October 2013 issue

Monica Mainews writer

———This year, the Music de-

partment introduced the Play-A-Thon and brought back its Stanford football game fund-raiser as part of its efforts to raise money.

The Play-A-Thon, the de-partment’s first and largest fundraiser of the year, was held on Sept. 28 at the Aragon

theatre. All music students were required to participate and find sponsors. Instead of each ensemble playing in-dividually, ensemble groups joined together to perform. Each ensemble group was giv-en one hour to sing or play as many songs as they could, and individuals acquired sponsors who donated certain amounts of money per song played. By its end, the Play-A-Thon raised

$10,000. Band director Troy Davis

says, “It’s a challenge to see how many songs each of our ensembles can play in an hour. Our goal is to try to get at least 40 songs performed in under an hour.” He continues, “We suggested that people donate 25 cents per song and each stu-dent is asked to get about four to five sponsors.”

continued on page 14

A

Victoria Yannews writer

———Aragon’s first graduating

class reunited for its 50th an-niversary to a campus very different from the one it left. Alums from Belgium, to Vir-ginia, to here in San Mateo journeyed to Aragon to recon-nect and witness 50 years of growth. Leadership students and service commissioners gave tours of the new facilities and choir students put on a performance.

Since its founding, Aragon has evolved with the times. Alum Harley Licht remarks, “The first thing we did when we walked in here was look over to try to remember where our lockers were. I think what impressed us the most is how different the school is and how much it’s grown. The facilities are absolutely phenomenal. It’s a far cry from what we had when the school first opened.”

Alum John Evans agrees,

“The only thing I recognize is this interior quad—the pool, the hill—all that’s the same. Everything else is additions and changes. It looks terrific. I’m really impressed by the va-riety of coursework.”

Alum Chuck Biederman says, “I was a baseball player and I was struck by the fact that there are dugouts, there is a scoreboard, there are batting cages. Other people that were really interested in chemistry are in awe of [the science] rooms.”

Alumni also agreed that the time at Aragon helped mold the students to become the people they are today.

Evans, Aragon’s first Stu-dent Body President, says, “I think my involvement in student government got me interested in politics and ser-vice. I was a federal public ser-vant my whole life. I worked 35 years for the government. I knew I wanted to be in pub-lic service, and that stemmed

from experiences here.”Aragon was established

to meet the district’s popula-tion needs and alleviate over-crowding at San Mateo and Hillsdale High Schools.

Alum Orlando La Rosa says, “We loved it because when we moved over from San Ma-teo [and Hillsdale] to here, as sophomores, we were upper-classmen. For the next two and a half years, we were up-perclassmen—so that was al-ways a big plus.”

Licht also remarks, “It was an interesting class because none of us attended the school for all four years. We all came from either San Mateo High School or Hillsdale, so it was kind of a fractured group.”

Despite not knowing each other very well, Diane Wil-liams says, “The change was tough during the first semes-ter, but after that first semes-ter, we were together.”

Members of the class of 1963 look back on the aca-

demics fondly. Alum Marcia Cohn says, “This was a state-of-the-art school, with the premier faculty of the dis-trict. Ken Allen, who was our principal, raided this district for the best teachers he could lay his hands on—lots of young faculty, lots of faculty with master’s degrees, which was unusual in the sixties.”

Being the founding mem-bers of the school also came with the privilege of estab-lishing a mascot and the school colors. Evans says, “All the original traditions is all us. We were setting up clubs and establishing the traditions. Everything we did was done for the first time.”

With regards to the col-ors, the class united its roots. Churchill recalls, “The red is from Hillsdale High School and the black is from San Mateo High School.”

Though their time was ephemeral, four years of high school created memories that

transcend time. Evans says, “I haven’t seen some of these classmates for decades. It’s so funny. Some people you recognize immediately. Oth-ers have changed so much.

It’s just like ‘Who is that?’ and you’re trying to surrepti-tiously glance at the nametag.”

Churchill adds, “Seeing my classmates during the fiftieth reunion makes it more special [than the fortieth reunion]. It also makes me realize how time flies. Basically, a lot of people have stayed the same. Everybody’s very close-knit.”

Even as Aragon continues to progress, alums continue to return to their roots. The unique bond that the founding class shares is untempered by the 50 years that have trans-pired. Aragon continues to maintain the vital essence that it possessed fifty years ago. As La Rosa remarks, “It’s changed a lot, but it’s still the same school. It’s still Aragon.”

class of 1963 alumni took part in campus tours led by Leadership and Service commission students in their 50th reunion.

the ArAgon outlook

Non-Profit Organization

US Postage PAIDPermit No. 782San Mateo, CA

volume 53 | issue 2 the newspaper of aragon high school

900 alameda de las pulgas, san mateo, ca 94402

october 17, 2013

First graduating class reunites50 years later, a very different campus greets alumni

Senior alex griffis plays violin at the play-a-thon fundraiser.

Music department expands fundraising efforts

GRIFFIn TIETz

ALEx FuRuyA

centerspread

Tea Culture: the traditional drink is leaving its mark on the Bay Area

p. 8-9

2 VOLUME 53 | ISSUE 2 the aragon outlookNEWS

Shu Yangnews writer

———Coming off the heels of a

World Championship appear-ance last year in St. Louis, ART is hard at work preparing for the 2013-2014 year, but with the many new changes the Aragon robotics team (ART) has made, there also come new challenges.

On Oct. 4 and 5, ART en-tered an off-season CalGames competition held at Fremont High School. The CalGames challenge was the same as the World Champions challenge: to throw frisbees into a goal. The robotics team experienced wireless communication prob-lems in the cage on the first day. The 2013 robot with them also malfunctioned on the sec-ond day, and the team realized the robot’s shooter was not working correctly. However, the team made up for the prob-lem with a change in strategy. By the end of the two day com-petition, ART had won two of the eight matches played.

New member and sopho-more Ken Preiser says, “It was fun, as I got to learn what all the important things to know are … I was pretty satisfied for a first time experience in the competitive setting.”

This year, the team has 50

students—which is 10 more than last year—working to-gether to build robots to con-quer the challenges the com-petitions will call for.

Co-captain and senior Priyam Das says, “This was slightly in part that we do have a bigger shop compared to two years ago, so we wanted to expand the team to accom-modate more students … It’ll be a little more of a challenge trying to organize things with ten more people.”

Director of Finances and senior Nathan Zhang also has concerns. “This year about half our team is composed of new members. We have to take that into account for train-ing,” he says.

The team’s expansion al-lows subgroups to form and focus on specific goals. One such subgroup, named “Out-reach, will focus on getting the ART name out into the community, and will act as the face of the team.

“Outreach is important be-cause we want people to know about the Aragon Robotics Team. We want people to be

inspired to go into the engi-neering and science fields. It is part of our goal not only to build robots, but to get other people interested in it too,” says Director of Public Rela-tions and senior Darrell Ten.

With this goal in mind, the Robotics Team has already exhibited at the San Mateo County Fair over the summer.

Last year, the team com-peted in two challenges. Af-ter winning the Central Val-ley Regional in early March (their first regional win), ART went to St. Louis for the World Championships from April 24 to April 28.

Co-captain Sean Gao says, “We’re going to try to make championships again. Hope-fully it will happen, but it’s not really a realistic goal for us. Depending on the challenge this year, that could change.”

Other members of the team have higher hopes.

Das says, “This year, we want to try to maintain our standards of going to two competitions with the robot and performing well, at least making it to eliminations ev-ery time in the competitions.”

However, the team must first raise enough money to finance its operations. Each year, the team has to pay for parts, competition registra-

tion, and travel fees. Regis-tration alone costs $5,000 per competition.

Gao says, “Raising enough money is always an issue for us. The past couple years we’ve always been kind of low on funds.”

Zhang says, “[Having made it to St. Louis] does make fundraising quite a bit easier especially since companies now recognize our team has the capabilities to reach the top level of competitions. It is also a great morale booster because from the start of the team until two years ago we actually never managed to go to St. Louis.”

This year ART has eighty sponsors which they hope to contact for supplies and mon-ey. Besides applying for fur-ther grants, the team is work-

ing at engaging more into the Aragon community; for ex-ample, the team now offers an embroidery service.

Moving forward, the ro-botics team is waiting for the game challenge to come out in early 2014 to start building a new robot. They hope to com-pete in the Sacramento Re-gional Competition in March and the Silicon Valley Region-al in April.

On a final note, Das says, “We pride ourselves in being student run, student built, and student based. That’s a key part of ART.”

Robotics begins year with challenges in membership, fundraising

Emily Shennews writer

———This fall, 47 colleges from

around the United States and Canada will visit Aragon. From selective to broad ac-cess, these schools represent a wide range of higher educa-tion institutions. Schools visit-ing Aragon this year include Dartmouth, Oregon State Uni-versity, UC Santa Barbara, and UC Riverside.

In the last few years, the majority of the schools that visited Aragon have been pri-vate or out-of-state, leaving California schools like the UCs underrepresented. However, more UCs are visiting Ara-gon this year, since Gov. Jerry Brown increased UC state ap-

propriations by five percent ($142 million), enabling the UCs to visit more high schools and college fairs.

These visits help college ad-mission officers in many ways including in their selection processes.

Westmont College admis-sions counselor Maddie Weiss says, “It helps me as a counsel-or because I tend to remember the students that I’ve met in person, and although I can get a lot of information out of an application, it is always nice to connect a face to a name.”

Washington University in St. Louis representative Erin Que says college visits also help admissions officers bet-ter understand the applicant’s environment.

Que says, “In addition to making personal connections, the college visit can help us better get to know the schools from which our applicants come. When we review an ap-plicant’s transcript, we evalu-ate the student within the con-text of his or her school, so the college visit helps us better understand that context.”

Harvey Mudd representa-tive Jamilla Jamison adds that college visits also allow repre-sentatives to indirectly reach out to students by connecting with counselors.

“Sometimes, it’s not even necessarily meeting the stu-dents, but it’s getting to talk to the counselor and having them learn more about Harvey Mudd, giving them more in-

sight on what the school’s all about … and sometimes, that can actually be more effective, because they can talk to more students than you can ever visit in one day,” says Jamison.

Additionally, out-of-state public institutions, like Or-egon State University (OSU), benefit from visiting high schools in different states. Eight percent of the current student body at OSU is from California.

Christina Nakada, the OSU Northern California admis-sions adviser says, “In the state of Oregon, we’re not as populated as in the state of California, so there aren’t as many high schools in Oregon as there are even down here. There’s just a lot of interest from Californian students, and we’re pleased that they’re interested in our curriculum, too.”

Students also benefit from college visits because they al-low students to gather real-time information about the school and ask questions.

Senior Nicole Bonfiglio, who attended the OSU col-lege visit, says, “I’m now very interested in this school, and motivated to do my applica-tions. [The most important thing I learned] is that they do have an honors program, which was very important to me, and that they have a full veterinary medicine program; it’s not just pre-vet.”

However, senior Claire Tat-low points out that as helpful as college visits may be, the

information provided may sometimes conflict with previ-ous knowledge.

Tatlow, who attended the UC San Diego (UCSD) presen-tation, says, “I didn’t know anything about the six-college system, so that was interest-ing. However, I went to an-other meeting for writing personal statements, and it seemed like the information about personal essays wasn’t consistent [with the UCSD col-lege visit].”

Nonetheless, students find that college visits are helpful in that they remind students to be open-minded.

Sophomore Taylor Rabbitt says, “I’ve never even thought about applying to some of the colleges that visit until I heard their presentations. Some people might have their minds set, but it’s good to keep your options open.”

UCSD admissions officer Erica Quintor concludes, “Ara-gon students were eager to learn about UCSD. They asked thoughtful questions. It was a wonderful group of students who had a lot of energy and were very attentive. I will defi-nitely consider coming back to Aragon High School after such a successful visit.”

In addition to in-school vis-its, colleges will also be at the college fair on Oct. 24 at Mills High School.

Read more ataragonoutlook.org AKELLy CHANGUCSD admissions officer Erica Qiuntor explains student life at her university on Sept. 23.

“The past couple years we’ve always been kind of low on funds.”

Senior Stanley Krzesniak works with ART equipment.

College visits prove to be beneficial to students and universities alike

“We want people to be inspired to go into the engineering and science fields.”

