the ragon OutlookA volume lii, issue no. 3 900 alameda de las pulgas, san mateo, ca 94402 Nov. 16, 2012

by Monica MaiNews Staff

After months of hard work and preparation, Aragon’s Drama Department debuted this year’s fall musical, “How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying,” on Thursday, Nov. 15 after a pre-view night on Wednesday, Nov. 14. Over the course of the past two days, audiences have been entertained by performances in the new theater.

A satirical comedy, “How to Succeed” follows the story of window washer J. Pierrepont Finch, played by senior Kevin Dwyer. Finch, who adopts the advice of a book entitled “How to Succeed in Business Without Trying,” lands a job in the mail room of the World Wide Wicket Company and climbs the corpo-rate ladder. Along the way, he confronts antagonism in the form of the company’s boss’ nephew, Bud Frump, played by junior Hayden Phinney, and encounters the enamored advances of secre-tary Rosemary Pilkington, played by senior Laynie Mitchell.

Mitchell notes, “As my last musical at this school, it’s just been really special. It’s just been a way to consecrate the new the-ater and bond with new people … This is the biggest part I’ve ever

continued on page 4

centerspread pgs. 8-9 features pg. 6

high schoolaragon

By Kira Brenner and Olivia Marcus

News Editor and Editor in Chief

Former Aragon math teacher and administrator John Mahaffy passed away on Oct. 25, 2012 at the age of 77.

Mahaffy began his teach-ing career at Mills High School, but after marrying a fellow Mills teacher, he became the first teacher as-signed to the newly opened Aragon High School. Ma-haffy taught mathematics at Aragon from 1961 to 1970, served as chairman of the Mathematics Department, and later became Aragon’s Dean of Instruction. In the following years, Mahaffy served as Assistant Principal for Student Services, Busi-ness Services, and Curricu-lum and Instruction before becoming the district’s Chief Financial Officer in 1987. The Class of 1987 awarded Mahaffy an Honorary Diplo-ma at graduation. Mahaffy continued to serve the San Mateo Union High School District until his retirement in 1997.

On Oct. 15, 2011, Mahaffy was inducted into the Ara-gon Hall of Fame in honor of his distinguished service during his 27-year career at Aragon. Each year after his retirement, Mahaffy award-ed a scholarship to a senior or seniors who “contributed most to Aragon.” [Kevin Al-lan], who received one of Mahaffy’s awards before graduating last May, says, “I didn’t know Mr. Mahaffy that well, but I did get a chance to talk with him at the Awards Night. I was truly inspired by him. He recognized people not by their academic abili-ties or grades, but by their willingness to give back to the community around them and to lead people to do great things.”

By Isaac WangNews Staff

The Dons continued their 21-year winning streak against the Hillsdale Knights on Friday, Nov. 9 with a crushing 61-28 victory at Aragon.

On game day, the Dons ran onto the field pumped and ready to dominate. Their eager-ness certainly showed in the first quarter. Senior J.D. Elzie scored on a rushing touchdown within the first minute of the game. After a quick turnover on downs, junior Marcel Jack-son scored again in the second minute of the game. Through-out the entire first quarter, the defense shut down Hillsdale’s offense.

continued on page 4

“How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying” debuts as inaugural Aragon musical in new theater

Aragon Dons line up in their characteristic iron curtain defensive line during the fourth quarter of the Homecoming game. Samantha Soon

VaLeRie peReZ

Kevin Dwyer (Finch) and Hayden Phin-ney (Frump) on stage during “How to Succeed.”

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Dons defeat Knights for 21st consecutive Homecoming victory

In fond memory:John Mahaffy dies at age 77

news pg. 2

Confused about the effects of Proposition 30? Check out the analysis on page two.

centerspread pgs. 8-9 features pg. 6

Read up on the details of Aragon PE’s coming changes for the next school year.

The Dollars Behind the Dons: Check out how sports are funded at Aragon.

by Brandon YanNews Staff

On Tuesday, Nov. 6, Califor-nia voters took to the polls to de-cide the future of California edu-cation and approved Proposition 30 with 54 percent of the vote for and 46 percent against. Mean-while, Proposition 38 failed with 72 percent against and 28 percent for. With California currently in a multi-billion dollar budget defi-cit, cuts to education have been utilized as a means of balancing the budget. After several years of painful cuts, many are outraged and dismayed by the inability of the government to protect educa-tion and ultimately the posterity’s welfare. Some, including Gov. Jerry Brown and civil rights at-torney Molly Munger, have taken the issue to California voters in the 2012 election each with a measure on the ballot.

Prop 30, spearheaded by Cali-fornia Gov. Jerry Brown, is pro-jected to generate $6 billion annu-ally in additional revenue, which would help balance the state budget and prevent cuts to K-12 schools, universities and com-munity colleges. It accomplishes these goals through tax increases. Prop 30 raises personal income tax for seven years on those earn-ing $250,000 or more. The cur-rent state personal income tax rate is 9.3 percent, but under this proposal, the rate will increase by one to three percent depending on the income bracket. In addi-tion, the state-imposed sales tax will go up a quarter percent to 7.5 percent for four years. Including local sales tax, the median rate in San Mateo County will rise to 8.5 percent.

While tax hikes in a troubled economy are concerning, Brown, on a recent interview with KTVU, reasons, “We either get the new money assumed by our budget or we cut the 6 billion, [which would mean] a couple of weeks of school gone, thousands of classes gone, [and] tuition dramatically up at U.C. and Cal State.”

However, Brown also explains why California is in the position it is today. He says, “We had a big deficit when I took over – $27 bil-lion. I’ve cut $20 billion of that. The last piece is either more cuts or this temporary revenue.”

In contrast, Prop 38, backed by

attorney Molly Munger, was pro-jected to raise $10 billion in fiscal year 2013-14 with more revenue in years after. It would have raised the personal income tax of most Californians, except those in the lowest tax bracket, by 0.4 percent to 2.2 percent and would have been in place until 2024. The rev-enue generated would have been allocated mostly towards K-12 schools with the remaining going towards lowering state debt and childcare programs. Unlike Prop 30, this initiative could not be amended by the state legislature.

One of the principal reasons Munger put forth Prop 38 is that state legislatures do not have the power to make changes to it. Only voter approval of an-other ballot can change or nullify

Prop 38. Munger points out, “I don’t think we’d have a very good functioning de-mocracy if we always just did

what one person at the top want-ed. In fact, one of the reasons we have democracy is because that old method, which is to just do what the king says, led to some very bad decisions over time.”

Despite the good intentions of proponents of both initiatives, the negative campaigning employed by both sides had nearly jeopar-dized the passage of either.

“Prop 30 will provide more immediate relief and keep the ed-ucation system stable in Califor-nia,” says sophomore Benjamin Maisonpierre, “[But] instead of worrying if one of the two failed, I would worry more if both failed to pass. We would be at a loss for how to fund education.”

If neither proposition had passed, cuts to education in the state budget would have been imminent, and Aragon and the district would have had to face tougher economic times.

Prior to the election, SMUHSD Deputy Superintendent Elizabeth McManus said, “We would be looking at about $3.8 million dol-lars of additional funding reduc-tions in January… so some type of service or program [would] have to be eliminated, and the bottom line is that [$3.8 million] is a lot of elimination. We [would have been] looking at [cuts to] supports classes, art classes, counseling services… custodians, groundskeepers [and increased] fees.”

If those cuts were all translated

into teacher layoffs, “That’s about 38 teachers…and if you…times 30 students times five periods: that’s the impact on students,” says McManus.

However, despite the under-standing that one or both of these propositions must pass to protect California education, some prefer one to the other.

AP Psychology teacher Carlo Corti, also the vice president of the Teachers Association for the San Mateo Unified High School District, noted prior to the elec-tion, “[The teacher’s association] endorses and strongly supports and are advocating [for] Prop 30. We think that it’s a more respon-sible initiative [and] deals more with our immediate budget crises while also protecting money for education.”

Unlike Prop 38, Gov. Brown’s ballot measure also provides re-lief for higher education institu-tions. The CSU system has pre-viously sent out controversial letters to high school applicants warning that there may not be room for them if Prop 30 did not pass.

“The UCs, CSUs and commu-nity colleges would definitely take a hit. They’ve already been scaled back the last couple of years so they can’t offer the courses they used to,” says Assistant Principal Jim Coe. “Hopefully the [new] budget will reinstate those funds so that those schools can take in more students and offer the pro-grams that they need for students to graduate, so [students] are not on five or six year programs, and they can get out in four with their BA degrees.”

While the passage of Proposi-tion 30 provides critical financial security to our public schools, the changes it makes to the tax code are temporary, and what remains to be seen is how Cali-fornia schools will improve and compete well into the future. Nonetheless, Prop 30 may take a large first step towards solving the state’s deficit crises and sets the stage for a more responsible fiscal future.

Corti says, “I think Prop 30 makes significant structural changes to the [state] budget. Hopefully, in seven years our economy will have rebounded, and there is a bigger tax base, and they don’t have to extend any tax [increases] then.”

by Victoria YanNews Staff

On Oct. 30, Aragon held a mock election open to all stu-dents. Government teacher Dr. Frederick Chancellor initiated the election and was aided by members of Leadership, the Black Student Union and Ser-vice Commission. Students were able to elect the president and state senator as well as vote on state propositions 34, 35, 36 and 37.

While the social studies de-partment chose four of the elev-en propositions that would spark student’s interests, senior Sally Hosokawa comments, “I think they left out a lot of the impor-tant ones like Prop 32... But I also understand ... why they left it out, because it’s really subjec-tive, and it’s a lot more contro-versial than a lot of the other ones.”

Sophomore Elisa Han says, “I don't think [the propositions] have been put out to the public as much, so it's hard to give my opinions on the propositions when I hardly know anything about them.”

Of the 1,449 students at Ara-gon, 82 percent cast votes. The results were a victory for Demo-crats: President Barack Obama won a total of 933 votes and Senator Dianne Feinstein won a total of 941 votes.

All propositions voted on during the mock election passed. Prop 34, which favored the elimination of the death penalty in California, won with 603 votes. Prop 35 won with 825 votes, increasing penalties for Human Trafficking. Prop 36, a modification of the Three Strikes Law, won with a total of 723. Prop 37, which mandates the labeling of genetically engi-neered foods, won with 719.

Aragon’s results were similar to the majority of participating schools in the state of Califor-nia. The majority of schools also elected President Obama, Senator Feinstein, and passed Propositions 35, 36, and 37.

While San Mateo County and other neighboring counties tend to be liberal, many areas, such as Orange County and Fresno County, are primarily composed of Republicans. AP Govern-

ment teacher Scott Silton com-ments, “Pro-capital punishment has been the majority opinion in this country—relatively every-where—for a long, long time. It may be that teenagers don’t like authority, so when in doubt, vote for less punishment, less author-ity. Or, it may be that there’s a large number of people who have any religious or moral ob-jection to the death penalty.”

On a national level, Ara-gon’s preference for Obama was evenly matched by nationwide results. Silton remarks, “I think it’s pretty obvious that Aragon and the student body leans left. San Mateo County went for Obama at around 70 to 30 among registered adult voters. So, Ara-gon students had an even higher supermajority for President Obama. You take a Democratic area like San Mateo County and a slice of young people in that county, it’s not surprising that it was so overwhelmingly in favor of Mr. Obama.”

As for the mock election, Chancellor, who is a strong ad-vocate of voter participation, says, “[The mock election] is part of the learning process for the students... Many students learn that they don’t know how to vote for these propositions because they hadn’t taken the time to learn on their own.”

Similarly, Silton remarks, “I do want students to become ac-tive citizens... and get in the hab-it of thinking about that before they are actually able to cast a ballot, so when they’re eighteen, it’ll be normal. It’ll feel like a routine or a social expectation. I like that the state is making the effort to do this because it feels a little bit more respectful that the state Department of Elections is at least making a separate tally and getting people involved in those civic habits.”

In the future, Chancellor hopes that students become even more knowledgeable. He re-marks, “I think it’s important to not only read the newspaper and magazines...I also think it’s im-portant that they talk with their parents. They need to under-stand what their parents believe and why they believe it, because that’s part of what that family is and why that family votes, and why it votes that way.”

Mock elections simulate democracy at Aragon

maria menshikova

melissa moySenior Igor Oliveira submits his ballot.

