial dancing is a genre of modern dance where dancers explore three-dimensional movement using apparatus hanging from the ceiling, like metal bars or shapes like globes and

squares and sometimes streamers of material. Aerial dancing has appeared in San Francisco venues like street fairs and a mural on Harrison Street. With this dangerous sport safety is always priority. “The average height is probably three to four feet,” Beem said. “It’s high enough for you to break your neck if you fell while you were upside-down.” Although her parents are aware of the dangers of aerial dancing, they still nurtured her passion and became the wind beneath the young performer’s wings. “My parents were glad because they wanted me to do a dance class,” Beem said. “They made me stay with it when I was feeling less committed.” Aerial dancing was not all fun for Beem. At times she was challenged to continue her passion. Along with the growing intensity of school and other activities, like theatre, Beem found it hard to find time to condition and practice. “I remember when I first joined Zaccho Youth Company freshman year, it was so much more intense than what I was used to,” Beem said. “The dancers were a lot better; in the first few weeks, I was so dizzy because they spun a lot faster and I wasn’t used to it.” Beem’s landings were not always pulled off as swiftly as she liked, with particular moves on the windowpanes and metal shapes that she practices in the air. “One hard move that took me like four years to get was a pull-over,” Beem explained. “You start standing, then when you swing your feet up and over the All Photos courtesy of Liz Zivic bar, you end up balancing on your hips. It’s really hard, and I struggled with it forever, but I finally got it this year.” Even though Beem’s efforts were met with turbulence The Zacho Youth Company comes full circle during a thrilling high-flying performance on one of their hanging structures . along the way, the reward is priceless. “The best moment I ever had dancing was during our performance last year,” Beem said. “I performed a solo I had choreographed and through high school,” Beem said. “I want to keep getting better worked really hard on. It was on this huge professional and more experienced. I guess I want some self-discipline and stage, with a big audience. I was on top of the world.” Although aerial dancing is not a career choice, Beem self confidence from this. Also, I want to be able to perform my plans to pilot her way to success. “I want to stick with ZYC all work with pride, knowing that I gave it my all.”

Dedicated orator debates her way to top of forensics By Kai Matsumoto-Hines

rguing means different things to different people; whether teens fighting with their parents about curfew times, or students contesting a grade on an assignment; but to Shin San, it’s a passion. Forensics member senior Shin San planted the seed for a team of champions two years ago, and now the Congressional Debate squad of the Forensics society is blossoming into a force to be reckoned with. “When I was a sophomore, the team was not as strong as it is now due to a lack of recruits and successful upperclassmen to look up to,” San said. “When I became a junior I became the director by running unopposed in an election, then I recruited a lot of freshmen.” The team has moved up in ranks and is debating against schools with larger teams than formerly. “We passed the threshold of being considered a small school and are now one of the top schools in the league,” San said. The team has pulled off an astounding comeback. “The last time Congress qualified anyone to state or the Tournament of Champions was in 2002,” she said. Forensics coach and sponsor Terry Abad has seen San grow from an amateur to a champion. “She built a group of folks who stick together and work to succeed in her division,” he said. “She has set patterns and expectations for future debaters to follow that will be carried on after she leaves.” San reaches out to other branches such as Parliamentary Debate when they need it. “I didn’t constrain myself as a director of congress only,” she said. “Since I’ve competed in all events in forensics, I try to help out the other kids however I can.” San’s dedication to the team paid off in 2011 when she was recognized for her hard work. “I won the Jack Anderson award last year, not because I won a lot of debate competitions, but because I built a team,” San said. “The Lowell award started in 2010; I’m the second recipient and first non-senior to win it.” San showed her true mastery of debate when she was nominated to win this award in honor of a legendary forensics coach. “To win the award, you have to be nominated by an officer in Forensics and Mr. Abad selects the winner out of the nominees,” she said. “I was nominated by last year’s Treasurer, Julian Manasse-Boetani.” San makes up a lot of the team’s backbone. “I don’t just win, I train and make sure my team is ready,” she said. “We practice on furlough days; we even go to local police stations to have practice debate competitions,” San said. “We don’t debate against the officers, but we give them donuts for opening up their rooms to a bunch of high school kids.”

