H

Racism is more than black and whiteWhen most people think about racism, they only consider the issue in black and white. However, racism is an issue that hangs over all races.

the

December 2014 Vol VI Issue III www.scotscoop.com @scotscoopnews

IGHLANDER

MINH-HAN VU & ASHLEY KAWAKAMI

Alisa TakahashiStaff Writer

There is this that just because public transportation is no longer segregated, rac-ism is over.

When the word “racism” is used think back to slaves being mistreated by planta-tion owners, or the injustices of black peo-ple not being able to sit in the same places as whites on the bus.

Simultaneously, severe acts of racism and discrimination like massacres, mass expulsions and near-genocidal policies were perpetrated against the Chinese.

These acts were not any less harsh or un-justified than slavery or segregation but are much less known about today. People are subject to the same racial tensions that too

many think is only a black and white issue. While our society might think that we

are conscious of racial and cultural preju-dices, the truth is that we have turned a blind eye to racism that occurs daily to mi-norities.

As long as we address racism as only two-race issue, we will never understand the magnitude of this nor that those who are somewhere between black and white face the same prejudices as both blacks and whites.

When Kwok-Ming Cheng, the aver-age working adult male, went to a Whole Foods in New York City to pick up some pre-ordered sandwiches over the weekend, he wasn't expecting to get tapped with a new nickname.

"Are you Ching Chong?"That's the question Cheng said he heard

from a customer service representative at the grocery store.

It is a slur that many other Asian-Ameri-can people have heard at some point in our lives.

Some of these peoples are refugees from sad countries torn apart by war. Others are children of the stable middle class whose parents came to the U.S. in search of a bet-ter life. Some came with nothing, not even speaking English. Others came with skills and affluence. Many were born in the U.S. to immigrant parents.

No matter what their route, young Asian Americans, largely those with Chinese, Ko-rean and Japanese backgrounds are stereo-

typed because of it. Asian-Americans are often forgotten in

the race discussions, while race relations pertaining to African-Americans, or Latin-Americans have been hot topic discussions and generated far more outcries over the treatment and racial discriminations.

What is the difference between calling a black person a n(expletive deleted) and an Asian person ‘Ching-chong”?

However, hateful acts and or remarks made towards Asians are not seen as de-meaning and is not as chastised as it would be towards an African-American or Latin-American.

“If I were to say something totally of-fensive like ‘that man’s going to steal some-

Continued on pg 3

All Asians are clueless foreigners. All blacks are ghetto.All Middle Eastern people are terrorists.While to many, it may seem obvious that the statements

above are offensive, harmful, and untrue, such oppressive stereotypes are still widely perpetuated.

Although one may expect our society to grow more ac-cepting in an increasingly diverse environment, the nega-tive effects of racial prejudices are still felt throughout our daily lives and have yet to be fully overcome.

In attempts to stifle the ubiquitous effects of racism, many, including junior Samantha Pipkin have attempted to completely overlook race and culture by adopting the ideology of racial color blindness.

“All humans deserve to be treated the same, regardless of their race. In order to achieve equality, every human should be given opportunities based on their ethics, not the color of their skin. Color blindness allows us to do this,” said Pipkin.

The application and promotion of color blindness can be very clearly seen in the case against affirmative action, an action or policy often in relation to education, that favors

Minh-Han VuArt Staff

Racial blindness

communities who tend to suffer from discrimination. Pipkin said, “Affirmative action is unfair and unethical.

People should be chosen purely based on their academic and extracurricular achievements. A person’s capabilities cannot be judged through their race, so it shouldn’t play any role in the admissions process.”

Pipkin is not alone in her belief that race should not play

a role in education. The American Civil Rights Institute, headed by Ward Connerly, has won a series of ballot initia-tives that prevent government institutions from consider-ing race and ethnicity in numerous areas of public matters and uphold practices of color blindness, including in areas of public education.

Continued on pg 2

MINH-HAN VUBeing blind to race brings up issues of cultural insensitivity.

Sarah Burry: persevering beyond a chronic illness pg 8

Integrity: balancing opportunity and consequences pg10&11

Adopting pets from the ASPCA for the holidays pg 14

Page 2

The Highlander December 2014NEWS

Racial blindness

Aria FrangosStaff Writer

On vacation, you go into a gift shop, hoping for some token to remind you of place you visited. There’s a recurring theme on every shirt, keychain, and snowglobe: I Love [insert ethnicity/culture/country/city here].

Self pride is generally not viewed as a bad quality. It builds confidence, happi-ness, and senses of belonging, purpose, and worth. None of these are bad things. How-ever, sometimes this pride can be taken too far.

Many cultures have a strong identity as a result of generations upon generations of tradition and history. This identity contrib-utes to one’s character, customs, habits and beliefs. It shapes the way people interact with and view each other.

There are endless stereotypes of how dif-ferent cultures behave. These all stem from cultural identity, be it a culture with an out-standing trait or custom, or the result of conflict between cultures.

Often, this pride is not that subtle. It’s shown in loud, vibrant ways, such as cul-tural festivals like the Belmont Greek Fes-tival filled with people of the culture cel-ebrating their heritage and sharing it with others, and apparel or accessories putting their culture on display.

“I think my cultural identity defines who I am,” said sophomore Ari Farantos. “It sets an expectation for me to follow my culture, like how I’ve been immersed in Greek folk dancing and how socially Greek people are

supposed to be extroverted and involved with everyone.”

Sometimes a culture has a history of struggle or oppression that has shaped the development of its behavior toward others. While a harsh past producing a harsher culture makes logical sense, that does not necessarily excuse behavior or feelings of superiority.

The USA is interesting in this case be-cause the country is such a large mix of different cultures in one place. There is an overarching American cultural identity that branches into regional identities that have developed over time. Despite these surrounding influences, immigrant cul-tures often stay strong even when mixed into new communities with different cus-toms.

“In my perspective, pride is the accep-tance of where you came from and being proud of it, while the superiority complex is when an individual of some race or cultural origin feels superior to others because of it,” said sophomore Sowmya Chandrasekaran. “The distinction is in the treatment of oth-ers.”

Asian, Pacific Islander, and Hispanic customs often dictate that the young need to care for their elders in sickness and old age. In America, where these young need to work, this can cause serious issues as tra-dition clashes with necessity of a culturally different lifestyle.

Filial piety, the idea of caring for one’s parents, is a Confucian ideal deeply set into Chinese culture. However, when living in America, this tradition is a strain as young

are geographically separated or economi-cally unable to put their own lives on hold to care for their parents.

The suicide rate for Pacific Islander and Asian-American women over age 75 is al-most twice that of the rate for other wom-en of the same age. This statistic has been linked to the lack of filial piety expressed when these outside cultures are placed into a setting that does not allow for such tradi-tion to be honored in keeping with the fast paced lives of working Americans.

“I think a mix of cultures is a positive on society because with more exposure to a diverse population, it leads to a more open mindset,” said Chandrasekaran. “It could cause bad things like assimilation, accul-turation, or discrimination, but it could also increase general self confidence and pride in their origins.”

Nationalism can be very detrimental to society if taken too far. Some cultures are stereotyped as having many individuals with overzealous pride in their country and background.

The Mexican culture in America has a reputation of being immensely proud of their heritage as Mexicans. This is dem-onstrated in their passionate support for their regional and national soccer teams like Chivas, Club America, or El Tri, and many fans' fervent belief in their prowess over other teams.

White nationalism is also a significant issue in the U.S. Since the founding of the country, there was a general accepted supe-riority of white, native-born Americans to immigrants, blacks, and Native Americans.

Organizations such as Connerly’s have contributed to the growth of racial color blindness amongst Americans, and have made it one of the most pervasive approaches to-wards achieving equality in our society.

Senior Komei Wang said, “To many people, color blind-ness seems to be the most thorough and practical solution to overcoming racial prejudice, so it’s not surprising that it has become so widespread.”

There are others, however, who believe that color blind-ness is an incomplete and incorrect approach towards overcoming racism, and that its practice ultimately per-petuates ignorance.

In a study conducted by Tufts University, it was found that efforts to overlook race only highlighted racial ten-sions, and were perceived as racist by both white people and people of color.

Sophomore Isabelle Valdez said, “I think that the idea of color blindness causes much more harm than good. It allows people to cover their ears and eyes to the existing racism in our world.”

Although it may be hard to spot at first, the negative effects of racial blindness can be seen almost anywhere. Valdez experienced them firsthand while participating in a Feminist Club meeting.

“In our discussion, someone had brought up the wage gap between men and women. When I tried to point out that women of color earn up to 28% less than white wom-en, I was told that I was being extreme and that the issue wasn’t relevant.”

Valdez continues, “I was disappointed because I was brushed aside and a huge issue was minimized in a set-

This continued through institutions like nativist societies focused on sup-pressing the immigrant influence in poli-tics and slavery oppressing the black race as a whole. In the 1800s, this nationalism took the form of the Klu Klux Klan. While sometimes overlooked, white nationalism is a serious issue that has caused much vio-lence and turmoil in the country.

Brent Budowsky of top U.S. political website The Hill said, “We Americans do not believe in superior cultures or superior groups versus inferior cultures and inferior groups.”

However, there has been a general be-lief here in Western superiority since the American Revolution, and it hasn’t died out. American belief in the exceptional-ism of our culture is what led to expansion since the 1800s, and was a firm tenet of American presidents like Thomas Jefferson and James K. Polk.

In 2002 the Pew Research Center found that 60 percent of Americans believed our culture is superior to others. A repeat sur-vey in 2012 showed that this statistic has decreased to 49 percent, but this is still a significant figure.

“I feel like I’ve been affected by my cul-tural identity in the sense that I’ve been pressured to fit into a box,” said junior Molly McDowell. “I suppose that’s just ste-reotypes like everyone feels, although as a Caucasian blonde, my own is mainly about a convenient phone and a delicious drink, so I don’t mind that much. I think I judge other based on racial stereotypes more than I feel it myself.”

Continued from page 1

ting where equality is supposed to be upheld. When race is ignored, all the struggles and oppression that comes with one’s racial background is ignored as well-- pretending that we are all treated as equals is not going to make us equal. Acknowledging a problem is the first step to fixing it, and color blindness does the opposite.”

Those like Valdez and junior Theo Chatman believe that racial cognizance, or the attempt to actively understand and respect different races and cultures, serves as an effec-tive alternative to color blindness.

Chatman, who is president of the Black Student Union, said, “Race will always play a major factor in life. It’s some-thing that is innate and inseparable to who we are. Instead of ignoring large parts of someone’s identity, we have to learn as people to be embracing, respectful, and cognizant of existing cultural differences.”

While it is important to work towards omitting racial prejudices from our developing perceptions, it is just as crucial to try and build an understanding of different races and the advantages and adverse circumstances that may come with them.

Racial superiority across all races

“Race is inseparable from identity, and we have to learn to be embracing,” said Theo ChatmanMINH-HAN VU

Page 3

The HighlanderDecember 2014 NEWS

Racism is more than black and whitething because he’s black,’ everyone would have a complete-ly negative reaction, but if someone else said ‘you get good grades because you are Asian,’ it’s less likely that people would react as negatively and might even agree with that statement,” said junior Sydney Cho.

Positive stereotypes, such as being “smart” because of race like Cho mentioned, that are widely embraced and even considered flattering, can be equally detrimental to negative stereotypes.

It is important to recognize that this idea that every Asian person is smart is like any other stereotype, obvi-ously false and easily ignorable.

Due to the way that many people of any racial back-ground, including Asian usually regard this “Asians-are-smart” stereotype as more acceptable than others, its im-plications change.

According to this stereotype, intelligence is the result of having Asian genes. The stereotype that “Asians are smart” then becomes “Asians are smart because they are Asian.”

“If you are Asian American and you have grown up in

America, you have heard it all your life. People say, ‘Go back to China or wherever you’re from!’ It’s that ‘ching-chong-ah-ling-long’ racists say when they are attempting to defile your language, your culture, and your family,” said senior Angela Jing.

Historically, the enslavement of blacks is well-known and has obvious negative connotations. It is pounded into every student from the first grade until the end of any his-torical studies at any university.

The enslavement of the Japanese, the treatment of Chinese laborers on the railroad, the dehumanization of Asians by government institutions as a propaganda effort during WWII are hardly talked about, or even made aware of to students in schools.

“When someone makes an “Asian” joke, like a ‘ching chong’ joke, I feel like I’m more likely to internalize it or just shake it off rather than call them out or argue. It doesn’t make it okay or justifies what they said in any way,” said Cho.

If every joke was met with a shrug and no one who was offended ever said anything, how would anyone know that

anything was wrong? Instead, they would see the laughing faces and think that

their jokes were funny to everyone when, in fact, there is an apparent stereotype that is being cast upon an entire population.

“Assuming I am a certain way because on the color of my skin is a form of racism. Just because we as a race tend to be culturally non-confrontational does not mean it doesn’t exist,” said Cho.

“It’s not unusual to be told to ‘go back to China’ and to be mocked for an accent we don’t have. I don’t speak out against it because it’s just not in my personality, but it doesn’t mean I’m okay with it,” said junior Kayla Fong.

