The Lowell Newsmagazine April 2019 by The Lowell

April 2019

WHO GETS IN?

Cover: Photo by Susan Wong

CHRISTINA JOHNSON

By Christina Johnson

Underwater Hockey: Lesser-known sport on the rise

PHOTO COURTESY OF GLOBAL CITIZEN YEAR

By Shannon Chang

By Io Gilman, Tess Randall

ONLINE EXCLUSIVES

Filling the gap: Alumna shares the experience of a gap year in India

PHOTOS: “Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street”

PHOTO COURTESY OF SYDNEY LI

Keeping My Head Up: My Battle With Anxiety

SUSAN WONG

PHOTOS: Spring Rally 2019

By Rae Wymer

By Lauren Caldwell, Chiristina Kan, Andrea Tran, Susan Wong WARREN QUAN

VISIT THE WEBSITE: THELOWELL.ORG

CONTENT

Lowell

EDITORIAL: SHADOWING POLICY

The

By Sophia Shen

Staff

COLUMN: YOUR FREEDOM IS FALSE By Lee Wilcox

Columns Editor | Olivia Moss Assistant Editor | Kate Green

PHOTOS: SPRING LOOKBOOK By Lauren Caldwell, Nathan Yee, Xaria Lubensky, Kimberly Yee

By Seamus Geoghegan

@THELOWELL t h el owe lln ews @g mail .c o m

Sports Editors | Susan Wong | Jocelyn Xie

By Anna Kaplan

NEWS: A LAYUP TOWARDS UNITY: LOWELL HOSTS ANNUAL SPECIAL OLYMPICS

Web Managers | Brandon Bui | Connie Liu Social Media Managers | Ashley Franco | Richard Soong

By Trevor Higgins, Io Gilman

By Emily Sobelman

NEWS FEATURE: SHOPLIFTERS WILL NOT BE PROSECUTED By Allister Xu

Multimedia Editor | Christina Johnson

Business Managers | Jacquline Ruan | Anson Tan

PROFILE FEATURE: FROM STUDENTS TO SERVICEWOMEN

OPINION: WHY I LOVE SALT FAT ACID HEAT

News Editors | Michelle Kim | Emily Sobelman | Olivia Sohn

Opinions Editors | Allison Dummel | Sofia Woo

By Sofia Woo

Editors-in-Chief | Olivia Sohn | Susan Wong

COVER: LOWELL ADMISSIONS: WHO GETS IN?

OPINION: WHY I SUPPORT LEGACY ADMISSIONS

Advisor | Eric Gustafson

Accolades 2018 NSPA Print Pacemaker Finalist 2014 NSPA Online Pacemaker 2012 NSPA Print Pacemaker 2011 NSPA All-American 2011 NSPA Online Pacemaker 2009 NSPA First Class Honors 2007 NSPA Web Pacemaker 2007 CSPA Gold Crown

EDITORIAL

Shedding light on Lowell’s shadowing policy

ntering Lowell, you are a little fish in a big pond. The first few months can be brutal academically and socially, and hurdling into freshman year with no idea what to expect can make it much worse. However, some students do know what’s ahead. A small population of eighth graders are able to shadow Lowell every year with friends and family members, leaving the playing field unequal. We should reimplement a shadowing program to combat this problem. As of now, shadowing at Lowell sits in a gray area. There is no official way for students to sign up for shadowing, but those who have connections within the school are able to shadow friends or family. This wasn’t always the case; Lowell offered shadowing several years ago, but the administration shut down the program because the demand for it was too high. Now the school only officially offers tours and Eighth Grade Night. Several other public high schools in San Francisco, including Ruth Asawa SOTA, Abraham Lincoln, George Washington, and various private schools, allow eighth graders to shadow before they send in their applications every December. This process immerses students in the school’s community, whereas school tours only scratch the surface of the complex high school experience. Principal Andrew Ishibashi, who made the final decision to discontinue shadowing, was mainly concerned with Lowell’s inability to accommodate all prospective shadows. “Lowell is a very popular school, and we couldn’t accept everybody,” he said. According to Ishibashi’s approximation, Lowell used to receive 3,000 shadowing applications and had to reject at least half. Ishibashi was specifically concerned about refusing minority students. “If the door is closed in your face when you already feel like people don’t care, and like you’re not wanted at a school like Lowell, that’s hurtful,” he said. Ishibashi recalled trying multiple methods to expand the number of shadows Lowell could host, but the influx became a space issue and a distraction. He ultimately decided that shadowing was too much of a strain on the Lowell community. While Ishibashi’s sentiment towards minorities is appreciated, eliminating shadowing has in some ways been harder on minority students. With no policy in place, Lowell students have begun hosting shadows without the administration’s consent. Within this unofficial system, you can only shadow Lowell if you know someone attending the school, often a family member. This requirement of knowing a Lowellite in order to shadow restricts prospective Latinx and African American students, given that these groups combined only comprise 12 percent of our student body, according to the Lowell High School Profile 2017-2018. In addition, shadows of minority races are more recognizable as non-Lowell students because the population of their ethnicity at Lowell is so small. One anonymous sophomore encountered this issue while hosting an African American shadow. “If you see someone who is African American, it’s really easy to recognize that they don’t go to the school,” she said. She was reprimanded for bringing an unauthorized shadow on campus by a security guard who identified her shadow as a non-Lowellite. As for the distraction factor, the issue could be reduced by simply accepting fewer students, instead of attempting to host as many shadows as possible. That way, shadowing would be less frequent and disruptive. Though some families may be upset about not being able to shadow, letting in some students is better than none. By developing a concrete policy instead of leaving students to

their own devices, the administration could dictate a specific set of rules for shadows’ behavior. Sophomore Mark Verzhbinsky agrees on the benefits of clearer guidelines. Verzhbinsky shadowed his older sister and admitted he probably distracted her classmates, who were interested in meeting their friend’s brother. He believes this problem would be eliminated if students shadowed random volunteers, keeping the process impersonal. In order to keep the system more equal, shadows could be chosen through a lottery system. That would eliminate the inequity surrounding the way students can shadow now. Lowellites who have shadowed multiple schools claim that they gained a lot of good insights from shadowing. Freshman Virginia McDonough, who shadowed multiple private schools as an eighth grader, appreciated having the ability to shadow. “It gave me a better view of the classrooms and how I would fit in to the school,” she said. “It showed me whether or not I liked the teaching style or how I would do in the environment.” In a survey conducted by The Lowell in March that aimed to collect student data and opinions about the usefulness of shadowing, other students responded similarly to McDonough. “You learn so much about the people and it helps you determine whether you can picture yourself there or not,” one student said. Another said shadowing “created a more genuine idea of the student experience.” McDonough wishes she could have shadowed at Lowell, finding the information she gleaned from attending Eighth Grade Night insufficient. Because of her lack of exposure to the school, she felt confused upon entering freshman year. “I didn’t get to know where anything was or experience any of the classes [during Eighth Grade Night]. That was kind of hard,” McDonough said. Verzhbinsky contrasted shadowing other schools with touring Lowell, outlining the differences between the experiences. “It’s either looking in from the outside through a filter, or actually being on the inside,” he said. In addition to helping prospective students gauge their compatibility with the community, McDonough believes that a shadowing program at Lowell could help clear up some misconceptions. Lowell is seen as a rigorous academic environment, and allowing eighth graders to shadow could illuminate other aspects besides our competitive nature. “[Shadows] could see what other students are actually like, what the classrooms are like...It’s not just people studying and crying in the bathrooms,” McDonough said. While many like McDonough find Lowell less intense than expected, for some the opposite is true. Lowell is stressful, and understanding that sometimes requires seeing the workload and classes with one’s own eyes. The aforementioned survey by The Lowell revealed that seeing difficult academics first-hand would have dissuaded some applicants. “Seeing how crowded it is all the time, how classes work compared to other schools...might have made me reconsider,” one student said. “If I [had] shadowed, I probably wouldn’t be at Lowell,” another said. Though the former shadowing policy was discontinued with good intentions, eliminating a program because not everyone can be accepted is not a reasonable solution. Lowell doesn’t shut down because we can’t accept all ninth grade applicants, so why should we follow such a cut-and-dry policy when it comes to other aspects of our school? Even if we can’t accept everybody, the experience gained by those who shadow, whether positive or negative, greatly helps them along in the high school admissions process. We shouldn’t rob those students of this golden opportunity. v

