THESANMATEOHITHE BEST NAME IN SCHOOL NEWS SINCE 1922

Volume LXXXVVIII, No. 4 www.thebearcat.net Friday, December 14, 2012

ALL THAT MATEOS What’s your favorite holiday song?

“Jingle Bells!”Esmerelda Justiano, Class of 2016

“Santa Baby.”Zach Wolf, Class of 2014

“Walking In A Winter Wonder-land.”Jonathan Arevalos, Class of 2013

“Halloween by the Misfits. Or is that the wrong holiday?”Mr. Wilke, Teacher

“Grandma Got Run Over By A Reindeer.”Emma Hays, Class of 2015

Rachael WanStaff Writer

Choir Rings In the Holidays

PHOTOS BY ALI BRUSCHI

“Why couldn’t they find Mozart’s teacher? Because he was Haydn!” exclaimed Mr. Reifschneider, the choir teacher, starting off the choir concert on December 6 with a laugh. Singing a combination of holiday and classical music, the San Mateo and Burlingame choirs joined to-gether and sang their hearts out. “The choir concert was so great. It surpassed all of my expectations.

On November 24, around 8:20 p.m., an accident occurred on Highway 101 in South San Fran-cisco, and Odalys Linares, 16, a former San Mateo High School student, was pronounced dead on scene for unknown causes.

All lanes were closed for more than two hours that night and se-vere traffic started to form around 8:45 p.m. This was the second death of a San Mateo student that week in November. Our heart goes out to the students’ families and to the friends who are mourning their loss.

Students who want to express

Brandon ChinStaff Writer

Rest in Peace, Odalys

Odalys Linares smiles.

PHOTOS COURTSEY OF RACHAEL WAN

See CANS, on page 2

Compliments For EveryoneKay Zhang Staff Writer In response to the recent tragedies that have happened at San Mateo High, one member of the Bearcat community has taken the initiative to help people realize what they’re worth. San Mateo High Compliments is a page on Facebook that anony-mously posts kind messages about students, staffulty, and organiza-tions. People can message the page with their compliment, and the ad-min of the page will post it without revealing the sender. “It seems a lot of people feel un-

their feelings are encouraged to vis-it their counselor, the school safety advocate Diana de Guzman, or call a help line.

Barrels of Cans Feed the Hungry in San Mateo County

Choir poses for a photo after their classical music holiday performance last week.

PHOTO COURTESY OF ODALYS

appreciated. I wanted to challenge that, show the masses how loved they are,” said the admin of the page in an anonymous interview conducted through Facebook. Even though the San Mateo High Compliments page sparked the cre-ation of similar pages for Aragon and Burlingame, the original idea was not our own. “A bunch of schools have been attributed for creating the first com-pliments page (Yale, Brown, Tufts), but it started in Canada (surprise!) at Queen’s University. The idea began as an anti-bullying and an-ti-suicide campaign promoting pos-

itivity,” said the admin of the page. “I love it. I’ve been getting lots of thumbs-ups, praise, all that jazz,” said the page admin. “I’d estimate anywhere between 150 to 300 mes-sages flood into my inbox daily. A whole lotta love.” Started on No-vember 27, the page already has over 400 likes . “People have taken it pretty se-riously, which I appreciate,” said the page admin, when asked about reactions of the public. Seeing the the school come together to boost each other after two student deaths speaks volumes about the integrity of the school.

We all worked really hard and it paid off; the combined choirs sounded amazing together,” said Guilherme Marino, the school’s choir president. The night of music started off with “Hannukah, Festival of Lights” by Burlingame High’s ensemble. Their voices filled the audience with awe. The ensembles ended their perfor-mance with “The Heavens Are Tell-ing” by F.J. Haydn. Following the ensembles, the Chamber Singers, a combination of

dedicated San Mateo and Burlin-game students, sang, “Dirait on”, a French poem by Rainier Maria Rilke set to music by Morten Lau-ridsen. The choir concert came to a close with another choir tradition, singing the “Hallelujah Chorus” by Handel. Mr. Reifschneider in-vited the audience members to come on stage to sing along. As all of the excitement came to an end, Mr. Reifschneider thanked all the parents for their help and support.

The annual Canned Food Drive ended with a 70,000 pounds of food coming in on the last weekend, raising around a total of 175,000 pounds by December 3. After tireless weeks of tutorial representatives getting their store drafts, dedicated students standing outside the stores, tutorials compet-ing with each other, and the lead-ership class counting the pounds of food collected, our efforts have provided food and make a differ-ence for less fortunate people in San Mateo County. The tutorial that took the winning title was Mr. Rainaldi’s tutorial, collecting a grand total of 14,153 pounds. An In-N-Out Party will be

Joey WongNews Editor

rewarded for their good samartian work. Mr. Ikeda’s tutorial came in close with 13,198 pounds of food and Ms. Kalinski’s tutorial collect-ed 8,308 pounds of food in third place. Although, there was only one winner, all tutorials did an amazing job of collecting cans and money for the drive. Although we did not raise 300,000 pounds of food as we had hoped, we were still able to bring in large amounts of food in these tough economic times. After the Thanksgiving break, the leader-ship class went around tutorials collecting boxes of food, filling 10 barrels of food. “Although we didn’t reach our goal, I still consider the drive a

APES Attend AGU ConferenceSavannah LiuStaff Writer Mr. Appleman’s AP Environmen-tal classes attended the American Geophysical Union (AGU) Fall Meeting in San Francisco at the Moscone Center on Wednesday, December 5. The students learned from the over 20,000 scientists there who shared their research and projects, ranging from promotion of climate literacy to tsunami mit-

igation. At poster sessions, the students were able to speak with scientists representing universities and re-search centers from all over the world. Many of the presentations were very specialized but nonethe-less interesting. “It was an eye opening experi-ence. I learned a lot from the pre-sentations and posters and was See AGU, Page 2

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Biotech Students Visit Life Technologies in Foster City

Biotechies view stained cells with the FLoid, a new product.