NEWS volume lii, issue no. 3friday, november 16, 20122

Props 30 and 38:

impacts oneducation

analyzing their

The negative campaigning employed by both sides had nearly jeopardized the passage of either.

For more, visit aragonoutlook.org

by Cleo WienbarNews Staff

In order to combat hunger in San Mateo County, Aragon Lead-ership organized a canned food drive to benefit the Second Har-vest Food Bank. The drive, titled the “Hunger Games” after the book trilogy by Suzanne Collins, started with the home football game versus Terra Nova on Oct. 26 and ended on Nov. 9. Bring-ing a can of food for the drive not only gave participants one dollar off football game admission, but also allowed students to earn spir-it points for their class.

Teacher Katherine Ward, who pitched the “Hunger Game” theme, says, “We are always looking at ways to get students to participate in events that bring them together and help them get

to know each other. [The Hunger Game] was just a way to take an event that people would normally go to and use that as an opportu-nity for them to also contribute to a cause.”

Michelle Berg, the New Me-dia and Events Manager for Sec-ond Harvest Food Bank, says, “A large percentage of our food drive donations come from youth groups, and these cans, boxes and other non-perishables are truly gifts for our neighbors in need. Donations from school drives al-low us to create balanced menus for local families.”

Junior Melissa Spaulding, who donated food at the Terra Nova game, says, “It’s a great way to get people motivated to help oth-ers. Not only is it the right thing to do, you also gain from it by receiving spirit points and a re-duced admission price.”

Concerning the spirit point process, Dwyer explains, “Each class brings 250 cans to get 100 spirit points. If they raise under that amount, they get negative 500 spirit points, and then for every extra can brought past 250 cans, you get...one point...We wanted to set the bar low to make sure that everyone can reach that limit and bring extra cans. But it’s more like if we were way off then we will probably lower it or raise it depending.”

In an effort to collect as much food as possible for Second Har-vest, the Terra Nova community was also invited to participate. Ward says, “Flyers were sent to Terra Nova saying that the Ara-gon Dons invited them to the Hunger Game, and that if their spectators brought a can that they would also get in for a dollar off. Any parent from Terra Nova that

is coming to watch their student can get in for one dollar off if they also bring a can, because the point here is that we want Second Harvest to win, and we want to end the hunger crisis in San Ma-teo County. It doesn’t really mat-ter whether it’s just Aragon who’s doing that, or whether it’s the en-

tire community.”Senior Carly Olson, who

worked for Service Commission at the football game agrees, say-ing “Doing cans at the football game is a good idea, so parents can have a chance to bring cans too. It’s a good way to make it more public.”

by Jordan KranzlerNews Staff

This month, Aragon began its outreach efforts to incoming freshman from various middle schools. In addition to redesign-ing eighth grade shadow days, Aragon displayed its array of ac-tivities and programs through its open houses and EXPO night.

In past years, shadow days allowed eighth graders to come to Aragon and follow freshmen during second, third, and fourth period. However, this process had several drawbacks. Ex-plains freshman counselor Stacy Becker-Kim, “The feedback we received from both parents and students after shadow days was not consistent. Sometimes peo-ple had a great experience with their freshman ambassador, and other times they had an ambas-sador who wasn’t talkative or didn’t have classes that they were interested in. We decided that this was not the best format and not the best way to show off Aragon.”

The new shadow system, developed by the Aragon coun-seling department, now places eighth graders in groups led by counseling faculty. This al-lows students to go on tours through Aragon classes under the guidance of counselors in-stead of freshmen. The counsel-ing department made an effort to arrange groups by academic interest so that prospective stu-dents could see classes that they would likely take at Aragon.

After observing classes, eighth graders were then shown a presentation by Aragon Lead-ership. Leadership student and current sophomore Catherine van Blommestein, notes that this presentation aims to make the eighth graders feel comfortable at Aragon. Says van Blommes-tein, “The purpose of this pre-sentation is to welcome the stu-dents to Aragon and show them

the great aspects of our school.”Students have mixed opin-

ions about this change. Fresh-man Cami Nemschoff, who shadowed as an eighth grader, feels that there is something spe-cial and important about having a specific student to shadow. Notes Nemschoff, “I liked fol-lowing a student because [in doing so], you get a student’s perspective of the school. Ad-ditionally, because I requested a friend, it made me more com-fortable asking questions about the school.”

Aragon also reaches out to middle school students and par-ents through open houses. Ara-gon’s main open house for pro-spective students is the Aragon EXPO, which was held on Nov. 8. Leadership students and Ser-vice Commissioners led tours of campus, including the new CTE building and the theater. These tours were followed by a presentation in the gym commenced by Princi-pal Kurtz and contin-ued by Leadership stu-dents, counselors, and department heads.

According to Beck-er-Kim, Leadership was a logical portion of the student body to in-corporate in outreach efforts. Says Becker-Kim, “Leadership students have already been trained to be ambassadors for Aragon.

When we had freshmen act as ambassadors in previous years, it was difficult for them to an-swer questions because they had only been at Aragon for two or three months.”

Overall, Aragon’s outreach efforts have received positive reviews from the community. Says Becker-Kim, “We have received very positive feed-back not only from prospective students and parents, but also from teachers, who find the new shadow system to be much less disruptive and much more infor-mative. Now, we are much more in control of the process and can focus on promoting all that Ara-gon has to offer.”

by Matt McHughNews Staff

On Tuesday, Nov. 6, President Barack Obama was reelected as the president of the United States, defeating Republican challenger Mitt Romney. Although the re-sults were not expected to come in until later in the evening, Obama was called by all of the major net-works less than 30 minutes after west coast polls closed.

A major reason for Romney’s defeat was Obama’s support from Hispanic voters. Sophomore Luis Villegas says, “I support Obama because of his position on immigration.” Obama’s most notable piece of legislation con-cerning immigration reform is the DREAM Act, which would aid 1.7 million young immigrants in becoming citizens.

Villegas is one of many His-panics that supported Obama. About 69 percent of Hispanic voters voted for Obama on Elec-tion Day, most due to his recogni-tion and support of the Hispanic community.

Despite California being a dominantly Democratic state, not all of Aragon is for Obama. Soph-omore Jahangir Rassouli says, “If I had to pick a political party, I’m probably mostly supportive of the Green Party because I think we need to change our environment, and Obama and Romney aren’t putting priority on environmental issues.”

Sophomore Elena Eniouko-va supports neither Obama nor Romney. She elaborates, “Rom-ney was not smart enough to be respectful towards Obama dur-ing the presidential debate about foreign policy, and Obama, in the previous presidential election, put too much time and energy into foreign issues and not enough at-tention towards our own issues in the U.S.”

In addition to the presidential election, California voters decid-ed on eleven propositions during Election Day. One proposition, Prop 34, would have repealed the

death penalty in California. It did not pass, with 52.7 percent of vot-ers voting not to repeal the death penalty.

Supporters of this proposi-tion believe that passing Prop 34 would have saved the state mon-ey because of the high cost for defense attorneys in death penalty cases. Since 2011, California has spent about $4 billion to execute 13 people which, according to former federal judge Arthur Alar-cón, is $184 million more than the cost to implement sentences for life.

In addition to the financial is-sue, many people supported Prop 34 because of ethical issues. Ju-nior Jansen Yan says, “I support Prop 34 because no matter how badly someone screws up, they don’t deserve to die for their ac-tions.”

The opposition believed that it is necessary to punish the worst criminals with death. Their belief is that without a harsh penalty system, people will start to break more laws. Many attorneys op-posed this proposition due to their income being largely derived from death penalty cases.

Another major proposition in California was Proposition 37, which would have required man-datory labeling for genetically modified foods. The supporters of this proposition believe that people have the right to know what they are eating. They also believe that if people know what is in their food, it can help prevent health risks.

Rassouli strongly agrees with Prop 37. He says, “People need to know what their food is made from, and the higher costs are irrelevant. The right to know is more important.”

The opposition to Proposition 37 believes that it is a “decep-tive food labeling scheme” that will create too many lawsuits and legal issues, which is especially frustrating for farmers. They also argue that it will cost the average consumer up to $400 per year, but have no statistical proof.

CRISTINA ASHBAUGH

Senior Carly Olson and AP Biology teacher Katie Ward donate at the Hunger Game food drive.

mARIA meNSHIkovA

volume lii, issue no. 3friday, november 16, 2012 NEWS 3Hunger Game unite Dons in sport and charity

Reaching out to 8th grade students through new shadow system at Aragon

Four more years: Obama wins reelection

by Brianne FelsherNews Staff

“There’s something really spe-cial about sharing your favorite dish with other people,” said Ju-nior Alana Young at the Interna-tional Food Fair (IFF). At the IFF, the Aragon community came to-gether to share food, culture and entertainment. This year, the IFF was held in the remodeled South Gym from 5:30 p.m. to 7:30 p.m. on Oct. 23 with approximately 400 people in attendance.

It featured food from Mexico, Peru, the Philippines, France, Italy, China, Korea, India, Japan, Ireland, the USA, Cuba, El Sal-vador, Greece, Austria, and the Middle East. Irish bread, edam-ame, spring rolls, and Austrian desserts were some of the night’s attractions. Flags from different countries hung from each booth. Attendants had the opportunity to sample new and different foods for one dollar per dish.

Freshman Crystal Ge says, “My favorite food would prob-ably be the Greek falafel, because the cheese that was used was re-ally good and [it] was really nice and crispy.”

In addition to food, the IFF hosted entertainment from the Aragon Jazz Band and Chamber Orchestra. Greek, Polynesian, and Filipino dances were also performed.

Junior Nicole Sanchez, a member of the Filipino club, per-formed a Filipino dance called Ti-nikling with three other students. Sanchez says, “[Tinikling is] a traditional Filipino dance usually for fiestas. I think [the IFF] is a great opportunity to share cul-tures.”

The IFF hoped to present food as not only sustenance, but also culture and community. Nancy Cerreta, Aragon parent and co-chair of the IFF, says, “I think [the IFF is] one of the only events at Aragon where all of the different

families from diverse cultures can come together.”

Grace Ge, an Aragon parent and volunteer at the IFF’s Chi-nese booth, says, “I think [the IFF is] a great way to promote differ-ent cultures. Food is the easiest thing for people to know each other, to accept each other.”

The IFF originally began as a way to share school spirit and culture. Founder of the IFF, Mike Loy, explains, “There was no in-teraction between kids at school... So what I did was started say-ing ‘Well, How can we get more spirit in the school?’ The best way to get people together is through food.”

The IFF was organized by over 80 parent volunteers, Ara-gon staff, and Leadership; stu-dents also helped at some of the booths. The PTSO, Asian Par-ent Group, Latino Parent Group, Aragon parents, and the IFF’s co-chairs worked together to find volunteers, making an effort to reach a diverse group of people.

Countries for the event were decided on a volunteer basis and were generally coordinated by one or two families. Some booths cooked their own food, and oth-ers bought food from local restau-rants. The IFF was sponsored by Pasta Pasta, Tannourine, The Mir-iam Chirko Group, Astaria, and Amici’s Pizzeria. Kardosh says, “[The IFF’s] also good advertise-ment... We have many families here [at Aragon] who have res-taurants.”

The IFF also served as a fund-raiser for the PTSO. Although en-trance was free, the PTSO made money from food sales, raising $3,221 from the sale of one dollar tickets.

Sophie Perisic, co-chair of the IFF and Aragon parent, says, “It reminds me of the Olympics; you have all the countries that are to-gether to have a good time. The food at each booth is very rep-resentative of the food of each country. In one night you can ba-sically go around the world.”

Stanley KrzeSniaK

Junior Sean Lum serves cooked dumplings at the Japanese Booth.

continued from page 1played. It’s a different pressure, but it’s the best kind there is. I’ve had to push myself to be as big as I can be on stage.”

Senior Skylar Assaf, who plays Miss Krumholtz, adds, “I think what makes this show great is how you can be vulnerable with your emotions on stage with this cast. We are unified by that, we are all acting together more com-fortably.”

Junior Brendan Stanton, who plays a myriad of roles, simply notes, “There’s something inter-esting about being in the past and playing a character completely unlike myself for the most part. It’s quite enthralling. I dislike having to wear a used football uniform…I [also] have to put on a fat suit…It makes me fat and

angry.”Commenting on the era in

which the production takes place, senior Christy Conway, who plays a cheerleader and secretary, says, “Our costumes are based on 1960’s business attire, which is when the show takes place. The TV show “Mad Men” was a ma-jor source of inspiration for most costumes.”

