Volume XI, Issue IV: December 17, 20094515 Portola Pkwy. IrvIne, Ca 92620 www.northwoodhIgh.org

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yada khoongumjorn The Northwood Howler

MERRY MELODIES: Northwood’s Choral and Instrumental Music departments shook the stage with fun-filled, exciting performances.

By lemIeCe ZarkaEditor-in-Chief

This week, Northwood students decked themselves out in tuxedos and dresses and glided onto the big stage — Northwood’s stage, that is. As with every holiday concert series, the Choral and Instrumental Music departments put on a four-day holi-day music extravaganza filled with numerous surprises that manifested holiday cheer, including: a song with live canon fire; a special performance by Chamber Singers of “Somebody to Love” from the hit new TV show “Glee” [see page 6]; the premiere performance of Jazz Ensemble III; the debut of a new student-run quar-tet; a joint production of “Dance of

the Sugar-Plum Fairy” by Viva Can-tar and Dance Theater; and perfor-mances by Northwood’s alumni Mas-ter Chorale.

Here are some responses from the students themselves about what went into the concert, the highlights of their sets and what the music re-minded them of:

“Well, in Jazz I, we’re playing a song called ‘Dizzying’ which is really exciting. It’s fast, and it’s got a lot of dynamic markings. Philharmonic is also playing ‘Sleigh Ride,’ which is a classic.” Eric BElfiEld (12), Jazz Ensemble I and Philharmonic Or-chestra

“[‘Little Ones’ is] supposed to be a lullaby. I think of colors, the baby blues of blankets because that’s

the sound we needed.” cathErinE Mann (11), Bel Canto

“I’m not Jewish, but every time I sing [‘Hanukkah Nagila’], I feel culturally connected. This song made learn a lot more about [Jewish] cul-ture.” Pranav Singh, Bass Clef (9)

“Well, at first, the words of ‘Winterlight’ seem shallow, like ‘Yay! Winterlight! Whee!’ But when you actually think of the meaning of wintertime, it’s about the white pure light of winter, how snow cleans ev-

erything away and the pristine natural beauty remains.” Paul YzaguirrE (12), Concert Chorale and Bass Clef

“Singing with other alumni from a bunch of years was really exciting. Not only was I an alumni, but I was also one of the younger ones. I got to see where people had gone with their lives. Being a part of Master Chorale has encouraged me to audition for the higher choruses at my college.” Ki-YoE MatSuura (Class of 2009), Mas-ter Chorale

Deck Northwood’s halls: Do re mi fa la, la la la la~

It’s that time of year again — when the local radio stations play endless rounds of holiday tunes, the most gentle of mothers angrily fight for parking spaces to join in on the shopping craze and the streets are aglow with Christmas lights and dec-orations. Even the most cold-hearted scrooges budge to celebrate the holi-day season.

Within the Northwood commu-nity, where working overtime and pushing one’s mental and physical ca-pacities seem to be the norm, students and teachers alike are excited to find their peaceful escape within reach. The temptations of undisturbed sleep, long-awaited vacations and divinely delicious food seem irresistible.

“Christmas calls for amazing presents, heart-warming cards and most importantly, getting to know your family and friends better,” said freshman KEvin rhEE. “It is a time when you can let go of all your ev-eryday stress and celebrate the time you have here with everyone around you.”

While gift giving, extravagant decorations and lavish parties all con-tribute to a festive mood, expending so much energy on material aspects may overshadow or even stifle the true meaning of the holidays. The holiday season is meant to rid people of their day-to-day worries, but deriving stress from the exhaustive 10-week prepa-ration can be counterproductive.

“The essence of Christmas is lost due to people scrambling to ful-fill the societal expectation of giving and receiving presents,” said senior MichaEl lEE.

The spirit and meaning of the holidays are indeed dictated by soci-ety’s spending practices. Even though most people associate the holiday season with heightened love, benevo-lence and empathy, these virtues are placed on the back burner when there is an overwhelming concern for ma-terial pleasures. Oftentimes, the ma-terial side of the holidays comes to mind first.

“I think of good company, good food and traditions,” said junior lau-rEl dirEcto. “Mostly good food, though!”

The holiday season is also a boon for businesses. Businesses pro-mote the idea that buying products is essential for holiday spirit in an ef-fort to raise their revenue. Whether the impact is positive or negative de-pends largely on how one interprets these holiday gestures.

“When I get a gift, it makes me happy that someone went out and got me something, regardless of what it is,” said senior Brian nguYEn.

One may spend profusely on the most scrumptious, decked-out holi-day dinner or the most upscale gifts at the top of people’s wish lists. But no matter how hard one tries, one cannot simply buy holiday spirit.

When the weather outside is frightful... so are shopping malls and households

By Peter joeStaff Writer

Shining studentsSenior WhitnEY BrooKS and junior aManda tran not only demonstrate

academic strength but are also avid participants in performing arts. These tal-ented students are December’s Students of the Month.

By CatherIne dongStaff Writer

Whitney Brooks A m a n d a T r a n

What makes you unique?I am currently in the 30th year

production of “A Christmas Carol” at South Coast Repertory. I love be-ing in the theater when the audience is filled with [both] first-timers and dedicated fans.How does acting influence you?

Performing influences me to be-come a more open-minded person. Studying different characters has giv-en me a more open-minded approach to life and the people around me. How do you balance all your extra-curriculars with your academics?

Balancing it is an art; I sacrifice my social life, and I don’t sleep enough. Discipline and passion are integral to one’s success, so I am dedicated to working hard to reach my goals.Who do you aspire to be?

My dream job is to be a perform-er: an actress, singer and dancer. I’ve grown up in a very theatrical family, so it’s just in my blood.

What makes you unique?I play four different instruments.

