FRIDAY, APRIL 3, 2009VOL. 36 NO. 9 | MT. CARMEL HIGH SCHOOL, SAN DIEGO, CA 92129SUN

MT. CARMELwww.mcsun.org

MILITARY RECRUITERS

Inside the SUN: Section A: News..........2 Sun Spread..........4 Opinions..........6 Section B: Sports..........1 Entertainment..........4 Features...........6

INSIDE

OPINIONS: SHOULD THE MILITARY BE ABLE TO RECRUIT ON CAMPUS? READ THE ADVANTAGES AND DISADVANTAGES. PAGE A7

ENTERTAINMENT: SPRING BREAK IS A GREAT TIME TO TRAVEL. FIND OUT ABOUT LOCAL HOT SPOTS AND OTHER VACATION DESTINATIONS. PAGE B4

FEATURES: READ ABOUT MRS. KELLEY, THE MC CERTIFIED EMPLOYEE OF THE YEAR AND MR. HIZAL, THE PUSD TEACHER OF THE YEAR. PAGE B7

Hizal awarded district teacher of the year

MELISSA ROADMANEDITOR-IN-CHIEF

AP Government teacher Kris Hizal was named one of PUSD’s three teachers of the year last Wednesday.

Representatives from the district including Superintendent Don Phillips, Board President Andy Patapow, Board Vice President Todd Gutschow, Director of Communications Sharon Raffer and last year’s teachers of the year, congratulated Hizal with fl owers during his third period class on March 25.

Students in his third period shared their insight with the district representatives as to why Hizal deserved the award.

“It’s because he puts more than 100% effort into his students,” senior Pooja Preshar said.

“This is the [AP test] I feel most prepared for because he puts so much extra work into it,” senior La Bon Fonssagrives said.

The students also feel Hizal has a unique relationship with each of his students.

“He really establishes a bond with each student and doesn’t give up on you,” senior Chiara Maruggi said. “If you’re not doing well in his class, he’ll put in the extra time to help you do well.”

“He actually respects the students as people instead of people who are lower than him,” senior Lisa Standke said.

The time and energy Hizal puts into his teaching are well appreciated by his students.

“He cares more about the students than his job,” senior Carl Gallardo said.

These efforts and relationships he has with the students create an outstanding pass-rate

for AP exams, a statistic that stood out to the committee who selected the district teachers of the year.

“I believe these results are due to the connections I have made with kids,” Hizal said in the PUSD press release announcing the teachers of the year. “I have faith in them, and they continually reinforce that faith.”

Another quality that stood out to the decision committee was Hizal’s use of technology in the classroom.

Hizal records his lectures online for students to listen to if they are absent. Before unit exams, review sessions are available for students to listen to on their own time.

“When I’m taking the test, I can hear Hizal’s voice from the [online] lecture and it helps me out,” senior Andrea Sun said. “I listen to the review sessions a few days before

the test and take notes to refresh my memory on everything we have learned.”

Hizal also developed the fi rst online history class in 1999, according to Raffer.

“[In 1999], he went to look to see and he couldn’t fi nd anyone who had one so he had to develop it himself,” she said.

According to Raffer, each teacher of the year from PUSD was reviewed by a committee of past winners and school administrators.

“They choose three teachers of the year because of the number of teachers,” she said.

After being selected as district teacher of the year, Hizal and the two other teachers, Arlene Gapusan from Black Mountain Middle School and Amanda Nobles from Adobe Bluffs Elementary School, will be competing for the county teacher of the year, which will be announced in October.

Teachers, admin work on plans for next year’s schedulePARESH DAVEWEB EDITOR

With a trimester framework set, the administration has put the remaining de-tails of the schedule, including tutorials, professional time, and most importantly for students, late starts, up to the vote of the staff.

The last item of discussion is some-thing that students have missed this year, but if all goes well, will have a chance to enjoy again.

“We know students would like to start late once a week,” Principal Tom McCoy said. “We hear it loud and clear, and I don’t think I have ever had a stu-dent come up and complain about having late starts.”

However, the scheduling commit-tee’s fi rst task was to fi nd which form of after school tutorial students found most effective: two days of 20-25 minutes or a single 50-55 minute period every Wednesday.

“We envision tutorial being a time of school shutdown, kind of like a vacu-um, encouraging students to attend since there won’t be any sports or meetings,” McCoy said.

Students were polled in third period classes on March 23, but when the com-mittee began to review the few results it received they were not sure if the data re-fl ected a straw poll of students or a vote of the teachers.

Of the approximately 40 responses they did receive, the majority favored having two short tutorials weekly.

Ultimately, the committee decided to have every staff member vote, by the Tuesday following break, on which they prefer. They will also be asked about having professional time Friday morn-ings and minimum days for fi nals. The staff may also have a say about when to position snack and lunch in a fi ve period schedule.

“It’s hard to make a schedule with-out knowing what everyone wants, so we are trying to poll as much as we can,” math teacher and committee member Joe McEachron said. “All extras like tutori-als, minimum days for testing and profes-sional time are all paid for by classroom time. Some teachers don’t want extra stuff, and we have to fi nd out if they are going to be a majority.”

With 180 school days, every minute in the daily schedule actually amounts to three hours during the course of the year. This creates vast fl uctuation around the state mandated minimum of 1,080 hours, making scheduling tough.

As far as late starts, McCoy said, if teachers approve the plan, they could oc-cur basically two Fridays a month in the neighborhood of 8:15 and 8:30 a.m.

Another extra, minimum days for fi nals, will probably remain. One fi nal, on an assembly schedule, would happen the fi rst day. It would be followed by two days of two fi nals, each on an early-re-lease schedule.

One thing that won’t change with the move to trimesters is semester breaks. McCoy’s draft schedule has no-student days penciled in for November 16 and March 8, following the ends of trimesters.

The committee plans to meet weekly with a May 1 goal in mind to fi nalize a schedule.

“It all comes down to ‘What do you want to spend your minutes on?’” McCoy said. At MC, that’s a question that could be answered a little more completely by April 14.

>>LOOK AT PAGE A8 FOR STAFF WRIT-ERS’ OPINIONS ON THE SCHEDULE.

MC alumnus Adam Lambert competes on American Idol; makes top 8RACHEL MARTINOPINIONS EDITOR

MC alumnus Adam Lambert has recently become famous on the popular reality show “American Idol.”

After his success with this week’s rendition of “Play that Funky Music, White Boy” and the judges’ signifi cant praise, Lambert is in the spotlight more than ever. But the most special part is that his career began right here in our theater.

“Adam was very passionate about musical theatre and mu-sic in general,” former MC turned Poway music teacher Nancy Gray said. “He was exceptionally talented for a high school stu-dent. The kind of student that may only come around once in a teacher’s career.”

While attending MC, Lambert participated in many shows.“I met Adam his freshman year when he helped backstage

for our spring musical, ‘The King and I,’” Gray said. “Adam was in Concert Choir his sophomore year and in our auditioned chamber choir Classical Vocal Ensemble his junior and senior years.”

Westview teacher Doug Smith also worked with Lambert during his high school years at MC.

