The Matador - April Issue

Page 1

Opinions“Schools lack spirit, enthusiasm” pg. 4

THE

Sports-

Focus“The Soviet Reunion” pg. 6-7

“Track and field welcomes dynamic coaching duo” pg. 10

Matador

Volume 59, Number 7

thursday, april 3, 2014

S a n G a b r i e l H i gh S c h o o l

801 Ramona St., San Gabriel, CA 91776

www.thematadorsghs.com

Momentous SAT changes to take effect spring 2016 E ri n Tro u n g During the spring of 2016, the SAT test will receive a major overhaul, consisting of fixes and adjustments pertaining to various aspects of the current SAT including the timed essay, vocabulary, and guessing penalty of the SAT. In the new SAT, the essay will be optional and shift focus toward the concept of supporting ideas with evidence. The vocabulary section will move away from the unknown “SAT words,” like “depreciatory” and “membranous,” and move towards college based words, like “synthesis” and “empirical.” Additionally, the guessing penalty will be eliminated and the total score will change from 2400 to 1600, 800 for both the Math and Critical Reading sections. These changes address multiple problems with the current SAT. Firstly, the SAT does not accurately measure what students learn in high school. This has given a longstanding advantage to the ACT, which focuses more on high school curricula. This difference has slowly moved the ACT up the ranks to be the more popular college

entrance exam. Counselor Elaine Jong points out that many students “don’t know about the ACT.” “They always think they have to take the SAT,” Jong said. “They never think that [the] ACT is an option, and I wish more students [knew] that they can take either one.” Another issue is the way students prepare for the test. Students often purchase an SAT test preparation book or invest in costly SAT preparation classes. English teacher Melissa Bishop-Magallanes thinks that the SAT is a test that can be “learned to be taken well.” “[The] ACT measures what a student learns in high school,” Bishop-Magallanes said. “As opposed to [the] SAT, with their ‘big words’ that you had to know and the process of ‘gaming the system,’ which seemed like a logic test. To me, [the SAT] felt like a false or.. shallow measurement of students’ capacity of going to college.” For the updated SAT, the non-profit educational website Khan Academy will partner with College Board to offer free SAT test prep to aid future test-takers, as well as to eliminate the money factor in student preparedness for SAT.

Chris Takeshita returns to San Gabriel position, Takeshita oversaw suspensions, expulsions, and other similar student affairs. Following John Scanlan’s shift to Pupil Services, “It’s two different types of worlds; before I was Chris Takeshita was reinstated to San Gabriel High dealing with more troubled students, but [at San School on Mar. 3 to replace Gabriel] it’s about getting kids Scanlan as Assistant Principal involved in school,” Takeshita said. of Business and Activities. Takeshita expressed pleasure at Takeshita primarily aims the reception he received upon his to aid students and help them return to San Gabriel, after seven become involved in school. years away at Alhambra and Mark “Since I just started, I need Keppel High School. to see where there’s room for “The teachers have been great, improvement before I can do and welcomed me back with open anything,” Takeshita said. arms. The atmosphere seems very “Hopefully I can make those good here,” Takeshita said. changes.” Takeshita attended California Photo by Derek Deng Takeshita was previously State University, Los Angeles for employed at Alhambra and After seven years away from the his undergraduate degree and Mark Keppel High School, Matadors, Chris Takeshita returns to the University of La Verne for his where he worked as the As- San Gabriel as an assistant principal. master’s degree. sistant Principal of Student Services for three years. Takeshita plans to learn as much as he can about He now manages overall funding for clubs, sports and San Gabriel High School and improve the quality of other business affairs at San Gabriel. In his previous the education and experiences that students receive. E ri n Tro u n g

In a survey of 130 San Gabriel students, 43.8% did not support the changes made to the SAT, while 56.2% of students did. Infographic by Kristy Duong

“Tale as Old as Time” San Gabriel High School Prom 2014

Date: May 17, 2014 Time: 7 p.m. - Midnight Location: Disneyland Hotel Early Sale: April 7- April 11 Prices: $85 w/ ASB, $90 w/o ASB Regular Sale: April 14- May 11 Prices: $90 w/ ASB, $95 w/o ASB Procrastination Sale: May 12- May 14 Prices: $95 w/ ASB, $100 w/0 ASB Image courtesy of disneyland.disney.go.com

Woodshop students participate in SkillsUSA competition Frank Li eu

Photo by Derek Deng

Sophomore Milton Peraza stands proudly next to his wood creation, which won him the first place award.

In this year’s SkillsUSA challenge, three students from San Gabriel will advance to the 47th Annual SkillsUSA conference, including first place winner sophomore Milton Peraza and third place winner junior Jesse Esquivel in Cabinetmaking, and second place winner Justin Raimundo in Intro to Wood. “I am honored to have these fine students representing San Gabriel High School,” Woodworking teacher John Mason said, “I’m very proud [of my students].” With about 1600 students from around the Ventura County, L.A. County, Orange County, and Lancaster area gathered to compete at the Los Angeles TradeTechnical College, Peraza, Esquivel, and

Raimundo were singled out to be the best and are all going to advance to the next competition in San Diego. Sophomore Raimundo, who received the second prize in Intro to Wood, made the second-best magazine rack. Sophomore Peraza and junior Esquivel were very ecstatic to recieve awards. Peraza expressed his excitement for receiving the first prize. “It felt awesome [winning first place],” Peraza said, “I had a lot of confidence that I was going to get first place because I just did what I was good at and I got it.” During the competition, before making a cabinet, which one can put beside their bed as a nightstand,Peraza had to take a test on the safety of woodworking, turn in a writing portion that included a resume. In addition to getting number one,

Peraza says that his inspiration of woodcraft comes from his brother. “I started when my brother, Jimmy, showed me some of his projects,” he said, “Since then, I started making things at home. When I started high school, I joined Woodshop as my first period.” According to Mason, when the results came in, Peraza barely clinched first place by beating the second place winner by 0.75 percent of a point, making him 0.76 percent of a point close to getting second place. This narrow victory qualified Peraza and third place winner Esquivel to attend the San Diego conference this year. If San Gabriel continues to shine and defeat their contenders in that competition, they will advance to compete in the National SkillsUSA competition in Kansas City, Missouri.


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