CALPADS re lea se s f ou r - yea r d ropou t ra te

Volume 51 Issue 01 September 15, 2011

Aragon High School 900 Alameda de las Pulgas San Mateo, CA 94402

Non-Profit Organization

U.S. Postage PAID

Permit No. 782

San Mateo, CA

BY DYLAN WANGTECHNOLOGY EDITOR

Arriving at Aragon for a new year, students were greeted by the sight of unfamiliar construction. Funded by Measure M, the con-struction will act as an extension of several areas of curriculum.

Most notably, work on the new theatre has begun on the site where the outdoor basketball courts used to be. The construc-tion started last December 1 and is expected to finish sometime around May of next year. There are many new additions and improvements for the new the-atre, such as a formal lobby and a patio. “[We will have] a front entrance that makes an impact,” says Drama Department Director Shane Smuin.

Aragon also plans to extend

science wing to allow for five more classrooms. These new classrooms will solve the issue of having to switch classrooms throughout the day for the science teachers. Two of the new rooms will be dedicat-ed to the biotech classes.

Digital photography, which currently occupies one of the computer labs that used to be available to teachers, will also be getting a dedicated classroom in the science wing. Digital Photog-raphy teacher Aimee Reed said, “The new classroom will have a lighting studio area and a special room to lock up the cameras and other equipment, which we cur-rently don’t have.”

Besides the biotech classrooms and the digital photography class-room, two other rooms will be built. One of them will be used by the engineering class as well as

the robotics team, and the other one is being built as a multimedia room for an undetermined class.

As a result of the construc-tion, around 57 parking spots have been eliminated. Instead of the first-come-first-serve style that Aragon employed before, this year the parking spots were assigned by a lottery. The lottery was randomly chosen by Dounia Kardosh of student services.

According to Kardosh, 109 stu-dents out of the 131 that applied received a permit. “I think it’s the only way [the administration] could have dealt with it,” says Jon-athan Pan, a senior who did not receive a permit. “It’s sort of un-fair, but I can understand.”

The construction of the new science buildings is expected to finish around February. When CONTINUED ON PAGE 3

BY SANGWON YUNNEWS EDITOR

On Friday, August 11, the California Longitudinal Pupil Achievement Data System re-leased four-year data regard-ing dropout rates. The statewide graduation was reported as 74.4 percent, with the dropout rate at 18.2 percent.

Aragon High School’s adjust-ed 4-year derived dropout rate, which, according to the published CALPADS report, is “an estimate of the percent of students who would drop out in a four-year period based on data collected for a single year,” stood at 3.7 percent. The San Mateo Union High School District, on the other hand, had a corresponding figure that was over twice that of Ara-gon’s at 8.7 percent.

Commenting on the released data, Assistant Principal Jim Coe said, “What we’re trying to do is CONTINUED ON PAGE 2

Turn to page 7 to find out why “Mr. Thurtle is ... cool.”

Why OUR generation? Turn to the centerspread now!

Turn to page 6 for a feature on academic competition!

BY BRANDON LIUNEWS EDITOR

After suffering a defeat at the hands of the San Mateo Bearcats last year, the Aragon varsity foot-ball team appeared eager to reas-sert their dominance. Thunder and lightning were not enough to stop the Don’s 50-22 victory on Friday night at San Mateo.

New to the Ocean Division after moving down from the Bay, the Dons hope to build on this first success.

The Bearcats started the game on the receiving end, but soon

gave up their possession after be-ing pushed near their end zone. Despite a sack and a false start penalty, the Dons were able to take advantage of the situation with a completion to Aldo Sev-erson at the 11-yard line. After a couple rushing gains, Aragon’s James Egan drove into the end zone for the game’s first touch-down.

Later in the first quarter, San Mateo recovered the second of Aragon’s back-to-back fumbles. A completion to Andrew Ho re-sulted in the first of the Bearcat’s three touchdowns.

Aragon’s Dominic Proia pro-ceeded to connect with Greg Lyons to put the Dons up 13-7. Aragon widened the gap when Thomas Sortwell returned an in-terception for 45 yards to increase the lead to 19-7. The Dons then followed up with a successful two-point conversion and entered the second quarter leading 21-7.

Marcell Jackson would then drive in for another Aragon touchdown and the Dons then proceeded to convert another two points as the lead rose to 29-7. However, San Mateo bounced back with a touchdown pass to

Andrew Ho. Ho then rushed for a San Mateo two point conversion as the Bearcats briefly closed the lead to 29-15.

Unfortunately for Ho, there was little left he could do as Ara-gon dominated the second half with its running game and of-fensive line. Trailing 43-15, San Mateo was only able to score once more before James Egan dove through the San Mateo defend-ers for yet another Aragon touch-down to push the lead to 50-22.

As the clock hit zero, Aragon fans stormed the field. CoachCONTINUED ON PAGE 2

TDAPVaccinations

38 students’ attendance in jeopardy

As of Monday, September 12, these students had yet to show proof of vaccina-tion. Failure to do so by

Friday, September 16 will require their exclusion from

school.

Do you know about

Aragon’s

wireless network?

Username: AHS

Password: ahsairnet

Next month:

Aragon’s 50th Anniversary Celebration

Oct. 14: Home Football Game Varsity 7:00 PM

Alumni Recognition during halftime

Oct. 15: Morning tours of Aragon. See the new buildings, pool and fields.

Oct. 15: 50th Anniversary BanquetCrown Plaza Hotel 7 PM - 11 PM

Check out the October issue of the Aragon Outlook for a

feature on the events.

PSATWednesday, October 12

Junior Registration: $22Sophomore Registration: Free

Make sure to bring a #2 pencil, eraser, and

approved calculator.

Juniors must pick up their PSAT prep booklets from the

office after registration.

Stem Cell Awareness DayOpen House

Those interested in pursuing a career in the biomedical field should take advantage of

this opportunity to speak with professional scientists.

Wednesday, Oct. 53:00 - 5:00 p.m.

