february 2014 issue

ATHE ARAGON OUTLOOKTeaser (photo)

NON-PROFIT ORGANIZATION

US POSTAGE PAIDPERMIT NO. 782SAN MATEO, CA

VOLUME 53 | ISSUE 5 THE NEWSPAPER OF ARAGON HIGH SCHOOL

900 ALAMEDA DE LAS PULGAS, SAN MATEO, CA 94402

FEBRUARY 6, 2014

Monica MaiNEWS WRITER

———The Mock Trial team had its

fi rst competition on Jan. 30 at the San Mateo County Hall of Justice.

Aragon’s team scored 201.79 points, coming in third place behind Carlmont High School, which came in fi rst place, and Menlo School, which came in second. The team is currently in a statistical tie with Hills-dale High School.

Mock Trial advisor Carlo Corti says, “Our defense team did great against San Mateo. We got the most points pos-sible. Our prosecution had a harder time against Crystal Springs, but we ended the night in a tie for third place.” Corti continues, “We were very

well prepared for the more scripted parts of the competi-tion.”

In Mock Trial, there are two teams: the prosecution and the defense. Aragon’s prosecu-tion team competes against a defense team from another school, while the defense team competes against another school’s prosecution team. Certifi ed attorneys give the teams a number score based on how well the student wit-nesses and attorneys perform and present their cases.

The trial this year involves a high school student who allegedly sold Adderall to a classmate. That classmate lat-er died from cardiac arrest. He is charged with second degree murder and possession for

CONTINUED ON PAGE 5

Brandon Liu & Annika UlrichEDITORS-IN-CHIEF

———The Aragon community suf-

fered a loss when senior Tyler Neeley passed away unexpect-edly on Monday, Jan. 13.

For the students and facul-ty at Aragon, Tyler was many things. To some, he was a cel-ebrated athlete on Aragon’s varsity football and track and fi eld teams. To others, he was a reliable companion who would do anything for a friend. To many, Tyler was a big brother who demonstrated the dedication and discipline necessary to become a leader.

To junior Cj Alipate and many others, Tyler was “like a big teddy bear.”

Alipate met him in elemen-tary school. “I guess we both started to like each other be-cause we were both really, re-ally big … I used to ask him where everything was, and I looked up to him as an older

brother,” he said.Senior Giovanni Moreno

was one of Tyler’s closest friends. His description of Ty-ler also echoes that of many others who knew him: “He’s a prankster. He messes with ev-eryone. Biggest heart, though. He’s the group’s heart, makes everybody smile, but he does mess with everybody, which is the thing. Funny, funny kid.”

Athletic director and var-sity football coach Steve Sell also witnessed this “heart” during Tyler’s four years on the football team. “He cared deeply about the team and he cared deeply about how well the team did … He was very, very well-liked. He was very nice to people. That goes a long way. When you’re nice to people and you care about the team and you care about win-ning, your teammates are go-ing to like you,” Sell said.

Sell adds, “He was a free-spirited, live for the moment

kid who genuinely enjoyed his time with his friends on campus. And he treasured his friendships above all else. He was a helpful person; he was unselfi sh and would bend over backwards to help somebody.”

Those closest to Tyler also witnessed his considerable growth between junior and senior year. Moreno said, “As long as I’ve known him for, he’s been insecure about his weight and stuff like that, [but] he started looking skinny, dropped like 60, 70 pounds.”

Sell added, “As a junior he had a hard time fi nishing the sprints. As a senior, I don’t think he ever came up short in those timed sprints. He was there, he was at the front. He grew a lot … He got in better shape and became a leader … His work ethic really im-proved. He was at the front of the line with the jumping jacks and people looked at him

CONTINUED ON PAGE 2

Tyler Neeley1996-2014

Cleo WienbarNEWS WRITER

——— Aragon’s “Suit & Tie” Win-

ter Formal took place on Feb. 1 at the Fox Theatre in Redwood City. The Fox Theatre is a change from last year’s venue, the San Mateo Marriott.

Leadership student and ju-nior Julise Hall says, “We kind of felt that everyone just need-ed a change this year … be-cause I know people get tired of having the same venue ev-ery year.”

The main reason that Win-ter Formal was held at the Marriott for multiple years was space. Leadership teacher

Catherine Williamson says, “Our big stumbling block, our big happy problem, is we are apt to have 500 to 600 students at a dance, and we are limited in where we can go with that many.” The Fox Theatre has a larger capacity than the Mar-riott.

Leadership sold 371 tick-ets and 367 students attended on Saturday night. Hall says, “That was a little under what we expected.”

It is possible for dances to be held at other, smaller ven-ues, but that would require a limit on how many students can go to a dance. Williamson says, “Aragon is unique in that

we don’t cap off a dance. Some schools do … That goes against what we believe. Every student ought to be able to go.”

The Fox Theatre charges $3.50 per attendee for unlim-ited drinks in addition to the other costs. However, the free

soda and water were paid for by profi ts from Homecoming.

Many students commented on the theatre’s architecture, saying it added to the formal-

ity of the event. Junior Sarah Moore says, “The venue was way better than the [Hiller] Aviation Museum ... The avia-tion museum for Homecom-ing had airplanes, but the Fox Theatre had nice seats and a big staircase and such.”

Hall agrees that the stair-case increased the formality of the event, saying, “I think the entrance into the dance is pretty memorable because it

looked really elegant.”The theatre’s distinct archi-

tecture was the main factor in determining the theme, “Suit and Tie,” although the name for the theme comes from a Justin Timberlake song. Lead-ership decided that due to the 1920s architecture, they would do “Suit and Tie ’20s.” They later decided to drop the “’20s” for brevity.

The architecture also re-duced the need for decora-tions, making setup and clean-up much easier for Leadership students. Hall says, “For the most part, it is a lot smoother than last year, at least from

CONTINUED ON PAGE 4

‘Suit & Tie’ Winter Formal hosted at new venue

Aragon Mock Trial off to a solid start

Pre-trial attorney and senior Matt Lanthier converses with the defense team before the trial.

KELLY CHANG

MEGAN SINCLAIRE

“The Fox Theatre’s distinctive architecture was the main factor in determining the theme.”

Remembering Tyler

Should steroid users be inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame?Read opposing opinions on page 15.

2 VOLUME 53 | ISSUE 5 the aragon outlook

Continued from page 1—

as a leader because he was a three-year varsity player … You could point to him and say, ‘that’s how you’re sup-posed to do this.’”

Tyler also threw shot put and discus on the track and field team. Junior Tupou Unga threw with Tyler. She said, “He was really good ... And he taught me and everyone else. He was a helper, he knew his

stuff. I was new to the team last year and he taught me and helped me out. There was never a dull moment with him. It was always fun, he was always cracking jokes.”

Tyler’s penchant for mak-ing his friends laugh will re-main one of his most memora-ble qualities. Moreno recalls, “When we first started hang-ing out—when the whole group kind of assembled—

this was eighth grade, and knowing how big he was, he sat on my little brother’s bed and broke it. And he’s done that with a couple friends ac-tually, but we went to Great America that night, and Beni-hana’s for his birthday, and he started crying listening to Adele and telling us how much he loved us. And he was listening to his earphones and it was hella funny.”

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“... and he treasured his friendships above all else.”Sunrise 2-5-96 Sunset 1-13-14

February 6, 2014 VOLUME 53 | ISSUE 5 3NEWS

Carolyn Kunews writer

———On Jan. 14 and 16, the San

Mateo Sister City Association held a summit to discuss the continuing development of the Sister City Program, a partner-ship between San Mateo and Toyonaka, a town in the Osaka prefecture of Japan.

This partnership was formed in 1963 as part of the Sister City Program developed by President Eisenhower in the 1950s. The project was cre-ated with hopes of repairing the post-World War II animos-ity between the United States and Japan.

“We’re supposed to promote communication, exchanges, [and] look out for the welfare of each other,” says San Mateo Mayor Robert Ross. “I think those are the three key ele-ments [of the sister city rela-tionship].”

At the summit, which was held at San Mateo City Hall, representatives from the Sis-ter City Association, the San Mateo City Council and mem-bers of the community made a list of challenges the Sister City Association faces and strategized on what can be done to overcome such chal-lenges. Raising awareness of the Sister City Association through a membership pro-gram, local schools, and the Japanese community, as well as utilizing effective fundrais-ing techniques were among the topics discussed on Jan. 14.

The Jan. 16 meeting focused

mainly on how the board of the San Mateo Sister City As-sociation could be improved. “Our board structure needs to change,” says City Council-member David Lim. “I think we need to expand our board to at least 10. I would say that

we double the board to at least 16.”

The summit attendees brainstormed who they thought could be possible working board members and honorary board members, in-cluding Aragon Principal Pat Kurtz.

The San Mateo-Toyonaka sister city relationship cel-ebrated its 50th anniversary in the summer of 2013 with a visit from a delegation of city officials, student ambas-sadors, and the boys baseball team from Toyonaka.

A main part of this relation-ship is the baseball exchange program. “There are only a handful of sister city associa-tions that can say that they’ve had as consistent a program as the baseball program,” says Lim. “So I think it’s something to be applauded and it’s some-thing to keep going.”

Every two years, a select boys baseball team from either San Mateo or Toyonaka visits

the other city to play baseball and participate in a cultural exchange.

“We built [this relationship] on baseball a long time ago … and that’s really been the glue that has held everything to-gether,” says Ross.

Another major part of the sister city bond is the stu-dent exchange program. High school students are selected to go to Japan as ambassadors and take part in many of the decisions made by the Sister City Association. Junior Guy Geva was selected last year to be a student host ambassador for the 50th anniversary cel-

ebration. Geva says, “I’ve never really

done anything quite like this, and it gives me a lot of expo-sure to things that I wouldn’t be able to experience other-wise, working with people from city hall and meeting these people from a country 5,000 miles away. It’s just real-ly unique and I do enjoy being part of the decision process.”

Geva worked for several months in preparation for the 50th anniversary celebration, which took place in August 2013. He was on the commit-tee that helped organize and plan the events, which in-cluded several baseball games in Central Park. “There was a big dinner with speeches, and there were also some smaller events,” Geva adds. “[We] went to the Japanese tea garden at Central Park because that tea garden is something that Toyonaka has donated to San

Mateo, so we thought that would be a nice place to hold an event.”

Citizens also see many ben-efits to the program. Lim says, “[The Sister City Association] is one of the most important organizations for the city of San Mateo.” Through the base-ball program, the Sister City Association works directly with the youth of San Mateo and encourages intercultural relationships.

The San Mateo Sister City Association hopes to contin-ue bringing its work into the community. Its next focus is to set up a membership program for people interested in the San Mateo-Toyonaka sister city relationship.

Community discusses state of Sister City Association

“We’re supposed to promote communication, exchanges, [and] look out for the welfare of each other.”

Two longtime teachers take on district positionsEmily Shennews writer

———Andrea Gould and Vicky

Daniel recently left Aragon to assume positions at the district office as Teachers on Special Assignments (TOSAs). Gould, the former Algebra 1-2 and AP Statistics teacher, is now the district Mathemat-ics Coordinator and Common Core Mathematics Articula-tion Facilitator. Daniel, the former English teacher, is now the Language and Literacy Coach. Gould left Aragon on Jan. 6 while Daniel left Aragon on Jan. 17.