San’s team members share her strong work ethic. “It’s not just me that’s dedicated, it’s the team that shares the dedication.” San has had to learn to balance the preparation for individual debates with her other team responsibilities. “My toughest competition was the Glenbrooks Invitational last November in Chicago,” she said. “There was a lot of pressure, because we don’t usually go on travel invitationals because they are expensive to attend. I got to go because it was clear from the beginning of this season that I wanted to win.” Going to Lowell is acknowledged as a challenge in its own right, yet San has to balance her debate life and academic life. “I’m the director so I have to stay after school almost everyday,” San said. “And then I get home and start all of my homework. It’s stressful, but I don’t mind it because the speech skills I develop are valuable and I enjoy it,” she said. Joining the debate team has prepared San for her goal — a future career in politics. “After debating for four years, you build up skills,” she said. “Rhetoric and speaking comes first and you fine-tune it in senior year when each tournament starts holding more weight. Then there are the ‘hard’ skills like researching, analyzing the news, structuring and fishing out arguments from data and statistics. The congressional division works with real life legal issues facing the country. You also learn a great deal about what’s happening outside the walls of Lowell, about federal, state, and even local legislation, and grow fond of politics. Then there are soft skills like networking with Congress kids from other schools.” San started to develop skills in oral argument before hitting Lowell. “I did individual events in middle school,” she said. “My middle school English teacher entered

a handful of us who were interested in public speaking in competitions held at Saint Ignatius and Mercy in Burlingame high schools,” San said. “When I started going to Lowell, I knew I wanted to join debate because I had that background. I developed the passion more after my first high school tournament in freshman year.” After being a part of the team for the past four years, San plans on leaving the debate team in good hands, but will still pop in occasionally. “I am going to major in political science at University of California-Berkeley, so I will be able to come back and help novices prepare for tournaments,” she said. She is also prepping her mentees to take over the position of director. San has a clear vision of where she wants to go in the political world. “I definitely do not want to be a politician or a figurehead, but I want to be a part of the policymaking process,” she said. “You don’t have to be a politician to dig politics. I want to do the grunt work and be in the field.” Preparing to leave her Lowell debate totem pole, San’s hard work to get to the top has paid off. “At the end of your debate career you want to make it your goal to go to at least one of the three big tournaments before you leave. I had to choose between the state championships and the Tournament of Champions because they both take place on the same weekend this year.” San is going to the national competition for debate taking place June 10-15. San has confidence going into this year’s tournament. “I’ve beaten the other debaters at Invitationals and I know I can beat them again this month,” San said. “Since this is my last time prepping for a tournament, I’m not going to stress out too much and try and enjoy it while it lasts. It feels gratifying.” ng

I thank the chair.

