Lowell The
May 2018
Darius Thomas (1998-2018)
Gun Violence Hits Home
ONLINE EXCLUSIVES
Students walk out to honor victims of Parkland shooting and advocate for stricter gun control laws
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INTERNET SAFETY “What have I been doing?”
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GUN VIOLENCE “I have to analyze would this guy shoot me, could he shoot me.”
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DRAGON BOAT “[Dragon Boat] becomes part of your lifestyle.”
CIARA KOSAI
Getting ready to make a splash at All-City
SHYLA DUONG
By Beatriz Durant
CONNECT WITH US! thelowell.org
Spring Rally 2018
By Jennifer Cheung, Tobi Kawanami and Ciara Kosai
JENNIFER CHEUNG
Reader’s Opinion Giveaway
Lowell students make history hosting first San Francisco high school hackathon LAUREN CALDWELL
By Elyse Foreman Boys golf wins a close game against the Eagles @THELOWELLNEWS
By Olivia Sohn
LAUREN CALDWELL
By Crystal Chan @THELOWELL
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NET NEUTRALITY “Hypothetical harms and hysterical prophecies of doom.”
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MENTAL ISSUE “As it turns out, I was, and still am.”
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MOUNTAIN BIKING “Mud is like no object at this point.”
ON THE COVER: Darius Thomas, Lowell Class of ‘15, recently passed away due to gun violence. Cover graphics by Tobi Kawanami and Ciara Kosai
Lowell The
Editors-in-Chief
ella murdock gardner zahra rothschild
News Editors
zahra rothschild tammie tam
Sports Editors
yolanda feng giping huang
Opinion Editor Multimedia & Photo Editors
ella murdock gardner tobi kawanami ciara kosai
Art Manager Illustrators
hannah cosselmon hannah cosselmon naomi hawksley jasmine liang valentin nguyen
Reporters
crystal chan allison dummel beatriz durant hannah ferguson elyse foreman kate green raine hu allison jou anna kaplan michelle kim olivia moss emily sobelman olivia sohn susan wong sofia woo jocelyn xie
Photographers
lauren caldwell jennifer cheung shyla duong
EDITORIAL
Hacked? My computer? It’s more likely than you think.
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n April 21, junior Kaya Brown started receiving spam emails from herself. A computer with a connection from Los Angeles had logged into Brown’s Gmail account, tricked Google into believing it was her and sent spam to her and 21 other email accounts. “I was like, ‘What have I been doing?’” Brown said. “I don’t give my email out to suspicious websites.” In today’s digital world, it’s surprisingly easy to have your personal information stolen. An average of 30,000 websites per day are identified as spreading malicious code, and reported data breaches increased by 40 percent in 2016. As the number of ways an internet presence can be compromised increases, so does the average person’s need
you log into an account on an unprotected network, someone can access your username and password and automatically log in as you. Similarly, whenever you exchange information (such as sending emails) on such a network, someone can see what exactly you are sending back and forth. One of the simplest ways to protect yourself is to only visit websites with “https” at the beginning of the web address. Https stands for Hyper Text Transfer Protocol Secure, which means that any communication between the browser and website is encrypted. This is a simple basic protection, but it does not alone guarantee safety while browsing. Another easy way to protect yourself is by using secure passwords. A good password can
In today’s digital world, it’s surprisingly easy to have your personal information stolen.
christina johnson ethan lei anita liu esther posillico
Business Managers
aaron liang jacquline ruan anson tan
Head of Research Web Managers
maximilian tiao ashlyn jew alyssa young
Adviser
Awards
eric gustafson
2014 nspa online pacemaker 2012 nspa print pacemaker 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
to protect themselves from such threats. The internet is a part of daily life for Lowell students, but every time we use the internet without taking precautions, we put ourselves at risk. According to CSO online, when on public WiFi it’s incredibly easy for anyone else connected to the network to see what you’re doing and steal your information. Even on private, password-protected networks like San Francisco Unified School District WiFi, you’re not completely safe. Anyone also connected to that network can watch your internet activity and use it to their advantage. Programs like wireshark and firesheep are available to anyone smart enough to use them. These programs and programs like them allow you to track internet activity on any network you’re connected to and steal information exchanged between that network and personal devices. Every time
make it exponentially harder for hackers to break into your account, but the internet has a lot of misinformation about what types of passwords actually keep your account secure. It takes 10 minutes for a computer program to crack a six-letter lowercase password. Adding numbers, capital letters, and symbols can increase the time needed dramatically, but the quality of a password isn’t dependent on how many random characters are in it, but rather on length. Every character added to a password exponentially increases the amount of time an algorithm needs to crack it. Using a phrase from your favorite song is more secure than a short string of random numbers and letters. The longer, the better. However, algorithms are also able to use dictionaries to guess random strings of words. As a result, it can be helpful to include intentional misspellings in your passwords or use words that aren’t in the dictionary.
The Lowell is published by the journalism classes of Lowell High School w All contents copyright Lowell High School journalism classes w All rights reserved w The Lowell strives to inform the public and to use its opinion sections as open forums for debate w All unsigned editorials are opinions of the staff w The Lowell welcomes comments on school-related issues from students, faculty and community members w Send letters to the editors to thelowellnews@ gmail.com w Names will be withheld upon request w We reserve the right to edit letters before publication w The Lowell is a student-run publication distributed to thousands of readers including students, parents, teachers and alumni w All advertisement profits fund our newsmagazine issues w To advertise online or in print, email thelowellads@yahoo.com w Contact us w Lowell High School Attn: The Lowell journalism classes w 1101 Eucalyptus Drive w San Francisco, CA 94132 w 415-759-2730 w thelowellnews@gmail.com
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CARTOON
Every time we use the internet without taking precautions, we put ourselves at risk.