Racism toward Asians is treated differently in America than racism toward other ethnic groups. While a racist may hold back terms seen as off-limits toward other mi-norities, he or she would often not hesitate to call an Asian person a chink or an other derogatory term.

“Racism is a big deal. Being insulted because of our background is a big deal – we all have the right to be proud of our heritage and who we are,” said freshman Hazel Lam.

Continued from page 1

Reza EbrahimpourMath Tutor

Phone: (650) 631-0631Email: zibad@outlook.com

Dry Cleaning, Laundry, Alteration, and more 1114 So. El Camino Real

San Mateo, CA 94402

M-F: 8am-6pmSat: 9am- 2pm650 . 312 .1259

Cleaning by Eddie

“Race is inseparable from identity, and we have to learn to be embracing,” said Theo Chatman

Many ethnicities are subject to stereotypes that, although may not seem to be offensive, still aren’t acceptable. MINH-HAN VU & ASHLEY KAWAKAMI

Page 4

The Highlander December 2014FEATURESCollege essays: you should do them yourself

Miranda IrwinStaff Writer

The college application process is stressful for the majority of se-niors, and many of them get too much help from their parents.

Getting help can be advanta-

geous during such a hectic time, but eventually kids will have to go off on their own and learn how to do just about everything for themselves, so sometimes do-ing things on your own is a good learning opportunity.

“I have a college counselor that

helped me come up with my list of schools to apply to, told me when to take standardized tests, helped me fill out Common App infor-mation and is helping me edit my essays,” said senior Amanda Bre-slauer.

Part of applying to colleges is getting to write about yourself and show the colleges why you are unique. If a parent writes their child’s college essays, the child might not get to portray every-thing they want about themself, and the college may not get the sense of who this child really is.

“I think parents can be really helpful when writing college es-says. However, when they help too much it defeats the purpose of the college reading the essay because they would really just be getting to know the parent,” said senior Lauren Pittock.

There are many resources avail-able to students when it comes to college applications such as teachers, counselors and other adult figures. Students are often encouraged to take advantage of these resources, but essentially all work, especially their college es-

says, should be in their own voice.Quite a few students get college

counselors to help guide them through the process of deciding where to apply and then actually applying. College counselors tend to be pricey and not a lot of fami-lies can afford to get their kids this professional help, which is why many kids turn to their parents or other adult figures for help.

“I think that parents help-ing their kids on college essays is like cheating and setting them up to fail. It teaches that the stu-dent’s parents will be there to do the dirty work when in actuality the student will soon be on their own,” said senior Zach Govani.

Whether it is the student that wants one of their parents to write their essays or the parent who wants to write their kid’s essays, it is not beneficial to the students if they get accepted to a college that they may not have gotten into if they had written their own essay.

“If a parent writes their kid’s college essay for them, so be it, but colleges can tell when a 50-year-old is writing and when a 17-year-old is,” said Breslauer.

Do second semester senior grades matter that much?Angelina Castillo

Staff Writer

Becca FradkinStaff Writer

It’s May of 2015 — you check your mail, only to find the college you were once accepted to has rescinded your acceptance.

Some seniors think that senior grades are important. In a poll of 116 students conducted by The Highlander, 69 percent of believe that senior grades do count towards ad-missions into college.

Senior Pierre Llorach said, "Senior grades definitely matter; if you fail all your classes then obviously colleges will look at that, but I think that they understand that we’re busy and have a lot going on so they don't count as much as junior year grades."

According to College Planning Solutions, when apply-ing for early decision or early action to a college, applica-tion viewers will look at the finalized first semester senior grades. Colleges will look for the same level of academic achievement as reflected on your transcript. If the senior grades significantly decline, the college admissions office can withdraw their offer for admission.

College and Career counselor Connie Dominguez said, “Everyone admitted to a school is admitted conditionally.”

According to University of California, Santa Cruz, if one

were to receive straight As for three years, they will expect straight As your senior year.

Dominguez said, “Many seniors think that if they fail a class that they can retake it in summer school; seniors are not offered summer school.”

But many students don't have a clear picture.Senior Andrew Wach said, “I'm pretty sure if you ap-

ply early action, then your first semester grades don't go through in your application ... but normal timed applica-tions have your first semester grades, there's usually a spe-cific GPA you have to keep up.”

According to College Planning Solutions, many college admission offices require a Mid-Year Report from the stu-dent’s school counselor that includes transcript updated with first semester senior year grades. This applies to early decision, early action and regular decision.

In a 2011 College Board article, Stanley E. Henderson, associate provost at the University of Illinois, said, “Just as you would want to be in top condition for the start of an athletic season, so, too, do you want to be in top condition for the academic season … The habits you form now — your academic strength conditioning — will either help or hurt you in your transition from high school to college.”

Colleges reserve the right to deny an applicant until they’ve seen a final transcript.

Llorach said, “I have heard stories of people not being accepted into a previously accepted college because of their grades during their senior year being too low.”

According to The Highlander poll, 59 percent of stu-dents know of previous students who have been affected by their lower grades, resulting in lower grades that therefore causing their acceptance to a school to be rescinded.

Dominguez said, “Students are rescinded every year; many colleges say that if a student receives a D or an F in the fall or spring semester it will be an automatic rescind.”

Senior grades play a larger role in the admission process; it’s not just about the first three years of high school, it’s about all four years.

With a promis-ing winter break and holiday season as the light at the end of the tunnel, one may think that motivation to study is easily maintained.

However, English teacher Emily Bandelt said, “First semester is so much shorter than second semester so it doesn’t feel as seri-ous. With preoccupation, so many more holidays and Giants’ parades the semester doesn't feel as important.”

By the last month of first semester, the average student is left feeling tired, worn down and time-crunched for winter finals, which begin on Monday, Dec. 15 this year.

“When break is close, I am too excited to

focus on my grades and finals,” said senior Jared Gutierrez.

With report card pressures it would be assumed that students would up their game and study

more than they usually would. However, Gutierrez added,

“If your grades are predeter-mined at a strong C, B or A,

what’s the point of studying if the grade won’t move? I don’t know

the point of putting in effort to something that won’t change.”

School Loop’s easily accessible grades and final category allow students to antici-pate the effort needed to ace finals.

On the other hand, not all students expe-rience the lag before break. Finals present an opportunity to make or break a grade.

Sophomore Ilana Hamer said, “I have some borderline grades and finals are an extremely deciding factor for my ending grade. Regardless of the work you did dur-

ing the semester, finals weigh very heavily on your grades; it’s an all or nothing thing.”

With college admissions on the horizon, juniors and seniors may be paying closer attention to their GPAs this semester.

Junior Max Lieberman said, “I’m trying to keep my grades up for college, which is tough with all my extracurriculars and fi-nals. If I let them slip this semester I feel that I won’t get into the school I want to.”

For current seniors, December is the im-portant time before the deadline of many college applications.

“My grades this semester matter for col-lege, maybe not as much as junior year, but I’m trying to stay as focused as I can in school and on my applications for the end of this semester,” said senior Andy Kelm.

For some students, staying motivated is the most difficult challenge.

Kelm said, “When I try to motivate my-self to study or do my applications, I end up getting less done with both school and

Most adolescents move out when they graduate high school and move on to college, which means that they have to learn to be a lot more independent. If teenagers can not be independent enough to write their own college essays then there is a large possi-bility that they will struggle once they are forced to be on their own.

A negative effect of having a parent or authority figure help too much with college applica-tions is that if the student gets ac-cepted to a more prestigious col-lege and ends up attending, he or she may struggle to keep up with the work. College applications are reflections of students, not their parents.

While it may be stressful and overwhelming, it would be more beneficial for students to do the majority of their applications on their own because by putting in the work they learn what they can and can’t handle.

Getting extra help from college counselors, teacher or parents is not wrong, but if a student begins to abuse this service it can be seen as unfair and unethical.

college.”Teachers also notice the effects of De-

cember and observe that the end of a se-mester may seem strenuous to students, especially for those who have slacked off during previous months.

Bandelt said, “I only see a difference in my students the last day of dead week, that’s when the panic steps in.” She added, “Teachers lose motivation too.”

In the midst of studying and cramming, students forget that teachers not only have to create manageable tests and get all pa-perwork graded in time for report cards, but also have to prepare all their students for the final (mostly in one week).

Gutierrez said, “Around dead week I notice that my teachers give a lot of study periods.”

Although finals may seem daunting, to beat the temptation of Decemberitis, stu-dents must stay focused on the remaining time of first semester.

Decemberitis during dwindling days of the semester: students struggle

ALYSSA ESPIRITU

ALYSSA ESPIRITU

ALYSSA ESPIRITU

When adults write college essays for students, colleges can’t gauge whether the students are actually good fits.

Page 5

The HighlanderDecember 2014 FEATURES

Vegetarian Thanksgiving

"So honey, what are you grateful for this year,” your dad asks as your stomach grumbles.

"Uhh, I'm grateful for family," you blurt and dive into the creamy mashed potatoes, your favorite.

Thanksgiving is an annual holiday celebrated on every fourth Thursday in November. It celebrates the first harvest in America by the Pilgrims in 1621. Many people are un-aware of the history surrounding the holiday, causing them to become less thankful.

“I think a lot of people just don’t know the history be-hind it so they don’t really care for it and just want to eat turkey,” said senior Zerena Silva.

When one hears the word “Thanksgiving,” one thinks of turkey, stuffing and mashed potatoes, a break from school and a table full of family.

“I think people think more about how we have a break

rather than the actual holiday,” said junior Ofa Vea.According to Abraham Lincoln from his Thanksgiv-

ing Proclamation in 1863, the purpose of Thanksgiving is to be a national day of “Thanksgiving and praise to our beneficent Father who dwelleth in the Heavens.” The sole purpose of the harvest between the Pilgrims and Native Americans was to pray and give thanks to God for giving them their first harvest and creating union between them.

“People usually forget to acknowledge the actual mean-ing behind Thanksgiving,” said senior Daryush Shahid. “Instead, people just see it as a few days off — similar to many other holidays like Veterans Day, Christmas and so on.”

For many, it is important to look back and appreciate the United States’ transition into a free country and to also take the time to realize how privileged we are to live in America.

“Thanksgiving should be about giving thanks for the things you have,” said sophomore Ilana Hamer. “It is really about being grateful for everything in your life.”

Thanksgiving has transformed into a holiday for eating. From the hardy entrees to the sweet desserts, it is almost impossible to think of something else while enjoying spe-cial food.

“Thanksgiving to me is coming all together on one day with my family and having a big dinner,” said freshman Eli-jah Horde.

Many also view Thanksgiving as a holiday to get togeth-er with family.

“Thanksgiving is a time for my family to get together,” said freshman Joseph Quadrelli. “A lot of my family live far away so it’s a good holiday to all reunite.”

Thanksgiving is based around giving thanks to those who have taken the first steps to giving America its free-dom. It is important for students in this generation to be-come more aware of the history of the United States.

“I know I like the whole experience, but to most people it is just a day off and I hope that people can begin to ap-preciate the holiday for what it is,” said Hamer.

Catherine SchulzeSenior

Shayan MandegarianJunior

Melanie HamaguchiJunior

Q: What is your outlook on Thanksgiving?A: Thanksgiving doesn't really impact me. I just think it's sad how such a large amount of turkeys get mur-dered for a national holiday since a lot of them could have suffered through various types of animal cruelty.

Q: How long have you been a vegetarian and why?A: I’ve been a vegan for the past year and a half and have been a vegetarian for three years. I decided to be a vege-tarian because my mom has been a vegetarian for a very long time and she always cooked vegetarian foods so I was used to it. I learned about how animals are treated throughout the process along with the fact that it’s ac-tually healthier to be a vegetarian. I went from being a pescatarian to being a vegetarian to being a vegan.

Q: How long have you been a vegetarian and why?A: My mom has always tried to raise me in a vegan life-style, but I didn’t conform to it at first because I didn’t really understand it. Around eighth grade, I started to become more serious about it because I actually un-derstood some of the principles my mom was trying to teach me, which would make me a vegetarian for about four years.

Q: How long have you been a vegetarian and why?A: I have been a vegetarian for four years. I became a vegetarian because I always found eating animals disgusting, and one day I decided I was just done with it and didn't want to eat meat anymore.

Q: What do you do for Thanksgiving since you’re vegetarian?A: I basically eat what everyone else does except for the turkey. Instead, I usually tend to have quinoa or baked potatoes as a part of my Thanksgiving meal.

ALYSSA ESPIRITU

Q: What do you do for Thanksgiving since you’re veg-etarian?A: I pretty much eat everything except turkey and dairy products. My alternative to turkey is tofurky, which is a really good fake turkey made out of tofu. Since my par-ents and siblings are also vegan, we usually just eat simi-lar food such as the fake turkey and fake gravy. Interviews byRavina Gujral

Q: What do you do for Thanksgiving since you’re veg-etarian?A: I usually eat regular vegetarian dishes along with a to-furky. Since my mom is vegan, she cooks a lot of differ-ent meatless dishes, making it really easy to avoid meat on Thanksgiving. At my dad’s house, it’s much harder to go about the holiday since he isn’t a vegetarian or vegan.

Giving some thanks during ThanksgivingKat SavinStaff Writer

Page 6

The Highlander December 2014

Sarah Burry: coping with chronic illness

“Life is what happens to you while you’re busy making other plans,” said John Len-non.