“Adam was in four of our productions at The Mount,” Smith said. “He was in our CETA award-winning production of ‘The Crucible,’ he played Bottom in ‘A Midsummer Night’s Dream’ and had the lead in the musicals his junior and senior year. He was Archibald from ‘The Secret Garden’ and Fred-eric in ‘The Pirates of Penzance.’ We took an entry from ‘The Secret Garden’ that featured Adam’s performance to the Ful-

lerton College Theatre Festival the fi rst year that Mt. Carmel competed, and it won 2nd place.”

Lambert enjoyed high school, Gray said, and he was just like most other students—enjoyed certain things more than others. Theater and choir were the things he loved.

“He was friendly and outgoing,” Gray said. “I loved listen-ing to him sing. He knew how to sell any song and take com-mand of the stage.”

Smith agreed with Gray, mentioning that Lambert was a pleasure to work with.

“He is a consummate entertainer and really knows how to connect with an audience,” Smith said.

Despite Lambert’s obvious success in his high school productions, it was hard to imagine him truly becoming fa-mous.

“I knew Adam would be successful since he was so pas-sionate about singing and extremely talented,” Gray said.

“I’m now an avid fan of American Idol. I think Adam’s performances have been amazing, and his stage presence can-not be matched. His creativity and unbelievable vocals will take him far in this competition. I don’t think there is anyone who can sing as well as he can or works as hard. I believe his ex-perience in singing all styles of music will be a huge ben-efi t in the competition. I’m looking forward to him singing a ballad so America can really hear his amazing voice.”

English teacher Bob Pacilio, who taught Lambert his freshman year, believes that his former student has changed a lot in these 14 or so years. However, not everything about Lambert has changed.

“Even then I knew that theater was his thing,” Pacilio said. “I’m a sur-prised about all the American Idol pop singer stuff because I always saw him as a theater person, which I still think he sees himself.”

listen to the review sessions a few days before

MC alumnus Adam Lambert competes on American Idol; makes top 8lerton College Theatre Festival the fi rst year that Mt. Carmel

Lambert enjoyed high school, Gray said, and he was just like most other students—enjoyed certain things more than

“He was friendly and outgoing,” Gray said. “I loved listen-ing to him sing. He knew how to sell any song and take com-

Smith agreed with Gray, mentioning that Lambert

“He is a consummate entertainer and really knows

Despite Lambert’s obvious success in his high school productions, it was hard to imagine him truly becoming fa-

“I knew Adam would be successful since he was so pas-sionate about singing and extremely talented,” Gray said.

“I’m now an avid fan of American Idol. I think Adam’s performances have been amazing, and his stage presence can-not be matched. His creativity and unbelievable vocals will take him far in this competition. I don’t think there is anyone who can sing as well as he can or works as hard. I believe his ex-perience in singing all styles of music will be a huge ben-efi t in the competition. I’m looking forward to him singing a ballad so America can really hear his amazing voice.”

English teacher Bob Pacilio, who taught Lambert his freshman year, believes that his former student has changed a lot in these 14 or so years. However, not everything

“Even then I knew that theater was his thing,” Pacilio said. “I’m a sur-prised about all the American Idol pop singer stuff because I always saw him as a theater person, which I still think he sees himself.”

Sports..........1 Entertainment..........4 Features...........6

MATT COFFELT | PHOTO EDITORAP Government teacher Kris Hizal poses with his third period class after Superintendent Don Phillips and other district offi cials announced he had been awarded one of the three PUSD teachers of the year on March 25. Hizal will now be entered into the county teacher of the year contest, which will be held in October in San Diego.

himself.”

PHOTO COURTESY OF AMERICANIDOL.COM

VINCENT PHAM STAFF WRITER

Opportunity is knocking on the door for the performers in the fi rst annual MC’s Got Talent, a contest featuring the best singers, musicians, and dancers that make up our cam-pus. There will be 13 different acts separated into two segments with a 15 minute intermission in between.

One of the acts in the fi rst seg-ment includes sophomore Rachael Anduze. She has had a great love for music since starting at age four. She will be singing a rendition of Alicia Key’s “No One.”

Another act will be a break danc-ing group called Karizma Kids. It is comprised of juniors Elmer Urbano and Lance Florida, along with their friends, as they will be expressing mu-sic through movement.

Sophomore Alex Perez’s pop punk band, The Colors, will be per-forming their hit song “Chop Me Jess.”

Also, junior Leo Ilog will be adding unique fl avor to the fi rst seg-ment by beat boxing and senior Hol-lie Stutzman will be doing a one-act play.

Senior John Zakharia will be playing various songs on the piano.

The second segment includes se-niors Brandon Yi and Nica Bartolay.

They will be singing and playing gui-tar to a medley of fi ve songs which include a cover of Ingrid Michael-son’s “The Way I Am.” The duo, as some may remember, also performed at Senior Breakfast earlier this school year.

Senior Raven Hunter will be doing improvisational tap dancing, which means she will be making up the routine on the spot.

“I’ve always had a love for mu-

sic and dancing,” Hunter said. “I am used to performing in the spotlight and fi nd comfort on stage.”

Senior Jojo Zapata and his dance team, I’ll Tell You Later, will be pumping up the crowd by dancing to hip-hop music.

“We’re just a group of guys who love to have fun,” Zapata said. “We’re going to be doing a booty shake in the performance as well. We just love the adrenaline rush of performing.”

Junior Scott Hanson and his experimental rock band, Martyr’s of Cain, will be performing their hit song “Catch 22” on stage.

Other performers in the second segment will be sophomore guitarist Carlos Rivera and junior pianist Linda Wang.

Singer and songwriter Lyndon Pugeda will be making a special guest appearance during the show.

He was labeled as an up-and-coming artist on the show “The Underground” and has an intriguing blend of pop, rock, and soul music.

The event is set for tonight at 7 p.m. in the Performing Arts Center. For those who have not bought tick-ets yet, they are $10 at the door.

The audience will be playing a vital role in the show as they will be one of the judges for the contest. All audience members will be able to cast a ballot for their favorite act and the winner will be announced after the show. The other three judges in the contest are Dr. McCoy, Ms. Cashion, and Mr. Currie. Each judge makes up a quarter of the overall score.

The prize for the fi rst place fi n-isher is $300.

The second place fi nisher will get $150, and the third place fi nisher receives $50.

The performers will come ready, will you?

April 3, 2009 NewsA2 Mt. Carmel SUN

Students prepare to take stage at fi rst annual talent show; audience will decide competition

ANA ALVAREZ | PHOTOGRAPHERRaven Hunter (12) practices for MC’s Got Talent. Hunter will be doing im-provisational tap dancing. There will be a total of 13 different acts, includ-ing dancing, singing, and acting. MC’s fi rst annual talent show will take place tonight at 7 p.m. in the Performing Arts Center.

ASB promotes, prepares forblacklight Spring dance SARA SHANTZ STAFF WRITER

Break out your white and neon outfi ts! The Blacklight Dance is right around the corner. The annual MC Blacklight Dance is on April 18 from 8 p.m. to 11 p.m. ASB has been working hard to promote the dance.

“The assembly was pretty much bomb,” sophomore Vice-President Nicole Balagtas said. “Along with a few posters around school, we used this year’s Black-light Assembly to advertise the dance. We went along with our space theme by using tons and tons of paint and cardboard to create stars, a huge spaceship as a centerpiece, as well as glow sticks galore.”

Along with posters and the assembly, ASB has been do-ing other things to promote the dance.

