ESTOQUEelpage 10

AP credit declined by colleges

page 21

Dance team domination

Monta Vista High SchoolIssue 6, Volume XLIIIelestoque.orgMarch 13, 2013

EDUCATIONWhy a lack of practical knowledge means we aren’t as smart as we think we are

UNREAL

page 31

A legacy ended in girls soccer

18

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Contentsnews

8 Police plans

5 Campus upgradePlanned features of new buildling go beyond cafeteria

A graduate of the Teen Police Academy, junior Zac Burke sets his heart on entering law enforcement

OPInIOnstaff editorialDefining ‘intelligence’Practical education is just as important as its academic counterpart

13

ARTs & enTeRTAInMenT

Every family is different — some more so than others

sPecIAl RePORT

Alumna shares experience learning to be independent sPORTs

31 End of a Kute era

34

A decade of a family’s dedication to MVHS soccer ends with departure of varsity girls coach Alan Kute

MVHS baseball players weigh in on Major League predictions

7 COLUMN: Little Lessons

39 SpOrtSfLaShRecaps of boys and girls basketball and wrestling senior nights

Changing expectations of home and school impact our learning life skills

COLUMN: The Deep End16

elestoQUe

37 A lesson in horseback ridingBreaking down the details of the equestrian sport

Life after high schoolAlumni and teachers reveal the struggles of new adult responsibility

28

The new cafeteria will provide a solution to current student frustrations

14 pULSe

Colleges rejecting AP courses for credit are making the right decision

Girls sports should receive the same community support as boys’

COLUMN: Family Matters

17 Atypical traditions

BOttOM LINe14

Scam preventionBasic knowledge to protect you from being a victim

26

21 Dance, dance19 COLUMN: 17 going on 71

The Marquesas have been on a winning streak. How do they do it?

A college education27

Welcome to the ‘real world’24

Sudden learning curve29One reporter’s narrative on adjusting to Chicago city life

Previewing the MLB

10 Unaccepted creditA growing number of colleges refuse to accept AP exams for college credit

also generally our educators — of street smarts, at least. They guide us through moral qualms and spiritual ones, so why not practical ones? They taught us plenty when we were children, but at some point, it becomes our responsibility. Whether we wait our turns to learn those lessons as they naturally come up in our lives or we actively step out to educate ourselves immediately, we should realize that a part of growing up, maturity and intelligence requires knowledge like this.

We bring up this topic because as the end of another school year approaches, evaluating where we are in life, how far we’ve come and how much further we must go is worthwhile. Once

we recognize our social intelligence shortcomings, we can take steps towards repairing them.

In the end, wholly educating ourselves is a collective effort that must be undertaken by us, teachers, parents and peers. It is an effort that requires us to extend beyond our comfort zones to learn something new, and this effort unquestionably never ends. We don’t know everything yet; we simply can’t. Someday, I won’t need my father’s help.

MARCH 13, 2013

Editors-in-Chief: Cynthia Mao, Anushka PatilManaging Editors: Smitha Gundavajhala, Patrick Xie, Amelia YangCopy Editors: Daniel Fernandez, Forest LiaoWebmaster: Karen FengPhoto Editors: Margaret Lin, Catherine LockwoodNews Editors: Rachel Beyda, Amrutha Dorai, Athira PenghatSports Editors: Carissa Chan, Karen Feng, Atharva FulayEntertainment Editors: Yimeng Han, Gisella Joma, Yashashree PisolkarOpinion Editors: Simran Devidasani, Mihir Patil, Bryan WangSpecial Report Editors: Mihir Joshi, Jennifer Lee, Morahd ShawkiDesign Editor:Alexandria PohBusiness Editors: Albert Qiu, Varsha VenkatPublic Relations Editors: Ankita Tejwani, Angela Wang

Staff Writers: Anjali Bhat, Shriya Bhindwale, Anupama Cemballi, Nathan Desai, Ashley Ding, Soumya Kurnool, Yuna Lee, Steven Lim, Shannon Lin, Alaina Lui, Shuyi Qi, Namrata Ramani, Ruba Shaik, Christopher Song, Eva Spitzen, Robert Sulgit, Joyce Varma, Neesha Venkatesan

Adviser: Michelle Balmeo

CreditsSome images in this publication were taken from the stock photography website sxc.hu.

Mission StatementEl Estoque is an open forum created for and by students of Monta Vista High School. Opinions expressed in this publication are those of the journalism staff and not of Monta Vista High School or the Fremont Union High School District. The staff seeks to recognize individuals, events, and ideas and bring news to the MVHS community in a manner that is professional, unbiased, and thorough in order to effectively serve our readers. We strive to report accurately, and we will correct any significant error. If you believe such an error has been made, please contact us. Letters of any length should be submitted via email or mail. They may be edited for length or accuracy. Letters cannot be returned and will be published at El Estoque’s discretion. We also reserve the right to reject advertising due to space limitations or decision of the Editorial Board that content of the advertisement conflicts with the mission of the publication.

21840 McClellan RoadCupertino, CA 95014mv.el.estoque@gmail.com

el ESTOQUE

LETTER FROM THE EDITORS

c.mao@elestoque.org | a.patil@elestoque.org

CynthiaMAOAnushkaPATIL

&

The first time I saw a W-2 form was in January, six months after I started working at Jamba Juice. I suppose having a job qualifies me

as having real-world experience, but just barely. I opened the envelope that came in the mail and handed it off to my dad. He would take care of it.

We tout this school as many things — most often for its high ranking on U.S. News and World Report — but not necessarily as a prime location for students who know how to handle themselves in the bigger game of life. Sure, we can handle stress. As we progress through high school, we become better at prioritizing and time management. We will learn to speak new languages, to calculate complex calculus problems and to describe how coffee affects our nervous system.

But what happens when we are faced not with tests and papers but with the day-to-day? Do we know how to change a tire? Do we know how to do our own laundry? Do we know how to correctly address an envelope? Only 26 percent of students tested by our opinion staff actually did. We can’t blame the slow death of snail mail on that one.

It’s not easy to pinpoint a direct cause for our lack of knowledge. A big factor is our environment. We don’t have to know which streets to avoid late at night to avoid being mugged. Our parents are

we

3

Correction: On page 6, the Califonia Plumbing Code requires that a school provide one toilet for every 40 men and 30 women.

howmuchdoreallyknow?

? mvhs

college

the real

world

On page 39, Sportsflash incorrectly reported the results of the varsity girls basketball team. The team advanced to the second round of CCS before losing to San Benito by 4 points.

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NEWS

BUILDING TOWARD THE FUTURENew campus center designed with flexibility, students’ needs in mind

For the next 18 months, students will have to adjust to the change in logistics for brunch- and lunchtime festivities with the absence of half

the Rally Court, prepare to leave for school a few minutes earlier to account for the fenced-off drop off zones and purchase meals from two 36-by-10 foot food trucks — and a new cafeteria is only part of the reason behind these changes.

The blanket term “cafeteria construction” is misleading — the two-story building that will be available for use in August 2014 will feature not only a college-style cafeteria and improved kitchen, but also programming and physics labs, a staff lounge, a student lounge complete with flat-screen televisions and soft-seating, a veranda and an elevated amphitheater area.

According to Principal April Scott, the goal behind these additions on campus is to

create a college-style campus center that is reflective of the culture of MVHS.

“We don’t even want to call it a cafeteria,” Assistant Principal Brad Metheany said. “We’re referring to it as a café.”

Foundations for constructionIn June 2008, local voters approved

Measure B, which authorized the district to sell $198 million in school bonds to pay for campus improvements. After being divided among the five schools in the district, some of this money has been used for projects such as bathroom and field renovations as well as the addition of solar panels to campus parking lots.

At MVHS specifically, many projects have been executed since then, but the

cafeteria-kitchen building — ironically, the smallest in the district despite MVHS housing the largest student body — was not touched until now. But planning for the building’s renovation had begun as early as 2011. According to Scott, the idea at the time

was to simply enlarge the cafeteria-kitchen space and construct a new building for new classrooms at the back end of campus.

“There were two conversations going on when somebody asked the question, ‘Would it be possible to put those buildings together?’” Scott said. “And at that point, the two conversations overlapped.”

Plans to construct a new building containing a new kitchen, cafeteria and classrooms at each school site was approved by the FUHSD Board of Trustees in the spring of 2012. Currently, the only two schools that have begun construction are MVHS and Cupertino High School, with CHS having started in the fall of 2012. Over the next few years, Fremont, Homestead and Lynbrook High Schools will also begin construction. According to FUHSD Nutrition Services Coordinator Bill Schuster, the district is trying to avoid overlapping the projects as much as possible because construction at one school alone requires a significant amount of manpower.

Although all five schools are currently executing this project, the only planning done together pertained to unifying the new brunch and lunch options district-wide.

by Athira Penghat with additional reporting by Yuna Lee

Used with permission of DLM Architecture

Programming?LABS

What’s new in the

LAPTOPSto increase classroom flexibility

ELECTRIAL WIRINGspecifically planned

5MARCH 13, 2013

LEAVE YOUR MARK Plans for the new building were designed by DLM Architecture. One of the architects working on the project is Class of 1975 alumus Erwin Lee.

BUILDING TOWARD THE FUTURE

Aside from that, the administration from each school was free to design its respective buildings to match the unique features of its campus site.

Better equipment, better foodIn order to foster increased student use

of the cafeteria, the dining area of the new building is designed so that the exterior structure gradually blends and merges with the Rally Court, where a large portion of the social scene on campus is typically found. The glass walls of the building will roll up like garage doors to combine the indoor and outdoor spaces into one, and a staircase will connect the center of the Rally Court to the second floor of the building, creating a campus hub. According to Schuster, this concept of student inclusion was the driving force behind many of the design plans.

The primary kitchen area will resemble that of a food court with cooks working on a line, so students will be able to observe the cooks preparing the meals while they stand in line to purchase food. Although the chefs will still need to follow state standards and adhere to the district-wide menu, the kitchen upgrade will accommodate for new brunch and lunch specials.

