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Lifestyles • B1

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Vol. XC, No. 9 http://voice.paly.net Monday, May 5, 2008

McEvoy reverts to original schedule,

NEWS
Assisting those
with AIDS
Junior Erik Klingbeil orga-
nizes charity event for AIDS
victims in Africa. PAGE A3
may implement two new dance policies
OPINION SCHEDULE

Co-ed classes McEvoy: “No formal

raise conflict
Should students be taught decision making
process exists at this
in single-sex classroom
environments? PAGE A8

SPORTS school”
First in the By Ayelet Bitton
Staff Writer
League Palo Alto High School Principal Jacqueline
McEvoy retracted her decision to implement the
second semester bell schedule for both semesters
of the 2008-09 school year and revert back to the
schedule used this year. She announced her plan to
Julia Benton/The Campanile

the staff on May 2 and to students on May 5.

McEvoy had originally made the executive
decision after the staff took a final vote that failed
to reach the two-thirds majority needed to make
an official change.
Boys’ track team’s hard The principal, who began at Paly last fall, cited
work pays off in undefeated lack of a community-wide decision-making process
season. PAGE A9 for her initial decision and later retraction.
“I collected information from different parties
SPOTLIGHT and made a decision,” McEvoy said, “and I didn’t
understand that this school may not have been ready
Extracurricular for an individual to make a change like that. What
I realized was that the process is just as important
extravagance as the decision made, and we don’t have a process.
Initially, I used what I thought was the process.”
Students take individual The Ed Council, which consists of all In-
interests to next level with structional Supervisors, has been discussing the Ryan Pfleiderer/The Campanile
creative projects PAGE B1 schedule issue for several months now after they Principal Jacqueline McEvoy has made recent administrative decisions that have upset both students and staff. McEvoy
were approached by the Stressed Out Students said that she has been forced to make “executive decisions” because there is no formal decision making process at Paly.
Committee. The committee, made up of students,
FEATURES teachers and parents, suggested later start times as DANCE POLICY
a way to reduce student stress.
Kicking cancer Consequently, both students and staff partici- McEvoy, Berkson consider breathalyzing dance attendees and
pated in separate surveys last month. The results
to the curb of both showed that each group desired a later
start, according to Student Activities Director Al-
lison Mullins. A variety of schedules that included
increasing punishment for students caught under the influence
a consistent 8:15 a.m. start time were drafted for By Alan Chen be a problem for students that have not been
Staff Writer
Julia Benton/The Campanile

the teachers to vote on. The vote took place on
Apr. 11.
“[Guidance Counselor] Ms. [Susan] Schultz
and I were both really sure that the late start would
pass in the teacher vote,” Mullins said. “In the final
After surviving cancer, vote though, only around 60 percent of teachers
John Anderton continues voted, while we needed a two-thirds vote to make
playing soccer. a decision. We didn’t come to a decision, so I think
PAGE B2
that’s why this is a problem.”
Flee to the After the teacher vote failed to garner enough
participation, McEvoy made an executive decision
flea markets to choose the second semester schedule for the en-
tire year. McEvoy said that her decision had been
Vast assortment of Bay
made because 92 percent of the faculty wanted a
Area flea markets provide
consistent start time according to a survey taken of
eclectic treasures. PAGE B5 staff opinions. This way, the initial goal of creating
a consistent schedule for both semesters would still
A&E
See SCHEDULE, Page A2
More than Read The Campanile’s editorial on the new
just cakes schedule, Page A4
drinking to be breathalyzed.”
The Palo Alto High School administration To be able to effectively check every “We want to make
is discussing the possibility of implementing student coming into the dances for traces of the breathalyzing
two new policies; breathalyzing every student alcohol, the school, which currently owns process as fast
that goes into a dance and punishing students only one breathalyzer, will either buy two to and as painless as
that are caught drunk at a dance with a 90 day three more breathalyzers, which cost about possible.”
suspension from all student activities, in light $500 each, or borrow some from the Palo Alto
-Jerry Berkson
of the occurrences at this year’s prom—where Police Department. Assistant Principal
12 students were suspended for drinking. “We want to make the breathalyzing
“The Prom was really the last straw,”
Berkson said. “After that, we realized that we
process as fast and as painless as possible,”
Berkson said.
needed to do something about the drinking
situation at dances.”
The second policy, a 90–day suspension
from student activities, is a harsher punish- “Do I want to
breathalyze every
Principal Jacqueline McEvoy believes ment than the current one which only suspends
kid who walks into a
that the first of the two new policies, breatha- students for five days. The proposed policy dance? No, I don’t.
lyzing every student that attends a dance, will would prevent students from going to dances, Do I think it’s in the
not be considered an invasion of privacy, participating in sports and school clubs and best interest of the
due to the fact that sober students will not be students? Yes, I do,
negatively affected. See BREATHALYZE, Page A3 right now I do.”
“If the students are willing to be breatha-
lyzed, then they are sending a message that they Read The Campanile’s editorial on the -Jacqueline McEvoy
Principal
are sober,” McEvoy said. “There shouldn’t breathalyzer policy, Page A4

The Prolific Oven serves

delectable cakes and deli-
cious sandwiches. PAGE B8 Bond campaign gathers momentum
By Kelly Zhou
ONLINE Staff Writer
Measure A, a $378 million bond
Earth Week proposal awaiting the Jun. 3 election,
is gaining support and awareness
extravaganza with the help of the “Strong Schools
for a Strong Community” campaign,
led by campaign co-chair and for-
mer school board member Mandy
Lowell.
Julia Benton/The Campanile
“People won’t know Measure A
is on the ballot unless we get the word
out,” Lowell said. “Some people
might not even be aware that there
is an election in June so we want to
spread the word far and wide.”
The Strong Schools for a Strong
Community campaign is part of a
community-led effort to rally support
for the bond and to encourage people
to vote. Measure A is a bond for the
Palo Alto Unified School District,
funded by an extension of the cur-
rent tax rate for the previous project,
Building for Excellence.
The tax rate would not increase,
but would remain the same at about
$45 per $100,000 in assessed prop-
See MEASURE A, Page A3
Science Olympiad wins second
place in statewide competition
By Amy Stringer
Features Editor
The Palo Alto High School
Science Olympiad team recently
competed at the state finals at the
University of California at Merced on
Apr. 26 to compete with teams from
all over California.
events and engineering events. The
competition covers a variety of topics
ranging from experimental design to
building robots and circuit labs to an
event called “Write It Do It,” during
which one person instructs the other
to build a structure out of Legos or
similar materials. Each team generally

After losing to Mission San Jose consists of two people.

High School at the regional competi-
tion, the team still placed second and
qualified for the state competition. The
team placed second overall at states,
View this edition’s photo
which was not enough to advance to
collage in vivid color.
the national competition.
http://voice.paly.net/
view_story.php?id=6594
“It is the best Paly has ever done,”
senior Isaac Yao said. “We lost to Mira
INDEX Loma [High School], who always
places first.”
News: A1-A3 Opinion: A4-A5, A8
Stacy Levichev/The Campanile The state competition is com-
Spotlight: A6-A7 Sports: A9-A12
Lifestyles: B1 Features: B2-B6 Community members work together to spread the word about Measure A, a proposal that would posed of over 20 different events which
A&E: B7-B12 provide millions of dollars for school renovations, technology updates and additional classrooms. fall into two different categories, study
After each event is completed, the
results are judged by a panel of judges
and then designated a specific number
of points. The team with the greatest
number of points at the end wins.
The Paly team competed in all of
the events, and placed first in several,
including health science, herpetology,
food science and remote sensing. They
also placed in the top five categories
in many other events.
See SCIOLY, Page A2
A2 • May 5, 2008
NEWSBRIEFS School Board discusses Strategic Plan
Paly community prepares for
2008 graduation activities
The Parent Teacher Student Association is in the midst or-
ganizing graduation festivities, including the Senior Picnic and
Grad Night.
The baccalaureate service will be held Jun. 8 at the Stanford
University Memorial Auditorium, where Dr. David Kennedy, a
Pulitzer Prize-winning historian and Stanford history professor,
will speak. On Jun. 10, the senior class will meet on the quad to
rehearse the graduation ceremony. The students will then be bused
to the Senior Picnic organized by the Paly PTSA at a secret beach
location. Finally, the graduation ceremony will take place on Jun.
11 at Paly at 5:45 p.m. After the reception in the quad, students will
be bused to Senior Grad Night, also at a secret location.
Students interested in performing during graduation or bac-
calaureate can prepare a speech or performance after auditioning.
Audition sign-ups will be available in the Student Activities Office.
Auditions will most likely take place between May 19 and May
23 in the English Resource Center.
—Nanor Balabanian
Staff Writer
Voice, Verde announce new
editors for next school year
After a rigorous application process, juniors Emily Hamil-
ton and Sara Connolly were appointed as Verde magazine’s new
Editors in Chief for the 2008-09 school year while juniors Grace
LaPier, Connie Yang and Gillian Lui were appointed that same
position on Voice.
The former Editors in Chief are confident in the new editors
and hold high expectations for the magazine and the Web site.
This year’s Verde Editors in Chief also added a Managing
Editor position, which juniors Megan Mitchell, Shoshana Gould
and Mary Minno were appointed to.
“Student journalism plays a critical role in voicing student
opinion and I want to help make Verde even better than it already
is,” Connolly said.
LaPier, Yang and Lui are also looking forward to working
together next year with continuing Editors in Chief Michael Bloch
and Dan Schwartz.
“I am so excited for next year,” Schwartz said. “This is by far
the biggest and most talented staff Voice has ever seen.”
—Julia Shapiro
Senior Staff Writer
Student Council prepares
for Paly Last Chance Dance
Palo Alto High School’s Last Chance Dance, which will be
held on May 30 from 7:30-10:30 p.m. on the quad, is the last op-
portunity for students to attend a school dance this school year.
Student identification cards must be presented at the door of
the dance for entrance. Ticket prices will possibly change as a
result of the issue with drinking at prom this year.
“We don’t know what the price will be at this time,” Student
Activities Director Allison Davies-Mullins said. “We might have
to raise it if ASB hires security guards, which is a big expense.”
If ticket prices remain the same, they will be sold at the au-
ditor’s office for five dollars with an ASB card and $10 without.
Principal Jacqueline McEvoy is taking into account breathalyzers
and a new dance policy.
“McEvoy is considering implementing breathalyzers for the
dance,” Davies-Mullins said. “She is possibly going to visit other
schools to consult their dance policies.”
—Pauline Slakey
Staff Writer
Viking article on hazing wins
national journalism award
The Viking’s Dec. 3 article on hazing at Paly, written by Peter
Johnson and Noah Sneider, recently won an award from the Na-
tional Scholastic Press Association.
“It was really surprising when we found out that we had won
such a prestigious award,” Johnson said.
The two writers won the 2008 Student Journalist Impact Award,
along with $1000 as prize money. The article required tremendous
research and time, Johnson said.
“We had to be careful because it was such a sensitive issue,”
Johnson said. “We talked to a Student Press Law Center attorney
to make sure we were covering the issue correctly.”
After the article was published, Principal Jacqueline McEvoy
took steps to communicate with coaches and students about the
issue in the article. Other Paly publications examined the article
while the Palo Alto Weekly published an article about residents’
concerns and CBS 5 featured a segment on the article.
“We were really surprised and grateful that it had the effect
it had,” Johnson said.
—Sarah Stringer
Spotlight Editor
Upcoming Events
MAY 5: AP Testing Begins
Students in Advanced Placement classes
begin taking exams this week.
MAY 13-15: ASB Elections
Ballots will be cast to elect ASB officers for
the 2008-09 school year.
MAY 14-15: STAR Testing
Students in grades 9-11 will take the STAR
test, while seniors have two days off.
MAY 26: No School
PAUSD students are given a day off on Me-
morial Day to honor soldiers lost in war.
MAY 30: Field Day
ASB hosts a day of fun recreation during a
lengthened lunch period.
MAY 30: Last Chance Dance
ASB holds the final dance of the 2007-08
school year on the quad.
News The Campanile
PAUSD focuses on, organizes school objectives for next twelve years
that the basic intent is aligned with what I was hoping
STRATEGIC PLAN GOALS to see.”
Board members pointed out certain holes in the
draft of the Strategic Plan, including the lack of defined
hiring standards under the staff development goal and
a need to report how the district is using money under
Staff d the budget goal.
e
ce -Impro velopmen Some board members also mentioned that some
ellen
c v t
emic
e x
lum -Make e teacher points of the Strategic Plan require some wording
Acad ve curricu pare for poten PAUSD mo valuation
e beyond the realm of the district.
o re
-Impr tudents p -Find
tial sta re att s
ractiv ystem “The one thing that I would like to see is some
-Help e
s ways ff e to language that shows that we want our kids to soar and
ing and im to m
coll e g
w - a chiev prove otivate te reach for the stars,” Baten-Caswell said. “We have to
ort lo instruc ache be pragmatic and make sure we’re supporting kids we
-Supp ts
tion rs
n need to support, but we need to be aspirational.”
stude In general, however, the school board approved
the goals of the Strategic Plan.
“I’m pleased that we’ve moved to a point where
Budget trends e and we’re getting closer to making certain that every child
o v e rnanc nsparency rict is touched by this strategic plan,” Board Member Ca-
-Create plans to support G a ist
nce tr om d
student enrollment growth -Enha nication fr e Strategic mille Townsend said.
u in
-Build more classrooms comm ally exam The next steps for the drafting of the Strategic
d ic Plan include discussion with the broad community and
-Support current funding -Perio iatives
it further editing. Skelly held discussions with the Palo
strategies Plan in Alto Parent Teacher Student Association at Jane Lathrop
Stanford Middle School on Apr. 30 and at David Starr
Jordan Middle School on May 1.
By Nolan Wong cent, of our time because it is both so important and “This is truly an iterative process,” Skelly said.
Staff Writer so difficult,” Skelly said. “We’re taking in feedback by having discussions with
Palo Alto Unified School District Superintendent The plan includes initiatives to improve the cur- stakeholders and board members and moving forward in
Kevin Skelly presented new drafts of the Strategic Plan, riculum and instructional practices, provide college terms of the work we’re doing here [at the district].”
which discusses developed initiatives for academic readiness and help boost students who achieve academi- One issue parents have brought up includes the
excellence, staff recruitment and development, budget cally below grade level. lack of mention of the Foreign Language in Elementary
and governance at the PAUSD Board of Education The other goals of staff recruitment and develop- Schools (FLES) in the Strategic Plan.
meeting on Apr. 22. ment, budget and governance also encompass the goal “We feel that the focus should be on meeting college
The Strategic Plan charts the course of the PAUSD of academic excellence. Staff recruitment and develop- expectations,” Skelly said. “It’s our belief that thinking
and its respective schools over four years. The last ment includes attracting talented staff and enhancing the about language acquisition at the end of high school
Strategic Plan was adopted for July 2004-07 and the teacher evaluation system and staff development. versus where language goes during the K-12 experience
current plan will be adopted and will serve as the general Improvement of resources and addressing enroll- is a better way of looking at the situation.”
district guidelines for next 12 years, with revisions every ment growth are initiatives for the budget goal, and Parents also discussed the targeting of specific
four years. The drafted goals were based on results of governance promotes communication between the groups in the Strategic Plan, namely underachieving
a district-wide survey taken by students, parents and district and the community. students in schools.
staff from late March to early April of this year. The potential mission and vision statements pre- “I want to underscore the point that it’s not a
In order to support academic excellence and learn- sented for the Strategic Plan reflect the proposed goals zero-sum game when talking about the lower end of
ing, the central goal of the plan, the plan will focus on and initiatives, particularly academic excellence and the achievement scale versus those who are at a higher
“[creating] an exceptional education environment that staff development. end,” parent Cathy Fitzgerald said. “We should have
consistently and appropriately challenges and supports
every student to achieve maximum academic growth
The school board members showed support for
the direction of the drafted Strategic Plan at the Apr.
some initiative on giving teachers tools on assessing
improvement at a high level. It’s easy to let those higher
every year,” according to the Apr. 22 Strategic Plan
draft.
22 meeting but requested some considerations and
changes in wording.
achieving kids drop by the wayside.”
Further school board discussion will be held on
“The area [of academic excellence and learning] “We may have a little wordsmithing,” Board May 13. The school board will vote to approve the
has consumed more than 75 percent, perhaps 90 per- Member Melissa Baten-Caswell said. “But, I think final Strategic Plan on May 27.
McEvoy reconsiders new schedule decision
SCHEDULE, Continued from A1 athletes miss class, he said that students cost to athletes. The benefits of having a The last bell schedule change in-
wouldn’t benefit from an early Thursday consistent schedule are far outweighed by volved vast amounts of research and
be met, although the vote failed. dismissal during first semester as much the benefits of having a late start.” time to find the best working schedule,
“I understand the rationale for the as second semester. A number of students have also noted Hansen said.
decision she had to make, but my pref- “The spring has the largest number that if the original focus was on later start McEvoy also found communication
erence would be for all teachers to be of athletes of all the seasons, so there are times to reduce students stress, McEvoy’s barriers between students and staff.
engaged,” English teacher Kindel Launer the most kids missing classes,” Hansen original decision did nothing to help the “One of the things that have come
said. “Teachers are the professionals and said. “First semester is different because problem and perhaps worsened it. But out of this process is that we don’t have
know the curriculum best. They really games don’t fall on Thursday afternoons McEvoy argued changing the start time an effective way for students and staff to
need to weigh in on the decision. It’s my nearly as much. Football, basketball and of a single day will not affect students. communicate,” McEvoy said. “There is
obligation to vote.” wrestling are at night while water polo “One late start won’t affect students’ no representative system in place or way
McEvoy chose the second semester is on Fridays and so on.” sleep,” McEvoy said. “Teenagers get into to have a discussion group. We’re going
schedule over first semester because the
second semester schedule includes an
Although the final percentage of
the teacher vote was in fact in favor of
a biorhythm, so changing all start times
would make a difference, but one day
to look at bringing back the representative
system for next year.”
early dismissal on Thursday afternoons
that avoids athletes missing competi-
changing the schedule, McEvoy is uncer-
tain that this in fact indicates the general
isn’t going to help most teenagers.”
McEvoy also found difficulty with
Staff had the opportunity to meet
with McEvoy during preparation periods
tions that they would have to miss sentiment of all the school’s teachers. the schedule decision process when sim- for a full day on Apr. 8, which Launer
school for. “You can’t make any assumptions ply addressing the format for which the said was extremely effective. In contrast,
“I wanted to protect instructional from silence,” McEvoy said. “Silence new bell schedule was to be chosen. McEvoy said only a handful of teachers
time for athletes,” McEvoy said. “One of is exactly what it is: it’s silence. Maybe “Paly has not made a major decision came each period and that level of par-
the biggest complaints was from parents that’s the message - that we’re not ready like this in many, many years,” McEvoy ticipation indicated low staff interest.
of athletes missing class. With early dis- for a change.” said. “There is no formal decision making Despite all the complications that
missal, people missed less class.” Often times at the end of the school process at this school, so what you do is have ensued, McEvoy is confident that a
Many students do not feel this a year there is a shared fatigue between decide how you’re going to decide it and strong solution will be found next year.
large enough reason to choose the second administrators and students, so no one stick to it. We also learned that we need “The conversation is not over, our
semester schedule. is in a position to make demanding deci- to create a better process.” work is not done,” McEvoy said. “I
“Athletes are used to the workload,” sions, Launer said. Several years ago, Hansen was on a guarantee you if we have a vote next
junior and swimmer Kavitha Subrama- Many students are upset about committee responsible for the last time year, people will now participate. We’re
nian said. “They choose to make up the McEvoy’s decision. the bell schedule was changed to what creating a critical mass for change and
work they miss for sports. It’s ridiculous “It’s incredibly disappointing,” schedule is currently in place. we’re almost there.”
to base the schedule only on athletes.” sophomore Nicolas Dumas said. “Every “Everyone was involved and listened
While Athletics Director Earl single time a school has moved their to,” Hansen said. “We didn’t have all the With additional reporting by Danielle
Hansen agreed with McEvoy that many schedule up an hour, it has come at no sniping that’s going on now.” Kim, Editor in Chief.
Science Olympiad team places second at state tournament
SCIOLY, Continued from A1
“What is notable is that the underclassmen
and the people who were not on the team last year
performed really well, while we were expecting the
people with more experience to do better,” senior
Lydia Qin said.
Qin and Colleen Lee are the presidents of the
Science Olympiad team this year.
While the team performed exceptionally in many
of the events, the engineering events posed the most
difficulty. Events such as Sounds of Music require
building a musical instrument by hand.
“The engineering events involve a lot of work-
ing, especially at the last minute,” junior Justin
Holmgren said. “This year we did okay, but not
spectacularly.”
While the team works consistently throughout
the year, the work increases as each competition
gets closer.
“The work scales up as the competition gets
closer,” Yao said. “The last week before the competi-
tion I spent at least 24 hours preparing.”
Building on the team’s stellar performance
this year, they have high hopes for the team in the
future.
“This year was the best we’ve done at states,”
Courtesy of Kathy Woo
Qin said. “Hopefully we’ll get better and better and Paly’s Science Olympiad team surpassed the records of past Paly seasons by placing second in
one day beat Miraloma and go to nationals.” both this year’s state and regional competitions, placing first in many biology-centered events.
The Campanile News May 5, 2008 • A3

Student organizes ‘Caregiver’ Kit assembly event

Paly junior prompts student volunteers to donate time, materials for AIDS ‘Caregiver’ Medical Kits
By Cassie Wedemeyer jelly, antibiotics and bandages, which “When I started, I was only
Staff Writer protect from infection and illness and looking to build 500 kits,” Klingbeil
Palo Alto High School junior extend the life of an AIDS victim dras- said. “But after encouragement from
Erik Klingbeil organized his fellow tically, are not available to them.” the church and Boy Scouts, I raised
students, Boy Scouts and church The Paly assembly was the the number to 1,000. But then, on
members on Apr. 19 to assemble 1,500 first done by a public school in the Mar. 5, I spoke in front of the Penin-
medical kits for people treating AIDS United States and Klingbeil is the first sula Bible Church congregation and
victims in third-world countries. teenager in the country to lead such I raised $33,000 over the next two
Working together, the volunteers a project. The project started out as days. That, plus what I had raised from
were able to assemble 1,500 medical his Eagle Scout Project but quickly hand-written letters, pushed the total
kits including disposable latex gloves, became much bigger. up to $42,000.”
petroleum jelly and many other sup- “I was really impressed,” Paly The assembly event, held in
plies in just one day. junior and fellow Boy Scout Jamie Paly’s Student Center, started at 10
Klingbeil contacted an organiza- Nakamura said. “I’ve known Eagle a.m. with speeches by Peninsula Bible
tion called World Vision, which pur- Scouts who have done their project Church Missionaries Director Carol
chases the necessary supplies Lind, World Vision Regional
from pharmaceutical compa- Director Jason Miles and
“This is one of the greatest humanitarian
nies and owns distribution Caregiver Medical Kit Pro-
centers for the kits. crises of our time and it’s growing. People gram founder Lisa Rose.
The kits, made volun- living with AIDS in third-world countries do Each speaker spoke
tarily by people such as those not have the sufficient resources or means to passionately about the event,
organized by Klingbeil, were discussing statistics about
keep themselves clean and healthy.”
sent to Africa, Asia and Latin people suffering from AIDS
America. around the world and per-
According to its Web Erik Klingbeil sonal experiences to motivate
site, World Vision is the only junior the volunteers.
non-private organization to Thanks to community
send free medical supplies in participation, the 1,500 medi- Courtesy of Erik Klingbeil
bulk to third world countries that are with three or four people and it was cal kits were completely assembled
Junior Erik Klingbeil (right) inspired students and other members of the community to join him in
severely afflicted by AIDS. really amazing to see Erik organize and boxed up to be sent back to the
“This is one of the greatest hu- over 25 people.” organization in less than two-and- the assembly of 1,500 medical kits to send to people treating AIDS victims in third-world countries.
manitarian crises of our time and it’s Each Caregiver Kit costs $29, a-half hours, three-and-a-half hours getting the speakers to come motivate The Caregiver volunteers of the sion for us here,” Seddie Mwanza,
growing,” Klingbeil said. “People liv- which includes the cost of the mate- sooner than expected. us, the event could not have gone more Bay Area established a goal to as- one of the caregivers in Zambia, said.
ing with AIDS in third-world countries rials and shipping to its destination. “Erik put an amazing amount smoothly. He did a great job of making semble one million medical kits in “This encourages me to help the sick
do not have the sufficient resources or The goal of Klingbeil’s project was of effort into the project,” junior sure everybody had something to do the year 2008. because I know that there are other
means to keep themselves clean and initially to make 500 kits, which would participant Sarah Adams said. “From and I felt like an important piece of “We know now that there are people who are interested in helping
healthy. Basic items such as petroleum have cost $14,500. organizing the material drop-off to the puzzle.” people who have love and compas- the sick.”

Robotics team reaches Robotics Championships quarterfinals

Paly Robotics competes against other teams from around the globe in FIRST Championship challenge ‘OverDrive’
of teams and it’s always interesting to check
them out.”
Paly’s robotics team qualified for the
championship after winning a regional
competition in San Jose during the regular
season. However, the team was not notified
of its qualification until a week before cham-
pionships.
“At the regional competition in San Jose,
Paly originally lost in an inappropriate replay
of the final round,” team advisor Doug Ber-
tain said. “After extensive review, they ruled
that we really did win so we qualified for the
championship in Atlanta.”
Although the team competed in the
regional robotics competition in Las Vegas
from Mar. 29-30, the team’s quarterfinal finish
there did not qualify them for championships.
The team still needed to have won a regional
competition, not just place highly among the
Stacy Levichev/The Campanile
other teams. The reversal of the team’s loss
in San Jose qualified them for the FIRST
Senior Mike Tramiel, robotics co-captain of the building team, helped lead the
championship.
team to the FIRST Robotics Championships in Atlanta, Georgia on Apr. 17-19. Previously, the robotics team won the
By Becky Byler The championship was divided into four regional title in 2006 but did not continue on
Staff Writer equal divisions: Galileo, Curie, Newton and to the championship. The team’s trip to Atlanta
The Palo Alto High School robotics team, Archimedes. The champions of each divi- this year was the first time the Paly robotics
which competed in the Foundation for the sion then compete against each other in the team has made it to the championship in the
Inspiration and Recognition of Science and Einstein Field to become the winner of the past five years.
Technology (FIRST) Robotics Championships entire championship. The championship brought together over
on Apr. 17-19 in Atlanta, concluded its suc- “The championship is basically the 340 robotics teams from all over the world.
cessful season with a quarterfinal finish in the biggest robotics competition in the world,” Although the majority of teams were from
Galileo Division of the competition. junior Eric Vicenti said. “There are hundreds the United States, teams from Israel, Brazil,
Canada and Mexico also participated in the
championship.
“The quality of all of the robots at the
championship was so much higher than that of
the robots at the regional competition,” team
captain Daniel Shaffer said. “The competition
was just much harder all around since the field
was largely composed of regional winners.”
To attend the competition, the team had to
generate $14,000 for travel costs in two days
due to the late notification of qualification. The
majority of the funds were used to ship the
team’s robot and materials to Atlanta.
“We basically called all of our corporate
sponsors,” junior Aleksander Ornaf said.
“We only had a weekend to raise it, but we
pulled it off.”
This year’s FIRST Robotics Champion-
ship challenge, OverDrive, involves the use
of robots to move two 40-inch inflatable balls
per team around a 27 by 54 foot track.
Each team uses three robots: two robots to
score offensively and one robot defensively to
stop the other team from collecting points.
Points are allocated for each time the
team’s ball passes its finish line and bonus
points are awarded for lifting the balls over
the six-and-half foot tall overpass that spans
the finish line.
After finally getting to Atlanta, the team
competed against a variety of different teams
from across the country. Instead of competing
offensively, the team focused on defense.
“We nearly won San Jose [with defense],”
Vicenti said. “While we can score pretty well,
competing with world-class robots is slightly
out of our reach.”
Two to three robotics teams form alliances
in order to compete in the challenge.
“We are excellent at defense, we even
won the “Fastest Robot Award,” so we got
picked first,” Bertain said. “It’s unfortunate
since we could have won it all, but the eighth
place team got to pick first, instead of the first
place team, so we weren’t paired with the best
offensive team.”
After qualifying matches, Paly’s team was
2-8-0 and unfortunately lost during its first
elimination round after playing two games.
Paly played against the number one seed
in Galileo, who eventually went on to win
championships. Despite not winning, the team
said that they learned a lot from the experience
of participating.
“I loved it. It was a lot of fun,” senior
programming captain Guy Davidson said. “ I
don’t think there’s any better experience than
coming here and watching what you worked
on for a month-and-a-half compete.”
With the robotics season now over, the
team is looking to rebuild for next year, since
three of the team’s five captains will be gradu-
ating this June.
“We’re hoping to gain more experience
during the off-season but I am confident that we
will still be strong next year,” Ornaf said.