CARTOON

The School That Cried Fire Drills

TO THE EDITOR Dear readers of The Lowell, In elementary school, we once had options such as canned fruit juices and chicken tenders (not exactly very tasty, but it is what it is). Today, these same options would be absolutely banned from being offered in school cafeterias, with the school district’s pretentious notion that cutting these choices would cure obesity and diet-related diseases. It is very ineffective, as many Lowell students would much rather grab a snack at an on-campus vending machine or a fast-food meal from the local malls. Back in April 2015, the Board of Education passed a new “Wellness Policy”, in which it promises to “explore ways to phase out chocolate milk”. When the school district did phase out chocolate milk during the 2017-2018 school year, I was outraged. Each carton of chocolate milk that the district had served contained less than only 2 teaspoons of sugar, yet they removed it from the menu. The SFUSD Student Nutrition Services claim that many students will convert to white milk “without complaint”, but ever since chocolate milk disappeared from my school cafeterias, I have yet to even touch a carton of white milk, let alone drink it. The new “healthier” school lunches have driven away students from the cafeterias to the malls near campus, as well as on-campus vending machines, which renders the new and “healthier” school lunch to be ineffective in promoting the district’s agenda of good eating habits and improved overall physical wellness. Many students could walk off campus to Lakeshore Plaza or Stonestown with ease at any given time and acquire a meal that is far more unhealthy than any school lunch The Lowell is published by the journalism classes of Lowell High School. All contents copyright Lowell High School journalism classes. All rights reserved. The Lowell strives to inform the public and to use its opinion sections as open forums for debate. All unsigned editorials are opinions of the staff. The Lowell welcomes comments on school-related issues from students, faculty and community members. Send letters to the editors to thelowellnews@gmail.com. Names will be withheld

could ever dream of becoming. On the same campus of this school, whose district emphasizes healthier school lunches, one could find quite a few vending machines; almost all of them contain an assortment of chips and fruit snack candies; a certain vending machine even contains various types of “diet” sodas and other sweetened beverages. Now how is this healthy eating? Even the fruit options that our school district kindly provides, which are supposedly “healthy”, are frequently laden with preservatives. I’ve seen the cafeteria workers empty out diced pineapple, melon, and watermelon chunks from a can. And the fruit cups that can be found in the cafeteria several times a week nowadays contain a good amount of preservative syrups, which are not exactly healthy. The overreaction of “healthifying” our school lunches is not effective: students are driven away from the cafeteria to alternative sources of unhealthy foods, and the options provided by the district aren’t necessarily the healthiest choices either. Instead of following rigid guidelines that result in disgusting meals that satisfies no one, perhaps the district should loosen these nutritional guidelines and allow for slightly more flavorful options as well as more caloric content that satisfies the hunger of us hardworking students. In other words, making school lunches just “slightly unhealthier” and more filling provides a better solution towards drawing kids to eating the school lunches, leading to better eating habits and improved overall physical wellness. Henry Lei, Lowell Class of 2019 upon request. We reserve the right to edit letters before publication. The Lowell is a student-run publication distributed to thousands of readers including students, parents, teachers and alumni. All advertisement profits fund our newsmagazine issues. To advertise online or in print, email thelowellads@yahoo.com. Contact us: Lowell High School 1101 Eucalyptus Drive San Francisco, CA 94132 415-759-2730 or at thelowellnews@gmail.com

The Lowell April 2019

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COVER

“I

t’s been an issue for many years about African American and Latino attendance at Lowell,” San Francisco Board of Education vice president Mark Sanchez said at an October 9, 2018 school board meeting. “[But] there’s a bigger issue that we don’t tend to talk a lot about which is whether [the San Francisco Unified School District] is following the law in actually how we enter kids into Lowell. That’s the discussion that we really should be having with the public and with ourselves.” This comment, as well as others made by school board members and featured in local newspapers, such as the San Francisco Chronicle, has put Lowell’s admissions policy under fire once again, with the controversial topic pitting district officials against Lowell students and alumni. The question of the legality of Lowell’s admissions process is centered around a section of the California Education Code which states that the acceptance policy for a comprehensive high school, such as Lowell, must ensure “that selection of pupils to enroll in the school is made through a random, unbiased process that prohibits an evaluation of whether a pupil should be enrolled based upon his or her academic or athletic performance.” With the matter currently under review by attorneys for SFUSD, the Board stoked the flames of the smoldering situation when its members voted unanimously on October 9 to make an amendment to Lowell’s admissions policy. This revision is paving the way for students from one significantly under-enrolled and academically struggling middle school to gain admittance to Lowell in the hope that the policy shift might help to attract more applicants to this middle school. The admissions policy for Lowell has been the subject of controversy ever since it was put into place in 1966. In the early to mid-1960s, the number of applicants to Lowell began to exceed the capacity that the school’s physical structure could accommodate. To avoid over-enrollment, SFUSD instituted a GPA-based admissions policy. Since that time, variations of Lowell’s admissions policy have been debated within the SFUSD community and also challenged in court. The legal saga began in 1978 when the San Francisco branch of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People

v The Lowell April 2019

DATA COURTESY OF LOWELL HIGH SCHOOL (SFNAACP), along with a group of African American parents in San Francisco, filed a lawsuit against SFUSD, then-Superintendent Robert Alioto, the San Francisco and California boards of education, the State Superintendent of Public Instruction and the State Department of Education. The SFNAACP charged the defendants with participating in racially discriminatory practices and maintaining a segregated school system in San Francisco. A 1983 consent decree settlement of the lawsuit provided that no racial or ethnic group could exceed 45 percent of the student body at any traditional school or 40 percent at any “alternative” school in San Francisco. As a result, in 1985, SFUSD implemented a race-based admissions policy at Lowell with the goal of creating a more equal distribution of ethnicities, as the school’s student body was largely Asian-American. Lowell was classified as an “alternative” school under this decree, and thus had to cap the number of students of any ethnicity or race at 40 percent. Given the significant number of Asian-American students attending Lowell at the time, these applicants would have to score significantly higher on the Comprehensive Test of Basic Skills and have a higher GPA than students of other races to gain acceptance to Lowell under this new admissions policy. By the 1990s, the 40 percent quota was

INFOGRAPHICS BY ANITA LIU

becoming increasingly difficult for district officials to enforce at Lowell, given the dramatic rise in the number of Asian-American students then living in San Francisco who also qualified for admission to Lowell. Consequently, in 1993, the cutoff test score for admittance to Lowell for Asian-American students jumped to an all-time high, while scores for Caucasian, Latinx and African American students remained the same, resulting in dozens of Asian-American students being rejected from Lowell despite having scores well above those students in other racial groups. In a 1994 lawsuit, Ho v. San Francisco Unified School District, the Asian American Legal Foundation and a group of parents from the Chinese American American Democratic Club challenged the use of racial quotas to limit the enrollment of Asian-American students in San Francisco public schools. As an outcome of the suit, SFUSD agreed to create a new “diversity index” system for admissions to all public schools. The “diversity index” would consider a variety of other factors, including socioeconomic background, mother’s educational level, academic achievement, language spoken at home and English learner status, rather than a student’s race. For Lowell, then-Superintendent Bill Rojas proposed a new admissions policy, which entailed the establishment of a single academic entrance criterion for students of all ethnicities and