“I can’t tell you how much fun it’s going to be when that new kitchen goes up,” Food Services Supervisor Frank Lihn said. “You aren’t even going to recognize this place or the food that comes out. Really, what I’m going to do is I’m going to put up a big sign and every time the bell rings, I’m going to yell, ‘Showtime!’”

This grab-and-go serving style will create more points of sale, so the lines will run more efficiently. But apart from appearance, the new kitchen will also include diverse equipment, such as a refrigerated double salad bar, a 40-gallon steamed jacket kettle to prepare pasta, soups and sauces, a tiltable braising pan to grill and braise food and a steamer that is less prone to overcooking rice, pasta and vegetables.

These additions, according to Lihn, will allow him and his team to not only prepare larger quantities of food, but also execute meals with more finesse and efficiency. Lihn foresees that the size and capacity of the new kitchen will allow him to continue making soups, stews, salad dressings, tomato sauces, barbecue sauces and, as the budget permits, many more items from scratch.

“We’re going to be able to make more home-cooked meals — what’s the word now, comfort food? And we’ll have more variety,” Lihn said. “We’ll be able to serve actual salads at the salad bar — hey, there’s a concept!”

According to Schuster, the main purpose of using fresh products is to convince more

students to actually buy their meals at school as opposed to off-campus venues.

“My competition is on the streets, so I have to be able to provide food that’s cheaper and better than what’s out there,” Schuster said.

However, aside from seeking to offer the best school lunch program possible, Schuster also hopes that the students will see that the entire structure was

built with them in mind. “The new layout will give the students

a nicer environment, and with that comes

a lot more pride because we’re treating them like college students,” Schuster said. “We’re just trying to get away from the traditional high school format that we’ve followed for the last 50 years.”

Specific spacesThe classrooms in the new building will

also target the needs of the students because each of these rooms will be designated for one specific subject.

Physics and programming teachers were invited to give their input regarding the interior configuration, such as the ideal locations for projector screens, whiteboards, storage areas and cabinets. According to physics teacher Jim Birdsong, this method of designing a room to match the class makes these new classrooms more purpose-driven and creates a better teaching environment since sacrifices wouldn’t have to be made to

NEWS

Used with permission of DLM Architecture

Used with permission of DLM Architecture

Physics ?rooms

What’s new in the

SCREENS

WHITEBOARDSon all four walls

multiple projector

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a.penghat@elestoque.org | y.lee@elestoque.org

arrange a classroom for multiple subjects.“Biology has been growing a lot faster

than physics lately,” Birdsong said. “A couple of years ago, there were two rooms for physics, but because biology has been encroaching on us, we’ve had to share our space. Soon, there will be pigs all over the place for dissections, and we can’t do physics with pigs. The new classrooms will give us flexibility while allowing biology to keep growing.”

Although no plans for purchasing new physics equipment have been made, there will be more electrical outlets in the new rooms to accommodate for electricity-consuming activities as well as a storage room for the physics teachers, Birdsong and Jeffrey Trevarthen, to more easily share equipment between classes.

Both physics teachers emphasized the installation of multiple projector screens to allow for flexibility during lectures, such as

displaying notes on one screen and a video on another. Whiteboards will be placed on all four walls to facilitate student work in class.

“With the boards, we can do gallery walks, which is when you do a problem,

and then you walk over and see what the next group did and learn from each other,” Birdsong said. “Right now, it’s more like hovering around, and the sinks get in the way.”

The new programming labs will also be designed with programming in mind. These rooms will be wired differently in order to accommodate for the amount of electricity required by the activities conducted by JAVA and AP Computer Science classes. The room will feature

screens devoted solely to demonstrations, and new laptops will be bought for these labs to make the interior configuration of the room more flexible.

“The physical configuration of desktops can be difficult at times,” math and programming teacher Scott DeRuiter said. “If you want four students working together,

it can be challenging because they have to move away from the machines. The work can still be done, but if we have more of a mobile setup, we can have more collaboration.”

DeRuiter believes that the biggest benefit comes from the planning that is being conducted even before the room is built to include the screens and machines that programming classes require.

“The challenge of designing a school is that we’re trying to design a school for 40 years from now,” Scott said. “And we don’t know what next year’s going to look like, much less 40 years from now, so the more flexible we can make this space, the better off we’ll be.”

Because the new rooms will give the physics and programming teachers the freedom to expand the curriculum of their classes, Scott believes that the benefits from the finished building will outweigh the time and effort being invested into the project.

“The design is longstanding, and it’s exactly what we needed to do,” Scott said. “It’ll become a vital part of this campus and provide us the space and flexibility we need for many, many years to come.”

Visit elestoque.org for a feature package covering cafeteria construction in-depth.

7MARCH 13, 2013

LITTLE LESSONS Nathan Desai

Pope Benedict XVI and Sony question the status quo

Gaming is like a religion. When you devote your life to video

games, it changes who you are both on and off the console. Gamers always know what’s going on behind the scenes at Sony, Microsoft and Nintendo, even if the companies try to keep it quiet.

So when Sony announced that they would hold a press conference on Feb. 20 to discuss the “future of PlayStation,” everyone knew what to expect: the PlayStation 4.

Unfortunately, the conference didn’t supply as much clarity as Sony fans expected.

The only part of the system Sony showed off at the press conference was the controller. And surprise, surprise, it looks almost identical to the last one. One of the key additions to the PS4 will be the addition of a “Share” button on the controller, allowing users to send clips or images of their gameplay to their friends. Sony is really pushing the idea of incorporating social media in the PS4, a concept rarely explored in the realm of gaming.

Despite dropping a few details about the eighth-generation console, Sony left their fans a bit disappointed because they didn’t even show the console — the thing everyone wants to see. Sure, the controller is nice, but not showing the console is as disappointing and shocking as Beyonce not including Jay-Z at the Super Bowl halftime show.

And to make things more ominous, Sony didn’t even announce a release date. All they said was that it would be released during holiday season 2013.

PrayStation 4

So, Sony decides to schedule their own press conference. They show only the controller. And they don’t even announce

the release date. This p u b l i c i t y ploy is even s t r a n g e r than that Go Daddy

commercial. I am talking about it, though, so I guess it is working. But Sony wasn’t

the only one to try something new last

month. On Feb. 28, Pope Benedict XVI

broke down barriers by becoming the first Pope in

almost 600 years to resign.He cited his advanced age

as his motive for retiring, but what did he expect? When he was

elected Pope in 2005, he was already 78 years old. No matter how strongly

you believe in God, even He can’t make you younger.However, I don’t want to Cross him. I

do believe Pope Benedict XVI when he says that his health is beginning to deteriorate to such an extent that he can no longer do his job. It must be extremely draining to wear that huge hat around all day.

To be fair though, I don’t know Pope Benedict XVI. I have no right to judge his decision to step down from his position.

However, I do have the right to applaud him for doing something no one thought was possible. He was strong enough to realize that he was incapable of executing his job due to his regressing health and made the revolutionary decision to step down.

Similar to Sony. Their PS4 announcement may have been bizarre, untimely and lacking, but the gaming company tried something new. They tried something that no one thought could or should be done.

Both Pope Benedict XVI and Sony went out on a limb and questioned the status. quo, and both deserve to be praised for that.

Perhaps the Pope resigned so he could spend a bit more time gaming.

But as for now, the Church is in a bit of a Popeless place.

n.desai@elestoque.org

This publicity ploy is even stranger than that Go Daddy commercial. I am talking about it, though, so I guess it is working.

Shuyi Qi | El Estoque Photo Illustration

NEWS

EL ESTOQUE8

At 6:45 p.m. on New Year’s Eve, junior Zac Burke ducked into a police car. But not the back: Burke rode shotgun.

Many of his friends were celebrating at a party on

Prospect Road, a little way down from the Santa Clara County Sheriff’s Office, but Burke had different plans. He spent the final day of 2012 chasing down potential stolen vehicles, helping administer Breathalyzer tests and busting wild parties — including the one on Prospect.

The deputy who Burke accompanied had been called in due to reports of fighting. When the two and other officers arrived, the officers asked Burke to stand back. But that didn’t stop Burke’s friends from giving him an interrogation of their own.

“A bunch of people come to me and are like, ‘Oh, Zac, are you a police?’ And I said, ‘No, dude, I’m just with them,’” Burke said, animated. “‘Are you a police?’ ‘No, dude, I just told you I’m just with them!’ ‘Oh, I know, but are you a police?’ ‘No, dude, go home — but don’t drive.’”

Burke is not a policeman — at least, not yet. But he has dreamed of working in law enforcement since childhood, and, through the Sheriff’s Office Teen Community Police Academy, he has come one step closer to upholding the peace.

The AcademyThe Police Academy runs two 10-week

sessions a year. Burke participated in the fall of 2012, attending classes every Wednesday night from the beginning of October until his graduation in December.

After filling out an application and being selected, Burke joined around 20 other high school students in attending lectures taught by four officers. Students learned to

conduct traffic stops and operate handcuffs; witnessed a bomb squad demonstration; and spent one Saturday morning firing officers’ duty weapons at the gun range. They also participated in ride-alongs with officers, like the one Burke completed on New Year’s Eve.

Field trips included outings to the coroner’s office and the Santa Clara County Jail. Burke recalls walking down the hallway of the jail with criminals shouting profanities at him and his classmates. There was one inmate who stood out to Burke: while his cellmates were up at the bars, he remained calmly at the back of the cell.

”I looked at him in the eye as we were walking, and he told me simply to stay in school,” Burke said. “Not all people in there are bad. Actually, most of the people in there aren’t bad. They’ve just made bad choices.”

Broken windows, broken familyBurke’s earliest encounters with

policemen were anything but positive. His parents divorced when he was eight, and it was a difficult transition for him to make; despite being on medication for depression and anxiety, he sought an alternate method to express his emotions.

His parents argued often, but Burke didn’t have that luxury. So he broke the windows of his Sunnyvale home instead.