Administration deliberates Campaigners seek to publicize Measure A

breathalyzer usage policies Measure A
BREATHALYZE, Continued from A1
going to sporting events for 90 school
days, which is the length of an entire
semester. The policy that involves
breathalyzing all students is far more
likely to be enacted but if the situation
continues to worsen the administration
might have to adopt the harsher punish-
ment, Berkson said.
The policy is still being discussed
and McEvoy said that she would not
pass on it without first consulting with
the students.
“Even if I wanted to, I am not allowed
to impose such a strict punishment with-
out first checking with all the students and
administration,” McEvoy said. “Plus, I
would rather work with the students to
find another alternative.”
Although the primary concern of the
administration is the safety and health of
the students, another problem that has
presented itself is that the chaperones at
the dances are forced to care for the ine-
briated students. These students are often
verbally abusive and uncooperative.
Because they need to tolerate such
inappropriate behavior, many chaperones
do not want to chaperone any more
dances.
“The chaperones already feel un-
comfortable telling students to stop danc-
ing inappropriately, so to force them to
watch over the drunk students and have
them be abused when they try to help
is really too much for them to handle,”
McEvoy said.
Even McEvoy has had to step in to
watch over drunken students. She was
personally harassed several times while
watching over the students.
“I volunteer to watch over the stu-
dents at dances,” McEvoy said. “I give
up my time to allow students to have a
dance. For students to come up to me and
verbally abuse me is inappropriate.”
Not only do the drunk students harass
the chaperones, but the time it takes for
the chaperones to breathalyze the ine-
briated students, to contact the proper
officials and to have the drunk students
sent home is about 30-45 minutes per
student, McEvoy said.
“At Prom, we had about 12 student
who were caught drinking,” McEvoy
said. “The students were not cooperating
and even worse their parents would not
come and pick them up. We had to sit
and wait with them, trying to find some
way to send them home.”
Both McEvoy and Berkson feel that
even though the policies may be harsh
and can turn away many students from
going to dances, eventually, the numbers
at dances will rise again.
“Other schools like San Mateo and
Saratoga [High Schools] have been
breathalyzing all of their students and
yet they still have a large number of
students who attend,” McEvoy said. “The
number of students coming to dances
will fall, but only at the beginning. Once
students can get used to the fact that we
will breathalyze them, the numbers will
come back up.”
$378 million proposal
This bond will...
* Maintain the tax rate that funded
Building for Education Projects
* Now use the funds to create a new
performing arts center and science
labs and to renovate current buildings
* Promote green construction and
energy sustainment in new building
MEASURE A, Continued from A1 mental standards of the Collaborative for High
Performance Schools (CHPS).
-erty value. The measure includes district-wide “Construction will be green and buildings will
building renovations, technology updates, and be sustainable and save energy,” Lowell said.
addition classrooms. Under state Proposition 39, Lowell said she hopes to make sure the entire
55 percent of voters must be in favor of Measure community is informed about Measure A and
A for the initiative to pass. its advantages. The campaign is hosting phone
Measure A would give Palo Alto High School banks, using its Web site, www.strongpausd.org,
funding to make changes such as building a new and mailing information to homes.
performing arts center, adding more science labs “Many people’s first thought on initiatives
and renovating the library and Tower Building. is ‘If I know nothing about it, I’ll just vote no’
However, decisions such as those regarding because that maintains the status quo, so we want
the Haymarket Theatre renovation will not be to be sure to provide them with an easy way to
formed before the election. Officials are currently get information,” Lowell said.
unsure as to whether Haymarket Theatre will be The campaign has faced unawareness from
torn down in favor of a new performing arts center, many community members.
left standing alongside a new center or simply “More than half of the people I called did not
renovated to accommodate current needs. know what Measure A was; this told me that we
“At this point, we’re going to have to wait have a lot of work to do,” Lowell said.
until the bond passes to make decisions,” Golton Besides general unfamiliarity with the bond,
said. “There will be funding available for a brand there has also been direct opposition to Measure A.
new theater in the bond measure though.” Opposition leaders Allen M. Rice and Wayne E.
Another feature of the bond measure is that Martin filed a statement in opposition to Measure
all buildings will be built to meet the environ- A with the Santa Clara county registrar. Rice is
treasurer of the Willow Glen Libertarian Alliance
and Martin is a Palo Alto resident. The argument
states that Measure A does not have specifications
on completion.
“The full text does not specify what fraction
of the bond money will be spent on each school
(nothing prevents half the bond money being spent
to “modernize” the football stadiums),” reads a
section of the statement filed. The statement con-
cludes that, “Measure A is not a specific plan; it is
a ... nice-to-have wish list to be filled in.”
Lowell feels that this is not a valid argument
in the PAUSD, where there is a vocal community
with a strong emphasis on academics.
“The people in this community wouldn’t tol-
erate half of their bond money going to a football
field,” Lowell said. “The community understands
that with scarce resources, academics are given
priority.”
Despite some opposition, Lowell is over-
whelmed by the amount of community support.
“What’s surprising is the energy we’ve gotten
from people who have no kids in our schools,”
Lowell said. “I’ve been buoyed by enthusiasm
from community members of all ages.”
According to Lowell, the Strong Schools
for a Strong Community campaign has received
support and financing from numerous sources,
including more than $35,000 raised and $10,000
from at least one Paly alumnus.
“We have over 500 people listed on our Web
site as supporters,” Lowell said.
Overall, Lowell is positive about the outcome
for the Jun. 3 vote and strongly welcomes com-
munity involvement.
“I would say at least eight out of 10 people
that I called from the phone banks said they would
support Measure A after asking questions,” Lowell
said. “I think [Measure A] will pass because the
school community will put in the energy to get
the message out.”
 A4 May 5, 2008

Opinion The Campanile

Editorials Letters to the Editors

The opinion of The Campanile
Efforts to publicize of parents later that day, I told them you acted with

Measure A necessary to
truth appreciated
The following letter was written in response to
Kevin Harvey’s article, published Mar. 17, “Basket-
dignity and grace, forwarded the correspondence I
had with them to the rest of the PTSA board and later
gave an interview to the Palo Alto Weekly and said the
same thing.
I want to apologize for threatening your funding at

enhance education
Measure A would help to increase building
safety, combat rising enrollment rate
The Campanile would like to express its support for
Measure A, the $378 million school bond that will be voted
on in the Jun. 3 election. The bond measure will provide
funding for district-wide renovations and changes by
continuing the tax rate from Building for Excellence, the
previous Palo Alto Unified School District improvement
project. The tax rate will not increase, but will merely
remain the same.
With approximately $80 million of the bond specifi-
cally directed towards improving Palo Alto High School,
the proposed changes for Paly are significant. Plans include
renovations for the library and gyms, as well as renovation
or possible replacements for the Tower Building and Hay-
market Theatre. Furthermore, the district plans to add more
classrooms, modernize the football stadium and improve
local-area network and wide-area network infrastructure
in order to support technology upgrades at Paly.
Currently, many of the buildings at Paly inefficiently
use space and require renovation. The library, which was
originally designed to later include a second floor, has an
extremely high ceiling, which hinders quiet study. Paly’s
Haymarket Theatre and Tower Building are both outdated,
worn buildings that do not accommodate the demands of
modern students. The Campanile believes that Measure
A would give these buildings a clean transformation, with
interior-structural updates as well as new exterior changes.
In addition to improving these buildings in terms of effi-
Initial schedule decision
ciency, the bond would fund necessary structural upgrades
to protect against possible earthquakes and to meet the
standards of the Americans with Disability Act.
In addition, The Campanile believes that the bond
proposal is appropriate and necessary because of the
continuous student enrollment growth that has occurred
over the past few years. As more students enter PAUSD,
there will be fewer resources and opportunities available
per child. The education upgrades in Measure A offer a
substantial method of combating the growing enrollment
rate. About 420 new students are expected to enter PAUSD
next fall, according to District Interim Chief Business Of-
ficer Cathy Mak. Without the bond, students would have
fewer classrooms and older, rundown athletic equipment.
By providing funding for new buildings, new computers
and other resources, Measure A will help Palo Alto students
thrive and excel more in the classroom.
The Campanile strongly supports the bond measure
and urges voters to vote ‘yes’ for Measure A on Jun. 3.
The bond gives students ample resources and improved
buildings, thus enhancing their education and lessening the
effect of the growing student enrollment rate. Moreover,
Measure A does not demand a higher tax rate, but simply
continues the current Building for Excellence taxes. The
Campanile believes that by offering better opportunities,
Measure A will enrich the learning experiences of more
than 10,000 PAUSD students.
ball team focuses on future after CCS infraction ends
season.”
Thank you for publishing the article on the infrac-
tion the boys’ basketball team suffered this season.
There was much confusion and I found myself believing
that the problem had been ignored by all staff members
of Paly, when in reality the principal finally took the
matter in her own hands.
I appreciate your efforts to end the rumors and
publish the truth.
Thank you for your good coverage.
–– Christine K., sophomore
The Campanile represents
student body well
The following letter was written in response to
Yvonne Lin’s article, published Apr. 14, “Student plans
Earth Week events.”
I was inspired by The Campanile’s story about
Becky’s Earth Week. It reminded me of the effort I put
into organizing my Eagle Scout Project. I appreciate
that The Campanile has done a great job this year of
representing the student body. As an ASB officer, I
understand the responsibility you hold.
Also, I would like to comment that The Campa-
nile has been very punctual on reporting ASB events
accurately.
I remember that I was once interviewed for an
article. The interview was carried out very profession-
ally. I look forward to further correspondence with The
Campanile in the future.
–– Erik Klingbeil, junior
Tramiel apologizes for
threat to cut funding
our meeting on Tuesday. I do not have personal control
over the funding and I overstepped my boundaries as
PTSA president by saying that I did. I was frustrated
at a variety of other things going on at Paly, and you
ended up in my line of fire.
–– Preeva Tramiel, PTSA president
EPA police funding
unfair to Palo Alto
The following letter was written in response to Chris
Gonnerman’s article, published April 14, “Allocating
more funds for Palo Alto police unneeded.”
Palo Alto is supposed to subsidize East Palo Alto’s
police force at the expense of its own? Have fun getting
that through the ballot.
All men are created equal, unless you happen to
live in a city that has a population with more aggregate
wealth, in which case you have additional responsibili-
ties piled on top of you?
–– Jim Shen, Paly alumnus
Paly’s ASB could
regain legitimacy
Next week’s ASB elections offer a much-needed
opportunity for the ASB to regain some legitimacy.
For the first time in a generation, more than one candi-
date is seeking the office of ASB President. The mere
existence of an opposition candidate could lead to an
actual debate about the future of Palo Alto Senior High
School and the ASB.
The ASB used to employ a system of fourth-period
representatives to help involve the entire student body
in ASB affairs. This system was abandoned after it fell
into disuse. Since then the ASB has been character-
ized by closed-door fourth-period meetings. When the
ASB does emerge from its front-office cocoon to hold
open meetings, they are poorly attended. Even forc-
ing club presidents to attend did not yield the desired

should not have been made

Decision to go with this year’s schedule for the
upcoming school year allows for more input
Last Friday, Principal Jacqueline McEvoy made and
retracted an executive decision to implement the second
semester bell schedule for the entire 2008-09 school year,
following a lengthy process that involved student and staff
surveys and discussion.
While The Campanile appreciates that McEvoy re-
tracted her initial decision and left the schedule as is, we
believe that McEvoy should never have made an executive
decision in the first place.0
Originally, the administration planned to use the
schedule agreed upon by two-thirds of the staff. But, when
a two-thirds vote was never reached, McEvoy made the
decision on her own.
The Campanile believes that, in doing so, McEvoy
ignored the staff and student input that the administration
spent so much time and energy gathering.
The primary reason for revising the schedules was to
decrease student stress as suggested by the Stressed Out
Students Committee; McEvoy’s decision directly coun-
teracted this. The first semester schedule allows students
to sleep in on Thursday, giving them a mid-week boost
in energy. Using the second semester schedule for both
semesters eliminates the late Thursdays and goes against
the original reason for revising the schedule.
The Campanile does not believe that any immediate
decision should be made concerning the bell schedule
and instead requests that the administration should set
up a detailed process to make a well-informed decision.
Although student stress is something to consider when
revising the bell schedule, it is clear that there are other
factors to take into account. Palo Alto High School athlet-
ics, local traffic, district busing and the staff would all be
impacted by a change in the bell schedule.
This issue is just another example of how McEvoy has
failed to make a connection with Paly students during her
first year as principal. Even after students clearly showed
McEvoy how they felt through the student survey and their
ASB representatives, they were effectively ignored.
The Campanile hopes that in the future, McEvoy will
better communicate with students and staff.
The following letter is an official apology to
the editors of the Palo Alto High School student participation.
publications from Parent Teacher Student Associa- No fault can be placed with current president
tion President Preeva Tramiel. Tramiel met with the Mohammed Abid nor with the ASB. Indeed the fault
editors on Tuesday, Apr. 22 to discuss the goals of the must lie within the system. ASB’s role in running the
Paly journalism publications. Specifically, Tramiel felt
that the vandalism written about in “Student vandals
school is rather limited, which leads to general apathy
among the student body.
plague Paly,” published Jan. 28, should have been
more clearly opposed.
The solution to this is not easy: it starts with this
campaign and a future expanded role for the ASB. If
the ASB were to assume the role currently filled by
Let me repeat that what I was trying to say last Facebook as an outlet for students to take up concerns
Tuesday (Apr. 22), in a nutshell, was “use your jour- about administration policy, perhaps the student body
nalistic powers to do good for the Paly community.” I would be more willing to be involved.
should have acknowledged you already do that. Candidates face a distinct choice: to continue using
I admire how you stuck to your guns regarding the ASB as a focus group for Dr. McEvoy, or to expand
your role as independent journalists and I look forward their role as the students’ voice in the tower building.
to seeing some of that tenacity when you research Choose the latter.
other issues in the future. When I heard from a couple –– Daniel Shaffer, senior
The Campanile
Editors in Chief
Tyler Blake • Danielle Kim • Peter Lee
Ryan Pfleiderer • Mia Pond • Tomer Schwartz
News Editor Opinion Editor Spotlight Editor Lifestyles Editor
Rebecca Allen Chris­Clayton Sarah Stringer
Kairen Wong
Features Editors A&E Editors Sports Editors Business Managers
Henry Becker Sara Reihani Alexi Dagan Geng Wang
Amy Stringer Austin Smith Sam Jones Debbie Zhang
Graphics Editor Photo Manager Advertising Manager

Purchasing breathalyzers
Erik Krasner-Karpen Hannah McGovern Erik Krasner-Karpen
Staff Writers
Nanor Balabanian Rye Druzin Laura Kurtz Annie Vought
Catherine Benson Christian Gallagher Yvonne Lin Anna Waldron

ineffective Ayelet Bitton

Becky Byler
Hannah Bystritsky
Alex Greene
Chris Gonnerman
Gabrielle Hadley
Jillian Liu
Josh Lo
Ryan McLeod
Crystal Wang
Cassie Wedemeyer
Allison Whitson
Administration should attempt to address Alan Chen
Auster Chen
Michael Hamada
Zach Harris
Mira Parekh
Jonathan Shan
Eliot Wilson
Nolan Wong
roots of drinking problem Alan Chu Kevin Harvey Julia Shapiro Lindsay Yang
Allison Coleman DJ Hsueh Kelley Shin Gloria Yu
In the wake of several Palo Alto High School students’ in parks. Thus, although the administration may have a Zal Dordi Mikaela Kenrick Pauline Slakey Kelly Zhou
suspensions for being under the influence of alcohol at the fewer drunk students at its dances, the reality is that Paly Photographers
promenade held on April 5, The Campanile understands students will be no safer. Mika Ben-Shaul • Julia Benton • Allie Bollella
Principal Jacqueline McEvoy’s decision to enforce the Rather than creating an atmosphere in which students Michela Fossati-Bellani • Stacy Levichev • Elizabeth Petit
prohibition on alcohol-use at school functions. But, do not drink because they are scared of punishment, the
McEvoy’s decision to purchase two breathalyzers is an administration should funnel money into creating an at- Adviser
inappropriate use of school funds as it takes away money mosphere in which students do not drink because they do Esther Wojcicki
from other school needs and is ineffective in curbing not feel the need to be under the influence of alcohol in
student consumption of alcohol. order to have fun. The administration should try to solve
The Campanile does not believe that the school the problem of teen drinking at its roots, rather than simply
administration should deal with drinking at dances in attempting to mitigate its effects on school dances. Corrections: In the Apr. 14 article, “Teens with The Campanile reserves the right to edit submis-
an authoritarian manner. Firstly, most students will not That said, the same funding would also be much better Celiac disease adapt to restrictive diet,” a name was mis- sions for length. Please note that The Campanile only
be deterred by the purchase of two breathalyzers, as that spent on Paly’s many educational needs. This money could spelled. The Stanford professor who discovered a possible publishes signed letters.
threat was always there before, in the form of breathlyz- be utilized on improved teaching resources, which would treatment for Celiac disease is Chaitan “Khosla.” Advertisements: Ads with The Campanile are
ers carried by Palo Alto Police Department personnel. further the educational experiences for Paly students. Letters to the Editors: E-mail all letters to edi- printed with signed contracts. For more information,
Secondly, students, who used to drink before dances The Campanile believes that the administration should tors to theeds08@googlegroups.com. The Campanile contact Campanile Business Managers by e-mail at
and who are now deterred from doing so, will now just find better ways of curbing alcohol consumption and put welcomes and prints letters to the editors on a space- campanile.ads@gmail.com.
avoid school dances and drink at private house parties or its money to better use. available basis.
The Campanile Opinion May 5, 2008 • A5

Same-sex classrooms: helpful or hurtful?

Some feel single-sex classes break gender stereotypes, others believe they hinder the growth of healthy identities
By Lindsay Yang
Staff Writer
During lunch, students cover the quad while eating,
chatting, playing volleyball and discussing the latest epi-
sode of The Office with their peers, both male and female.
At Palo Alto High School, many value the co-ed culture.
However, a few blocks down Embarcadero Road at Cas-
tilleja School, the opposite is the case. Although many
criticize the lack of gender diversity at Castilleja, “separate,
but better” may be the new philosophy for good education.
Although Paly should not necessarily create single-sex
classes, Paly students and teachers should consider the
benefits of single-sex teaching techniques.
Whether girls are calculating the trajectory of a rocket
or boys are baking brownies, single-sex education often
breaks down gender stereotypes. Although most Paly
classes have an even distribution between males and fe-
males, Advanced Placement Physics and Computer Science
have 5:1 and 5:3 ratios for boys to girls, respectively.
In a study by the National Foundation for Education
Research that was conducted in the United Kingdom, girls
in single-sex schools were 40 percent more likely to take
advanced science courses than girls of similar academic
level in co-ed schools. Single-sex schools improved boys’
abilities in subjects that girls traditionally excelled in,
including English and foreign languages, according to a
study conducted by Cambridge University in 2005.
Co-ed schools need to encourage students to take
classes that interest them, rather than the stereotypical
courses that their peers join. Like single-sex schools, many
co-ed schools should strive for a comfortable atmosphere
more effectively teach students with single-sex education
techniques adapted to the biological needs of girls or boys.
This method will not work for every student, but it is more
efficient than the current co-ed system.
Because about 80 percent of the United States’ teachers
are female and because boys learn better from men, the
co-ed system also favors girls. Boys often become uninter-
ested in school because of teaching methods, psychologist
and family physician Leonard Sax said. Also, in a study
at Woodward Elementary School, boys marked with At-
tention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder scored proficient
on the state assessment test after attending a single-sex
classroom for three years.
Test scores and grades for both girls and boys have sig-
nificantly increased at some schools after they transferred
from a co-ed system to single-sex education. Although low
test scores and grades may not be a significant problem at
Paly, single-sex education gives students clear advantages.
By tailoring instruction to students, co-ed schools can
improve the education they provide.
By Gabrielle Hadley
Senior Staff Writer
Many private schools across the nation have offered
single-sex education for hundreds of years. Lately, how-
ever, an increased number of people has been advocating
single-sex education in public schools.
Although single-sex education is an option that should
be available to anyone who wants to participate in it, all
public schools across the nation should be strictly co-ed.
Those who favor single-sex public education state that boys
and girls need to be separate because of their inherent dif-
ferences and because of the unique social experiences that
occur during each of their lifetimes. Some, such as Leonard
Sax, author of “Why Gender Matters: What Parents and
Teachers Need to Know About the Emerging Science of
Sex Differences” and a proponent of same-sex education,
argue boys and girls should be separated because of their
biological differences.
Technically, different races have unique characteristics
in their biological makeup, but that does not mean that
high-school students, educators and parents in six school
districts, each with a separate girls’ and boys’ academy,
with 12 schools in all, some on the same campus.
“The academic success of either the boys or the girls
in the study was influenced more by small classes, strong
curricula, dedicated teachers and equitable teaching prac-
tices than by single-sex settings,” the researchers said.
In terms of social experiences, although boys and
girls each have separate sets of special experiences that
differentiates between being a boy or a girl, the events or
experiences that each child goes through as a whole are
the same for all adolescents.
Feminists argue that girls need to be taught separately
because they need to be nurtured and shaped to become
“strong girls and fight oppression” in a male-dominated
society. In reality, however, it is these very feminists that
may perpetuate subjugation by pointing out the differ-
ences between the two genders. If everyone accepted
males and females as equal, women would not need to
fight as hard to prove their competence and men would
not be mocked for showing their feelings. Proponents of
the single-sex education argument also completely ignore
those children and adolescents who have trouble with their
sexual orientation.
There is already the stereotyping of men’s and
women’s roles in society. Though society has come a
long way from the days before women’s rights, there are
still many conservative, traditional ideas about what little
girls and boys should grow up to be. Men are taught to be
engineers, doctors, scientists, firemen and police officers,
while women are told that they can aspire to be nurses,

PRO
free of gender stereotypes. At single-sex schools, besides
exploring different courses, students assume different
roles. Girls typically take on the roles of “the comic” or
“the leader,” positions that boys usually hold at co-ed
schools according to junior Caitlin Watson, who attended
Castilleja for middle school. For both girls and boys,
single-sex schools remove social barriers and create a
more inviting environment.
“There are fewer pressures and more freedom to be
yourself,” Jennifer Chang, an eighth grader at Castilleja,
said. “People are not as worried about looking cool.”
Especially during adolescence, single-sex schools can
reduce awkwardness, which can distract students or lead
to low self-esteem. Single-sex environments can be more
open and socially comfortable than even that of Paly, which
is often viewed as a tolerant community, Jess Brooks, who
attended Castelleja for middle school, said. Students also
said that single-sex schools or classes are more united.
With taboos removed, single-sex schools create a more
understanding setting, because all of the students share
at least one thing in common — their sex.
In addition to helping students socially, single-sex
education also responds to students’ biological differences.
Single-sex education gears its teaching style to a specific
sex and draws from the distinct learning patterns of girls
and boys. In general, girls and boys are biologically dif-
ferent and Paly should pay attention to those differences
to better educate students.
If placed in the same classroom, many girls and
boys will respond differently to a certain problem. Other
fundamental differences between general learning styles
between girls and boys include hearing amplitude, evalu-
ation of work, role-playing, numbers, context, confronta-
tion, amount of motion and group size. Paly teachers can
Single-sex classrooms provide a more comfortable and accepting atmosphere for students; however, a
co-ed environment may better help students to develop identities, form different ideas and grow.
The main arguments against single-sex schools are
that students are unable to communicate easily with the op-
posite sex and that there is less diversity in ideas. However,
many students who have attended single-sex schools have
no problems interacting with students in co-ed schools,
especially those of a different gender. Many find that social
interaction depends on each person’s personality. Students
feel that they are not disadvantaged in any way and that
the variety of ideas does not originate from gender. Critics
of single-sex education also argue that it fails to provide
students with an accurate representation of the real world.
This is outweighed by the breakdown of social stereotypes,
which is prevalent in the world today.
Although Paly fosters an inviting environment,
single-sex education offers even more. If Paly and other
co-ed schools adopt some single-sex education techniques,
schools can empower individuals socially.
Julia Benton/The Campanile
schools should separate Asians from African-Americans
or Jews from Hispanics. Likewise, students should not
be separated by sex.
Although boys and girls are inherently different, there
is no justification for separating people who are different.
If all groups of people that were different were separated,
segregation and discrimination along racial lines would
still be prevalent. A 2001 California study, conducted
among 12 different schools, found that “single-gender,
public academies need to guard against becoming a new
form of tracking or resegregation.”
“Segregation might lead to a safe or comfortable space
for some populations, but they clearly create tensions for
race and gender equity,” the study said.
The three-year study, entitled “Is Single Gender
Schooling Viable in the Public Sector? Lessons From Cali-
fornia’s Pilot Project,” featured more than 300 middle and
CON
teachers, secretaries and decorators. There are many chil-
dren today that try to fight that stigma. What, then, happens
to the children with gender identity issues?
The idea of having single-sex education to keep
boys and girls separate only perpetuates gender identity
confusion. Renowned developmental psychologist, Erik
Erikson in his Eight Stages of Psychosocial Development,
identified a key stage of social development as the conflict
between identity and role confusion. One of the main
events during this period is associating peer relationships,
which is most prominent during adolescence. During this
time, youth make conscious efforts to identify who they
are and their relationships with others.
To develop a healthy identity and transition into adult-
hood, adolescents must confront job aspirations, sexual
orientation, role confusion and life in general. All of these
traits seem to be nearly impossible to identify without being
around a heterogeneous group of people, which includes
boys being around girls and vice versa.
Furthermore, several of the problems that some say
disappear in single-sex education, such as gender ste-
reotyping and sexual harassment, have been proven to
not necessarily disappear or even decrease in single-sex
classrooms. According to the study, gender equity was
often not addressed in the classrooms, gender stereotypes
were often reinforced and, in some cases, stereotypical
behaviors were even worsened.
Even if it could be proven that same sex education
could improve children’s education, the small academic
increase that this segregation would cause, would not be
worth the immense loss of these important life lessons.
By segregating children based on sex, public schools
would only decrease the gender equity and damage the
healthy learning environments.