The Parkinson’s Institute and Clinical Center675 Almanor Ave., Sunnyvale

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Above: Aragon’s offensive line matches up against San Mateo. Upper Right: Senior Davarian Redd evades a San Mateo defender. Lower Right: Junior Dominc Proia prepares to juke a pair of linebackers.

02 NEWS

Dropout Rates of SMUHSD

0.00%

2.00%

4.00%

6.00%

8.00%

10.00%

12.00%

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VOLUME 51, ISSUE 01SEPTEMBER 15, 2011

New Superintendent Joins SMUHSD

Football season begins with win

Dropout Rates

BY BRANDON LIUNEWS EDITOR

The San Mateo Union High School District (SMUHSD) wel-comes Associate Superintendent of Instruction Andy Parsons for the 2011-2012 school year. Par-sons will be replacing Matt Big-ger and is looking to empower the faculty of SMUHSD through cooperation and communication.

Parsons was hired in early July after finishing his ninth year as principal of Heritage High School in Brentwood. Before his career in education, he worked in the res-taurant business until he realized his love of history and decided to pursue a career as an educator.

For Parsons, the transition to the district office entails a slight adjustment from the school site setting. Each day consists of meetings with the superintendent and other administrative heads. “I’m not a desk person,” he says, “I need to get out and see what peo-ple need. It’s also a change that I don’t have to do everything.”

He is also adjusting to the dis-trict itself which is composed of six schools instead of the three in the Liberty Union High School District. The populations of the two school districts are relatively

equal, but Parsons comes from a high school with 2200 students.

After hearing about the bud-get cuts, Parsons was pleasantly surprised when he first visited the district. He says, “Just look out-side at the construction. The su-perintendent and the board have done a great job keeping the cuts away from the classroom.”

Parsons says, “My primary goal is to support the principals and the administration in developing teacher leaders.” He believes this will translate to the classrooms by encouraging students to stay engaged.

Superintendent Scott Laurence also agrees and shares the philos-ophy that empowering and train-ing teachers will be important in the future. He says, “You can’t just hand someone a SMART Board. You have to explain. However, we are giving them the tools and time for professional development that are critical to helping long term student performance.”

Parsons also wants to focus on underrepre-sented students, students with disabilities, and English learn-ers. This is rea-sonable due to the fact that the API scores for Aragon English Learners dropped 67 points last year.

While Parsons has not seen much of the schools yet, he feels that communication between school sites could be improved. “We’re all educators, and we need to ‘steal’ as many ideas as we can from each other,” he says.

Parsons and Laurence are in-vestigating the use of technology for classroom use. The district has

SMART Boards and projectors, but Parsons is looking to further that initiative. He says, “Technol-ogy will play a key role in edu-cation. The only issue is how to structure its parameters.”

At Heritage, Parsons intro-duced a successful service called Qwizdom which is an audience response system that can be oper-ated with the use of a cell phone or clicker. Parsons says, “It’s a kind of formative assessment that’s great because now it’s not just the same four kids raising their hands.”

He says, “The technology cre-ates equity for asking questions anonymously while engaging students at the same time. This way, the shy kid that doesn’t like answering questions can become involved.”

Parsons believes that in or-der to effect change, it cannot go “top down.” He says, “You have to teach other people first to be leaders. I can sit here all I want sending emails, but if they don’t know why or if they don’t feel

empowered, the change won’t be lasting.”

P a r s o n s was officially dubbed “Papa” Parsons for his close relation-ships with the

students and faculty of Heritage High School. He says, “This is a very good district, but in order to be a great district, we need all stu-dents to be successful.” The em-phasis on “all” students will be a major part of Parsons future goals in the district as he looks to em-power both students and faculty.

CONTINUED FROM PAGE1prevent students from failing. So the support classes, the tu-torials, and all that stuff is de-signed to prevent students from failing a course.

“Usually, we do a good job with the counseling staff to screen students and prevent them from getting behind in credits. Encouraging them. Put-ting them in the right courses. Meeting with parents. All that kind of stuff to get them to turn their academic life around.”

Coe noted that the SMUHSD had formed committees in the previous year that focused on freshman students with regard to identifying and supporting failing individuals. He said, “We still need to do work for the sophomores, and so a committee will be formed this year to look specifically at our sophomore program [and decide] whether we have something Peninsula-like … after the freshman year, if a student is still continuing to fail [despite] all the forces that we’ve put in place, maybe we do need an alternative program at that point. Not wait till junior year, but start the alternative program the sophomore year because they need something different. ... The other piece is ‘What are we going to do for students who have failed forty or more units? How are we go-ing to meet that need?’”

Speaking on support sys-tems for students, Counselor Steve Allekotte said, “One thing [counselors] do is monitor their success. Every six weeks, we print what we a call a ‘D-F List’: multiple D’s and F’s. And those are the kids that we’re monitor-ing, calling in, setting up parent conferences sometimes. So we’re trying to keep kids from falling behind and having them go to Peninsula.

Referring to Aragon’s compa-rably low dropout rate, Allekotte added, “I think we’ve got an in-

credible teaching staff … And because each student has an advisor and a counselor, we’re able to monitor these kids more closely and more regularly.”

English teacher Genevieve Thurtle, who currently serves as Aragon’s professional develop-ment site coordinator and the San Mateo Union High School District’s professional devel-opment district coordinator, provided insight into current initiatives aimed at improv-ing instructional strategies. She said, “We’re talking more spe-cifically about struggling popu-lations. For example, [for] many of our mainstream EL students, there was a significant drop in standardized test scores here at Aragon … Pat Kurtz and I are looking at those numbers and those students and trying to figure out if those students are placed properly in support classes that they need in order to do well in English and in math.

“So one of the things that we’ll be doing this year is do-ing professional development that is related to targeting that population: figuring out ways to incorporate teaching strate-gies that are most effective for those students because it tends to be those types of students that do end up dropping out of high schools - the ones that are struggling, who sort of have this habituation to failure in differ-ent classes.”