“People assume that in some warped way being sick is a permanent part of my identity. I’m not a sick person, just a person that happens to be sick, you know? My life isn’t centered around health. I like to write, I sing, I play piano. If someone were to de-scribe me I’d want them to say ‘ambitious’ or ‘responsible,’ not ‘sick,”’ said senior Sarah Burry.

In November 2013, Burry was taken to the hospital for an appendectomy. It was supposed to be a routine procedure.

But, it went terribly wrong.After the appendectomy, scar tissue be-

gan growing around her intestine and four feet of it was removed in a later surgery. Later, another obstruction formed, but she was forced to wait it out in the hospital.

After being in the hospital for three months, Burry lost 35 pounds and the only nutrition she received was through her IV.

Thereafter, a neuroma began growing, and she required another surgery to have it removed.

She has been in and out of the hospital ever since.

Although gruesome, Burry’s condition is one that she must learn to live with and realize that it may not get better.

At this point, all Burry can do is cope with symptoms that she currently faces, be-cause the source of her pain is out of her and her doctor’s hands.

“I wish I had a clear answer. I want an-swers so much, but it looks like I’m not go-ing to have them. It’s a part of the package of chronic illness, I suppose. Not very fun,” said Burry.

This brings up the question of, what is it like to be a teenager with chronic illness?

Senior Sarah Burry temporarily returns to school to continue working in her classes. “I have the whole world in front of me and I’m going to take advantage of that,” said Burry.

IVY NYGUYEN

posed to be in Vermont right now study-ing English and Religion. It’s not fun, and I don’t pretend that it’s ok or that it makes me unique or special. People, strangers even, have told me how strong I am. I don’t re-ally believe that. Instead of people noticing the strength or whatever they see in me, I’d

really want them to look closer and no-tice the weakness,” said Burry.

Burry wants the students of Carlmont to understand that she is trying her best.

Burry doesn’t want to miss class or didn’t want to miss the choir concert, but that is just how life is going for her at this point in her life.

Burry said, “This has made me a better person. A person more eager to help others and live life and take all the opportunities I can get. I mean, I have the whole world in front of me and I’m going to take advan-tage of that. I want to live in Paris and write the next Harry Potter and I could be prom queen for all I know- anything’s possible! I just need to focus on that, the happy and the good, and I think I’ll get through this in one piece.”

“ I was supposed to go to

college, I’m supposed to be in Vermont right now studying English and Religion. It’s not fun, and I don’t pretend that

it’s ok or that it makes me unique or special.

Sarah BurrySenior

Sarah BoroEditor

How is one supposed to deal with it? This is something that many of us don’t seem to think about.

Burry said, “I was just in the hospital for three weeks because I threw up at school in front of like, 100 kids.”

These are the struggles that Burry is faced with on a daily basis.

These are things that healthy teenag-ers would never think they would be faced with.

“Don’t take life for granted. I thought I was invincible. I was a normal, healthy teen-ager, and suddenly it all got taken away. It could happen to any-one,” said Burry.

This is something that nobody, particu-larly teenagers, would understand unless they were faced with such unfortunate cir-cumstances.

Burry faced death twice.The first time her lungs flooded because

of a bad reaction to anesthesia.The second was when she had a partial

bowel obstruction. Doctors were unsure as to what was go-

ing wrong. But they did know that Burry was losing weight fast, and it wasn’t looking good.

Having overcome an-other battle, Burry is at-tempting to persevere and survive senior year like the rest of her class. Burry is struggling, though.

“I’ve made the choice to keep coming to school and stand up when knocked down, but I’m also upset and angry. I was supposed to go to college, I’m sup-

CAMPUS

Page 7

The HighlanderDecember 2014

Nick Frangos DJLights, Sound, andProfessional EquipmentLocated in the PeninsulaHuge selection of House, Electro, DnB, Dubstep, Trance, Hard Dance, Trap

Cheap negotiable rates. Email frangoose@gmail.com

soundcloud.com/frangoose

The Highlander

The mission of The Highlander is to accurately and honestly cover communal as well as school events. As a student run open forum newspaper, we strive to incorporate multiple views and represent the diverse community at Carlmont.

Editor in ChiefAshley Kawakami

Business ManagerKristen Friis

CenterKarissa Tom

BackpageZoe Wildman

News and OpinionMichael Bastaki

Staff WritersAyesha AbbasiJessica AdairArianna BayangosBrooke BuckleyAngelina CastilloBecca FradkinAria FrangosRavina GujralDanielle Hamer

Mia HoganMiranda IrwinKian KaramdashtiElena MateusJocelyn MoranMateen NozzariLara OstroffSonia PauloJustine Phipps

FeaturesDominic Gialdini

CampusClaudia Leist

SportsSarah Boro

EntertainmentAlyssa Fagel

Art DirectorVeronika Dvorakova

Junior EditorKimiko Okumura

Art and GraphicsIvy NguyenAlyssa EspirituMinh-Han Vu

OnlineShira Stein

Faculty AdvisorJustin Raisner

Kat SavinSarah SchislaGianna Schuster Marco SevillaVictoria Shanefelter Taran SunAlisa TakahashiLauren Tierney

ADVERTISEMENT

Page 8

The Highlander December 2014ENTERTAINMENTToday’s youth leads a digital revolution

Sarah SchislaStaff Writer

Generation Y, consisting of those born between 1981 and 2001, is breaking with tradition. Also known as “Millennials” or the “Digital Generation,” this group has caused a permanent shift in the way people get their news.

With constant advancements in technol-ogy, the younger generation relies increas-ingly on the Internet for news.

Education Director at the Pulitzer Cen-ter on Crisis Reporting Mark Schulte said, “Young people [today] are digital natives. The younger generation goes to their de-vices first.”

In a 2011 study conducted by the Knight Foundation, 42 percent of teenagers re-ported reading an article in print every day, while 56 percent said that they used social networks as a daily news source.

When the same students were asked about the reliability of these sources, only 34 percent said the information from social networks was “very or somewhat truthful,” while 88 percent said the same about news-papers.

Students were so inclined to use online sources that they chose them over televi-sion and print sources, even though they thought online sources were significantly less reliable.

Junior Melody Shanahan said, “We al-ways have our phones on us. It’s easier to check our phones than to go somewhere else for news. It’s [the default] because it’s just more accessible. I would definitely search for a more reliable source if I were already online, like The New York Times as opposed to Buzzfeed.”

In the past decade, even major print pub-lications have adapted to this digital shift.

Education Editor for The Washington Post Josh White said, “We are as much of an online publication as a print publication. The print publication is still very important to us, but we have built up our online pres-ence because we know that in the future, this is how people will be getting informa-tion and how they’re already getting it.”

In a poll of 118 students conducted by The Highlander, 70 percent of Carlmont students said they choose to get their news online.

Online news platforms have some ad-vantages over print sources.

Schulte said, “Journalists today have opportunities to reach a huge number of people immediately [on the Internet]. Not everyone wants to read a story. It’s much

more effective to reach some through video or a blend of media.”

The distribu-tion of news on-line is also more economically ef-ficient.

Every ad-ditional article printed by a newspaper or magazine needs more paper and increases the size of the publica-tion. On average, every Sunday edi-tion of The New York Times pro-duces about 4000 tons of paper that will eventually become waste.

“Paper is limited by size and what we can deliver. The Internet is infinite,” said White.

For past generations, news distribution was ruled by print and broadcast media.

English teacher Erik Migdail said, “When I grew up, my family had a sub-scription seven days a week to The New York Times. I very much remember listen-ing to news on the radio and seeing news on the television.”

Although Generation Y caused the broadening of online news platforms, the change has affected past and future genera-tions as well.

Migdail still maintains a daily subscrip-tion to The New York Times, but he now also checks a number of online news sites.

“You can be more current than ever before. I would say it is equivalent in im-portance to the newspaper. It is certainly a benefit to researchers,” said Migdail.

Google’s keyword search can simplify the task of finding information on a spe-cific subject.

However, there are some who still prefer traditional news sources.

Migdail said, “Online news has the abil-ity to more quickly bring attention to cer-tain situations that deserve immediate recognition, such as Ferguson. Although these sources allow you to be very much in-the-know early on, the newspaper still forms the backbone of the news for me. By using online sources, we can develop a sort of tunnel vision [in which] we have a narrower view of the news, and there’s less stumbling across information.”

This “tunnel vision” effect encompass-es more than just the physical absence of other news in front of the reader.

Online sources such as Google and Facebook use web algorithms to create a “filter bubble,” in which information about each individual user determines what he will be shown and what will be omitted. The algorithm uses input such as the user’s location and search history to predict what he will want to see.

The algorithm aims to provide in-formation that fits each user’s personal opinion, so that users are minimally ex-posed to opposing viewpoints or news that may not interest them based on their past activity.

Junior Cailan Cumming said, “I think the filter bubble can be very helpful in providing information that one would be interested in, but also prevents you from finding meaningful information that you might not be exposed to [otherwise].”

This bubble also helps to ensure that more popular sources are among the top search results.

Starting a paper is much more expen-sive than securing a web domain. With a rise in online news comes a flood of new voices reporting news stories.

Migdail said, “In this way, instanta-neous news has its drawbacks as well. You definitely need a filter on reliable news sources. In a rush to get the word out, fact-checking and verifying can sometimes take a back seat.”

Whether it be Facebook, Twitter, or Tumblr, 37 percent of students in The

Highlander poll say that they receive news from social media sites that they think are questionable or only somewhat reliable sources. Over 50 percent said that their sources were unreliable but continue to count them as primary news sources.

Shanahan said, “I think our use of digital news sources will only grow. Our phones have apps for news, weather, everything. We have all that at the touch of a button.”

1. Listen to people with opposing views. You want BOTH sides of the story. 2. Want to see the filter bubble in action? Have two people search the same thing. Look at the results. 3. Fact check! See some-thing unbelievable? Maybe you shouldn’t believe it. 4. Vary your news sources. Don’t depend on one website or newspaper. 5. Stay up-to-date on cur-rent events. Know what’s going on around you.

To get quality news...

MINH-HAN VU

As the ability to consume media improves, the quality of what is seen seems to be reduced

Page 9

The HighlanderDecember 2014 ENTERTAINMENTBay Area activities during the holiday season

Claudia LeistEditor

From ice skating in Union Square to the celebratory Kabbal-at Shabbat in the East Bay, there is never a shortage of activities and holiday events to keep Bay Area residents busy and entertained during the holiday season.

Although many people think of the holiday season as just Christ-mas, there is a wide array of cel-ebrations that are held in the Bay Area every year during this time. Whether you celebrate Christ-mas, Hanukkah, Kwanzaa or Ro-hatsu, cultural events are always held somewhere in the Bay Area where these religiously affiliated holidays can be well spent.

If you celebrate Christmas, check out the Night of Lights in Half Moon Bay on Dec. 5 which includes a tree lighting and roast-ing of chestnuts as well as booths and retail accommodations.

There are many other Christ-mas-related events such as ginger-bread house-making workshops and religious discussions about the birth of Jesus Christ that can be found all over the Bay Area.

“I like the vibe of the holidays. Not just Christmas but for all these celebrations it brings a sense of family and joy,” said sophomore Dro Avetian.

If you celebrate Hanukkah, there is a huge menorah lighting in the city of San Francisco every year in Union Square.

“It is really cool. I go almost ev-ery year and I like how it shows the city celebrating holidays other than Christmas,” said senior Na-than Rosenthal.

Regardless of the holidays you celebrate, the Bay Area welcomes people of all different back-grounds and religions to make their holiday season enjoyable and accepted.

For Kwanzaa, there is the Kwanzaa Village Youth Expo in San Jose that involves, educates and engages students in the em-bodiment of Kwanzaa principles. For Rohatsu, there is the seven-day session at the San Francisco Zen center that commemorates the Buddha’s enlightenment and closes the fall practice period.

There are celebrations for the Islamic Ashura, the Zoroastrian Yalda, the Christian Christmas and Jewish Hanukkah throughout the Bay Area, public and private, and they reflect the diversity of this region in ethnicity and reli-gious beliefs.

“I like the holidays because even though we still have home-work and things to complete be-fore school goes back into session, it is a break from stress and we just get to spend time with family and loved ones,” said senior Raffi Samurkashian.

Even though the holiday season gives students a period of time off of school to relax and take a break from their studies, it is also a time to connect to families and rees-

The new way to watch TVDanielle Hamer

Staff WriterJust one more episode. It’s 1 a.m. on a school night,

and your homework isn’t done yet. The dirty dinner dishes are piled up in the sink waiting for you. So are the last nine chapters of your assigned reading.

Just one more episode.You look at your bedside clock,

glaring and taunting, reminding you how long you’ve been watch-ing TV. However, something tempts you to click “continue” on the Netflix screen in front of you.

Just one more episode. The average teenager watches

about 20 hours of television in one week.

In the past few years, the on-slaught of websites that allow television watchers entire seasons or series of shows all at once has caused a serious epidemic: binge-watching.

Back in the “olden days,” people waited impatiently each week for the next episode of their favorite show.

English teacher Emily Bandelt said, “When I was in high school, Netflix didn’t exist. The anticipa-tion of waiting for a show to air every week- which everyone had to do- definitely made for better TV.”