From AGU, page 1

Vikash MorarSocial Media Editor This has been a very busy semes-ter for Biotech students, who took a trip to the Foster City company Life Technologies on Tuesday to tour the laboratory and participate in learning activities. Life Technologies invited the Biotech students in hopes of in-creasing their knowledge of and sparking their interest in regenera-tive medicine. One activity that the students participated in was stain-ing the organelles of a group of cells and visualizing them on Life Technologies’ newest creation, the FLoid. Life Technologies sells laborato-ry instruments to other companies

and educational programs while researching regenerative medicine as well. In addition to doing laboratory ac-tivities, students were given a tour

of the building and saw how the manufacturing operations are car-ried out. Students were given the privilege of being shown around the company, an experience that

few students will ever be able to have. Life Technologies has been a fre-quent supporter of the San Mateo biotechnology program and for the past 15 years, it has donated $5,000 to $10,000 annually to it. In addi-tion, the biotechnology internship program, which now gives approx-imately 30 students the opportunity to intern at a biotech company ev-ery summer, started with Life Tech-nologies as well. In 1993, Ms. Daugherty ap-proached Life Technologies and the company offered to let her students intern there. This was the first in-ternship offered to biotech students and it led to all of the other intern-ships available to biotech students.

PHOTO BY JOEY WONG

Over the course of 8 years, more than 100 biotech students interned at Life Technologies. However, at the time, the company was under the name Applied Biosystems. When Applied Biosystems com-bined with Invitrogen to form Life Technologies, many of the facil-ities at the Foster City site were moved to Pleasanton. Because of this, Life Technologies no longer takes interns from San Mateo High School, but the biotech program is very grateful because it was the first company to offer an internship, which inspired the internship pro-gram. The biotechnology students were excited to tour Life Technologies and are excited for other visits.

The sweet sounds of Mozart, Bach, and even Disney, were in the air at San Mateo’s Winter Music Concert, held this year for the first time in our gym. On the evening of November 5 over 150 parents, fam-ilies, students, and alumni filled the gym to listen to the Marching Band, Concert Band, Jazz Band,

Hannah PoplackBusiness Manager

Symphonic Band, and Orchestra perform. The concerts started off with a bang, with the marching band strut-ting onto the gym floor. Performing their renowned Disney field show from November’s Little Big Game, under the direction of Drum Major Allie Munier, the band played for nearly ten minutes. The marching band’s performance was followed

by astounding performances by the other four bands on two sepa-rate band stages set up in the gym, entertaining the crowd with every-thing from 1920’s Jazz, to modern day pieces. The concert, which was dedicated to the late Nancy Cordero, was also a fundraiser for Nancy’s family and for Brain Cancer research. “Even though Nancy was never in

band, I thought dedicating the con-cert to her was a nice way to honor her memory,” said John Merritt, a member of the marching band. This year’s winter concert in-cluded many changes to the usual program, most notably a change in venue. While last year’s con-cert was held in Burlingame High School’s performing arts center, this years concert was held in the

San Mateo gym. “I had never been to a band con-cert before this year. I was really impressed by the level of talent and the caliber of the music” said Se-nior Audrey Grimes. “Over all, I’m really proud of all the bands and how hard every-body’s worked this year,” said Allie Munier, Drum Major, “all that hard work was truly showed.”

Band Dedicate Their Winter Concert to Nancy Cordero

APES Visit SF for the Fall AGU Conferencehappy to actually understand most of it!” said Lucy Dai-He, junior. “I thought the exhibit hall was interesting because it was filled with engaging facts that were from scientists all over the world,” said James Yang, junior. On the other hand, Yuji Miwa, junior, said, “I was a bit disappoint-

ed about the exhibits because they were basically advertisements.” He still enjoyed the conference. “I would definitely go again. I loved the posters, especially the one’s on hydrology.” Throughout the day, the students also attended talks. A major speaker at the meeting was Sir Robert Wat-

son, Chief Scientific Advisor to the British government in the Depart-ment for Environment, Food, and Rural Affairs, gave a talk on the effects of our continually increas-ing carbon emissions, stressing the importance of political attention to implementing necessary policies. “There is so much to be learned

about the world, and the AGU was just a minor glimpse at all of the scientific perspective…Professor Sir Bob Watson spoke eloquently about the situation that the world is in,” said Rowan Kardos, junior. The AGU meeting was a unique learning experience where they saw science in the making.

From CANS, page 1success because there are 80,000 peoeple in the San Mateo County that need food,” said Steven Pan-tuso, Community Service Commis-sioner. Our annual Canned Food Drive collected more actual food than last year, 15,000 pounds of actu-al food. We raised 38,000 pounds worth of food in money that was collected. This tremendous amount of food will be able to provide food to needy families over the holidays and beyond. “We were able to collect more food donations than any previous years and that is something i’m proud of, and we did an amazing job with fewer stores,” said Eric Hu, Community Service Commis-sioner. He and Steven are so thank-ful for the school, faculty, and fam-ilies’ that have contributed to the Canned Food Drive. “In the end, it’s not about the 300,000 pounds of food, it’s about helping our community, the San Mateo County,” said Steven.

175,000 Lbs. of Food Feed the Hungry

pinion Page 3Friday, December 14, 2012 THESANMATEOHI

Don’t Tell Me What To Think!In the spirit of the holidays, we are taking a break

from arguing this month. We’ll spend the break gearing up for our battle in January!

Dear Editor,After having watched The

Vampire Diaries, I believe the sex scenes in the show may be a little inappropriate. Everyone knows it gets a little awkward when a parent walks in and it just so happens to be during a sex scene.

