100 Skyway Drive, San Jose, CA 95111 Valley Christian High School www.valleychristian.net October 17, 2008 Vol. 26 No. 3 What Lies Within: VCHS Communications Department http://warrior.valleychristian.net http://kvch.valleychristian.net http://film.valleychristian.net http://kvch-tv.valleychristian.net http://communications.valleychristian.net NEWS................1-4 A&E..................5-6 FEATURES.......7-10 SPORTS........11-15 “BE STRONG IN THE LORD AND IN THE STRENGTH OF HIS MIGHT.” EPHESIANS 6:10 Football and Froot Loops By Alyssa Tomasello Features Editor “You Can’t Take It With You” Dazzles the VC Stage By Taylor Fine Staff Writer Over a long process of eight weeks, nineteen Valley Christian cast members of the fall production, You Can’t Take it With You worked strenuously through auditions and rehearsals. The end result of weeks of hard work was an entertaining show put on by the VCHS Theatre Department. Junior David Ko plays the role of Mr. DePinna; “He is a very exuberant man. He gets excited about almost anything and has many different quirks,” said Ko. For years, Valley Christian High School has not only celebrated the spirit under the “Friday Night Lights,” but also the beauty of theater and the hard work it takes to put on a show. Regarding the reaction expected from the student body, Ko responded by saying; “I hope the student body can realize how the plot sort of relates to the society today and how it shows that everyone should stay true to themselves and being different isn’t a bad thing.” Junior Amber Coney responded to the same question by saying, “I hope that everyone thinks it’s funny and notices the underlying humor in addition to the obvious jokes.” Coney is playing the part of Penelope Sycamore. “She has a lot of phases: At first she is obsessed with painting, and then after a type writer was delivered at her doorstep by mistake, she acquires a great love for writing plays, even though what she writes is not good.” Coney feels that the student body should come and see the show, “It has a really interesting plot and it will make you laugh. All we need is an audience to show all the hard work we have put into the show,” said Coney. The Valley Christian Theatre Department gladly invites everyone of all ages to come and enjoy this delightful fall show. The production of You Can’t Take it With You debuted last night (October 16) and will be running several other days as follows: October 18, 23, 24, 25 at 7:30 p.m., as well as October 25 at 2:00 p.m. Ticket prices start at $14 and can be purchased in the theater box office as well as online at www.vctheatre.net. You Can’t Take it With You is a sure laugh that will keep you entertained from beginning to end. Don’t miss the chance to enjoy the show. Valley Christian celebrated Fall Homecoming 2008 over the week leading up to October 4. Crazy outfits, outrageous rallies, and a parade all led to VC’s defeat of the Padres from Serra High School. The entire Spirit Week was incredibly fun. Each day the students and teachers participated in theme dress days, which included Pajama day, Beauty and the Geek day, Neon day, VC Spirit day, and Theme day. The themes for the week were freshmen as Fruity Pebbles and sophomores as Froot Loops. The juniors took on the role of Lucky Charms and the seniors dominated as Captain Crunch. Throughout the week, fantastic lunchtime competitions took place where the classes took on each other for more spirit points. On Tuesday, round one of Powder Puff was played. It was not a surprise that the seniors dominated the freshmen. In a close game, the sophomores were narrowly defeated by the juniors who came out on top. The final duel of Powder Puff took place at the Night Rally on Wednesday. The seniors annihilated the juniors in the game. Also, at the night rally the fantastic VCHS Cheer squad performed. In addition, Guy Cheer was revived. The juniors took on the seniors in which they tied for first place in that category. It was an absolutely amazing, spectacular night. The dances were hilarious and the game provided awesome entertainment. It was no surprise that the senior girls came out on top. The festivities leading up to the match up between Serra and VC were incredible. At the conclusion of the Junior Varsity game, the Homecoming procession began. Starting off the parade was the freshmen class’s Fruity Pebble float. Their float looked amazing, with the prehistoric background and the live characters on the