Verde Volume 15 Issue 5 by Verde Magazine

V. PRIVACY AND US: IT’S COMPLICATED Sexting, Heartbleed and your digital footprint Page 35

VERDE MAGAZINE • VOLUME 15, ISSUE 5 • MAY 2014

Verde

may 2014 Volume 15 Issue 6

28 Inside

8 The Launch 12 News

Culture 16 18 20 22 23 25 28 30

Juice Bay Area Hikes Paly a capella This Year in Music Farmers Market Senior Section Geocaching James Franco

Features 32 49 52 54

Girls in STEM Small Bussiness Chinese Entrepreneurs Punstoppables

Cover 35 Sexting 40 Online Privacy 45 Heartbleed Bug

Profiles 56 59 61 62

Photo Essay Dan the Sample Man Lucy Filppu International Students

Perspectives 65 66 67 69 70

Girl Hate Risk the Dudeness Second Semester Senior Teen Sterotypes This Land(e) is your Land(e)

On the cover In this issue, Verdeâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s cover art draws inspiration from the evolving nature of privacy in relation to the technological advancements of the 21st century. Whether we make a conscious decision to send a sext or struggle to protect our online information in light of widespread viruses like Heartbleed, the lines continue to blur between what we consider personal and free to share. Therefore, reconsidering the relationship we have with privacy becomes not an option, but a necessity.

EDITORIALS Diorio deserves commendation for spread of awareness

ARLY THIS APRIL, Palo Alto High School principal Kim Diorio called on 12 social science classrooms to discuss several issues, one of them AB 472, an amendment to the California Uniform Controlled Substances Act that effectively enables victims or bystanders of drug overdose to seek medical assistance without fear of criminal action. Verde commends Diorio’s efforts to inform students of a relevant, potentially life-saving law. The drug legislation cuts sensibly through the questions of whether drugs are “good” or “bad” and whether they should or should not be legalized. Instead, the bill attempts to diminish the death toll of what the bill’s text notes as “the second leading cause of injury and death in the United States” by removing the barriers to treatment. The bill cites studies that indicate fear of arrest as the major obstacle to potentially life-saving medical action in cases of life-threatening overdose. When a similar Good Samaritan Law was enacted in the State of Washington, a University of Washington report noted that 88 percent of opiate users said they would be more likely to call 911 given the legal immunity. In a similar effort to dissolve the wall between students and information regarding their rights, enacted in late 2013, the Paly

administration stretched the Living Skills curriculum to include information about legal definitions of consent, sexual assault and rape. Efforts to inform students of their legal rights represent an essential part of students’ non-academic educations. Drug and sex education programs need to continue moving away from strictly preventive policies and toward curricula that inform students of the rights and immunities afforded them in cases of immediate danger. Current programs that teach kids to avoid sex and drugs provide a valuable service, albeit an incomplete one. There remains room for guidance when students drop off the abstention train. School programs that account for this must cover the emergency case: what to do when the precautions fail. The effort to include legal definitions of consent and possible legal actions against rape in the Living Skills curriculum represents a strong start. Though laudable, the administration’s talks concerning AB 472 addressed an extremely limited demographic: 350 kids, all of them seniors. Information of this type is not optional, but necessary. Teaching it in a classroom setting is not to espouse wrong behavior, but to favor students’ safety over all else.

Photo by Bryan Wong

VERDE MAGAZINE

pre-k closes achievement gap Editorial cartoon : In the news (p,13)

ANT

May 2014

LIU

N APRIL 22, the Supreme Court upheld a Michigan constitutional amendment that banned affirmative action in Michigan public universities. This is the latest in a series of conflicting decisions regarding affirmative action. In 2003, Grutter v. Bollinger permitted the consideration of race in college admissions. Affirmative action supports members of groups that have previously been oppressed or treated unfairly by favoring them in college admissions. While it is important to help those our history oppressed, our society should not wait until an individual is 18 years old to provide opportunities that they may have been denied their entire educational careers. If the public education system truly provided the support and facilities that students need to be successful, there would be less need to give specific groups of students a boost in college applications to make up for lost opportunities. Students gain access to different levels of education early on in their lives based on factors that are not under their control, such as enrollment in private pre-school. Establishing public pre-schools is the first step to equalizing opportunities for all students from the start of their educational careers. Public pre-school would provide all students with the opportunity to develop crucial academic and social skills, preparing them to enter elementary school on a relatively even playing field. In an affluent district like PAUSD, it is easy to take for granted the expensive pre-kindergarten programs that many parents pay for. However, there are children both in Palo Alto and the rest of the country who are never given these educational opportunities because their parents cannot afford to pay for them. The effect of this is seen in the prominent achievement gap that exists in PAUSD between white and Asian and minority races. One public pre-kindergarten program, Springboard, already exists in PAUSD, but it is limited to the summer before children enter kindergarten. This shortened educational preparation does not provide the same reinforcement and education that a private pre-school would. PAUSDâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s 2013 Strategic Plan survey identified support for under-performing students as one major area that needs improvement. Of the people surveyed, only 57 percent thought that under-performing students are given sufficient support to improve academically, clearly showing that PAUSD needs to provide more resources for underprivileged students. In order for our society to continue fostering diversity and acceptance in all fields of work, the focus on remedying past discrimination must be shifted from affirmative action in college admissions to equal opportunities throughout education, starting with public pre-schools. 5

From the Editors

A New Beginning

think we know where our information goes and what happens to it when we browse online, post a status or send a snapchat. Yet, with an increasing reliance on technology in our daily lives, we must ask ourselves to what extent we should compromise our right to privacy in order to make our lives easier. In this cover package, Verde looks into how privacy has changed in the Digital Age. Staff writers Jamie Allendorf and Siddharth Srinivasan examine the consequences and controversial issues surrounding sexting: the 21st century love letter (p. 35). Furthermore, Michelle Li inspects the changing notions of Internet privacy (p. 40). Rounding out the package, Anna Lu and Alexandra Hsieh review the ramifications of the widespread Internet virus Heartbleed (p. 45). “Breaking up the Boy’s Club,” (p. 32) by Esmé Ablaza and Anand Srinivasan, highlights two programs, Space Cookies and Girls Innovate!, working to teach girls valuable skills to prepare them for careers in STEM fields. Madison Mignola strikes down the infamous mean girl mentality with her perspective, “Girl Hate” (p. 65), while in “Risk Dudeness” (p. 66) Miranda Cohn pens a stinging critique against the sexist ads of Veet, a skin product company whose ads imply that women who don’t shave their legs risk masculinity. Kelly Shi writes about the viral Facebook group Punstoppables (p. 54) and the challenges the administrators face in managing the competitive culture surrounding posts. Eliza Ackroyd and Zoe Zung learn more about the trend of geocaching (p. 28), that is, nature’s treasure hunting. Joe Meyer and Michelle Li venture behind the counter to spotlight the iconic Trader Joe’s sample man, Dan Lacy (p. 59), who offers wisdom from his years of cutting cheese. And of course, we would like to say goodbye to our wonderful outgoing senior staff, each and every one of whom has helped to make Verde great through their hard work and commitment to the magazine. We’d also like to give a shout-out to our forerunners Hollis Kool and Noam Shemtov for guiding the staff through a delightful five issues and helping us all grow as writers and individuals. We wish you all the best luck in your post-high school lives. Lastly, we look forward to continuing to work with our new editorial staff once we resume work next year into the beautiful, recently constructed Media Arts Center. So for now, Paly, finish the school year strong and enjoy a well-deserved summer break! e like to

— Bryan, Jack, Jasper and Tira

Editors in Chief Jack Brook Jasper McEvoy Tira Oskoui Bryan Wong

VERDE MAGAZINE

Managing Editors Lucy Fox Brigid Godfrey Design Editor Claire Priestley Features Editor Eliza Ackroyd Perspective Editor Kelly Shi Culture Editor Anand Srinivasan Launch Editor Esmé Ablaza News Editors Anna Lu Siddharth Srinivasan Business Manager Zofia Ahmad Alexandra Hsieh Art Director Anthony Liu Photo Director Ana Sofia Amieva-Wang Staff Writers Jamie Allendorf Miranda Cohn Samantha Dewees Katie Ebinger Hollis Kool Michelle Li Zoe Lung Joe Meyer Madison Mignola Brittany Nguyen Will Queen Noam Shemtov Michelle Tang Lande Watson Angela Xu Adviser Paul Kandell

@VERDEMAGAZINE Information Publication Policy Verde, a feature magazine published by the students in Palo Alto High School’s Magazine Journalism class, is a designated open forum for student expression and the discussion of issues of concern to its readership. Verde is distributed to its readers and the student body at no cost. Letters to the Editors The staff welcomes letters to the editors but reserves the right to edit all submissions for length, grammar, potential libel, invasion of privacy and obscenity. Send all letters to veics-1415@ googlegroups.com or to 50 Embarcadero Road Palo Alto, CA 94301. All Verde stories are posted online and available for commenting at http://verdemagazine.com Advertising The staff publishes advertisements with signed contracts providing they are not deemed by the staff inappropriate for the magazine’s audience. For more information about advertising with Verde, please contact the Verde business manager Zofia Ahmad and Alexandra Hsieh at 650-796-2358 for more information. Printing & Distribution Verde is printed five times a year in October, November, February, April and May, by Fricke-Parks Press in Fremont, Calif. The Paly PTSA mails Verde to every student’s home. All Verde work is available at http://verdemagazine.com

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CLUB CHECK-IN “During Astronomy Club, we have meetings and we play games. Every so often we go out to Facebook Hill, which is right off of California and Peter Coutts [Road]. We look at stars there and [Astronomy teacher] Mr. [Josh] Bloom will point out constellations.”

Reporting by Siddharth Srinivasan Photo by Ana Sofia Amieva-Wang

— Chelsea Thangavelu, junior

Summer TIME How are Paly students spending their summers? Survey questions by Anna Lu Design by Claire Priestley Statistics from an online survey of 129 Paly students (who were able to choose multiple responses) during English classes from May 6 through May 9. Number of students

VERBATIM IN FIVE WORDS OR LESS, DESCRIBE HOW THE END OF THE YEAR HAS GONE FOR YOU : Reporting by Anand Srinivasan and Ana Sofia Amieva-Wang Photography by Anand Srinivasan and Ana Sofia Amieva-Wang 8

“The thirst is real.” — Andy Chang, freshman

WOULD YOU RATHER... TREVOR WOON, FRESHMAN

Reporting by Katie Ebinger Photography by Ana Sofia Amieva-Wang and Katie Ebinger

ALEX WARNER, SENIOR

Peanut butter.

Have peanut butter stuck to the roof of your mouth forever or your fingers stuck together with glue?

Peanut butter, ’cause it tastes good.

Alright, hiccups.

Always have the hiccups or always have to sneeze?

The sneeze one. I hate hiccups.

Rock, probably.

Have a rock stuck in your shoe or an eyelash in your eye?

A leg, because they have better fake legs than fake arms.

“Stressful and exciting.” — Reid Walters, sophomore

Lose an arm or a leg?

“#swag.” — George Lu, junior

Rock, because then I could just go barefoot.

Neither!

“I drive a white prius.” — Lindsay Sotnick, senior

WHAT TO WEAR

Samuel Mignot’s picks

Reporting by Zofia Ahmad Photography by Ana Sofia Amieva-Wang and Brigid Godfrey

• SPERRY TOPSIDERS • COLLARED SHIRTS • PASTEL SHORTS

THE BEST DRESSED SENIORS’ SUMMER ESSENTIALS Vivian Laurence’s picks • DENIM DRESSES • WHITE CROCHET TOPS • FLOPPY HATS

TEACHER TWEETS RISING SENIORS WHAT THE CLASS OF 2015 IS LOOKING FORWARD TO MOST

Text, Photography and Reporting by Kelly Shi

ETHAN COLBURN

• BEING TOP OF THE SCHOOL • WINNING SPIRIT WEEK • wearing camo 10

NICHOLAS WILLIS

PAIGE HANSEN

• NEW MEDIA CENTER • WEARING A TOGA

• FINALS TO BE OVER EARLIER • NEW SCHEDULE

JASEN LIU

• SITTING AROUND • EATING • SLEEPING

THE

LAU

NCH

ASB Answers “I would like to improve as sophomore class president our class’s unity and participation in schoolwide events such as Spirit Week, school dances and Not In Our Schools week.” — Noa Ben-Efraim, sophomore class president

1. HAPPY DONUTS

top FIVE OPEN LATE Text and photography by Claire Priestley

Happy Donuts is the perfect pick-me-up. The store offers a wonderful variety of donuts. Open 24 hours, this could be the perfect location to pull an all-nighter — especially thanks to the free wifi.

4. OREN’S HUMMUS Oren’s Hummus shop offers dinner, free wifi and a trendy vibe in addition to a wide range of Mediterranean classics like meat skewers, hummus plates and pita bread. This restaurant’s late hours (11 p.m.) give you time to wind down after sports games that run too long.

2. FRAICHE At Fraiche, you are bound to run into someone you know. It offers fresh fruit, local honey and purees, and the most delicious yogurt, along with a great atmosphere for work.

Reporting by Joe Meyer Photo by Ana Sofía Amieva-Wang

LATE NIGHT

3. CREAM One of the most popular ice cream shops downtown, Cream offers satisfaction for cravings of cookies and ice cream. Open until 11 p.m. weeknights and 2 a.m. on weekends, Cream is sure to satisfy your sweet tooth.

5. PENINSULA CREAMERY A classic go-to, the Creamery serves shakes and sundaes until midnight on Friday and Saturday, and is open Monday through Wednesday until 10 p.m. and Thursday until 11 p.m. Their all-day breakfast appeals to anyone longing for a hearty meal of hashbrowns and bacon.

11 5

NEWS

SPORTS LITERATURE ICON TO DONATE

PRODUCTION TIME Viking adviser Mike McNulty helps students with their stories during production. Photo by Ana Sofía Amieva-Wang

Faculty member Mike McNulty is donating his sports literature collection to Palo Alto High School in honor of his retirement. “Since the class started 14 years ago, I have been buying books,” McNulty said. “There weren’t any sports books that could be checked out in the library, so I tried to buy as many as I could, and the collection is now well over 700 books.” On May 15, Paly hosted its first annual Sports in American Life forum to honor his retirement. The forum speakers included Dave Flemming, an announcer for the San Francisco Giants, and Class of 2011 alumnus Wes Rapaport, who is now pursuing broadcast journalism. Not only is McNulty the founder of the Sports Literature elective at Paly, he is also the adviser for two of Paly’s publications, Viking and InFocus. McNulty had been teaching at Paly for 22 years before he decided to announce his retirement at the end of last year. “The timing was right,” McNulty said. “I wanted to spend some time with me. I love the job; I love the kids here. You just eventually have to make that decision.” However, McNulty’s ties to Paly will continue past his retirement. “I can’t work for six months, but I’ll probably come back and substitute in January,” McNulty said. BY ANGELA XU

SCHOOL BOARD SEATS TO CHANGE HANDS IN NOVEMBER Two positions on the Palo Alto Unified School District Board of Education will change hands on Nov. 8, following statements by the incumbent board members saying that they will not seek re-election. Three potential candidates -— Ken Dauber, Catherine Crystal Foster and Terry Godfrey — have expressed their intentions to run in the next election. However, 12

since the application window has not yet opened, it is still too early to formally apply for candidacy. Dauber said he wants to take steps to reduce students’ stress, open more elementary schools to reduce overcrowding and increase transparency within the board. Dana Tom, a departing board member, agrees that cramped schools are increasing-

ly problematic. According to Tom, other issues the board must soon face include outdated bullying policies and an expiring lease on Cubberley Community Center. “After nine years of serving on the school board, I will be ready to move on to new adventures,” Tom said. BY JOE MEYER

NEWS move in to mATH delayed to fall future construction site LOSING SPACE Construction in the upcoming school year will block off a large area of Palo Alto High School’s parking lot. Tower building pictured in bottom left. Photo by Max Bernstein with the Paly Voice Drone

Parking permits will likely be reserved for seniors A diminishing number of parking spots in the Palo Alto High School parking lot will result in only seniors receiving parking. As construction of the Media Arts Center finishes, the performing arts center and new gymnasium will begin construction, which will lessen the parking space avail-

able for student drivers. “I have not looked at the numbers available, but we are definitely losing a lot of spaces,” Assistant Principal Jerry Berkson said. “It is likely it will be seniors only.”