MEGAN SINCLAIR

the aragon outlook VOLUME 53 | ISSUE 2 3NEWS

Cleo Wienbarnews writer

———In recent weeks, Syrian

president al-Assad has given the international community a list of its chemical weapons production and holding sites, and on Oct. 1, let experts from the Organization for the Pro-hibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) into Syria so that they could begin destroying those weapons.

There are also plans for future peace talks within the United Nations between Assad and rebel forces. How-ever, hopes of successful talks have diminished. Assad has said he will not talk to groups with Western support, and the Syrian National Council, the largest rebel group in the Na-tional Coalition, has refused to negotiate with Assad.

The rebellion began in March of 2011 when govern-ment forces opened fire on protesters calling for the re-lease of political prisoners in Damascus. Currently, the United States recognizes the National Coalition for Syrian Revolutionary and Opposition Forces as the leader of the peo-

ple of Syria. However, there is infighting among the rebel groups, some of which have ties to al-Qaeda and other ter-rorist organizations.

This connection has made the West hesitant to arm the rebels. Russia’s president Vladimir Putin said in a state-ment, “There are few champi-ons of democracy in Syria. But there are more than enough al-Qaeda fighters and extrem-ists of all stripes battling the government.”

However, the United States wants to intervene, but only to enforce an international ban on the use of chemical weap-ons, following on Obama’s “red line” comment. On Sept. 12, U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry stated, “What we are seeking is to enforce the stan-dard with respect to chemical weapons.”

Sophomore Ken Preiser says, “I feel that what the U.S. is trying to do is be the referee, not getting involved. They are trying to make it so they [Syr-ians] aren’t using [chemical] weapons.”

People, including those in the Aragon community, have differing opinions on the situ-ation in Syria.

Preiser says, “Assad has been wishy-washy before, but the Middle East is about sticking to your word. A lot of

countries in the Middle East, at least their leaders, follow through to get respect.”

Junior Masao Dahlgren comments on the relative lack of importance chemical weap-ons have to the Assad regime, saying, “Frankly, they were a pain to maintain. They were a pain to keep. Syrians re-ally didn’t have any need for them.”

However, others are not so optimistic about Syria’s ob-jective in getting rid of their chemical weapons. Michael Gibbons, history teacher and Model United Nations club advisor, says, “I don’t think it is going to work, I don’t think they [Syria] have the intent and I don’t think they have the capability ... In order for the Syrians to turn over their weapons and then have them safeguarded, accounted for and then ultimately destroyed, I see an estimate of 75,000 troops in Syria. Who will pro-vide them?”

Assad estimated that de-stroying all of Syria’s chemi-cal weapons will take one year and cost $1 billion. Dahlgren says, “I think that it is going to be an incredibly expensive

process, and it’s going to re-quire troops on the ground, and there is no easy way of doing it. The United States hasn’t finished getting rid of its chemical weapons yet, and it signed on decades ago.”

Another question facing the United States is its role, if any, in guiding the new gov-ernment when, or if, Assad is no longer in power.

Junior Kathryn Wysong cites the results of past U.S. in-volvement, saying, “I think we should keep our eye on it, but try to stay not as involved be-cause when we get involved in foreign affairs, it doesn’t usu-ally end well, and I think that letting the Syrian people make their own decisions would be the best way and not trying to overthrow Assad necessarily.”

Others believe that the America’s push for democra-cy is sometimes hypocritical. Gibbons says, “I don’t think the United States should have any role in deciding anything about Syria. The Syrian people should have a role in deciding what happens. You hear ... [the United States] talking about how much we love democracy, as long as they elect the right people. So, do we like democ-racy, or do we just want the people in power who we want in power?”

U.S. involvement in Syria generates Aragon reaction

Students react to new classes Tate Hannanews writer

———New classes present op-

portunities and challenges for students and teachers alike. This year, students were of-fered five new courses: Art of Multimedia (previously the Art of Video), AP Computer Science, Yoga and Pilates, Personal Finance and Career Choices.

Many classes seem to be off to a running start. Junior Elaine Hsu, who takes the newly offered Yoga and Pilates class, says, “It’s good—its just a really chill class ... It’s a good intro to [yoga], and a lot of people like it because it’s re-ally relaxing, and even though it’s not that intense, it still has the same effect.”

Career Choices, a class that helps students create a plan and set up goals for furture careers, is off to a strong be-ginning. This single-semester class is followed by a different class, Personal Finance. After taking a career assessment test, students explore career options for their life after Ara-gon. Senior Kyle Pascoe, who takes Career Choices, says, “I like how it’s really focused on our future, and they bring in guest speakers about ev-ery week, which is good. [The teacher brings in] different ca-reers that people in the class want to pursue.”

However, some classes did not turn out the way students expected. Many in AP Com-puter Science were surprised by the workload and difficulty relative to their expectations. Teacher Lisa Kossiver says, “I think there were some misper-ceptions on the students’ part that they thought it was going to be, you know, an easy class.”

“It’s a little bit of a harder subject to wrap your head around, especially at the pace we’re going at the moment,” says junior Ben Maisonpierre.

Maisonpierre has had to help his classmates outside of the class. However, Kossiver argues that it may be a good aspect of the class, saying, “It’s actually learning a new way of helping each other and work-ing together.”

Art of Multimedia has ex-perienced a changed curricu-lum due to a lack in technol-ogy, even having to change the course name due to the lack of video production—it was orig-inally called The Art of Video. “Video software on all these computers this year … well we’re going to have to get very creative. I’ll put it that way,” says teacher Nicholas Carrillo.

Without sufficient funding to upgrade each computer, Carrillo is without any form of technology that can run the video software, which resulted in some students dropping the class. “The issue is, when we say there’s the art of video, then unfortunately we have to cut back ... to the point where it’s not even the art of video

anymore. Students get frus-trated, teachers get frustrated, and they drop. I can’t blame them at all,” he says.

Junior Jeremiah Rondeau agrees, but nevertheless enjoys the class, saying, “It’s a little bit more student-driven than the core classes. You get to ob-viously exercise creativity, but unlike various art classes, be-cause it’s computer design, it’s always looking to be a little bit different.” Although not the class many students expected, the elective still has received positive feedback, which has raised hopes for more funding in future years.

Administration had planned to offer two new classes. AP Music Theory and Peer Helping, but these plans did not materialize.

AP Music Theory was last offered three years ago, break-ing the previous cycle of every other year. The class was set to come back last year, but an additional ensemble maxed out the number of classes the music department could of-fer. The class was planned to be offered this year, but with-out enough sign-ups, music teacher Troy Davis had to de-cide between cutting a music class of 45 to offer the under-populated class of AP Music Theory, and to him that didn’t seem fair.

Davis says, “If we had run it, we would have had to drop one of our other music classes.

We couldn’t justify that.”Peer Helping is another

course did not occur this year. This year-long course would have had one semester for training and one for ac-tual projects. Students would choose to either become a peer helper, where they would be-

come involved with conflict resolution, or a peer educator, where students would have the opportunity to make pre-sentations about specific edu-cational topics.

Despite this, peer tutoring is still available on campus. In terms of the peer helping class, English teacher Vince Bravo says, “There is definitely an interest in the things Peer Helping would do on campus. I think that as we continue to talk about our WASC (Western Association of Schools and Colleges) goals ... I think that more and more people who make decisions will hopefully see that Peer Helping would meet with or help with some of those goals.”

Read more ataragonoutlook.org A

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“A lot of countries in the Middle East, at least their leaders, follow through to get respect.”

“Some classes began smoothly; others never made it to day one.”

Carolyn Kunews staff

———On Sept. 6, leadership an-

nounced the new student council officers for the fresh-man class of 2017. Josh Dewitt was elected president, Isabella Duan and Jason Leung were elected co-vice presidents, Nicoletta Della Bordella was elected secretary, and Emily Mao was elected treasurer.

13 freshmen ran for the four positions. “It’s one of the high-er numbers we’ve had running for a class,” says leadership head Catherine Williamson.

This year, there was a tie be-tween Isabella Duan and Jason Leung for the position of vice

president. Leadership decided against having a tie breaker, creating a student council of five officers instead of four. The two will share the respon-sibilities and duties of the po-sition. “Only about a third of the class votes. That’s typical. Some vote for one office and then don’t vote for the others,” says Williamson, explaining why there was a tie in the first place, and why it would be dif-ficult to break it.

Both Duan and Leung are pleased with the partnership. “I think it’s nice because you can depend on each other for the work and you can share ideas and, you know, help each other out,” Duan says.

The group held its first stu-dent council meeting on Sept. 18 to discuss fundraisers, plans and goals for the year. Duan says, “Our main goal is to have freshmen be very spirited. We want everybody to dress up on the dress up days [and] come to the lunchtime activities to show a lot of Aragon spirit so people come to fundraisers and football games.”

“It’s highly likely that we’ll do a poll in the near future to figure out what students would like,” says president DeWitt, discussing plans for future fundraisers that stu-dents can go to. “One thing that came up was a fundraiser at a milk tea place.”

The freshman student council has big ideas for this year, and they seem up to the challenge. They will look to do fundraisers at restaurants such as Amici’s and Califor-nia Pizza Kitchen, or cafes like Quickly. “I know places that my mom’s friends own that might fundraise us,” says Mao.

They’ll also be helped along by the new freshman class ad-

visor, Spanish teacher Maria Cheever. She was a class advi-sor at her last school, Newark Memorial, and volunteered to be the freshman advisor when she heard that they didn’t have one. “It was really great being an advisor,” says Cheev-er. “I wanted to help the new class because I’m also new to the school.”

Williamson adds, “This is the first year in a long time that we have all four classes covered with an advisor. So many of our very active teach-

ers are busy being club advi-sors that it is difficult to get class advisors.”

All in all, the new freshman class student council is pre-pared and enthusiastic for the coming year. Duan says, “I’m really excited, I hope that we can do a lot, I hope we can do a lot to get students active at Aragon, and, yeah, I’m really looking forward to it.”


Students start new clubs to fulfill vast extracurricular interests

Many new clubs began this year, including the American Association Club, speech team, the C-walk club and Humanitarian club. In September, center court hosted the Aragon club fair, and the food fair, at lunch in an effort for clubs to gain new members.

The American Cancer Association Club focuses on raising money for the American Cancer Society to help further research and spread awareness about the disease. It will also participate in cancer walks and is possibly plan a Relay for Life event in the springtime. The club asked for everyone to wear pink on Oct. 9 to support the breast cancer movement. Sophomore and president Ana-hita Ghajarrahimi says, “[Cancer is] a big thing that really needs people’s sup-port and people’s volunteer hours and donation.” For Ghajarrahimi, the goal of this club hits close to home. “My mom has cancer,” she says. “It’s been a big part of my life and I want to give back.”

The purpose of the Speech Team is to help improve speech and public speak-ing of Aragon students. It meets every Tuesday and will have timed speech-writing competitions to help students reach their public speaking goals. Co-president junior Vivian Shen says, “Public speaking is the fourth most common phobia in the world. [People] might not know how to make it look professional and nice, making people want to listen to them.” The Speech Team is technically not a new club; it returned this year after a year of inactivity. The club began to decline when the former presi-dent graduated, letting the club die out. The club came back to life when Shen and the other co-president, junior Valerie Chen, wanted to start it up again.

The Humanitarian Club, which meets on Thursdays, focuses on helping people in need and getting students involved in the community. President junior Fabio Gallardo also plans on having his club volunteer for organizations that help the poor and hungry, like Second Harvest Food Bank. He wants them to learn the benefits of joining clubs and community service, and the importance of helping people out. Gallardo says, “People are happy to get a helping hand, no matter what.” Recently, the club took a trip to the Baylands to pull out invasive weeds and spread compost.

Another new club this year is the C-walk club. C-walk is a general term for dancing to hip-hop and rap music. In the club, students learn technical footwork and develop their dancing skills. The founder of this new club is senior Kenzo Makitani, an avid dancer. Makitani says, “I created the C-walk club so that I could spread my passion to other students … I wanted students to possibly find their hidden talents in dancing.” Makitani also made sure to define the difference be-tween the two dance styles of crip walk and clown walk. “The club represents the clown walk dance style, not the gang-related crip walk … In other words, in no way do we represent a gang.” Makitani started dancing C-walk during the sum-mer of his sophomore year, and hoped to spread the interest of this dancing style by starting the C-walk club.

