New baseball fi eld to be inaugurated Feb. 16

Lynbrook will be celebrating the Phase II grand opening of the new baseball and softball �ields on Feb. 16 in conjunction

with Lynbrook’s �ifth annual Baseball Cel-ebration Weekend.

The celebration, organized by team par-ents Miko Otoshi and Jennifer Cousins, will feature three games, a burrito lunch which includes a dessert buffet, a ribbon-cutting ceremony and a ceremonial pitch made by a district of�icial and senior ASB President Stephanie Hahm.

The of�icial openings of the football �ield and Stober �ield took in place in September and October of 2012..

The new baseball �ield is still located in the same position as before, but now includes batting cages in addition to new scoreboards, bleachers and shed.

Otoshi and Cousins organized this event

as “an ideal way to kick off our baseball sea-son,” similar to the inaugurations for the football �ield and Stober Field to kick off foot-ball and �ield hockey.

They also hope this will be a good oppor-tunity for baseball fans and members of the school community to take part in starting the baseball tradition on the new �ield.

“It was important to us that each stage of the opening of the �ields be celebrated since they are a big step for our community and our teams as a whole,” said Co-Athletic Direc-tor Jeremy Kitchen.

The opening ceremony will feature three baseball games throughout the day. The �irst game between the varsity and JV team starts at 9 a.m. The losing team will continue on to play the alumni team at 11 a.m.

After the two games, there will be a bur-rito lunch beginning at 12 p.m. catered by Rio Adobe Southwest Cafe, followed by a dessert buffet for $12 per bag. The meals can also be

pre-ordered ahead of time for the event. The opening will also include an of�icial

ribbon-cutting ceremony followed by a cere-monial �irst pitch thrown by a school district of�icial to mark the beginning of the champi-onship game between the winner of the pre-vious two match-ups.

Senior Kyle Williams believes the �ield has helped the team greatly and made practices more ef�icient.

“The batting cages have really helped me with my hitting, especially to �ind the consis-tency when I’m batting, during practice as well” said Williams.

In addition to providing team members with more resources to develop their batting skills, the new �ield provides a new location to store equipment and supplies, which was previously unavailable.

JV Coach Michael McCloskey said, the new �ield has “brought a level of excitement that is unmatched and unforeseen.”

Marsh to retire after 42 years

LHS Super Bowl pg. 13

BY RANI MAVRAM & HENRY SHANGGUAN

said Howden. “I can’t tell you how much of an effect Mrs. Marsh has had on my life.”

On making her decision to retire, Marsh said, “I was in Aptos and I looked out over the ocean, I thought about how lovely free time would be. That was pretty much it. The time is right.”

Although Marsh reconsidered her deci-sion to retire when Principal Gail Davidson announced her retirement in January, she ultimately came to the conclusion that the school would continue to grow despite the loss of two administrators in the same year.

“For me, I think the idea of retiring re-ally came up when I realized that I had done these projects enough,” she said. “I still feel so healthy and so young, which is because I’ve been around students my entire life. I think it’s time that I do the next challenge and have some fun in another avenue.”

After retiring from Lynbrook, Marsh is not completely sure what she will do next but some of her plans include working with stu-dent teachers at a university, doing volunteer work in domestic violence awareness, work-ing at a museum and traveling to Vermont.

“No matter how well you plan, you nev-er really have life totally �igured out,” said Marsh, re�lecting on her past and on her goals for the future. “You just go where it leads you.”

“Working with students teachers is just so fun,” said Marsh. “When you get on the same mental wave as the student teacher, and then he or she has an epiphany—that’s what I re-ally enjoy.”

Before she leaves, however, one of her goals is to guide the new Assistant Principal of School Climate through the transition.

“I’d like to make things ready for the new person,” she said. “I think it’s important to talk them through some of the things that we do. I hope we can keep some of our tradi-tions like Pay Day brunches, where I usually set out a treat and some coffee for the staff.”

While it is not certain who will be hired, Marsh hopes that the decision will be made before the end of the school year.

“When I made my announcement to the

Assistant Principal Sydney Marsh will be retiring at the end of the 2012 to 2013 school year after 42 years of

working at Lynbrook.Marsh started out as a “work-study stu-

dent” in 1970, when Lynbrook had been open for only �ive years. She worked as a theater tech and aimed to put on Lynbrook’s �irst musical while simultaneously earning her Master’s degree at San Jose State University.

After two years, Marsh was hired as an English teacher through an internship pro-gram. She spent her next 34 years at Lyn-brook in the classroom, teaching English, art and theater. In addition, she authored several Blue Ribbon School reports, advised the cheerleading team and served as the Na-tional Honor Society advisor and Thespian Society advisor.

“By 2006, I just needed change,” she said. “I had done different things over the years, different programs, different committees in the district, but I wanted to shake it up a lit-tle. At that point, it felt like the time to really take a big leap.”

In order to “shake it up,” she decided to get her administrative credential through an FUHSD-SJSU partnership and become an as-sistant principal. Now, six years later, she has decided to move on and pursue other goals.

“It wasn’t an easy decision,” she said. “From the time I was 21 to now, my life has been at Lynbrook High School. This school is my whole world other than my home. To think that I’m planning to leave all that—it’s really hard.”

For the past 42 years, Marsh has been a constant presence at Lynbrook. She has witnessed the switch from typewriters to laptops in classes and has also witnessed campus remodeling projects such as the pool and �ield. She has even seen current guidance counselor and Class of 1994 alumnus Shana Howden grow from her former English stu-dent to her colleague.

“I can honestly say that if it weren’t for Mrs. Marsh, I wouldn’t even be in education,”

staff at our last Pay Day brunch, I was look-ing over the sea of people, some of which I’ve been working with my entire life and others which I have worked really closely with in the last year. Everyone was looking at me and smiling,” she said. ”I’m going to miss that. I’ve also formed close bonds with many, many students,” said Marsh.

“Mrs. Marsh retiring is really a bitter-sweet event for me,” said Howden about her retirement. “I’m happy for her because I know she’s going to do well taking on new challenges, but I’m de�initely going to miss having someone on campus who I know will unconditionally support me.”

Senior Byrne Greider, who went to Aus-tralia as an exchange student throughout summer 2012 and into part of �irst semester, also felt the reach of Marsh’s support.

“She has always been so helpful, especially when I had decided to spend three months in Australia which overlapped the �irst month of school. She often has to play the bad cop at a high school so obviously some students don’t take that very well, but I know she just does what she does because she cares about all the students. I think she has handled it very well and she’s never stopped caring,” said Greider.

Looking back on her work experience at Lynbrook, Marsh has no big regrets, although she does wish she could have changed one thing about her job.

“Because of the nature of my job, I don’t really have contact with all the students at Lynbrook, but only students who need sup-port for different reasons to keep our school environment safe and healthy,” said Marsh. “I wish I could have interacted with more stu-dents in different ways.”

Although there is no speci�ic event that sticks out in Marsh’s mind as her best memo-ry, she feels that there are several small parts of her job that have left a large impact on her. She said, “The monthly parties that we plan on the Lynbrook Staff Association, or sweet-natured students that say ‘Hi Ms. Marsh!’ when they see me out on traf�ic duty, that’s what I’m going to miss.”

BY NIKITA DHESIKAN & HIMA RAJANA

JOEY LI—EPIC

Lynbrook had 17 students selected to be a part of the Coastal Regional honors choir this year, which performed in No-

vember last year. Of those 17 regional choir participants, 13 students have been accept-ed to the All State Honors Choir, which is the highest number of students from a single school in California. These 13 students are Arvind Bhamidipati, Rachael Chambers, Tif-fany G Chen, Sara Dyslin, Carlo Isola, Frank-lin Lee, Indu Pereira, Shritama Ray, Reo Sato, Mackenzie Shimojima, Joy Tang, Varshaya Visvanathan and Emily Zhong.

Every year after an intense audition pro-cess, students from various choirs in Califor-nia are selected to participate in one of three regional honors choirs in the state. After that, if they choose to audition, these choir students are eligible to be selected for the All State Honors Choir, which brings togeth-er singers from each region to participate in one �inal performance.While auditioning for the regional choir, which is a third of the size of the All State choir, the students had to dis-play a number of skills including singing an Italian art song, listening to notes and sing-

Letter from the editors

Seniors start Breakfast Club to raise funds

ing them back and singing perfect scales. They had to perform these tasks live

while being watched by a group of judges who would give them marks in each cat-egory that would determine whether or not they would be in the regional choir. They competed against the top singers in the state to earn a position in the state choir. Af-ter performing with the regional choir, they had the opportunity to apply to be a part of the All State choir. To apply they just had to write that they were interested next to their name while signing in at the regional choir show, and then based what the judges were looking for for the All State choir, they selected the singers with the highest scores from their original regional tryout.

Of having the highest number of singers from a single school in the state, junior Sara Dyslin said, “We’ve had a lot of students in the past in regional honor choir but when it comes to All States normally there’s only been around �ive, so this year it’s really cool that there’s so many people in it. And it makes it easier to learn the songs, because there’s more people to practice with.”

Junior Carlo Isola adds, “We’re not re-ally known for our arts, we’re known as an

Wi t h some extra

time on his hands dur-ing winter break, senior

Class President Joseph Wei began visualizing the

second semester activities he would need to carry out during

the latter half of the school year. Spoons, senior picnic, prom—

these traditions have evolved, over time, into notable rites of passage

for second semester seniors. Wei recalled overhearing, as an

underclassman, rumors about senior breakfasts, which seemed to �it the idea of class bonding over a warm, hearty meal. He decided to establish a new senior tradition beginning with the Class of 2013.

And thus, the Lynbrook Breakfast Club was born.

On the morning of Jan. 30, the �irst Lynbrook Breakfast Club

meet-up took place at Mimi’s Cafe. The event generated

roughly 20 to 30 attend-ees across all four grade

levels, which was half of what the senior

class of�icers were expect-

ing.

All-State Choir admits 13 studentsacademic school, so to be able to represent Lynbrook through choir is really cool.”

The All State honors choir is divided up into three choirs: women’s choir, men’s choir and mixed choir. The students who qualify are randomly assigned to one of them, though if they participate for mul-tiple years, they’re not assigned to the same choir as they were the previous year.

The All State Honors Choir has per-formed a mixture of classical music, from modern and classic composers.Once in the All State Choir, each student is sent musi-cal pieces to learn and prepare for the �inal concert. Students prepare the pieces indi-vidually, or with the other students in the area who have been selected, and have the opportunity to work with the choir teacher if they would like. After months of learning the songs, each student in the All State hon-ors choir will meet to rehearse the songs for the �irst time as a complete group just a few days before their show, as well as work with world-class conductors.

Choir teacher Crystal Isola said, “That’s really the exciting part, all these students learn all the same music and then they get together for three days and perform music they’ve never sung together before, and they’re all really great.”

Isola likes having many students in-volved because they bring back so much to Lynbrook choir classes. She said, “They get so much out of performing at this level, it’s such an educational experience for them, and then they come back and bring all that experience and excitement with them and it helps us with our choir.”

Based on performances from previous years, Isola said, “Do you ever hear some-thing so beautiful you get chills? That’s what Honors Choir is like.”

This year the performance of the All State Honors Choir will be in downtown San Jose at the California Theater, on March 23. It’s open to the public and admission is $10.

The month of love is not without con-troversy. This year’s Love Week (pg. 3) began with the annual Sadie

Hawkins dance, which saw an all-time low attendance. See senior Andy Tsai’s letter to the editor (pg. 6) on the subject, which is also in response to our staff editorial “Freak on students, freak on” (pg. 4) from the Epic’s third issue released on Nov. 11, 2012. The full version of his letter can be found on our website, lhsepic.com. For the science behind those Valentine crushes, see “What causes a �luttering heart?” (pg. 11) in order to read more about students’ experiences with physical attraction.

For additional wardrobe ideas, take a look at page 7, which features various fash-ion blogs, including Teen Vogue Fashion Click Blogger and Lucky Brand Blog Con-tributor Joyce Chen’s fashion blog, “Joyful Out�its.” Additional fashion blogs are listed on our website.

To understand more about the athletic recruiting process, turn to [Athletic recruit headline here] (pg. 15). Featuring two se-niors and one junior, this story follows NCAA recruitment from freshman to senior year.

We hope that you will enjoy this issue, and please feel free to email us at enc.epic@gmail.com if you have any questions, com-ments or concerns. Policies for submitting letters can be found under “Contact Us” on our website.

Happy reading,

Shannon Chai, Irene Hsu & Sabrina Shie

BY KELSEY HURWITZ

thought that it was just spam.”

S i m i l a r l y , when senior Diane Kim received the Face-book event invite, she said, “I thought the invite was referring to the movie The Breakfast Club; it took a moment for everything to click.”

Kim also adds, “Though I like the concept, I don’t think many people are willing to give up their Wednesday mornings, since it’s our only late start.”