TOSAs are teachers that spend time on certain special assignments for the district. One responsibility TOSAs carry is working with other teachers in the district for the purpose of leading profession-al development and coordinat-ing curriculum. TOSAs also act as members of school lead-ership teams and help princi-pals improve schools. Though there are part-time TOSAs who still work at Aragon on a daily basis, Daniel and Gould will be full-time TOSAs, so they will not work on campus anymore.

TOSAs can be separated into two categories: school site TOSAs that work in their

respective schools and dis-trict TOSAs that work around the district. School site TOSAs currently employed at Aragon include Genevieve Thurtle and Jim Smith. District TOSAs cur-rently at Aragon include Holly Dietz and Amanda Clothier.

“We’re still teachers in the union under our contracts, and the pay scale is the same, but it’s part of the district’s mission to create more teach-er leaders,” says Daniel.

Concerning her new job, Daniel says, “I’m going to be working specifically at two schools, Capuchino and San Mateo, and I’m going to be working with teachers there, primarily in the content area, to implement literacy and lan-guage strategies and to help the lower performing stu-dents.”

“I’m going to be attending training and meetings, so I see it as a professional devel-opment position. I’m working with the teachers rather than directly in my own classroom,” adds Daniel.

Gould worked at Aragon for 15 years. When she left Ara-gon to become the Mathemat-ics Coordinator and Common Core Mathematics Articula-tion Facilitator, Gould had al-ready been the coordinator for

three years. “[I] added the facilitator

position because of the need to align mathematics cours-es and expectations for our students from kindergarten through senior year,” she says.

Fellow math teacher Na-than Kundin serves as the new teacher for Gould’s Algebra 1-2 class while math teacher Beh-rooz Shahrvini teaches her AP Statistics class.

Gould does not know if she will return to Aragon.

Daniel’s three freshman AS classes and one of her junior CP classes have been taken over by fellow English teacher Robyyne Francis. Sandy Skale took her other junior CP class.

Among other reasons for leaving, Daniel wanted a new-er experience. “I’ll never leave education, but after 17 years, I was feeling a little stale, and I was feeling that a change was needed. I didn’t want to keep teaching until there was no energy or desire left. I wanted to make sure that I kept myself on my toes,” Daniel says.

However, there is a possi-bility that Daniel will return after two to three years, since her position as the Language and Literacy Coach is not de-signed to be permanent.

After two weeks on the job,

Daniel reflects, “I sit there and get to observe great teaching and meet really exciting pro-fessionals, but I miss all my students.”

Surge in teacher leadersThe idea of TOSAs, al-

though not new, has been a recent development in the San Mateo Union High School District. Scott Laurence, the superintendent of SMUHSD since June 2009, is largely re-sponsible for this change and the growing number of TOSAs.

“We had very few TOSAs before, and a couple of years ago, [Laurence] opened up the school site and math and Eng-lish and technology positions. They’ve expanded it,” says Principal Pat Kurtz.

“TOSAs are beneficial be-cause school and district lead-ership positions have been

heavily eliminated over the past eight years. Administra-tors and principals have been overloaded with running school business. TOSAs can concentrate their effort on im-proving the educational sys-tem because they understand teaching and learning,” says Gould.

Kurtz says that though TO-SAs ultimately benefit the dis-trict in many ways, a drawback is that these teachers spend less time with students. “It’s hard because it takes them out of the classroom. You’re happy for them to grow, but you’re sad for the kids because they’re not going to have [them] here,” comments Kurtz.

Kurtz says that this disad-vantage affects Aragon es-pecially, since Aragon is the school with the most TOSAs.

COURTESY OF DAVID LIMJunior Guy Geva and other attendees at the Jan. 16 meeting.

Find us on Facebook at fb.me/aragonoutlook

4 VOLUME 53 | ISSUE 5 the aragon outlookNEWS

Raayan Mohtasheminews writer

———The San Francisco Public

Utilities Commission, which supplies water to much of San Mateo County, has asked its customers to reduce water us-age by 10 percent. With Gov. Jerry Brown’s signature on Jan. 17, California is now offi-cially in a drought emergency.

2013 was California’s driest year on record, and so far, 2014 is proving to be no better. The source of the unusual weather is a high pressure ridge sit-ting off the West Coast, which blocks winter storms from moving in. While high pres-sure systems are not uncom-mon during winter, they are usually not as big and don’t remain in one place for long.

Besides the lack of rain in the Bay Area, the drought is affecting snow levels as well. Freshman Tyler Ong, who recently visited Lake Tahoe, says, “The snow was bad. It was pretty bare. You couldn’t ski or anything. There was al-most absolutely no snow.”

In mid-January, the Sierra Nevada snow level was 20 per-cent of the average level for that time of year.

The drought is on the verge of causing serious issues, es-pecially in the agriculture in-dustry and rural communities. When he declared the state of emergency, Gov. Brown said, “We can’t make it rain, but we can be much better prepared for the terrible consequences that California’s drought now threatens, including dra-matically less water for our farms and communities and increased fires in both urban and rural areas.”

The declaration comes at a time when the California’s reservoirs and rivers are at re-cord-low water levels. Crystal Springs Reservoir’s water lev-els are steadily dropping. They have gone from 285 feet in No-vember 2013 to 281 feet as of Jan. 22, 2014. Even decreases of a few feet mean significant water loss.

The state has methods in place to aid in water conserva-tion. Foreseeing a more seri-

ous drought, Gov. Brown put together a drought task force last year to determine where to distribute water resources in a drought, and to assess the government’s ability to pro-vide water during this time. However, there is not much surplus water statewide to dis-tribute, which poses a threat to agriculture in California, a major world food supplier.

Asking for a statewide “voluntary” 20 percent re-duction in water usage, Gov. Brown hopes to mitigate the demands on the water system. During California’s last major drought from 1987 to 1992, the state took similar measures advising Californians to con-serve.

Aragon students and their families are taking measures to conserve water. Sopho-more Rachel Quillen says, “My mom’s not running the dish-washer as much as she used to, I’m taking shorter showers, and we’re not watering our flowers anymore. I used to wa-ter the flowers every morning, and I take kind of long show-

ers, but now I have cut back.”Although drought is a sig-

nificant issue, the state does not have major requirements for water education in school. Health teacher Mindy Trisko says, “Unfortunately when we do our environmental health unit, it ends up being one of the shortest units ... Things that I do teach the kids is where our water comes from, like where we get our running water.”

Trisko shares some of her personal experiences, saying, “I talk about my travels in In-dia, where not everyone has running water, so [I share]

what that’s like to have the privilege to turn on the faucet and have it run any time you want.”

According to bayarealands.org, the Bay Area’s climate is trending toward drier weath-er, with the dry Southern Cali-fornia climate slowly migrat-ing up the coast. With water levels dropping throughout the state and little precipita-tion in the forecast, it is ever more important to take steps to conserve water. For Quillen, if that means letting her flow-ers wither in the heat, that is a sacrifice she is willing to make.

continued fRoM page 2 —

what I remember. I know last year we definitely had a lot of decorations, set-up time took a lot longer, and clean up time took a lot longer than it will this year.”

At the dance, students com-mented on the ordinary nature of the theme. Junior Kevin Rut-tenberg says, “I didn’t like the theme. Personally, Suit and Tie—it’s not a theme. It’s what

you wear. It’s not inspired.”While some may consider

the theme to not be very in-ventive, others say that it fit the venue. Sophomore Jessica Westmont says, “I thought it was a safe theme. It worked well.”

Senior Marcy Landes and her friends took an alterna-tive approach to dressing for Winter Formal. Landes says, “I didn’t like how the girl has to wear tight, short dress, and

the boy had to wear the nice shirt and tie. I think we spent $10 on each outfit. It shows that you don’t have to spend a lot to look good.”

Other students have a dif-ferent view of the expectation to dress up. Moore says, “I per-sonally liked to get dressed up, but I think to prove a point, that’s good. I honestly loved the way [Landes and her group] dressed.”

Additionally, the DJ, who has played at Aragon dances before, did not play Justin Timberlake’s song “Suit and Tie,” even though that was the theme. Hall says, “I believe there was miscommunication and he didn’t know he had to play each song we had on the song list.”

Despite the miscommunica-tion, students danced for three hours in varying fashions. What many students said they ended up enjoying most about the dance was their friends. Moore says, “I think [what I liked best was] just having a great time with my friends.”

ALEx FURUYAStudents dance at fox theatre for Winter formal.

See more photos ataragonoutlook.org A

drought prompts conservation measures

Excitement builds for Sochi Olympics

Mixed reactions to formal theme

Shu Yangnews writer

———With the 2014 Sochi Winter

Olympics just a day away, the Aragon community prepares for thrilling games.

The Olympics will be held in Sochi, Russia from Feb. 7 to Feb. 22. Although Russia’s contentious lesbian gay bisex-ual transgender (LGBT) poli-cies have catalyzed negative reactions from many includ-ing some in the Aragon com-munity, anticipation for the Olympics remains undeterred for others.

One student excited for the Olympics is senior Jasmine Chen. Chen is an ice skater at the senior level, which is the Olympic level. Chen says, “I actually have a friend who is going to the Olympics.”

Chen’s friend is Polina Ed-munds from San Jose. 15-year-old Edmunds is one of only three skaters on the United States women’s Olympic team.

Chen only watches the fig-

ure skating portion of the Winter Olympics because of its relatability.“It’s like watch-ing a football game if you’re interested in football. For me that’s ice skating,” says Chen.

At sophomore Anahita Gha-jarrahimi’s house, the Olym-pics are a family event. “We watch the opening ceremony together and wait to cheer for our country, Iran.”

Many look forward to the snowboarding events the most. Ghajarrahimi states, “I’m very excited for [the Olympics.] I’m a big fan of Shaun White so I’m really looking forward to watch him snowboard from my TV.”

Senior Jordan Lim says, “It’s exciting to watch athletes push themselves to the limit. I like watching the [snowboard] riders catch air and show off all their tricks.”

However, some Aragon students are upset at Russia’s LGBT policies, which also ex-tend to foreign Olympic par-ticipants and spectators. Since

this is the first Winter Olym-pics hosted by the Russian Federation, it is also the first time for the Olympics that LGBT policies have generated this much negative reaction.

Such laws include no recog-nitions of same-sex relation-ships, protection for discrimi-nators, and prohibition of “propaganda of nontradition-al sexual practices” among minors.

However, Russia’s Presi-dent Vladimir Vladimirovich Putin publicly announced there would be no arrests as long as people abide by the current laws.

Aragon’s Gay Straight Al-liance (GSA) club president and senior Shannon Thielen states, “The policy is horribly unjust. As an LGBT advocate, [I find] it ridiculous.” Despite her thoughts, Thielen says she will watch the Olympics.

She says, “I’m disappointed in the Olympic committee for not moving it and not taking the pushbacks as seriously as they should have taken it.”

“Obviously a lot of people in the activist community aren’t happy with Putin’s policies but as far as the Olympics go, I don’t think it will be that big of an issue,” says Thielen.

However, security remains a major concern, as Russian authorities have struggled to quell terrorist threats on the event. 40,000 troops and po-lice are currently stationed in the city. The U.S. State De-partment has issued warnings to Americans traveling to the region.

Although the Olympics will be an exciting time for many, controversy and security con-cerns persist.

ELIzABETH zHOU

FRANCHESCA CARRACEDO

“You don’t have to spend a lot to look good.”

