Bio & Econ enter AP curriculum Varsity girls win volleyball gameOlympian weighs in on attendance

VOLUME 56, ISSUE 1 FRIDAY, OCTOBER 12, 2012 CASTRO VALLEY, CA 94546 WWW.CVHSOLYMPIAN.COM

Pg. 2 Pg. 4 Pg. 5Tardy sweeps terrorize

New year, new AP classes

By Melody MoteabbedEditor-in-ChiEf

Hundreds of students swept away in big

attendance crackdown

CVHS has long been ahead of Californian standards for AP test-ing, but the 2011-2012 school year truly showed the dedication of the teachers and the 363 students who participated in the AP tests.

Last year, AP test scores rose from the year before, with 84 percent passing scores, and 199 out of 671 tests were a perfect five. The Tro-jans’ pass rate increased four percent from the year before.

“Our overall success has in-creased,” said Assistant Principal Matthew Steinecke. “The reason is that we have such great teachers who prepare these students for the tests.”

Highest scoring classes included Calculus BC with a passing rate of 97 percent, European History with 96 percent passing, and Statistics with 85 percent passing. AP US His-tory was the most popular test here: 119 students took it, and 81 percent of them passed. CVHS students found the AP United States Gover-ment and Politics exam difficult, with only a 50 percent pass rate.

Even with outstanding scores, AP tests are still worrisome to high school students, and as of last year, fewer students are taking AP tests.

“Our test takers are going down,” says Steinecke. “More students are taking AP classes, but not taking tests.”

Last year, AP tests and STAR

tests were scheduled for the same week, and some tests were moved and rescheduled. This year AP and STAR testing will not be held in the same week; AP tests will be after the STAR tests.

There will also be a small increase in price to take the AP exams, and for all students coming from other schools to take the test, the price will be raised significantly.

Although no problems occurred last year, teachers and administration will be watching for cell phone use and cheating.

“We recognize the pressure that these students are going through,” says Steinecke. “We will be making sure that no one is being unfair in these tests.”

Organics bins for food scraps and food-soiled paper have been placed in the courtyard and the cafeteria for CVHS students to compost during lunch. Compost monitors, wearing neon green vests, have been placed at each compost station to educate the community of CVHS about proper waste disposal.

During lunch on Wednesday, Sept. 27, the organics bins were rolled out. The compost moni-tors passed out washable tattoos and politely notified students of improper disposals.

“As you can see, people don't

quite know where to put their garbage,” said monitor Joshua Hicken.

According to the Castro Val-ley Sanitary District (CVSan), a compost program was in place at 13 of 17 schools in Castro Valley prior to CVHS.

At last year's waste audit, stu-dents and staff sorted through two days worth of trash from the bins around campus. About 256 bags were collected and ripped open. The contents from each bag were sorted. At the end of the day, there were 118 bags worth of compostable material, 86 bags worth of recyclables, and 52 bags of actual trash.

“Only 20 percent was garbage. The other 80 percent was com-postable or recyclable. And that's expensive,” said monitor Victor Hernandez-Vega.

If the trash cans were used solely for trash, CVHS would save $40,000 annually.

Caroline Clemente, a compost monitor for the day, wanted to see the population of CVHS embrace the change.

“I hope that students learn where their food goes... so that the school becomes more green,” said Clemente.

One student was eager to try out the new system and shuffled through his backpack to hand his

recyclables to a compost monitor, but other students didn't sort their waste, throwing it all into the trash bins.

Now that the food scrap program is being implemented at CVHS, it only takes a small amount of time to dispose of waste properly. Ask the stationed monitor where each item belongs.

“It only takes five more seconds to save the world,” said Hicken.

“The only things that can go in the garbage are juice pouches, chip bags, plastic bags, and all utensils. That's the bulk of it,” said monitor Alejandro Gonzalez.

In the past, Trojans have dumped their trash into the nearest bin.

This is not an option. Trash does not belong in the recycling or organics bins. The bins that are contaminated with trash are sent to the landfill. This compromises the efforts of others and wastes resources.

Although the system seems like an inconvenience now, it will eventually become second nature. Once CVHS disposes of waste properly, compost bins can be placed throughout the campus.

“Please take the time to read and be aware. You might not think it affects you, but in the long run, it does,” said ASB Leadership Envi-ronmental Affairs Commissioner Rojae Miller.

By Matt TalajkowskiBusinEss ManagEr

Trojans’ AP scores are on the rise

After last year’s waste audit, a new effort to go greenBy Hans Mortimer

staff WritEr

Hang on!

Seniors get some air time at the Santa Cruz Beach Boardwalk, where they spent a day riding the rides and soaking up sun at the senior picnic on Aug. 30.

KatE PEllEgrini / Editor-in-ChiEf

The sudden explosion of tardy sweeps isn’t just a temporary en-forcement of punctuality: a maxi-mum of three tardy sweeps are to be issued every week this school year, school officials say.

Nine tardy sweeps in the first six weeks of school resulted in 240 stu-dent detentions. Two tardy sweeps occurred on Sept. 13, catching 93 students on that day alone. The students were sent to room 408 after school for 45-minute detentions.

There were 41,124 tardies just last year, and detention supervisor Darrin Vanderpan insisted that it is a huge predicament.

“If you think about it, everyone in class was disrupted 42,000 times last year,” he reasoned. “With missed class comes missed learning. By having more tardy sweeps, we can have more students in class present and learning, resulting in less stu-dents with D and F grades.”

Harsher punishments will be en-dowed upon students who skip their detentions without a notice.

“Kids who don’t sign in during their detentions will be sent to their assistant principals, where they will receive a Saturday school,” Vander-pan stated.

According to Assistant Principal Erica Ehmann, a new kind of sweep will also be randomly enforced.

“We will have tardy sweeps in between periods. Students who are out of class for any reason must have a pass at all times,” she said.

She affirmed that this new system is set in place to stop students from

cutting class. “If a student is caught by an official without a pass, they’ll be sent immediately to room 408.”

Senior Amanda Lemoine dislikes the tardy sweeps and believes they are unfair.