I find that [the sex scenes] are a bit unnecessary as well because the point would get across in the show without it. I think these scenes are put into the show to appeal to a different group of viewers, but these shows already have a large amount of viewers without that crowd. I think the shows would continue to be successful without the additional sex scenes solely based on its interesting storyline.

Shaina PrasadClass of 2013

Letters to the Editor

Intriguing or Disturbing?

Arts & Entertainment Section

News Section

Dear Editor, After reading “Nancy Cordero Always Smiled With a Caring Heart” by Joey Wong, I feel it was one of the sweetest and well writ-

Sweet Angel

THESANMATEOHI Karen CheeVictoria Xiao

Kay ZhangSavannah LiuTiffany Lee

P.C. Fergusson

Staff WritersEvan Adary Anuja ArgadeSean BecksteadAli BruschiAndrea Caceres

Joey Wong News EditorChristina Dressel Opinion EditorJean Fan Features EditorKimberly Cano LEL EditorJonathan Mou Sports EditorTommy Imperial A&E EditorZach Lorenzini A&E EditorTalia Gurevich Special Sections EditorHannah Poplack Business ManagerDiana Brewer Photo EditorJonathan Slowey Web EditorAva Gerami Web ManagerJeremy Gofman Social Media EditorVikash Morar Social Media Editor

The Voice of San Mateo High

Juhie DesaiAndrew QareChrissy Domingo Savannah LiuJean Ye

Brandon ChinKyle YangRachael WanAlexis Quinney

Editors-in-Chief

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ten articles by far. To write about someone that almost everyone in the Bearcat Community knows is what makes it that much more interesting to read about.

Although my relationship with Nancy started fading from Freshman year, our relationship would never change whenever we would come across each other at school. Nancy is a legend that will always have an impact on lives she came across at San Mateo High.

Writing an article about someone everyone knows is a great idea because everyone is aware of that person and can read this article just as an update on whoever or whatever the article is about.

I enjoy reading the articles you all write when it’s about the students or staff members because it makes you feel like you are somewhat a part of them.

Joyce UngaClass of 2013

Send Letters to the Editor to

Christina.Dressel@thebearcat.net

Talia Gurevich Christina Dressel

New Club Offers New Perspective

A new club focused around conservative philosophy is coming to San Mateo next semester, though it has already begun recruiting members and discussing plans. Calling themselves the “Patriots of

SMHS,” members held an informal meeting last Tuesday to talk about what the club should focus on.

This club isn’t necessarily for debate. The goal is for it to be a safe place for republicans, libertarians, and others with interest in learning more about conservative principles to speak freely about what conservatism is and why it is the philosophy they have adopted or wish to do so.

Alhough the Patriot Club doesn’t center on debate, the club founders offered the option of debating with other students at formal JSA (Junior Statesmen of America) debates. At the Patriot Club meeting, club founder Sarah Rossi suggested that the Patriot Club could prepare for JSA debates and present opinions as a supportive group, instead of intimidated individuals, surrounded by a liberal-minded majority.

Republicans are poorly represented among the youth across the country, but especially so in the

Bay Area. The Patriot Club offers students who are either not aware of conservative principles or are perhaps interested in learning about it a chance to learn about conservativism. “Our generation is the future, and as members of the future we need to be active in a political sense,” said club founder Sarah Rossi in a message outreach to potential members.

The Patriot Club also plans to draw up a constitution and/or platform, participate in community outreach, and contact conservative speakers to come in. Community service and community awareness are major elements of this club. ”We really want to get out there and get our message known,” said Patriot Club member Allie Munier.

For more information about the Patriot Club, you can speak to juniors Sarah Rossi and Samantha Low, or sophomore James Mahoney.

Christina DresselOpinion Editor

‘Feminist’ not a Bad WordJuhie DesaiStaff Writer

Feminism is getting a bad name, with celebrities like Taylor Swift and Katy Perry, even Yahoo CEO Marissa Meyer, proclaiming they are not feminists. But why?

The dictionary defines feminism as a movement for “equal political, economic, and social rights for women.”

Women have been fighting for equal rights for centuries, making great strides, achieving things like suffrage and the right to property. Today, however, the modern feminist movement has been under attack for supposedly attempting to demoralize and destroy the male population. But is this really happening? No.

“Feminism is the radical notion that women are human beings,” said founder of The Center for the Study of Women Cheris Kramare. The issue isn’t that the feminist movement is attempting to denounce men; the issue is that some men are scared of equality. They are threatened by the fact that women have a 63% employment rate in the US. They are threatened by women who speak up and ask for benefits which they were deprived of for years. Some men are unwilling to make the necessary sacrifices in order to maintain an equal society, or enjoy the power imbalance, and want to maintain it.

In the past, the idea that a woman’s primary life objective was to take care of the household and her children was extremely common; motherhood was romanticized and any other kind of lifestyle was unheard of. Although times are changing, many people still feel like “motherhood is bliss.” But we live in a very different world, where women having power is beneficial. Society needs the perspectives of females in government and medicine. Today’s women are independent, bright, and hardworking. The modern feminist movement simply encourages women to be equal to men. This doesn’t mean that women will be taking the world away from men, instead, they will add to it and improve it.

In addition, the newfound social conservatism that has emerged in modern America has been limiting the freedom of women to extents that are unfair. Take the matter of abortion for instance: the male-dominated Congress consisting of out-of-touch members has adopted laws that restrict a woman’s choice to do what she feels is right for her body. But if women can’t control when they bear children, they can’t control their lives.

We don’t see the power to make choices being taken away from men, so why women?

It’s time for all people, men and women, to stand up for feminism.