float. Several of the freshmen dressed up as the Flintstone family. The freshmen came in at a tie for third place. Next was the sophomore class’s Froot Loop float. This float was especially interesting as it was set in the tropical rainforest. The sophomore float was especially humorous and entertaining. Although it was close, the sophomores tied for third with the freshmen. Following the sophomore float was the junior’s fabulous Lucky Charms scene. This was by far the most incredible of all the floats. It was equipped with a rainbow and a pot of gold! Lucky the Leprechaun made a special appearance on board as well. The juniors officially out-did themselves this year and their hard work showed. They took first place in the float competition. Last in the procession of floats was the grand finale Captain Crunch ship. The seniors’ float sailed through the track with its enormous white sails gaping in the wind. It was a close match between the junior and senior floats, but the seniors just narrowly missed first and placed second in the competition. Following the senior Captain Crunch float was the 2008 Homecoming Court. The Homecoming royalty entered the football stadium on the tops of elegant convertibles. First on the track was the freshmen class Prince Sean Davis and Princess Natalie Tomasello. Next to roll down the track was the sophomore couple Princess Andrea Stickel and Prince Grant Douglass. The junior couple, Prince Kyle Travis and Princess Kacie Campbell looked absolutely stunning. Each couple was welcomed onto the field by their loving and extremely proud parents. Following the under-classmen was the Senior Court. VC Juniors show their Lucky Charms spirit as they pose at the Homecoming game. The underclassmen on the 2008 Homecoming Court stand and watch as the king and queen are crowned. The Warriors defeated the Serra Padres in the exciting 2008 VC Homecoming game. Photo by J. Steve Sato Photo by J. Steve Sato Photo by VC Yearbook Staff See HOMECOMING page 2 Valley Christian Filled with Spirit for Homecoming 2008
Transcript
100 Skyway Drive, San Jose, CA 95111Valley Christian High School www.valleychristian.net
“BE STRONG IN THE LORD AND IN THE STRENGTH OF HIS MIGHT.” EPHESIANS 6:10
Football and Froot LoopsBy Alyssa TomaselloFeatures Editor
“You Can’t Take It With You” Dazzles
the VC StageBy Taylor FineStaff Writer Over a long process of eight weeks, nineteen Valley Christian cast members of the fall production, You Can’t Take it With You worked strenuously through auditions and rehearsals. The end result of weeks of hard work was an entertaining show put on by the VCHS Theatre Department. Junior David Ko plays the role of Mr. DePinna; “He is a very exuberant man. He gets excited about almost anything and has many different quirks,” said Ko. For years, Valley Christian High School has not only celebrated the spirit under the “Friday Night Lights,” but also the beauty of theater and the hard work it takes to put on a show. Regarding the reaction expected from the student body, Ko responded by saying; “I hope the student body can realize how the plot sort of relates to the society today and how it shows that everyone should stay true to themselves and being different isn’t a bad thing.” Junior Amber Coney responded to the same question by saying, “I hope that everyone thinks it’s funny and notices the underlying humor in addition to the obvious jokes.” Coney is playing the part of Penelope Sycamore. “She has a lot of phases: At first she is obsessed with painting, and then after a type writer was delivered at her doorstep by mistake, she acquires a great love for writing plays, even though what she writes is not good.” Coney feels that the student body should come and see the show, “It has a really interesting plot and it will make you laugh. All we need is an audience to show all the hard work we have put into the show,” said Coney. The Valley Christian Theatre Department gladly invites everyone of all ages to come and enjoy this delightful fall show. The production of You Can’t Take it With You debuted last night (October 16) and will be running several other days as follows: October 18, 23, 24, 25 at 7:30 p.m., as well as October 25 at 2:00 p.m. Ticket prices start at $14 and can be purchased in the theater box office as well as online at www.vctheatre.net. You Can’t Take it With You is a sure laugh that will keep you entertained from beginning to end. Don’t miss the chance to enjoy the show.