DATA FROM THE CALIFORNIA DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION that SFUSD identifies students who have demonstrated a pattern of achievement and who will benefit from the unique and challenging program at Lowell, while providing welcoming, equal access to all students with the potential for success at Lowell.” Through the current band system, applicants to Lowell can be accepted through one of three bands: Band One, through which

So, I feel like [the Board] is just throwing something on the plate that we can eat for now and we’ll deal with the rest of it later. and went into effect for the 1996-97 academic year. Under the new policy, all students would now be required to score 63 out of a possible 69 points to be admitted to Lowell, except for students residing in public housing or on public assistance, who would be required to score above 50 points to be admitted to Lowell. Five years later, in 2001, Lowell’s current “three-band” admissions policy was put into place by the SFUSD Taskforce on Admissions to Lowell High School and School of the Arts. According to a historical summary about the policy from SFUSD, “The Taskforce believed that [the band system]… will ensure

70 percent of incoming freshmen are admitted; Band Two, through which an additional 15 percent of incoming freshmen are admitted; or Band Three, through which the final 15 percent of incoming freshmen are admitted. Band One admission is based solely on a student’s GPA in the seventh grade and the first semester of eighth grade, along with the score earned on the Smarter Balanced Assessment Consortium (SBAC) for students applying from public schools, or the Lowell Admissions Test for students applying from private schools. Students admitted through Band Two will also have been admitted based

Brown students may provide an incentive for more SFUSD families to send their children to the middle school. “One thing it could do is it could make Willie Brown a more integrated school and a more robust school,” Sanchez said. “It’s a school that can hold 600 to 800 kids and it has fewer than 300 [382 per the most recent statistics from the California Department of Education]… So, I think that having this policy for Willie Brown will be really helpful over time to make it more diverse.” In February, Sanchez was already beginning to see such potential positive effects, with 100 students applying to Willie Brown

The Lowell April 2019

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SPREAD DESIGN BY ALLISON DUMMEL AND SUSAN WONG

races. However, in order to comply with a federal desegregation plan, about 20 percent of applicants to Lowell would come from families on public assistance and/or residing in public housing. This pool would be judged partly on their academic record, but also on involvement in clubs, sports, hobbies and community work. Rojas’ proposal was approved unanimously by the Board of Education in February 1996

on their GPA and SBAC results or Lowell Admissions Test scores. However, with lower GPAs and test scores than students qualifying through Band One, these Band Two students are admitted with consideration to a third criterion that includes elements such as community service, socioeconomic status and ability to overcome hardship. Students gaining admission through Band Three must come from San Francisco public or private schools currently underrepresented among the student body at Lowell. On October 9, 2018, the Board of Education revised the Band Three policy to stipulate that, unlike other Band Three schools that have a cap on the number of students who can be admitted to Lowell, all students from Willie L. Brown Jr. Middle School who qualify under Band Three will be accepted to Lowell regardless of their overrepresentation or underrepresentation at the high school. Sanchez says the key goal of the policy amendment is to increase both enrollment and racial diversity at Willie Brown, a middle school in which 76 percent of the student body is socioeconomically disadvantaged, and the majority of students are African American (35.9 percent) and Hispanic (28.8 percent). He says that guaranteed acceptance to Lowell through Band Three for qualifying Willie

COVER 1966: GPA-based admissions policy first implemented at Lowell 1971: Berkelman v. SFUSD 1978: SFNAACP v. SFUSD 1979: SF School Board approved change to Lowell admissions policy September 1981: Money Magazine announces Lowell as one of the top 12 public high schools 1983: Consent decree settlement of the SFNAACP lawsuit 1985: SFUSD implemented a racebased admissions policy at Lowell with the goal of creating a more equal distribution of race 1994: Ho v. SFUSD February 1996: Proposal by then-Superintendent Bill Rojas 2001: Band system implemented at Lowell

for the 2019-20 academic year as opposed to the typical 60 students of previous years. However, in the eyes of many Lowell students, including senior Chris Ying, this latest adjustment to their school’s admissions policy amounts to one more step toward dismantling the Lowell meritocracy. “There’s nothing wrong with awarding people for the work that they do and the work they put in,” Ying said. “If the numbers suggest that you have been putting in work and you have been putting in the effort that other people don’t put in, then I think that you should be rewarded with that and you should be able to go to a higher school where you can learn even more and be able to experience education on a different level with people who are just as passionate as you are about learning.” The fear of Ying and other students that Lowell could become a watered down academic high school originates from what they know about the academic reputation of Willie Brown, which is currently ranked in the bottom 5 percent of California public schools. “You have to take a look at whether or not this could be used as a slippery slope, in the sense that you admit a couple [Willie Brown students] based off this and then we expand it into other schools that are not performing that high,” Ying said. “We target the schools because they are minority heavy and then you have to start asking yourself, okay, Willie Brown was just a drop in the bucket, but if we’re just continuously pouring water into the bucket, then maybe we’ll see some of the negative effects.” From the Board’s standpoint, Sanchez is confident that such concerns will not come to pass. “It’s such a small percentage of 10 or 11 kids so [the policy] will have an impact on Willie Brown in a positive way and

it’ll be negligible on Lowell’s side,” he said. Numbers aside, many Lowell students, including sophomore co-president of the Black Student Union Shavonne HinesFoster, are concerned that the Board is not making a thoughtful effort to ensure that the students from Willie Brown and other lowperforming middle schools succeed once they are enrolled at Lowell. “I feel like now everyone is just targeting Lowell because of the low diversity rate,” Hines-Foster said. “So, I feel like [the Board] is just throwing something on the plate that we can eat for now and we’ll deal with the rest of it later.” To help those students who are from schools and racial groups that are currently underrepresented at Lowell, Lowell Alumni Association (LAA) president John Trasviña says the LAA has proposed to SFUSD implementing a program in which tutoring and necessary academic preparation would be given to students wishing to apply to Lowell. This “mentoring program” would be offered to students starting in the fifth and sixth grades, so that by eighth grade, they would have grades and test scores that would give them a higher chance of gaining admission to Lowell. “We would work with [the district] so that the schools could identify students of promise who come from backgrounds that are not well represented here at Lowell,” Trasviña said. “[We would] start with them three years in advance to give them the kind of mentoring, tutoring and preparation so that they would get a greater familiarity with Lowell High School, with Lowell students, with Lowell programs, whether it’s the play, or whether it’s sports, or whether it’s with different organizations so that students would feel that this is what it takes to get into Lowell.”