Freshman Olivia Tandowsky who plays the same roles, adds, “We’re all dressed for the work-place. All of the girls have cat eyes, bright lips, pointed shoes, and big jewelry. And of course, the hair is always big, with a ton of hairspray.”To ‘consecrate the new theater’

For the large audience, the parking situation appears to be convenient for patrons. Director

Shane Smuin reports, “My under-standing is that the people can go park over in the student parking lot, and obviously on the Alam-eda. For students with driving licenses, and for the drama boost-ers, and for myself and other ar-tistic staff, we have parking spots behind the building.”

The old theater had 335 seats whereas the new theater has just under 620. Smuin states, “I hope it will be a full house every single performance.”

Tandowsky adds, “The sets are amazing and I think overall the cast will have something to live up to. We need to be as great as the new theater.”

Aside from the added pressure of potentially performing before a larger audience, the new the-ater provides many new enhance-

ments to the show production. Smuin reports, “We actually have an orchestra pit, among other ma-jor acoustic improvements. We have actual dressing rooms as op-posed to makeshift storage rooms that were turned in to dressing rooms. We have a rear projection system. That [screen] is like a big movie screen so we can show a still image or a moving image that fits the story. There’s a big tech-nological improvement as far as theatrical backdrops go.”

Choreographer Lisa Cross adds, “The entire feeling is dif-ferent. The audience will be more comfortable. The sound is going to be better. I think it’s fantas-tic. The stage is so much deeper. There is that possibility of more movement in the choreography.”

It was sad to see the old the-

ater go, but this musical will be a great start for the new theater. Regarding the old theater, Smuin concludes, “Lots of memories. Lots and Lots of memories. It was bittersweet to see it go.”

Additional reporting by Sang-won Yun and Annika Ulrich.

continued from page 1Coach Steve Sell claims,

“I’m really proud of our pass defense. They stepped up their game.” The Dons continued pouring it on, with Jackson scor-ing another rushing touchdown six minutes into the game. When the first quarter ended, the Dons appeared to be in total control, with a score of 21-0.

The Dons carried their mo-mentum into the second quar-ter, with senior Andrew Walker recovering a fumble and junior Patrick Pauni rushing into the end zone with 8:56 left in the quarter. The rushing touchdown brought the game score to 28-0.

However, the Hillsdale Knights would not go down without a fight. Hillsdale quar-terback Cole C a r r i t h e r s threw a 37 yard pass to wide-out John Paran. Then, A.J. Bernal of the Knights rushed it in for a 5-yard touchdown with 5:47 left in the quarter, get-ting the Knights on the board with a score of 28-7. The Dons again fumbled the ball away on their next possession and Bernal rushed the ball in after a brief Knight’s drive. The Knights cut the lead in half and had made it a ball game again.

The Dons appeared to be struggling on offense. They were often penalized for false starts, making it difficult to put together a successful drive. However, junior and quarter-back Nat Blood completed key passes to wide receiver and se-nior Aldo Severson. The Dons managed to score on a 15 yard rush by Senior Kyle Kaye with 38 seconds left in the half. This widened Aragon’s lead to 35-14.

After a halftime performance by the Aragon and Hillsdale cheerleaders and dance teams, the Dons ran onto the field, de-termined to pull away. They did just that. Senior Isiah Atchan intercepted the ball, which was followed by a rushing touch-down by Elzie. Hillsdale coun-tered with a touchdown of their own, but that was all they could muster.

The Dons took over the fourth quarter. Senior David Manoa ran into the end zone, pushing the score up to 49-21. Senior Brandon Gordon then in-tercepted the ball and ran it all the way in, causing the Dons to run away with a 56-21 score. But

they were not done yet. Kaye s p r i n t e d into the end zone for his second touchdown, hammering the nail into the coffin. The Dons

finished with a crushing victory of 61-28.

Sell says, “This game was very special, playing a rival in front of the home crowd. It was fun and great for the kids. I’m glad we came out of here with a win.”

Following a close 32-31 win against Terra Nova, Blood and Severson were featured in the San Mateo Daily Journal as Players of the Week.

The Dons now stand at 7-3 in the league and will face Leland High School in the first round of CCS Division II playoffs to-night at 7 p.m. at Leland High School.

“This game was very special, playing a rival in front of the home crowd. It was fun and great for the kids. I’m glad we came out of here with a win.”

Steve SellAragon Football Coach

and Athletic Director

Please visit our website, www.aragonoutlook.org, for an exclusive photo gallery of

the Homecoming game.

“How to Succeed” will run Nov. 16 and Nov. 17 at 7 p.m. and Nov. 18 at 2 p.m. Tick-ets are $10 for students and $15 for adults ($17 at the door) and can be purchased at www.aragondrama.com. Show your support for Aragon Drama by liking their Face-book page.

NEWS volume lii, issue no. 3friday, november 16, 20124

Aragon’s International Food Fair unites world cultures

“How to Succeed” entertains audience in new theater

Dons capture victory against Knights

volume lii, issue no. 3friday, november 16, 2012 5ARTS & ENTERTAINMENT

The story centers around an emotionally distant protago-nist, Joel Barrish (Jim Carrey), who learns that his ex-girl-friend, Clementine Kruczynski (Kate Winslet) has undergone a futuristic-procedure to re-move her memories of him. Distraught, Joel decides to un-dergo the same treatment. Af-ter visiting the mysterious firm “Lacuna,” the story takes place in Joel’s mind. As his memories are erased, he begins fighting to keep his more tender moments with Clementine, and finds himself wandering through the backmost corners of his mind. An arching story that ends with a twist, Eternal Sunshine reaches out and touches the au-dience, taking viewers through their own maze of memories and emotions.

ETERNAL SUNSHINE OF

THE SPOT-LESS MIND

The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly, stars Clint Eastwood and follows three characters who are on the search for $200,000 of lost Confederate money dur-ing the American Civil War. Directed by Sergio Leone, The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly was a trailblazer in the Spa-ghetti Western genre. Now considered one of the greatest western movies of all-time, The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly is a must watch.

THE GOOD,THE BAD,AND THE

UGLY

“I didn’t kill my wife!” shouts Dr. Richard Kimble (Harrison Ford), in this icon-ic 1993 thriller. After being wrongfully accused of his wife’s murder, Kimble escapes from captivity and begins an epic search to discover his wife’s actual killer. Kimble’s escape sparks a national man-hunt, and a team of US mar-shals led by Deputy Samuel Gerard (Tommy Lee Jones) soon pick up his trail. If you’re looking for an action movie rich with chase scenes, and some intelligent entertainment, this 1993 classic is for you. The Fugitive will kick up your heartbeat and not give you a minute to rest until it’s all over.

THE FUGITIVE

A classic Christmas movie, It’s a Wonderful Life is in some ways a similar tale to Dickens’ A Christmas Carol. The story focuses on George Bailey, a man who has many dreams that never seem to work out. When he reaches his middle age, he goes bankrupt and screams to the sky, “I wish I’d never exist-ed!” An angel then appears and shows George the life other people would have had without his continual kindness and gen-erosity. Despite this simple plot line, the movie is truly touch-ing and a great movie to watch during the holidays.

IT’S A WON-DERFUL LIFE Harvey tells the tale of El-

wood P. Dowd and his best friend, Harvey. Elwood and Harvey have a wonderful friendship except for one small catch: Harvey is a 6 foot tall rabbit that only Elwood can see. As a result, Elwood faces ostracization due to his inex-plicabley resolute belief in Harvey’s existence. This meta-phorical examination explores the societal definitions of nor-malcy through a very beautiful-ly crafted film. If you’re having a rough day, Harvey is sure to put a smile on your face.

HARVEY

2001: A Space Odyssey follows a space voyage on its quest to discover the truth of several large black monoliths that seem to have affected the course of human evolution. Humanity decides to send the spacecraft Discovery One (XD-1) to investigate the origins of the monolith at Jupiter. With a crew of scientists and pilots, the ship sets off to uncover the mystery of the monolith. Un-expected complications with the crew and mission slightly derail the original intentions of the mission, but discovery awaits the voyage at Jupiter. 2001: A Space Odyssey is a must-see classic, a pioneer in the cinematic exploration of artificial intelligence and extra-terrestrial life.

2001: A SPACE

ODYSSEYMary and Max paints a very

bleak story of a young girl growing up in Australia with distant parents and without friends. After deciding she will write to an American she ran-domly finds in a phone book, Mary sends her first letter to Max, a morbidly obese and equally lonely 40-year-old man living in New York City. The film tells the endearing story of their daily struggles and grow-ing friendship that is filled with wickedly dark humor. Never before has a clay-animated been able to evoke such a range of emotions. Expect some good laughs and a few tears by the time you’ve watched the whole thing.

MARY AND MAX

Starring Tom Cruise as a misogynistic motivational speaker, Julianne Moore as a morphine addicted trophy wife, and Philip Seymour Hoffmann as a hospice nurse, Magnolia masterfully intertwines this star studded cast. Backed by an Aimee Mann soundtrack, Mag-nolia highlights the role of pure chance in everyday life and the struggles we will all face throughout our lives. If you can handle a 3-hour run time, Magnolia will not leave you disappointed.

MAGNOLIA

A talented cast, an intrigu-ing plot, and masterful film-ing make Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy a great pick for any movie night. George Smiley, played by Gary Oldman, investigates a Soviet agent in MI6 (the Brit-ish secret service) in the mid-dle of the Cold War. The plot builds, and the end of the mov-ie is a complete surprise. What truly makes this movie stand out is its all-star cast, com-posed of Colin Firth, Benedict Cumberbatch, Mark Strong, Toby Jones, and many others.

TINKERTAILOR

SOLDIER SPY

MOVIES YOU SHOULD SEE BEFORE YOU GRADUATE10

Quentin Tarantino’s first screenplay, True Romance, starts with a bang and works its way up to a full-blown gun-fight. When Clarence, a comic book nerd, meets ex-call girl, Alabama, an unlikely love affair explodes. After an im-promptu wedding, Clarence and Alabama find themselves on a cross-country journey with a massive bag of cocaine. Filled with gangsters and violence gritty enough to make Taranti-no fans salivate, True Romance is an action movie love affair: fiery, passionate and terrifying.

TRUE ROMANCE

Every P.E. class begins with a warmup routine that increases blood flow and reawakens stu-dents’ often tired bodies and minds. “It got old,” says senior Howard Chang, recalling his ex-perience in P.E. “I think it would have been awesome to have a break every once in a while.” The benefits of P.E. to the general stu-dent body are accepted as fact, with studies supporting the posi-tive correlation between exercise and mental well-being. The real question is: how much P.E. does the school need to make manda-tory? How much responsibility should the school give its students when it comes to exercising?

Recently, Aragon has begun to enact policies that reflect a change in their philosophy re-garding physical education. Ara-gon has allowed student-athletes to pursue a less rigorous P.E. schedule. In-stead of attend-ing P.E. every day, twice a week students involved in Ara-gon Sports can attend study hall. P.E. teacher An-nette Gennaro explains, “It does not affect freshmen. You have to have an A in P.E. and have passed

the presidential test.” The presi-dential test is a fitness test admin-istered to high school students to assess physical fitness. The ath-letic study hall is active as long as a student is practicing with a team after school, so there is no fixed start or end time for students who can go to the study hall. The program starts about six weeks into the semes-ter and lasts un-til the student’s sport is over.

The daily practice schedule of Aragon athletes puts the P.E. reform into an understandable context. The core purpose of the change is to allow athletes to make up for the time they lose at home while they are doing sports. “I love athletic study hall,” says Sophomore Oma Skyrus. “It al-lows me to get more sleep the

night before, and then I can focus on classes the next day without having to cram to finish the work.”

F r e s h m e n Michael Lan-thier explains, “I think [ath-

letic study hall] is a good idea. It’s good how you get time away from exercising when you’re al-ready exercising at school.”

At the same time, many ques-tion whether P.E. even benefits athletes. Sophomore Andros Pe-trakis, a water polo player, offers his view as an athlete and soph-omore currently in the athletic study hall program. “[P.E.] is ex-tremely unnecessary. Athletes get

a ton of physical conditioning al-ready.”