The released data as a whole was heralded for its improved accuracy, which was attributed to the use of statewide student identifiers. A unique, randomly-generated, 10-digit number as-signed to each student, SSIDs enabled CALPADS to track stu-dents as they transferred from one public school to another within the state of California, and thereby more effectively identify the students who did dropout.

CONTINUED FROM PAGE 1Steve Sell was equally enthusiastic as he said, “I’m really happy for the kids. They were really disap-pointed from last year, but this was their game. “

For Aragon, the victory was not easy to come by. Sell adds, “At times we executed. At times we shot ourselves in the foot.”

The San Mateo players learned from the loss. Senior Andrew Ho said, “We just didn’t execute plays. Tonight was about mistakes. Per-sonally I made mistakes too, but we can’t play like that. Mistakes decide the game.”

Ho was an offensive force Fri-day night with two of San Mateo’s three touchdowns. Sell said, “We tried to double cover Ho, but he’s great. He’s a special player, prob-ably one of the best receivers in the county.”

The Aragon players thought it was more than just San Mateo’s mistakes. Junior Marcell Jackson said, “We also made a few mis-takes, but we were going hard. Their defensive line was pushed by our offensive line.”

Senior Keenan Woodard said, “This was a good win. We did

everything right and made our blocks, but the main factor was executing. Our offense executed and our defense flew to the ball.”

The Dons came into this game heads held high after extending the 19-year win streak against Hillsdale to finish off last season.

The players have been practic-ing six days a week. Sophomore Nathaniel Blood said, “We’ve been working on a lot of defense and preparing for San Mateo by scouting their offense. One of our strengths would have to be our offensive line. They can take ad-vice well and apply it. If anything,

our weakness is size. We’re small-er, but we have speed and skill.”

Sell is not extremely concerned about the talent of other teams in the division. “The thing is that there’s not a big difference be-tween the top and bottom teams. All the teams are doing well and everyone is pretty equal. We have to focus on what we as a team are doing, otherwise we won’t be able to beat anyone.”

For Sell, each new season brings the possible glory of a championship victory. The posi-tive start holds the promise of success in the Ocean Division.

“This is a very good dis-trict, but in order to be a great district, we need all students to be successful.”-Associate Superintendent of Instruction Andy Parsons

Please visit aragonoutlook.net for even more exciting content!

Tomorrow, Sept. 16 against Lincoln High School 7 p.m. at Aragon

Upcoming Varsity Football Game

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James Egan dives into the end zone for the final Aragon touchdown.

Associate Superintendent Andy Parsons

03NEWSVOLUME 51, ISSUE 01SEPTEMBER 15, 2011

High school: Reality Versus Expectations

Construction Update

Introduction: New DonsBY PANIZ AMIRNASIRIFEATURES EDITOR

Crowded hallways packed with unsmiling students, twisting cor-ridors that lead to dead ends, and looming upperclassmen that pos-sess no mercy. Fully adjusted to middle school, freshmen can be unnerved by the change in en-vironment in the beginning of their high school adventure. In addition to rumors passed down from generation to generation, the media plays a large role in cre-ating an image of high school in the minds of freshmen. However, many aspects of this often unre-alistic representation prove false when compared to the realities of high school.

The typical media portrayal of high school often includes many of the same aspects. Movies and television series frequently show highly exclusive social groups dominated by stereotypes (such as the jocks, nerds, skaters, etc.). Among other situations, students getting crammed into lockers and thrown into trash cans are also popular depictions. “Most shows make [high school] seem very in-timidating; you’re a small fish in a big pond,” says freshman Julise Hall. Although all of the portray-als may not be completely untrue, freshman Oliver Al-Shamari says, “They definitely exaggerate the facts.”

With frightening scenarios engraved into their minds, many Aragon freshmen find themselves pleasantly surprised with the re-alities of high school. Freshman Aleana Abou-Ata says, “Everyone said the teachers don’t care [so] you have to figure everything out on your own, but that wasn’t true—they actually help out a lot.” Adds freshman Alexander Koshy, “I was a little bit nervous for the bullying because I’m short, but there isn’t a lot of it from what I’ve seen.” Contradictory to yet another popular belief freshman Tali Havin adds, “I’d heard about Freshman Friday, but I kind of knew that it wouldn’t happen.”

Despite the myths that of-ten prove false, certain qualities about high school can also end up somewhat true. For one, the consistent designs of the hallways and classrooms and the seemingly

confusing room numbers at Ara-gon require getting used to for some freshmen. “All of the classes and hallways look the same to me, so sometimes I don’t know where I’m going,” says Havin. Regard-ing the work Koshy says, “[high school] is a lot harder than I ex-pected.” Also regarding middle school, Al-Shamari adds, “Most of my friends went to San Mateo High School, so I miss [not hav-ing them around].” Freshman Sa-vanna Cyr says, “I pretty much ex-pected a fresh new start, and that’s what I wanted.”

Furthermore, both pleasant and unpleasant revelations appear to freshmen once high school ac-tually begins. “[I was surprised by] how much we have to run in P.E.,” says Havin. Also, since it is rarely available in middle school, swimming for physical education often surprises freshmen. “Swim-ming [shocked me] because we have so little time to take a shower and change,” says freshman Rania Hindi.

Cyr was surprised by the lack of school spirit saying “We’re not as spirited as San Mateo and we’re

not as bad as some other schools, but during spirit week [almost] no one dressed up.” On a more positive note, “There are so many different clubs [which means] you can make new friends with the same interests as you,” says Koshy. Similarly, Anthony Kalife says, “The amount of people is a lot more than I thought, [so] I’m excited to meet different people.” The aspect that surprised fresh-man Kailee Torres the most was: “Classmates with beards.”