Now, pay a few bucks a month, and you instantly have episodes of

almost any television show imag-inable at your finger tips.

Bandelt said, “With the abil-ity to watch so many episodes at once, I can finish an entire TV series in a short amount of time.”

Netflix, one of the most popu-lar media streaming websites, has more than 33 million subscribers and offers over 9,381 movies and 2,000 TV shows on their site.

For some teens, the “click for next episode” button has become their best friend, but also their worst enemy.

Senior Sofia Kurt said, “I don’t have the patience to wait every week for a new episode. So, once I start watching shows on Netflix, I watch for hours, and of course, I get no homework done.”

Netflix isn’t the only player in the game. Television and movie website Hulu.com, and a host of illegal websites also feature end-less episodes of different TV shows. These easily accessed web-sites are designed to keep the bin-ger constantly entertained.

Junior Julia Hoffman said, “I just found a new season of a show I loved and watched it all in a few days. This can definitely be time-sucking because each episode starts right after the last. It takes true self control to turn it off.”

Will society continue to receive a large portion of entertainment through time wasting sites like this? Or will there be a solution to

the madness?The truth is, binge-watching

can be fine in moderation- it’s the perfect companion on a lonely Sunday afternoon, and sometimes you just have to wind down with a good show after a math test or a messy break up.

However, moderation is slowly slipping from our vocabularies.

Devices like Google Glass, tab-lets, and smartphones even allow people to watch TV on-the-go.

Junior Matt DeGraff said, “Watching TV gives you some-thing to do- but you get absolutely nothing done when you binge-watch, so you just keep watching. It’s an endless cycle”

Teenagers also tend to forget that entertainment does not nec-essarily have to include media, computers, or technology. People at any age can find happiness in other mediums.

Senior Sophie Fox said, “I think people should read, go outside, or make art more than they do now. Those are a few fun things I wish I did more than I watch TV”

No matter what healthy activi-ties there are, modern television watchers- adults and children alike- will continue to binge.

Bandelt said, “I recently watched the entirety of the show Scandal. Before Netflix, I could easily wait for a new episode each week. Now, I am a slave to Olivia Pope.”

A patron helps decorate a tree at Macy’s prior to the holiday seasontablish beliefs. It is a time which people spend connecting to their culture and religiously, or non-re-ligiously, celebrating the reasons these holidays were established in the first place.

Year after year, the holiday sea-son is a time to look forward to for many people. Luckily, in the Bay Area, there are events and activities to fulfill the excitement among families and communities everywhere.

MINH-HAN VU

Page 10

The Highlander

Page 10

The Highlander INTEGRITY

The real importance of integrityThe real importance of integrity Kristen Friis

Buisness ManagerI’ll take one look at Sparknotes, it can’t hurt.It’s okay if I use Johnny’s math home-work one time, I mean it’s only one time. I’ll just pull out my phone when the teacher isn’t looking.This is the mindset of many Carl-mont students. However, while all of these solutions seem to be the “easy way out” of situ-ations, most students do these things while completely disregarding their lack of morality and integrity.Integrity is simply this: the quality of being honest and having strong moral principles.“I think integrity is being able to be honest with both yourself and the people around you,” said senior An-drew Wach. “Not lying just to make things easier for you.”

As simple as it seems, not many people seem to treat integrity as the important moralistic value it is.Students around campus subcon-sciously lack integrity every day. Ex-amples of lacking integrity can range from something like taking photos of your friend’s math answers to cheat-ing on an important exam.“To me, the lack of integrity is mostly when it comes to grades, and that’s caused by the increased competitiveness of col-lege admissions and the pressure of society to go to a “good” college,” said senior Nico Camerino. “High school students would rather sacrifice integ-rity than appear to be failures in the eyes of their peers and parents.”

According to surveys in U.S. News and World report, 80 percent of “high-achieving” high school stu-dents admit to cheating. Integrity is more than just being hon-est. It is being honest and doing the right thing because its the right thing to do. This means not doing things

only for the good of other people, but to benefit yourself as well.“Integrity has everything

to do with honesty and virtue,” said Carlmont Activities Director Jim Kel-ly. “In society, if we all did the right thing because it is the right thing to do, society would be so much better.”“We learned about honesty and in-tegrity - that the truth matters,” said First Lady Michelle Obama, “That

you don’t take shortcuts or play by your own set of rules... and success doesn’t count unless you earn it fair and square.”Having strong morals and values can help lead to a successful life after high school.Integrity, specifically, can help build strong relationships and high lev-els of trust. Living life while lack-ing integrity can lead to unhealthy relationships in one’s family life and work life.If students lack integrity now, they will adapt to these bad habits which could lead to many future conflicts. It is hard to have a job and be trusted in the work world if one is known for cheating their way through life.“I think it is important to have integrity because it makes it easier to built trust between people and create stronger relationships between friends and family,” said Wach.

“I think integrity is being able to be

honest with both yourself and the people around you.

Andrew WachSenior

Integrity: how it is ranked and valued in both students and culturesIntegrity: how it is ranked and valued in both students and culturesArianna Bayangos

Staff Writer

As a student works on her college applications, she feels pressured. She keeps thinking to herself, “I’m not good enough to get into any univer-sity.”She sees the section on the Common Application for the writing prompts. She scans the prompts nervously; she feels as if she hasn’t done enough in school or outside of school to write a 650 word essay to impress her dream colleges.As she is starting this essay, she starts to think about all her classmates- it

seems that they’ve achieved more than she has. She is desperate, so she starts typing madly. She starts out with a tiny lie; she writes about how she created a club at her high school. Next thing she knows, the whole essay becomes an intricate web of lies. She justifies her actions by saying she needs it to get into her dream school. But she doesn’t feel guilty. She would much rather tell a few small lies than see a rejection letter from colleges.Senior Brian Palma said, “People, especially teens, don’t value integrity as much because bullying, cheating,

and other moral-breaking things have attained a type of normalcy in this day and age.”Sometimes, students sacrifice their integrity at the expense of other things. According to a survey done by Teenbeing, out of the 10,000 middle school and high school students sur-veyed, 50 percent value achievement, 20 percent value caring for others, and 30 percent value happiness. Junior Kelly Liu said, “I would say that everyone values integrity, but at the same time, they realize that certain sacrifices must be made for success at times.”

Liu noted that in school, students may feel pressured to disregard integ-rity for the expense of success.Liu said, “High schoolers have so much pressure on them to do well and have perfect grades for college applications that they sometimes end up having to sacrifice their integrity for good grades, but these are usu-ally minor sacrifices like copying a friend’s homework rather than, say, cheating on an AP exam.”According to a survey done by Don-ald McCabe, out of 24,000 students in over 70 high schools, 95 percent of students admitted to some form of cheating whether it was cheating on a

Everyone is different beyond the surface.

Page 11

December 2014

Page 11INTEGRITY

Cheating: the pressure to cut corners

ASHLEY KAWAKAMI & KARISSA TOM

Cheating: the pressure to cut cornersMarco Sevilla

Staff Writer“Hey, can I copy that last math prob-lem?”It’s a phrase that many high school students have heard whispered around classrooms as the teacher goes around to collect last night’s homework. For the average student, it may not seem like a big deal, but what many don’t realize is that cheat-ing, lying, and forging can all lead to a decline in academic integrity.The issue of low academic integrity among students has existed for many years. These actions range from plagiarizing written work to forging signatures because of fear of failure or simply out of convenience. Freshman Tiffany Chung said, “I think the reason students [cheat] is because they don’t think it’s a big deal because they find that it benefits themselves and saves them from

receiving the unsatisfactory out-come that they were going to have. Many students also cheat by using the excuse of ‘working together’ and ‘helping out a friend’ to disguise their wrong actions.”In a poll of 118 students conducted by The Highlander, 67 percent of students said they have academically cheated in the past. The poll also re-vealed that copying homework is the most common act of bad integrity among students.Although many don’t get caught, those found guilty of cheating may receive punishments such as a permanent mark on their student re-cord, suspension or even expulsion.The International Center for Aca-demic Integrity has stated, “Making ethical choices benefits society at large.” They emphasize that aca-demic integrity is the foundation on which real learning is based upon and a student’s integrity is a measure

of one’s own values, self-respect and trustworthiness. Senior Samantha Fong said, “I think it’s important for students to have academic integrity because then all the grades they get are authentic and they’re actually learning rather than depending on cheating and copying.”Lack of integrity has lead to issues of trust between students and school administration. Some Carlmont teachers have taken extra precaution to prevent acts of bad integrity such as confiscating phones before a test or creating several versions of a test.In a study conducted by Stanford, about 20 percent of college students admitted to cheating at least once in high school in the 1940’s. Today, that percentage has increased to about 75 to 98 percent of students surveyed each year. Senior Amber Governale said, “I think people cheat as often as they did ten years ago; it has just gotten

more high-tech. It’s easier for students to access information and to share it with others. People don’t have to worry so much about their integrity because nowadays it can be harder to get caught.” The question of why student integ-rity has decreased in the past decade was answered in the same poll by The Highlander. The reasons given by students generally centered around the increased competitiveness of college acceptances, the education system’s over-emphasis of grades rather than knowledge, and increased workload within classes.Junior Shay Zalavadia said, “I feel like the underlying issue is that teenagers are under a lot more pressure than they have been years ago because classes are getting harder and there’s a lot more homework. The pressure to get into a good college while having good grades is at it’s highest.”

Integrity: how it is ranked and valued in both students and culturesIntegrity: how it is ranked and valued in both students and culturestest or copying homework.However, in other aspects of teen-ager’s lives like relationships and human interaction, some teens value integrity a lot.In a survey by Mission Australia, 78.8 percent of the teens surveyed highly valued family relationships and 60.9 percent of teens highly valued rela-tionships with friends.Junior Melanie Hamaguchi said, “Integrity is especially important in our society to keep a general order. In my own life, I know I really appreci-ate it when people don’t lie to me and when they make moral choices that won’t hurt others.”

Hamaguchi noted that integrity is especially admirable when the person is doing something out of the kindness of his or her heart rather than because of an expected reward.Hamaguchi said, “I left my phone in the bathroom and I thought I had lost it, but I went to the office and it was there. It was an iPhone 6 and I just couldn’t believe that somebody would have it in their heart to just give it back

to the office because a lot of people nowadays don’t do the right thing.”Even though some sacrifice integ-rity for other things such as success,

Palma believes that integrity can get people far in life.Palma said, “My brother values integrity over everything. Because of that,

he’s actually achieved a lot in his life. He’s recently moved to a different banking firm because they saw how successful he was in his past careers.

They saw how he was a popular banker because of the fairness and similar treatment he’s given to his clients.”Many students may feel pressured to achieve happiness or success, but stu-dents can still maintain their values and integrity in the decisions they make. In an article in Forbes, Amy Rees Anderson said, “Success will come and go, but integrity is forever… Building a reputation of integrity takes years, but it takes only a second to lose, so never allow yourself to ever do anything that would damage your integrity.”

“Real integrity is doing the right

thing, knowing that nobody’s going to know whether you did it

or not.Oprah Winfrey

Continued on pg 5

Everyone is different beyond the surface.

Page 12

The Highlander December 2014

Page 12

The Highlander LIFESTYLE

Is the hassle worth it for Black Friday deals?Naomi Asrir

Staff Writer

Presents left at the pound

More than just the holiday blues: seasonal depressionSonia PauloStaff Writer

Elena MateusStaff Writer

ELENA MATEUS

Two kittens at the Peninsula Humane Society wait to be adopted over the upcoming holiday season.

A distressed woman is arguing with the cashier in front of you and a man begins to pick a fight for a spot in line from be-hind. This morning you have been pushed, trampled, and yelled at, but it is all worth the money you are about to save. Or is it?

In America, Black Friday is the day af-ter Thanksgiving that marks the beginning of the holiday shopping season. Stores and shopping malls open their doors to eager crowds as early as midnight, and it is not uncommon for consumers to “camp” out-side a store’s entrance in the hopes of being the first to snag a deal.

The holiday is known for its massive crowds of eager shoppers. Sleep-deprived consumers combined with the appeal of bargains such as “buy one get one free” creates an almost animalistic behavior that contributes to the chaotic shopping event.

Junior Julian Chow knows the impor-tance of shopping early. “I have woken up at 2 a.m. to arrive at the stores before oth-ers on Black Friday,” Chow said. “The entire experience is hectic.”

Many Carlmont students work in retail and often find themselves on the receiv-ing end of Black Friday’s madness. Senior Daryush Shahid works at Hollister and notes the preparations taken by the store to provide for the crowds. “To prepare [for Black Friday], we open up an extra fitting room and hire more staff to make sure we’re accommodated for the holiday.”

With its stresses and inconveniences, one may question the benefit of Black Fri-day shopping.

Often, supplies are limited and there are hundreds of other shoppers searching for the same item as you. Consumers must ar-rive early to stores or face the consequenc-es.

Junior Samantha Pipkin has experienced

this disappointment first hand. “I woke up last year at 4 a.m. to shop. The lines at Hillsdale Mall were really long and by the time we got into the stores, everything was gone.”

At the same time, one does not have to look far to see that there are great deals to be had in a wide range of departments.