February 6, 2014 VOLUME 53 | ISSUE 5 5NEWS

continued from page 1 —

sale of a controlled substance. In both of Aragon’s trials, the defendant was found not guilty on second degree mur-der and guilty of possession. The score, which determines advancement into the semi-finals, is independent of the verdict.

The next two trials for Ara-gon will take place on Feb. 6 and Feb. 13. On Feb. 6, the prosecution team will face Hillsdale and the defense team will face Carlmont.

To better prepare for the upcoming week’s competi-tions, Corti says, “We just need to work on our poise under pressure.”

Sophomore Olivia Tan-dowsky says, “I think our team could improve on acting a bit more and slowing down when we speak. We have all of the things we have to know and say down, but really convey-ing the same message clearly is what we should work on.”

Regarding next week, Tan-dowsky says, “I think we will

be doing better, but every team gets better each week. We hope to improve our rank-ing or stay the same.”

Corti says, “Competition gets better and stronger every year. Teams change a great deal depending on new coach-es and new students. Hillsdale and Menlo are always power-houses, and we have not com-peted against them yet.”

During the months of prep-aration, students meet during lunch, after school, and every Sunday. Corti says, “We run

through elements of the law in the case. We practice asking the right questions, present-ing the correct information, gathering and presenting evi-dence in a court case. Also, the ways to question what is objec-tionable and what is allowed in court and what questions aren’t allowed in court.”

The team has been working hard and learning the case, working on their individual roles since November.

Senior and Mock Trial pres-ident Joey Constantino says,

“Last year, we had a lot of se-niors. We had a good amount of kids that were in Mock Trial all four years, but this year we have a lot of new people, so it is almost like we are starting over.”

In reference to the team, se-nior Matt Lanthier says, “Mr. Corti is really great. He’s re-ally good at coordinating the team and preparing us for our cases. We all feel really good at our practices and feel pre-pared for the competition.”

tate Hannanews writer

———On Jan. 24, Financial Aid

and Scholarship Advisor Rena Jan left Aragon and moved to Portland, Oregon with her sig-nificant other, who recently found employment in the area.

Jan has worked at Aragon helping students navigate the scholarship and financial aid process since 2011.

Jan has yet to be replaced, but her responsibilities are currently dispersed among the other counselors. “Hope-fully the things that need to be covered will be taken care of by other counseling staff,” she says.

These duties will fall heavi-ly on College and Career Coun-selor Laurie Tezak, who previ-ously held Jan’s position for over 12 years. Assistant Princi-pal Jim Coe, who presides over employment matters, says, “As far as scholarship procure-ment, helping students out who are applying for scholar-ships, all that kind of stuff, Ms. Tezak is more than expe-rienced to do that. Everyone should be in good hands for the time being.”

Along with those seeking college advice, undocumented

students had been receiving help from Jan. Due to the dis-crete nature of their situation, these students have been in-formed of this change and will now work with Tezak.

Jan has published all schol-arships and submitted all cur-rent Cal Grant applications in hopes of making the transition easier for students and coun-seling staff. She adds, “I have also organized a Cash for Col-lege event and that will be Feb. 6 to help students with their fi-nancial aid applications.”

With the finalization of these processes and extra events already organized, Jan departed with hopes of a smooth transition.

Without a replacement, Coe and other administration members are currently in the hiring process. The adminis-tration has received applica-tions and is currently schedul-ing interviews.

Coe has hopes of replacing Jan in the near future. “De-pending on the candidates, hopefully we [will] have some-one in place within a week or two, as long as they aren’t working and don’t have to give two weeks notice,” he says.

Virginia Hsiaonews writer

———On the evening of Jan.

16, the Aragon Asian Parent Group (AAPG) held a work-shop in the Aragon theatre to discuss characteristics asso-ciated with child well-being and mental health. On stage, a panel comprised of psycholo-gist Carol Wang, psychiatrist Dina Frid, marriage and fam-ily therapist Gaby Silverstein, neuropsychologist Cynthia Medina, and psychologist An-nmarie Hulette shared expert advice and took questions from parents in the audience.

Originally, AAPG co-presi-dent Darrick Lam had planned for the meeting to shed light on mental health.

“The original plan was to create a forum so parents could learn about tell-tale signs of conditions like de-pression or OCD [obsessive-compulsive disorder]. It hap-pens more and more in our complex society, and many people, especially those of Chi-nese culture, do not openly ad-dress the problem,” said Lam.

As the meeting took place a short three days following the loss of senior Tyler Neeley, many parents voiced concerns about a host of issues, rang-ing from methods to assist children in coping with loss to possible signs that indicate a child needs help.

Listening to the issues, the panelists took turns address-ing each concern.

Following an inquiry on how a parent can help a child cope with loss, Hulette re-sponded, “After a traumatic

event, everyone’s response is unique. The best thing you can do is just say that you are there for them and allow them that space.”

While many parents dis-cussed how they themselves dealt with loss, others in-quired about how to deal with grief and how to respond to inquiries of other people.

Fray said, “Go with your gut. It’s easy to get caught up, but in the process of loss, share only what you feel com-fortable sharing.”

Although loss proved to be the main topic of the evening, some parents delved into pre-vention, wanting to under-stand what signs definitively indicate a need for help.

“Monitor your child’s be-havior and note any changes,” said Wang.

After one identifies change in behavior, Hulette stated, “Then, you need to watch out for three things: frequency, in-tensity, and duration.”

Stressing the importance of watching for change in be-havior, the experts reiterated the individuality of each sub-ject and maintained that each person deals with stimuli in different ways.

When asked about the main goals of counseling, Medina offered, “Our goal is to provide emotional support or a place to talk about problems and come up with solutions. If you are unable to continue normal functions or feel like you just need to talk to someone, we are here to help.”

Parents also voiced con-cerns about the use of technol-ogy, particularly the internet

and social media. With the prominence of the web, teens can utilize new platforms to build connections. Unfortu-nately, it has come with its own set of problems. Many parents feel concerned over teens’ use of the internet to cry out for help. Questions ranged from methods of detection to positive ways other teens can respond to such posts.

“Unfortunately there is no fine line,” stated Frid. “Some-times these posts serve as a journal for the user to com-ment and unload feelings. Sometimes it’s just raw emo-tion or thoughts.”

As parents articulated con-cerns over other teens who observe and read such posts, Frid responded, “It is not the kid’s job to worry about the situation. It is an important situation, but they need to seek someone they trust, like parent or counselor, to ad-dress the issue.”

Through this meeting, ob-servers learned about ways to understand other individuals and key signs that others may need to seek professional help.

“I’m very thankful for the PTSO for holding this meet-ing,” said parent Angela An. “They did a particularly good job on stressing and empha-sizing the importance of open communication.”

Recognizing the impor-tance of the meeting’s top-ics, Lam has planned another meeting for September to dis-cuss mental health.

ALEx FURUyAthe panel: (left to right) dina frid, carol Wong, gaby Silverstein, annmarie Hulette, and cynthia medina.

Read and comment ataragonoutlook.org A

Financial aid advisor Rena Jan leaves Aragon

aapg hosts mental health workshop

ALEx FURUyA

first mock trial competition of the year leaves aragon tied for third place

Catherine Stoehrfeatures writer

——— “We were really passion-

ate about it at the time. At the time, we didn’t have any plans. We were just dreamers,” says junior Brian Huang, who co-founded the clothing startup Simplistic Apparel in 2012. He and his partner Brandon Leow, an Aragon alumnus, dreamed of creating their own company that sold original clothing they designed.

Their business was rooted in their mutual interest in street fashion. Huang says, “We were already best friends with the same interests. When one of us barely mentioned the idea, we were both thinking the exact same thing.” Though neither knew anything about running a company, making clothes themselves, or even the first steps to beginning a business, they decided to try it anyway. To get started they looked at designs first.

But that was the easiest part. After they came up with designs, they realized they had no way of ordering a first round of clothing without cap-ital. “We had this one design. It was a super simple design because printing a simple design was cheaper. We just begged our friends to buy ... We used that to gain capital before we could make more,” explains Huang. Once they got

to this point, they had enough money to branch out with de-signs and techniques.

There are two different methods for making designs into physical clothing. Screen printing is done by sending a design off to a printing com-pany. Conversely, “cut and sew” is done by actually hand-crafting the garment yourself. Huang says, “It was purely experimentation. We would go to Jo-Ann’s and find fabrics we liked. We would buy cheap hoodies and cut off the pock-ets to sew our own designs in,” says Huang.

Once Huang and Leow had enough funds to purchase more merchandise, they want-ed to sell to a bigger audience and expand their company. They started to market not just to friends and Aragon stu-dents, but to strangers around the world. They used social media like Facebook and Tum-blr to connect with prospec-tive customers.

Huang saw the huge re-sponses on Simplistic Ap-parel’s social media platform. He says, “We amassed almost 1200 likes on Facebook. We also had a huge, huge audi-ence on Tumblr. We were get-ting thousands of reposts. We sold to mostly U.S. [clients], but also [to people in] Canada and Australia. The reason why was because the social media platforms we use are similar.”

As Huang and Leow watched their company ex-pand, they experienced an amazing feeling. “Seeing people on the street with our clothes or our pins was so cool. I saw it on a complete stranger and I was blown away. It was the most amazing thing ever,” remarks Huang. However, Huang and Leow found that creating a start-up becomes much more than the actual product. “It’s not easy to make your own start-up. You have to

immerse yourself. You have to pay attention to what you’re doing and what everyone else is doing. We spent hours Googling things like business licenses, printing, other com-panies—anything we needed to know,” says Huang.

Eventually the time com-mitment and effort it took to maintain their business con-flicted with other activities. Huang says, “If we worked hard enough, we could have done it, but we kept our priori-ties straight, our academics. The likes and reblogs were amazing to me, but in the grand scheme of things, they weren’t that important. Real companies have gone way past what we did.” Even though Huang loved seeing the com-pany’s success, he accepted the reality that their business was not sustainable at the time. They eventually stopped manufacturing and let the re-maining stock sell.

Even though the company faded out of existence, Huang has no regrets. He was able to watch designs of his own creation grow to reach people on an international level. He especially enjoyed seeing the company mature over time. “We totally hated our first de-signs. They were cool at the time, but we realized now how cliché they were. Over time, our art design became more elegant. We tried to steer ourselves towards high-class companies,” explains Huang.

Huang and Leow are able to say something that not many high schoolers can say. They invested their hard work and time into a company that made their dreams a reality.

Junior Jessica Moe, a model for Simplistic Apparel’s “Be Free” campaign, says, “I think that Brian and Brandon are very adventurous and deter-mined for starting their own line in high school. They’ve

created quite a distinct look that has expressed their style while appealing to many of their peers. It’s so cool how they’re able to say this cloth-ing line was entirely their idea and how they’ve been able to experience it being put into

action.” Although their company

never grew to a huge scale, it not only left its mark on the Aragon community but gave them a taste of what they could achieve.

february 6, 2014 VOLUME 53 | ISSUE 5 7FEATURES

Nick Tolfafeatures writer

———Each year, thousands of

eighth graders are faced with the difficult choice of attend-ing a private or public high school. Should students have the financial means to attend private school, other factors such as average test scores are critical elements in com-paring different high schools. For others, extracurricular ac-tivities from sports to robotics play a crucial role.

Students must first be ad-mitted to their private school of choice before they can ap-propriately compare their pub-lic and private school options. Admissions to private high schools, like college, is fairly competitive. Private high schools may require students to submit test scores from high school entrance exams,

middle school transcripts, and even recommendation letters from counselors and teachers.

