Volume 48, Issue 2 Castro Valley, CA 94546MONDAY, NOVEMBER 15, 2004

Scores rose for CVHS students taking the California High School Exit Exam (CAHSEE) since the class of 2005 took the test.

“In the class of 2006, 93 percent passed the English last March and 95 percent passed math,” said As-sistant Principal Jim Maxwell.

The statistics for the current senior class were much lower.

Last year’s sophomores (class of 2006) received especially higher math scores, which had averaged in the seventies for the previous class.

Only one aspect of the CAHSEE was reformed. There is now one essay question instead of two in the English section.

The level of difficulty is basi-cally the same.

Maxwell believes that one of the reasons students improved last year was because of the implemen-tation of new math courses.

There are supplemental classes aimed at improving English scores this year as well, including a Power Reading class for freshmen.

Passing the CAHSEE is required of all California high school stu-dents in the class of 2006 or lower.

CVHS’s governing board de-cided to retain the test as an option for seniors this year.

“The class of 2005 is respon-sible for competency/proficiency which can be met through previ-ously passing the exit exam or passing certain parts of the STAR test in math and English. Counsel-

By Erin GaabCity Editor

Seniors Mike Thompson and Tim Cole participate during the Kerry vs. Bush debate. SEan ryan / Photo Editor

A small trash can fire in the upstairs girls’ bathroom of the 700 hall on the afternoon of Oct. 21 forced students to evacuate the school immediately.

Sheriff ’s officers arrested a freshman girl for starting the fire and took her to Juvenile Hall, ac-cording to Assistant Principal Jim Maxwell.

CVHS suspended her for five days and recommended a one-year

Trash can fire leads to evacuationBy Flora Tsang

Staff WritEr

The sophomore crowd cheers on their class and supports their school at the Homecoming assembly.

QuinCy Hilburn / Staff WritEr

Juniors successfullypassed Exit Exam

Relatives serve in Iraq By Kara Lawrence

Staff WritEr

The U.S. troops in Iraq need socks as much as they need en-couragement from their country. Linda Little, the Leadership teacher and activities director, has created a troop necessity drive.

Little has a son over in Iraq serv-ing for the Army. “I’m proud that all these young men are willing to take that risk at only the age of 20 years old,” said Little. Her 20-year-old son Trevor Little has not telephoned his family.

“He really can’t say much in let-ters due to security reasons,” Little

ors will be checking last spring’s STAR scores this month [Septem-ber] and all students who still have to pass the test will be notified in early October,” said Maxwell.

This means that passing the CAHSEE in English will omit a senior’s writing test requirement because there is a writing section in the exam.

Passing the English section of the STAR test only fulfills the reading requirement.

The administration will provide information about make up test op-portunities through the mail in the future.

For students who failed the CAHSEE, they will have unlim-ited chances to take the math and English tests, but only specified number of writing tests will be administered.

said. She and her husband write to him monthly to let him know what is going on at home.

Freshman Zach Graham’s father is stationed in Iraq. His father Staff Sergeant Richard Fryar has served in the army for ten years.

“I’ve talked to him over the phone and in e-mail. He said that he was in a fire fight and his friend next to him was shot in the hand,” said Graham. Fryar left the U.S. on Aug. 17 and is supposed to be back in October or January.

“I feel proud that my dad is in Iraq,” said Graham.

When asked how she got in-volved with the drive, Little said,

“There is a group called Operation MOM, where a large group of mothers who have sons or daugh-ters in Iraq can join together to help out the troops.”

Little can vouch for all parents who have children overseas. “I always feel a knot in my stomach when I think of him [Trevor] over in Iraq,” said Little. The drive goes throughout the year, so stu-dents can bring in the items that the troops overseas need badly. However, she said since the holi-days are coming up she hoped that club presidents at CVHS would help make holiday boxes.

“The holiday boxes would be nice for the troops so they can have something to remind them of home,” said Little.The items brought in for certain troops that have connections with Operation MOM. Trevor Little already has ten people who are contributing to him.

The lists of everything needed are on a paper titled, “Support Our Troops.” The list can be found at almost any classroom. Little stated the security on the items is not necessary because all of the items are prepackaged. Little also said it would be helpful if students could put small hygiene items into ziploc bags for efficiency.

“There is not a single most im-portant item needed in the drive. Every item is equally important to the troops,” said Little.

expulsion to the school board. The 700 hall upstairs bathrooms

will most likely be closed perma-nently because of a variety of incidents that occurred, including smoking.

“The restroom is used for smok-ing because it is isolated and at the end of the hall,” Maxwell said.

Maxwell also noted that the fire set in the trash bin was probably set on purpose.

“The girl probably lighted the trash bin with paper and a lighter. We don’t know how she did it

though,” Maxwell said. “She told people about what she had done. It is as if she wanted everyone to know.”

The fire was first noticed and reported by freshman Tiana Rog-ers. Rogers, in Geometry class at the time, had received permission to go to the restroom.

As she entered, she noticed the other girl who was later arrested for starting the fire, coming out. As she went into the stall, she noticed nothing unusual except the smell of cigarette smoke.

But then Rogers detected some-thing as she left the stall.

“Right as I was about to walk out, I saw smoke coming out of the trash can and I saw that the trash can was kind of illuminated,” said Rogers.

Quickly, the fire was reported and the fire bells began ringing.

A brave custodian, Jay Espital-lier rushed into the restroom to put out the fire. He had to come out twice in order to get air because of the amount of toxic fumes from the burning plastic.

In the end, he succeeded, and the fire was quenched.

Officer Sarah Egelston was another victim of the poisonous fumes and both entered the hos-pital for treatment.

Kara laWrEnCE / Staff WritEr

Senior male cheerleaders perform their skit that snagged those firemen first place. See page 8 for more photos.

2 OPINION Monday, November 15, 2004

With Homecoming resolved, we at the Olympian feel that the themes could have been selected to reflect the fact that the students of CVHS are not all of the same gender.

The freshmen managed to se-lect the Army, which does not allow women to do the same tasks as men and has a history of treating anyone who is not a white heterosexual male as inferior.

As for the juniors, we have one question: does anyone even know if there is such a thing as female professional boxing? The most famous woman in the field of boxing is Tonya Harding, an ice skater.

With the seniors, surprise, surprise, another male domi-nated profession: firemen. Even firemen strippers aren’t female.

Fortunately, the sophomores realized that humans come in more than one gender. The profession of doctors actually has representation of both sexes in it, and reflects the fact that Homo sapiens come with two reproductive organs.

When the themes were col-lected, maybe someone should have taken a look around and noticed that humans have distinct genders and that both deserve a fair representation be-fore picking the themes. Isn’t Homecoming supposed to unite the student body, rather than separate and degrade it?

America has always tried to instill the notion within other na-tions that it is the leading, superior country that is completely unbiased in the rights that it gives its citizens. However, if one closely examines recent alterations within our edu-cation laws, the exact opposite is exemplified. We are a racist, sexist, God-fearing country lagging in our brainwashed, traditional views.

In 1998, the Higher Education Act (HEA) banned giving federal aid to students who have been con-victed of drug offenses. A student can be denied aid on the basis of a drug conviction from one year to life, depending on the number of convictions. This provision applies even to misdemeanors and viola-tions, not just felonies.