American Cancer Association Club

Speech Team

Humanitarian Club

C-Walk Club


Freshman class officers elected, begin plans for year

Club members at work during the club’s trip to the Baylands. PHOTO COuRTESy OF MEIRE BREMER

Check out club president Kenzo Makitani’s own C-Walk video.

Raayan Mohtasheminews writer

———

“I wanted students to

possibly find their hidden

talents in dancing.”

“People are happy to get

a helping hand.”

“Public speaking is the fourth most common phobia

in the world.”

“My mom has cancer ... I want to give back and

help her out.”

MARIA MENSHIKOVA

ELIzABETH zHOu

It can be disappointing to go to a school where the stu-dent body has about as much spirit as a PE class getting ready to swim in December. Sometimes, I wish that a few people would dress up for spir-it days, or maybe even cheer at the rallies.

As a freshman, I used to think that it was my job as a student to make my school spirited. I thought that if I wanted Aragon to be spirited, I

would have to be spirited first. But now I see how ridiculous that is. It’s not the students’ job to make Aragon spirited: it’s Leadership’s.

Leadership may seem like a group of hapless student vol-unteers who work tirelessly to make Aragon a better place, and continually take grief for their effort. But in reality, Leadership students are the reason Aragon never gets ex-cited about anything.

Rallies would be so much better if Leadership just worked a little harder. As of now, they don’t even tell us when to cheer. How am I sup-posed to know that I should clap for the cheerleading squad if no one holds up a “Cheer Now” sign? I mean, a Leadership student might as well have the decency lean over and tell me to cheer when the dance team gets up to do

a routine they’ve been practic-ing for months.

It’s obvious to me now. The reason the rallies resemble an AP Bio class at a seven a.m. isn’t because Aragon students have a seemingly psychopath-ic inability to stand up and cheer for our classmates; it’s because the Leadership class never taught us how to clap.

It’s the same problem with spirit days. I don’t know how the Leadership class expects me to get dressed for “Wear a Hat Day” without entirely changing my morning rou-tine. If Leadership is going to ask that much of me, they should at least send a student to help me get dressed in the morning.

When it comes down to it, it’s not just Leadership’s job to make the school spirited; it’s their job to make me spirited.

This editorial represents the unanimous opinion of all 13

Outlook Editors———

Each semester, the Califor-nia Scholarship Federation (CSF) invites students with qualifying GPAs to apply for status as CSF Scholars. Stu-dents who qualify for six se-mesters of their high school careers are honored with a yellow tassel on their caps come graduation.

To apply for the CSF pro-gram, qualifying students fill out their classes and grades from the previous semester on CSF applications. As the ap-plications informs, the grades will be read by “CSF evalua-tors” and scored to determine later qualification.

But one fact is never made clear to the students who copy their report card down for evaluation: the “CSF evalua-tors” are two of their fellow classmates.

Each year, two freshmen are chosen to be the CSF evalu-ators of their class. A group of teachers in charge of coordi-nating CSF activities at Aragon discreetly asks two students they deem as responsible to fill the positions. The rest of the class is not informed of the teachers’ decision; indeed, many students who qualify for CSF go their entire time at Aragon not knowing that two of their fellow classmates have seen their high school grades.

This is a case of ill-arrange-ment without ill-intent. The teachers who choose the stu-dents don’t democratize the process because they want to ensure that the two students chosen are the most responsi-ble in their grade. The two stu-dents chosen are simply doing a duty for their class and are hopefully discreet with the information they are given about their classmates.

But there are still a variety of areas in which the current system ought to be improved.

To begin with, it should be clearly advertised that CSF applications are evaluated by students. If potential CSF ap-plicants are to release their grades, they have the right to know with whom the grades are shared. The identities of CSF evaluators must be avail-able to students to allow po-tential applicants to make an informed decision on whether or not to share their grades.

Additionally, the CSF forms should clearly state that by submitting the application, a student is agreeing to let a fellow student see his or her grades. The application should also include the oppor-tunity for students to indicate that they would prefer to have a teacher evaluate their appli-cation. It also may be wise for students to apply with their

student ID numbers instead of their names. But as some stu-dents have unique class sched-ules, doing so would not be sufficient to maintain privacy.

It may seem odd that stu-dents have no input regarding who the evaluators for their class are; ideally, the process for selecting evaluators would be through a class vote. But as the teachers responsible for CSF have the obligation to ensure that all evaluators are sensible and mature, it is ac-ceptable that the decision is made unilaterally.

But no matter how the students are picked, it is im-portant that they are held to a standard of discretion and judiciousness. While the majority of current student evaluators are responsible and tactful, all evaluators ought to sign a contract that stipulates that they will never discuss, record, or otherwise share the grades of students they learn. Currently, the only system of rules that evaluators are held to is an unspoken honor sys-tem. But it would be wise for evaluators be held account-able to a written set of rules. For instance, it ought to be specifically requested that evaluators score the applica-tions in private and secure en-vironments; as of now, there are no rules to prevent an evaluator from scoring appli-cations while at school, where the applications are privy to other students’ eyes.

In a perfect world, new CSF evaluators would be chosen at the beginning of each semes-ter, or at least the beginning of each year. But as training eval-uators is time consuming, the current system restricts the number of evaluators to two per class. But a solution still exists: evaluators could re-view applications of students who are not in their grade—for instance, senior evaluators could evaluate junior applica-tions, and juniors could evalu-ate senior applications.

CSF is a positive part of many students’ experience at Aragon, but CSF applicants must be aware of what they are turning over with their application form. Grades are private. Even though students who qualify for CSF are often proud of their grades, they shouldn’t be expected to share them more freely than any other student. As with any other time a person is asked to share personal information, there should be a system of full disclosure, accountability, and transparency.

the aragon outlook VOLUME 53 | ISSUE 2 5OPINION

Aragon spirit: it’s not your fault

ADoes this issue matter to you?Send us your thoughts:[email protected]

Jack HerreraOpiniOn EditOr

———

What the Schoolloop graphs really show

Grades are private; students should be aware of with

whom they are sharing them.

ANews

Jordan Kranzler, Editor

Brandon Yan, Editor

Tate Hanna

Virginia Hsiao

Carolyn Ku

Raayan Mohtashemi

Emily Shen

Cleo Wienbar

Victoria Yan

Shu Yang

Monica Mai

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Matt McHugh, Editor

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Max Herrera

Jeffrey Kishiyama

Spencer Walling

Isaac Wang

Features

Kira Brenner, Editor

Jack Herrera, Editor

Angela Solis, Editor

Jacqueline Tang, Editor

Isabel Chao

Maya Hsu

Rebecca Jain

Winston Lee

Sasha Menshikova

Annika Olives

Murray Sandmeyer

Catherine Stoehr

Nick Tolfa

Regina Wen

Richard Yu

Anders Zhou

Photography

Alex Furuya, Editor

Cristina Ashbaugh

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Kelly Chang

Scott Liu

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Samantha Soon, Editor

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Jonathan Staryuk, Editor

Illustration

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Franchesca Carracedo

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The Aragon OutlookScott Silton Faculty Adviser

Brandon Liu, Annika Ulrich Editors in Chief

www.aragonoutlook.org

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Kira Brenner, Editor

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Jack Herrera, Editor

ALEx FuRuyA

Isabel Chaofeatures writer

———Throughout the day, many

high school students seem to grow more and more tired due to their lack of sleep at night. Today, American teens receive an average of six and a half hours of sleep per night. But because the adolescent brain is still developing, teens need a solid nine and a quar-ter hours of rest per night to satisfy their body and supply energy for the following day, says the National Sleep Foun-dation. However, homework, sports, clubs, part-time jobs, and various social activities often conflict with having enough time to rest. As stated in the Wall Street Journal, a simple solution to achieving the optimal amount of sleep is napping.

“[Napping] helps me catch up on sleep so I won’t feel tired and can do my work more ef-ficiently,” says senior Cheryn Lam, who takes naps about three times a week for approx-imately two hours or more.

Occasionally, students at-tempt to catch up on their sleep during the weekend by sleeping in, sometimes until

noon. An alternative to sleep-ing late is napping midday. The problem with sleeping un-til noon on a weekend is that it could negatively affect one’s consistent weekday sleep cy-cle. Health teacher Robynne Francis suggests another ap-proach, saying “Sleeping in a little later [can be beneficial], but the more important piece is [going] to bed at a reason-able time the night before.”

Even though napping has its benefits, it does not replace all the rest required for a per-fect night of sleep. Sophomore Jordan Tom, who naps for an hour for about three times a week, states, “I think that napping doesn’t substitute for late sleep, but it does help if 10 to 20 minutes are spent nap-ping.”

Sometimes students in high schools find their “ideal” nap time during class, and man-age to catch a few winks here and there. Francis says, “[nap-ping] is not done during class; wait until after school, and try [taking] short naps before ac-tivities.” A brief catch up on sleep can improve the perfor-mance of activities and a stu-dent’s alertness.

Studies done by the Na-

tional Sleep Foundation sug-gest that an hour long nap may even help with memory processing. In deep sleep, rapid eye movement, or REM, occurs. During REM, learning and developing occurs within the brain. In this stage of sleep, one’s brain practices knowl-edge that one has grasped and helps cement those skills as long-term knowledge.

On the other hand, nap-ping too much—on average, an hour or more—could be counterproductive. “Some-times [when I nap], I feel rest-ed. However, sometimes I feel more tired,” comments junior Guy Geva, who naps four to five times a week for one to two hours at a time. “Over-all, I do think napping has a positive impact. It helps me by giv-ing me a break after school before I start

my homework. It helps me calm down and get ready to work.”

Scientific studies suggest that people who do not nap can fall asleep more quickly and deeply at night.

Geva adds, “Sometimes, napping can really irritate me if I fall asleep by accident be-cause it takes away time from doing homework. That’s why I think napping shouldn’t be done too much. It can also

make it more difficult to fall asleep at night.”

Moreover, naps are not al-ways a ready option. Some-times people are not able to fall asleep and are restless. Freshman Nicole Chang says, “I would like to nap, it’s just that whenever I try, it doesn’t work. The closest I get is just closing my eyes and thinking random thoughts, but I don’t fall asleep.”

When done right, napping can help boost energy lev-

els, increase productivity, and improve mood. Tak-

ing even brief naps can serve as down time in the midst of a heavy workload.

6 VOLUME 53 | ISSUE 2 the aragon outlookFEATURES

Rebecca Jainfeatures writer

———“You’re on your own in col-

lege. The only rules you have to abide by are your own,” says senior Stefan Zier. For those planning to move away from home next year, the anticipa-tion of leaving home can be exhilarating.

“Independence is key,” says senior Haley Wilcox. “I’m ex-cited to meet new people.”

Senior Jordan Murti says, “I’ll be surrounded by people with similar interests.”

Moving away from home is a large undertaking that thou-sands of students across the country experience every year when they go away to college. For some, the distance to col-lege is only a short drive from home; for others, it can be 2,000 miles.

Many seniors have begun contemplating what life will be like in college. Senior Ethan Canton says, “On a scale of one

to ten, I’m a seven [regarding preparedness for college]. I need to learn to cook some real food.” For many, leaving home means leaving home-cooked meals. Managing new respon-sibilities may come easily, but being in charge of one’s own food can be challenging.

“I’m used to making ap-pointments for myself and doing laundry and that kind of stuff. The biggest thing for me would be learning how to cook,” says senior Nicole Horita. “My biggest concern is that I have to keep track of everything—meals, cleanli-ness, and laundry. There’s a lot more responsibility.”

It appears many freshmen express a strong drive to move away and be independent. “My mom had taught me things be-fore I moved out,” says Vanes-sa Poon, an Aragon alum and freshman at California State University, Monterey Bay. “For two years of high school, I had to take care of my sister,

so taking care of myself isn’t too hard.”

“I feel like I’m ready and have everything covered, but I know I don’t. Something will pop up and I won’t know how to deal with it,” says Jamie Lo, an Aragon alum and freshman at UC Davis. Meal plans are a requirement for freshmen at Davis, but Lo says, “I’m go-ing to balance it out. I have a kitchen in my dorm building, so I’ll cook for myself, but mostly I’ll eat in the cafeteria.”