Students will be moving in to the newly-constructed math buildings at the beginning of the 2014-2015 school year, contrary to the original plan to move during the last two weeks of this year, according to Assistant Principal Jerry Berkson. The building is equipped with new ergonomic desks, SMART Boards and thermostats, a feature that has been inconsistent in the current math building and portables all year Berkson said. “It is not just that the building will be new, but also the fact that things will be up-to-date in lots of ways,” said math teacher Arne Lim. According to Lim, one of the benefits of the new building is the addition of three new classrooms for the math department. “We have 17 teachers, so we are kind of running into each other all the time,” Lim said. BY CLAIRE PRIESTLEY

BY ANNA LU

media arts center TO OPEN NEXT YEAR Palo Alto High School’s Media Arts Center will be fully functional for student use at the start of the next school year. According to Vice Principal Jerry Berkson, the building is almost ready for general use. “We are at the almost stage,” Berkson said. “We have to do final minor fixes here and there. Those could be painting windows and putting finishing touches on surfaces.” Upon completion, the Media Arts Center will also house several English classes, along with journalism, yearbook, film and digital design classes, Berkson said.

Of all changes, Berkson is most excited about the Infocus move to the Media Arts Center. “Any news station would envy what that place looks like,” Berkson said. “The pulldown screen in the atrium is also a nice touch.” The atrium houses eight LCD televisions for displaying student video work. It also has a movie theater sized screen, a concert-quality sound system and performance lights for lectures and film screenings. BY SIDDHARTH SRINIVASAN

FINAL TOUCHES The Media Arts Center is undergoing final touches before it opens next fall. Photo by Ana Sofía Amieva-Wang 13

NEWS CITY TO ALLOCATE FUNDS FOR TEENS

SAYING GOODBYE Jordan’s retiring Assistant Principal Elinor Slack (left) with fellow retiring colleague librarian Annie McQueen (right). Photo by Brittany Nguyen

JORDAN ADMINistrator RETIRes A member of the Palo Alto Unified School District for three decades, former Palo Alto High School math teacher and current assistant principal at Jordan Middle School will retire from her position at the end of this school year. Elinor Slack’s former colleagues at Paly will miss her when she retires. “We got hired at the same time in 1984,” math department instructional supervisor Radu Toma said. “I missed her when she moved from Paly to Jordan. I know exactly how much she cares and how much soul and sweat she put into the Palo Alto district. We’ll miss her dearly and of course

we wish her good luck.” Former Jordan students at Paly expressed similar feelings. “She was one of the most helpful administrators there,” sophomore Helen Yan said. “I will miss her being a part of PAUSD.” After her retirement, Slack plans on traveling and spending time with family. “I’ve been wanting to do things that my work won’t allow me to do,” Slack said. “It’s time for a younger person to connect with younger people.”

Palo Alto teens can look forward to likely new programs and opportunities after Palo Alto City Council members voted in April, to unanimously to allocate $84,000 for teen programs. According to Palo Alto High School junior Fabian Garduño, the Social Media Manager of ClickPA, the increased funding is much needed. “We would be spending it on a full time employee for ClickPA so we can get the website, app and platform to the heights we want to achieve,” Garduño said. Make X plans to use their funds to improve their workspace. “We’re going to use some of the funds to hire more teen mentors and buy new tools, including a 3D printer,” said sophomore James Wang, an employee at MakeX. BY LUCY FOX

BY BRITTANY NGUYEN

district adds NEW CLASSES FOR this fall Palo Alto High School will be implementing five new classes in its curriculum for the upcoming 2014-2015 year. According to Vice Principal Kathy Laurence, Paly will be including the following courses: Computer Science Principles, Getting into the Game, Early Childhood Development, English 10 and Accelerated Social Justice, and Government/Continued World Social Justice, which will be taught by Christopher Kuszmaul, Theresa McDermott, Hillary McDaniel, Eric Angell, and Eric Bloom, respectively. Many of these new classes, like Early Childhood Development, further concen14

trate specific areas of study. “Child Development is a concentrated area of psychology,” McDaniel said. “This is a really unique opportunity for high school students to see the curriculum come to life and gain real world skills.” Other classes, including Getting Into the Game, look to integrate diverse skill sets. “It [Getting Into the Game] involves a lot of writing, business and leadership,” Filppu said. “I highly recommend everyone to join.” BY ALEXANDRA HSIEH

MAKEX Students at MakeX help children with construction. Photo by Siddharth Srinivasan

BY THE

NUMBERS

NEWS STUDENTS TO ATTEND SCHOLASTIC AWARD CEREMONY

SAYONARA, SANDWICHES Ike’s employees stand in the soon to be closed restaurant. In honor of its closing, Ike’s Place is running a Ike’s boxes, promotion which include half of a sandwich, a bag of chips and a drink for $7. Photo by Zoe Lung

IKE’S PLACE to relocate Sandwich shop Ike’s Place will be moving out of its Stanford location on June 15 because of the expiration of their contract. According to Ike’s employee Victor Santiago, Ike’s lease period just ended. The new location of Ike’s Place is still in consideration, said Santiago. “They’re looking around here, Palo Alto or Menlo Park,” Santiago said. Ike’s Place has not planned a closing event yet. “Right now, we’re just doing little promotions like the Ike boxes,”

Santiago said. “We’re trying to do as much as we can while we’re still here.” Stanford students have expressed their sorrow for Ike’s move. They created an online petition to keep Ike’s at Stanford and exceeded their 1,000 signatures goal with 1,582 signatures. On April 26, Stanford students gathered on the Stanford campus with signs saying, ‘Bring back Ike’s!’ according to the Stanford Daily.

The Scholastic Art and Writing awards ceremony next month in Carnegie Hall will celebrate the achievements of 37 Palo Alto High School students who won a total of 75 awards. Sophomore Caroline Bailey won a national silver medal with her science fiction and fantasy short story, “Tarnished Silver, Tarnished Souls.” “I wrote ‘Tarnished Silver, Tarnished Souls’ in two days over winter break and went through some mad editing to get it polished by the deadline,” Bailey said.” Senior Ross Cardillo piece “Value” won the Gedenk Award for his art that promotes remembrance and awareness of the Holocaust. Other award winners include juniors, Kevin Huang and Margaret Li in science fiction/fantasy and poetry, respectively. BY ANAND SRINIVASAN

BY ZOE LUNG

freshman BOYSCOUT ADVOCATES FOR traffic SIGN at middlefield cRossing In an effort to curb the number of accidents at the intersection of Middlefield road and Everett street, a Palo Alto freshman has headed the installation of a traffic sign. The sign will say “Pedestrian Crossing” and is set to be placed by early June. “I bike past this intersection everyday when I go to school,” freshman Thibault

36%

of Paly students surveyed have received a sext. p. 35

Collignon said. “From my house, I frequently hear accidents that occur at this intersection.” Without any sort of traffic control, bikers and walkers on Everett meet cars and trucks on Middlefield in a very chaotic matter, according to Collignon. Between Jan. 31, 2013 and April 6, 2014, seven accidents have occurred involving

318,000

servers are vulnerable to the Internet security bug Heartbleed. p. 45

both bikers and pedestrians. Two people involved in these accidents sustained injuries, according to Palo Alto Online. “This was actually a requirement for a Boy Scout merit badge,” Collignon said. “It [the handbook] says to contact a local newspaper official about a local problem or concern.” BY WILL QUEEN

93%

of Paly students surveyed use a form a social media. p. 40 15

CULTURE | MAY 2014

JUICE BREAK

HEALTHY PRACTICE OR HARMFUL HABIT?

Text and Photography by BRITTANY NGUYEN and ANGELA XU Art by ANTHONY LIU

P O N walking into Project Juice on High Street, customers are greeted by an assortment of colorful juices. Various red, orange and green bottles are arrayed on the shelves of the fully stocked fridge pressed against the wall. Project Juice is one of a couple juiceries in Palo Alto, contributing to the juice cleansing trend that has been sweeping the West Coast. Rachel and George Malsin, owners of the company, opened their new Palo Alto store on April 12. Project Juice retail manager Bryn Carmassi defines juice cleansing as drinking bottles of juice intermittently throughout the day, with only teas and water to supplement the palette. “Juicing is a trend right now, much like coffee was in the early ’nineties,” Carmassi says. “People turn to juice cleansing because it allows people to get more nutrition benefits. All of our products have antioxidants and different benefits to drinking each one.” Project Juice offers a variety of

juice cleanses, from a beginner “Can You Kick It?” to an advanced “Forever Young” program, targeted at helping people reach their daily quota of fruits and vegetables. Nutritionists do not all share the same enthusiasm over juice cleansing as the company does. Drew Parisi, a nutritionist partnered with Noxcuses Fitness in Palo Alto, says, “While there are benefits to juicing, the nutritional benefits have not been proven.” Parisi notes that consuming large amounts of vegetables high in goitrogens (substances that interfere with iodine uptake and therefore suppress the thyroid gland) or oxalates (naturally occurring substances that are indigestible and typically absorbed by the GI tract) might result in problems such as decreased mineral absorption or thyroid problems. The Project Juice website states that its cold-pressed juice contains soluble fiber full of vitamins, nutrients, enzymes and minerals that come from juicing, while still conserving the “rawness” of the produce, which provides more enzymes

and nutrients than cooked produce. According to Parisi, juice cleanses don’t provide enough calories, fiber, protein or fat to be sustainable, particularly if the person requires energy for athletics. Palo Alto High School senior Josefin Kenrick experienced mixed results when she tried juice cleansing for a day with her sister. “I felt good, light, refreshed,” Kenrick says. However, she also notes setbacks to juice cleansing. “I was working eight-hour shifts and I had to eat some legitimate food. Otherwise, I probably would have passed out.” Instead of juice cleansing, Parisi recommends eliminating sugar, caffeine, processed grains and trans fats, while retaining whole fruits and vegetables, animal proteins and prepared grains and legumes. Parisi acknowledges that juice cleanses vary in their impact on people. “Some [patients] have loved it and felt great, others have felt horrible and will never do it again,” Parisi says. v

CULTURE | MAY 2014

Verbatim: WOULD YOU GO ON A JUICE CLEANSE?

“I guess juices have a lot of nutrients. I’d drink the juice to give it a try, but I wouldn’t do it [a juice cleanse].” — Leo Minami, freshman

JUICE IT UP A patron of Project Juice reaches into their fully stocked fridge to grab two bottles of juice.

Verde Magazine’s JUICE RECIPe WHAT YOU’LL NEED: -1 medium-sized pomegranate -1 apple -1 quart of strawberries -1-2 pints of blueberries

Verde compiled this recipe with fruits nutritionally advised by Drew Parisi, who does not recommend juice cleanses for more than three days.

STep 1: carefully wash and dry the fruit. Step 2: cut the fruit with a knife into smaller chunks. step 3: put the cut fruit into the juicer. step 4: drink and enjoy the Juice.

“I don’t know. I feel like it’s something that I would never do because solid food is really enjoyable. But if people want to do it, go for it. I don’t see why not.” — Alice Wang, junior

“I don’t think it’s necessarily dangerous or anything. I think it might be an interesting thing to try. Eating a bunch of fruit through juice and all that sounds good and interesting, I guess.” — Erik Olah, science teacher 17

CULTURE | MAY 2014

OFF THE BEATEN PATH

A GUIDE TO THE FOUR BEST UNDERRATED BAY AREA HIKES Text and Art by KATIE EBINGER Photography by KATIE EBINGER and ANA SOFIA AMIEVA-WANG

NEW “OUTDOORSY” TREND has taken root at Palo Alto High School, where weekend hikes are the new popular things to do. Though after a few trips, local paths like Windy Hill start to feel repetitive. For all those aspiring John Muirs, there are an abundance of unique hikes just a short drive from Palo Alto. This article explores only a few of the many hiking options available and judges each trail on its aesthetic beauty, physical exertion and uniqueness, and names the overall best hike as Castle Rock State Park. Students with a flair for the out-of-doors should explore some of the best kept secrets of Bay Area hiking, far removed from the crowded and dusty local paths. v

The 32 miles of hiking and equestrian trails at Castle Rock State Park explore the Santa Cruz Mountains. Saratoga Gap Trail winds alongside unique rock formations and past sweeping mountain views for a total of 4.7 miles. Goat Rock and Castle Rock are particularly great places to explore and

SCENERY

DIFFICULTY 1. Sunol 2. Sam McDonald

Castle Rock State Park

3. Matt Davis 4. Castle Rock

1. Castle Rock 2. Sam McDonald

climb. Atop Goat Rock, Monterey Bay is visible to the left. Lacking in any real elevation change, the trail is made interesting by the gnarled roots and rocks that crisscross the paths. These obstacles keep the hike exciting and set it apart from typical, well groomed paths in the Bay Area.

3. Sunol 4. matt davis

CULTURE | MAY 2014

Sam McDonald Park

NATURE: (Clockwise from above) The view from the meadow at the junction of the Towne Fire Road and Brook Loop. A dead tree stands in a meadow at Sunol Regional Wilderness. View of the ocean from the Matt Davis Trail. The entrance of a cave into the forest at Castle Rock State Park.

Nestled between the Santa Cruz Mountains and the Pacific Ocean, Sam McDonald Park is the most difficult of the hikes to access. After a mile trek up the Towne Fire Road, the Brook Loop trail begins in a sunny meadow overlooking the ocean and surrounding mountains. The Brook Loop trail begins by winding down to the canyon floor, where a mellow

creek meanders along. Passing a variety of flora, redwoods dominate the landscape, creating an entirely shaded hike. Lodging is available upon reservation at the Sierra Club Hikerâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Hut, which sits above the canyon and overlooks the ocean. The Hut is a small cabin equipped with a kitchen and bathroom, but it fills fast, so make sure to plan ahead.

sunol regional wilderness Although this park closely resembles open space preserves in Palo Alto, a few key differences make it worthwhile. For one, it functions as a ranch in addition to being a recreational area. As such, cows roam the property, adding to what could otherwise be an uninspiring

hike. For another, the taller hills and larger park enable grander views of the surrounding hills and a greater physical challenge than hikes in Palo Alto. By the same token, the steep, exposed hills make hikers vulnerable to the sun, especially during the summer.

Matt Davis Trail Across the Golden Gate and through the back roads of Marin, the drive to the Matt Davis trail is breathtaking, if not a bit nauseating. Beginning in a residential area, a steep ascent takes the path quickly into lush forest scenery. Creeks lace the path, adding to the jungleesque feeling. The occasional

UNIQUENESS 1. Castle Rock 2. Sunol

3. Sam Mcdonald 4. matt davis

break in trees opens the view to the ocean and jagged Pacific coastline. Hiking to the ranger station and back requires a 5.8 mile round trip journey with views to make the grueling uphill worthwhile. Once back in the car, Stinson Beach is conveniently located near the trail for a late lunch at a beach side cafe.