I’m doing tuba in Symphonic Band and clarinet in Wind Ensemble. I also play piano in jazz, and I’m currently learning guitar.What do you love about music?

I can just express myself without saying anything. Music is just my thing to get away from reality.Why did you choose to play so many instruments?

My main instrument has been clar-inet. Recently, I decided to learn tuba to expand my horizons. I’m learning guitar at home for fun. I play classical piano mostly, but I decided to take on jazz because I wanted to learn a new style, and it looked really fun. Who do you aspire to be?

I don’t see myself as a musician in the future. I want to be somewhere in science, but I probably will con-tinue music as my hobby and play at home.

yada khoongumjorn The Northwood Howler

yada khoongumjorn The Northwood Howler

TOO MUCH?: Is holiday shop-ping worth the stress?

Remember to come to the Gala niGht tonight to see your favorite vocal and instrumental groups light the night with music!

SHOPPING STRuGGleS?Find the perfect gift ideas for all of your unique friends and family: geeks, trend-setters, foodies, en-vironmentalists and sports fans.

CENTERSPREAD, 4-5

NORTHWOOD GleeKSThe Northwood Chamber Singers seek their inner Gleeks as they explore the music behind Decem-ber’s hottest TV show: “Glee”!

A&E, 6

BeHIND THe BuRRITOEver wondered what goes in your burrito? Get the big scoop behind Northwood’s favorite lunchspot: Chipotle!

ACCENT, 2

ACCENTDecember 17, 2009 The Northwood Howler2

747 is an outreach program sponsored by Mariners Church in Ir-vine. It seeks to bring together high school students through peer support and a mutual faith in God.

At the 747 meetings, activities are geared towards Northwood stu-dents that need to relax and hang out with friends. The atmosphere is laid back, with literally an open door and lots of food on the kitchen counter.

“I love 747 because the people are amazing and it lifts my spirits every week!” said junior Francesca Dellamaggiore. “It’s a great way to meet new people that you normally may not hang out with at school, and it’s definitely one of the best things about my week!”

The students at 747 aren’t all from Northwood or the same church. Although 747 is affiliated with the Fellowship of Christian Athletes, you don’t have to be part of one to partici-pate in the other. Everyone at 747 is there to support each other.

“747 is a tight-knit group. What-ever aspect of life is tough for us, we

find common ground and love each other through that. Everyone tries so hard to be perfect, and it’s impossible. People at 747 accept you for who you are, and not what you do,” said senior Kyle Beane.

The students at Northwood 747 are genuine and willing to do what-ever it takes to help one another.

“747 has changed my life for the better. It gave me a less intimidating environment to grow closer to Jesus and to make lifelong friends whom I truly trust and love. I’m thankful for 747 because without it, I wouldn’t have these valuable friendships,” said junior Collier Eklund.

On Dec. 5, Northwood 747 went down to Mexico for a day trip to distribute Christmas gifts and bring basic medical supplies to a village of about a thousand people in need. 747 goes to Mexico once every month.

“The Mexico trip was really fun, especially because Chris Kline from LA Galaxy went with us. We wor-shipped with [the villagers], let the kids decorate desserts and passed out gifts,” said junior Alex Peffer.

As sophomore Tyler Molnar said, “747 is awesome!”

Inside the burrito: A tasty behind-the-scenes bite on Chipotle

Flying high: Northwood 747

For Northwood students, “Where do you want to eat?” is no open-ended question.

At 12 p.m., Chipotle is crawling with high school students, its line ex-tending out the door. Known by some as “Northwood’s second home,” this lunchtime hot spot boasts grenade-sized burritos that are so bloated with ingredients that one enthusiastic bite will result in an explosion of rice, cheese and chicken.

After weeks of communication with Chipotle’s corporate office, The Howler Online editor Yada Khoong-umjorn and I finally met up with the general manager of Chipotle’s North-park store, Kelvin Siao, to go behind-the-scenes of Chipotle.

Q: What are the workers doing now? (10:30 a.m.)A: They’re grilling chicken. Chicken takes about 20 minutes to get ready. We say we open at 11, but usually we open when the employees are done with their lunch.

Q: What training is required to be-come an employee?A: We call this shoulder-to-shoulder training, so basically they work by the counter whether it’s rolling bur-ritos or working the tortilla. There’s a three-day training period.

Q: Why doesn’t Chipotle hire teen-agers?A: We have alcohol. So, in order to

hire somebody, alcohol law is mini-mum of 18 years old. So if they meet the requirement, I can hire them.

Q: Most popular item on the menu?A: Burritos are number one. Chicken burritos.

Q: Where does the food come from?A: Most of our food is local. Chipo-tle’s philosophy is to support the lo-cal farmers. Our meat right now is all naturally raised, not given antibiotics or hormones. They’re fed a vegetar-ian diet and humanely raised.

Q: Any secrets?A: Nah, Chipotle has the highest quality and food cost in this kind of business. We don’t freeze anything; everything you see being prepared is fresh. We don’t have a freezer, just coolers. We have delivery three times a week.

Q: What’s special about the guaca-mole?A: Two or three months ago, the growing season was really bad. We almost came to the decision that we were not going to serve guacamole. If the avocados came in and were not good, we were not going to serve it to you guys.

Q: Would you consider any fast-food chain to be competition to Chipotle?A: You know, there’s a lot of wanna-be’s. Baja Fresh used to talk crap

about us, and I was like, “You know, hey, look who’s doing better?” Op-erationally, financially, you know. We’re so much better than them.

Q: Key to Chipotle’s success?A: We want to keep everything sim-ple. You guys know about In-N-Out. In-N-Out is real simple, but they’re doin’ really good. That’s what we do too; we do that really well.

In addition to the interview, Howler editors Johnny Chang and Jeremy Chen met up with Siao to test their knack at rolling burritos.