“I don’t like how they’re getting more frequent. What if you’re stuck in the hallway the one day you’re late, and there’s a tardy sweep?” she said.

Assistant Principal J.C. Farr stressed the importance of being timely.

“Students have to learn to be re-sponsible. It’s critical to emphasize how necessary it is to be in class,” he said. “Students must be alert, regard-less of whether or not the sweeps are announced.”

Senior Eric O’Bayley is one of the many students who think the sweeps are harsh.

“I can see how they’d work in theory, but it’s pointless giving a stu-dent a detention for being a minute late. It’s annoying.”

Vanderpan is confident, however, that the increased frequency of tardy sweeps is necessary.

“It definitely would have contin-ued to get worse. Something had to be done,” he said.

Trojans smash the

Dons

Eric O’BayleySenior

It’s pointless giving a student a

detention for being a minute late.

“

”

PHOTOPiniOnsPHOTOPiniOnsBy: Joyce Liang

What do you think about tardy sweeps?

“It motivates stu-dents to be on time. But the punishments for tardies, such as de-tentions and Saturday school, are too harsh.”

Andy Cao,junior

“I think tardy sweeps are a good thing be-cause they help limit the distractions tardies cause to the classroom environment.”

Janice Yee, freshman

“I don’t like how there are more tardy sweeps. It feels redundant and it doesn’t seem as effec-tive anymore.”

Kaitlyn Ohara, sophomore

“I think tardy sweeps are necessary because they help lower the amount of tardies.”

Stephen Choy,senior

Tardy sweeps are bothersome

Editorial:CVHS launched a crack-

down on tardies with several sweeps administered over the first month of the school year.

Students who get “swept” and others who repeatedly arrive late to class will face detention.

We at The Olympian oppose tardy sweeps.

We believe that tardy sweeps are not only ineffective, but that they also keep students out of class, contrary to what the tardy sweeps are supposed to do.

Tardy sweeps disrupt class time even with their loud an-nouncement at the beginning of the sweep.

Also, students caught in the tardy sweeps are forced to wait in a long line for their detention slips and miss valu-able class time.

Not only that, we believe that they are unfair for stu-dents who are talking to teach-ers about assignments or using the bathrooms where bells aren’t installed and can’t be heard.

Supporters of the tardy sweeps argue that the sweeps make sure that the students are more aware of the fact

that they need to be in class on time.

Tardies are a problem though, considering the fact that just last year, there were about 42,000 tardies; that’s as much as 13 tardies per student!

There are various sugges-tions to compromise on the issue of tardy sweeps.

For example, we believe that the three strike rule where the students have three op-

PSAT testing our patience

Castro Valley High School staff members have always wanted students to achieve great feats right from the time they set foot on campus. But is forcing students to take the Preliminary SAT, or PSAT, vital to our education and future success?

As I completed registration for my third year at CVHS, I was told that the entire junior class would take the PSAT, regardless if they actually wanted to take it. As I read the flyer stating the information about the manda-tory test I’d be taking on Oct. 17, I questioned why this was even necessary for graduating high school and getting into college. Furthermore, what about the students who don’t plan to go to college?

The PSAT features three dif-ferent sections: Math, Critical Reading, and Writing Skills. The three sections are scored on a scale of 20 to 80 points, and from there those points add up to a maximum score of 240. Now, a perfect score doesn’t sound too bad, and it does seem that we’ll earn some bragging rights, but

just think of the time needed to study so we can get that score.

To top it all off, the PSAT won’t count towards your grades. It just creates work, wastes class time, and stresses students out, doing essentially everything the treacherous College Board strives to do.

Think of all the time and effort gone into the PSAT, and gone into telling students that they’re terrible at Algebra I or Geom-etry, subjects that they haven’t had review or preparation for. I also doubt English teachers are doing their best to help students with Critical Reading.

I remember last year, as a sophomore, I took the PSAT on a Saturday. The students and proctors present had voluntarily chosen to take part, when class time wasn’t going to be wasted. Sure, I bombed it because it was a test I’d never experienced, but I wasn’t cutting myself off from class time.

Anyone who took the PSAT or SAT knows how hard any tests College Board administers can be. Students are always pressured into doing well in anything relating to academ-ics. Why add to our stress and force us to take this test when a large number of us don’t need or want to?

The PSAT needs to be made optional and not mandatory. Students who do not want to take the PSAT should not be forced to. Plus, the workload, waste of class time, and stress the test will cause are all incen-tives to make it optional, and for the fraction of the junior popula-tion that would prefer taking it.

By Evan KwongStaff Writer

Why are the hallways at CVHS so crowded all the time? Is it be-cause people don’t know how to get out of the way, or is it because there are too many students? One thing I know for sure is that it’s a huge problem here at CVHS.

So you’re strolling down the hallway and all of a sudden everything comes to a halt. Ex-tremely inconvenient, right? You try to push through a dozen

people and realize that all of the traffic is being caused by maybe four people, just standing casu-ally right in the middle of the hallway.

You wonder, “What makes them think they’re not causing a huge problem right now?”

This is one problem that causes hallway traffic. If students were more considerate of their class-mates, these hallway congestions would not occur.

Another factor is that our school is too small for our large number of students. It’s like rush hour on the freeway, except the cars are teenagers and the traf-fic hours are every hour. There are too many people trying to get the same place, or going in the same general direction at the same time.

Now, I guess there’s no real solution to the crowded hallway problem here at CVHS. Some-thing tells me that it’s just a part of the “high school experience.”

Crowded hallways make traffiC Crawl

portunities to be tardy before consequences is fair.

Another idea is to reward students for being in class on time instead of punishing them for being late. We could “catch more flies with honey than vinegar.”

Although there are reason-able arguments on how to handle tardies, we at The Olym-pian oppose tardy sweeps as a solution.

By Lorena RamosStaff Writer

LiLy CarreLL / OpiniOn editOr

“Sweeping” results in

more missed class time

”

His comment makes ithard to

believe he cares

about the experiences of women

at all.