Hoi L

26 EDITORIALS

April 27, 2012

Lowell High School

EDITORIALS Ban life without parole for juveniles; teens deserve second chance

n March 20, the U.S. Supreme Court heard oral arguments on two cases in which the defendants were just fourteen when they committed murders. In the 2003 case of Miller v. Alabama, Evan Miller and a friend robbed a neighbor, stealing $300 and a collection of baseball cards. Both Miller and his accomplice attacked the man with a baseball bat and later killed him by setting his house on fire. In the 1999 case of Jackson v. Hobbs, Kuntrell Jackson robbed a video game store with two older friends, one of whom shot the store clerk. In both cases, the youthful defendants were sentenced to life without parole. The court will decide by the end of June whether juvenile offenders may be sentenced to punishment as harsh as life imprisonment without the possibility of parole for cases involving murder. We urge the court to eliminate the sentence of life without parole for minors. Juveniles deserve a chance to turn their lives around. In 2005, the court banned the death penalty for minors and in 2010 banned life sentences without parole for youth convicted of crimes other than murder. Despite this, many factors play in to the sentence when a minor is convicted of a felony. Thirty-nine states have passed laws that make life without parole the usual punishment for murder, even for juveniles. However, only 18 states have implemented this law on those who committed murder when they were 14 and younger. According to a March 20 New York Times article, about 80 juveniles have been sentenced to life without parole for a crime that occurred under the age of 14 since 1971. Although we understand that specific crimes may be horrific and would have led to a life sentence for an adult offender, youth are in a different circumstance than adults. Hence, subjecting a minor to a life behind bars without the possibility of parole is unjust and should violate the Eighth Amendment — the protection against “cruel and unusual punishment.” Minors sentenced to a life in jail will die in prison without any hope or chance to change for the better. According to psychiatrist Dr. Peter Ash of Emory University, violence toward others tend to be most apparent during adolescent years. However, he said, “two-thirds to three-quarters of violent youth grow out of it. They get more self-controlled.” According to court papers from these cases, Bryan A. Stevenson of the Equal Justice Initiative, a nonprofit organization that represents defendants who have been sentenced to unfair treatment, explained that youth are developmentally different from adults: “teenagers are neurologically, hormonally, and emotionally hard-wired for sensation-seeking, impulsivity, poor foresight, worse judgment, and control failure.” After examining oral arguments in the Miller and Jackson cases, the Supreme Court has “found that there are critical differences between adolescents and adults in maturity and susceptibility to peer forces and other forces,” according to the New York Times. Therefore, the Supreme Court, now that it recognizes the difference, should begin to take the next step to differentiate the punishment adolescents receive from the punishment adults are sentenced for committing murder. Convicted teens should be offered the opportunity to live a life with the chance of parole and be given educational and occupational opportunities. Otherwise, they are unable to experience the outside world once again or grow into an adult. Therefore it would be pointless for them to change — their life is already set for them. Depending on the severity of the case, a minor would either be expelled from his or her school, be put on probation, sent to a juvenile hall, or be sentenced to life with or without parole. Minors should try to be reintegrated back into the community. If they fail this second chance, then they should be sentenced to life in prison. Allowing juveniles to be reintegrated into the community gives them something to hope for. In a March 19 article on ABC News, Edwin Desamour, who committed murder in Philadelphia when he was sixteen, is a perfect example of how life with parole and rehabilitation is effective. Desamour earned his release in prison from parole and founded “Men in Motion in the Community,” a support organization with the purpose of proving good examples for children at risk. “People can change; it takes support and guidance,” Desamour said in the article. Everyone is human, and can learn from the past. Therefore, a second chance is necessary to correct the first wrongdoing.

Want to have your opinions published in The Lowell? You can submit your letter to the editor to lowellopinion@gmail.com.

Vivian Tong

LETTERS TO THE EDITOR Student asks: “Is America’s War on Drugs a Flop?” Dear Editor, With over $15 billion spent in 2010 by the US federal government and $25 billion spent by local and state governments you would think that the United States would be gaining ground on the War on Drugs. This is not the case. Statistics show that drug use hasn’t decreased because of the War on Drugs; in fact, the number of people arrested for drug use has only increased. The number of Americans incarcerated for drug violations today is much higher than the total U.S. prison population in 1980. In January of 2011 of the 2.2 million Americans in prison, about 21.2% were there because of non-violent related drug charges. That means about 466,000 people were in jail for crimes that don’t violate anyone’s civil rights. Why should these 466,000 people be in prison anyway? They aren’t criminals; they don’t need imprisonment, but rather rehabilitation. Of course the argument can be made that these people are put in prison to be forced to get over their addictions, as they are harmful to their health. However, there are millions of Americans out there who have other forms of unhealthy addictions. People aren’t thrown into jail for overeating or regular alcohol abuse, so why should people who are addicted to illicit drugs be thrown in jail. In 2009 out of the 37,845 deaths from drug use,

23,199 were alcohol induced. That leaves only 14,286 deaths from other forms of drugs, and that figure includes death from legal (prescription) and illegal drug use. It’s ironic that the drug that causes the most deaths per year is also the one that is actually legal. Many deaths associated with illicit drug use aren’t actually from the direct use of the drugs, but from street crime involved with the illegal selling and trade of drugs. Many people believe that most violent crime is created by drug addicts on or looking for money to buy drugs. However, according to a study of 414 homicides in New York City at the height of the crack epidemic only 3 deaths resulted from the behavioral effects of cocaine, 2 of those victim-precipitated. So if it isn’t drug used who are causing all the crimes, who is? It’s the gangs and organized crime groups that are doing the selling. With the tight crackdown on sale and use of drugs resulting from the War on Drugs, the price of drugs is increasing due to the increased risks of selling. The increased prices create higher profits, which lead to an increased intensity of violence between gangs as they gain access to greater resources from the influx of money. As a result, the War on Drugs is actually increasing the rate of violent deaths in the United States. Not a bad use of $40 billion right? It’s not like we have anything better to spend it on. — William Fried, Reg. 1204