While skilled Chipotle employ-ees stuff and roll burritos at lightning speed, Chang and Chen can testify that rolling a burrito isn’t as easy as it may seem.

“As we began to toast the torti-llas, [Jessica Lee, an employee,] ex-plained why they ask the customers not to lean over the counter; the heat-ing press can potentially flip open and harm the customer,” said Chen. “Ev-ery Chipotle worker has burn marks from the heating press. Luckily, we were not burned by the press.”

Keeping the ingredients inside the burrito was, however, a pickle.

“Putting all the meat and vege-tables into the tortilla was pretty easy, but rolling it was a little tricky,” said Chang. “You have to fold and grasp all the food underneath the tortilla and double-fold the sides, then roll it. It took us a few tries to make a de-cent one that didn’t unravel, but in the end, it all tasted fantastic.”

By AngelA luhNews Editor

Photos provided by AndreA JAckson

good Food: All of the ingredients in your burrito are cooked fresh.

Jeremy chen The Northwood Howler

HANds-oN: Johnny Chang gets a lucky opportunity to make a burrito.

By Ashley yonAmineStaff Writer

The dawn of the 21st Century has ushered in a new hectic age of hu-man society, with instant messaging, Internet, not-so-newsworthy break-ing news and, in terms of the way we communicate, a more connected global society. We have been inun-dated by late-breaking developments, new luxury items that clutter store shelves and an assembly of Internet and television stars that flame out faster than a bad Boy Scout’s camp-fire. But if we wade through the innu-merable changes that have happened to our world over the past decade, a few events stand out because they have shaped and changed the direc-tion of our world.

The first of these were the Sept. 11 attacks. The destruction of several monumental and symbolic U.S. struc-tures in 2001 shattered the West’s sense of security, which followed the end of the Cold War. Our generation does not fear the Soviet hammer and sickle the way the previous genera-tion did; instead, we have fear a new, invisible force that can be present at all places and all times. The threat of terrorism has caused us to sacrifice many of our civil liberties, making way for increased government sur-veillance with measures such as the Patriot Act.

One of the most ironic twists of the millennium so far has been the level of social conflict that’s been cre-ated. In a new age of market global-ization, when people from all across the world mingle in business hubs from New York City to Shanghai, we

have become more fractious and iso-lationist as a society. In America, two laws cracking down on illegal im-migration were passed in 1996, and in this decade it was enforced rigor-ously by border patrols. Along with this, further legislation with stricter operatives has constantly been de-bated by Congress. Since 2005, the French government has instituted an immigration program to pay $8000 to each immigrant that would leave the country. Instead of becoming global citizens, it looks as if the vast major-ity of people in the world today have clung to their cultural roots and tried to fight off outside influences.

The 2008 U.S. presidential elec-tion changed a lot of things. First of all, a black man was elected to the office. Secondly, it was the first time that a woman had a legitimate shot at becoming president; Hillary Clinton nearly won the democratic primary, and had an elderly John McCain been elected and died while in of-fice, Sarah Palin would have become president. Thirdly, the election galva-nized the American people, and the election saw the largest voter turnout in 40 years.

Another issue that has been awakened is the environmental movement. In 2006, former presi-dential candidate Al Gore released “An Inconvenient Truth,” a film that shed light on industry’s deleterious impact on the environment. This has been the first decade in which hybrid cars have been introduced to the pub-lic by mainstream automakers, from foreign firms like Toyota to American ones like Ford.

But by far the biggest devel-

opment, as well as the one whose ripples will continue furthest into the future, is the rise of the Internet. Social-networking sites like Face-book and MySpace have revolution-ized the way we communicate, and sites like eHarmony and Match.com have changed the way predators find prey. Amazon and eBay have made shopping easier and more accessible, and Google has made online advertis-ing feasible and lucrative. With mil-lions more sites being added to this amalgam each day, the Internet will continue to grow until it enables us to do anything other than live our actual lives – although interactive role-play-ing games like the Sims and World of Warcraft will do their best to try to change that too.

The next decade looks to be just as eventful. The pace of change has accelerated. The War on Terror has had mixed results: The Iraq war has died down and international terrorism has been waning, but the situation in Afghanistan has deteriorated. Unless the United States comes up with in-novative policy changes, these differ-ing trends are likely to continue. The issue of immigration is still very con-tentious, but the intensity of the argu-ment seems to be ebbing. As for the development of the Internet, despite the recession, companies have been pushing forward with new products and tools with a full head of steam, and it seems unlikely to slow down.

Ultimately, not even Nostra-damus could predict things perfectly. The only way to know what the future holds is by living through the present. For seniors, it is going to be an inter-esting reunion come 2020.

By stefAn BogdAnovicStaff Writer

dawn of the new millenium:Perfectly unpredictable

http://picasaweb.google.com/marinershs/747ChristmasParty#

FAITH & FuN: 747 members worship and have fun together. Here, various Orange County 747 groups meet to celebrate Christmas in 2008.

http://www.portlandart.net http://www.weirdcanada.com http://www.floridaits.com

VIEWPOINT December 17, 2009The Northwood Howler 3

GuptaGovil

ChangJasmine

What’s so great about Integrated Science and the Humanities Core?

As my high school career be-gins to draw to a close, I feel an overwhelming sense of relief. Free-dom calls! I look forward to college, when I can pick my courses more freely. This is especially exciting to me, mostly because I harbor strong resentment towards the rigid science curriculum I was forced to participate in as an underclassman.

For the most part, I didn’t re-ally have a problem with Integrated Science 1 (IS1). It seemed to do a good job of actually integrating the sciences and providing a good sam-pling of what each science is like. It’s a good introduction to other sciences

ChuangAlan

The Anchor is part of a core program that strongly emphasizes structure. All students spend their first two years in a a two-year Humani-ties and science program. Four writers discuss the merits and drawbacks of the Humanities Core and Integrated Science program.