“The dance contest was a success,” Balagtas said. “We gave out fi ve coupons to get free tickets for the Blacklight Dance, which saved the winners a good $12 on their ticket. The music video for this year’s Blacklight Dance was also really great.”

The DJ at the dance contest will also be the DJ at the dance, so you can expect to hear the same great dance music. ASB planning to have decorations that coincide with the space theme.

“We’re hoping to have more decorations that ‘pop’ in the blacklight,” sophomore Diana Ching said. We’ll still be having the class competition for whoever designs the vest wall in the gym.”

ASB believes that this is go-ing to be a dance to remember.

“The dance looks like it’s going to be a good one,” Balag-tas said. “ASB looks to improve after every dance, and I think it’s safe to say that dances this year have been really great, so you can expect a fun spring dance this year.”

Like any other dance, there are rules that will be enforced. Students will be subjected to breathalyzer checks and secu-rity patdowns upon entering the dance.

“Disciplinary action is really up to the chaperone because it’s one thing to break a rule and it’s another thing to severely break a rule,” Balagtas said. “If it’s illegal, you’ll be kicked out of the dance for good, and it’ll go on your school record and the school will decide what to do from there. If it’s some kind of misdemeanor like grinding, it’ll probably be up to the chaperone.”

Balagtas urges students to buy their tickets sooner rather than later, before prices go up again.

“We’re just a group of guys who love to have fun. We just love the adrenaline rush of performing.”

- Jojo Zapata (12)

UPCOMING SUNDEVIL EVENTS

SPRING BREAK APRIL 6-10

MORP: SPACE JAM BLACKLIGHT DANCE APRIL 18 AT 8-11 P.M.

AIRBANDS: THIS IS HOW WE DO IT

APRIL 25 AT 7 P.M. PERFORMING ARTS CENTER

STAR TESTING APRIL 21-24

APRIL 28- MAY 1

April 3, 2009News A3Mt. Carmel SUN

LAURA SLUSSERSTAFF WRITER

Dodgeball fl yers have littered the school for half a month now, and everyone’s waiting in suspense to see which clubs will be competing.

“The senior class wanted to raise funds and plan a fun activity at the same time so we thought a dodgeball event would be good,” senior Sarah George said.

According to George, so far it’s been a huge success.

“Because of the n-+umber of teams, we’re thinking maybe we’re going to have to do it on the courts outside, but it’s kind of hard for dodgeball so hopefully we can just stretch it out [in the gym],” she said.

She hopes to hold the actual tournament the week after spring break, on either April 15 or 16.

Each team, which can have from six to eight members, enters at a fee of $12.

“It was originally focused on [fundraising for the senior class] but because we know we’re not going to make that much… we don’t want the whole admissions thing to be a reason not to come,” George said.

The fee will be collected at the fi rst informational meeting, which will be announced on the MC broadcast.

“We want to still make it a fundraiser…,” senior Melinda Ching said. “It’ll be really cheap, but still, senior class is broke, so we do need money.”

She went on to say that this is partly what will be funding the harbor cruise. George is still looking at the admissions, but says the teams that have been accepted will be announced either today or sometime after spring break.

“It’s not really limited to a certain club,” Ching said. “Just any random students can join.”

“People should defi nitely come and cheer on their friends,” George said. “It’s going to be super fun.”

MACKENZIE LANCE SPORTS EDITOR

“You think you can hang with the coolest nerd on campus? Join Science Olympiad!”

Junior Andy Brock uttered these words on the Sundevil news broadcast, as he announced the advancement of Science Olympiad to the State Competition at Cal State Long Beach.

This crack team of scholastic superstars has worked since the beginning of the year towards April 18. On that day, the team will head north and compete in the State competition.

However, not all of the original members will be participating at state.

“Fifteen of us are left to compete at State,” junior Andy Brock said. “Our normal team for regional competitions is around 60 or 70 people.”

Most of the elite 15 who are moving on to State have been participating in the program since middle school or early in high school.

The team practices in smaller groups, divided up by the events that each team participates in.

“Every practice varies, depending on the event,” Brock said. “Some events are just studying from a book for a while, but other events, like the building ones require fi ve

hours of calibration.”These hours of practice are expected to pay off in

the future.“Personally, my partner Jamie [Ferguson] and I are

hoping to do extremely well in our event, called Electric Vehicle,” Brock said. “We basically build a car from scratch at the competition.”

Although the individuals are optimistic, some fear for their overall team position.

“There is a magnet school in LA called Troy,” junior Max Baer said. “They train all year and there is a good chance they could kick our butts.”

Even though they may not anticipate the fi nal awards ceremony, the team is looking forward to competing in each event.

Brock, Ferguson and others on the team use weekly practices to work on their events.

“Like our practices, the events vary,” Brock said. “Academic events are simple scantron tests, but for building events, the offi cials give you a specifi c time limit and materials, and you have to work with machinery.”

The team has high hopes for state, despite the stiff competition.

“We’ve worked hard towards the goal of State and there is no reason we shouldn’t do extraordinarily well,” Brock said.

Science Olympiad prepares for state tournament

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Senior class hosts dodgeball tourney; hopes to have successful fundraiser

ATTENTION SENIORSIF YOU WILL BE 18 ON OR BEFORE MAY 19, 2009 BE SURE TO VOTE IN THE SPECIAL STATEWIDE

ELECTION ABOUT BUDGET PROPOSITIONS.

HERE’S HOW TO REGISTER:WHEN: BY MAY 4, 2009WHERE: YOU CAN PICK UP A FORM AT THE DMV, US POST OFFICE, PUBLIC LIBRARY, CITY CLERK’S OFFICE, AND THE REGISTRAR OF VOTERS OFFICE OR ONLINE AT SDVOTE.COM

*MUST BE A U.S. CITIZEN

PHOTO COURTESY OF ANDY BROCK Jamie Ferguson (11) and Andy Brock (11) built a car to practice for their event, Electric Vehicle. Science Olympiad practices weekly in anticipation for the state competition at Cal State Long Beach.

April 3, 2009

Sun SpreadMt. Carmel SUN A5 A4 Mt. Carmel SUN

SUN staffers investigate how different people are treated by society

Nicole Bustamante

SUN staffers investigate how different people are treated by societySUN staffers investigate how different people are treated by society

An awkward glance, the tighter clutching of a purse, a quickened pace. All are the body language of a nervous shopper, avoiding a homeless girl. I would know, since I have never actually been homeless and encountered many homeless people in my past. I recognize their movements. I see myself, I recall myself doing the exact same things. Needless to say, when the favor was returned when I pretended to be homeless, I did not appreciate it.

Prior to my experience I made the following prediction:Honestly, I barely believe people will actually look at me funny. I

mean, how homeless can I look in ripped Abercrombie jeans and a San Francisco sweatshirt with dirt blatantly spread across the front. Even if people end up staring, chances are they will act sneaky about it trying to not bruise my ego too much. One thing I am sure of, if I look dirty enough, no store owner will allow me to take more than fi ve steps past the entryway.

Now for the actual experiment. After searching Google images for a bit, I added a bag of empty water bottles and a ratty backpack to my outfi t. Feeling a little more confi dent about my homeless look, I set out in the Carmel Mtn. Plaza, fi rst starting in Barnes and Nobles to see if I got kicked out. To my utter surprise, a man (who in my opinion looked incredibly snooty) just curtly nodded and let me continue on my way.