Each month, the senior class of�i-cers are planning to seek out a new lo-cation to hold the Breakfast Club. After successfully securing a restaurant, the seniors proceed to create fundraiser �liers for distribution to each individu-al grade level.

The breakfast venue is given spe-ci�ic instructions to split checks by class. Pro�its are divided between the four classes accordingly.

Essentially, Wei views it as the senior class of�icers “running a school wide event for the other classes as well”.

The next Breakfast Club is scheduled for the morning of Feb. 27 at The Original Pan-cake House.

BY JOY SHEN

ALL STATE CHOIR| The students selected for the All-State choir from left to right � rst row: senior Mack enzie Shimojima, senior Franklin Lee, senior Reo Sato, junior Sara Dyslin, junior Shritama Ray, junior Carlo Isola, senior Rachael Chambers. Second row: senior Varshaya Visvanathan, freshman Joy Tang, freshman Emily Zhong, freshman Indu Pereira, freshman Ti� any Chen, and senior Arvind Bhamidipati.

“Like any event, it’s a work in progress,” Wei said about the club. “People have to feel accustomed to the idea before they will look forward to it.”

The exact dollar amount earned through the fundraiser has yet been calculated.

On the last Wednesday of each month, the Lynbrook Breakfast Club meets at a designated restaurant for food and com-pany before the morning bell rings.

“Every [Wednesday morning] seemed too tiresome,” Wei said. “Once a month seemed perfect and more special.”

After discussing the idea with his of�icer team, the concept developed from a casual get-together to a monthly class fundraiser. The of�icers hope to lower bid prices for prom through this idea.

As the discussion continued and the lo-gistics of the club began to formulate, Wei was reminded of the overarching theme established by the ASB back in autumn: school unity.

Also, since the senior class of�icers had not been sure of attendance, they decided to extend an invitation to students of all grade levels via Facebook. The class presi-dents from each grade eventually agreed to make Lynbrook Breakfast Club a monthly fundraiser for all four classes.

Wei said the event functioned with the senior class “taking the mantle as the big brothers and sisters of the school.”

The initial response from the student body was one of surprise and confusion.

Sophomore Class President Amit Pasu-pathy said about the invitation, “[It] threw me a little off guard because when I was added to the [Facebook] group, I originally

NIKITA DHESIKAN—EPIC

NIKITA DHESIKAN—EPIC

pers, Socratic seminars and close reading in English classes, all of which tie in with the school’s goals to develop academic language, foster cross-disciplinary connections and ef-fectively manage stress.

The Department of Education representa-tives recognized this, citing strong emphases on Socratic seminars and English learners’ (EL) development.

The second educational practice that Lynbrook is focusing on is an emphasis on coursework that reinforces the applications and uses of STEM. For instance, Lynbrook had 850 students take the American Mathe-matics Contest and 90 students submit proj-ects to the Synopsys Science Fair.

After a school identi�ies its signature practices, it submits a 17-page application, including data from sources like the school

Academic Performance Index, students’ SAT scores and their STAR score averages. Lyn-brook’s application was written primarily by Assistant Principal Syd-ney Marsh and English Language Development and World Literature teacher Chairperson Shana Smith.

A team of two or three educators toured campus to speci�ically determine whether a

school’s claims about their educational prac-tices and growth merit the award. The edu-cators interviewed students, school adminis-tration and parents, and also visited classes in progress.

Feedback from the representatives at the staff meeting on Wednesday was unanimous-ly positive. They noted Lynbrook’s impres-sive “synergy of student and teacher motiva-tion” to learn and teach as well as the passion and professionalism behind their work.

The California State Board of Education will announce the 2013 California Distin-guished School winners in late March.

ASB Elections

ASB of�icer election speeches will be held at the gym on March 4. Polls will be open from 12:45 p.m. to 11:59 p.m. on Eduballot. Re-sults will be announced on March 5.

Oliver!

This year’s spring production of the play Oli-ver! will be held from March 7 to 9 in the au-ditorium at 7:30 p.m. Tickets will be sold for $10 at the top of the quad starting March 4.

Junior Prom

This year’s junior prom will be on March 22 from 7:30 p.m. to 11 p.m. at the Los Gatos Op-era House. The theme is “Light Up the Night.” Tickets are currently being sold at the top of the quad for $50 until March 8. From March 11 to 20, tickets will be sold for $55.

March Madness

The annual March Madness single-elimi-nation basketball tournament will start on March 4. Sixteen teams of 3 will be playing against each other during lunch in the gym.

By Anand Chukka & Michelle Su

News in Brief

A small group of California education experts visited Lynbrook Feb. 13 to evaluate the school’s candidacy for

the 2013 California Distinguished School. The California State Board of Education gives the award to public schools that are the “most exemplary and inspiring.” Evaluators are sent to schools that have been given con-sideration for the honor.

“It is an acknowledgement from a re-spected external source that what we are do-ing is high caliber and of high quality,” Princi-pal Gail Davidson said. “It’s important to our students, our parents, and our community.”

In past years, all public schools in the state were allowed to apply. This year, how-ever, the state’s Board of Education invited only certain schools to narrow the candidate pool. Monta Vista High School and Lynbrook High School were the only FUHSD chosen to submit an application.

As part of the ap-plication, each school must identify two signa-ture practices, or areas of emphasis, identi�ied by teachers and admin-istration to improve student learning. Lyn-brook’s practices were academic language production and STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Math-ematics) work for students.

“As a school, for a long time, we have been working to to improve students’ oral and written language and communication,” Davidson said. “However, we have now in-creased our focus speci�ically on academic language production. Virtually all of the teachers work on it. It’s in the way that they teach and structure lessons and activities to ensure that you are actually creating lan-guage in the classroom.”

Examples include senior research pa-

Distinguished award evaluation pending

In the spirit of Valentine’s Day, Lynbrook hosted “Love Week”, a school-wide event that consists of a week of games and cel-

ebration from Feb. 11 to 15. Every brunch during Love Week, ASB

representatives hosted various activities for students which included “huggy bear,” “bal-loon popping,” “couples trivia” and “school-wide hearts.”

Love week has been a tradition at Lyn-brook for many years, and originally took place during the week before the Sadie Hawkins dance. However, this year ASB at-tempted to dispel the common notion that Love Week was only for couples by encour-aging students to spread love not only to their signi�icant others, but also to their parents, teachers and peers.

In addition to hosting games in the quad, ASB decorated the school with approxi-mately 1,800 paper hearts, each dedicated to a speci�ic student.

Students signed others’ hearts with words of approval and af�irmation. This idea was adopted from Fremont High School.

“We don’t want to discriminate against singles, so we wanted to promote all kinds of love within the student body,” ASB Presi-dent senior Stephanie Hahm said. “[Fre-mont] usually prepares four months in ad-vance, but we did it in less than a month’s

time, so it was extremely hard.”Many students were highly appreciative

of the time and effort ASB members put into creating hearts for each individual student and organizing the entire process.

The purpose of Love Week was to pro-vide an opportunity for students to have fun and relieve stress by playing games and lis-tening to music in the quad and to encour-age students to express their appreciation for one another.

“It’s like a spirit week with the added intention of spreading the valentine spirit of love around the school to both individu-als and couples alike,” said senior Danny Nguyen from the ASB Recognition commis-sion. He co-organized the Love Week event with commission member sophomore Rani Mavram. While some students enjoy partici-pating in the games, others feel that certain games have the potential to be embarrass-ing for participants.

For example, in the “couples trivia” activ-ity, couples are quizzed on their knowledge of their signi�icant other, and are eliminated if they fail to produce the correct response within a given time.

“I think for a lot of the games and ac-tivities people can sometimes feel a little awkward about participating in them,” says junior Tiffany Tsai. “I just like watching be-cause from a viewer’s perspective it’s pretty entertaining.”

BY SARAH TARTER

BALLOON POPPING| Sophomore Anderson Ju and sophomore Faline Tran hug to pop a balloon.

COUPLES TRIVIA| Senior Ashley Shak and senior Andrea Christensen participate in couples trivia.

BY JACOB ANTONY & JAMES WILHELMI

PHOTOS BY JOEY LI—EPIC

Students show their love through ASB activities

Mapping to conceptual thinking

Dance askings take banality to a whole new level

Dance askings today have become the stuff of Hollywood, going the whole nine yards with everything rang-

ing from choreographed �lash mobs to ser-enades. The focus has shifted from genuine askings to a competition, always aiming to outdo the others. Don’t even think about re-ceiving a sweet, handwritten note along with a box of chocolate.

“Some of the choreographed askings I’ve seen have been ridiculously elaborate for no good reason at all,” said sophomore Divyya Munshi. “It’s crazy when more simple dances such as Sadies have askings similar to those of prom.”

Sophomore Sarah Kim, for example, planned her Sadies asking for a week, be-fore asking junior Gary Chen at the top of the quad. Kim put together a choreographed dance with many of her close friends and had them practice with her beforehand.

“You always want your asking to be the best,” said Kim. “A majority of people ask with things such as posters and �lowers, and I thought it would be cooler to be more unique than that.”

However, this desire has quickly giv-en many the same idea of what exactly is “unique;” with this new status quo of student dance askings, many students are beginning to question the merits of fellow students’ methods.

Now, there is a constant undertone of competition and publicity as students at-tempt to outdo their peers, as the expected norm has become trite, borderline painful ordeals at the top of the quad. In many ways, the trends in asking can be chalked up to pure bragging rights.

“It’s kind of like, ‘Look I can get a girl,’” said senior Ethan Chiou. “If you think about it, it becomes less about the girl and more about one’s personal image.”

Transformed into something of a public-

ity stunt rather than a heartfelt request, it seems that askings have lost their intended sincerity. It should not be necessary to need to hold “practices” for askings—there begins to be the feeling of how everything needs to be perfectly planned and executed, generat-ing negative pressure on what should be a fun occasion.

“When I want to ask a girl to a dance, I do feel some pressure to make it like what ev-eryone else does, which comes from other people that have put so much effort into ask-ing someone, so I’d feel the need to do that too,” said freshman Dara Jokvar.

The pressure to plan and perform such a public asking is simply unfounded—many students feel that the genuine intentions be-hind askings are often lost amidst the pres-sure of planning and executing some form of elaborate performance.

Indeed, askings have become somewhat plagiarized due to students trying to pull off a bigger and better affair every dance, but of-

ten simply stacking previous ideas on top of each other.

Senior Jia Gao has even gone to comment on this in her own Sadies asking, which in-volved a poster that read “I apologize for not: asking in the quad, singing a song, doing an interpretative dance, using more than 5 post-ers, and being punny,” much to the commen-dation of other students.

“Inherently, a public dance asking is a tes-tament to the public nature of high school relationships,” said Chiou. Many feel that the asking is not so much about the substance, but how it appears to other people, some-what re�lective of the more shallow focus of high school itself.

“I don’t know why people feel that they must do them on such a big level,” said ju-nior Nishna Kommoju. “I’d be happy with a chocolate bar. It has to be the right chocolate bar, of course, but that would satisfy me just �ine.” As it stands, sometimes it is the smaller things that are the most meaningful.

BY JOEY LI & KASTURI PANTVAIDYA

BY EESHA KHARE

Velocity: 4.5 m/s. Time: 1 s. Equation: a=v/t. Answer: 4.5 m/s². Students at Lynbrook are often tunneled into a

position where every question has a known solution, allowing no path for self-discovery. Understanding concepts breeds problem-solving skills, and critical thinking is necessary for rapidly changing job markets and other future unknowns. Conceptual thinking, which involves understanding associations to be able to think on a grander scale, should be incorpo-rated into the course curriculum.

Vocabulary quizzes deprive students from a full learning experience because students mem-orize just facts. Most students memorize them for the short-term, regurgitate them on a test and then for-get them until the �inal.

Sophomore Neha Sharma said, “Students resort to cram-ming before tests without actually learning the material. We should be given better background info so we could under-stand what is happening.” Mind maps, in which students map out and connect different concepts in a diagram, are a good way to teach students how to un-derstand vocabulary in a greater depth. Visual diagrams also allow students to take the time to analyze the relationships between ideas and think on a more interdisciplinary scale.

In addition, in many history classes, students have to develop skits to learn about different aspects of civilizations. Sharma said, “Most of the activities we do are one group teaching the class about one subject area, but it’s not really effective because they often leave parts out or don’t teach properly. Having individual groups reenact the whole scenario would be more effective.” Instead of having individual students lead skits on narrowed topic areas, teachers can guide students to understand the entirety of the subject content by having them complete a project on the over-all concept rather than a particular area. This will foster a greater appreciation for cumulative learning, where material taught builds on mate-rial from previous units.

While the revamped California Core Stan-dards, which require short-answer responses on standardized testing, are one step in the positive direction, teachers should also incorporate more open-ended questions into their lessons. Art teacher Lee Akamichi works closely with his students to expand their awareness of trans-formations occurring around the globe. In one particular assignment, he assigned them the topic “cell phone” but gave them no directions. He wanted students to think critically and con-sider all the details of the project on their own.