In addition to food, laundry can be an unexpected chal-lenge that college freshmen face. “One time during fall quarter, I had put my laun-dry in the washing machine, but then forgot about it,” says Jamie Moore, an Aragon alum and sophomore at UC Santa Barbara. “I came back and my clothes weren’t in the machine. I looked over at the counter, and someone had put them in the dryer, folded all my clothes, and left a note that said ‘Nice music shirt, from Max.’ My friends and I ran up and down looking for this per-son. We finally found him and he was really nice.”

“Moving away is both nerve wracking and incredibly ex-citing,” says Jessia Hoffman, an Aragon alum and junior at Stanford University. “I felt an independence I had never felt before. There was something really empowering about it.”

“Seniors aren’t aware of just how different college classes

are. You really have to be on top of your stuff,” says Hoff-man. “Freshman year, I took a feminist studies class, and we had reading the first night, but I couldn’t figure out what to read. Turns out, I just didn’t understand the notation.”

Along with basics such as cooking and classes, diving into the college community can be somewhat intimidat-ing for freshmen. “Going from Aragon to Berkeley, I didn’t want to get lost in the numbers,” says Nick Tom, an Aragon alum and sophomore at UC Berkeley. “Luckily, my roommate and I bonded quick-ly. We went to every club meet-ing we could, poking around for people with similar inter-ests. I ended up joining a ball-

room dance team.”“I wish I had challenged

myself to do something out-side of my comfort zone,” says Kathryn Miyahira, an Aragon alum and sophomore at Saint Michael’s College. “My school has a wilderness program with rock climbing, snow shoeing, etc. I wish I had tried something [new].”

Jason Galisatus, an Aragon alum and junior at Stanford, shared wisdom for current se-niors for when they move out, “Something that gets over-looked is your sleep schedule. Make sure you don’t stay up until 4 a.m. every day.”


Great college expectations and reality of independence

Students find that napping is not just for toddlers

FRANCHESCA CARRACEDO

ELIZABETH ZHOU

the aragon outlook VOLUME 53 | ISSUE 2 7FEATURES

Winston Leefeatures writer

———A current perception of run-

ning shoes is of a colorful, rub-bery and laced sneaker. Over the past few years, the defi-nition of the perfect athletic shoe has evolved. Individuals select certain models of shoe based on unique criteria that often corresponds to a sport.

Due to the importance of feet in respective sports, run-ners and athletes treat their feet and the shoes that sup-port them with extra care. Sophomore football player Daniel Romero says high top shoes are preferable for foot-ball players. He says, “My shoes get a better grip on my foot and on the floor, and they are safer if I need to jump from the ground.”

Along with football play-ers, basketball players require shoes that function well over short distances. Sophomore basketball player Ryan Fer-guson says, “I like Nikes and Jordans and I think they are the best for players. You want shoes with lots of supports in them.” Ferguson has sprained his ankle in previous shoes and attributes that to the lack of ankle support.

Margot Bellon, a freshman on the varsity cross country team, says, “I’ve twisted my ankle on a rock after run-ning with my flats but that was the only serious injury I have had.” Running flats are shoes designed to have little to no support, hence the name “flats.” But besides sustaining an injury, Bellon states that her flats improve her walking and running form. Along with flats, Bellon has Nike Stability shoes, which she says are bet-ter for her feet. She says her previous Nike Free Runs dam-

aged her feet and deformed her arch. Bellon needed shoes that would “improve her leg and foot muscles.”

Freshman runner for the varsity cross country team Da-vid Prager says, “I have never been injured in my shoes, but I need shoes that have support, I feel more comfortable ... and they are better for my knees.” Prager uses Saucony run-ning shoes that are the “most squishy” he has had. In Prag-er’s opinion, shoes that are the most comfortable for him suit him best. He says, “You could get shin splints from racing flats ... they have no support.” While shoes with more sup-port are comfortable, they are heavy and slow runners down. Freshman cross-country run-ner Jake Pilgrim favors “mini-malist” shoes. Pilgrim says, “You’re less likely to get in-jured in major support shoes but you get stronger in toe shoes and they also improve your gait.”

Sophomore cross country runner Jason Lim’s opinion differs. Lim says, “When I’m practicing, I use shoes with more support, as it helps a lot, because it hurts my feet if I don’t use them.” But when Lim is racing, flats are more suitable according to Lim. He says, “Flats decrease my weight when I’m running.”

Runners are not the only athletes who require a particu-lar running shoe; cheerleaders also opt for a specific running shoe. Junior cheerleader Kim-berly Mota Sanchez says, “For cheerleading, we need cheer shoes; the shoes have a flat base, so the base [cheerleader] has a flat surface to hold onto when a cheerleader has to jump.” Cheer shoes are com-pletely white and are similar to flat shoes.

Science teacher Asif Rah-man can be seen sporting a type of toe shoes called Vi-bram FiveFingers running shoes. This relatively new, unique type of shoes has gained popularity among run-ners. Toe shoes are a type of running shoe designed for minimalist running—or bare-foot running. These shoes are unconventional but, consid-ered by some to be more effec-tive running shoes. Rahman says, “[My shoes] are much more comfortable than regu-lar running shoes and allow for natural foot biomechan-ics.” Foot biomechanics is the structure of the foot, how a foot moves naturally, and how a foot would touch the ground.

“Toe shoes” are unique in that they don’t look like any conventional running shoe. Toe shoes improve leg and hamstring muscles while nor-mal shoes may ruin posture. Although toe shoes have a small layer separating the foot and the ground, the footwear is supposed to have the sen-sation of walking barefoot, which is preferable to walking in any other type of shoe. Rah-man has never been injured in his toe shoes, but he says, “You have to ease into your [toe] shoes. It is hard to go from big and heavy shoes to these as you would be so used to those shoes. It is easy to get injured when you switch.”

Although most individuals generally gravitate towards the traditional athletic shoe, it may be beneficial for athletes to opt to use specialized shoes for a heightened running ex-perience.

Nick Tolfafeatures writer

———“I love my backpack,” says

freshman Miranda Osiow. Osiow’s choice of school bag is a rolling backpack. She is among those at school who does not suffer from back pain—often traced back to the heavy loads students carry during the week.

Unfortunately, this is not the case for many other stu-dents, who experience back pain due to the heavy loads they are forced to carry. Ac-cording to the American Chi-ropractic Association, in 2001, 7,000 emergency room visits were caused by backpacks. These back-to-school purchas-es, while necessary, can cause chronic back pain when they are too heavy or worn improp-erly.

Rolling backpacks come highly recommended from doctors, and studies show that the long-term use of a rolling backpack decreases the risk of certain back problems later in life. Despite this, there is a minority of Aragon students using rolling backpacks.

Instead, many students use smaller backpacks and rely on their lockers. Junior Kevin Ruttenburg explains, “[My backpack] is functional, small, and red and black. I use my locker every day.” This meth-od spares Ruttenburg the back pain endured by many others. He says, “[My back] only hurts when I’m carrying around my French horn.”

Sophomore Michael Lan-thier employs a similar strat-egy. Last year, his backpack dwarfed him, and he rarely used his locker. This year, Lanthier states, “I chose my backpack because it wasn’t larger than me. I used to not use my locker, but now I do, just for textbooks.”

Senior Monica Klein uses an even smaller bag than the ones used by Ruttenburg or Lanthier—her purse. Klein says, “I don’t like the feeling of two straps over my shoul-ders, it makes me uncomfort-able. When I had a backpack, I had to keep one strap off, and couldn’t get the straps even. [Having] one strap over my shoulder is more comfortable now.” When Klein used to wear her backpack over one shoul-der, the imbalance hurt her back. Even though her purse is worn over only one shoulder, it is too light to cause shoulder pain. Klein is still able to carry everything she needs by hold-ing her books in her arms.

Like Klein, freshman Ty Gallegos prefers a one-strap bag. Both students describe common problems with back-packs, which can cause pain even if they are worn correctly

but are too heavy.However, there are some

students who simply use roll-ing backpacks. Osiow says, “I’ve used [rolling backpacks] since second grade.” Simi-larly, sophomore Josh Pollock used his rolling backpack in middle school and switched back to it this year after his back started hurting. Pollock explains, “I have to carry a lot of stuff around, and I noticed my shoulders were starting to hurt a lot. I don’t really have time to use my locker, and I have to carry a lot of books. I realized I don’t have to walk up any stairs at school.”

Both Pollock and Osiow have also had to deal with several problems due to their rolling backpacks. Pollock says, “The wheels can be really loud. Sometimes, I’ll run over people’s feet or clip their bags. Another problem I’ve encoun-tered ... is sometimes I don’t have enough hands.” Osiow adds, “Stairs are a problem. You have to practice driving it or you will hit people.”

Some students do not be-lieve using rolling backpacks has enough benefits to war-rant a switch from their cur-rent backpacks. Junior David Tong says, “This is high school … They’re impractical. Every-body trips over them, it’s eas-ier to get things wet, and they just look bad.” Tong is careful to use a backpack as small as possible and utilizes his locker often, so he rarely suffers back pain due to his backpack.

Junior Jonathan Prins’s

back, however, hurts almost every day, as he has to bring several binders to and from school each day. Prins still does not desire to switch to a rolling backpack. Prins says, “They don’t look good and they get in everybody’s way, me and others in the hall.”

For some adolescents, the value of appearance trumps that of practicality. A rolling backpack is a relatively simple way to alleviate back pain, and according to Pollock and Osiow, the benefits outweigh the detriments, but some stu-dents have less than enthu-siastic associations with the pain-savers. Many students find other methods to take care of their backs, such as us-ing their lockers or choosing smaller backpacks. An article by ABC News also suggests, “implementing a five-minute ‘backpack planning period’ for younger students before the fi-nal school bell sounds, would help kids reduce the weight of their backpacks before send-ing them home.” While this system is intended for elemen-tary schools, perhaps more high school students need to take to heart this lesson of car-rying around less weight.

Specialized shoes gain traction Rolling your way to relief

Running shoe

This classic sneaker is popular among PE students and track and cross country runners with its familiar and sturdy structure.

Cheerleading flat-bottom shoe

This typically all-white sneaker has a smooth and flat bottom so as to allow cheerleaders to have a firm grip on fly-

ers’ feet when they are being lifted.

Toe shoes

This alternative running shoe pro-vides some protection to feet, but allows the runner to feel more of

the terrain.


“I chose my backpack because it wasn’t larger than me.”

It ’s Time For

As our world changes, tea remains a common ground, a shared piece of heritage among cultures internationally. The Outlook explores how one beverage has shaped the lives of billions, and how

it has left its mark on our community and the greater San Francisco Bay Area.Layout by Samantha Soon — Copy by Outlook Editors

Tea

=

‘Round the World

Moroccans consume the second largest amount of tea per capita worldwide, following Emiratis. Atay, a green tea steeped in mint leaves, has even become its national symbol. However, few realize that this drink is actually rather new to the country. Tea was introduced to Morocco in the 17th century by the British, who gave them Chinese gunpowder tea, a form of green tea. In the late 1800’s, tea rapidly expanded to the rest of Morocco in what Graham Corn-well, a Georgetown University Ph.D student in history, labels the “tea boom.”Tea has taken on much symbolic importance in Moroccan society, often as an object of hospitality. In order to welcome and comfort foreign visitors, Moroc-cans greet them with tea. Tea has also become a symbol of national pride, as many Moroccan cafes hold up pictures of the King drinking tea in order to cement it as a national activity.

Morocco

India

Uruguay

Tea was recently recognized as the national drink of India this year. India is second only to China in tea production and consumption. Tea is an integral part of Indian culture and its ubiquity can be seen in India’s tea stall filled streets. The origins of chai tea can be traced back to India. Chai tea is a spiced tea that is mixed with milk and sweetener. The most popular type of chai tea is the Masala Chai which includes many traditional spices like cinnamon, cardamom, fennel, star anise, ginger, peppercorn and cloves. Typically the spices are first boiled with water and then mixed with honey, black tea and milk. Traditionally, chai was simmered in clay tea cups, chullarhs, and simmered over an open flame. Following the consumption of tea, the cups were then shattered and left to compost into the earth. Nowadays, chai tea can be found in many Western countries.