The highest-rated VPN in 2018 is NordVPN, which is available for computers and phones, but costs $11.95 per month after a seven-day free trial. However, many VPNs are available for free. For computers, the top-rated free VPNs include CyberGhost and Avira Phantom. For phones and mobile devices, the top rated VPN apps are Hotspot Shield and Speedify VPN. All Lowell students should take steps to ensure that their information is protected online. It’s easy to get hacked, but protecting yourself against online threats is simple and worthwhile.
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One of the most effective things you can do to ensure your internet safety is to use a Virtual Private Network (VPN). A VPN creates a virtual tunnel between the device and the VPN server by encrypting all of the data your device sends and receives. Anyone spying on the network will no longer have access to your data and, as a result, will not be able to break into any of your accounts or steal information. VPNs also prevent anyone, including your internet service provider, from viewing your browsing history.
The evolution of campaign posters
CARTOON
ILLUSTRATION BY HANNAH COSSELMON
FROM THE EDITOR Dear readers of The Lowell, When reporter Olivia Sohn first began writing this issue’s cover story, she was inspired by the gun control walkouts at Lowell and throughout the nation. Originally, the focus of the story was on safety issues at Lowell that could potentially be hazardous in the case of a school shooter, such as doors that can only be locked from the outside and the limited PA system. However, as Sohn continued to look into gun policies and shootings across America, she discovered that there are members of the Lowell community who are actually affected by gun violence, right now. On April 20, as Sohn was in the process of writing this story, Lowell alumnus Darius Thomas was shot and killed in the Bayview district. The timing of this horrible event felt surreal for us; here we were, doing research on California gun legislation, writing about locks and PA systems, finding statistics, and suddenly the reality of gun violence hit home. Although in this issue we chose to focus on these students’ stories relating to gun violence, issues of school
safety and gun control remain an important topic which we will be exploring in a subsequent article. We at The Lowell offer our deepest condolences to Thomas’ friends and family, and hope that telling his story can open the eyes of our community to the fact that gun violence touches a variety of lives, including many at our school. At Lowell, it’s easy to talk about gun control as an intellectual and political issue, but it’s also easy to forget that people here have real experiences with guns and how they can change or end a life in a split second. The activism in the wake of the Parkland shooting brought about real legislative change in several states, but we cannot let the conversation about gun violence die. Editors-in-Chief Ella Murdock Gardner, Zahra Rothschild
TheTLhe owell February 2017 Lowell May 2018
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GUN VIOLENCE HITS HOME
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“I hate the fact that with all of this, people think that it’s all rainbows and flowers in this school.
I t ’ s n o t .”
By Olivia Sohn
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ollowing the Parkland shooting, students at Lowell protested for better gun control. With their gaze focused on national issues, they asked, “Hey NRA, how many kids did you kill today?” They asked, “Is Lowell prepared for a school shooting?” But a question not frequently asked was, how does gun violence affect Lowell students? Lowell breeds academic excellence in its students. The high school, in its quiet, inner sunset neighborhood, is free from the terror of gangs. Lowell students don’t own guns, nor do they face the repercussions of gun violence in their day-to-day lives. Lowell students are safe. Right? Wrong.
DARIUS THOMAS
Darius Thomas’ yearbook photo
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On April 20, Darius Thomas was shot and killed down the street from his house. Thomas was a 20-year-old Lowell alumnus who graduated in 2015. He was hanging out with a group of five of his friends in San Francisco’s Bayview district when they were fired on by unknown persons in a car. Thomas was the only one killed. Those close to him valued his sense of humour, and his sweet personality. He was passionate about sports, participating in Lowell football for two years, and was very involved in his church, the Bethel Cathedral Church of God in Christ, according to a statement released by Thomas’s family. On April 23, three days later, Carolyn Nickels found out about Thomas’ death when a counselor asked to see a yearbook. He was looking for the photo of a Lowell alumnis who he had recently heard was shot. When he found Thomas’ photo, Nickels immediately recognized him as one of her former Registry students and was sickened. “He was only twenty years old,” she said. “He was not even half my age.” Nickels remembers exactly where Thomas sat everyday for four years in her reg room—across her desk and a few seats over. “I watched him grow taller, and taller,” she said. “It was always really pronounced at the end of summer, when he’d come back to school he’d be a few inches taller or more.” Nickels recalled one time when she choked on some food and asked Thomas for help. “Hit me, Darius,” Nickels said. Darius Thomas was twice her height. He stood up, and patted her gently on the back. Nickels, desperate, said, “No, Hit me, Hit me.” He patted her gently again. “It made me laugh so hard that he didn’t want to hurt me by really smacking me a good one, that the laughing caused the crumb to come flying out,” said Nickels. “And if it hadn’t been for him I might have died.” Nickels sees a future in every one of her students, and never could imagine even one of them being killed. “When somebody is a real life, breathing, keeping-me-from-choking-to-death kind of person, you just think that they have got a life all ahead of them,” Nickels said. “Whatever it is, it’s all ahead of them, and they’re gonna make the world a better place. At least it’s what I tell my students.” Thomas’ teacher Claire Puretz was also close to him during his time at Lowell. When Puretz found out through one of Thomas’ friends that he had died, an image of Thomas as a
ANITA LIU
“He was only twenty years old, he was not even half my age.”