Carlmont’s student body knows this, and therefore prefers to shop in-store on the holiday. In a poll of 118 students conducted by The Highlander, 59 percent responded they prefer shopping Black Friday bargains in person rather than online.

While some may love the hustle and bus-tle of thousands of shoppers in close con-tact, Black Friday is not for everyone. Some may be unwilling to fight off the crowds of grumpy, sleep-deprived parents in the hopes of taking home their reduced-price battle prizes.

A great alternative for those who want to shop deals from the comfort of their own

home is Cyber Monday, just three days fol-lowing the hectic holiday.

The online shopping day allows for great deals from the comfort of one’s own home. Comparing sale prices is much easier on a computer, and consumers are able to read reviews on their products of interest. Though shopping online does not guar-antee satisfaction and it may be an incon-venience to return unwanted items, some prefer it to braving the desperate shoppers scavenging the aisles.

According to Digiday, online sales for Cyber Monday grew by 20.6 percent over 2012, hitting $2.29 billion.

As more shoppers begin to recognize the convenience of online shopping, major retail stores may experience a decrease in consumers over the Thanksgiving week-end.

In the end, one can determine whether they want to contribute to the busiest shop-ping day of the year.

The cold weather and long nights are of-ten thought of as factors condemning peo-ple to spend more time in seclusion during the winter months rather than having fun outside.

Spending most December nights at home wrapped in a blanket is often attrib-uted to the dark skies and harsh weather; however, some people are affected by those elements in ways that inhibit healthy be-havior.

“A steady diet of weather and cloudy skies has been known to lead to depressive states,” said Shelly Bustamonte.

This is also known as Seasonal Affective Disorder (SAD). It is defined by Psychol-ogy Today as a form of depression that

Seven out of every 10 kittens will die in an animal shelter this winter.

According to the American Humane As-sociation, 71 percent of cats and 56 percent of dogs that enter animal shelters are eu-thanized.

As picture perfect as it may seem to wake up Christmas morning with a puppy under the tree with a big red bow, often, the story doesn’t end up happily ever after.

Among the many reasons for turning a pet into a shelter, for some people a well-in-tentioned gift turns out to be an unwanted burden.

“Some people might not be ready for the responsibility of a dog or a cat, or they might not be financially stable enough to adequately care for them; and while it might seem like a nice gift, that animal may very well end up in a shelter because the re-ceiver isn’t ready to care for that animal,” said junior Aaron Yofin.

“It’s a common problem after the holi-days,” said Sandra DeFeo, a director at the Humane Society of New York, “Lots of people come to us before Christmas and say they want to get an animal as a gift for their fiancée or their mother or their broth-er. Then after Christmas, it hits home with the recipient, who didn’t realize how much

time a pet would take. People admit they are not prepared and they want us to take care of the animal.”

Still, it’s not always a bad idea to bring a pet home for the holidays. Adoption re-turns and abandonment drop-offs can be prevented with forethought and education.

Dan Hanley, the director of animal adoptions at the Peninsula Humane Soci-ety, said it is imperative to be prepared and informed before attaining an animal.

“Giving pets as gifts is okay, it’s when it is a surprise that it’s not always the best situ-

ation,” said Hanley. “It’s essential to involve the [pet] receiver in the process so they can get an animal that fits into their lifestyle and avoid being put in the position of hav-ing to give an animal back to the shelter.”

Junior Veronica Eghdami saw success in a holiday adoption: “My whole family knew that my mom had been wanting a dog for a while, so we decided to surprise her for the holidays. Even though my dog, Simba, was given as a gift to my mom, it worked out because we all were on board and prepared for the responsibility of having a dog.”

Training, however, was not taken very seriously by Eghdami and her family. “We didn’t train Simba when he was a puppy, so he would do all the things a puppy would like chew on shoes and so forth. It did be-come a problem but not such a big problem as for us to turn him into a pet shelter,” she said.

For pet owners who adopt early, Hanley said, “It is important to enroll in some sort of behavioral training to address any prob-lems from the start.”

Junior Emily Sevillia said, “I think some people who abandon pets don’t have the sort of patience needed to take care of an animal. Whether it’s a surprise gift or not, I’m sure there are some dogs who were left on the streets just because they chewed up a shoe and it was the straw that broke the camel’s back.”

For junior Malia Canepa, many of her pets have been abandoned animals, in-cluding her Siamese cat, Thai, who was left alone after her owner moved out.

“It’s really important that anyone who sells or breeds animals emphasizes the amount of commitment and patience that is needed to take care of a pet,” said Cane-pa. “That new kitten you just bought isn’t just there on Christmas day, she is there for the rest of her life.”

For those who plan to bring a pet home for the holidays, they are not only getting a companion, they are taking responsibility for a life.

follows the seasons. In other words, some people develop depression in the winter due to the lack of sunlight.

About 10 million Americans are estimat-ed to be affected by it, with 10 percent only having a mild case according to Psychology Today.

“I have it,” said Bustamante, “And I defi-nitely see more people coming in seeking help during the winter as well.”

The exact causes for SAD are unknown, however the impacts of vitamin D on the body’s natural clock appear to directly cor-relate.

The feelings of hopelessness and depres-sion occur when disruptions in the body’s natural clock cause uncontrolled changes in behavior. The sensitivity to natural changes cause the amounts of melatonin and serotonin to change more so than in

others, resulting in depression.Studies have shown the disease is more

common in the northern hemisphere di-rectly correlating to the lack of sunlight fol-lowing the changing of the seasons.

“I had a student attend college in Wash-ington and she couldn’t handle the weather so she came home,” said Bustamante, “All the bad weather can really take a toll.”

The disorder also appears to be genetic, with most patients having a family history of mental illnesses.

According to Psychology Today, the ef-fect of the disorder can only be minimized by exposure to natural sunlight as to pre-vent the decrease in melatonin and sero-tonin levels.

The average person needs 10 to 15 min-utes of sunlight exposure daily to maintain a healthy level of vitamin D. That can be

difficult to get during the winter with the cloudy skies and long nights.

“The disorder is so prevalent that I’ve seen glasses sold which produce natural light in order to alleviate depression,” said Bustamante.

As SAD becomes more known, numer-ous methods of treatment are being devel-oped including phototherapy where the pa-tient sits in front of a box which produces light that mimics sunlight.

Medications are also used to limit the ef-fects of depressive episodes. Bupropion is just one of the medications administered by doctors to try to prevent the inevitable depressive episodes.

Bustamante said, “When I think of someplace that makes me happy it’s a warm sunny beach, not someplace with cold dark skies.”

Page 13

The HighlanderDecember 2014

Page 13

The HighlanderSPORTSField renovation may prove valuable

Alyssa FagelEditor

Reduced snowfall changes vacation plansMia HoganStaff Writer

ALYSSA ESPIRITU

Both the James Liggett softball field along with the Bill Hurst baseball field are experiencing renovations throughout the Winter months.

It is one thing for a high school to be short one field. But to be short two out of three athletic fields is no easy task.

For the past few months, both the base-ball field and softball field at Carlmont have been under renovation and thus unusable. But that hasn’t come without a number of problems.

For one, the high school football season did not end until Nov. 14. Yet, tryouts for the junior varsity and varsity soccer teams began the first week of November.

In the past, the girls and boys would trade off which field they used; every other day the boys would get the football field, after football practice had ended in the evening, to use the facility, while the girls would be on the baseball or softball field.

But this year that wasn’t an option. In-stead, teams focused much more on run-ning and conditioning during tryouts, since they were short field space.

According to senior soccer player Johan-na Hendriksen, this may end up having a positive impact on the team.

Hendriksen said, “We’ll be more in shape. In the past, we’ve done most of our conditioning over winter break. But this year, we’ll be able to spend more of that time doing actual soccer.”

Other athletes, however, have been questioning if this lack of field space may actually have a negative impact on the

teams this season.Senior soccer player Daryush Shahid

said, “We were restricted for the times we could practice and try-out. It was kind of hectic. It’s a hassle to have to deal with con-flicting schedules.”

Soccer isn’t the only sport being affected by this lack of field space. The baseball and softball teams have also had to rearrange their schedules to find a way to hold their preseason practices.

The expected end dates for the construc-tion is late December for the softball field, and late January for the baseball field.

Junior baseball player Sam Levy said, “We may have to hold try-outs at Bur-ton Park if the field isn’t ready in time. It shouldn’t have a big impact, but it’s a little bit inconvenient.”

Levy is right; these renovations have caused some inconvenience. But athletes are hopeful that these changes will ulti-mately be beneficial.

“I’m really excited for the new renova-tions we’re getting on our field because we were due to have some repairs done. It’s nice to have a classy field because it helps create pride for the team and creates a good atmosphere for the players,” said junior Connor Loucks.

According to Athletic Director Patrick Smith, both fields are being leveled and new grass has been planted. The baseball field is also having a lot of drainage work done on it. This should greatly improve the quality of play that will occur on these

fields in the upcoming months.Nobody is questioning the idea that the

temporary closure of these fields will have consequences, but not all of these conse-quences are looking like they will be nega-tive.

Adapting to messy schedules and field shortages may be rough, but in the end it may just be worth the hassle. As these reno-

ALYSSA ESPIRITU

vations come to a conclusion, fans of many different sports will finally be able to assess the variety of effects the closures had on teams.

Will improved stamina and team pride be enough to lift Carlmont teams to vic-tory, or will inconvenience and lack of consistency lead to the demise of some of Carlmont’s top athletic programs?

Is water-skiing the new winter hype??

With recent high temperatures and low rain levels, California is predicted to have less snow this winter compared to previous years.

According to the National Oce-anic and Atmospheric Adminis-tration (NOAA), 2014 is Califor-nia’s fourth consecutive year in a exceptional drought. With 2013 marked as the driest year ever re-corded and the state receiving one fifth of the average annual rain-fall, the drought is predicted to continue unless winter snow can increase water levels.

With lower rainfall levels, it is forecasted that the state will ex-perience a smaller snow period. Climate change caused by global warming coupled with El Nino’s prolonged stay will result in snow advocates having to find an alter-native for their winter activities this year.

El Nino is part of the El Nino Southern Oscillation (ELSO). ELSO refers to the cycles of warm and cold temperatures in the west-ern Pacific. Currently, California is in the El Nino period with high temperatures and high pressure. Once the cycle shifts to cool tem-peratures, or La Nina, California will have cooler temperature and lower air pressure, resulting in rain. The shift in ELSO occurs ev-ery three to six years.

Sophomore Nicole Lyon said, “Low rainfall and snow expected

this winter will have a detrimental effect on skiers and winter lodges. Areas suffering from the drought cannot replenish their water sup-ply, worsening the drought.”

Reduced snow will have a dra-matic impact on winter sports participation and business in typ-ical winter hotspots such as Lake Tahoe and Bear Valley.

NOAA said, “We’re predicting at least a 2 to 3 percent chance that winter precipitation will be near or above normal throughout the state.”

Due to the minimal chance of California receiving the average amount of snowfall this winter,

many tourists and vacationers are searching for alternatives.

Those seeking a fulfilling win-ter experience will most likely travel further distances for pro-longed winter fun.

In-state lodging and pricing for winter activities are expected to skyrocket, aiming to meet the annual revenue goal coupled with a smaller allotted snowfall period.

Junior ski advocate Sydney Cho said, “With a high possibility of low snowfall in California, my family and I have been consider-ing to ski in Vancouver or Denver this winter. Snowfall patterns are more predictable and the snow is

natural”.California Ski Association esti-

mated that over the past decade, ski resorts have lost around one billion dollars. In 2011, Califor-nia snow was minimal, resulting in California’s visits dropping 26 percent.

The scare of snow in California has sparked artificial snow indus-tries in Northern California and resort upgrades, competing for customers.

Due to the low natural snow this winter, students seek alterna-tives for typical winter activities and sports to avoid traveling far distances.

“An alternative to traveling far distances include a popular sum-mer activity, water-skiing. Many find this a strange alternative, however it provides participants with a winter like experience and provides participants the oppor-tunity to get tan,” said senior Leah Roe.

Water sports including wake-boarding, water-skiing, jet-skiing, and inner tubing provide winter advocates with similar snow ac-tivities, except in warmer condi-tions.

In the past decade, Lake Tahoe has become an increasing popular vacationing spot during spring and summer, making a majority of the year’s profit in the warmer seasons. If such activities are pres-ent in the winter, why bother trav-eling far distances for real snow?

Senior Natalie Tussy said, “Snow is a seasonal and is hard to find in the United States in the summer. Visiting the snow and skiing during the winter is an an-nual activity that is impossible to do in the summer.”

Due to low snow levels, some students are considering going to Southern California for winter like activities.

“Wakeboarding is snowboard-ing, the only difference is the surface and temperature outside. Traveling to the south is more re-alistic because the water will not disappear and is natural,” said Lyon.

Reduced snowfall worries lo-cals regarding low water levels, however winter activist are pro-vided with realistic alternatives to enjoy seasonal sports.

Page 14

The Highlander December 2014CAMPUSIt’s the most stress-filled time of the year

Kian KaramdashtiStaff Writer

Everyone knows how the Christmas classic goes: "On the fifth day of Christmas, finals gave to me: five cups of coffee, four study guides, three hours of sleep, two oral language tests, and a partridge in a pear tree," or at least I think that's how it goes.