A Call for Generalization in AcademicsKaren CheeEditor-In-Chief

As someone hoping to attend college next year, I’ve been subject to a series of questions often directed at high school seniors: Where do you want to go? What do you want to major in? What field within your major? And so on. I’m sure many others can relate.

I have a problem with this series of questions not only because I don’t have concrete answers to them, but also because they’re representative of our society’s increasing, unhealthy obsession with specialization. The practice of specialization, becoming an expert in one particular focus, does indeed, have many good points to it. The problem we, as a society, face, comes from an overdose of specialization; I’ll call it “overspecialization.”

After high school (and some may even argue this case for high schools), many universities favor

the technical and “practical” courses, over the optical, connecting courses such as philosophy. When budget cuts have to be made, the first classes to go are often the general education courses and the humanities, and when monetary donations come in, they are likely used to further develop technology programs in the science department.

This is where the root of the problem lies. People are taught and trained in school that being an expert of something very small in the grand scheme of things that they’re unable to step back and explain just where and how it fits in the larger picture. We’re so encouraged to focus on a single point that we’ve become incapable of seeing the interconnections between subjects and occupations.

This problem manifests itself when it comes time to fix the many problems of the world; we need to be able to look at the larger picture. The climate crisis, for example, may seem like something left for

the scientists, when in fact solving also depends on schools and education, historians, legislators and policy makers, and the media.

With the mindset and focus of one particular thing right now in society, we won’t be able to do much else but replace gears within a larger machine. And we, as people, will amount to nothing but assembly line workers in the world factory, becoming so focused but unaware of everything else that we are unable to realize how maybe a factory isn’t the best method of operation at all.

I don’t mean to call for complete generalization--that certainly harbors its own flaws--but I believe we must learn to strike a balance. With the extreme, minute focus and the individualistic mindset it brings, we won’t be able to successfully tackle the problems in our society. We must learn to see through a more holistic optic and realize what roles our small parts play in and affect the greater ecology of society.

Patriot Club co-founder Sarah Rossi (11) is excited to get to work and start coordinating with similar groups in other schools.

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Page 4 Friday, December 14, 2012thesanmateohi

Jean FanFeatures Editor

Seth Godin, marketing genius and serial entrepreneur, asks us to ask why we go to school. Written as “a series of provocations,” Stop Stealing Dreams reminds us that just because a system is in place doesn’t mean that it’s the right one.

Released as a free PDF earlier this year, Stop Stealing Dreams has created a huge buzz in the education industry.

The $100 Startup teaches us how to find the convergence between what we like to do and what other people will pay us to do.

Chris Guillebeau has lived an extremely unconventional life — by next year he will have traveled to every country in the world.

Although he describes himself as having no qualifications, Guillebeau has done great things: just read his blog called The Art of Non-Conformity.

Zadie Smith, best known for her novels, essays, and short stories, writes about four different young adults living in London who don’t know each other but whose lives are hopelessly intertwined.

Smith is an expert at introducing both philosophy and careful social insights into her books. NW is her latest book, but she is also the author of White Teeth (2000), On Beauty (2005), and Changing My Mind: Occasional Essays (2009).

In A Hologram For The King, Dave Eggers writes about a “loser” in the game of capitalism, according to the book description on Amazon. (I haven’t read this one yet.)

Dave Eggers has mastered the expression of internal human dialogue — our stream of consciousness. In his breakout memoir A Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius, you can get a glimpse of what is going on in his head as he writes his novels.

Alice Munro writes hauntingly good short stories. Dear Life, a book of stories focused on the impact of chance in our lives — one choice can alter our fate irreparably.

Though this is her latest release, one of her earlier short story compilations, called Too Much Happiness, is just as philosophical. In that book, Munro’s characters brave everyday obstacles and learn to transcend the challenges in their lives.

Americans are all constantly talking about how excited we are for either Christmas or Hanukkah, but we rarely hear anything about Kwanzaa. One million to 2 million people celebrate Kwanzaa in America each year. There are seven candles to be lit, starting on December 26 and ending on January 1. Each candle celebrates one of the seven principles of Kwanzaa, which are unity, self-determination, collective work and responsibility, cooperative economics, purpose, creativity, and faith.

According to the official Kwanzaa website, Kwanzaa was created in 1966 by a man named Manulana Karenga. He created the holiday as the first specifically African-American holiday. He hoped to give African Americans an alternative holiday and to celebrate themselves and their history rather than imitate the practices of the dominant society. In a way it was

created to alienate Christians because Karenga believed that Christianity was a white religion. Much has changed since then though, because although many think that only African Americans celebrate Kwanzaa, people of all races all over the world celebrate this uplifting holiday. It has gained popularity in France, Great Britain, Jamaica, and Brazil.

The ordinary green Christmas tree and the blue Jewish star are easily recognizable for everyone but the symbol for Kwanzaa is the less known. It is the kinara, a candleholder with seven candles. It is tradition for houses to be decorated for Kwanzaa with fresh fruits and bright colorful cloth called “kente.” “Joyous Kwanzaa” is the typical way to show your holiday spirit just as others would say, “Merry Christmas” or “Happy Hanukkah”. Although this holiday is unknown to many, several people celebrate this joyful holiday all

over the world. Other cultures such as Muslims,

Hindus, and Sikhs all have their own way of celebrating in December too. According to the About website, Muslims believe in the virgin birth of Jesus, but don’t necessarily mark any day as a holiday. Muslims respect Jesus as a righteous prophet of God and obey his teachings and miracles. Hindus celebrate Diwali, which means “festival of lights.” It is similar to what Christians do to celebrate but instead of worshiping Jesus, they worship the supreme lord Vishnu who had victory against the demon Raavana. In a story from the Religious Facts website, it explains that Sikhs celebrate differently as well. They don’t have a specific holiday in December but have several other events that go on during the other months of the year. They celebrate gurpurbs, which are festivals or fairs that marking the birthday or martyrdom of a Guru.