Affirmative action fails to address larger education crisis

By Chris Clayton
Opinion Editor
In 1972, Secretary of Labor James D.
Hodgson’s implementation of Revised Order
No. 4, which extended affirmative action be-
yond the institutions permitted under Order
No. 4, was sensible; in fact, the executive
branch should have implemented such a policy
nearly two decades prior. Affirmative action
should have been enacted with, or shortly after,
the desegregation of schools, as mandated by
Brown v. Board of Education in 1954.
This would have facilitated the furthering
of the higher education of minority groups,
whose members had previously been unable
to obtain such education properly.
However, over half a century follow-
ing Brown v. Board, one must recognize the
problem with affirmative action: the policy
fails to adequately address the problems with
education and fails to provide a significant
percentage of the population with education
benefits.
Less than half a century ago, affirmative
action provided many disadvantaged students
with the opportunity to pursue a college-level
education. What affirmative action provided
was a temporary “solution” to the discrimina-
tions of previous centuries, by helping minority
students enroll in many of the United States’
superior universities. However, affirmative
action provided solely a temporary solution,
as it, notwithstanding its benefits for gradu-
ating high school minority students, failed
to address the underlying problems with the
United States’ education system.
The United States currently experiences
increasing high school dropout rates; accord-
ing to CNN, 17 of the nation’s 50 largest cities
had high school graduation rates lower than
50 percent in 2007, while the nationwide
graduation rate was 70 percent. Moreover, the
graduation rate proved to be lower in urban
districts; for example, the graduation rate for
public schools in Detroit averaged at 24.9
percent and in other regions, that rate was just
below 40 percent.
These students are not only in the racial
minorities that affirmative action specifically
helps, after graduation, but are also Caucasians
and others who do not benefit from affirma-
tive action in the college-admissions process.
Thus, this trend of dropouts cannot be helped
by such measures as affirmative action.
Instead, the education problem must be
addressed prior to the college level and the
solution must provide for the improvement of
education for not only racial minorities, but
for all students, regardless of ethnicity.
The simplest means by which the educa-
tion problem could be addressed would be to
increase funding for schools, which would
facilitate improved facilities, resources and
faculty; to provide additional incentives, such
as increased employee benefits and salaries,
for teachers, in order to encourage potential
teachers to pursue a career in education and to
ensure that all teachers are adept, once schools
hire them, so that students receive the best
education possible.
Although one might believe that fund-
ing is difficult to provide in great quantities,
the U.S. already spends hundreds of billions
of dollars per year funding measures to aid
individuals in foreign countries; for example,
according to www.nationalpriorities.org, the
U.S. has spent over $500 billion in Iraq. The
U.S. should divert some of these resources for
the betterment of the lives of its own citizens
and future leaders, through the improvement
of their education.
Furthermore, considering that the most
significant education problems occur in urban
areas, the U.S. could provide these cities with
funding, devoted solely to education, which the
cities would then allocate to public schools,
based upon the necessities of each school.
Schools would not be punished for under-
achievement, as this only further exacerbates
the problem; instead, underachieving schools
would be allocated additional resources and
would receive governmental guidance, to
ensure that they productively utilize those
resources.
Providing improved educational opportu-
nities to millions of students of all ethnicities
would negate the necessity for such policies as
affirmative action; such opportunities would
allow all students an equal opportunity at
college and would return the colleges to an
uncontrived form of ensuring diversity — one
that is merit-based, rather than ethnicity-based.
After all, colleges would naturally admit a
diverse student body that is representative of
the general population, were the population
provided ubiquitously with better educational
opportunities.
Fixing the education problem will not
be easy, nor will the solutions effect change
rapidly.
However, the U.S. must recognize that
such measures as affirmative action do not
address the significant education crisis; rather,
they simply exacerbate it by providing justi-
fication for not addressing the crisis. Thus,
although these policies are essential until the
crisis is resolved, the U.S. must act promptly
to begin to alleviate the education crisis, and
to ensure that the nearly unanimous major-
ity of students graduate with high-school
diplomas.
Such would ensure generations of intel-
ligent individuals in the future, who would
be better able to manage not only their own
lives, but the entire nation.

Wrestling team in need of new facilities, own athletic room

By Eliot Wilson
Senior Staff Writer
According to The Paly Voice,
the Physical Education Department
plans to build a new wrestling room,
along with a new weight room and
classrooms. A new wrestling room is
long overdue. Every day during the
wrestling season, which is almost five
months long, Paly wrestlers unroll
the two heavy wrestling mats before
practice and roll them up every night
when they are done. For one of the
more prolific teams in Paly’s history,
this lack of respect and of proper
facilities is pathetic.
In the history of the Palo Alto
High School Athletic Department,
few programs have been as successful
as the wrestling program. No other
program since the creation of the
Central Coast Section can boast of
having developed an Olympic gold
medalist, yet Paly Wrestling has two
such winners, Dave and Mark Shultz.
In 1977 Dave Shultz graduated as the
first High School Individual State
Champion in the history of Palo Alto
Athletics. Mark followed with his own
state championship.
Both wrestled in the same room
in which Paly wrestlers train now. De-
spite the success of these individuals,
the athletic department has failed to
reward this success with a new room.
The truth is that Paly remains one of
the few teams in the Santa Clara Val-
ley Athletic League without its own
wrestling room. League opponent
Cupertino High School has a huge
room that fits up to four large mats.
Fellow league rival Los Gatos has its
own room, complete with a dummy
for practicing moves and ropes for
strength exercises. This represents
the high end of wrestling rooms, but
even our rival Henry M. Gunn High
School’s wrestling team has a room
they can call their own. Having a room
is important enough as a health reason
for the dancers and Physical Educa-
tion students who share the room. It is
well known that wrestlers are likely to
develop skin diseases because of the
physical nature of the sport.
These diseases can be left on the
mat and the people who come into
contact with the mat may get these
diseases. The mat is cleaned everyday
before practice, making it clean for
another day of wrestling, but is not
cleaned after practice, posing a poten-
tial risk that would be solved by having
a room exclusive to wrestlers.
For years, Paly wrestling has
toiled in obscurity, everyday arriv-
ing after school to roll up mats in
the dance studio and roll them back
up two-and-a-half hours later at the
end of a long practice. The wrestling
team spends about twelve-and-a-half
hours in a stuffy room a week, for five
to six months of the year, including
freestyle season. During the season,
the wrestling mat is a second home
for many wrestlers. Yet, this room
is consistently dirty and trashed by
freshman and sophomores in P.E who
do not know better. It is disgusting
and unhealthy to find wrappers and
hair on the mat while trying to work
out. Students play around and peel
the mats, not understanding that the
mats are expensive and not easily
replaceable.
Cupertino is able to hold tourna-
ments every year because of the size
of their gym and the number of mats
it possesses. Los Gatos also hosts
a smaller freshman and sophomore
tournament utilizing their room along
with the basketball gym and some
borrowed mats. Having a room for
the wrestlers would be a large step to-
wards Paly having its own prestigious
tournament, similar to the one already
held for water polo; the tournament
could also be a moneymaker for the
athletic department and could allow
the wrestling team to continue to
upgrade their equipment.
A wrestling room would benefit
the school and the wrestling team
greatly. It could create a spiral for
the team that would lead to improved
equipment and the team could invest
more to keep the team safe and healthy.
Building a room would be a large step
towards creating a tournament at Paly,
which would put money in the pockets
of the athletic department. It would
improve the safety of the students, the
happiness of the dance team, and the
success of the wrestling team.
A6 • May 5, 2008
By
Julia
Benton
Staff Writer
On a Saturday after-
noon, one might find Palo
Alto High School fresh-
man Emmy Ingham and
her sister, junior Rose-
mary Ingham, hanging
out together and sharing
their interest in manga,
also known as Japanese
comic books.
The sisters enjoy
creating elaborate draw-
ings and reading some
of their favorite manga
comics together. Both
students further their
interest in the art form by
participating in the Paly
Comics Club.
Rosemary has been
interested in manga since
sixth grade. While she has
yet to take a formal class,
she finds it easy to create
characters and stories.
“I find inspiration
everywhere,” Rosemary
said. “Sometimes it will
be from something I read
or a game I play but also
somethin g I randomly
hear will give me an
idea.”
Although Rosemary
introduc ed her sister,
Emmy, to manga, the two
have very different tastes
in comics.
Emmy prefers com-
ics that tell stories with
intricate, detailed draw-
ings.
“In manga, there’s a
lot of exploring the way
people interact,” Emmy
said.
Right now, Emmy is
working on a story that
depicts what happens to
the souls in the afterlife.
She is also improving her
characters.
Both Rosemary and
Emmy participate in Pa-
ly’s Comics Club, led by
senior Hilary Heiman.
Heiman enjoys read-
ing and drawing all types
of comics and establishes a
distinction between anime
and manga, though she
enjoys both.
“Anime is short for
animation,” Heiman said.
“In Japan, anime refers to
any kind of animation, but
in America anime only
refers to Japanese anima-
tion. Manga is the comic
book form of anime.”
Heiman, who will
attend the University of
California at Santa Cruz
next year, plans to con-
tinue with her interest in
comics by major-
ing in ani-
ma-
Spotlight
Introducing
tion
or oth-
er studio art
media.
Currently, Heiman
is encouraging other stu-
dents to try manga. The
club, created four years
ago, consists of about 12
comic enthusiasts who
draw and read comics
and participate in manga
tournaments.
“The past three years
I’ve realized that no one
actually has the drive
to work on the comics
themselves even though
they’ve had really good
ideas for characters and
plots,” Heiman said. “I
suggested this year that
everyon e draw their
characters and compete
against each other in a
contest.”
Every member of
the club has created char-
acters that they use for the
individual challenges in
the tournament.
“Every few weeks
I come up with a con-
cept for a comic that
everyone has to draw
using their characters,”
Heiman said. “Whoever
has the best comic will
win a trophy and at the
end of the year whoever
has the most trophies will
win a prize.”
Past themes for the
semi-weekly challenges
included drawing a story
depictin g the minor
characte rs’ lives and
creating a story in which
the characters go on a
hunt to find items such
as a shark and illegally
downloaded music.
Participants have
also worked with a part-
ner to create a story by
only drawing the other
person’s characters.
The Comics Club
meets every Tuesdays
during lunch in Room
101.
“Some of our char-
acters would never end
up on a deserted island
which is the theme for the
challenge we’re work-
ing on now,” Emmy
said. “The tournament
and the club are fun
because everything that
happens is ran-
dom!”
By
Kevin
Harvey
Staff Writer
After spending almost
four years on the project, Palo Alto
High School junior Rosemary Ing-
ham slowly pushed the first draft of
her 500-page original literary novel,
Silence and Fire, to the side
of her desk. That was almost
one year ago.
Ingham’s novel is about
a man who stum-
bles
upon
a beautiful
young woman lying un-
conscious in a snow bank in
Japan. Feeling compassion for
the woman, the man rescues
her, brings her into his home
and nurses her back to health.
As she begins to recover, the
two fall in love.
“I have been writing stories
for as long as I can remember,”
Ingham said. “However, the
basic idea for what has become
my novel came to me around
sixth or seventh grade.”
Ingham first created the
idea for her novel’s main
character; subsequent charac-
ters and a complex story line
followed.
“After coming up with the
idea for the main character, I
began to form a story line and
add other characters,” Ingham
said. “As I added more charac-
ters, more plot changes began
to
arise
and it con-
tinued to become more and more
complex.”
Ingham uses a very strict, well-
planned method for constructing her
novel.
“Before I add or make any drastic
changes to the story, I always analyze
how these changes will effect the
novel and its characters overall,”
Ingham said.
So far, Ingham completed her
first draft and has been
editing it for
al-
most a year.
“I finished my first draft in the
middle of sophomore year,” Ingham
said. “Ever since then, I’ve just been
making minor plot changes to make
sure that everything flows well.”
Ingham plans to continue the edit-
ing process of her first draft and plans
to hopefully have it professionally
published. However, she is hesitant
because she does not want a publishing
house to alter her original story.
“I really hope I am able to publish
the book,” Ingham said. “However,
the publishing industry has become
extremely commercial and just wants
to promote what they can sell. I’m wor-
ried that if it is purchased by a publisher
my story will be distorted.”
Despite moments of slight loss
of motivation throughout the process,
Ingham persevered and finished her
first draft.
The Campanile
By Jillian Liu
Staff Writer
Rajan Narang made a bet that he
would write a 500-page Harry Potter
book. It began after track practice dur-
ing this past March, when Narang
and several of his friends started a
discussion about Harry Potter.
“Somebody mentioned
how people in China appar-
ently wrote seventh Harry
Potter books for their kids to
help them get through the
wait for the real seventh
one,” Narang said.
While some believe
that what these parents
did was a waste of time,
Narang disagreed.
“I said it couldn’t
be that hard and I’d do
it if I was a parent,”
Narang said.
Other people
involved in the bet
laughed at Narang’s
response.
“I said, ‘Rajan,
there’s no way you can
“There were a few
times when I took breaks
from writing the novel,” In-
gham said. “However, I never
seriously considered giving up.”
The writing process was not al-
ways simple and Ingham experienced
some setbacks.
“When writing the final section,
I stayed up all night finishing the last
50 pages,” Ingham said. “But, when I
finally completed it, I went to save it
and my computer’s hard drive crashed.
I lost everything I had worked on that
night and had to rewrite it.”
The novel’s target audience is
mainly older teens and adults, due to
the fact that it deals with many dark
themes and events. It does, however,
have a positive message.
“The main message of the novel
is to forgive yourself and keep going
no matter what happens to
you,” Ingham
said. “But, I want readers to discover
a good message within the book even
if it isn’t that.”
Ingham also hoped to connect the
reader strongly with the characters.
“I want the readers to really love
the characters,” Ingham said. “I want
them to feel attached to them on an
emotional level and really understand
them. I want them to come away
thinking that they really met someone
cool.”
Despite Ingham’s attraction to the
writing of many famous authors, such
as J.R.R. Tolkien, she has kept her own
unique and creative style.
“I don’t try to incorporate the style
of other writers. I just try to mimic
the feeling that their books draw out
in readers,” Ingham said.
The Campanile Spotlight May 5, 2008 • A7

Paly Artists your own CD],” Molly said. “I

write a Harry Potter book which is 500
pages long in one semester,’” senior
Alok Subbarao said.
After much disagreement, Narang
and his friends started a bet.
“One thing led to another and we
made a deal that if at least 50 people
got involved at ten bucks each, I would
have to do it by the end of the school
year,” Narang said.
Narang began a Facebook group
to see if the bet would actually attract
participants. According to Narang,
within eight hours, over 50 people had
joined.
“I was, to say the least, a little
surprised,” Narang said. “There are
people in [the group] who are friends
of mine that don’t go to Paly, and even
some people I don’t know at all. Ran-
dom people were asking me about it at
school. I certainly didn’t expect that kind
of response.”
As a result, Narang has started on
the book. Fortunately for him, though,
the terms of the bet are lenient.
“The book only has to have some
slight redeeming value and be 500 pages
long for me to win, so the last 300 pages
or so will quite possibly be awful,”
Narang said. “To everybody who was
expecting a masterpiece - sorry.”
Still, Narang faces challenges in the
project. For example, the story line has
been shaky, despite suggestions posted
on the wall of the Facebook group,
such as having Harry Potter be Draco
Malfoy’s twin. Narang also believes that
he took too long to get started and has
experienced some writers’ block.
“There have been a few times where
I got stuck and had to leave it alone
for a week or so before I thought of a
good way to progress with the story,”
Narang said.
However, the process is still ongo-
ing, and Narang said that he has written
nearly 100 pages.
“I am considering posting a spoiler
or two on the Facebook group at the end
of [April] to keep everyone updated,”
Narang said.
For the plot, anything after the sixth
book is “fair game.” Narang mentioned
that he will write a replacement seventh
book for the series.
“He really hated the Grindelwald
story line so he may ‘alter’ that charac-
By Ally
Whitson
Staff Writer
Palo Alto High
School freshman Molly
Tuttle has figured out a way to
deal with the stress of school: it’s a
little thing called music. She sings blue-
grass music and plays the guitar in her
free time.
Bluegrass music was developed in the
Appalachian Mountains and is a mix of jazz,
old time and country.
“It has a strong country influence,”
Molly said. “But it is more raw and acous-
ter a little bit,” Subbarao said. “And he
tic.”
said if he happens to hit writer’s block,
Molly grew up around musi, as her
he will inject a healthy dose of teen-
dad, Jack Tuttle, is a music teacher. At
wizard angst.”
eight years old she started learning how
But besides that, Narang is keeping
to play the guitar, and at ten she started
the plot under wraps.
singing.
Narang is determined to finish the
“Singing is such a fun thing to do,”
book, no matter how it may turn out in
Molly said. “Once you play music a lot
the end.
you become kind of addicted to it, but
“My goal is to be done by the end
in a good way.”
of May, but that’s wishful dreaming,”
Molly started out her music career
Narang said. “The far more likely
playing bluegrass.
probability is that I’ll be spending the
“There are tons of bluegrass festi-
senior dead week during finals writ-
vals around this area where people just
ing five hours a day. But I guarantee I
go and jam with each other all night
won’t lose.”
and have a great time,” Molly said.
As time progresses, those participat-
Molly and her dad sing together
ing in the bet are beginning to believe
often and perform at various local
that Narang just might win.
events.
“I now believe in the man,” Sub-
“It’s fun to sing with Molly,”
barao said. “I have no doubts now that
said Jack. “She understands the
I will lose ten dollars to him.”
essence of bluegrass singing so we
And while money is still on the table
can get some interesting blends and
and people are waiting expectantly for
harmonies. She has a very good
another Harry Potter book — or cash —
tone in her voice, much better than
the bet is mainly just amusing.
I have, so I usually let her carry
“It’s interesting, of course,” senior
the lead and then I blend in with
Brian Hsueh said. “And all in good
the harmony.”
fun.”
The two also made their
own CD called “The Old
Apple Tree,” which de-
buted in Apr. 2007.
“It’s pretty cool [to
have
put a lot of work into it and I’m
proud of how it turned out.”
According to Molly, her favorite songs
on the album are “Rain and Snow,” “Grave-
yard” and “It’s Hard to Tell the Singer From
the Song.”
Molly has also performed in Nashville,
Tennessee, with a band made up of young
artists from different parts of the country.
“It was really fun,” Molly said. “[The
other kids] were all so amazing on their
instruments. It was inspiring.”
Molly has two younger brothers who
play music as well and sing occasionally. Ten-
year-old Sullivan plays the guitar and eight-
year-old Michael plays the mandolin.
“Their voices have not
quite taken off yet and
they are both kind of shy
about singing in front of
people,” Molly said.
“They are extremely
talented on their instru-
ments though.”
Along with the gui-
tar, Molly is also talented
with the old-time banjo
and the bluegrass banjo,
which are two very different styles.
She was also hired to teach guitar at
a respected weeklong music camp
called the California Coast Music
Camp and is the first youth they
have ever hired to teach there.
However, music limits Molly’s
activities.
“Between school and music, I
can’t really find time to play a sport,”
Molly said. “I still hang out with my
friends on weekends and sometimes
after school, but since music and
homework take up so much of my
time, I don’t really have any other
activities.”
Although Molly is starting to
discover other kinds of music,
bluegrass will always be her
favorite.
“I started out
playing blue-
grass,” Molly
said. “I will
always love
that style of
music.”

By Crystal Wang
Staff Writer
It’s like a boot camp.
With seven-hour class-
es each day and no time to
cut, Rhode Island School
of Design, a private art and
design college, will prove
to be very challenging for
senior Angela Hsieh.
“Students at other col-
leges can just cut classes if
they don’t feel like going,”
Hsieh said. “But you can’t
at an art school.”
Hsieh has been inter-
ested in art since childhood
and began taking art classes
outside of school in sixth
grade.
“High school art
wasn’t rigorous enough
for me,” Hsieh said. Courtesy of Angela Hsieh
Hsieh believes that the strictness
of RISD will be very beneficial in she decided
to apply to schools
with strong art programs.
classes that “By going to a traditional
are not art-related,” university, I can get the complete
devel- Hsieh said. college experience of sports games,
oping as an artist. According to Hsieh plans to participate in sororities, fraternities, concerts,
Hsieh, RISD is one of America’s top RISD’s joint program with Brown classes, etc.,” Daniels said. “I
art schools. University, located across the street, was looking for a school that has
“They make sure you know your which allows RISD students to take everything.”
stuff so that once you graduate, you are academic classes at Brown. The senior will probably be
well prepared to work,” Hsieh said. “In Compared to universities, RISD majoring in Illustration or Graphic
fact, most people who graduate from is considered a small school with only Design and will be attending the
art schools don’t go to graduate school 2,200 students. University of Michigan-Ann Ar-
because there is no need.” “It’s pretty good that the school bor, which has a strong background
Hsieh said that days at RISD will is small because there is more one- in art, Daniels said.
consist of one seven-hour art class on-one help with the teachers,” Hsieh Though there is a stereotype
where students complete an assign- said. “The personal attention helps you that art is not a “money-making”
ment of drawing, painting, and other improve more.” major, Daniels disagrees.
art disciplines, followed then by a On the other hand, senior Giovan- “Today, the art field is com-
constructive critique period. They na Daniels, an artist since childhood, pletely respected,” Daniels said.
may also have one shorter academic had planned on attending an art school “There are tons of opportunities
art class, for example art history. for a long time, but realized while ap- out there for artists. There are tons
“One of the major downsides plying to colleges that an art school of things to do, and a lot of kids are
about art school is that there aren’t was not what she wanted. In the end, now taking that route.”
A8 • May 5, 2008 Opinion The Campanile

Field trips provide students with world experience

Administration should supplement learning by implementing trips outside of the classroom
By Ryan McLeod
Staff Writer
A school’s goal is to educate stu-
dents, but the very nature of schools
can sometimes make the task less than
effective. Textbooks and lectures can
only teach students so much in cases
where firsthand experience is neces-
sary to fully comprehend a subject.
Off-campus experiences, such as field
trips, are excellent ways of giving
students a more direct understanding
of a subject and are also an excellent
way to break up the monotony of
normal school routines.
Although a few classes (notably
in the science and theater depart-
ments) make use of field trips, most
others ignore this excellent teaching
method. In short, to benefit students,
the administration should pursue a
field-trip friendly policy.
Field trips combine the fun of
going someplace interesting, the
pleasant experience of not being
stuck in a classroom all day and the
educational benefits of learning from
a source outside the textbook.
Even though the density of in-
formation is higher in a lecture than
in a museum, no amount of projector
slides can give a student the same
experience that he or she gets by
seeing ancient relics or the incred-
ible number of living organisms in a
single square meter of dirt. None of
those experiences are available on the
Paly campus, yet all are available in
museums and parks around the Bay
Area. The local region has incredible
resources to contribute to education
and should be utilized more.
History and biology are two
classes that are typically associated
with field trips, but off-campus activi-
ties should not be limited to museums
and parks.
Palo Alto is at the epicenter
of advancements in technology,
biochemistry and many other fields
of research. These industries have
a strong interest in bringing their
work to future generations and might
welcome an opportunity to educate
students (the popular science research
program at Paly is proof that such
interests exist).
The theater program is one
example of how Paly can use local
resources to educate students through
field trips. A local theater company,
TheatreWorks, offers special student
matinée performances and invites lo-
cal theater programs to attend at prices
affordable for students. TheatreWorks
also offers supplementary educational
materials about the play and invites
students to participate in panel discus-
sions with actors.
By participating in this program,
the Paly theater department gives
students a chance to see world-class
theater within an educational context
while only spending a couple of hours
away from school grounds.
The arguments against field trips
are numerous and difficult to dispel.
They are foremost a major safety con-
cern to schools, which need to insure
each student against damage incurred
while off school grounds during class
time. However, participation in all
field trips requires the permission of
a parent or guardian.
If the school takes proper precau-
tions, there should be no reason to
assume that a field trip to a museum
would be more dangerous than a fam-
ily outing to the same location.
An obvious issue is the class time
lost in other classes while students are http://www.inetours.com
away. This is an inevitable problem,
Paly should provide students with more opportunities for firsthand experience outside of school. A
but it becomes less of one if the field
trip is on a block day, thus taking time trip to The Museum of Modern Art in San Francisco could help students further their study in art.
from fewer classes. Field trips may be them to attend an event or participate In order to compensate for the subject matter. Some teachers already
inconvenient to schools, but it is neces- in a project that would give them time commitment, teachers could give credit for writing about museum
sary to make them work as the benefits firsthand knowledge of their chosen lessen the homework requirements for exhibitions or special performances,
outweigh the inconvenience. subject. that evening, as the students would be which encourages interested students
Another possibility for more AP Music Theory is an example of learning in a manner far superior to to delve deeper into the subject.
advanced classes is to arrange trips one class that gives students a chance what homework provides. Field trips are valuable expe-
outside of school hours, or even to to learn outside of school. Attending In this way, field trips would riences and if the administration
encourage independent field study. musical performances outside of impact other classes less while still encouraged them it would surely
Advanced Placement students, for school is a class requirement, a pref- giving students the full experience set Paly ahead of other schools as a
instance, take classes that require erable alternative to writing essays in a comparable time commitment to progressive institution willing to do
enormous commitment and often have based entirely off of textual informa- the class. If no such group opportunity anything for the cause of education.
a real interest in the subject material. tion found in a textbook. This kind of is available, students should have the There will be sacrifices, but providing
Those students would be willing to assignment could be modified to suit choice to earn credit for doing work more knowledge to students is worth
meet outside of school if it allowed other classes. outside school that is relevant to the it. It just requires a little flexibility.

Policy-makers need to confront China on human rights

Chinese misconduct only serves to confirm China’s belief
that it has newfound prestige.
President Franklin D. Roosevelt’s decision to attend
the 1936 Berlin Olympics sparked much public debate
about whether or not to boycott the Olympics to protest
Nazi behavior. By comparison, President George W. Bush’s
recent announcement that he will attend the Beijing Olym-
pics did not engender severe public reaction regarding the
morality of participating in the Beijing Olympics; it merely
invited intensified condemnations from some human rights
groups, whose sphere of influence is limited.
Yet many, including President Bush, fail to recognize
the stark parallel between the arrant actions of the Nazi
regime and the current course of action taken by the Chi-
nese government. Both regimes used the Olympics as an
opportunity to showcase their countries’ transformations,
while concealing the glaring facets of their countries’
untreated maladies.
Prior to the Berlin Olympics, the Nazi government,
among other “cleansing” acts, arrested 800 gypsies and
removed “Jews Not Welcome” signs that were omnipres-
http://www.bernama.com ent throughout the city.
Despite China’s continual disregard for human rights and many worldwide protests, the Chinese China parrots the Nazi preparation by promising to
government continues to prepare for the Beijing 2008 Summer Olympics and neglect dissension. improve its human rights condition as it campaigned for
the coveted laurel of being the Olympics host city.
By Yvonne Lin the underlying problems which have been largely over- Reporters of Without Borders, a non-profit multina-
Staff Writer looked with China’s oppressive government. It is a shame tional proponent for freedom of the press, indicate that the
When the Chinese Olympics Committee unveiled vari- that as the host country of a momentous event, which Chinese government imprisoned human rights activists, as
ous facilities for the upcoming 2008 Summer Olympics, millions of viewers worldwide will watch, China has well as journalists, who speak against its practices, thereby
Western press coverage of the upcoming event and of failed to provide remedies for, or even to acknowledge, muffling dissensions against its domestic policies. The
Chinese domestic affairs became increasingly prevalent. the many controversies against which the international presence of the executive head of a nation at the Summer
The Beijing Olympics marks the People’s Republic of community has long protested. Olympics legitimizes the regime’s actions and falsely la-
China’s emergence as a global power whose potential Despite China’s abysmal human rights record, some bels it as a benign agent. The recent outbreak of violence
for commercial expansion imminently threatens the hesitate to push for domestic and international justice, in Tibet and the ensuing Chinese response is one of the
United States’ current dominance in global economics out of fear of Chinese retaliation via fluctuations in world many controversies that has been put under international
and politics. commerce. scrutiny as China prepares for the Olympics.
At the same time, the Beijing Olympics is a double- The deteriorating conditions in China require audacity In response to Tibetan protests in March against
edged sword: not only does it serve to broadcast China’s and staunch policies from nations’ leading policy-makers Beijing’s rule of Tibet, Tibetan monks were arrested and
economic transformation to the world, but it also exposes to take on countering initiatives; lukewarm disapproval of detained. The motive behind the Tibetan uprising reflected
the Chinese mismanagement of the Tibet Autonomous
Region.
Claiming the militant Tibetans were separatists, the
Chinese government imposed martial law in the province.
Meanwhile, the demands of the Tibetans — a halt on
Han migration into the province and a repeal of China’s
discriminatory economic policies favoring those of Han
origins — remain unaddressed. Of greater significance is
the issue of the Tibetan government in exile. Headed by
the Dalai Lama and currently headquartered in India, the
Tibetan government in exile continues to view the Chinese
occupation of Tibet as illegitimate.
The Chinese government’s continued refusal to con-
front the controversy has impeded progress in the region
and contributed to the unrest.
Condoning the Chinese government’s frequent
political oppression and failure to address its negative
environmental impact perpetrates its suppression of ethnic
minority groups and violation of human rights.
Although various governments have gently scolded
China for its indolent acts and have vowed to remain ob-
servant of further Chinese acts from afar, the unwavering
attitude of the Chinese government is entrenched.
Past incidences serve as evidence of the Chinese
government’s blatant ignorance of international warnings.
The possibility of imposing drastic measures, such as trade
embargoes, ought to be given serious consideration and
not be fired as empty threats.
Although confronting the Chinese government in-
volves the undertaking of significant political and economic
risks, the current situation in China indistinctly echoes that
of Germany during the rise of the Third Reich and cries
for outside, influential agents such as the United States, to
shoulder the responsibility, and propel positive change.
The Olympics is not only an event that entertains the
masses and celebrates human prowess and achievement,
but it is undeniably also a political event that can alter
lives of not only its direct participants, but of its millions
associates.