Oh, December. The time of the year associated with chilly sweater weather, steaming hot chocolate and over-played holiday music. To use the words of 60’s singer Andy Williams, it really does sound like “the most wonderful time of the year.” However for many high school students, the holidays can feel like the exact opposite.

“Don’t get me wrong, December is great, but it’s not ex-actly the easy and happy time period portrayed in movies and the media,” said senior Jack Stanger.

For high school students across the nation, winter finals week represents the most hectic and stressful time of the whole school year.

“I definitely think that winter has become a time of pan-ic and worry for many students due to finals and school in general,” said junior Sage Shamsai. "There are a lot of things that need to get done in order to relax and enjoy the moment."

In a poll of 60 students conducted by The Highlander, 74 percent felt extra stress during the holiday and winter finals season.

"That doesn't surprise me at all," said sophomore Ashley

Wen. "School is stressful in general, but throw in finals and other family commitments in that time period and it gets scary. A lot of people take the SAT at that time as well, so that's another outside addition. December in general de-mands a lot out of you so it's much harder to get into the "jolly" holiday season mood you might have felt in middle school."

One reason for this decline in spirit could be the rise in the number of activities students participate inside and outside of school.

"Playing a winter sport does play large role because the soccer season demands a huge time commitment," said ju-nior Chris Gehlen. "There’s just so much I’m doing right now with sports and academics, that there really is no time to let the holidays sink in. It’s sad but I really have no choice. It's a struggle. The moment I turn in my last final will be the time I relax and embrace what’s left of the holidays. Junior year is really important college-wise, and I can’t afford to slip up."

Even staff members can relate to the extra load on stu-dents shoulders, as they too have a vast amount of work to complete for their students.

“As a teacher, I actually think I feel more stress during the winter time then I did when I was a student,” said U.S. History teacher David Gomez. “With all the essays, tests, and final grades we need to submit, school staff feel the stress as well. However, I do understand the concerns of the students. When I was your guys’ age, a lot less emphasis was put on finals and the tests were substantially shorter.”

Whether students or staff, most would agree that they are in this "struggle" together.

"It's the way the school system is set up and it's not go-ing to change anytime soon," said Stanger. "This will be my fourth year of finals so I know the effort needed to get the grades I want. Just study, get as much sleep as possible, fin-ish your tests, and we can all get the rest we deserve."

Junior Glenn Smyth looks at a gingerbread house. Many students like him anticipate the holiday season even before finals have ended.

IVY NGUYEN

A group of SOS members participate in a mediation to solve a conflict. Counselor Shelley Bustamante guides them to a resolution.

What exactly is SOS and how does it affect students?Tori Shanefelter

Staff Writer

IVY NGUYEN

High school can be a very troublesome time for many students that constantly deal with life issues.

Unlike many high schools, Carlmont has a unique program designed to bring aware-ness of common life struggles high school students may face and coping strategies. This program is called Students Offering Support (SOS).

Consisting of approximately 50 Carl-mont students, SOS leaders teach, counsel and mediate conflicts with their peers and help impact the lives of students at Carl-mont.

“SOS has had a huge impact on my life. Through SOS I got the help I needed to deal with a lot of problems I’ve had in life. It has taught me better ways to cope with and handle these problems as well as how to help others,” said junior and three year SOS member Rea Tucker.

Carlmont’s SOS program began 16 years ago under the supervision of Marriage and Family Counselor/ Critical Incident Spe-cialist Shelley Bustamante. A main aspect of SOS is having leaders present to fresh-men Life Skills classes to educate and of-

fer them support in their transition from middle school to high school.

Each sub program within SOS addresses specific common issues such as eating dis-orders, substance abuse, bullying, depres-sion, suicide, academic stress and sexual assault, along with many other programs. The presentation includes a PowerPoint made by the sub-program leaders, personal stories, interactive activities and questions.

Bustamante said, “All the steps taken to prepare for the presentations allow the stu-dents to take ownership of their program topic. Sharing personal stories is not only beneficial for the students listening because the presenter shares how they overcame their challenges and how to heal so they can move on, but it also acts as a healing method for them. Sharing stories puts the presenter in a very vulnerable position, but they do it because they know that it can re-ally help change the lives of other students struggling with the same thing and to know that there are others who want to help and support them.”

SOS and the resources it offers for Carl-mont students is recognized by many who have witnessed first-hand the positive dif-ference it has on the students and its mem-bers.

“SOS has made a positive impact on stu-dents because it shows them that they have support from other students and that they are not alone. Sometimes all it takes to turn a student’s life around for the better is hav-ing someone they can talk to without fear of judgement,” said counselor Kimberly Miller.

SOS leaders are also trained to facilitate and provide conflict mediations as well as peer counseling. These resources give the leaders an opportunity to enhance active listening, problem solving and communi-

cation skills. A very important principle in SOS is to

listen without judging. Mediators and peer counselors are not there to give their per-sonal input but to offer a safe space for stu-dents to express themselves.

“I’ve learned so much from SOS, but the most important thing it has done for me is helped me get a better understanding of who I am as a person and shown me that I’m not alone. Other students have gone through the same struggles and are here to support me,” said Tucker.

Page 15

The HighlanderDecember 2014 CAMPUS

The United States has a diverse population. Aside from the common Christmas and Ha-nukkah celebrations, some people celebrate holidays such as Lunar New Year.

Every year, Santa Claus arrives on campus. Carlmont students have the chance to take a photo with him and his elves.

Santa Claus on campus is not secularMateen Nozzari

Staff Writer

It’s lunch time, and it’s the day most American-Catholic or Christian students have been waiting for. Your friends go to take pictures and laugh with him, but you stay behind. Christmas isn’t celebrated by Jewish people or any other religious group, so your presence would render useless.

"It's not as bad a topic as some people might think it is," said Jewish junior Adam Rosenduft. "Most of us have been around the 'Christmas spirit' our whole lives so it doesn't really bother us."

Some time ago, the vacation period be-tween the end of the second and beginning of the third quarter was called Christmas break. Over the past few decades, the name has gradually shifted to a more “politically correct” name known as winter break.

“I have quite a few Muslim friends that go here and I know they haven’t felt dis-criminated against by Santa Claus on cam-pus one bit,” said sophomore Dro Avetian. “People deserve a chance to celebrate their respective holidays despite the diversity of students on campus.”

Santa Claus is accompanied by tempo-rary snow, a batch of students dressed as

elves and his bag of gifts, and he resides in the center of the quad for the entirety of lunch on the last school day before Christ-mas.

“I’ll admit, it’s disappointing to not be allowed to take part in such a popular holiday each year,” said Jewish sophomore Ethan Miller. “The Christmas spirit is al-most contagious--even for those who don’t celebrate it.”

Miller and many other Jews face this feeling of exclusion annually.

“I don’t really feel like I’m part of the community as much because all the events are focused on Christmas, like pictures with Santa,” said Jewish junior Max Lieber-man. “I don’t think that it is unconstitu-tional, but everyone should be included in some way or another because that’s what the Christmas spirit is all about.”

Santa Claus on campus does however contribute very much to the holiday season for the participants of Christmas each year.

“Santa Claus on campus is what gets the people going,” said sophomore Dylan Yanofsky. “It gives those who celebrate Christmas a chance to enjoy their Decem-ber and really maintain their sense of holi-day spirit.”

Santa Claus on campus is started by

Carlmont’s very own Associated Student Body (ASB).

“Each year we hire somebody to dress up as Santa Claus so students can get a taste of the holiday spirit,” said ASB member Sam Levy.

ASB uses holidays and seasons to fuel their events and organized rallies depend-ing on the current month.

People around the world celebrate more than just Christmas and HanukkahTaran SunStaff Writer

The cheery holiday figure of Saint Nick isn’t the only holiday figure that appears around the holiday season. A plethora of other unusual holidays make their appearances as well, along with their unique celebrations.

Typical American holidays of Christmas and Hanukkah are highly anticipated around this time of year.

Sophomore Ryan Geronimo said, “The holidays are spe-cial for me because I get to be with all of my family, and my brother comes home from college for the holidays. It’s awesome to reunite with my older sibling.”

However, there are many more holidays that exist that aren’t openly publicized that come with their own customs and mascots.

Hogmanay is the Scottish word for the last day of the year and is celebrated like the New Year in Scottish cul-ture. It is the start of a celebration that can last until Jan. 2, which is a Scottish banking holiday.

Junior Lucas Coley said, "To some degree, small national holidays throughout the globe have greater societal impli-cations for their home countries than the large holidays celebrated in the US and worldwide.“

Nardoqan (or Nardugan) is a Turkish holiday that origi-nated from Sumerian tradition. Nowadays, it is most com-monly used to refer to the winter solstice in many Central Asian languages. It is similar to the Christian holiday of Christmas.

Coley said, “While holidays like Christmas and Hallow-

een have been thoroughly commercialized and popular-ized in countries where they have little intrinsic cultural value, the small local holidays that not everybody knows about retain their special meaning to the people of the countries that created them.”

Kwanzaa is a holiday celebrated both in America and

West African culture. The celebration is conducted to hon-or African heritage and it takes place from Dec. 26 to Jan 1, ending in feasting and gift giving.

Sophomore Lauren Bang said, “I think that holidays are a time for family and celebration, but also a time for re-flection. I think they are special because it’s a time where everyone gets together to celebrate an important thing, no matter where in the world they are or what they believe in.”

Zagmuk means "beginning of the year" and it is a Meso-potamian festival celebrating the New Year. It celebrates the triumph of the mythical Marduk, the patron deity of Babylon, over the forces of chaos, symbolized by Tiamat. The battle between Marduk and Chaos lasts 12 days.

Senior Teo Vargo said, “I think different holidays around the world share a common theme for the most part, and that is for people to spend a peaceful time with those close to them who share their beliefs. No matter how different they are, they all have values.”

The holiday time is special for people of all cultures, and the unity that it creates within cultures and families is a gift that is given no matter what holiday is celebrated.

Junior Ramy Wong said, “The holiday season is a time in which I meet with my family and the people close to me. Meeting for dinner all together is special for us to bond as a unit and it brings us closer together.”

Junior Sage Shamsai said, “Holidays are a great way for people to take a step back from all the hustle of their lives and either reevaluate themselves or appreciate what other people have done for them. It's like a reminder that life isn't all about work.”

IVY NGUYEN

HIGHLANDER FILE PHOTO

“Santa Claus isn’t meant to alienate cer-tain religious groups--in fact, we try to base our holiday-related events on all the religions so nobody feels ostracized,” Levy said.

As the winter holidays approach, Santa Claus will be making his appearance on campus before the students go on winter break.

Page 16

The Highlander December 2014NEWSGetting paid to get an education

Lara OstroffStaff Writer

Imagine walking into class once every month to find a stack of cash waiting for you on your desk.

The only catch- attending high school.While this may not be exactly what

Swedish high school students go through, it is pretty close.

According to the Swedish law, the coun-try is required to pay you 1,050 Swedish Krona ($152) each month by default.

The specifics for the student grant are that you need to be aged 16 to 20, be a full-time student, and attend an upper second-ary school, adult secondary education pro-gram, or folk high school.

The convenient thing about these stu-dent grants is that they are automatic, and you don't have to submit an application.

According to csn.se, you will receive a student grant starting in the quarter after you turn 16 until the spring semester of the year that you turn 20. If you are a foreign citizen, you have to apply for a basic entitle-ment to receive study allowance.

Could something like this ever be imple-mented into the American education sys-tem?

"Well, considering just how different our society is from Sweden's, I think it just wouldn't work well in America. We're al-ready looked at as a super nation with bil-lions of dollars in debt. Who would be pay-ing these students? Taxpayers?" said Mariya Chichmarenko.

Chichmarenko isn't the only one who questions where this money would come from.

Senior Max Ware said that he thinks our education system would suffer because it would ruin America’s economy.

“We would have to pay a lot more taxes, and I don’t think that the US is ready for that in terms of budgetary concerns. People would most likely not be willing to pay the taxes to support that, so they would have to divert money from other parts of the bud-get,” said Ware.

“Specifically at our school, I don’t think that it would increase attendance or mo-tivation because a majority of the student body is high-income students who have been exposed to know the monetary val-ue of education. They know that going to school will result in them being well paid later on in life,” said Ware

According to a recent poll at Carlmont

High School, 94 percent of the student body said they think that high school stu-dents getting paid for their attendance would change their current high school experience.

"I think it would increase attendance of schools but the integrity of the educa-tion system would decline. It would make our education system look really bad and would lack respect because some people in other countries can't even get an educa-tion," said Chichmarenko.

Another country that has tried the “brib-ing” route is Denmark.

The student grant loans are given to stu-dents in secondary and tertiary schools in Denmark, and are administered by the Danish Ministry of Science, Innovation, and Higher Education.

In Denmark these universal grants are called Statens Uddannelsesstotte, which means state educational support grants.

All students 18 and older are eligible for the free grant. The grants are based on the income of the recipient’s parents if they are

younger than 20 years old. The basic rate for students that are 20

years old and older is around $960 USD every month.

Once a student starts at a university or other high education institution, they are entitled to an SU for six years.