D e s p i t e some practical benefits, P.E. for students in-volved with ex-

tracurricular sports can be seen as an unnecessary addition to the physical exercise they get from sports. Sophomore David Tong comments, “I think [athletic study hall] should be every day. They say 2 hours of sports makes up for P.E. For example, if you do water polo practice every day, i t ’s not equivalent to the time they give you off P.E. They

should just let you take all the days off.”

In contrast to Aragon, Carl-mont High School students re-quire a certain number of P.E. credits that can be completed through four years of P.E. or by completing a certain amount of sports seasons. Athletes who compete in school sports through their four years may not even have to take P.E. Gennaro says, “I don’t think that’s a good system…some school’s have sports teams that are way big-ger and the

programs end up getting watered down. I think the [athletic study hall] is a good compromise to start with.”

Ultimately, Aragon P.E. has changed, but the reform will probably not see another dramat-ic shift any time soon. The con-cept of a four-year program has been brought up for discussion

several times but has not yet received serious consid-

eration. Gennaro says, “I think a lot of juniors and seniors stop doing things after P.E., so it would help them. If the athletes had a study hall

it would benefit them as well. . . I would love it,

but I doubt that’s go-ing to happen.”

by Samantha WongFeatures Staff

On the first day of school, Ara-gon seemed to show its spirit like never before. Scribbled words on the windows and doors welcomed students back, posters on the walls informed them of “Red and Black Fridays,” and the atmo-sphere buzzed with excitement for the new year.

In the wake of the year’s first football field rally and the cre-atively themed “D.O.N.S.” spirit week, it seems possible that Aragon has un-dergone a kind of spiritual revival.

Recent Ara-gon alum, Amy Jiang, compares this year’s spirit to last year’s spirit. “I think Ara-gon was just starting to get spir-ited my senior year, but from all the pictures and stories I’ve heard about this year’s senior class, spirit has really taken off,” she says.

In September, Aragon’s first rally on the football field saw a flood of students pouring down the walkway past the theater. “The football field rally turned out really great because it was in

a new and different location. Peo-ple wondered what new things we’d do,” says sophomore Lead-ership student Elizabeth Zhou.

The excitement at the football rally has apparently been evident at the football games. “The first game of this season, Ms. Hon-talas, Ms. Suess, Mr. Valmonte, and other teachers had to help us at the gate because it was packed. We did not stop moving and were excited with the amount of people

who were ready to cheer on Ara-gon,” says Erika Assoun, a junior and member of Service Com-mission, who has worked at the football games for the past two years. “ [This

year] more of the grade levels are wearing red and black and are ac-tually staying for the majority of the varsity games,” she says.

Many different aspects of Ara-gon generate school spirit, such as the Leadership class’ planning of events and spirit squad, faculty, and senior class participation.

Junior Jade Barkett, a Lead-ership student and member of the varsity cheerleading team, explains, “I think people assume [spirit] is all Leadership’s respon-

sibility, but in reality, it’s every grade level’s. If any grade starts to be spirited, people think it’s cool and okay to also be spirited.”

Freshman Lea Tan agrees. “The upperclassmen should be spirited so that the freshmen and sophomores are more likely to join in,” she says.

According to senior and dance team member Aris Payan, pub-licizing events is key in help-ing boost student motivation to be spirited. “When you walk through the halls at San Mateo High, you’re overwhelmed by the posters. Here, I don’t see much of that, so people aren’t as motivat-ed,” she says.

Having worked at Aragon for 28 years, Aileen Scatena, the freshman and sophomore grade advisor of the attendance office,

agrees that both tasks of gener-ating school spirit and embrac-ing school spirit need to be taken seriously by students in order for Aragon to show that it has spirit. “Sometimes I think kids are so in-volved with schoolwork and aca-demics that doing well in school becomes their higher priority,” she comments. “Being spirited is a lot of work. Everybody has to just do their part. It comes from within, and you have to spend the time and put the effort into doing it,” she adds.

Speaking as a faculty member, Scatena also says, “We try to be spirited for the kids.”

While it may be true that Ara-gon students tend to prioritize ac-ademics over many other things, school spirit is undoubtedly a contributor to the high school ex-

perience. “If everyone has school spirit,” senior Nicole Nasser says, “it would boost the school’s mo-rale and energy, and the school as a whole would be more willing to try new things.”

Spirit may not be a mandatory assignment in high school, but it ultimately creates a sense of pride and unity throughout the school community.

“It makes me feel happy be-cause we all want the same thing: for Aragon’s team to win,” con-cludes Tan.

Visit our new and improved website, aragonoutlook.org, to browse web-exclusive articles and view photos and graphics

from previous issues.

“I think the [athletic study hall] is a good compromise to start with.”

Annette GennaroP.E. Teacher

“The upperclassmen should be spirited so that the freshmen and sophomores are more likely to join in.”

Lea TanFreshman

“It allows me to get more sleep the night before, and then I can focus on classes the next day without having to cram to finish the work.”

Oma SkyrusSophomore

by Wyatt CooperFeatures Staff

Tina Pai

Jason MaiThe student section cheers as the Dons conclude the Homecoming football game with a score of 61-28.

FEATURES volume lii, issue no. 3friday, november 16, 20126

A fresh batch of Aragon spirit

P.E. reform: athletic study hall introduced

Please visit our new website, aragonoutlook.org, to view

exclusive articles and photos and browse previous issues.

by James MurrayFeatures Staff

From the infamous arachno-phobia to the ironic logophobia (fear of words), phobias are a mental disorder that come in all shapes and sizes. While they are relatively uncommon, the sheer variety of phobias makes them an interesting topic of study for many psychologists. James Smith, a Modern World His-tory and Psychology teacher, de-scribed phobias “as an irrational fear of something,” potentially creating a spastic and panicked response in the victim. “They can be debilitating, but in most cases it’s not really a problem.”

The term “arachnophobia” is thrown around sometimes when-ever a spider visibly terrifies someone. While it may seem that these instances are often misno-mers, Smith disagrees. “Almost everyone has a phobia or two,” he said. These are not limited to just fears of creatures; social phobias, like public speaking are also very common.

Smith admits, “I am a little fearful of public speaking and when I first became a teacher I was paralyzed by speaking in front of class.” Of course, all phobias are treatable. Cognitive-behavioral therapy (CBT) is com-mon in treating severe phobias. “CBT is a specific way to deal with phobias and things to do when confronted with the [sub-ject of fear]. CBT tried to break this down,” Smith explained. So while everyone may have a pho-bia or two, severe phobias often require therapy to control.

Among high school students, phobias are just one of several very common mental disorders. Others, such as obsessive com-pulsive disorder (OCD), attention deficit disorder (ADD), and even major depressive disorder, can

seem intimidating to think about or admit to. However, these con-ditions are natural and unpredict-able, and treatment should always trump pride. If untreated, these disorders can vary in magnitude and lead to dire consequences.

Everyone has a friend who they’ve called “OCD” at one point or another. In fact, it’s not unfair to say that many people ex-hibit compulsive tendencies, but often such behavior falls short of a true diagnosis. As former AP Psychology student Kurtis Young explains, “OCD means obsessive compulsive disorder. It’s where you just become obsessed with something—compulsive—and have to act on it.” Someone with OCD might keep washing their hands five or six times, just an ex-cessive amount.

The qualities of OCD are probably easily recognizable be-cause of its portrayals in popular culture. In the USA series Monk, Tony Shalhoub plays a detective afflicted with OCD. However, even he has trouble coping with everyday life. “It’s important to remember that OCD isn’t always good for cleanliness,” Young add-ed, because hoarders can be no-torious for their habits, but often times suffer from OCD.

ADD and a related disorder,

attention deficit hyperactivity dis-order (ADHD), is a tricky disor-der. It is characterized by a gen-eral lack of focus and impulsive behavior, while ADHD is very similar but unsurprisingly adds in hyperactivity. ADD is notori-ous for being one of the most di-agnosed mental disorders in the country, especially in school-age children.

In an article by Allen Frances, a professor at Duke University, he states, “ADD has clearly become a public health problem.” How-ever, he elaborated, “it is much less clear the degree to which the increased rates are real vs. being a manufactured fad.” Until the twenty-first century, ADD was a relatively uncommon disease. Nowadays, it is being diagnosed at nearly three times any earlier rate with little explanation as to why. Frances says, “the circum-stantial evidence strongly favors the hypothesis that we are also in the midst of a fad largely en-gineered by drug company sales-manship.”

Finally getting a license opens a new chapter in stu-dents’ lives, freeing them from reliance on their parents and creating a newfound sense of independence. The possibilities can seem endless. But while be-ing able to drive to the movies, the mall, or T-pumps may seem like examples of unbridled free-dom, lurking in the background is a restrictive law. According to the official handbook of the Department of Motor Vehicles, “During the first 12 months af-ter you are licensed, you can-not drive between 11 p.m. and 5 a.m. and you cannot transport passengers under 20 years of age, unless you are accompa-nied by a licensed parent or guardian, a licensed driver 25 years of age or older, or a li-censed or certified driving in-structor.” Although there are exceptions, such as medical emergencies, students are not legally allowed to drive anyone else in their vehicles.

But while the law prohib-its students from driving their peers around before they’ve had their license for 12 months, many students view the law as a “suggestion.”

“No one really follows that rule,” says Junior Shorwei Gong. “People mostly drive each other home, go to the mall, or downtown.”

But a study taken by the Na-tional Young Driver’s Associa-tion shows that 16t to 24-year -olds have a four time higher fatality rate than that of 25 to 69-year-olds, the safety of driv-ing with other students in the car is debatable.

“When you are driving with your friends, you are distracted. To keep the conversation going, you make eye contact with your friends rather than focus on signals, pedestrians, and where you are going,” says Senior Kathryn DeWitt.

Convenience seems to be

a major reason for students to neglect the law. “It’s annoying to spend 20 minutes to walk to get food after a long day,” says Junior Jackie Pei.

We aren’t doing it because it’s against the law or anything- it’s just convenient,” says Ju-nior Johan Paulino. “Are you supposed to deny a friend a ride home and make her wait anoth-er couple of hours?”

Even though she chooses not to obey the law in its en-tirety, Paulino understands the responsibility placed on the driver, and set safe boundaries for herself.

“I won’t drive anyone on the highway and limit it only to short distance,” says Paulino.

If caught driving other stu-dent illegally, a student’s li-cense can be revoked. Paulino thinks this actually encourages her to drive better with other students in the car.

“You actually drive more safely and carefully [with friends in the car] so you don’t stand out,” she explains.

While the law prohibits what it deems “unsafe driving,” it is mostly up to students’ parents to monitor the driving habits of their teens and enforce the rules.

“It’s basically, you drive [your friends] once, your par-ents catch you, and you don’t do it again,” says Senior Rahul Joshi, whose parents are firm believers of the law.

Other parents are more le-nient and trust their children to make smart decisions. Either way, the outcome and safety of a situation depends ultimately on the individual himself. As the power of the law and warn-ings of parents can only extend so far to protect students, it all boils down to the individual and the decisions he makes. When getting into a car with another student, or driving a friend, there’s never a reason not to ask oneself, “Am I mak-ing the right decision?”

by Virginia HsiaoFeatures Staff

Kyra Fung

Preston Harry

volume lii, issue no. 3friday, november 16, 2012 FEATURES 7

Ridin’ soloFear the over-diagnosis: Misconceptions regarding disorders

The Aragon Sports Boosters Club is a parent-run organization that aims to support and supplement sports teams and programs at Aragon. While the San Mateo Union High School District covers all basic costs of sports teams, the Boosters provide extra equipment and supplies in addition to sponsoring sports-related events. All parents of Aragon athletes join Boosters and are asked to contribute a voluntary donation of $50 towards a general Sports Boosters fund. This fund, along with carryover funds from years past, revenue from spirit wear sales, profit from various alumni events, and concession revenue, is divided among teams based on a need and request basis. In order to receive funds, teams must cooperate with Boosters through specific “team parents,” who communicate specific needs to the Boosters. The Boosters monitor these finances and ensure that they are distributed fairly among teams. Also, in accordance to Title IX laws, sports for girls and boys must receive equal funding. Boosters treasurer Tom Tolfa comments, “All funding decisions by the Boosters are impacted by [Title IX]. For example, if baseball receives a physical upgrade, so too will softball.” Without the support of Aragon Boosters, many sports teams and sports events would lack various resources

that are currently available, such as supple-mentary DVDs and concession supplies.