OVERALL BEST 1. Castle Rock 2. Sam McDonald

3. Sunol 4. matt davis 19

CULTURE | MAY 2014

IN HARMONY

A CAPELLA MEMBERS EXPRESS THEIR PASSION FOR SINGING Text by ZOFIA AHMAD and ZOE LUNG Photos by ANA SOFIA AMIEVA-WANG

T’S A COOL THURSDAY AFTERnoon during lunch at Palo Alto High School, and students chat in groups, groaning about their finals or laughing at their friend’s jokes. Turn around the corner of the music and art building, and the air fills with a harmony of voices, accented by the occasional piano chord as voices hum to mimic the pitch. A group of Paly students known as Vikapella are huddled near the piano. Suddenly, they break out into the intro of “What does the Fox Say” by Ylvis, oblivious to the outside world as they use only their voices to transform the otherwise unalluring song into something beautiful. The Paly a capella world consists of five groups: Heartbreakers, Heartbeats, Spectrum, Folk Yes! and Vikapella. According to sophomore Jenny Xin, a member of Vikapella, a capella provides a way to get to know other choir members outside of the classroom and try different types of music. “I know sometimes in choir you sing a lot of operatic songs, but a capella gives you a good opportunity to actually hang out with the people and sing pop songs,” Xin says. Jamie Garcia, a member of the all girls group Heartbeats, agrees with Xin. “The a capella groups at Paly are student run, which makes it a lot of fun,” Garcia says. “We get to hold our own auditions and do the music that we want. A capella gives you more power than in the normal concert choir. It gives you the chance to sing music more popularly known.” According to Marcus Edholm, the tenor of the all-boys Heartbreakers, singing in smaller groups also helps create a more

CULTURE | MAY 2014

TOP LEFT AND MIDDLE The Vikapella group sings “What Does The Fox Say,” by Ylvis during a Thursday lunch practice. BOTTOM LEFT and TOP RIGHT Folk Yes! members Audrey Berardi and Paige Brown sing in a separate room during their Folk Yes! practice. connected community. “The smaller groups enable more synergy between the members,” Edholm says. “Also, being in a group with three other people means that you will become super close with your other members.” Garcia shares similar experiences with Edholm. “My favorite part about a capella is the friends you make,” Garcia says. “We have rehearsals usually on the weekends, so we eat lots of food, and we get to know each other.” One of the founders of Vikapella, junior Jannat Hashmi says that the a capella world has affected her in ways that are very different from her academic classes. “Choir is a part of my curriculum, but its not like an academic class,” Hashmi says. “The sense of working with so many people and trying to achieve the same goal is not something you can get anywhere else.” Other than creating strong bonds between the singers, Edholm says the best aspect of a capella is performing. “My favorite part of a capella is the feeling when the group has just sung a song and kicked ass doing it,” Edholm says. “When the audience applauds us for singing a song that everyone in the group knows was great, [it] is one of the most joyful feelings anyone can ever have.” Back in the choir room, a chorus of laughter breaks up the perfect harmony as a Vikapella member jumps into yet another line of “wa-pa-pa-pa-pa-pa-pow,” disregarding the bell as it announces the end of lunch. Rounding up one last time, the group gathers together and sings, eyes closed and hands and feet moving to the beat. v

The Groups Vikapella: Paly’s only co-ed group, mainly performs pop/rock hits. Folk Yes!: An All-girl group that performs folk music. Heartbeats: Paly’s oldest group, made up of four girls. THEY do a variety of music from the1960s onwards. Heartbreakers: all-boys counterpart to heartbeats. Sings similar music, but men’s songs Spectrum: All-girls group that sings mostly Choral music but changes to go along with the theme of each concert. 21

CULTURE | MAY 2014

Best of 2014 Hip Hop Releases

Text by ANAND SRINIVASAN Visit Verde Magazine’s YouTube channel for more reviews on the albums shown here and more!

Freddie Gibbs and Madlib - Piñata

Domino Records

“Piñata” is hands down one of the best produced albums of 2014 and likewise one of the best collaborative hip hop albums in a while. Madlib, a prolific producer and rapper, has composed such hip hop classics as MadVillain’s “MadVillainy” and “The Unseen.” In his most recent release, he collaborates with Indiana rapper Freddie Gibbs — who has been on the gangsta-rap scene since 2003 — a move many thought would draw support from gangsta-rap enthusiasts. Not only did this album fulfill such expectations, but it did so in an original and creative way, avoiding the generic tendencies that Gangsta-Rap albums use as a crutch. This album highlights the genius of a producer that is Madlib, with a varied palette of diverse and masterful beats. Madlib and Gibbs seem to be working in unison on each track, making sure each beat or sample used is incorporated appropriately, enhancing the topic or theme presented in each song.

Best Tracks: “Harold’s” “Sh*tsville” “Shame” “Piñata”

Isaiah Rashad - Cilvia Demo

Cult Records

Isaiah Rashad recently signed to Top Dawg Entertainment, the label originating from the dynamic hip hop collective Black Hippy which consists of rappers Kendrick Lamar, Schoolboy Q, AbSoul and Jay Rock. In this debut release “Cilvia Demo,” Rashad follows a similar concept to a Schoolboy Q or Danny Brown album, where there is a clear dichotomy of the artist’s perception of himself. In the first half of the album, Rashad portrays himself as crazy, reckless, ignorant and unaware of the consequences of his actions and the problems present in his life. However, in the second half, he addresses these issues by analyzing them introspectively and drawing conclusions based on his past experiences. In addition, the southern flavored aesthetic of the album also bolsters the gravity of such topics. Rashad ties all of this together through his intriguing storytelling and skillful rapping abilities, resulting in a well-executed and creative end product.

Best Tracks: “Soliloquy” “Tranquility” “Heavenly Father” “Shot You Down”

Vince Staples - Shyne Coldchain Vol. 2

Republic Records/Lava Records

After gaining some traction from appearing on Earl Sweatshirt’s critically acclaimed album “Doris” and doing a collaborative project with Mac Miller, Vince Staples came out this year with his most successful mixtape so far: “Shyne Coldchain Vol. 2.” Throughout the tape, Staples addresses topics of drug dealing, drug abuse, gang violence, problems at home, failed relationships and a past with his father, using vivid storytelling, clever wordplay and thought provoking verses. Lines such as, “I still got slaves hanging from my family tree” and “medication cost an arm and a leg” exemplify the inner turmoil and corrupt world that Staples originates from. Moreover, Staples succeeds in squeezing everything he wants to say into a compact and highly concentrated 30 minute mixtape. In doing so, Staples differentiates his album from most commercially successful albums that lack clear direction or are packed with tons of filler.

Best Tracks: “Progressive 3” “Locked and Loaded” “45” “Nate”

CULTURE | MAY 2014

How Do You Like Them Apples? COMMUNITY ENJOYS EXPANDED CALIFORNIA AVENUE FARMERS MARKET Text by CLAIRE PRIESTLEY and BRITTANY NGUYEN Photography by ANA SOFIA AMIEVA-WANG and CLAIRE PRIESTLEY

MUFFIN EXCHANGE Senior Heather Strathearn, a weekly visitor of the California Avenue farmers market, purchases a carrot millet muffin from Rebecca’s Mighty Muffins, a Santa Cruz bakery known for its dairy-free, gluten-free and sugar-free treats.

HE MARKET BUZZES WITH A steady stream of chatter, shouts of vendors selling samples filling the air. People move from stall to stall, examining the size of lettuce heads and tasting freshcut oranges. It is Sunday, and the Palo Alto farmer’s market is open for business. Located on California Avenue, the market opens from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. every Sunday all year, and has sold its organic products to the citizens of Palo Alto since 1981, yet it is still growing. Just this year, the market expanded into Birch Street, accommodating 25 new vendors ranging from fresh vegetables to baked goods. From handing out samples to browsing the stalls, the activities at the market beckon to people of all ages, including Palo Alto High School juniors Zach Levitan, Owen Staiger, Will Snodgrass, Maggie Peng and senior Heather Strathearn. v

How did you get involved in the farmer’s market? Zach Levitan: “One day, I was walking by, and one of the booths had a help wanted sign, and I needed a job.”

What is your role in the farmer’s market? ZL: “I work for Prevedelli farms. I sell apples, I hand out samples and I work register.”

Owen staiger: “I would help out with the register, and I would often be cutting up apples, handing out samples, stacking boxes and just generally helping the place run.”

WIll Snodgrass: “I handed out samples, I worked at the cash register, I restocked everything; basically, I just did any sort of jobs that they asked.” 23

“IT’s fun to walk down and see all these stands and see all these people enjoying the outdoors.” — Maggie PENG, JUNIOR

“Now instead of just one band playing, they have two music stations, so it’s a really cool atmosphere to go and pretend to be a hippie.” — HEATHER STRATHEARN, SENIOR

URBAN FARMERS Paly juniors, Will Snodgrass, Zach Levitan and Owen Staiger are former employees of Prevedelli Farms, an apple stand at the California Avenue Farmers Market in Palo Alto.

What was your favorite part about working at the farmer’s market?

What is a SPECIAL memory you have of working at the farmer’S Market?

ZL: “All the delicious food, great fruit and other foods.” WS: “There was this one day where it was just absolutely pouring WS: “Getting the experience working, interacting with people and rain, and we had to set up the stand basically attached to the truck seeing everyone.

Do you have a trick to giving out samples?

so it would not blow over, and there were not many people there, so we were just sitting there in the rain.

ZL: “I always try to play a game. I try to switch up everything I

What’s your favorite booth at the farmer’s market?

say so I do not say the same thing twice ever throughout the day, which is very hard because you are out there for four hours at a time. But no tricks really — smile.”

OS: “I really like the orange stand, [and] whoever sold orange juice, because the juice is really good there. They fresh squeeze from the oranges, and I guess it’s a bit expensive, but it is worth a try. “

OS: “Well, you kind of have to put yourself out there and talk to

WS: “There was this one booth that sold sweets and stuff, and a lot

as many people as you can, because not often will people come up and ask you, so you just have to put yourself out there.” 24

of the vendors would trade stuff, so she would always trade food with the guy that worked at our stand.”

COMPILED AND DESIGNED BY noam Shemtov, HOLLIE KOOL and JAMIE ALLENDORF

before we Walk photography by ana sofía amieva-wang

class of 2014

looking back ON The best of the seniors’ last four years

“I’m glad I did spanish for five years because . . it made me create new friends that I wouldn’t have made otherwise that have the same passion for spanish and who love mr. Vericat.” — angela pomeroy, Senior

“they [This year’s seniors] are very open to the adults ... it is easy to talk with them, and they communicate with the stafF very nicely. one of the best classes i have seen for that.” — ernesto cruz, campus supervisor

“[My] Favorite part of paly? “the people. everyone here is fantastic.” — GAVIN LIBBEY,

senior 27

FEATURES | MAY 2014

X MARKS THE SPOT

GEOC ACHING MIXES ADVENTURE AND TECHNOLOGY Text by ELIZA ACKROYD and ZOE LUNG Photography by ELIZA ACKROYD and ANA SOFIA AMIEVA-WANG

TICKS AND ROCKS IMPEDE OUR progress as we follow the path outlined by the map on our iPhone, leading us towards the stick-strewn Franciscan trail at the Los Tranceros State Preserve. As the line indicating the distance to the treasure shrinks, our hearts race and adrenaline levels spike. A pop-up indicating that the target is within 30 feet, prompting an inch-byinch examination of every surrounding shrub immediately off the path. Eventually, the prize is spotted — in a tree. Scaling the hill and tree trunk is one feat; getting down is another. “GEOCACHE” in large letters is etched on the top of a grey metal box, nestled in the nook between two branches. Maneuvering between spider webs and imposing moss, we finally reach the prize. After forcing the semi–rusted lid of the cache open, we find an array of pencil caps, erasers and stickers. Caches vary in size, shape and content. Each is unique, though all belong to the same community — geocaching. A glorified treasure hunt, geocaching allows users to hide a box or other receptacle containing a logbook and an assortment of trinkets. Upon discovering the cache, other users log their find with the date while trading the original trinket with one of greater or equal value. The only requirement is that you must replace what you take.

“Stickers are always lovely, and little eraser things from elementary school, weird [things] and just things that you have from forever ago, that you don’t realize you had are always really good,” says Palo Alto High School junior Jamie Garcia, an active geocacher for the past six months. Garcia started geocaching because of her friends’ interest in the activity. “My friend from choir told a couple of us about it, and we decided to go together because it sounded like a good time,” Garcia says. Paly sophomore Sean Jawetz, a geocacher for the past two months, reflects these ideas. “Geocaching is just a fun thing to do with your friends instead of doing homework,” Jawetz says. “It’s a very undercover thing, because no one admits that they geocache, but everyone does it.” According to the geocaching website, there are millions of people geocaching that connect through their desire to go on an adventure with friends — even if it only takes them a block away. “You’ll be talking about it and people will be like, ‘no way, I geocache too,’” Garcia says. “It’s much larger than we think it is.” Paly senior Paige Brown has been an avid geocacher since earlier this year. She likes the community that geocaching fosters. “When you are signing the log it is always cool to see when it was found last, and often it’s only a day or two ago,” Brown says.

FEATURES | MAY 2014

RIGHT Jamie Garcia and Sean Jawetz track a geocache using the Geocache app on their iPhone. TOP LEFT A path on the island at Foothills Park, potentially leading to a cache. BOTTOM LEFT A cache hidden in the Los Tranceros Open Space Preserve, found under a wooden bridge. FAR LEFT A cache hidden in the Los Tranceros Open State Preserve, found in a tree. With so many geocaches available, the locations of the geocaches vary from our very own Paly campus to the top of a mountain, or even hidden within your favorite local park. An assessment of the difficulty of the terrain and location is provided in the description of the geocache in the Geocaching app. The app allows users to track their progress in real time, providing the cache location, hints for finding the cache and user reviews. Caches can also be in unexpected locations, such as underwater or even over your local freeway. “[We had to] climb through poison oak,” Garcia says. “We were at Foothills Park, and we found one [while] it was raining. It was very easily seen, but we look at the cache and it was covered by poison oak, and we had to fight our way through it.” Cache’s come in different styles, the most popular being the traditional geocache, consisting of a box, logbook and trinket. As you progress to different types, the caches get more difficult, sometimes requiring two or more locations, dubbed the Multicache, or forcing the geocacher to solve a puzzle or riddle before the location is revealed in a mystery or puzzle cache. Garcia recommends geocaching to others. “I think people just don’t give it a chance because they think it’s super lame, but then you go and you realize it’s really fun,” Garcia says. v

The Verde Cache nearby

6.8 mi

START

About Want to Geocache? Search for the “Verde Cache” in the Geocache app on your smartphone to lead you to the prize.