“The cops often had to come over to set me straight. And instead of being understanding, they were just kind of there yelling at me,” Burke said. “And part of me said … maybe if I become a cop, I’d be

more understanding of this, and I could help people more than intimidate them.”

When he reached middle school, Burke’s family decided his behavior needed a change.

“It was hard to see him struggling, not really being able to handle life in a way that was constructive,” said Kim Rappaport Burke, Burke’s mother. “Raising him was not easy, but he turned his life around.”

For sixth and seventh grade, he relocated to Forest Heights Lodge, a treatment center in Colorado. The therapeutic environment, according to Burke, played a key role in helping him turn his life around.

After a few more school changes, Burke arrived at MVHS for his freshman year.

As an underclassman, he faced bullying so severe that the perpetrator was expelled.

“Freshman year, I was kind of annoying, I was a little kid thinking I was a big kid. But I think I’ve changed that. I think I’ve matured very nicely,” Burke said. “And I still have issues with people who don’t agree with what I stand for … But I just ignore them.”

As for the windows?

TO PROTECTLeaving behind a troubled childhood, junior Zac Burke moves toward his dream of becoming a police officer

THE COPS OFTEN HAD TO COME OVER TO SET ME STRAIGHT. AND PART OF ME SAID, MAYBE IF I BECOME A COP, I’D BE MORE UNDERSTANDING OF THIS, AND I COULD HELP PEOPLE MORE THAN INTIMIDATE THEM. JUNIOR ZAC BURKE

by Amrutha Dorai and Shuyi Qi

TO SERVE&

9MARCH 13, 2013

“I still struggle with some problems, but I talk about them now, I don’t act them out — we still have windows in this house,” Burke said. “I haven’t done anything since I was nine or 10, but it seems sometimes like yesterday, and when I look back on it, I think, ‘Wow, that was me.’”

One of Burke’s mentors, Deputy Sheriff Jennifer Toomey, feels that the challenges Burke has had to face will, in the long run, serve as an asset.

“Kids like Zac, or kids like some other people that I know who are deputies now, that have speckled pasts — they’ve dabbled into a little bit of trouble here and there — they make really good cops generally,” Toomey said, “because when they become a cop and talk to other kids who are in a similar type of trouble, they understand where they’re coming from.”

In her years of involvement with the Teen Academy, Toomey has encountered only three students who were serious about a future career in law enforcement. Burke is one of them.

Beyond the badge On a recent Thursday evening, Burke and

his mother attended a showing of “Heroes Behind the Badge,” a documentary that detals the sacrifices made by policemen.

“It was incredibly powerful hearing that a police officer in this country dies every 54 hours. That, to me, hit home when I thought about him being put in that danger every

day,” Rappaport Burke said. “I did ask him if there was anything else I could talk him into doing, but he’s got his mind set on it, and there’s nothing I’m going to do to change it.”

Currently, Burke is applying to the County Sheriff’s Office Youth Cadet program. If he is selected, he will receive a uniform as well as the opportunity to participate in alcohol and tobacco sting operations and law enforcement at county fairgrounds. For his 18th birthday, he hopes to complete a ride-along in Oakland.

His end goal is to become a police officer somewhere in this area, where he has lived for the majority of his life — where he has grown from being an eight-year-old with a temper into a young adult with dreams of serving the law.

Burke recalls an encounter with a police officer from his younger, more rash days that left a strong impression. He was one of the few officers who, like Burke one day hopes to, approached him with understanding rather than intimidation.

“I remember one time a cop kind of got down on his knee and just patted me on the back and asked me in a soft tone, ‘What’s going on? Why are you acting like this?’” Burke said. “He actually seemed to care, which was a big thing.”

More recently, Burke saw the same officer at the Sheriff’s Office. He couldn’t remember the officer’s name, so he didn’t say hello.

“But I’ll see him again,” Burke said. “And I’ll thank him.”

a.dorai@elestoque.org | s.qi@elestoque.org

Margaret Lin | El Estoque

IN THE DRIVER’S SEAT With the permission of Deputy Sheriff Jennifer Toomey, junior Zac Burke moves a police car at the Santa Clara County Sheriff’s Office. According to Burke, he was once on track to end up in the backseat of a police car; now, he is looking forward to becoming an officer himself.

Margaret Lin | El EstoqueMargaret Lin | El Estoque

TO LEARN MORE ABOUT THE TEEN COMMUNITY POLICE ACADEMY, CONTACT THE SHERIFF’S OFFICE CUPERTINO SCHOOL RESOURCE OFFICER AT (408) 868-6624.

EL ESTOQUE

Last year, junior Anna Liu took AP Calculus BC and AP Computer Science. Now, she takes AP Music Theory, AP

U.S. History, AP Statistics and AP Physics. If Liu goes to Dartmouth, however, she will not recieve credit for any of these courses.

In early January, Dartmouth announced that it would no longer be offering college credit for Advanced Placement or International Baccalaureate examinations starting with the class of 2018. Other schools like Bard College and Caltech have also decided not to accept AP scores as college credit.

Addi t iona l ly , there are colleges that give AP credit but require a minimum test score to earn it. For example, the minimum AP exam score for credit in chemistry at Boston College is a four, while the minimum score for the same test at Vanderbilt is a five. However, the lowest score any college will accept is the passing score — a three.

Evaluating the testAt a school like MVHS, where 42 percent

of AP students have taken upwards of three AP classes, denial of AP credit is something that could potentially affect many students.

One of the reasons colleges have cited for this change in policy is that AP-level courses are not as rigorous as college courses and do not adequately prepare students. This sentiment is echoed by college professors like David E. Mills, an economics professor at the University of Virginia. “AP courses are tailored to the exams, and high-school

instructors impart test-taking strategies at the expense of writing and critical-thinking skills,” Mills wrote in the website of the Texas Academy for Mathematics and Science.

At Dartmouth, Hakan Tell, Classics professor and Chair of the Committee of Instruction, tested 100 incoming freshmen who had scored a five on the AP Psychology exam to determine the merit of the AP exam. According to The Dartmouth, the student publication at the college, only 10 percent of the students tested scored up to Dartmouth’s

standards and received credit. The results of this experiment contributed to the university’s decision to change its AP credit policy.

K e n n e t h B e r n s t e i n , recently retired AP Government teacher from Eleanor Roosevelt High School in Maryland, agrees with Dartmouth’s

new policy in the academic journal Academe, reasoning that AP teachers have the tendency to teach to the AP exam rather than teaching the class as a college level course. Due to No Child Left Behind and Race to the Top, public schools have operated under the restrictions of the testing law and its requirements.

“With test scores serving as the primary, if not the sole measure of student performance … anything not being tested was given short shrift,” Bernstein said.

According to Bernstein, most of the tests are also primarily — if not solely — multiple choice, and when they do include writing, they don’t call for a higher understanding of writing mechanics. As a result, Bernstein explained, students arriving from his high

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G A P SDartmouth professor Hakan Tell tested 100 incoming freshmen who had scored a five on the AP Psychology exam to determine the merit of the AP exam. Only 10 percent of the students tested scored up to Dartmouth’s standards and received credit.

10233

percent of AP Psychology students were up to

Dartmouth’s standards

percent of MVHS AP students have taken more

than 10 AP classes

percent of MVHS students take AP classes to skip

classes in college

MARCH 13, 2013

school “lacked experience and knowledge about how to do the kinds of writing that are expected at higher levels of education.”

“At [MVHS] it’s just about college acceptance,”AP Economics teacher Pete Pelkey said. “I don’t think that the quality of the course work is always considered.”

Cause and effectHowever, most colleges continue to

accept AP credit. According to Dr. Barbara Sawrey Dean of Undergraduate Education at University of California San Diego and professor in the Chemistry and Biochemistry departments, AP exam scores generally reflect adequate knowledge of the subject.

“I would say in general, yes, students who score a five are pretty well prepared for not only taking university courses but also accelerating their progress in our courses,” Sawrey said. But she acknowledges there are some benefits to taking courses in college instead. “In some cases there’s an advantage to actually having the course at the university so that you are familiar with the faculty and the faculty members’ expectations when you move on to other courses.”

For the most part, these conflicting views dominate the discussion about AP credit at colleges. Pelkey provided a different reason that colleges have for denying AP credit.

“If all of the freshman and sophomore classes have been filled by AP tests, then you don’t have the bottom line professors, your associates, teaching the freshman classes,” he said. “It’s a money issue. That’s why the colleges are clamping down on this. It’s not because the kids don’t know the information, it’s because the professor needs to have a job.” In fact, according to Pelkey, skipping freshman and some sophomore year classes can save students as much as $30,000 at some schools.

Eliminating this monetary benefit would increase the financial burden already placed on students’ shoulders. Students also

Dartmouth’s decision to deny AP credit brings focus to the value of the tests

11

s.lim@elestoque.org | j.varma@elestoque.org

wouldn’t be able to graduate earlier from college by skipping classes through AP credit, and may even graduate late.

Nonetheless, if Dartmouth’s decision was to become widespread across colleges, some students would not care too much.

Taking the challenge In El Estoque’s March Survey, 32 percent

of students said they take AP classes to boost their resumes, while only 25 percent said they wanted to learn more through AP classes. Because of this, 62 percent said they would still take AP classes if colleges stopped giving college credit for AP classes.

Because many students take APs to boost their resumes, they would still take AP classes even if colleges wouldn’t give them credit. Though students may have to graduate later and spend more money for tuition if their AP credit is denied, MVHS students will continue to take AP classes.

“I feel like I would still take AP classes even if they weren’t AP because it’s just more of a challenge for me,” Liu said. “I don’t like sitting in normal classes most of the time because the material goes really slowly, and I’d rather have the challenge. Even if I don’t get credit for it, it’s still really good intellectually. I think learning’s just really fun.”

Junior Anshul Ramachandran shares a similar view of AP classes. “Mostly, if I think it’s a cool course, I’m gonna take it. I know a lot of people who are like ‘Oh I heard AP Music Theory is an easy class, let’s take it. I think it’ll look really good.’ That doesn’t sound really cool at all so I just decided to take Advanced Multimedia instead,” Ramachandran said.