Akamichi said, “The point was to take the students to the very edge of their normal com-fort zone of memorization, quanti�ication and certainty.” While students may often feel out of their comfort zones when they are thrust into a world without directions, such experi-

ences are necessary for them to learn how to think on their own. Akamichi said, “Our art graduates

tend to think different and bigger than many of their contemporaries.” When there are no

boundaries, there are no limits. As a result of this critical thinking, he said, “The top art schools will produce some of the most skilled artists and designers in the country and many of our art grads will hire them.”

Similar assignments should be incor-porated in literature classes, where in-stead of assigning speci�ic prompts, teach-

ers can give one word themes for students to openly write about; in AP Literature, for

example, students were told to write freely on themes from Albert Camus’ The Plague.

Like Akamichi, library media teacher Angela Estrella encourages students by stressing the use of the library as

a forum for collaboration. She said, “When students have big questions in class, they can come to the library to collaborate with students, teachers and me. As a staff mem-

ber, I help guide them in the right direction and am more like a coach.” If students can learn how to use the library as a collabora-

tive platform to work closely with their peers, they will be able to better de-velop bigger ideas.

Students should also be given more opportunities to build their own projects. This year, Estrella has worked with students to help them develop individual projects, includ-ing the presidential debate potluck and the hackathon.

Senior Quinn Winters was one student who worked to develop his

individual project of teaching students how to use their technology skills to ap-

ply them to common problems in Lynbrook software. He said, “People can’t measure their

own growth and learning in a year very ac-curately, so it’s better to get that big idea of

steps in the right direction and continue the progress.”

Therefore, he advocates having se-nior capstone projects that students work on throughout high school in or-

der to develop projects on a more grand scale. Currently, seniors have to com-

plete a literature and history research paper, but if this project can be bridged

across different subjects, for example com-bining history and science, then students will

be able to learn a new interdisciplinary approach.Because students must be adaptable to �it to jobs in the future, it is becoming more im-

portant to develop conceptual thinking so they can think more openly and on a bigger scale. As Akamichi said, “Solutions or answers will not be remembered, but rather invented”—only conceptual thinking will allow that.

No head room for primi-tive thoughts at school

Recently, while reading the pig rape scene, in Lord of the Flies, I was struck by the gloom of William Golding’s

thoughts about human nature. While reading the book at home, I disagreed with Golding’s cynical interpretation of human nature, as I believe humankind as a whole is more com-passionate than what Golding portrays.

The few examples of human sel�ishness that Golding addresses are, in my mind, out-liers and simply products of Golding’s pessi-mistic view of the world.

I came to class the next day, ready for a serious discussion about Golding’s underly-ing message but instead got a cold dose of reality. Instead of respecting the seriousness and gravity of the scene, the class burst out into laughter. I was speechless at the lack of respect given to the atrocious passage.

A lot of Lynbrook students, the smartest and brightest students in the country, can’t give people, or pigs, the respect and compas-sion they deserve.

In class, we were discussing the primitive nature of the characters in the book because they were the ones laughing about raping the pig. Yet there we were, distinguished Lynbrook students, laughing about the rape scene, no different from these primitive char-acters. How ironic is that?

After that day in class, I walked home, pondering the lack of respect that my class-mates gave to the passage. The disappoint-ment didn’t end there. More and more often on campus, I’ve noticed Lynbrook students showing disrespect to grave issues.

After the Newtown shootings, Principal Davidson went on the announcements to ask us for a moment of silence for the children killed. All it took was 30 seconds of silence. I was appalled that some students in my class could not even accomplish that, making nois-es and coughing on purpose to act funny.

A similar incident occurred a week ear-lier. As I was walking to class, I heard three kids laughing about the Malala posters on the wall. I listened in on what they were talking about, and again I was speechless at their topic of conversation. Instead of talking about her in�luence on education in Afghani-stan or the improvement of women’s rights, they were laughing about her “mustache.”

After she was shot, I expected Lynbrook students to show a little respect for her and her recovery. Rather, like before, I was treat-ed to a disrespectful tirade of comments.

We need to make a conscious effort to be respectful at times when it’s necessary. I don’t think that a lack of compassion is the problem here; rather, many students have become desensitized to these awful crimes because they aren’t exposed to these issues.

Many students don’t read the news regu-larly, and therefore these students do not re-alize the solemnity of these issues. This lack of knowledge is what leads to the desensiti-zation of these issues.

A feasible solution to this would be for all history teachers to require students to read the news regularly, and present what they’ve read. This would help students understand what the reality of various harsh situations around the world.

The fact of the matter is that these inci-dents are too distant to truly touch most of us students.

Most students at Lynbrook are very privi-leged, and frankly, very lucky to never gone through very serious trauma. That, however, is no excuse to laugh and joke about serious issues.

Given this luck, we should give respect to the others that have experienced it.

We need to take a minute and think be-fore we speak, and show respect for the is-sues that deserve it.

The current legislative council consists of over seventy people. With such a wide pool of repre-sentatives, it is hard to ensure equal qualities of

work delivered by each individual. Thus, the extent of communication between ASB and the student body

highly depends on each homeroom class’s inde-pendent legislative representative.

There needs to be a better way of repre-senting the students.

Though sophomore Sahil Khan favors legislative council the way it is right now because of how easily classes can voice their opinions, he thinks that there are small holes in the system. For example, he did not hear about the recent passing of the marquee and sound system proj-ect because his representative did not relay the information back.

IDC Representative Arnav Mishra sees legislative council as “the ap-proving body for the whole school.” But even though ASB decisions are

being checked by legislative council, a disconnect in communication still ex-

ists between ASB and the student body. Legislative council’s responsibilities

include passing the school budget and new clubs, presenting daily announce-

ments to third period classes and ap-proving anything that will impact the

entire school. This year, many changes have

been made to add legitimacy to the council, such as mov-

ing meetings from the caf-eteria to the auditorium,

incorporating Power-Points at the meetings

and getting apparel for all representatives. Mishra

adds that this semester, leg-islative council will also be

expected to run its own spirit week and increase its in�lu-ence over school events.

ASB Community Link com-missioner and chair of legisla-

tive council Ruchi Pandya said, “I have de�initely seen a difference

in the students’ desire to contrib-ute. For example, more people come

up and ask how they can participate after the meetings.”

Though the majority of repre-sentatives may be enthusiastic, this

desire is not equally shared among all legislative representatives. For example,

sophomore Julia Wang notices that some repre-sentatives do not show up to meetings. Because legis-

lative council has a lot of potential, she thinks that in the future, representatives should be asked to ask their class for opinions and to interact more with other legislative representatives in order to play a bigger role.

As election season comes up, ASB needs to consider other methods to make the council more effective. First would be instilling a higher sense of responsibility and purpose to the position. Instead of basing members off of homeroom elections, students should run within their class to be-come a legislative representative, making it a formal position in student government. Each grade should have �ive representatives who will each take on the current duties of legislative council. Having a smaller body would not only require students to qualify themselves for the positions, but would also offer more opportunities for democratic participation and learning how to manage a campaign. A smaller, and more focused group would boost recognition of the position and en-sure more commitment.

Student Leadership teacher Andrea Bad-ger said that this model would probably “lose the classroom representative piece, which is what a legislative representative is supposed to be.” But in the current system, there is no way of checking how seriously the class-room’s representative is taking the posi-tion. Guidelines are handled loosely if a classroom’s legislative representative does not attend the meetings or is not as active. The group of twenty students would then be in charge of gauging the entire student body’s opinion by being in charge of their own grade. Five people would manage around 400 students’ opinions. This could be achieved through up-dates via email every oth-er week on current school events, giving the students the option of caring or not. For more urgent issues such as the decision to approve the marquee, the legislative representatives can email their classes, gather opinions and bring those opinions into meetings with ASB.

More interactive poll-ing can also take place. This way, the entire student body would be taking a more ac-tive role in the decision-making pro-cess, giving everyone the opportunity of being informed at all times. It places the responsibility of accessing information in the hands of the students themselves, not depending on just one student.

In order to implement such a system, ma-jor changes would need to be made to the ASB Constitution, which outlines the current legislative council paradigm in Article IX. The main issue is that the position needs to be revamped to make it more effec-tive and more incorporated in the student body.

Legislative council reformsHaving elected representatives for each grade level is the missing piece to the communication improvement puzzle

GRAPHIC ILLUSRATION BY OPINION SECTION

All us humans are only human, and naturally, there are a few things we don’t understand. I don’t un-

derstand how people can solve Rubik’s cubes or spend hours uploading pictures of their lunch on social networking sites. But here’s one thing I don’t understand at all: video games.

Gamers, gamers, gamers. I constantly hear conversations about this game and that game, this move and that move and this prize and that prize. But for someone as naïve as I, this makes about as much sense as the iPhone would to George Washington. Hearing gamers talk, I get the feeling that I’m being left out of some-thing. I’m often stuck in awkward con-versations about the latest video games and supposed record-setting kill-streaks. I never really have much to say. Soon, my friends take notice of my eerie silence and ask me whether I have played the game or at least heard of it. My answer is usually something along the lines of “Yeah, I’ve seen it a few times before.” These answers may or may not be true, but that’s beside the point. I need to be introduced to the world of video games to avoid feeling like an outsider.

Getting straight to the point, I don’t un-derstand gaming—but I’d like to. It’s just that most of my experiences with gaming have not been all that positive. For me to genuinely enjoy something, I need to see the good side of it and experience at least one victory. Like the couch potato who is afraid to play basketball for fear of be-ing hit with the ball, my feelings too stem from a similar source.

Too often have I tried to play video games been embarrassed. Once, I took out the game and played for two hours straight. The next day, when a friend of mine came over, I challenged him to a bout, predicting an easy victory given that I had played and he hadn’t. I was dead wrong. For three hours straight I was ridiculed, overwhelmed and outplayed at each step. It was a terrible experience, and I stayed away from videogames for a while after that.

For all you gamers out there, this is my cry for help. First, fellow gamers, you have to stop laughing at my desperate attempts to prove my video-game worthiness. I would love having a chance in the gam-ing world, as the games would keep me busy when I’m bored. But if I can’t learn the tricks and trades of the art of gaming from my friends because they will laugh, then where will I learn it from?

Many times I have seen people get embarrassed and never get back into a new activity because their friends are not supportive of them and ridicule them. And gamers, I know it’s always fun to see a fellow bro lose on the lowest dif�iculty, but wouldn’t it be more fun if we all could play the same game together with more competitors who are your friends. Isn’t friendly competition always better than friendly ridiculing?

Video games just seem so fun, and I want gamers to introduce me to their cir-cle. And I admit, gaming is a good medium for conversation and a great debate start-er. Virtually everybody who understands video games looks like they’re having a really great time. This is a call to action: I want you guys to introduce me, and oth-ers like me, to the world of video games.

It’s for reasons like these that I, among many others, want to be introduced to the world of video games, and gamers: we can’t do it without you.

On the Subject of Clothed, Simulated CoitusCoitus: physical union of male and female genitalia accom-

panied by rhythmic movements (Merriam-Webster)After attending the �irst and last Sadie Hawkins dance of my high

school career, I was reminded of the article “Potential dance policy to combat inappropriate dancing.” Several points of conversation arise. First, from an on the battle�ield and in the foxholes perspective, the term “freshman rape dance” arises from a colloquial ubiquity and conceptual misunderstanding of the word rape. Language isn’t a stat-ic set of phonetic sounds, and the word “rape” has been integrated into the high school vernacular to develop new meanings beyond its original de�inition, i.e. “I got raped by that �inal exam.” A social effect of this conversational utilization of the word “rape” is that students are more comfortable with labeling acts as rape when they are not, such as when older students �lirt with younger students, giving rise to the term “freshman rape dance.” Second, no part of Lynbrook danc-es involves rape. From a supervising perspective, yes it does appear that the writhing mass of �lesh and sweat, makeup and deodorant is distasteful; however, dances are social microcosms where teenagers learn to interact with each other, where gender dignity is still pre-served in the ritual of males asking permission in order to dance with females, and where, according to the referenced article, the school

Piracy is, at its core, stealing—acquir-ing an artist’s work without having to pay royalties. As an illegal means

of free mass acquisition, it is understand-ably popular, to which anyone with basic knowledge of the internet can attest. The perks are many and varied, but these ben-e�its often circumvent the fact that they negatively impact the circulation of music, which, in turn, makes piracy itself a means to an end: endlessly disseminating valued property while simultaneously preventing the manufacturers of said property from making more music.