Hint First, make your way to the island at Foothills lake. From there, look for a container with in superman logos and hidden a bush. 29

our hometown HITS THE BIG SCREEN BETSY FRANCO DISCUSSES HER SON’S NEWEST MOVIE Text by LUCY FOX and BRIGID GODFREY Art by KARINA CHAN

NCE UPON A TIME, IT WAS THE 1990s: the hair was large, the shirts were skimpy and James Franco was a class clown with a great smile at Palo Alto High School. Fast forward to 2014: James has expanded his influence far beyond his hometown. He is a superstar known for major roles in “Freaks and Geeks,” “Oz: the Great and Powerful,” “This is the End” and “127 Hours” — and now another: “Palo Alto.” This movie, based on James’s novel “Palo Alto: Stories,” features Emma Roberts, Jack Kilmer and Nat Wolff. Having raised James, Betsy Franco offers a mother’s unique perspective on the book and movie. According to Betsy, James’s adolescence proved to be a difficult time. “While it was going on, it was scary, and it was worse for me than the mom in the movie, because I didn’t know the ending,” Betsy says. However, after several arrests and a brief period as a ward of the state, James reevaluated his priorities and blossomed as an artist. “I didn’t know he was gonna turn around and make such a beautiful thing of his life,” Betsy says. “I just did the best I could and let him take the consequences and pick himself up.” Through “Palo Alto,” James uses those negative experiences as the foundation for an artistic endeavor. The movie follows April (Roberts) and Teddy (Kilmer) as they attempt to deal with more than your average dose of adolescent drama. The naïve April has an affair with single dad and soccer coach, Mr. B (James), while Teddy tries to steer clear of his rebellious best friend, Fred (Wolff). April and Teddy come to realize their mutual attraction, and their promiscuous friend Emily (Zoe Levin) engages in sexual activity with numerous boys. Together, they learn from their mistakes — or not — as they

navigate the murky waters of high school life. “Palo Alto” has been circulating the small indie film festival scene for several months. It was released on May 9 in Los Angeles and New York City and in public theaters on May 16. “‘Palo Alto’ made me long for the loneliness of being a high school teenager in a good way,” Matt Howard, the managing editor of Baeblemusic, told Verde in an email. “The characters in the movie were all lonely in the sense that they had time to think about their emotional stresses. I miss being able to over-evaluate love.” Although James intentionally darkened and exaggerated some aspects, the emotions behind the work are real. “It’s good that he’s bringing out the shadowy side of Palo Alto,” Betsy says, “because everybody knows the other side.” The book and movie incited debate over whether James portrayed high school life realistically. “It’s accurate for upper-middle class suburban white kids,” Howard says. Larry Gross, a screenwriter and professor at New York University and Chapman University, finds the movie applicable to a teenagers as a whole. “I thought the film’s depiction of the risky behaviors of teens was exceptionally accurate,” Gross told Verde in an email. “She [director Gia Coppola] avoids the twin traps of idealizing kids and presenting them purely as disasters waiting to happen.” According to Betsy, James was reluctant at first to let her read the book or watch the movie — imagine your mother learning about all the rules you’d broken — but he eventually gave in. “It’s a lot easier to watch a movie than to actually live with somebody and watch them and raise them,” Betsy says. “But I’m glad he’s making such poignant art out of his emotions and experiences.” v

Congratulations Class of 2014 Nadine Priestley Photography nadinepriestley.com 650.868.0977 nadine.priestley@gmail.com

FEATURES | MAY 2014

Breaking up the boy’s club BAY AREA PROGRAMS ENCOURAGE FEMALE REPRESENTATION IN STEM Text by ANAND SRINIVASAN and ESME ABLAZA Photography by ANA SOFIA AMEIVA-WANG

HE WHIR OF MACHINERY BUZZes from within a jumble of wires that make up the innards of a 120 pound steel and aluminum contraption. The stout, Wall-E-like robot zooms across the floor of a lab at the NASA Ames Research Center, careening in jerking spasms as it smashes its outreached arms over yoga balls, swallowing them up into its belly. Palo Alto High School junior Rachel Berry furrows her brow in concentration behind a plexiglass screen as she stands at the robot’s drive station, directing its every move. Berry is a member of Space Cookies, an all-girls robotics team founded by NASA and Girl Scouts in 2005, and one of several programs whose main objective is to encourage girls to follow careers in typically male-dominated science, technology, engineering and math (STEM) fields. Like Space Cookies, programs such as Girls Innovate and Technovation also try to help girls interested in STEM pursue their passions. Space Cookies Starting with only 12 girls in its first year, the Girl Scout troop Space Cookies has grown to over 80 members in the past decade. Girls from roughly 25 school districts in the Bay Area come to Space Cookies, some simply in search of a new troop, others because their school does not have a robotics team. Still more made their first drive to the NASA Ames Research Center purely with the intention of enhancing their college resumes. No matter their original incentive for joining, most members soon came to appreciate the nurturing and community-based program. “It started with me looking for something to do, but now I do it cause I love it,” says Maddy Augustine, a member of the Space Cookies leadership team and senior from Pinewood High School. The Space Cookies have acquired a considerably strong reputation over the years, proving they are a force to be reckoned with. The team has gone to Sacramento Davis Regional and Silicon Valley Regionals, in addition to consistently qualifying for the World Championships for Robotics every year since 2005 except 32

for 2013. More importantly, Space Cookies succeeds in promoting continued STEM interest in collegebound members, according to Augustine. “All of our girls go to college, and 94 percent of our girls go into a college focusing on a STEM major,” Augustine says. “Those who don’t have gone into economics and architecture, so even though they are not technically studying STEM, they’re still very math focused.” Despite their competitive and personal victories, the Space Cookies have faced several obstacles on their hard-earned path to success. Though outright sexism has never been an issue, the Space Cookies have had to deal with off-hand remarks and attitudes from their mostly male competitors. “The year before I joined, at the Sacramento Regional in 2012, the robot was supposed to shoot basketballs, and during one of the matches the announcer said that the robot shot like a girl,” says Ivy Li, Paly sophomore and Space Cookies team member. “It was an example of how some things can sound really off-hand and not directly sexist, but they can be very offensive.” Another issue the Space Cookies have faced this past year relates to a massive membership increase. “We’ve grown from 50 to 80 girls in the last year,” says Shivali Minocha, a member of the leadership team. “We’ve had to organize meetings so that every girl is still involved and give rookies (first year team members) a good education on our program.” No prior robotics experience or Girl Scouts membership is necessary in order to obtain a spot on the team. The only requirement is that all members are high school girls. However, if a member wishes to attend an overnight competition, she must demonstrate her commitment by logging a certain number of hours in the lab. Build season begins on the first Saturday of January and continues for six weeks, over the course of which Space Cookies spend at least 100 hours in the lab, logging an average of eight

FEATURES | MAY 2014

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hours a week. In addition, they are required to participate in at least two fundraising events, such as selling cookies or managing a garage sale, and clock 16 total hours of volunteer and outreach events, such as robot demonstrations. However, for dedicated members, this number is almost always surpassed. “I’ve definitely reached over 200 hours this build season,” Berry says. Along with constructing robots for challenges during build season, the Space Cookies also engage in several off-season projects. This past year the team worked with Mark Leon, one of their NASA sponsors, to start a self-sustainable, all girls robotics team in Colombia comprised of 25 girls. The Space Cookies gave the team an assortment of parts from one of their old robots, along with a drive station to practice. This past December, the Colombian team visited the Space Cookies for a week at the SVR Regional competition. After some assistance from the Space Cookies with translating the safety manual and helping them with talking to judges, they won the Rookie Inspiration award. Girls Innovate! Though less seasoned than Space Cookies, Girls Innovate!, a mentoring program based in Silicon Valley that was launched in March of 2013, exposes middle and high school-aged girls to the possibilities of career paths in business and entrepreneurship in addition to STEM by teaching them valuable skills at workshops and events. “The majority of our projects are free workshops open to all, with a keynote speaker who also facilitates a program to help the girls learn about their area of expertise,” says Gunn High School sophomore Jordana Siegel, a member of the Girls Innovate! Teen Committee. “We also held a huge conference for mothers and daughters in June with speakers on different topics important for women to know.” According to Siegel, the workshops focus on business skills that cannot be acquired in the classroom. Other events that Girls Innovate! organizes include ‘How to Think Like a Programmer’ and ‘Mother-Daughter Hack Days.’ Along with teaching girls how to balance a budget, negotiate effectively, and successfully run a business, Girls Innovate! fosters teamwork and cooperation through its community-based projects. “Through the business planning series, girls may have understood the importance of working in teams formed in their community for a common goal,” Siegel says. “They would then unite their voices to piece together a business that will bring impact.” The age range of girls who go through the program is vast, ranging from fourth graders to juniors in high school. Freshman Sonia Salunke, another member of the Teen Committee, believes

GAME FACES (1) Liz Simonovich, Rachel Barry, and Cameron Aishin work togather to control the robot. DRIVING (2) Rachel Barry, the “Driver” of the Space Cookies’ robot smiles from the control booth of the practice arena. SOLDERING (3) Liz Simonovich displays the proper way to solder while explaining the step by step process. 33

FEATURES | MAY 2014 it is especially important to promote STEM interest in the younger girls. “I, personally, love to encourage middle school girls as I feel that if I inspire them earlier then they may have the opportunity to focus on their passion earlier,” says Salunke. There’s An App For That Girls Innovate!’s series of workshops that focuses on business planning concludes with the Technovation Challenge, a contest where teams of five girls spend weeks designing and creating a prototype for a mobile app, then present their ideas at to a panel of judges at a Live Pitch event. The winners receive $10,000 and a trip to the World Pitch in San Francisco. “The purpose of the Live Pitch event was to have it be the culmination of our Business Planning workshops, where we had developed a business, built a budget plan for it and developed a pitch for it,” Siegel says. “It was the ending event, where we could see all of our work paid off.” Diane Greene, founder and former CEO of VMware, Google board of directors member, and former judge of the Technovation Challenge, strongly believes in encouraging young women to

pursue male-dominated career paths in STEM. A veritable pioneer for women in STEM, Greene boasts a bachelor’s degree in mechanical engineering and master’s degrees in both naval architecture and computer science. Greene believes that it is important to give girls interesting, hands-on projects that apply STEM skills and knowledge. As a high schooler she herself developed an interest in engineering after constructing a dark room and a model aluminum truss bridge. “A great way to get the [STEM] education is through fun hands-on experience,” says Greene. “Participate in maker camps and build things in maker facilities.” Not exposing girls to their potential love for STEM-related activities that are typically seen as “nerdy” or “boys-only” causes them to miss out on opportunities to gain experience in prominent career paths, setting them back from their male peers. “If you want to have a world that uses every means possible to address problems, increase everyone’s sense of well being, and reduce suffering, then you want as many people as possible to have a deep understanding of technology and how it can be applied,” says Greene. “A diverse population will bring more creativity to any endeavor and raise the quality of whatever comes out of it.” v

CLOSE INSPECTION (4) Cameron Aishin carefully observes the insides of the robot, locating where the problem lays. FREE STYLING (5) The Space Cookies’ robot glides around the practice arena, doing 360s, capturing yoga balls, and catapaulting them into the goal posts. REPAIRS (6) Katy Woo tinkers at the mainframe of the robot, in attempts to fix the jam that was caused by an intense round of handling. CONTROL PANEL (7) The Space Cookies’ drive team handle their robot from afar.

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sext and the student HOW THE 21ST CENTURY LOVE LETTER IS CHANGING ROMANCE AND PRIVACY

Text by JAMIE ALLENDORF and SIDDHARTH SRINIVASAN Art by ANTHONY LIU

he first time Mary sent a nude photo of herself, it was an accident. She had taken the photo the night before, intending to send it to an old boyfriend. She copied the photo onto her phone, but changed her mind before pasting it into the conversation. The next day, Mary attempted to paste a different message into a conversation with a different male friend, accidentally sending the photo that had been saved into her phoneâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s memory the night before.

“i think the first time i got asked for a picture was in seventh grade. i never sent one until high school, but in seventh grade my boyfriend of six months would always try to pressure me when i was with him ... he was trying to push me to do things i wasn’t comfortable with.” — Mary Mary, a Palo Alto High School student whose name has been changed, as have the names of all students in this story to protect their identities, was not worried about having sent the accidental text. After all, he was a trusted friend and the trouble seemed over once she explained the mistake. But when she learned that the photo might have been sent to another male student she immediately confronted her friend. “He kept it [my sext] for a really long time and he still shows it to people to this day,” Mary says. “But I confronted him about it because that picture was an accident. It was not meant for his eyes.” According to Mary, it is usually the male who instigates a sexting exchange or requests nude photos, and these requests appear to be occurring at a younger age than some might expect. “I think the first time I got asked for a picture was in seventh grade,” Mary says. “I never sent one until high school, but in seventh grade my boyfriend of six months would always try to pressure me to send him pictures, and he would try to take them while I was with him. … He was trying to push me to do things I wasn’t comfortable with.” Sexting has become an issue that has permeated youth culture in a way unique to the millennial generation. As technology becomes increasingly accessible, teens seem less and less concerned with their personal privacy when the ability to send a nude photo is only a click away. Parents and authorities alike remain unable to find an effective means to prevent minors from sexting and, when they do sext, how to enforce consequences. Sexting is not only limited to intimate relationships since social media sites like Snaphchat allow photos to be shared with large groups. Earlier this year, over 100 middle and high school students were reprimanded in Virginia for

creating a sexting ring through Instagram, which included students between the ages of 14 and 17. Sexting is a practice that the law deems illegal for minors to partake in, as it falls under the section of law titled Child Pornography. However, 66 percent of Paly students say they believe that teen sexting should not be considered a form of child pornography, while 40 percent say having sexually explicit pictures should receive no punishment from law enforcement. As of 2011, sexting is an expellable offense in California due to bill SB919, which amended the California Education Code’s definition to “the sending or receiving of sexually explicit pictures or video by means of an electronic act.” The bill establishes the premises on which a student can be expelled for sexting. In order for a student to be expelled they must send the photo on school grounds, while they are going to or from school, during lunch — regardless of whether they are on campus — or during a schoolsponsored activity. A 800-person telephone survey conducted by the Pew Internet & American Life Project in 2009 found that one in six teenagers have received a sext from someone they know. The survey also revealed that teens who pay their own phone bills or have unlimited texting plans are more likely to sext than their counterparts. Pressure to sext can come from either partner, regardless of gender, but for Mary it was not only her seventh grade boyfriend who asked her to send nude photos, the pressure to sext continued. “I was very uncomfortable with that [being asked to sext],” Mary says, “but whenever I was dating a guy, or when a guy would hit on me, he would ask for a picture of me in my bra and stuff like that.” Although sexting may seem most prevalent in high school, it has also become a problem at the middle school level. This past March, the San Jose Mercury News reported that a middle school boy from Brentwood was arrested for using explicit photos of a girl to used to extort sexual acts from her. Susan Esterly, an assistant professor of psychology at Sofía University, says the prevalence of sexting cases in middle school is due to the fact that kids are trying to individuate from their child selves and embody what they

see as adult actions. “I would definitely say that “Because kids at this age are physically maturing, it can be a I am more self-conscious about rough transition from childhood to adulthood, both physically and sending pictures now, probably because emotionally,” Esterly says. “Sexting taps into these sexual maturity I was just so naive when I was a freshman dilemmas easily and less threateningly than being an actual roman- and sophomore,” Mary says. tic relationship.” Snapchat enables people to send photos with According to Mary, sexting in middle school often led to an artificial sense of security, as the photo is wiped excess drama. Those who had their nudes distributed to others from Snapchat’s servers upon reaching the recipient. without their knowledge were often “blackmailed” and taunted by However, Snapchat does not come without its own risks. other students. Now, Mary believes that high school students are “Once I found out that people can save them [Snapchats], more respectful and concerned about the consequences of mass I stopped sending pictures like that [sexts] through Snapchat,” distributing others’ nude photos. Mary says. “When I found “I think that it was a lot out that that person was bigger of a deal when you were saving my Snapchats ... younger, and with good reason,” I deleted them from his Mary says. “I mean, I don’t think phone and made sure I anybody knew what they were never sent more like that doing. I think that it did provoke through Snapchat. If a lot of behavior that I don’t you are tempted or get prompted to do something like that [send think would have happened unsexts], just try to do it in person.” less those pictures were sent.” Although Mary expresses her regret for sending sexually exDespite what may be an environment with an increased re- plicit photos through Snapchat, Paly student Eric feels otherwise. spect for privacy, some high school students still must deal with “Since I sent pictures to a person I trust, I have no worries repercussions of having their sexts distributed. According to a that the photos will get out,” Eric says. survey of Paly students, 12 percent indirectly receive at least half Eric began exchanging photos after beginning a relationship of the sexts that are sent to them, with a girl. His fears of the photos were non-existent due to his meaning the sender was not the confidence in using Snapchat as a medium for person depicted in the photo. exchanging pictures. “[Explicit] photos of me were distributed without my knowledge, but that was a while ago and it was more of a growing-up lesof Paly s son than a sexual thing,” tudents surveyed Paly student Phillip says. a sext. have sen “It’s all fun and games unt til you get nudes leaked, and understanding what it feels like puts you in a situation where doing it of Paly s to someone else is awtudents surveyed received ful.” have a sext. According to Mary, such consequences can deter some from sexting or continuing to sext.