Despite the media’s embel-lished twist on the realities of high school, most students quickly differ between truth and fiction. Even with certain myths debunked, high school is still a brand new environment that re-quires an adjusting process for all freshmen. The duration of this assimilation differs from student to student. While certain students already feel fully adjusted to high school, others still aim to famil-iarize themselves with certain as-pects of high school. Kalife says, “I’m somewhere in the middle—I’m getting there but I’m not completely used to it yet.”

CONTINUED FROM PAGE 1the construction is complete, ten of the parking spots will become available again. At that time, a second lottery will be held, with students that did not get a park-ing spot in the first lottery having

priority.Civil Improvement, if proved

financially possible by the dis-trict after the current construc-tion, aims to improve the campus in general. This project includes changes such as making the park-

ing behind the office all diagonal instead of parallel to fit more staff, as well as adding more plants to the school. If the project is ap-proved by the district office, Civil Improvement could start as soon as the of summer 2012.

BY ANDREW LYUNEWS EDITOR

Why did you want to become a teacher?

Dunfey: I used to be a sail-ing instructor and I used to have white board mini lessons. I guess that’s where I caught the teaching bug.

Jan: In high school I had friends with issues at home who needed counseling. I knew there was a big need for support staff. And I didn’t like being a teacher.

Ho: I want to make a differ-ence and I figured with an interest in the subject matter [of languag-es], teaching was a way for me to make a contribution.

Davos: When I started nursing school and I decided that nursing wasn’t for me. I still wanted to be in a helping profession so I start-ed in speech pathology and then moved to an educational setting.

Mayers: I enjoy when students use imagination and learn new things. I love to be a part of that.

What is your favorite part of the subject you teach?

Dunfey: Analyzing the people and themes of the stories we read.

Jan: Talking to people. I really like talking to students and get-ting to know them.

Ho: Being able to express your-self in another language. I think it is fascinating to be able to express yourself in a different way.

Davos: Opening up students to help them to communicate more efficiently because learning to speak is the key to success in our world.

Mayers: When students go be-yond my expectations

If you were any character from Toy Story who would you be and why?

Dunfey: Woody because he’s an organizer. He keeps other peo-ple in mind and he is emotional.

Jan: Mrs. Potato head because I’ve been with my significant oth-er for a long time and we act like the old married couple.

Ho: Mr. Potato head. He and his wife are the ones who are al-ways worried. They are planners and conscientious. They are kind of nerdy and that is kind of how I see myself.

Davos: Jessie. People think I’m perky and I am kind of loud and enthusiastic, so I think I’m like her.

Mayers: I don’t’ really know Toy Story well enough. But I like the cowboy. He has a cute hat, and a nice smile.

If you had a super power, what would it be and why?

Dunfey: Fly because in my dreams I fly.

Jan: Freeze time so I could sleep in.

Ho: Create a copy of myself so I could stay home and have my copy do the work I didn’t want to do.

Davos: Read people’s thoughts, because I like to wonder about what people are thinking and how their minds work.

Mayers: I would like to be fast only because I’m slowing down. You know those vampire movies where the vampires move really fast? I want to be like that. I want to get things done, be a speed reader, and all of that.

Please visit aragonoutlook.net to read the

rest of this inter-view and see

web-exclusive content.

Florian Davos (Speech)

Kim Dunfey(English)

Rena Jan(Financial Aid)

Joanna Mayers (Special Ed)

Benjamin Ho(Spanish)

The new science wing will extend farther into the parking lot. The extension will add five new rooms to the science hall.

Freshmen Kailee Torres (front) and Samantha Fernandez (back) enter Mrs. Daniel’s English AS 1-2 class.

Students will now be able to walk around the backside the science wing.

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Statistics:758,000 students enrolled in college in 1960. 2,058,000 enrolled in college in 2009. 1,300,00 more students en-rolled in college in 2009 than in 1960.

No one will be surprised to hear that generation Y knows mobile technology better than its predecessors. We send more emails from our phones, play more smartphone games, and have more mp3 players in general. But a reader would likely be surprised to hear that Generation X isn’t far behind in cell phone ownership, and in fact on par in terms of tablets and video game con-soles. The real difference between generations is in how the technology is used; Generation Y takes much more advantage of the vast possibilities of a por-table all-in-one device, zespecially when it comes to music and the internet.

Generation Y, or the Millennial Generation, emerged just before the turn of the 21st century, marking a new era in history. Armed with a distinct familiarity with technology and newfangled methods of communication, Generation Y is the product of a world with such monumental innovations as the internet and social media. Loosely distinguished by birth dates ranging from the 1980’s to the 1990’s, Generation Y is the largest gen-eration since the Baby Boomers. Generation Y has lived through historical milestones such as the Iraq War, Hurricane Katrina, Columbine, Y2K, and Monica Lewinsky. Nevertheless, global conflicts have not stopped this generation from its characteristic cosmopolitan confidence and diversity that mark Generation Y as the gen-eration of the future.

In our generation, the media possesses an unparalleled influence over information and culture. The growth of technology has allowed the media to spread information and ideas at a rapid rate. Television, the internet, newspapers, magazines and the radio enable the media to be involved in all aspects of life. The far-reaching influence of the media has allowed it to express its views upon millions of people, shaping the way our society thinks and acts.

The growth of technology has also changed the music world. With the advent of the creation of the synthesizer, the genres of dance, rock, and hip-hop have all changed. Moreover, the creation of the auto tuner has also changed the dynamic of the music industry. Many artists no longer have to rely on personal talent to rise to stardom. As can be seen by phenomenons such as Rebecca Black, a strong auto-tune job can launch any singer to fame.

Many students of Generation Y face academic expectations unparalleled by those of the past. Stu-dents seem to juggle the onslaught of homework, AP classes, and college applications like it is an obliga-tion. Although this constant academic pressure de-fines Generation Y, how will it provide for the future?

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Survey results of 202 Aragon students on computer type preference

83

91 93 94

42

63

37

57

39

57

35

52

36

61

=Generation X

=Generation Y

How strongly does the media influence Ara-gon’s appearance and social interactions?