First, some background. Most are famil-iar with the publicized legal complications surrounding Napster’s original run in 1999, when it was eventually shut down because of online users’ mass sharing and exchang-ing of �iles. Since then, it has evolved into a community that, according to a study con-ducted by The Recording Industry Associa-tion of America in 2000, is responsible for a loss of around $5 billion in sales world-wide every year. Its progression since then can be most accurately summed up as an expansion, with multiple hosting sites like The Pirate Bay, Isohunt and SeedPeer al-lowing for easy transmission of �iles with-out the baggage of actually paying for the respective artist’s efforts. Since the music theft demographic consists of mostly high school and college students, the accessibil-ity of free, ripped media stands to increase signi�icantly in the future, with in�initesi-mal chance of reverting, or better yet, com-ing to a standstill.

An often cited argument for the ben-e�its of piracy is that it makes for good PR. Senior Danny Yang said, “It can be used as a form of promoting the artist. You pirate the music, and if you like it, you want to pay more.” This is a fair point, consider-ing multi-million dollar labels pay enviable sums of money for that kind of attention and response. Friends tell friends who tell more friends

Letter to the Editors: senior responds to sta� editorial on freaking

Piracy: sharing ain’t caring

administration wants to “host dances because we want the students to have fun.”

On that note, if I had to choose between Sadies and Miller dances where I used to play Monopoly with my friends in the library, I would unequivocally, without any hesitation, pick Miller dances. Although it seems to me that the school administration would like Lynbrook dances to return to the celibate, two-people-glued-together-like-wood-planks slow dancing that once was middle school dances, the harsh biological reality is that while people nearing the end of child bearing age may not have elevated hormone levels anymore, teen-agers still do, and that sexual tension will �ind its way out – if not through “club dancing” then through other, less desirable means.

With this in mind, school dances then, should arguably be a venue not just for students to socialize lightly and snack on hors d’oeuvres, but also for students to meet hormonal needs in a safe and super-vised environment. The problem with Lynbrook dances, however, is that along the spectrum of completely banning “club dancing” to complete tolerance of “club dancing,” the Lynbrook administration has not found a comfortable middle ground that both students and staff can agree upon. In this letter, I try to vocalize some of the views of students.To read the rest of this letter from Andy Tsai, please visit lhsepic.com

about a favorable album they have stum-bled upon, and word of mouth reaches to a point where a frenzy of convinced custom-ers purchase the album of�icially, adding to total revenue—a sum that otherwise would have dwindled if not for that initial friend who was smart enough to pirate it in the �irst place. This can also be con-densed to one person: someone who loves an album after perusing it decides to pur-chase it on iTunes to support the artist.

But this depends on the situation. Torrenting a popular album that has had plenty of positive reception and sold well does not help because the positive PR has already been established; pirating it, how-ever small the perceived effect of one mea-sly person illegally downloading one mea-sly album, hurts more than it helps. For an album that maybe has not had that much recognition, the justi�ication fares stronger because it may eventually aid in widening the band’s fanbase, but the alternative of purchasing the album as well as spread-ing the good word achieves that and more, since piracy generates losses too great for just good PR to bridge. “Of course, the amount of promotion the artists receive compared to how much the artists lose isn’t enough to cover the money lost from piracy,” said Yang.

Another argument for pirating music is that it, as a result of making money no ob-ject, �ilters out those who rely on the tech-nological advantages of the studio and gives precedence to those who are able to perform and enrapture the audience without extraneous ar-ti�icialities, as music should. “Artists should train harder to hone actual skills,” said senior Jessica Kim, “rather than relying on AutoTune to sound somewhat okay.” Tours will be raised in honor of the artists who can put on a show for their actual abili-ties, fostering a more

creative music in-dustry that is

pushed to-w a r d s

A confused gamer’s desperate cry for help

originality rather than repetition. But artists who put out records have to

perform in long-winded tours, up to mul-tiple years in one run. Having to increase the workload because of piracy could, as Yang said, “be physically damaging if they’re forced to perform live for the sake of gaining more pro�it.” Though piracy can be used as a form of promoting the artist in certain circumstances, it is often the catalyst for situations in which artists are overworked and not bringing in enough to continue making more records—sinking future projects as well as labels.

But to be clear, this is no diatribe. Pirat-ing has been heavily integrated in any ex-panse of media, and its bene�its have the ability to empower and entertain any audi-ence with information as well as access to a virtually unlimited plethora of sources. Its reach is simultaneously intimidating and admirable—and the artists pay the price. The bene�its differ depending on the situation, but one thing remains clear. “In the end, it’s still stealing the artists’ prop-erty, and we aren’t in a position to motivate them to do any better in certain aspects of their profession. [Artists] make records because they’re passionate about what they do,” said senior Daniel Tsai. With the problems that arise from piracy, that much remains the same.

BY YUNQING CHEN

ART ILLUSTRATION BY MICHELLE SU

BY SABRINA JEN

BY MICHELLE SU

student fashion blogsFor many people, a blog is what de� nes and portrays an individual’s unique character and personality. For fashion enthusi-asts, owning a blog devoted to clothing and everything else related to fashion is another opportunity to explore their inter-ests. Thus, the Epic presents a feature on some of these student-run fashion blogs to showcase the talent found on campus. Two fashion blogs are featured below in print and two others are featured in web. To � nd more information about junior Elly

Fan’s blog and junior Jenny Sung’s blog, please visit lhsepic.com.

JOYFUL OUTFITS

CRUSH MAGAZINE

Crush. It’s a sweet and simple word, yet it brings something different to mind for every person. For the co-editors of

fashion blog Crush Magazine, sophomores Wakana Ishihara, Yaoyao Pei and Rachel Tu, it not only expresses the innocent “crush” that many people develop at one point in time in high school, but also “means having a crush on other girls’ styles,” said Tu. It im-plies “youth and a bubbly characteristic, just like a high school student,” said Ishihara.

The idea of the fashion and beauty maga-zine, located at http://crush-mag.blogspot.com, �irst began when the editors “wanted to create a club that did not limit to one particu-lar topic in the world of fashion and cosme-tology,” said Ishihara. Instead, they wanted to incorporate all aspects of fashion into the magazine, including photography, design,

styling, modeling and business.The editors have not been able to create

a print magazine due to their lack of support from Lynbrook students and administration, so they decided to start out simpler by creat-ing a blog to publicize and inform the school of its presence instead.

“We want to excite students at Lynbrook, who will be our future readers when the magazine is released,” said Pei.

Today, the blog is composed of various different aspects of fashion. Not only does the blog contain many tips regarding fash-ion and trends through posts entitled “Edi-tor Picks,” they also have posts called “How to Wear it,” where the editors take wardrobe essentials and pair them multiple ways to go from day to night. The blog also features new styles of clothing and cosmetics through various photo shoots.

For the photo shoots, Ishihara said, “Our inspiration ranges from people on the streets to high fashion magazine models.” In their

most recent photo shoot titled “She’s got the Moves like Moss,” the editors’ ideas origi-nated from high fashion model Kate Moss. The girls hope that through these posts, “stu-dents will learn to be bolder and more con�i-dent while wearing different types of cloth-ing that may not be seen around school on a typical day,” said Pei.

The editors also enjoy sharing new proj-ects on the blog, which are entitled “DIYs,” including their most recent post demonstrat-ing how to create sock buns. These tutorials are meant to give inspiration to the readers, as well as inform them of new or unique styles. “We encourage our readers to use ar-tistic skills to create something simple that they can call their own,” said Pei.

Additionally, the editors show their per-sonal styles and photography techniques through photo diaries, which are “generally accounts of the editors’ lives told through photos instead of writing,” said Pei. These photo diaries include personal experiences

of the editors regarding fashion. For example, Tu shared a photo diary of her experience at-tending a program hosted by the Fashion In-stitute of Design and Merchandising in June 2012, where she was “exposed to many sides of the fashion industry and what a future in fashion would look like,” said Tu.

Crush also allows members of the com-munity to become more involved with the blog by featuring students’ out�its on typical school days, since “we want to be relatable to the students at Lynbrook,” said Pei.

The editors explain that although larger projects, such as photo shoots, take up a large amount of time, “we’ve all had a passion for fashion for a long time,” said Tu, “and Crush is just an outlet for expressing our creativity.”

Although they want Crush to become a print magazine one day, “this is a task too big for just the three of us,” said Ishihara. “We would really like to make a club next year to have people on our team that are just as pas-sionate as we are.”

PHOTOS USED WITH PERMISSION OF JOYCE CHEN & YAOYAO PEI

Junior Joyce Chen started blogging in Sep-tember of her sophomore year. Her blog, joyfulout�its.blogspot.com, features daily

looks, “how to wear” posts and out�its cat-egorized by the weather.

“I started getting interested in fashion during the Miller magazine drive, when I started reading Seventeen magazine, but it wasn’t until freshman year that I learned about fashion blogs, which is what later in-spired me to create my own blog,” said Chen on how she got interested in blogging.

Chen had wanted to start a fashion blog for a while, but it wasn’t until one of her classmates mentioned it to her that she actu-ally started blogging.

Blogging is extremely time-consuming, which is why Chen does not post as often

as she would like. Each post includes styl-ing, photography, photo editing and the ac-tual writing. “If I want to write something, it takes longer, but I’d say that it generally takes about two hours per post,” said Chen.

With about 750 followers, Chen is a Teen Vogue Fashion Click Blogger and a Lucky Community Blog Contributor. After an ap-plication process, she was approved to be a blogger for those sites, and every time she wants to submit a post, Chen needs to wait for approval by the blogs’ managers.

Many of Chen’s out�it posts are featured on those blogs, along with many other teen bloggers. Chen has even gotten emails from people asking for advice on how to pair cer-tain clothes with others.

Chen has also gained many useful skills from running her blog. “I’ve contacted small businesses and brands, and I’ve talked to other bloggers in order to do guest posts,” said Chen. Having people comment on her blog and leave their blog URLs allows Chen

to meet new people and gain connections. Also an intern on Nordstrom’s BP fash-

ion board, Chen works with other teenage interns during monthly meetings to dis-cuss trends and merchandising speci�ically geared towards juniors’ fashion.

Though she does not think she will get into the fashion industry in the future, Chen enjoys working on the fashion board “be-cause it’s really fun to be able to work with others, and sometimes we’ll just have par-ties or hang out. It’s also inspiring to hear about higher up executives’ stories of how they moved up from being sales managers to where they are now.”

For now, Chen continues to blog as a hob-by, as creating out�its is something she en-joys. Like many others, for Chen fashion and dressing up is a form of self-expression.

She explained, “There are so many new things, and there are always new kinds of clothes, so there’s always something new to look forward to when it comes to fashion.”

This fashion blogger’s inspiration for out-�its comes from the bloggers she looks up to, such as the women who run atlantic-paci�ic.blogspot.com and �lashesofstyle.blogspot.com. Chen admires the out�its many fashion bloggers create, and they give her new ideas for her own out�its. Mainly, however, Chen creates her out�its through trial and error.

“My style has a lot of contrast. I typically start with one article of clothing, and I like to add something printed or colorful on top. Depending on what I’m wearing, I might also add a statement necklace,” said Chen on com-posing her looks. “Sometimes I think it looks okay, but when I take a picture of it, I realize that it’s not exactly the best, and from there, I change it up next time.”

As far as future plans go, Chen has not decided if she will enter the fashion indus-try. She said, “I want to continue blogging in college, but it will depend on my workload, though I know I’ll de�initely keep blogging throughout high school.”

Reviewing the Grammys

A head start on college

The most daunting hurdle associated with senior year is widely recognized as completing college applications, a

step that is undeniably monumental in de-termining one’s future. Each year of high school is a further step in preparation for college, but this year, junior Julia Huang de-cided to cut off her high school education early, and was accepted into Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) on Dec. 15.

A highly prestigious university, MIT’s acceptance rate lies at a meager 9.7%. This year, Huang was one of the few admitted, a year earlier than typical.

She had long considered applying early to college because of high school’s limited opportunities, but was urged against it by some of the school faculty, who wanted her to further round her education in the hu-manities.

Huang’s prowess in math and comput-er science is one of the main factors that led her to apply early. She has attended a multitude of esteemed international com-petitions, such as the China Girls’ Math Olympiad (CGMO)—where she received a silver medal—and the European Girls’ Math Olympiad (EGMO), the selection of which is judged based on students’ perfor-

mances on the AMC 10 and 12.The logistics for early application are

not too different compared to that of a se-nior. The only difference was that she need-ed to explain why she chose to apply early.

“Applying to college early isn’t entirely out of the ordinary. It’s not typical, but it has happened before,” said guidance coun-selor Malissa Goldstein, “but we discourage it because we want our students to have more time to just be teenagers.”

Huang, however, never considered her-self a “humanities person” and applied any-way because she simply could not see a ca-reer in humanities for herself in the future.

Huang said, “I felt that there were no more math, science, and computer science classes left for me to take for senior year, and that taking a gap year for these subjects would hold me back because these are the areas in which I am the most interested.”

Although Huang will be leaving Lyn-brook one year early, she tries to stay op-timistic about leaving everyone she knows. Huang said, “I am sad that I’ll be leaving my junior friends behind, but eventually, we will be separating from each other and meeting new people at college. I am just do-ing so one year earlier.”