Valley Christian celebrated Fall Homecoming 2008 over the week leading up to October 4. Crazy outfits, outrageous rallies, and a parade all led to VC’s defeat of the Padres from Serra High School. The entire Spirit Week was incredibly fun. Each day the students and teachers participated in theme dress days, which included Pajama day, Beauty and the Geek day, Neon day, VC Spirit day, and Theme day. The themes for the week were freshmen as Fruity Pebbles and sophomores as Froot Loops. The juniors took on the role of Lucky Charms and the seniors dominated as Captain Crunch. Throughout the week, fantastic lunchtime competitions took place where the classes took on each other for more spirit points. On Tuesday, round one of Powder Puff was played. It was not a surprise that the seniors dominated the freshmen. In a close game, the sophomores were narrowly defeated by the juniors who came out on top. The final duel of Powder Puff took place at the Night Rally on Wednesday. The seniors annihilated the juniors in the game. Also, at the night rally the fantastic VCHS Cheer squad performed. In addition, Guy Cheer was revived. The juniors took on the seniors in which they tied for first place in that category. It was an absolutely amazing, spectacular night. The dances were hilarious and the game provided awesome entertainment. It was no surprise that the senior girls came out on top.
The festivities leading up to the match up between Serra and VC were incredible. At the conclusion of the Junior Varsity game, the Homecoming procession began. Starting off the parade was the freshmen class’s Fruity Pebble float. Their float looked amazing, with the prehistoric background and the live characters on the
float. Several of the freshmen dressed up as the Flintstone family. The freshmen came in at a tie for third place.
Next was the sophomore class’s Froot Loop float. This float was especially interesting as it was set in the tropical rainforest. The sophomore float was especially humorous and entertaining. Although it was close, the sophomores tied for third with the freshmen.
Following the sophomore float was the junior’s fabulous Lucky Charms scene. This was by far the most incredible of all the floats. It was equipped with a rainbow and a pot of gold! Lucky the Leprechaun made a special appearance on board as well. The juniors officially out-did themselves this year and their hard work showed. They took first place in the float competition.
Last in the procession of floats was the grand finale Captain Crunch ship.
The seniors’ float sailed through the track with its enormous white sails gaping in the wind. It was a close match between the junior and senior floats, but the seniors just narrowly missed first and placed second in the competition.
Following the senior Captain Crunch float was the 2008 Homecoming Court. The Homecoming royalty entered the football stadium on the tops of elegant convertibles. First on the track was the freshmen class Prince Sean Davis and Princess Natalie Tomasello. Next to roll down the track was the sophomore couple Princess Andrea Stickel and Prince Grant Douglass. The junior couple, Prince Kyle Travis and Princess Kacie Campbell looked absolutely stunning. Each couple was welcomed onto the field by their loving and extremely proud parents. Following the under-classmen was the Senior Court.
VC Juniors show their Lucky Charms spirit as they pose at the Homecoming game. The underclassmen on the 2008 Homecoming Court stand and watch as the king and queen are crowned.
The Warriors defeated the Serra Padres in the exciting 2008 VC Homecoming game.