Carolyn Nickels baby arose in her mind from when she was helping him choose one during senior year. “I’ll never forget that baby picture, how adorable he was,” Puretz said. “That just brought me back to the idea that regardless of if someone is invisible or visible in our minds, anyone who is a victim of gun violence was once somebody’s child, is loved.” Puretz acknowledges that when young men of color are killed by gun violence, people are quick to draw conclusions about the activities that they were involved with. To Puretz, that’s not an important question. She believes that the most important thing is acknowledging who the deceased were and their lives as a whole. “For some people, when it’s gun violence and it’s a person of color, there are presumptions,” said Puretz. “And for me, I just saw him as a loving, caring young man, like many others who didn’t deserve this. But for many people the question is, ‘Is it gang related?’” Puretz feels that it’s important to acknowledge the ways in which Thomas is and isn’t a statistic. She wants to raise awareness that a community member from Lowell has been lost and honor his life. But simultaneously, she feels that it’s important to acknowledge the way that he is similar to too many other young men of color: their deaths are due to gun violence. According to the the Everytown Organization, black men are 13 times more likely than white men to be shot and killed with a gun. In San Francisco, from 2013-2017 there were 177 homicides by firearm according to the SFPD. Thomas’ death was the twelfth homicide of 2018. On average, 68 percent of homicide victims are killed by guns. This is similar to the California statistics for gun
violence in 2016, where 70 percent were deaths due to firearms according to the FBI.
JOHN
The final straw was when John, a Lowell student who is using a fake name because he prefers to remain anonymous, got robbed at gunpoint. “The day after, I was like, ‘I’m not dealing with this, I’m not gonna be that kid who gets picked on,’” John said. The next day, John decided to buy a gun. It wasn’t very hard, after he reached out to a group of what he referred to as his “sketchy” friends. They showed him a wide range of guns, from small pistols to a large AK47 with a silencer on it and a design of a marijuana leaf carved into the wood. John went with the “cheap option,” a small pistol that cost $700. John lives in a world that’s very different than his peers, though it is one of his own choosing; instead of worrying about his math tests he worries about getting robbed at gunpoint. John described his gun possession as “precautionary.” He has never shot his gun nor brought it to school, and he never intends to. John knows two other people at Lowell who own guns, and thinks that there are probably more. John uses guns to make sure that he is treated more seriously during drug deals. “It’s not for pulling it out and pointing it at someone’s face, but mostly just to have it there so people know that you mean business,” John said. It’s also so that he can defend himself against people with similar weapons. In John’s case, because of the
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COVER business he’s in, he thinks about guns and gun violence daily. “It’s definitely a factor that I have to think about when I’m going to meet certain people,” John said. “Do I have to be prepared? What’s gonna happen? When I’m meeting new people, I have to analyze: would this guy shoot me, could he shoot me?” John was recently robbed again, this time by a pair of his friends during another drug deal. John went with a partner to a public parking lot to conduct a drug deal. He didn’t bring his gun because the buyers were his friends, and he didn’t expect any trouble. When John and his partner arrived, his two friends put a knife to John’s throat, and pulled a gun on his partner. After taking his duffel bag with the drugs, they ran away. John thinks that they were trying to get initiated into a gang by robbing them. Most of the people John knows that have guns are involved with either gangs or serious drug dealing. According to him, the guns are a byproduct of the drug dealing and the gangs. He says that when you reach a certain point of seriousness in either, you need to buy a gun. “For the most part, a lot of the small time little peddlers will carry some sort of knife or something, but don’t need a gun,” John said. “But once you get into the whole gang violence aspect, then they get guns.” JENNIFER CHEUNG
Owning a gun has made John feel simultaneously safer and more at risk. With the lifestyle that he chooses, he feels he needs a gun to be safe. But having a gun means that he is participating in drug dealing on a higher level, putting him more at risk because he is in situations where he could have to potentially use it, according to John. “I would feel safer if I had a bulletproof vest and a gun, not just a gun,” John said. “It’s more like I hope I don’t have to use it.” He has considered that he could get shot, but chooses not to dwell on that, calling it “morbid.” Although California gun control laws are some of the strictest in the nation, according to The Washington Post, it was easy for John to buy a gun. There are state laws about who can buy guns, ammunition and even what types of guns are legal. John thinks that his friends drove across state lines to purchase the guns in states like Nevada or Texas, which have looser gun control laws. For John, it was harder to buy ammunition then it was to buy the actual gun. This may be in part due to California’s strict legislation surrounding the sale of ammunition. In 2018, new legislation was enacted that requires gun owners to buy ammo through licensed ammo distributors. Even if buying it online, they must buy it through a licensed distributor, and all purchases of ammo must be through a face-to-face interaction. Beginning in July of 2019, California will require residents to have a background check to buy ammunition.
JOANNE FLORES
A line of police cars drove down junior Joanne Flores’ block and arrived at her house. Outside, the police rang the doorbell on her gate, and asked her entire family to go downstairs. The police officers stood in a line, their hats to their hearts. “We have terrible news to give you,” they said. “An officer has fallen and it was one of yours.” Flores immediately knew that the officer was referring to her aunt. Flores’ grandmother screamed in pain, one hand to her heart, one in the air, exclaiming, “Please don’t tell me it’s true.” Flores and the rest of her family stood silently in shock. In November 2017, Flores lost her aunt, 22-year-old Gisselle Glover, to gun violence. She had responded to an incident and gotten caught in the crossfire. Glover and Flores were very close due to their 5-year age difference. “She was the only person in my family that I could actually talk to,” Flores said. “She wasn’t like my mom or dad. It’s like I could talk about her as my best friend but get adult advice.” Flores put a brave face on for her family and friends after Glover’s death, but she struggled with her loss. When she was alone she would lock herself in her room and think about how Glover died. “If she wasn’t in there at that moment, what could’ve happened, like could she still be here today?” said Flores. To Flores, Glover’s death felt unfair because she was only 22 and had a bright future. Glover is not the first person that Flores has lost to gun violence. When she was nine, her family was living in Section 8 housing in
“When I’m meeting new people, I have to analyze: would this guy shoot me, could he shoot me?”