Despite Dartmouth’s and some other schools’ decisions to deny AP credit, students will not have to worry about it becoming a widespread policy just yet, and there is much more debate to be had.

37

62

percent of MVHS students would be

deterred from applying to a college that denied

credit for AP scores

percent of MVHS students would still take AP classes if they were not counted for college

credit

IN LEARNINGby Steven Lim and Joyce Varma

*Data was collected from a survey of 420 respondents.

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13MARCH 13, 2013

OPINION

In a few months, many of us will begin preparing for the new lives the college experience provides — a path that most

of us will face eventually. But for all the bedsheets and book shelves our bucks might buy, there is absolutely nothing that will prepare us for when we turn our laundry pink or the day we are stranded on the highway because we ran out of gas. According to our test scores and rankings, MVHS students are high achievers. But when it comes to another kind of smarts — street smarts — there are definite voids.

On March 7, El Estoque conducted a study that took 20 randomly selected students and tested them on real world skills most relevant to a high school student: budgeting their groceries, writing a professional email and addressing an envelope to mail, which only five students did correctly.

It’s clear that we are lacking in a critical skill set, but our ignorance is not the issue at hand. In the March El Estoque survey, when asked to rate MVHS’ ability to prepare you for an independent life in the real world, with one being “totally unprepared” and five being “prepared,” 25 percent of students surveyed gave a score of two. We are aware of this problem, yet as a community, we do not value the skill set enough to try to fix it.

The gaping absence of courses that could contribute to real world skills is a solid result of our indifference. In 1979, MVHS offered classes like Drivers Education, Autoshop, Work Experience — where students would obtain a job and get credits for it — and Cooking. Due to a shift in priorities and the constricting mentality that academic skills are the only ones

needed to make it in this world, programs like these have been eliminated over time.

Learning real world skills are a crucial part of growing up, especially for life after high school. Neesha Tambe, an alumna featured in the Special Report article, “It was a process,” seems to think so as well. For one, knowing how to do a simple, yet vital task such as ironing or writing a check puts us in a better position to take care of ourselves. In fact, in our study, only three students knew the proper iron setting and seven didn’t know how to write a check properly. Thus, in the real world, their clothes would burn and their checks would bounce back. Ignoring finances and budgeting can potentially damage credit history, another consequence students will have to face.

While the consequences of a lack of practical intelligence are subtle, the solutions

are obvious. Gaining these basic skills is a job that should be divided between parents and schools from the start.

It is the responsibility of parents to give their children real-world experiences from a younger age by allowing them to handle housework, by dealing with spontaneous

situations by not protecting their child all the time and by promoting behavior that leads to independence. Simple changes, like making children purchase their own candy from the supermarket, or making them write a letter to grandma, while stamping and addressing the envelope as well, can go a long way.

Schools, for their part, need to bring back life skills classes — even if it is one course, like Home Economics, which could teach students how to do laundry, iron clothes, make personal budgets and cook their own food.

STAFFEDITORIAL

OPINION OF THE EL ESTOQUE EDITORIAL BOARD

a B A L A N C E in thinking

Junior Zachary Leon tests his street smarts by writing a check and addressing

an envelope.

Freshman Karen Shi practices ironing clothes as a part of the study for street

smarts at MVHS.

MVHS students lack the life skills necessary to thrive in the real world

7students didn’t know how to write a check

students knew the proper setting of an iron for cotton

To test yourself, see full results, or watch a

video of students being tested on their real-

world skills, visit elestoque.org/streetsmarts

3Varsha Venkat | El Estoque

Varsha Venkat | El Estoque

EL ESTOQUE14

OPINIONPULSE extends the conversation from El Estoque to you, the student body, concerning the current issues of the day.

the bottom line

T he new cafeteria is designed to emulate a college dining hall. Students enter into a food court where there are different stands,

including a refrigerated salad bar, each selling a particular type of food. They will pay as they leave so that money is handled at only one location. This is key, as cafeteria workers normally have to fetch food then receive money afterwards, which is less efficient. The spaciousness of the room will eliminate the tangled,

chaotic “lines” that form during lunch, as students scramble to wait in front of five stands that sell almost identical items. After students have purchased their food, they can go into the adjacent eating area, which will be much bigger than that of the old cafeteria and will feature café-style seating.

It seems as though the school is ignoring the elephant in the room with all these changes: the quality of the food. But many students are unaware that the school will purchase new cooking equipment, including

a new steamer and steam kettle, to go along with the renovated cafeteria. With the addition of more advanced equipment the kitchen staff can focus on providing higher quality food with added variety. It’s clear — the new cafeteria will be a huge improvement.

m.patil@elestoque.orgn.ramani@elestoque.org

b.wang@elestoque.org

by Mihir Patil, Namrata Ramani and Bryan Wang

by Shannon Lin

s.lin@elestoque.org

Gender inequality in sports reflected in lack of promotions and attendance

Even though female sports teams such as girls basketball are doing better than their male counterparts, attendance at sports home games have been lackluster for the majority of the season. The problem is not that girls or boys are discouraged from playing certain sports, but rather the lack of equal coverage and promotions. In general, watching and/or playing sports is considered to be a “manly” thing which stems from centuries of misogynistic beliefs that women are weaker, especially physically, than men.

But now in the 21st century, especially with scientific evidence that the physiological differences between men and women are not as significant as previously thought, it is time to recognize the inequalities that female sports face in terms of viewership.

At MVHS, ASB promotions of sports games usually focus on boys teams. In addition, the cheerleading squad only cheers at varsity boys basketball games while the varsity girls team is left with the moral support of their own friends and families.

Girls’ sports team deserve as much coverage and promotions as the boys’ teams do. It is unfair for girls who put in just as much effort and dedication to face empty stands during their games. Although it would take a major change in attitude for this problem to be solved, MVHS students should take the initiative to support all of our sports teams, regardless of gender.

PULSE

ULSE

Lihn says his staff can cook four times the soup in half the time with the new 40-gallon steam kettle. This means more fresh soup on a more frequent basis.

The new food line allows Lihn to “show cook” — make entrees like stir-fry live in front of students.

The new steamer allows head chef Frank Lihn to steam vegetables instead of boiling or sauteeing them. Steaming is a healthier alternative, cooking the food without leeching out nutrients or flavors.

Photo illustrations by Alexandria Poh

15MARCH 13, 2013

The two leftmost statistics were computed from a survey of 419 respondents.The margins of error for the two leftmost statistics are ±5.2% and ±6.3% respectively.

These margins of error were calculated using a 99% confidence interval.The rightmost statistic is from the plan for the new cafeteria by DLM Architect.

The percent of students who wait in the lunch line at least once a week

52% 137%The percent increase in kitchen

space in the new cafeteriaThe percent of students who

dislike our cafeteria food

79%

by Patrick Xie

p.xie@elestoque.org

Colleges not accepting AP credit take a step in the right direction

Dartmouth University, following the example of universities before it like Caltech, will stop accepting AP credit in two years.

A study by the Dartmouth Psychology Department that gave a Psych 1 final to incoming Dartmouth students was an indication that AP tests were ineffective and led to their change in AP policy. Out of over 100 students who got a five on the AP Psychology exam, 90 percent of them failed the AP test.

Recently, professors and AP teachers

are coming out to say AP courses simply aren’t enough to skip classes. As students, it is important to challenge ourselves in high school, but that doesn’t exempt us from college courses. Students should value the kind of education a college course provides that an AP high school course most likely cannot.

With this new setup, more students would be taking introductory courses in college, which benefits students, teachers and the school by further preventing bad academic

decisions that can be made by skipping into a class that a student is unprepared for. It is better for students to pass an easier class in college to know their limits rather than fail out of their first few courses in college. Even though a continuation of this trend might undermine the significance of AP exams, it is one step closer to preventing someone from making a bad academic decision.

The new cafeteria will have stations allocated to distinct cuisines, increasing the variety available to students.

With the cash registere located at the end of the servery, students who need just one or two items don’t have to wait in an incredibly long line, increasing the efficiency of the line in general.

The New Servery

EL ESTOQUE16

THE DEEP END Forest Liao

A fictional experimentUnconventional novel raises question about how weird I can get

So I read “A Visit from the Goon Squad” by Jennifer Egan. It’s basically a bunch of short stories about struggling

people involved in or connected to the rock music scene. As the industry changes, many of the characters themselves realize their own age and that time is indeed a “goon.” Then, in the last chapter, babies start buying music and dominate the market.

The second to last chapter is beautifully told in the form of a 12-year-old girl’s Powerpoint slide-journal. (Because that’s what all the kids in the future will be doing.) It even inspired me to present my column this issue in a slide format. But then I remembered I only get one freaking page instead of the 20 I would need. Thanks a lot, El Estoque.

So what was the next best thing? Like Egan, I would create my own piece of unconventional fiction. Unlike her, I would write about the process. My idea was perfect. Allowing readers to read about a book they could read? It would be just as fun as literary criticism!

To start, I would convey the thought process leading up to my work: 1) Novels are made from paper. 2) You can fold paper. 3) Folded paper is origami.4) I would utilize origami for a beautiful avant-garde piece!

The idea was simple really. As you unfolded the paper, the words of the story would reveal themselves.

The tale was of a master origami master who was so skilled that his creations would come to life. One day, one of his origami swans flies away. Instead of just making another one, he goes on a long journey to retrieve it, traversing distant lands, meeting new people and learning valuable lessons along the way.

That was about as far as I got, because by then the story started to look like this:

My second attempt was simpler. It was about a little girl who’s deathly afraid of the dark. And guess what? She has to walk through a cave. As she stumbles around, terrified, she realizes something. Her classmates bully her, her family lives right above the poverty line and her father beats her. Compared to all that, not being able to see her tiny hand in front of her face is nothing. With her newfound courage, she makes it through and back home to her dreadful existence, the reason she’d ran to the cave in the first place.