The vast majority of Ameri-can students attend public school. However, 10 percent choose instead to go to pri-vate school. While religion seems to be one of the big-gest pull factors of private high schools—80 percent of private school attendees go to religious schools—there are countless other reasons, from sports programs to student-teacher ratios.

In the Bay Area, there is a variety of laudable high schools, both private and pub-lic. While most private schools try to keep small student pop-ulations in order to maintain a low student-teacher ratio, public schools often move in the opposite direction, citing diversity and class variety as some of their strengths.

According to Principal Pat Kurtz, one of Aragon’s main points of attraction is the va-riety of classes and amount of clubs the school offers. She claims that Aragon’s large stu-dent body makes this possible.

Aragon offers approximate-ly 103 different classes for all of its students, and, as of the fall of 2012, had 57 clubs. Two other public schools of compa-rable size, San Mateo and Burl-ingame, offer similar amounts of courses (107 courses and 116 courses, respectively).

At smaller private schools, there are often fewer cours-es offered. Oliver Newland, a senior at Crystal Springs Uplands School (CSUS), a 350-student private school for grades six through 12 in Hillsborough, has not always been able to take the classes he wanted. “I wanted to take a microfinance class this year,

but they only had slots for 20 students,” says Newland. “They also don’t have honors comp-sci [computer science] this year because the teacher is on sabbatical. I guess the problem is there’s a small fac-ulty, so options are limited.”

However, larger private schools such as Junipero Serra High School do not have the same limited course selection. Serra, an all-male Catholic school, has a student body of only 981 students, yet offers over 130 different courses. Bel-larmine, an especially large private school with a popula-tion of about 1,600 students, offers an impressive 160 dif-ferent class options. Even more strikingly, Mercy High School, an all-girls school with 430 students, offers 95 differ-ent classes—just eight fewer than Aragon, for a population with 1,000 less students. Clear-

ly, the amount of students is not what decides the number of classes. As Newland says, it is the amount of teachers who can teach these specialized subjects that determines the amount of classes a school can offer.

But a lack in variety of class choices is not seen as detri-mental by every public high school student.

“[At Aragon], there are dif-ficult classes that are provided and challenges that can be taken. As far as variety goes, Aragon is awesome,” says Aragon senior Eric Carlson. Moreover, public schools tend to have more clubs than their smaller counterparts, with 57 clubs at Aragon and 50 clubs at San Mateo, compared to Serra’s 37 clubs.

For many students whoCoNTiNued oN page 13

The merits of private and public schooling

Simplistic apparel: From inception to conclusion

Simplistic apparel pins. SCOtt LIU

feeling sleepy?the aragon outlook

Sleep! Everyone wants it, but not very many people get it. Among teenagers, sleep-deprivation (both real and perceived) is wide-

spread. Here, The Outlook explores the science of sleep.

Layout by Samantha Soon // Copy by Editors

~ ~

sources available at aragonoutlook.org

Screen time VS Sleep timeThe screens of computers, televisions, cellular

phones, and tablets emit light that the brain mis-takes for daylight. The production of melatonin—the hormone that induces drowsiness in humans—is inhibited by light entering the eyes. thus, using technology with screens before bed inhibits mela-tonin production and makes it more difficult to fall asleep.

Different types of screen-time have varying ef-fects of sleep. For instance, screens like Televisions are passively used, while computers and phones are interactively used. According to Michael Gradisar, PhD, Flinders University (Australia), interactive technology is more disruptive, as it causes ad-ditional brain activity. Interestingly, the Amazon Kindle (an electronic reading device) uses a tech-nology called “e-paper” that does not emit any light and does not present the same ill-effects as other light-emitting devices.

everyman cycleUsers of the

Everyman cycle take one two-to-three hour nap per

day in addition to three to five 20 to 30 minute naps. Everyman

sleepers report similar alertness Uberman sleepers claim to

experience, but have an easier time adjusting from

regular, monophasic sleep.

dymaxion cycleat 2 hours per day, the dymaxion sleep cycle

incorporates the least amount of total sleep out of these three

cycles. Dymaxion sleepers take a short 30 minute nap every six hours. American intellectual Buckminster Fuller, inventor

of the Dymaxion cycle, lived on it for two

years.

Uberman sleepers take six 20 to 30 minute naps, re-

sulting in two to three hours of sleep per day. According to Jordan Lejuwaan, creator of

Highexistence.com, people on the Uberman cycle typically take a

week to fully acclimate, and report feeling healthy and

refreshed throughout the day.

uberman cycle

Polyphasic Cycles: It’s “sleeping”While teenagers are often told that they need nine hours and 15 minutes of sleep per day, there are many sleep regimens that involve a certain amount of short naps per day, and are said to leave users feeling fully rested. These cycles are called polyphasic cycles, whereas the traditional sleep cycle is referred to as the monophasic cycle.

No Sleep, Mo’ ProblemsSleep deprivation can cause mental and physical

deficiencies, and may result in decreased impulse control and judgment impairment. Sleep-deprived Teens may also experience clumsiness and reduced athletic performance.

According to a study conducted by the Better Health Channel, pulling an all-nighter results in cognitive functions equivalent to being legally drunk.

Despite the concerning consequences of sleep deprivation, students continue to sleep fewer hours than is recommended. Part of the explanation is biological. According to the Nationwide Children’s Hospital, young peoples’ internal clocks shift about two hours later as they enter adolescence, so they are wired to stay up later.

Beside physiology, the multitude of activities (whether academic, physical, or social) that teen-agers participate in often account for a loss in sleep time. A joint-study by Christina J. Calamaro, Thornton B. A. Mason, and Sarah J. Ratcliffe pub-lished in the national journal of Pediatrics re-vealed that teens multitasked on an average of four activities late into the night. The study found that “the subjects who multitasked the most had significant decrease in hours of sleep.”

margin of error: ±8.67%

number of ap classes taken

student sleep by number ofap/honors classes taken

0

1

2

3

4

5

6

7

8

fivefourthreetwoonezero

0

2

4

6

8

10

seniorsjuniorssophomoresfreshmen

weekends

weeknights

average number of hoursaragon students sleepper night

margin of error: ±8.67%

10 VOLUME 53 | ISSUE 5

Rebecca Jainfeatures writer

—— or Aragon Spanish teacher Ana Maria Ramos, 14 is a lucky number. Ramos was 14 when she got married and had her first child.

“For my culture, [14] is the age you get married and start your family,” says Ramos. “We have the Quinceañera, when the girl turns 15 and the family introduces the girl to society, that she is ready to get married and she is ready to start a fam-ily. I grew up with that mental-ity. I was 10 years old and I felt like I was ready. I knew how to cook, I knew how to take care of my little brother, I knew how to clean the house and run the house, so I was already in charge of many responsibili-ties.”

When she came to the Unit-ed States from Mexico at age 12, Ramos feared that she would not find a husband or be able to start a family.

“When I came to this coun-try, I was worried. I was like, ‘I’m 12, and I don’t know any-body here. I’m never going to have a boyfriend.’ For me, it was like the end of my career. It was like I wasn’t going to find a husband. So when I got mar-ried, it was perfect. I had my wedding, I had my party. Then I had the energy to raise my kids because I was young.”

The joy of starting her fam-ily was soon met with by the fear of being expelled from school due to pregnancy. “ … In Mexico, if you’re pregnant you get kicked out of school. But then my social worker called me in and she said, ‘Don’t you want to study?’ I was shocked to hear that they wanted me to continue with my education. I thought they did not know that I was pregnant and was a mar-ried woman.”

Ramos made the decision to continue her studies at school. “I love[d] school. I like the chal-lenges,” says Ramos.

Despite having made the de-cision to stay in school during her first pregnancy, Ramos re-mained hesitant of her ability to stay in school when she be-came pregnant with her second son.

“I went to the office and asked to see my counselor and

said I wanted to go to a special high school where teenagers can still go when they’re expect-ing a baby. They asked me why I wanted to go. I said I wanted to go before I started showing my stomach and before they kick me out. I didn’t want to be embarrassed. I didn’t want kids and students and teachers to point at me or make fun of me.

“My counselor said, ‘There is no code, no rule or something that says you need to go to a special high school. You can continue high school at your regular high school,’”

Smiling from ear to ear, Ra-mos remembers her reaction upon hearing that she could stay at her regular high school. “I was very excited. I guess not too many students knew about this information. I remember that I stopped seeing some of my friends, and I didn’t know until years later that they got pregnant and so they left. So when I got this information, I decided to stay. Later on, I heard comments like, ‘Oh my gosh! She’s pregnant!’ and I was like ‘Uh, yeah, pregnant. This is my second one, okay?’ I was so proud. I never felt shame or tried to hide it.”

Ramos soon became a pio-neer of sorts for other preg-nant girls at her school. It was not commonly known that girls would be allowed to stay in school while pregnant. “Af-ter that, girls were not leav-ing school. They were starting to stay in regular high school while pregnant. It wasn’t like I was a bad influence like some people might have thought. You can still get educated; [be-ing pregnant] is no excuse.”

Being able to stay in school was a joyful experience, but was nonetheless teeming with challenges.

“I had to manage my class work with my baby needs. If I had to memorize formulas for my math class, I would memo-rize them while I was feeding my baby. I would have my note-book next to me, feed the baby, and close my eyes to memorize it. Then I would check to see if I got it right. When I had to write something, I had two hours. Usually babies sleep two hours, and every two hours you have to feed them. So I had two won-derful hours to do my writing.

Once he woke up, then I had to change my homework to mem-orizing my English vocabulary or math formulas or physics. I had to find tricks so I could do it.”

“Later on when he was grow-ing up, I couldn’t do that any-more. I had to take him to the park, make sure that he was tired so [that] when we got home he would go to sleep. So then around 10 p.m. I would do my homework. I would go to bed really late. That’s why I don’t accept late homework, be-cause I would go to bed around three or four in the morning to meet my deadlines. I never wanted to use my baby as an excuse to not do my homework. It was my responsibility and my decision to have a family, and it was my decision to go to school. I had to meet deadlines just like anyone else.”

“Every year was harder when I was in high school. I didn’t even think I could go to college. It was too expensive. But then one of my counselors ... told me I could get scholarships. I followed all the steps they told me and I got accepted and got scholarships. That’s how I was able to pay for my education. I didn’t get loans. They see your attendance, your GPA. So even as a student with two babies, my highest GPA was 3.7. I was so close to getting straight A’s. I was so proud of myself. I actu-ally got higher grades than my friends who didn’t have fami-lies to care for.”

Regarding advice for the next generation, Ramos would tell her students at Aragon the same thing she tells her own children.

“I don’t recommend them to get married. That’s something I tell my own kids. I cannot even imagine them getting married in high school. I tell them that in the end it’s their decision, but that’s not going to be an excuse to stop going to school. There are always opportunities, and they should take them. I don’t want them to stop dream-ing.”

Fourteen is Spanish teacher Ana Maria Ramos’s lucky number

Teenager, student, and mom: The stories of young mothers

Women in the Aragon community describe their experiences being mothers in their teenage years

FEATURES the aragon outlook

Read more @ aragonoutlook.orgGRAPHIC BY JONATHAN STARYUK

29.4IN THE UNITED STATES...