Pushing my luck a bit, I sat in one of the plush couches bringing my feet up and pretended to take a nap. This also got me little attention and no one asked me to leave although I looked absolutely disgusting and a few employees passed me while I pretended to sleep.

Feeling more confi dent, I headed out onto the street. This is where I learned that employees of stores may act professional but people on the street have no shame. Not only did people give me the furtive sideways look. A couple of rude groups blatantly stared at

me, though when I met their eyes they looked away and quickened their pace as if looking at me was taboo.

Honestly, through the entire walk throughout the plaza I learned how bad people are with dealing with different situations. Some stare, some glance at me multiple times as if I can’t see them, and some just take one glance and look everywhere but at me because for some reason they don’t think I am a real person that can process things like how other people react to my appearance.

As mad as I got when people looked at me funny, I realized I was acting prejudiced as well. I saw certain people, such as the employee at Barnes and Nobles and immediately assumed they were going to judge me incorrectly whereas when I saw an elderly lady, I didn’t think

she would care as much, or that she would know how to react better to the situation. On both accounts I judged them incorrectly.

Overall I came to the realization that as a community, we need to work together to accept differences and similarities in people. Obviously someone might not know the proper way to react to a homeless man or woman, but the best we can do is try to understand that they are just like us in the way they think and react.

If we try our best to treat everyone as we want to be treated, as cliché as it sounds, that was the bottom line that day.

When I was acting homeless, wanted respect and understanding from everyone around me, but the only way

I could have gotten it is if we all learned to deal with the differences in society and accept.

Aditi Pai

When people encounter something they fi nd strange and different they have one of two reactions.

Some people blatantly stare. They make no attempt to avert their eyes or consider how their gawking might make you feel. They stare you down, making you feel like you have some kind of strange physical deformity. It’s unnerving.

But then there is the other type of people who are just as bad. They refuse to make eye contact or acknowledge your existence. They pretend to be distracted by some far off object in the sky, but their real motive is clear: they have a problem with who you are.

The other day Cathy and I posed as a lesbian couple, walking around Carmel Mountain Ranch and Penasquitos holding hands and occasionally cuddling.

What we witnessed was something different than anything we had ever felt before.

Being a generally friendly person, I am used to smiling at people and receiving smiles in return. This time I felt that everyone’s perspective on me was completely different.

We started out in Barnes and Noble, and right away, we noticed a woman who was going out of her way to avoid looking us in the eye. It was unnerving.

As we walked around, I said ‘Hi’ to a janitor in my usual friendly manner. He ignored me.

In Taco Bell, we seemed to stop all the work going on in the restaurant for a minute, as everybody stared at us. Nobody was rude to us, but it was almost like we were a walking freak show.

But the most interesting part of the whole experience was when we went to In-N-Out. Most eyes seemed to be trained on us as we walked in. Thankfully, the

woman at the register was super friendly to us, it was the fi rst time during this whole experiment that I felt like a normal person.

But the worst was yet to come. All the older people on the other side of the restaurant were unabashedly staring at us, almost gawking. Then we noticed two middle school aged boys looking at us, laughing and whispering. They were making a bet on us, it was truly degrading.

Then as we left, they drove by and from the back seat of the car yelled at us.

I guess being different than what people are used to warrants harassment in their eyes, but I can’t say that I agree.

As we walked away, a young boy gawked at us from a car, his dad kept trying to cover his eyes to stop him from staring.

It was strange. I couldn’t help but feel that I was doing something wrong. Another man driving by in a truck grimaced at us in disgust.

As we passed by, an old lady in a parked car literally turned all the way around to stare at us.

After that we walked around the PQ skate park. Somebody whistled at us as we walked past, and some boy looked like he might fall off of his skateboard.

This whole experience caught me by surprise. I thought that living in California, one of the most progressive places in the nation, we would get much less of a reaction.

One big misconception is that avoiding someone’s eyes will make them feel better. Personally, I am not gay, but I feel as though the best way anyone could treat them would be just the same as someone else.

Kylie Baranowski & Cathy McDermott

When people encounter something they fi nd strange and different woman at the register was super friendly to us, it was the fi rst time during If there is one word that could have described me it would have

been sketchy. I walked in with a basic tote purse, about double the size of my daily Marc by Marc Jacobs purse.

I lingered by the accessories table, running my fi ngers along the divine necklaces and trying on the variety of rings and bracelets available for purchase.

What seemed like an eternal 15 minutes passed and store personnel fi nally approached me; “do you need some assistance?” she asked.

“No thank you,” I replied, ever so sweetly. “Let me know if you want me to fi nd something for you,” she

replied, her eyes fi lled with suspicion. Her gaze sifted from my baggy sweatshirt to my extra large tote, eyebrows furrowed, perhaps wondering why I was lurking so nonchalantly but the accessories table.

It was only a matter of minutes before the lady also looking at the accessories was giving me an awkward look as the bracelet I was trying on stayed on my wrist for a prolonged period of time.

I began to edge away from the table, straying to look at the other items available in the store. Scarves? Nope. Sunglasses? Nah. Wallets? No thanks. All too inconvenient to place into my purse or pocket.

My fellow shopper lingered by me, gazing over every few seconds, curious about my each and every move.

“That’s a pretty bracelet isn’t it?” She asked, gazing at the display item still keeping my Coach watch company on my right wrist.

“Yeah,” I said, briskly walking away from the nosy lady.

“Kaveri!” Someone was excitedly calling

my name. “How are you? I haven’t seen you in so long, can I help you fi nd anything? Let me hold that bracelet for you up front, I will wrap it up and charge it to your mom’s card.”

Agh. It was Sandra, the department manager for Brass Plum in Nordstrom.

My excursion to be a “shoplifter” was defeated by being previously too familiar with the store staff.

Although Sandra recognized me and looked beyond my sketchy behavior, the other store employee obviously suspected me of suspicious behavior. The lady who was previously looking at accessories beside me had also been under the impression that

my actions were eventually going to lead to me walking out of the store with out paying for my merchandise.

Teens are generally stereotyped as the ones who are looking for the fi ve-fi nger discount when they are shopping, especially when a large group of them come in, acting rowdy or even subdued, actions suspicious.

Normally, high profi le stores will have undercover personnel who are dressed and act like a normal civilian, shopping and strolling around, but they are always on the lookout for those with motives besides selecting a new shirt to wear.

Although some may label it as a “adrenaline rush,” the consequences of shoplifting can completely jeopardize one’s future.

We’ve all seen them, the young women who, still in their teens, struggle while a crying, nagging baby is yelling in their ear.

And while most tend to immediately judge her, a few will take the time to help or wonder if the baby even belongs to her.

According to an article published in the Washington Post, teen pregnancies had been on the decline up until 2006, when the number rose by three percent from the previous year.

Teenage pregnancy has even been glamorized and widespread in movies such as “Juno.” In fact, last year 17 girls at Gloucester High School, all of whom were under 16 years of age, made a pact to get pregnant.

Recently I posed as a “young mother” with my little sister, Cloe. I did this in order to see what sorts of reactions I would get.

In the past I have been asked to baby sit my little sister.

While I often do that in my own home, babysitting in public has often ended in embarrassment.

During these few minutes here and there, I have endured awkward stares and uncomfortable interrogations from random strangers.

While I expected similar reactions to my prior experiences, when I took Cloe, my little sister, to the mall’s children’s play area, my expectations were not fulfi lled.