Of course, this law doesn’t apply to students whose families can, in fact, pay for college. The students severely affected by this law come from low or middle-income families unable to pay for the ris-ing cost of college. Yet, convicted drug offenders are precisely the ones that need college more than anything. As a result, HEA does absolutely nothing to aid students who are struggling with substance abuse problems. Instead, it merely eradicates their chances of being educated and rehabilitated.

HEA is biased towards the wealthy. It's basically saying that if you're wealthy and you happen to have been convicted of doing drugs that you're a-okay as long as you continue the flow of that pretty green paper into our hungry, vain economy.

HEA makes sure to leave the mi-norities of our nation’s universities out once again. The vast majority of drug enforcement focuses on minority communities. According to the recent Department of Justice statistics, African Americans make up 12 percent of the population and 13 percent of drug offenders, but represent more than 62 percent of convictions and more then 70 percent of incarcerations for drug possession. Hispanics find them-selves in the same ugly hole as well. More than half of all federal powder cocaine prosecutions are against Hispanics, yet they don’t use drugs at a greater rate than their overall population, which is about 10 percent.

Secretly, through this horrendous act, America is filtering out the so-called “drawbacks” of our society, To your average, rich conservative, America clearly doesn’t need them and they only make us look bad.

U. S. Representative Barney Frank (D-MA), on the other hand, has introduced legislation, H.R. 786, that would repeal this flawed law. Hopefully, America will dis-cover the prejudice and inequity that lies within HEA, and for the very first time, actually practice what it so painstakingly preaches.

Educate the RichBy Rada Feldman

Editor-in-ChiEf

Rock the casbah

After a long tiresome day of pumping lemonade at Hot Dog on a Stick, I got in my car and drove the short distance home. A few minutes before reaching my humble abode, I came to a stop-light. I saw the light turn green and the break lights of the car in front of me go off indicating it was moving forward. I glanced down for a quick second to check how much gas I had and suddenly red lights flashed in front of me. I forced my foot on the break but it was too late. I rear-ended the car ahead of me.

That was when reality finally hit me: I just got into an accident. It was an experience I know a major-ity of new drivers have had and I

was finally one of them. Accord-ing to www.drivers.com, drivers between the ages of 15 through 19 make up 62 percent of automobile accidents.

Almost every friend of mine who recently received their li-cense has gotten into an accident, whether it was by totaling their car or knocking down their mailbox while backing out of their drive-way. After this experience I was shaken up. It took me a week to get back into the driver’s seat and drive to school. I felt so guilty for being the cause of a car accident. I began asking myself: Is 16 too young to drive?

When I got my license, I thought it was one of the great-est opportunities for me to gain independence and freedom to go wherever I want. However, all the excitement concealed how imma-

ture I could be behind the wheel. I feel that 16 is just too young to start driving. Perhaps kids should be allowed to start driving at 18. By then they won’t take driving for granted. They will see it as a privi-lege rather than a way of showing off to their friends or how I saw it. Over those two extra years, teenag-ers will become more responsible and realize that safety on the road is not to be meddled with. By then, they will use driving as a conve-nient method of transportation, rather than for fun.

Even when I got my license, I still felt uneasy about driving. I strongly feel that raising the legal driving age is a small price to pay in order to avoid serious accidents in the future. Basically, I don’t want future drivers to experience what I went through. Unfortu-nately I predict that they will.

By Analisa HarangozoBusinEss ManagEr

Wisdom of (more) age

Walk into any English class, and it’s almost guaranteed that at least one student has pages of Sparknotes at hand. Whether the text is Romeo and Juliet for fresh-man English or Catcher in the Rye for Honors American Literature, Sparknotes.com has something for everyone.

Upon f i r s t examina t ion , Sparknotes and Cliff’s Notes look like a great deal of insight for practically nothing. But fans of the guidebooks might be surprised to learn that Sparknotes.com doesn’t always have the answer.

My advanced sophomore English class was a prime example of the Sparknotes addiction. High stress combined with overachievers often results in academic “shortcuts.” No one was ever surprised to see mul-

tiple Sparknotes packets strewn all over the classroom on workdays. Surely the teacher suspected some-thing when every Lord of the Flies essay agreed on the significance of Piggy’s glasses and affirmed that Simon symbolized Jesus. Surely she realized it was more than coincidence that certain quotes appeared in each double entry journal, accompanied by almost identical analyses. How else can it be that students determine the only symbols in All Quiet on the Western Front are Kemmerich’s boots, when they can’t even iden-tify Kemmerich himself?

The biggest problem with re-sources like Sparknotes.com and Cliff’s Notes is that they render thought unnecessary. It’s awfully tempting to let someone else do the thinking, and it’s easy to get hooked. Students who use these predigested summaries begin to

rely on them. The same discussion points are recycled over and over again. Discussion evolves into unwavering agreement because everyone assumes that Sparknotes is absolutely right.

Well, it’s not. Lit-lite manuals just regurgitate someone else’s in-terpretation of the text. There are thousands of ways to interpret lit-erature. As long as you can justify your ideas, you are right. Everyone draws different conclusions from what they read. If someone else has to tell you “the” theme, then maybe that theme doesn’t work for you. Maybe Holden Caulfield’s red hunting hat is a symbol of his individuality to the Princeton grad who wrote the Sparknotes, but to you it’s his security blanket. Or maybe it’s just a hat.

We still lean on these abridge-ments. Some kids cleverly con-ceal the precious printouts in a

backpack or folder. Those with less observant teachers simply leave them on their desks for easy access. Sometimes the teachers themselves have a few of those familiar yellow and black Cliff’s Notes booklets stashed away in a desk drawer. Ironically, the “sucker” label sticks to kids who don’t use the cheat sheets.

I don’t mean that Sparknotes are completely useless or wrong. But the people who compiled Sparknotes and Cliff ’s Notes didn’t need any references to reach their own conclusions. Nei-ther do we.

So when your English teacher asks why Caesar’s ghost appears, stop and think about it before you whip out your Cliff’s Notes. You just might break the dependency on pre-packaged wisdom and generate a brilliant assertion of your very own.

By Katie Parrstaff WritEr

Sparkless notes

Editorial:

Women can work too

3OPINIONMonday, November 15, 2004

LETTERSTo the Editor

Readers respond to Olympian articles

BSU and ISU advisor refutes Volz allegationsDear Editor:

As staff advisor for the Black

Student Union and Indian Student Union, I am writing in response to the Friday, Oct. 22 opinion piece entitled, “Unionize for Racism.” I read this piece with sadness and frustration– sadness that my students who participate in these clubs were attacked in this way and frustration that the Olympian would address an issue as impor-tant and sensitive as racial tension on our campus with so little care, understanding, or vision.