It’s Not All Christmas

Alexis QuinneyStaff Writer

This is the supreme lord Vishnu, who the Hindus believe to battled and won against Raavana.

This Victorian-Christmas event is unique, taking place only in San Francisco, at the Cow Palace Exhibition Hall.

The festival offers a recreated scene of Charles Dickens’ London as well as plenty of holiday-themed

entertainment. The tickets are $25, but bring

your student ID and it will be discounted. The fair will be available on Sunday, December 16, Saturday, December 22, and Sunday, December 23.

Check Out These Holiday Events

This vintage play will take you back in time to the 1940s, and let you play the studio audience for this holiday performance.

The entire experience is crafted from the talents of five actors, who manage to play dozens of characters and are supported by a

sound effects man.The event takes place at the Marin

Theatre Company in Mill Valley.Ticket prices range from $15 to

$57, and shows will take place from Friday, December 14, to Sunday, December 16.

The Great Dickens Christmas Fair

Kay ZhangStaff Writer

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La Esqu na LatinaPage 5 Friday, December 14, 2012THESANMATEOHI

¿Cuáles tradiciones se celebran en su familia?PREGUNTAS PARA LOS OSOGATOS

“Celebramos la Navidad con un gran cantidad de tamales, música y familia.”

Andrea Zepeda, año 12

“Toda mi familia celebran la Navidad con tamales, pon chorro, y bebidas.”

Enrique Flores, año 10

“Celebro el nacimiento de Jesús con la Iglesia y mi familia.”

Señora Menendez, Professora

Kimberly CanoLEL Editor

Joey WongNews Editor

Un Festejo Navideño

Los estudiantes de San Mateo visitan Univision.

“Celebro la Navidad con mi familia.”

“Celebro año nuevo con toda mi familia con comida y música.”

Maria Chairez, año 11 Laura Moran, año 9

Hispanos que no traen cultura de España, o hasta los que si tienen, tal vez no saben de una tradición Cataluña llamada Caga tió. En el noreste de España, por Barcelona, los niños no piden regalos a Papá Noel sino a su tió. Pero, en este caso, tió no es familiar; tió es un tronco.

“Es una fiesta navideña en que la familia se va al campo y busca una leña, o tronco,” dice Señora Adam-cikova, maestra de español en San Mateo.

Empezando el 8 de diciembre, los niños decoran el tronco con una cara y un gorro llamado barretina. Después, le dan de comer cosas como dulces y fruta, y lo tapan con una colcha para que no tenga frío. Pero, hay más de la historia que decorar un tronco. También lo hace que cague.

“[Los niños] tienen que pegar el tronco para que cague cosas bue-

nas, no cosas malas,” dice Señora Adamcikova. Los niños queman el tronco en su chimenea y cantan una canción en Catalán. Le mandan que cague dulces y regalos.

La tradición viene de un mito de un tronco que trae regalitos a los niños.

Señora Adamcikova y Señora Mitchell enseñan esta tradición a los alumnos de sus clases. “Ten-go muchos amigos que celebran la tradición,” dice Señora Adam-cikova. También dicen que es im-portante que gente sepan de otras culturas. “Nuestro mundo será en-cerrado, necesitamos tener los ojos abiertos para siempre compartir nuestras culturas y apreciar a toda la gente. Es parte del paz mundial.”

El tronco es un símbolo que to-dos somos humanos, dice Señora Adamcikova. “Somos unidos; so-mos iguales.”

Univision abrieron sus brazos y dio la bienvenida a los estudiantes de San Mateo, y maestros para una mirada detrás de la escenas de el noticiero mas conocido. Los estudiantes tomaron el viaje a San Francisco en grandes camionetas blancas listas para la diversión.

El inicio de le paseo consistió en una presentación por Caronlina Echeverría, gerente de asuntos co-munitarios de Univision. Nos habló de la creación de Univision, cómo empezó y los fundamentos de la estación.

“Univision es para la comunidad latina. Queremos cubrir todo lo que sucede en el área de la bahía y de nuestros soñadores “, dijo Echever-ría.

Sus planes son para informar a to-dos los inmigrantes que buscan un futuro, y cómo lograr sus sueños. Habló de las becas presentadas por Univision, consejos para la escuela y de los refuerzos educativos que pueden ayudar a cada estudiante.

Después de pasar el tiempo hablando de la creación de Univi-sion, empezamos la gira. Los alum-nos se dividieron en grupos de dos y aprendieron acerca de algunas posiciones en el equipo de Univi-sion.

Nos encontramos en un cuarto lleno de pantallas. Nos encontra-

mos en una sala llena de monitores. Resulta que sólo un mínimo de 4-5 personas controlan las noticias. Los estudiantes se dirigieron a una habitación en la parte trasera que controlaba todo el sonido. Vimos un monitor que tenía todo el guión para esa noche.

La siguiente parte de la gira siguió el sitio de grabación real. Nos encontramos con León Felipe González y Beatriz Ferrari, los pre-sentadores de noticias del espectá-culo 6pm y 11pm. Los estudiantes llegaron a tomar fotos y tener una pequeña sesión de preguntas con cada uno. Estábamos detrás de las escenas de el programa que estaba ocurriendo. En los últimos años, los

estudiantes se les permitió entrar en el aire, pero por desgracia San Ma-teo no llegó a tener mucha suerte. Sin embargo, el viaje fue una expe-riencia increíble.

“Me gustó aprender sobre difer-entes puestos de trabajo y cómo es-tablecer metas para sí mismo, “dice Jennifer Bautista, año diez.

Las noticias muestran las famil-ias latinas han visto durante años se convirtió en un viaje inolvidable para los estudiantes de San Mateo. Queremos agradecer a Univision por darnos la privilegió de conoc-er a los presentadores y tomar el paseo.