In the United Kingdom, tea was confined to the upper class until the early 19th century, when the aristocracy began to fear the effects of a drunken work force. Tea was introduced to laborers as an alternative to gin, spirits, and other alcoholic beverages. Though tea was a common breakfast drink for all Britons, the wealthiest began the tradition of afternoon tea—a social occasion occurring around 4 o’clock where tea would be served in the finest china along with small foods, such as scones, cakes and miniature sandwiches. This followed a particular etiquette where the hostess would pour the tea, but her husband would pass it out. Since then, tea culture in the UK has significantly changed. Britons have been buying fewer tea bags and thus traditional tea has been on a decline. British market analysts Mintel found that between the years 2003 and 2005, tea bag sales went down 16 percent. Old traditions of tea are being replaced by new ones; in 2011, Bubbleology became the first British chain to sell Taiwanese bubble tea by opening its first shop in London. It has since met much success, yielding a turnover rate of £4.5 million in 2013 and is planning to expand globally.

Mate, a tea-like drink made from the twigs and leaves of the indigenous Yerba Mate plant, was first drunk by the Guaraní indians of Paraguay. In the early 17th century, Spanish set-tlers grew accustomed to the beverage and the Jesuits be-gan to harvest and commercialize it. While people in many parts of South American drink mate, Uruguayans consume the most at 400 million liters a year. Mate is traditionally consumed through a metal straw called a bombilla and out of a calabash gourd called a porongo. South Americans typi-cally share the beverage at social gatherings by drinking it through the same straw, causing it to be referred to as “the drink of friendship.” Due to the high tannin content, Mate has a distinct bitterness to it, though the taste varies from region to region depending on soil type.

United KingdomOnce the tea is picked, a complicated process begins. There are four types of tea: white, black, green, and oolong. All come from the same Camellia sinensis plant, which under-goes varying treatments to determine the fi-nal tea’s different flavors and fragrances.

At the SourceAlmost all tea starts out as a plant called Camellia sinensis, whose top two leaves are handpicked and later processed by machines. Camellia sinensis is grown on large planta-tions with varying atmosphers and soil types, which affect the quality and taste of the tea.

After it is dried and sorted, tea is ei-ther bagged or sold in loose leaf form. Most tea consumers buy bagged tea from the store, but it is argued that loose leaf tea has more nutrition-al value and tastes better than the bagged variety.

Black tea goes through multiple stages of withering, rolling, oxidization (the process in which the tea leaves are left in a damp environment and change from green to brown), drying, and sorting. Green tea is made from the same leaves, but there is no oxidization step, so it retains its famil-iar green color. Oolong tea is the middle ground between green and black tea and is only halfway oxidized. It retains its green color, but takes on a distinct flavor. White tea takes fresh leaves and puts them through a withering and drying process.

Science of it AllThe

To those who enjoy its taste and aroma, tea may be a luxury or even a tradition, but a look inside the hu-man body reveals its many health benefits. Tea is derived from the Camellia sinensis plant, which contains antioxidants. The unhealthy properties of tea usually come not from the tea itself but from the additional products that are added, usually sugar and other sweeteners. (One ounce of boba tapioca pearls has about 100 calories according to the New Calorie Counter.) In contrast, pure tea is a zero calorie drink.Green tea contains the antioxidant EGCG, which helps prevent cancer by protecting healthy cells from dam-age and disrupting tumor formation. EGCG also promotes the breakdown of fat, contributing to weight loss. A 2010 study found that green tea catechins combat oxidative stress on the eyes thus protecting vision. Compared to green tea, black tea contains lower concentrations of antioxidants because its leaves are oxi-dized or fermented. Black tea reduces stress by lowering stress hormone levels, which results in a reduced risk of stroke and lower blood pressure. White tea is uncured and unfermented and contains more antioxi-dants than other kinds of teas allegedly giving it relatively potent anticancer properties. White tea is also said to prevent signs of aging by inhibiting the formation of fine lines and wrinkles through strengthening elastin and collagen.

The FadOrigins

Since its founding in the 1980s, bubble tea has gained a considerable following. Many stories circulate regarding the exact origin of bubble tea, but it is generally agreed that it originated in Tai-wan. According to CNN Travel, Lin Hsiu Hui, the developement manager of the Chun Shui Tang Tea House in Taichung, Taiwan, invented bubble tea by accident in 1983 while preparing a Taiwanese des-sert called yuan at a staff meeting. On a whim, she decided to add some tapioca balls. “Everyone at the meeting loved the drink,” Lin said. Pleased with the response, she added the drink to the menu and it sold out quickly. The drink became popular overseas during the ’90s, and can now be found in Southeast Asia, Europe, and the North America.

Local HypeFrom the long line extending down B Street into T-Pumps to someone walking downtown with Quickly milk tea, it is evident that San Mateo has embraced bubble milk tea. As of Oct. 6, 2013, “#tpumps” has been tagged in over 23,429 pho-tos on Instagram, and “#boba” has been tagged in 447,859 photos. Milk tea’s popularity is attributed to its accessibil-ity and its affability, but there are other reasons why tea has been trending. According to a scien-tific article from UCLA, tea may be trending due to localized conformity. Bubble tea is a norm inthe Bay Area, while it may be considered alien in other regions. The San Mateo tea fad may also be a re-sult of the bandwagon effect—take Tpumps, which started out as a small delivery store, selling bubble tea as a side business. People discovered how deli-cious the tea was, and soon, Tpumps became a well known business. Its popularity attracted even more customers, thus creating the current trend.

The TrendlineHistorically, trends often have a strong be-ginning and a slow decline until the trend is obsolete. For example, the popular frozen yogurt store, The Country’s Best Yogurt (TCBY) was a prominent, healthy alternative to ice cream during the ’80s. However, as the fad slowly died out, many stores were forced to close. According to USA Today, in 2001, there were 1,777 TCBY locations, while in 2011, there were only 405 locations. New-ly emerging food trends largely contributed to TCBY’s significant decline.It is hard to say whether tea will continue to be considered “in.” So far, the tea craze has survived the acai berry fad, the cupcake fad, the Cronut fad, and the recent ramen burger fad. With new tea stores such as Da-vid’s Tea, Honey Berry, and ShareTea, it is probably safe to predict that the trend will last a few more years.

80% of households have tea

What tea is America drinking?

85% Black

14% Green1% White

data sources:bit.ly/1CMPXPX

Anders Zhoufeatures writer

———Every year, there is a new

wave of fashion. Sometimes, styles get recycled, but there is always a line drawn between what is perceived as fashion-able and what is not. At the beginning of each school year, it is commonplace for students to go back-to-school shopping. One common theme is appar-ent in students’ choices of clothing this year; despite the colder weather, teens appear to be opting for shorter hem-lines, skinnier shirt straps and lower necklines.

Even though it is October and chilly weather is begin-ning to set in, students can still be seen around campus sporting crop tops without the layer underneath, and short shorts with inseams (stitch length) that are shorter than general boxers worn by males. Brand names like Abercrom-bie, Urban Outfitters and Hot Topic fuel this trend by pair-ing controversial clothing with promotional sales. Some retailers, like American Ap-parel, have even come under fire for hyper-sexualizing mi-nors in their advertisements.

Because the teenagers are a key consumer, brands are looking to attract this specific

age group more than ever. With this movement comes a change in fashion. English teacher Genevieve Thurtle has seen a change in clothing trend. She notes that crop tops have made a huge comeback over the past year.

In recent years it seems that teenagers are sporting more provocative clothing than ever before. Senior Ol-ivia Lindorfer says, “Peo-ple just want attention. Like, when you see a girl wearing a pink bra under a white shirt, you’re like, what’s she thinking?”

Sophomore Mary Fitzgerald adds, “I think wearing short shorts or crop tops is fine. But if you’re wearing them both at the same time, I think that’s a little too much skin.”

Although there may not be explicit pressure to dress in a revealing manner, one rea-son students wear suggestive clothing may be attributed to the trendiness and attention that one receives for dressing a certain way.

Freshman Lynn Jiao says, “I don’t think girls should feel a lot of pressure ... we should be allowed to wear whatever we want.”

While school dress codes

are developed in order to minimize clothing that may distract other genders, some feel that these regulations are unfair. Junior V i v i a n Shen says, “Why

do we need to stop wearing what we want be-cause of guys?”

Occasionally, the opposite gender’s clothing choices can be very perplexing to individ-uals. Senior Darrell Ten says, “I’m cool with short shorts on girls, but I kind of think

they’re not necessary.” Senior Rick Miyagi

adds, “Crop tops? I don’t really get them. No one really needs to see your

stomach.”While Miyagi points to

a phenomenon that occurs when girls opt to wear

crop with clothes over them, some girls choose to wear something over the crop tops to cover

their stomach. Lindorfer says, “If you’re going to wear crop tops, put some-

thing underneath or over it. I mean, they’re great if you want to wear them to the beach, but it’s not

necessary for school.” According to Aragon’s

dress code, bro tanks and chubbies (shorter shorts for males) are not al-

lowed, with the excep-tion of bro tanks that have straps exceeding an inch in width. How-ever, many people, es-pecially guys, opt out

of this restriction, don-ning bro tanks. Freshman An-thony Sandoval, who occasion-

ally wears wifebeaters, says, “Wifebeaters are cool. It’s not a problem [at school] because I wear it underneath a sweat-shirt or something. They’re good when you’re exercising.”

While sagging is not neces-sarily a new trend, it still quite commonplace amongst ado-lescent males. English teacher Tiffany Wang says, “I’ve defi-nitely seen sagging, and it’s been around for a long time.”

And even with crop tops, short shorts, and tank tops, there’s not a limit to what is trendy or not. Stylish cloth-ing does not necessarily mean that clothing has to be sugges-tive. Fitzgerald says, “Cords are great, especially in chilly weather.”

Shen adds, “Sweaters are great, especially cardigans. They’re great, even for warm-er weather. You really don’t have to wear short shorts all the time.”

Although retailers and pop-ular media seem to constantly reinforce the fact that fashion-able clothing has to be reveal-ing, students can remain fash-ionable while maintaining modesty.


Catherine Stoehr features writer

———Dieting used to be simple:

“just eat less.” But as nutri-tional science improves, many people are trying more non-traditional approaches to diet-ing.

For instance, senior Anya Hsu went on a juice cleanse. For five days, Hsu replaced all solid foods with juices made from fruits and veg-etables. “Not eating anything was ridiculously hard,” says Hsu. While the concept may seem extreme, juice cleanses is gaining popularity as their purported benefits propagate. The idea behind juices cleanse is simple: through eating, drinking, and even breathing, toxins continually build up in the body. Cutting out all solid foods for three to seven days and replacing them with juic-es containing all vital nutri-ents can purportedly help the body purify and detoxify its system, as well as shed excess weight; Hsu was happy with her diets results. “No carbs, no dairy, no animal products, no processed things, no sugar, it’s good stuff ... I lost about 12 pounds,” she says.

However, according to Real Simple, a popular health and living magazine, the supposed benefits of these juice cleanses can often be deceptive. Ac-

cording to the magazine, the weight loss promised is mostly water weight. When the body digests solid food, it needs to store water to help the pro-cess. By removing all solid food, the body rids itself of the unneeded water, shedding some weight. However, once put back on its usual diet, the body will soon store the water back up again.

Hsu says she has not had this experience. “Some may argue that it’s just water and stuff, but I’ve miraculously managed to keep most of it off,” says Hsu.

While Hsu’s diet was effec-tive, juice cleanses aren’t the only type of unconventional diet that is gaining popularity. Besides cutting out solid foods, many people forgo products sometimes considered un-healthy, such as animal prod-ucts, protein or gluten.

Math teacher Nathan Kun-din has been vegetarian for 20 years. He experienced fre-quent migraines and searched for a way to prevent them. “When I was a vegetarian, I drank a lot of milk for protein. I think it was the source of my migraines. By cutting out milk and introducing green smoothies, my migraines es-sentially went away.” For him, changing his diet had signifi-cant and valuable benefits.

Senior Kristin Shaw started

a vegan diet nine months ago, and found her diet to have some benefits. As part of her vegan diet, she eats no meat, dairy or other animal prod-ucts. “I’ve lost a lot of weight. I got sick less often. I had more energy. I was more active, and I didn’t feel as weighed down,” says Shaw. Even though she originally started the diet for animal rights, going vegan had unexpected perks. “Its … a great way for people to get active, eat healthy and eat more vegetables and fruits,” she says.

Similar reasons prompted freshman Madison Moeckli to go pescetarian. A pescetar-ian diet is when fish is the only meat consumed. She is on the fourth year of her diet and has loved its favorable re-sults “You definitely lose more weight ... I felt like I had more energy,” Moeckli says.