Though breaking a sweat while playing with her earned me a few questioning looks, and an inside look into what being a real parent is like, most parents seemed to be too mesmerized with their own children’s happenings to notice me.

With no luck, I decided to

move on to a more family oriented place: the grocery store. At the grocery store I surprisingly encountered nothing out of

ordinary. I tried my best to looked over-whelmed and almost out of control.

I was wearing a plain tee, a messy hair bun, a diaper bag, and a baby connected to my side.

While I struggled to do something as simple as grabbing a box of rice, no one seemed to even notice or care.

Maybe everyone was too focused on what they were doing, or possibly I am too young to pass as a teenage mother. Or it could have been the neighborhood, since in all my years of living in 4S Ranch never have I seen a mother younger than 20.

For example, as I meandered down the baby aisle, looking at different diapers and food I came upon a mother with her two children.

As we approached her, I began to tell Cloe to wave at the little boys and be friendly; the mother simply looked at me and smiled. I then asked her how old her children were. She replied and asked the same question in return.

However, she never said or asked anything to imply I was the mother of the baby.

Perhaps I expected people in our society to unfairly judge teen mothers, when in reality; it might not be as much of a social stigma as I thought.

Whatever the case, if it was the neighborhood, me or even the people, I was proven wrong and because of this experience I have realized that I can’t always assume the worst of people because things are not always as they seem.

Kaveri Gyanendra

ALLISON ROGERS | PHOTOGRAPHER

MARY CARMEN GONZALEZ | PHOTOGRAPHER

ANA ALVAREZ | PHOTOGRAPHERAMANDA STINTSMAN | PHOTOGRAPHER

SUN staffers investigate how different people are treated by society

If there is one word that could have described me it would have If there is one word that could have described me it would have my name. “How are you? I haven’t seen you in so long, can I help

Getting up off the ice

The athletes at MC share a common bond. Almost all know what it’s like to recover from an injury. Many occur during the intense moments of a game, but many other injuries come about far, far away from the fi eld... or the track.

Broomballing temporarily halted the quick times for two of my friends on the track team.

For those unaware, broomballing is like lacrosse on ice. Wearing shoes, players use long wooden paddles to try to get a mini volleyball into an opponent’s hockey goal.

The whole shoe on ice thing means lots of slipping, sliding, falling and crashing.

To grandmothers watching on the sidelines, this equates to joyous entertainment. On the ice, it’s all fun and games until the next day when the soreness sets in.

When the pain grows sharp and does not seem to disappear, questions are raised. It’s the same case for almost all athletes.

What becomes most important is how hard the injured person tries to recover. Sometimes, it takes the willingness to “just say no” and rest. Other times, it takes the determination to follow strict stretching regimens. Whatever the case, the athletes are, in a form, dealing with adversity and rejection.

Pessimists among seniors who are awaiting word from colleges could easily see the month of March as not the month of acceptance, but as the month of rejection.

The world would seem less harsh if we could all be like pilot Sulley Sullenberger and valiantly dig ourselves out of the cave, or in his case, fl y ourselves out of a surefi re disaster. Sometimes, the world around us seems to be going in the wrong direction, but we can’t be afraid to push ourselves in the right direction.

Think of the classic fail-the-quiz, ace-the-test scenario. How often do we students ignore instruction and pass off homework while accepting a bad grade on a quiz, knowing that cramming for the test will be worth more points in the long run?

We overlook the fact that this situation comes in two parts, and thus, two chances.

Second chances in life are few and far between, so putting full faith and effort in the fi rst chance becomes essential.

Our varsity academic league team suffered a crushing loss to Westview because we started the match fl at and could never recover. There will be no second chance to avenge our denial of entry into the playoffs. You get out what you put in. If you are unhappy with the results, get the kneejerk reactions out of the way. Then, stand up and recover.

The high road toward recovery is not so sweet, especially for athletes like my track friends who never saw their injuries coming.

They were wholly innocent in the matter. Unfortunately for them, there’s no second chance in their broomballing adventures. And for at least one of them, a senior, there will be no second chance on the track. Recovery has to happen now if he wants a taste of the championships.

Will he be able fi ght on as his legs choose to be pacifi sts? The question lingers on in not just athletes, but in all of us.

April 3, 2009OpinionsA6 Mt. Carmel SUN

Glued to a screen

Paresh Dave

CHRISTIAN JUN | ARTIST

KATELYN CUTTSNEWS EDITOR

Everyone has been in a situation where their friends confront them about a character fl aw.

Some are too judgmental, others stubborn. No matter the problem, people expect a change in

their friend’s behavior. When people want you to change, it is because they

want to see the best in you. They want you to grow.

Unfortunately, a lot of times when you fi nally do change, they do not believe it.

They cannot accept that you actually improved. They do not let go of the person you once were.

The past only makes you stronger. It is not fair that it should be held against you. The “changed you” will never have a chance if people cannot keep the past where it belongs, in the past.

A lot of times someone changes when they have lost someone dear to them when they cheated or lied. In these situations, second chances are necessary.

People should take into account the fact that they really struggled to become better.

It takes a great deal of courage to realize you need to change and a great deal more to do something about it.

It may seem hard, but if people do not give second chances then marriages or friendships would be

destroyed. Sometimes we have to take a leap of faith and trust

people even when they have hurt us. By giving them the benefi t of the doubt, we are

letting them prove themselves.We should at least give them that after they worked

so hard to change who they were. It is people’s stubbornness that gets in the way.

People are so set in their ways and don’t want to accept change even when they expect it.

It is the hardest thing when you have changed and people just cannot get past who you used to be.

Girls always hold grudges against their friends and they never truly get past it.

Sometimes people do learn from their mistakes and change for the better.

It is unfortunate that friendships are ruined because people just do not believe that their friends have changed.

Changing is a part of everyday life. Animals adapt and

change to certain conditions and people change to grow and become better.

If we expect people to change for the better, it is only fair that we give them a clean slate and allow them the opportunity to prove that they have truly grown as a person.

Without trust, the world would just be a never-ending cycle of ruined relationships.

Dear Editor,

Lauren Hall writes about religious tolerance and acceptance in the last issue of the Mt. Carmel Sun. She uses the term “tolerance” about a half dozen times without truly defi ning what it means. Tolerance means “accepting” one’s differences not necessarily “agreeing” with them.

Miss Hall states several things about the Christian religion that should be cleared up. First she declares, that “tolerance is taught in Christianity as loving everyone.” I have read the Bible, and know that it defi nitely teaches about love, but I am not sure in which verse “tolerance” is mentioned.

She also adds that putting other’s beliefs down to make yours correct is a contradiction of the Christian Bible.

On the contrary, Jesus constantly derides the Pharisees and the Sadducees for their beliefs and their hypocritical ideas and actions. The Apostle Paul too, continually corrects and criticizes some of the early churches for the way they are “practicing religion.”

Lastly, Jesus does not say in the Great Commission at the end of the book of Matthew, “go out and love, accept and tolerate everyone’s beliefs.” Instead, he says, “All

authority is given to Me in heaven and earth. Go and make disciples of all the nations…teaching them to observe all that I commanded you.”

Miss Hall also states that people who are tolerant should not question the credibility of another’s belief. Really, Lauren? Tolerant people, including religious people should, indeed acknowledge everyone’s right to believe anything they want.