THERE WERE

BIRTHS FOR EVERY

GIRLS AGE 15 to 19IN THE YEAR 2012

TEEN BIRTH RATEBY COUNTRYPER 1000 GIRLS AGE 15 to 19

1000

US

UK

CANADA

SPAIN

FRANCE

GERMANY

NETHERLANDS

JAPAN

SWITZERLAND

42.5

26.7

13.3

13.2

10.3

9.9

5.2

4.9

4.3

F

February 6, 2014

Regina Wenfeatures writer

—— ragon student, prospec-

tive registered nurse, and mother. Now a senior at Ara-gon, Rosie (whose name has been changed to maintain her privacy) became pregnant at the age of 14 and gave birth to her daughter at 15.

Rosie says, “I was scared knowing that I was young and had a long way to go, but I still got through it. My mom [was my main point of support] be-cause when I found out I was pregnant, she told me she would be with me and help me out with anything that I needed.”

In light of the rising popu-larity of shows like “Teen Mom” and “16 and Pregnant,” many people have false per-ceptions of teen pregnancy, but these stereoptypes often lack basis in actual teen moth-ers’ experiences.

“When I think of teenage pregnancy, I basically think about my own life, but every-one is different. Everyone has their own story,” says Rosie.

“All the teen pregnancy shows on TV are just drama. Every-thing is so hard for them. They don’t have anything stable.”

In fact, Rosie’s experience as a teenage mother proved to be quite different from the stereotypical ostracism and discrimination that the media portrays.

Rosie says, “Actually, dur-ing my pregnancy, people were actually like, ‘Oh, you’re pregnant. You look cute.’ It was their first time seeing a teenage mom, but they weren’t like, ‘Oh, she’s pregnant, so she’s probably doing bad things,’ or, ‘Her parents aren’t taking care of her.’ I thought it was going to be bad ... but people were really nice.”

Rosie continues, “I didn’t know any other [teenage moms] until I went to Pen. I transferred there for when I was pregnant and I came back [to Aragon] during my sopho-more year.”

Pen, or Peninsula Alterna-tive High School, is a school in the San Mateo Union High School District primarily for students who need extra cred-

its for graduation, but also for students with special circum-stances, such as Rosie.

Rosie says, “I liked it at Pen. Everyone was really friendly and all the moms had their own little class. We learned, you know, what to do, what to expect, what to do after the baby. The people in my class had different opinions [from people who weren’t pregnant] because they were my age, too. So, it was a different world. It was really lovable and every-one really understood every-thing you said. They got what you meant, and other people don’t.”

Rosie continues, “It was hard [to deal with academics] because I had to miss a lot of school depending on how I was feeling ... I had to do a lot of work while I was home, but once I got better, I was fine. I got everything done and all my classes were fine.”

Now back at Aragon, Rosie again finds herself balancing being both a high school stu-dent and a mom.

Rosie says, “Since my mom and [I] were pregnant at the

same time, I have a little sister, so [my sister and my daughter] are a month apart. My mom said she might as well take

care of both of them while I’m at school because that’s the important part for my future.”

Rosie says, “If I have home-work or something, I usually try to get it done [at Aragon] during lunch or any time that I have. So then I have work, and once I’m off, I have time

for her ... My social life is pretty much just at school be-cause once I’m out, its just [my daughter]. I focus on just her.”

As a mom, Rosie finds her-self planning for the future more than she had in the past.

Rosie says, “My plans after graduating are to go to col-lege. I want to be a registered nurse. I got into that after hav-ing my baby and taking her to the doctor and seeing all the things [at the doctor’s]. I would really like to live somewhere with me and [my daughter], like a nice family. Something that will keep her going, to show her that I actually had a hard life, but I did it for her.”

Rosie continues, “After hav-ing my baby, I knew that I had to have a plan. I couldn’t just go with the flow, I had to have something to do. That made me want to get something sta-ble.” Rosie concludes, “[This experience] made me a stron-ger person. It made me some-where I want to be ... I think that if you have a dream, you should go for it.”

Sophomore English teacher Holly Dietz never quitRebecca Jain

features writer

—— ragon English teacher

Holly Dietz was 17 years old when she gave birth to her first and only child, Adam.

Regarding teen mother ste-reotypes, Dietz says that tele-vision programs such as ‘Teen Mom’ are possible sources of such stereotypes.

“People might think of teen moms as being more promis-cuous than other girls. There may be a sense there might be a classist view of her. Maybe they expect her not to be edu-cated,” says Dietz. “That is the number [one] stereotype that I don’t fit … I had a private education at a very exclusive

prep school my whole life … I don’t think a lot of girls who get pregnant have that go-ing behind them. That made everything else in my life fall into place.”

Dietz says that there was never a doubt in her mind that she would someday go to col-lege.

“When I finished my junior year, I was in AP Chemistry, AP Biology, AP English … I was prepared for school.”

Before taking a break year, and eventually attending the University of California at Berkeley, Dietz left home in the Midwest to live in South-ern California. There, Dietz spent the second half of her junior year earning enough

credits to graduate early. “I moved to California be-

cause I had married my son’s father. We moved in with his mom in Southern California. I ended up transferring to a school that was the opposite of the other school I went to. This was one of the lowest per-forming schools in the state of California. They didn’t allow homework on the weekends because the kids had to go work in the fields.”

At her new school, Dietz kept to herself and did not so-cialize much with her peers.

“I left everybody and every-thing I knew, and I didn’t re-ally make any friends at all. I was small enough pregnant that nobody really knew. I just

wore loose clothes. Only the teachers knew.”

One of the main challenges of being in school while preg-nant was a physical one.

“I was sick, sick, sick, the whole time. I frequently had to jump up and run to the bath-room to throw up … it’s not glamorous. I was tired all the time.”

After graduating in Sep-tember of what would have been her senior year of high school, Dietz took a year off from school, as she was not accepted to Berkeley the first time she applied.

“That year was very diffi-cult. We were really poor. The two of us lived on $10,000 in one year. It may sound like a

lot of money, but it’s nothing. We had no furniture. There was no going to the movies, there was no hiring a babysit-ter ... Sometimes there was not enough food.”

It was also difficult for Di-etz to be a stay-at-home moth-er while her husband was a freshman at Berkeley.

“It was tough because [my husband] was in school, and he was meeting people and learning, and doing all of that college stuff, and I was at home watching Oprah and be-ing poor. It was very bleak.”

Dietz remembers going to a car dealership with her hus-band.

“We showed up with our baby. You could tell immedi-ately that the guys at the car shop … were like, ‘Oh, look at these guys,’ ... I remember sit-ting there. The more I tried to be mature and seem bright and seem not the stereotype, the more I could feel it settling on me more and more in this man’s eyes. I turned to [my husband] and said, ‘Get me out of here. This is horrible.’”

One year later, Dietz was ac-cepted to Berkeley and started as a freshman.

Things began to get better once she went back to school.

However, Dietz had to navi-gate her first semester as a single mother.

“It involved a lot of throw-ing together a plan to make it through the day. My husband and I separated a week be-fore I started. We did not have childcare in place for that first semester. For that first semester, I put all my classes on Tuesdays and Thursdays. His father had him on the

Tuesdays and on Thursdays and I had to figure out what to do with him during class. Sometimes I would bring him to class, sometimes I would get a friend to watch him. Every week, I would skip at least one of the classes ... It was kind of crazy.”

“When I think about that first semester when I was running around trying to get my education, I think a lot of times I got through things just because I didn’t realize that they were harder than what most people were facing.”

Towards the end of her freshman year, Dietz began to receive help from her par-ents in caring for her son. “Let it be clear, I was the one who wouldn’t let them [help],” says Dietz.

“As soon as I was receptive to any help, they were willing to help. I was the one keeping them at arm’s distance.”

In contrast to the struggles and difficulties of learning to be a young mother while stay-ing in school, Dietz comments on the positive side of having a child at a young age.

“It’s amazing to be 42 and my son is 23. I think I made the wise choice not to have any more, so that is giving me a second lease on life right now. Almost everyone I know has young children at home, and I get to go and play. And now I have more money and I’m more established, so I think the play is more fun. I just adore my relationship with my son. We’re really close.”

Dietz explains that her ex-perience as a young mother has changed her perception of teens and the capacities of

young people.“Young people sometimes

think it is impossible to view the world in a mature way, that they’re wrong just by virtue of being young, that they’re not capable of pulling off some-thing complex and difficult. It’s just impossible for me to see it that way. My son came to me and said, ‘Mom, it’s my senior year, I don’t think I should have a curfew.’ I was like, ‘I don’t know about that ,Adam.’ He just looks at me. ‘Okay, you were one by the time I was your age. So if I was raising a child and keeping a home, I guess maybe you can handle no curfew.’ It forever changed the way that I see young people and what they’re capable of. Adam and I grew up together. We are close in a way that I’m really lucky that we stayed close through diffi-cult times.”

Dietz mentions another positive aspect of being closer in age to her son. “It’s really fun when I visit him in college and I’m way younger than the other moms. It’s kind of funny. They’ll sort of accept me.”

“I’m lucky. I have had many, many people kindly and generously reach out a hand to help me. I’m lucky in that way to know that I have that in my life. People tend to be kind to me.”

“When I look back, I think ‘Oh my god, girl. You are strong.’ I just can’t believe that I didn’t quit. I don’t know what quitting would have looked like. Maybe it just wasn’t an option.”

A current student describes her experience as a mother

“When I look back, I think, ‘Oh my god, girl. You are strong.’”

“After having my baby, I couldn’t just go with the flow, I had to have something to do. That made me want to get something stable.”

FEATURES VOLUME 53 | ISSUE 5 11

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12 VOLUME 53 | ISSUE 5 the aragon outlookFEATURES

Two places in San Mateo you should check outMongolian Hot Pot, located on Ellsworth Av-

enue, is not in the heart of Downtown San Mateo, but is worth a try if you like restaurants where you cook your own food. It is best to go with a larger group of friends to bring down the cost per person, since you add fixings to a communal pot and having a pot with diverse ingredients can add up quickly. From bam-boo hearts to thinly sliced meat, there are fixings that appeal to everyone. Be cau-tious when selecting the base type for your broth, as the spicy broth is not for the faint of heart. Eating at Mongolian Hot Pot allows you and your friends to be adventurous with your meal while enjoying a fun social experience.

Editor picks:• Spicy broth

(for the brave)• Lamb• Chicken skewers• Bamboo cores• Fresh soft tofu• Hot Pot dumplings

Hours all week:11:30 a.m. to 11 p.m.

Laurelwood Park is a good place to make your new spot for excercise if you are tired of running on a treadmill at the gym to get your daily cardio. Sugarloaf, the hill you see when you take the trail, is picturesque and adds a certain tranquility to any workout. Try going to Laurelwood Park and getting your exercise while surrounded by nature. More conve-niently located than Sawyer Camp Trail, Laurelwood Park’s trail has a nice vari-ety of flat, uphill, and downhill sections that changes the ba-sic run into a a more varied experience. If you are looking to get outdoors but are not interested in running, you can play a number of sports—soccer, fris-bee, or just a game of catch—on the plush green field located in the main park and at the entrance of the trail. The restrooms are better than the average park’s, and parking is relatively convenient on the hill above the park. KIrA BrEnnErALEx FuruyA

Valentine’s Day for the average Aragon studentAnders Zhou

features writer

———Valentine’s Day is one of

the major holidays of the winter season. At Aragon, it might be an opportunity for some teenagers to express love for their special someone or to exchange a little some-thing with their friends. For others, Valentine’s Day may just be a nuisance, a seem-ingly over-commercialized holiday that takes advantage of people’s desire to express love.