As with traditional diets, there are obstacles to over-come in these more unortho-dox diets. Shaw has to plan and cook her own meals since no one in her family is vegan or vegetarian. Moeckli found it hard to resist her favorite meats while eating out. Hsu says, “It’s been rough. I crave a lot of noodles, rice, donuts, nutella.” But all three have stayed faithful to their diets and experienced how effective these new age diets can be.

From hearing about juice cleanses from peers and how more people are electing to forgo meat and animal prod-ucts, it may seem to some that many new-age diets are catch-ing on.

“I think that dieting is a fad. For a long time it was about no-carb. Now it’s about no pro-

cessed foods. I think [diets] are becoming more popular,” says Hsu. According to Shaw, right now is a great time to change one’s eating habits. “Almost every restaurant has vegan or vegetarian options now be-cause it’s growing more popu-lar and more and more people are doing it,” she says.

Students and teachers try out non-traditional dietary habits

Fall Fashion Trends: How little is too much?

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the aragon outlook VOLUME 53 | ISSUE 2 11ARTS & ENTERTAINMENT

Actively watching How I Met Your Mother (HIMYM) feels like keeping up with five of one’s best friends—Ted, Marshall, Lily, Robin and Barney. From cringing at Ted’s questionable fashion choices to rooting for Marshall and Lily to reunite, loyal viewers experience the joys and heart-aches of the familiar characters. The popular CBS show centers on Ted Mosby, a hopeless roman-tic, and his story of finding and settling down with the girl of his dreams. Ted narrates the show, describing his life leading up to when he meets his wife—facilitating storytelling in the form of flashbacks. As HIMYM airs its ninth and final season, there is much nostalgia, expectation, and anticipation for a satisfying conclusion to the series.

Since its inception in 2005, HIMYM has pulled viewers in with the intriguing relationship de-velopments of its main characters. This final season is expected to deliver what viewers have been waiting to see since season one: how Ted meets his wife. Viewers will finally meet the eponymous mother.

Tropes ‘HIMYM’ has popularized

Loose ends that need closure

‘How I Met Your Mother’ meets final season

1. Will Robin and Barney tie the knot?Robin and Barney have had a tumultuous relationship and both fear long-term relationships. In prior seasons—despite feelings they each had for the other—the two have dated, broken up, and seen other people. Now with HIMYM in its final season, viewers are asking what will become of Robin and Barney? At the end of Season Eight, Barney is seen struggling to escape his wed-ding by crawling out a window. This “Will they? Won’t they?” style relationship is reminiscent of Ross and Rachel from Friends or Elliot and J.D. from Scrubs. In both shows, the couples end up together. Will Robin and Barney follow suit or be the first to break the pattern?

2. Will Lily and Marshall move to Italy or stay in NYC?During the last episodes of Season Eight, Lily was given the opportunity of a lifetime through her job as an art consultant. Lily now has the opportunity to move to Rome for a year. Initially, Lily struggles with whether she should accept the offer and worries about forcing Marshall to move across the world with her. Eventually, Marshall convinces her to take the job. The location of the job seems to be a perfect fit for the couple until Marshall receives a call from the New York State Judiciary Committee offering him a position as a judge. Marshall has yet to share the news about his new job with Lily. With two dream jobs awaiting the pair, and important news yet to be shared with Lily, will the two be ultimately settle in the Big Apple or head to Europe?

3. Will Ted move to Chicago and give up his dream house?In Season Five, Ted bought a desolate, run-down house in Westchester County, NY, with the intent of remodeling it into his dream house. In Season Eight, the house is revealed on camera and it appears to be the same 2030 house in which Ted is shown telling his children the story of how he met their mother. The major difference is that the house shown in Season Eight lacks some of the decorations shown in the 2030 house. During the last episode of Season Eight, Ted confides in Lily that he plans to move to Chicago and sell the house. Despite Ted’s determined plans to move to the Windy City, will Ted really move away or will he design a Chicago house in the same way?

4. When will Ted finally meet the mother? Also... what’s her name?Lily was the first of the characters to meet “the mother” (played by Cristin Milioti) in the first episode of Season Nine, when the two women both end up taking the same train to Farhamp-ton. Ted and “the mother” are both in Farhampton; it is only a matter of time before the two meet. The much-anticipated first encounter is yet to occur. How will the producers stage this seminal moment? For years viewers have only known Milioti’s character as “the mother.” What is this mysterious woman’s name?

This is one of character Barney’s catchphrases. He uses it when he is trying to describe something that he is looking forward to doing. He often demonstrates his excitement for an event when he delivers one of his signature, “It’s going to be legen—wait for it—dary,” lines.

“Legen—wait for it—dary”

Long-running sitcoms often have recurring jokes and phrases that the characters reference in multiple episodes throughout the seasons, and HIMYM is no exception. In the show, many of these jokes originate from character Barney Stinson. Some of the jokes were not original-ly created by the show’s writers but have certainly gained popularity through their frequent use on the show. Although this list is far from exhaustive, below are some of the most famous jokes and references that have jumped from the screen and into the vernacular of many fans and even those who may have never seen HIMYM.

When others describe a task that appears implausible or unrealistic, Barney embraces the endeavor and says, “Challenge Accepted.”

This is a set of rules Barney develops for himself and his male friends to follow that details expected behavior in life and with regards to women. Barney binds the rules of the code into a leather, hardcover book.

This is another one of Barney’s mantras throughout the show. He is known for his love of suits and believes that wearing suits sets him apart from other people. Barney uses “Suit Up” as a call to action both in his own life and the lives of his friends.

SPOILERALERT!

“Suit Up”

“Challenge Accepted”


Maya Hsufeatures writer

———When freshman Kaley

Pon’s Pantech phone fell in the toilet, she just rolled up her sleeves and went in after it. Amazingly, it was still func-tioning. Until Pon got a new phone, she had to use her toi-let phone. However, when Pon eventually did receive a new phone after her toilet phone, her new phone eventually broke as well. Upon receiving a new iPhone, Pon decided to start taking better care of her phones.

“When I dropped [the first phone] in the toilet I was scared, and when the other one broke in half I was scared, too,” says Pon.

While there isn’t an abun-dance of people dropping their phones in toilets, breaking or losing one’s phone is an ex-perience many people are all too familiar with. And with new phones costing as much as $700, accidents can prove to be minor catastrophes. Ac-cording to the PR log, a free press release distribution ser-vice, $5.9 billion were spent in America on iPhone repairs alone in the last 5 years.

“I left [my cell phone] in my pocket, and when the laundry came out, my phone came out too,” says Sophomore Mellisa Leong. Surprisingly, Leong’s cell phone, a Sprint Nokia, survived the wash. However, shortly after the washing ma-chine incident, Leong dropped her phone on the sidewalk and cracked the screen. Leong says, “If [my phone] were a child, I [would be] a horrible parent.”

Senior Travis Kwee broke his phone earlier this year at lifeguard training. “I always take my [cell phone] with me to the pool in case my parents need to reach me, and I was running a few minutes late. At training, they told me to just jump in the pool and catch up to finish the 500-yard warm up,” says Kwee. “It wasn’t until I finished the warm up that I realized I had been swimming with my phone in my pocket, and I just kind of stared at it in surprise while my fellow life-guards laughed.” Kwee’s Sam-sung slide-open phone short-circuited and he had to get a new one. “[When I brought my phone home] my mom was concerned and tried to save it by packing it in a container

of rice, and my dad kind of laughed and then looked up how much a replacement would cost,” says Kwee. After some research online, Kwee was able to but a replacement phone on EBay for $30.

However, for those with more expensive phones, re-placement isn’t always an option. While many cover-age plans offer upgrades, or replacements when one loses or damages his or her phone, there are many stipulations, and many plans only allow up-grades after 18 to 24 months. Stuck with a broken phone, many people use an old phone until they qualify for an up-grade, like how Pon had to use her toilet phone until was eli-gible for an upgrade.

Obviously, avoiding the need for a new phone is the priority for most phone own-ers. There are a variety of ways to protect one’s devices. Peo-ple can protect their phones by purchasing a sturdy case, buying cell phone insurance, and simply being more aware of potential dangers to their phones—such as open toilets

and washing machines.

Richard Yufeatures writer

———Note-taking constitutes

such a routine activity in stu-dents’ academics that it seems to be something students just do upon the teacher’s com-mand, without much thought. However, it seems that simul-taneously trying to copy down what’s on the board, listening to the teacher, and compre-hending what’s being taught in the lecture may not be ef-fective.

Freshman AVID student Eduardo San Miguel says, “Note-taking distracts from the learning if a student is copying down word for word.”

According to the Center for Research on Learning and Teaching in University of Michigan, students fail to re-cord 40 percent of the signifi-cant points in a typical lecture, and yet even when students do record the main ideas, they

write only up to 11 percent of important supporting ideas.

Studies also show that teachers only deliver an aver-age of 10 percent of the notes on the board orally.

U.S. History teacher Will Colglazier says, “I’m absolute-ly aware that note-taking can distract students from learn-ing and they can be focused on copying each word down, so that’s why in my PowerPoints, I don’t have everything they need down. I would put a word in there but without the defi-nition. I would say the defini-tion, but not put it up there because I don’t want them to turn their brains off and just copy ... They need to listen and evaluate what I’m saying, be-

ing able to choose what the correct thing to write down is, and that takes practice.”

“I assign note-taking from the textbook for my AP U.S. History class because they have to read and understand a large amount of information each week, says Social Studies teacher Heather Sadlon. When I was in high school, I remem-ber speed-reading chapters to cram for quizzes and tests, which I usually did pretty well on. But if you asked me a week later to put together a coher-ent historical argument using evidence I read about the pre-vious week? I would probably be lost.”

Sadlon elaborates, “I think the key to true understand-ing is to first learn the infor-mation and then to use it over and over again, see it in differ-ent settings, draw a variety of conclusions from it. This isn’t something that can be done in one sitting taking notes with a

textbook — at best most stu-dents (including me) will gain a very surface level under-standing of the material the first time reading it.”

While note-taking is the main study method Sadlon enforces and supports, Colgla-zier has a different perspec-tive on note-taking.

“A great professor in col-lege taught me how one of the vital life skills is to make sure that you learn how you learn,” says Colglazier. “If that means to take notes handwrit-ten, if that means to take notes typed, if that means to read the textbook once then read it a second time and take notes — however it is that you learn, you’ve got to figure it out.”

While testing and quizzing is a facet of gauging the effec-tiveness of note-taking and in-class lecturing, teachers also attempt to supplement this process in different ways. Sad-lon says, “I try to have a lot of graphic organizers and skel-eton notes to help focus our work in class while minimiz-ing standard lectures... Notes taken in class or for home-work should be useful for re-view – if students are taking notes that aren’t useful, there is no point.”

While Colglazier and Sad-lon, both social studies teach-ers, have noticeable differ-ences with regards to how they enforce note-taking as a homework assignment, the way in which teachers utilize technology can also make a significant difference in a stu-dent’s note-taking experience in class.

Senior Elkana Chan dis-cusses how her note-taking strategies in two different ad-vanced math classes, Calculus BC and multivariable calculus, depend on whether the teach-er utilizes technology. “Mr. Serrao never used any tech-nology at all compared to Mr. Shahrvini who always uploads his notes on Schoolloop. I made sure to really take notes during Mr. Serrao’s class be-cause there was no option to get [the notes] another way.”

Although many teachers do not require students to take notes during lectures or for homework, AVID students are required Cornell notes which they must turn it at the end of every week. San Miguel of-fers his own thoughts on this program. “Well for starters, I don’t think [being in AVID] impacts [my note-taking] too much,” he says. “Notes are notes either way, I just do a different form, Cornell notes, and I have to take more notes than most people. Being in AVID probably makes me dislike note-taking just a lit-tle [compared to non-AVID students]. It gets stressful at some point ... having to turn in all those notes each week for AVID class. But it is use-ful occasionally.”

“Ultimately, every teach-er needs to consider the best way to teach both skills and content to their students,” says Sadlon. “There’s no ‘right way’ to do it. It’s great that students are exposed to so many teachers and teaching styles while in high school because they have the exposure to many methods for learning. By the time they get to college, they can pick and choose the methods that work best for them.”

iDropped my phone:Students tell their stories

Objections Noted.Students and teachers consider the efficacy of note-taking

JAzELLE JAJEH

“One of the vital life skills is to make sure you learn how you learn.”