(Based on a poll of 195 students)

Generation Y, or the Millennial Generation, emerged just before the turn of the 21st century, marking a new era in history. Armed with a distinct familiarity with technology and newfangled methods of communication, Generation Y is the product of a world with such monumental innovations as the internet and social media. Loosely distinguished by birth dates ranging from the 1980’s to the 1990’s, Generation Y is the largest gen-eration since the Baby Boomers. Generation Y has lived through historical milestones such as the Iraq War, Hurricane Katrina, Columbine, Y2K, and Monica Lewinsky. Nevertheless, global conflicts have not stopped this generation from its characteristic cosmopolitan confidence and diversity that mark Generation Y as the gen-eration of the future. We are Generation Y, and this is our story.

Even beyond its eager and open mindset, the statistics and demographics of Generation Y differ drastically from those of previous gen-erations. By far the most diverse generation, Generation Y strongly focuses on personal ambitions, nurturing a self confidence begot by the coddling nature of contemporary par-ents. While Generation Y is also perceived as the most charitable generation, the data on the right does not completely reflect this percon-ception.The statistics TO THE RIGHT reflect our multifaceted drive and need to succeed.

What’s important to Aragon Students

To get rich

To be famous

To help people

To be leaders in their community

To be more spiritual

What is one way that you have asserted your political ideas and beliefs in your community?

Victor Jimenez (12): “I participated in el Día de Silencio for 2 years running. We marched in front of Congress-woman Speier’s office to try to get her to see how deep-ly people were affected by immigration laws.”

Laynie Mitchell (11): “I went up to the Tenderloin last March as part of an organization called BJM (Because Justice Matters) which protests against hu-man trafficking. We made care packages and handed them to women on the streets.”

Youth Voting Statistics:

Some wonder, however, if we can even be classified as a generation distinct from others. We lack many of the shared de-fining characteristics that united the Baby Boomers as a generation. But even when overshadowed by the massive oneness of the Baby Boomers, Aragon students seem to believe that we are indeed a singular generation. And ultimately, perhaps it is our incredible diversity that unites us.

Voter turnout among 18-24 year olds at the time of the 2008 election was 49% (the biggest increase of any group, but still lower than any other group)

CENTER SPREAD BY EMILY YIPLAYOUT BY REBECCA HU

How strongly does the media influence Ara-gon’s appearance and social interactions?

(Based on a poll of 195 students)

06 FEATURES VOLUME 51, ISSUE 01SEPTEMBER 15, 2011

BY OLIVIA MARCUSFEATURES EDITOR

For the modern high school student, the pressure to succeed can be overwhelming. Many teens feel obligated to take demand-ing classes while juggling intense workloads, and this competitive mindset often emerges in the classroom. Students have become increasingly competitive with their peers, their friends, and even themselves. Many now ask, where is the line between competition and antagonism?

As the teacher of one of Ara-gon’s most desired classes, AP Bi-ology’s Katie Ward explains, “The classes themselves are not de-signed so that kids have to com-pete to be at the top… [everyone] could get an A if they deserved it. The competition is student gen-erated.” Freshman Jessica Moe concurs, “The teachers encourage you to do your best and really try rather than be the best.”

Conversely, some see compe-tition arise between students in

negative ways. “People are always comparing grades on essays or tests. They are always asking, ‘Oh, what did you get on the test?’, or things like that” says senior Kirst-en Ho.

“I usually see competition arise in AP classes more than anywhere else,” adds junior Der-rick Leong, “Everyone’s vying for the A and sometimes they have to step on others to get it.”

Students may be taking classes that put them under pressure to succeed, but competition can also stem from other stressors. In re-cent years, college admission rates have dropped, and many students feel pressure to make themselves competitive in the application process.

Nick Tom, a senior who is cur-rently drafting his applications, says, “There is definitely compe-tition outside of Aragon’s classes, as college admissions become in-creasingly rigorous. It’s not mali-cious; [Aragon students] are just applying to the same colleges.” Kirsten Ho agrees, adding, “We

are all trying to get into good col-leges, and there are only so many spots in the top colleges we all aim for.”

However, many remain di-vided when it comes to determin-ing how academic competition should be addressed. “I am very competitive with other students,” says freshman Nicholas Veizades, “I think that’s a good thing. It im-

proves the work of stu-

dents.” Melissa Spaulding, a soph-omore who recently transferred from Notre Dame High School, adds, “The academic atmosphere here is great. I feel very support-ed and welcomed by the people around me.”

Others are concerned about the effects. Junior Luiggi Sebas-tiani explains, “People try to outdo each other, and they always seem stressed when they’re com-

peting against others.”For now, Aragon students will

continue to tackle the pressure of high school. Although competi-tion between peers can some-times lead to unfriendliness, most agree that the average teenager is only trying to succeed.

Spanish teacher Luisa Hardy resolves, “Students should know that competition isn’t everything —it’s ok to just be a good person.

BY PANIZ AMIRNASIRIFEATURES EDITOR

Over the past generation, many high schools have transformed learning from a full day of lecture into a mixture of note-taking, in-teractive tasks, and simulations. The concept of learning styles played a large role in this shift in teaching technique. Varying from kinesthetic to visual, the learning styles designate each individual as learning most effectively when taught through a certain ap-proach. But is this concept truly valuable or insignificant?

In their article, The Myth of Learning Styles, psychologists Cedar Reiner and Daniel Will-ingham investigate the learning styles, separating truth from exag-geration. They begin by present-ing the aspects of the theory that studies have deemed true.

For one, they explain that the way each individual learns differs from one person to the next and influences efficiency. Background knowledge also affects learning by improving one’s ability to grasp concepts that are familiar. Ad-ditionally, learning varies based on subject matter and individual learning capacities. Taking this into account, many of the teachers at Aragon present lessons in ways that address the abilities—not necessarily the learning styles—of different students.