Accepting and agreeing with everyone’s beliefs just doesn’t make sense. I would assume that Christians, Muslims, Jews, Mormons, Buddhists, Sikhs, etc. are members of that religion because they truly believe that their religion is the truth.

So, if their religion is the truth, then logically, they would believe other religions are fundamentally wrong.

I propose that Lauren Hall practice tolerance of religious people who share their beliefs with her.

They may simply be sharing their faith out of love for her, because they want her to have the peace and joy they have received from practicing their religion.

Sincerely,Mike Bird

CORDELL HUNTERSTAFF WRITER

I am a psychic. Four years ago, before this whole recession

thing happened and I was still a little kid, I told my parents to buy gold bars because it would make us very rich in the future.

As usual, they laughed at me and said it was ridiculous.

Now that the price of gold has more than doubled, look who’s laughing now.

If only AIG had 12 year-old kids running their company. Instead, they have Edward Liddy as their CEO.

As the chief executive offi cer of AIG, Liddy should have pulled his head out of his cheeks and realized that his company was paying million dollar bonuses to the executives who nuked the economy.

Either Liddy knew and didn’t care, or he didn’t choose to fi nd out. The job of a CEO is to run his company, and it takes a poor excuse of one to not realize that his company is spending millions under his nose.

What’s worse is that the current Treasury secretary, Tim Geithner, knew about the whole thing and waited to tell Obama about it.

Waited to tell the president that the

money he authorized to rescue failing fi nancial institutions was being used to reward the people who caused the whole thing.

Not a good idea.I don’t know if it’s just me, but it seems

like the bailout was intended to help rescue companies vital to the survival of the economy, not to pay for bonuses or corporate vacations; which, incidentally, AIG did as well.

Last October, just days after they received $80 billion (that is EIGHTY BILLION dollars) AIG paid for around 70 top dogs in the corporation to stay for a week in the posh St. Regis Resort in California. During their stay, the executives managed to acquire a bill of over $400,000.

Oh, and did I mention that more than $37,000 of that went towards massages, manicures and other spa services?

This means that in one week, AIG executives managed to spend the average citizen’s yearly salary on fi ngernails.

That has to make Joe six-pack feel great. Even before the economy tanked AIG has been a ticking fi nancial weapon of mass destruction. The bailout had the potential to defuse it, but the recent scandals have destroyed the last remaining shadow of a reputation AIG had left.

SHAYON SAIDSTAFF WRITER

Back in elementary school times kids would invigorate themselves with the school’s straightforward saying: Character Counts.

Now that we’re high school students, character is often no longer a personal achievement, as adolescence, it’s a social one.

One’s character is supposed to defi ne who they are, but in the society

we live in today, infl uence from others tends to be the deciding factor in our personality. The only person to know you best is always yourself, but how can we say we know who ourselves if the word “I” is defi ned by something another puts onto us.

Adolescents in our current society have to learn how to commit themselves solely to themselves, meaning we have to learn to think for ourselves without the pressure of others deciding what we should be.

Of course, I’m not talking about the cliché “living above the infl uence,” more importantly, simply living above others’ opinions. Now, the fi rst thing that comes into mind when speaking of infl uence is peer pressure.

However, peer pressure is only a miniscule subunit of the true power infl uence has on a person.

After really thinking about it, others have been shaping who we are since we were born.

Ever since we were kids parents

have been telling us what to do, more specifi cally what not to do, and most importantly how to act. Ironically, our parents are the ones that tell us to be the best we can be while the best we can be is simply ourselves.

However, parents only try to infl uence us for the hope that we will be able to individual in the future. The point being that there is a good kind of infl uence, the kind given through care in order to better ourselves. Therefore, the ability to

accept the good, and deny the bad is essential in building character.

Obviously, infl uence is stronger when we are younger. That’s why it’s most important to be able to accomplish things for ourselves, not what we we’re pressured into. By doing so, we create ourselves, but we create ourselves for the great cause of being ourselves.

Infl uence structures what we think we are but we truly create who we want and need to be.

Every day, Sundevils are faced with a choice: Spend an uncomfortable hour in class, hoping for a good grade, or go to the bathroom and losing points.

Bathroom policies vary from teacher to teacher. Some allow countless numbers of bathroom visits with no consequences. Others, however, subtract points or make other deductions to grades.

These deductions encourage unsafe behavior with students and put grades above health.

When someone refrains from using the bathroom too long, they can cause serious bodily issues, like a urinary tract infection.

This may be an extreme example, but many students do experience discomfort from their full bladders in class, often shown through shaking.

These students are forced to hold their business because of the fear of losing credit. Teachers who enact

policies that dock points for bathroom visits are only supporting this behavior.

Many of these policies are implemented because of students who abuse bathroom privileges.

Nearly any period of the day, students can be found hiding in the bathroom, avoiding tests or meeting with friends.

Teachers who allow these students to leave class on a whim are a reason other teachers become overly strict, and set unnecessary limits.

The bathroom should not be used as an escape from class, but it should not be used as an opportunity to steal points.

Policies need to be reformed in order to allow students appropriate time to properly use the bathroom, but also to set limits on students who use the facilities frivolously.

People are changing:Has anyone really noticed?

Forget stuffy old men; hire little kids to manage bailed out companies

Irrational bathroom policies cause students discomfort in class, unnecessary drop in grades

Letter to the Editor: Mr. Bird opposes writer’s article discussing tolerance in religion

STAFF EDITORIAL

“It takes a great deal of courage to realize you need to change and a great deal more to do something about it.”

Good, bad infl uences generate personality; understanding which to follow builds individuality

Spanish teacher Marie Cashion poses refusing to let a student use the bathroom pass. Restrictions on bathroom passes are commonly used methods that create dissent from students.

PHOTO ILLUSTRATION BY KYLE COVEY | PHOTOGRAPHER

BEFORE AFTERThose markings on your skin are disgusting. TAKE IT ALL

OFF!

How often do you even clean your shell? It looks

� lthy!

April 3, 2009Opinions

Mt. Carmel SUN

EditorsKatelyn Cutts NewsKylie Baranowski CenterRachel Martin OpinionsMackenzie Lance SportsKevin Lage EntertainmentKaveri Gyanendra FeaturesParesh Dave WebCathy McDermott CopyMatt Coffelt PhotoStaff WritersVandana BhairiNicole BustamanteErica ByerleySarah CarriganMelanie DickinsonKelly FanMatthew GellerLauren HallCordell HunterAbby MansourKaren MichelAditi PaiVincent PhamShayon SaidSara ShantzLaura SlusserDennis SunJordan UgaldeSean WilliamsStaff PhotographersAna AlvarezMary Carmen GonzalezAllison RogersAmanda Stintsman Daniel ThanKyle CoveyArtists Christian JunAlyssa SurmillonBusiness ManagersAlison AshworthMegan Ashworth

MT. CARMEL SUN Mt. Carmel High School 9550 Carmel Mtn. Rd. San Diego

CA 92129 (858)484-1180 ext. 3211 rmercurio@powayusd.com http://www.mcsun.org

Our mission is to provide the MC community with an informative, accurate and respectful student-run publication. The SUN seeks to stimulate the discussion of issues in order to promote a more aware student body. Whether informing, voicing opinion, or entertaining, the sun strives for standards

of balance and good taste.