The story was experimental because I would make reading it a simulated experience. With synthetic cave walls attached to the edges of the book, once the reader put their face up to it, they would feel as if they were actually in a cave.

I was so proud of my work that I went to show my brother.

Me: Look! Look at this!My brother: What the hell is that?Me: It’s my new experimental novel. It’s about a girl trapped in a cave and she’s really scared and—My brother: Can you even turn the pages?Me: Uh... Godd—

If the third time was actually the charm, I would never find out. I was done experimenting; I was done ending sentences like this. Novelty for novelty’s sake was obnoxious and meant nothing. All it had led to was broken dreams, wasted printer paper and ruined books. (It turns out taped construction paper doesn’t come off very easily.) Besides, why would I aim for the unconventional when I hadn’t even mastered the conventions of narrative? My writing would go back to how it’d always been:

Normal. Completely normal.

f.liao@elestoque.org

Joyce Varma | El Estoque

17MARCH 13, 2013

CUSTOM MADE

PERFECT AIM Junior Rachel Stolzman aims at her target board. Though biracial, she inherited a love for American tradition from her father.

Students share traditions from unique family backgroundsby Gisella Joma and Varsha Venkat

Most MVHS students have taken camera shots or have shot a film, but for junior Rachel Stolzman, shooting means

aiming at a target. Some may think that Stolzman embodies an all American girl. However, she comes from a mixed background.

Her mother’s side of the family is Japanese — including all of their beliefs and values. On the other hand, her father’s side of the family originated from a variety of countries including France, Canada and Germany.

When Stolzman’s father was a kid, he bought his first BB gun and went shooting by the creek near his house. Eventually, he introduced her to shooting as well and sparked her interest in the generally male-dominated sport. Last year when she went to Texas, she used a semi-automatic UZI for her first time. Since Stolzman has been shooting since she was four years old, she has extensive knowledge of guns and how to use them.

“When we lived in San Jose, we’d set up little cans in the backyard and we’d just take turns shooting at them,” Stolzman said. “He would let me shoot the pellet guns. Then when I was around 12, I shot my first shotgun.”

However, Stolzman‘s involvement in this sport

was more of her own choice than her father’s. Whenever she got the chance, she tried to go shooting and over time, it became her favorite hobby. Stolzman recently had the opportunity to shoot her first handgun while visiting her uncle in Dallas.

“The kick [from the shotgun] was pretty hard on my arm, and it hurt for a little bit,” Stolzman said. “So I was a little nervous about that, [but]

when I pulled the trigger I was just like ‘Oh! This is fun!’ and we were doing it over and over again until we ran out of bullets.”

While Stolzman enjoys many traditional American pastimes such as shooting and driving motorbikes, she continues to maintain a strong tie

with her mother’s Japanese background as well. Stolzman frequently visits Japan with her mother. She also celebrates traditional Japanese holidays such as Hina Matsuri and loves to watch Japanese dramas with her mother.

“[My culture] is like two cultures blended into one,” Stolzman said. “It’s really weird, like most Japanese girls don’t ride motorcycles or shoot guns, so it’s a very different kind of culture than what everyone else expects it to be.”

from theHOMELAND

Most Japanese girls don’t ride motorcycles.

junior Rachel Stolzman

Varsha Venkat | El Estoque

g.joma@elestoque.org v.venkat@elestoque.org

Sophomore K a i s a Rautianen

celebrates the m i d - S u m m e r S o l s t i c e , a popular

tradition in her native country of Finland. It’s a popular event in the Nordic countries because the sun never sets in the north. During the holidays, Rautianen’s family and her friends gather around a bonfire and eat traditional Finnish dishes including crepe pancakes called pannukakku and Finnish sausages known as makkara. Although she hasn’t participated in the holiday festivities much since her departure from Finland, she still enjoys reminiscing of past summers with her extended family in their native country.

Ever since t h e s e c o n d

grade, juniors Christina and S t e p h a n i e Cheng have

been worshipping at a Daoist temple every Saturday. The sisters practice Daoism, a religion very similar to Buddhism that is practiced by many people in China. At the temple, Christina and Stephanie attend lectures on Daoist beliefs and chant prayers. According to Christina, there is a sense of community in the temple, although everyone welcomes new members who stop by.

A&E

Want to read about more unique traditions? Visit elestoque.org

—

EL ESTOQUE18

FAMILY MATTERSCarissa Chan

Over the past few years, I’ve come to the understanding that a normal family is supposed to make chicken noodle soup and administer medicine when someone gets sick. My family, of

course, doesn’t do what they’re supposed to do. So when I recently suffered a concussion from a snowboarding

accident, I didn’t expect top-notch care. After a long examination, the doctor ordered me to remain in quiet, non-stimulating environments for the next several weeks. However, my family took it upon themselves to help me heal, obviously squashing any possibility of a quiet, non-stimulating environment.

Symptom No. 1: PhotophobiaBecause bright lights caused massive headaches, I avoided

all electronic screens for a while. To keep me from doing nothing, when I was a bit better, my family and I played the board game Bananagrams, a game similar to Scrabble, every night. My sister promptly came up with what she thought was an extremely clever pun: “Board games to keep you from getting bored!”

A few minutes after we started the first round, my mother proudly announced that she had won the game. We crowded around her, impressed. But as we evaluated her arrangement of letters, something didn’t seem quite right.

“I don’t think ‘ehlkf’ is a word,” my sister said tentatively. A closer look at her crossword revealed many more nonsensical letter arrangements. When we pointed out that “cijeu,” “plab” and “qwue” weren’t part of the English language either, my mother was put on the defensive — “I didn’t know everything had to be a word!”

Symptom No. 2: Balance problemsI also had trouble balancing, since I kept tipping to the right

side. So my sister and I started doing yoga. When my father saw us practicing different poses, he asked what we were doing.

“Yoga,” we replied.He nodded and went over to the kitchen, then came back with

spoons and a carton of peach yogurt. After about ten minutes of discussion, my sister and I finally came to realize something rather interesting. Apparently, for the past several years, my father has thought that “yoga” is an alternate way to spell “yogurt.”

We then thought about the many instances in which he had misused the word “yoga” — namely, the time when a man offered him a coupon book for 10 free yoga classes, which my father wrongly believed were yogurt-eating classes. He laughed at the poor man, saying that it was “something even babies can do.”

Symptom No. 3: Lethargy and dizzinessThe week following my concussion was filled with several naps

per day and, generally, a great decrease in my productivity. I was starting to fall behind on my schoolwork because I spent so much time sleeping, but my sister had a solution.

“Put a time limit on your naps and I’ll force you to wake up when your time is up,” she said.

Again, I was surprised by how much this suggestion made sense. I decided to give it a try, telling her to wake me up at 4:00 p.m. sharp. She promised she would and I went to sleep.

When I opened my eyes, I looked at the clock. It was 7:00 p.m. I looked around for my sister and saw her sitting on the couch, watching me and placing Cheerio after Cheerio into her mouth.

“Why didn’t you wake me up?” I demanded.“I tried, but I couldn’t.”“So you just sat there and watched me sleep?”“Don’t be silly,” my sister said scornfully. “Of course I didn’t just

watch you sleep. I watched you sleep and I ate Cheerios.”

Prognosis: Never get injured againSince we didn’t leave the house too often after my concussion, I

thought that my family wouldn’t have that many opportunities to be strange and embarrassing. Turns out, they can be just as strange and embarrassing in private as they are in public.

So I made a new goal, possibly the most important one I’ve ever made: Avoid all illnesses, injuries, surgeries and anything else that involves spending extended periods of recovery time at home. At least until someone in my family goes into healthcare, which isn’t likely. Doctor? Too “boring and unfun” of a job, my sister insists. Cheerio-eating, sleep-watching, yoga-ing sibling? Perfect, apparently.

A family of pseudo-doctorsIn which my family attempts to take care of me, post-concussion

c.chan@elestoque.org

Shuyi Qi | El Estoque Photo Illustration

&*%$!NO COUNTRY FOR OLD WOMEN

The most foul word in my lexicon is probably “crap.” “Idiot” comes a close second. That is true no longer, as I have dropped a bomb for the first time. But not any usual bomb –– no, I

dropped the f bomb.

The fateful assignmentFor AP Literature, I was assigned to act out the role of Claire from

David Auburn’s play “Proof”. There’s a scene where she gets ready to blow her top off at her sister when she suggests that she hasn’t adequately helped the family. In ranting about the bills she paid while living in a studio in Brooklyn, she happens to unleash one nice little swear word, so I was expected to, as well.

Practicing ... with dead kittiesFor a long time, I couldn’t bring myself to say the word. I was

“fortunate” to receive training from a friend who I shall call Sunshine, whose tongue is sometimes anything but what her name suggests.

Sunshine: F***.Me: Fuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuudge.Sunshine: Think of me running over little kitties.Me: Fuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuu-

Suffice to say, although it was easy to think of the word, my lips just refused to make the “ck” sound.

It’s show timeRight before my scene, I stood off-stage, worrying whether I was

either going to 1) laugh, 2) cry, or 3) sputter out the word like a malfunctioning car when it came time to say the fateful line.

The time came. I dropped the bomb. How eerily silent the class was right after I said it! I don’t blame them; they were probably traumatized by such a foul-mouthed granny.

Now I’m a potty mouth...After the play, some of my friends came up to me.

1) Sunshine flat out congratulated me: “I’m so proud of you!”2) My brunch buddies broke out into applause: “Encore! Encore!”3) When I told Mr. Clarke that I swore for the first time, he smiled a sage, all-knowing smile. Almost as if this was a rite of passage that I as a young grasshopper had to undergo.

I still see no point in using such harsh words when simple euphemisms like “Good grief!” and “Shucks!” could do. What’s so glamorous about this bomb? Why does someone take a granny who drops the bomb more seriously than a granny who cries “Good grief!” from the bottom of her heart?

I let Mr. Pelkey in on my secret and he let out a full-throated laugh. “Just watch,” he said. “This is a slippery slope. Just watch you

become the worst pottymouth ever.”I was speechless for a moment and then collected myself.“Good grief!”