Clubs such as BSU exist not as a forum to exclude others, but rather as a place for students of similar experiences to come together to plan activities, socialize, raise funds and support each other. The current social, economic and political reality of America has been determined by its history– a history that began with slavery. Though slavery ended with the Civil War, racism was by then well-entrenched, manifesting itself through segregation, sanctioned racial violence and economic op-pression. The Civil Rights Move-ment helped our country and African Americans to make great gains, but institutionalized racism stubbornly lives on. Derogatory and demeaning stereotypes of certain subgroups exist and are reinforced daily in every category of the media. Castro Valley High School exists within this histori-cal and cultural framework and to imagine that we have somehow moved beyond this is to live in an imaginary world. One reason students of color form ethnic clubs is that these venues provide one way of coping with a larger culture that often seems judgmental and sometimes even hostile.

Issues around race and racism are complicated and difficult to talk about. People often feel sensitive and defensive, unsure about how to approach the topic. However, these difficulties should not discourage honest, thoughtful, open-minded exploration of these issues. One place this conversa-tion could occur is in our school newspaper. The Olympian could use the power of the word, which is its tool, to do some serious journalistic research and writing about the complex issues of race and racism. As the main public forum on our campus, it could make a true contribution towards racial harmony by exploring what race and racism have looked like on our campus over the years. Writers could research past inci-dents and analyze our changing demographics. Stories could be

written about the actual activities student unions engage in, inter-viewing the membership to learn about the visions and purposes of these organizations. Students from all grade levels and racial and cultural backgrounds could be asked to submit personal ac-counts about race– perhaps in both prose and poetry– so that we would have the opportunity to hear each other’s stories.

To promote healing and under-standing on this topic, our collec-tive conversation needs to be an ongoing one. This conversation may sometimes be painful and uncomfortable, as well as require a disciplined and rigorous ef-fort– but it can ultimately lead us to a place where we are no longer name-calling or feeling fearful of one another.

Theresa M. BranaughBSU and ISU Advisor

Eladia Laines responds to an Olympian article visuallyEladia lainEs / ReadeR

Aghast reader responds to opinionDear Editor:

The article, “Unionize For Rac-ism” struck a chord with me, not to mention a good portion of the pop-ulation that attends Castro Valley High School. I’m sadly left with my jaw open. How anyone could be so inept as to describe clubs at this school as breeding grounds for racism and separatism has left me baffled. Apparently the author, Brett Volz, of said article feels the need to draw conclusions through obscure opinions and assumptions. This entire article is one enormous racial paradox, and for the sake of brevity, I’ll only touch on a couple concerns for the time being.

“Asian Student Union (ASU), and the Black Student Union (BSU) have one major thing in common: they are very racist. A club cannot get any more racist than, in effect, excluding every other race from it. Note that this is not the student unions’ fault. It is in their nature to separate them-selves from other races.”

Under no circumstances have either of the aforementioned clubs participated in any function that would exclude students of different ethnicities. Ever. That is a fact. Anyone can feel free to look it up. As this saga continues, our self-absorbed author goes on to give his dissertation on how “it’s in their nature to separate themselves from other races.” What does this mean? Is this some new elitist attitude brewing in the campus? Is Volz now the expert on international behavioral

patterns? Everything written is a slap in the face to those who are not Caucasian. It has done nothing but separate the students more so now, than ever before. When Volz could not dazzle us with his brain, he clearly tried to baffle us with his obscurities and inconsistencies. Even when said facts exist for any-one who wants to know, Volz doles out his opinions again as they were law. I don’t know about the rest of this fine school, but Volz does not do my thinking for me. And he should not do it for you.

This entire article is a sham, a fallacy, a contradiction filled with nothing but biased opinions and no regard for the facts. The fact is, a club like ASU deals with Asian teachings and promotions. The same goes for the BSU. These students are not here to push their ways on anyone; they are here to be proud of their cultures, their heritage and to share that with anyone who cars to partake in such activities. I would hardly think a missed lunch period would be catastrophic in regards to student interaction. Anyone can join; they hold many activities that help the community at large, not just the Asian or black population. But I guess since our distinguished writer feels uneasy being around so many minorities, everyone must feel like that. Yeah, I did not think so either. But then again, Volz re-ally knows what he is talking about (cue in the sarcasm).

Folks, it’s pretty simple. This nation that we call home is a melting pot. You won’t find this type of diversity anywhere else in the world. What better way to learn about other cultures, or share experiences with those of the same culture, than organiza-tions like ASU and BSU? Unions like these promote cross-cultural interaction. It is that simple. The facts are there for anyone who would like to learn, or you could just listen to Volz’s biased, opin-ionated blathering. You make the call. Have a fantastic day, CVHS.

Lily HuangASU President

WASC leaders speak up against opinion Dear Editor:

We would like to express our concern over one of the articles in the recent issue of the Olympian. While we are pleased at the stu-dent exercise of free speech, we are concerned that the reportage falls victim to some of the stereo-typical thinking it seeks to change. The article entitled “Unionize for Racism” addresses a worthy social concern: racism. Yet, in criticizing the ASU and BSU for simply ex-isting, the article enlists an Us vs. Them mentality using phrases such as, “It is in their nature to separate themselves from other races.” We do agree with Brett Volz that “one race [should have] exactly the same privileges as another.” Yet, we think in terms of rights and their attendant responsibili-ties because privileges imply one group’s ability to give or take those privileges away and encourages a false sense of superiority. For that reason, the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, adopted by the member nations of the UN back in 1948, upholds both the right to be free of discrimination (Article 2) and the right to peaceful assembly and association (20) without grant-ing one right more status or value than the other.

We realize that dismantling racism is difficult, often painful work because it demands deep reflection and personal responsi-bility, but we also know that the process is absolutely essential for every individual and for society at large. To quote Walt Kelly’s comic strip hero Pogo, “We have met the enemy and he is us.” Our challenge now is to face ourselves and bridge our differences meaningfully with-out having to sacrifice our identi-ties. This is the ongoing work of the WASC Equity and Diversity Focus at CVHS. Let us use our power wisely and well to support all rights for all people.

Jo Sutton & Anne ParrisCo-leaders of the WASC Equity & Diversity Focus Group

Dear Editor:

The members of the CVHS chapter of Amnesty International are writing this letter because we respectfully disagree with Brett Volz’s opinion article entitled “Unionize for Racism.” As a hu-man rights club, we often deal with abuses on the basis of race, and we respect and recognize that racial student unions are necessary places for people to feel safe and welcome among their peers as well as to educate people about other cultures. Although we agree with Volz that people of a particular race might not “all like the same stuff,” we recognize that they share something even more important than that: a cultural history and the life experience of being a race other than white in a white domi-nated society.

We question if Volz has ever been to one of the meetings he is so quick to criticize. One of our white members who attended a BSU meeting found it to be com-pletely devoid of racism. Even if a white person does “stick out like a sore thumb for 40 minutes” in a club meeting, one has to wonder how a student of color must feel at CVHS all the time.

If Volz’s intention was to write an opinion article that ended in-stitutionalized racism on campus, we feel he has in fact done the opposite by attacking minority races and their organizing efforts and subsequently increasing racial tensions.

Members of Amnesty work to uphold the rights of all people to live in a world free of discrimina-tion, as outlined in Article 2 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. While we support Volz’s right to free speech, we urge all to examine key social concerns in a manner which promotes long-term, positive social change for all.