So what are the expecta-tions of the average Aragon student? Junior Vivian Shen says, “I really don’t expect too much. I mean, what holiday hasn’t become commercial-ized? I think for many of my friends, Valentine’s Day [is] just a day to show love, and not just romantic love. Just love for everyone! Family and friends are all included.”

Sophomore Caroline Mam-eesh agrees, saying, “I think Valentine’s Day is a cute idea. Businesses will definitely take advantage of Valentine’s Day, but February 14 is really what you make of it, and whether or not you choose to be super-ficial about it. All those bitter people should just realize that one day they’ll be celebrating Valentine’s Day with their special someone.”

For freshman Isha Patel, Valentine’s Day is not too special, but she still likes the holiday. “yeah, I’m single. I don’t really do anything spe-cial, but I’ll definitely have my

friends to be there with me,” says Patel. Similarly, fresh-man Melanie Moore says, “I’m not too worried about Valen-tine’s Day. I’ll buy a couple packs of Fun Dip, give them to my friends, and hang out with them. I don’t really do anything special relationship-wise.”

However, for couples, Val-entine’s Day definitely brings mixed emotions. Senior Edgar Tenorio says, “What? A Valen-tine’s gift for my girlfriend? Well … I should probably start thinking about it,” he says, laughing. “I think instead of a present, I’ll take her places and do stuff with her, as opposed to gifts. I think it’ll build better memories.”

There is good news for Tenorio since his girlfriend senior Alexis Wishman says, “I don’t really expect presents from my boyfriend. really, all I want is to spend time with him.”

Senior David Leong’s situ-ation is similar to Tenorio’s. “Valentine’s Day is definitely tough because I feel there are a lot of expectations on your part and from your love. I think that since this is a holiday of love, it’s pretty fair to say that love will flow both ways. It’s just that I have no idea what to do for my lovely Alana,” Leong says. “I just hope I can get her something that perfectly describes our relationship.”

Freshman Greg Oertli’s girlfriend goes to San Mateo, but he isn’t worried—he has already got a gift planned

out for her: “I’ve never had a girlfriend on Valentine’s day,” he says. “But I’m getting her chocolates. I really don’t expect much in return.”

Tenorio expresses a dif-ferent opinion and says, “I just wish if I could get some attention or something in return, not that my girlfriend doesn’t love me! I don’t know, maybe I’m totally biased, but sometimes I just want to feel pretty!”

Freshman Alex Tenorio disagrees, “I think as a guy, I shouldn’t expect as much

attention, because I feel like tradition is the way to go. I mean think chivalry—there’s a lot of expectations for the guy to do his part. Like if I had a girlfriend, I’d make it all about her.”

Mameesh will probably focus her attention on her girlfriend. Mameesh says, “Last year for my girlfriend Diana’s birthday, I got her a necklace with a key and a heart on top. I gave it to her because she has the ‘key to my heart.’ I don’t know how I’ll top that!”

However, Mameesh is not too concerned. “I know this is my first Valentine’s Day, but I don’t really look to the media, movies, or my other friends as examples of what I should do. I’ll do my own thing. We’ll definitely exchange cards, though, because I think it’s sweet.”

Mameesh concludes, “We’ll also exchange hugs. Because what? Love. And that’s what Valentine’s Day is about.”

Kira Brenner A&E Editor

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february 6, 2014 VOLUME 53 | ISSUE 5 13FEATURES

Comparing public and private high schoolsContinued from page 7 —

have a choice between private and public high schools, eligi-bility for college admissions can be a major factor in decid-ing where to attend school.

Test scores are often viewed as an indicator of how well a school prepares its students for college.

Among public schools, Ara-gon has a high AP test pass rate at 85 percent, compared to the 81.1 percent of San Mateo, 77.3 percent of Burlingame, and 66 percent of Hillsdale. As for the private schools, Bel-larmine holds an 85 percent pass rate and Serra an 82.7 percent. While these scores are all fairly close, what truly separates the scores of public schools and private schools is the SAT. Aragon has an aver-age score of 1707 and San Ma-teo has 1715, while Bellarmine, a larger school, averages 1900, and Crystal Springs Uplands School averages 2153. CSUS’ outlier notwithstanding, stu-dents of private schools in the Bay Area, even large ones, seem to be better prepared for the SAT.

While perceptions of why this is true can vary wildly, some may attribute it to dif-ferent teaching approaches. Junior Jeffrey Ng says, “[At Aragon], classes don’t focus

specifically on the SAT, [but]more on the subject.”

Carlson concurs, stating, “I feel like there are classes that could be provided by Aragon that aren’t super expensive. There could be more programs for students who are nervous about taking the test to give them strategies to use on it.”

In contrast, senior Sum-mer Weaver of Mercy High School credits her school with helping her be prepared for the SAT. Weaver says, “Mercy gave me good foundations in English and math. I did take an outside prep class, but it was held on campus at Mercy.” Weaver chose to go to Mercy because she wanted smaller class sizes so that she would receive more one-on-one time with teachers.

Like Weaver, Newland chose Crystal Springs in large part because of the small stu-dent-teacher ratios—which at CSUS is a ratio of 6-to-1. Ex-plains Newland, “It’s a really academically rigorous school, small enough to ensure I get

enough attention from and ac-cess to teachers.”

In general, private schools do have much smaller class sizes and student-teacher ra-tios than public schools do. Even a school as large as Bel-larmine has an average class size of 25. At Aragon, getting Algebra classes and Freshmen English classes to stay at be-tween 25 and 28 students per teacher is an accomplishment. Aragon’s overall student ra-tio of about 17-to-1 is not too bad for a public school of its size, but is nothing compared to small private schools like Crystal Springs.

There is conflict amongst Aragon students over these larger class sizes. According to junior David Diba, “Calcu-lus BC is too big. It’s a hard class, and if it was smaller, we would have more one-on-one time with the teacher.”

However, Ng disagrees. He says, “You have more people to communicate with or talk to. It allows you to be more so-ciable, so it’s not just private

tutoring.”While small classes and

student bodies mean more teacher attention, there are still some who do not have an ideal experience. Newland says, “The counselors aren’t great and there isn’t much college oriented guidance be-fore the second half of junior year. They just offer generic advice most of the time. They seem more about getting you to apply to colleges you have a great chance of getting into

rather than coaching you to reach high.”

In contrast, Aragon stu-dents often speak fondly of their counselors. Carlson states, “The whole administra-tive staff is very helpful and supportive. I really like how Ms. Trish cares about all her students.”

But to make a truly in-formed decision about what high school a student should attend, all of these factors and more must be considered.

17:1student-teacher ratio

at Aragon

6:1student-teacher ratio at

Crystal Springs

Winston Leefeatures writer

———A famous volunteer orga-

nization, the Peace Corps is headed by the United States government. President John F. Kennedy established it in 1961 to improve American re-lations with the rest of the world. Many college students work in the Peace Corps to ex-

perience something different from scholarly work. Since its creation, many young Ameri-cans have joined the Peace Corps, including physics and AP Chemistry teacher Kevin Doyle.

Doyle joined the Peace Corps to teach.

“I had wanted to teach as a college professor, but I didn’t like the politics of writ-

ing grants to keep doing re-search.”

Doyle was in Malawi from September of 1996 to Decem-ber of 1998. He left graduate school because he wanted to participate in a program that let him experience teaching.

“I had applied to different volunteer organizations … and the Peace Corps was the first one that really started matching me up and finding things,” says Doyle.

“It gives you a chance to live a different culture and a different lifestyle,” says Doyle.

Doyle wanted to go to a Pa-cific Island country, but the Peace Corps chose Malawi for him instead.

A poverty-stricken country in Africa, Malawi has a his-tory of economic hardship, partially because its economy is primarily based on tobacco.

Before starting, Doyle did not even know where Malawi was. Besides suffering from poverty and low life expectan-cy, the population of Malawi has one of the world’s highest rates of adults with HIV/AIDS.

During his first two weeks in Malawi, Doyle had to un-dergo thorough language training and culture classes. While there, Doyle lived in a 300-square-foot house with barely enough electricity to power one light bulb.

Doyle remembers, “When I would go into one room and turn on the light while an-other was on, it would dim for

a while until I went to turn it off.”

In Malawi, Doyle’s main job was to teach biology, chemis-try, and physics.

He remembers, “The stu-dents were less prepared, but they were still open to learn-ing.”

Besides doing that, Doyle trained others to become sci-ence teachers and also assist-ed in agriculture. Doyle tried persuading the Malawian farmers to switch from the typical tobacco crop to differ-

ent cash crops. “We were growing bird’s

eye chili pepper, which is used in pepper spray,” he says.

Doyle and the farmers made good progress with oth-er crops, but when he came back to Malawi after a year, he found that some of the farm-ers were still using tobacco. “Change is really hard to af-fect; there were some people who were growing tobacco and some still in peppers ... People change when it is valu-able and when it is helpful.”

Doyle’s experience in Ma-lawi was what he called “ac-tually living.” Living in Ma-lawi differed from traveling or touring because it was liv-ing like the locals. “I think the

biggest effect [from the Peace Corps] is to realize who and what your own culture means to you.”

Doyle recalls, “My students thought it wasn’t lying if you weren’t caught … you say what you think the person wants to hear so that you can get to what you want to do.”

“One of the things they tell you in the Peace Corps is you change and you learn more about yourself than you change others.”

Doyle learned who he was

in Malawi and what he really needed in life. The line be-tween wants and needs were very distinguished.

“When I was home I went to a church benefit auction with my parents and there was a Cannondale bike that came up, and it was $200—which was 10 percent of what it should be. That was three months’ pay ... When I came back, I didn’t want to spend money on anything.”

“I will always treasure my time there and hope to come back again, maybe not to see the people—they could have passed away, but to see the sights and what it was like.”

Science teacher Kevin doyle shows off his peace Corps attire and commemorative flag.GrIFFIN TIETz

“I think the biggest effect is to realize who and what your own culture means to you.”

Aragon teacher recounts his time in Peace Corps

14 VOLUME 53 | ISSUE 5 the aragon outlookFEATURES

Annika Olivesfeatures writer

———“It just sort of happens,”

English teacher James Daniel says about forming friendly relationships with his stu-dents. “You just sort of click. It’s about common interests; it could be about books, movies, or a similar sense of humor.” This was the case for two brothers (senior Nick Tolfa and sophomore Nathan Tolfa) who are close to Daniel be-cause of their shared interests. “They love reading and mov-ies,” Daniel says. “We just talk

about films that were made 30 years ago together.”

Teachers are some of the most important people in an adolescent’s life. The relation-ship between Daniel and the Tolfa brothers demonstrates how sometimes a teacher and teen have so much in common that it takes them beyond the

boundaries of a simple educa-tor-student relationship.

Ari Brenner, an Aragon alumnus and Daniel’s former student, shared the same co-medic nature as Daniel. This connection ultimately led to their friendship. “We both loved improv and had fun to-gether during class. He’d tell silly jokes and I’d tell mine, and we sort of bounced off each other,” Brenner says. Daniel, who is still in contact with Brenner, says the two have formed a close friend-ship. He adds, “Ari comes over to our house for dinner. He used to babysit my children.”