ILLUSTRATION BY VALENTIN NGUYEN

v The Lowell April 2019

DATA COURTESY OF LOWELL HIGH SCHOOL

INFOGRAPHIC BY ANITA LIU

class of 2005 and now a special assistant to the superintendent for African American achievement and leadership, says that African American and Latinx students are often reluctant to apply to Lowell due to the small number of students of their race currently attending Lowell. However, he believes that the revised Band Three policy will bring more African American and Latinx students into Lowell, helping to gradually erase the stigma surrounding the high school. “There are a lot of students that feel like Lowell is not for them based on who they see going to the school,” Dickey said. “I think that just seeing an increase in the numbers of underrepresented students that are able to attend Lowell will start to change the narrative around Lowell.” In an attempt to help ensure the success of the seven Willie Brown graduates joining the Lowell student body next fall, the Lowell administration will introduce to them, and other underrepresented students, three programs principal Andrew Ishibashi has established to help provide academic and social support to African American, Latinx, Filipino and Pacific Islander students. Since he joined Lowell in 2007, Ishibashi has been actively recruiting African American, Latinx, Filipino and Pacific Islander students. Every academic year, before applications to Lowell become available, Ishibashi reviews a list of every Latinx, African American, Filipino and Pacific Islander student in SFUSD who has at least a 3.0 GPA. He then sends letters to the families of those students, encouraging them to meet with him and have their student apply to Lowell. Ishibashi also assists African American, Latinx, Filipino and Pacific Islander

BAND ONE

Student’s GPA in the 7th grade and the first semester of 8th grade Score earned on the SBAC for students applying from public schools or the Lowell Admissions Test for students applying from private schools

BAND TWO

Based on their GPA and SBAC results or Lowell Admissions Test scores Admitted with consideration to a third criterion that includes elements such as: • community service • socioeconomic status • ability to overcome hardship

BAND THREE

Must come from currently underrepresented SF public or private schools The Lowell April 2019

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Ultimately, Trasviña believes that such a program should begin even earlier than fifth grade. “What needs to be done is to increase the academic offerings for all students at all schools, starting at grade one if not earlier,” he said. “Developing that pipeline would enable students to have the necessary preparation and grade level attainment that would then make them qualify for Lowell and make them be competitive for the admissions process.” Freshman Kuresa Liu, a graduate of Willie Brown, says that coming to Lowell has indeed been a big adjustment academically and socially. “At Willie Brown, a lot of times the teachers would go through their lessons, but they would kind of give up on those who didn’t want to listen,” he said. “There would be a lot of goofing off in the class while the teacher was teaching and it was a little bit of a struggle trying to learn. I was kind of one of those people who goofed off, so academically, coming here was a lot different because it’s a lot more serious.” Liu, who is Polynesian, was “kind of worried I wouldn’t find many people like me,” he said. “I was worried about sticking out.” He also was fearful about telling his classmates that he had attended Willie Brown. “I’m aware that Willie Brown isn’t the greatest of schools, like there are a lot of fights,” he said. “In my head, I thought that if I told people that I came from that school, they would think differently of me, that I’m like those types of people who are aggressive and mean.” Now, more than halfway through his first year at Lowell, Liu, who has forged friendships through the Lowell Polynesian Club and his classes, feels comfortable at the school. Landon Dickey, a member of Lowell’s

families with their applications to Lowell. His efforts have paid off to some degree, with the number of Latinx students attending Lowell doubling since he became principal. However, the African American, Filipino and Pacific Islander student population at Lowell has remained relatively unchanged. Board of Education vice president Sanchez recognizes that SFUSD has much work to be done concerning Lowell, its admissions policy and the perceptions around racial disparity. He also acknowledges that the responsibility for the situation as it stands today lies with San Francisco’s policymakers. “It’s not the students’ fault, it’s not the teachers’ fault, it’s not Lowell’s fault, it’s not the [Lowell] Alumni Association’s fault,” he said. “It’s our fault as the policymakers, as the people who are charged by the public to ensure that our district is equitable and fair-minded and leading us in a positive direction for all of our students.” Although the debate has settled down for now, given the history surrounding Lowell’s admissions policy, it’s just a matter of time before the issue resurfaces. Finding a balance between academic rigor and racial diversity is a goal SFUSD and much of the Lowell community wants to achieve, but how to achieve that goal remains elusive.v

FEATURE

SPRING LOOKBOOK BY LAUREN CALDWELL, XARIA LUBENSKY, KIMBERLY YEE AND NATHAN YEE

“People can hate on me, but I definitely did not hate the dad shoe trend.”

Verzhbinsky is wearing: Kirkland striped button up dress shirt Apartment Nine orange polo Banana Republic khakis Gifted chain UNIQLO socks Tyler the Creator Golf Le Fleur One Stars

MARK VERZHBINSKY

SOPHOMORE

v The Lowell April 2019

XARIA LUBENSKY

AJ DOROLIAT SENIOR

“My hope for a career is to open up a shop where I make my own clothes with three of my closest friends.”

LAUREN CALDWELL

The Lowell April 2019

SPREAD DESIGN BY ANITA LIU

Doroliat is wearing: Revenge t-shirt Gnarcotic hoodie Levi’s jean jacket Adidas sweatpants Suicoke slippers

v 13

“I just feel like fashion is something you can just do everyday.”

TIFFANY YAU SENIOR

Yau is wearing: Boohoo tops Fila Disruptors sneakers Urban Outfitters pants

v The Lowell April 2019

KIMBERLY YEE

“I draw inspiration mostly from a concept of efficiency and simplicity.”

JUSTIN YANG

SOPHOMORE

SPREAD DESIGN BY ANITA LIU

Yang is wearing: Corduroy gray zippered jacket Aimé Leon Dore sweatshirt Olive Chinos Nike FOG Skylon II

NATHAN YEE

The Lowell April 2019

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FEATURE

F R O M STUDENT S T O

Angela Huang, Westpoint Naval Academy

“I

t’s kind of crazy,” said senior Angela Huang. “Literally one signature and the next five, ten years are given to the military.” In November 2018, Huang signed documents finalising her admission to the Westpoint Naval Academy. Through her experience with the United States Naval Sea Cadets Corps (USNSCC) program, Huang understands the commitment and dedication involved with joining the military and is excited for the experience. When she was younger, Huang never believed she would join the military but after beginning the USNCC program, Huang’s interest for joining the military was piqued. She enjoyed the structure that the program provided, and loved the authentic military experiences it provided her. “I did pretty well in the program so it started raising my interest for military lifestyle,” she said. West Point is known as a prestigious and highly respected military academy that turns bright students into trained professionals. “I was considering the naval academy but after going on my recruiting trips, I liked West Point more,” Huang said. Huang’s experience as a varsity swimmer made her an optimal candidate for Westpoint. “USMA was

v The Lowell April 2019

By Trevor Higgins

looking for swimmers to recruit and I stood out to them,” she said. Huang has received support from her friends and family who recognize the great accomplishments that can be achieved in the military. Her mother has been especially supportive, acknowledging the long-term benefits of joining the armed forces. Huang believes there are many misconceptions about the military. “People think you have to be this really muscular person, headstrong and like a lot of yelling, but a lot of [the strength] is mental,” she said. While Huang believes she can face the physical challenges of being an officer, due to her experience as a varsity swimmer, she acknowledges that there is a careful balance between physical and mental strength that must be maintained in order to be successful. Another misconception Huang observes is about the typical gender stereotypes surrounding enlistment and military involvement. According to her, many people often assume that if an individual is joining the military, they are likely male. “When my mom would talk about [me joining the military] they would all think that she had a son, which was kind of annoying, but it’s expected.” Huang said. Huang believes that everyone has the ability to push themselves, both physically and mentally, to succeed in the military. v

“People think you have to be this really muscular person, headstrong and like a lot of yelling, but a lot of [the strength] is mental.”