When students first step onto Northwood’s turf, some aspire to be scientists. However, a pharmacist at CVS, an engineer of the Burj Dubai or a researcher searching for the cure for AIDS all qualify as scientists. Fur-thermore, the middle school sciences are not difficult enough to prepare students for the rigor of Advanced Placement (AP) science courses. Ul-timately, the integrated sciences are a crucial stepping stone that helps un-derclassmen make a suitable choice of which science to choose and gain a comprehensive knowledge of scien-tific fundamentals.

AP Physics teacher John Oliva-res noted that “to be an informed citi-zen and to make informed choices, science literacy is a must because many of our country’s public policy

You can’t toss a baby into a two-meters-deep pool and expect him or her to swim. This is precisely the situation our Humanities Core pro-gram seeks to avoid. It gives students direction when they have none and builds a lasting foundation for any study in the humanities.

Interdisciplinary learning is a synergistic process. The Core pro-gram is designed to facilitate an understanding of literature as an outgrowth of the views and moods reflected in particular historical pe-riods. The choice of novels studied in English therefore align with spe-cific themes explored in history. For example, “All Quiet on the Western Front” vividly portrays the harsh re-alities of World War I, while “The Great Gatsby” depicts the hedonis-tic lifestyle that prevailed during the Jazz Age. As senior Vivianne Chang puts it, “History often gives you the context for understanding literature, and English gives you the ability to articulate connections in history.”

For freshmen and sophomores, the Anchor may be a dreaded assign-ment, but it is, in some ways, the crux of the Core Program. What makes the Anchor particularly powerful is that the English and history teachers col-laborate to assess students’ abilities and help them improve their ana-lytical skills for broader application. Because the Anchor is a joint assign-ment, the Humanities Core teach-ers have the unique opportunity to collaborate and work with the same group of students to better assess their strengths and weaknesses.

Finally, the Core Program stress-es fundamental skills and knowledge. Instead of diving into essay writing without set guidelines, the program underscores the importance of fol-lowing a specific format to write in a clear, organized way. Students can attain a greater degree of freedom and flexibility in their writing only after they are well trained in the basics of proving an argument coherently. Fol-lowing a similar spirit, the history courses present a broad overview of the most important ideas in world history and American history, thus es-tablishing background knowledge for more advanced courses in the future.

Those who denigrate the pro-gram for lacking rigor or academic freedom fail to realize the importance of structure and fundamentals. They are trying to build their dream man-sion on a crumbling base.

debates focus on science.”And because California’s stan-

dards require only two years of sci-ence to graduate high school, students who attend schools with single-sub-ject sciences can fulfill this require-ment with a limited knowledge of only earth and life science. Such a system, however, never allows these students to learn other essentials such as physics and chemistry. Therefore, Olivares supports the integrated sci-ences because they help “ensure that all Northwood graduates attain a de-gree of science literacy.”

The opposing viewpoint agrees with the importance of Integrated Science 1 (IS1), but fails to recognize the importance of Integrated Science 2 (IS2). Although it is true that IS2 focuses more on biology than physics or chemistry, it is also true that IS1 tends to focus more on the physical sciences rather than the life scienc-es. It is wrong to separate these two courses from each other, because to-

JoePeter

The phrase “Good to Great” applies to Northwood’s Humanities Core. The Core English and His-tory program is strong, but it should integrate the two disciplines more thoroughly so that students can better apply the concepts they learn to real life events.

Having innovative ideas and a keen understanding of how the world runs is now valued more than ever. Although applied knowledge is more important than rote memorization, the current English and Humanities core, especially history, focuses more on understanding facts, memorizing dates and structuring essays rather than the kind of applied knowledge that allows students to adapt and think critically about different situations.

The Humanities Core at North-wood should focus more on the syn-thesis of history and English, rather than on history and English as indi-vidual subjects. Despite the integrat-ed approach the program is supposed to follow, there are few joint assign-ments in these classes besides the Anchor. Students need to understand that historical concepts are embedded in the novels we read in English and vice versa.

The reason why the Anchor is so helpful is because it not only teaches students structure and syntax, but also welds concepts learned in his-tory with those in English. More as-signments that link together English and history, would enable students to understand the real-life significance of particular concepts. For example, how does “The Great Gatsby” relate to the 1920’s and the Great Depres-sion? How do concepts in “Romeo and Juliet” apply to our daily lives?

The Humanities Core is designed to synthesize English and history. Why is it, then, that the curriculum is so fixated on tests and quizzes that are simply based on textual evidence and not applied concepts? Whereas concepts can be used, dates are ulti-mately forgotten.

I agree with an integrated ap-proach to learning English and his-tory, but our current curriculum loses sight of this goal by emphasizing structure and format over indepen-dent thinking and the development of original ideas. Perhaps with more shared assignments that emphasize how the concepts learned apply to real-life situations, our Humanities program can be even better than what it is today.

gether, not individually, they form a comprehensive blend of a wide range of sciences, thereby achieving their goal of integration.

This unique method allows many students to take multiple AP science classes, and some to take on all four. Such a feat would be nearly impossi-ble at schools with discrete sciences, because College Board encourages students to have previous enrollment in introductory courses before taking the AP levels. At Northwood, the in-tegrated sciences help knock out al-most all of these prerequisites.

By the end of the two years, the integrated sciences allow students to gain broad scientific knowledge and a more solid grasp of what types of science they like. After taking the all-encompassing lessons from IS1 and IS2, we learned the fundamentals of the different sciences and knew what to expect of certain classes, thus al-lowing us to make an informed choice about which field to pursue.

the school offers. This is exactly why Integrated

Science 2 (IS2) is such an unneces-sary class. My biggest complaint is that the course was literally a repeat of everything we did freshman year, with a few more details. In fact, it was less worthwhile than IS1 – my class spent two weeks on physics and six months on biology. An “integrat-ed” course that isn’t even integrated seems kind of pointless to me.