Melissa Roadman Editor-in-chief

Rick MercurioAdvisor

Catherine JaravataAssistant Advisor

Craig RacicotPhoto Advisor

The Mt. Carmel SUN is the offi cial newspaper of Mt. Carmel High School, published by its Journalism 2 students. The views expressed in the SUN do not necessarily represent the opinions of the Mt. Carmel High School administration or PUSD Board of Education. Unsigned editorials refl ect the beliefs of the SUN editorial board. The SUN is a student open forum, and all fi nal content decisions are made by its student editors. Letters to the Editor are welcome and should be signed. For advertising rates and information please call, email, or write the SUN at the address above.

Thumbs morP is coming up. Since the theme is Space Jam maybe the dance will be out of this world.

-Nicole Bustamante

The parking lot is always full before school starts. Sophomore hill has turned into senior hill.

- Melissa Roadman

A7Should military recruiting be allowed on campus?

YES NO

Sundevil PerspectiveAMANDA STINTSMAN | PHOTOGRAPHER

SophomoreMatt Fritch

TeacherScott Currie

SeniorNadia Newton

JuniorMatt Terrones

FreshmanTaylor Koetter

“I do not think so, because I don’t think it’s appropri-ate for them to be here.

War is a serious subject. I don’t think they should be

targeting schools.”

“Yes, because it could make people more aware of future career options.”

“Yes, because some kids may not have a career lined up for them and that might

be an option.”

“Yeah. There’s no problem. It’s no big deal--they’re not

bothering us.”

“Yes. It should be presented as an option. And it should be okay for people to � nd

out information on campus. But students should not be

pushed into the military.”

SEAN WILLIAMSSTAFF WRITER

We all see them from time to time at their tables at our schools. They are the military recruiters.

They come to our school every so often, looking to help people who are interested to sign up for certain branches of the military.

This has sparked controversy across the country, and opinions vary from city to city. Despite this, military recruiters should be allowed on school campuses. It is true that the majority of high school students are looking to get into college and learn skills there to get a career. However, there are still those who would like to join the military when they graduate high school.

It is the job of a military recruiter to educate people and answer any questions those may have about joining the military, what they will do, and the benefi ts of being in the military, as well as help those who are interested in joining sign up.

If college administrators and employers are allowed to come on campus every so often and answer questions to those who need answers, then a military recruiter should be allowed on campus to do the same. In fact, it’s law that schools must allow the same access. After all, signing up for the military is a big decision.

One argument against recruiting is that the military is trying to recruit our children to fi ght in the war. Unfortunately, in times of war, it is true that it is good to recruit as many people who want to join the military as possible because more troops may

be needed to go into a war. Seems like a better idea than implementing a draft. Wouldn’t it make more sense to try to encourage, but still give people a choice to join the military with the risk of going to war than to force many more who don’t want to go?

Another argument is that there are those recruiters who abuse their power by harassing students to join, give out false information, or leave out important information.

Unfortunately, this is also true. There are those recruiters who will abuse their powers and even go as far as to harass students to try and get them to sign up for the military.

That being said, we can’t judge all military recruiters based on how a few act. There are many who are completely honest with people and are there to help students ensure they are well informed in what they want to do after they graduate. Many times, we will only hear

negative stories of military recruiters because that’s how the media tends to be. The media rarely reports on people who are doing what they are supposed to be doing with their jobs; only those who do anything bad at their job. This is why military recruiters tend to be thought of in a negative view a lot of the time.

Despite a few who abuse their power, military recruiters come to our schools to help us out with any questions we may have about the military.

It is a great convenience to some that the recruiters come to our schools from time to time to inform us of what we’d like to know.

College acceptances are out, time to decide. It’s only our

future on the line...

- Kylie Baranowski

Spring has � nally sprung! Have a safe, “hoppy” week o� ,

Sundevils.

- Sarah Carrigan

Take a break...unscramble the words to solve our puzzle.

COME TO PLAY.Answer: To get the answer text your name to 760.709.1656

tysa ot ernal.

MATTHEW GELLERSTAFF WRITER

As the Iraq war dragged on, re-cruitment for the armed forces became a top priority for the Bush administra-tion.

Now, as the economy tanks and enlistment soars, recruiters no longer need nor deserve the liberties that they had before.

Recruiters are widely known for their aggressive and sometimes deceit-ful methods.

Many recruiters care for little more than fi lling their quotas, and the government often overlooks unethical behavior. Many recruiters even go so far as to lie outright.

The govern-ment subsidizes this and threatens to withdraw funding from schools who fail to allow military recruiters access to high school cam-puses.

Why the gov-ernment chooses to spend $4 billion on recruiters is beyond comprehen-sion, but it is clear something needs to change.

In one case, a high school student named Irving Gonzales was told that a contract he had signed was binding and failure to show up for training would label him a deserter.

He even went so far as to say that Gonzales would be jailed.

In fact, Gonzales’ contract was strictly non-binding, and he had the right to leave the military whenever he wished.

The recruiter was given a mild reprimand and was rewarded with a post at another recruiting station.

The incident was highly publi-cized, and covered by numerous televi-sion stations. The recording made of the conversation between Gonzales and the recruiter, and can be found on www.alternet.org.

There is no need for high school-ers to be pressured by military recruit-ers into the armed forces.

Most high schoolers are more than capable of making an informed choice themselves. If a high schooler wants to join the military, they will be able to join without prodding from a recruiter.

Recruiters aren’t wanted on a high school campus, and, furthermore, they aren’t needed.

At best, recruiters at high schools are an annoyance. At worst, they are liars and ex-perts of intimidation. What’s more, their ex-istence as of late has become almost super-fl uous.

As a result of a souring economy and

job insecurity, the military is no longer struggling to fi ll quotas.

Browbeating and cajoling high schoolers into joining the military is no longer necessary, if it ever was.

Also, there just seems something a little twisted about pressuring high school students into careers where they kill people for a living.

Just call it a personal quirk of mine, if you will. They can say it’s a fun job where you can “shoot cool guns” and “blow stuff up.”

Sure, as long, as you don’t pay too much attention to exactly who you’re shooting or blowing up.

Now I’ll bet that’s something re-cruiters don’t mention too often.

Should military recruiting be allowed on campus?

44%OF STUDENTS SAID THEY

THINK MILITARY RECRUITING SHOULD BE ALLOWED ON

CAMPUS

31%OF STUDENTS SAID THEY

THINK MILITARY RECRUITING SHOULD NOT BE ALLOWED

ON CAMPUS

*199 students polled *199 students polled

MATT COFFELT | PHOTO EDITOR

An MC student competes in a pull-up contest on the stage sponsored by the Marine Corp recruiters during lunch. Many MC students feel that military recruiters have no place on high school campuses. However, some feel that it would not be fair to deny them the right to recruit students searching for career options.

April 3, 2009OpinionsA8 Mt. Carmel SUN

THE NEW SCHEDULE IS...

A sophomore says... Epic Fail

A junior says...

Stupid

ConfusingDENNIS SUNSTAFF WRITER

The fact that teachers voted 83-16 in favor of the

trimester schedule shows that many of them have not

realized the adverse consequences of their decision.

Externally, the plan seems good for the average Joe,

who just wants to graduate high school and get it over

with. Unfortunately, this is not so for all students.

Students have only two-thirds the amount of cal-

endar days to learn all the material normally learned in

one year. Not only will they have a greater workload,

they will also have less time to catch up or improve their

grades to passing level.