“the person who sent them has to live with the fact that that person controls their entire social life for a period of time.” — John

17%

36%

Verde conducted a survey in nine Paly English classes, collecting data and opinions on the practice and issue of sexting in Palo Alto schools. Here are the results.

dium hat me w h g u Tho t or ou sen y e v a h ? d sexts receive

Depends Jail time

44%

No punishment

41%

Fine Other

Punishment for HAVING sexually explicit photos

Registered Sex Offender

6% 6%

12%

of surveyed students who sext receive at least half of their sexts from someone other than the source.

Because of the potential consequences, responsibility is a key factor in the exchange of nude photos, not only on the part of the recipient, but Jail time Punishment for also on the part of the sender. DISTRIBUTING No punishment “I personally know that if pictures that I have sexually explicit Fine sent to people, if they have kept those pictures, then photos I am responsible if I get in trouble for that,” Mary Other says. “I am responsible because it was my choice to Registered send those pictures. I knew what the consequences Sex Offender were when I did it.” Yet Gunn High School student John believes consequences exist regardless of police enforcement. “The person who sent them has to live with the fact that that person controls their entire social life for “We agreed to both use Snapchat so that we couldn’t save the pictures because we were both a period of time,” John says. Although a large percentage of Paly students feel that posworried about them getting out,” Eric says. Snapchat’s official policy states that it deletes a snap from its sessing a sext should go unpunished, they say they feel that the servers once every recipient has viewed the photo but is power- punishment for distributing sexts should be more serious. 38 perless to prevent others from making copies of the snaps by taking cent of those surveyed believe that students who distribute sexuscreenshots. If Snapchat is able to detect a screenshot by the really explicit photos should receive a fine, while 12 percent believe that distributors should be forced to register as sex offenders, and cipient, they will attempt to notify the sender. “I definitely wouldn’t exchange pictures with anyone who I only 15 percent believe that distribution warrants no punishment. Regardless of the consequences, sexting has become a facet wasn’t close with,” Eric says. “It [sending pictures] is not just a hook-up where you can just forget about it. Exchanging pictures of today’s society, and it seems that it will be so for a long time. “I treat them as a statement of how much someone would sticks with a person, and even if you use Snapchat, they might take screenshots, putting you out of control of the situation, so there- share with me,” Phillip says. “It’s a little about respect, a lot about trust and a lot about hormones.” v fore it has to be with someone you trust.” Depends

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N APRIL 30, YAHOO BROKE THE NEWS THAT GOOGLE will reportedly stop selling ads using personal information about students from its Apps for Education products. Google also says that Gmails sent through Apps in Education products will not be scanned for student interest, a previous tactic for providing consumer information for advertisers. Google’s recent effort is only a part of the worldwide movement toward Internet privacy in response to advancing technology. On a more local scale, the state of California enacted its new “Do Not Track” disclosure requirement law on Jan. 1, 2014. According to California’s Business and Professions Code section 22577, which includes the new policy, businesses that operate a commercial website or online service now must “conspicuously post” their privacy policies on their websites. Online services must now inform consumers of the collection of personally identifiable information, while also disclosing whether other parties may collect information about a consumer’s online activities over time and across different websites. “Personally identifiable information” includes a user’s name, social security number and any form of contact information. Every photo, tweet, status update, Google search and electronically purchased item also adds to users’ digital profiles. According to survey among Palo Alto High School students, 93 percent of students who use social media set their profiles to completely or partially private. However, hardly any information remains truly confidential. Technology companies, online advertisers and even the government have online consumers’ information, ranging from their relative location and frequently visited websites to their personal interests. Despite the obvious risks of unknowingly handing over personal data to tech companies, many don’t understand — or simply don’t care — about the potential consequences. Among Paly students, only 17 percent were very concerned with third party access to data, while 76 percent were at least a bit or somewhat concerned. In the age of location tracking and personal data collection, is there any space left for privacy?

FEATURES | MAY 2014 tion ultimately benefits the user, as comPast to present The fear that technological growth will panies will pass on some of their savings destroy privacy is not unique to the age of to them. However, others say that data colinformation; the invention of the camera lection has a serious lack of transparency, which creates a power imbalance between also sparked similar concerns. “Photography … captures the fleeting the company and the consumer. “Uses of data that are unequivocally moments of interaction into a digital image good or unthat you can preequivocally bad serve forever,” says are pretty rare,” Arvind Narayanan, “Think about all the inNarayanan says. an assistant comput“But I don’t er science professor formation you put into think companies at Princeton and these services yourself evare specifically an affiliate scholar ery day. That is the data out to use data of Stanford Law they have [and] more.” in ways that [are] School’s Center for — Rebecca Jeschke, Media hurting users.” Internet and SociBenficial or ety. “People thought Relations Director and not, online user that was going to be Digital Rights Analyst tracking has the end of privacy.” vamped up as Fast forward to sites like Google the present, when the National Security Agency lies in the and Facebook gain popularity. For tech foreground of privacy concerns. In 2013, companies, more users means more conEdward Snowden leaked records of vari- sumer information to gather, analyze and ous global surveillance programs run by apply to improve user experience. “Think about all the information you the NSA and governmental programs like electronic data mining and device location put into these services yourself every day,” says Rebecca Jeschke, the Media Relations tracking. In the Digitial Age, a new cast has Director and Digital Rights Analyst at the emerged, threatening our privacy. Location Electronic Frontier Foundation. “That is services, online behavioral profiling and the data they [advertisers] have. They also third party advertising networks all gather have more — often your location data”. personal data on users, putting into question the positives and negatives of rapid Tracking your every move Location sensitive applications and sertechnological change. vices have their benefits, such as finding nearby restaurants and attractions. HowBeneficial or not? Many companies justify data collection ever, Jeschke points out these services are by advertising it as an effort to enhance often not clear enough to allow users to user experience, but others question how understand what is being done with their information. much truly benefits consumers. “Location data is very sensitive, and it’s According to Narayanan, economists argue that any data often not clear which apps are gathering loshortening a transac- cation information … how long apps are

holding on to your information and what they are doing with it,” Jeschke says. Although location-based services don’t appear to have severe immediate consequences, the very idea of third parties collecting user’s whereabouts is enough to raise serious concerns. Another aspect of user tracking is online advertising, which has thrived as companies gain greater access to specific user information. Narayanan says that increasingly fine-tuned advertisements yield a higher rate of successful e-commerce transactions and allow for easier consumer targeting. “Ad tracking discloses very detailed information about you — what you are interested in reading about, buying [and] what kinds of online communities you use,” Jeschke says. Suppose that a consumer browses online and adds a pair of shoes to their shopping cart, but does not check-out and complete the purchase. Retargeting, one online advertising strategy, makes this pair of shoes follow the consumer around the website and the rest of the web, according to Narayanan. Behavioral targeting lets companies direct certain advertisements to consumers based on frequently visited websites. Take, for example, the same shoe-shopping consumer. Companies might infer that they are interested in buying shoes and start advertising more specific products to that consumer. Privacy programs In the midst of increasing data collection, the complementary aspect of information protection has grown at a matching pace. One such program, Do Not Track, functions as a mechanism through which users can express their preference to opt out of user tracking, according to Narayanan. Do Not Track can be enabled in

00 10 11 010 00 10 1 0 93% 0 10 10 1 10 001 010 01 10 0 1 1 01 01 10 1 01 00 00 0

Verde conducted a survey in May of 129 Paly students.

of students use some form of social media.

10 00 1 0 01 100 101 1011 00 1 0 0 0 1 1 01 0 0 00 100 100 11 1 0 0 01 1 01 010 11 01 1

Google Chrome, Mozilla Firefox, Safari, Internet Explorer and Opera by going to c y the browser’s privacy settings. a n d “The cool thing about this [Do Not it’s my fault. Track] is that this preference will be auto- That doesn’t have matically communicated to any companies to be the case, unless we that are maybe in the business of online give up.” tracking, so users don’t have to opt out companies one by one,” Narayanan says. Protect Yourself “The alternative would be quite cumberAn important part of privacy involves some, given that there are over 100 major actually enacting steps to protect personal companies involved in tracking your brows- information. With little protection available ing online.” on the Internet, users must take necessary Typically, invisible trackers are embed- precautions surrounding online privacy. ded in the pages that consumers browse Teens especially have a tendency to disrewhile on the web. gard the prominence of privacy protec“Those [trackers] might be on Google tion. Narayanan warns against this type of in the form of their double-click advertiser thinking. network,” Naryanan says. “It could come “Especially when people are ready to from companies specifically in the online get their first job, they start worrying about advertising business; it could come from what potential information employers companies that play a part with data bro- have about them,” Narayanan says. “It’s kers and such. Each of these companies is, really thinking about your future and how technologically speaking, in a position to information online about you is going to collect the record of all of the webpages affect you. It’s not something, necessarily, to which you that can hurt browse.” you today, but Although the it might do so “[Data collection is] not efforts for priin the future, so vacy protection always be aware something, necessarily, that are promising, Jeof that.” can hurt you today, but it schke urges peoNarayanan might do so in the future, ple to keep pushsuggests that so always be aware of that.” ing for consumer users regularly — Arvind Narayanan, protection. set aside time “The deal to check up on Princeton assistant profesreached in Caliprivacy threats sor and Stanford scholar fornia for more and keep track clear and accesof their online sible privacy polipresence. cies is one step, but another is to go the extra “I think learning about privacy should mile and actually engineer in strong privacy be an inherent part about how you learn protections from the start,” Jeschke says. “I about new technology, and not some sepadon’t want a future where if I’m not con- rate sort of thing,” Narayanan says. stantly super-vigilant, then I lose all my privaHe regularly keeps up with new privacy

threats a n d searches to find updates about himself online. Overall, he says, he sets rules about the content he posts, to whom he posts and the photos he is tagged in. Although the process of protecting personal data may seem cumbersome and overwhelming, Jeschke emphasizes that more protection always offers more defense. “The data collection that’s happening right now is wide-ranging and hard to track, so unfortunately, you have to be suspicious by habit,” Jeschke says. “If not, marketers and the government may know way more about you than you are comfortable with.” In light of the rather ominous tracking and gathering of personal data, Narayanan reminds users that privacy will continue to exist as technology grows. “The bottom line is that there really is no evidence at all that privacy is becoming harder, or is going away, and with new technology, we gain the ability to protect our privacy in new ways,” Narayanan says. “With some data collectors, we lose some aspects of privacy, but overall, I think the conclusion is we always move to a new equilibrium. New generations always learn to coevolve with new technologies and adapt to them, and I think that’s what we’re seeing with privacy, as well.” v

Of those surveyed that use social media:

93%

have posted a photo of themselves.

72%

have posted their birth date.

MAY

76%

have posted their interests.

Thank You

THANK YOU to all our sponsors:

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FEATURES | MAY 2014

NOT YET EXTERMINATED A MONTH AFTER DISCOVERY, HEARTBLEED BUG STILL THREATENS THE INTERNET

54%

Text by ANNA LU and ALEXANDRA HSIEH Art by ANNA LU, ANTHONY LIU and KARINA CHAN

Of paly students surveyed have heard nothing at all about heartbleed**

N APRIL 7, programmers discovere

318,000

Servers are still vulnerable as of May 11*

79%

Of paly students haven’t checked to see if any websties they use were affected**

WELFARE, TAX, HEALTH

coding error that allowed hac ers to freely obtain private i formation. The bug, which l two-thirds of the internet vuln able, was named Heartbleed. By Ap 10, its vulnerabilities were supposed patched and the Internet was said to secure. However, as of today, Hea bleed has yet to be exterminated. Ironically enough, in the midst Silicon Valley, we are sheltered fro technicalities of programming by o user-oriented devices. Palo Alto re dents cherish their Apple compute for their sleek profiles, but rarely they ever focus on what’s behind t aesthetics: into the messy world of pr gramming and viruses.

PERSONAL, CORP EMAIL

WEB SERVER

INTERNET BANKING

SOCIAL NETWORKS ONLINE SHOPPING *DATA TAKEN FROM THE EXAMINER **According to surveys taken from 129 Paly students in may

FINANCE, STOCK, TRADE

FEATURES | MAY 2014

However, the threat of Heartbleed has prompted people to get people involved in this world of numbers and codes. Unlike a virus, Heartbleed doesn’t infect computers. Rather, it is like a back door that has been left open. For two years, the Heartbleed bug has allowed individual hackers to manipulate the OpenSSL code that runs the servers of millions of websites. The problem: Heartbleed is undetectable, rendering companies and consumers alike unaware of its existence. “Heartbleed is a bug with an encryption layer that allows someone malicious to read the remote server’s memory,” says senior Max Bernstein, an avid computer programmer. “It

means that if the server, like Facebook or your bank, has confidential information in memory, someone could gain access to it, or even worse, gain access to your login token and then gain access to the information as you.” Websites ranging from Facebook to Twitter and Google were all made vulnerable to Hearbleed, which allows for any information stored on these servers to become accessible to anyone — the ramifications limited only by the hacker’s imaginations. However, most holes exposed by Heartbleed have since been patched, and according to Palo Alto Unified School District Chief Technology Director Ann Dunkin, PAUSD has not suffered from any of Heartbleed’s con-

sequences. “Thankfully, we had very few services that were impacted,” Dunkin says. “We [PAUSD] identified four systems that ran the version of Open SSL that could be impacted by Heartbleed. All four were blocked from outside access until they could be fixed and have now been patched. There have been no breaches or data losses associated with Heartbleed.” Though most of the larger sites like Facebook and Google have already patched their vulnerabilities, a near 318,00 of the original 500,000 servers still remain vulnerable to Heartbleed, according to a recent global internet scan conducted by Errata Security. Yet, Vijay Sagar, the director of

01 01 10 0 0 1 10 0 1 00 100 010 1010 10 1 1 1 0 0 0 01 0 0 10 101 010 1 10 0 1 1 0 11 0 10 010 11 0 01 01 STOP THE Bleeding

marketing of security appliances from Cisco Systems, still advises students take security precautions on all websites. “It [Heartbleed] is still relevant until you change your passwords for the impacted sites,” Sagar says. “Once the website is patched to address the server side vulnerability, users should change their password.” v

Verde’s protection do

• Make your password 8 characters or more • Set up a password recovery method • Use a mix of numb3rs & cApital letters • Change your password once a month

doN’T

• Use the same password for multiple accounts • Use publicly accessible information • Use keyboard patterns • Use complete words 47