OK, I’m done being mean. Now for some suggestions.

It would be a good idea to modify the course so that it actually prepares students for the various Advanced Placement (AP) courses they are al-lowed to take in their junior year. For example, Dr. Matsuda recommends taking a prerequisite course before AP Chemistry and if IS2 included a

larger chapter on chemistry, maybe students can go straight from IS2 to AP Chemistry with no wasted time.

But the faculty says that some students aren’t ready for the rigor of the AP classes or have no idea what science they would like to take. Well then, fine. Make IS2 optional. By making it mandatory, our school is holding back those who are ready to hit the hardcore books, or just would like to specialize in a specific topic.

It’s understandable that students should have a good background in all the sciences before they choose their AP sciences courses. However, this course isn’t a smart way to success. Hopefully in the future, Northwood High School will be able to change their course requirements into some-thing with a little more balance and with a little more freedom.

STRUCTURE: While some find it necessary, others loathe Northwood’s highly structured science program.Kris GeorGe The Northwood Howler

Govil Gupta: “The inte-grated sciences teach cru-cial scientific knowledge.”

peter Joe: “The Human-ities Core is the school’s greatest asset.”

alan ChuanG: “Hu-manities should teach con-cepts, not dates.”

Jasmine ChanG: “Se-quels always fail. Get rid of Integrated Science 2.”

The Northwood Howler is published by Northwood High School as an open forum for the exchange of news and ideas. Views expressed in The Northwood Howler do not necessarily represent the opinions of the NHS administration or the Irvine Unified School District.

Signed Letters to the Editor are welcomed and encouraged. They can be placed in Adviser Tim Horrigan’s mailbox or delivered to Room 1102. The Northwood Howler reserves the right to edit letters for length, grammar and clarity. Advertisements do not necessarily represent the opinion of the newspaper.

Mission Statement: To serve as a medium for school news and the expression of student ideas while adhering to the highest standards of journalistic integrity.nhshowler@gmail.com

To advertise in the Howler: Please contact our ad manager at LeeKristine27@gmail.com or (949) 910-0821.

Classifieds: Northwood High students and faculty members may place classified ads in the Howler by contacting the newspaper at nhshowler@gmail.com. $5/ad. All proceeds from classifieds will be forwarded to the Human Rights Watch organization.

The Howler can be contacted at

Editor-in-ChiefLemiece ZarkaOnline Editor

Yada KhoongumjornCopy Editors

Somaya AbdelganyKristine Lee

Photo EditorsJasmine Chang

Yada KhoongumjornGraphics Editor

Yada KhoongumjornNews EditorAngela Luh

Accent EditorGovil Gupta

Centerspread EditorJasmine Chang

Viewpoint EditorJohn Yu

A&E EditorsAneesha Prakash

Victoria SunSports EditorJeremy Chen

Junk Drawer EditorJohnny ChangAd ManagerKristine Lee

Distribution ManagerSomaya Abdelgany

AdviserTim HorriganStaff Writers

Stefan BogdanovicLaura Bran

Ben BrazilAlan Chuang

Catherine DongElizabeth Ho

Kelly HsuPeter Joe

Kevin KimShayan Najmabadi

Sridevi ReddyJasmine Setoodeh

Ariana TangWinnie Wang

Regina WuIffanie Yang

Ashley Yonamine

PhotographersAngela Hsu

Shane HughesKristian George

December 17, 20094 CENTERSPREAD 5December 17, 2009

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ARTS & ENTERTAINMENTDecember 17, 2009 The Northwood Howler6

The Northwood Chamber Sing-ers found their inner “Gleek” when Tim Davis, vocal arranger and ses-sion singer for the television show “Glee,” visited the chorus on Nov. 20 and Nov. 30. Davis was invited by his friend, Northwood alumni Ashley Smith, to visit the Chamber Singers.

Davis provided his arrangement of Queen’s “Somebody to Love,” from the episode “The Rhodes Not Taken,” especially for Chamber at Northwood’s choral director Zach Halop’s request. It was hard to say whether Davis or Chamber enjoyed the visit more.

Sridevi Reddy: Do Re Mi FaSix p.m. and it was freezing

cold. My gloves would not stay on, and I could not stop mumbling about my runny nose, while Elizabeth Ho’s necklace kept blinding us all with its Christmas colors. After an hour of caroling, we discovered three very important tidbits of information:

1) Some people, in fact, do not like random high school kids sing-ing to them during dinner time (e.g., the scared little old lady who shut the door in our faces).

2) Receiving $1 and a brownie can actually make the bitter cold seem a little less bitter.

3) Doing the Oompa Loompa dance while singing proves to be a little awkward after a while... just a little.

Never again will I subject my-self to such humiliation. Honestly, have you ever thought of how dis-turbing and odd the Oompa Loompa dance actually is? Imagine three girls alternately bouncing their knees up and down at different paces while singing “Jingle Bells” out of tune.

Surprisingly, caroling dates back all the way to the 14th century, when people would sing religious hymns. But these days, carols are performed simply to spread holiday cheer and joy. We found that the best part, be-sides that warm and fuzzy feeling in-side, is definitely the free food people think they have to give you for sing-ing. The worst part? The cold and cough I slowly developed as the night progressed. The fact that the cold air seemed to suck the humor out of ev-erything didn’t exactly help either.

Me: “My nose is running. My nose is running!!”

Kosha Doshi: “You better go catch it!”

Ho: “Oh...my....god.”Elizabeth Ho: So La Ti Do

The first house we arrived at had a glittering array of bright lights: beautiful and warm. We rang the doorbell and waited five yards away from the door, a comfortable distance

for us, but an awkward one for those opening the door.