Nicole MarcotteCVHS Amnesty International

Amnesty International disputes assertions

LETTERS: Page 4

4 OPINION Monday, November 15, 2004

The Olympian is a publication of the Journalism Class, Castro Valley High School, 19400 Santa Maria Ave., Castro Valley, CA 94546.

Editor-In-Chief............................................................Rada FeldmanCity Editors........................................................................Erin Gaab Athena Gianopoulos Ben Topkins News Editor..........................................................Yelena TeplitskayaOpinion Editor.........................................................Randy EisenbergFeature Editor.............................................Marie Antoniette ManuelSports Editor.................................................Kawaianiani MalandishCopy Editors.............................................................Samantha Basto Divya Gopakumar Photo Editor.......................................................................Sean RyanSystems Managers.............................................................Fabian Ma Matthew LongBusiness Managers................................................Moryah Schindler

Analisa Harangozo Staff Writers: Krissy Bussell, Amanda Gelender, Quincy Hilburn, Alexia Laines, Kara Lawrence, Eric Lee, Melissa Love, Trini Mc-Geogh, Katie Parr, Haseeb Sadat, Stephanie Spitzer, Arianna Spratley, Flora Tsang, Brett Volz, Denise Wong

Advisor........................................................................Matt Johanson

By Fabian MaStaff Writer

Why do people pay more money for less fabric? I have noticed, over many years being on this planet, that fashion has increased its style by actually having less fabric.

I am a conservative dresser and I would prefer not to have my belly showing or have my bottom in view for the public eye to see. I recently went shopping with my dad at the well-known Stoneridge Mall in Pleasanton. My dad was shocked at the clothes.

“I didn’t know it was legal for

people to wear skirts that short, and if it was any shorter it could be a belt,” my dad said.

I agreed with him. The clothes were disgustingly tacky. Not only were the clothes tacky, but also the types of people who are wearing them. At school I have actually had to shut my eyes or turn my head at the “fashion” some people wear. I’ve seen things I did not want to see and obviously the wearers have been oblivious to their own fashion faux pas.

It is better for people of average weight to wear clothes that fit them correctly. That goes for people that

are overweight as well. I have seen the skinniest girls wear the tight-est, skimpiest clothes at CVHS. The funniest part is that I see girls wear jeans that are too small just so they can say, “Oh look, I can fit into a size two.” But do those people ever consider the fact that their sides are hanging over their too-tight jeans?

Fashion is all about the way clothes fit you, not the fact that they are size zero and you are proud of yourself because you can fit into them. As much as I know (and I do know) that it feels good to fit into smaller sizes, it is just is

not attractive to have flab hanging over your pants or have your cleav-age busting out of your shirt.

There is a word called “mod-esty.” Modesty, to me, means being mysterious and dressing in a proper way so that the clothes fit your body correctly and people do not see every little curve of your body. There is always an upside to dressing this way. People will treat you with more respect if you dress modestly than if you were to wear a push-up bra with a tank top and the lowest rise jeans they produce.

Not only will other people treat

you with more dignity, but also you will feel a boost in confi-dence from not having to worry about the shirt coming up to your belly button or your butt crack peeking out.

When clothes fit you well, you never have to worry about pulling down, twisting up or tucking in. Clothes have different sizes for a reason. They are meant to accom-modate your body and nobody else’s. The way you treat your body is the most important of all, and squeezing it into something that is not right for you is just cruel to your body.

By Kara LawrenceStaff Writer

Dear Editor:I’d like to take this opportunity

to state how I felt when I read the article in the latest newspaper, “Hide your butt, slut.” I felt flab-bergasted that an article can be so intriguing and so ignorant at the same time. Students at Castro Valley High School are allowed

tory, there has been an extremely repulsive double standard that men can get away with any type of sexual activity without a label slapped on them, while women are labeled, stereotyped, and ridiculed. To my dismay, the double standard has followed us into contemporary society and basically denies a good reputation to any one who has been labeled. I’d like to mention that in this article Flora directly follows society’s double standard in stereotyping girls, by classify-ing girls who wear short shorts or skirts as sluts.

Quoting Flora, “Student or slut? It’s your body and it’s your choice, but it’s the observers to call to what you are, according to what you wearing.” Does this mean one is what others label them? If I said the sky was red, would that make it red?

In another appalling observa-tion, she notes “Some people come to school for one reason only: to look like a slut and hopefully get members of the opposite sex interested.” Because a girl does not meet with miss Tsang’s “dress code” expectations, she implies that the same girl is not at school to learn. Are you saying all girls who wear short shorts, and have “jiggling un-tanned,” “jello-like thighs,” are more negligent to-ward their studies? Because they are too focused on their one goal: boys ogling them? “School is a place of learning, a place for us to prepare for the rest of our future, and I, for one do not want to be distracted during a final by jello-like thighs.” Newsflash, we are allowed to wear what we want to wear, and if you have a problem, turn your head away, and open

Dear Editor: The Yearbook Staff would like to

bring to your attention to the article titled “Yearbook Pleads Guilty” in the last issue of the Olympian. We admit there were some mistakes in the 2003-2004 Palladium Yearbook. Yes, there were a few missed commas and spelling er-rors. However, often times these few mistakes become the focus of the yearbook rather than the many months of hard work put into all 388 pages of the book.

The yearbook staff argues that when looking back on the 2003-2004 yearbook, most will not take the time to point out minute errors, but will instead remember activities throughout the year such as Homecoming, Mr. CV, and the Welcome Back Assembly. The time put into the placement of quality pictures (picked from thousands of choices) which cap-ture as many students’ memories as possible is often overlooked.

Many tend to disregard the effort put into capturing the year through stories, captions, pictures, theme development, and design. Most don’t even realize that we turn in about 44 double page layouts a month. With every page taking up hours worth of time, not to men-tion technical problems, this can be overwhelming at times. However, we finished the book on time, which people fail to realize was a great accomplishment in itself. With this amount on our plates, it is possible to miss a couple of

LETTERSTo the Editor

mistakes every once in a while. It is easy for those of us not

involved in publishing an ap-proximately 400-page book every year to point out “spelling errors on page 49.” After all, the news-paper publishes approximately eight pages a month, and I have yet to see a flawless issue. We are forced to realize that the yearbook is made entirely by students (hu-man beings), and every person is liable to make mistakes.

Critics of the book must also realize that the yearbook requires faith in the student body. Our quotes, pictures, and stories are based on students and we must be able to acquire these from students in order to complete our pages. We will continue to proofread the pages as many times as possible and hopefully we will catch more errors before sending pages into the plant this year.

We cannot vow that the book will be “better” this year. That is up to the opinion of the student body, which is always unpredict-able, as we have found. However, we can vow that we will do the best we can to create a book capturing the memories of as many people in Castro Valley High School as possible.

-Becky Crump, Michelle Di-anda, and Alyssa Webb, yearbook co-editors-in-chief

freedom of expression, so in all due respect to Flora Tsang, I’d like to express myself.

Slut is a word that has infiltrated over the years disgustingly into our common language, and has been slung around to form a common, negative stereotype. Girls have taken the harshest beating with this word; thus the word can be thrown upon a girl who has done nothing wrong. Throughout his-

your mind while you’re at it.-Katie Darfler, junior

Marijuana is something many people consider doing. Thou-sands of people across the U.S. look forward to going home to smoke a batch of the finest pound of marijuana they can get. But when they light up to the drug, do they even know what they are doing to their bodies?