“

The OlympianOctober 12, 2012 3

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A buzzing crowd of almost 200 people instantly greeted me as I walked into the large room. Pleasantly surprised at the turn out, I walked to the front of the room, where, after a long three month-long process of constant email communication to organize the debate, I finally met the speakers and head or-ganizer of the event in person. Countless residents were about to witness and participate in an ever-controversial debate of gay marriage and rights on July 17 at the Castro Valley Library. Little did I know that the passion and enthusiasm shown in that room would not only inspire me, but also every attendee of the debate that evening.

In all honesty, I never really knew that Castro Valley resi-dents could be so fired up, eager to voice their opinions, and informed on news topics. Our former chicken farm town had

Eye-opening marriage debate inspires action

actually made me ponder if we even had any teenagers or adults who were interested in things like debates.

Before I got involved in orga-nizing the Great Castro Valley Marriage Debate, as it was called, I was not aware of the incessant quarreling of two of the debaters through the local Forum, nor had I ever taken the time to look at what topics matter to our small

town.By getting involved in this

event, I opened my eyes and realized that there are so many opinions and voices in our com-munity that have never been heard; especially because there is actually no place to go to speak your mind. Because this little place is not an incorporated city, we lack a city hall, mayor, police department, and many

more advantages and/or disad-vantages that a modern day city would have. The bottom line is, countless Castro Valley residents are informed and opinionated people, but have no place to voice their opinion.

So why is this? If such a nu-merous amount of people came to hear the The Great Castro Valley Marriage Debate, actively asked questions during the Q&A

section, and even took notes and video taped the event, why do we as a community not have a place to nurture their sense of individual thought?

The idea struck my brother as my family and I came home, disil-lusioned at how truly incredible our community was.

“What if we start something that bridges the gap between the people who want to voice their opinions, and the place where they actually go do that?” he said.

I thought about it for a min-ute, and he was right. Castro Valley has nothing for residents who want to debate or listen to debates about important topics around the world, as well as in the community.

That right there was the birth of The Great Castro Valley Debate. GCVD is a brand new non-profit organization founded by my brother and I, dedicated to cre-ating dialogue between Castro Valley residents, and providing a platform for people to come and debate, participate, voice their opinion, and be informed on top-ics that run the gamut.

The first debate is coming up on Nov. 20, at 6:30 p.m. at the Castro Valley Library. The topic of debate will be whether or not Castro Valley should be an incor-porated city. Find out more infor-mation at http://greatcvdebate.wix.com/home.

By Reema KakadayStaff Writer

The Olympian is a publication of the journalism class at Castro Val-ley High School, 19400 Santa Maria Ave., Castro Valley, CA 94546. © 2012

Editors-in-Chief....................................................Melody Moteabbed Kate PellegriniCopy Editors..................................................................Reyna Garcia Joyce LiangNews Editor..............................................................Michael CastilloOpinion Editor.................................................................Lily CarrellFeature Editor.................................................................Amber YangSports Editor.............................................................Emily Courchaine Arts and Entertainment Editor........................................Suzanna Chak Photo Editors..........................................................Cheyenne Donatello Natalie FazeliBusiness Managers......................................................Anya Keller Matt TalajkowskiOnline Editor........................................................................Eva Chen Staff Writers: Joelle Bassett, Olivia Berden, Cameron Bere-sini, Kelly Chan, Indigo Flowers, Stephanie Huerta, Kristen Jensen, Reema Kakaday, Savanah Khan, Evan Kwong, Alexa Ludke, Felicianna Marquez, Hans Mortimer, Lorena Ramos, Amanat Riar, Leia Saelee, Anna Talajkowski, and Marissa WuAdvisor........................................................................Matt Johanson

There is no “Legitimate” rape, todd!

Reproductive rights are a major point of debate in politi-cal discussions. Most liberals feel that women should have the right to control their own bodies, while conservatives usually argue that abortion is a breach of the sanctity of hu-man life. I personally believe that the government should not have any involvement in what women decide is best for themselves when it comes to reproduction, but having grown up in a Catholic fam-ily where the value of life was always emphasized, I can see that there are well-meaning people on both sides of the issue.

But I have a hard time under-standing how some Republi-cans can mean well when they argue that rape victims should be forced to carry their rapists’ children to term when they are impregnated.

In August, Missouri Con-gressman Todd Akin, who is currently running for U.S. Senate, made an explosive comment regarding his views on abortion in cases of rape:

“From what I understand

from doctors, that’s really rare. If it’s a legitimate rape, the fe-male body has ways to try to shut that whole thing down. But let’s assume that maybe that didn’t work or something. I think there should be some punishment, but the punish-ment ought to be on the rapist and not attacking the child.”

It is ignorant and insensi-tive to imply that any rape is legitimate by referring to some

Rape is one of the most hei-nous violations a person can experience, and it is appalling that a senator would argue that a victim should be violated even further by denying her the right to choose whether she will have her rapist’s child. Akin mentions the child and the rapist when he discusses how rape should be dealt with, but he never mentions the wants or needs of the woman. His comment makes it hard to believe he cares about the experiences of women at all.

Akin is not the only politi-cian to have made an offensive comment regarding this issue. Vice-presidential nominee Paul Ryan referred to rape as a “method of conception.” This comment shows an absolute disregard for women’s experi-ences. Ryan spoke of the issue as if the physical result of rape were the only thing that mat-tered. Ryan has shown that he believes that women are sim-ply receptacles for making ba-bies by completely disregard-ing the trauma they may have experienced through rape.

Some people argue that these comments are not reflective of the Republican Party as a whole. Mitt Romney claims he would not take away abortion rights in the case of rape, but the Republican Party platform shows this may not be true. The platform states the Republican stance on abortion: “we sup-port a human life amendment to the constitution and endorse legislation to make clear that the Fourteenth Amendment’s

assaults as “legitimate rape.”We live in a time where it

should be common knowledge that if a woman doesn’t con-sent to sex at any point and it is forced upon her in anyway, it is rape.

protections apply to unborn children. We oppose using public revenues to promote or perform abortions or fund or-ganizations which perform or advocate it.” This section men-tions nothing about exceptions in cases of rape or incest, show-ing that, if elected, Republican politicians could very well lead us into a period of extreme and harmful abortion restrictions.