Me : “Uhhh.. hi. Do you think we could sing you a Christmas car-ol?”

Success. The woman approved, and even called her little children over to gawk at the three nervous high school girls. We warbled “Let it Snow” in between bursts of laughter, quickly finished and walked away. Three houses later, we decided that we were bolder, better and invin-cible.

Doshi: “Let’s go redeem our-selves!!!”

Me: “And what if we aren’t any better, just even more embarrass-ing?”

Reddy: “We owe her...we prob-ably ruined her night.”

My worries were ignored, and we sang “Jingle Bells” to the amuse-ment of the children and their black cat. Before we knew it, an hour had

passed, our fingers were numb, we were richer by $1 and our mission was completed.

Even though we experienced several “near death experiences” (i.e. seeing people we knew driving around the houses we planned on ser-enading), the exhilaration we felt was amazing. One hour of solid caroling proved to be time enough for us to embark on a personal journey of dis-covery.

Me: “You know.. tonight was actually kind of fun.”

And it definitely was. Though I’m still not sure whether the best part was the $1, the amazing Costco brownies, overcoming my fear of singing for people or the fact that everyone we sang for was filled with even more holiday cheer, I do know that I plan on going caroling again sometime before this Christmas sea-son is over.

Theo Iyer An aspiring actor, senior Theo

Iyer was nominated and chosen by Student Forum as December’s VAPA student of the month for drama.

“Whether it’s in plays or in movies for NTV, I’ve never felt more [like] myself than when I’m acting,” said Iyer. “Acting is the best way for me to express myself.

Iyer recently played Lloyd Dal-las in “Noises Off,” and his profes-sional ambition is to become an actor after college.

“I used to be the biggest class clown, but I didn’t think of it as act-ing, per se. It was just fun,” said Iyer. “Then in high school, as I took differ-ent drama classes, I discovered that I had a talent for acting.”

Other than acting, Iyer also en-joys playing basketball, soccer and relaxing with friends. Acting, how-ever is by far his favorite activity.

“Acting is my passion! It’s just

She can break out in an im-promptu speech in seconds, psycho-analyze Mr. Darcy from the inside out and still manage to strike an amazing dance pose. Sheryl Sloate’s dancing career is proof that teachers aren’t al-ways what they seem.

This year will be Sloate’s 10th year at Northwood High School. She teaches European Literature, Speech and Debate II and Color Guard, en-couraging students’ creativity while educating them.

She began dancing at age four and continued throughout high school, expressing her passion for ar-tistic beauty through her dance cho-reography.

“As a freshman in high school I was a part of the Yorba Linda Dance Ensemble and we performed ‘Cinder-ella.’ Then, during my senior year, we performed ‘Alice in Wonderland’ as a ballet and I was the White Rabbit in pointy shoes,” she said.

Through dance, Sloate learned to be comfortable in her own skin.

She grew into a woman who, after years of hard work, three kids, and a full time job, still manages to find the time for dance.

“There are times that it is ex-hausting, but I love it all. So we do some juggling and we make it work,” said Sloate.

Intelligent and ambitious, Sloate is presently working on her thesis piece for a Masters in Arts. It will be performed at NHS on Feb. 4 during tutorial.

Sloate has also had her share of difficulties. She recalls her worst dance experience as one of the best lessons she ever learned.

“I danced so much that my toes bled in my pointy shoes. I kept those shoes to remind myself how hard I worked, and how worth it [dancing] was,” Sloate said.

With a supportive family and a talented dance group, Sloate is enthu-siastic about her future in dance. She encourages students at Northwood to find their passions and to commit to them because nothing can beat that sense of accomplishment after con-tinuous devotion.

Confessions of two awkward carolersBy Sridevi reddy and elizabeth hoStaff Writers

Picture Provided by Kosha Doshi

CARolERS IN ThE Cold: Sridevi Reddy (left) and Elizabeth Ho (right) surprised their neighborhood with a special caroling treat.

Tis the season to be “Glee”-fulBy iffanie yang and aShley yonamineStaff Writers

yada Khoongumorn The Northwood Howler

RAISE youR voICE: Chamber Singers prepare for the winter choral concert with the help of Tim Davis, from the popular TV show “Glee.”

something I love,” said Iyer.Rohan Ramanan

Rohan Ramanan, a freshman in Bass Clef, has created quite the stir in Northwood’s choral music program this year.

With the news of his pure sopra-no voice spreading around the chorus groups, you’d be hard-pressed to find someone who wasn’t anticipating Ramanan’s solo in the choral holiday concert on Monday, Dec. 14.

Ramanan has been participating in various choruses since the fourth grade and has had numerous solos since then. He also sings outside of school.

“I’ve been studying Indian clas-sical singing for seven years,” said Ramanan. “It has its own Solfege style, complete with words and sym-bols to match every pitch.”

Ramanan’s exceptional voice is only matched by his passion for sing-ing.

“It makes me happier than any-thing else,” said Ramanan. “I feel my best when I’m making music.”

Students spotlights on stage

Shane hugheS The Northwood Howler

PASSIoNATE PERfoRMERS: Theo Iyer (left) and Rohan Ramanan (right) are among Northwood’s most dedicated artists.

By aShley yonamineStaff Writer

Sheryl Sloate: Teacher on tip toes

By JaSmine SetoodehStaff Writer

Picture Provided by Sheryl Sloate

STRIkE A PoSE: Performing with her dance group, Sheryl Sloate brightens up the night during her candle light dance at Heritage Park.

“[Northwood’s chorus program] is of very high quality,” said Davis. “I love their classical foundation and how they’re branching out stylisti-cally.”

Chamber branched out stylisti-cally through singing in pop style, which was a novelty to most Cham-ber Singers.