Another interesting aspect to consider is that all education in Denmark is free of charge. From grade school up to college and any official higher education, it is com-pletely free.

“I love that Denmark has free educa-tion from the beginning to the end. The only problem is, I don’t know how America could afford that,” said senior Savannah Grech.

“It’s a great idea, but I don’t know where the money would come from to support the teachers and fund the schools. Taxpay-ers wouldn’t want yet another thing to wor-ry about, and our government is already in debt,” said Grech.

Feyza Ostroff, a parent and mother living in the United States, details her university

experience in Turkey when she lived there.“When I attended university in Turkey,

and this still applies today, all public uni-versities were free. There was only a $50 registration fee. Nationwide, all students were tested on all key subjects, and if your score met the eligibility requirement for the school you wanted to go to, you would get in.” said Ostroff.

Ostroff adds, “Coming from a middle class background with four of my siblings attending university at the same time, if our education had not been free, not all of us would have been able to attend.”

According to The College Board, a "moderate" college budget for an in-state public college for the 2013–2014 academic year in the United States averaged $22,826. A moderate budget at a private college av-eraged $44,750.

Now, it is simply a matter of whether or not all of the benefits of free or paid edu-cation outweigh the losses that this would bring on America’s education system.

It has been 50 years since the turmoil of the Civil Rights Movement.

There are no more Jim Crow Laws, no more lynchings, and no more violent riots in the street over elementary human rights. But the oppression of minorities is still here today, and it is currently taking the shape of an unlikely source: mascots.

The word “mascot” was once used to define anything that brought good fortune to a house, according to the International University Sports Federation. Since then, it has evolved and become the symbol for organizations and sports teams, but it has also become a symbol for controversy and ignorance.

“When I was in high school, the con-sciousness of the people at the time was really limited. The norm was that there were stereotypes. Even though people said things that weren’t meant to be degrading, they came off as degrading anyways,” said

Politically incorrect mascots spark heated debatesJessica Adair

Copy Editor history teacher Linda Garvey.Some people think that there are mas-

cots that are politically incorrect, or insen-sitive towards a minority group.

“My mascot in high school was a ‘va-quero’ and that’s Spanish for ‘cowboy.’ But the picture of our mascot shows a short, Mexican-American man wearing a som-brero and a poncho. I didn’t think about it then, but now I think that was offensive,” said Garvey.

Senior Natalie Tussy added, “There are so many mascots that describe groups of people and it’s become a social norm. Teams like the Redskins I think would be better off if they just had an animal as their mascot.”

The Washington Redskins football team has had its name since 1932, but recently people have been advocating for a change. This has sparked a heated debate between those who want to change the name be-cause of the insensitivity and those who want to keep it because of tradition.

Dan Snyder, owner of the Redskins, re-fuses to change the name and said, “[The name] honors where we came from, and who we are,” but some people believe that tradition is not the most important thing.

“Sometimes you have to let tradition go. If we didn’t let go of it, we would still be a backwards country. I think tradition is a flimsy excuse for why we do things that aren’t right. Language is a powerful thing and we need to realize that,” said Carlmont history teacher Linda Garvey.

President Obama also said, "I don't know whether our attachment to a par-ticular name should override the real, le-gitimate concerns that people have about these things."

The controversy over the name “Red-skins” has not stopped there. According to CNN, a local newspaper in Pennsylvania has decided to cut the word “Redskin” out of their publication and to refuse any op-ed pieces that contain the name. In response, the school board suspended both the edi-

tor-in-chief and the adviser of the newspa-per from their respective positions.

Despite all the controversy around it, 71 percent of Americans still believe that the Redskins should keep their name, accord-ing to a poll conducted by Langer Research “Outside the Lines.”

“I think the reason why people don’t re-ally consider the fact that some mascots are politically incorrect is because the major-ity of people aren’t directly affected by it. Meaning that they aren’t part of the mi-nority that the mascot is referring to,” said Tussy.

Another reason why this issue has be-come so prominent in the last couple of years is because people’s opinion about what is offensive differs so greatly from those of others.

“It’s all about perspective. What I find offensive may not be what other people find offensive, but if somebody does think something is disrespectful, then something should be done,” said Garvey.

Being paid to go to school can influence student’s decision to attend higher education. MINH-HAN VU

NEWSMiddle school performance influences high school classes

Jocelyn MoranStaff Writer

In the 8th grade, you walk into class to take a test that will determine what math and English class you will be put in your freshman year.

But why take it seriously? It's only the 8th grade. However, that test can potentially determine the rest of

the math and English classes you will take in high school.Elementary and middle school education is critical

in preparing a student for their future. It determines the classes they will take in high school which can determine the number of options they have for college.

English teacher Emily Bandelt said, “I think elementary and middle school education is important because you need to build basic skills before you go more in depth, and have more complex discussions. That’s what we’re suppose to be doing in high school according to the common core state standards. If they don’t have foundational skills that they’re suppose to be getting in elementary school and middle school, we can’t analyze deeper.”

As a result of the difference in opportunities that middle schools are providing their students, there is a difference in levels of preparation in students when they enter high school.

Senior Thomas Gifford, who attended Roy Cloud Mid-dle School, said, “I feel like my math class in middle school

definitely prepared me for high school. I look at things in my math class now, and say to myself, ‘Oh, I remember my teacher teaching us this in middle school.’ I feel like I came in with an advantage because I know students who came from other middle schools, and they don’t know as much, and are not prepared as much.”

The teachers and the curriculum that is being taught is a key factor in helping a student prepare for high school.

Sophomore Hannah Wright, who attended Ralston Mid-dle School said, “The workload I received in middle school did not prepare me for high school. The learning tactics in middle school are very different from high school. I don’t feel the faculty prepared me enough.”

The class size in middle school can also have negative effects on the student as Carlmont’s population is around 2100 students.

"I didn't have a lot of opportunities in elementary and middle school because I attended a small private school where there were 10 students in my grade, so I entered high school with a disadvantage. I was very unprepared," said senior Julia Semmler.

Not only can middle school affect a student's education, but it can affect the person that student turns out to be, and their future.

According to the New York Times, chaotic and disorga-nized middle schools has contributed to high school drop-out rates.

Every year, over 1.2 million students drop out of high school, however, the dropout rate has been lowering since 1990.

According to the Institute of Educational Sciences, La-tino and Black students have higher rates in high school dropouts than White students do.

“I attended a school in East Palo Alto that was heavily populated with Hispanic students, and I don’t feel like it prepared me enough for high school. I struggled because the workload from my middle school was definitely not as heavy as Carlmont's workload.” said senior Sara Ar-redondo. “It really did affect me because if I hadn’t been motivated to accommodate to the workload, I would have stayed behind, and I wouldn't have as many options for college now."

Because there is a difference in levels of education that is being provided to their students in different elementary and middle schools, there is a variety in the levels of prepa-ration that students come into high school with.

Bandelt said, “This is why we have regular English, Eng-lish Support, and AS English. It’s because some students were not prepared enough in middle school."

Not being provided with enough preparation for high school courses because of the middle school a student at-tended can affect their future because that can lead to them not being prepared enough for college courses or even be-ing eligible for college.

Page 17

The HighlanderDecember 2014

Cheating: the pressure to cut cornersContinued from page 9

Cheating has also come in forms of cooperation among groups of students, which are referred to as “cheating scan-dals.” The simple act of sharing answers not only affects the integrity of the cheaters, but the integrity of the ones who let them cheat.

Senior James Pak said, “There's a general notion for a lot of people that if you don’t let others cheat, then you're not a

good friend or you’re an uptight person. It’s even worse for those who are “tattle tales,” those who actually tell teachers about attempted cheating.”

The pressures of school can lead a student to succumb to unethical action.

Low academic integrity is a large and complex issue in high schools all over the nation and can be fixed through preventative action and the reduction stress levels among students.

Page 18

The Highlander December 2014OPINIONDomi-Nation

Dominic Gialdini Editor

“Blessed is he that can laugh at himself, he will never cease to be amused.”- Anonymous

PUBLIC SERVICE ANNOUNCEMENT: Due to the sudden influx of pigs on campus, Administration has de-cided to invest in troughs in an attempt to limit the sani-tary hazards that are now prevalent throughout the school.

As many of you may have noticed, wild herds of hogs regularly disperse throughout campus during lunchtime and leave a great deal of evidence in their wake. The pigs, who vary in size and appearance, wander away after creat-ing messes of wrappers, plastics and food scraps on the ground as well as on tables. Unfortunately, due to their lack of intelligence (in addition to their lack of hands) they are incapable of cleaning up after themselves.

Administration advises students to avoid all altercations with the pigs; they are potentially dangerous and hostile. Please do not interact with them in any way — it is best to file a report with the school instead of making contact with these wild animals.

While Administration is dealing accordingly with the pig problem, those considering the solutions are asking themselves why this is an issue in the first place.

Extensive litter should not be a problem that the janitors have to deal with; nowhere in their contracts does it say that they must deal with pigs.

Had the pigs’ owners trained them to not be so filthy, there would be no need for the school to purchase the new troughs. However, Administration does not hold the pigs accountable for their actions; after all, they are merely pigs and are therefore incapable of complex thought such as the idea of common courtesy or respect for the environment.

The widespread problem of litter on campus must not go ignored any longer. For this reason, all pigs will now be corralled into various pens throughout campus during lunch and will be fed slop in their troughs.

Unfortunately, it is projected that these pigs will remain wasteful, choosing to eat a relatively small quantity of the food provided for them and letting the rest go to waste. This unprecedented phenomenon remains inexplicable; as to why any pig would waste food is beyond reasonable logic. Once again, all that can be surmised is that they are ungrateful pigs, and that they don’t understand the value of the food they waste, that they are ignorant of the mil-lions of pigs around the world who wallow in their mud every night with empty stomachs.

Some students may justly ask why Administration does not rid Carlmont of the pink, pesky perpetrators. Surely it would be easier to relocate the pigs, or better yet slaughter them and sell them to the meat factories to make a profit. Don’t think that these potential solutions have not been considered. Administration has ruled such options out, as additional pigs would surely wander onto and infest the school with their uncleanliness in the future. It is a matter of practicality that the school resolves the problem by pro-viding a temporary solution while it takes another decade or two to come up with a plan of action that would actually work. As with all other problems at school, Administration must flesh out the details if anyone wants lasting results.

Students opposed to attending a school with a litter-ridden campus are called to address this issue by helping to clean up the messes made by the pigs, messes that they the students did not make. Of course, it is completely un-derstandable that one would not want to actively aid the school in this endeavour. After all, why should anyone take the initiative to do anything if they did not cause the prob-lem in the first place and if the school has workers who handle the problem for them?

While nobody is obligated or even expected to partake in campus cleanup, Administration believes that is is not unreasonable to ask students to do the following:

Please report any and all pigs on campus to Administra-tion so that the necessary precautions can be implemented in order to catch them, corral them and effectively free the school of these menaces. Administration looks forward to everyone’s cooperation and assistance in this matter.

Sincerely,Stu Dentsar LayzeeB.S., Environmental Practices

Pigs on campus

Editorial: Think before you actIn preschool we used to sit in friendship circles, and in

elementary school, we used to write one thing that we liked about someone else in class.

Teachers pounded into our minds that we should “think before we act” in order to preserve the feelings of those around us.

Learning to censor our actions in order make sure peo-ple don’t get hurt is not a difficult concept. In fact, it seems like it would only take a few seconds, or possibly millisec-onds, to determine if what you’re about to do constitutes a bad idea and how that might affect other people.

However, for a majority of the human population, there is that guilty feeling taking residence in their stomach once they’ve realized that what they’ve done hurts others’ feel-ings. So apparently, thinking before acting isn’t as easy as we thought.

Especially as teenagers, our brains haven’t completely developed. According to the National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH), brains don’t even start to resemble an adult brain until our early 20’s.

The NIMH goes on to say that death rates are six times higher in 15-19 year olds than 10-14 year olds, which speaks volumes to the underdeveloped brain’s impaired decision making skills.

In high school there are a couple thousand teenagers, all walking around with similarly underdeveloped brains, and therefore the likelihood and probability for making bad de-cisions increases.

We tear down posters. We blatantly, and loudly, make our opinions widely known without giving the topic more than a few moments thought. We also take to social media to express all that we believe is wrong with the world.

Things spread like wildfire, so once things are out, it’s next to impossible to take them back. Actions are immor-talized by the internet, and by word of mouth. Things get blown out of proportion, and grudges are made and held for long times.

In a few moments, the decision we made in the heat

of the moment won’t be forgotten; rather, itl’ll be remem-bered forever.

Not only do our actions stick around to haunt us, it’s po-tentially hurtful to other people. By tearing down a poster, it’s hurting the people who put their time, effort, and cre-ativity into creating that poster campaign.

The decisions we make in a split second, aren’t forgotten as quickly.

A decision rooted in anger, misunderstanding, or made too rashly, not only leaves that dreaded feeling of worry and guilt in the pits of our stomachs, but also leaves an even longer lasting impression on those we have hurt.

It comes back to another lesson we learned in kinder-garten, which was to think of other people’s feelings, first.

The guilt that we hold after doing something that hurts another person hangs over some people for longer than others, but eventually it dissipates, and we’re able to move on from that feeling.