“If my phone were a child, I would be a horrible parent.”

FRANCHESCA CARRACEDO

Annika Olivesfeatures writer

———For years, the accelerated

math programs at middle schools have been giving stu-dents a chance to get ahead of their peers. At schools like Borel and Bowditch, sixth graders have the opportunity to skip certain levels of math and take classes like Geometry and Alegebra 3-4 while still in middle school. As freshmen at Aragon, these students usu-ally take Algebra 3-4 or Pre-calculus, thus enabling them to take more advanced and rigorous math classes in their junior and senior years.

Freshman Jason Leung, who attended Bowditch, says that all students had to go through a math assessment in sixth grade. “The administra-tion at Bowditch gave out this placement test because they know that kids’ math abilities aren’t always equal. About 12 to 15 people went through to the [accelerated program],” says Leung. Leung is one of the six freshmen enrolled in Precalculus this year. “I hate math, but I hate being bored more than I hate math, and flipping through the math in the sixth grade textbook, it just looked too easy.”

Senior Claire Tatlow, who

attended Borel, also took ad-vantage of her middle school’s accelerated math program. “I decided to take [the program] because I tested for it and got in. We didn’t have the option to take Algebra 3-4 in eighth grade, though,” she says. “The program wasn’t too difficult. I had good teachers, and I un-derstand math and am pretty good at it.”

Senior Nathan Zhang took Algebra 3-4 while still at Bowditch. But with the head-start the accelerated program gave him, he has found him-self an interesting situation: he has exhausted all the math course possibilities at Aragon, having completed Multivari-able Calculus his junior year. “I really liked the program [at Bowditch],” he says. “Hav-ing only 16 people in my class, I didn’t have to worry about motivation, because everyone was motivated and good at math. The class was more fo-cused on the understanding of the material than grades.”

However, the accelerated math program is not the only way for students to place into a higher-level math class. Freshman Arnav Bhavsar, who attended Bowditch, was put into Pre-Algebra his sixth grade year, but took classes

over the summers after sev-enth and eighth grade to get himself place into Precalculus this year. “Math is my favorite subject. It’s fun and easy to do once you know how,” he says. “At the classes I took at CSM, they explained every new con-cept well and made sure we understood them. I felt pre-pared going into Precalculus.”

Sophomore Janet Liu had almost the same experience as Bhavsar. She attended Ab-bott, where there is no acceler-ated math program offered. “I skipped Pre-Algebra in sixth grade and went to Hillsdale to take Geometry and Algebra 3-4 during seventh and eighth grade,” says Liu, who is now taking Calculus BC.

One might wonder if let-ting middle schoolers take advanced math classes pre-pares them well enough since the teachers are trying to teach eighth graders concepts geared towards high school-ers. “In sixth grade, everyone in my class wasn’t doing so

well. I think it’s more of a ma-turity thing; at a certain age, you can only understand so many things. I guess as I grew older, I could understand a lot more math, and that made it a lot easier,” Leung explains.

“In Algebra 3-4, the fresh-men students are prepared,” math teacher Alice Hu says. “But, in Precalculus, some

are prepared and some aren’t. They might benefit from tak-ing Algebra 3-4 or just brush-ing up on their Algebra.”

While skipping a year, or even two years, of math in middle school comes with the possibility of weaker abili-ties later on, most students jump at the opportunity to be challenged. When asked if he would still have taken the program now, knowing what it would bring in the future, Leung answered, “Oh, defi-nitely. If anything, I would’ve urged the administration to get more kids in. I really liked the opportunity to be chal-lenged.”

the aragon outlook VOLUME 53 | ISSUE 2 13FEATURES

Murray Sandmeyerfeatures writer

———When senior Allison Kel-

ley went to see Monsters University this summer, she encountered a common prob-lem regarding the prevalence of technology. “The people in front of me would not stop texting and playing with their phones,” says Kelley. “It was annoying because I paid to see the movie; I didn’t pay to watch other people play on their phones. It was frustrat-ing to deal with.”

Generally, Aragon students marvel at the pervasiveness of smartphone technology in our lives. Junior Masao Dahlgren says, “It’s amazing that more people have smartphones. A decade ago, we lived in a so-ciety where we were unable to talk to anyone anywhere at any time. Now we can.”

Smartphone use continues to grow, and according to a study by Cisco, mobile devices will outnumber people by the end of 2013. However, phones are beginning to create prob-lems for less savvy individu-als. “I feel like smartphones can be a boon and a curse in society,” says junior Christian Carlson. “[Smartphones] can lead to an increase in conve-nient communication, but I’ve noticed that they also can be a distraction from face-to-face communication.”

Wearing headphones in public also upsets some stu-dents. “I understand why peo-ple want to listen to music,”

says sophomore Justin Chan. “But when people around me put their headphones on, I feel like I’m not as important as their music.”

Several students point out the differences between types of communication on smart-phones. “When you’re texting someone, you usually want a quick, fast answer,” says Kel-ley. “Teens don’t want to talk on the phone usually because texting is easier and more convenient. Our generation is used to convenience.”

Although texting is often more convenient than talking, it can also create unintended conflict. Says junior Jahangir Rassouli, “You can’t hear sar-casm in a text. People can look at what you said and interpret it differently.”

Chan adds, “People can def-initely be insensitive in digi-tal communication, especially texting.”

Additionally, texting some-times gets in the way of face -to face-interaction. Carlson says, “Real life communication is essentially the most human type of interaction. Commu-nication in digital form comes along with a loss of personali-ty. You also lose body language and nuance in the exchange.”

Dahlgren says, “You can communicate more whole-somely when you have the nu-ances of voice tone and body language at your disposal.”

The question of digital communication versus face-to-face communication also creates discrepancies. Dahl-

gren says, “There’s an irony in smartphone technology. With smartphones, you can talk to people across the globe, but they distract you from talking to people right next to you. I’ve seen people choose to use their smartphones instead of con-tinuing a conversation.”

A recent viral video “I For-got My Phone” illustrates this phenomenon. The video re-ceived over 25 million views on YouTube since its Aug. 2013 release. It documents a young woman’s day and portrays smartphone use in a negative light. All the people around her are constantly looking at their phones and texting. Re-garding the video, senior J.J. Meyer says, “There was one scene where a young girl was on a swing and texting. The people who made the video were obviously trying to make it seem like she was doing something wrong, but I think it’s more complicated than that. If a young kid wants to use a phone, there’s nothing wrong with that.”

Some students offer their own advice for headphone and smartphone etiquette when in social situations. Kelley says, “Don’t just randomly start tex-ting in the middle of a face-to-face conversation. Headphone use is ok when you’re alone and listening to music, but you should talk to the people around you if they are there.” Carlson concludes, “Be aware when you’re too engrossed in yourself and only what you’re doing. Don’t be selfish.”

NATALIe RUTGeRSFreshmen Clement Wu and Mitchel Vaynberg look at a picture on an iPhone.

What’s approprate in the age of the smartphone?

Middle school accelerated math: easy as pi?

“It’s more of a maturity thing; at a certain age you can only understand so many things.”

JAZeLLe JAJeH

Alex FuruyA

Top: John Chen conducts the orchestra during the Play-A-Thon. Lower Left: Freshman Caitlin Wong plays the violin. Lower Right: Senior Jon Howard plays the contrabass.


ConTinued FRom PAge 1—

Sophomore Jordan Tom says, “It’s a way for music students to get better and it’s a more efficient way to fund-raise than most events that we have.”

However, not all students found it entirely successful. Senior Alex Griffis says, “It was good in theory, but be-cause none of us have done it before, it was a bit jumbled and confusing. There were less people since we didn’t adver-tise it as something that you could come and see and enjoy. It was more like a fundraiser that you might want to go to.”

Since the Play-A-Thon was the major music fundraiser of the year, Davis continues, “We really [tried] to push this. We have eliminated some of the other fundraisers in the past, so this is going to take place of that.” The Play-A-Thon re-placed the usual magazine sales and traditional concert, “Music from the Heart.”

However, some students do still miss older fundraisers. Senior Brendan Stanton says, “This year we aren’t doing Mu-sic from the Heart, which was everybody’s favorite it seemed … and now we’re left with this fundraiser, that I’m sure was fun and people enjoyed, but

everyone loved Music from the Heart.”

Aside from the Play-A-Thon, Aragon also fundraised at Stanford by helping out with the snack stands. The music program used the Stan-ford fundraiser several years back, and the music depart-ment chose to do it again this year. At Stanford, volunteers worked shifts at the conces-sion stand during a football game, and 15 percent of the proceeds went back to Aragon.

Davis says, “These fund-raisers will go toward helping fund our programs—instru-ment repair, purchasing new instruments and equipment, buying sheet music, and bring-ing in coaches and clinicians to work with the students in class.”

Sophomore ethan Chao concludes, “Volunteering at Stanford is a good approach to help generate money, but it will need long-term and con-sistent dedication. If this new fundraiser is coordinated cor-rectly with enough dedication, it will be good to continue for years.”

music department hosts Play-A-Thon

We welcomeyour comments ataragonoutlook.orgA

the aragon outlook VOLUME 53 | ISSUE 2 15SPORTS

Spencer Wallingsports writer

———Two quarterbacks. Two

generations. One school. Cur-rent Aragon Varsity Football Head Coach Steve Sell quar-terbacked the Dons in the ’80s, and current quarterback Nat Blood is leading the Dons un-der center this year. Sell and Blood have experienced high school football in two very different generations, which makes for an interesting com-parison.

“The difference between the style of offense, between the ’80s and now, is night and day,” says Sell. “We still pride ourselves in being a physical, running football team.”

“Back when I played, it was rare for a team to pass more than they ran. Now, you have several teams who throw more than they run. Today’s game is a lot more wide open, a lot more pass-oriented.”

“The offense has a lot of motion, more of a run-first game, which really sets up the pass very well, so I don’t mind it,” says Blood.

Sell adds, “We’ll still run the ball more than we pass, but last year there were a couple of games where we attempted 30 plus passes. We never did that before.”

The main reason for the shift towards the passing game is Sell’s confidence in Blood. “He’s such an accu-rate [passer]. He’s smart and throws the ball with such velocity. I have just such an abundance of trust in him that he’s going to make good deci-sions,” Sell says.

Sell recalls, “There was not as much attention to detail [in the ’80s]. There was not much specialization in terms of coaching positions. Now it’s a lot more specialized, where you’ll actually have someone specifically work with the quarterback.”

“We can actually take time to dissect the feet of the quarterback, and the release, there’s so much more atten-tion placed on it. I think that’s why quarterback play has im-proved so much. There’s a lot more stuff done in the offsea-son than there ever has been. When I played, we hardly practiced during the sum-

mer,” adds Sell.In football, the quarterback

position creates a big opportu-nity for leadership on the field and in the locker room. Sell says, “I was very outspoken. Nat’s a lot nicer person than I was in high school. I was a lot more vocal, and I was pretty intolerant of anybody who didn’t want to win as badly as I did. I wasn’t always popular or the most well liked guy on the team. I wanted to win.”

“[Blood] is not the type to pump you up with adrenaline and motivation,” says senior wide receiver Matt Foppiano. “He’s soft-spoken, hard-work-ing and a person with a gen-eral passion for the game and improvement. That kind of at-titude is just contagious and inspires a lot of players to do the same.”

In addition to the leader-ship and style of play of both Sell’s and Blood’s teams, the new studies on concussions in football have changed the game’s safety and the players’ approaches on the field.

Says Sell, “In the beginning of the season, I went through the whole tackling sequence about keeping your head out of the tackle. A lot of us were taught to have the face mask involved, to get your head across, and the things that were taught weren’t necessar-ily dangerous, but it’s become more of a priority now to keep the head safe.”

Sell contrasts, “[Today], in designing your offense, you are a little more reluctant to just line up and pound the ball at people because the more collisions you have the greater chance there is that someone takes a big hit to the head. You still want to play physi-cally, but at the same time, if you lose one of your best guys for weeks, you’re in trouble, so now we have less contact in our practices today.”

“I don’t really think about it. I just think about the play,” says Blood.

Sell elaborates on the in-sight and wisdom he gives Blood through the college re-cruiting process, saying, “It’s a rough process. There are a lot of great quarterbacks out there; a coach may tell you one thing while he’s telling the quarterback down the street

the same thing. I tell him to control what you can control, just play and have fun, and the rest takes care of itself.”