“It was really enlightening be-cause we got to work with this totally different genre of music,” said senior Priscilla Chang. “It was really inter-esting to see how we could use our voices in a versatile way.”

Davis not only taught differ-ent singing techniques but also gave valuable advice about succeeding as a session singer.

“Humility, teachability and the

ability to be low maintenance are important,” said Davis. “No diva at-titudes are allowed.”

Davis’s passion for music start-ed in the third grade, when he started playing the piano. In college, he fell in love with singing, and after he gradu-ated, he wanted to sing background vocals in professional records.

A friend of Davis invited him to work with the cast of “Glee” and commission session singers, which Davis was glad to accept.

“‘Glee’ touches the needs of the average people and hits a place that can’t be conveyed through words,” said Davis. “[The show] raises a need for arts education in public schools.”

Chamber performed “Somebody to Love” at the winter choral concert on Monday, Dec. 14 and will perform again at the Winter Gala concert to-night, Thursday, Dec. 17.

yada KhoongumJorn The Northwood Howler

SPORTSThe Northwood Howler 7December 17, 2009

Sophomore Milad Razavi and junior Francesca Dellamaggiore, the December Athletes of the Month, sat down with me and discussed the methods they use to outplay competi-tion.

Milad Razavi

Standing at 5’9” or 5’10”, de-pending on whether his hair has the right amount of “poof,” Milad Razavi (also known as “the Prince of Persia” to his teammates) stood out as Athlete of the Month. Razavi is one of two sophomores on the Varsity basketball team. and he just began his first year on the Varsity roster.

Last spring, Razavi was prac-ticing with both the JV and Varsity teams. One day, he showed up to JV practice to only find out that he had been moved up to Varsity full-time. Razavi realized that to be on Varsity, he needed to bulk up so he wouldn’t get pushed around on the court.

“I didn’t like getting shoved around. For one month straight, I hit the gym every morning, so I could get bigger,” said Razavi. “I’m 5’9” and a little Persian kid, little sophomore, but I don’t get pushed around as eas-ily [anymore].”

His training has definitely paid off. While playing in a recent tour-nament, Razavi kept his ground and wasn’t pushed to the floor. At prac-tice, other players can tell that he gives it his all.

“The Prince of Persia goes hard every practice. He just runs like crazy and busts it every practice, and he’s a

pain to guard,” said Josh Elter, a se-nior on the team.

Razavi has a lot of potential and still has time to keep improving. His efforts have not gone unnoticed.

“Milad is a team player who has a disciplined work ethic. He’s worked extremely hard over the offseason to improve his shooting technique and his offensive skills,” said Boys Bas-ketball Coach Richard Fujii.

Francesca Dellamaggiore

It comes as no surprise that Fran-cesca “Frankie” Dellamaggiore, who has played soccer since the age of four, was honored with the Athlete of the Month award alongside Razavi.

“I am shocked that I was even nominated, but I am honored and thankful that my hard work shows,” said Dellamaggiore.

To help improve her game, she tries to eat healthy, even though de-nying junk food is very difficult and “never really works out well.”

When she is not studying or working on homework, Dellamag-giore runs to build up her endurance so that she can keep up with everyone on the Varsity team. Playing along-side them inspires her to work harder and play to her fullest potential.

“Frankie has been a great team player, stepping in enthusiastically whenever we need her to,” said se-nior Aviv Lazar.

Though Dellamaggiore has just started on Varsity this year, she is the starting goalie for the team. Ac-cording to senior Paige Gankema, Frankie has “stepped up from being a field player to goalie and has done an amazing job.”

Work hard, wreak havocBy Laura BranStaff Writer

Graphic by Shane hugheS The Northwood Howler

The PRince and Me: Sophomore Milad Razavi and junior Frankie DellaMaggiore, the December Athletes of the Month, continue to improve their game with their efforts off the field and in practice.

Tristan Stegmaier is North-wood’s Special Education depart-ment chair and resource specialist. You can find him teaching in Room 1303, working in his office in Room 906 or coaching after school in the wrestling room as the head wrestling coach. But believe me, there is more that meets the eye than his stylish ‘do.

Stegmaier grew up in New York and attended two different high schools. At Chaminade High School and Malverne High School, he played defense in soccer, centerfield in base-ball and competed in the 103 pounds and 112 pounds weight classes for wrestling. Outside of school, he played hockey as well.

Even with intense participation in athletics, Stegmaier was able to excel in academics and was valedic-torian of his school. He attended the University of California, Santa Bar-bara at the same time as Northwood Marine Biology teacher Matthew Brown and obtained a bachelor’s de-gree in Environmental Studies.

“All wrestlers aren’t dummies, despite the stereotype,” said Steg-maier.

As the head wrestling coach, it is no surprise that Stegmaier’s favor-ite sport is wrestling; not only is it in-tense, but it also requires great mental and physical strength.

“[This is a sport] where you can’t hide behind your teammates. You can’t blame anyone else,” said Stegmaier. “It’s frightening and makes you nervous, but at the end of the day you need to be confident that your training has prepared you for the

battle.”Stegmaier actually started

coaching wrestling on a whim. Coach Tom Knudson had injured his back, and when Stegmaier mentioned to Coach Dean Toohey that he had some wrestling experience, Stegmaier took over as assistant coach.

Stegmaier’s favorite hobby is skateboarding, and he visits the pools and half pipes every chance he can get. He also practices martial arts: He is a 2nd degree black belt in Tae-kwondo and Hapkido and has a blue belt in Jujitsu. Stegmaier actually competed last April and won the Best of the West World Grappling Games Lightweight Championship (yeah, don’t mess with him).

Even more mind-boggling is the fact that Stegmaier’s first job was being a professional musician. He

do not mess with coach Stegmaiertoured all over the world in a band called Sunchild for six years, where he was the bass player and one of the vocalists. Stegmaier even has a tattoo of Jimi Hendrix on his shoulder.