More than 32,000 women are impregnated as a result of rape

a year, according to the Rape, Abuse & Incest National Net-work. That is five percent, or one in 20 rape victims. This is clearly a significant issue, and women need politicians who will strive to address the issues that come with sexual assault. We as voters cannot allow our representatives to enact laws restricted the rights of those who have already had them taken away.

By Anya KellerBuSineSS Manager

With her mighty gavel, Reema Kakaday kept the marriage debate panelists in line.

AP Biology and AP Economics were added to the CVHS course selection this year, in what will be a boon for students looking to challenge themselves while earn-ing college credits. Both classes have been on the table for a few years now, and have finally been launched due to the efforts of Da-vid Roth-Rossi, who teaches AP Economics, and Robert Patrick and Ashley Green, who teach AP Biology.

Patrick said offering AP Biology will help CVHS continue to be competitive as a high school. The science department also wished to get rid of what it saw as excess tracking in the freshman sciences; many students who had already completed Algebra 1, the only admission requirement for Biol-ogy, were unnecessarily being

tracked into Environmental Sci-ence. Meanwhile, other students were being divided up into regular Biology and Honors Biology.

With the introduction of AP

Biology, all incoming students are required to take regular Biology their freshman year. They will also have to take Chemistry as a prerequisite if they want to be

considered for AP Biology. The Environmental Science class has been eliminated.

The new AP Biology course standards have done much to improve the class, both for teach-ers and students. While the old standards were broad, unfocused, and unnecessarily centered on rote memorization, the new stan-dards give teachers a specific set of learning objectives. They are focused on giving students a solid conceptual understanding of the subject material and allowing them to apply that understanding towards unique problems.

“There’s a lot more freedom,” Patrick said. “It allows the teacher to be the expert.”

AP Biology is highly lab based, with students performing labs and activities two to three times a week. The workload can be straining, but the upside is getting to participate in an interactive ex-perience that mirrors the scientific process.

The best part about teaching the class, Patrick says, is “Being able to see the learning process happen without me being the talking head. It’s them learning the process of science … Instead of, ‘Sit in the desk and here’s a book,’ now it’s, ‘Sit in the desk, here’s a book, and now let’s go do it for real.’”

AP Economics, a year long class, poses a challenge for se-niors who would normally take one semester of Government and one semester of Economics, both graduation requirements. One of the most popular ways of dealing with this scheduling issue is to take Government over the sum-mer. Senior Ben Mok took a dif-ferent approach; he chose to add a seventh period to his schedule for one semester to accommodate his Government class.

Roth-Rossi, who is currently the only AP Economics teacher,

Geniuses find new homes in AP Biology and AP Economics

By Michael CastilloNews editor

described the class as covering five times the material and going two times more in depth than regular Economics.

“It’s college prep,” he said. “So you’re expected to read college texts and actually take something away from it.”

Indeed, it is structured much like a college class, utilizing lectures, weekly quizzes, and tests, with homework assigned once a week. However, Roth-Rossi notes, “I’m not a super heavy workload guy … the book might have 100 ques-tions, but if I don’t think you’re going to benefit from it, I’m not going to give you busy work.”

Minimal mathematical back-ground is required to take the class; students who did well in Algebra 2 shouldn’t have any trouble with AP Economics. Students who enjoy problem solving and geometrical puzzles will especially like the class, according to Roth-Rossi.

Regardless of background, Roth-Rossi argues that a solid basis in economics is critical to understanding politics.

“Ninety percent of politics is economic issues,” he said. “So if

Cristina Nguyen and Natalie Liu have fun and learn new things during a lab with test tubes and balloons in AP Biology.

Amber YANg / Feature editor

Robert PatrickScience Teacher

The best part about

teaching the class is being

able to see the learning process hap-pen without me being the

talking head.

“

”

you don’t know economics, what do you know? If you don’t un-derstand Keynesian theory, if you don’t understand demand science and supply side tax policies, if you don’t understand these concepts … how do you know who to vote for?”

Roth-Rossi says that viewing political issues from the standpoint of behavioral economics can en-lighten us to the morality of these issues and the ultimate effect of their resultant policies on society.

“Economics is a fantastic major; it’s something everybody should know about,” he said. Now that AP Economics is on the school’s cur-riculum, everybody can. All they have to do is apply for the class.

New classes added to the

CVHS course selection

In a dominating football game of CVHS vs. Liberty, Nick Klunis completed six tackles and caught an interception.

After four years of flag foot-ball and one year of tackle football, Klunis is preparing to play in college. He believes that football is a fun sport where you never get bored, and he especially likes to tackle.

The sport itself is not the only thing Klunis likes about football.

“Everyone gets along and we are all like a big family, plus we are all very good,” said Klunis.

S u p e r Sp i f f y Sp o r ts St a rs

Nick Klunis, freshman Allie Redmond, seniorJenni Brochu, juniorJeff Van, sophomore

Cheyenne Donatello / Photo Editor

In seventh grade Jeff Van was running relay races with his P.E. class when his teacher realized how fast he was and encouraged him to join the cross country team.

That started a long journey that is still going strong. Van runs in the three mile races for the varsity cross country team.

“My favorite part of cross country is the feeling of achieve-ment that I get after coming back from a long run,” said Van.

He plans to continue running cross country in college because the sport has made such an im-pact on his life.

Some people may like the games where they are assured a win but Jenni Brochu is the op-posite. Brochu’s favorite games are the challenging ones.

“It makes me play it to my best ability and push myself the hard-est I can,” said Brochu.

Brochu loves that volleyball is a team sport. For three years she has been pushing herself to her limits with her great team. Brochu has grown very close with her teammates.

For Brochu, playing volley-ball always makes her bad days better. She plans to continue her passion and play volleyball when she goes to college.