ANDREA TRAN

SERVICEWOMEN

“A

lot of people were really surprised,” senior Charlotte Haber said. “Who goes into the military from San Francisco?” This is was the response she got when she told her friends and family that she was planning on joining the Navy. Haber believes this is the right choice for her future because of her passion for community service, as well as all the opportunities attached to serving in the Navy. However, Haber will not be joining the military as soon as she graduates. Haber has received a Naval Reserve Officers’ Training Corps (NROTC) scholarship, and she will go to Virginia Tech to get her degree. While in college, Haber will do officer training and be a member of the ROTC. She hopes that after she graduates, these experiences will allow her to become a Navy officer. Haber first became interested in joining the military in eighth grade. At that time, she was trying to figure out what do to with her life. Haber knew that she wanted her career to involve community service, because it had always been important to her. “I was one of those little kids that always wanted to be a firefighter or something

[like that],” she said. So for Haber, joining the Navy is a natural continuation of that desire to serve. “It’s a way to be involved in my community and country on a larger scale,” she said. Though Haber is convinced this decision is the right one, other were quite as sure. Haber’s mother was not in favor of her joining the military at first, but Haber’s unwavering determination to join eventually convinced her. “By the time I was [thinking about] applying to colleges, and I told my mom I was applying to the Naval Academy, she was okay with it. She had four years to get used it it,” she said. Haber has generally found people to be accepting of her decision, but she also thinks that many people have misconceptions about the military. “The stereotype is that a person enlists into the Army not knowing what they’re getting themselves into,” she said. However, Haber believes that people should do research so they will have a better understanding of the military. Haber would encourage anyone interested in the military to investigate it themselves and not listen to the stereotypes too much. “If you really take the time to look into it, there are a lot of different things you can do in the military, there are a lot of different ways people end up joining, and there are a lot of opportunities out there,” she said. v

“It’s a way to be involved in my community and country on a larger scale”

Charlotte Haber, Virginia Tech

By Io Gilman

ANDREA TRAN

The Lowell April 2019

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ANDREA TRAN

FEATURE

sophomore sits down at their usual table in the courtyard to enjoy their free block. A friend brings beef jerky and gum to share, casually throwing them on the table for the group to enjoy. No one bats an eye at the fact that he has just stolen these snacks from the nearby Lucky’s. Knowing a friend who does this regularly is not something unique to this lunch table. During their free blocks, many students head to either Stonestown or Lakeshore Plaza to shoplift. When caught, most suffer little to no consequences, and knowing that they will not face repercussions, keep doing it. Even if their fellow students find out, almost none are ever reported, and the administration doesn’t acknowledge that there is an issue. Lowellites’ majority opinions about shoplifting are apathetic. According to an anonymous survey taken by randomly chosen registries, only 11.5 percent said that they themselves shoplifted, but 54.4 percent said that they knew of someone at Lowell who did shoplift. Fifteen point one percent said that they knew of more than ten people who shoplifted. Eighty-three percent of those said that few of those they knew had ever been caught. The number of those who were punished almost exactly matches the number that were caught. Ninety-nine point three percent of responders never reported shoplifters to adults. Of the most common responses as to why surveyees never reported them, many included the word “snitch,” some variation of “not my business” and “[the shoplifters] are my friends.” Less common responses said that they didn’t report because so many people did it, because of loyalty and because they didn’t think it was an issue or not harming anyone. Most Lowell students steal things they desire, not what they need. Stealing anything from their most common target, snacks, to clothes, to high-risk items like Apple Airpods and hard liquor, they take items that would not reasonably be justified as necessary and unaffordable, or otherwise difficult to obtain. Despite the danger and the fact that their classmates have been aware of their antics for some time, they continue to do it—both during and after school hours.

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GRAPHIC BY SUSAN WONG

By Allister Xu

INFOGRAPHIC BY ANITA LIU DATA FROM A RANDOM SURVEY OF 300 STUDENTS (3 REGISTRIES PER GRADE) CONDUCTED BY THE LOWELL IN MARCH 2019

One student, Tom, a Lowell student who we have given a fake name because he prefers to remain anonymous, has been shoplifting on a regular basis since last year. He claims that he has probably stolen over $3,000 worth of items from Stonestown over just two years, and well over $1,000 in snacks from Target alone. He began stealing when one day, he simply felt hungry but wasn’t carrying any money with him, and took some food and left without paying for it. His minor “snatch-and-runs” quickly turned into a small scheme, and he developed a tried-andtested method of getting items out of Target. He also occasionally resold items stolen from other stores, even managing to resell a total of 6 sets of Apple Airpod wireless headphones, which Apple sells for

$159. However, after the store he took from significantly increased their security, he stopped stealing from Apple. Tom doesn’t see shoplifting as an issue, and even provides encouragement to prospective shoplifters. “If you’re confident that you [won’t] get caught, you should probably start doing it, ’cause it saves money,” Tom said. “If you do get caught, that’s kinda tough, but… just don’t steal like, AirPods. Then if you get caught, you’re f****d.”

only doing so once they are already in a store, according to Patricia Raffini, executive director of Colorado Springs Teen Court. “Most adolescents can’t explain themselves,” said Raffini. “In rare cases, genuine need is the issue. Some are troubled and looking for attention, or lashing out at authority. And many do it to fit in with peers.” To shoplifters, stealing is an isolated crime, strictly between them and the store. However, simply by interacting with them, shoplifting adolescents can influence their peers to shoplift as well, according to a 2016 study conducted in the Netherlands. The study concluded that those who frequently interacted with their peers who committed crimes were themselves more likely to commit crimes, which means that as more

He claims that he has probably stolen over $3,000 worth of items from Stonestown over just two years, and well over $1,000 in snacks from Target alone. One reason for the persistence of stealing is that a majority of youth shoplifters don’t plan to shoplift in advance of committing the crime,

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FEATURE really cares bruh, unless you’re like a snitch,” Tom said. There haven’t been any cases of students reporting Lowell shoplifters, according to Dean David Beauvais. From the survey’s many responses that contained the word ‘snitch’ in them, it’s quite clear that students don’t want to betray their peers. “I know that there’s kind of a culture of ‘snitches get stitches’ and that kind of stuff,” Counselor Cheryl Fong said. “Those who do report do remain anonymous, and we try and make sure that if you guys see something happening then we want to make sure that we know about it just to make sure that you guys are safer.” When asked if he worried about the consequences for his actions, Tom said, “Uh, not really, it’s like, you know those small stores? Those are like, off-limits. But like, Target, it’s like hella big, and it’s like a big-*ss company, it’s fine [to shoplift from], ’cause they don’t really lose that much money.” These large companies are “too big to hurt,” according to Tom. XINGLIN LI

and more students shoplift, more are motivated by their friends to follow suit. To put some numbers into perspective, according to the National Association of Shoplifting Prevention (NASP), 89 percent of American youth know of other youth that shoplift, and 66 percent say that they regularly interact with them. Additionally, a 2011 study from the American Academy of Psychiatry and the Law showed that shoplifting is connected to other problems, like poor grades, behavioral issues and substance abuse. Many Lowell students are aware of their peers stealing. “Every day and every off block I’ve had at Lowell, I’ve known that there is always a lot of kids going down to Target or Lucky’s to shoplift,” sophomore Jack Stern said. Despite this, neither he nor anyone he knows has reported the stealing to anyone. “No one

v The Lowell April 2019

In reality, shoplifting can cause issues for customers of those stores. When stores lose money from shoplifting, they have to offset those losses somehow, by raising store prices, or they may install more security, possibly making customer service worse, according to Neil Kokemuller, a reporter for the Houston Chronicle. Additionally, because a shoplifter isn’t going to pay taxes on the stolen items, the public loses money for government projects, and police and courts have to deal with the frequent shoplifting cases, since there are about 27 million shoplifters in the US according to the NASP. Last year, there were $16.7 billion in losses just from shoplifting, as revealed by the 2018 National Retail Security Survey. Convenience Store News reports a total of $48.9 billion in losses from shoplifting and employee theft combined. Another Lowell student and a friend of Tom’s, Alex, who also asked to remain anonymous, used to shoplift for reasons similar to Tom, but stopped because she felt bad for the stores, was afraid of what would go on her academic record and because she didn’t want to disappoint her parents. “I’ve made a conscious decision to stop shoplifting,” Alex said. Even with the significant amount of Lowell students shoplifting, there is no clear guideline on discipline or prevention, because the school appears to be largely unaware of the scope of the issue. “It’s almost a nonexistent problem,” said Beauvais. “It’s not my number one issue here. Not even close.” Fong estimated that there were fewer than two dozen students who shoplifted at the school. While she could not comment on disciplinary policy for a student found to be stealing, Fong added that, given enough cases, “We would have to probably, as a school, look at the off-campus policies, and see if that privilege needs to be taken away.” However, the great majority of students who responded to the anonymous survey were aggressively against changing off-campus free blocks in any way.