While the SMUHSD budget and Boosters’ funds pay for the majority of the cost of sports at Aragon, some teams still opt for their own form of addi-tional fundraising to purchase individual products. Aragon Athletic Director Steve Sell explains, “Anything that the Boosters buy or anything that comes out of the general athletic fund, the school keeps. Obviously you can’t keep anything if it’s disposable. But if there’s... something that the kids get to keep, like a volleyball t-shirt, or if you want to have a bonding night and buy pizza, that’s what those fundraising things are for.” He adds, “It’s for things like treats—[for instance], if a team wants to got to a tournament out of town and wants to pay for lodging, or if [a coach] wants to take the team to a Stanford football game, like I did. The money used to pay for that was fun-draising money made by our team, because it wouldn’t be right for the gen-eral public or for the Boosters to pay for our kids to go to a football game.”

Recent dispute over the definition of “free education” and the role of the public education system has resulted in the enactment of Assembly Bill 1575, a bill which prohibits public schools from charging fees for “educa-tional activities.” The new changes prevent Aragon’s athletic department from imposing fees on items like “supplies, equipment, or uniforms as-sociated with an educational activity.” Even though the bill does permit voluntary donations, it will require district funding to provide for all ne-cessities within the sports program. Consequently, the athletic department may still maintain the same income—its $50 requested donation per athlete is, indeed, voluntary, and Boosters does not solicit this request from indi-viduals—but the ways in which Boosters funds sports will undergo slight changes. Whereas Boosters currently purchases sport specific requests di-rectly, these funds will soon be financed through the Athletic Department first before purchasing any items. Additionally, in compliance with the pro-visions of the new law, the SMUHSD district has taken over the budget for balls and tournament fees, which was previously supported by Booster funds. Thus, sports finance may soon experience having the “right funds” in the “wrong place.” Aragon Athletic Director Steve Sell explains, “If it’s a necessity, then the school has to pay for it [with the funds from the district]. I used the Boosters for a long time to pay for balls; now I have to pay for those out of my budget [allocated from the school], so I might go over budget this year for the first time in a few years… Also, Boosters pays for uniforms, and this is where it gets tricky. What one person considers a necessity, another might not. There’s no way the district could pay for new uniforms—they’d have to double their budget.” Thus, in the years to come, sports may not be able to use the funds available in the Boosters account, while comparable funds may not be available in the required district budget.

Allocation of Boosters Funds

for Sport Specific Financing

Aragon Budget by Category

Breakdown of District and

Boosters Funding Per Sport

$16,550

Personel Expenses(Coaching Stipends

and Benefits) 70 %

Operating Expenses13 %

Transportation9 %

Dues and Membership3 %

Helmet and Shoulder Pad Repairs

4 %

Championship Travel1 %

Game Officials37 %

Instructional Supplies21 %

Transportation14 %

Tournament Fees12 %

Misc. Services13 %

Non-Instructional Supplies

1 %

Instructional Supplements

1 %

WrestlingVolleyballTennisSoftballSwimmingSoccerWater PoloBasketballGolfFootballBadmintonCross Country

BaseballTrack and Field

Tournament Fees24 %

Equipment33 %

Uniforms42 %

District-Wide Sports-Related

Budget

$1,500

$3,000

$2000

$3500

$13,198.71

$669.08

$6,388.66

$1,794.26

$6,150

$1,770$2,500

$648.35

$2,125

$1,382.12

$5,550

$800

$700

$5,500

$6,750

$6,060

$1,000

$1,000

$1,200

$3,400$4,983.75

Boosters Per Sport Funding

District Per Sport Funding

($1.4 million for all schools)

($49,248.52, shown per sport

in bars)

Aragon receives a portion of the district-wide operating

expenses and transportation budgets.

*Not shown: fundraising done by individual teams for team-specific needs or extra purchases.

$10,007

$7,313

$10,392

$3,849$3,464

$14,626 $14,626 $14,626

$7,698 $7,313 $7,698$7,313 $7,313

$1,110

Coach Stipends, not including benefits

The Boosters

provide extra equipment and

supplies in addition to sponsoring sports-related

events.

Sports finance

may soon experience

having the “right funds” in the

“wrong place.”

theDOLLARSbehind the DONS

The Role of Boosters

The New Role of AB 1575

Team Specific Fundraising

Centerspread by Shannon Bodeau (Layout), Olivia Marcus (Copy), and Outlook Editors (Content)

On October 30, Aragon stu-dents filed into the Student Lunch Room to cast their mock election ballots. Students could vote for state propositions, the state sena-tor, and the president. A total of 1,191 students voted — 82.25 percent of the Aragon student population.

The true question in regard to the election is whether or not this vote had any significance. After all, these ballots did not affect the actual election, but merely gave an insight into student opinion in

regard to political issues. It can be argued that the mock election did not serve this purpose, as some students are not fully informed on current political topics and, thus, cast uninformed ballots. Such is the reality of real elections as well.

However, the beneficial effect of this mock-election was that it encouraged students to partici-pate in our democratic process. Encouraging students to partici-pate now will make them aware of the voting process and, thus,

more likely to vote in the future. So, while this mock election does not guarantee that every student who voted will be a regular voter when he or she is older, it does provide the exposure that could lead to a regular habit of voting.

The average voter turnout for presidential elections in the United States was 56.8 percent in 2008, and that number was nearly halved during the midterm elec-tions. The United States has one of the lowest voter participation rates of any nation in the industri-alized world, despite the fact that we like to trumpet the benefits of democracy. In general, younger voters tend to show more apathy when it comes to elections be-cause they feel less affected by politics.

Thus, the purpose behind hav-ing this mock election in the first place was to emphasize the im-portance of voting—and, it did just that.

Traditionally, the role of stu-dent government is to bring improvement to the school by providing resources for the stu-dents, voicing the opinions of the student body, bridging the rela-tionship between administration and the students, and organizing student activities. Although Ara-gon’s ASB does help plan dances and fundraisers, it ultimately has the potential to do more, if it were given the power and authority to do so.

Through the past year, there have been several instances in which school policy has changed without the consideration of stu-dents’ concerns. Because ASB works directly with only activi-ties coordinator Catherine Wil-liamson, there is little communi-cation between the administration and leadership. On the other hand, student officers can also help build a good foundation for ASB by putting in more time and effort. Williamson explains that over the past years, there has been a trend of academically strong students leading the program. At the same time, these students are involved in lots of other extracur-ricular activities like clubs, in-

ternships, and sports. They spread themselves too thin, thus leaving little to no time for student gov-ernment.

Ideally, the student govern-ment should be able to attend meetings with the administration, as well as have the authority to negotiate and have a say in pol-icy-making. At Crystal Springs Uplands School, the student gov-ernment attends council meetings with the administration. They also meet with students to discuss student feedback and concerns like workload and stress. For ex-ample, two years ago, the student government wanted to facilitate the process in which students ask for extensions on work and proj-ects. Through collaboration with the administration, the student government was able to create the Extension Request Form, a formal way of applying for an ex-tension as long as parameters are followed. In addition, at Mercy High School in Burlingame, the student body organization holds forums for students to ask ques-tions and to raise concerns.

After these duties are defined in our student government’s con-stitution, ASB should implement

a way to collect feedback and concerns from the students. Cur-rently, ASB has been trying new methods to get more student in-volvement with school activities, such as conducting more surveys and setting up a box in the office to collect feedback. One concern is that it’s hard to get genuine an-swers. To approach the problem, ASB is planning research groups of randomly assigned and select-ed students to determine the stu-dent body’s general opinion. In addition, more serious elections that involve candidate speeches could help select students who are committed to bringing change to the school. Although candidate speeches have not been a part of past elections, they should be integrated into the next election, making it more than just a popu-larity contest.

Although there are state laws that our student government may not be able to change and that would be best handled by the administration, the ASB should be given the power to work to-wards bringing change within our school and district and ultimately voicing the opinions of the stu-dents.

by Jack Herrerafeatures editor

Ratemyteachers.com claims to be exactly what its name im-plies: a site where students can rate their teachers and offer comments on them. There are three five-point scales on which a student can rate his or her teacher: easiness, helpfulness and clarity.

But, in reality, ratemyteach-ers.com is a forum for students to viciously—and completely anonymously—attack those whose job it is to provide them with an education.

Ratemyteachers.com is an inappropriate solution to a very real problem: students are not offered a forum to construc-tively critique their teachers. Because of this, resentment festers under the surface and is never addressed in a way that could improve both student and teacher experiences.

But ratemyteachers.com is not a legitimate place for stu-dents to voice their opinions on their teacher. To begin with, claiming any merit in their rat-ings is impossible when viewed in light of the samples they ob-tain: it’s enough to make any statistician balk.

Firstly, the ratings are an amalgamation of an extremely small, self-selecting group of students—often the students who choose to rate their teach-er are those with the strongest opinions of them. Secondly, anonymity allows anyone to make a review without provid-ing any evidence or offering any accountability. Although rate-myteachers.com invites some students to take the role of mod-erators, students with personal vendettas against their teachers are essentially free to rail on them without fear of repercus-sion. Furthermore, ratemyteach-ers.com has no system in place to confine its reviewers to stu-dents—feasibly, a teacher could review him or herself. Thirdly, ratemyteachers.com doesn’t provide teachers with any way to address or refute comments made about them. Lastly, rate-myteachers.com represents al-most no value to high school students, teachers or adminis-trators. Unlike college students,

high school students have very little freedom in choosing their own classes; in many cases, a review of teachers is useless to them. It doesn’t represent any legitimate value to district offi-cials or administrators either: an anonymous online review is not evidence enough to effect any change in teaching staff.

Student Government could provide a forum for students to give feedback to evaluate their teachers. Such a system would be yet another reason to increase the power of student government: they would need the agency to maintain the crit-ics (the students) accountability and objectivity, and preserve the fairness of the system.

Such a system would have to demand accountability from all those who wish to criticize their teachers. A review sheet with mandatory fields for a student’s name and contact information would be submitted by students at the end of the year. These sheets would have thought-provoking questions about the teacher and would require legiti-mate evidence to be provided to justify each response. Interme-diates between the students and the teacher, be they students or other teachers, would review the critiques and contact students to receive verification for any complaint that may require more sufficient evidence or corrobo-ration. Once the legitimacy of the reviews has been sufficiently established, the names would be removed from them and they would then be presented to the teacher. Such a system demands accountability of its partici-pants, while allowing them to speak candidly without fear of repercussion on their grades or a teacher’s attitude towards them.

Shannon Bodeau

OPINION volume lii, issue no. 3friday, november 16, 201210

the Aragon Outlook The aragon outlook staff publishes a monthly newspaper created for the students to express themselves on issues of interest and importance to them and to provoke thought and discussion within the aragon community.

faculty adviserSCoTT SILTon

co-editors in chiefoLIVIa MaRCuS

PanIZ aMIRnaSIRI

centerspread editorShannon Bodeau

centerspread copyoLIVIa MaRCuS

business editorPanIZ aMIRnaSIRI

news writersanGeLa SoLIS, BRandon Yan, BRIanne

FeLSheR, CLeo WIenBaR, eMILY Shen,

ISaaC WanG, JoRdan KRanZLeR, MaTT

MChuGh, MonICa MaI, RYan CheonG,

VICToRIa Yan, WendY Yu

photo staffersaLeX FuRuYa, BRITTneY CheW, CRISTIna

aShBauGh, MeLISSa MoY, SaM aLaVI,

SaManTha Soon, STanLeY KRZeSnIaK,

VaLeRIe PeReZ

media editorJonaThan STaRYuK

features writersannIKa oLIVeS, Ian BaRRIe, JaCQueLIne

TanG, JaMeS MuRRaY, MuRRaY SandMeY-

eR, nICK ToLFa, ReGIna Wen, SaManTha

WonG, Shannon ThIeLen, TonY WanG,

VIRGInIa hSIao, WYaTT CooPeR

arts & graphics stafferseaVan huTh, KYRa FunG, MaRIa MenShI-

KoVa, PReSTon haRRY, TIna PaI, WenJIa

Chen

media contributorKenZo MaKITanI

news editorsannIKa uLRICh

KIRa BRenneR

SanGWon Yun

features editorsandReW SChILLInG

BRandon LIu

JaCK heRReRa

TaYLoR WeSTMonT

photo editorJaSon MaI

arts & graphics editorShannon Bodeau

visit the aragon outlook at www.aragonoutlook.net, or email the editors at aragonoutlook@gmail.com

Ratemyteachers.com? EditorialASB: For students, by students, run by the admin

Mock elections demonstrate the merits of democracy

by Murray Sandmeyerfeatures staff

Maintaining a watchful eye is nothing new for business giants. Facedeals, a new application and service created on the open Face-book platform, offers to take a user’s picture as he or she enters participating restaurants. The ap-plication then grants discounts at the store in exchange for basic Facebook information. Freshman Jeffrey Kishiyama comments, “That’s a little creepy. It’s like [your online reputation] is fol-lowing you in the real world.” Facedeals, although independent from the Facebook company, rep-resents an astounding leap from website to reality on the Face-book platform, and it is not alone in its profit-seeking endeavors.