This change also makes the workload for non-ad-

vanced students harder.

Many of those who are already failing say they will

possibly fail harder and faster.

The number of classes failed may exceed the

amount that they can make up, so, many will have to go

to summer school.

This would contradict one of the major purposes

of the trimester schedule, which is to try and avoid hav-

ing students take summer school.

More students would fail, and, therefore, more

students would have to take summer school in order to

graduate. Plus, budget cuts have almost eliminated sum-

mer school entirely.

Although the trimester schedule is designed to

help many of the students who are currently in band or

newspaper, it may end up hurting them, to an extent.

Those in band, ASB, yearbook, or newspaper who

are also taking APs will face many hardships in terms of

acquiring the credits necessary for graduation.

Not only will they have fewer classes due to the

three-trimester nature of APs, they also will not have

summer school to fall back on, contradicting one of the

major purposes of the trimester schedule; avoiding hav-

ing students take summer school.

Plus, due to the absence of summer school for

advancement, students will be forced to take classes at

community colleges to make up for credits they don’t

have.Those taking APs will also see a drop in their po-

tential GPA. Even if one were to take fi ve APs for all three

trimesters, the highest GPA they could attain per tri-

mester is a 4.667.

Although colleges may look and see the situ-

ation as being acceptable, this drop in poten-

tial GPA will decrease the average GPA of our

school, and will make the school seem less ca-

pable, if one were only to look at the GPA of

MC students after this schedule change.

The trimester schedule allows for more

elective credits and a broader range of oppor-

tunities. However, the short amount of time per

session may not be very valuable in the long

run, as students will not be able to go in

depth enough.Despite cooperation with the PTSA,

the administration may not have real-

ized the adverse affect the new trimester

schedule will have on many students.

KEVIN LAGEENTERTAINMENT EDITOR

Many of the students of the class of 2010 are faced with a serious problem. How are we supposed to fi ll the needed six classes worth of credits with only fi ve classes next year.

Back towards the end of my eighth grade year, my parents and I were perusing my op-tions for high school courses and we decided that the non-academic requirements, like fi ne art and practical art could be pushed back until my senior year. We decided that I could wait until then, when it was less necessary to load up my schedule with hundreds of AP classes.

Now, with my senior year approaching quickly, I am faced with the problem of fi t-ting English, government, math or science, newspaper, a fi ne art, and a practical art, all into fi ve classes per trimester.

Many juniors fi nd themselves in a similar, situation for the next school year.

Normally, the solution would be to just take a class or two over summer school, but due to the recent budget cuts, this is no longer an option.

So the only alternative seems to be tak-ing classes at Palomar College, a more expen-sive option, which makes it more diffi cult for some students to utilize.

The trimester schedule also creates the problem of having a fun senior year. With the issue of fulfi lling credits, the possibility of just relaxing and taking easy classes just disap-pears.

Also, from a strictly academic standpoint, trimesters are still a bad idea.

Students have trouble paying attention for the current hour that we’re in class, so how is extending the period length going to help?

Also since we are supposed to squish an entire year worth of learning into two thirds of the time, we are not going to learn nearly as much.

Even if the teachers lecture for the entire period, which will ultimately result in more students dozing off, there is still no way to get the same benefi t that an entire year of learn-ing could offer.

So, from whatever perspective you look at it, this new trimester schedule is totally stu-pid.

CHRISTIAN JUN | ARTIST

ABBY MANSOURSTAFF WRITER

“Mount Carmel is here to stay and it’s still great to be a Sundevil.”Principal Tom McCoy’s reassurance

might have eased others’ worries for the con-fusing trimester system, but I was surely not one of those people. Although the trimester system offers

many benefi ts, especially for current fresh-men, I believe that in these fi rst few years of the change, chaos and confusion will be in-evitable.

However, the system defi nitely has ma-jor benefi ts. Among these benefi ts is the abil-ity to take more classes. As a journalism student, I would have had to take numerous summer school courses in order to keep this elective and meet all the graduating requirements. I know the same goes for Band, Yearbook, and ASB students. Even if one wasn’t involved in one of

these programs, they could still get all their mandatory electives out of the way, leaving time for off roll and other electives.Another positive is that incoming fresh-men and sophomores will be able to take

more higher level classes earlier in their high school careers, such as in math or in World Language.

For example, an incoming freshman could take Honors Geometry 1, 2, and Alge-bra 3. This track would put said freshmen in

AP math courses earlier than one would origi-nally think possible.An additional plus is that you could eas-ily retake courses without getting as behind in your schedule.

If one were to fail math, for example, they could easily retake it the following year, take it all three trimesters and only be one tri-mester behind where they would’ve been.Now, all of this sounds very promising.

However, there are a few negatives that are coming with this new trimester package. One disadvantage is that it is simply

confusing. The fact that you can take over a year of a subject in one year tends to stump students.

The clear question is how the teachers are going to fi t a whole year of curriculum into a mere 24 weeks.This is obviously a big fear and is the

problem that I am most concerned about. Don’t get me wrong; I am all for less math. My worry is that the material on the end-of-the-year CST tests won’t be taught. I have enough trouble on those tests even after having been taught the information.All the staff members I have come across

have assured me and my classmates that all es-sential material will be covered, but I am still doubtful.

Overall, this new system appears to of-fer many benefi ts, but I predict that these fi rst few years will create confusion and, in most cases, will leave students wondering: Why?

DISADVANTAGES

--STUDENTS COULD HAVE A 12 WEEK GAP IN SEQUENTIAL CLASSES

--CREATING TUTORIALS, EARLY RELEASE FINAL EXAM DAYS, SPECIAL TESTING DAYS, AND PROFESSIONAL TIME COULD BE PROBLEMATIC

--UP TO TWO WEEKS FEWER INSTRUCTIONAL MINUTES FOR A SINGLE TRIMESTER CLASS THAN A SINGLE SEMESTER CLASS

--SOME DEPARTMENTS MAY NEED MORE SUPPLIES.

--TEACHERS TEACH MORE STUDENTS PER YEAR

--THREE MASTER SCHEDULES ARE REQUIRED RATHER THAN TWO

--CLASSES WILL BE ABOUT 70 MINUTES AND MEET FIVE PERIODS PER DAY, FIVE DAYS A WEEK

ADVANTAGES

--STUDENTS CAN TAKE UP TO FIVE CLASSES PER TRIMESTER, UP TO 15 PER YEAR

--TEACHERS AND DEPARTMENTS WILL GET TO CREATE MORE ELECTIVE, REMEDIATION OR ACCELERATION CLASSES

--AP CLASSES WILL HAVE MORE INSTRUCTIONAL MINUTES PER YEAR

--STUDENTS CAN TAKE ALL CLASSES DURING THE NORMAL SCHOOL YEAR RATHER THAN RELYING ON SUMMER SCHOOL AND/OR NIGHT SCHOOL

--MAY ALLOW US TO SHARE STUDENTS WITH DEL NORTE TO KEEP SMALL PROGRAMS ALIVE (AUTO, WOOD, MUSIC, ETC.)

--ATHLETES WILL BE ABLE TO TAKE P.E. COURSES SIMILAR TO THEIR SPORT DURING THE SEASON

A freshman says...

>>LOOK AT PAGE A1 FOR AN UPDATE ON THE TRIMESTER SCHEDULE