Last year, there were $16.7 billion in losses just from shoplifting, as revealed by the 2018 National Retail Security Survey.

Tom didn’t fear being caught at all, citing the experience of one of his friends who stole vodka from the nearby Lucky’s and got drunk with it at school. “The school can’t really do shit ’cause it’s not on school property,” Tom said. “Cause you know that guy that got drunk? [The school] didn’t do s**t to him, so…I barely steal stuff that isn’t snacks, but I do it a lot, so like, if I

get caught for it, it’ll probably be fine.” Every one of the students interviewed for this article said that they did not fear punishment from the school, because none of their peers were ever heavily punished. However, according to the NASP and Palmer Recovery Attorneys, even if no criminal charges can be brought against students, stores can still

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INFOGRAPHICS BY ANITA LIU

make civil demands against the students, which essentially forces their parents or guardians to pay for what the students stole, even if it was eventually returned. M. Taguinod, a security supervisor at Stonestown, estimated that every day, about eight students are caught shoplifting from a store, and out of those eight, two are normally from Lowell. Stonestown’s response to catching minors with low-value items is to give them a talking-to to try and change their minds, and forcing them to pay for what they tried to steal, according to Taguinod. Then, in order to stop it in the long run, they collect photo and video evidence and other information to present to the minor’s school. “We actually keep communication with them, and we try to work out a solution,” Taguinod said. Beauvais, however, says that the two-a-day number provided by Taguinod is inaccurate. “A lot of times Stonestown’s people think that they’re Lowell students [stealing] when they aren’t,” he said. “I don’t get contacted by stores a lot saying that this is a problem.” Currently, the school doesn’t have a sepecific policy for dealing with student shoplifters. “It’s up to the store to involve any police,” Beauvais said. When a student is caught and it is confirmed that they are from Lowell through video evidence, they are disciplined, which usually entails a call to a parent or guardian. Even though Stonestown security shares video evidence with the school dean, and Principal Ishibashi can request evidence from Stonestown when there is a related incident that comes to his notice, shoplifting is still taking place. Because the administration’s policy is to leave punishment up to the stores and, if necessary, police, when a student is reported to the school, Lowell can do little to keep them from stealing again. Fong suggested that there could be contractual agreements for students to not leave campus if they have been caught shoplifting, which at least would prevent shoplifting during school hours. Shoplifting is not acknowledged as an issue by students and the administration alike. While many students are aware of its prevalence, they don’t see it as a problem. The administration isn’t fully aware of the magnitude of the issue, and, as a result, doesn’t see the need to create distinct policies that discourage it. Until these two sides gain a more complete picture of the issue, the amount of shoplifting by Lowell students is unlikely to decrease. ❖

Your Freedom Is

FALSE By Lee Wilcox

reedom is a big word. If you turn on the news, something you will often hear the talking head boast about is how we live in an open, free society. We’re protected from evil foreign dictators by our military, and from dangerous radicals by our police. The brave men and women in ICE keep out the swarms of immigrants, and our free market allows innovative entrepreneurs to advance our society ever further. No other country is as great as America, the shining example of democracy that the whole world looks up to. Those who dare to criticize anything about this flawless society almost immediately face the accusation of “hating freedom.” But what does that actually mean? If you believe the narrative, freedom is simple. Freedom is Liberal, the freedom for gay people to get married, for a black man to be president, the kind where anyone can be anything with enough Tolerance. Or, alternately, Freedom is American, Godgiven second amendment rights and always successful free-market capitalism, the kind where anyone can become anything with enough Hard Work. The myth of the American Dream at its finest. What else

could there be? A lot, actually. In Colonial times, the United States was a very class-divided society. From 1687 to 1770, the richest one percent of Boston went from owning a quarter of all wealth to just under half, according to American historian Howard Zinn, citing an analysis of Boston tax lists. During the same period, the poverty rate doubled to include nearly a third of the population. High-profile events where aristocrats would grant personal friends millions of acres for the paltry price of 30 shillings a year occurred while 50 percent of servants remained landless (and thus voiceless) after ten years of freedom from their indentured servitude. From Bacon’s Rebellion in 1676 to 1760, there were 18 insurrections with the intent of overthrowing colonial governments, along with six black rebellions and 40 riots of varying origins. Meanwhile, the profits of wealthy merchants were threatened as Britain began to take advantage of the vast wealth tied up in trade via taxes. The solution, though not entirely conscious, came to be a masterstroke–stir the resentment of the colonists and direct it toward Britain;

ILLUSTRATION BY WARREN QUAN

COLUMN direct the wrath of the masses toward an easy scapegoat. But even this universal rhetoric of the grievances laid before Britain was filled with the fears, prejudices and desires of the ruling class. Indeed, the Declaration itself charged King George with inciting domestic revolts and Indian attacks, great fears of the ruling class at the time. Zinn, in his work A People’s History of the United States, had this to say: “In America, too, the reality behind the words of the Declaration of Independence (issued in the same year as Adam Smith’s capitalist manifesto, The Wealth of Nations) was that a rising class of important people needed to enlist on their side enough Americans to defeat England, without disturbing too much the relations of wealth and power that had developed over 150 years of colonial history. Indeed, 69 percent of the signers of the Declaration of Independence had held colonial office under England.” So why is this important? The history of freedom is one of ideology. The American Revolution (and, by extension, the state it created) was never about “freeing” everyone from the tyranny of British rule, it was about preserving the status quo and allowing the wealthy of the time to continue making their profits unmolested. It was used to justify the preservation of a society where the rich solidified their holdings while countless people starved in the streets, and indict the poor for “not working hard enough.” Now let us examine the current state of affairs. According to the U.S. Census Bureau, of the 330 million residents of the U.S., 40.6 million (about 12 percent) live below the poverty line, which is a total annual income of $25,000 for a family of four ($12,228 for an individual). About half of them (21.2 million people, around 6.5 percent) live in “deep poverty,” or make less than half of the poverty line. Another third of the population (95 million people, or 28.8 percent) live in nearpoverty, or make less than twice the poverty line. It should be noted that this is a measuring yardstick, not a measure of how much people actually need to live. That being said, these numbers mean that 41.8 percent of Americans are impoverished to some degree. Now, consider the rich. A commonly cited figure against tax reform is that the top one percent pay half of all taxes, which comes from a 2015 Pew Research Center