State and district food policy detrimental to club fundraising efforts

By Jonathan Shan
Staff Writer
Three years ago, the Palo Alto
Unified School District instated a dis-
trict-wide Nutrition Policy, effectively
ending the on-campus sale of what
are classified as “junk foods,” which
are foods containing high amounts of
sugar, fat or calories.
The PAUSD Nutrition Policy
came in lieu of California Education
code SB677 and SB19, both of which
were enacted in 2007, prohibiting the
sale of such items by the school and
set strict guidelines on what may and
may not be sold.
Food and beverages may not be
sold 30 minutes before the start of
school and 30 minutes after the end
of school. In hindsight, school clubs
and organizations have been affected
the most by the policy’s implementa-
tion.
Before the policy was enacted,
the main source of income for these
organizations came from selling
candy, baked goods and other foods
on campus.
Initially, the district’s nutrition
policy was decried by some students
as a restriction on their freedom of
choice, yet their argument was moot
when Town and Country’s presence
and accessibility were factored in.
Following the enforcement of the
nutrition policy, clubs were restricted
to selling items until 30 minutes before
and 30 minutes after school.
Palo Alto High School’s As-
sociated Student Body carries the
burden of explaining to club leaders
the Byzantine rules and club appli-
cations require signatures reminding
and discouraging students from rais-
ing money.
Such clubs as the Gay Straight
Alliance, Slam Poetry Club and Mock
Trial have faced financial difficulties
due to lack of funds.
Students who want to promote
diversity and make their organization
something the Paly community can be
proud of should not have to go through
the hassle of planning fundraisers that
require extensive time commitment
and effort.
Paly’s student body’s health
would not be negatively affected if
the state education code was amended
to allow for food to be sold on dates
determined by the school district.
The amendment would keep in
place the policies that prevent schools
from selling food that does not meet
the criteria for healthiness.
Likewise, the PAUSD should
make the necessary exceptions to
accommodate for clubs that require
the sale of goods that do not meet the
criteria for the Nutrition Policy.
Clubs have been criticized in the
past for falling apart and although part
of the issue lies in the lack of effort,
when money is involved, it gives fur-
ther incentive for the club to continue
and hold events.
By implementation of these poli-
cies, Paly may experience an increase
in club participation and activity.
Following the amendment, other
high schools in California would also
benefit from the changed rules, and
could give their school’s extra cur-
riculars a boost.

Verbatim
“A naked person painted “You know you’re
green and white streaks smarter than all the kids
across the field.” at Menlo-Atherton.”

—Conor Kelly —Destinee Kindle

junior freshman

“You’re scared of getting “There are big hoardes of

pooped on by seagulls.” emo freshmen skaters.”
You know you go to Paly —Kristin Witte and —Melanie Spector
when... Jordan Jefferson and Alexa Jones
seniors seniors
A9 May 5, 2008

Sports The Campanile

Track teams enter CCS after strong seasons

With several key athletes, the boys’ and girls’ Varsity track teams prepare for CCS with high hopes
By Mira Parekh
Staff Writer
The stellar performances at Palo Alto High
School’s Varsity track and field team’s final
meet against Los Altos High School served as
fitting closure to the regular season.
Though the Paly teams may have appeared
disadvantaged at the start, both showcased
some of the strongest talent in the league. The
boys’ team ended the season with a perfect
record of 6-0 and the girls’ team finished with
a disappointing 2-4 record.
Both teams faced Los Altos on Apr. 24
for their last meet, bringing the season to an
end.
The boys’ sprint team had an especially
strong showing at the meet and a solid finish
to a great season.
Highlights included junior Paul Brown’s
victory in the 200-meter and the boys’ 4x100
relay team (senior Dom Powell, Brown and
juniors Kasey Fields and Ariel Arsac-Ellison)
soundly beating Los Altos to end an unde-
feated season.
Sprint coach Nick Van Der Burg was very
satisfied with the relay team’s performance
this year and is certain that next year will be
just as promising for the sprint team.
“Our 4x100 team never lost,” Van Der
Burg said. “Next year will be good. There’s
a lot to improve on though, and we’ve had a
lot of injuries this year.”
The boys’ team also performed well in
the hurdles with junior Pascal Truninger plac-
ing first in the 110-meter hurdles with 16:90
seconds and also coming in first in the boys’
300-meter hurdles.
“This year they learned how to run; next
year we can take that and build strength and
endurance,” Van Der Burg said.
However, the most notable performances
came from the mid-distance and distance
runners.
The Vikings swept the mile with junior
Charlie Avis coming in first with a time of
4:26:82, followed by senior Gilbert Choi,
senior Brian Hsueh, sophomore Peter Wilson
and seniors Brian Karvelas and Sam Jones to
fill the top six places, respectively.
Senior Alok Subbarao also had an im-
pressive performance in the mile, breaking a
personal record with a sub-five time. Subbarao
also helped lead the team later on in three more
running events.
“I came into the season and my goal was
to break five minutes and I felt it was really
far-fetched,” Subbarao said after the meet.
“But I think I ran the race almost perfectly.
Today was a huge success.”
The team also did well in mid-distance,
with junior Josh Davis running a spectacular
400-meter race. The boys also dominated the
field events due largely to the performances
of senior Mike Scott, who led the boys in the
long jump, triple jump and came in a close
second to Powell in the high jump. The boys’
team crushed Los Altos 79-46 and is looking
forward to strong performances at Central
Coast Section.
Junior Frank Wan also performed well in
the long jump and triple jump against Los Al-
tos, placing second and third, respectively.
Boys’ coach Jeff Billing said he had come
to expect such a top notch performance from
the team.
“It wasn’t really a surprise,” Billing said.
“We work really hard and set expectations
really high.”
Billing did however, see some exciting
performances from Avis, Choi, Hseuh and
junior Skyler Cummins.
“There have been some surprises,” Billing
said. “Our biggest have been from sophomore
Henry Jordan who is running way beyond
what I had thought and from Skyler Cummins
who has exceeded expectations. It’s really
exciting.”
One runner who has had a solid season and
has great potential in past season competitions
is senior Julius Berezin. Berezin is poised to
go far after placing first in the 800-meter at the
CCS Top 8 Invitational, for which runners from
all over the Bay Area came to compete.
“That was such an exciting race and for
Julius [Berezin] to win is a big deal,” Billing
said. “By ending up in the top three, he has
positioned himself for states, which was at
first a far-off goal, but now definitely attain-
able.”
Berezin has built an impressive record by
anchoring the 4x800 relay team that came first
in the Stanford Invitational, a prestigious meet
which hosts the best competition in the area. He
has also performed well at the statewide level.
At the Arcadia Invitational in Los Angeles, he
helped the distance medley relay team, a relay
which consists of four legs of 1200, 400, 800
and 1600-meters, place fifth.
Another runner who had a notable
performance in the CCS Top 8 Invitational
was senior Mia Lattanzi who placed first in
the 1600-meter, sweeping the competition
with a time of 5:00:71. Lattanzi has helped
the Vikings by leading the girls’ team in
distance and mid-distance running. Paly’s
Varsity girls’ head coach Paul Jones thinks
this success is a foreshadowing of Lattanzi’s
success in CCS.
“She has done very well, considering
she was injured all of last year,” Jones said.
“She’ll be very strong in CCS.”
Lattanzi helped the girls’ 4x800 relay
team, with teammates senior Leah Gaeta and
sophomores Emily Yeates and Erika Hoglund,
placing relatively well, finishing in sixth
place out of a total of 14 teams at the CCS
invitational.
Lattanzi also swept the competition
against Los Altos, placing first in the 800-
meter. Gaeta followed to end the race in second
place. Gaeta also led the girls’ mile with a time
of 5:31:65. The Vikings had a great run in the
two mile as well, with sophomore Kathleen
Higgins and junior Elizabeth Scott came in
second and third, respectively.
Although the girls’ team has struggled
throughout the season, there were several
key performances that helped the girls keep
up with the competition. Hoglund helped the
Vikings by placing first in the long jump and
sophomore Sam Bromley-Coolidge came in a
close second in the triple jump. Similarly, Paly
did well in shot put, with sophomore Katerina
Peterson coming in second. Unfortunately,
despite some great performances, the girls
lost the meet to Los Altos 50-77.
“We’re going to be working on strategy
for next year,” Jones said. “We were hoping
for a better year, but we had a few dings at
the wrong times.”
Despite the losses, Jones was happy with
many performances in certain events.
“In the 400-meter we were better than
I had originally thought and we also have a
strong group of sophomore sprinters who will
be returning next year,” Jones said. “Both
Emily Yeates and Erika Hoglund are strong
and are going to be good next year.”
After an exciting season, runners from
both teams hope to make it far in CCS. The
postseason looks very promising.
Track & Field
Scores
v. Los Altos
Apr. 24, VB W 79-46
Julia Benton/The Campanile
v. Los Altos
Apr. 24, VG L 77-50 Junior Frank Wan leaps in a long jump trial against Los Altos High School on
Apr. 24, taking third place in the event. He also placed fourth in the triple jump.

Lacrosse claims third victory of season against Woodside

Girls’ Varsity lacrosse team dominates Woodside High School, scoring 13 goals for a season record
By Austin Smith
A&E Editor
After a four-game absence from
the win column, the Palo Alto High
School girls’ Varsity lacrosse team
broke out in a huge way with a 13-7
win over Woodside High School on
Apr. 25.
As expected of a first-year team,
the Vikings have struggled to win
games and currently has a record of
3-11, placing them last in the Freelance
League.
The team previously beat Wood-
side 9-8 in their season opener on Mar.
7 and Woodside now accounts for two
of the team’s three season victories.
Strong scoring performances
from senior captain Kati Dahm,
freshman Gracie Cain and sophomore
Brianna Boyd paved the way to the
Vikings’ season-high 13 goals.
“We were just faster than them
that day,” junior Caroline Lucas-
Conwell said. “We have better attack-
ers and a better settled offense. It was
nice to have that matchup.”
The scoring frenzy was long-
awaited for the Vikings, who had yet
to score in the double-digits in a single
game. It was helpful, however, for the
Vikings’ confidence to be matched
against a team that they knew they
could beat.
“It’s always nice to get a win,”
Lucas-Conwell said. “We definitely
have a lot more confidence in our-
selves now. It gives us more punch.
We have a lot of energy heading into
[our next game].”
Since the victory over Woodside,
the Vikings have found their offensive
prowess, going on to score five goals
in an impressive display of offense
against Sacred Heart Preparatory on
Apr. 29.
Sophomore Hannah Ohlson (left) looks to pass the ball to a fellow teammate as she sprints down
the field. The Vikings were unable to gain enough momentum to defeat Sacred Heart Preparatory.
Although they went on to lose
10-5, the team showed quickness and
athleticism up front, constantly chal-
lenging the Sacred Heart goalkeeper
and winning loose balls all over the
field.
Before the big victory against
Woodside, however, the team had
trouble in all aspects of its game.
The Vikings took to the road on
Apr. 15 against Menlo-Atherton High
School, the first of three consecutive
Hannah McGovern/The Campanile
road games. The first half was hard-
fought , with freshman Hannah Ohlson
quickly equalizing Menlo-Atherton’s
first goal of the game. The second
half, however, was all Bears. Goals
from Lucas-Conwell and Dahm were
not enough to catch up to Menlo-
Atherton’s offense and the Vikings
went on to fall 7-3.
At Pioneer High School on Apr.
18, the team’s fortunes did not im-
prove. The squad was, once again,
outscored by their opponent. The girls
lost 14-4, the third time this season
that they have lost by a double-digit
margin.
The girls have competed strongly
all season and have had several
chances to win many of their games,
but the numbers do not support that.
At the time of the loss to Pioneer,
the Vikings have given up 63 goals
so far this season and have scored
only 14, the biggest goal difference
in the league.
“Forget the score,” Lucas-Con-
well said. “We are working really hard,
and haven’t given up in any game. We
have been very competitive.”
With their most recent surge in
competitive fire, the girls look to end
the season on a high note. Luckily, the
team has the opportunity to end the
season at home against Burlingame
High School on May 2.
One more win to end the season
is all the girls could ask for heading
into an off-season for which all but
one of the girls will be returning. In
fact, many of the girls on the team had
never even played the sport before
joining the team.
“We had a lot of girls who were
brand new to the sport,” Lucas-
Conwell said. “They’ve all come so
far in learning the sport.”
To overcome inexperience, head
coach Jen Gray has had to step up to
the challenge of teaching beginners to
compete at an advanced level.
“The coaches have taught all the
girls who never played before the right
way,” Lucas-Conwell said. “They had
to learn the basics, and they don’t have
the bad habits in their games.”
As such a young team, the Vi-
kings feel that they only have room
to improve upon their games.
“We’ve improved at everything
this season from skills to technique as
well,” Lucas-Conwell said.
With the amount that the girls
have improved since the start of the
season, and with the adversity that
they have been forced to overcome as
a startup team, the 2009 season is ex-
pected to be much more competitive.
According to Lucas-Conwell, next
season will be the time in which the
team’s development finally shows
on the field and should translate to
success.
“I think everyone’s excited for
next year,” Lucas-Conwell said. “We
will definitely be better and will get a
lot more wins.”
Looking back on their inaugural
season, the girls are proud of the way
that they handled the struggles that
come with starting up a program from
scratch, which includes playing teams
who have already been in competition
for as many as seven years.
“This year was our first, so in
some ways it was a test run,” Lucas-
Conwell said. “Next year we are
coming to win.”
LACROSSE
Scores
v. Pioneer
Apr. 18, L 14-4
v. Woodside
Apr. 25, W 13-7
v. Sacred Heart Prep
Apr. 29, L 10-5
A10 • May 5, 2008 Sports The Campanile

Tennis team hopeful for postseason matches

After several setbacks, boys’ Varsity tennis squad maintains high spirits going into CCS tournament
By Sam Jones The Vikings then played Saratoga for
Sports Editor a second time in the same week on Apr. 16,
Despite facing some significant mid- looking to play spoiler to their host’s aspira-
season setbacks, the boys’ Varsity tennis tions for the top seed in CCS.
team bounced back to finish the regular Once again, the Vikings kept it close
season strong, securing the fifth seed in the throughout the contest, but were unable to
upcoming Central Coast Section postseason come through in two crucial three-set matches,
tournament. falling 2-5 to the league leader.
The Vikings have improved to a 14-7 “Losing to Saratoga twice in the same
(10-3 league) record on the year, and finished week was difficult to take, especially because
in second place in the Santa Clara Valley we had a legitimate shot to take both of the
Athletic League De Anza Division, behind matches,” senior co-captain David Plotkin
Saratoga High School. said. “But now we definitely realize what we
The squad faced off against division lead- have to do if we want to beat Saratoga in the
ing Saratoga at home on Apr. 14, hoping to postseason.”
gain some ground on the league leader. The In their final match of the regular season,
Vikings fought valiantly as underdogs, but the Vikings hosted Sacred Heart Preparatory on
quickly fell into a deep hole as Saratoga took Apr. 21. The Vikings quickly found themselves
three of the four singles matches, with only out matched against their strong non-league
senior co-captain Kushal Tantry winning in a opponent and were simply outclassed in a 6-1
three-setter at the No. 2 beating.
singles slot. “We definitely have a good “It was tough to
The doubles teams close out the regular
tried to pull off the upset,
chance at winning CCS, but we season with two straight
but were unable to sweep are going to have to pull it all losses,” Tantry said.
all three matches. Thus, together to compete with the “We treated the losses
Paly fell in a disappoint- top schools in the area.” as important playing
ing 3-4 loss, officially experience against some
surrendering the league very solid teams that we
title to Saratoga. David Plotkin may face again down
“It was tough to lose Senior Co-captain the line.”
like that and to know that With the regular
we could not win the season over, several of
league title this year,” Tantry said. “But we Paly’s elite players geared up for the SCVAL
knew that we had to regroup and finish the individual singles and doubles tournament on
season strong to help our chances in CCS.” Apr. 22 and 23.
Elizabeth Petit/The Campanile
This loss left Paly in a precarious position, Tantry and junior Sam Wong played in
tied with cross-town rival Henry M. Gunn the singles tournament, seeded second and Senior David Plotkin returns a volley during his singles match against his opponent from Henry M. Gunn High School.
High School for the second place position in third, respectively. The Vikings dominated rival Gunn, sweeping all four singles spots and capturing key third sets to win the match 6-1.
the SCVAL De Anza Division with two league Plotkin and junior Daniel Schwartz were Plotkin and Schwartz were more suc- which is something that needs to change before area,” Plotkin said. “If we can pull out the close
matches left in the regular season. seeded second in the doubles tournament and cessful though, romping on the way to the we enter CCS.” three-setters and maintain our composure, we
The stage was set perfectly for a monu- sophomores Peter Tseng and Drew Pearson tournament finals where they faced a familiar Despite this shortcoming, the players are will be a force to be reckoned with.”
mental match up against Gunn to secure the entered unseeded. opponents in the top-seeded Gunn doubles optimistic about their chances in the post-
second place spot on Apr. 15 at home. The Vikings experienced mixed success team. season tournament and are excited to play
With a win, the Vikings would be as- in the tournaments.
sured of placing second in their division and
Plotkin and Schwartz had plenty of mo- against some of the best teams in Northern TENNIS
In the singles brackets, both Tantry and mentum entering the match, but could not pull California.
would capture a crucial high seed in the CCS Wong battled their way into the semifinals out a finals victory, falling to their opponent “It will be great to be pitted against the
tournament. before hitting roadblocks. in a disappointing loss 4-6, 4-6. best teams around,” Plotkin said. “There’s
Scores
In their biggest match of the season, the Tantry lost to the fourth-seeded individual Even though none of the players could really nothing better than playing in the CCS v. Saratoga
young Viking squad played with uncharacter- from Saratoga, while Wong was defeated come through with a title in the individual tournament.” Apr. 14, L 3-4
istic poise under pressure. by the top-ranked player in the tournament tournaments, the Vikings team is now focused The Vikings are geared up for their first v. Gunn
The Vikings secured several key third-set from Gunn. on the CCS team tournament, which it has round match on May 2. The squad will look Apr. 15, W 1-6
matches and swept all of the four singles spots, “It was disappointing, losing to someone a significant shot at winning. However, the to win their first few matches, which will help v. Sacred Heart Prep
leading to a 6-1 thumping of the Titans. seeded lower than myself,” Tantry said. “But I squad will have to work on closing out close to build some momentum, in anticipation of Apr. 21, L 1-6
“It was great to get that win, just because know that I just have to use that loss as motiva- matches, which has been a significant weak- playing some very strong teams from the
the team hadn’t played up to its full potential in tion and bring my best tennis to CCS.” ness for the team so far this season. tournament quarterfinals and on.
Upcoming games
pressure situations up until this point,” Tantry In the doubles tournament, Tseng and “Our clutch game is a work in progress “We definitely have a good chance at CCS @ Aptos
said. “It really bolstered our confidence, know- Pearson fell to their first round opponents right now,” Tantry said. “We have been pretty winning CCS, but we’ll have to bring it all May 20
ing our true potential as a squad.” from Los Altos High School. inconsistent against the best teams in the area, together to compete with the top schools in the

Softball team dominates league with ten-game winning streak

By DJ Hsueh
Staff Writer
It has been over a decade since
Palo Alto High School has won any
title in softball, but this year’s team
has performed well during the season
with a league record of 11-1 and one
game left to play.
Currently placed first in the
SCVAL El Camino Division, the Var-
sity girls have a very good chance of
moving up to the Santa Clara Valley
Athletic League De Anza Division
next year.
The team has faced their share
of obstacles, such as a number of
disappointing losses in non-league
games. However, the Vikings (11-1
league, 18-8-1 overall) have had an
eleven-game winning streak, which
began with a win against Wilcox High
School on Apr. 8.
The Vikings scored two runs
late in the first inning and sophomore
Kelly Jenks threw five straight perfect
innings, shutting down the Chargers’
offense.
Sophomore Lauren Bucolo
then singled in the fourth inning and
eventually scored on an error after
Jenks walked.
Junior Allie Coleman, in her third
season as a starter, was hit by a pitch,
and sophomore Kristen Dauler then
singled home Jenks.
“Wilcox was a big win for us,
because they were tied with us for
first,” Jenks said. “Beating them put
us ahead of them.”
Jenks had a perfect game through
the first five innings, which lasted a
short 45 minutes. With one out in the
top of the sixth, Wilcox finally got its
first hit but was quickly shut down with
a ground out and a strikeout, ending
the game 4-1. Jenks pitched another
complete game against Santa Clara
on Apr.10, limiting the Bruins to just
two hits in the entire game.
“It’s no secret that our success is
when Kelly is on the mound,” Varsity
Head Coach Jake Halas said. “And
when our bats are going, we’re tough
to beat.”
The Vikings dominated Henry
M. Gunn High School on Apr. 15,
beating the Titans 12-1.
“Gunn came ready to play and
they really wanted to beat us,” Cole-
man said. “There were a lot of breaks
that could have gone in our favor,
but they really wanted to make sure
we didn’t score. I think we were still
caught a little off guard because we
beat them 12-1 last time, but it was a
good game.”
Before their second game against
the Chargers, the team was confident
and ready to play.
“We have already beaten Wilcox,
but this game was important for both
of us and they are well prepared,”
Halas said.
Unfortunately, the Vikings lost to
Wilcox 8-14 on May 1, ending their
winning streak. The game was excit-
ing, with Wilcox taking an early lead
of 7-0. The Vikings then came back
and took the lead, bringing the score to
8-7, but then Wilcox took the offensive
and ended the game 14-8.
Still, as last year’s record was 5-7
league, 7-14 overall, the 2008 team
has accomplished much more than
they expected.
With a short roster of 11 players,
no seniors and only two juniors, expec-
tations were low right off the bat.
However, the team has shown
commitment this year, practicing and
playing to the best of their abilities.
Their hard work has paid off, creating
Elizabeth Petit/The Campanile a strong team of young players that
Sophomore pitcher Kelly Jenks leads the Varsity softball team to a 4-0 victory over Cupertino High School on Apr. 22 and guided the team will all return next year. Their future
to victory over cross-town rival Henry M. Gunn High School. Jenks was also featured as the “Athlete of the Week” in the Palo Alto Weekly. is looking bright, and the Vikings are
“The game against Gunn was man also hit a home run and earned run in the first inning, and ended the great leaping catch of a line drive in sure to play well.
fantastic, we mercy-ruled them,” an “Honorable Mention.” game with three hits and two runs. the bottom of the seventh inning. As of now, anything could hap-
freshman Gracie Marshall said. “Ev- “It felt really good, but I think “It was my first time up to bat, and “We held them really well de- pen to the team. If they win their final
eryone’s batting averages went up and the entire team I hit a homer,” fensively, and Caroline was hitting game, they will have a good chance of
we played really well as a team.” deserved the “We’re having more success ear- M c D o n n e l l great which helped us offensively,” moving up to the De Anza Division.
The team then beat Notre Dame award,” Jenks said. “It felt Coleman said. “There are not that
San Jose High School 14-1 on Apr. said. “We work lier than expected. This is the only really good.”
17. really well as a sport at Paly that currently plays
many home runs in softball at the
Jenks held high school level, so it was really SOFTBALL
“We’ve been playing really well team and ev- at a lower level, but I know our the Eagles to awesome to see her hit a ball so far
every game,” Dauler said. “We’ve eryone works girls can play at the higher level.” two hits and over the fence.” Scores
been hitting really well and our de- so hard.” had 13 strike- The team played against Gunn @ Los Altos
fense is strong, especially with Kelly The team outs for the again on Apr. 29 and beat the Titans Apr. 24, W 4-0
pitching.” then went on Jake Halas entire game, 1-0.
v. Gunn
Against Cupertino on Apr. 22, to beat Los Varsity Head Coach leading Paly to However, neither team was able
Apr. 29, W 1-0
the team won 4-0. Jenks pitched yet Altos High a 4-0 win. to score any runs until the seventh in-
another great game and added to the School 4-0 on T h e Vi - ning when sophomore Ryan Flanagan Upcoming games
Vikings score with two home runs, Apr. 24. kings defense was especially strong, hit a single, got to second on a bunt, v. Saratoga
earning her the “Female Athlete of the Sophomore Caroline McDonnell making no errors the entire game. Part and then ran home after the Titans May 6
Week” in the Palo Alto Weekly. Cole- stepped up her game and hit a home of the great defense was Marshall’s made an error on a high fly ball.
The Campanile
Badminton team falls short of success
Viking bid for victory denied by fierce competition, despite dedication from team members
Chris Gallagher
Staff Writer
Through recent matches, Palo Alto High School’s bad-
minton team played against extremely difficult opponents
but unfortunately failed to produce a single victory.
The team’s losses, two of which ended with very
close final scores, have done little to dampen the team’s
resolve.
“I feel like if anything, the team is more determined,”
No. 2 boys’ singles player Allen Chen said. “Our players
have definitely gotten better.”
Although Paly lost to Monta Vista High School on Apr.
10, the final score of 2-28 was better than their previous
finish against the Matadors.
Other prominent members of the team disagree with
Chen’s opinion about the team’s current status.
“I think that lethargy is settling in,” No.1 boys’ singles
player Isaac Yao said. “There isn’t as much team spirit as
there was in the beginning of the season.”
The match was well fought by Paly and although the
team lost, many of the matches were very close. Monta
Vista changed its line up and brought in two new and
improved girls’ singles players.
“About five matches were close and went into a third
game,” Head Coach Kara Prentice said.
Various players were very pleased with their perfor-
mances against Monta Vista, while others were less than
satisfied with their playing.
“The guy I played was really good at the net,” Chen
said. “I tried to beat him at what he was best at but that
was a bad idea.”
Many feel that the Monta Vista match is reflective of
how the team has played thus far this year.
A need for physical training was especially appar-
ent in a number of the matches played by the Paly team
members.
“We don’t have the persistence to push through and
win when we go into a third game,” No. 1 girls’ singles
player Young Hsu said.
Sophomore Ivan Zhou, a varied player who unfor-
tunately lost his match against Monta Vista, challenged
himself to win against somewhat unfair odds.
“There were a couple of shady calls that could have
turned the match,” Zhou said. “But I wanted to win the
match even though he was cheating, so I didn’t call for
a line judge.”
Yao, who has played doubles in the most recent
matches, saw the Monta Vista match as an opportunity
to show what he had learned.
“I think that I had just forgotten how to have fun in
my matches,” Yao said. “I felt a lot better about the match
than the score reflected.”
Many enjoyed watching Yao’s match, a very com-
petitive and exciting duel between school rivals, while
other players struggled and failed to pull out victories in
their games.
PALY SPORTS COVERAGE WILL
NEVER BE THE SAME
Sports May 5, 2008 • A11
“I could tell they were tired,” No. 3 boys’ doubles
junior Tim Qin said. “But they never gave up.”
The team received a well-earned break, resting and
practicing the week following the Monta Vista match.
This break allowed them time to prepare for their match
against Henry M. Gunn High School on Apr. 22, as there
were not any matches scheduled due to other schools’
spring breaks.
“We did four-corner drills over the break,” Hsu said.
“We hoped to build stamina and shot accuracy.”
Paly played a frustrating match against Gunn and
lost the match with a final score of 4-26. Paly performed
very similar to the last time they played Gunn, a mani-
festation of the insurmountable ability of various players
on Gunn’s team.
“We haven’t had a lot of time to train,” said Chen.
“School has gotten busier and more stressful.”
Sophomore Kathy Woo, who normally plays No.3
girls’ singles, was paired up with senior Joanna Wu, who
was missing her No. 2 girls’ doubles partner, senior Lydia
Qin. They played an exciting match against Gunn’s No. 2
girls’ doubles team, going into a third game after loosing the
first 13-15. The duo was able to pull out a win in the end
however, securing badly needed points for their team.
“In all honesty, they weren’t the best,” Woo said. “We
kept losing on one side of the court, though.”
Although the match went south this time for Paly,
members of the team realize their own potential and the
allusive possibility of success.
“We are always not far behind,” Zhou said. “We just
need a couple good players to lift up our team.”
Seniors Vika Kreitz and Petrina Chie played Gunn’s
No. 3 girls’ doubles team and won their match once again.
Their record thus far in the season has been remarkably
distinguished in comparison to the rest of the team’s,
although not perfect. Austin Smith/The Campanile
“For the most part we were playing well,” Prentice Junior Allen Chen attempts to serve the birdie in an Apr. 29 match against Lynbrook High School.
said. “It is just a matter of making your own mistakes The badminton team is focusing on gradually improving after their three-week long losing streak.
or not.”
The team members all agree that Gunn shows ex- “We always try our best,” Hsu said. “This year I tried
ceptional promise, having thus far remained undefeated to enjoy all my matches.”
Yao played a great match, nailing the backhand corner
Badminton
in the season.
“They are so good that some people give up because over and over with slams and lifts. Unfortunately, he lost
they know they can’t win,” Hsu said. “That’s really sad his lead and the first game to his opponent. Scores
and kind of frustrating.” “I get totally exhausted,” said Yao. “That is what ends @ Gunn
Zhou pushed through and dominated his match against up killing me a lot.” April 22, 4-26 L
his Gunn opponent, winning the first and second games Qin and No. 1 boys’ doubles player Justin Hsi played vs. Lynbrook
15-5 and 15-3. together for the first time this year in the Lynbrook match,
April 29, 10-20 L
“I didn’t have good smashes that day,” Zhou said. as both of their partners were absent. Hsi capitalized on
“But I used clears and drops to move and push him around his smashes and Qin backed him up, though missing some Upcoming games
the court.” serves and key shots. vs. Wilcox
Paly next played and lost to Lynbrook High School Although Qin and Hsi lost their match along with May 6, 3:30 P.M.
on Apr. 29 by a score of 10-20. Once again, many of the many others, the game against Lynbrook was a close fight, @ Saratoga
matches were very close as both of the teams remained with many won and nearly won matches. The team hopes May 8, 3:30 P.M.
neck-and-neck until the last defining matches in boys’ and that in its last few matches it can improve upon its record
girls’ doubles and girls’ singles. of extremely close games.
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online source for Paly sports information.
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A12 • May 5, 2008 Sports The Campanile