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CIARA KOSAI
“You should value your time with others, because sometimes you don’t know, they might just not come home. They might die in front of you.”
Joanne Flores San Francisco on Hill street. One day, Flores and her 11-year-old friend were riding down the street when shots were fired at him. He pushed her away so she survived, but he was shot and killed. Flores felt helpless after he died, there was nothing she could have done to save his life. Her friend wasn’t related by blood, but he treated her like a little sister. They grew up together and lived across the street from each other. “Losing him, it felt like I lost a part of me, because of the fact that he always looked out for me,” Flores said. “He always made sure that I was ok.” Five years ago, talking about his death would make her break down. But now, about 8 years later, it has gotten easier for her to talk about the incident. Gun violence has not only changed those who surround Flores, but it has also changed who she is. Flores is more cautious and hesitant in opening up to people, a change from when she was a child. “As a kid growing up, I was more fun and open, but when I experienced my brother passing away, I felt alone,” Flores said. Because of the magnitude of her experiences with gun violence, Flores sometimes finds it difficult to relate to her peers who may or may not know how to handle what she’s been through or how to give her advice. Flores views life differently because of her experiences with gun
violence. Because she’s seen the way that people can so abruptly exit this world, she tries to value her time on Earth. It has especially shaped the way that she treats her family. “You should value your time with others, because sometimes you don’t know, they might just not come home,” said Flores. “They might die in front of you, you just never know.” Being a victim of gun violence makes Flores feel isolated from people inside and outside of Lowell. She thinks people view Lowell as “all rainbows and flowers,” an isolated place where students’ only concern is grades. “They’re quick to claim that we’re all just smart nerds and they don’t know anything about the real world and the struggle,” Flores said. What sets Lowell apart from other schools is not only the record of academic excellence but the fact that its students’ problems lie hidden beneath the surface. Every day, thousands of students file through Lowell’s doors, some bringing their own experiences with guns and gun violence. From teachers like Nickels who’ve lost students, to students like Flores who’ve lost family members to alumni like Thomas who’ve lost their lives, gun violence plays a very real and threatening role in the lives of people in the Lowell community, whether that role is apparent or not. v
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SPORTS TOBI KAWANAMI
Dragon
c a l u n a b h t e r o M : t Bo a
TOBI KAWANAMI
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f outsiders didn’t know that the 2018 California Dragon Boat Association (CDBA) Youth Race was happening on April 22 at Lake Merced, they probably would’ve believed there was a large picnic from the laughter, tents and smell of barbecue smoke. They wouldn’t think that behind this lively atmosphere was an intense and competitive race. Once the high school paddlers get to the start line, hear the calls of “Paddlers, are you ready? Attention” and hear the bang of the gun, they’re focused on only one thing: winning the race. Going into finals, paddlers are often more nervous than during the seedings. Many times, that is when the “hunger,” or how badly someone wants to win, comes out. “A lot of people are hungry and it hypes me up, but it also makes me so nervous,” senior leader Kristin Jai said. “It makes me more nervous than Arena when I have a bad pick.” When paddlers are competing, their minds are also racing. Some paddlers focus on whomever is in front of them, their stroke rate and maintaining the team’s sync. However, others can’t help but feel the rush of the race. “People tell me to not look at the other boats, and I’m like, ‘But they’re right there!’” junior leader Audrey 12
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By Giping Huang
Yu said. “It’s hard not to look and think that you have to go faster, but then you also have to maintain control and you’re just hauling ass basically. It’s exhilarating in a sense. It’s crazy.” For many of the team members, it is their first time participating in a sport. Dragon Boat is all about the team as a whole, which is a pulling factor for new athletes. In Dragon Boat, it is not the individual that makes up a team. Everyone has to be in sync and put in 100 percent of their effort. “The inherent nature of Dragon Boat is that it’s a team sport,” head coach Brian Danforth said. “There’s lots of team sports out there where you have to work together, but Dragon Boat doesn’t have a Stephen Curry or a Kevin Durant.” One challenge Lowell Dragon Boat has faced is the limited amount of time the team can practice. Right now, the team practices Monday through Friday and they meet up at 7 a.m. on Saturday to practice even more. During practices, they use boats CDBA provides for only an hour and a half each time, which they feel is sometimes not enough. However, the team has recently become the first youth club to buy their own boats, or more specifically, two boats. With the addition of these boats, the team doesn’t have to rely on CDBA and is hoping that they can have more practices at
flexible times. “I’m really looking forward to being able to say, ‘Let’s meet on Friday this afternoon,’ or ‘Let’s extend Saturday practices so we can get some more time for the race,’” Danforth said. In addition to more practices, this will also allow for more frequent gender-split practices besides the usual 1–2 per season. The team is still figuring out how to best use their new boats to further improve. With all the hard work that they put in, some paddlers feel that Dragon Boat should be acknowledged more, and maybe even become an Olympic sport. For seniors, they had to put Dragon Boat as a club or hobby in their college applications, but they believe it is beyond that. “[Dragon boat] becomes part of your lifestyle,” senior leader Rosa Zhang said. “I wish that Dragon Boat could get more recognition from both the school and sports.” For many paddlers, Dragon Boat is not just a sports club but also family. They have “fought through hell” together, practicing in literal storms, hail and rain, according to senior leader Ryan Lee. Through Dragon Boat, paddlers are able to build leadership skills, as well as build relationships that continue beyond the club. Many feel that the club has made them feel confident and accepted. “From a rough patch in freshman year, I was able to gradually improve my mental health, and my journey to self-love and self-acceptance due to Dragon Boat,” Lee said. “There’s so many people accepting you and I just love it.” Lee mentioned his possible plans of coaching the Lowell team in the future. A few additional seniors’ deep love for Dragon Boat and the team inspired their desire for continuing Dragon Boat in college if possible.