Even after years of immense popularity and growth, Facebook remains notorious for its alleged privacy infringements. A $15 billion lawsuit was filed against Facebook by privacy advocates in May, reports PC World. Accord-ing to prosecutors, the implemen-tation of “like” buttons on vari-ous sites across the web can track a person’s web footprint. They claim that Facebook’s conduct vi-olates wiretapping laws, since in-formation is allegedly exchanged even if the embedded “like” but-ton remains unclicked. Coming as no surprise, the site continues

to stress that it is merely a service for connecting people across the globe.

Questions about individual Facebook privacy are present within the Aragon student body. Many students know, to an ex-tent, that their web footprints are tracked. “It’s a little strange how so many people can look at your information,” says sophomore Elena Ralls. “But I don’t worry about it because I don’t post any-thing bad.” Re-garding her pri-vacy settings, “I might check them annually.”

This public-ity however, is often consid-ered the appeal of social net-works. “[Being tagged in photos] makes me feel special and popu-lar,” says freshman Teague Bredl.

The idea of hiding one’s iden-tity while gaining the social ben-efits of Facebook is nothing new. Many users choose to have false names, misleading profile pic-tures, or multiple accounts for different people to see. Junior Paige McLoughlin says, “People do this because they don’t trust their parents or family with this information, or they might need alone time.”

Although a legal guardian can regulate their child’s physical in-

teractions to an extent, no such threshold exists online. Ralls says, “When I first got a Face-book my parents made me set up the privacy settings so that only my friends could view my stuff. Now, they don’t really check what I post or if I have changed the settings.” In fact, control for parents continues to deteriorate as kids receive web-capable elec-tronics of their own.

Widespread internet access among youth is not limited to social con-nectivity or en-tertainment, as most business-es and organi-zations have realized. Data mining is the

practice of gathering information in order to gain insight on a par-ticular market or demographic. Since almost every moment of a user’s actions on a social network is tracked, Facebook remains a common platform for data min-ing. “The quantity of data is so large on Facebook,” says science teacher Arron Apperson.

Adds Ralls, “Facebook sells your information so that they can make money. Information is like a commodity.”

Employers and universities can use this information as well. They can look up an applicant’s

name and find a bevy of informa-tion about his personal life. “Col-leges can see what you do in your free time and find a responsible person,” says Ralls. “But there are some pros and cons to this. They should only see what you choose to keep public.”

At Aragon, some teachers can be found on social networks. Ap-person says, “It’s personal pref-erence about whether [teachers] have a Facebook or not. Facebook is a way to stay in contact with people and make them feel like they’re included in my life. I also use it as a teaching tool. It lets me collaborate with other teachers.”

Likewise, students have a choice about creating a Face-book account. “People choose to not have an account because they don’t want future jobs to

judge them for past decisions,” says M c L o u g h l i n . “They aren’t in-terested in having

such a responsibility.”As a corporate giant, Face-

book’s internet presence remains pervasive. One billion users visit the site each month, Zuckerberg said early October. As its data-base grows and its user base be-comes increasingly dependent, its place in the social sphere could be more powerful than most ex-pect. Apperson says, “[Facebook] has rationalizations for [gather-ing data], but am I happy about it? No. Do I modify my behavior because of it? Yes.”

Adds McLoughlin, “The inter-net is forever. It’s not something that I’m happy about, but if you put yourself out there you’d bet-ter be ready.” In fact, Facebook holds innumerable bytes of pho-tos, status updates, and ad histo-ries. In the end, the site dictates who views this data and who does not.

by Regina Wenfeatures staff

In 1998, Stanford computer science graduates Larry Page and Sergey Brin set up an office in a Menlo Park garage for their pro-spective search engine business. With determination and a gener-ous donation of $100,000 from Sun co-founder Andy Bechtol-sheim, the duo established their company. They named it “Google,” a play on “googol,” a number in which the digit one is followed by one hundred zeros, to reflect their dream of creating a database of seemingly infinite amounts of information. Fourteen years later, Google has estab-lished a technological empire.

Social studies teacher Jim Smith says, “Google has just got-ten bigger and bigger and bigger over the years, providing all sorts of information and ways for us to do research work, production work, and create content.” Every day, google.com

handles over one billion searches and about 7.2 trillion page views.

Smith says, “I think Google’s popularity has something to do with how it’s so elegant. The whole interface is very clean, it doesn’t have a bunch of ads on it and I think people found it very appealing. Then, when people ac-tually started using it, they found it very useful.” Although Google does collect substantial revenue from advertisements, the ads are mostly off to the side in the same color scheme as the rest of the page.

Sophomore Aria Farahani says, “I like the simple layout of Google. All the other search en-gines give me a headache.”

However, some students be-lieve Google’s appeal goes deep-er than its attractive pages. Junior Matthew Lanthier says, “Google has a bandwagoning appeal. Ev-eryone uses it.”

Still, Google has yet to obtain substantial popularity for some

of their projects. Google+, for example, has not yet caught

up to the large Facebook population. Sophomore Stephen Schick says, “Only time will tell if Google+ will be suc-

cessful or not.”Even with un-

successful proj-ects, Google’s popularity has resulted in the

formation of a fairly prominent Google/Android following.

Smith says, “I don’t think Google’s fans are as strong as the Apple group. I mean, there are people who are so loyal to Apple and their products, but I definitely think there is a Google cadre that is, as they say, drinking the Kool-Aid.” The rivalry between Apple and Google has sparked a sort of technological war between the two companies.

Sophomore Nicholas Veizades says, “Lately there’s been more of a schism.” The Google-Apple patent dispute, one of many within Sili-con Valley’s technological hub, stems from Apple’s threats to sue Google for the similar designs of the iPhone and Android. In response, Google has bought Mo-torola, giving them ownership of basic phone patents.

However, Junior Edgar Teno-rio sees a positive side to the Google/Apple rivalry, “I think their rivalry is helping technol-ogy. Google put in that huge up-date to Google maps to put down Apple. The competition is build-ing stuff up.”

Even without Apple, Google’s expansion seems never-ending.

Freshman Alton Olson says, “I think they’ve pretty much ex-panded as much as they can. But I don’t know, maybe we’ll all be surprised.”

Smith disagrees, “I think they could definitely expand more. I think their intention is to take over the world.”

Through the development of the company, however, Google has faced the growing problem of user internet privacy. Every time an account is made, a message is sent, or a phrase is searched, Google tracks user activity and stores the data. The issue of pri-

vate informa-tion being released is a debate of a person’s con-s t i t u t i o n a l rights on the internet. The right to pri-vacy, although never explicit-ly stated in the Constitution,

has been interpreted by the Su-preme Court as an implied right of the people. However, do the same rights apply to the virtual world?

The United States, compared to other countries, has a very weak privacy protection policy, reliant on a series of acts to cov-er the areas needing protection. Many of these acts help protect important information, such as health, credit, and children’s in-formation, but they have become outdated in recent years.

Schick says, “Google is fol-lowing the internet laws, but there’s probably a loophole. They’re probably following them pretty loosely because they aren’t

being monitored as closely as they should be.” In just this past year, Google was fined $22.5 million for privacy infringement after using codes to track Safari users through their DoubleClick advertising network.

Others, like Veizades, are not as concerned. He says, “Except for location tracking, which is slightly terrifying, using personal information is just annoying.”

Junior Emma Mamis says, “I think if people knew about Google tracking their informa-tion, people would be more aware of what they were doing, but I don’t think they would stop using it.”

Some users believe that web-sites need to inform their users about privacy rights and policies.

Schick says, “I think we should do away with ‘scroll down and agree to the terms and condi-tions.’ It should be done by sec-tions or at least some new method should be used. There is a lot of information that can be given out and you can lose.”

In light of Google’s seemingly never-ending expansion, general internet privacy becomes even more relevant. Growing competi-tion in the tech sector is forcing companies to hone their competi-tive edge. For Google, the same applies. As Sergey Brin himself once said, “We want Google to be the third half of your brain.”

Be sure to visit aragonoutlook.org to view exclusive articles and photos and to browse our archive for past issues.Eavan HutH

CarmEn CHEn

volume lii, issue no. 3friday, november 16, 2012 FEATURES 11

Don’t judge Facebook by its cover photo

Google’s privacy dilemma: The limits of the limitless search engine

“Facebook sells your information so that they can make money. Information is like a commodity.”

Elena RallsSophomore

“I think if people knew about Google tracking their information, people would be more aware of what they were doing, but I don’t think they would stop using it.”

Emma MamisJunior

FEATURES volume lii, issue no. 3friday, november 16, 201212

by Nick TolfaFeatures Staff

Tank Top Tuesday is a tra-dition that senior Josh Ehrlich founded and is proudly continued by fellow seniors Joe Roias and Dominic Proia. Unfortunately for them, Aragon’s new dress code policy states that “boys shirts need to fully cover the shoulder.” Thus, guys are no longer allowed to wear tank tops.

However, none of them have ever gotten in trouble for wearing them. Proia says that a teacher told him and Ehrlich that “their shoulders couldn’t be revealed,” but there was no further punish-ment, and they dressed the same way a couple of weeks later with-out further incident.

Why was there a decision to change the dress code? Assistant Principal Joe Mahood says, “It was pointed out to us by parents and students that it’s distracting from learning.” Prohibiting boys from wearing tank tops is a rule that is used by other high schools in the area, including Mills and San Mateo high schools. Mahood also said that “no one has got in trouble [from the dress code],” if someone is caught violating it, they are warned and either given a change of clothes or told to turn their shirts inside out.

Assistant Principal Jim Coe adds, “[dress code violations] are rather infrequent in cold weath-er,” and that there are “more vio-lations at the beginning of the year” right after summer break. Mahood himself does not know

how many people have been talked to about the dress code, be-cause “most of the time teachers deal with it.”

But how often do teachers re-ally enforce it? “I have never seen the dress code enforced,” said sophomore Kevin Rutten-burg, and most students agree. Ruttenburg was unaware of the change in the rules.

Juniors Nathan Perisic and Jon Howard have also worn tank tops to school without getting in trou-ble. They are both members of the Varsity water polo team, who wore ‘bro’ tanks with ties to school before a game.

Perisic comments, “I had no idea that this was against school rules,” and they both agreed that learning about the rule wouldn’t change how they dressed be-cause neither of them was called out on it earlier.

So is there a reason to have this dress code? According to English teacher Victoria Daniel, the dress code does help keep kids dressing ap-propriately.

She explains, “ear-lier in my teaching ca-reer, when there was not a formal dress code, guys dressed more in-appropriately, wearing shirts sug-gesting drugs or alcohol, and this

kind of dress has decreased with the addition of a set dress code.”

However, she did say that girls have started violating it more, with shirts that expose their stom-aches or are too low and skirts and shorts that are very short. Daniel also says, “I do not enforce the dress code more harshly because teaching is just more important.” For her and most teachers, it is more important to spend time teaching than it is to get mad at every boy who wears a tank top.

by Tony WangFeatures Staff

Coloring is one of the first real tasks students are introduced to in school. It teaches them to follow directions and helps them learn to be neat. It is something every-one does as a kid and is a staple of early education. But, while it’s a great skill for 6-year-olds, is it really neces-sary in high school?

Te a c h e r s certainly think so. “School tends to fo-cus on words, and students who are good with words are generally more successful,” says biology teacher Cathryn Kliegel. Kliegel gives artistic assignments to pro-vide a form of visual learning for those who might not be as mas-terful with the verbal-centric in-struction prevalent in most school systems in the United States.