Baseball team drops last four, misses CCS playoffs

Paly finishes fifth in division after midseason run ends with disappointing losses to Milpitas, Wilcox High Schools
By Zal Dordi
Staff Writer
After a solid midseason run, the Vikings
struggled to find their rhythm in the last few
weeks of the 2008 baseball season. After a 2-3
start to league play, the Vikings won seven of
their next eight games including five consecu-
tive league victories.
A series sweep of Henry M. Gunn High
School bumped the Vikings into second
place in league with a 7-3 record. However,
it was inevitable that their good luck would
eventually run out and it seemed to happen
at the worst time.
The team ended a three-week unbeaten
run with a loss to Milpitas High School at
home in the first game of their two-game series
with the Trojans.
After solid victories in their last three
games over Aragon High School in a non-
league matchup and Gunn during a two-game
series sweep, the Vikings could not pull
through on the evening of Apr. 9, dropping
the opener 6-7.
The Vikings came into the bottom half
of the seventh inning trailing by two. Senior
Tyger Pederson led off the inning by turning
the first pitch he saw into a triple.
Pederson’s younger brother, sophomore
Joc Pederson, followed suit with an RBI single,
putting the tying run on base with no one out
in the inning.
With one down in the inning and Joc on
second, senior Peter Abrams hit a fly to the
outfield, allowing Joc to tag-up, which put
the potential seventh Viking run on third with
two gone.
Senior Will Goodspeed was the last hope
for the Vikings but unfortunately struck out on
a controversial call to end the game.
It was a disappointing loss for Paly,
who led early on in the game. However, the
superior relief pitching and solid offensive
performance by the Trojans propelled the
visitors to victory.
The Vikings then traveled to Milpitas to
try and split the series but once again failed to
get enough out of their offense. The Vikings
scored in the top of the first, but left runners
in scoring position.
Milpitas tied it up with a run of their
own in the bottom frame. In the fourth, the
Vikings strung together several hits to produce
two more runs, putting the score at 3-1. But
Sophomore Scott Witte stands into the batter’s box awaiting a pitch from a Wilcox pitcher. Paly lost to Wilcox 8-9 in the
late innings, giving the Vikings a 10-10-1 record for the season, knocking them out of contention for the CCS playoffs.
their lead was short-lived, as the Trojans tied
the score once again in the fifth with a pair
of runs.
Milpitas took the lead in the sixth with
some old-fashioned small ball, giving them
a one run lead that would be enough for the
win.
Entering the final series against Wilcox
High School, Paly required at least a series
split with the Chargers in order to enter in
the playoffs.
Game one of the final regular season
series did not end well for the Vikings as the
Paly boys dropped their third consecutive
game at Wilcox.
The Vikings trailed due to a combination
of superb pitching by the Charger starting
pitcher and their own defensive mistakes.
season — win the game and Paly would find
themselves with a berth into the Central Coast
Section playoffs.
Lose; however, and the team would drop
to fifth place in league with a .500 record and
the possibility of being demoted to the El
Camino Division.
Unfortunately, it was the latter that oc-
curred on Apr. 25 at Paly.
The Vikings, who tore up their midseason
schedule, were unable to escape with a vic-
tory in their final four games against two of
the league’s toughest opponents, effectively
eliminating the squad’s possibility of post-
season play.
The Vikings once again had to come
from behind if they were to have any chance
against the Chargers.
At one point the Vikings trailed 0-6, but
the boys rallied back by scoring five runs in
the home half of the fifth inning to grab a 7-6
lead over visiting Wilcox.
Wilcox, though, would not see their of-
fense stifled as the Chargers came back in
the top half of the sixth inning scoring two
runs of their own to retake the lead for the
division leaders.
Junior Colin Byrne knotted the game at
eight runs in the bottom of the sixth with a
solo shot to right center to give Paly a glim-
mer of hope, but the Charger offense could
not be tamed as they were able to push across
their ninth run of the game to take the lead
for good.
The Vikings finished the regular season
in fifth place in the De Anza Division with a
7-7 record and finished 10-10-1 overall. This
.500 finish will not be enough for the Paly
baseball to capture a spot in this year’s CCS
playoffs.
Austin Smith/The Campanile
Baseball
Scores
After five innings, Paly trailed by a score v. Milpitas
of 8-0. The offense cut the lead in half with Apr. 9, L 6-7
a four-run sixth inning, but it was not to be @ Wilcox
for the Vikings as they could not manage to Apr. 23, L 4-8
muster any more runs against the Wilcox v. Wilcox
pitching staff. Apr. 25, L 8-9
The final game of the regular season
@ Gunn
against Wilcox, the best team in the division,
Apr. 29, L 4-5
would determine the outcome of the entire

Girls’ swimming finishes undefeated in duel-meet season

One-loss boys’ and unbeaten girls’ teams look toward league finals, CCS finals in hopes for successful finish to season
By Alexi Dagan
Sports Editor
The Palo Alto High School
Varsity swimming and diving teams
made it through their duel-meet season
with a nearly perfect record, includ-
ing wins over Henry M. Gunn and
Saratoga High Schools. The Vikings
faced tough competition from the top
teams in the Central Coast Section and
Northern Coast Section in the Section
Challenge, hosted by Paly, in which
the girls placed third and the boys
placed fourth.
Paly faced their cross-town rivals
on Apr. 15 when the Gunn Titans
visited the Paly pool. The Vikings
kicked off the meet with a bang; both
the girls’ and boys’ 200-yard medley
relays took first and continued to
dominate throughout the meet. The
girls’ team saw first place finishes from
senior co-captain Liv Jensen in the
200-yard individual medley and 100-
yard breaststroke, as well as another
double win from senior co-captain
Colleen Fotsch in the 50-yard freestyle
and 100-yard backstroke. The girls
finished the meet with a final score of
107 points to Gunn’s 79 points.
The boys’ team also displayed
their superiority over the Titans, with
wins from junior Tim Wenzlau in
the 200 individual medley and 100
backstroke, senior Michael Fortune
in the 100-yard butterfly and senior Michela Fossatti-Bellani/The Campanile
co-captain Geng Wang in the 100 The boys’ team suffered their first duel-meet loss to Monta Vista, ending their bid for an undeafed season. The girls’ team found success against Monta Vista, completing their
breaststroke. Senior diver Will Simon first undefeated duel-meet season in three years. Both teams’ will continue on to the league playoffs where they are determined to be success against other competitors.
made the transition to swimming and
won the 50 freestyle. With wins in first in the 100 backstroke. The girls in eight events, to Paly’s four, which 100 butterfly, finishing four seconds High School, thereby ending a 40- challenge. I think the talent is there if
both freestyle relays, the boys finished set another meet record in the 200 included Fortune in the 50 freestyle ahead of the pack. meet winning streak that extended they go into the meet focused, swim
the meet with a score of 118-68 over freestyle relay, which included Jensen, and Wenzlau in the 100 freestyle. “The Saratoga girls definitely over the past four years. hard and go after it. The loss was a
Gunn. freshman Sabrina Lee, Fotsch and “The key to that meet was not our surprised me,” Fotsch said. “But our “The boys just didn’t go into the wake up call as to what they will have
Paly hosted the top teams from senior co-captain Lizzie Abbott. top level swimmers,” Dye said. “The team stepped up to the challenge. I meet ready to race,” Dye said. to do, but I think they can win.”
across Northern California for the Fortune brought the boys’ team younger swimmers stepped it up for was really impressed with all the girls The girls’ team, however, pulled
third annual Section Challenge on Apr.
18-19. Freshman Grace Greenwood
their only wins in the 50 freestyle and
the 100 freestyle, in which he set a
second, third and fourth place finishes
and that’s what won us the meet.”
on our team.”
Sophomore Danielle Carlson
off a win against the Matadors, whom
they have lost to in duel meets for the Swimming
placed first in the diving competition, meet record and helped the boys take Simon also helped the boys win placed third in the 500-yard freestyle past two seasons. Scores
helping the girls’ team place third, fourth place behind Bellarmine Col- by placing first in the diving competi- and qualified for CCS, a season-long “All of the girls were swimming v. Monta Vista
behind Campolindo High School and lege Preparatory, Campolindo and San tion. They finished the meet ahead of goal. really well,” Dye said. “They have Apr. 15, VB L 89-97
Las Lomas High School. Ramon Valley High Schools. Saratoga with a score of 90-86. “I was really scared because the been focused on what they wanted to
v. Monta Vista
“It was a fun meet with lots of fast The meet against Saratoga proved The girls coasted through the last time I swam the 500 I was .08 do all year, and now it’s paying off.
Apr. 25, VG W 101-82
swims from the top teams in the area,” to be a challenge for the boys’ team, meet, winning all but three events. seconds away,” Carlson said. “I was That’s what a team should do.”
Head Coach Danny Dye said. while the girls remained dominant Notable wins included the 200 med- afraid I wasn’t going to be able to get Despite the loss for the boys, Upcoming games
The girls also had a win from throughout. The boys, rather than ley relay and both freestyle relays, as there again, but seeing my time at the Dye remains optimistic about how League Championships
Jensen in the 50 freestyle as well as relying on big wins from a limited well as wins from freshman Kristina end was the best feeling ever.” both teams are poised going into the May 7 @ 2:30 p.m.
the 100 freestyle, in which she set a number of their top swimmers to Xiang in the 200 individual medley, On Apr. 25 the boys were not able league finals. CCS Championships
meet record. Fotsch also set a meet win the meet, were forced to win as Jensen in the 50 and 100 freestyles, to hold on to their winning streak, as “The girls are in good shape,” May 16 @ TBA
record in the 100 butterfly and placed a team. The Saratoga boys placed first and Fotsch in the 100 backstroke and they suffered a loss to Monta Vista Dye said. “The boys have more of a
The Campanile
Life styles Features • A&E • People Monday, May 5, 2008

Why I hate
cell phones

Sara Reihani
In this wild, unpredictable world
that modern society has thrust upon
us, only one gadget anchors us amid
the whirl of Wiis, Wikis and Wi-fi:
the cellular phone. From its origins
as the pineapple-sized “car phone”
exclusive to power-suited 80’s
business executives to its current
incarnation as camera/computer/life
coach, the cell phone has gone from
convenient utility to graven idol of
instant gratification. Scores of mod-
ern social phenomena are directly
attributable to cell phones includ-
ing textual flirtation, Bluetooth use
disguised as schizophrenia and the
ringtone as a profound expression of
personal identity.
While constantly reachable has
undeniable advantages, cell phones
deceive us into thinking that this
accessibility is an inalienable right
rather than a flawed privilege. By
giving people my cell phone number,
I give them permission to contact me
whenever they want, no matter where
I am or what I am doing. I am thus
shackled to their whim, subjecting
me to their contact when it may not
be desired. I could, of course, simply
turn off my phone, but this is no
longer an acceptable excuse. After
all, what is the use of owning a cell
phone if you are going to leave it off
all the time?
Those who live lives more un-
predictable than mine may have good
reason to consider their cell phones
crucial lifelines, but for most of us,
they are more of a luxury than a ne-
cessity. Cell phones are currently dirt
cheap to manufacture, but their true
cost is insidious and pervasive. Be-
sides the perils of hidden fees and the
lubricious allure of text-messaging,
one must consider the emotional en-
slavement that comes with allowing
the outside world to contact you al-
most anywhere. Owning a cell phone
guarantees that you can and will be
interrupted in movie theaters, librar-
ies or scenes of pastoral tranquility,
usually for trivial reasons. In a world
full of landlines, pay phones, email,
instant messages and Facebook mes-
sages, few of us need the accessibility
to go that extra mile.
The most alluring thing about cell
phones for the younger generation
(i.e. us) is their efficacy as instruments
of spontaneity. They ensure that no
matter where you are or what you are
doing, you can be notified of other
entertainment opportunities; namely,
where the new party is at. In this way,
we are freed from the responsibility
of making plans in advance. We can
also cancel plans at the last minute
without condemning ourselves to eve-
nings of loneliness — instead, we can
just use the opportunity to insinuate
ourselves upon everyone else in our
electronic phone books. This protean
convenience breeds selfishness by lib-
erating us from any idea of solid idea
of obligation. The primal human fear
of isolation also comes into play here;
cell phones feed on this anxiety like
blood-hungry mosquitoes, promising
a solution for the many who live in
On the Air at
“We don’t insist that you have to be famous first ... KZSU
will play anything and sometimes it’s really good
music that’s discovered and other times it’s some
of the worst stuff you’ve heard in your life, but that’s
really what makes it so unique.”
DJ Byrd of Paradise
By Michael Hamada
Staff Writer
It’s 3 a.m. Saturday morning and most
students are sound asleep. While the streets of
Palo Alto are mostly dead and quiet, the air-
waves are ablaze with music and conversation.
The voice behind these early morning sounds,
typically a mix of reggae and other genres of
music, is that of sophomore Brendan Erickson,
who hosts his own show on KZSU 90.1FM,
Stanford Radio.
On a regular day, the thump of vibrant
electronic dance music can be heard around the
corner of Pigott Theater on Stanford Campus
as students walk to class. The thumping radi-
ates from a small doorway at the corner of the
theater that leads into a bunker-like facility that
has been dug out under the building above. It is
the perfect setting for a station like KZSU. In the
hallways of the station music reverberates off
the walls — one could not be more immersed in
music if they tried. Throughout the day, KZSU
broadcasts eclectic music, playing everything
from African pop to Christian hip-hop.
“College radio is different than all other
types of radio because it’s all about finding new
music and experimenting with obscure genres,”
KZSU Chief Engineer Mark Lawrence said.
Erickson started training with the radio sta-
tion about a year ago. Training to become a disc
jockey with KZSU is fairly simple. The classes
are free and
teach pro-
spective
DJs how
to use the radio
equipment, how
to monitor radio
wave levels and
to put together
one’s own show.
“My show
is from 3 a.m
to 6 a.m.
Saturday
mornings,”
Erickson
said. “It’s kind
of a crazy
time slot,
but you
need a certain number of community service
hours around the station to get first pick and I
didn’t have enough, so I got the left over slot.”
However, Erickson isn’t complaining
because as a new DJ, the 3 a.m. to 6 a.m. time
slot is considered a “safe zone,” when an oc-
casional mistake or Federal Communications
Commission violation can slip by without too
much attention.
“Generally you can’t swear and if you do
the fine is crazy, but that early in the morning,
whoever is listening probably won’t care,”
Erickson said.
KZSU 90.1FM Stanford Radio has always
been a place for people trying to break into the
music or radio industry. The radio station is 61
years old this year and originally started on an
AM frequency before obtaining an FM license
in 1964. The station is a non-commercial station
run by a staff of dedicated volunteers.
“There’s only one person who has a salary
at the station and there are about 90 people who
work here,” long-time DJ Byrd “of Paradise”
Hale said.
DJ Byrd of Paradise hosts two weekly
shows which include a popular 17-year-old blues
show called “Blues with a Feelin’,” broadcasted
Saturday mornings from 9 a.m. to noon, and
“The Lunch Special” on Mondays at noon that
features different Stanford community members
each week for conversation and music. There
are about 60 active DJs at the station who host
a variety of shows. Some shows run every week
and they can last anywhere from an hour to
three hours. Since the station’s creation, there
have been over 200 DJs who have hosted a
show on KZSU.
According to DJ Byrd of Paradise, the ma-
jority of KZSU’s listeners are not people who
constantly listen to the station every day, but
rather listeners who tune into specific shows. of Stanford Ra-
“That’s really what makes the station so dif-
ferent,” DJ Byrd of Paradise said. “We broadcast
everything: Stanford sports games, news, public
service announcements and then there’s the vast
variety of talk and music shows.”
One of the most popular shows is called
“Wednesday Night Live,” which hosts live
bands in the studio. “Wednesday Night Live”
has hosted hundreds of local bands over the past
decade including now famous bands such as The
Donnas and The Brian Jonestown Massacre.
However, probably the most famous show
on KZSU is “The Drum” which broadcasts on
Sunday nights from 6 a.m. to 9 p.m. “The Drum,”
hosted by DJ Kevvy Kev, is the longest running
hip-hop show in the world. Most of the music
played on the show today is underground hip-hop
that has been ignored by mainstream media. “The
Drum” has also been influential in launching the
careers of many famous rapers.
“‘The Drum’ broke Mos Def’s career,” DJ
Byrd of Paradise said. “Kevvy Kev was the first
to play his stuff and Mos Def even dedicated his
first gold record to KZSU.”
Other rappers such as Jay-Z, Tupac, Busta
Rhymes, Wu-Tang Clan and Redman were
all featured on the show before they became
worldwide stars. In fact, Jay-Z came on the show
when he was still a part of a rap group called
Original Flavor. Kevvy Kev started the show
as a simple way to bring New York hip-hop to
California and at the time “The Drum” was only
the second radio show in the Bay Area to play
“urban music.”
DJs Farmer Flap-jack and Ayshbot, who host
a show called “Happy Hour” on Thursdays from
10 p.m. to 12 p.m. appreciate the freedom
KZSU and college radio offers.
“That [he freedom]
is the beauty
dio,” DJ Ayshbot said, “You can play whatever
you want and run your show however you
want, while other mainstream stations have
strict playlists.”
DJ Ayshbot has been working at KZSU for
over three years now.
“That’s what it’s all about,” DJ Farmer
Flap-Jack said. “If you wanted you could play
whale sounds for an hour.”
“And trust me we’ve heard it done,” DJ Ay-
shbot said. “Our variety show plays everything
from metal to blues to trip-hop. It’s all about
the music here.”
DJ Byrd of Paradise says college radio is
true radio.
“We don’t insist that you have to be famous
first,” DJ Byrd of Paradise said. “Almost all
other stations will only play the big name art-
ists, but how do you become one of those artists
if you can’t start anywhere? KZSU will play
anything and sometimes it’s really good music
that is discovered and other times it’s some of
the worst stuff you’ve heard in your life, but
that’s really what makes it so unique.”
KZSU’s wide appeal comes from its ability
to attract listeners of all musical tastes and all
age groups.
“It’s great because it doesn’t have a set genre
and all the shows are different,” Erickson said.
“So if you ever can’t go to sleep Friday night
or for whatever reason wake up incredibly early
Saturday
morning,
tune in.”

G narly High Crimes

vague terror of spending time alone FEATURES FEATURES A&E
with their thoughts.
In a way, cell phones actually Flea-ing
decrease effective communication.
They allow us to make calls from
the scene
T wisted B8
almost anywhere, meaning that we do
not have to interrupt our other activi-
ties to sit down and call someone in
particular. We can do anything while

A ction B11
talking on the phone: distractedly
check Facebook, drive irresponsibly.
If I can call someone at any time to
obtain or verify information, it lessens
my incentive to actually listen to them
the first time they tell me something,
which is inadvertently disrespectful
By
and powerfully habit-forming. The
worst side effect of modern conve-
Annie
niences like cell phones is how easy Vought
it is to be dependent on them in the

B5
most casual situations.

too.
They give you brain cancer,
By Henry Becker By Tyler Blake B2
B2 May 5, 2008
Features
It’s a beautiful day
for Democrats
Chris Clayton and
Jon Shan
True terror is waking up at three
in the morning and discovering that the
next president of the United States is
still a Republican and that the war in
Iraq will continue for up to a hundred
years, as prescribed by the winner.
As each day passes, both of the
major Democratic candidates are
growing steadily weaker as they
damage each other’s reputation and
credibility to the point of absur-
dity. Meanwhile, the GOP gleefully
watches on, as presumptive nominee
John McCain makes inroads towards
winning in the November elections.
With the Democratic Convention a
heartbeat away, the greatest priority
is ensuring that a Democrat is sworn
in by Chief Justice John Roberts on
Inauguration Day.
Currently, the electoral map
favors Democrats, as they have the
opportunity to pursue electoral votes
in fourteen crucial states; In total, the
Democrats have 97 potential electoral
votes, from states that have voted
Republican, that are “up for grabs,”
whereas McCain will only have 69
Democratic votes available, according
to the Associated Press.
Moreover, of the states in which
the difference was fewer than two
percentage points, twice as many
voted for George W. Bush as for John
Kerry in 2004. Such states as Iowa,
in which Bush won by less than one
percent, are particularly vulnerable to
Republicans, while other states may
be vulnerable because of favorable
demographics for Democrats — in
Virginia and other Southern states,
which have large African American
populations and in Colorado and other
western states, which have larger
Hispanic populations.
Apart from those, Ohio, which
went to Bush in 2000 and 2004 and
has 20 electoral votes, may likewise
be opportune for a Democratic vic-
tory, particularly given the current
economic repression, which has
been causing the continual loss of
blue-collared jobs. Since McCain’s
economic policies generally present
a continuation of the current ones of
the Bush Administration, which have
largely contributed to the current eco-
nomic problems, these blue-collared
workers and others dissatisfied with
the economy will be more inclined
to vote for the Democratic candidate,
thereby increasing his or her chances
of winning in Ohio, and, in turn, in
the general.
The main point is that the Demo-
cratic candidate should have far better
chances of securing the presidency
than either Al Gore or John Kerry
did in 2000 and 2004. What is most
important is ensuring that these
candidate’s chances remain as high
as possible.
Ideally, one of the Democratic
candidates would drop out of the race
now, thereby allowing the other to
concentrate on the general election
and John McCain. However, since
Obama is the frontrunner and Clin-
ton has demonstrated no intention of
exiting the race, this possibility seems
minimal. Since neither candidate will
drop out, each must carry out what
they had previously agreed to in closed
doors: to desist with the severe nega-
tive campaigning against each other
that has plagued this election.
The result of all of the quotes that
each side has taken out of context is the
steady diminishment of the reputations
of each. Both reputations are fading
for the issues the candidates are rais-
ing against one another, particularly
regarding electability, and for the
images they present of themselves by
persisting with these attacks, as these
attacks make them seem desperate
to win.
Neither of the aforementioned
candidates help the Democrats in win-
ning the welfare and purity of democ-
racy, and so each should desist with
these petty attacks, and recognize that
the general election is what matters.
The Democrats need to stop jeopardiz-
ing their chances for inaugurating a
fellow Democrat as president of the
United States in 2009.
The Campanile
Paly thinkers express passion for philosophy
Students contemplate pervasive questions of life by evaluating different sets of beliefs
By Gloria Yu “I can disillusion myself from
Staff Writer the limitations I set and hopefully,
Philosophers have argued the be more likely to arrive at the truth,”
worth of human life since the be- Gaya said.
ginning of time. And yet, the same Gaya’s brother, senior Alex Gaya,
unanswerable questions continue to also began thinking about different
linger for individual interpretation. philosophies and points of view during
However, some of Palo Alto High his freshman year.
School’s most insightful students at- Alex’s philosophy can be cat-
tempt to find answers to these vague egorized into three concrete tenets.
questions. Just as these questions were The first of these states that life is
widely pondered among some of his- sacred.
tory’s elite, Paly has its own range of “Killing is wrong,” Alex said.
ardent philosophers. “That is why I am always against war,
Philosophy is most discussed in capital punishment and euthanasia and
the Paly’s Humanities Honors course, against abortion in most cases.”
usually offered to juniors and seniors. This life theory also encompasses
However, sophomore Nick Gaya the status of animals as well as doc-
joined the Philosophy Club at Paly trines of deep ecology, which states
during his freshman year. that people are only a part of the planet
“I first got involved with phi- and do not have the right to destroy it
losophy the way most people do, by to suit their wishes.
thinking about things,” Gaya said. “Species have a right to exist inde-
“When I joined the Philosophy Club, pendent of human desires,” Alex said.
it was my first time philosophizing in “I also believe that [human] popula-
an organized fashion.” tion needs to be reduced extremely to
Gaya considers philosophy as reduce our impact on the earth.”
a point of view of which someone Alex’s second tenet declares that
should look at the world. Thus, every the purpose of life is not to be happy,
conscious or unconscious action is successful or rich. Instead he believes
influenced by his philosophy. His ap- that people must do what is, in his eyes,
proach towards philosophy consists of right, regardless of whether it makes
a shapeable, yet vague and amorphous, that respective individual happy. In
way of thinking. his case, Alex’s purpose of life is to
“I believe that you have to adjust live for God.
your model as you get more data,” “I think certain things are out
Gaya said. “Every second I’m living, of bounds and not living right, and
I’m getting more information about so I avoid and condemn them,” Alex
life so I’m never going to have a stable said.
philosophy.” Gaya’s third tenet, a corollary to
The only area in which Gaya feels the second, claims that people need a
his philosophy falters is where he can- strong government.
Julia Benton/The Campanile
not provide enough experience to offer “For people who at this point are
Senior Alex Gaya ponders the intricacies of life and morals through religion and philosophy. Gaya
a good opinion; namely, the things he weak and confused, a strong govern-
hasn’t thought about yet. However, ment is absolutely necessary to save belongs to the Christian-Lutheran church and strongly identifies with conservative political views.
this is not entirely bad because once them from their own foolishness and to able to find support for his arguments include, but are not limited to, equality, also holds a distinct view point on
he thinks about those abstractions, attempt to destroy such human values in personal anecdotes, which host his liberty and security. religion.
his rationality and logic allows him as greed and lust,” Alex said. logic, proves his philosophy is just as According to Levin, many people “I feel rather strongly that or-
to critically assess the matter. Unlike his brother, who is less valid as that of anyone else. have disagreed with Levin’s delib- ganized religion has been largely
His own open-mindedness and enthusiastic about imposing his way “Unlike most hypocrites, who eration in assigning “liberty” the first harmful to humanity in the past and
the flexibility of his way of thinking of thinking, Alex is firm and eager in say that they don’t like to force position in the list. at present, but I’m still up in the air as
allow him to evaluate any new infor- expressing his beliefs. their beliefs on other people, I have “Equality is the most important to whether or not faith itself is helpful
mation that he encounters. To Alex, his confidence in his absolutely no qualms saying that if natural right in the absolute sense, or necessary to human happiness and
Furthermore, Gaya’s adaptive philosophy serves as both an enlight- I was Supreme Dictator, you’d bet- because a right that everyone does not well-being.”
philosophical attitude presents few enment and a burden. ter believe that my beliefs would be share equally is no longer a right, but Levin is also in the Philosophy
opinions that others can completely “There are frequent times when implemented immediately on a grand a privilege,” Levin said. Club. Even though she holds vast
undermine. I think, ‘If I didn’t have this com- scale,” Alex said. “That’s why I stick It follows logically that any right amounts of knowledge on various
“There are mitment to life I to my views , because I’ve thought enjoyed by a given individual is lim- philosophies, there are areas such as
no burdens to “The fact is, I do have these wouldn’t feel bad them out and decided they are supe- ited by the necessity of respecting the metaphysics that she is still trying to
being rational,” beliefs and live by them stead- every time I ate rior and worth enforcing on others in rights of others. figure out.
Gaya said. “My a burger,’” Alex consequence.” Levin presents the example that “I find that it’s very difficult to
philosophy is so fastly and I have the arrogant
said. “If I didn’t While Alex centers his doctrine people are free to throw rocks but are argue when it comes to matters of
free-form that I but open belief that in the have this obses- on conservative views, Suzanne Levin limited of this freedom if they choose principle,” Levin said. “This doesn’t
don’t think it is end, I am right and I’m going sion with morals, is another senior who dallies in the art to throw rocks at a neighbor and kill necessarily mean I’ll stop trying to
possible for it to to have a very short time in I could swear and of philosophy. him, as this would deprive him of his convince people of my beliefs, or at
limit me.” watch porn and However, the majority of Levin’s right to live. In assessment of histori- the very least explain them, but merely
According Hell.”
experiment with philosophy is specific to the philoso- cal philosophers, Levin takes a large that it works better with people who
to Gaya, people’s narcotics, like phy that developed during the same part of her philosophy from Rousseau, are open-minded, unsure of what to
biggest restric- Alex Gaya most teens seem time as the French Revolution that Mably and Montesquieu. believe or both.”
tion is the limita- senior to. The fact is, took place in the 1700s. “With regards to Kant and Plato, Regardless of which philosophy
tions which they I do have these Some philosophers that fall into I can’t help but see the concept of one holds, the mentioned students
impose on them- beliefs and live this time period include Rousseau, “benevolent despotism” as espoused believe an open mind is essential when
selves. For example, a person’s literal by them steadfastly and I have the Diderot, d’Alembert and Voltaire. by Voltaire and Diderot among others discussing philosophy.
belief in the Bible is a burden in his arrogant but open belief that in the Among these philosophers, Levin as absolutely ridiculous,” Levin said. “I have not only a right but a
everyday life, Gaya said. end, I am right and I’m going to have possesses particular knowledge on “The parts of Plato’s philosophy that duty to uphold what I think is right,”
Aside from the flexibility offered a very short time in Hell.” Rousseau. I agree with are not his theories on Levin said. “I’m not perfect and I
by his philosophy, the advantage to Alex’s conservative views are One theory that Levin holds is government.” don’t always manage to live up to my
Gaya’s attitude is that he is in control less likely to be shared by his peers on the Enlightenment theory of natural Along with this concentration ideals in the fullest. But I still have an
of himself. the Paly campus, but the fact that he is rights, which include natural rights on the French Revolution, Levin obligation to try, and try I do.
Sophomore exceeds in soccer after battle with cancer
By Kairen Wong “My dad got me into it and I can’t remember
Lifestyles Editor when I didn’t play,” Anderton said.
Soccer is the center of sophomore John Ander- Playing all year round with only a single
ton’s life. One of five sophomores on the Varsity month off for summer break and a break during
soccer team, Anderton plays forward and midfield. the Varsity soccer season, his club consists of many
But his playing soccer was once interrupted by the of the same people that were part of the original
discovery of a tumor in his lungs. third grade team.
“I couldn’t breathe well and I had a bad pain “A lot of the people have been on the team for
in my chest,” Anderton said. years,” Anderton said. “We’re all friends.”
In December of 2004, after experiencing pain The Landslides won the 22nd Annual Celtic
in his chest, Anderton believed that he had a pulled Cup in the Shamrock Flight last year. Considered
rib, but after lasting symptoms, doctors thought he the premier Southern California event for State Cup
might have had pneumonia. An emergency CAT scan preparations, the Celtic Cup occurs each year in San
showed that Anderton had a tumor in his lungs. Bernardino, which Anderton says he considers his
Anderton quickly started treatment, complet- proudest moment in soccer.
ing 15 rounds of chemotherapy and had surgery to Anderton typically spends a few hours, five
remove the tumor. During the time of treatment, he days a week in practice and also plays during his
managed to continue attending school. free time. Despite all the time he commits to soc-
“School was kind of weird,” Anderton said. “I cer, he does not see soccer playing such a big role
felt like it went by really fast.” in his future after high school.
But due to his treatment and physical condition, “I’m not that good,” Anderton said. “If I could,
Anderton could not continue to play soccer. I would.”
“I had a port thing in my chest where I got Anderton says that his cancer was difficult for
medicine,” Anderton said. “If it cracked, like if a him, since his life had centered around soccer and
ball hit me there, it could have gone to my heart. he could no longer play.
I also got extremely tired if I ran, because I didn’t “Soccer was all I did really, and my friends were
get much oxygen. I got tired quickly.” on the team,” Anderton said. “It kind of sucked.”
Anderton began playing soccer in his early By December of his eighth grade, Anderton’s
Courtesy of Adam Zernick cancer had gone into remission. He has not had
childhood and then started club soccer during
Sophomore John Anderton dribbles the soccer ball in a game of soccer with third grade. His team is called the “Stanford cancer since, and soccer is again a major part of
teammates. For Anderton, every match on the soccer field is a celebration. Landslides.” his life.
The Campanile Features May 5, 2008• B3