We are fortunate that marijuana is currently illegal all across the

United States. The only exception is for medicinal purposes here in California. But even when it is il-legal, too many teenagers already know how to get their hands on a bag of it. Too many teenagers get high off the “good” stuff and be-fore you know it, they are addicted to the drug.

Someone who smokes mari-juana regularly may have many of the same respiratory problems as tobacco smokers. These in-dividuals may show symptoms

of chronic bronchitis and more frequently, chest colds.

Continuing to smoke marijuana can lead to abnormal functioning of lung tissue injured or destroyed by marijuana smoke. This drug not only produces heightened blood pressure, but it also increases the chances of heart attack at an early age.

But that doesn’t stop people from smoking it or acquiring it. Now just imagine if this drug was legal. It pains me to know if people

can still buy the drug illegally, how easy it can be for people to buy it in a convenience store or even at gas stations. I can’t imagine a world where my son or daughter walks home with a bag of marijuana or if he/she smokes marijuana with his/her pals at school instead of doing sports or going to the mov-ies. I can’t imagine a world where it would be okay to sell marijuana to high school graduates right af-ter they get their diploma. I can’t imagine a world where we have

designated marijuana-seating area at a local diner.

It is, however, understandable if someone prefers the use of me-dicinal marijuana in order to make their pain go away long enough so they see their grandchildren graduate from high school or get married.

But I'll sooner choke on my words before I look out a window and see a marijuana truck pass by my neighborhood or go to a mall and see a Marijuana 4 Less sign.

Showing skin should be a sin

There is no need for weedBy Fabian MaSyStemS manager

Flabbergasted reader criticizes opinion

The Olympian welcomes let-ters to the editor and reserves the right to edit letters for li-bel, spelling, grammar, length and style. All letters must be signed. Please submit letters to cvhsolympian@yahoo.com or room 113. Please limit letters to 200 words.

Disgruntled Yearbook Staff states their side

5FEATUREMonday, November 15, 2004

“‘Faggot!’ echoed down the hallway after him… He spun around and saw no one but his own shadow... ‘Faggot.’ He heard it again, clearly directed at him… This time he recognized the voice inside of his own head, a conglom-eration of all of the characters who had hurled it at him at one time or another in his life. ‘Faggot!’ his fa-ther’s voice boomed. ‘Faggot,’ his brother taunted. ‘Faggot! Faggot! Faggot!’ the whole football team chanted in unison. ‘Faggot,’ he whispered to himself as his shoes clicked down the hallway to the double doors that led outside.”

As a way to promote gay toler-ance, former CVHS student and teacher Kim Wallace wrote a four-book series, Erik & Isabelle surrounding the lives of Erik and Isabelle, two gay teenagers attend-ing Foresthill High.

“So many kids who are gay, lesbian, questioning, or straight feel isolated and alone in high school. I want Erik & Isabelle to be a companion for them, regard-less of sexual orientation,” said Wallace. “The book isn’t a just a ‘gay book;’ it reflects the common experiences of falling in love, deal-ing with conflicts, getting along with parents, etc.—issues that all students face.”

Erik and Isabelle are close friends; openly gay Isabelle, falls in love with a cheerleader, while Erik hides his sexuality for fear of his militant father.

“I just got the first line in my head as I was driving home one day from school. I knew it was the first line to a novel, but I didn’t know what it would be about,” explained Wallace. “Ten weeks later the whole manuscript was complete. The topic chose me; I didn’t choose it, but I’m glad nevertheless.”

Wallace began this series after teaching high school English for ten years. Overwhelmed, Wallace beamed at the positive responses her books have received.

“Recently, I had an 80-year-old woman buy a book for herself, just because she’d never read anything like it,” said Wallace.

Former CVHS teacher promotes gay tolerance

Wallace’s history with CVHS traces back to even before her birth, when her parents met as CVHS teachers. As a child, she attended pre-school in CV, and attended CVHS as a student in the late 80’s. In 1994, she returned as a teacher, teaching all levels of Eng-lish, ESL, along with two years of Journalism.

“I liked the fact that [CVHS] felt like home to me,” Wallace stated. “I knew everyone by first name and they all participated in educating me from birth to adult-hood.”

Wallace claimed that main char-acters and all events in her books are figments of her imagination, but a reader familiar with CVHS might notice that some minor characters resemble real people from CVHS.

“You’ll recognize the 500 hall when Erik and Isabelle go to English class and the nature walk where they hang out at lunch,” Wallace said.

Nowadays, Wallace works as a curriculum and instruction coach

By Marie ManuelFeature editor

A customer browses around Aran’s Colour and Glaze Studio, which showcases photography from CVHS students.

amanda Gelender / Staff Writer

I liked the fact that [CVHS] felt like home to

me.KIM WALLACE

Former CVHS teacher

“

”in Sacramento. She sums up in one word what she desires people to attain from her books: Hope.

“High school can be miserable for many young people. I just want them to know that it won’t always be the way that it is right now and to just stick it out and make it to see where their lives end up,” said Wallace.

“Whoever told that lie about high school being the best years of your lives never went to high school. There are a lot of valuable lessons in high school, but they aren’t ever easy.”

Pacific Chamber Symphony, a highly praised musical group, is holding four separate concerts at the CVHS cafeteria. The pro-fessional symphony of 25-40 musicians has been together for 15 years.

Since the symphony is nice and small, they are extremely flexible with their music. They feature an assortment of instruments including string, wind, brass and percussion.

“There’s a lot of variety in our music; the pieces range from quite serious to humorous. Maybe you’ll see some moving around of the musicians on the stage during the pieces as well,” said Lawrence Kohl, the conductor and music director of the Pacific Chamber Symphony.

Kohl, a graduate of CVHS, founded the group in 1989 with a group of supporters.

At CVHS, Kohl was active in his extracurricular activities, he was the number one ranked player on the boys’ Varsity ten-nis team, a Varsity member of the

Symphony strikes a chordBy Flora Tsang

StaFF Writer

chess team, and playing the clarinet with the school’s music programs, as well.

The symphony first started playing at the local Neighborhood Church, but since then has found many new homes including San Francisco, Pleasanton and Walnut Creek. Since then, they have de-cided to come back to their home-town of Castro Valley because of the Performing Arts Center which will be completed by 2006.

“It’ll be a nice, small hall. Large ones wouldn’t fit for a small cham-ber symphony like us,” Kohl said.

Taking place on Sunday after-noons at 3 p.m., the close by, yet professional concerts will be held in the CVHS cafeteria. Although the first concert has already passed, the second of the series will be per-formed on Nov. 21, and follows the theme “Inspired by Nature.” The third, “American Radio Hour” will be on Feb. 6, and the fourth, “Take Two” is on April 17.

Castro Valley seemed to be the perfect place for the Pacific Cham-ber Symphony, especially with the new Performing Arts Center arriv-ing in 2006.

One might wonder, why Castro

Valley? Kohl said, “How often do you get great art in your own local community? Not often. Castro Valley has that great neighborhood feeling that’s per-fect. Best of all, you won’t have to go far to hear great music.”