English teacher Holly Dietz says, “Mostly it’s intuitive and

based on the needs that I see out there. I don’t know if [stu-dents] fall so neatly into the cat-egories, but I think it’s very natu-ral as an observer of students over the years to think that there are types— that I’m going to be able to reach this [student] this way.” Senior Ivan Wang adds, “Teachers don’t explicitly state that they’re using [the learning styles], but I guess it manifests in things like powerpoints and movies.”

Next, Reiner and Willingham cover the controversial aspects of the concept. One example is the idea that regardless of the content taught and individual capabilities, presenting information through one’s preferred method enhances their learning. Another point of criticism is the biological basis behind the theory which says that the learning styles operate from within the brain. As of now, little evidence exists to support these claims. Dietz adds, “If this is a the-ory you’re going to depend on, it’s hard to address all [of the learn-ing styles] to the level that you want for all the kids in the room.”

Freshman Jake Huth adds to the flaws, “I took a quiz to see what kind of learner I am, but I got equal amounts [of points] in each category.” “I mean if it exists as it’s described that’s great, it’s helpful knowledge to know, but I guess I’m dubious about that be-ing sort of the only thing that’s holding the kid back,” says Dietz.

She adds, “Everything that I’ve

seen in students shows me that there are such things as d i f -ferent learning styles. I know that if I sit down with a student and one way that I try to get a message across doesn’t work, a lot of times if I try something else it does work.” Junior Thomas Bebbing-ton reasons, “Despite the fact that I can read things several times and learn from them, I won’t learn as much as [I would have] if I had actually participated in some-thing or visualized it by seeing a drawing.”

In conclusion, while students have learning preferences, they do not necessarily cause the students to learn better. However, each student’s unique skills, as well as their past awareness and subject matter, affects how they learn. Additionally, while lesson plans targeted at specific learning styles are impractical, the theory has encouraged teachers to produce lesson plans that present infor-mation in a variety of ways. While this may not target each individu-al’s learning style, it does serve to make lessons more enticing.

BRIAN BARCHARTS AND GRAPHICS EDITOR

With homework, television, music, instant messaging, and the vast resources found on the internet, the modern student has a wide range of passive activi-ties that can be done at the same time. This has led to multitask-ing on an exceedingly large scale, nearly enough to make it consid-ered part of the modern student culture.

“Sometimes I work and listen to music and watch TV while do-ing homework,” says sophomore Monica Yip.

“I do it all the time,” adds se-nior Elizabeth Steffen, “I’ll be do-ing homework, playing a game, listening to music, and talking to my sister.”

But is multi-tasking really as useful a skill as many students seem to think?

“I think it lets people feel like they’re ac-c o m p l i s h i n g more, but at the same time, I think every study ever done on multitasking says it’s basically a myth, that you can’t fully concentrate on more than one thing at a time; you’re better off breaking up your work into segments” says Carlo Corti, Aragon’s AP Psychology teacher.

Indeed, the American Psycho-logical Association (APA) has found that all the decision mak-ing tasks necessary for Facebook, games, talking, and doing home-work require the same parts of the brain, collectively referred to as the “mental CEO”, because

they manage the brain’s resources and priorities. What this means is that no one ever truly does multiple tasks at once. Instead, their brain switches quickly be-tween the tasks. But switching takes time, as the mental CEO must reorient its rules and goals for each new task, which makes multitasking innately inefficient.

The tendency to multitask can be a problem for anyone trying to finish their work in a timely manner, especially a homework-laden student. There are solu-tions though: most distractions tend to be technological, so simply shutting down the com-puter, or even disconnecting the internet, can greatly reduce the risk of multitasking. For work

that requires the use of the internet, brows-

ers have made mult itasking-

p r o t e c t i o n add-ons, such as StayFocusd by Google Chrome, or

Firefox’s Leech-Block, which

limit the user’s time on distracting websites.

There are also te ch - free methods: “for

one task or one assignment or one project, you focus on this one thing, and try to just focus on the thing and see how fast it goes” offers Mr. Corti. Another mental method is to set short deadlines for work completion, which can help maintain a feel-ing of urgency on a task.

Fortunately, listening to mu-sic doesn’t have to compete with work. For more on this topic, be sure to read next month’s feature on the utility of music.

The Myth of Multitasking

Learning Styles areFake... Maybe

The Game of High School: Competition

BRIAN BARCH

BRIAN BARCH

BRIAN BARCH

Please visit aragonoutlook.net for more articles and photos.

FEATURESVOLUME 51, ISSUE 01SEPTEMBER 15, 2011

So “Cool” It’s Hot

Is it Hip to be Hipster?

07

BY REBECCA HUFEATURES EDITOR

Phat, fetch, swell, hip, dope. These terms are so different in their literal meanings, yet they are all used colloquially to express the same meaning: “cool.” Although the word cool itself remains cur-rent to colloquial expression, each generation has felt the need to generate a unique arsenal of terms that marks its identity and contribution to the evolution of cool.

Some people view innovation as the cause of this cultural obses-sion. “People like to be trend set-ters,” says Spanish teacher Nicole Elenz-Martin.

“When they find a new way to say some-thing, they try to find a way to make it go viral, and that drives the creation of so many words that can be used to express cool.

Others turn to practicality as the reason behind the abundance

of cool expressions. Senior Wil-liam Loewenthal says, “I think the reason people come up with so many substitutions is because cool can mean many different things and is a pretty vague way of describing something. Other words like ‘legit,’ ‘awesome,’ and ‘amazing’ sometimes fit the con-text better than the word cool.”

Yet other students look to sheer entertainment as the source of these expressions. “People cre-ate so many substitutions for the word cool because they think that using only one word repeatedly is not cool,” says senior Brianna Kim.

“Sometimes, using cool so much loses its coolness, and peo-

ple like to come up with more d e s c r i p t i v e words to show a phenomenon.”

F r e s h m a n Lexi Solis says, “I think people

like change, and coming up with new ways of saying the word cool is just so addicting!”