The games where the crowds are cheering and the adrenaline is pumping and the team still pulls off a win are Allie Red-mond’s favorite. Since fourth grade, Redmond has been play-ing volleyball and her passion has never ceased.

Not only does she adore the sport but there are many other factors added that make volley-ball a huge impact in Redmond’s life.

“Just playing the game is good enough, but when you throw in all of the awesome teammates and great coaches that I’ve had it makes it a million times better,” said Redmond.

Trojans’ New League is totally WACC

This year CVHS is no longer a part of the Hayward Area Athletic League (HAAL) and instead is now part of the newly formed West Alameda County Conference (WACC).

In addition to CVHS, the conference will be made up of Alameda, Arroyo, Berkeley, O’Dowd, Encinal, Hayward, Mt. Eden, Piedmont, San Leandro, San Lorenzo and Tennyson high schools.

“I’m really glad they’ve finally evened out the league,” said

varsity wrestler Rebecca Busch. “There was such a huge differ-ence in competition between league and NCS. The new divi-sion is more fair and will help our teams improve.”

The North Coast Section (NCS) and its member schools review the leagues within the section every four years, and although few changes have been made to HAAL over the past 16 years, directors and administra-tors recently decided that there was a growing imbalance of competition between the HAAL schools.

To fix this, member schools and the NCS governing body decided to do away with the old league and approved a 12 team “super conference” that would even out the competition.

WACC is divided into two leagues for each sport. The most competitive teams belong in the Foothill League, and teams that are still developing and are therefore less competitive are in the Shoreline League.

All of the CVHS teams will compete in the Foothill League. Most teams will still have the opportunity to compete with all

the schools in the conference, but CVHS will play Foothill schools twice as often as Shore-line schools.

“I think it will be a good thing for our school, especially for some sports,” said softball coach and PE teacher Marie Gray. “It will just be a little bit more competitive.”

There have been some con-cerns as to how the change in league will affect our school’s ability to qualify for NCS and state competitions. Although this new league will be much more competitive than HAAL, the increased level of competi-tion in league finals should serve to help better prepare CVHS for the intensity of NCS and state championships.

“Nothing has really changed. A league meet is just another league meet with a couple dif-ferent schools now,” said senior track and cross country runner Daniel Nourot.

Some student athletes are nevertheless disgruntled by the change in competition.

Although the boundaries have changed, traveling distances to schools will not increase sig-nificantly, with Berkeley High School being the furthest north and Tennyson High School the furthest south.

It will be interesting to see how teams will measure up to the new level of competition presented in WACC, but we can trust that the mighty Trojans will give it their all.

By Emily CourchaineSportS Editor

a pretty easy win, and only a couple matches were hard,” said Breedlove.

Young won her singles match 6-0 and 6-0. Kristen Shak won, 6-3 and 6-2. Madison Lambert came close to a win with 3-6 and 4-6.

“It’s great, the girls are fan-tastic,” said co-head coach Greg Lowe of the Trojans’ win.

This is Lowe’s first year as co-head coach along with Steve Argyres. However, he was as-sistant coach for three years, so he’s familiar with CVHS and the tennis team.

So far the girls varsity tennis team has a great standing in the league with this added win. Before this game, they beat Mt. Eden High, Alameda High and San Leandro High.

Dons get servedThe girls varsity tennis team is

off and running. The girls won all of their games in the league thus far with a recent defeat of the Ar-royo Dons on Sept. 25, with an overall score of six to one.

The Trojans played with three doubles and four single teams, and all but one single won their match.

Doubles Janelle Breedlove and Juliet Fong won their sets 6-1 and 6-0. Michelle Ly and Caroline Yu won with 6-4 and 6-1. The final doubles team Connie Lau and Katherine Gaudinier won with 6-0 and 6-2.

Breedlove, a senior, is co-cap-tain with senior, Melissa Young.

“We did really well. I don’t usually play doubles, but it was

By Reyna GarciaCopy Editor

NataliE FazEli / Photo Editor

Senior Indigo Flowers is all focus as she waits for the ball.

Cheers echoed throughout the gymnasium on Thursday, Sept. 26 as the CVHS varsity vol-leyball team won their seventh consecutive game of the season. The Trojans played Arroyo High and the CVHS girls won three out of four matches and barely let Arroyo get a hit in.

The first match put a shadow over the crowd of CVHS fans, with a final score of 25-22 in Ar-royo’s favor. It was only uphill for the varsity girls after that; in the second match Arroyo didn’t even start scoring until CVHS had already had 10 points.

In the last two matches, the Tro-jans used teamwork, and many successful spikes, to beat Arroyo. The players believe that their strong teamwork is what brings them to win all their games.

“One player won’t make this team great, the whole team will,” said Frank Largusa, the head coach of the varsity team. He doesn’t believe in picking a MVP

of every game, because it takes a team to win a game.

Last year, the varsity team lost five of their top players, all seniors who graduated. Largusa found amazing players to replace them with, even an incoming freshman, Maya Shumpert.

“It was slow for us, but we

pulled it out as a team because we came together,” stated Brooke Costello, a senior on the CVHS varsity team. She and her fellow team captain Allie Redmond were recognized as top volleyball play-ers in the East Bay.

“Every year we become more of a family,” said Costello.

trojans rein in the donsBy Natalie Fazeli

Photo Editor

Banner heads should go to key, important stories

By Kristen JensenStaff Writer

John Green, award-winning author of Looking for Alaska, gave life to someone who thought she had none left in his new book, The Fault in Our Stars.

Hazel Lancaster, a 16-year-old girl with cancer, is afraid of getting attached to anyone, since she has tumors in her lungs and has hopes of living only a few more years. But once her mother forces her to attend a cancer support group to help her make friends and live her life, Hazel meets Au-gustus Waters.

With Augustus, she felt new hope that she hadn’t felt since three years ago after her near death experience from her cancer. All of a sudden she had a new friend, consider-ing her only friends were her parents and her top-choice author.

Standing in front of her fa-vorite author’s front door in a place so far from home was something new for Hazel. Did Augustus really like her enough to give so much up for her? It was strange to Hazel how well she clicked with Augustus instantly and it had already taken her this far.