Descansa En Paz Diva de La BandaAndrea CaceresStaff Writer

Detrás de Las Escenas: Univision

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FOTOS POR KIMBERLY CANO

Jenni Rivera, una famosa can-tante mexicano-estadounidense y celebridad de la televisión, murió en un accidente de avión privado en la madrugada del 9 de diciembre.

Su vuelo despegó de Monterrey, en su camino a la cinta de la versión mexicana de “La Voz”, donde fue juez. Su jet privado fue encontrado en pedazos y nada era reconocible.

La causa de su acciden-te de jet privado sigue sien-do objeto de investigación.

Jenni Rivera era una mujer muy influyente en la industria de la música de la cultura latino-americana. A pesar de sus luchas personales, ella todavía quería seguir su carrera en la música.

Ella es conocida internacional-mente como cantante y defenso-ra de los derechos de las mujeres fuertes. Como cantante latina amer-

icana, vendió más de 15 millones de álbumes y nominado en 2003, 2008 y 2010 de los Grammy Lati-no. Su música ha sido influenciada por sus experiencias de su vida, tales como las cuestiones socia-les, la infidelidad y las relaciones.

Jenni Rivera es conocida como una mujer muy fuerte y inspiradora. En 2008, se convirtió en el primer

LAS TOP 9 Esta lista del mes es por

Kimberly Cano

Algo Me Gusta De TiWisin & Yandel Featuring Chris Brown & T-Pain

Volví A NacerCarlos Vives

¿Por Qué Les Mientes?Tito El Bambino + El Patron ft. Marc Anthony

Solo Vine A DespedirmeGerardo OrtizCabecita DuraLa Arrolladora Banda el Limon de Rene Camacho

IncondicionalPrince Royce

Llévame ContigoRomeo Santos

LimboDaddy Yankee

Pegaito SuavecitoElvis Crespo ft. Fito Blanko

La sonrisa de Jenni Rivera brillara por siempre.álbum número uno en el Billboard Top Latin Albums en los Estados Unidos. Muerte súbita Jenni Rivera ha conmocionado a la industria de la música y sus fans de todo el mundo.

A pesar de que ya no pueden compartir su fuerza y su cultu-ra musical, su música y su his-toria perdurará en la memoria.

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PrivacyPage 6 Friday, December 14, 2012THESANMATEOHI

“Yeah, because I set all of my privacy settings so no one I don’t know can see my posts.”Michelle Kwan, Class of 2016

“I don’t think it’s very private. Mutual friends can see my stuff and if the administration wanted to, I’m sure they could also.”Amy Lin, Class of 2014

“No, it bothers me that people I may not know can see posts of mine without me knowing.”Tarryn O’Mahoney, Class of 2013

“I put my posts and information on private, but students could find me if they wanted to. I’m confident that I can keep my information private if I want it to be. ”Ms. Cintas, Teacher

“Not very. It bothers me that people can find all of my information and they can see the things I say.”Ilyas Reyhanoglu, Class of 2015

Do you think your information is private online?

Who Is Looking At Your Posts?

Student Facebooks are easily accessed by almost anyone if the prvacy settings aren’t restricted.

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Talia GurevichSpecial Section Editor

The issue of privacy, whether physical or electronic, between the administration and the student body has been debated before many times, so this issue isn’t exactly new. Students bristle at the notion that while they’re at school, they’re under the administration’s jurisdiction. And the administration is naturally defensive when confronted about their student code of conduct.

“When your teachers take role in the morning, the administration becomes legally responsible for student safety on campus,” said Assistant Principal Ms. Woolfolk. “The administration doesn’t pry into student’s lives. The only time we get involved is when it’s brought to our attention, and when threats are posed at another student or a teacher.”

When students register at San Mateo High School, they agree to any form of search or monitoring. During school hours, the administration becomes our unofficial parents. However, they try to maintain an environment of equality and only search students when there is reasonable suspicion. The school has the right to search lockers, backpacks, and cars, because they all fall on school property.

Students aren’t allowed to go to their cars during school because even though the parking lot is on-campus, it is “out of bounds,” meaning the school can search ours cars if they feel the need to. Lockers are also viable for searches because they belong to school, and are school property.

“Where I went to school, there were metal detectors and police with drug-sniffing dogs on-

campus. Sometimes during class, students were just asked to get up and leave their backpacks, and the drug-sniffing dog would come through and smell everyone’s bags,” said Ms. Woolfolk.

Compared to other schools in the state, San Mateo High isn’t so bad. Most administration faculty are open to student input, and usually only get involved in student personal lives if one of the students

brings the conflict to them. “We don’t go out of our way to snoop on students’ Facebooks. We have just about as much ability to look at them as anyone else does, and usually someone is a friend of a friend who’s friends with a faculty member, and that’s how we view other facebooks. There’s no special program or secret way we look at facebook profiles,” said Ms. Woolfolk.

“We have to intervene if there are threats made against another student or the school. If it’s just a conflict and hasn’t escalated, we try to mediate the situation. But keep in mind the police can look at the things you post, and when you put something out there, someone could be looking at it.” Said Ms. Woolfolk.

Ava GeramiWeb Manager

As you can clearly see by my byline, my name’s Ava Gerami, yet on Facebook, it’s Eva Geremi. You may see many seniors this year changing their names on Facebook some just changing a letter or two, while others invent completely new names for themselves.

It’s actually an attempt to evade the ever-preying college

admissions officers. With your full name, your city of origin and your birth date, a simple Google search will shed more than enough light on who you are outside of an academic setting, including bringing up your Facebook page, your Twitter feed and any blogs you may have under your name.