“He’s just the best teacher,” Brenner says about Daniel. “He’s eager to form relation-ships with students.” Brenner graduated from Aragon in 2010 but had Daniel as a teach-er for sophomore English. “He was basically my adviser dur-ing high school. I’d come to him with college applications; I really valued his opinion,” says Brenner.

Although Brenner still views Daniel as his teacher and mentor, he says that he can call Daniel, whom he has referred to as “Jim” for the last two years, his friend. “We have a unique relationship,”

he explains. “He’s both my friend and teacher. I respect him, I look up to him.” Though Brenner is away at college, his friendship with Daniel has not been strained by distance. He says, “I think we’ve gotten

closer; we never got less tight. The move to college brought us to a deeper level, since there’s more to talk about.”

English teacher Jennifer Wei is another Aragon teacher who is to connected to many of her students, both current and former. Wei laughs, “Two-fifths of my job is to care for my students. I try to be threat-ening and caring at the same

time. Idle threats are just a part of my personality, and with my humor, most students enjoy that or will laugh.”

Wei started teaching at Aragon in 2007, so some of her students from her first year of

teaching have already gradu-ated from college. “We’ll get lunch and catch up,” she says about her former students. “But we don’t hang out; we don’t go to parties together or anything like that.” Coinci-dentally, Wei is also a former student of Daniel’s. “Mr. Dan-iel encouraged me in my writ-ing. I’d start writing a short story on the back of my spell-

ing test and he’d read it aloud in class,” she explains. “That became a class tradition. I do it with my class now some-times.”

Generally, most teachers become closer to students once the student is finished taking the teacher’s class. Wei believes that there is a limit, and she says, “There’s still a conflict of interest there; I still have to give [the students] grades. It is more appropriate to be friends with students af-ter they graduate.”

Junior Sabrina Raji, who views many Aragon teach-ers as her friends, explains, “Teachers can have a sense of humor and joke like a friend but also be there for you like a friend. I consider Ms. Ecklund to be my friend and she treats me like an average person.”

Although the prospect of students and teachers as friends is at times conflicting, teachers will still have a large impact in their students’ lives. “Aragon was a phenomenal experience,” Brenner recalls. “But it was really the teachers that made it great. They go the extra mile. It’s a great memory for me.”

Murray Sandmeyerfeatures writer

———Last March, junior Stepha-

nie Mao started an online driv-ers’ education course at home. “I started, but I never finished. The whole process was ridicu-lous,” she says. “I got past the ‘History of the Automobile’ portion and I was like, ‘Are you joking?’ It said stuff about the statistics of cars in the 1920s, and when I actually got to the driving part, I said, ‘I’m done.’”

Mao’s disenchantment with the drivers’ education process is not unusual for her gen-eration. Today, fewer young people are motivated to ob-tain a license. According to a 2011 study at the University of Michigan, around half of eli-gible 16-year-olds had licenses

in 1983. In 2014, that number is estimated to be 25 percent. USA Today published a poll last December about the de-cline. According to the poll, “being too busy” or “not hav-ing enough time” is the num-ber one reason teens choose to delay the decision to drive. Other top reasons include the costly price of car ownership and easy access to transporta-tion from others.

As the number of young drivers drops, signs point to a decreasing social value of car ownership. Senior Darrell Ten says, “Personally, I would rather have a new iPhone than a new car. With a phone, you can look at directions and call people to ask for a ride. It’s more convenient, too, and it requires less maintenance and fewer payments.”

Aragon parent Christine Huth recounts the signifi-cance of getting a license when she was a teenager. “Driving meant being able to go where you wanted to go,” she says. “It meant freedom.”

Science teacher Kevin Doyle says, “I grew up in a semi-rural area and nobody lived close to anybody. You needed a car to get from here to there. I lived eight miles from school.” He adds, “Cars were a big part of our lives, and they were a lot easier to work on then. It was common for dads and sons to get together and work on an old car to get it running. You could do that back then.”

However, in a modern world where 52 percent of Americans use social network-ing and 35 million take public transportation daily, Ameri-can driving culture has al-ready peaked, and some claim that it will only continue to decline.

In fact, a recent article from National Geographic News notes that the decreas-ing number of teen drivers is inversely proportional to the number of young internet us-ers. The article attributes con-stant social connectivity to a lack of motivation to drive.

Inside schools, drivers’ edu-cation programs have largely disappeared, often being re-placed by private classes or online services. Doyle says, “When I first started teach-ing at Aragon, driving classes were mandatory, everybody had to take it. We also had an autoshop at the time.”

Huth laments the loss of such programs. “It’s a shame that there [are fewer] of those programs,” she says. “You would sign up for the class, learn about all the rules, and practice for the written test at the DMV. At the end you would also go out and practice in a real car.”

While public school pro-grams are cut, teenage driving laws have become stricter as well. Current California laws state that drivers under the age of 18 cannot transport oth-er teenagers during the first year of their license. The law is meant to curb distractions within the car.

“Teenagers have a sense of immortality,” says Doyle. “Driving stupid can be fun, but sometimes fun trumps

sensibility—particularly in teenagers. I think anything that can be done to mediate the potential is a good thing.”

With increasing limits, teenagers turn to alternatives instead of pursuing a license. Mao says, “I feel like we’re depending on each other a lot more nowadays than in the past. When we have rides from our family or friends, we don’t feel as motivated to get our own license. It’s easier to beg for rides or ask our family or friends.”

Senior Ria Patel outlines the benefits of convenient driving alternatives. “If I want

to go to a concert in the city I can use BART or Caltrain for that because parking is crazy. Last summer my friends and I went to SAP Center in San Jose. Caltrain stops literally right in front of it.”

Doyle supports more pub-lic transportation for the 21st century. “In urban areas, I hope that there’s an increas-ing trend against driving ve-hicles. If we, in this country, can get public transportation efficient enough and running through more places, that lack of dependence on cars would be a good thing. As for rural areas, people are still going to be in cars.”

Despite living in surburban San Mateo, junior Jake Huth decided to get his license. He believes his parents were the

primary influence. “My par-ents used to drive me every-where. It makes sense that they encouraged me to get a license. It was inconvenient for them.”

Jake Huth’s father, William Huth, comments on his role in Jake’s decision to get a license. “It’s not necessarily that he in-convenienced us; we wanted Jake to get a license more as a developmental step, a rite of passage. That’s what it always meant for us.”

For more content, visitaragonoutlook.org A

From teacher-student relationships to mentoring friendships

Sittin’ in the backseat: Delaying the decision to drive

“Driving meant being able to go where you wanted to go. It meant freedom.”

“It just happens. You just sort of click.”

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Matt McHughsports editor

———

YES The 2013 MLB Hall of Fame class was clearly the most

controversial in the history of the game—no player was a part of it. In a year that had the all-time home run leader, a seven-time Cy Young award winner, and the third player ever to have 3,000 hits and 500 home runs, none of them were elected. This year, three players were inducted.

Performance enhancing drugs (PEDs) tainted the game of baseball from the late ’80s to the mid-2000s. Many players took these illegal sub-stances to gain an edge in the game and boost their performance. Among those players suspected of using PEDs are Barry Bonds, Roger Clemens, Mark McGwire, and Sammy Sosa. All of those players were, at one point or another, the best players in the game. Although many players were clearly using ste-roids, none of them were at any point suspended by the league.

So why shouldn’t these players, ar-guably the best in the game, be elected into the Hall of Fame? Based on their numbers alone, Bonds and Clemens are clearly first-ballot Hall-of-Famers, and McGwire and Sosa are definitely in that discussion. Yet Clemens re-

ceived just 35.4 percent of the vote and Bonds received just 34.7 percent. Both of those figures are well short of the 75 percent required for entry.

The voters who chose not to vote for Bonds and Clemens primarily ar-gued this on the basis of the character clause included in the rules for entry. It states: “Voting shall be based upon the player’s record, playing ability, in-tegrity, sportsmanship, character and contribution to the team(s) on which the player played.”

My problem is not only how irrel-evant this clause is to the Hall of Fame, but also how it has been seemingly ig-nored by previous generations of vot-ers. Ty Cobb was the best player in the game during the early 20th century, but he was notorious for cheating in any way possible. He would sharpen his cleats for the sole purpose of cut-ting the infielder’s leg when he slid into second. There is even strong evi-dence to suggest that he gambled on his own games. But he is in the Hall of Fame.

Another issue I have with those who won’t vote for PED users is that during

the steroid era, Major League Baseball profited tremendously. The steroid era got into full swing (no pun intended) shortly after the 1994 strike shortened the season. People came out to sta-diums and watched Mark McGwire, Sammy Sosa, and Barry Bonds chase all of the records. Just a few years af-ter baseball was losing its popularity, baseball was popular again. There is strong evidence to suggest that many people knew about the steroid issue be-fore, but just turned the other shoulder until the drug tests came out. If PED users are kept out of the Hall, then the league has made all of that money un-der false pretences.

However, some people feel like by admitting PED users, they are taking away votes from clean players that are deserving of admission. This year, that was ever-so apparent with Craig Big-gio, a clean player from the steroid era who narrowly missed the 75 percent re-quirement. While Biggio did not make the cut this year, he still has 13 more years on the ballot, and as one of only 20 players with 3,000 career hits, he’ll get in easily during a less competitive year.

My issue with this argument is not that clean players should not get in, but that players suspected of PED use will not get in even if they are quali-fied. For example, Jeff Bagwell (Big-gio’s former teammate) and Mike Piazza were two of the best players of the steroid era. Yet Piazza only got 62.2 percent of the votes and Bagwell had just 54.3 percent. Part of that can be attributed to the 10-vote limit per voter, but many voters passed on them because they suspected them of steroid use. Unlike Bonds and Clemens, there is no evidence that Bagwell and Piazza have ever used PEDs. They are only “suspect” because they had big fore-arms and played in the ’90s. The fact that voters will not vote for anyone be-cause of suspected steroid use is abso-lutely insane.

Also, some voters unnecessarily worry that accepting PED users into the Hall is a method of forgiving them for their actions. However, based on the negative sentiments toward recent

PED users Ryan Braun and Alex Ro-driguez, it is clear that they have been permanently shamed.

I don’t have a vote for the Hall of Fame, and odds are I probably never will. But it really bothers me that the best players in the game are not giv-en the highest honor the game has to give. It is not the job of the voters to judge a player’s character. It is their job to judge the players on their perfor-mance on the field alone. That’s what the Hall of Fame does represent and should represent: a place for the best baseball players ever.

February 6, 2014 VOLUME 53 | ISSUE 5 15SPORTS

Spencer Wallingsports writer

———

NO Cheaters should nev-er win. They should never be recognized

or honored for their efforts after they’ve been caught and held account-able for playing against the rules, es-pecially when it comes to steroid users being up for election to Major League Baseball’s Hall of Fame. In the steroid era, baseball was undergoing a stupid, cruel era of players who battled each other to hit the farthest home runs, have the fastest speed, and pump the hardest fastballs in the game.

The one problem with working to-ward obtaining all of these attributes

was that these players had to use ste-roids to do so. In other words, that’s called cheating, which is why I stand firm and side with those who believe that PED users in baseball should not be elected to the Hall of Fame. In the words of Hall of Famer Hank Aaron: “The game has no place for cheaters.” In my opinion, steroid users in base-ball, even if they are caught once and “clean up their act,” should never ever be in the Hall of Fame because they cheated not just the game, but the fans, their teammates, and all of the other honorable, clean players.