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See HOMECOMING page 2
Valley Christian Filled with Spirit for Homecoming 2008
2 THE WARRIOR NEWSOctober 17, 2008
News - Want to Travel to Mexico on the VC Missions Trip? pg. 3 - World-Renown DaVinci Exhibit Arrives at the SJ Tech Museum pg. 4
A&E - Check Out this Issue’s Featured Artist and Their Work pg. 5 - VC Jazz Band Continues to Impress pg. 5
The Inside Scoop:Features - Take a Look Back at the Exciting Memories Made During Spirit Week pg. 8-9 - A Look At The New Clubs for the 2008-2009 School Year pg. 7,10
Sports- Girls Varsity Tennis Continues to Improve pg. 11 - Girls Volleyball Attacks Their WCAL Schedule pg. 12-13
PSATs: Yes, They Do Matter
By Nathan FarrokhianStaff Writer On November 15, the high school freshmen, sophomores, and juniors took the PSATs. The testing took the place of a school day and gave a day off to the seniors. Many of the students saw this as a break from school, however the PSATs can be very important to your journey to college. There are many different reasons for taking the PSATs. One of them is to receive feedback on your strengths and weaknesses in different areas such as reading, writing, and math. These show what you need to improve on before heading into college. Also, they help you see how your performance on an admissions test might compare with that of others applying to college. They also help when preparing for the SATs. The questions on the PSATs are similar to the SATs and the directions are almost identical. This can help you familiarize yourself with the test before you take it. However, one of the most important reasons to take the PSATs is to enter the competition for scholarships from the National Merit Scholarship Corporation. Over 50,000 students each year qualify for these scholarships. This can give you an opportunity to earn money to pay for your college, which will be a great help to your parents. Though there is not as much pressure while taking the PSATs one should still strive to do as well as possible; for the practice, for the chance at scholarship money, and for personal satisfaction.
Note: The Warrior is a nonprofit publication which is published throughout the school year by the associ-ated student body of Valley Christian High School.
Views expressed in The Warrior are those of the writ-ers and do not necessarily represent the views of the
school, staff, or its students.
All type and layouts are created in The Warrior newsroom, room 215. The Warrior is printed at
Fricke-Parks Press, Union City, California.
The weekend of September 27 was Morgan Hill’s 19th annual Taste of Morgan Hill. This festival takes place in Downtown Morgan Hill and has been a tradition for many years. It is two whole days of fun, entertainment, and a great family atmosphere that the people of Morgan Hill work hard to put on once a year. This year was a huge success estimating a total of 50,000 people from around the Bay Area. The festivities started on Friday, September 26 when the county closed down the streets downtown and held the annual street dance. Hundreds of people gathered downtown in the evening to bond
with friends and dance in the streets to all different kinds of music. The festival continued through Sunday with all different kinds of entertainment. The 16th annual Classic Car Show took place with over 165 classics. The owners displayed their cars proudly as the audience fawned over the classic cars from the 70’s and 80’s. A quilt show also took place, set up by the South Valley Quilt Association. Over 250 quilts were on display ranging from beautiful old antiques to new fun quilts for kids. Some quilts were even auctioned off during the weekend. This year was the first year thatoutside restaurants were allowed to be
Homecoming The Senior Homecoming Court
looked utterly glamorous. Princess Mary Torode and Prince Tim Harris were stunning. Princess Anna Kay Richards and Prince Ricky Long appeared completely gorgeous in their attire. Dressed to impress, Prince Daniel Huffman and Princess Katrina Smith were completely adorable. The Alumni Court, Queen Gina Portale and King Tyler Seaman, returned to pass on their legacy to the newly elected King and Queen. It was a fabulous procession! Thenitwasdowntothefinalmomentthateveryone had been waiting for: Over the loudspeaker, Tim Harris and Katrina Smith were announced as the 2008 Valley Christian Homecoming King and Queen. It
19th Annual Taste of Morgan HillBy CJ WryeSports Editor
featured in the festival. There were 22 food vendors present including some of Morgan Hill’s new restaurants such as Chili’s and Chipotle. Live musical entertainment was present throughout the entire weekend and it was easy to see how much fun the crowd was having. Senior Kaylan Whitaker said, “It was so much fun to just go and hang out with friends and family. The food was amazing, the music was great, and the car show was spectacular!” Morgan Hill had another successful festival and everyone is excited to see what they have planned for next year.
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is the highest honor of Homecoming and these two people definitely deserved it.Congratulations to the entire Homecoming Court.
Overall the week was a huge success. The freshmen class came in fourth place, losing to the sophomore class by only one point! In second place was the junior class with 3,993 points. Coming out on top, the seniors dominated the entire week, takingfirstplacewith4256points.The week ended with a Valley Christian victory over Serra High School’s football team. VC held Serra 23-21. This was one of the best Spirit Weeks and Homecoming celebrations in Valley Christian history.