Students gain experience through interning

Paly students take advantage of various internship programs in order to learn more about different fields of work
By Kelley Shin
Staff Writer
At around three in the afternoon, Palo
Alto High School junior Sarah Kurihara
packs up her papers, shuts off the computer,
cleans up her desk and bids goodbye to her
fellow employees in the office. Kurihara has
just spent the past five hours immersed in re-
search for her Neuromuscular Biomechanics
Lab internship.
This is how Kurihara spent last summer.
Monday through Friday she would go to the
James H. Clark Center at Stanford University
to work for Professor Scott Delp, the director
of NMBL, as part of her internship.
The NMBL comprises of experimental
and computational approaches to study move-
ment as well as to develop treatments for
movement disorders, such as celebral palsy
and Parkinson’s disease. The department
poses scientific questions as a basis for re-
search, conducts experiments and labs, builds
musculoskeletal models on the computer and
develops software tools, all as steps of study-
ing movement.
Over the summer, Kurihara had the chance
to participate in this process as an intern.
“It was my first year working for Profes-
sor Delp and I mostly did research,” Kurihara
said. “Using Google Scholar I would find and
compile biomechanical or nueromechanical
articles relevant to his work.”
Over the past summer, Kurihara’s job
was limited to researching articles for Prof.
Delp’s studies.
However, Kurihara plans to return to
NMBL this summer and hopes to be more
involved, particularly in the lab discussion
meetings.
“During lab discussion meetings, held
once a week by Professor Delp, the fellows
discuss their research and the progress that has
been made with their labs,” Kurihara said.
Although Kurihara was the only high
school student intern at NMBL, she was in
the company of several other college students,
faculty members, associates and fellows.
Fellows are those who are in their advanced
training years and are focusing on a specific
area of research in order to train to be a spe-
cialist in that field.
Kurihara initially took the internship since
NMBL focuses on topics that she is interested
in and that she would like to explore further
in the future.
“When I heard about this internship I
decided it was something I would like to do,”
Kurihara said. “I’ve become more interested
in science throughout school because it is
constantly changing due to scientific advances
and this internship seemed like a great oppor-
tunity since the topics are areas I would like
to focus on in college.”
Kurihara is just one of many Paly students
who have taken advantage of an opportunity
to experience and learn more about an area
of interest to them.
Junior Caroline Lucas-Conwell’s intern-
ship at Bottlenotes focuses on culture and
business, rather than science and research.
Bottlenotes is a startup luxury wine
company in Palo Alto that sells and ships
wine, offers various wine clubs and promotes
wine-tasting events.
On its Web site, www.bottlenotes.com, us-
ers can register for free memberships and can
Junior Caroline Lucas-Conwell is one of the many students who are working at various types of internships. She works at
Bottlenotes, a start-up wine company that focuses on culture and business, and hopes to learn about the corporate world.
access information regarding the wine clubs
and events, as well as purchase products.
Lucas-Conwell has only recently started
her internship and currently goes to Bottlenotes
for four hours every Thursday. As this is a
long-term internship, Lucas-Conwell plans to
continue working at the company throughout
the summer, when she will work full-time.
“Right now I am mostly doing busywork,”
Lucas-Conwell said. “Bottlenotes is a startup
company and I am helping by putting stickers
on envelopes, creating reference folders with
articles about Bottlenotes, going on post office
runs and other work along those lines.”
Although Lucas-Conwell has only helped
with miscellaneous work thus far, she hopes
to become more involved and learn about the
corporate world while helping out at Bottle-
notes’ events in the future.
Lucas-Conwell works under the corporate
sales and events manager, Katherine Mathis,
which is advantageous for Lucas-Conwell,
since she is primarily interested in the market-
ing aspect of the company.
“It’s a business, which is something I am
considering going into later, so it’s a good expe-
rience,” Lucas-Conwell said. “It’s interesting
since it is a startup and still building up. Since
it is a wine company, it has to do a lot with the
culture of wine and being French.”
Another popular internship option for
Paly students is Paly’s Science Research
Project program, which junior Alex Browne
is enrolled in.
Although it is technically a class and
qualifies for Paly credits, the program man-
given the amount of time the program takes,
he has decided not to enroll in the class again
next year.
Once SRP ends, Browne hopes to intern
with the Lawrence Berkeley National Lab
over the summer.
“I’m still waiting to hear if I got in, but
I would like to work at LBNL in something
involving physics,” Browne said.
LBNL’s Center for Science and Engi-
neering Education offers opportunities to
students of the High School Student Research
Participation Program for Bay Area, those of
who are interested in science, engineering,
mathematics and other related fields.
This program provides students with paid
internships that run from June 25 through
August 8 and interns will receive a stipend
of $2,000.
For the internship, students will work
with scientists or engineers on their respec-
tive research assignments that are relevant to
LBNL’s research programs.
The assignments cover a wide range of
laboratory tasks such as preparing solutions
and media, preparing equipment, making
buffers, completing routine lab maintenance
duties and assisting in basic research, accord-
ing to csee.lbl.gov.
At the end of the internship, students are
required to write a scientific abstract, share
a power-point presentation and participate
in workshops as well as lectures and semi-
nars.
Senior Shaun Gao interned for CSEE last
year and worked in the environmental health
Hannah McGovern/The Campanile
and safety division.
“I tracked fire extinguishers on a PDA
and made sure they matched the positions on
the computer,” Gao said.
dates several hours of time outside of school research for the project, or working at the In order to be eligible to apply for this
and is a full-time commitment. centers, like Browne does at NASA. internship, students must be at least sixteen-
“The program exists to give students a bet- Browne goes to Ames Research Center years-old and a high school junior, be a U.S.
ter understanding of how real-world scientific twice a week on Wednesdays and Fridays citizen or permanent resident and attend school
research runs,” Browne said. for three hours to work on his research and in the San Francisco Bay Area. Preference is
The class, taught by science teacher studies. given to those from the Oakland, Berkeley and
Carolyn Csongradi, offers a wide spectrum of Browne first looked into SRP because of West Contra Costa County School Districts.
topics available for students to study. his interest in science. In addition to signing “Some of the requirements have changed,”
The class requires students to dedicate up for the class, Browne had to fill out an Gao said. “Last year you had to meet a certain
the whole year to one specific research proj- application. GPA requirement, but anyone from anywhere
ect for which they will continuously gather “It’s a class that you sign up for just like in the U.S. could apply.”
data, do research and work side-by-side with any other class,” Browne said. “However, These guidelines help reduce the number
a mentor on. given the nature of the program, an application of ineligible applicants since the application
As part of the program, Browne works for is necessary in order to make sure that everyone process is highly competitive.
NASA at the Ames Research Center and his is responsible to work with a mentor.” Last year, only 30 out of the 300 or more
project entails analyzing stars and galaxies. The application asks for a list of previ- students were accepted into LBNL’s internship
“I work with my mentor, helping him ous math and science courses taken as well program, according to Gao.
to finalize his publications,” Browne said. as the grades received in those classes, and a Gao’s internship lasted two months in
“We look at several galaxies to help establish paragraph explaining the student’s interest in summer, from late June to late August. Gao
expected ratios of the program. went to Lawrence Berekley Lab five days a
neon to sulfur in “I participated in the program because “SRP is a week, from 8:00 a.m. to 4:30 p.m.
other galaxies as great program “I participated in the program because
well as the Sun. The it offered me the chance to try some- that anyone inter- it offered the chance to try something new,”
actual work I do is thing new. The internship allowed me to ested in science Gao said. “The internship allowed me to
number juggling, experience working full-time as well as should participate experience working full-time as well as the
image manipula- the field of work.” in,” Browne said. field of work.”
tion, and proof “It’s an excellent Although Gao enjoyed exploring his op-
reading. My men- way of getting an tions and experiencing the work life, he admits
tor knows what he Shaun Gao idea for how the that holding the job was not easy.
wants to present; senior scientific commu- “It was a good experience, but it really is
I’m just there to nity really works hard work,” Gao said. “I enjoyed the food and
help him.” and since there are the people there, but the amount of work and
Since SRP is not an official class period so many choices of subject, there’s something having to be there everyday from nine to five
and is considered an eighth or ninth period for everyone.” was tough. However, internships are good in
class, the work for the program is done outside Although Browne enjoyed participating the sense that they let you test out some field
of school and consists of experiments and in SRP and considers it a great experience, of work to gauge your interest.”

Paly seniors take transitional gap years, explore other options

By Rebecca Allen racing next season,” Rudy said. “I am programs grew at a steady pace, with
News Editor looking at it as sort of a climax for my the establishment of many organiza-
In the pressure-filled classrooms racing career as a kid.” tions that allowed for student travel,
of Palo Alto High School, college Beyond dedicating more time to most notably The Student Travel
talk is the norm. Whether it is the snowboarding, Rudy hopes that taking Association. According to the Mintel
college students are attending, who a gap year will allow him to have some Gap Year Report in 2005, following
got in where or what colleges they are real-world experiences, something the boom of gap years in the 1990s,
applying to, it is difficult and rare to that being a student at Palo Alto High gap years are experiencing another
find a different perspective. However, School can often leave out. resurgence, with growth accelerating
several Paly seniors are taking a dif- “It will be beneficial to take some across all age groups in the UK, Aus-
ferent path after high school. time off and really learn what it is like tralia, New Zealand and Canada.
A gap year, or a one-year transi- to work full time, have to pay bills and The U.S. is also expected to have
tional experience between high school worry about stuff I have never had to an increase in the number of students
and either college or a working career, deal with before,” Rudy said. who are trying to take the gap-year
allows students an opportunity to have The trend of high school gradu- program, though it will be more slight
experiences divergent to what would ates taking a year off to achieve a dif- than other nations.
be standard for a Paly graduate. ferent purpose began after World War Many gap year participants cite
Senior Rob Rudy decided he II when people began seeing cultural a desire for change and a need for a
would take a gap year after senior year, exchange as a valuable way of gaining break from all the pressure from school
upon his en- global under- as the main reason for gap-year.
trance to col- standing. Senior Andrew Chen chose to
lege, in or- “It will be beneficial to take some In the take a gap year during his senior year,
der to devote time off and really learn what it is 1960s, the first deferring his acceptance to New York
more time to like to work full time, have to pay organized gap University until 2009.
snowboard- bills and worry about stuff I have year programs “I decided to do a gap year be-
ing because came into cause school was getting pretty boring
he doesn’t never had to deal with before.” effect, with for me,” Chen said. “I want a change Hannah McGovern/The Campanile
have enough students in the of pace, so I’m actually motivated to
Many students take gap years between high school and college in order to take some time off and
time to com- Rob Rudy United King- go to college.”
gain some work experience. Senior Rob Rudy plans to take a gap year to focus on snowboarding.
mit to both senior dom travel- Like many other gap year stu-
schoolwork ing to India dents, Chen is also planning on International Educational Exchange, gap years are not very conventional “[My parents] have always al-
and snow- on “Hippie working and making some money in is one of the most prominent travel in Palo Alto or in the U.S., Chen and lowed me to make my own decisions
boarding. He Trails” where the fall and then taking a trip while programs for gap-year students, along Rudy have both received support from about what I was going to do in every
has already committed to a college for they claimed to be the inventors of the other students would be in spring with LEAPNOW, Rustic Pathways both their parents and peers for their aspect of my life and this gap-year
the 2009-2010 school year. “independent travel market.” semester. Chen is going to Spain and Impact 360. The programs differ post-high school choice to select a program decision was no exception,”
“I am taking a gap year in order Throughout the next two decades, with the international exchange pro- in what they offer, from language im- gap-year program before heading off Rudy said. “This will definitely clear
to fully commit myself to snowboard the number of students doing gap year gram CIEE. CIEE, or the Council on mersion to cultural exchange. While to college. my head and be a lot of fun.”
B4 • May 5, 2008 Features The Campanile

Student’s family fosters pets for nonprofit organization

By Ally Whitson
Staff Writer
Palo Alto High School senior Melanie
Paulson sits on her couch with two small white
dogs perched on her lap. The smaller of the
two, Shaggy, stares at her affectionately.
Both dogs, Shaggy and Asta, came to
Paulson’s family as part of a program called
Furry Friends Rescue.
Shaggy, true to his name, has a short,
coarse coat and a stubby tail that is constantly
wiggling.
Asta, on the other hand, seems to take
offense at this invasion of his personal space
and leans away from the other dog. He is also
a small dog and has fluffy white fur and big,
dark eyes.
Furry Friends Rescue is a nonprofit
organization dedicated to rescuing, fostering
and finding homes for abandoned animals in
the Bay Area. The organization helps to find
homes for both cats and dogs, though the
Paulson family has only fostered dogs.
In order to foster a dog or cat, a family
cares for the pet and each Saturday brings the
animal to a “showcase” at which people can
come look for a pet to adopt.
Showcase locations around the Bay
Area include Petco, Pet Food Express and
Pet Club.
Paulson said her family takes each dog
that they are currently fostering to Pet Club
each week, where people can come look for a
“furry friend” to adopt. People either come to
look at a specific animal that they saw online
or just to look around.
The next step is for the prospective family
to fill out an application, which the manager
of the organization reads and then passes on
to the foster family.
“We make the final decision whether or
not the family will be a good match,” Paul-
son said. “It’s really fun to see these dogs
matched up with people who will take good
care of them.”
Paulson said that she has not had too much
trouble letting go of the dogs when it is time
to send them to a family.
“I do not let myself get attached to the
dogs from the start, since I know they are
going to be leaving sooner or later,” Paulson
said. “When I know they are going to a good
family, it makes it even easier.”
She added that her family members have
not found it as easy to see the dogs go.
“My mom and my sister have had a
harder time, depending on the dog, but are
always happy to see it go to a good home,”
Paulson said.
The Paulsons have fostered eleven dogs
already, one of which, Shaggy, they perma-
nently adopted because they liked him so
much.
“We just couldn’t let this little guy go,”
Paulson said. “He’s super friendly and he’s a
great dog.”
However, most of the dogs that the Paul-
son family fostered had been as perfect as
Shaggy. Foster dogs are not always adjusted
to life as pets.
“Sometimes it’s pretty hard because
they’re not always house-trained,” Paulson
said. “Some of them have never had a home
before they get to us.”
Some dogs, on the other hand, had homes
before they were abandoned, and with them
they brought colorful histories before arriving
on the Paulson family’s doorstep.
In one case, the Paulsons received a
poodle that previously lived with a man who
had two dogs. The poodle got out and was
picked up by Animal Services, but when they
called the owner, he said he didn’t want his
dog anymore.
Though the Paulsons greatly enjoy their
experience with their foster pets for the most
part, they have also had a few problems.
“We had this one dog that was really
food aggressive,” Paulson said. “So he would
attack our hands if we got to close to his food.
But he was a pretty good dog besides that.”
The family has dealt with dogs that have
gotten sick shortly after they received them.
“We had one dog who kept getting really
sick right after we got him,” Paulson said.
“And another time, a dog died about a week
after she came to us. She was at the vet for a
few days, then she finally gave up and died.
That was really sad.”
People can foster or adopt either cats or Elizabeth Petit/The Campanile
dogs, according to the Furry Friends Rescue Asta, a Maltese dog, came from Furry Friends Rescue, which is a non-profit
Web site, www.furryfriendsrescue.org. organization dedicated to rescuing, fostering and finding homes for animals.

Car crashes teach students the repercussions of dangerous driving

By Hannah Bystritsky
Staff Writer
Racing down the freeway at more than a
hundred miles per hour, “Gary,” a Paly junior
who wishes to remain anonymous, checks his
rearview mirror. Without so much as a flinch
Gary grabs the wheel and steers off past three
lanes just making it into the designated exit
of the freeway.
With instances like these, it’s no wonder
the rate of car accidents among teenagers is
higher than rates among all other age groups,
including the elderly.
A number of Paly student drivers have
learned through their own experiences that
a single wrong decision or a moment of lost
concentration can result in an expensive ac-
cident.
“It was really late at night and I was
driving my friend home from a concert,”
said “Boris,” a junior who wishes to remain
anonymous, said. “I was trying to park in a
tight spot and I accidentally backed into this
car behind me. There wasn’t any damage but
it was a close call.”
The attitude that some students take “Speeding gives you a special rush,” exit off the freeway and waited a bit. I didn’t invincibility leads many students to make
when driving a car can be very dangerous. “Alex,” a Paly junior who wishes to remain want to risk it.” poor decisions.
Many think they can get away with reckless anonymous, said. “You can do things with a Many reckless drivers get into wrecks Unfortunately, making reckless driving
driving without any consequences or perhaps car that you can’t do usually. It makes you from simply forgetting to follow the necessary decisions not only puts the driver in danger,
believe they aren’t being reckless and are be- feel special and its lots of fun.” rules of driving. but risks the lives of all the drivers around
ing practical. According to the National Teen Driving Forgetting to stop at a stop sign or turning them.
“I’ve gone 110 miles an hour while Statistics, car accidents are the leading cause on your headlights when necessary gets many “This one time I was driving down El
lane sharking [quickly of death. Regardless, student drivers in trouble. Camino,” junior Kyra Heirich said. “These
changing lanes back “I’m kind of glad I crashed, some students continue “It was dark and raining and I hadn’t two group of high school students were
and forth],” Gary said. to violate the driving turned on my lights,” junior Chris Wycoff speeding around in two separate cars. They
“That’s pretty much the because now I know there are laws. Speeding is a said. “I was taking a left and the road had were weaving in between lanes, showing off,
only efficient way to consequences to driving recklessly common offense. seemed clear when I checked. I made the trying to see who could go faster and avoid all
drive down Highway and I’m a better driver for it.” “I thought I was turn and accelerated the car while turning on the other cars better. I almost got hit because
101. After a while driv- late for a meeting in the radio. Then I crashed into and on top of a they weren’t paying attention to where they
ing becomes a joke, so Half Moon Bay,” Gary round-about and skidded up onto a boulder. were going and I ended up having to turn off
you have to do that kind Chris Wycoff said. “I was going It ripped out the bottom of the car.” the street.”
of stuff to stay awake. junior about 110 miles an hour Often times, such thoughtless behavior Reckless driving can have terrible
At the end of the day, and usually I’m really results in a wreck. Simply not paying atten- consequences and can cause fatal accidents.
as long as the car isn’t good at picking out the tion or following easy rules can put a student According to the U.S. Department of Trans-
wrecked, you have nothing to worry about.” places where police cars are hiding. I didn’t at risk. portation, 12.9 percent of people involved in
Speeding and drifting is common among see this one cop that was hiding underneath According to the U.S. Department of fatal accidents are teenagers.
students. Although speeding isn’t usually the ramp of the entrance to the freeway. I Transportation, young drivers between the “I’m kind of glad I crashed, because now
considered by most students to be a huge heard him turn his emergency sirens on and I ages of 15-20 account for 16 percent of all I know there are consequences to driving reck-
infraction, speeding increases the likelihood didn’t know whether he was coming after me police-reported crashes. Along with inatten- lessly and I’m a better driver for it,” Wycoff
of car accidents. or someone else. Anyways, I took the nearest tion to the rules of the road, the feeling of said. “I’m on a gold-star system.”
The Campanile Features May 5, 2008 • B5

Local Bay Area flea markets offer unique trinkets

Vendors sell used and unconventional items such as household appliances, homemade jewelry at bargain prices
The table above shows the various knick-knacks that are offered by the numerous vendors who sell at local flea markets. There are
many flea market locations near Palo Alto including Palo Alto High School, De Anza College and the BART station in Berkeley/Ashby.
By Annie Vought
Staff Writer
Two hours, 60 bucks and a keen
eye might provide a flea market enthu-
siast with a ceramic tea set, a dilapi-
dated but classic record collection, a
box of broaches and a little red wagon
to lug it all home in. But the same
amount of effort might result in only a
restocked supply of Hanes underpants,
Scotch tape and a near-expired bottle
of Pantene Pro-V shampoo. Such is the
hit-or-miss dynamic of a flea market.
Yet this is partly the appeal of flea
market shopping, a niche in which
many in the Bay Area find their place
and are reluctant to ever leave.
The Paly Flea Market
Palo Alto High School
The Paly Flea Market is wonder-
fully small but boasts an unusually
eclectic and large selection of goods
for a market of its size. The ratio of
great finds to worthless trash is rather
high, so one or two trips around the lot
will garner most carefully-searching
scavengers an armful of unique trea-
sures. The Paly Flea Market charges
neither admission nor parking fees and
is small and close to home, so casual
Palo Alto buyers can investigate the
market without making much of an
investment in either time or cash.
Mainstay vendors include an enthu-
siastic vintage clothing collector who
acquires fantastic items from estate
sales, a man who sells handcrafted,
one-of-a-kind birdhouses complete
with stained glass windows and a
woman who designs plant arrange-
ments by arranging cacti in cast-off
ceramic pots and toy dump truck
beds.
Most vendors are friendly locals
who want to simply pass on items
they no longer have a use for and,
in combination with a crew of loyal
customers, create a tight-knit and
welcoming atmosphere that makes
a morning at the market a pleasant
experience. The Paly Flea Market
has only a few stubborn vendors who
constantly sell viciously over-priced
junk but this figure is low in com-
parison to the amount at other local
flea markets. The Paly Flea Market
is held between 9 a.m. and 3 p.m. on
the second Saturday of each month.
The flea market features 100 vendors.
The De Anza Flea Market
De Anza College, Cupertino
Thousands of shoppers flock
to this monthly market, a sprawling
menagerie of retail salespeople, craft-
ers, antique-sellers and spontaneous
garage-sale-type vendors. Certain
vendors market classic records, funky
Hannah McGovern/The Campanile
jewelry and children’s toys for rea-
sonable prices, but the De Anza Flea
Market has far too heavy a concen-
tration of cheap white socks, razors,
screwdrivers and other random items
filling crate upon crate. Extraordinary
buys hide here, but are not obvious to
the untrained eye, so serious pursuers
of quality finds should come equipped
with plenty of patience.
The De Anza Flea Market is
considered mid-sized, but can still be
overwhelming. Parking is five dollars
on-site, but street parking is free and
within a short walking distance. There
is no admission fee. The De Anza Flea
Market is held in parking lots B and
C, between 8 a.m. ­and 4 p.m. on the
first Saturday each month. The flea
market features 700 venders.
The Alemany Flea Market
100 Alemany Blvd, San Francisco
Alemany has somewhat of an iden-
tity crisis as some attendees insist
that the market maintains a scat-
tered, funky and thrift store-like feel
while others report being sickened
by the same sleazy, surplus-under-
wear-selling atmosphere that many
markets now project.
Alemany is slightly less cen-
tered on near-expired retail cosmet-
ics and tends to lean more to the
antique typewriter tilt and most of
the market’s frequent visitors report
a steady flow of treasure.
There is still a decent amount of
what one shopper described as “sto-
len socks, bad pornography and ear
pickers” but this is, unfortunately,
to be expected at most flea markets.
Consumers generally consider a trip
to the Alemany to be worthwhile, if
only for the fun of looking.
Parking and admission are free,
but consider avoiding Alemany on
the first Sunday of every month when
most of the best vendors are across the
bridge at the Alameda Flea Market.
The Alemany Flea Market is held be-
tween 8 a.m. and 3 p.m., Wednesdays
and Sundays. The flea market features
200 dealers on Sundays, with fewer
on Wednesdays.
The Ashby Flea Market
Berkeley/Ashby BART Station
The Ashby Flea Market is a mas-
sively cliché snapshot of Berkeley ­­­but
all that separates Ashby from most of
the other East Bay markets hustling car
stereos of questionable origin is the
amount of tie-dyed clothing, Nubian
and Tibetan art and marijuana para-
phernalia mixed into the fray.
Some shoppers adore the over-
whelming gust of incense smoke and
beats from the notorious drum circle
that greet customers at the entrance,
but many find them irritating and hard
to avoid in this tiny lot.
Ashby has a couple of redeeming
vendors, such as a woman who is said
to have the best selection of beads in
the Bay Area and a genial, record-
selling man who scours Northern Cali-
fornia for audio gems even Amoeba
Music has trouble locating.
Yet other than a distinctly shal-
low portrayal of Berkeley culture, the
widely sought-after African food and
the not-so-inconspicuous wandering
flocks of drugged “hippies,” an ex-
cursion into the Ashby Flea Market
does not have too much going for it.
Time spent at Ashby would be better
considered as a conveniently-located
offshoot of an afternoon in Berkeley
rather than as central to a day’s enter-
tainment. The Ashby Flea Market is
held between 7 a.m. and 7 p.m., Sat-
urdays and Sundays. The flea market
features 250-300 vendors.
Alameda Point Antiques and Col-
lectibles Faire
Alameda Point
Most local flea market fanatics
cite the Alameda Faire as their favorite
market in the Bay Area. Held at the
former Naval Air Station inAlameda
next to the Port of Oakland, the fair
holds rows upon rows of quality ven-
dors that seem to stretch all the way
into the water.
All items are required to be at
least 20 years of age. Although that
rule does not appear to be strictly
enforced, the gaudy jewelry, water-
ing cans, cable car bells, mailboxes
and fur hats that join tables of glass
doorknobs, taxidermied animals and
vintage Fiestaware are enough to
distract most visitors from all traces
of Happy Meal-esque toys and surplus
deodorant.
Be sure to arrive early to ensure
enough time for wandering. Extremely
dedicated shoppers can get first dibs by
arriving as early as 6:00 a.m. but must
pay an entrance fee of $15, compared
with those walking in between 7:30
a.m. and 9:00 a.m. or 9:00 a.m. and
3:00 p.m. who pay only $10 and $5,
respectively.
This market has its drawbacks
— neglected porta-potties, stubborn
antiques dealers and no protection
against the sinking fog or hot sun.
However, it attracts some of the
best vendors in Northern California
and boasts an incredible view of the
Golden Gate Bridge.
A visit to the fair is worth a
Sunday morning and maybe even an
extra ten bucks to grab first dibs on
this expansive collection of antiques,
collectibles and bonafide flea market
junk.
Remember to bring comfort-
able shoes, bottled water and robust
bargaining skills. The Alameda Point
Antiques and Collectibles Faire is held
between 7 a.m. and 3 p.m. on the first
Sunday of each month. The flea market
features 800 vendors.