Some think that’s fine; they think they have nothing to hide, but what if they’re not checking just for—ahem—not so legal activities, but rather for what “type” of student you are?

For example, my college applications don’t reflect the blue hair that is so evident on my Facebook profile; they don’t have the political opinions that are showcased on my blog. It’s easy to typecast someone based on their

online presence. Whether you like Rage Against the Machine or Katy Perry could influence where you get in.

But this shouldn’t concern only seniors, all grades should be concerned about this invasion of privacy, because it happens at our school as well. Some students have been punished because of Facebook posts. “Usually a student brings their Facebook page to us to say someone is bullying me or I’m worried about this student,” said Principal Yvonne Shiu. But even so, how much access is too much?

Did you know that you could be traced by your IP address? No matter what name you publish under, your IP address can be tracked by the school or even the police, and that post you made on your friend’s wall about how “Becky is so annoying, I’m gonna kick her a**” can and will get you suspended, or worse.

And if you choose to use the school’s free Wi-Fi, you might want to take a look at their agreement policy before you click continue, The school district “may monitor any activity or communication on the system and retrieve any information

stored within the system,” if you use their wifi, the agreement said.

“Social media is a ticking time

bomb”However, we should keep in mind

that in some cases, information published on Facebook has saved lives; in 2010 when four New Jersey students made a bomb threat on Facebook, they were arrested before they could actually do anything.

Whether it may affect your college acceptances or school record, social media has become a ticking time bomb, waiting to explode all over anyone with a less than perfect online presence.

GRAPHIC COURTESY OF HTTP://MARIANO.DELEGADODEPOLICIA.COM/

Page 7Friday, December 14, 2012 THESANMATEOHI

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Zach LorenziniA&E Editor

2012 Year In Review: Entertainment Highs & Lows

Get Some: December Beauty BuysAnuja ArgadeStaff Writer

Here’s the lowdown: we tend to go a little overboard during the holidays. From sticky glosses to super thick lashes, makeup is almost abused brutally. But don’t fret, it’s the per-fect opportunity to shed these nasty habits and polish up with the age-old secret: “less is more.” Something as simple as a sheer swipe of shadow can do wonders (say that five times fast). Invest in Dior’s ever-so universal Rosy Tan 754 Five Color shadow palette. Even with a price tag of $59, this product will last longer and work magic all 365 days of the year. If your wallet is tight at the mo-ment and you still want a little glamour, go for Sonia Kashuk’s Full Glam lashes, $5 at Target. But be sure to go light on the shadow if you opt for falsies, because these are super lush. For $15, have a touch of 18K. Sephora by OPI’s It’s Real 18K Gold Top Coat does just the thing. It’s definitely one of the best golden polishes out there, and is higher in demand than ever, providing glim-mer and glitz without being over-whelming. Nothing screams the holidays like a red lip. For many, this can be in-timidating. No worries, Benefit’s Benetint, $29, has your back. It’s the furthest thing from a gloppy lipstick or a tacky gloss. It provides a flush of buildable color, so you can go from a pinkish tint to a deep rose. By all means, embrace the holi-days. Just remember, steer clear from embracing every shadow and lip color at once. Let each product shine, and in turn, you’ll shine too.

Be smart this holiday season with Benetint, OPI’s gold top coat, and Dior’s Rosy Tan shadow palette respectively.

HI PLAYLISTTHE

This month’s playlist by Tommy Imperial

I Can Only Give You Everything Nick WaterhouseFireJake BuggGenesisGrimesSpeak Up POP ETCAtlantisAzealia BanksI Always KnewThe VaccinesConcrete WallZee AviHollywood Forever Cemetery SingsFather John MistySilver Springs (Fleetwood Mac Cover)Lykke Li

Constant ConversationsPassion Pit

Push and Shove No Doubt Feat. Major Lazer & Busy Signal

Hot KnifeFiona Apple

A Look Back at Some of 2012’s Best

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Bad As MeTom Waits

2012 commenced with the mysterious introduction of pop culture’s new diva, Lana Del Rey. After her debut EP release in early January, including “Born to Die” and “Videogames,” Del Rey’s beautifully brooding voice and jazz-styled beats and strings launched her into the limelight. With both discouraging criticism and adoring praise, her debut album Born

The quirky and eccentric Grimes (Claire B o u c h e r ) proved that passion and d e d i c a t i o n can lead to massive success. Her third studio album, Visions, released in early February, and jumped to critical acclaim in the realm of electronic music. After years of making textures with her vocals and MacBook Pro, Grimes’s third effort brought her the attention she’s been striving for, recorded in her apartment within three weeks on Apple’s Garageband.

Born to DieLana Del Rey

To Die released on January 17, and so began a year

VisionsGrimes

Jan 7: Blue Ivy Carter was introduced to the world, the love-child of superstars Beyonce and Jay-Z.

Jan 20: The passing of the iconic Etta James caused grief to lovers of blues music worldwide, putting her name down as one of history’s greatest blues singers.

Feb 5: Rapper M.I.A. flipped the bird during her Super Bowl halftime p e r f o r m a n c e , causing a negative uproar from viewers as well as her partner, Madonna.

Feb 11: Yet another iconic singer is lost to history: the most awarded female act of all time, Whitney Houston died at age 48.

Feb 12: The 55th annual Grammy Award Show paid respect to indie-rock band Bon Iver, awarding them as Best New Artist.

April 4: Justin Bieber’s “Boyfriend” gains second-highest first week sales of a new single, placing him at number two on the Billboard Hot 100.

Indie-rock b a n d s Best Coast and Beach H o u s e b o t h

July 31: Rapper Snoop Dogg introduced his new stage name “Snoop Lion” after a spiritual awakening while visiting Jamaica.

Taylor Swift released her new album Red, making history with a total of 1.2 million copies sold in a week.