For the full version of this story, visit lhsepic.com

BY KATHY JANG

During the past �ifteen years of my life, I have never been to Costco, so you can imagine how overwhelming

the warehouse was.As we drove up to Costco, it did

not look as big as everyone de-scribed it. But looks can be deceiv-ing because the minute I stepped into the building, my jaw dropped. Among the swarm of people with carts, I guarantee I crashed my cart into at least thirty people.

When I opened Dhiraj’s shop-ping list for the �irst time, my mind went blank because I did not know half the items on the list. For example, I had to �ind the Original StriVectin-SD® Cream, Nico-derm and the African Mango Diet Lean. I can assure everyone that I am not pregnant, not addicted to ciga-rettes and not on any speci�ic diet, so how was I supposed to know what those items were? I didn’t, so I decided to break the rules a little. Oh well, nobody needs to know.

One of the rules of this challenge was that we were not allowed to ask employees for help, but I caved within the �irst �ive minutes. I couldn’t �ind anything and became frustrated, so I sneakily asked the employee about the pregnancy cream. He looked at me judgmentally and asked me if I was pregnant. His reaction was by far the highlight of my experience and for now, I can advise everyone to never ask Dhiraj for a shopping list.

Overall, Dhiraj de�initely won; however, in my defense, my list was much harder than his. At least the next time, I’ll be a little bit more experienced in navigating such an overwhelming warehouse.

If you ever want to embark on a jour-ney to �ind the infamous needle in a haystack, I highly recommend train-

ing at Costco to hone your skills. Cost-co is essentially the equivalent of a haystack, while the shopping list is

the needle. My shopping list was not that

challenging, but that doesn’t mean it wasn’t embarrassing. There were a couple of items, like

a box of tampons, that I had to cover up in order to maintain my

already dwindling dignity. Other than that it was a breeze. I was able

to pick up eight out of ten items, compared to the four items typically

picked up in 30 minutes by a regular Costco shopper—which by the way was

how many Khaya ended up �inding.Despite the fact that I routed her in the chal-

lenge, I did have quite a few struggles of my own. I found myself going in circles and moving at a snail’s pace for more than half of the challenge. I also happened to bump into more people than I could count with my �ingers. I drew some forgiving smiles along with some soul shattering glares. Additionally, I also found it tantalizingly dif�icult to avoid the tasting stations. I �igured that if you want to have the Costco experience, food tasting is a necessity.

I managed to �ind all but two of my items with ease. The two that I didn’t �ind were mango lassi and antifungal cream, but I real-ized that carrying around a box of tampons and antifungal cream would do more harm than good. If only I had more time— then again Costco doesn’t make time, it ravenously devours it.

PICKING IT UP| Costco rookie Khaya � nds the � fth item on Dhiraj’s list: Huggies diapers.

LOOKING UP| Khaya and Dhiraj, with their carts full of the required items in hand, stand side by side in Costco.

REACHING HIGH| Costco veteran Dhiraj searches for the Gummy Vites on his list.

BY KHAYA BHATIA BY DHIRAJ NALLAPOTHULAWho doesn’t love music? With the Grammys �lying by this past Sun-day, let’s just run down some of the

best and worst moments.

Best: Ed Sheeran and Elton John sing-ing “A Team” together

Yeah, so Elton John messed up some of the lyrics and it was strange watching one of the (older) icons of the music industry sing with the soothing vocals of Sheeran, but I was proved wrong. It’s probably the performance that caught my interest because I expected meat dress whipped cream entertainers and loud, hyped up music and I got a stripped down rendition of a song about narcotics. It was so unexpected I had to keep watching.

Worst: Taylor Swift pulling a Gaga-esque circus set

Though I expected some love-hate com-bination of strange and surreal as the open-ing number, seeing Taylor Swift perform “We Are Never Ever Getting Back Together” sur-rounded by men dressed up as white rabbits was appropriately off-putting. Also, when she wails, she wails. Sometimes I wish the girl would just lip synch.

Best: Adam Levine

He was really good. With all the crap I give his band because of the decrease in quality of their recent albums and their formulaic pop hits (belt the intro, rap-sing the chorus, an-other dude raps, belt the ending), I realized how much his live performances make up for it. Even when he sang “Girl on Fire,” he hit the high notes better than Alicia Keys. All is forgiven.

Worst: Bruno Mars and the rat pack performing “Locked Out of Heaven”

It took me half the performance to actu-ally �ind the guy because everyone else was a head taller than him, and since they all wore black, he practically blended into the back-ground. He was cute in his hat thing, I guess. Though his vocals were great, I didn’t enjoy the whole “we don’t have enough famous people up here shoot let’s bring Rihanna” and just plopped her gorgeous Barbados-ness in the middle of the set. It was a strange amal-gamation of uncoordinated that I just wanted it to be over. Oh hey, and there’s Bruno.

Best and worst: Miguel, 5 Grammy nominations, 2 minute performance and the overall lack of R&B singers represent-ing

I hadn’t heard much of this artist or his music, so when I learned that he was nomi-nated �ive times, I expected breathtaking lineups, stunning visuals, the whole nine yards. But what I got was a two-minute dis-appointment.

Wiz Khalifa’s awkward interjections of “YEAH UH HUH YEEEEEEUH” didn’t help his performance, but even with that, his two minutes up on the stage had me asking the Grammy stage coordinators, “Why?” For a musician with such a highly acclaimed ca-reer, albeit shorter than other big names, his performance was a lot more relevant and interesting than the other drawn-out oldies remixes. Probably the worst part was that it had a lot of potential to be an incredible per-formance, but ended up being a question left unanswered, and not in the good way.

As always, you’re welcome,

Yunqing Chen

There were no more math, science or computer science classes left for me to take and taking a gap year would hold me back.

JULIA HUANG//11

2012 MIT Admissions statistics18,109 Applied, 1,620 Admitted

8.9% Acceptance Rate

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Lynbrook Class of 201242 Applied, 7 Admitted16.7% Acceptance Rate

Building the better robotBY SHOUVIK MANI

With the build season deadline for the FIRST Robotics Competition (FRC) approaching on Feb. 19,

the robotics team is busy developing a ro-bot that can execute a variety of procedures from throwing discs through slots to climb-ing up a pyramid. This year, the robotics team is equipped with new machinery and over 130 members to tackle what its mem-bers describe as one of hardest challenges in recent memory.

The FRC is a robotics competition host-ed by the non-pro�it organization For In-spiration and Recognition of Science and Technology (FIRST) in which thousands of teams composed of more than 300,000 stu-dents from over 60 countries come to com-pete. Each team builds a robot to partici-pate in an arena game, which varies every year. The robot must comply with FIRST safety rules and meet the technical require-ments set by the organization. Additionally, the robot must be built within a six-week time frame beginning on Jan. 5 called the build season, after which it can be used in FRC competitions all around the country.

“When you see the robot driving around, it is really rewarding because you feel proud of your hard work,” said Lin. “You get to apply many things that you learn in class. It’s not just about learning a formula, but also its application.”

This year’s FRC game, Ultimate Ascent, involves two alliances of three teams each scoring points by throwing discs into three levels of slots. Teams receive bonus points if their robots climb on top of a pyramidal structure at the end of the match.

When co-hardware lead junior Anurag Makineni witnessed his �irst glimpse of this year’s challenge at the 2013 FRC Kickoff at San Jose State University (SJSU), he was ini-tially astounded by its complexity. He said, “I was really confused. It just seemed so hard. It seemed almost impossible.”

While the team �igured out an approach for the disc-throwing portion of the game

early on in the season, the engineering chal-lenge of getting a 120-pound robot to climb up a 10-foot-high pyramid has proved to be rather troublesome.

Part of the problem arises from the sig-ni�icant changes made to robot speci�ica-tions by FRC regulators this year. For in-stance, while robots of previous years were allowed to have a base area of up to 38 inches by 28 inches, this year’s robot is only allowed to have a base that measures up to 112 inches in perimeter, making it consid-erably smaller. This modi�ication has tested the robotics team’s adaptability to change.

“One of the biggest problems has been packaging everything in this tight amount of space,” said Makineni. “The robot has to be smaller than ever but do so many things such as picking, storing and shooting discs as well as climbing up the pyramid.”

The team has considered a variety of approaches to the design challenge of get-ting the robot to climb up the pyramid. One con�iguration that was proposed initially involved hooks under the robot’s base to pull it up the pyramid, but failed because it was impractical. After a lot of experimen-tation and several trials with prototypes,

the team is now pursuing a power take-off (PTO) system, utilizing the four existing drivetrain motors and a custom-built gear-box to lift the robot on top of the pyramid using hooks attached to the robot’s body. The team is now in the process of �inalizing the last details of the design and is making individual parts for the robot. In the �inal week of the build season, the team will as-semble these individual components into one robot and do �inal experimentations.

“Every year, the challenge de�initely gets harder. Even though we are more behind in schedule than we were in previous years, we’re seeing a lot more in student learning. A lot of our students are getting involved in the detailed design of the robot,” said co-president senior Diane Wang.

In response to a large member pool, the robotics team has taken proactive steps to facilitate student learning. Over the past few years, the team has introduced soft-ware, computer-aided design (CAD), ani-mation, and hardware workshops to bridge the gap between new and experienced members. In these workshops, members develop new skills and apply them in situ-ations similar to those encountered during

build season. In the hardware workshop, for example, students built turntables for AP Physics and learned design techniques in the process.

Despite the dif�iculties faced in the de-sign stage, the task of building the robot it-self has been abetted by the new machinery that the team has acquired this year. With generous grants from corporate sponsors such as Sony, NASA, Western Digital and Google, the team has purchased advanced machinery that has made the building pro-cess more accurate and ef�icient. For ex-ample, members can now feed their CAD models into the new computer numerical control (CNC) machine to cut out sophisti-cated curves which were previously impos-sible to cut by hand. These new machines have given members the opportunity to participate in the entire development pro-cess from start to �inish, as they can now design, build and assemble the robot en-tirely in-house.

“In the past, there were a lot of discrep-ancies between designers and the ma-chines. Now, our designs are much more re-alistic. Instead of having to send parts out, students can be involved in every single step and in the entire process,” said public relations of�icer junior Michael Lin.

After the robot is completed, it will be shipped to Boston, Mass., where it will sit in a warehouse for one month. On March 20, the robotics team will head to the Bos-ton for its �irst competition of 2013, the Boston Regional. Upon their arrival, the robot will be inspected by FRC organiz-ers and prepared for the competition. The team will also be competing at the Silicon Valley Regional on April 4, which is a local FRC event held at SJSU.

“We generally do well at competitions, but we do well only because we make our priority the experience of robotics,” said robotics Vice President junior Miles Chan. “The most important thing is that the stu-dents bene�it from the process of building the robot. That is more important than the competition itself.”ROBOT DIAGRAMS| Computer-aided design models of the robot assist the team by organizing the designs.

MACHINE WORK| Senior Diane Wang uses the machines in room 612 to model and cut out the parts that are necessary for this year’s robot.

TEAMWORK| Seven members of the robotics team gather around co-president senior Brian Axelrod to see the latest changes to the design.

NUTS AND BOLTS| Junior Erik Yeh uses the CNC mill to create a part for the robot. The CNC has been crucial in helping the team this year.

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Torn apart at the heart:

There’s a variety of reactions that occur with divorce. The majority of kids are upset, they feel like their

world has been turned upside down,” said school therapist Dawn Bridges. Many physical changes can happen; kids have to move, change schools, the �inancial situa-tion can also change.

Sophomore Meagan Benensohn has shuttled back and forth between her mom and dad’s houses almost every single day for over 10 years. “I’ve been doing this for as long as I can remember,” Benensohn said.

On the other hand, junior Selin Toprak’s parents divorced when she was seven years old. “I didn’t really realize it when my parents separated formally,” said Toprak. “Before that my dad had been sleeping in the downstairs guest bedroom and my parents didn’t talk to each other, so the divorce was almost expected.”

Similarly, senior Lucas Ranieri faces a huge barrier due to the fact that his father lives across the globe in Italy.

“I don’t really know what the hell happened because I was so small and didn’t know what was going on,” said Ranieri.

In general, Bridges advised parents to “clearly present what’s going to happen to their children. Parent as a team even though you are no longer a couple. They should not be critical of each other to their children.”

Unusual living arrangements and �ights are the least of what kids with di-vorced parents have to deal with.

“It was a lot harder for me back when I was in elementary school than it is now,” Benensohn said. “As a 10-year old, I had to worry about not saying certain things to my parents. For example, if my mom told me not to tell my dad about a new job she was getting so she wouldn’t have to

pay as much child support, and I accidentally told him, I’d look a little bit like a liar and she’d think that I was taking his side.”

Toprak had always been closer to her mom, and her relationship with her dad de-teriorated steadily after the divorce.