The symphony is hoping to make the CVHS Performing Arts Center one of their future homes, and to help out with the music programs in schools all around Castro Valley.

“We’re hoping to help out with the local music programs. Right now, ten percent of each ticket bought for the concerts goes to Music Parents Society, when MPS is mentioned,” said Kohl.

Kohl encourages the aspir-ing music students at CVHS to learn as much as they can now in the classes. “Learn how to do all the basics, like holding the instrument correctly now, and watch everyone. Watch how the professionals play, and try to do it yourself; music isn’t music till it’s played,” said Kohl.

To buy tickets or learn more about the Pacific Chamber Sym-phony, visit PacificChamberSym-phony.org.

Color Guard unites with dance teams and cheerleaders

By Trini McGeoghStaFF Writer

Historically, at the Homecom-ing halftime show, the Color Guard team performs its own routine with the band, but this year due to time restraints, the Color Guard only got to perform when all the Cas-tro Valley dance teams and cheer squads performed as one group. This is the first year that the Color Guard has performed with the cheerleaders and dance team.

During the week of the Home-coming festivities, some of the members of the Color Guard and cheerleading squads expressed their feelings before the performance at the Homecoming halftime show.

“I don’t mind performing with them, it’s just that I feel that their style of performance is really different from ours,” said sophomore Angela Carini.

Some members of the Color Guard feel upset that this was the only time that they will get recognized at Homecoming.

“I have no problem perform-ing with them. It just bothers me that in order to get recognition we have to do it this way,” said the captain of the Color Guard team, junior Melissa Rocha.

The cheerleaders feel that per-forming with the Color Guard team is a very positive thing. “It’s really good they’re joining the routine be-cause the dance includes all of the

teams from Canyon, Creekside, and the high school. It’s cool because they get to dance along-side us and be a part of it,” said senior cheerleader Becky Crump.

After the Homecoming half-time, many dancers agreed that the routine preserved each of the different and unique styles of all the teams excellently.

“It was a really good experi-ence. Everybody did well,” said Carini. When asked if she would like to do this again Carini stated, “Probably not, but I would like the option of doing it again.”

“It turned out really good. All I heard were good comments. In the routine, everybody sort of got to show off their style,” said Crump.

FEATURE6 Monday, November 15, 2004

It’s time again for the end-of-the-year holidays, and Spanish classes prepared quickly for the latest Mex-ican holiday, the Day of the Dead.

To celebrate Day of the Dead, the ALHAJA club set up a tradi-tional Day of the Dead altar last Oct. 29 in the courtyard, although the Day of the Dead is tradition-ally celebrated on Nov. 1 and 2.

“We’re making tissue paper flowers and skulls for the altar to-day,” said senior Beatriz Castillo, a member of ALHAJA, on Oct. 27.

Castillo is glad to be able to teach other people about Mexican culture by helping to make the altar.

“It’s a good way for ALHAJA to get involved in the school,” commented Chris Borzin, an-

By Stephanie SpitzerStaff Writer

The skeleton represents the departed loved ones fondly remembered during Day of the Dead.

MeliSSa love / Staff Writer

ALHAJA raises the deadother member of ALHAJA. “And it’s a chance for kids to get a feel for other cultures.”

“The ALHAJA club is also volunteering at the Oakland Museum as a Day of the Dead event. They’re setting up booths to create crafts for Day of the Dead,” said Spanish teacher and ALHAJA advisor Clare Enseñat.

Art classes are also getting involved in Day of the Dead.

“Ms. Leighton’s Art 1-2 class is working on papel picados, and my Art 3-4 and Advanced Art classes are creating them too,” said teacher Jo Sutton.

The curator of the Sun Gallery in Hayward, Fernando Hernan-dez, came to the school to pick up some of the students’ papel picados on Oct. 29 to display them at a Day of the Dead exhibit.

Sutton was very excited about the prospect of having the stu-dents’ work shown off there.

Many of the papel picados were on display in the windows of the 600 hall on Oct. 29.

This was also the last year for Cathy Brede’s infamous al-tar to everyone and anyone she and her students wish to honor.

Brede was amazed at how much the students contributed this year.

“Some students brought in exqui-site flowers. They must have cost $40 or more. They got them from Castro Valley Florist, actually.”

Enseñat’s Spanish 1-2 stu-dents will also create their own altars to learn about the holiday.

“It’s important to see that other cultures handle death differently than this culture,” Enseñat said.

In addition to the academic and aesthetic upgrades the school has attained this year, it has acquired two brand new assistant principals to help guide, manage, and accli-mate our students.

The new pair of administrators took the place of John Morrison and Peter Alvarez this summer in effort to prepare for the upcoming year.

“The summer school program was like an internship before the job,” explained Assistant Prin-cipal Shamar Edwards from her recently obtained House Four office. “I felt like the summer was my transitional time here. It helped me breathe.”

Assistant Principal Mark Autrey of House Two also agreed that the process of acclimating to Castro Valley High School was “going very smoothly,” though there was no denying the difference in culture.

“The student population is dif-ferent; the culture is different,” said Autrey. “I would like to say I’m a Philadelphia boy. I worked in St. Louis but I’m from Phila-delphia.”

Edwards concurred that CVHS is quite a contrast to the school at which she last taught.

“I [used to] teach at a school in Oakland,” said Edwards, ad-mitting that she was a “rookie” administrator. “[Castro Valley] is different population-wise, demo-graphically, racially. [However], I feel that wherever you go, there’s always a need.”

Alas, after the necessary tran-sitional period, being an adminis-trator requires a certain amount of administering rules, policies, and ideas. Both Autrey and Edwards were fully prepared to face this aspect of the job.

New APs welcome studentsBy Yelena Teplitskaya

NeWS editor

“My goal is to get to know the kids and staff and establish a level of comfort,” stated Autrey. “I hope to offer a connection to the kids as time goes on, and bring my person-ality and style to the campus.”

Edwards revealed that she, too, would like to form a bond with the students and work with the administration to better the school experience for them.

“Our responsibility [as admin-istrators] is to make students want to be here. We’re planning to work with freshmen; to make sure they know we’re here for them,” clari-fied Edwards. “We’re also working on tutorial and getting students to utilize it.”

Aside from an educator’s gen-eral crusade for literacy, Edwards insisted that she was very open and flexible about the learning process.

“I believe in real life education,” said Edwards. “I’m not a big rules person.”

Unfortunately, such a philoso-phy failed to catch on amongst the rest of the administrators because the “no cell phones” rule seems to be enforced more than ever this year.

“All we’re asking is you don’t talk or use your phone during class. It’s more respectful,” said Autrey. “It’s not a crackdown; it’s common sense.”

Now officially on board with the rest of the staff to instill com-mon sense and other values in the students of CVHS, both assistant principals have high hopes and goals for their time here.

“I think I can offer a new way of looking at things from an outsid-er’s perspective,” said Autrey.

“It’s short- and long-term that I want students to have a big experi-ence academically and socially,” added Edwards. “There’s more to school than reading, writing and arithmetic.”