Nowadays, people derive many

of their cool e x p r e s s i o n s from influenc-es in the me-dia. Junior Ju-lius Elzie says, “I like using the word ‘swag’ because a lot of famous people say it. It’s in a lot of songs, and I think that younger people like me generally like to pick up on celebrity talk and put it in their own vocabulary.”

The influence of the media on language is not, however, just a modern phenomenon. Eng-lish teacher Jim Daniel says, “It’s so interesting to see how quickly teenage language flips around. I remember saying ‘far out’ as a teenager, but kids nowadays say words like ‘sick’ and ‘tight.’ I think that cultural influences are the major cause of this change- the media throws language at you and you adopt it. If an iconic actress says something, it sticks around.”

However, despite the mod-

ern language influences, many still like to stray from the popu-lar trends and adopt words that are not often used by friends or peers. Sophomore David Leong says, “My favorite way of saying cool is using the phrase ‘far out.’ It just sounds so retro and vintage, and to me, it is unique and hip because not many people use it in everyday conversation.”

Cultural background may also play a factor in adopting various colloquial expressions. “My favor-ite phrase is ‘¡No me digas!’ which means ‘You don’t say!’ in Span-ish,” says Elenz-Martin.

“It’s a way of being very ex-

pressive about your disbelief or excitement about something in one phrase.”

No matter the reason for its use, cool is an expression that ex-presses people’s appreciation for the world around them. Loewen-thal says, “To me, the word cool is an expression for something that is so rare to the point where it just amazes you. It is something that stands out more than the rest.”

And, ultimately, that apprecia-tion can manifest itself through a friend or companion. “The defi-nition of cool is Mr. Thurtle,” says Daniel.

BY ANDREW LYUNEWS EDITOR

Chances are that if Aragon ex-perienced a hipster invasion in the near future, not many people would no-tice. Perhaps Ara-gon has already been in-filtrated by the hipster kind. Perhaps, how-ever, the average Aragon student just does not know what hipster is.

J u n i o r B r i t t a n y M c O m b e r says that “There are so many differ-ent kinds of hipsters I don’t even know [what the definition of hipster is] anymore.” She is not alone. The image of a hipster is blurred. Dif-ferent people see the image of a hipster dif-ferently.

To some, the hipster is defined by associa-tions to items and char-acteristics. “A hipster is fixie bikes, handle bar moustaches, cuffed pants, obscure music, iro-ny, vintage, and cheap beer,” says junior Dana Pierce.

To others, the hipster is de-fined by his or her actions. “A hipster is a person that does the hipster head bob. All the hipsters do it when listening to a song with a hip beat,” says sophomore Troy Young.

And yet to others, hipsterdom has become a lifestyle choice. “Hipster is not trying,” says senior Brynn Mitchell.

While many students seem to correlate general characteristics with the hipster image, most are unable to quite put their tongue on the image of hipster.

“[To be hipster is] being into things that aren’t popular and into things that most people aren’t aware of,” says senior Reyna Saraos. To this end most students agree. Hipsters are all about being “in the know.” But after this one agreement, most students diverge in definition.

Senior Chris Wallace suggests

that perhaps there just isn’t one solid image of hipster.

“I’d say a hipster is some-one who has more of an eclectic taste in fashion, music, and movies. Someone who doesn’t dress like other peo-ple, and listens to music that isn’t con-sidered ‘popular,’” he says.

But then, the question arises: How do you cat-egorize a group of people who share the commonality of not dressing like others, of not having the same music taste of others, of not lik-ing the same movies as others? If hipster is defined by individual-ism, is every individual a hipster? Most students would care to disagree.

Many students believe that hipsterism is not

about individualism, but about the image of individ-

ualism. Junior Sam Sokolsky says that “A lot of people want to

be hipsters try to be original and end up just following someone else instead. When people try to be original they end up just fol-lowing someone else’s definition of non-conformism.”

Moreover, the hipster move-ment has taken the image of be-ing a “try-hard.” Junior Derrick Leong says that “[Hipsters] say they are non-conforming but all they are doing is trying hard to dress well and look better than other people.”

It is for these reasons that many students scorn hipsters. Se-

nior Thomas Pauly says “If I were called a hipster I’d be disappoint-ed in myself. I don’t like hipsters because they think they are better than everyone else.

Ironically, the cultural m o v e m e n t c e n t e r e d around car-rying relaxed easy known-how attitude has become a cultural movement about always being in the “know,” no matter the costs. Mitchell comments saying that “These days, the hipster move-ment is so overanalyzed that it has become exactly what it began fighting against. Now, everyone is working for it.”

Another irony about the hip-ster movement is that the move-ment originally designed to re-ject the mainstream, has become mainstream. Freshmen John Gra-

ham says “‘Hipster’ can just be used to mean regular kids now.”

Regardless, the hipster move-ment is not dead and gone. Wallace says that a lot of the death of the hipster movement is due to public perception of

the movement. “I think [hipster is] just another word. Nowadays it seems to carry a negative con-notation, but really it’s just a word people use because they can’t cat-egorize someone’s style. I would say it’s pretty neutral. It can be either [positive] or [negative] de-pending on the person whom is called a hipster.”

“If an iconic actress says something, it sticks around.”

-English teacher Jim Daniel

“These days, the hipster movement is so overana-lyzed that it has become exactly what it began fighting against.”

-Senior Brynn Mitchell

BRIAN BARCH

EMILY YIP

Please visit aragonoutlook.net to browse through this year’s

collection of articles and photos.

08 SPORTS VOLUME 51, ISSUE 01SEPTEMBER 15, 2011

Cross Country Sprints Toward Victory

Water Polo Teams Prepare for SeasonBY EMILY YIPCENTER SPREAD EDITOR

They knew the drill, and promptly

they plunged into the new pool, one

by one. The varsity boys’ and girls’

water polo teams trained diligently

for the first couple weeks of practice,

designated as “Hell Week,” a strenu-

ous, two week conditioning routine

that requires no handling of the game

balls and individual commitment to

physical toning and strengthening

performance.