She said, “Before the divorce I didn’t really get along with him, and afterwards, when I was at his house on the weekends, I didn’t have my mom to help me out if we got into an argument. I haven’t seen him in two years.”

Toprak has received copious advice from her mom’s friends about her relationship with her father.

“It makes me uncomfortable when my mom’s friends say stuff like, ‘Oh, you should visit your dad,’” said Toprak. “They don’t re-ally understand why I don’t talk to him.”

Although Ranieri had to move back and forth between Italy and America all through-out his school career, he tries to take a more positive outlook on the situation.

“I don’t think you can look at the whole situation as a ‘what if ’ because it already didn’t work out,” said Ranieri. “Obviously things changed and it took a huge toll on

my sister Michaela and I with going back, court decisions and changing schools, but it helped us. I mean, I learned to travel at a super young age through large airports with just my sister.”

Besides having to deal with internal fam-ily con�licts, Benensohn also feels that her fu-ture relationships could be affected by hav-ing not only divorced parents, but also two sets of divorced grandparents.

When asked whether she felt she was more likely to get divorced, her re-sponse was immediate and vehement.

“That I’ll get divorced in the future, it’s a big fear of mine. If I don’t have an example of married parents to follow, how am I going to do it?” Benensohn hopes to instead learn from her situa-tion and try not to make the same mis-takes her parents did.

“I think my mom didn’t really know how to pick someone right for her, and that’s why my parents ended up get-ting a divorce,” she said.

Ranieri, however, believes that his parents’ divorce and the subsequent custody arrangements has helped his love life.

“I will strive even harder to keep a relationship to avoid letting what hap-pened to me happen to my kids,” said Ranieri.

Although Benensohn’s parents at-tempted to put her into therapy once, she preferred to rely on herself and her

friends. Benensohn does her best to separate her

home life from her academic and social life. Although she �inds it helpful to be able to vent to friends who can relate, Benensohn has also used her experiences positively to comfort others.

“I tell them that if there’s a rough spot and your parents are �ighting, it will pass, and not to immerse yourself in it if you don’t have to,” said Benensohn, “In the end, it’s your happi-ness that they want.”

Bridges agreed, “It helps to talk to some-one. They have to allow themselves that pe-riod of mourning.”

Re�lecting over the past few years, the �irst word that always comes to mind is change. When my parents split up,

everything in my life took a 180 degree turn into a world that I was not at all prepared for.

Two homes. The common misconception that children living in two places have two of everything is very untrue. Though I have two rooms, toothbrushes and closets, the rest of my belongings did not suddenly multiply with my parents’ divorce. Initially, I switched off every two days. This meant mastering the art of packing and unpacking my textbooks, laptop, chargers, clothing, and other necessi-ties almost daily. Forgetting something was not often an option considering the 15 min-ute drive between the two houses.

The new kid in school. After attend-ing the same school for nine years, coming to Lynbrook was not an easy change. On top of starting high school, I had to leave my old friends, be the new girl, move twice and watch my parents separate. There were plenty of times when everything seemed to be falling apart and I just wanted to give up. A big hindrance to my concentration was hear-ing one parent bad mouth the other at home.

Single and ready to mingle. My parents were both back in on the dating scene rather quickly. I did not attempt a remake of Parent Trap for my parents, but because I had not yet absorbed their divorce, they kept their relationships a secret. More recently, I have become accustomed to their dating lives and even enjoy seeing them happy with others.

A sister with a story. Up until the point of our parents’ divorce, my sister and I did not have common ground to relate on, but afterwards, our lives became increasingly similar. We stand up for one another when one parent is yelling at one of us; this drives them crazy. We should have always been do-ing this, but only began with their separation.

Although I hate to admit it, I saw my par-ents divorce coming early on. I’m still the same person, but it changed my perspective on many things, particularly relationships of all kinds—especially friendships. I have learned to value friendships deeply and un-derstand other people’s various situations.

No two people go through the same ex-perience and come out of it the same way. The only thing that almost always remains the same for everyone is the reaction they receive when they admit to people that their parents are not married to each other. It of-ten includes an “I’m sorry” and a look of pity.

What I would have liked is consistency, especially with my friends. There is really no need for sad smiles or long hugs. Nor is there reason to talk about family at school unless the person brings it up—school is a chance to get away from what happens at home.

I am able to talk casually about my par-ents divorce because I play down the emo-tional severity of it for everyone involved. My entire family was affected in a way that cannot be undone, but I think that it was for the better. People are happier now than they were then, and thats what matters.

For everyone in similar situations, always search for the positives. Focus on school and extracurricular activies or try something new. Just do something to take your mind off of it—divorce is not an easy concept to grasp.

BY IZABELLA KIPNIS & JESSICA CAO

Studying the e� ects of parental divorce

� ere’s always a time for change

PHOTO ILLUSTRATION BY JOEY LI

drawn to it.” Kapilevich experienced this �irst-hand in a previous re-

lationship. “[His] con�idence just kind of affected everyone,” she said. “He was so con�ident in himself that it spread onto other people and other people had the same opinion about him as he did. It made me like him more because I believed what he said about himself, because he was so sure of it.”

School psychologist Brittany Stevens has observed the ef-fect of personality on physical desirability as well.

“People who are physically beautiful but are insensitive in their treatment of others are often found less attractive—there is a con�luence of factors that equal a person’s overall ‘attractiveness’,” said Stevens. “I’ve noticed that people who exhibit positive character traits are deemed more attractive, even if they don’t physically meet a cultural ideal of beauty.”

Certain physical factors unrelated to looks or personality can have an in�luence. For instance, Kapilevich’s boyfriend, sophomore Daniel Vahabi, values hygiene as an important factor in attraction. “If someone has really bad hygiene, its a turn-off, no matter how hot they are,” he said.

Stevens believes that relationships based solely on physi-cal pull tend to be unable to withstand the test of time.

“The intensity of physical attraction generally subsides over time, so the deeper connection and positive behaviors must be intact for people to feel motivated toward maintain-ing a romantic relationship,” she said.

Senior Christina Zhu learned a similar lesson with her former relationship. “Having physical attraction in a relation-ship is good, but if it’s the focus of the relationship, it will

most likely fail,” said Zhu. “Relationships need work, and if you decide to go out with someone just because he

At the core of powerful love is physical attraction, according to biological anthropologist and profes-sor at Rutgers University, Helen Fisher.

Love, as described in Fisher’s book, Why We Love: The Nature and Chemistry of Romantic Love, is a combination of three things: physical attraction, personality attrac-tion and long-term attachment. But research has found that romantic love is primarily driven by chemicals of the brain’s reward system such as dopamine, which creates a powerful physical draw to a counterpart, often incapaci-tating rational thought and logic.The origin of physical at-traction is a spontaneous “focus of mating energy” on one particular person, like a love at �irst sight.

“At �irst glance, before I know somebody, [attraction] is just based on what they look like,” said junior Maya Kapi-levich, who examines characteristics such as hair color, eye color and muscularity. However, she admitted that she also factors traits such as humor and intelligence.

Research has shown humans feel themselves instinc-tively drawn to those who display positive evolutionary traits, such as con�idence and intelligence, that indicate greater chances of survival. Kapilevich believes that these traits can enhance or diminish the attraction she feels.

“If you’re really uncon�ident, people will notice you less,” said Kapilevich. “But people who, even if they’re mediocre-looking, are putting themselves out there, it does make them seem more attractive because you’re

What causes a fl uttering heart?

The soft sound of clicks on keyboards �illed lab 005 as sixth period AP U.S. Government students spent the block period taking surveys about their political views

on social and economic issues. After a series of questions, the political ideology tests helped identify students’ political preferences, categorizing students as “left-leaning populist,” “authoritarian left,” “libertarian right” and so on.

“I like AP Government and the stuff like the political ide-ology tests that we’ve done so far, because it helps you to be more aware,” said senior Rachel Chang. “Before, we didn’t re-ally know how to relate politics into our personal lives and have our own viewpoints—that is, until we analyzed how it exactly affects us.”

Political socialization, the process in which people dis-cover and build their own political ideologies, is an impor-tant stage that occurs when students are in high school. As people grow older, they tend to become more staunchly �ixed on their positions, which makes their high school years a vital period of discovery and growth to producing well-informed, democratic citizens.

However, students may have other priorities such as aca-demics and personal lives that take precedent to knowledge of current events. Another reason for this de�iciency of po-litical interest may be that because many Lynbrook students come from immigrant families who are not in-stilled in a tradition of following Ameri-can politics. Students �ind it harder to develop their own ideologies

BY JANE JUN

BY PRACHI LAUD

Developing a political ideologywhen they are not as exposed to as many opinions and knowledge on American politics. It is more dif�icult for stu-dents to establish their own political stance when there’s a split between their parents’ culture and the culture of their current environment.

“We come from Asian culture, and it’s more dif�icult to de-velop a stance with American politics,” said freshman Esther Kao. “Asian culture tends to be more conservative. California is more democratic, so there’s a rift and this makes it harder for me to know what to follow. “

“Views not challenged are views not held,” said AP U.S. Government teacher Jeffrey Bale, who has been running po-litical ideology tests in his AP U.S. Government classes for the past �ive years. “It’s important to �igure out for yourself why you support an issue, a candidate, or how you want to change the world. Lynbrook students have lots of advantages, and the environment here shouldn’t be so self-focused. Students should be looking for ways to improve society, and it goes that the more you know, the more you can do.”

Membership in campus clubs such as Amnesty, Model United Nations and Speech and Debate, which discuss cur-rent events and political viewpoints of world leaders, have helped students be more aware of the world around them and develop their personal ideologies.

“I think generally, people are less aware if they are not involved in clubs,” said senior Jeffrey Luan. “I’m in Amnesty, where we have petitions and presentations on human rights and issues such as Libya, women’s rights and so on. It’s helped a lot for me in knowing that I stand left on the politi-cal scene and why I do.”

Politically passive or not, over the years Lynbrook students have shown a trend of leaning left on social

issues, shown through both results on political ideol-ogy tests and other school-held political events. In the 2008 Lynbrook Obama-McCain mock election, President Barack Obama won with a staggering landslide, approximately 450 to 20 votes.

“I think student here tend to lean left liberally because of the diversity here,” said Bale. “Urban areas

are generally more progressive because they’re less homog-enous. Also, this is a young school. The younger generation tends to be more open to newer, fresh values.”

Though many students believe that most people who attend Lynbrook are staunch liberals, students have also

shown a trend on their political ideology tests as being more conservative on economic issues.

“This may be because students here are typically upper class,” said Bale. “I’ve also seen a lot of opposition to af�irma-tive action, for example, and perhaps it’s due to the particu-lar ethnic groups that exist at Lynbrook and how individuals from those groups may feel they are being negatively affected by such policies.”

Hudepohl, who identi�ies herself as a Democrat, says she is liberal on social issues such as abortion and gay marriage.

“My personal belief is that people should be able to choose—I guess it goes back to natural rights,” she said.

She says growing up in a culture of being politically aware and interested in government has encouraged her to develop her own political ideology. Though her parents played a role in her political socialization, ultimately Hudepohl made her own decisions as to where she stood on the political agenda.

“We talk informally,” she said. “Especially during election season, my parents will talk about their views. They try to stay knowledgeable; they have their opinions and they’re jus-ti�ied, even if I don’t agree with all of them.”

Whatever it takes, some say students shouldn’t neglect developing political ideologies and participating in govern-ment. “We need young people,” said Bale. “There’s so much that Lynbrook students can do. Why not focus the best minds on these important issues? We need young people to force new views onto the table, to pow-er new ideas.”

or she is ‘adorable’, then it may not be the best idea.”Physical attraction played a large role in Zhu’s rela-

tionship with her ex-boyfriend. But after spending time together, she saw that their personalities were incompat-ible, making the relationship unsuccessful. She prioritized personal compatibility for her next and current relation-ship with senior Daniel Kho from Cupertino High School. She valued emotional connection over just physical attrac-tion, and her relationship with Kho began with bonding over similar interests.

“Physical attraction wasn’t that important in this rela-tionship,” Zhu said. “I was already attracted to the person-ality, and physical attraction came naturally with that.”

Zhu felt that the role of physical attraction was less vi-tal to this relationship because she and Kho go to different schools and don’t see each other as often. Physical attrac-tion was merely the “icing on the cake.”

Physical appeal may also provide professional success. Oftentimes, people who are physically desirable are more likely to be given esteem because society associates at-tractiveness with traits such as responsibility.

“As a culture, we also highly value beauty and physical perfec-tion—if you pos-sess a trait that people value, it could spill over into people’s estimation of your skills in other ar-eas,” said Stevens.

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Investigating the roots of physical attraction and its role in teenage relationships

The importance of empathic listening... BY PRASANN RANADE

...and overcoming the fear of participationBY FRINA REDOLOZA

Mouth zipped shut and mind wide open, shyness is a cage that incarcer-

ates opinions and thoughts. The role and signi�icance of shyness comes to

play when it concerns participation and com-munication.