Analysis of Internal Revenue Service figures. However, this number accounts for all U.S. residents who make more than $200,000 a year, or the top five percent of earners. This fraction of the population also owns about 70 percent of the wealth (i.e., half of all taxes are paid by the fraction of the population in possession of 30 percent of the wealth), and the top one percent itself owns 40 percent of it, according to economist Edward N. Wolff in his book A Century of Wealth in America. Even among that remaining 30 percent the concentration is top heavy–the top 15 percent below the uppermost 20th own an additional 20 percent of the wealth, meaning 80 percent of the population is in possession of a tenth of the wealth. In addition, the overall top one

education and critical skills means that people born poor are behind from day one. One of the most fundamental claims of American freedom is that of equality of opportunity, otherwise known as the American Dream. This, we are told, is the ultimate form of freedom; free markets. Anyone, so the myth goes, can rise to any position should they put in enough hard work. But can that be taken seriously when we see that, after decades of passively accepting this “truth,” that so few have so much, and so many have so little? Can we really buy that everyone begins from a position of fundamental equality where anyone can achieve anything if they put in the work, when the poor are born disadvantaged and the wealthy have rarely earned their wealth? As philosopher and filmmaker Raoul Martinez observes, “In his 21-minute inaugural speech of 2005, George W. Bush used the words ‘liberty’ or ‘freedom,’ on average, every 30 seconds. Freedom is a banner that has been wrapped tightly around the machinery of capitalism–a call trumpeted at every election, an ideal employed to justify violent dispossession, military invasion, tax cuts for the rich and welfare cuts for the poor. Yet the problem lies not with freedom but with how it has been appropriated to justify its opposite. If we want freedom to be more than empty rhetoric, if we want it to be a core principle around which society is organised, we will have to create it.” All aspects of American society, from education to political races, discourse to foreign policy goals, are steeped in the rhetoric of freedom. As a nation, we are claimed to be Exceptional, possessed of a freedom unknown to more primitive societies. We have a duty to bring the banner of freedom roaring across the uncivilized world, whether they like it or not. And, of course, we cannot forget our devilish enemies, possessed of fearsome armament and evil motivations who will never rest until they destroy us. That is what we should focus on, not our own mounting domestic crises. But the truth is, what we conceive of as freedom is a construct, a fantasy manufactured and fueled by the the very ideology it justifies. It is a tool, used to keep the masses controlled and the opposition slandered. It is the greatest work of fiction ever created. And it must be acknowledged as such, for how else can we go about creating Freedom without rejecting what it is not? v

Those who dare to criticize anything about this flawless society almost immediately face the accusation of “hating freedom.”

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percent receives 82 percent of all new income, according to Oxfam International. So not only do the richest few possess a dramatic majority of the wealth, most of new wealth goes to them, too. Now, if it could be demonstrably proven that this inequality of wealth was mostly due to individual choice or merit, then it would not be as much of an issue. But the Lottery of Birth can determine far more about your future than your individual choices. For example, according to Kimberly Jenkins Robinson, Professor of Law at the University of Richmond, poor and minority students are more likely to attend a school that lacks effective teachers, adequate resources, appropriate class sizes, motivated and engaged parents, as well as other factors that improve student achievement. In fact, high-poverty environments negatively affect students regardless of a student’s socioeconomic status (and ability, for that matter). Comparative studies found that children on welfare had been exposed to 30 million fewer words than middle-class children by the age of four, may already be six months behind in language development by the age of two (Developmental Science), and are between 13 and 18 months behind in reading skills and problem solving on average. This massive disparity in adequate

OPINION

Why I support legacy admissions By Sofia Woo

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ILLUSTRATION BY AMY MARCOPULOS

magine you’re a parent with $500,000 at your disposal. What would you do with that money? Maybe you would save it, buy a house, invest in the stock market. Or maybe you would bribe officials and coaches at top colleges to buy your kid a spot in the school’s freshman class. That’s what 35 Hollywood celebrities and CEOs did. College admissions has become extremely competitive, with parents shelling out thousands of dollars for test prep programs and college counselors to give their kid an edge. With the recent Harvard admissions lawsuit and the college bribery scandal, questions have been raised about the ethics of college admissions, and how schools can make more fair decisions. These two events have also brought to light the debate surrounding legacies and whether this policy is in fact an obstacle for making a more diverse, meritocratic student body. While the legacy advantages may seem unfair, a closer look at this policy reveals that, in fact, it’s not just legacies that benefit, but other students and the college as well when it comes to financial aid and resources for the schools. The biggest argument against legacy admissions at elite schools is that they are unfair and promotes generations of institutionalized racism, as most legacy students are white and wealthy. While the demographics of legacy students are mainly white and rich, this demographic is changing drastically. At Harvard, 52.7 percent of its students are minorities, and this seems to be a growing trend amongst many elite institutions. With this comes a new generation of highly educated alumni of color who will be able to pass down their legacy status to their children. Ashton Lattimore, an African-American writer and lawyer who graduated from Harvard wrote in an article by the Washington Post, “The moral rightness of ending legacy preferences to create a more equitable admissions process comes with a bittersweet edge: It adds one more thing to the pile of privileges that people of color can’t pass down to our children as easily as untold generations of whites have done.” With changing demographics, more people of color are now benefitting from the policy, and taking it away would deprive these graduates of a privilege that they worked so hard to get. Another misconception about legacies is that they prevent socioeconomically disadvantaged applicants from having an advantage. While this may be true for a few cases, most students admitted into elite schools are already from privileged backgrounds regardless of whether or not their parents went to that school. For every legacy student who is rejected there is one upper-class student who is accepted. Also, legacies are more likely to donate to schools. Due to the country’s changing social and political climate, many elite colleges want to diversify their campuses. With these donations, schools have more money to do outreach to disadvantaged areas, and provide generous financial aid to low-income students. Without these donations, these schools would not have as much room to help disadvantaged students.

There is a lot of thought about and obsession with who and why certain applicants get into colleges and why others don’t. A common misconception is that legacy students have a much greater chance of being accepted regardless of their grades, test scores, extracurriculars and essays. This is not true. In fact, the pool for legacy students is much more competitive, as these students are more likely to have higher GPAs and scores compared to the non-legacy applicant pool. Legacies still have to reach a high bar to be admitted into schools, especially as many universities’ acceptance rates are below 10 percent. Having legacy status is just a thumb-on-the-scale component of admissions, meaning if there were two equally qualified applicants but one of them happened to be a legacy, chances are that legacy student would be admitted. Legacy status is only a small component of the application. On every Ivy League’s common data set (public documents which show the importance of the different components of an application), alumni relation is categorized as “considered,” the third lowest of importance. Jeffrey B. Brenzel, who was Yale’s Dean of Admissions in 2011, said in an article in The New York Times that they “turn away 80 percent of [their] legacies, and [they] feel it every day.” Brenzel added that Yale also rejected more children of the school’s Sterling donors than they accepted (Sterling donors are the university’s most generous donors; they donate at least $1 million to Yale), proving that sometimes even copious amounts of money cannot guarantee you an acceptance. So, if some of these legacies are being rejected, who is getting these spots? Chances are, it’s another upper-middle or upperclass applicant. Legacy students are not taking away spots from underprivileged students. The fact is is that although many private schools have been doing massive outreach campaigns, most of their student body still comes from socioeconomically advantaged backgrounds. Almost half of the student body at Harvard come from families making more than $200,000 a year. Instead of cherry-picking certain students, we should look at the pitfalls of college admissions as a whole. There is no secret formula to get into the college of one’s dream. Legacies aren’t guaranteed admission, and applicants who resort to illegal activities are eventually exposed. There are many components that go into the admissions process, and even though the process as a whole has many pitfalls, we shouldn’t blame legacies. Factors such as stress and the obsession with acceptance to elite schools has created a toxic culture of cutthroat competitiveness–a culture that many students and families contribute to regardless of legacy status. If we want to make the process more fair and more diverse, we need to not just continue reaching out to underprivileged students, but also provide more support early on. As college admissions gets ever more competitive, schools must take advantage of the short time they have to give their students as much effective support as possible. Maybe one day, we will see more schools with a larger community of alumni of all backgrounds who will be proud to pass down their legacy status to their children. v

With changing demographics, more people of color are now benefitting from the policy, and taking it away would deprive these graduates of a privilege that they worked so hard for.