Senior leader Wilson Chen had confidence in the boys crew throughout the whole race piece. “It was only at the end that I noticed [Lincoln] was ahead of us,” Chen said. “That’s when I realized that we weren’t first. I think the guys definitely progressed with everything. No regrets.” The boys crew, the Lowell Riders, came in second with a time of 2:07. After the gender-split races, it was time for the mixed events. The Lowell Crewzers placed second in the A-Division race with a time of 2:14. Danforth was especially proud of how the Lowell Crewzers had improved throughout the day. “Our first heat was 2 minutes and 19 seconds, our last heat was 2 minutes and 14 seconds,” he said. “To really improve by 5 seconds over the day — usually the times go down and in this case, they went up.” The Lowell Red Tide finished in sixth place in the same division, with a time of 2:18. Competing in the B Division were the Lowell Big Red C who came in fifth place with a time of 2:25. For C Division, the Lowell Fai-D finished first with a time of 2:24. v
“There’s lots of team sports out there where you have to work together, but Dragon Boat doesn’t have a Stephen Curry or a Kevin Durant.“
Youth Race 2018 Coming into the Youth Race, the Lowell Dragon Boat team had their minds set on gold. Despite their efforts, they ultimately fell short to the Lincoln Mustangs, their closest rival for the past 16 years, for the title of champions of San Francisco. However, they still won silver overall and trailed behind Lincoln by mere seconds in most divisions. Danforth put a positive spin on the loss, pointing out the fact that Lowell teams were faster than last year. “We’re still improving, but [Lincoln is] improving, too,” he said. “This is what makes the rivalry really amazing.” Going onto the water during the girls race, the Lowelitas, one of Lowell’s crews, lacked confidence, according to senior leader Kristin Jai. The team had lost 20 girls, a whole boat, due to the previous seniors graduating last year. With a quarter of the team gone, Jai and Zhang had the responsibility to pick 20 new freshmen and teach them everything from scratch. Throughout the season, the girls had trouble syncing up with each other. “We didn’t really get [our glide] until today. That was the first time that I felt, ‘Wow, I can actually feel us moving,’” Zhang said. “All the other times, [the boat] felt super heavy and I was really frustrated to paddle because it just felt like there was nothing there. I just felt like I was pulling bricks behind me.” The Lowelitas came in second with a time of 2:28. Next season, the girls crew is looking forward to bringing back the gold. “Every incoming season is going to change, but our goals stay the same,” Yu said. “Every year, the girls just wanna bring back the golden age when the girls always got gold.”
Left: The Lowell Red Tide making their way towards the finish line at the 2018 Youth Race on April 22 at Lake Merced. Below: The team shows support for their teammates as they high five them after the race.
TOBI KAWANAMI
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FEATURE
Internet Ajit-ated: How the repeal of net neutrality will affect education By Crystal Chan and Olivia Sohn NET NEUTRALITY What is net neutrality? Known as the “open internet”, it is the idea that the internet is an egalitarian place, and that all data should be treated equally. Repealing net neutrality does not mean that you will have to pay to use the internet. WHAT IS NOW LEGAL: Blocking: Internet companies like AT&T and Comcast can block specific legal web content from internet users, which with Title II was illegal. Throttling: Internet companies are now allowed to intentionally slow internet services. With Title II all data was treated equally. Paid Prioritization: Web companies would have to pay internet service providers like AT&T to have their internet content reach you, the internet user, faster than other companies. This would create fast lanes and slow lanes within the internet, which means some sites would load faster than others. The internet can be compared to a highway: large, wealthy web companies would be in the carpool lane, or the fast lane, sailing past the masses of other web companies are stuck in traffic, or in the slow lane.