Many young quarterbacks feel pressured by the presence of recruiters at their games. Sell adds, “I don’t think that helps. It didn’t help me. I try to focus with Nat to just play and don’t worry about that other stuff. He’s very grounded. He comes from a great family, and that is a blessing in terms of what makes him so good. You can see how his family helps him. It would be really hard for Nat to lose total per-spective with the parents [he has].”

Their relationship is one of mutual respect. Blood says, “[Sell] really knows a lot, es-pecially being a quarterback himself. He’s very experi-enced, and knows the game very well.”

In regards to being a quar-terback, Blood says, “I like having the ball in my hands. I like throwing the ball, spread-ing it out to different receivers and having a lot of trust in my offensive line.”

“At the start of last season, I felt really inexperienced,” adds Blood. “My first throw of the season [last year] was a pick, and growing from there, my game just got better and better. I became more accurate and I made better decisions. I try to not be nervous, and just stay cool and confident and stay composed.”

This year, Blood broke the record for the most passing touchdowns at Aragon, which was previously held by Sell. Sell and Blood have their simi-larities and their differences, partially due to the fact that they played in two different eras of high school football. Sell’s outspoken leadership contrasts Blood’s soft spo-ken approach, but both quar-terbacks effectively lead by example for their respective teams and have a strong bond with their teammates. Blood currently is in a more pass-ori-ented offense in today’s game, and continues to grow as a player under coach Sell.

Ryan Cheongsports writer

———After reaching the first

round of the Central Coast Section Conference (CCS) last season and winning the dou-bles tournament in the Pen-insula Athletic League (PAL), Aragon’s girls tennis team looks to improve their 9-5 re-cord with a younger team and a different mindset this sea-son. The team is already mak-ing headway with a recent 5 - 2 win over San Mateo on Oct. 10.

From the start, Aragon dominated their Bay Division rivals and came away with wins from all four singles players.

In a game where both the team’s service game and groundstrokes were strong, senior Kaede Ishikawa, the number one singles player, reflects, “I was just happy that all the other singles players were winning and I was able to contribute to the Aragon team.”

While the singles team was able to sweep their way to vic-tory, Aragon’s doubles teams faced some adversity and end-ed up winning only one of the three matches. The number one doubles team, sophomores Jessica Westmont and Mag-ali de Sauvage, were the only pair to win. In a best-of-three matchup, the two played down to the last set and won 7-6. Westmont says, “Sometimes, when we win the first set, we get really cocky, so we lose the second match. And so in the third match, we just have to lower our cockiness and play on through.”

Once a San Mateo Bearcat before transferring to Aragon,

third singles, senior Aislinn Oka, comments, “Before the game, I was a little intimi-dated just because I’ve played with [my opponent] before and she’s a good player. But after that match, I felt confident. If the match was closer like last time, I would have been a little bit more emotional.”

This year, the team fea-tures young doubles teams with only two of the six play-ers having played varsity last year. Senior Melissa Ma says, “We are holding our own, but it’s tough because it’s kind of a rebuilding year.”

To address that, Coach Linda Brown dedicates time during practice to not only work on ground strokes, but also to teach the movement on the court. “There’s still a lot of stuff they have to learn when they have a doubles partner,”adds Brown. “It’s not just you against somebody else. [I] am trying to teach them, ‘this is the movement for when you are at the net, this is the movement for when you are at the back’ and when you’re having problems, what kind of adjustments you can make.”

The team will attempt to qualify for CCS by winning the entry tournament which includes the second, third and fourth place teams in the Bay, and the first place team in the Ocean. To do that, the team must keep motivated and con-tinue their strong play.

Freshman Sagrika Jawadi says, “You have to be really strong. You can’t let losing get to you. You just have to be in the game and focused, because [other players] win, and you win, you just feel like a team.”


Sell and Blood: two quarterbacks, two generations, one school

Girls singles strong while doubles looks to rebuild

Left: Quarterback Steve Sell runs for a touchdown during a 1984 game. Right: Quarterback Nat Blood (far right) talks with former quarterback and current head coach Steve Sell during a game versus Lincoln.

ALex FuRuYA

KeLLY CHANg

Sophomore Jessica Westmont serves the ball during a match versus San Mateo on Oct. 10

COuRTeSTY OF eL TeSORO ‘84

Max Herrera and Isaac Wangsports writers

———Though the temperature

may have felt frozen, the Dons’ scoring was not as the Aragon varsity football team stormed into Capuchino and steam-rolled the Mustangs in a 41-10 win on Oct. 11.

After a quick turnover on downs to start the game, the Dons managed to force and recover a fumble on their first defensive possession near midfield. Wanting to set the tone early on, the Dons went with a heavy offensive pack-age with two tight ends and fullbacks, and ran the ball into the Capuchino defense. The two running backs, se-niors Patrick Pauni and Keith Samujh, carried the ball down to the Mustang goal line where Pauni capped off the drive with a two yard touch-down run up the middle.

On the following Mustang possession, the Dons defense forced another turnover on

downs. This time, Samujh torched the Mustang defense up the middle for a 43 yard rushing touchdown. The Mus-tangs would respond with a 35 yard field goal to cap off the first quarter, with the Dons leading 14-3.

The Dons again decided to stick to the ground and run the ball right at the Mustangs. Five successful running plays and a key 29 yard completion to senior Matt Foppiano had the Dons knocking on the door of the Mustangs’ end zone again where Samujh would plunge in for his second score.

Capuchino refused to let up and came roaring back with a one yard touchdown dive by junior quarterback Anthony Pellegrini to end the half trail-ing only by 10.

The Dons entered the sec-ond half looking to dominate. After a missed field goal by the Mustangs, it didn’t take long before Samujh was in the end zone again on a 65 yard touch-down run right up the middle of the field. “It was critical

that we got a stop right away, scored, and then were able to put some distance between us and them because they were giving us some trouble,” says head coach Steve Sell. “We came out in the second half and dominated the line of scrimmage and ran the ball with some force.”

Sticking with the powerful formation, Samujh and Pauni continued to plow their way through the Mustang defen-sive line and pick up key first downs. Following an onside kick recovery, Samujh would find the end zone once again after breaking a tackle on a 15 yard touchdown scamper.

“When we ran the [heavy formation], our line was really just blocking hard, so it made it really easy for me, there was always a hole. On those big plays all I had to do was make one guy miss,” Samujh says of his four touchdowns. Mean-while, the defense continued to shut down the Mustang of-fense, holding them on downs twice with three sacks and two

tackles for loss to secure the win.

The Dons have opened up the season to a 4-1 start after their move to the Ocean Divi-sion, with other wins against Jefferson, El Camino, and Lincoln. They will square off against undefeated Burlin-game, the first place team in

the Ocean Division, on Friday Oct. 18. With the physical run style approach and another season of experience under the belt of senior quarterback Nat Blood, the Dons look to make a deep run in the play-offs this season and avenge last year’s loss to St. Francis in the semi finals.

16 VOLUME 53 | ISSUE 2 the aragon outlookSPORTS

Jeffrey Kishiyamasports writer

———Aragon’s varsity volleyball

team fell to the Menlo-Ather-ton Bears in three sets (26-24, 25-20, 25-18) on Oct. 10. The loss drops the team to 1-5 for the season. The Dons came into the game from their first division win against South San Francisco on Oct. 8, but were matched up against a strong M-A team filled with powerful hitters and skilled passing.

While the score may not have ended up in their favor, the Dons had many great mo-ments throughout the match, having runs of up to six points in a row. However, following those hot streaks, the team had a rough patch, letting the Bears earn those points back. Sophomore Kaelah Veli-sano explains, “We just need to have positive energy. [The streaks] are all mental.”

Assistant coach Lance Ishi-kawa has another explana-tion. He says, “We’re working on trying to keep [a level of]

consistency. [They have to find out how] to pace themselves. They come out very strong very early, and then they kind of peter out.”

During the game, the two sides of the net could not have acted more different. The Dons were full of spirit, cel-ebrating and regrouping after every point, while the Bears had more of a concentrated, focused look throughout the match. In terms of cheers, the teams could not have been more opposite. Ishikawa says, “On Tuesday, [the opposing team (SSF)] was very compli-mentary of us. They said that because of our loudness, their girls could not get back into the game.”

In terms of individual play, the front row was able to get touches and blocks on the net. Velisano adds, “Sam [Hau-peakui] did some amazing blocking.” The Dons also had strong serving, which allowed them to continue stretches of five or six points in a row.

However, tough tests in the

form of Carlmont, Burlingame and Menlo-Atherton stand in their way. Last season, the team lost at least twice to all of them, and this season, they have continued along that path, losing to Carlmont 3-0 on Sept. 24, Burlingame 3-0 on Sept. 26, and M-A on Oct. 10 but the Dons have another chance at all three of them.

Sophomore Danielle Ver-celli says, “We can take these teams. We’re going to have to work together, we’re going to have to talk, [and] we’re going to have to become one to be able to take them.”

In addition to rematches with Carlmont (Oct. 17 at Carl-mont), Burlingame (Oct. 22 at Burlingame), and Menlo-Atherton (Nov. 5 at M-A), the Dons have games against Woodside on Oct. 24 and San Mateo on Oct. 29, both at home. Finally, the season league finale is against the Dons’ rival, Hillsdale, at home on Nov. 7.

Dons run their way to 41-10 victory at Capuchino

Dons volleyball falls to M-AGolf team welcomes a winning season

Senior Keith Samujh runs the ball through the Capuchino defense on Oct. 11.MEgAN SINCLAIr

Ryan Cheongsports writer

———Aragon’s girls golf team re-

mains undefeated this season with a recent win over Menlo-Atherton on Oct. 9. Aragon played away from their usual course, Poplar Creek, and faced division rival Menlo-Atherton on the Palo Alto Municipal golf Course. Junior Lindsay Block says, “We had only played there twice before, so we didn’t have much expe-rience playing the course. It is hard to play a course you haven’t played at before as you don’t know how the thick or dry the grass is, or how fast or slow the greens are.”

As for the course, junior Caroline Digioacchino says, “We just take the skills Coach [guy] Oling has taught us and apply them to our playing. Coach really helps us under-stand the course beforehand to ensure we play the best we can.” In fact, Oling even took the team to the Palo Alto course prior to the game for a practice round.

Oling, who has been the longtime coach of the team, was awarded the 2013-14 Cen-tral Coast Section (CCS) Honor

Coach on Oct. 9. The award recognizes not only the team’s extraordinary record, but also credits Oling for, as the con-gratulatory letter reads, “[His] accomplishment [for reach-ing] the ultimate in coaching.”

Block appreciates Oling’s patience, adding, “In other sports, you get in trouble if you mess up. But [Oling] is re-ally understanding.”

With the team boasting a 15-0 record and ranking first in PAL among eight other teams, the Lady Dons seem to be virtually unstoppable, producing lower scores with a determined mindset. With the team’s last game on Oct. 17 against Burlingame, the team is looking forward to the PAL Championships on Oct. 22 and has already qualified for the CCS tournament beginning on Oct. 29. In the PAL Champion-ships, the team looks forward to facing the defending cham-pions, San Mateo, and reclaim-ing the title once again.

Oling adds, “Last year San Mateo won, and the previous year we did. And we gave San Mateo a run for it. [This year,] Aragon’s back to winning.”

Senior Vienna Auerweck and sophomore Anna Joshi go for a bump in a game versus Burlingame on Sept. 26. NICOLE WALLACE

Aragon vs. Menlo-Atherton – Oct. 9 @ Palo AltoKelly Fang .......................35Valerie Chen ....................42Tessa Ulrich .....................42Emily Paras .....................45Lindsey Block ..................53Caroline DiGioacchino .....60Total ..............................217

Lee ...................................41Sten ..................................46Pederson ..........................48Park .................................51Nga ..................................51Yang ................................55Total ..............................237

UPCOMINg

gAMESOct. 17 girls Tennis at Menlo-AthertonOct. 17 Center Meet #1 – at Crystal SpringsOct. 17 Volleyball at CarlmontOct. 17 girls golf vs. Burlingame

Oct. 18 Football vs. Burlingame Oct. 23 Boys water polo at MenloOct. 23 girls water polo vs. Castilleja

October 2013 issue

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