THE BUSINESS ABOUT SMALL BUSINESS DELVING INTO THE LIFE OF THE PALO ALTO SMALL BUSINESS Text by SAMANTHA DEWEES and MADISON MIGNOLA Additional reporting by ANGELA XU Photography by MADISON MIGNOLA

and hardcover reads — old and new — proudly stating that it offers “something for everyone.” For decades, Bell’s Books has inhabited a nondescript location on Emerson Street in downtown Palo Alto, offering adventure behind its forest-green doors. Faith Bell, the shop’s current owner, says the building was officially purchased by her father, Herbert Bell, in the 1950s. Although the shop has managed to maintain its integrity and traditional feel over the years, Bell admits the inventory and methods of marketing must change with the times in order to preserve business. “I think that we have to shift our focus constantly,” Bell says. “With 350,000 volumes, it’s hard to shift rapidly … but we do try and respond to the interests of the community as they arise. One of the things we’ve done in recent years is that because all the new bookstores have gone from town, we’ve started carrying many more new books.” Bell says that the high rent and changing competition make it difficult for small companies to stay in business for a long period of time. “I have many friends who had small businesses in this town who are no longer here,” Bell says. “And the ones who are here have had to shift their product line tremendously in order to generate sufficient income to pay the rents that are here.” Bell feels the price of rent in downtown Palo Alto does not do justice to the quality and sales reach of a business. “They are unrealistic rents; they don’t reflect what a business Bell’s Books can generate by the square footage, and sadly, the larger chain stores 536 Emerson St, Downtown Palo Alto can generate that, or will take a loss to be in a prestigious area,” she Established in 1935, Bell’s Books has provided new and used says. “We’re seeing a lot of people driven out.” books to the Palo Alto and Stanford community for over 70 years. Bell feels that with the influx of bigger, technology-focused The shop boasts a 500-subject category collection of paperback OR MANY YEARS, PALO ALTO HAS been home to a variety of unique shops and pit-stops, some of which have become decade-long institutions. Over time, these businesses have grown in popularity, drawing a diverse body of customers from all over the Palo Alto area and beyond. However, with the growth and expansion of Silicon Valley technology industries, small businesses are having difficulty finding space and funding. Questions have been raised as to whether Palo Alto offers sufficient protection to its small businesses against big business competition. Thomas Fehrenbach, the economic development manager of the city of Palo Alto, stresses the importance of small businesses in the Palo Alto community. Contrary to the beliefs of several small businesses, Fehrenbach feels the city is doing all it can to support smaller companies. “They [small businesses] are a part of what makes Palo Alto a special place and what keeps us sort of unique,” Fehrenbach says. “I think we have just as much of a focus on supporting the small local serving businesses as we do in attracting fortune 100 companies to the research park.” To develop a more comprehensive understanding of the issue, we spoke with several Palo Alto institutions to get their take on the rising competition between small and big business.

which is not a very good deal, but that’s how it is for new books,” she says. “But they [bigger companies] would be able to buy it for four dollars and sell it for eight dollars so they would actually sell it to the public for less than what I would pay the publisher for it. That’s the kind of discounts that quantity can demand, and it makes a huge difference.” Despite rising competition from bigger companies, Bell’s Books has remained in its original location on Emerson Street for 75 years. Bell is proud of the diversity of her returning customers. “We’re very blessed in our customer base,” Bell says. “We have remarkable people who shop here … The advantage of being in the book business is that people are really passionately excited about things. They’re here because they want to know more about what they care about, and that makes all the difference. We get to see people’s enthusiasm and it rubs off.”

BROWSING Customers at Palo Alto Sport Shop and Toy World play with tiny figurines. businesses and franchises, the traditional culture of Palo Alto is becoming increasingly more removed from the unique small-town vibe it once had. “The nature of the town has shifted radically from one of sometimes quirky and charming individuality to a very mass market, cookie cutter look,” Bell says. “If you go down University Avenue today there are very few independently owned businesses — pretty much everything down there is a chain at this point.” In accordance with the opinions of other small companies, Bell feels the city isn’t as devoted to the preservation of its small businesses as it is to the support of larger companies. “I don’t think that they are as focused on how to preserve what we have or encourage small ones coming in as they are in trying to help generate tax dollars for the city,” Bell says. “We really don’t get people coming around saying ‘What can we do for you? How can we make this work for you?’” Bell says the expanding influence of stores such as Costco and online markets such as Amazon have negatively impacted business for Bell’s Books. Due to their larger size and presence, bigger businesses have greater access to discounts when purchasing from publishers. “Where I might buy from a publishing house a book at 10 dollars, I’d have to pay six dollars for a book that I sold at 10 dollars, 50

Palo Alto Sport Shop & Toy World 526 Waverley St, Downtown Palo Alto Since its establishment in 1930, Palo Alto Sport Shop & Toy World has grown to become one of Palo Alto’s oldest and most respected institutions. Over the past 84 years, the business has gathered an international body of customers, sold toys and sporting goods from quality brands, and maintained its reputation as a friendly, family-run company. It still lives in its original location on Waverley Street in downtown Palo Alto. Unlike newer companies, Palo Alto Sport Shop & Toy World, according to general manager Eric Hagar, has not encountered significant difficulties as a result of the recent and growing influx of bigger technology companies. “We’ve had a niche here for so long that we aren’t as buffeted by those things as others,” Hagar says. Despite this, Hagar notes the existence of anti-small business sentiment in the Palo Alto government.. “I’m concerned with the anti-business attitude of the City of Palo Alto, the city government,” Hagar says. “The perspective of the business man in Palo Alto is that businesses exist in the Palo Alto government’s eyes as a source of money and a way to blame problems on business. We always feel that we are under attack in a way, from Palo Alto government.” Hagar explains that rising real estate prices can cause complications for smaller businesses with fewer clientele and sales reach. “Palo Alto seems to generate lots of small inconveniences toward business,” Hagar says. “I’ve noticed that there definitely are fewer locally owned retail businesses downtown. The price of real estate has driven out people.” To keep sales at a profitable level, Palo Alto Sport Shop & Toy World tries to be adaptive to current trends when selecting its products. “Our store is really flexible,” Hagar says. “When it first opened up as a retail space, it was all sporting goods, and sporting goods meant hunting and fishing too. Then … it expanded into toys, and as the definition of what people pursued as sports changed, we changed, so we opened up a big swim department … And our toy business always changes with the demand, so that’s how you do it. You just have to stay nimble and change with your customer base.” Hagar hopes the small business community will hold strong, as it provides a number of services to Palo Alto residents.

“We have literally given hundreds and hundreds of Palo Alto students their first jobs,” he says. “We also support many local charity drives … Also, because we’re small and local, innovative vendors — people who create new products — come to us to test them out. We were one of the first people with rollerblades on the Peninsula when those were popular in the 80’s … You get to see lots of new things because we’re small and we can help smaller businesses.” University Art 267 Hamilton Ave, Downtown Palo Alto Established in 1964, University Art has developed into a selfproclaimed institution over the past 45 years, providing the Palo Alto art community with quality supplies and services such as custom canvas framing for paintings and photographs. However, despite its long-time respected status, the business has been forced to relocate to Redwood City due to high rent and diminished income. Cornelia Pendleton, the Chief Financial Officer of University Art and the granddaughter of the shop’s original founders, explains that the business has expanded and contracted over the years, and since it will be moving from its Palo Alto location, the business will be reduced to three total locations in the Bay Area. “We’ve lost all of the buildings that we were leasing due to either increased rents or they chose larger retail,” Pendleton says. “They were doing different things with the business, but we currently own all three of our buildings that we will be in when we move to Redwood City, and that will keep us going, hopefully.” According to Charlie Affrunti, the vice president of University Art, the company purchased its current Palo Alto building in 2008 for a higher price than they intended. “We knew it was inevitable that we’d move out of here, so we’ve been looking for a place for at least three years,” he says. MOVING University Art is moving from downtown Palo Alto “With what the rents are today and what the’re going to be, we just to Redwood City after 45 years of being in Palo Alto. knew we wouldn’t survive here.” Todd Ayers, the general manager of University Art, believes voice.” rent is the number one cause of business failure and relocation, Like Palo Alto Sport Shop & Toy World, University Art has as tech companies are more willing and able to pay a higher price. changed and developed over the years to keep up with fluctuating “Rent is the predictor in why this is happening because of- trends and demands. fice space, you know, “We’ve always been those design people, strong with framing; those engineers are paywe’ve always enjoyed that ing top dollar,” Ayers part of it, and we’re says. “They’ll pay more, very well known for so then the small retailthat,” Affrunti says. er who can’t pay that is “We’ve found our out.” niches as we’ve gone, Pendleton feels that and it’s cool because the city of Palo Alto we’ve been changing tends to favor bigger with times.” technology companies Affrunti hopes at the expense of smaller University Art will — Charlie Affrunti,V.P. of University Art private businesses. retain its dedicated “The city of Palo clientele, despite the Alto wants to be recogmove to Redwood City. nized as a center of innovation, a center of creativity and start-ups, “We’re just hoping that our customers follow us and that and it has always fostered that sort of creativity and development,” we can meet some new friends along the way too,” Affrunti says. she says. “The small, independent business doesn’t have a large “Keep our success going here.” v

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We knew it was inevitable that we’d move out of here, so we’ve been looking for a place for at least three years. With what the rents are today and what they’re going to be, we just knew we wouldn’t survive here.”

FEATURES | MAY 2014

Entrepreneurs’

PALY Entrepreneur Club meets with Chinese Businessmen Text by MICHELLE TANG Photo by SHU TANG

MAGINE EATING WITH torical event to both parties. Lawrence Tian, the founder and ChairMark Zuckerberg face-to-face over breakfast, or having a conversation man of CIF.CO International Group and with Larry Page about Google’s moderator of the forum, said that it was internet technology. This experi- the first time in Yabuli history to meet with ence would no doubt be life-changing. The American high school students. “It is a conversaPalo Alto Ention between two gentrepreneur Club erations,” Tian said. members got the Growing up in Palo Alto is a Whitson reflected chance to experience all this with huge gift because this area that the forum was 30 successful enhas given you a good, curi- very successful. “I was really imtrepreneurs from ous mentality.” pressed by the meetChina. —Neil Shen, founding,” Whitson says. “I On the morning and managing partner was really touched that ing of April 16, the Chinese people 10 excited Palo of Sequoia Capital China. were that interested Alto Entreprein our students. It was neur Club memmore orientated to our bers and Debbie Whitson, the club adviser, went to a breakfast forum with the group students than I imagined.” Students also felt that they were includof Chinese entrepreneurs who were on a ed in the discussions. visit to Silicon Valley. “First, I was scared and nervous with The breakfast forum, held at the Rosewood Sand Hill Hotel where the entrepre- the idea that I’ll be sitting with many very neurs were staying at the time, was a his- successful entrepreneurs from China,” says 52

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Minyoung Kim, sophomore and Entrepreneur Club member. “With their speeches and talks being geared toward our club, it was easy for me to understand, and I really learned a lot.” The businessmen introduced the different skill sets needed in an entrepreneur and an investor, the difference between Chinese and American businesses, and the significance of starting companies. They also gave words of encouragement to Paly club members to motivate them to pursue entrepreneurship. “The business culture [is different],” Victor Wang said. “In China, ‘saving face’ is the key issue, and people start companies for money. In the US, I see a lot of entrepreneurs who are more genuinely motivated by their passion for entrepreneurship and a will to serve people,” Wang said. “People have to sign a lot of law documents and be responsible for their actions here.” Lun explained how people need to have a clear vision of what is ahead, set goals for the future and have ambition. He also

FEATURES | MAY 2014

Roundtable

BREAKFAST FORUM Entrepreneur Club met with Chinese entrepreneurs at a breakfast forum on April 16. The businessmen included the CEO of Wumei Group (China’s major supermarket), the chairman and executive director of Digital China, the founding and managing partner of Sequoia Capital China, and the chairman of Huatai Insurance Group Company. said that when their generation was young, they believed that the Chinese government could give them everything. He said that values nowadays have completely changed, especially in America. Wang Chaoyong, the founder, chairman and CEO of ChinaEquity Group also gave his earnest opinion. He said that entrepreneurship needs to be fostered in a social environment where the school system encourages arts, sports and other nonacademic activities as opposed to only stressing math and science. He encouraged students to take part in these activities because they foster creativity, which is the essence of entrepreneurship. Many Chinese entrepreneurs emphasized how lucky Paly students are for living in Silicon Valley. “Growing up in Palo Alto is a huge gift because this area has given you a good, curious mentality,” said Neil Shen, founding and managing partner of Sequoia Capital China. “Curiosity needs to be cultivated... This kind of curiosity is rare in China, as people there seem to only want to get rich

quickly and don’t spend the time to think this event was the beginning of a solid rehow to do things in a good, morally cor- lationship between the CEF and the Entrerect way.” preneur Club. The entrepreneurs invited The businessmen said that they have club members to visit China this summer faith in the students’ success. to learn about Chinese companies. “Any dream can be made into a realZhang explains that the pursuit of enity,” Lawrence Tian trepreneurship should said. “We as 50 not only be limited to year olds see your the club, but that all Paly I know Paly students will students should underhuge strength and potential to keep be part of the passionate stand the importance of growing. Our hope youth who will change entrepreneurship. is on you.” “They should know the world.” Paly club memthat the entrepreneur —Allison Zhang, spirit of innovation, bers say that they sophomore and Entre- persistence and risk-takare satisfied with the meeting. ing is at the heart of hupreneur Club president. “I left the foman progress,” Zhang rum with a full says. “I encourage all stomach from the amazing breakfast, but of them to do something entrepreneurial more importantly with more knowledge in their time at Paly, whether it is taking a and spirit of entrepreneurship,” Kim says. difficult class and sticking with it or starting “I had fun watching all the exchanges,” a new sports team, the world needs innovaWhitson says. tors, and I know Paly students will be part According to Allison Zhang, a sopho- of the passionate youth who will change more and the Entrepreneur Club president, the world.” v

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it’s A DOGE-EAT-DOGE WORLD WORDPLAY ESCALATES TO COMPETITION IN THE PUNSTOPPABLES Text by KELLY SHI, Art by KARINA CHAN