Palo Alto students tutor the basics for East Palo Alto organizations
By Chris Gonnerman
Senior Staff Writer
The discrepancy between the education one receives
in the Palo Alto Unified School District and both the public
and private schools in East Palo Alto or East Menlo Park is
clear when one compares scores reviewed on standardized
tests taken by the two sets of schools.
There are a handful of dedicated students at Palo Alto
High School who have chosen to tackle the problem. They
provide students in East Palo Alto and East Menlo Park
with academic support as tutors and mentors, support that
many students in Palo Alto take for granted.
Seniors Aidan Sundstrom, Susan Haynes, Hannah
Kaiser and junior Ella Richardson are some of the Paly
students that offer their time mentoring and encouraging
for the youth across Highway 101. Sundstrom has been
tutoring with the non-profit YES Reading program one or
two times a week during the school year since the begin-
ning of his junior year.
He says that he does this because he enjoys working
with the students.
“I choose to tutor because it seems like an easy and
positive way to help the failing education system in Cali-
fornia,” Sundstrom said.
The YES Reading building is located on the border of
East Menlo Park and East Palo Alto. Through the program,
Sundstrom tutors second and third graders that go to Belle
Haven Elementary School in East Menlo Park.
“The school is in need of reform,” Sundstrom said.
“Most of the kids are really behind in reading and writ-
ing.”
A key reason for this is that many of the children
that attend Belle Haven do not speak English at home
since many of their parents are recent immigrants from
Spanish-speaking countries.
Thus, YES Reading is enormously helpful for students
who need homework support and practice in speaking
English outside of the school day.
“When I’m working with a child, I can see the results
much quicker than I sometimes expect, which is very
encouraging,” Sundstrom said.
Senior Susan Haynes tutored at the I Have A Dream Foundation for two years. Other Paly students
have also tutored for various other foundations located throughout East Palo Alto and Menlo Park.
Despite all the positive work Sundstrom does in the
community, he feels discouraged about the education
situation in schools so close to Palo Alto.
“In East Palo Alto, you can really see the results of
the [No Child Left Behind Act] and how it has created
underfunding and other problems for schools,” Sundstrom
said.
Although Kaiser no longer tutors for YES Read-
ing, she says she found the process and the results quite
satisfying.
“I heard about the program through a link on the
Paly Web site and I thought it would be a fun way to do
community service,” Kaiser said. “Before each lesson, the
student and I would have a lesson plan that consisted of
Courtesy of Susan Haynes
vocabulary, a worksheet before reading the lesson book
and a reading assignment. We were able to finish all of
this in about 45 minutes.”
Like Sundstrom, Kaiser said a lot of the fun in tutor-
ing came from seeing the results of their hard work as the
months passed.
“It was obvious the program helped improve their
writing and reading, it was very rewarding to feel the
difference I was making,” Kaiser said.
Kaiser feels that she has sincerely helped each one
of her students.
“I think that writing and reading at a high level is
something that we take for granted, so it was great to be
able to pass that on,” Kaiser said.
Haynes tutors at the I Have A Dream Foundation in
East Palo Alto which is a program that follows students
from kindergarten through high school.
Haynes has tutored seventh graders at the foundation
since her sophomore year for one hour, one to two times
a week during the school year.
“I wanted to do community service somewhere where
I really enjoyed spending time,” Haynes said. “The kids
are all so bright and enjoyable.”
Haynes goes for “homework time,” which is es-
sentially a study hall, where she helps tutor math and
English.
“A lot of the time it’s not the actual work they need
help with but more getting started and staying focused,”
Haynes said.
Through the program, children are encouraged by
the realization that there are people who are there to as-
sist them and who are willing to do whatever they can to
help them succeed.
“I wish more could be done to help some of the
students’ siblings reap the same mentoring benefits, but
I love doing what I can to help and seeing the students
improve,” Haynes said.
Richardson has tutored at the same program once a
week since the fall of 2007.
“I was looking for community service hours and I saw
this program advertised one day in the quad and I went
for it and I’m happy I did,” Richardson said.
Like Haynes, Richardson tutors seventh graders in
English and math during the school day. Students that
need help will normally call her over.
“After every hour I’m with them, I’m happy with
what I’m doing,” Richardson said. “Doing something
good always feels good and I like motivating them to
work hard.”
Although Richardson is keen on tutoring once a week,
her experience has opened her eyes to the disparity between
Palo Alto and East Palo Alto schools.
“It seems unfair that Palo Alto public schools are much
better than East Palo Alto private schools,” Richardson
said. “At the same time I’m glad I am there to help.”

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B6 • May 5, 2008 Features The Campanile

Paly athletes seek advantage with enhancers

Students take muscle-building supplements to boost performance
By Gloria Yu
Staff Writer
Athletes may be some of a
school’s most idolized celebrities
because of their leadership, charisma
and physique.
But there may be a dirty secret
behind their well-toned bodies and
confident attitudes. Even among some
of Paly’s most successful athletes,
some athletes have sought an unfair
advantage.
Some sports, such as football and
wrestling, pressure players to have
certain body sizes or fall into specific
weight groups. Common ways to reach
these requirements include taking
supplements of different forms such
as pills, shakes and powders. Popular
supplements include creatine substi-
tutes for muscle building, ZMA for
testosterone and insulin growth and
HMB for protein.
Creatine is naturally occurring
and helps to supply energy to the
muscular and nervous systems. One
of the most popular supplements for
creatine is CEX that specifically aids
to muscle building.
“Carter,” a Palo Alto High School
junior who wishes to remain anony-
mous, is on the Varsity football team
and takes supplements in all three
forms.
“The pressure to take supple-
ments come from your surroundings
and high expectations for next year,”
Carter said. “Along with recruiting,
you want to give yourself the best
legal edge you can have.”
Another initiative to take these
supplements comes from the motive to
gain social status in the weight room.
According to Carter, he has continued
to take supplements because he has
seen his peers taking them too.
“I’ve been steadily increasing the
amount of supplements I take since
freshman year,” Carter said. “It was
originally just protein, but now it’s
become more.”
While Carter has not personally
experienced any side effects from
using creatine or other supplements,
some side effects include damage
to the kidneys in otherwise healthy
people and the risk of unbalancing a
body’s natural formation of creatine,
according to the University of Mary-
land Medical Center.
“There are high expectations
for next year with college recruiting
and fighting for a starting position,”
Carter said.
Carter originally began his use
of enhancements by increasing his
protein intake, but his diet has grown
over the years to include muscle en-
While many athletes lift weights to increase muscle and tone their bodies, a large number also take
supplements in order to maintain a specific body size or fall into a certain weight class for a sport.
hancers and testosterone management
supplements.
During the vigorous season,
Carter eats snacks between periods
throughout the day. During the off-
season, his diet is high in protein.
“I usually eat five meals a day and
snack constantly with peanut butter
and honey sandwiches,” Carter said.
Carter accompanies this diet with
frequent protein shakes to ensure the
exact amount of daily protein intake
and for recovery from an injury when
necessary.
According to junior football
player Ashraf El Gamal, this “outside
help” is misunderstood because they
are often categorized with steroids.
“The only things people take are
protein and natural amino acids,” El
Gamal said. “Either way, you can take
all the supplements you want, but you
won’t have results if you don’t work
out too.”
Pressure to take supplements
begins as early as freshman year for
some athletes. Senior Ryan Drebin,
who is a member of both the Varsity
wrestling and football teams, is a
special case.
Drebin began taking supplements
early in his high school career.
As he started to grow as a wrestler
and football player, it became in his
best interest to seek a professional
nutritionist. Currently, he works with
Carolyn Wester, who is part of an
organization that works with some
of the top high school wrestlers in
the country.
Wester prepared a special diet
for Drebin that caters to his personal
health needs.
“When I’m on a diet, I try to eat
five to six small meals a day to keep
my metabolism running constantly
and burning more calories than if I
were just eating three big meals,”
Drebin said. “Another benefit of
eating so many times is that you get
a lot less hungry, so the diet doesn’t
feel as harsh.”
Furthermore, Drebin drinks
protein shakes and eats protein bars
during the season mainly after work-
outs to keep his body from burning
muscle mass.
On tournament days, Drebin
drinks up to 160 grams of protein,
protecting him from exhaustion
throughout the day.
What sets Drebin apart from other
athletes is his immediate transition
from football in the fall to wrestling
in the winter.
During the football season,
Drebin maintains a weight of 190
pounds but the qualification is 180
pounds by the time wrestling season
starts.
The difficulty is that there is
usually only one week in between
the two seasons for Drebin to make
this transition.
Michela Fossati-Bellani/The Campanile
Even though Paly coaches do not
force wrestlers into a certain weight
class, Drebin prefers the 180-pound
weight class.
“Wrestlers take a body fat test to
see the minimum they can weigh,”
Drebin said. “They do this to keep
people from killing themselves trying
to make weight.”
Drebin’s body fat test revealed
that he could wrestle in the 171-pound
weight group this year so he decided
that it would be ideal to cut down his
weight to 180, which satisfies that
group. The journey to lose weight to
make the 171-pound weight class hap-
pens in a very systematic process.
“Wrestling practices are strenu-
ous enough that you lose weight pretty
quickly, so generally the most I would
have to cut the day before a weigh-in
would be 5-6 pounds,” Drebin said.
“It’s difficult to think about, but work-
ing hard at a wrestling practice can take
off that much weight in sweat without
forcing you to go hungry.”
According to Drebin, some dan-
gerous ways to cut weight include self-
starving and ingesting laxatives. For
one tournament, Drebin experienced
a dangerous incident with unhealthily
cutting weight. The Tuesday before
his Friday weigh-in, Drebin realized
he was unfortunately still 12 pounds
over weight.
Since still wanted to make the
weight class, so he decided to refrain
from eating or drinking fluids for two
days while simultaneously working
out in sweat gear.
“I was pretty miserable about all
of it,” Drebin said. “By the time I was
getting ready to weigh in, I started
to get disoriented and almost fainted
in line. After that incident, my mom
made me promise to start cutting
weight smarter, with a diet instead of
just starving and I was happy to go
along with that.”
For the majority of Drebin’s
sports career, he has made smart
decisions concerning dieting during
football and wrestling seasons. Drebin
is also carefully overlooked by his
coaches and Wester. Drebin said that
while Wester advises him on his diet,
his coaches concentrate him more on
workout strategies. While Drebin is
accustomed to the transition in be-
tween seasons, he knows that the only
way is with mental toughness.
“When you’ve made a really hard
cut, you don’t recover completely until
maybe the next day, even if the dif-
ference is really subtle its still there,”
Drebin said.
While many Paly athletes com-
pete for strong and healthy bodies,
Paly’s athletic trainer and sports medi-
cine teacher Stacy Kofman stresses
that the importance of healthy diets
is not specific to any one sport.
“It’s not to say that athletes
shouldn’t eat fast food,” Kofman said.
“It’s clearly unhealthy, but they should
limit the intake of such foods.”
Similarly, Clyde Wilson, a nutri-
tion expert at Stanford University,
constantly stresses the importance of
healthy nutrition in his lessons.
Wilson says that while some
athletes pay more attention to their
nutrition than others, the awareness
of one’s nutrition and overall health
can make a big difference while
competing.
“Since the difference between
first and second place in some races
is less than a second, athletes know
that training hard is not enough to
achieve their full genetic potential
and give them the edge they need,”
Wilson said. “That edge is needed not
only to perform well, but also to stay
healthy during the rigors of intensive
training.”
In comparing male to female ath-
letes’ diets, Wilson notes that females
typically have more difficulty loading
carbohydrates before a competition
than males do because females tend to
eat fewer calories per pound of body
weight than males do.
“If an athlete restricts calories,
they must be aware that they are put-
ting themselves at a health risk if their
body does not meet its needs,” Wilson
said. “The less we eat, the healthier the
foods we are eating should be.”
At the high school level, coaches
observe that the use of supplements
is more commonly seen among males
than females.
Regardless of the established
stereotype that males are naturally
competitive in physical strength,
Cisca Harris, a freshman on the Junior
Varsity football and wrestling teams,
neither takes supplements nor feels the
need to gain an “extra edge” against
her male competitors.
In fact, Harris is a vegetarian.
Her mom maintains a healthy meal
plan for her in order to establish a
diet healthy enough for her strenuous
athletic needs.
“In wrestling health is very im-
portant, especially for us girls,” Harris
said. “We just don’t have time to give
the guys another advantage. Of all the
girls that I know who wrestle, anybody
who really wants to get out there and
compete is worrying about their health
twenty four-seven.”
According to junior Nick Rob-
inson, who is on the boys’ Varsity
basketball team and does not take
any performance enhancers, people
who take supplements routinely avoid
talking about the subject.
“Even though it’s legal, guys
still don’t want their coaches to know
that they’re taking pills or powders
because they want to be seen as fair so
they don’t get criticized for cheating
on the field,” Robinson said.
Robinson observes the com-
petition that drives his peers who
use supplements to continue using
them.
“People usually take supplements
because they see their friends taking
them,” Robinson said. “Football play-
ers always want to be the biggest on
defense.”
Usage of supplements is not
officially restricted in high school
sports.
Although coaches might stress
more natural forms of muscle growth
or performance improvement, athletes
that take supplements will continue
to do so in their competitive sports
whether it is to assure that starting
position or that reputation in the
weight room.
“In a race of who has enough
money to buy the supplements needed
to give them that lead, there’s always
going to be this competitive edge,”
Robinson said. “As long as the rule
books allow it, people are going to
keep taking them.”

Bocca’s
Hair Specialists
—Elizabeth Barragan—

Elizabeth has pursued her A.S. in

multimedia from Long Beach, CA. As she
moved back to her home town, she started
working at Bocca’s Hair Specialists in Palo Alto
as a receptionist, while attending cosmetology
school.
Elizabeth has been at Bocca’s for four
years and is now working as a Junior Stylist.
She is continuing her education by attending
classes such as Redken, American Crew, and
Vidal Sasson Academy’s.
Please call the salon for an appointment
at 650-325-7783 located at 2426 Park blvd.
Palo Alto.
The Campanile Ads May 5, 2008 • B7

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B8 May 5, 2008
A&E
Chu On This:
Pastries
Alan Chu
A little gem of a question hit
me while I was walking back to my
house from school. What is a pastry?
I mean, it is baked in the oven and
all, but what conditions need to be
fulfilled before a baked good is a
pastry? I began to think about some
examples of pastries. There are cakes,
pies, cookies and muffins — all of
which are baked in the oven. So far, so
good. Then I thought of the American
pastry: the donut.
That threw me completely off
track. It does not even touch an oven;
it is deep fried and glazed over with
what I think is a thin film of heaven.
Yet it is considered a pastry. I found
myself in an interesting conundrum.
After a few days of pondering what a
pastry is, I decided to let sleeping dogs
lie. Soon after, everything just fell into
place. I began to grasp the definition of
a pastry. However, understanding this
is like acing the SATs: always sought
after but never accomplished. I at-
tempted to make a list of pastries along
with their justifications. The following
is my personal list of pastries.
Muffins are the stereotypical
pastry. And why shouldn’t they be?
They are like bread, but not. Plus
they are baked and sweet. They can
be eaten anywhere, from in a box to
with a fox, mostly because they are
neither green eggs nor ham. They
can have anything inside them, like
blueberry, strawberry, cranberry or
fill-in-the-blank-berry. Even choco-
late chips can be used. But maybe
that is pushing the limit too far. If
you are a fiber lover, I heard there are
even bran muffins. Personally, I have
never seen bran before so I am a bit
skeptical about them.
Donuts are evidence that a higher
power exists. How else can their
existence and taste be explained? It
simply cannot — believe me, I have
tried. But the reason for why donuts
are called pastries still eludes me. Yes,
they are sweet, but as far as I know
they are not baked. On a different
note, donuts have every conceivable
topping. There is chocolate, glazed,
maple, jelly-filled, crème-filled and
other deliciousness. Basically, a lot
can be done to a deep fried lump of
dough. Some toppings are worse than
others, but I have yet to taste ones that
are not tasty at all.
Then there are pies. Everyone
loves pies, mostly for the filling, be-
cause otherwise it would be nothing
more than a glorified piece of crusty
bread. Unlike the previous two, pies
are a tad more diverse. For instance, a
pie can be filled with meat. From clas-
sic apple to lamb, pies have a plethora
of flavors — the sky is the limit. I’m
actually scared of heights, so let me
know if there are any undiscovered
pie fillings up there.
Of course, what would pastries
be without the misnomers? The way-
out-of-left-fielders? Take the humble
cookie, which maybe isn’t so humble
seeing as how it rivals the other three’s
variety. Like muffins and pies, it is
baked and delicious. Cookies can
have chocolate chips, nuts or no nuts,
and all other possible combinations
in between. I will not go through a
long-winded list, but let me give you a
warning against fruit used in cookies.
Do not do it. Repeat: do not do it. I’ve
learned through my own experience
that it will end in tears and spilt milk.
No further explanation is needed.
The next type is where the line
between pastry and dessert blurs. I am
talking about cakes. They are associ-
ated with desserts, but they are also
baked in ovens. I am only considering
them because of my ongoing affair
with them. I mean just look at them.
They can be served with ice cream,
with frosting, with fruit, with choco-
late, with marshmallows. Whatever
cakes are classified as, they are the
perfect example of it.
Well, that is it for my little list of
wonders. Just remember that most of
these are pastries, not desserts. So you
can have a donut before dinner, but
please don’t tell anyone I said that.
The Campanile
Harold and Kumar sequel lacks originality
Escape from Guantanamo Bay elicits laughs, but fails to live up to expectations
By Tyler Blake
Editor in Chief
Harold and Kumar: Escape from
Guantanamo Bay has a tough act to
follow. 2004’s now-cult classic Har-
old and Kumar Go To White Castle
was one of the funniest movies of a
generation, practically redefining the
stoner comedy.
Escape from Guantanamo Bay
isn’t quite capable of living up to
the original, mainly due to an over-
reliance on re-hashed jokes from the
original, but fortunately for viewers, it
is still an enjoyable experience.
Escape from Guantanamo Bay
follows the same basic plotline as
the original movie. Buttoned-up ac-
countant Harold Lee (John Cho) and
his slacker roommate Kumar Patel
(Kal Penn) embark on a seemingly
mundane journey that inadvertently
forces them into a hilarious misad-
venture.
The first scene of Escape from
Guantanamo Bay takes place just
moments after the ending scene of the
original Harold and Kumar movie.
Kumar convinces Harold to take a
trip with him to Amsterdam so his
typically laid-back accountant friend
can pursue his true love, Maria (Paula
Garcés).
However, the trip goes awry when
Kumar’s “smokeless bong” is mis-
identified as a bomb on the airplane,
landing the pair in the infamous titular http://movies.yahoo.com
government prison. In Escape from Guantanamo Bay, Harold and Kumar continue their adventure not long after White Castle to find Harold’s love. Although
The rest of the movie progresses their journey generates laughs and parodies a few current political topics, the sequel repeats numerous jokes from the previous film.
in much of the same way that White
Castle does. Harold and Kumar jour- tanamo Bay even steals some of the Neil Patrick Harris reprises his prisoner abuse to drug legalization Escape from Guantanamo Bay
ney to various places, meeting unusual same lines from the original. role as himself (which won him a and prostitution. is not a movie for the prudish. But if
individuals and landing themselves in However, there are some new cult-like following in the original The most incredible part of Guan- one can deal with the non-stop drug
several awkward situations. twists to the story, mainly with the Harold and Kumar). However, Rob tanamo Bay’s satire is that it manages references and nudity, it is definitely
Unfortunately, the originality addition of Kumar’s lost love, Vanessa Corddry, of The Daily Show fame, to make a point about these hot-button a movie worth seeing.
that made Harold and Kumar Go (Danneel Harris), who is now engaged almost steals the show as the overly- issues without coming off as overly Harold and Kumar: Escape from
To White Castle so entertaining and to Kumar’s college rival, Colton (Eric intense FBI agent Ron Fox. Fox is partisan or unfunny. Guantanamo Bay may not be able
funny is missing throughout Escape Winter). basically a man who harbors an almost The film, however, is not for the to live up to the lofty expectations
from Guantanamo Bay. Kumar coincidentally runs into maniacal obsession with catching the overly-squeamish or easily offended. placed upon it by the first Harold and
In several scenes of the sequel, it Colton and Vanessa in the airport on fugitives Harold and Kumar. Cord- There are almost non-stop drug ref- Kumar movie, but watching the film
seems that Escape from Guantanamo his way to Amsterdam, opening up dry’s absurd performance parodies erences (which should be expected is still a worthwhile way to spend an
Bay is paying homage to the original an opportunity for the viewer to see the current Bush administration’s by those who have seen the original afternoon.
film, rather than continuing or di- a different side of Kumar’s character, almost single-minded concentration Harold and Kumar) and nudity. These
versifying the story line of Harold which generates some strong laughs on stopping terrorism. potentially offensive scenes include a Guantanamo
and Kumar’s adventure. Most of the from the audience along the way. Surprisingly, the stoner comedy “bottomless party” hosted by Kumar’s
jokes are thinly-veiled remakes of The opportunity to look into has some legitimate political satire drug dealing Miami contact and ones Cast: John Cho, Kal Penn
jokes in the first movie White Castle. Kumar’s pre-stoner past also suc- beneath multiple layers of cheap sex that take place in a brothel. Even with Runtime: 102 min.
For example, hang gliding is recast ceeds in providing some laughs. His and drugs jokes. The film touches on the potentially offensive nature of the Directors: Jon Hurwitz,
as parachuting, while the basic idea “discovery” of pot makes for one of a number of political topics, which scenes, they manage to add to the Hayden Schlossberg
remains the same. Escape from Guan- the best scenes in the movie. range from Guantanamo Bay and overall comic effect. Rating: R
Rising Down brings original, classy rhythms to hip-hop
distinguishes The Roots from rappers with short in serious rhymes about statutory rape on this
shelf-lives. The ability to make songs without seemingly bubble-gum track, adding a deeper
crutches, like choruses and guest appearances meaning.
that so many other artists rely on, makes The The only really disappointing tracks on
Roots the group it is. the album are the skits littered throughout the
In its most po- array of quality songs.
litical and solemn The ability to make songs without “The Pow Wow” and
album to date, songs “The Pow Wow 2” are
like “Singing Man” crutches, like choruses and guest ap- recorded telephone calls
and the title track pearances that so many other artists between members of
“Rising Down” de- rely on, makes The Roots the group The Roots and their
scribe the threats of it is. management from 1994,
global warming and during struggles the
the physical state of group went through as
the world and the destructive mental state of a young band. While it does give the listener
many Americans. Black Thought gives his best insight into the beginnings and hardships the
verse of the album in “Rising Down,” an outcry group has experienced, it also takes away from
against global warming and environmental con- the real songs. Though the track listing on the
cerns, saying “Between the greenhouse gases and back of the CD gives 16 songs, there are only
the earth spinnin’ off its axis/got mother nature 13 tracks with actual music on them.
doin’ back flips/with natural disasters it’s like “Criminal,” featuring Truck North and
80 degrees in Alaska.” The song is constructed Saigon, is another of the many strong tracks
around a simple, strong drum beat by ?uestlove, in Rising Down. Saigon, best known for his
Black Thoughts’ verse and a strong guest verse repeated appearances on the HBO television
from veteran emcee Mos Def. show “Entourage,” gives a strong verse over
Rising Down is made significantly better a soft rock guitar track that sounds more like
by the quality of rappers featured. While Black Radiohead than a classic hip-hop beat, but fits
http://www.last.fm Thought is a great rapper, it is always good to well with his and Black Thoughts’ rhymes. The
Rising Down incorporates thoughtful tracks that address political concerns. Various have a variety of sounds and voices, and the softer beat mixed with more classic hip-hop
instruments and guest performances help The Roots creates high quality hip-hop. artists who were invited to rap in Rising Down style rhymes about crime and street life makes
are strictly of high caliber. Strong verses from for an interesting combination, but is typical of
By Zach Harris live-instrument-based brand of hip-hop into the Talib Kweli, Mos Def, Styles P, Common and The Roots’ off-kilter style.
Staff Writer mainstream, giving light to different styles of Wale give Rising Down the sound of a high- Despite the fact that Black Thoughts’rhymes
The Roots grow deep. The veteran hip-hop music that exist under a single genre. quality finished product. Wale, a Washington are often outshined by guest verses and ?uest-
collective The Roots finds success once again In Rising Down, The Roots mixes electronic D.C.-based rapper and the self-proclaimed “rap love’s beats, Rising Down is one of the most
with the release of their eighth studio album, sounds with acoustic instruments and horns. ambassador to the Capital,” is featured on “Ris- original albums of the year.
Rising Down. With heavy, jazz-influenced beats Black Thoughts’ versatile rhymes match well ing Up,” which spotlights Go-Go, a genre of The positives vastly outweigh the negatives
and complex rhymes, The Roots has not strayed with whatever sounds are infused behind him, music popular in the nation’s capital that mixes of the album, and with a very listenable quality
far from its more than 15-year-old formula. proving that he is indeed one of the best rappers a lot of live percussion instruments with horns that has appeal throughout most genres of music,
However, with the addition of rock elements and in the hip-hop world today. and strings. “Rising Up” and the Go-Go-style The Roots continues to be a viable option when
an impressive guest list, The Roots continues to Black Thought continues to demonstrate live instrumentals behind it mesh well with Black looking for real, substantive hip-hop.
be one of the most entertaining and substantial his skill and talent in Rising Down with a Thoughts’ rhyme scheme. The addition of Wale’s
rap groups today. steady mix of self-conscious songs and tracks loose, easy-going rhymes makes the track one
A Philadelphia-based group, The Roots’ on which he just purely raps. During the song of the best ones in Rising Down. Rising Down
members have made music together since the “75 Bars (Black’s Reconstruction),” Black In the iTunes-exclusive track “Birthday Artist: The Roots
early 1990’s. Founding members, drummer Thought rhymes for 75 bars straight, with no Girl,” Patrick Stump of the pop-rock group Fall Label: Def Jam Records
?uestlove (pronounced “Questlove”) and emcee chorus or hook in the middle, just a drum-heavy Out Boy sings the chorus about a girl celebrat- Running Time: 102 minutes
Black Thought, have brought their original, beat and his vocals. It is this type of song that ing her 17th birthday while Black Thought adds
The Campanile
Summer music festivals to rock the Bay Area
Upcoming concerts incorporate rock, alternative, hip hop bands with other entertainment
By Catherine Benson
Staff Writer
Throughout the year, the Bay
Area serves as a major hub of artis-
tic talent and unforgettable shows.
However, this summer music and arts
festivals will raise the bar, featuring
everything from underground rap to
alternative rock and will impress audi-
ences with outstanding performances.
So many concerts, so little time.
Monterey Music Summit
Monterey Music Summit will
close out the school year with standout
performances from artists ranging
from Coheed and Cambria to Slightly
Stoopid. The festival will take place
over the course of three days and
although Paly is still in session on
Friday, May 30, students can still at-
tend on the Saturday and Sunday.
One day passes can be purchased
instead of the three day passes for
either Saturday, May 31 or Sunday,
Jun. 1.
Saturday’s festival lineup will
feature artists including Snoop Dogg,
Slightly Stoopid and Ozomatli, while
Taking Back Sunday and Coheed and
Cambria headline Sunday’s lineup.
The festival strives to be a hun-
dred percent carbon neutral and has
tried to minimize its overall carbon
footprint by focusing on waste di-
version, vendor product usage and
supporting local and sustainable
industries.
Tickets are already on sale on
and general admission and three-day
event passes are $169 each and include
parking. A $5 processing fee per ticket
is also added to the price, along with
shipping charges.
One-day passes are available in
limited quantities and differ in prices.
Friday’s pass costs $49, Saturday’s
pass costs $69 and Sunday’s pass costs
$69 per person.
Camping sites are available at
the Laguna Seca Recreation Area and
can be sold in 3-night packages until
May 25. After May 26, individual
camping will be for sale for varying
prices, based on the remaining avail-
ability of sites. May 30, 31 and Jun.
1, 2008. Salinas, CA. Laguna Seca
Recreation Area.
Live 105 BFD
Big Freaking Day, also known
as BFD, opens the summer with an
annual day-long music festival hosted
by local alternative rock radio station
KITS Live 105.3.
The performances are divided
into three separate stages where bands
will play simultaneously throughout
hours of the day. This year’s lineup in-
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Artists Ben Harper (left), Hieroglyphics (top right) and the Kooks (bottom right) will perform at the Outside Lands Music Festival, Paid
Dues International Hip Hop Festival and BFD, respectively. The summer music festivals will range from one to three days in length.
cludes top performers such as Cypress
Hill, Pennywise, Flogging Molly,
Alkaline Trio and The Kooks.
The doors will open at 11:30 a.m.
and music will begin on the Bud Light
Festival Stage at noon. The final act
will be performed in the Subsonic Tent
ending around 11:00 p.m.
Tickets are on sale now and are
priced at an affordable $10.53 for gen-
eral admission plus service charges.
Saturday, Jun. 7, 2008. Shoreline
Amphitheatre, Mountain View, CA.
Paid Dues International Hip Hop
Festival
Returning to the Bay Area for
its third year, the Paid Dues Hip Hop
Festival will solve any student need for
conscious underground hip-hop.
This one-day, one-stage festival
will feature artists such as De La
Soul, Blackalicious, Little Brother,
Sage Francis, Hieroglyphics and
Supernatural and Scratch. The festi-
Emotions & Life
Sexual Health
Eric Wu, D.M.D.
Diplomate, American Board
of Orthodontics
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Palo Alto, CA 94306
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Check out our archives at
A&E
val is hosted by Murs, a West Coast
underground MC and member of both
Living Legends and 3 Melancholy
Gypsies. Tickets will be on sale soon
and tickets for previous venues have
sold at around $30. Saturday, Jun. 14,
2008. Berkeley, CA. Berkeley Com-
munity Theatre.
Vans Warped Tour
Students will have a choice when
it comes to the annual Vans Warped
Tour since it plays at both Pier 30/32
in San Francisco and the Shoreline
Amphitheatre in Mountain View
within the span of the summer.
Although the acts differ slightly
between the two venues, most per-
formers play throughout the tour. The
lineup includes Against Me!, Angels
and Airwaves, As I Lay Dying, Gym
Class Heroes, Say Anything, The
Academy Is... and Reel Big Fish. The
Warped Tour features mostly alterna-
tive rock, however, some ska and other
10% off with student ID!
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styles of music show up in the lineup
as well. Tickets for the Pier 30/32
venue are on sale now and all priced
at $33 plus service charges, while the
Shoreline Amphitheatre tickets cost
$27 plus service charges. Saturday,
Jun. 21, 2008. San Francisco, CA.
Pier 30/32. Friday, Aug. 15, 2008.
Mountain View, CA. Shoreline Am-
phitheatre.
Rock the Bells International Fes-
tival
The top grossing hip hop event
in the country last year, Rock the
Bells International Festival, will re-
turn to the Bay Area for its fifth year
running.
With the slogan “Represent,
Respect and Recognize,” the festi-
val will suit will appeal to mainly
conscious and independent hip hop
enthusiasts.
The lineup will include artists
such as A Tribe Called Quest, Nas,
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Mos Def, Method Man & Redman,
Raekwon & Ghostface, Immortal
Technique and Kidz in the Hall with
a special guest, The Pharscyde. The
San Francisco event will be hosted
by local MC Supernatural & Scratch,
who also will perform at the Paid Dues
International Hip Hop Festival.
All tickets are general admission
and will go on sale Saturday, May 17.
Saturday, Aug. 16, 2008. San Fran-
cisco, CA. Venue to be announced.
Outside Lands Music and Arts
Festival
Outside Lands sets itself apart
from the other festivals this summer,
both for its worthwhile cause (making
San Francisco and the Golden Gate
Park environmentally-friendly) and
for its outrageous price of $225 (for
a three-day pass). Another setback
for the festival is that Outside Lands
does not offer any type of camping
area or accommodations.
May 5, 2008 • B9
Music lovers either venture into
the city, often desperately seeking
an affordable hotel, which can be
problematic with a student’s budget,
or return to Palo Alto for the night.
Although returning home would not
be too much of a hassle, camping in
Golden Gate Park could potentially
be a perfect way to accompany the
festival.
The festival lineup would ap-
peal most to lovers of alternative
folk and acoustic rock and includes
performances from Radiohead, Tom
Petty and the Heartbreakers, Jack
Johnson, Beck, Ben Harper and the
Innocent Criminals, Regina Spektor,
Devendra Banhart, Cold War Kids
and Matt Nathanson.
On Friday, Aug.22, the gates open
at 3:00 p.m. and the performances
should begin at 5:00 p.m. On Satur-
day Aug. 23 and Sunday Aug. 24 the
gates open at 11:00 a.m., with music
expected to start around 1:00 p.m.
Outside Lands catches looks with
its headliners of Radiohead and Jack
Johnson, but the entire lineup is filled
with lesser-known, yet very talented
artists. Although the price is outland-
ish and the lack of accommodations
is irritating, Outside Lands could
be worth the price for its extensive
three-day lineup of acoustic gems.
Aug. 22-24, 2008. San Francisco, CA.
Golden Gate Park.
Treasure Island Music Festival
The beginning of the new school
year can be stressful, but the Treasure
Island Music Festival will be the
ideal way to relax come September.
The Saturday of the two-day festival,
Sep. 15 will feature artists such as
Thievery Corporation, Gotan Proj-
ect, DJ Shadow and Cut Chemist
and M.I.A. Performances by Modest
Mouse, Spoon, Built to Spill and
Clap Your Hands Say Yeah will all
be on Sunday, Sept. 16. The festival
will also feature art installations and
performance artists, ranging from stilt
walkers and hula hoopers to sculpture
installations.
The Treasure Island Music Festi-
val is also doing its part to be green by
reducing the waste and offsetting the
emissions used at the festival.
These methods include vol-
unteering with the nonprofit Clean
Vibes organization to reduce waste
reclamation and work with clean up
efforts after to gain a free admission
to the festival.
Regular admission tickets can
either be purchased as a single-day
ticket for $58.50 or a two-day ticket
for $110. Sep. 20 and 21, 2008. San
Francisco, CA. Treasure Island.
B10 • May 5, 2008 Ads The Campanile