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The Lowell April 2019

NEWS

A layup towards unity: Lowell holds annual Special Olympics By Seamus Geoghehan

“I

t’s about respect, acceptance and building inclusion for all students on campus- not just for those with special needs,” previous Lowell physical education teacher and current Special Olympics Event Coordinator Michael Prutz said when describing the purpose of the annual Special Olympics basketball tournament. “The reality is we all need respect, acceptance and friendship in a more socially inclusive school environment.” Lowell High School held this tournament, hosting schools from all over San Francisco, on March 13. The event hosted 863 students city wide, from elementary, middle and high schools. These teams all competed in a basketball tournament, led by Prutz. Basketball is only one of the sports that the Special Olympic athletes compete in, with track and field and soccer events also taking place on other dates.

“It’s about respect, acceptance and building inclusion for all students on campus not just for those with special needs” The first Special Olympics events at Lowell took place two years ago, but the program has been going on since the late 1960s, with the first Special Olympics being hosted in Chicago’s Soldier Field in 1968. The ongoing mission of the Special Olympics organization is to provide those in special education programs with training and competitionbased events year round. The Special Olympics program spread to SFUSD in 2007. The first year of the program had 104 Special Olympic athletes compete, according to senior manager for the Urban Schools and Youth Programs, Schools Partnership Program Sasha Trope. Last year, the program expanded to involve additional schools from the district, and saw 2,891 athletes.z Prutz started to take over the event in 2016, when the Special Olympics were placed under the Physical Education District office duties. “I would volunteer my classes to assist with the events in various capacities,” Prutz stated. “I [also] worked in collaboration with SF State students in designing and modifying the stations so they could reach the maximum number of special needs students.” Prutz started his new position as the Special Olympics Event Coordinator for SFUSD at the beginning of this year. He runs these

v The Lowell April 2019

ANITA LIU Sophomore Roy Palmer dribbles down the court during a Special Olympics basketball tournament. tournaments all over the district year round for both students in the special education program and any students in general education who want to volunteer. One of these student volunteers is senior Devyn Gallagher. Gallagher is the president of the Best Buddies Club, which helps create friendships between special-education students and gen-ed students, while spreading awareness about the stereotypes around the special education program. Gallagher volunteered as a cheerleader for the athletes in the tournament. The Best Buddies Club recognizes the stigma around aspects of special education, and works to help remove these stereotypes. On March 14, the club hosted an event to stop the use of the R word, in an attempt to educate students at Lowell. Both Prutz and Gallagher wanted to remind students at Lowell that they can step up and volunteer for these events. Gallagher believes that

SUSAN WONG Michael Prutz hopes that the tournaments will serve as an opporunity for general and special education students to build relationships and take down barriers.

the lack of awareness of this opportunity to volunteer is due to the stigma around people who have disabilities that her club addresses. “I feel like it is especially hard to get people involved with this just because I think people are scared of being with

SUSAN WONG Sophomore Damareya Harrison positions to make a shot during a Special Olympics basketball tournament.

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ANITA LIU SFPD policeman and Special Olympics participant held the Olympic torch together during the opening ceremony.

people with disabilities,” Gallagher said. “They can’t predict what is going to happen.” While these prejudices exist, Prutz believes that these district-wide events bring joy to special education and general education students in San Francisco. v

OPINION

ILLUSTRATIONS BY JASMINE LIANG

y family’s pre-dinner time conversation usually involves discussing the Netflix shows we’ve been watching lately. Honestly, I don’t usually have much to contribute because I have an embarrassingly short attention span; shows normally hold my attention for maybe an episode or two. But for once, I actually had something to add to the conservation: Salt, Fat, Acid, Heat. It’s a four-episode travel and cooking show, based off of a book by chef and food writer Samin Norsat. For me, this was a fully engrossed, sitting-in-my-bedwatching-into-the-wee-hours-of-the-morning-sort of show, and that’s a lot for someone dedicated to her 10 p.m. bedtime. When I told my mom this, instead of curiosity or excitement, I just got, “Oh yeah. We watched part of the first episode. It was OK, but she was just kind of gross, the way she stuck her fingers into stuff, you know?” I visibly deflated, shrugged and went to my room to finish the first season alone. I had been sort of hesitant to share the show with my mom. I’d loved it, but I’d had

v The Lowell April 2019

a feeling she wouldn’t. We have a bit of a contemptuous relationship with food, one I’ve struggled to come to terms with as an adolescent. Growing up, I was praised for “eating like a bird,” “eating healthy,” or whatever people would say to the same effect, when they really meant that they appreciated how little I would eat. But here’s the thing. I love food. I love eating, and I’m damn good at it. I can go in on a plate of French fries or a burrito and be done with it before your food even makes it to the table. I can eat peanut butter by the spoonful and will do so happily. I’ll drench my bread in enough olive oil to make you cry.

But here’s the thing. I love food. I love eating, and I’m damn good at it.

If that paragraph grossed you out a little bit, that’s what I was going for, and that’s why I love Salt, Fat, Acid, Heat so much. A lot of what I’ve been told about food growing up basically boils down to this: as a woman, it’s my job to make myself as small as possible. I’m not supposed to take up space, or time, or food. When I put food on my plate, I should eat small amounts and eat it slowly. No one’s ever told me this outright that I can remember. It’s more subtle than that:

Salt, Fat, Acid, Heat doesn’t bring any shame with it about eating, or discussion of nutrition and calories, or ways to make food healthier, lighter, or “guilt free.” Norsat and her guests eat for pleasure. There is immense joy in eating, in sharing a meal with people you want to be around, and Salt, Fat, Acid, Heat captures that perfectly. So, whether you like cooking, travel, food or watching someone drink olive oil, I implore you to watch Salt, Fat, Acid, Heat. You’ll learn how to make a delicious meal, laugh at Norsat’s antics and might just improve your relationship with food a bit along the way. v

By Emily Sobelman The Lowell April 2019

v 29

SPREAD DESIGN BY SUSAN WONG

my family chastising me for eating before everyone else’s food arrives while my brother eats without a word said to him, my friend astoundedly asking me if I really ate a peanut butter cup in two bites when she had taken just a nibble of hers, even a Bon Appetit cooking video where two skinny women eat a bite of cake each and laugh to the camera about their “Fat Girl Moment” in chef Christina Tosi’s words. I’ve been taught to make myself small and stomp on my appetite. If I’ve eaten and I’m still hungry, I should ignore my body and be satisfied with the serving I was given, because the absolute worst thing that could happen to me is gaining weight. Even if it means sacrificing my joy or peace of mind to be skinny, I have to do it. In contrast to all of that, Salt, Fat, Acid, Heat’s Norsat unapologetically enjoys food, and that gives other women license to do the same thing. The opening sequence shows shot after shot of Italian gelato, and at the end Norsat eats a cone and moves on with her life, something I haven’t done in years. It was the most freeing thing I’ve seen in a long, long time. However, Salt, Fat, Acid, Heat is not a feel-good cooking show about women’s liberation. Norsat’s ability to eat without shame doesn’t come up once. It’s not a show about women who eat, or women who cook, or women who travel. It’s not even remotely about her being a woman. She’s just a person who happens to to be a woman, who eats like all people do and enjoys it. She’s allowed to exist without it being a gimmick or a thing. She just is.

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