Web Tech Editor-in-Chief Aaron Pramana

Web Staff Elijah Alperin, Monica Castro, Nicholas Fong, Daniel Green, Henry Hammel, Chris Lee, Gavin Li, Jason Lo

Editors-in-Chief Caitriona Smyth • Nancy Wu Amy Char • Natasha Khan

Print Sharn Matusek Web Samuel Williams

News Amy Char, Yosha Huang, Natasha Khan, Caitriona Smyth Sports Joseph Fiorello, Nancy Wu Features Jenna Rose Fiorello, Eva Morgenstein Columns & Profiles Adriana Millar, Grace Sun Opinion Michelle Wan Reporters Elijah Alperin, Lina Anderson, Elena Bernick, Isabel

Boutiette, Adam Chac, Daffany Chan, Elazar Chertow, Reilly Fitzpatrick, Deidre Foley, Campbell Gee, Henry Hammel, Michelle Hwang, Kayla Huynh, Ian James, Zoe Kaiser, Nadine Kahney, KT Kelly, Melinda Leung, Rachel Levin, Cooper Logan, Ashley Louie, Kai Matsumoto-Hines, Adriana Millar, Eva Morgenstein, Arlen Pan, Easter Polar, Edmond Quan, Ying Sham, Pasha Stone, Sean Wang, Samantha Wilcox, Jeffrey Wong, Mara Woods-Robinson, Audrey Yu

Photo Editors Daniel Green, Chris Lee Photographers Nicholas Fong, Gavin Li, Jeremy Varon Art Editor Vivian Tong Illustrator Hoi Leung Business Managers Martin Costa, Rachel Hsu, Sophie Solomon

Advisers

Published every four weeks by the journalism classes of Lowell High School, Room S108, 1101 Eucalyptus Drive, San Francisco, CA 94132 Phone: (415) 759-2730 Internet: thelowellads@yahoo.com; http://www. thelowell.org. All contents copyright Lowell High School journalism classes. All rights reserved. The Lowell and The Lowell on the Web strive to inform the public and to use their opinion sections as open forums for debate. All unsigned editorials are the opinions of the staff. The Lowell welcomes comments on school-related issues from students, faculty and community members. Send letters to lowellopinion@gmail.com. Letters must be signed. Names will be withheld upon request. We reserve the right to edit letters before publication. 2011 NSPA All-American 2011 NSPA Online Pacemaker 2009 NSPA First Class Honors 2007 NSPA All-American 2007 NSPA Web Pacemaker

2007 CSPA Gold Crown 2006 NSPA Pacemaker 2006 NSPA All-American 2005 CSPA Gold Crown

2004 CSPA Silver Crown

Washington admin’s reaction to cyberbullying incident overblown

n this age of technology enabling online communication, bullying has been enabled also, and has taken on a whole new identity: cyberbullying. (See cyberbullying feature, pages 6-7) Bullying is never right, but where is the line between free speech and bullying? Three seniors from George Washington High School came very close to that line. According to a report on April 11 from the journalistic organization California Watch on their website (www.californiawatch.org), the students were suspended for three days after the administration learned of their posts on a Tumblr page titled “Scumbag Teachers.” One was kicked off the student council, and all three students were banned from senior prom and their graduation ceremony. The punishments were based on both the SFUSD Student and Parent/Guardian Handbook 2011-2012 and Assembly Bill 86, passed in 2008, which gives California public schools the power to punish students for bullying online and offline. When the incident came to the notice of the Asian Law Caucus and American Civil Liberties Union of Northern