The Campanile
Thanks the following sponsors:

Liz Hoffman and Morrie Druzin

Sally Geisse and Josep Vericat
Greene Family
Ju-Wen Hsu
The Hahn Family
The Blake Family
Yeou Yong Maa
The Clayton Family
Rosalind Ross
Jessica Madey
Minno
Lisa Miao
Sunaina Ruh
Stern Family
Shuna Chu
Holly Ward
Renate Steiner
Dina Flanagan
Mehron Reihani
Auster Chen
The Brandin Family
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Eunice Lo
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The Campanile A&E May 5, 2008 • B11

Sarah Marshall tops charts with comical plot

Kristen Bell, Jason Segel star in first-time director Nicholas Stoller’s new comedic hit
By Erik Krasner-Karpen
Graphics Editor
Forgetting Sarah Marshall, the
latest film from comedy king Judd
Apatow (Superbad), follows what
has become the standard formula for
an Apatow production.
He hires new talent, bringing
together first-time director Nicho-
las Stoller, first-time writer Jason
Segel and a cast largely fresh from
television. He guides that new talent
into carrying out his own raunchy,
natural and often improvised style
of comedy.
Apatow brings in an actor or two
from his stock of regulars, which in
this case are Superbad’s Jonah Hill
and The 40-year-old Virgin’s Paul
Rudd, who both play minor roles.
The result feels familiar at best,
unoriginal at worst, but it’s worth a
solid laugh. The script riffs off a fairly
standard romantic comedy plot. Segel
stars as Peter Bretter, a composer
who composes music for the hit TV
show “Crime Scene.” While his job’s
secure, Bretter dreams of making “a
Dracula musical with puppets.”
At the beginning of the film,
he dates “Crime Scene” star Sarah
Marshall (Kristen Bell), but is dumped
for obnoxious British rocker Aldous
Snow (Russell Brand).
In order to forget Sarah Mar-
shall, he treats himself to a vacation
at a Hawaiian resort, only to find
Sarah and Aldous there too. Luckily
Peter soon finds himself falling for
the resort’s cute receptionist, Rachel
(Mila Kunis).
The story’s main departure from why Peter fell for her in the first place.
and its main strength is in Peter’s But the plot treats her like an antago-
abjectly unhealthy reaction to the nist, a temptation for Peter to avoid,
situation. which feels unfair if not bizarre. It’s
Segel plays him pathetically and almost as if Segel wrote two scripts,
mercilessly as he makes a series of one where Sarah is a harpy and one
terrible choices: booze for breakfast, where she’s Peter’s soulmate and he
awful one-night stands and constant, spliced together pieces of both.
histrionic, hilarious weeping. Kunis does a soldierly duty as the
Segel’s performance holds the obligatory love interest. In fact, there’s
film together as he makes Peter a nothing to fault in her performance.
simpering, self-pitying wreck, but one Unfortunately, the script never gives
the audience can relate to, making his her a personality to work with.
scenes funny but believable. Bill Hader of “Saturday Night
Brand’s Live” and
m u g g i n g , Segel’s performance holds the film Superbad
brooding plays Pe-
performance together: he makes Peter a simpering, ter’s more
makes him a self-pitying wreck, but one the audi- straight-
delightfully ence can relate to, making his scenes laced step-
hateable an- funny but believable. brother Bri-
tagonist. As an. Their
a preening, love-hate,
vapid New co-depen-
Age singer, Aldous is a perfect foil dent relationship makes for some of
for the nebbishy Peter. the liveliest scenes in the film. Brian
The audience instantly relates tries to console Peter, but he can’t www.imdb.com
to — and feels — Peter’s jealousy. help joking at Peter’s expense and his Jonah Hill (left) and Jason Segel (right) star in this season’s unforgettable romantic comedy hit
Peter spends much of his screen time deadpan barbs make Segel’s whining
staring forlornly at Sarah and Aldous all the funnier.
Forgetting Sarah Marshall, a hilarious comedy about getting dumped and taking it like a man.
and the audience wonders along with Forgetting Sarah Marshall lugs painfully one-dimensional role of see Forgetting Sarah Marshall comes
Peter what she sees in him. around a huge, rarely funny support- a honeymooner having trouble in from one of the opening scenes: Sarah Forgetting Sarah
On the other hand, Kristen Bell’s ing cast, mostly of predictable locals. the sack. comes home to Peter, who has com- Marshall
character might not be hateable Paul Rudd plays an absent-minded Stoller treats them without pletely disrobed himself to surprise
enough.The script handles her schizo- surfer, Davon McDonald plays an interest, as if they were part of the her and dumps him. Cast: Kristen Bell,
phrenically as she’s too sympathetic obsessive-compulsive bartender and scenery and not independent sources The camera cuts to a full-body Jason Segel
to be a villain but not sympathetic Hill plays a waiter with a man-crush of humor. They feel forgettable, shot of a bawling, naked Jason Segel Director: Nicholas
enough to be a legitimate interest on Aldous. interchangeable, inconsequential to with his genitals hanging out for all to Stoller
for Peter. Genius character-actor Jack the story. see. That shot defines the film: it’s not Running Time: 112 min.
Sarah Marshall is smart and MacBrayer (“30 Rock”) finds his The image to bear in mind very original or very subtle, but to a Rating: R
articulate and it’s clear to the viewer talents particularly misspent on the when deciding whether or not to certain sensibility, it’s hilarious.

Developed character plot, improved Modernized Village Cheese

visuals enhance Grand Theft Auto IV House attracts Paly students
By Henry Becker By Josh Lo House also offers hot sandwiches ($6.99).
Features Editor Staff Writer The sandwich bread is toasted and served
Send a call out to all English students: Reopened on Apr. 19, the Village Cheese warm. The meat selection for hot sandwiches
Crime and Punishment is now a video House’s new, modern atmosphere draws is expanded to include tofu-balls. “The Italian
game. customers in with its variety of sandwiches. Tofu,” made with tofu-balls, marinara and
The reality is dark and dirty in Rockstar’s After shedding its archaic feel, the renovated mozzarella cheese, is a popular choice.
new first-person RPG Grand Theft Auto IV, and modernized Cheese House suits Paly Although the sandwiches are delicious,
as the game changes tone significantly to one students and really just about any other kind service is often slow, causing long lines that
with a heightened reality and real repercussions of customer. reach the door. To cope with this problem, the
to what main character Nico Bellic does. Of Although it looks completely different Village Cheese House should perhaps have one
course, many of the staples are the same. Car than the original Village Cheese House, the employee take the orders quickly while others
theft, mass murder, robbery and many other unique store still offers the same classic make the sandwiches, a system successfully
things too civilized to write about. sandwiches. carried out by other sandwich chains.
Merely the essence of crime is changed. Passed down with the legendary “special Sandwiches are not the only items offered
Sitting through the GTA series, it’s easy to sauce,” made with special relish and special at the Village Cheese House. Lunch and din-
remember how boring crime gets and how mayo in precise ratios, the sandwiches have ner salads also available and are healthy and
there’s no thrill in killing that many people the same renowned taste of perfection. surprisingly filling. The Pasta Pesto Deli Salad
or robbing that many stores. The Old Fashioned Sandwich ($5.99) is and the San Francisco Deli Salad are absolutely
But with GTA IV there is a moral side, the a popular order that is made with fresh meat, delicious and perfect for a quick lunch.
developed plot behind the character to give a swiss cheese, pickles and special sauce. The new restaurant also offers other dif-
previously never seen depth that exhilarates This classic sandwich is quick to make, ferent salad choices such as Picnic Potato,
the game with replay value. yet very scrumptious with its fresh aroma and Potato and Egg, Orzo Feta, Elbow Macaroni
The story is basic. Bellic arrives in Liberty delicious partisan bread and leaves customers and the Mediterranean pasta.
City in America to flee the Bosnian War only wanting more. Not to be missed is the unique, imported
to find his cousin Ramon has painted perhaps www.sciam.com The meat selection is quite large, con- European candy. The Village Cheese House
too bright a picture of America. Simply put, Improved and awe-inspiring visuals make up Rockstar’s most recent release, Grand sisting of roast beef, turkey, smoked turkey, still offers imported candy but has a smaller
Bellic has to survive on his own from the baked ham, black forest ham, smoked ham, selection than the previous Cheese House.
ground up however he can. This includes rob-
Theft Auto IV. The new game retains its staples of mass murder and robbery. pastrami, corned beef, salami, cotto salami, Regardless, the candy is still very popular
bery, assassination, turf wars and missions of the game. Players still rampage, of course, quirks. Bellic can go skydiving, drive cars, German sausage, beef bologna, liverwurst, and allows the popular student lunch spot to
length and awesomeness on a level above the and experience that unusual brand of humor planes and boats and escape the law just as mortadella and prosciutto. retain a bit of its old feel.
game’s predecessor, San Andreas. GTA is famous for, but it has a little bit more before, but it’s a bit harder now, a tad more Besides pickles, which are standard in the Its look may have changed, but fortunately
The visuals of the game are improved and depth now. The city itself is endlessly variable, challenging. sandwiches, there is a respectable vegetable the Village Cheese House maintains the quality
frankly awe-inspir- complete with clubs, A word to the wise: make sure no one’s selection as well, which features lettuce, to- of its classic sandwiches and delights.
ing. Much thanks The city itself is endlessly variable, diners, local hang- looking before stealing that nineteen seven- mato and onion.
goes to the fact that complete with clubs, diners, local outs, mob centers, ties Cadillac. But even if there’s a problem, For diners looking for an especially hearty
Rockstar’s visual police and the strang- Bellic can drive fast. And of course, there are meal, extra meat can be added for $1.00. Al- Village Cheese
artist team created hangouts, mob centers, police and the est places imaginable. no speed limits in the world of GTA. though the Old Fashioned Sandwich is a popu- House
a very inviting view strangest places imaginable. And there’s only more lar order by students, many customers choose
of a sordid city, to discover. to build their own sandwiches ($5.99).
which drives much The beauty in
GTA IV The meat and vegetable selection is ex-
Location: 855 El Camino Real,
Palo Alto
of the gameplay: the environment. GTA is that there is really no finish and Bellic Price: $59.99 actly the same as was offered in the Old Fash- Hours: Mon.-Sat. 10am-6pm
Simply because there is more real gravity can go on forever from one to four main islands Rated: M (Mature) ioned Sandwich but instead, customers have Sat 11am.-5pm
to Bellic than there was to past characters like each complete with its own city, nightlife and Platform: Xbox 360, PS3 more freedom to select unique combinations Prices: $5.99-$6.99
CJ does not mean there is no ironic humor in their subplots to complement the intricate of meat and vegetables. The Village Cheese

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B12 • May 5, 2008
Prolific Oven boasts more than cake
Known for its famous desserts, Prolific Oven makes tasty lunches as well
By Anna Waldron
Staff Writer
The Prolific Oven has been voted the
best bakery in town in a survey conducted
by the Palo Alto Weekly for over 10 con-
secutive years. Although the bakery and
coffeehouse is known for its scrumptious
cakes, cookies and pastries, its lunch menu
is executed with the same superior qual-
ity that has made The Prolific Oven such
a success.
Situated in between the Palo Alto Sport
Shop and Toy World and Congdon and
Chrome Inc. Stationers, The Prolific Oven
is a small cafe, but feels airy and roomy
inside. Like a true coffeehouse, there are
plenty of tables for two with small, red
leather chairs that can be pushed together
to suit any size party.
When the weather is pleasant, custom-
ers can also grab a table outside. The cafe’s
predominately maroon-colored walls and
old paintings give it a vintage feel.
One wall boasts The Prolific Oven’s
awards of achievement, which are next to
an old historic map of Palo Alto. Despite
the restaurant’s large front windows, the
lighting is dim and sets an inviting and
comfortable atmosphere.
Just like buying a coffee and a pastry,
ordering lunch is done at the counter. Since
the lunch menu hangs on the wall behind
the delectable cake and pastry casing, it’s
almost impossible not to select a sweet
treat for dessert.
The Prolific Oven offers 11 cold
sandwich options, four paninis and seven
salads, which are all fairly priced and made
to order with fresh ingredients. Various
coffee drinks and whipped frozen fruit or
chocolate drinks are also on the menu.
Service is fast and friendly, but with
the low-key environment and display of
beautiful cakes to admire, customers will
not mind waiting a little bit longer than
usual if the kitchen gets crowded during
the lunch hour.
Every sandwich is accompanied with
a fresh slice of yellow cake layered with
chocolate icing and donned with but-
tercream dollops. The cake is perfectly
delicious because it is light and airy but
very moist.
The cakes and sandwiches are a won-
derfully unique combination because most
cafes do not offer free dessert with a meal
or even make cake that is as well-balanced
in flavor as those of The Prolific Oven.
The turkey club ($7.95) is the big-
gest sandwich on the menu. Stacked with
three layers of fluffy, homemade white
bread layered with juicy bacon, smoked
turkey, avocado, lettuce and tomato, this
sandwich is guaranteed to satisfy any
voracious eater.
The club is even better with toasted
bread, which can be obtained upon request
for an extra $0.50.
Although the sandwich may look
daunting at first, it is not as heavy as other
clubs because it is not overstuffed and can
actually fit in one’s mouth. Every layer is
well balanced and there is a perfectly pleas-
ing slather of mayonnaise on the bread.
The tacino panini ($7.75) is also well
balanced with smoked turkey slices, melted
Muenster cheese and mixed greens smashed
in between two crusty pieces of flour-dusted
Ciabatta bread. On the bread is a nice layer
of flavorful sun-dried tomato pesto.
The Prolific Oven uses a thicker type
of pesto, which is less oily and has a tex-
ture similar to that of a spread. The pesto
is rustic with chunky pieces of sun-dried
tomatoes and various fresh herbs, like
oregano with an underlying hint of garlic.
The spread is the highlight and unifying
factor of the sandwich, giving it a unique
and very Italian flavor.
Most of the sandwiches on the menu
are well-balanced such as the turkey club
and the tacino panini in their ingredients.
However, the chicken pesto panini ($7.95)
is disappointing in appearance.
Like a classic panini, the sandwich
is flat and boasts light grill marks on the
sourdough bread, but there is barely enough
inside to qualify it as a sandwich. On the
menu, the sandwich is said to be composed
of chicken, basil, tomatoes and Mozzarella
cheese with sun-dried tomato pesto.
However, the basil is included in
the pesto and there are only two slices of
tomatoes.
Despite the lack of vegetable and color,
there is a sufficient amount of chicken and
delicious oozy Mozzarella cheese, giving
the panini a surprisingly flavorful punch.
If more tomatoes and lettuce were
added to the panini, it would resemble the
Italian flag and be a simple and delicious
sandwich.
Although a thin slice of cake, which
is freshly made daily by the bakery, ac-
companies every single lunch item, it is
very difficult to resist the temptation of
the large, freshly baked cookies at only
$1.55 each.
The snickerdoodle is crunchy and dry
along its perimeter, which is somewhat
disappointing, but the center is chewy
and soft. Plenty of cinnamon is sprinkled
Earth Week came to Palo Alto High School on Apr.
21-25, helping to raise environmental awareness
within our community. Shoelaces made from recycled
soda bottles (right) and I Care bags (left) were among
the green items handed out to interested students.
GreenCitizens, a local nonprofit organization that aims
to educate on reducing environmental waste, attended
the event and music was heard on the quad.
A&E
The Prolific Oven sells many lunch meals such as sandwiches and salads,
like the turkey club ($7.95), which comes with a small, tasty slice of cake.
on top to give the cookie spice and a nice,
sugary sparkle.
The oatmeal raisin cookie has the best
flavor and texture. It is very flat and thin,
which may cause some to think that it is
brittle or tough.
However, the cookie is just the op-
posite and is as chewy and lovely as an
oatmeal raisin cookie should be. The raisins
give the cookie a natural sweetness and
bring out the flavors of the molasses and
brown sugar.
The Prolific Oven’s success can be
attributed to its strong belief in simplicity
and using the freshest and highest quality
of ingredients.
Earth Week
Julia Benton
Elizabeth Petit/The Campanile
Elizabeth Petit/The Campanile
At a reasonable price, customers can
enjoy their light and flavorful lunch in a
quiet and laid-back environment. Every
lunch ends on a good note because who
doesn’t like to finish their meal with a gra-
tuitous and award-winning slice of cake?
Prolific Oven
Address: 550 Waverly Street
Hours: Mon.: 7 a.m.-7 p.m.
Thurs.: 7 a.m.-10 p.m.
Fri.- Sat.: 7 a.m.-11 p.m.
Sun: 8 a.m.-7 p.m.
Price Range: $1.25-7.95
1
The Campanile
in
1700
This edition featuring
Beth Nitzan
with The Campanile’s
Danielle Kim and Becca Allen
The Campanile: Hey Beth!
Beth Nitzan: Hi.
TC: So where are you going to college this fall?
BN: I’m going to Pomona.
TC: What’s your favorite type of drink?
BN: I like water.
TC: We’ve heard that you’re quite the baker.
What’s your favorite thing to bake?
BN: Chocolate soufflés. I like baking. The other day
was my friend’s birthday and I baked her a cake.
TC: You’re a sweetheart. So we’ve heard you’re an
out-of-control rebel and you recently got a tattoo.
BN: This is true.
TC: What is it of?
BN: It’s a treble clef.
TC: Did it hurt a lot?
BN: Not too much.
TC: We heard [best friend] Melinda [Lee] was
frightened.
BN: Melinda was more scared than I was. I was
supposed to be squeezing her hand, but she was
squeezing mine really hard!
TC: So Beth, why’d you get your TV taken away?
BN: My TV was taken away when I was two years old
because I watched too much TV.
[Makes a sad face.]
TC: What were your favorite shows?
BN: Probably like Barney, Lamb Chop...
TC: Lamb Chop was creepy.
Peter Lee: It wasn’t called Lamb Chop.
BN: Yeah it was, what was it called then?
PL: I know it wasn’t called Lamb Chop. The character
was Lamb Chop but the show wasn’t called that.
TC: That was absolutely the show.
BN: No, Peter, you’re wrong, it was Lamb Chop.
TC: The show’s official name is Lamb Chop’s Play
Along.
PL: See! Who were the other characters? It was Charlie
Horse...
TC: ...and Hush Puppy. Anyways, how’s crew going,
Beth? Has your team made it to nationals?
BN: Not yet, our championships are in Sacramento
next weekend. If we place at championships we go to
nationals in Cincinnati.
TC: For crew, don’t you have to get up really early?
BN: Yeah I get up at 4:15 [a.m.]
TC: So when do you go to sleep?
BN: When I’m done with my homework. I don’t get
that much sleep.
TC: Beth, how would you characterize your
relationship with The Campanile?
BN: Awkward.
TC: Elaborate.
BN: Well, I have no reason to be here, but I’m in P10
all the time.
TC: We like having you here.
BN: I like being here.
TC: In your opinion, what TV character does Ryan
[Pfleiderer] look like?
BN: The mom from the Brady Bunch! Carol Brady!
TC: We completely agree with you, he looks
completely womanly.
BN: He’s a total woman, wouldn’t you agree?
TC: How is [Paly choral group] The Heartbeats?
BN: Heartbeats is pretty fun, I’m pretty sad that this is
my last year as part of it.
TC: When did you join The Heartbeats?
BN: I joined sophomore year, because they were all
seniors and they wanted to train an underclassman who
would keep it going.
TC: Oh you were their little elf! Favorite kind of
fruit?
BN: I like mango.
PL: I like mango too!
BN: I also really like grapefruit.
PL: I hate grapefruit.
BN: Peter has bad taste in foods. All foods.
PL: I have to make orange juice from concentrate
because Beth doesn’t buy real orange juice. I have to
scoop it out from the freezer!
TC: Okay, Peter. Beth, are you okay with balding,
aged men?
BN: Is Peter really balding?! [Studies PL’s head.]
TC: Are you excited school is almost over?
BN: I’m excited. I’m going to Mexico this summer
with choir. And then I’m going to Florida.
TC: So when are you going to see Peter?
BN: In between.
PL [simultaneously]: She’s not!
TC: [Laughs.] Last words?
BN: You guys are weird.