Teacher development coordi-nator Genevieve Thurtle gives a slight variation of Kliegel’s ideas. “Coloring should be used only as a tool to support the development of ideas,” says Thurtle, who be-lieves that art is only there to help students meet the standards. She emphasizes that a teacher’s main job is to help students master the standards, and that alternate forms of teaching, like art, are meant be helpful, not detrimental.

“Students need to be able to function in a variety of different ways in order to succeed,” says history teacher James Smith. Smith believes that this multi-faceted approach to learning is the key to success and is the main reason why artistic assignments are incorporated into education.

However, some students do not entirely agree, and many do not see the point in coloring. For example, sophomore Vijay Joshi argues, “Students should have a choice in doing these assign-ments, and they should be able to choose alternatives if they want.” Joshi believes that students should have a say in the way they want to learn and not be bound by a teacher’s lesson plan.

Junior Devon Hughes, another opponent of coloring, adds, “I have more important things to do with my life than color. Coloring is absolutely not learning, and teachers only give it because they

have nothing better to assign.” “They’re just easy points

teachers give students,” says freshman Horace He of coloring assignments.

Much of this dislike stems from the fact that many students are not artistically inclined. Dubbed the “artistically challenged,” these students are not very confident in their artistic capabilities and are

strongly op-posed to art in an academic environment.

H o w e v e r , teachers do take these students into consideration, albeit with dif-ferent levels of responsi-

bility. On the less liberal side of the spectrum are teachers like Kliegel, who explains, “Students will only get better at these types of assignments if they do them more.”

On the more lenient side how-ever, teachers like Alicia Sánchez judge students based upon their effort. Sánchez, who teaches AP Spanish, considers herself to be artistically challenged. It is surprising then, to see her class-room’s walls plastered with mul-titudes of colorful art projects done by students.

“There are different types of art, and the important aspect is not the appearance, but rather the meaning behind the assign-ments,” she explains. For exam-ple, she sometimes uses pictures as a tool to facilitate the memori-zation of vocabulary words, and points out that the importance is on the vocabulary, and not the pictures themselves.

Sánchez’s use of coloring as a tool to facilitate understanding re-iterates Thurtle’s views and em-phasizes that teaching should be the focus. However, the fact that coloring can be used as a teach-ing tool, and not just as mere busy work, escapes some students at Aragon.

History teacher James Smith puts the problem teachers face into simple terms: “Every student is different, so we can’t make ev-eryone go through the same pro-cess of learning.” Coloring can be seen as a way to shake-up the process and reach more students. As Smith says, “We can’t keep on trying to fit squares into round holes.”

Color me unamused

New school dress code: more of a “suggestion” than a real rule for students?

Please visit aragonoutlook.org for content from previous issues.

Carmen Chen

Kyra Fung

“I have more important things to do with my life than color. Coloring is absolutely not learning, and teachers only give it because they have nothing better to assign.”

Devon HughesJunior

volume lii, issue no. 1friday, november 16, 2012 FEATURES 13

FEATURES volume lii, issue no. 2friday, november 16, 201214

Seventeen makes body peace

by Ian BarrieFeatures Staff

Long before the stressful college applications, students begin receiving letters and emails from numerous schools all throughout the nation. Some come from tiny schools that no one has ever heard of, and some come from large institutions that have been famed for the last hundred years. Although they both may be from such different places, these letters and emails have the same message: ‘apply to our school.’

“The schools can find stu-dents through their PSAT, SAT, or even going to a college fair and putting in your name,” ex-plains College and Career Advi-sor Laurie Tezak. “The College Board will sell a list if a college comes to them looking for a spe-cific group of students.”

Sometimes, the feeling of be-ing wanted can be exciting for students. “It makes me feel good when the college that I want to go to acknowledges me,” ex-plains senior Jared Dilibero.

Often times, though, many students perceive these letters as just another form of junk mail in their inbox or mailbox. “When schools send actual letters in the mail, it really just annoys me. When you see some big en-velope from a school you may want to go to, it really gets your hopes up and then it really just ends up being something you have to recycle,” says senior Camille Halley.

Other students feel different-ly about letter mail as compared to e-mails.

“Letter carries more weight for sure. Often times with email, I won’t even check it before de-leting it,” admits senior Rory Beyer. “The letters force me to see the words on the paper, and if it is clever, then I’ll actually read it.”

In contrast, some Aragon stu-dents feel the massive mailings that these colleges undertake are unnecessary. “It’s annoy-ing. I mean they aren’t really interested in me. I have to go out and recycle. It’s really just a

massive waste of paper,” senior Robert Pollock says.

Like businesses, colleges need to have people apply and enroll in order to continue to teach. “In my opinion, its re-ally just a marketing strategy. They are just trying to contact as many students as they can in or-der to let them know about their school. From what I was told, a lot of these schools have mar-keting companies that work for them,” explains Tezak.

Even though some students perceive these outreach letters as basic spam, others like to take them with a grain of salt. “It seems foolish to me for students to opt-out of receiving the let-ters. I like looking into the col-leges and keeping my options open,” says Dilibero.

Even though small liberal arts schools make up the ma-jority of the college outreach, large, well-known universities also have a marketing program of their own. It seems slightly unnecessary for schools that know they will fill up their class sizes to engage in outreach but there is a reason. “I believe it is competition to be the most pub-licized. They are all these top universities like Harvard and Princeton, and it’s their com-petition to be number one. It is them trying to see who can get the best students, who gets the most applicants, and who can get the lowest percentage accep-tance rate. They want to max out and they want to get that aware-ness that they are amazing,” Beyer states.

As Tezak explains, major universities like Harvard and Yale will send out letters be-cause, “They are out there try-ing to reach out to any and every student that they think will fit in their profile of a student.”

Receiving letters can be an exciting or annoying for many students. Feeling wanted can make one feel good about their academic accomplishments. Letters from colleges can be a light during the college process, but to some they are merely one of many pieces of paper that they need to recycle.

by Taylor Westmontfeatures editor

Seventeen magazine has made a monumental pledge: it will use realistic (as in, not stick figure) models and never change girls’ faces or body shapes with Photo-shop. Why the sudden promise? It is all thanks to the work of Julia Bluhm, a fourteen year old from Waterville, Maine.

This past May, Bluhm start-ed a petition on a website called Change.org, asking Seventeen magazine “to commit to print-ing one unaltered—real—photo spread per month.” Bluhm is a part of SPARK (Sexualiza-tion, Protest, Action, Resistance, Knowledge), a movement that wants to draw attention to the dangers of sexualization to girls.

On May 2, Bluhm and other young women gathered outside of Seventeen’s headquarters in New York to protest the teen maga-zine’s photo-shopped models.

They posed in front of a white backdrop, wearing old jeans and jackets and holding up signs that said, “Where are the girls like me?” At the time, the online peti-tion had over 24,000 signatures.

Ann Shocket, Seventeen’s ed-itor-in-chief, invited the girls up to her office that day, but Shocket did not make any promises on the day of that meeting. However, in July, after over 84,000 people had signed the petition, Bluhm and other SPARK activists hand-delivered the printed petition to Seventeen. Subsequently, Seven-teen created its Body Peace Trea-ty, which promised not to digital-ly alter girls’ faces and bodies and encouraged its readers to sign a pledge to do various things, such as “respect[ing] my body by feed-ing it well, working up a sweat when it needs it, and knowing when to give it a break” and “not let[ting] my size define me.”

Senior Carly Olson, who has been subscribed to Seventeen for the past three years, com-

ments, “As I am getting

older, I have no-ticed more the super thin

models with perfectly straight hair, and I look in the mirror and don’t see that. This promise that Seventeen has made gives me hope that more girls will accept their looks. Not that physical appearance is the most impor-tant thing, but it definitely does contribute to self-confidence.” However, both Olson and junior Angela Solis agree that Seventeen

did not have a huge problem with incredibly skinny models. Solis noted, “I think they have a really good variety of body types. Even before the Body Peace Treaty, I think they were trying to keep it diverse.”

The magazine that the SPARK activists have now turned their at-tention to is Teen Vogue, another popular girls’ magazine. Once again, they have an online peti-tion with currently 11,658 signa-tures that asks Teen Vogue’s main advertisers to “commit to not ad-vertising with Teen Vogue until the magazine makes a commit-ment to show real, unaltered girls of all races, shapes, and sizes.” Teen Vogue’s adult counterpart, Vogue, has published a “health pact” in its June issue to not work with underage models and models that appear to have eating disor-ders.

Solis agrees that Teen Vogue needs to change. She said, “There is a huge difference between the Teen Vogue models and the Sev-enteen models.” Olson added, “Seriously, if you put a picture from each magazine side by side, the Seventeen models are petite, sure, but the Teen Vogue models are pretty obviously unhealthy.” The editor-in-chief of Teen Vogue has met with the girls from the SPARK movement, but no prom-ises have thus far been made.

Make sure to visit our website, aragonoutlook.org, in order to view

exclusive photos and articles.

Students battle the avalanche of college e-mails and letters

Alex FuruyA

Seniors Vanessa Poon, Sam Solosky, and James Garcia read pamphlets.

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by Shannon Thielenfeatures staff

“Anyone can wear makeup if they want. Nobody should dictate what you can or can’t do with your body or appearance,” said sophomore Nick Krom-elow. Kromelow’s indifferent attitude toward makeup is one perspective out of many, but his emphasis on it being a personal choice is common among other Aragon students. An abundance of people use makeup, but how and why each person does so can vary, and each person makes sense of this makeup phenom-enon individually.

Makeup can provide a variety of benefits to those who wear it. Sophomore Rebecca Ruttenberg said, “Makeup’s kind of fun, and it can make you look really good if you use it the right way.” Many other makeup-wearing girls agreed with the sentiment that it simply enhances one’s appearance. Sophomore Karess Batkowski explained that many different effects can be achieved with different usage of makeup. “They can wing their eyeliner to give their eye shape a complete-ly different look and can also make their lips appear smaller or bigger by using lip liner and

lipstick,” she says. Batkowski also said, “I see

makeup as a way to express one-self.” Makeup can often be seen as an art form, but is everyday makeup really a demonstration of individuality? Sophomore Katie Goldin disagreed, saying, “It makes girls feel like they fit in more because it makes them feel like they are just like ev-eryone else.” Wearing makeup, like many other things, is surely done widely in high schools to achieve this aim of ‘fitting in,’ but it can also grow to become more than that.

Ruttenberg said, “It’s like a self confidence thing, and that’s probably why most girls wear it: so they feel pretty. And when they feel pretty, they feel confi-dent.” Furthermore, some girls then seem to form a sort of de-pendence on makeup. Rutten-berg said, “A lot of people won’t even leave the house without it.” This reliance on makeup can be worrisome. She explained that this is because “they think they’re ugly, which they aren’t.” Senior Kelly Walsh said, “Make-up is okay until you can’t feel pretty without it.”

Some students feel that make-up can be used poorly and should be used carefully. Freshman

Vicky Hoznek said, “If you wear too much [makeup], it looks kind of clowny.” Hoznek person-ally does not wear makeup, but she said that a limited amount is fine and generally does not bother her. How-ever, she adds that “it’s not appropri-ate to wear crazy makeup to school because you need to focus on your education.”

Media i n f l u e n c e s are also prominent in today’s ideas of beauty and opinions of makeup. Recently, the idea of “natural beauty” has been per-vasive throughout advertising, TV, and even popular songs. For example, “Sweat pants, hair tied, chillin’ with no makeup on. That’s when you’re the pretti-est. I hope that you don’t take it wrong” are lines from Drake’s popular song “Best I Ever Had.” Batkowski said, “I agree that ev-eryone has natural beauty. I also believe that makeup should be used to enhance that beauty, not

cover it with something fake.” These new ideas seem benefi-

cial, but there may be unintend-ed consequences. Sophomore Joey Sandmeyer said, “‘Natural Beauty’ sounds like it would help with self-esteem. As long as the fad doesn’t negatively af-fect those who feel like they rely on makeup.” But Ruttenberg disagreed, saying, “I don’t think girls really care unless a guy says, ‘You don’t look good with all that makeup on,’ like a guy they personally know, not like a singer.” And in her opinion, “If

anything, it should make them want to not wear it as much.”