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n December 2017, Ajit Pai, chairman of the Federal Communications Commission (FCC), voted to repeal Title II, also known as the 2015 net neutrality rules. This news immediately triggered a rapid reaction of opposition throughout the nation, especially amongst younger generations that have grown up online. Technology has become so integrated into our lives that the panic surrounding the repeal of net neutrality is natural. But do we truly understand what net neutrality is and what its repeal means? Although the buzz about net neutrality has somewhat died down, the topic remains relevant. Its repeal was enacted on April 23 — and no one seems to be talking about it. One of the main hurdles on tackling the subject of net neutrality is the confusion surrounding what its repeal will mean for the consumer. One common misconception about the repeal of net neutrality is that the consumer will have to pay for each individual online search, and that therefore its repeal will make the free knowledge we associate with the internet only available to those who can afford it. In reality, it’s a lot more complicated, and most of the burden of cost falls onto web companies. Without net neutrality, Internet Service Providers (ISPs) can create fast and slow lanes on the internet, which dictate the speed at which information will reach internet users the fastest. With these fast lanes and slow lanes, wealthier web companies can pay ISPs for faster service. In a school setting, for example, if a student or teacher looks up an answer to a question online, certain answers on websites will reach them faster than others. This would also mean that some sites that students and teachers use for educational purposes might not be able to pay to be in the fast lanes, and would load more slowly. On the other hand, when the internet operates under net neutrality, ISPs are required to treat all sites the same, and they cannot charge money for specific websites to load faster. The repeal of Title II is important to understand because of its potential consequences on students and teachers due to our increasing reliance on the internet as an educational tool. Many Lowell students, such as senior Sarah
Hoang, use Google Docs for up to four hours per day. “I use [Google Docs] for the whole time I do homework,” Hoang said. “Literally, I don’t do paper homework anymore.” Besides Google Docs, other free educational sites such as Khan Academy, Grammarly, Quizlet and Kahoot are frequently used in classrooms to supplement lessons or for homework assignments. Junior Annamarie Kelly uses Khan Academy, a non-profit organization that offers online tools for students, to prepare for the SAT and to study for her AP classes. “I think [Khan Academy] is really helpful,” Kelly said. “I think it’s such a good tool because it’s free and it’s so accessible to everyone.” For the many students out there like Hoang and Kelly, educational sites such as Google Docs and Khan Academy are essential to their learning. Khan Academy remains the leading provider of resources for studying the SAT and AP exams because of its partnership with the College Board, the organization that created the SAT. Using Khan Academy is also free, helping to provide resources for students who may not be able to afford more expensive forms of studying such as private tutoring. According to Gigi Sohn, a former employee at FCC, educational sites most likely won’t be able to afford to be in the fast lanes, where information will reach internet users the quickest. This means that these educational sites would take a longer time to load, thus making it inconvenient for students and teachers who utilize these sites. This would discourage online learning, because on the internet, speed matters. According to Google, 53 percent of internet users abandon sites that take longer than 3 seconds to load. Thus, the creation of fast lanes and throttling could impact the quality of a student’s learning online. Despite these possible consequences, those in support of the repeal claim that it will improve the quality of the internet. The FCC, along with ISPs, claim that the repeal of Title II will be beneficial to customers. Pai said that repealing the 2015 net neutrality rules will improve businesses and investment in broadband networks. He claims that the 2015 rules are “heavy handed” and are impeding investment in broadband internet. According to the Free State Foundation, Title II cost the US $5.1 billion in broadband capital
VALENTIN NGUYEN investment and around 75,000 to 100,000 jobs. Pai also claims that the fears of those who are in opposition to the repeal are “hypothetical harms and hysterical prophecies of doom.” ISPs such as Comcast, Verizon, AT&T and Sprint are all in support of repealing Title II, but claim that they support net neutrality. These ISPs believe that increased competition between service providers, a possible result of repealing Title II, will encourage ISPs to be more inventive and potentially improve internet quality and speed. However, the acting mayor of San Francisco, Mark Farrell, disagrees with Pai. According to Sohn, Farrell has been “the driving force” behind San Francisco building its own universal fiber network. Farrell proposed that San Francisco should build its own infrastructure and make an open access network where any ISP abiding by Title II rules could provide internet to consumers. This would give customers more choices, and increase competition between ISPs for better service and prices. The goal of the project is to ultimately provide quality internet service for all citizens of San Francisco. The contract from the city will require the company constructing the network to comply by 2015 net neutrality rules and 2016 privacy rules. As of April 18, the city is taking bids to build a local network that would preserve net neutrality. San Francisco would be the first large city to build its own open access network. Currently, only smaller cities like Cleveland, Ohio, and Holly Springs in North Carolina have built their own networks, while 21 states prohibit local communities from building their own broadband networks. “There has never been a city of the size of San Francisco that has built its [own network]. If San Francisco succeeds, in my opinion, that’s going to open the flood gates for other cities, small, big medium sized to build it. It could be revolutionary,” Sohn said. The request for proposals was released on January 2017. As of April 2, ISP company Monkeybrains has entered a bid.