Augustus, a cancer survivor

himself, clicked instantly with Hazel. Although Hazel was hopeless and thinking she shouldn’t try to make friends, Augustus came along and she found herself trying to not fall for him.

Augustus noticed the at-traction between them and tried to win Hazel over by slowly getting closer to her and using his one “cancer” wish to take Hazel to Am-sterdam to meet her favorite author.

Through Hazel’s humor and pain, readers get a feel of what it is like to be her. Green’s writing intrigues readers and easily evokes a laugh as well as a cry. Green’s novel makes it easy for read-ers to relate to being young and falling for someone. Writ-ing from the perspective of a young person with cancer can be a risky way to get through to readers, but Green does it in a way that leaves readers impressed and moved.

The first time I played the Xbox edition of Minecraft, I died many times. During the day I would happily roam about, occasionally glancing at my map, my only posses-sion, to see where I was. I traveled through snow, des-ert, grasslands, mountains, and forests, all in one world. It was relatively tranquil until night came. The first time I en-

countered the numerous spi-ders, zombies, skeletons, and creepers that inhabit the land at night, I died within a matter of seconds, as I hadn’t made myself any kind of weapon or shelter that could save my 8-bit life. However, after many deaths and respawns, I finally figured out how to get rid of the monsters: I set the game to Peaceful mode, where no monsters come at night.

It was then that I was able to explore and build to my heart’s content without fear of losing the items I had made or mined from the caves. As soon as I felt in need of a challenge, I changed the mode to Easy or Normal. I was also able to play with my siblings on a four-way split-screen, which made the game even more enjoyable, as it added competition and companionship to the gaming

It has been updated many times over the years, mostly installing new modes and improving the game to make

experience.Minecraft is a popular PC

and Xbox 360 independent video game, also known as an indie game, that was released on May 17, 2009.

Xbox game: “where the sky and the bedrock

are the limit”

Minecraft is a diamond in the roughit more enjoyable. The game was created by Markus Pers-son, better known by his gamer-tag “Notch,” but is now under control of lead developer Jens Bergensten. The game is most noticeably recognized by its old-fash-ioned 8-bit pixelated graph-ics, exploding creepers, and magnificent block creations. Although Minecraft for Xbox 360 is several versions behind the PC Minecraft, the two edi-tions are nearly identical. The graphics are the same and the same relaxing, unobtrusive music plays in both editions’ backgrounds. Different skin packs are available in both editions and new (undis-closed) features are soon to be added to Minecraft for Xbox. The Xbox 360 edition is cheaper than the PC edi-tion but requires the gamer to have an Xbox Live account which gives the gamer the

After many deaths and respawns, I

finally figured out how to get

rid of mon-sters...

“

”

option of playing with his or her Xbox Live buddies. In this game there is no shooting, no blood, and no plotline. This game is built for creation and the challenge of creating in the midst of monsters. If you are some-one who finds Call of Duty enjoyable but not The Sims, I recommend you not buy this indie game. However, if you are someone who en-joys The Sims and Legos, I highly recommend you buy Minecraft. It is a game where your imagination can run wild and where the sky and the bedrock are the limit.

By Stephanie HuertaStaff Writer

The Words: “a story within a story”

The album Between the Lines, an epic Drum & Bass remix album by Austrian duo Camo & Krooked, was released on Feb. 19. The album consists of remixes from artists, such as High Maintenance, BCee, Insi-deInfo, Submorphics, Metrik, and many more, including a few songs from the duo them-selves.

Reinhard "Camo" Rietsch and Markus "Krooked" Wag-ner have been making music together since they met in 2007. They won Best Newcomer DJ's at the 2010 Drum & Bass: Arena Awards, and put out two mixes for BBC Radio’s: one for Annie Nightingale and another for Fa-bio & Grooverider. Grooverider later said that Camo & Krooked are “one of the biggest talents in Drum & Bass.”

In this album, I enjoyed the mix of drum and bass due to its generally catchy nature and beat. My favorite song from the album is “Further Away” because of its catchy beat and

amazing use of synthetics.Personally, I wish Camo &

Krooked made more of their own music instead of remix-ing music from other groups, because their production style in their own songs is amazing.

The Words is a 2012 film, written and directed by Lee Sternthal and Brian Klung-man. The film stars Bradley Cooper and Zoe Saldana.

The plot revolves around a young writer named Rory Jansen, played by Bradley Cooper, who is having a hard time getting his writing pub-lished. Rory is married to Dora, played by Zoe Saldana, but his life feels unfulfilled without any real purpose, and he wonders if he’ll ever be the man he wants to be. Rory finds a beautifully written manu-script in an old briefcase and, desperate for a story, he pub-

lishes it under his own name. What follows Rory’s decision

is the literary success he always wanted: two more published books and money. Not to men-tion, a stomach full of guilt. Some of the film takes place in the 1940s, another segment in the present and another in the very recent past. Although at times the timeline was convo-

luted, the element of mystery kept the audience intrigued.

The Words is the first film that I have seen from Klug-man and Sternthal, and it may well be the last. It by no means was a horrible film; however, I expected far more than was produced. The most disap-pointing aspect of the film was that there were many ques-tions left unanswered. There was no true ending to the film.

The film was meant to be a romantic drama, but I feel as though it did not live up to that. The relationships be-tween actors, the timeline, and the main point of the film were confusing, at the very least. A story within a story within another story? An au-thor writing about an author who plagiarizes an author? The film was not terrible, yet I would not recommend this film to viewers.

By Indigo FlowersStaff Writer

By Cameron BeresiniStaff Writer

Camo & Krooked Deliver Again

The Fault in Our Stars shines bright

The OlympianOct. 12, 2012 7

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Banner heads should go to key, important stories

You step off the ship, blinking at the sun that’s blaring down on you. Your heavy cloak and armor are highly uncomfortable in this heat, but already the shouts and murmurs of the new city wel-comes you. The landscape here is so much different from your homeland in Italy, but you’ll learn to adjust. A new adventure awaits you.