I’ll just stick to “Good grief,” thank you very much

New pottymouth on the block

s.kurnool@elestoque.org

Soumya Kurnool

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MARQUESASIntroducing the

EL ESTOQUE22

SHOWCASE (From left to right) Junior Kitty Liu, sophomore Rowena Lee, coach Hilary Maxwell, senior Jasmine Tsai, senior Rheanna Ganapathy and junior Kimberley Zhong chat moments after the showcase that took place in the gym on Mar. 1.

The Marquesas overcome adversity in their path to Nationals

“Ladies! This is the last practice before break!” This is Hilary Maxwell, the Marquesas’ coach, and

it’s 3:17 p.m. on [Thursday], Feb. 14. The room breaks out into a scattered chorus of “Woohoo!” and “Yay!” as the dancers make their way to the floor.

“Come on out! Hurry, hurry!” Maxwell says.It’s typical rehearsal for the Marquesas. The girls are still jubilant

over their then-recent win at the United Spirit Association Northern California State Championships. They had walked away from that tournament with five first place trophies in the Kick, Small Lyrical, Medium Dance, Intermediate Dance and Character routines, which more than qualified them for championship division of the March 29 to 30 United Spirit Association Costa Mesa Nationals Competition.

“[This year has been] like a roller coaster,” co-captain and senior Rheanna Ganapathy says. “We’ve come a long way from summer and the winter show, and I think that now we’re in a pretty good place [going into Nationals].”

Setbacks“The word of the day is attack!” Maxwell said. The day is Feb.

25, 4:31 p.m. and the Marquesas are practicing sharper execution in their lyrical routine.

The room is a lot less packed than it has been in previous years during typical Marquesa practices. Because three dance team members dropped out of the team due to time commitment issues,

the team member count dropped from 23 to 20 total members. Having a smaller team dropped them from the large to the intermediate category, which means more competitors for the team. In addition, half of this year’s team consists of first-year members, which should have been a significant disadvantage.

“I think it was sad for us to see those girls go,” Maxwell said. “But I think the girls understood and I understood why they made those decisions for the most part. I think that’s also made us stronger [though] because here we have this core group of people who really want to be here and make dance team a priority.”

TriumphsBy the time competition season came around, the majority of the

team had grown used to the changes. However, on Jan. 26 during the Homestead High School local competition, the Marquesas placed first in only two routines and second in one routine out of their five total routines. With a long history of excellence, especially at local competitions, the dance team was disappointed with the results.

“We didn’t do as well as I thought we would. It wasn’t bad at all. It just gave us something to work on,” co-captain and senior Lyan Cogan said.

Their scores at that competition would not have qualified them for the upper division for Nationals, but because the competition was local, the scores were not evaluated by Nationals judges.

With only a week before the USA Regional Competition at Bella Vista High School, a qualifying competition, Ganapathy and Cogan

Story and photography by Margaret Lin

23MARCH 13, 2013

ARABESQUE Freshman Carissa Yee practices the lyrical routine for the upcoming Nationals competition in Anaheim fromW Mar. 17 to 18. The team practices last two to three hours, four days a week.

implemented shorter and more intense warm-ups, allowing more time to work on each individual routine. According to junior Michelle Chen, a three-year member, it was the most intense week of practice for the team this school year.

“I was a little shocked [at the Homestead competition] because generally we do well and Homestead is generally considered as one of the easier competitions,” Chen said. “As a team we were set back, so I guess we were motivated to work harder. I think that made us stronger as a whole because you can’t really move forward unless you know you have something to work toward.”

As they waited for their scores during the last moments of the Bella Vista dance competition, tensions were high. A whole range of emotions ran through the team: fear, nervousness, suspense, hope.

“When we’re getting our placements, we’re all sitting in a circle and holding hands and looking down like come on, come on .... let’s go, let’s go,” Ganapathy said. “They’ll be like, ‘In third place we have the ...’ and I’ll be like, ‘Not Monta Vista, not Monta Vista.’”

The Marquesas managed to qualify and place in every single one of their dance routines. They placed first in four of their routines and second in their character routine.

“We all had this really great sense of achievement because it was such a big jump,” said Chen. “It wasn’t just one or two [routines], we placed [first] in four routines. I think that made us feel as if our work actually paid off.”

The team was back on its game. At the NorCal competition one week after the Bella Vista competition, the team swept the awards ceremony with a first place win for every single one of their routines.

“It was the icing on the cake,” Maxwell said. “The girls were even tearing up at the awards ceremony, [happy] to have just qualified.”

m.lin@elestoque.org

EL ESTOQUE24

READY, SET, GROWHow changing expectations at school and home impact basic life skills

Su Ling sits in a wicker rocking chair, hands folded on a purple pillow in a rare moment of relaxation. She has come home from work, not an hour ago, and it’s nearing 11 p.m.

But none of this is new to Ling, who is mother to three daughters. One daughter is a junior in graduate school, one a freshman in her undergraduate studies and one a junior at MVHS. It makes sense then, that she has always been a worrier.

“Jody and Sandy started taking the bus to go to school in about the fourth grade,” Ling said. “When my husband wanted them to take a bus to school, I was so mad. ‘You should take care of your kids,’ I said. ‘How come you let them take the bus by themselves? Do you know how bad it is outside?’ But my husband told me, ‘Don’t worry, don’t worry. You worry too much. If you never let them try, they’ll never grow.”

But when do they grow? More importantly, who teaches them the skills that’ll help them grow?

MVHS used to offer courses that would supplement students’ education not only in academics, but in life. Choir teacher Shari D’Epiro, a 1979 alumna, took a variety of classes when she attended MVHS that aren’t offered today.

“I took Driver’s Ed; that’s how I got my license,” D’Epiro said.

“I took Cooking one year. I took Sewing one year — I mean, I wasn’t very good at sewing, my mom helped me with everything. My mom’s a great sewer.”

D’Epiro notes that back then, a lot of the experiences sought outside of school today were more integrated into the school day. She used to be on the Drill Team, the equivalent of which today is Color Guard, which met during a designated PE period. Auto Shop, in which students learned to take care of their vehicles, and Work Experience, which required students to document jobs they worked, were also classes that provided credit while allowing students to work toward their nonacademic goals.

As the district cut budgets and the interests of those in the community shifted, many opportunities were moved outside of school, causing students to seek this supplemental education through other avenues.

“There are more viable means to [take classes like Driver’s Ed] outside of school now,” said guidance counselor Sylvia Lam as to why the school provides less application-based classes. “Before, parents maybe didn’t have access to that, or they didn’t have the monetary means to provide that. But now, kids do have that opportunity.”

by Smitha Gundavajhala and Mihir Joshi

Mihir Joshi | El Estoque

25MARCH 13, 2013

Many classes that once existed at MVHS have been reapportioned — for instance, Culinary Arts in the intradistrict Career and Technical Education program has replaced the cooking class. Since these classes may not stay forever, Lam emphasizes the importance of learning such life skills through one avenue or another.

“If you’re not learning life skills here [at school], I’m hoping that kids are also learning that at home,” Lam said. “I see it as a community. It’s parents, it’s the students, it’s the teachers and the schools. We all work together. Even if you’re not getting educated here, you know, with my own daughter, I’m teaching her these skills at home. There should be supplemental stuff. It should come from everywhere, not just school.”

Industrial Technology teacher Ted Shinta believes that one thing that is often found lacking in a high school education is learning to apply knowledge. Shinta feels that classes like Woodshop and Drafting are good preparation for life or, in his words, “better citizenry.”

“My classes are important because a lot of the students at [MVHS] don’t get any practical experience,” he said. “[With application-based classes,] you get a real feel for it, you’re

touching, you’re seeing, you’re designing. Instead of problem solving, you’re using your problem solving skills to make something.”

Something that Shinta, D’Epiro, Lam and Ling all agree upon is the importance of having this application-based skill set, especially in making a well-rounded person.

Ling has practiced this with her children. “In order to be self-sufficient,” she says, “[my] kids have learned all of the basics, but also self-discipline.” For her, it was a teaching process that began when they were very young.

“If you don’t teach children before they leave the house, when they go to college, they still don’t know how to feed themselves, how to take care of themselves. You’d better show them, early as you can, before they leave the house,” Ling said. Her concern and views changed over the course of time.

“My husband and I have had different methods to educate our kids. At first, I was worried, ‘How can you let kids go to school by bus?’” she said. “But time proved that he was right. And the more I see them able to do things on their own, the less I worry.”

s.gundavajhala@elestoque.org | m.joshi@elestoque.org

in this sectionREAL-WORLD VULTURES 26

LEARNING FOR A LIFETIME 27TRIAL AND ERROR 28

NOT DIALED INTO REALITY 29

SPECIALREPORT

Yelp for helpUnwittingly risking my life for a great mealby Morahd Shawki

m.shawki@elestoque.org

Like most people who have grown up in an affluent town, I like to lie to myself and say I’m not sheltered.

Sometimes, I almost believe it, too. But if you want to bring yourself back to reality on just how coddled you really are, spend a few weeks in a city. I did just that in Chicago last summer, crashing at my sister’s apartment.

Yelp was my best friend on these days, pointing me toward some of the best food in the world. I don’t exactly have what you would call good social skills, or really any to speak of, so I would avoid conversations with strangers whenever I could, sticking to my phone for directions instead.

It felt like a good strategy. I mean, I could never really get in trouble with a GPS and Internet access on my phone, right? Right?

As I made my way to a cafe (four and a half stars according to Yelp!), I noticed that things were beginning to become more and more unsavory. There were more and more

cracks in the sidewalk, abandoned property and certain undesirables surrounding me.

I began to worry, but I just told myself that I was sheltered and paranoid. I mean, millions of people walk around Chicago every day who aren’t shot. Well, most of them anyway. I was probably safe, right?