By Divya GopakumarCopy editor

From preps to punks, CVHS has it all. The CVHS campus is full of different groups and dif-ferent ethnicities. Each group has its own set of members and not all people fit into these groups.

Cliques are evil in many people’s eyes and they don’t al-low people to be friends with certain others. “I hate cliques and I think that they restrict people,” said junior Kristin Bean. Bean feels she isn’t in a certain clique.

The cliques at CVHS can even scare people away from making friends with others different from them. It can be intimidating to see a group of people that all dress and

Everybody is well aware that money does not grow on trees. However, in times like these, it would be nice to have a fertil-izer that could prompt that sort of growth. This year, CVHS has taken a hit with the new budget for the 2004-2005 school year.

Many schools throughout dif-ferent districts have been deeply affected by the constraints that the budget cuts have placed upon them. Castro Valley Unified has lost $21,041,777 throughout the course of ten years. For the 2004-2005 school year, the district will lose $868,830 as a result of their 2.14 percent deficit.

“We are more fortunate than most schools. All the other schools around us are collapsing,” stated CVHS principal Debbie Coco.

Although CVHS does not show apparent signs of the budget cuts, the school has been depleted of valuable resources. Monies used

to purchase textbooks and supplies have been cut, the total amount making up 3.2% of the district’s funds. The Beginning Teacher Support Association, a program created to help assist new teach-ers to the school, has stopped earning funding altogether.

Students and s taff mem-bers won’t be the only ones involved. Parents have also been sucked into the problem.

“They now have to pay extra fees for things such as labs as well as transportation fees for athletic events,” said Coco. “The parents are start-ing to empty out their pockets.”

With all the caution going in to conserving money, no programs are receiving added funding.

Coco assures the school popu-lace that they will probably not feel the cost of having less money back-ing up the school. However, the future is still uncertain for CVHS.

“Right now we are doing pretty well. But down the road, who knows what’s going to happen?”

CVUSD faces budget cutsCliques convey diversity

By Krissy BussellStaff Writer

talk alike when you look different. “I would accept anyone, even if

they dressed in all black,” stated Bean. “As long as they are nice and we are comfortable together, I don’t care what a person looks like.” Bean is accepting to differ-ent groups and people but she feels many others at CVHS aren’t. Bob Kaer is a counselor at CVHS and thinks people group depending on how they dress. “Today when I look outside I see, clothing wise, people dressing similar,” said Kaer.

Certain people hang out with others solely based on what they wear, but others find different similarities. “I hang out with people that have the same in-terests as me, we just happen to dress the same,” said sophomore Travis Fortune. “Cliques are just

people hanging out together. They don’t take from your personality; there are individual differences in everyone even though they may look alike.”

Sometimes cliques are looked at negatively but in some people’s eyes they are a positive thing. Soph-omore Daniel Souza said, “Cliques will never be stopped, people will always have differences. Besides, cliques aren’t bad. You have to have someone on your back.”

Kaer thinks cliques are looked down upon but he doesn’t think all cliques are bad. He said cliques that restrict people are bad and can hurt others but some cliques can introduce you to life long friends. Most people would prob-ably agree that CVHS follows any stereotypical teen movie. “I think CVHS is basically comparable to “Mean Girls,” except we have more popular girls,” stated senior Noah Cowart. “There’s the preps and jocks, the rockers/punks, the nerds, the drama group, the bad kids, and the pot heads.”

Cowart feels that cliques can both be a good and bad thing. “Be-cause of cliques I have a place to go and feel comfortable, but they do

CLIQUES: Page 8

By Haseeb SadatStaff Writer

7SPORTSMonday, November 15, 2004

Homecoming game a victoryOn the most exciting day of

the school year, Oct. 22, 2004, the Varsity football team put on a show against Tennyson.

The Trojans routed the Lancers with a 49-24 win while showing off how explosive an offensive team they can be.

With extravagant Homecoming activities, an electrifying crowd, and a spectacular halftime fire-works show, junior running back Wesley Willis’ performance might have been the most impressive.

Willis stampeded over the Lanc-ers with 238 yards and five rushing touchdowns on 23 carries thanks to an offensive line that showed their grit with another dominating performance up front. Willis now has 1,045 rushing yards and 16 touchdowns in seven games.

Castro Valley charged out to an early to a 14-0 lead with help from Dustin Mooney’s blocked punt and Dexter Bowerman’s fumble recovery for a touchdown. The second score came on sophomore quarterback Michael Proulx’s a 28-yard pass to tight end Dustin Hoefer. It was Proux’s first touch-down completion of the year.

Mooney had a big day on spe-cial teams. Along with his blocked punt he also fumbled a ball on a punt return but ran it back for a 66-yard score.

Tennyson showed some resil-iency as they answered back with 12 unanswered points in the first quarter, but that was as close as they would get. The Trojan squad quickly retaliated with consecutive drives that led to two Willis touch-downs and made the score 30-12.

The football team now has to figure out where they go from here as they are surrounded by a controversy that could jeopardize their season. The Trojans (2-5 overall, and 2-4 HAAL) had to forfeit three wins after violating an eligibility rule by playing an un-derage player. Coach Craig Nieves filed an appeal to the North Coast Section in hopes of overturning the decision.

Castro Valley football is tradi-tionally known for a power run-ning game anchored by a sturdy running back who can gain the big yards.

So when last year’s senior foot-ball players left for life after high school, they left a big gap in the running game and a lot of ques-tions left to be answered.

The offensive linemen have stepped up and created holes big enough for emerging talent Wesley Willis to run through.

The junior running back amassed 1,045 rushing yards and 16 touchdowns through seven games, stabilizing a young of-fensive group. Willis leads the HAAL in running yards during league play.

“I’m definitely surprised by what I have been able to do,” said

Willis. “But I just want to make it to the playoffs.”

The San Francisco Chronicle dubbed Willis a “one-man wreck-ing crew” and The Daily Review has honored Willis by making him “Prep of the Week.”

Even though Willis has become a major offensive weapon for head coach Craig Nieves, the team cer-tainly is not a one-man show.

Linebackers James Grimes and Dustin Mooney led an experienced defense that has managed to come up big when it counts. The de-fense is a tough group, with eight seniors, but has shown signs of inconsistency this year.

“[The defense] has to play better down the stretch,” said Grimes. “If we want to win league, we have to do it with defense.”

“I’m confident that we will win every game we play for the rest of the season due to our hard work and work ethic,” said Nieves.

By Haseeb SadatStaff Writer

Willis is majoroffensive weaponWesley Willis sits on a bench during a game.

Sean ryan / Photo Editor

The CVHS girls’ tennis team has been a dominant force in the HAAL for many consecutive sea-sons, and the 2004 squad proves no exception.

Coach Floyd Barnes mentors the defending league champions, who are led by No. 1 singles player senior Andrea Phillips, and No. 1 doubles team of freshmen Jessica Endo and Hilary Ajel.

Castro Valley had a good start and maintained that early mo-mentum throughout the rest of the season. The team boasted an excellent league record of 11-2 one week prior to league finals.

The high point of Castro Val-ley’s season thus far is the team’s narrow 4-3 triumph over Arroyo, which currently has the best record in the HAAL.