However, to the person who we’ve wronged, their feel-ings of inadequacy and underappreciation don’t disappear overnight. These feelings can hurt and scar people forever.

Anger and misunderstandings are large, unavoidable aspects of life. What differentiates those that hurt people from those who don’t is the moment where a person takes a deep breath, and tries to place his or her self in the shoes of the other person.

It’s also true that most people aren’t out to harm others, and usually their decisions can be rooted in a place of good intent but potentially bad execution.

It’s all too easy to act rashly and try to mediate the con-sequences after, but that is only for the person making the decision. The people on the receiving end don’t forget.

By taking a few seconds to think fully about a situation and try to understand the other side of the situation, we can avoid hurting the feeling of others.

Seconds and milliseconds seem so insignificant in the grand scheme of our lives. However, these small moments can help make someone else’s life better.

Teenagers: act your age

Say goodbye to the days when your teachers held your hand and gave you a homework pass when you had a rough night, because it’s time to grow up.

For many of us, this will be our last year in high school, and then it’s off to the real world where there is nobody reminding us to do our laundry or to clean our room or to study for a test.

We are all on our own, and to be honest, I don’t think that a lot of teenagers are ready for that kind of responsi-bility.

Every day I see teenagers that depend on their parents and teachers for everything; if they aren’t given what they need on a silver platter, they will self-destruct from incom-petency. Even the simple tasks are hard to get done without serious help.

According to the Daily Mail Reporter, 32 percent of 18-year-olds do not know how to boil an egg and 42 per-cent do not know how to iron a shirt.

When I think about the struggles these teenagers will face once they move out and go to college, I get very clam-my and nervous for their fate.

Just the other day in one of my classes, a kid threw a big fit because we had to take our notes on binder paper

instead of the pre-made worksheet that our teacher usually gives to us.

I mean, are you serious? What are they going to do in college when their profes-

sor lectures for an hour and they haven’t learned how to take notes properly?

My guess is that they’re going to stare around the room with a confused look and say, “where’s the worksheet?”

News flash: teachers are not going to hold your hand in college, so you should learn how to hold your own hand.

I am also very taken aback by the number of teenagers who have never worked a day in their life.

According to the U.S. Department of Labor, only 32 per-cent of teenagers 16-19 had a summer job.

I understand that students have extracurricular activi-ties or homework, and have virtually no time for a job.

But I still firmly believe that having a job is the best thing you can do because it teaches you the importance of punc-tuality, how to be a professional, and how to work hard.

I’m not saying that we are completely hopeless, but I am saying that we need to take on a little responsibility and push ourselves out of the nest in order to succeed in the real world, and that’s just the way it is.

Jessica AdairStaff Writer

VERONIKA DVORAKOVASleeping in class is unacceptable for high school students

Article originally featured on scotscoop.com

Page 19

The HighlanderDecember 2014 OPINION

We need a welfare stateLong ago, in England’s Sherwood forest lived a young

man by the name of Robin Hood. As a child, Robin Hood had been cheated by noblemen and vowed never to spare the rich. His ways of taking from the rich and giving to the poor helped all of the land and created a more stable economy in Sherwood forest.

The people of Sherwood forest were more than grate-ful even the rich ones losing money, so why can’t it be the same way in America?

There’s an ease at which welfare is criticized by the American people, although more often than not people know very little about policy issues when discussing them. Traditionally, liberals argue that welfare produces positive effects in society whereas conservatives deem it useless and counterproductive.

The real reasoning as to why welfare began needs to be remembered in order to fully judge the effectiveness of the program. According to the constitutional rights founda-tion, the welfare program was originated in 1935 during the Great Depression to help poor children and other de-pendent people.

People in need- thats what the program intended to help. People who may have been laid off and need an extra boost, people born into poverty attempting to find a way out, people who don’t have an equal opportunity in a coun-try that’s based on equal rights.

As for the current state of welfare, it is no longer under federal control because Americans as a whole don’t believe in the importance of helping others.

In America, all we care about is ourselves. After doing a little cost benefit analysis we realized that as Americans we don’t need to help decrease the poverty line.

When we say that welfare works or welfare doesn’t work, we have not randomly assigned families who receive wel-fare and compared the outcomes to families who’ve been randomly assigned not to receive welfare.

In order to be able to say that something worked or

failed, there needs to be a control group to compare it to, a group that didn’t receive cash welfare.

This is why we don’t have any idea about what we’re talking about when it comes to public policy, as we can’t make a control group. It’s not ethical to give one person benefits while leaving others in the dirt.

There was a time when people were accepted and re-jected from the welfare program, which helps us look at the over arching consequences of not receiving welfare when in need. When welfare started a century ago, there was a program known as the Mothers Pension Program. It ran between 1911 and 1935.

This program was administered by the states, not the federal government. And when the Great Depression struck, a lot of money dried up. Anna Aizer, an econo-mist at Brown, found many states couldn’t cover all the moms who needed help. So they picked some and reject-ed others. The moms were mostly white.

The families who got the money and didn’t get the money were nearly identical. After tracking who got the money and who didn’t, Aizer and her colleagues tracked down all the kids of all these moms, throughout 14 states, and followed what happened to them down the road.

What she found was that kids whose families had re-ceived welfare lived one year longer, on average, than identical kids whose families did not receive welfare.

Compared to the children who are rejected, those whose mothers were accepted by the Mothers Pension Program stay in school almost a half a year longer and earn about 15 percent more in young adulthood, sug-gesting that the mortality effects are operating through increased schooling and income in adulthood.

This study doesn’t necessarily settle all of the modern debates that we have about welfare. But there’s value in applying scientific tools to understanding public policy in order to make it smarter.

It really makes no sense that marketers selling toys have better data on what works and what doesn’t than policymakers who are spending billions and billions of dollars.

Gas is now cheaper than milk. For the first time in four years, the price of gas has

dipped below three dollars a gallon.However, don’t rejoice at the pump just yet, because fall-

ing gas prices are a bad omen for our nation.But first, it’s important to know just why gas prices are

so low. The winter blend of gas (which gas stations just switched

to from the summer blend) has less ethanol regulations from the government and is therefore cheaper to produce.

The United States is fracking more and more oil deposits within the nation, which is why U.S. stockpiles of oil are currently at 210 million barrels (an all-time high).

More fuel-efficient cars are rolling out of factories, as a recent study released by the Environmental Protection Agency found that the average miles per gallon of a new car has increased by five percent since 2004 (to 24.1 miles per gallon).

Of course, the immediate impact of these falling gas prices is that Americans will spend less at the pump and therefore have more money to spend elsewhere.

According to Jonathan Fahey of the Associated Press, the drop in prices will save every American $50 dollars a month in gasoline costs, and save the U.S. economy $187 million dollars a day.

But here’s why falling prices are harmful to all Ameri-cans.

Falling gas prices are indicative of slowing economies. Europe and China are reporting falling economic fore-

casts, and with poor economies comes the lessening of de-mand for gasoline, as people and corporations cut down on expenses (such as driving and flying) in order to save money.

This decreased demand for gasoline in Europe and Chi-na creates an abundance of supply; which drives down the gas prices.

This may be a sign of bad things to come; as the United States’ economy is deeply inter-linked and intertwined with the economies of Europe and China.

For Europe, the Bank for International Settlements found that U.S. banks held $656 billion in euro debt in 2011.

This leaves the United States’ economy (through the banks) inextricably tied to Europe’s financial ability to pay off their loans.

For China, the United States Treasury recently reported that China owns $1.2 trillion in treasury bonds, which is roughly eight percent of all U.S. publicly-held debt.

With China’s economy suffering, it’s possible that China may push for higher interest rates on their payments, or decreased tariffs on their exports.

Either way, the United States’ would be forced to cut back on domestic spending, which would hurt our nation’s economy.

However, falling gasoline prices also raises an issue that transcends national boundaries.

It’s just bad for the environment. With lower gas prices, Americans feel less inclined to

buy new, fuel-sipping cars. Jonathan Fahey of the Associated Press found that it will

now take an extra 1.5 years to make purchasing a more-expensive, better gas mileage Toyota Prius pay off over a cheaper, less fuel-efficient Toyota Corolla.

With gas no longer such a pressing problem, American car buyers will now focus on other aspects of a vehicle, such as its size and power.

Car companies are responsive to the wishes of their cus-tomers, so already cars are becoming less fuel-efficient.

The University of Michigan Transportation Research In-stitute found that in September of 2014, the average miles per gallon of newly sold cars declined from 25.8 to 25.3.

Now, please remember that there’s a giant hole in the ozone layer that keeps getting bigger, and that if a giant iceberg melts in Antarctica we won’t need cars anymore, because we will all be under-water.

So next time you go to the pump and look at the price, don’t get too excited.

That gas is cheap, but what is its real cost?

Michael Bastaki Editor

“Things turn out best for the people who make the best of the way things turn out.”- John Wooden

Don’t fall for falling gas prices

Mike’s Corner

Ayesha AbbasiStaff Writer

VERONIKA DVORAKOVA

VERONIKA DVORAKOVA

Page 20

The Highlander December 2014

After several months being shackled to your school work, the bell will ring after your last final exam and you will realize that you are free.

At that moment, you will have finished climbing a metaphorical mountain. You will have dodged the boulders hurled down upon you by your teachers. As you were being pummeled with projects, crushed by exams, and berated with avalanches of homework, there seemed to be no end in sight.

This is what the weeks leading up to finals feel like.

Unless you are a freshmen, you know the drill. As finals week comes closer, the task of main-taining one’s sanity is daunting. But fear not, for the upperclass-men have lived to tell the tales of their survival.

Senior Nathan Rosenthal said, “I’m definitely a procrastinator. I rarely study, and on the off chance that I do, I’ll get bored in about three minutes. Unfortunately, when it comes to finals I tend to get worried because I realize I haven’t prepared enough. ”

Unlike Rosenthal, junior Jillian

Huskey takes a different approach to studying for finals: “I normally prepare for finals by studying dur-ing dead week and the weekend before finals. For Tuesday’s final, I’ll use the time after early dis-missal on Monday to study even more. I try to plan my time well and take regular breaks while I’m studying to deal with the stress,”

No matter what your attitude is regarding finals, winter break will eventually be knocking at your door.

Some students may be over-whelmed by the realization that for the next two and a half weeks they don’t have to do homework,

When finals are finally finishedZoe Wildman

Backpage Editorstudy for tests, or go to school. With school taking up such a large amount of students’ lives many may not know what to do with all of this free time.

Whether you’re an avid nature lover or a devoted Netflix viewer, there are variety of activities to do during winter break. The beach is always a lovely place to spend the day, just make sure to bundle up. For those who prefer the comforts of the indoors, you can cuddle up with a warm drink like tea or hot chocolate and read a book for fun (sounds crazy, I know). If you’re not particularly into reading, you can always catch up on the last

“It's a Wonderful Life” is a classic favorite about a man who has given up on his dreams and decides to kill himself. However, his guardian angel comes and shows him how his life has touched his community and the lives of many people. It’s a movie that embodies the spirit of Christmas better than any other. This movie keeps viewers riveted no matter how many times they’ve seen it and always gets the audience choking up at the end.

“Elf ” is a modern day favorite about a human who learns that he is not an elf, although he was raised as one. After learning that his biological father lives in New York City, he travels there to meet him and spread Christmas cheer in a city full of cynics. This comedy is infinitely re-watchable and hilariously quotable (“Buddy the Elf, what's your favorite color?”). It also has the rare quality of being able to bring even the most cynical person into a festive mood.

“Home Alone” is an everlasting Christmas comedy about a young boy who is accidentally left at home when his family goes on vacation and must deal with some would-be burglars. This film is also infinitely re-watchable and hilariously quotable (“Keep the change, ya filthy animal!”). As it is listed in the Guinness World Records as the highest-grossing live-action comedy ever, this movie is definitely a must-see during the holiday season.

For those who have a “bah, humbug” spirit about the holiday season, “Black Christmas” is a classic slasher-horror film about a group of sorority sisters who are stalked and murdered during their holiday vacation by a killer hiding in their sorority house. While it’s not a movie that you can watch with your grandparents, it is something worth watching with friends because even the jolliest of days deserve a few scares.

“Edward Scissorhands” is a dark, romantic film about an artificial man who, as the title suggests, has scissors for hands. During the holiday season, he is feared and cast out as a pariah, but a family takes him in and he falls in love with the teenage daughter. This unconventional movie is the perfect thing to watch when you want to get away from the sometimes overly joyful festiveness of the holiday season.

three seasons of American Horror Story, or any other show you de-sire. And of course, winter break should be used, at least in part, to spend quality time with family and friends.

Huskey said, “I’m just looking forward to having more free time to do things other than school like go to the city and spend time with my family and friends.”

So when you find yourself sur-rounded by piles of papers, flash-cards, textbooks and tears, re-member: the end is in sight, and soon you can enjoy two weeks of pure freedom.

Top five holiday movies for the whole family

After a round of grueling exams, it’s time to relax and enjoy the freedom of winter break

“It’s a Wonderful Life” (1946)

“Elf” (2003)

“Home Alone” (1990)

“Black Christmas” (1974)

“Edward Scissor Hands” (1990)

VERONIKA DVORAKOVA

IVY NGUYEN