It became pretty clear afterward that maybe, just maybe, I wasn’t safe. I took a quick inventory and realized how ridiculous I must have looked. With my blaring headphones and apparent obliviousness, I was clearly a tourist. I looked at my “Pugs not Drugs” shirt and had a scary thought:

Maybe this was a “Drugs not Pugs” sort

of neighborhood.I walked quicker and quicker and heard

the faint sounds of Bon Iver. Hipsters! I was finally safe. I entered the cafe and called my sister. Her friend, a Chicago native, picked up instead. I told him what was happening.

As it turns out, I chose to take a stroll in Humboldt Park, which has one of the highest shooting and gang crime rates in the city.

“Where did you say you were?”“Uh, it says... Humboldt Park?”There was a brief silence. “What? How

are you not dead yet?”

Shuyi Qi | El Estoque Illustration

EL ESTOQUE26

SPECIAL REPORT

5MARCH 13, 2013 27MARCH 13, 2013

How alumna Neesha Tambe learned to be self-reliant, successful in life through her college experienceby Anupama Cemballi and Jennifer Lee

‘‘it was a

’’process.

class of 2009 alumna Neesha A. Tambe looks to be your

conventionally successful college senior: Currently majoring in sociology at Georgetown University, she is nearing graduation and already has job interviews lined up.

However, her college experience has been anything but conventional.

Instead of a four-year college after high school, Tambe studied at De Anza College for a couple of years before transferring to Georgetown.

“And that,” she said, “was the best decision of my life.”

It wasn’t always smooth sailing at either school, though. At Georgetown, Tambe experienced a steep learning curve in terms of living on

her own during the first few months. Among other things, she dealt with a month-long mice infestation after leaving food out one night and even nearly started a fire while doing her laundry.

In addition, Tambe initially struggled with making the mental leap from hometown Cupertino to Washington D.C.

“There’s a time where you’re like, ‘Oh my God, if I die, today, it’s going to take somebody some time to find out,’” Tambe said. “How you deal with your life, what you do in the future, thatís all on you the second you step outside of the house. You can’t depend on anybody else. And that self-reliance, that frameshift was very hard.”

An equally significant frameshift took place during her two years at De Anza, where Tambe realized she didn’t need to follow the same formulaic route as everyone else.

While at De Anza, a close friend told her: “Be willing to be uncomfortable. Be comfortable being uncomfortable. It’s a small price to pay for living the dream.” Tambe lives by those words today.

“The best moments of your life happen when you push yourself and when you stop being like, ‘Okay, I’m going to do this status quo,’” she said. “When you transfer to another school or you take some time off — that’s when you’re like, ‘Oh my God, there’s an entire world out there.’”

Not conforming to the regular college route has led Tambe to opportunities like writing something that was read on the floor of the House of Representatives and even teaching English in Romania.

Tambe recalls that her mother once told her she was nervous when Tambe didn’t have a 4.0 GPA and decided to attend De Anza. According to her mother, sometimes people fall into a hole there.

“But I put my effort into my passion, and I became successful at it,” she said. “And that’s when my mom was like, ‘I was nervous, but now I’m not.’”

Tambe’s not sure which specific careers she plans to pursue, but she does plan on following her passions — which lie in finding ways to impact her community positively.

Whatever happens, she knows that she’s learned the practical skills to take care of herself and the mental discipline to succeed in whichever field she chooses.

“Living the dream, it can happen. But it can’t happen if you just do what you think you should be doing,” she said. “It’s about finding that passion, finding that fire inside of yourself — that you can wake up every day, and say, ‘I’m interested in that.’”

a.cemballi@elestoque.orgj.lee@elestoque.org

Used with permission of Alice Lee

EL ESTOQUE28

HOW TO AVOID

by Ashley Ding

GETTING PLAYEDSocial studies teachers Pete Pelkey and Ben Recktenwald give opinions, insight on how street savvy MVHS students are

Community Chest

Chance

Get out once in a while

Commun

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st

Chance

FREE PARKING

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stree

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got

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BOARDWALK PARK PLACE

Recktenwald: “A lot of students spend the money and realize they have to pay it back, and their interest rates go up, and their credit rating goes down.”

Recktenwald: “Turn off the Facebook, stop studying, spend time outside of Cupertino, go to college at some school in some ghetto neighborhood.”

Tip Know the real value of money

Be wary of credit card companies

Student loansare worth it

Pelkey: “Most majors ap-preciate in value, so you will pay off your student loan. It’s just expensive to go to college. But it’s one of those things you should actually go in debt for.”

There are people you can’t trust

Recktenwald: “I have heard some stories of students who would leave their dorm rooms unlocked and people would steal stuff from them. Why wouldn’t you lock your door?”

Tip

Tip Tip

Tip

PACIFIC AVENUE

Illustration | Alexandria Poh

TIPS AND TRICKS

Pelkey: “[Students generally] don’t know how much money is worth... So you underestimate or overestimate the value of it.”

GO TO JAIL

JUST

VISITING

SPECIAL REPORT

a.ding@elestoque.org

Dealing with roommate problems for the first time, 2011 alumnus Thomas Your

was forced to learn how to adapt.“I had a bunch of problems with

my roommate last semester, and basically I couldn’t do anything but figure it out on my own. The authorities don’t help you; the [Resident Assistants] don’t really help you. They almost have no power at all ... You can file a report with the police. Otherwise you can just talk it out, and you’re pretty much on your own.”

Adjusting to the perils of public transportation was a difficult challenge for 2010 alumna

Anyssa Karnkaeng. She got lost running a simple errand to Walmart.

“Over here, the main mode of transportation is by bus, while back home everyone had a car ... I remember the first time I took the bus to Walmart; I didn’t even end up at Walmart, and it took me awhile to find the right bus stop to wait at ... and I realized that the bus I was waiting for wasn’t even coming.”

Preparing for the unexpected is important as well, as 2011 alumnus Joshua Liao realized.

Money management is important; you never know what will happen.

“The second semester of my freshman year, I just fell for her. I never thought I’d be in a relationship in college, but once I did I had to learn to start to budget my money effectively. I couldn’t just spend all my money to buy food because some days I would need the money for a nice date with my girlfriend.”

On her first day at Dartmouth University, English teacher Christy Utter went into her early morning African American studies

program exhausted from talking to her roommate all night long.

“I really respected the professor, but [once] I went up to her to ask a question and I said, ‘I’m not really sure how to address you, is it Mrs. or...’ and she said, ‘You will call me professor like you do for all your other teachers!’ I really didn’t mean to show a lack of respect; I just didn’t know what you called professors ... So I ended up inadvertently offending someone.”

GROWING THROUGH

‘11THOMASYOUR

‘11

‘ 10ANYSSAKARNKAENG

teacher

JOSHUALIAO

Simple stories from former high school students about adjusting to life after high school the hard way

by Alaina Lui and Christopher Song

a.lui@elestoque.org c.song@elestoque.org

Lost in the city

Controlling the cash flow

Doomed roomies

A professional issue

UTTERCHRISTY

MISTAKES

FOR MORE STORIES ABOUT GROWING PAINS, VISIT elestoque.org

29MARCH 13, 2013

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31MARCH 13, 2013

SPORTS

by Catherine Lockwood, Neesha Venkatesan and Soumya Kurnool

“Let’s go”

Varsity girls soccer coach Alan Kute leaves coaching

after 10 years

Used with permission of Susan Satya

EL ESTOQUE32

SPORTS

When coach Alan Kute says “Let’s go,” he has a kick in his voice that makes anyone want to get up and start

dribbling the ball.Alan is always in motion, running

across the lower field, his red striped cleats bouncing off the turf. As he jogs, he releases a running stream of pointers at his players.

“Let’s go. Defenders, we are still working hard!”

“Get away from her. Get the ball.”“Under control! This is not kickball!”Kute pauses on the sideline, one

hand directing the girls and another on his hip. His foot rests lightly on a soccer ball, rolling it back and forth. After a moment’s hesitation, he joins the scrimmage, shrugging on a neon green pinny and running towards the goal box.

Alan is like any other head soccer coach — he doggedly pushes his players to their full potential, but what sets him apart is that his determination has led the team through both wins and losses. He has created results in getting his team to CCS nine consecutive times in his ten year career as the MVHS varsity girls soccer coach.

Alan has been involved in soccer for the majority of his life. Growing up, he played for Lynbrook High School and later San Jose State University, before

moving on to coaching. His experience and mentality as a player himself would prove to be instrumental in leading his team to improvement.

“[Alan is] competitive, he drives the kids to their best and they’re in an environment with him and they can reach their maximum potential,” assistant coach Greg Wendschlag said.

However, Alan has made sure his competitive mentality has not taken away the joy of the game for his team.

“I think he is a great coach because some coaches are really c o m p e t i t i v e and he is comp et i t ive , but winning is not the only thing for him,” junior Amelia Strom said. “He wants to have fun first and he promotes that. He has had a lot of experience so I enjoy playing with Alan.”

Another attribute that Wendschlag will miss is Alan’s tendency to be a collaborative team player.

“Not many head coaches will give the assistant coaches as much freedom as he did,” Wendschlag said. “It was a lot of fun working with him, because he didn’t treat me like I was his assistant, he treated me like his partner.”

To his second eldest daughter Cheryl, who has coached with him for the past three seasons, the team dynamic has really centered on the input of all three coaches, who have provided different perspectives that together contributed

to the growth of the team.

“He’s kind of the scary guy who makes all the rules,” Cheryl said about Alan. “The assistant coach, Greg, is more like everybody’s dad, and I’m the one who relates more to the girls because I’m a girl and closer in age.”

The Lady Mats did not have an outstanding season this year, and considering that Alan, Wendschlag and Cheryl are leaving the team this year, along with 11 graduating players, the

He is competitive, but Winning is not the only thing for him. He wants to have fun first and promotes that.junior Amelia Strom

“”

TEAM HUDDLE Coach Alan Kute provides some last minute advice before the game against Los Altos High School on Jan. 11. Despite their aggressive drives, the team lost 0-2.

Used with permission of Susan Satya

c.lockwood@elestoque.org

team dynamic will change and make the transition to the next season even more difficult.