Though previously accepted as the status quo, net neutrality has become a much more recognized issue in American politics. “This should be one of the issues upon which people vote, and it hasn’t been,” Sohn said. “I mean this is the thing that I’ve worked for my whole life, for people to care about these things like they care about the environment, like they care about healthcare, like they care about taxes, and now I think it’s starting to reach that point.” Although it is still unclear what impact the repeal of Title II will have on both the web companies and internet users, it is important to remain aware of the possible effects. v WAYS TO ACCESS FREE INTERNET VPNs: • Stands for virtual private network • Can connect with others on the internet as if they were using your private network • With VPNs, the network is more secure, can maintain stronger privacy, and gives the user access to blocked content • In order to maintain stronger privacy, VPNs create a tunnel for your data that encrypts the information Wehe App: • Checks net neutrality violations • Some companies won’t simply let researchers run tests on their infrastructure. As a result, Wehe records the user traffic that the apps create and then uses its own servers to simulate what is happening. • Specifically looks at apps that do video and audio streaming because these apps take up a lot of bandwidth • Only available for Amazon, YouTube, NBCSports, Netflix, Skype, Spotify, and Vimeo as of April 2018
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COLUMN
Slipping JENNIFER CHEUNG
By Emily Sobelman
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y fifth grade teacher gave out daily homework. When you completed your work, you got a stamp on your little weekly homework log, and if you had 5 stamps at the end of the week, you got some free-play time on Friday. If not, you sat at your desk finishing that week’s work. I spent most of my Friday afternoons sitting at my desk that year. It wasn’t the first time I had daily homework, but it was the first time I hadn’t been able to complete it. Through a revolving door of elementary schools and new teachers, I had always done just fine getting my work in punctually, making friends, and being a happy, energetic kid. But in fifth grade, things started to feel harder. Not the work itself, but finding energy to sit down and do it. Later that year I had an essay due on a book I hadn’t read. Instead of at least attempting the essay I stayed up the entire night, convinced that maybe my fear and the pain through my entire body would kill me before I had to turn anything in. After my mom dropped me off the next day, I walked past my classroom and sat in a bathroom stall, hyperventilating in my fleece pajamas, until my principal and mom came looking for me. By chance, she had called the school to make sure I was ok, only to find out I hadn’t made it to class. I told them I felt sick, and my mom took me home. As time went on my troubles went from being just about schoolwork to being about every aspect of my life. I started high school telling myself I’d stay on top of my classes and relationships. I thought if I told myself I would be fine enough times, I would be. Better, even. It would be a fresh start for me. Inevitably, I started slipping behind again. School was harder now, and I couldn’t get by doing almost no work. To understand the material, I actually had to study, and after years of being unable to sit down and work I felt like there was no way to catch up and begin now. Meanwhile, I watched my classmates get by with ease. It seemed like they didn’t have to think about studying, it came naturally to them. My teachers would regularly make comments about how excellent Lowell students were, how on top of things we all are. That couldn’t have felt further from the truth. That year, a teacher of mine would call out who had missing homework assignments. Most kids never had their names called, but I would blush and slump lower in my seat as he called my name out again and again. I was sure my issues came from me being lazy, stupid, and unmotivated. I was surrounded by 2700 kids who did it everyday, why couldn’t I? I was ashamed; I could not understand what was wrong with me. My peers would be upset over low As and Bs, while I barely scraped by with Cs, Ds, and Fs. The worst part was that I wanted to try. I wanted to be successful, to get home, sit down, and do all of my homework. I would lay in bed trying to convince myself to get up and do work. Some days I would lay unmoving until I fell asleep still in my clothes, without eating or brushing my teeth. It got to the point where I stopped setting an alarm, knowing I would sleep through my first three classes of the day regardless. Time passed and I still felt outside of it all. Despite my year of experience as a Lowell student I still felt isolated from my school community. It didn’t occur to me that my lack of motivation,
isolation, anger, anxiety, sadness, and apathy could be because of mental illness. What I had learned about mental illness from TV was that mentally ill people were murderers, or just really sad all of the time. What I saw and what I felt just weren’t the same. I thought there was no way that I could be mentally ill. As it turns out, I was, and still am. Early in my junior year after another round of telling myself I could do it and feeling I had failed, a wellness counselor recommended I see a psychiatrist. As difficult as the conversations I was forced to have were, they were some of the most impactful and productive of my life. I was diagnosed with depression and social anxiety disorder. In the fall of my junior year, after years of struggle and a particularly challenging first few weeks of school where the thought of going made my breathing tight and my stomach hurt, I finally had an understanding of myself. There’s nothing “wrong” with me. I’m not lazy, or a bad person. I have issues, but they’re manageable. Most of my teachers have been more than understanding, letting me go to the Wellness Center when I needed to and giving me extensions on homework and essays, but not everyone has been so accommodating. Despite diagnoses from psychiatrists, sessions with therapists, and emails from my academic counselors, some teachers have treated my issues as fake or exaggerated. Once, I came into class having a panic attack, and tried to explain to my teacher what was going on. I asked to go to the wellness center, maybe take some time outside of class, get a sip of water-- use the resources and coping abilities I had been told would be available for me. Instead of letting me out, he told me that we were covering three chapters in class that day, and my attendance was crucial for success on our upcoming test. Later, my counselor sent a note to my teacher explaining my truancy, how I have trouble finishing work and organizing. My teacher walked over to my table, looked down at my lunch and said, “Huh. That looks pretty organized to me.” It’s hard to explain mental illness to people when they can’t see it in front of them. It’s not a broken limb, or a scraped knee. The only person who can easily observe my illness is me. That doesn’t mean it isn’t real. Mental illnesses often stem from chemical imbalances in the brain on top of environmental factors, and can be influenced by genetics. Every single therapist I have ever talked to has told me the same thing: You are not alone. Looking back, I realize that my depression isn’t anyone’s fault. Not my classmates, my teachers, my counselors, or my family’s. But the lack of open conversation about mental illness here at Lowell is a huge problem for students like me who are struggling. Feeling like the only failure among 2000 future world leaders when you can’t help but hate yourself is exhausting. The reality is I’m not the only one who’s struggling, and I’m not the only one who stayed quiet. Stigma around mental illness has kept me and others silent for too long. Lowell didn’t cause my anxiety and depression, and neither did my peers here. But, I could have gotten help sooner if we had had open, honest conversation about mental health from the start. v
It didn’t occur to me that my lack of motivation, isolation, anger, anxiety, sadness, and apathy could be because of mental illness.
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LAUREN CALDWELL
FEATURE
Off the road: Senior crosscountry mountain biker races against the mainstream By Allison Jou
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Above: Senior Liam Gima-Lange is one of only two cross country mountain bike racers at Lowell. He has been competing on the San Francisco Composite team since his freshman year.