“Posts get their due exposure,” Strong says. “But when a post HEY’RE LARGE IN NUMBER, they’re unstoppable and they’re more than just fun- from last Thursday is at the top of the page, no one wants to see ny — they’re punny. The Punstoppables Facebook that.” Though members may tire of certain posts, new arguments group is full of posts about famous composers decomposing after death, perfect vision in the year 2020 pop up every day. According to Mackris, there is almost always and un-chord-inated tone-deaf singers, all published by Bay Area word-wrangling in the comments, and not always the punny kind. “I look at the comments immediately because I know that high school members for others in the group to view and enjoy. Every day, an endless stream of posts floods members’ news- there’s always controversy in the comments,” Mackris says. “There feeds with comments and likes bumping the most popular jokes to are fights within them [the comments] about what’s offensive to the top and pushing other posts far beneath the scroll threshold who and who matters more in terms of what you post, and it’s of the average internet peruser. The group collectively produces definitely a problem.” In an April 2014 Punstoppables post that was for once, not more than 50 jokes a day and its content is, quite appropriately, a joke, an admin explained that a post about self-harm was deunstoppable. However, the unexpected growth of the group’s membership leted because a user complained and found it offensive. One memhas led to controversy and competition within the seemingly light- ber praised the admins’ actions in the comments, while another hearted realm of the Punstoppables. The group that began as a fun claimed that if posts were being taken down because members social outlet is now experiencing symptoms comparable to what were offended, the various puns about the Holocaust and the recent lost Malaysian Airline flight should puberty experts call “growing pains.” be deleted as well. More recently, in May According to Cupertino High 2014, a user was reported to the police for School sophomore and Punstoppables posting a libelous comment. founder Agnes Jang, the group began According to Jang, the culture of as a way to share puns with her close the group has changed from friendly pun friends. However, as friends added sharing to a competition for attention, friends who then added more friends, with the most popular posts, often about Jang says the group quickly grew from controversial topics, collecting as many as around 20 people to its current mem1,000 likes. bership of about 11,400, mainly high “My original intention was just to What do you get when you schoolers from the Bay Area, although make people laugh,” Jang says. “I wanted members hail from as far as North play Tug-of-War with a pig? Pulled pork people to go in there and scroll down and Carolina and Texas. — POSTED BY Matthew Zheng laugh at dumb puns … It’s [the group] for As the membership expanded and enjoying and sharing and not for the aim diversified, the group’s content followed along the same trajectory. Palo Alto High School junior and of getting likes.” Mackris agrees that inside Punstoppables, there is a strong Punstoppables member Molly Mackris says many of the group’s sense of competition. posts these days are memes. “It’s just very cutthroat, to be honest,” Mackris says. “It’s all Jang recognizes that limiting the content to puns is futile. “At first I kind of wanted to limit them [the jokes to only measured in likes, which I think is ridiculous, but it’s true.” Palo Alto High School sophomore and Punstoppables mempuns],” Jang says. “But as the group got bigger and bigger and the number of posts increased, it’s kind of impossible to take down ber Griffin Carlson says that there is a lot of backlash in the comments of most posts. everything that’s not a pun.” “A lot of people don’t know each other so they don’t really Punstoppables administrator Lynbrook High School sophomore Brandon Strong says he mainly deletes only the posts that care as much what they say to the other person,” Carlson says. Because the Punstoppables has so many members, each user get too much attention. “It’s usually an offensive post,” Strong says. “Someone gets is relatively anonymous. Mackris says the impersonal nature of the offended and goes on a debating spree, which I have nothing group has its ups and downs; on one hand, the anonymity makes wrong with; it’s their opinion. I only get rid of it if the debate isn’t it easier for users to harass one another in the comments of posts. On the other, the jokes can bring people together to mutually “lol” concluded in a reasonable amount of time.” With the Facebook group system organizing posts based on over a clever twist of words. At the end of the newsfeed, “We’re all just strangers who appopularity, Strong says the posts with the most comments — usupreciate puns,” Mackris says. v ally arguments — often get pushed to the top of the newsfeed. 54

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FEATURES | MAY 2014

PALY CUSTODIANS Thanking a few of Paly’s unsung heros.

Text and Photography by ANA SOFIA AMIEVA-WANG

“You all work so hard, we’re just here to help you out.” —George Pascual

LEFT: Cuong Giang brings chairs to the Media Arts Center. BOTTOM LEFT: Roberto Ceja mopping a science classroom. BOTTOM RIGHT: Celso Gomez cleaning after school. TOP: George Pascual wiping windows.

FEATURES | MAY 2014

E F O R E the school year comes to a close, remember to thank our many custodians for their hard work. I was taken aback by the amount of underappreciated time the custodians put into creating a cleaner and friendlier environment at our school. These tasks range from setting up chairs for end-of-theyear events to cleaning the bathrooms every day after school. Before we set foot on campus they are preparing for the day ahead, and are still cleaning our classrooms long after the final bell rings. While we might have taken the custodians for granted, there is still time before summer to show them appreciation for their work throughout the year. When you pass the custodians on your way to class, give them a smile or a simple hello. They spend hours making our days better, and a kind word or two could go a long way. v 57

PROFILES | MAY 2014

SAMPLE PROTECTOR Daniel Lacy is a familiar face behind the Trader Joe’s sample station. Although he is known for his work with samples, Lacy keeps a deeper story behind his smile and Trader Joe’s apron.

DAN THE SAMPLE MAN THE STORY OF THE MAN BEHIND TRADER JOE’S SAMPLES

Text and Photography by MICHELLE LI and JOE MEYER

HIS IS GOOD cheese,” says Dan the Sample Man, examining the enormous brick of organic cheddar resting on the counter of his sample station. A brunette, middle-aged woman walks up and takes one. “Hello, how are you?” Dan asks. “Mmmm-mmm,” the woman responds, her mouth stuffed full of Trader Joe’s cheese and pita crackers. “That’s another perk of my job,” Dan says, smiling wickedly. “I get to ask people questions as they chew a mouth full of food.” Countless Paly students frequent Trader Joe’s each day, but many are so focused on the prospect of food that they forget to pay

attention to the man behind the counter. Meet Daniel Lacy, or just simply, Dan. Dressed in the traditional navy blue Trader Joe’s employee shirt under a fading purple apron, Lacy beams at every customer that passes by. Regular customers easily recognize his amiable smile and genial presence, but few are aware of the story behind his Trader Joe’s apron. Having grown up in Fremont and currently living in Saratoga, Lacy has spent his entire life in the Bay Area. In high school, he dreamed of driving racecars, a dream which never materialized. In the midst of Silicon Valley, he turned instead to the high-tech industry and sales. For roughly seven years, Lacy worked around the Bay Area for various high-tech

companies. Even though Lacy enjoyed his work, the field of sales posed an issue. “The thing about sales is that you work largely on commission, and you never know how much your paycheck will be,” he says. “I was getting burned out and I was looking for something where I knew how much my paycheck was going to be and [that] would be fun and entertaining.” With this in mind, Lacy applied in 2009 for a job at the newly opening Trader Joe’s in Town and Country at the recommendation of his niece. “I put down [on my application] that I would do everything in the store at Trader Joe’s,” Lacy says. “But I checked the box that said I would do sampling, and they said that nobody ever checks that box. People 59

PROFILES | MAY 2014

CHEESE SNOB Lacy prepares cheese and pita chips to be handed out as samples. Lacy personally enjoys Trader Joe’s cheese, but tends to gravitate toward the more exotic snacks. “I like to sample ... the stuff that looks kind of strange; the things that are a little bit weird,” he says. are intimidated by it … So then they put es you can put away per hour, so they tend me back here, and that’s what I’ve done to hire people that are very fun and outgopretty much ever since.” ing, people that are fun to work with.” For the past four and a half years, Lacy Lacy says he enjoys seeing Paly students, has helped develop the Palo Alto Trader despite the liberal amounts of food that Joe’s sampling station into a fully function- students suck up from the sample station. al, round-the-clock Specifically, he feels service for all cushe has pitched in a bit tomers. of help along their [On my application] I “I like to sample road to college and the things that peofuture success. checked the box that said ple wouldn’t pick “It’s funny beI would do sampling, and up off the shelf, cause having been they said that nobody the stuff that looks here for four years, ever checks that box. Peokind of strange, the I’ve seen them go ple are intimated by it.” through to graduathings that are a little bit weird,” he says. tion, and now I hear — Daniel Lacy,Trader “A lot of kids will them all talking about Joe’s employee come in here and the colleges that try stuff that they’ve they’re going to go to,” never had before, and I kind of open their he says. “I hope it’s the fact that I’m feeding palates up and open their horizons a little them and putting them in a good mood so bit.” they’re prepared for school. I feel like I’ve Even so, Lacy says one of the most im- had some little bit of their success.” portant parts of his job is the interaction At Trader Joe’s, Lacy also has the freewith other Trader Joe’s employees. dom to work with management in the store “Trader Joe’s is a fun place to work at,” to decide on samples. His personal favorite he says. “They hire different kinds of peo- is the cheese. ple than you would see at most businesses. “Some people really like wine, but I They generally care more about customer have become a cheese snob,” he says. “I service than they do about how many box- love sampling the cheese.”

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Despite his love for the job, Lacy also harbors other hobbies, like sponsoring a punk band, “Psycho Sweethearts”, run by his nephew and niece, ages 15 and 16. “Most of my time, and a lot of my money, is spent supporting them and their band,” he says. “They’re both very enthusiastic.” In the future, Lacy hopes to move on from his job at Trader Joe’s. With a group acquaintances from the high-tech industry, as well as some California rice farmers, Lacy hopes to form an alternative energy company. “We’re trying to take rice straw and produce a substitute diesel,” he says. “A couple of PhD’s told me the idea was brilliant, and that’s impressive. But we’re a little ahead of our time, so we’ll see how it goes, but I’d like to do that. It’s going to be a little while because oil prices have to inch up before that becomes a practical alternative.” For now though, Lacy remains at his station in Trader Joe’s, cooking and handing out samples five days a week. He is quick to remind Paly students to take advantage of the food. When the store first opened, people asked him what he would do about the hungry Paly kids. Lacy’s response? “Feed them.” v

LEAN ON ME AN ENGLISH TEACHER’S ADVICE FOR HIGH SCHOOL STUDENTS Text by ESME ABLAZA and ELIZA ACKROYD Photography by ANA SOFIA AMIEVA-WANG

HIS IS THE THIRD OF A SERIES OF PROFILES ON Palo Alto High School teachers. In this edition, we sit down with English teacher Lucy Filppu. She reflects on her high school experience and gives advice to help students navigate the ups and downs of teen life. v

HAS CHANGED ABOUT YOU SINCE HIGH WAS YOUR HIGH SCHOOL EXPERIENCE : WHAT Q Q : WHAT SCHOOL? LIKE? feelings about it. I was extremely popular, : “I’ve completely changed. I’m a whole, complete, peaceful A : “II washaveclassmixedofficer; I majored in my social life, but I didn’t A woman. I’m very happy. I am so much happier today than realize how smart I was. And I didn’t take my intellectual life seriously until I became an adult; unlike overachieving Palo Alto kids, I just went to high school and had fun, but I wish I had realized my intellectual capabilities, because I always second-guessed myself.”

WAS YOUR BEST MOMENT IN HIGH Q : WHAT SCHOOL?

I was as a high school student.”

Q : HOW HAVE YOUR VALUES CHANGED? a lot more ethical. I think I was far more shallow. I A : “I’m think I was far more interested in appearance versus reality. Athletics do not impress me; I’m just not as taken with the material world as I once was. I’m much more spiritual and centered now, and a lot comes with age.”

I had a million. Despite the fact I suffered with some A : “Oh, private issues, I loved all my friends. I hope Paly kids have as : ANY ADVICE FOR PALY STUDENTS? much fun as I did but can be as whole and real about who Q “You really have to try to find people you can be honest they are. It’s a tricky balance…. My best friend and I both : A with, and if you’re self-harming or doing anything to hurt interviewed for a big scholarship, and we both got it. That was a big deal of us. Only two kids out of the whole school got it and we were the ones.”

WAS THE HARDEST THING YOU WENT Q : WHAT THROUGH AS A TEENAGER? hardest thing I went through as a teenager is I had A : “My an eating disorder in high school, and in those days peo-

ple were not talking about them. I suffered from bulimia, and I was not out about it, and I wasn’t getting the support I wish I could have received. I’m completely over it for a million years, but I wish we had more dialogue about helping teenagers under pressure.”

yourself to deal with your anxiety, there’s a lot of resources out there to help and support you, and you don’t have to feel alone.”

IS ONE PIECE OF ADVICE YOU WOULD Q : WHAT YOU GIVE TO YOUR TEENAGE SELF? your own creativity and life more seriously. Don’t A : “Take compare yourself to others. Be the true and deepest you, and try at your deepest core not to look around so closely at what other people are doing. Focus on those parts of you that you pleasure, and try not to pay attention to other people.” 61

FEATURES | MAY 2014

We Love Our Seniors! Noam Will

Hollie

Lande Sam Katie 62

Jamie

Anglea

Text and Photography by MICHELLE TANG Art by ANTHONY LIU

AT HOME ABROAD

INTERNAtionaL STUDENTS SHARE thoughts ON CULTURAL DIFFERENCES

America is a country of diversity. People from all over the world immigrate here to pursue freedom, happiness and success. They also bring a little piece of their unique cultures. Palo Alto High School has many interesting international students. In this article, students from Brazil, France and China share thoughts about their home countries and the cultural differences that they perceive. v

Brazil

“In Brazil, you will never ever see anyone wearing workout clothes when you are not working out. I’ve seen people in malls wearing sweatpants “People here are and tanktop, and that wouldn’t hapworking for something pen in Brazil. You are downplaying the bigger, like college, future importance of meeting that person if success and being a smart peryou are not dressed up for them in son. That was a cultural shock. “People here Brazil.” My friends in Brazil, they are “Everything in define others by race — IA just living and not caring.” Brazil is family orienand categorize them. “When I in— JA tated, and that generates We don’t see it like that. teract with people here more warmth than we see here Class, tradition, clique; individually, they open up sometimes. If anything hapit’s all very odd.” and are more themselves, but in pened, we have a big network — IA a group, people just do superfiof people that will instantly cial things. This is because they care and know about it.” value their group lives so much — IA — their groups define and categorize them.” — JA “We’re re-

ally close to our parents. They’ll guide us, and warn us; we’ll be open, and in return, they trust us so much more. A lot of kids here try to fool their parents and sneak around their parents. That’s not good because at the end of the day your parents are always there for you.” — IA

Izabella Avelin, 18, Brazil

“:I love the freedom here, and the safety, too. I can walk wherever I want and move more freely.” — JA

Julia Avelin, 17, Brazil 63

FEATURES | MAY 2014

China

Audrey Fan, 17, China “Life was great when I lived in Beijing, China. At school, since everyone was required to wear uniforms, we viewed different people not by what they wore, but by the little things, such as one’s character. We all knew each other very well, and the school spirit was strong.” — AF “America is great, just really lazy. I became really lazy and my mother’s workers are really lazy. She fired a couple people because they wouldn’t do anything.” — CJ

“I think of America as a place where people, including new immigrants, can acquire new and astonishing skills that will build up their future wherever they end up at. Paly is a great place for this purpose, too.” — AF

France

Emmanuelle Poivet, 15, France “In France, there is a lot of parties. People don’t think about the future so they don’t care as much about high school. Almost everyone “The food is starts smoking at around amazing in France. seventh or eighth grade.” I really miss baguettes — EP and cheese. There is a boulangerie on every street in France. You can just go out and get snack.” — EP “Many teachers here are passionate, and it seems like it is their choice to teach. In France, teachers just want to get paid and go home.”