California, their lawyers determined that the free speech rights of the students were being violated. Linda Lye, an ACLU attorney, posted this statement referring to the incident on the ACLU website (www.aclu.org) “Speech does not become ‘disruptive’ just because a teacher doesn’t like it or finds it offensive. In fact, criticism of authority figures is exactly the type of speech the Constitution was designed to protect.”The civil rights groups each wrote letters to the district expressing their concern. As a result, the students were reinstated and the punishments were lifted and struck from their record. The administration at Washington overreacted to the comments by the students and unfairly punished them. The memes the students created included “Teaches Pink Floyd for 3 Weeks; Makes Final Project Due In 3 Days,” and “Nags Student Govt About Being On Task; Lags on Everything” according to California Watch. Clearly the posts on “Scumbag Teachers” do not match their definition of bullying. Even though the title suggests otherwise, the actual comments about the teachers on the page are not

personal attacks, but humorous criticism of their teaching style. Criticism is not the same as bullying. It took two third-party organizations to point the injustice of the punishments out to the school district. It was not until the Asian Law Caucus and ACLU intervened that the district reinstated the accused students. The district should more carefully review schools when they assign major punishments to their students, to prevent incidents like this from happening, especially when it comes to freedom of speech. Washington should have also been more open to concerns and criticism from students about their teachers, instead of being simplistically reactive, so that the school can improve and better serve its students. With that said, though the students had a right to free speech, they should seek better ways to voice their opinions. Students should not rant on the web, but should instead try to have their criticisms reach school administration, such as a counselor or dean, who can do something about their complaints. If a student has a problem with a teacher, he or she should talk directly to the school administration.

April 27, 2012

The Lowell

OPINION

Stricter medical marijuana rules will give lax license requirements more validity By Jeffrey Wong

n November 6, 1996, the people of the state of California enacted the Compassionate Use Act of 1996, in order to allow authentically ill citizens of the state, under a doctor’s care, to use marijuana for medical purposes. However, while enabling the public to receive the benefits of this alternative medicine, the law has also allowed for loopholes in obtaining medical marijuana licenses. The use of marijuana for medical purposes is regulated, enumerated and codified in Section 11362.5 of the Health and Safety Code. The requirements are that a patient possessing a valid California I.D. be at least 18 years of age unless accompanied by a parent, have the written approval or recommendation of a physician and have medical records that prescribe marijuana as necessary. This is not a moral issue, but a pragmatic one in that the laws, and ultimately the California government, are not being taken seriously. I’m not making an argument for or against marijuana, but an opinion that respect for the law is crucial to society. Loophole number one occurs when patients take their licenses to medical marijuana pharmacies to receive the prescribed amount of cannabis. What is considered an appropriate illness? Patients have been diagnosed with “appropriate” illnesses ranging from migraine headaches to cancer, a very broad range. Additionally, the list of illnesses concludes with the all-encompassing phrase “physician’s decision.” This means that the medical need ultimately varies with every physician. Despite the eligibility rules, licenses are too easy to obtain. The definition of illnesses that would benefit from marijuana as a pain-killer is vague, and hence can be manipulated by anyone. One Lowell student who requested anonymity claimed that he simply filled out an application for a license explaining that he has insomnia and gave it to a licensed doctor, who then gave him a medical marijuana license with a prescription for $60. Once he had it, he went to a medical cannabis club, where he showed his license to receive a requested amount of marijuana. “It’s nice that with it, I can get enough hoi leung weed that fulfills

my tolerance level,” the student said. An increasing number of people all over California are not respecting the law that marijuana should be used for medical needs. This becomes a growing problem as it becomes a cultural norm to break free from the laws that are meant to protect us. One proposed solution has been to raise costs. According to the USA Cannabis Physicians Group’s website (www. emedicalmarijuanacard.com), the cost for a marijuana license in California is $66 for non Medi-Cal users. Some California legislators have proposed a Medical Marijuana Regulation, Control and Taxation Act for the November ballot — an initiative that would impose a 2.5 percent tax on the sale of medical marijuana and establish licensing fees on medical marijuana businesses; the money would be used to fund state regulation. However, that raises another issue, as the solution impacts patients in need. With higher prices, wouldn’t this also make it more difficult for the medically ill to obtain the drug? Of course, to offset increased costs, legitimate patients could be given a state application requesting financial aid for the drug, which the state can provide because of the increase in funds. However, this solution puts the burden on the citizens to deal with more paperwork. Instead of raising prices, the state should tighten access, just as they do for other medicine. First, medical marijuana licenses