“I’m not helping my students if I don’t push them out of their comfort zones,” said French teacher Valerie Amzallag. “I teach them that it’s okay to make errors, it’s not the end of the world if they mess up.”

The reason behind silence varies with each person. It may be from the dislike of methods, indifference to the subject, teacher favoritism or fear of judgment.

“People are afraid of sounding unintelligent in front of their peers, especially at Lynbrook,” said sophomore Michelle Ng. “Overcoming shyness is for people who

are willing to step out of their comfort zone.” On the other hand, the impact participation has on

the grade, the need to express ideas and the yearning to be socially accepted by society are several incentives that stomp out the silence.

“If I don’t communicate my needs, it’s harder to get along,” said sophomore Shreya Batra. “When the ideas and opinions I contribute have value, then it could help someone too.”

Regardless of the motivation, a common excuse for keeping silent is that being shy is part of their nature.

Introversion is often used out of context to mean shy. The true de�inition of introvert is someone who natu-rally prefers independence and seclusion while the de�i-nition of shy is to be timid and reluctant.

Being an introvert herself, Amzallag believes that in-trovertion is no excuse not to participate, as participat-ing and communicating are not impossible tasks.

“I was an introvert and I am even now,” Amzallag

said. “An introvert can never be extrovert, but partici-pating is a skill that can be learned. Speaking up is an obstacle others may not have, that you have to cross.”

The key to subduing shyness it is to truly realize the importance participation has in living life. For example, junior Anvitha Rayabhari opened up more with the change from middle school to high school.

“After coming to high school, my best friend and I couldn’t always be together, which is why I had to speak to others,” Rayabhari said. “Throughout the transition, I wasn’t really scared, but I was more anxious and ner-vous. I am less shy now and I can approach people eas-ily, and vice versa.”

Self-proclaimed introvert senior Arkadip Saha has gained a deeper understanding of participation.

“I realized that although introverts like me prefer to absorb information, sharing ideas is important too,” Saha said. “In this world, it is crucial to create a balance between listening and speaking.”

Every day, each student needs to com-municate through either the written or spoken word. Entire clubs such as

Speech and Debate and Toastmasters have undertaken the task of teaching students to become better communicators. Yet, very few people, and even fewer teenag-ers, focus on becoming a better listener, in part because of the emphasis put on speaking skills.

The spectrum of listening includes var-ious categories such as hearing, paying at-tention, critical listening and empathic lis-tening. History teacher Esther Lee shared her own different steps in the process of listening.

“I’m hearing what you’re saying, I’m agreeing or disagreeing with it, I’m re-sponding to what you’re saying, and I’m posing a question,” said Lee.

Of the different types of listening, the one most applicable for students at Lyn-brook is empathic listening, or listening

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with the purpose of understanding the other person’s views and perspectives.

“My goal in empathic listening is to un-derstand your view and perspective from your perspective, not what I think is right or wrong or what I think about it but how you are making sense of the situation,” said Shawn Spano, Professor of Communica-tion Studies at San Jose State University.

Empathic listening allows one to broad-en one’s perspective and expose them-selves to new ideas. For example, many students prefer to sit silently during class discussions or Socratic Seminars in order to listen to others students.

“The more you listen, the more you learn and you learn a whole lot more in-stead of just talking,” said sophomore Shivani Kavuluru, “You start to see things in another person’s shoes. It’s more of an ‘Oh, I didn’t think of it that way’ feeling.”

Nevertheless, students do not always listen empathically, either because they have not been taught to listen in such a way, have not been exposed to empathic

listening or do not know how to begin to listen empathically. For example, they may believe themselves to be truly listen-ing in a conversation when actually they simply selectively hear parts of a conver-sation in order to construct their reply. However, these methods disguise empath-ic listening.

“Empathic listening by de�inition is not about judging; it’s about understanding,” said Spano. “The fact that I’m focused on me, what I think, and my views is a big im-pediment to listening.”

Listening plays a major role in improv-ing relationships with people by increas-ing trust; therefore, by learning how to listen empathically, one can improve the quality of interactions.

“Use your ears and your mouth in the proportion that you have them. God gave you two ears and one mouth for a reason which clearly means that you need to lis-ten more and speak less,” said Kavuluru.

For the full version of this story, visit lhsepic.com

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Girls’ basketball looks to succeed in postseason playBY IZABELLA KIPNIS

The LHS Super Bowl: A new traditionAthletics Unlimited (AU) and Leadership, Experience

and Opportunity (LEO) clubs have come together to create the �irst annual Lynbrook �lag football Super

Bowl which began Feb. 4 and lasted two weeks. The tourna-ment consisted of 10 teams of eight and was single elimina-tion, with winners receiving a $5 Pinkberry gift card.

The idea for Lynbrook to hold a Super Bowl tournament came from LEO Club senior Hyun Kang. He approached AU for assistance with the main details of the tournament which ranged from rules to timing issues, public announcements and the of�iciating of the games.

The main reason for organizing this tournament was that LEO and AU wanted to feed off of the excitement created by Super Bowl XLVII at Lynbrook. “The event was so that Super Bowl enthusiasts could have fun at our own home �ield see-ing their friends compete for our own Super Bowl,” said AU president junior Arnav Mishra.

Kang saw an opportunity to expand intramural options for students on campus. “I thought that there should be more options in terms of intramural sports that the entire student body can be in and play a more active role in. Although we have great games like Spikefest and March Madness, I felt that we should try and broaden the scope of the sports �ield and include football,” said Kang.

Despite the upbeat vibe for the tournament, a big concern

regarding player safety had been raised after the �irst two games where there were at least two tackles and one �ight per game. Although the tournament style is �lag football, where players wear �lags around their waist and tackles are made by pulling the �lag off an opposing players’ waist, full body tackles have occurred in the tournament, causing con-cern for player safety.

Unfortunately, the tournament was short on resources to limit the excessive contact. “The issue is that we have only one referee, [Statistics teacher Bob] Blaschke, and he can’t see everything. In the future, we may ask some varsity foot-ball players or other teachers to be there to keep an eye on any fouls Mr. Blaschke might miss,” said Mishra.

The players, on the other hand, had mixed views about player safety. “It’s football, it’s not a safe sport, but you can’t take away from everything because that just makes the sport boring and then it’s just more rules than fun,” said sopho-more Rohan Khasgiwala.

The threat of being penalized for tackling seemed to be a �ix for player safety during games. “These rules get into the players’ heads that if you want to win, you [have] to get rid of the penalties and if you want to get rid of the penalties, you have to play fair,” Khasgiwala said.

The widespread support and popularity for this tourna-ment has sparked an interest for more sports-oriented tour-naments throughout the year.

As a result, AU is currently planning a new tournament

coming the �irst week of April. The tournaments are typically centered around the prominence of a speci�ic sport at that speci�ic time. “Other tournaments may come and go depend-ing on what sports are on the world stage. We had a Super Bowl because the 49ers did extremely well. Maybe in 2014 with the next soccer World Cup, we will plan a Lynbrook Soc-cer World Cup. These are just ideas for the future; none of them are �inalized,” said Mishra.

The players have found the experience of the tournament to be relaxing, offering a disconnect from the stress of aca-demics and an outlet to promote athletics, especially football.

Also, the competitive aspect helped the players have fun while they strived to win. “It’s always fun to play when there is competition and when there is competition, there’s some-thing driving you to play [well],” said Khasgiwala.

The tradition of school-wide athletic tournaments has been able to bring the various classes together for the com-mon goal of Lynbrook pride. “One of the most unifying sub-jects and activities is a sports game. Since we have put no age restrictions, the teams are made up of students from many grade levels. This, unlike highly competitive rallies and Homecoming, brings about a sense of school unity among all if we go to that [Lynbrook] stadium each day to see our peers in a friendly competition,” said Mishra.

At the end of the day, according to Khasgiwala, “You’re not driving to beat the other person because it’s the end of the world, you just want to play.”

BY DHIRAJ NALLAPOTHULA

EVADING DEFENDERS| Unlike tackle football in which contact is often inevitable, the nature of � ag football requires ball carriers to avoid defenders at all costs to avoid having their � ag pulled. From left to right: junior Eric Day, senior Arun Giridharan, junior Tamas Truckai, senior Christopher Wong and senior Pranav Singh, are each pictured here eluding potential “tacklers,” in hopes of breaking containment and scoring a touchdown.

After starting off on a strong note, the girls’ basketball team has pushed themselves consistently throughout the season in order to �inish strong.

With this common ground, the Lady Vikes have become an extremely tight-knit team. The team believes that their off-court dinners and bonding opportunities have played a large part in their success. Senior Lakshana Senthilkumar said, “Basketball season is one of the longest seasons and through it, we had a very smooth transition from a team that did not really �it together, to what we are now. We will continue keep-ing in touch after the season.”

A contributing factor to their success is the two sopho-mores on the team. “I brought them up this year because I felt that they could contribute to the energy of our team, and would be mature enough to handle this level of competition and commitment, and they have surpassed my expectations,” said varsity coach Cynthia Ting.

Both sophomores see their time on the team this season as a very rewarding experience. “It’s pretty cool being one of

the youngest people on such a successful basketball team,” said sophomore Elaine Ma. “All the seniors and juniors on the team are welcoming even though they make us carry the �irst aid kit and ball bag on the away games.”

Sophomore Dolly Yuan said, “For the �irst few games, I wasn’t very familiar with my role on the team, so I was a bit uncomfortable with running the offense as point guard. But my teammates have really helped me through things and we have all gotten to know each other a lot better. I know that they have my back if I make any mistakes.”

Despite losing twice so far, the team has been able to stay on top in their league. “This just made us closer because we push ourselves” said Senthilkumar. “Our coach always says, ‘Getting to the top is easy, but staying there is hard.’”

As the regular season draws to a close, the team has di-rected its focus toward the Central Coast Section (CCS) cham-pionships and NorCals. “Our goal, of course, is to make Nor-Cals this year,” said Yuan. “First, we need to focus on �inishing off leagues strong and focus on improving as a team. In CCS, it would be great if we could win Division 2 Champs.” This year, their performance suggests that they are entering the

competition as one of the favorites for the title. If they make it to NorCals, the next level after CCS, they

will be competing against other highly ranked schools. But, considering their success throughout the season, they have a good chance of doing well. Another opportunity for the girls is that this year, NorCals has been reorganized in a way that puts several schools into an open division, which gives Lyn-brook a better shot at advancing in NorCals.

Additionally, with �ive seniors leaving, the team will have a vastly different dynamic next season. “Our team this year is strong, but I think next year we will still be good,” said Yuan. “Although a couple of main players are leaving this year, our current players will only improve. I think we will be able to stay at the top of leagues and make CCS next year.”

Despite Yuan’s optimism, the team acknowledges that staying on top will be dif�icult. “The sophomores and juniors cannot approach next year wanting to �ill the seniors’ shoes,” said Ting. “They need to re�lect on what they have learned from the seniors, but set their own expectations for what they would consider a successful season. It’s never about �ill-ing shoes; it is always about walking in your own.”

PHOTOS BY JOEY LI

The badminton season has started, and there’s one thing I know I won’t be do-ing for the majority of practice: actu-

ally practicing. Half of the time I’ll be sitting, waiting for an open court, and the other half I’ll be crammed on a court with �ive other players, each of us probably wondering the same thing: instead of wasting time at school practices, why not just train individually out-side of school?

For individual sports such as tennis and badminton, outside training can offer an intense and rigorous program that school practices simply can’t match. Most under-classmen tennis and badminton players in varsity get there due to outside training, and even coaches advise players to train outside of school to improve. But with mandatory school practice, it becomes nearly impossi-ble for players to �ind time for outside train-ing, forcing players to train in less effective school practices. The Lynbrook Athletic De-partment should implement a system that al-lows athletes in individual sports the option to participate in outside training in place of school training.

One of the main bene�its of this system is that it would lead to stronger sports teams. Outside training can work wonders for play-ers. I’ve seen that wimpy guy that didn’t make the JV cut come back as a scary monster after a year of training at a private club. Outside training is simply more effective than school “training,” and allowing players to train out-side during the season would result in stron-ger players, resulting in stronger teams.

But that’s not to say that Lynbrook coach-es aren’t great at what they do. They just have an impossible task. The two coaches for the badminton team are tasked with coaching a team of over 100 players, with only eight courts available for use. With so many play-ers to coach, school coaches obviously won’t be able to deliver the same quality of training that outside training, which often consists of one-on-one practices, can offer.

Allowing players to train outside of school will also work to solve the problems of excess players and limited court space. With the system, each player that chooses to train out-side means one less player at school practic-es, which translates to one less player taking up court space and one less player that the coaches have to worry about. It’s a win-win situation; players who train outside will get better training, while the players who remain at school practices have more court space and individual attention from the coaches, leading to improved training for both groups.