Sophomore and first-time varsity

player, Paige San Felipe, describes the

process as, “Not fun. It’s a lot of work

but it will pay off.”

The Varsity Girls’ newest coach,

Asuka Chiba lectures her team about

dedication and punctuality. Coach

Asuka believes learning how to bal-

ance classes and sports, “teaches

students responsibility and account-

ability for not just in sports but life

in general”.

Coach Nick Gonzales agrees,

“Learning how to prioritize time, be-

ing a student athlete and achieving

high in academics takes a lot of re-

sponsibility and accountability of the

athlete to be successful in both areas.

An athlete can’t be successful if he/she

isn’t successful in both areas.”

Nearly the entire girls’ varsity

team is composed of new players

from last season’s Frosh-Soph team,

which makes practicing considerably

challenging because of the lack of

experience and leadership. However

with strong potential players, Coach

Nick describes the team as having “a

high ceiling, they have time to build

and grow together. It’s a good oppor-

tunity to get better as players.”

According to the boys’ varsity

team, who are working just as hard,

the time is now. Coach Nick predicts

that this year will be particularly chal-

lenging because the boys are “eager

for success. There’s more urgency to

be successful now.” Under the circum-

stances, it’s understandable because

the varsity boys’ team is consisted of

mainly seniors who have been train-

ing together since the beginning.

In retrospect, Senior Gabe Hargis

mentions that “[Half Moon Bay] re-

ally gave it to us last year. This year we

hope to return the favor.”

The opportunity to win PALs

league in six years is certainly close.

Last year, the boys’ [some game

score]. However with great goals

come great struggles. According to

Coach Nick, the boys’ team’s agility

needs improving while the girls need

to work on their team structure. With

the first game coming up in the 2nd

week of September, the team must

prepare to become the best through

their discipline and love for the sport.

And so the goals are set. The girls’

varsity works on rebuilding and be-

coming stronger as a team, and the

boys’ varsity strive to dominate CCS

by working on fine-tuning and en-

hancing speed.

With discipline, dedication, and

hard work, the future of Aragon wa-

ter polo looks bright for these young

talents.

Upcoming Games:Boys Varsity: Sept. 15: vs. Priory, at Aragon

Girls Varsity: Oct. 5: vs. Se-quoia, at Aragon

Go to aragonoutlook.net for coverage and photos of future sports events.

BY KORE CHANPHOTO EDITOR

A new season begins for Aragon’s

Cross Country team and it is already

shaping up to be one of the most suc-

cessful years in Aragon’s history. Both

the boys’ and the girls’ varsity teams

are currently ranked in the top 10

of the 140 schools in the area based

upon last year’s times.

If the boys’ varsity team manages

to move up to the third place ranking

and the girls’ maintain their fourth

place ranking throughout this sea-

son, both varsity teams would have a

chance to advance past CCS finals to

progress to the California state cham-

pionships for the first time in the his-

tory of Aragon.

Cross-country Coach Frank Hunt

believes that the main competition

for those top rankings would come

from Carlmont and Half Moon Bay

high schools. Although individual

runners with extraordinary running

times have attended the state champi-

onships before, this would be the first

time for the whole Aragon team to

reach the state championships.

“In the past fifty years, these are

probably the two best (boys and girls)

varsity teams [Aragon has ever had],”

says Coach Hunt, optimistic about the

varsity team’s chances to attend the

state championships. Cross-country

coach Bill Daskarolis cities the large

number of strong junior runners on

the team, with significant experience

in high-level competitions, as the rea-

son for the varsity team’s potential

this year.

Some top runners of last year (and

potentially this year) are Christian

Pedro and Rory Beyer on the Boys’

varsity team and Lauren Croshaw on

the Girl’s varsity team. Pedro agrees

upon the team’s potential this year.

He says, “The boy’s team is a lot faster

[this year] … they are right behind

me during workouts.”

In order to train for this year’s op-

portunities, available team members

had already begun training over the

summer with endurance workouts,

running between 30 to 50 miles a

week.

Coach Daskarolis says that he is

working to train his runners for en-

durance first with long runs and re-

sistance workouts up and down hills

before working on speed. On an av-

erage day after school, cross-country

athletes run between two and a half

to eight miles after school based on

ability, which Coach Hunt expects to

improve substantially over the cross-

country season.

The team has meets and scrim-

mages scheduled in a wide variety

of locations – some longer, and oth-

ers hillier – in order to help the run-

ners gain experience. Croshaw and

Pedro agree that the most important

thing for strong runners to work on

is to gain more confidence, an aspect

of running that Croshaw calls “the

whole mental game.”

Despite a high expectation of the

athletes, Coach Daskarolis says, “the

bottom line is to…have fun.” Coach

Hunt adds that they expect all the

runners to “be good citizens [and] do

their best.”

Interestingly, the cross-country

team’s first scrimmage ended up as

a scrimmage mostly against them-

selves. The opposing team from

Mount Pleasant High School had yet

to clear most of their runners for ath-

letics, resulting in only one member

showing up to the scrimmage.

The big question of this season is

whether the varsity teams will indeed

advance to the state championships,

which remains to be seen. However,

based upon current standings and

opportunities, the cross-country

team is poised to reach their goal. The

next league meet is on Tuesday, Octo-

ber 11 at the Crystal Springs Course

in Belmont.

KORE CHAN

PHOTOS BY KORE CHAN

Sophomore Cristina Ashbaugh, and seniors Justine Kubo, Lau-ren Croshaw, and Lexi Cooperstein dash from the starting line.

Aaron Kim receives a pass from a teammate during cross pass drills and prepares to shoot at the goal.

Juniors Rory Beyer and Christian Pedro cross the finish line at the Crystal Springs course.

Sophomore Jack Herrera, senior Francisco Vargas, and sophomore Christian Pedro mentally prepare themselves for the run.