should expire within a month instead of a year, since cancer patients undergoing a short spell of chemotherapy can get relief from the side-effects, then no longer be in need of the drug. If many prescriptions, including heart medicine, are only allowed three refills, and each refill has to be done on a monthly basis as a measure of control, why should an otherwise illegal drug be allowed greater access? Secondly, California should allow only patients diagnosed within a limited number of illness categories, such as glaucoma and arthritis — illnesses that, according to Proposition 215, under the Compassionate Use Act, marijuana was legalized to treat — to receive medical marijuana. After all, not all illnesses are fraudulent. The National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws (NORML) conducted four studies, assessing that smoked marijuana can alleviate the neuropathic pain associated with cancer, diabetes, HIV/AIDS and spinal cord injury as effectively, if not more, than currently available medication. With new procedures that ensure greater control, it will be much more difficult to lie about one’s condition and get a license. The ease at which residents undermine California Senate Bill 420 is undoubtedly an issue California has failed to properly address. In Jan. 2010, this bill was heavily debated over in order to address these potential problems. In the Supreme Court case, People v. Kelly, the court found that state government is no longer allowed to impose any legal limits on the amount of marijuana that medical marijuana users can grow or possess, which increases the temptation for cannabis as a cash crop for street use. Hence, these state flaws undermine the process. Licenses are meant to be for those truly in pain and ill — such as a chemotherapy patient — not for those who report mild symptoms of a headache to exploit the bill’s flaws and obtain marijuana, an otherwise illegal drug. Since some people — including youth — see licenses as a ticket to weed, the system needs to change — not for morality, but in order to give any credibility to the government’s effectiveness in a partial l e g a l i z at i on of this drug. Marijuana should come first to those in need, and second to those who simply want a high.

Giving tree of financial aid dying at the roots, says middle-class college applicant By Edmond Quan

n to

vivia

Obama outlined a new plan that would include rewarding more federal funding to public universities for their efforts at decreasing costs. However, the best solution to the problem would be to simply allocate more money for federal student aid. This funding could come from cuts to other federal programs, in particular the Department of Defense. Truthout, a nonprofit news organization, estimates on their website (truth-out.org) that the partial withdrawal of American troops from Iraq last December will save the federal government $20 billion a year. If this money were completely devoted to the Federal Student Aid Program instead, $9,090 more in grants would be available to each of the estimated 2.2 million college-bound high school graduates each year. Denying Americans the opportunity of higher education is illogical, considering the countless benefits, so why should money be the main barrier? s by

For decades, the student aid system worked the average grant across all sturelatively well due to the affordability of higher dents is $2,800. This amount is education. According to a study by Cornell clearly not enough to help cover University, college fees, on average, only took the average total cost of $31,000 at a up about 27 percent of a middle class family’s public university; worse, the average is income in 1980. Households were often able not the amount most students actually to cover most of the costs, so federal grants receive. The award itself is skewed by the and loans were merely helpful supplements. heftier grants given to lower-income Today, college tuition and fees have gone up individuals, meaning that a typical, a whopping 538 percent over the past twenty middle-class college applicant will years, according to the Save Pell coalition’s probably receive an insufficient website (www.savepell.org). If a four-member amount. Of course, the worse family with the U.S. median income of $56,000 need should be met first, but there were to support one college student attend- should be enough money to suping your average state college, the household port all levels of needs. would have to live on less than $16,600 a Another common option for year after paying $8,400 in income taxes and students is to borrow money. The about $31,000 Federal Stafford Loans in college exProgram offers loans penses. The bad with interest rates as Today, college tuition news is that low as 3.4 percent per while the costs year, but fear of debt and fees have gone up a of attending colis still high enough lege have grown to deter people. Acwhopping 538 percent significantly, the cording to the Cable over the past twenty years News Network (www. amount provided by federal grants cnn.com), the average and loans has post-undergraduate barely changed. A “generous” grant of $5,000 debt reached $25,000 on November 2011. would have been able cover a sizable chunk of Young professionals working entry level jobs a public university’s costs in 1982, as tuition at are forced to pay off their college debts for that time was much lower, but the same grant years, even decades, also deterring people from would do little to alleviate the burden of sup- higher education. porting a college student in 2012. The Obama administration has taken acAccording to the Federal Student Aid tion to make higher education more affordable. Council, the organization that operates FAFSA, In a January 2012 speech, President Barack