Nov 16: The Twilight Saga released the final chapter, Breaking Dawn Part Two, finally putting the vampire frenzy to rest.

 

 

RedTaylor Swift

released their highly anticipated new albums, The Only Place and Bloom on the same day, causing a buzz from eager listeners. Best Coast’s sophomore album introduced a clearer sound, and Beach House’s fourth album added

Nov 13:British boy band

One Direction marked their success in 2012 with their second performance on New York’s Today Show. Promoting their new album Take Me Home, the boys gave a free performance in the Big Apple with over 15,000 fans in attendance. They’ve garnered massive attention since their debut last year, and the success of their

Singer Sky Ferreira caught listeners by surprise in late August with her single

“Everything Is Embarrassing,” reinventing her sound and

Everything Is EmbarrassingSky Ferreira

sophomore album was pretty much guaranteed by the record breaking turnout at the Today Show. One Direction really exploded this year, and due to both the band’s enormous success and the media’s boy-band overload, they stole a large portion of 2012’s entertainment spotlight.

intensity to their previously dreamy style.

Best Coast / Beach House

reputation with the production of Dev Hynes.

with high musical expectations.

SportsPage 8 Friday, December 14, 2012THESANMATEOHI

8 THINGS TOKNOW ABOUT

1 All shots made inside the 3-point line are worth 2 points.

Boys’ Basketball

2 The ball has a diameter of 29.5 inches. 3 There are five

players on the court at once per team.

4 A shooting foul results in 2 free-throws.

5 You are only allowed 3 seconds in the key.

6 There are four 8-minute quarters in high school.

7 You have ten seconds to get the ball across half-court.

8 You are allowed a total of five fouls per game.

Jonathan MouSports Editor

Mateo Basketball Braces For Season

Jonathan MouSports Editor

Junior Samuel Bekker shoots over a Terra Nova defender.

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Bearcat basketball is back, and aims to be better than ever. Despite placing seventh at the annual Burlingame Lions Club Tournament, the Bearcats took many things out of this tournament aside from the two losses and one win. The tournament, which took place from December 5 to 7, was held at Burlingame High School with eight teams participating in the contest.

Bearcats played their rigorous first game against the Valley Christian Warriors, ending in a 71-25 loss. The Warriors took control at the start of the game, running down the Bearcats and making easy buckets from turnovers.

“We played terribly, like we were scared of them. We did not run our offense and we played in a rush,” said senior captain Jonathan Arevalos. By the third quarter the game turned into a blowout, but the Bearcats still fought until the end, refusing to give up.

“I don’t know what to say about that game. We were making stupid turnovers and we played scared,” said Coach Julian Hudson.

The second game was played against Los Altos, but this time, the Bearcats played with heart and made a major comeback, even though they lost. Mateo rallied from being down as many as 29 points during the first half to the ten by the closing minutes of the fourth quarter, with back-to-back three-pointers by junior Bryan Okada. The final score of the game was 44-56.

“If we haven’t had dug ourselves a hole, we probably would have won the game. I think this loss was

a great learning experience. In a sense, we won even though we lost because we fought to get back in the game,” said Jonathan.

The final game, played on

December 7, was against Terra Nova in a race for seventh place. The Bearcats showed more energy than ever against the Tigers, being aggressive right from the start of the game and never relinquishing the lead. The score of the game was 54-47, with the Bearcats holding on despite a late 7-3 run by the Tigers. Only four players scored—21 points by Bryan Okada, 15 points a piece by Jonathan Arevalos and Sam Bekker, and 3 points by Sameh Bdeir.

“We were kind of in a rush during the last minutes of the game, and I think that we need to learn to take our time and run our stuff because we had the lead,” explained Coach Hudson.

Our varsity basketball team still has much to learn, as their first league game is on January 9. The pre-season is for improvement and experience, something the Bearcats definitely got from this tournament.

“At least we didn’t place last,” said senior Sameh Bdier. As of December 10, the Bearcats sport a 2-5 pre-season record, and they aim to improve and be ready by the time league begins. Be sure to come out and support the team.

“I think this loss was a great learning experience.”-Jonathan Arevalos

Mateo Soccer Falls To SerraChrissy DomingoStaff Writer

On Wednesday December 5, San Mateo Boys Varsity soccer team battled Serra, an all-boys Catholic school. The game was evenly matched and both teams fought for the win, but unfortunately, Serra came out on top.

It was a very close game with a score of 0-1. Serra scored at the end of the first half.

“Our defense played really well. We shut down their offense but they ended up scoring at their only opportunity,” said senior Larry Campbell.

“The best part was decking one of the forwards, but I knew him so it was okay,” said senior captain Kent Turtletaub.

Aggression is part of the game, and it’s what separates the good from the best.

In any team, there’s always room for improvement. Even though our offense needs some work, we still are able to get lots of shots on goal.

“We hit the post and had a lot of opportunities buy just couldn’t

score.” said Kent. It’s all about the finish and with practice, they will surely succeed through their hard

work and persevearance.The team is off to a great start this

year and expects to make it far this season. We want to begin another winning streak and make it last, continuing the same championship run we had last year.

“As a team, we play really well together and that’s what good because if you have a bunch of good players that don’t play together you’d never win.” explained Kent.

Their teamwork will hopefully lead them back to CCS this year, as they won it last year and brought home the championship for Mateo.

“We tryna repeat our CCS win.” Larry added, “If Serra makes it to CCS, come see us.” Come out to support the boys’ varsity soccer team and help them win CCS again like they did last year. The next soccer game will be on December 28 at home against Sacred Heart Cathedral.

Sameh Bdeir, Jonathan Arevalos, and Samuel Bekker pose.

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“Our defense played really well.

We shut down their offense but they ended up

scoring.”-Larry Campbell