One of the only possible downsides of outside training is that it could lead to poor team dynamics because players who train outside won’t be able practice with the rest of the team. However, individual sports teams don’t require much team dynamics to be able to function well. Furthermore, most of the team-bonding happens at matches, which players will attend, regardless of where they train. If having your entire team cheer you on at a match doesn’t promote strong team dy-namics, I don’t know what will.

And while players are required by CCS regulations to practice at school during the season, there are ways of circumventing this, such as making just one day of practice a week mandatory to ensure that players are still technically attending school practices.

Some other schools have already adopted a similar system for their individual sports, allowing players the option of training out-side of school, and have developed highly successful programs. Like pretty much ev-eryone else on campus, I want to see Lyn-brook teams improve, and allowing players to train outside is a good place to start.

Let us practice how we want to practice

Girls’ soccer coach boosts morale

Boys’ soccer � nishes roller coaster season

Varsity girls’ soccer coach Mitch Ba-sin (pictured bottom right, kneel-ing) acknowledges the mindset of

striving for high academic achievement at Lynbrook, where “school always comes �irst.” Basin has learned that “as much as you want them to be there during games and practices, school comes �irst,” he said.

Since a competitive academic atmo-sphere comes with a large amount of commitment and stress, he said, “I have to know how hard to push, but also when to back off and let them take a break.”

Because the environment is demand-ing at times, Basin has observed that the girls are often stressed. Still, he said, “Soc-cer allows an avenue to express emotions that come along with high school.”

Basin explained that although he has been coaching for 16 years at a high level,

including the Nevada Olympic Develop-ment State team, this team is different.

In soccer, “negativity spreads like cancer, and it can bring down a team, he said. But Basin shared that this team truly cares about one another, which is one of the biggest components of being success-ful, since chemistry and camaraderie are very important in order to play �luidly.

Co-captain senior Mackenzie Shimo-jima agrees with Basin about how impor-tant team chemistry is. “On the �ield, we work well together and trust each oth-er’s abilities, which come from the good chemistry off the �ield,” said Shimojima.

From his experiences in the past, he has learned that it is very dif�icult to “take 20 individuals from various backgrounds and put them together to become one united team.” In the beginning of the sea-son when the girls were �irst selected, Ba-sin said, “I didn’t just look for the best, I looked for the group of girls who would �it together the best.”

At the brink of failing to meet their own expectations, the varsity boys’ soccer game on Jan. 18 was a reality

check for the team. The team lost to Monta Vista 6-0. but worked hard ever since to re-deem themselves, both individually and as a team.

“A 6-0 loss is considered a blowout, showing that the winning team’s level is higher than the losing one. Having such a blotch on our record was actually pretty embarrassing,” said senior Mike Zhong when re�lecting on the loss.

After the game, there were many raised voices, but the team agreed that in order to avoid such a disaster again, they were going to have to raise their playing level.

“The Monta Vista game was a reality check. It made us realize where we were in the season and the work we had to put in to get where we want to be,” said varsity co-captain junior Alex Wong. Though the post-game atmosphere was unpleasant, the boys walked off the �ield knowing one thing: they could only go up from there.

“After that game, the team changed,” said Wong, “Everyone was more persistent and serious in practices.” The environment on the �ield changed due to the fact that the team realized how important it was to stay committed to their goals.

As they neared the end of the season, they slowly regained their con�idence, knowing that they did not want another game like the one against Monta Vista.

“We realized we needed to practice more ef�iciently, and to have more discipline as a

BY KASTURI PANTVAIDYA

team,” said Zhong. The fact that they were scheduled to play Monta Vista again for their last game of the season also acted as motivation for the team to improve in all as-pects of their play.

Their recent wins against other schools helped to boost the players’ con�idence in themselves. The game against Cupertino on Feb. 8 resulted in a 2-0 win, ultimately rein-forcing the team’s ambitions.

“We were really pumped for the game against Cupertino, and we were able to prove to ourselves that if we put our mind into something we want to achieve, then we can achieve it,” said varsity co-captain junior Andrew Bae. The win played a large part in boosting the team’s morale as well.

“We were all very happy. We had never had so many fans before, so it was fun hav-ing people come out and watch us,” said Bae. “It was de�initely a con�idence boost.”

Due to their success, the team strongly believed that they had what it takes to meet their two ultimate goals: to win the rest of their games, and to beat Monta Vista.

Since Jan. 18, the team has won three of their six games with a score of 2-1 against Palo Alto and Wilcox, and 2-0 against Cuper-tino, while losing in games versus Fremont and Milpitas. They ended the season on Feb. 13, losing by three goals in a game against Monta Vista. Despite coming up short on a few occasions, their late season surge over-shadowed their losses.

Basin understands that the girls come from different backgrounds, and their interests are not just soccer. But he feels that there is an advantage with this diver-sity. “They are able to look at the game with a different set of eyes,” said Basin.

“These girls are able to step out of the box and look at the sport from a different perspective than other athletes which I have coached in the past. No matter what obstacles they face, they never give up.” Whether it is an injury or an illness, the team is able to stay together.

Basin’s main goal for the girls is to be-come better every time out. Shimojima adds that he encourages with the attitude of wanting to reach their goal for not just themselves, but also for the team.

“I tell them that I can teach them bet-ter techniques with handling the ball, and how to improve on shooting, but I can’t coach heart, so that’s up to you,” said Ba-sin.

BATTLE AT MIDFIELD| Junior varsity mid� elder Jake Zatz � ghts with a defender for control of the ball.

BY SABRINA JEN

KASTURI PANTVAIDYA —EPIC

KASTURI PANTVAIDYA—EPIC

Students share their recruiting storiesBY HENRY SHANGGUAN

With four Intel Science Talent Search semi�inalists, 62 Na-tional Merit Semi�inalists and numerous acceptances into our nation’s top universities, we often lose sight of

the minority of Lynbrook students who are recruited not just for their intellectual prowess, but also their athletic ability. On aver-age, one in every 500 Lynbrook seniors goes on to play college sports in the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA). Each year, this handful of Vikings works tirelessly to catch the eyes of college athletic recruiters from across the country while excelling not just in the classroom but in gyms and athletic �ields. Just as acceptance to Stanford or MIT for academics is no easy feat, recruitment for college sports at top universities requires years of training and commitment. For example, senior Jacque-line Hudepohl, who is being recruited to play basketball, has been playing since the �irst grade and practices about 20 hours a week. Junior Anna Naylor, who has received interest as a prospective col-lege wrestler, practiced for up to 8 hours a day over the summer.

Starting the recruitment procesThroughout the recruitment process, athletes and recruiters

must adhere to the NCAA’s strict recruitment policies. During their freshman and sophomore years, athletes typically create detailed personal sports pro�iles and record their per-formance in games. Striking a balance

During the entire process, however, re-cruits must continue maintaining good grades in school. Since colleges require their recruits to maintain a certain GPA and earn certain scores on standardized tests, athlet-ics recruitment is by no means a free pass through high school academic courses.

For Naylor, wrestling strengthened her discipline and provided an incentive to work hard in school. “I think if I wasn’t wrestling, my grades would be worse, because wrestling has so much discipline and sports require that students maintain a certain GPA,” said Naylor.

Between practice, school work, social life and other extracur-ricular activities, recruits sometimes struggle to balance. Lyn-brook places immense emphasis on good grades, so it is dif�icult to dedicate yourself to a sport and juggle the pressure of doing well in school,” said senior Shaelyn Silverman, who is being recruited to run cross-country in college. “I was juggling Homecoming, with school work, with college apps, and running sank to the bottom of my list of priorities. My coach was furious.”

Initiating the conversationDuring their junior year, athletes begin corresponding with col-

lege coaches by sending them their resumes and highlight reels. Because the NCAA’s policies generally restrict recruiters from con-tacting athletes until the end of their junior years, initiating the conversation early in the year can help recruits gain visibility and prompt recruiters to take notice.

Receiving initial interest from colleges starts the exciting and rewarding emotional journey of college athletics recruitment. “It was a good feeling, kind of like a validation and acknowledgement of all the hard work and time I’ve dedicated to basketball over the years,” said Hudepohl.

The give and takeFor some, like Silverman, pursuing a sport for college means

giving up other lifelong passions. After spraining her ankle in a soccer game during her sophomore year and ruining her 4x400 re-lay team’s chance of making it to the State Track and Field Champi-

onships, Silverman realized she had to make a decision. “My sheer humiliation of letting down my team, coupled with my realization that I had to choose only one sport to focus on—either running or soccer—compelled me to want to quit,” said Silverman. “I de-cided, in one of the most dif�icult decisions of my life, to quit soccer, which I had been playing since �irst grade, and focus on running, since it was clear I could not excel at both.”

Others, like Naylor, sometimes struggle to overcome frustration and defeat. “One time I lost to someone who I should have beaten and I felt like all my work was a waste if I could lose a match like that,” said Naylor. “I think what kept me with it was partially the thought of ‘what am I going to do with myself if I don’t wrestle?’ It’s a big part of my identity.” For aspiring recruits, their sport repre-sents much more than just an activity—it is their passion. Narrowing down the options

During the summer following junior year and into their senior year, recruits begin visiting colleges, narrowing down their choices and meeting potential coaches for in-person interviews. Silverman recounted that as she grappled with whether or not to prioritize running over all her other commitments, her weekend with the MIT team helped her rediscover her love for running.

“Running and hanging out with them made me realize how much I love running, underneath all that indifference that I built

up. The day I returned from the trip, I started caring about running, working during prac-tices and stepping up to the position of team leader that I was supposed to assume at the beginning of the season. That trip saved me,” said Silverman.

While only about 2% of American high school seniors receive athletic aid, scholar-ships can also factor into a recruit’s college choice. Silverman, for example, received an of-fer of $20,000 from the University of Colorado, Boulder. For Naylor, the prospect of a wrestling scholarship makes all her effort and practice even more worth the while. “It is a good feel-ing to have wrestling positively affect my future

options,” said Naylor.In narrowing down their options, recruits must learn to balance

athletic endeavors with academic aspirations. For Silverman, aca-demic pursuits are her �irst priority. “I decided that I would choose my college based on my major rather than its running program because I know that I may not pursue running after college, and I don’t want my studies to be negatively affected,” said Silverman.

Sealing the dealFinally, if the athlete has been successful up to this point, he

or she makes the �inal decision and commits to play at the col-lege of his or her choice. Depending on the college and how highly sought after the recruit is, recruits can even essentially bypass the school’s admissions cycle.

Silverman still feels the thrill of the process. “These recruit-ments immediately replace any former doubts. The sheer realiza-tion that your hard work has paid off, and that colleges desire you, creates indescribable emotions.”

Those who get recruited receive the opportunity to pursue their dreams and passions through college, playing on more advanced teams with more coaching resources and players. For the players, though, it is not recruitment or scholarships that matter most; it is all about the sport. “Playing in college was never really my goal. My goals have always just been to be the best I can be and to help my team win, and this is just a bonus. I’m really thankful for the opportunity to continue playing the sport I love,” said Hudepohl.

The road to college is never easy. However, for those that re-ceive a chance to pursue their dream and play sports in college, this road less travelled is just as rewarding.

JOEY LI—EPIC

JOEY LI—EPIC

JOEY LI—EPIC

“It was kind of like a validation and ac-knowledgement of all the hard work and time I’ve dedicated to basketball over the years.” -Jacqueline Hudepohl (12)

“These recruitments immedi-ately replace any former doubts. The sheer realization that your hard work has paid o� , and that colleges desire you, creates indescribable emotions.-Shaelyn Silverman (12)

“It is a good feeling to have wrestling positively a� ect my future options.”-Anna Naylor (11)

Life of a #Secondsemestersenior

After college apps, summer camps, in-ternships and God knows how many AP courses, second semester seniors have �i-

nally earned their freedom from three and a half years of high school. Take a look at how these seniors take advantage of their newfound deliv-erance from high school drudgery.

Above left, senior Frank Wang looks back as he composes a landscape photograph at sunset at Mission Peak in Fremont. Wang, an avid pho-tographer and adventurer, has been using his spare time to explore more natural locations to build his photographic portfolio in places like Lake Tahoe and the Sierra Nevadas.

Above right, senior Juliette Delforge-Melia trains ten-month-old Rosette, a to-be guide dog. Through the organization Guide Dogs for the Blind, Delforge-Melia has been giving Rosette basic obedience and socialization training for a future career assisting the blind.

Right, senior Arjun Manimaran tastes chili cheese fries from Carls Jr. He has been on a quest to �ind the best-tasting fries in the area, so far rat-ing The Counter’s Parmesan French Fries as the best out of around ten different restaurants.

Below, senior Jackie Pratt practices long-boarding while walking her dog along a neigh-borhood street. Pratt had planned to learn throughout high school but did not have time until second semester senior year.

BY JOEY LI AND KASTURI PANTVAIDYA