Despite minor differences in opinion, students generally feel like makeup is a personal choice that people make for themselves. Kromelow said, “Natural or arti-ficial, it is up to the individual’s preference, not mine.” People are understanding of other’s choices and think that it’s not their place to tell people what to do. Ruttenberg said, “It’s their face. They can do with it what they want.”

by Annika Olivesfeatures staff

When teens were little kids, they may have loved flipping through picture books. They al-ways had time for reading, but as they grew older, they simply got busier and busier until reading was fully out of their schedule. Teachers are always telling their students to read, but when will they ever have the time? Factors that may have attributed to this change include less time (because of sports practices, music les-sons, hours on homework, other extracurricular activities, etc.)

and technology. More time spent on phones, laptops, video games, and television take away from reading books.

Students at Aragon have to read books for their English classes, but many still take time to read for fun outside of school. Anna Lapid, the Aragon librarian, remarks, “Obviously, as a librar-ian, I believe recreational read-ing has a huge impact on literacy and student achievement.” People can travel to different parts of the world, learn new lessons that life cannot teach by itself, gain a new perspective on the world,

and increase their vo-cabulary, just

by reading a book. “My favorite book is Watership Down,” says Holly Dietz, moderator of Ara-gon’s Never-Ending Book Club. “It was the first book that showed me the journey literature can take you on.”

Reading can help calm stu-dents down. “I feel relaxed when I read,” reveals sophomore Ni-cole Vasquez. When reading a book, it can be soothing because thinking about something else when stressed generally relieves tension. Reading also helps one’s writing abilities. The more one is exposed to many different books, the more techniques one will pick up on how to create a better

piece of writing. However, some teachers, par-

ents, or adults in general are forc-ing kids to read books they don’t want to read, or they’re simply forcing them to read. “I lament the loss of a greater variety of choices assigned the English de-partment for summer reading. I wish students could choose to read whatever they want for sum-mer assignments,” Lapid says.

Many authors also reveal that they think teenagers should read what they want, instead of having assigned reading for school. Jeff Kinney, writer of the Diary of a Wimpy Kid book series, shared in an interview, “Whatever [book] captures their interest, in whatev-er format. Because kids’ interests will shape the people they will become.”

Some students simply dis-like reading for pleasure because it takes away from other things they could be doing, whether it be other leisurely activities or even homework. “I hate it... [Reading] takes too much time,” says ju-nior Daelyn Ruiz. “There’s more homework,” sophomore Sabrina Raji says, “and other things to worry about than just sitting and reading.”

Surpisingly, studies show that the average ATOS (Advantage/TASA Open Standard, a system developed to group books based on a low-level or high-level read-ing scale) reading level for the top 40 books for freshmen through seniors in 2011 was 5.3. That translates to a fifth grade reading level for a high school student.

On the flip side, there are also

those students who love to read and always make time for it. “It’s another world you can get to,” freshman Valerie Litz says. “It’s a break from reality.”

“I used to have to read to get a certain number of points at school,” freshman Anjanette Gomez adds. “I’ve loved it ever since.” Walking around the Ara-gon campus at lunch, one can see at least one or two people staring down at their laps, a book in their hands. “I like it because it sparks my imagination,” Raji comments.

In addition, Aragon English classes certainly do not let stu-dents stop reading. When stu-dents read around four to five books every year, it seem like it would be hard to get reading out of students’ systems. But despite the annotations, worksheets, notes, and papers that students sometimes have to finish for the books, there has been lots of posi-tive feedback.

“It opened my eyes to books I’d never read,” Raji remarks. “Teaching English has made me appreciate the classics. It made me see the value of reading a book more than once,” Dietz says. “When I read To Kill a Mocking-bird a second time, it helped me understand it more,” freshman Hannah Koury agrees.

Whether voluntary or not, stu-dents at Aragon tend to read on a regular basis. For those who do enjoy reading, they can take ad-vantage of the many benefits that reading can offer.

Visit aragonoutlook.org for more.

Eavan HutH

Senior Kelly Walsh carefully applies lipstick as she gets ready for school in the morning.valEriE PErEz

volume lii, issue no. 3friday, november 16, 2012 FEATURES 15

The literary adventures of Aragon’s earnest readers

Lip gloss, mascara, and eye liner—how much is too much?

by Wendy YuNews Staff

On Saturday, Nov. 10, the Aragon boys and girls cross country teams attended the CCS Finals at Toro Park, Salinas. Though expected to finished seventh, the boys team finished second, advancing to state fi-nals for the first time as a team in Aragon history. The girls fin-ished sixth.

This accomplishment fol-lows a season initially plagued by athletes unable to run due to injuries. Both teams suffered a slow start for both the PALs and CCS.

Before the season even be-gan, the top two runners of the boys team reported injury prob-lems. The top CCS returner, senior Rory Beyer, who quali-fied for CIF State Finals last year, was out for half the season

due to an overuse injury on his Achilles tendon. Another highly anticipated CCS returner, senior Christian Pedro has been out for the most of the season due to a foot injury.

With the top two runners sit-ting out, the boys team was off to a slow start once the season began.

“At our first couple of meets, compared to the teams in CCS, we were ranked first in our di-vision, Division II, and ranked fourth out of all five divisions. But, after the first couple of weeks, we weren’t even ranked in the top twenty of all divisions anymore because we’ve just had bad showings in the beginning. We were ranked fourth with me and Christian running, so our injuries have really affected the team’s standings,” says Beyer.

Despite the initial setbacks, Beyer comments, “We’ve been doing good [in the season]. We’ve had a lot of guys step up who I didn’t expect to run as fast as they are now.”

Similar to the boys team, members of the girls team also experienced health problems. During the latter part of the season, senior Kathryn DeWitt began experiencing breathing problems, which affected her races.

Assistant Coach Frank Hunt says, “Although there have been a lot of different issues, the teams have made excellent progress…In the girls team, Katherine Chinn has been the senior cornerstone of the group. She, along with her co-captain Kathryn DeWitt, provide excel-lent examples to the underclass-men on the team. There have also been many surprises. For instance, newcomer Zoe Barrie, a freshman with an outstanding soccer background, has made an immediate impact on this group with several outstanding performances.”

by Ryan Cheong

News Staff

The Aragon boys varsity wa-ter polo team had its final match of the season against Carlmont on Oct. 31. The Dons scored ten goals, but still lost to the Scots 10-7 due to a miscommunication between the players and the ref-eree. In the fourth quarter, the ref-eree deducted three points from Aragon and set the game back to the third quarter because an ejected player continued to play. During the miscommunication, the referee did not tell the ejected player or the coach and penal-ized the Dons by erasing the three goals Aragon had scored while the ejected player was playing.

Says senior and team captain Daniel Gorn, “The second half of the third quarter and first half

of the fourth quarter were erased due to a technicality…and that segment of time coincided with a period of Aragon dominance… I just think the refs should have calmed down about the technical-ities of the game and just let the game be played out as the players play it.”

After the call, Gorn and junior Rick Miyagi gave a speech to mo-tivate the team. “They can take our goals, but they can’t take our momentum. They can take min-utes that we played well away, but they can’t take the rest of the game from us,” Gorn said to the team. Following the motivating words, the Dons outscored the Scots in the fourth quarter 2-1.

“Even though it wasn’t the greatest result, we played our hearts out, left it in the pool, and gave it out 200 percent,” com-mented Miyagi. “I think both

teams knew that performance wise, the game was won by us.”

“Daniel and Rick’s speech def-initely gave us motivation… and we took their words into action,” says senior Brian Lin.

Wednesday’s loss meant the Dons ended fifth in their league this season. The loss also meant the team lost their chance to compete against the number one ranked team in the Ocean Divi-sion in the Central Coast Section-al tournaments.

Despite the loss, Gorn still re-mained positive and says, “This was the first time this year some-thing happened that everyone started play better… as a fami-ly… The fact that the team fought afterwards shows tremendous mental fortitude.”

Coach Nick Gonzales brought a new system to the team when he began coaching the team two

years ago. At the start of this sea-son, the team moved up from the Ocean Division to the Bay Divi-sion in the Peninsula Athletics League after finishing third last season.

On top of implementing a new system, Coach Gonzales also mo-tioned for a year round program like other schools in the Bay Di-vision. Miyagi adds, “[The past coaches] knew the sport of water

polo, but their only objective was to coach the season. Nick’s trying to create a year round program, so it’s not just like a two month thing - especially because we get compared to private schools, who play year round.”

Miyagi concludes, “This year was a stepping stone year. We al-ready have a general idea of how we want to play next year.”

by Emily ShenNews Staff

After defeating Hillsdale on Nov. 1, the Aragon girls volley-ball team faced off against Cuper-tino on Nov. 7 at CCS. Ultimate-ly, the Lady Dons were unable to prevail and lost three of the four matches.

Senior Chanel Joyce notes, “Our energy was down...As a team, we were all there together. We just couldn’t play to our po-tential.”

Junior Kelly Chang adds, “The first game we beat them by a lot [25-13]. But the next three we lost...There wasn’t as huge of a drive as the first match we won.”

Dons vs. KnightsAragon concluded their regu-

lar season with a victory against Hillsdale, finishing with a 6-8 record. Though the losses can be credited to losing many dominant senior players and thus struggling to maintain normalcy, the girls’ varsity volleyball team finished fourth in the Peninsula Athletic League Bay Division.

Aragon lost its first set 20-25 but won the next two with scores of 25-17 and 25-19, respectively. The fourth set enabled the Dons to clinch the match by a narrow margin of 31-29. Battling fierce competition, Aragon led by a single point with Hillsdale tying on multiple occasions. Though the first team to receive 25 points wins, a team must also win by a margin of at least 2 points.

Sophomore varsity member Gilliana Lau says, “It was crazy; it felt so good to win though. We would have to lead and then we’d lose the point, it was like a roller coaster ride.”

Senior Elizabeth McSheery notes, “[I was] nervous, for sure, very anxious. You don’t know how to feel — the heart-wrench-ing terror you’re going to lose, the excitement when you get a point. You want to win so badly, it’s a fluctuation of emotions.”

Freshman Anna Joshi adds, “My heart was beating so much. It was so scary, but we all had to be confident in our skills, and

I think winning that game really showed that we could all play to the best of our abilities”

A season in retrospectAlthough the varsity volley-

ball team had more losses than wins this season, they do not have any regrets.

“I wouldn’t change a single thing. I love my team, it was so much fun,” notes Lau.

Adds McSheery, “I’d like to think that we did our best, as a whole and as myself. I don’t know if there’s any more that I could have given…I’d like to be-lieve that I play hard regardless of the opponent. The teams are so even, and there’s no real standout team. You have to constantly be on your game.”

As stated by head coach An-nette Gennaro, the team’s consis-tency was a critical factor to the team’s success. “When they’re in sync and they’re all consistent, they perform exceptionally well,” reflects Gennaro. “Because a lot of them are new to either their po-sitions or the team, the consisten-cy is a huge factor. They’re work-ing on consistency in all areas of their skill work. I graduated a lot of seniors, and now the play-ers are realizing what their role is on the team, and I’m working on making sure every kid is success-ful in their role.”

She adds, “The team is close on and off the court.” The team’s motto is “Dons = Ohana,” styl-ized like an acrostic poem with the ‘O’ connecting ‘Dons’ and ‘Ohana.’

Indeed, the team is literally a family: Anjali and Anna Joshi, respectively senior and fresh-man, are sisters. On being team-mates with a sister, Anna notes, “It’s actually really fun. I thought it’d be stressful, but whenever I play she’s right there cheering me on.” Both sisters made the varsity team in their freshman year.

As Gennaro notes, one of the coach’s goals was “to win the games that we’re supposed to and get into CCS.” Nevertheless, she was supportive even when they lost.

Says McSheery, “Our biggest goal was that we play strong. I think we were relatively suc-cessful, and we played our best regardless of the circumstances.”

Lau criticized her performance this season. “I know for sure I need to be able to jump higher,” she says.

Though she won’t be around, McSheery has advice for new players next year: “Keep fight-ing, never give up even when it seems like there’s no chance to win. Stay positive!”

brittney chewThe girls varsity volleyball team celebrates their victory.

Melissa Moy

Senior Christian Pedro runs atHallmark Cross Country Course.

Jason Mai

Sophomore goalie Stevin Diba swims the ball away from the cage.

volume lii, issue no. 3friday, november 16, 201216 SPORTS

Boys water polo builds a team, a program

Girls volleyball season ends at CCSDespite injuries, boys varsity cross country advances to state