In November of last year, Ubi-soft released the fourth install-ment of the acclaimed Assassin’s Creed series. Assassin’s Creed: Revelations continues to follow the story of Ezio Auditore da Firenze, nobleman turned Assassin, and also ties back to Ezio’s ancestor Altaïr.

The game provides players with a sprawling, open-world style of gaming, set in the stun-ning city of Constantinople in the 1600s. Players can choose to fol-

low the straight path of the game, or to embark on a multitude of interesting side quests and mini-adventures. The graphics of the game are amazing, and the level of connection the design of the game allows players to make with its story and characters is simply unprecedented.

Many new characters are in-troduced, and as with the pre-vious games in the series, we as players are slowly brought into Ezio’s world, making deep emotional connections with his family, friends, and Ezio himself. The story of the game is natural, and gameplay is never either too

ReGeneration reveals reality

By Alexa LudkeStaff Writer

ReGeneration is an award-winning documentary fo-cused on analyzing the fu-ture of today’s young adults. It shows viewers that our generation of young adults is dubbed the “Me” Genera-tion, where all teenagers care only about themselves.

The documentary bashes self-esteem boosting pro-grams and explains the reason behind the famous Occupy Movement. Uncov-ering everything from the news media to the influence education has and how par-enting styles have changed, ReGeneration is a must-see documentary.

ReGeneration features Hol-lywood star Ryan Gosling as the narrator, and original music from STS9.

I thought this documen-tary was very eye-opening and inspirational. After its last words, “Stop hoping for action, and be the action,” I was out of my seat and think-ing of the next way I could impact the world.

A concept ReGeneration talks about is our genera-tion’s willingness to help others. According to experts, we have the heart to make a change, but we just don’t know how because nothing major has happened to us yet.

The lack of a major his-

torical movement in the turn of the century impacts our society. Differing from our generation, the Roarin’ Twenties, Sixties, and Eight-ies all had their own genres and historical importance.

ReGeneration is also about education, naturally relat-ing with students every-where. The documentary can make students question what they are really learn-ing in school: Is Christopher Columbus a hero or a mur-derer? What’s the worth of going to college?

I give credit to ReGenera-tion for exposing a side of society many teens have not seen before. However, I still believe in my peers and their abilities to be active in their communities and to build a good future for the next generation. Change will happen. The documen-tary made very good points about many topics and did a fantastic job inspiring activism and involvement. ReGenerationearns a four of five stars from me. I rec-ommend everyone to join the movement and watch ReGeneration.

Assassins ‘kills’ expectationsdifficult or morbidly easy. We find ourselves immersed in the shad-owy world of the Assassins, and enthralled with the complexity of the story as it corresponds to the history we already know of.

Designers at Ubisoft should be extraordinarily proud of what they have managed to accom-plish with such a game. Over the course of four consecutive games, they have created a world that the player connects to, including characters so relatable that we as players find ourselves griev-ing, fighting, and falling in love as they do. In one fantastic end to a segment of the story of the Assassins, the game manages to explain all the loose ends left by everyone who played the game as well as provide a spectacular exit for Ezio.

All in all, the game is a thrill for all players, though it should be forewarned that this game does include high levels of violence, as well as some other possibly disturbing elements. That aside, the Assassin’s Creed series is my favorite released by far, and I, along with many other gamers, eagerly await the release of Assas-sin’s Creed III this October.

By Kelly ChanStaff Writer

Romance Ruby Sparks refreshes viewers

By Anna TalajkowskiStaff Writer

With big action movies crash-ing and burning the theaters one after another, there wasn't much hope this summer for those who love watching films with original-ity. But one indie flick managed to rise from the ashes: Ruby Sparks.

Ruby Sparks is a fun, witty romantic comedy starring new-comers Paul Dano and Zoe Ka-zan. The plot centers around Calvin, a literary prodigy, who has been suffering from writer's block since he wrote a success-ful novel several years ago. One night, however, he has a dream about an amazing, whimsical girl named Ruby Sparks. Inspired by his dream, Calvin begins to

write, creating a fantasy world with Ruby and him. Throughout the whole writing process, Calvin begins to fall in love with this dream girl. Then one day, just as Calvin was writing about Ruby, she appears. Shocked, Calvin enlists his brother Harry to help him navigate this new world with Ruby Sparks.

The movie follows the twists and turns of Calvin and Ruby's relationship. At first the two are inseparable and in love, not much

unlike to how Calvin wrote the fantasy. But soon things begin to change.

Calvin realizes that whatever he types, Ruby does. In the be-ginning, he was adamant about not changing her, but as the fantasy relationship turns into a real one, Calvin scrambles to try to change their fate. For example, Ruby starts to become more independent and strays away from Calvin. Afraid of losing Ruby, Calvin tries writing about how much Ruby misses him, and things horribly backfire.

Ruby Sparks shows the reali-ties love and relationships. The screenplay, written by Kazan, is witty and refreshingly original, and the exchanges between Cal-vin and Harry are consistently hilarious. This movie is definitely for those with a love for quirky indie films. Ruby Sparks was by far one of the best movies of the summer. My only regret about Ruby Sparks was that I didn't see it sooner.

An infectious tune filled my car as I rushed through traffic to make it to class one morning. But what really caught my attention from the tune were the Korean lyrics I couldn’t understand.

The Korean hit single, “Gang-nam Style” by PSY was released July 15. Not only is the song catchy, but the upbeat, energetic tune also makes you want to get up and dance.

This isn’t the typical pop song we hear every day. Yet, the song is very popular. The oddity is that "Gangnam Style" has infected a whole other country with its viral dance moves and its rhythmic beat, and the song's popularity is only increasing.

PSY’s lyrics describe a dream girl as he prances around and hollers, “Eh-sexy lady!” Strange-ly, his humorous lyrics seized my attention as well as his bizarre dance moves meant to serenade a woman with his “gangnam”

style. His voice, a mixture of confidence, provocateur, and combined with a perfect blend of strangeness and humor, pro-duced the perfect recipe for popularity.