tion stra illu

very year, a new generation of high school graduates partakes in the annual ritual of leaving their childhood abodes for college dorms. In today’s society, a college degree, a distinction formerly limited to the elite few, has now become a necessity due to the global demand for white collar workers that began at the dawn of the 20th century. Despite the necessity of a college education, college is still one of the only levels of education not completely subsidized by the government, meaning that even community colleges require tuition because state and federal funding does not cover all the necessary costs of maintaining a college. Tr a d it i on a l ly, society has believed in higher education enough to assist in costs. Public aid for students comes in the form of needbased grants and subsidized, low interest loans. Collegebound students fill out the Free Application for Federal Student Aid to apply for Pell Grants, Stafford loans, and other forms of support. However, federal grants have become insufficient in covering the exorbitant costs of attending a college or university.

WARPED

Look s

can

deceiving:

By KT Kelly HYSICAL BEAUTY IS ONLY SKIN DEEP — but humans have been lightly mutilating their natural being in search of beauty for thousands of years. In the Legion of Honor, an art museum in San Francisco, the exhibit The Cult of Beauty: The Victorian Avant-Grande 1860s – 1900s portrays the Aesthetic Movement, a period in cultural history where artists sought to live a holistic life by surrounding themselves by beautiful things. Showcasing from Feb. 18 – June 17, The Cult of Beauty examines the philosophy of what was considered beautiful in that time period, as followers connoted pretty objects and people with morality and goodness. In other periods of history, trends of attractiveness also changed with people’s mindsets. Even when homo sapiens barely had a spoken language, women would color their bodies with red ocher paint to advertise fertility, according to the Elle magazine’s website (www.elle.com) coverage of a L’Oreal book. In the suffergate era of early 1900s, feminism was in the air and powerful women with hourglass figures impacted fashion trends with plunging necklines and full skirts. In the present day, being tall, tan and thin is considered attractive. What is it that made these trends “beautiful” — and why do we care?

The

fatal

fl aws

what

and men alike feel pressure to conform to a specific image of physical beauty. Everyone has looked into a mirror with a more than critical eye. Usually, the main reason they want to change theirselves is to match a look advertised in Vogue magazine— not their own. Although the public may think society has determined the “perfect look,” that “look” varies across the globe. Different cultures also differ on the traits that would make one look twice. For instance, in European countries like England and France, men prefer petite small-busted women, according to the Indian Express’s, an Indian newspaper, website (www.indianexpress.com). In New Zealand, tattoos are considered a symbol of status and in Japan, people feel that fair, smooth skin was the key to beauty, according to Oprah Winfrey’s website (www.oprah.com). Even in Mauritania, African women are brutally force-fed a diet of up to 16,000 calories a day — more than four times that of a male body builder — to prepare them for marriage, according to Advanced Placement Psychology teacher Adam Michels. All over the world, the perception of beauty

Going with our gut

Humans may be the most sophisticated creatures on the planet, but we are still animals and therefore have animal instincts. Despite modern-day lifestyles, all living species’ number-one goal is to produce sufficient offspring, and humans are no exception. Hence, the manifest of beauty has roots not only in our minds, but also bodies. What women and men are charmed by has to do with the physical characteristics of potential mates that trigger attraction in the brain, which are chemical factors called pheromones. Women’s pheromones are usually set off by men who have square faces with masculine jaws, which are signs of high amounts of testosterone, a steroid hormone that stimulates the development of male secondary sexual characteristics, according to the book Decoding Love: Why it takes Twelve Frogs to Find a Prince, and Other Revelations from the Science of Attraction by Andrew Trees. In the prehistoric era, someone who could protect women and offspring against the elements and predators of their environment were preferable partners, according to Do Gentlemen Really Prefer Blondes?: Bodies, Behavior, and Brains — The Science Behind Sex, Love & Attraction by Jena Pincott. Big hips were a sign of fertility to cavemen, and remain so to the modern man, due to a subconscious duty to carry on the species. Not only are men interested in the build of a woman, but women are also thought to look more attractive when they are ovulating or menstruating, according to Trees, a trait that isn’t consciously seen. A 2007 study on female strippers by University of New Mexico researchers showed that women who were ovulating made more tips than those who were not, according to Scientific American’s website (www. scientificamerican.com). Pre-1800s, finding food was difficult, and if you were bigger, that means you had the wealth to eat dinner every night. In the 1900s, World War I and World War II provided women with the opportunity to economically support their families, along with a taste of independence. In the following period of feminism, taller, athletic women became attractive. “When being skinny became attractive, human beings had a surplus of food and didn’t have to worry about survival,” Girling said.