“Mud is like no object at this point. I would slather myself in it if I had to.” Right: Gima-Lange races through the Monterey hills during the Laguna Seca Norcal High School Cycling League race on March 10. 18
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ross country mountain biking is not for the faint of heart. Being covered head to toe in mud while biking through steep trails in the wilderness sounds torturous to almost anyone. But senior cross country mountain biker Liam GimaLange doesn’t mind. In fact, he embraces it. “Mud is like no object at this point,” he said. “I would slather myself in it if I had to.” For four years, Gima-Lange has been riding with the San Francisco Composite team, which competes in the Norcal High School Cycling League. Gima-Lange started mountain biking with his parents when he was young. He then joined SF Composite in his freshman year. Although a family friend introduced him to the team, it was his teammates who convinced him to stay and start racing more seriously. In past years, Gima-Lange has proven himself to be one of the strongest riders on his team, placing 21st in the freshman division, seventh in the sophomore division and tenth in the junior varsity division championships. Despite feeling hesitant about competing in the varsity division, Gima-Lange is still aiming to place in the top ten and beat his teammate, Urban High School senior Kai Dalton. “I’m in varsity now and it’s full of very very strong riders,” GimaLange said. “So I’m not sure, I’m just kind of like in the middle, which is fine.” Throughout this season, he has shown improvement, moving up from 17th place out of 26 in his first two races to 13th place out of 25 in the next, and 11th place out of 20 in his latest race. In order to survive the grueling races, often filled with rough terrain and unpredictable obstacles, a cross country mountain biker has to be prepared for just about anything. Races can vary significantly depending on the course: some are hot and dusty while others are muddy and rocky. “I’ve gotten poison oak, I’ve fallen off my bike many times, I have scars on my knees,” Gima-Lange said.
ERIC GUSTAFSON
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To Gima-Lange, racing is both painful and exhilarating. One of the hardest challenges of racing are the steep hills. “You’re climbing a lot of the time, which is really rough,” he explained. But wherever there is an uphill, there is a downhill, which, according to Gima-Lange, is the best part of biking. “You kind of fly downhill at such awesome speeds, there’s a thrill, there’s kind of a rush,” he said. Although navigating through rocks and roots can be intimidating, especially for beginners, the technical skills required to get around obstacles can be gained through practice and experience. Racing is as mentally challenging as it is physically challenging. During his hourand-a-half-long races, Gima-Lange has a lot of time to think. He thinks a lot about Below: Covered in mud and reeling from the heat, Gima-Lange on his way to finishing 11th at the Six Sigma race.
how much pain he’s in and fights feelings of anxiety and doubt, oftentimes asking himself why he continues to race. “I mean, it’s usually just anxiety about the person behind me, or anxiety about the person I want to catch up with,” Gima-Lange said. However, his setbacks motivate him to train harder and he always ends a race in a positive mindset. Gima-Lange works hard with his team and, after four years on SF Composite, has grown close to his 15 teammates, despite the fact most of them attend different schools and have varying skill levels. “It’s just like a bunch of friends riding their bikes around,” he said. Gima-Lange recalled a memorable instance where he finished a race tied for third place with teammate Dalton. As he approached the end of the race, Gima-Lange found himself right next to his friend, and they held hands and crossed the finish line. Led by a group of volunteer coaches, the San Francisco Composite team practices
two days a week during the racing season, usually meeting up at either Golden Gate Park or Mount Sutro to ride for about an hour and a half. Gima-Lange spends the other three days out of the school week, as well as the weekend, training by himself on longer rides; he also bikes to school most days. Although his schedule seems busy, Gima-Lange considers it to be no more challenging than being in other sports. “My schedule’s pretty tame compared to a lot of other people,” he said. Although Gima-Lange’s high school days are coming to an end, his passion for biking isn’t. He plans to join a road cycling team and continue biking at UC Santa Cruz. Throughout the years, biking has taught him how to work hard and push through obstacles in his life. “Biking is one of the first things that I’ve put a lot of time and effort into,” Gima-Lange said. “It’s like a gauge of how much I can put into something that I’m passionate about, and how hard I’m willing to work for it.”
PHOTO COURTESY OF @UPWARDPROGRESS
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an average of 404 riders a year. (There is also a Socal High School Cycling league. Both are part of the National Interscholastic Cycling Association.) One of these 404 riders is freshman Keil Fehlberg, who joined the SF Composite team this year, effectively doubling Lowell’s participation in the sport. Fehlberg joined SF Composite after hearing about the team from a coach’s daughter. Although Fehlberg had previously been encouraged from a young age by his parents to start cycling recreationally, he did not start biking and competing seriously until this
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year, when he joined the SF Composite team. Fehlberg has made sacrifices in order to balance biking, extracurriculars and Lowell academics. “[Biking is] more of a hobby, but I’m serious about that hobby,” he said. Gima-Lange encourages anyone interested in biking to just come to practice with SF Composite. “When [people] come to practice and they see what practices are like, pretty much all of them, so far, decide to be a part of it, because it’s something that’s amazing to watch and it’s something that’s really fun to be a part of,” he said. v
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something that I’m passionate about, and how hard I’m willing to work for it.” Gima-Lange hopes that cross country mountain biking might be considered a mainstream sport someday. “I just wish people knew more about cross country mountain biking, just to begin with,” Gima-Lange said. “And if they knew, then they could try it out and see how fun it is, because it’s so fun.” His hope may soon become a reality, as over the past few years, high school mountain bike racing has been growing quickly. The Norcal league alone is gaining
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