Over the past decade, Alan has been central to the camaraderie of the team, according to Strom. Typical bonding activities include the annual team trip to Koinonia C o n f e r e n c e Grounds near Watsonville, CA, where players would take the “ C l i f f h a n g e r Course” where they climbed 60 feet up a tree and then ziplined off.

chemistry next season, she hopes that the new coach will bring an the same amount of fun to the sport.

Alan admits that things will change after his departure, but not for the better or for the worse; things will simply be different. After ten challenging years as head coach, Alan sees retirement as bittersweet.

“I’ve been coaching [club and school soccer] since ‘96, so it wouldn’t be so bad to have a year off and see what life brings,” Alan said. “Pretty soon other things in life will happen; there will be grandkids,” Alan said, smiling in Cheryl’s direction.

Although he is looking forward to his time off, there are memories that he made with his assistant coaches and his team that will stick for

ON THE FIELD Kute plays in the alumni game on Dec. 29 with Class of 2010 alumna Crissy Stuart. The game allowed him to reunite with former players.

leaving, Wendschlag does not doubt that the new coach will be able to bring a new perspective and success for the team in the coming years. Interviews for the prospective varsity coach will be held in a few months.

“When you have someone around as long as Alan has been here, that’s when you really recognize how good you had it,” Wendschlag said. “I think there will be a noticeable difference because Alan did things at such a high level, but the kids are going to do a great job [nextyear].”

As Alan runs around the field, yelling advice as plays unfold, it is hard to imagine a practice without him. He takes off his green pinny after playing a scrimmage and takes refuge in the shade of the goal. Leaning against the goal post, he crosses his legs and his arms, looking out over the field.

The Kutes are ready to move on from MVHS, but starting June when Casey, the youngest Kute, graduates, the Lady Mats will also have to move on from the Kutes.

“There will be a huge Kute hole,” Alan said, laughing.

n.venkatesan@elestoque.orgs.kurnool@elestoque.org

“The chemistry of the team was based on the things that Alan did for us to bond,” Strom said. “When that changes, it’s going to depend on the coaches. Different coaches have different methods to bring on and that might change the chemistry.”

Though the team will have a different

many years.“Winning the CCS championship [in

2009] was definitely a standout moment for us, as the coaches,” Wendschlag said. “It was the first time the team won in 30 years.”

Even though an experienced coach is

Used with permission of Susan Satya

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EL ESTOQUE

SPORTS

Are you game?With 30 teams, 162 games and six divisions, predicting the upcoming Major League Baseball season is no easy feat. But three MVHS baseball players were up for the task. So are we. // By Carissa Chan and Nathan Desai

NL EASTRodrigues says...

El Estoque says...

With Gio Gonzalez and a healthy Stephen Strasburg on the mound, the Nationals are shaping up for a good season. Big hitters Bryce Harper, Ian Desmond and Jayson Werth provide the bats to stay ahead of the Braves, who won’t have longtime veteran Chipper Jones for the first time in 19 seasons.

“They have a good pitching rotation and a productive offense that can hit.”

34

NLCENTRALSrinivasan says...

El Estoque says...

It’s a close call. The Cardinals were a win away from reaching the World Series in 2012 despite trading Albert Pujols, their best hitter. However, they still have former World Series MVP David Freese and four-time All-Star Yadier Molina. The Reds will be right on their heels, but St. Louis might still be able to take one last shot.

“I do not think the Cardinals have another magical season in them.”

NLWESTSrinivasan says...

El Estoque says...

We’re giving the Giants, the reigning champions, an edge over the Dodgers’ money-dumping method, which hasn’t been effective since they started it last year. San Francisco has an almost unchanged World Series roster with an ever-reliable pitching staff (think Matt Cain, Madison Bumgarner and Ryan Vogelsong). Expect to see this team back on top in the west.

“They have pitching depth and offense.”

YOUR ANALYSTSsenior Spencer Rodrigues varsity baseball

senior Haree Srinivasan varsity baseball

sophomore Jasraj Ghuman JV baseball

Washington Nationals

Washington Nationals

Cincinnati Reds

St. Louis Cardinals

Los Angeles Dodgers

San Francisco Giants

35MARCH 13, 2013

ALWESTGhuman says...

El Estoque says...

We’re with Ghuman on this one. With the most electrifying lineup in the majors, led by 2012 Rookie of the Year Mike Trout, three-time MVP Albert Pujols and newly acquired 2010 MVP Josh Hamilton and topped with pitchers like phenom Jered Weaver, this team is looking to make a deep postseason run.

“They signed Josh Hamilton and have a really strong offense.”

AL EASTSrinivasan says...

El Estoque says...

“They’re old and injured, but that hasn’t stopped them for the last four seasons.”

In this competitive division, blockbuster trades sent four-time All-Stars José Reyes and Mark Buehrle, NL Cy Young winner R.A. Dickey and All-Star MVP Melky Cabrera to Toronto. With the continued dominance of José Bautista and others, the Canadians can probably overpower the lifeless Yankees this year.

ALCENTRALRodrigues says...

El Estoque says...

After a tough defeat in the 2012 World Series, the Tigers are coming back with a vengeance. With Prince Fielder and Miguel Cabrera, the first Triple Crown winner in 44 years, their lineup is still dangerously powerful. Strikeout machines Justin Verlander and Max Scherzer will defensively strengthen this experienced team.

“As long as their pitching stays strong, their offense should hold up for the season too.”

WORLD SERIES

YOUR ANALYSTS

THEPLAYOFFSAs predicted by El Estoque

Washington Nationalsvs.

Cincinnati RedsSt. Louis Cardinals

vs.San Francisco Giants

New York Yankeesvs.

Los Angeles AngelsToronto Blue Jays

vs.Detroit Tigers

New York Yankeesvs.

Detroit Tigers

Los Angeles Dodgersvs.

Cincinnati Reds

Los Angeles Angelsvs.

Detroit Tigers

ALCS:Washington Nationals

vs.San Francisco Giants

NLCS:

ALDS: NLDS:

Washington Nationals

Los Angeles Angelsvs.

New York Yankees

Toronto Blue Jays

Los Angeles Angels

Los Angeles Angels

Detroit Tigers

Detroit Tigers

NL Wild Card: AL Wild Card:

Photo from Wikimedia Commons | Creative Commons by-nd-saLogos source: Major League Baseball

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37MARCH 13, 2013

RIDING HELMETHelmets are necessary for every style of riding and can range in price from $50 to $200.

RIDING SHOESRiding shoes vary based on the style of riding, from Western style boots to all-leather English boots.

WESTERN

Horseback Riding

All about Western and English riding, featuring senior Zara Dickenson

ENGLISH

ARABIAN

QUARTER HORSEMINIATURE

PAINT

COMMON HORSE BREEDS

Affectionate and friendly, these horses are known for their distinctive head profile.

Popular for working with cattle, this breed is widely known for its particular spotted coat colorings.

This breed is the most popular breed and great for new riders.

These horses are popular as pets and are less than 38 in tall.

Western saddles have a horn and a wider seat.

English saddles are usually black with a simple design.

English bridles have a noseband and a more plain design.

Western saddles have curb straps and longer reins. They are generally more decorated.

SADDLES

BRIDLES

by Alexandria Poh and Amelia Yang

Illustrations by Alexandria Poh

Senior Zara Dickinson rides horses in the Western style at Garrod farms and also works as a trail guide. She rides two horses: a Quarter horse named Roxy and an Arabian horse named Centaur. Her riding gear includes a helmet and riding shoes.

ADVERTISEMENT

5MARCH 13, 2013

SPORTSFLASH

Written by Atharva Fulay and Robert SulgitPhotography by Margaret Lin

A recap on the winter season

In February, the varsity girls and boys basketball and wrestling teams played their senior night games. The wrestling and girls basketball teams qualified for CCS but were unable to make it into the semifinal rounds.

Bottom left, senior Tommer Schwarz walks with his baby brother Oren Schawrz and the rest of his family after the boys basketball senior night game. The senior night against Fremont High School was held on Feb. 15. Led by junior Ramana Keerthi, the team started off strong but lacked coherence in the second half. The boys lost the game 53-37, but that didn’t detract from the celebration for the rest of the team. The team finished the season with an 11-13 record and a 5-7 record in league play. Though they did qualify for CCS, another team was seeded above them, taking the final spot in the CCS Division 1 bracket. The boys finished in 17th place for their division. Half of the team will not return for the next season.

Top right, senior James Whall embraces his mother before the wrestling senior night. The wrestling team held their senior night on Jan. 24. Though the team lost 26-39, individual winners included Whall, sophomore Max McCann, junior Aaron Wu and senior Ashton Krajnovich. Ten Matadors contested in CCS in all weight classes except 113, 126, 152 and 220 lbs. The team had an overall finish of 81.0 points to tie with King City High School for 10th place. McCann and Whall finished in the top six for their weight classes of 120 and 145, respectively. McCann was seeded third enteirng the CCS tournament. The team was awarded for having high character at the FUHSD school board meeting on March 5.

Bottom right, the girls basketball team recognizes senior Nassim Moallem at the senior night game on Feb. 8. They played against Fremont High School and won the game with a 30 point lead of 57-27. The team finished overall with a 13-12 record and 6-6 record in league play. Coached by Sara Borelli, the team was unlikely to qualify for CCS but was able to pull off a 5-game win streak with a dominating victory against Santa Clara. The streak continued with wins against Homestead, Lincoln, Cupertino and Fremont High School. The girls qualified for round two of CCS before losing to San Benito High School in a close game that ended 50-46 and put them in 11th place for Division 1.

a.fulay@elestoque.org | r.sulgit@elestoque.org

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See what seniors were up to during the course fair

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Discover how chef Frank Linh handles change

most tEAR-JERKinG QuotE

junior Anisha Pathak, on her bhangra routine at the Dance Showcase

I was literally in tears while theywere on stage.“ ”

most moutHWAtERinG stAtistiCs

3044

number of hours students fasted

number of years old cafeteria is