at traction

varies and so does the pain of achieving it. The standards set by the modeling and advertising industries are also not a realistic image for people who have different genes and characteristics that make them unique. Eating disorders like binge-eating, bulimia and anorexia plague America today. The National Eating Disorders Association estimates that eight million Americans have an eating disorder — seven million women and one million men. The mortality rate of eating disorders is the highest out of any mental illness yet only 1 in 10 people who have an eating disorder receive treatment, according to the NEDA website (www. nationaleatingdisorders.org). Not only are diseases like bulimia and anorexia harmful to the physical body but they also harm mental health. “This is one of the deadliest psychological diseases,” Michels said. “For someone who has anorexia or bulimia, they think that they’re fat even if they look perfectly fine.” The media plays a huge role in the perception of beauty. “I suppose we all have our influences in what we like,” freshman Zak Langford-Do said. “When you watch TV, you notice there are a lot of people that you might find quite hot. Some people might take this the wrong way and think of themselves as not pretty enough, and try to make themselves pretty.” Nowadays though, most models are stick-thin, making girls who may be healthy and even athletic yet do not have the same twig-like figure question their weight. “In commercials, like Victoria’s Secret and whatnot, they tell women they have to be skinny and tall with a figure, but if you look around no one is like that,” sophomore Giselda Perez said. Though girls do receive a lot of direct pressure from the media, men also feel the weight on their shoulders, literally. “I feel pressured to be in shape because I play sports,” Rowson said. The pressure to look like The Gladiator could even lead to cosmetic surgery. According to the San Francisco Chronicle’s Jan. 20, 2008 print article “A Chest of Gold,” 409 pectoral implants were performed on men in 2006. Being pushed by parents and educators to be successful, smart and accomplished, one would think the modern-day teenager has no time to worry about their looks, but they do anyway. Of course, the goal to be healthy and fit is a positive, but media images don’t stop there. “Society is unfair because it expects you to be perfect, and no one is perfect,” sophomore Lauren Taylor said.

The perception of beauty

“Barbie-and-Ken image” warps our minds’ eye

Today, advertising companies and the media have distorted the face of beauty, especially in terms of women. “In my mind, models aren’t very attractive people but they are very striking people, and what advertisers seek is to get your attention,” social studies teacher Richard Girling said. With modern perception of unrealistic measurements of waist to hip ratios, both women

drives

VIV

IAN

TON

The time old phrase “beauty is in the eye of the beholder” reveals an honest truth. Although love can start with physical attraction, personality is a huge factor in deciding whether a person is a potential relationship interest. “Beauty doesn’t pertain to how a person looks on the outside but how they act and who they are on the inside,” Taylor said. Society has put such an emphasis on being attractive that individuality becomes lost, such examples such as stars like Michael Jackson and Cher who rid themselves of their natural characteristics, becoming totally different people. “In my opinion, there are no defined boundaries for beauty. Everyone is unique in their own way,” Perez said. At risk of sounding like a corny pep talk, beauty really is on the inside. By being comfortable in your own skin, you radiate your own beauty. “I went to a workshop recently that told me that I just had to believe in myself,” Perez said. “I can’t put myself down and I have to tell myself that I am beautiful.” The world is changing, even some beauty product companies have started campaigns to celebrate inner beauty. Dove’s Movement for Self-Esteem revolves around self-confidence and Bare Escentuals’s philantrophy is not beauty by make-up but beauty by what you make — creating and doing good works. Being who you are is what really makes a person attractive, and no physical characteristics can change that. And a mirror on the wall is never the way to measure how attractive you are.