In order to make the Hall of Fame, a candidate has to receive at least 75 percent of the votes. With the past year, Frank Thomas, Tom Glavine, and Greg Maddux were all elected and steroid users like Barry Bonds, Roger Clemens, Mark McGwire, and Sammy Sosa finished well behind. In fact, their votes had declined from the previous year, which I applaud.

I fully support voting for clean, hardworking baseball players who achieved their feats through their tal-ent, not the “superhuman” talent that supposedly comes from steroids. Babe Ruth managed to hit 714 home runs off

hot dogs and beer. On the other hand, Barry Bonds, who lives in an era with the best nutrition, trainers, facilities, and work out regimens, bypassed all of that to take part in the most sophis-ticated, state-of-the-art doping plan in sports history in order to hit 48 more home runs than Ruth. So I ask you: does Bonds deserve to be remembered as one of the greatest to play the game by being put into the Hall of Fame?

The answer: absolutely not! Barry Bonds, before he took steroids, was Mr. Everything in high school, a stud in college, and an insane ballplayer in his first years in the bigs with such promise that he easily was going to become a perennial All-Star. And this was before he took steroids. He didn’t need them; he was already the best. We will never know how good he would’ve been had he been clean his whole ca-reer, and thus cannot put him into the same boat with Hank Aaron, who in my eyes is the all-time leading home run king today.

Furthermore, many voters feel that they cannot vote for anyone who had played during the steroid era, regard-less if they are clean or not because we will never know for sure who doped or not. We are almost 10 years removed from the Mitchell Report claims, and more and more people have been caught each year, but those on the bal-lot who have been admitted to the Hall of Fame never were discussed with the use of steroids. Frank Thomas, a huge advocate for not using steroids, never had a positive test, was never claimed to have taken PEDs by his teammates or coaches, and has never been ac-cused of taking them. So why do we have to vote against him?

I saw ESPN reporter and analyst Skip Bayless a while back acknowledge that while being a journalist in Chica-go during the steroid era, he had heard countless rumors and suspicions that Chicago Cubs player Sammy Sosa was using steroids heavily. But nowhere did he hear any such things about Frank Thomas. What I’m trying to say is that by this time, we would know by now if they were cheaters. With that said, it’s preposterous to believe that cheaters—who followed the other cheaters in the game because “every-one was taking steroids” and needed this competitive advantage—should be placed in the Hall of Fame.

By being on the ballot, PED users take votes away from clean players. Nothing can prove this more than what happened this year. 3,000-hit man Craig Biggio missed the Hall of Fame this year by two votes while ste-roid users Sammy Sosa, Barry Bonds, Roger Clemens, Mark McGwire, and Rafael Palmeiro received a combined 529 votes. There is absolutely no doubt that if one of these users had been left off the ballot for PED use, then Craig Biggio would be up there on the po-dium this summer with his fellow in-ductees entering the Hall of Fame. But as we know, that will not be the case. With that said, it’s just a shame what the steroid era has done to baseball and how we allow it to continue to cut down those great ballplayers who played baseball with their true talents.

Should steroid users be allowed in the MLB Hall of Fame?

1. GregMaddux......97.2%2. TomGlavine........91.9%3. FrankThomas....83.7%4. CraigBiggio...........74.8%5. MikePiazza...........62.2%

6. JackMorris............61.5%7. JeffBagwell..........54.3%8. TimRaines.............46.1%9. RogerClemens....35.4%10.BarryBonds..........34.7%

2014voTingBReakdown

“Cheatersshouldneverwin.”

“It’snotthejobofthevoterstojudgeaplayer’scharacter.”

Which side are you on?Take our poll at

aragonoutlook.org/sports

16 VOLUME 53 | ISSUE 5 the aragon outlookSPORTS

Jeffrey Kishiyamasports writer

———The boys varsity soccer

team fell 1-0 to the Sequoia Cherokees on Friday in a chilly match where neither team seemed to play at its best. The Dons had a sluggish first half, which contained the only goal of the match on a miscommu-nication between the Dons. However, they picked up in the second, taking more shots on goal and playing stronger de-fense. Head Coach Greg Mar-koulakis says, “We’re learning that you have to play consis-tently [and that] you can’t play one half of a game; you have to play two halves. It was dis-heartening. We knew that we could beat this team. We were missing three starters today, and one in the central mid-field who is a very important player for us.”

With their loss to Sequoia, the Dons are still winless in division play, showing the true difficulty of the Bay Divi-

sion. Last year, the Dons com-peted in the Ocean Division, the lower of the two divisions. Markoulakis adds, “The speed of play in Bay, as opposed to Ocean of last year, is much quicker. The intensity level is much higher, so the boys are seeing that, as we competed quite well last year. This year is a little tougher.”

Overall, this season has been rough for the Dons, espe-cially in terms of the injuries that plague the team. Mark-oulakis says, “Since the first game of the season, we’ve had too many starters missing. They’re starting to come back, but they’re coming back at half speed.”

Although the season is coming to an end, the team still has some goals for the fu-ture. Senior defender and vice-captain Steve Gomez agrees, “We just need to work on our communication. We get a little quiet at times. [There is] some-times a lack of aggression and sometimes a lack of effort. We

pick it up, but it needs to start off from the beginning.”

At practice, the team is still building and fixing. Gomez says, “We’re trying out some new partnerships and new formations on the field, which help our communication, and solve our problems with ef-fort. It’s basically just finding the right chemistry, and then going from there.”

Markoulakis adds, “We have to address our finishing, [so] that’s what we’re address-ing [in practice] right now.”

The team seems to follow a strange trend, week to week, according to Markoulakis: “In the season, we have two games per week. We play extremely well on Wednesdays, but on Fridays, we have a bit of a let-down normally. So that’s the difficulty we’ve had this sea-son; Wednesdays we put much more of an effort out.”

In theory, the work the team has done on communica-tion this year will not be lost on next year’s team, because

this year’s team is so young. Markoulakis says, “We are younger. We lost eight [start-ing] seniors to graduation last year, and we brought up six sophomores. It bodes well for next year.”

Sophomore midfielder Mi-chael Lanthier adds, “I don’t think it will be a major change, it’ll just be a matter of working

together.”The boys varsity soccer

team will close their season with rematches against vari-ous members of the PAL Bay Division. The team currently has a (3-4-1) overall record and is (0-2) in league play. The team’s next game is at 3 p.m. against Burlingame on Feb. 7.

Max Herrerasports writer

———“Finish.” After the girls

varsity soccer team’s 2-2 draw against the Menlo-Atherton Bears on Thursday, the “fin-ish” is a powerful motivator for the Lady Dons as they head into the final games of the sea-son. Finishing attacks, finish-ing shots, finishing games, and most importantly, finish-ing the season.

With just two goals scored heading into their match with Menlo-Atherton, the Lady Dons jogged onto the field hungry to finish attacks with shots on goal.

Midway through the first half, the third goal came. Se-nior defender Jordan Lewis launched the ball over the heads of the defense and right into the path of senior forward Aislinn Oka. “I ran on and shot, it went off the keeper and I followed up and scored,” Oka says.

Though just one goal, it proved to be the spark the Lady Dons needed. “We had a slump the past four games, but this game we scored and the energy completely changed,” Oka adds. “Everyone had this belief that we could win and I just think everyone worked a lot harder because the goal brought belief.”

The Lady Dons rode their momentum into the half, keep-ing the Bears out of their goal, including a save off a free kick by sophomore keeper Jennifer Parker.

Parker started the second half right where she left off with a save in the first two minutes, holding the Bears without a score. Menlo-Ather-

ton applied heavy pressure, controlling the ball in Aragon territory for nearly the entire first five minutes, including four shots in the first three minutes.

The Lady Dons’ ability to rebound was tested midway through the second half when a Menlo-Atherton free kick set up a score into the left side of the net by junior forward Amanda Wiseman. The Bears found the same side of the net minutes later when Menlo-Atherton sophomore midfield-er Sarah McLeod sent a shot past the outstretched hands of Parker.

Unlike past games, the Lady Dons were not shutout. The same belief that came from the first goal continued. Oka adds, “It carried in even after they scored, and they scored again we still had the belief that we scored once, we can score again.” The belief turned into reality when sophomore striker Erica Martinez placed a ball to the left side of a div-ing keeper and scored.

The Lady Dons defense fin-ished the game strong and

continued to extinguish the aggressive Menlo-Atherton at-tack, including a diving save by Parker with seven and a half minutes left.

Though a draw, the Lady Dons tied the amount of goals scored all season in just one game against a top team. “It felt like a win,” says Oka.

Head Coach Nick Dye adds, “Today there was just some-thing about them that said, ‘I’m not going to lose.’ There was no fear. And when you play without that fear and you have that mentality of wanting to win the game, good things happen. Today the mentality in front of goal was the same mentality across the field. It was ‘I’m going to make this happen.’”

Six games remain in the season that, if won, could pro-pel the Dons into CCS. “Keep performing like this and re-sults will come,” says Dye. “With momentum in our fa-vor, you never know.”

The Dons (1-7-4) will square off at home against Woodside (10-2-2) this Tuesday at 3 p.m.

Boys varsity soccer falls 1–0 to Sequoia after sluggish first half

Lady Dons find wave of momentum in 2–2 draw against top-ranked Menlo-Atherton

Aragon falls to Mills 63–35Dons drop to 5–3 in league play

Spencer Wallingsports writer

———After defeating Mills in an

exhilarating one-point game on their home floor, the Dons traveled to Mills on Jan. 31 with a chance to sweep the sea-son series. Entering with a 5-2 league record, the Dons were in a prime position to main-tain a strong standing in PAL, but had a tough task ahead of them with the Vikings. From the tipoff, Mills took control, opening the game on a 10-2 run and ending the first quar-ter with a 16-5 advantage over the Dons. Opening up with a zone defense, Mills shut down the Dons’ attempts at driving to the basket, and the Dons failed to convert on their jump shots, which lead to a 33-7 Dons deficit at halftime.

Head Coach Sam Manu says, “Our passing was stag-nant and not fluid at all. We’d get underneath, and [Mills se-nior center Eric Wright] had nice hops and would alter our shots down low. He’s about six-foot-six, and we would penetrate but then run into him and he was able to once again alter our shots.”

The lack of converting down low and not hitting open shots really proved to hurt the Dons continuously throughout the game. “It was like a snowball effect,” adds Manu. “We would miss our shots, then we would press mentally to try and get things going, and then we would drive and run into their center down low. Those three things combined to make a snowball effect.”

In the second half, it was more of the same from the

Dons, as Mills kept on attack-ing the boards, finding qual-ity shots and playing a tight zone defense while the Dons just could not find a rhythm offensively. Aragon opened up the second half on a quality 5-0 run starting with a quick three from senior guard Trev-or Pagaduan, but that would prove to be one of the few small bursts of offense from the Dons squad. In the end, Mills emerged victorious with a final score of 63-35.

Now with a 5-3 record in league play, the Dons look to get back on track on Feb. 7 at San Mateo.

Senior Toby Liebergesell dribbles past the Mills defense during a game on Friday, Jan.31.

VIENNA AUErWECK

Senior forward Aislinn Oka shoots on the Bears’ goal during a game against Menlo-Atherton on Jan. 30.

NATALIE rUTGErS

Junior forward Ricky Villasenor prepares to pass the ball through Sequoia’s defense during a game on Jan. 31.

NICOLE WALLACE

Find more basketball coverage, including exclusive online photos, at aragonoutlook.org.

february 2014 issue

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