Only later had I discovered the power of this Korean pop song. Not only had the “Gangnam Style” video sprouted popularity among American teen culture, but it also inspired flash mobs in cities around the world, fea-tured in international media and

shared on the internet by various celebrities.

“Gangnam Style” quickly toppled the music charts and crushed Carly Rae Jepsen’s “Call Me Maybe." It’s fascinating to see that a song whose lyrics make almost no coherent sense to much of its audience could be capable of such popularity worldwide.

Although many find this song over-played and cheesy, it’s hard to resist the catchy tune and infec-tious rhythm.

“Gangnam Style” an infectious tuneBy Leia Saelee

Staff Writer

Show student ID to get free cheese on your sandwiches!

By Suzanna ChakA&E Editor

The OlympianOctober 12, 20128

He is faced with a new school, new people, and new teachers, yet he is not a freshman: he is J.C. Farr, the newly appointed House 1 assistant principal (AP).

Along with being the AP of students with last names begin-ning with A-G, his duties include attendance and working with the math department.

Jesse Woodward, the previous House 1 AP, is now the principal of Marshall Elementary School.

Farr was the former AP at Bancroft Middle School but his desire to work with high-school aged kids motivated him to work at CVHS.

“I am passionate about CVHS. I like the diversity, beliefs, and strong academic tradition of CVHS,” Farr says. “Even though I am just getting here, I am ex-cited. I like the way things are going.”

Other staff members have been

explains.Before becoming a principal,

Farr was a history teacher. He decided to become an adminis-trator because he wanted to make a larger impact on the students.

Utilizing the experience he gained from being a teacher, he has a valuable perspective that will allow him to better understand what would benefit students and their educational experience. His goal is to help all students be successful by looking at data and figuring out ways to help students who are struggling do well.

Although he taught history, it was not always his favorite subject. He liked all subjects, from math to English to science to physical education.

“I like the idea of school in gen-eral,” he says. “I like challenges.”

Not everyone at CVHS is a stranger to him. Farr had previ-ously worked with Principal Mary Ann Valles at Bancroft Middle School in San Leandro.

New assistant principal: “I like challenges”

Michelle Stephens“I have chosen teaching because

no other career offers a way to make a life, make a living and make a difference all in one. It’s the best investment in future gen-erations; truly a lasting legacy!”

Steven Hendee“Music and teaching are my pas-

sions in life. It’s what gets me up in the morning. I’m excited to share this with the talented students of Castro Valley.”

Laryssa Sadoway“I think singing every day

makes high school better. I am so happy to teach what I love and to get to know an amazing group of students.”

Brad Schoenberger“Castro Valley High School

is awesome. Great facility, great faculty, and a wonderfully diverse student body. I couldn’t be happier. I feel lucky to be here.”

very supportive and helpful by answering his questions. He feels comfortable consulting with them when he faces certain issues and problems.

However, adjusting remains

sions.Outside of school, Farr is a big

sports fan. He supports the Raid-ers, the Giants, and the Chicago Bulls. He also enjoys watching Home and Garden Television (HGTV) and Law and Order.

His pet peeve is having one-sided conversations because he feels that it is not a true conversa-tion if one person is doing all of the talking.

Farr’s childhood had a great in-fluence on the person he is today, a “family-oriented” man. As the youngest of seven and the baby of the family, he learned the im-portance of being a good listener.

However, being youngest isn’t always good: “I’m spoiled and have to have things my way,” Farr jokes.

Though Farr has years of ex-perience working as a teacher and an administrator, he remains “young at heart.” Don’t be afraid to talk to him about bubble gum ice cream (his favorite) and fan-tasy football.

According to Valles, Farr had pies thrown at him at one point as an incentive for students to improve their attendance.

Kyle Thompson"So far it has been great get-

ting to meet all of the students at CVHS. There is a lot to be grateful for at this school which I have not had in other schools I've worked in."

Candice Tigerman“I teach to change the world,

to make a difference in lives, and open people's minds. I feel fortu-nate to be in a profession where I get to laugh so much and know that what I do makes an impact.”

Sarah Nahigian“I am incredibly excited to be at

CVHS. I love working with stu-dents and being part of a learning community every day.”

“

”J.C. FARRNew AP

A quote from Fredrick Douglass states, ‘It is easier to build strong children than to repair broken men.’ I agree with this belief wholeheart-edly, and thus it anchors my commitment to the students of Castro Val-ley to provide a quality education.

By Amber YangFEAturE Editor

Steve Brooksher“I have wanted to teach for

many years. As we all know some-times life throws you a few curve balls and we have to postpone our dreams and goals. This not my first teaching assignment, however, I can tell you that coming to CVHS has been a breath of fresh air.”

Mindy Castro“I think my favorite thing so far

at CVHS are the people: students and staff. I have received a lot of support from many individuals who have been here for a long time. I also have some very polite, caring students in my classes! I would rather be here working on stuff for my students than be any-where else! I love teaching! I am so happy to be doing it!”

Michelle Carmon“Last year, I had the privilege

to be a long term sub and truly enjoyed my time at CVHS. But I am so happy that I was able to come back to CVHS as a full time teacher. It has been wonderful reconnecting with former students and staff while meeting new stu-dents and staff.”

Andrea Perkins"I love being back at CVHS! It

feels like coming home to a family that becomes increasingly larger. Although the last five years out of the classroom mentoring new teachers was a valuable experience that I will remember fondly, my true passion is teaching English and working with students! I look forward to a great year!"

Maria Natale“I’m glad to be a part of the

CVHS community, and I’m lucky to have such supportive colleagues and wonderful students. I’m a teacher because I believe in educa-tion. As a teacher, there’s always someone worth working for: my students.”

Castro Valley High School Welcomes New teachers and staff members

difficult. The size, from one thou-sand students to three thousand students, is a change that will take time to get used to. Another challenge is learning all the “nu-ances and intricacies of being a CVHS administrator,” Farr

Farr wants the students of CVHS to know that he is ap-proachable and non-judgmental. He will listen and provide advice to help students make good deci-

J.C. Farr