Stegmaier has traveled exten-sively, experienced what many peo-ple can only dream about and accom-plished many amazing things in his life. But now his dedication lies with his students.

“[I have] played music all over the world, won martial arts cham-pionships, surfed and skateboarded all over, but nothing has brought me more gratification than teaching and working with the students at North-wood. I have always enjoyed work-ing with children, and I love to help people, especially to pass on my skills and experience so that others may benefit,” said Stegmaier.

By Winnie WangStaff Writer

Shane hugheS The Northwood Howler

TeeMing WiTh TalenT: Tristan Stegmaier, though skilled in wrestling, skateboarding, martial arts and music, prides in his teaching skills the most.

Statistics compiled by Winnie Wang The Northwood Howler

JUNKDecember 17, 2009 The Northwood Howler8

Umm… Electric lights for trees were first used in 1895.

Umm… It is estimated that 400,000 people become sick each year from spoiled Christmas leftovers.

Umm… During the Christmas shopping season, Visa cards alone are used an average of 5,340 times every minute in the United States.

Umm… “Jingle Bells” was first written for Thanksgiving but later became one of the most popular Christmas songs.

Umm… Christmas became a na-tional holiday in America on June 26, 1870.

Umm... According to previous studies, 17% of you will embarrass yourself in some way at Christmas parties.

Umm… One in three men wait until Christmas Eve to finish their shop-ping.

Umm… If you laid the mince pies bought every year end to end, their total length would be three times that of the Great Wall of China.

Umm… The average American takes six months to pay off holiday credit card bills.

Umm… Coca-Cola was the first beverage company to depict Santa Claus in winter advertisements.

Umm… In Mexico, wearing red un-derwear on New Year’s Eve is said to bring new love in the upcoming year.

Umm… If you received all of the gifts in the song “The Twelve Days of Christmas,” you would receive 364 presents.

Umms...By Ben BrazilStaff Writer

In the present state of society it appears necessary to go back to first principles in search of the most sim-ple truths and to dispute with some prevailing prejudice every inch of ground.

Three hundred years ago, Mary Wollstonecraft carved these words into history, changing the way peo-ple saw women. The process during which women gradually gained their rights could definitely be labeled as a revolution.

I want to start a revolution. Three weeks ago, I embarked

on an excursion to the North Pole to study its foliage. At first, I didn’t see the pure white igloo because the heavy blizzard impaired my vision.

When I reached this igloo, a sharp desire to meet Nana and Popo, the Ice Climbers in Super Smash Brothers, overcame me. I assumed they might be dwelling in this abode so I crawled inside.

I was greated by a gruesome scene.

The Ice Climbers were nowhere to be found. Instead, miles of con-veyor belts stretched across the icy

A vindication of the rights of elves By Jeremy ChenSports Editor

Shane hugheS The Northwood Howler

escApe clAUs: Courts description of the anti-Santanistas battling Santa Clause.

ground (I swear the igloo wasn’t big enough to fit all of them), and little pointy-eared elves clad in green tu-nics were wrapping presents as their fingers bled. It was the epitome of a sweatshop, only the sweat painfully froze on the elves’ faces.

“Wow,” I said. I looked further ahead and saw

the big boss sitting in his throne, whipping those that weren’t work-ing fast enough. He also had a cup of milk and cookies beside him.

The sight stirred me. I walked to the boss, who was quite large and decked out in red.

“Is this factory like this every day?” I asked.

“No. Fortunately, it’s only this slow in the beginning of December. By the time Christmas comes around, they start working. They spend all the other months training for the holiday season,” he responded with a boom-ing voice as his white Zeus beard rustled.

This is terrible! I thought. But I did not want to be pummeled by the boss, who I recognized as Ol’ Saint Nicholas. And so I returned home. Am I the only one that sees some-thing hypocritical about this “naugh-ty or nice” business? I implore you to help me rectify these injustices.

Is it the elves’ inferiority that justifies their misery? It doesn’t make sense to have the weak working for such a tough goal. It’s like asking the New York Knicks to win games.

And I’m sure that if these elves weren’t forced to work their hearts out, they might even grow, and may-be become even better than us! Take for example, Legolas. He’s an elf, but he slays Orcs and Olyphaunts. He’s never had to make Christmas pres-ents.

I want to start a revolution. These elves do not deserve to be forced to make presents for children. And parents need to stop relying on the Arctic to provide for their kids’ happiness.

I can see it now. The elves will become the rebellious anti-Santanis-tas, and with our help, they will break out of their restraints, fight against in-justice and garner the rights that they deserve.

Top 12 presents My True love Gave to MeBy JaSmine SetoodehStaff Writer

With Christmas and New Year’s just around the corner, people find themselves gaining a few extra pounds. Remember to give your friends and family some helpful gifts to help them be as happy after the holiday season as they were before it!

On the 1st day of Christmas my true love gave to me one treadmill. On the 2nd day of Christmas my true love gave to me two handsome trainers. On the 3rd day of Christmas my true love gave to me three gym passes. On the 4th day of Christmas my true love gave to me four diet plans. On the 5th day of Christmas my true love gave to me five a.m. workouts. On the 6th day of Christmas my true love gave to me six days of camping. On the 7th day of Christmas my true love gave to me seven Weight Watchers muffins. On the 8th day of Christmas my true love gave to me eight heavy weights. On the 9th day of Christmas my true love gave to me nine “YOU CAN DO IT!!!!”s On the 10th day of Christmas my true love gave to me ten whole grain rice cakes. On the 11th day of Christmas my true love gave to me eleven biker shorts. On the 12th day of Christmas my true love gave to me twelve lost pounds!yada KhoongumJorn The Northwood Howler