— GM

Claire Jin, 17, China

Gabriel Mechali, 17, France

THE PHENOMENON THAT IS SO NOT FETCH Text by MADISON MIGNOLA Art by KARINA CHAN

ANY WOMEN have felt personally victimized by Regina George. Not the literal Regina George who plays the queen-bee of North Shore High School in the movie “Mean Girls,” but the Regina Georges of the real world: instigators of a phenomenon called Girl Hate. Girl Hate is tearing down fellow women for reasons related to insecurity, competitiveness and jealousy. Girl Hate is internalized misogyny and acrimony. Girl Hate is, “Oh my God, do you see what she’s wearing?” or “Does she honestly think she looks good like that?” Girl Hate happens everywhere and all the time. In fact, I myself can’t honestly say that I have refrained from contributing to Girl Hate. We can’t keep living like this; the Girl Hate mentality has to stop. I’ve thought about my personal experiences with Girl Hate and come to the realization that sometimes I didn’t even know that I was doing it. While out with my girlfriends one Friday night, I walked down University Ave. People were out, and we were keen to judge. As we passed female by female, we flashed a quick head-to-toe scan of the girl who was passing us. Those same looks were reciprocated. An unspoken competitive environment lay thick on the streets and sidewalks. We kept walking. My friends and I

found it easy to just look a girl up and down and make a snarky comment or two. But why? Was it because we thought she was prettier than us? Was she wearing a cuter outfit? Did her butt look better than mine in those jeans? I realized then that this other girl had absolutely nothing to do with the rude comments I made towards her. I had no idea who this girl was. She obviously didn’t deserve my derogatory remarks. The sole basis of the Girl Hate stemmed from my own insecurity and jealousy. And Girl Hate isn’t an abstract issue that affects complete strangers. In some of the worst cases, Girl Hate can even come from people that you’re closest with. I’m sure many readers can relate to this. Maybe while you’re reading this you even have a particular Girl Hate instigator in mind. This begs another question: Why do we feel threatened by our own friends? The answer is plastered everywhere — on billboards and on the covers of magazines. It lies in society’s false notion that girls must be perfect or the best at something. Who has the best body, who’s the smartest, who’s dating the cutest guy — the list goes on. Naturally, many women feel an internalized sense of competition. The idea that our worth is tied to how we look

seems like it’s been wired into our brains since birth. With the media drilling images and ideas of perfection into our heads, it becomes hard to notice the real problem we’re dealing with. Instead of focusing on competing with other girls to try to reach near-impossible standards, let’s look in the mirror and focus on loving what we see right in front of us. Look past those man shoulders and wear that halter top! Fetch CAN happen! To end this Girl-Hating lawlessness, we must first start with ourselves. I started inspecting my own insecurities and jealousy and found that having security within myself and who I am made focusing on building confidence and love for myself all the easier. That confidence then helped me promote Girl Love to my friends and to all the women around me. I realized that if I couldn’t reach the societal expectation of perfection, why should any other girl? I’m not saying that every woman out there is a Girl Hater, because there are many who aren’t. All I’m calling for is an end to this unhealthy mindset among a substantial percentage of the female population. Perfection is laughable. Unreachable. Impossible. So instead of tearing ourselves and one another down, why not just say “screw societal standards” and focus on creating a culture of Girl Love. Girl Love requires confidence within ourselves. It requires an ability to look past what other people expect from us and to focus on what we expect from ourselves. v

PERSPECTIVES | MAY 2014

RISK DUDENESS

SOCIETY NEEDS TO STOP PROMOTING SEXIST STEREOTYPES Text by MIRANDA COHN Art by ANTHONY LIU

TEP IN THE SHOWER. Wait for the water to soften your leg hair. Exfoliate. Apply shaving cream to one leg. Shave. Apply shaving cream to the patches of hair you’ve missed. Shave again. Apply shaving cream to other leg. Notice the hairs you missed on the first leg. Cry. Rinse. Repeat. Girls, like boys, grow leg hair naturally. Leg hair on girls isn’t unsanitary or naturally disgusting — it’s just like a boy’s. The societal expectation of unnaturally hairless female legs is absurd, and given the difficulty of the process, expecting girls to shave every day is doubly so — but that’s exactly the message being delivered by depilatory cream company Veet. Veet’s televised advertising campaign, “Don’t Risk Dudeness,” contains several variations on a common plot: A girl goes out and engages in some mundane activity, like talking to someone or hailing a cab. She looks down, and… oh, no! She hasn’t shaved in a day! Her legs suddenly sprout veritable forests of hair, and the person talking to her flees in horror and disgust. In these advertisements, Veet implies 66

that girls not only grow enough hair in one day to be noticeable, but that doing so is repulsive. And if the basic premise of the advertisement were not insulting enough, it states outright that girls with more than a day of leg hair growth risk “dudeness.” Apparently, Veet thinks that the only way to market a shaving product is to insult girls by saying that without shaving, they look like hairy-legged ape-men. Society expects girls to naturally look more put-together than guys, and if they don’t it’s assumed that something’s wrong with the girl. The messy, just-rolled-out-of-bed look may be considered hot on guys, but girls are expected to be clean

and classy. Girls’ legs are supposed to be smooth and hairless, a seemingly simple but actually difficult and annoying feat to accomplish. On the flip side of the razor, guys are expected to have hairy legs — if they shave their legs, people assume they’re shaving for swimming or another non-cosmetic reason. The shaving process constitutes only one part of a modern girl’s standard cosmetic routine. Even ignoring other processes like the application of makeup, the combined acts of shaving, doing your hair (shampooing, rinsing, shampooing again, conditioning, drying and carefully arranging and rearranging) and choosing an outfit take far too much time. In contrast, boys’ cosmetic routines often seem to be as simple as throwing on some clothes, stretching and shaving off the occasional facial hair. It’s perfectly reasonable to want to shave. Shaved legs are nice and soft, and there are few things that feel more pleasant than smooth, moisturized skin. However, it’s ridiculous to ostracize girls with hairy legs or arms. Veet’s ad campaign tries to not only reinforce but perpetuate outdated gender roles. Our society needs to reject this absolute need for shaved female legs. Whether she likes smooth or hairy legs, it remains each girl’s personal choice to keep or remove leg hair, not a sexist society’s decision and definitely not the decision of a company just trying to make a profit by maintaining sexist stereotypes. v

F o r e v e r Tee

PERSPECTIVES | MAY 2014

teri

THE DISILLUSIONMENT OF THE HIGH SCHOOL SENIOR — THROUGH GRAMMAR

Text by HOLLIE KOOL Art by ANTHONY LIU

AM AN ANGSTY TEENAGER ON THE VERGE OF becoming an angsty adult. Many tell me angst shouldn’t be possible at this time simply because: “SSS!” (Second Semester Senior). Thanks for the clarification — I’m all better now. My motivational fuel reserves for tasks like planning, thinking ahead and problem-solving are running dangerously low, and as I teeter on the brink of graduation, all I really want to do is go back to kindergarten. Those were the days when my hardest choices were between Gushers and Fruit Roll-Ups, nap time or Hot Lava on the playground. The epitome of my five-year-old anxiety was when the flimsy bottom of the Crayola crayon cardboard box wouldn’t stay closed, and I’d perpetually shove the same stubby, fragmented black crayon in one end and proceed to watch it fall out the other. At age five, every problem, action or thought was confined to the blissful present. But since those simple days, we have grown up in a community that measures all actions according to future

success. In school, we rehearse and groom a single future that is college. Up until now, I thought the two — future and college — were synonymous. Now that I am about to graduate and have been accepted to college, I have this sense that I’ve reached the zenith of my life’s work. Our culture makes us believe that this (getting into college) is it, everything we’ve worked for. But it isn’t; there’s so much more to come. Cue the angst. I point my finger at the language of the education system. That’s right, we’re going to talk grammar. First, school’s language relies too heavily on the future and subjunctive tenses (the grammatical tense that doles out doubt — or “duda,” as my Spanish teacher Josep Vericat taught me — through woulds and shoulds and speaks about the unknown) in establishing nebulous and ambitious goals. While using predictive and possibility-oriented language in discussing our futures, schools advocate a very limited means (namely college) for realizing this

I wonder what happens next!

PERSPECTIVES | MAY 2014 possibility. Only given a single avenue to tackle all the “duda”, our future. Translated to my current state of angst, however, I find sefuture loses a sense of attainability and gains menace. curity in my near and dear future in college rather than the anxietyOnce I graduated from the worry-free, handball-filled days of inducing fog of nuance and possibly. elementary school, my responsibilities were to nurture a healthy As a culture we are nearsighted when it comes to discussing GPA and learn to pass a test. Extracurriculars were thought of the future: College is concrete and in fine detail and everything else in terms of enhancing my college apthat comes after blurs and fades into plication and every year future-focused the background through the future and talk rendered my life’s purpose to a While the future can be intim- subjunctive tenses. four-year chunk of time following high So here I am, a duped SSS, shrugidating and “duda” will always ging off classwork as I bask on the seschool. As students, we wrap our actions, nior deck, aware that my future at an beliefs and even identities around col- exist, the answer is to trust in extraordinary university is just around lege: it seems like the universal solution the corner, and nonetheless brewing an to becoming our eventual beings. The the present that the future will overwhelming sense of dread because culture I have grown up in makes colgrammar misidentified the nature of lege the checkmate of the chess game the journey to reaching our goals. be okay. instead of the first move where options While this tunnel-vision got me are being assessed. to the intended destination, I feel as It’s because of the words we’ve been given that we face the though I’m ominously approaching a “Wizard of Oz”- sized torcolossal expectation that somehow we will become adults with nado that will plant me straight into the fray of adulthood and life passions and jobs and maybe even kids without a clear understand- without a pair of ruby-red slippers (or, in my case, a pair of beaten ing of how and when that will all develop, as we have ignored up Birkenstocks) to transport me back to childhood. adulthood for college. So while I attempt to embrace my SSS staThis feeling of being riddled with doubt is reminiscent of my tus and its “don’t even try to give me homework” attitude, I find convoluted years in Spanish classes. With the intricacies and nearly that I actually use the status to deny my new source of angst: the imperceptible changes in conjugations, there was a whole lot of rapidly approaching, daunting and inescapable future that no #SSS “duda.” Instead of fretting, we intentionally spoke in the tense we can actually ward off. were familiar with and confident about: the present tense. This is where the grammar really plays its part in forming We forgot the subjunctive and the future, the progressive and misconceptions about the future. The future tense, while a tool to perfect tenses. We especially let go of the conditional perfect proplan, and the subjunctive, a tool to imagine, make my present ac- gressive. tions separate from eventual outcomes. Señor Vericat still understood us and we were angst-free. In his 2012 TED talk “The Dark Side of the Subjunctive,” That’s the lesson for this moment: While the future can be classicist Phuc Tran argues that the subjunctive harbors a sense of intimidating, and “duda” will always exist, the answer is to trust in security in allowing for possibilities and nuanced options for the the present that the future will be okay. v

Well that was anticlimactic.

PERSPECTIVES | MAY 2014 Text by WILL QUEEN Art by ANTHONY LIU

PEELING BACK We need to move past the notion of the stereotypical teen created by the media, and realize that teens do some great things for society.

WE’RE NOT ALL BAD TELEVISION IS NOT REALITY, AND TEENS DESERVE RESPECT

N THE NEWS, IN MOVIES AND ON TV, teens are portrayed negatively. Almost always characterized as without guidance, consideration or respect for others. Almost always wild, untamed beasts who cannot be changed. This perspective is simply not true. Some of society’s brightest and kindest individuals are teens, yet this negativity has been perpetuated by all sorts of media. The growth of these stereotypes can be attributed to the common idea that teens are destructive and malicious. Supposedly, for anyone who didn’t fit the typical teen stereotype, a day’s experience was a crapshoot, filled with danger and unpredictability. In middle school, I always held the notion that none of this could be true, that teens weren’t all as vicious as they were on TV. Thankfully, I was mostly correct. Despite all adolescent emotions, as well as the academic pressures that come from living in Palo Alto, students here have collectively been able to create a positive and inclusive environment. While cliques are still predominant on the social scene, and there are areas on campus where different groups congregate, these groups seem to coexist in a symbiotic manner. In other words, many students accept differences and have adapted the philosophy of “live and let live.” Palo Alto High School students are doing a good job of fighting to show the good in teens, but we still have a long way to go in changing public opinion.

When teens act immaturely or maliciously, many people play the “teens will be teens” card. To revert to this stereotype is an insult to a large population of intelligent young people. There is a lot of distrust toward teens, which creates a positive feedback system of continual tension. It takes a lot less effort and brain power to expose the harmful actions of a bully than to praise an outstanding student. For example, a drama chronicling the struggles of a high school clique (ahem, “Pretty Little Liars”) will attract higher ratings than a show about kids who engage in community service. It’s a sad part of human nature to look for the bad in people instead of praising them for the good they do. Sure, there are cases across the country and the world that give teens a bad rap, but these relatively few incidents do not represent a whole population. It’s important that society learns to remember the falsity of these portrayals. The media shape the public’s idea of high school with a skewed and largely dramatized version. While it’s hard to argue that we should get rid of shows to change the public opinion, maybe a disclaimer would help: This isn’t reality, and the replication of the behaviors presented here is beneficial to no one. To fix the current stigma against teens, we need to broadcast everything positive that is happening on a more widespread level, because when it comes down to it, a positive attitude can only do good. v 69

PERSPECTIVES | MAY 2014

This Land(e) is Your Land(e) Text by LANDE WATSON Photo Illustration by ANTHONY LIU and ANA SOFIA AMIEVA-WANG

THESE ARE OUR PROBLEMS TOO

EXUAL ASSAULT? I’M PRETTY SURE tems of democracy, the majority can become a tyrant in itself by no one does that at Paly,” a freshman boy said to me promoting its own interests over the will of the minority. as we stood side by side, observing the “These Hands In a sense, the Paly quad and the comment section of Palo Won’t Harm” poster during Not In Our Schools Week Alto Online constitute a sort of democracy. Using their right in April. Although slightly shocked, I quickly realized to freedom of speech, citizens have equal opportunity to raise that this student hadn’t even been at Palo Alto High School when opinions and guide the conversation which ultimately shapes Verde released its “rape culture” cover package in April 2013, spark- public opinion and often results in administrative action, or lack ing conversations about Paly students’ experiences with sexual as- thereof. sault. In this case, the minority is the bullied and the raped, those The discussion around this issue, as well as bullying more recently, who experience the dark underside of our school. The tyranny was quickly derailed by “it’s worse in other places” rhetoric and a takes form when people use their voices to overrule this minorstrange attempt to maintain our image as a perfect school plagued ity by silencing them. By saying that these are not issues that only by stress and intelligence levels that are just too darn high. It’s Paly faces, or that it’s not important because it’s more prevalent no wonder that this boy was unaware of the rape culture present at at other schools, the majority votes to ignore the issues of the high schools across the country. Even here at our very own. minority. In our community, when issues are raised about bullying or rape Last year, we, many begrudgingly, attended an advisory preculture, the immediate response is unnecessarily defensive, some- sentation about bullying. Groans echoed through the theater as thing like: This is our high school, where we spend seven hours a students were forced to give up 45 minutes of their day that they day, seven days a week, 180 days of the year. We’re better than that. could have used to take a nap or eat three slices of pizza. High Sure, maybe there’s some bullying in schoolers like to complain, and that’s fine. Palo Alto, but it’s not nearly as bad as However, the most dangerous conversations I at those other schools. Maybe a few overheard were those about how irrelevant this ispeople have had encounters with sexsue is to us. About how Paly doesn’t actually have ual assault, but did you hear about that a bullying problem like many other schools do. other high school? What these students don’t realize, or refuse to Criticism of the status quo is freacknowledge, is that we do have bullying and rape quently met with backlash. But the problems no matter the size of the population afway we address problems within our fected. school and district is often more telling than the issues We must stop deflecting criticisms of themselves. our school and start discussing how to Yes, Paly may support a culture that accepts address these flaws. If the maintenance sexual assault and harassment, but the readiness of our image or comfort is in the way of our classmates, parents and teachers to underof our classmates’ safety, we must mine and discredit these claims clearly illuminates change the way we talk about issues a more pressing issue: our unwillingness to put ef of bullying and rape. fort into discussion around creating a safe and welInstead of clinging to ignorance iu ony L & Anth Chan coming environment for all students. or denial, we must step forward and Karina “The Tyranny of the Majority,” a theory developed by work to make Paly a safe community French political thinker Alexis de Tocqueville, suggests that in sysfor all students. v 70

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