By Katie ParrStaff Writer

Fall Sports

A good coach is the most im-portant element an athlete can have. Raul Perez is one of those unforgettable coaches.

“Raul never says anything nega-tive to you, or makes you feel bad about yourself. He is always jok-ing around,” said junior Katelyn Phillips.

“He is a good coach, funny and entertaining,” stated junior Becky Ribeira.

Perez started his athletic jour-ney in high school. Perez played wrestling, cross-country and track. He still holds the highest earned Varsity letters at Mc Clymond

High in Oakland. Perez earned a total of nine Varsity letters at his school.

Perez started coaching at CVHS when he first started working here, as a building and grounds worker. He heard that Peter Brewer was looking for a coach to help him out.

“A man close to Brewer told him that he ran against me in high school and remembers me to be a great runner. So one day Brewer came up to me and asked if I want-ed to help out with the coaching, and I said yes,” Perez said.

Perez has been coaching cross-country and track ever since that day for 19 years.

Perez also coached wrestling starting in 1984 and then stopped coaching it in 1994.

“I’ll probably end coaching in about five to six years depending on what my health is,” Perez said. Perez is 55 years old.

Perez has a son, Raul went to CVHS and participated in cross-country from 1990 to 1991. He also played basketball. Perez also has an 11-year-old grandson, Raul, and a nine-year-old granddaugh-

ter, Jessica. Perez is coaching his grandchildren how to run cross-country.

“After working with Raul for 19 years, I have only the utmost respect for him; he is the hardest

By Kara LawrenceStaff Writer

The life of coaching for Raul Perez

worker I know. It is true, the good cop bad cop thing. I’m the flaming sphincter and I get down and tell people the law. Raul is the one who smoothes down the ruffled feath-ers,” Brewer said.

The girls’ golf team continues to have an amazing season with a record of 12-2.

Even though the team lost to ri-val O’Dowd, the year has still gone well. The team has placed well in both tournaments they played.

“It’s fun to go out and play with the team. We all get along so well, it’s like one big family,” said soph-omore Tori Valencia. Valencia has been playing golf for CVHS for two years now.

Ed Blacom, a teacher from Rich-mond, coaches the girls’ Varsity team. As a team, Blacom feels the girls need to work on putting. The girls are strongest at their tee-off and driving shots.

They practice every day after school for an hour and a half. With all that time spent golfing, the girls have improved. The team’s stron-gest players are juniors Brittany Carrera and Brittanie Patterson.

Out of the 11 girls on the team, six will be moving on to NCS (North Coast Section). Seniors Ginger Hashimoto and Kyoko Utsumi will both be playing at NCS.

“I’m really excited about go-ing to NCS, I know we will do an awesome job. This is my last year so I am a little sad as well,”

By Arianna SpratleyStaff Writer

Girls’ Tennis has high hopes for the rest of the season

Floyd BarnesTennis Coach

Our goal as a team is to

win.

”In addition to standout Phillips

and the Endo/Ajel team, the No. 3 doubles team of juniors Alysia Wang and Tracey Chang, and No. 2 singles sophomore Jodi Tam played key roles in the victory. The win vaulted Castro Valley into a tie for first place, but a disappointing loss to Bishop O’Dowd brought Arroyo back up.

However, the Trojans are still in contention.

“Our goal as a team is to win the rest of our matches, win league, and go to NCS,” said Barnes. “There are no individual goals. We work as a team. We win or lose together.”

The team believes that Phillips, Tam, and Endo and Ajel can ad-vance to NCS. The HAAL team champion, as well as the top indi-viduals, will compete in the NCS meet in mid-Nov.

“

Girls’ Golf has amazing season of

12-2.

Kyoko UtsumiSenior

I’m really excited about

going to NCS. ”

“

said Utsumi. Others going to NCS are Ki-

yomi Utsumi, Bridget Devine, Brittanie Patterson, and Brittany Carrera.

“We had a good season. I still wish we could have beaten O’Dowd but I am very proud of the job our team has done,” said Hashimoto.

DISTRACTIONS 8

Teen voting bill fails

By Divya GopakumarCopy Editor

Monday, November 15, 2004

District budget decreased this year

Homecoming hires spirit

Senior firefighters march and show support for the class of 2005 in the parade.

Freshmen take pride in their class of 2006 by marching on the courtyard stage atlunchtime.

Doctors of 2007 prove to be on-call and ready to cure Trojans with their picturesque float.

Junior boxers are truly ready to rumble with their first place

Homecoming float.

Marijuana dealings:An officer arrested a sophomore

boy for possession of 5.4 grams of marijuana for sale on campus. A teacher first caught him in the 200 hall boys’ restroom on Oct. 1 at about 2:00 p.m.

During the week of Oct. 11, un-identified non-students allegedly stole marijuana from a sophomore boy on campus at about 2:00 p.m. He was also reported to have 42 marijuana plant seeds in his pos-session. The student was arrested for possession for sales.

Assault:On the first day of school, Aug.

25, a campus patroller witnessed an assault on a junior male student in the 600 parking lot at 2:35 p.m. The officers apprehended alleged adult male offender. The student sustained a swollen face. The al-leged offender was later charged with a misdemeanor for battery on school grounds.

Sophomore arrested for dealing marijuana

La Point’s Laundry List

Possession of a Stabbing Instru-ment:

A campus patroller found a 16-year-old non-student smoking after school on campus on Aug. 26. He brought the boy to the Student Resource Officer. The non-student was found to have a knife with a four-inch blade on his person. Officers arrested him on a felony charge for possession of a stabbing instrument on school grounds.

During summer school, a fresh-man girl brought a lock in knife with a three-inch blade to school. She was apprehended for posses-sion of a stabbing instrument.

Alcohol:Two sophomore boys were ar-

rested for consuming alcoholic beverages on Sept. 10 at 6:15 p.m. One student was sent to Eden Hos-pital and the other was released to his parents. One hour later, a third sophomore was arrested for being under the influence of alcohol. The suspects faced the court under the charge of “unable to take care of self due to public intoxication.”

Fire:A freshman girl admitted to

throwing a cigarette butt in a trash can in the upstairs 700 hall girls’ restroom. About 2,600 students evacuated the buildings following the alarms set off by the smoke de-tectors on Oct. 20. Police officers arrested the student for starting the fire. Deputy Egelston and a custodian suffered from smoke inhilation and were treated at Eden Hospital that day.

All information reported is accord-ing to Deputy La Point.

Compiled by Erin Gaab

State Senator John Vasconcellos proposed a radical bill last Febru-ary. The bill would have allowed teenagers as young as 14 to have a partial vote.

Unfortunately for teens, the bill failed to pass through committee, five to three.

create distance between stu-dents.”

People at CVHS and every-where automatically judge others by what they look like and what they wear so groups are naturally

Campus harbors many cliques

CLIQUES: From Page 6

formed. It is only human to hang out with people that look the same and listen to the same music, but it is time for people to realize that different people still have things in common with others.

Negative cliques should be broken up and more positive ones should be formed.

Photos compiled by Kara Lawrence

Sophomores Kelsey Lee and Katherine Telles dress up to promote 2007 spirit in honor of this year’s Homecoming week.