The Freshmen Powder Puff team poses for a picture before going up against the Seniors.
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A Chance for Salvation3THE WARRIORNEWS October 17, 2008
College Application Season is Here
By Melissa KimStaff Writer Valley Christian High School students are preparing to take another step in spreading God’s Word in Mexico. Mr. Myron Falkowski, a Global Studies teacher at VCHS, is in charge of this mission trip. He is planning to take about 30 students and some adults to a needy community in Mexico. This trip is the third time VCHS is going to help people in San Jacinto, a small village in Mexico. The biggest thing the students are planning to do in San Jacinto is work on a house for the director of the drug rehab center. Other than that, they will be feeding orphans and helping people who are staying in a drug and alcohol rehab center by talking with them to try to make their lives a little bit happier. Also, they will hold chapels and help present the gospel to the Mexican people. The trip is only for a week. During the time in Mexico, students will stay in a house near a beach, about a mile and a half from where they will be working. The cost for participating in this trip is $450, which is great for a week’s stay and the opportunity to lead people to God. Junior Taylor Fine who has been on this mission trip in the past said, “It’s a life-changing experience. You don’t realize how bad it is until you actually go and see. It’s a lot of work but it is definitely worth it.” For students who have no special
plans during winter break, consider taking this trip and helping out the needy people of our neighboring country. Going
to Mexico can be more meaningful than staying home and doing nothing!
By Priscilla ShenAssistant News Editor
Community Outreach Gets InvolvedBy Alyssa BerdingEditor-in-Chief Valley’s Community Outreach class is busy getting involved in the community and spreading the love of Christ outside the school walls. As a brand new Bible option for juniors and seniors, Community Outreach offers students the ability to use their God-given gifts to serve others. Right down the hill at Hayes Elementary School, the students work three times a week tutoring and running an after-school Kid’s Club. Depending on their own academic specialties and qualifications, the students can tutor in English, Math, Science, or Reading. Some students can even work with kids with special needs, such as autism or other learning disabilities. The involved Valley Christian students are truly enjoying the opportunity to give of their time and make a difference in their community. According to senior CJ Wrye, “It feels so good to be giving back to the community. The kids are so appreciative when we are there and I love to be able to make a difference in someone’s life.” The students in Community Outreach also realize how rewarding it can be to help those who cannot help themselves. The kids at Hayes have been so thankful for the help they have received from the students at Valley and are so appreciative that someone else is willing to take the time to assist them with their schoolwork. Senior Macie McMillian has truly enjoyed working with the kids and said, “Community Outreach is a great opportunity for us to reach out to the children at Hayes and minister to them. We also tutor them, which is good because they really need our help.” It is great to see that the students at Valley are stepping out in service and influencing their community in positive, Christ-like way.
The college applications season is now in full swing with the beginning of October and will continue steadily until January.
First in this busy season is the California State University application period, which opened October 1. The CSU, with around 450,000 students and 46,000 faculty and staff, is the largest system of higher education in the nation. It comprises twenty-three campuses, including the
beautiful Cal Poly San Luis Obispo, the comprehensive San Diego State University, and the diverse San Francisco State University. Check out www.csumentor.edu for information on the CSU and all its campuses and to apply to the CSU. If you are applying to the CSU, get your application in by November 30 in order to be admitted to your preferred campus. Next up is the University of California. The UC system embraces 220,000 students and more than 170,000 faculty and staff, spread amongst nine campuses, including UC Merced, the newest campus, and UC Berkeley, the most competitive campus. The UC system includes a wide spectrum of locations, opportunities, programs, and activities. Check out http://www.universityofcalifornia.edu/ to learn more about and to apply to the UC. Unlike the CSU application, the UC application includes two essay prompts; it also requires two Subject Tests in two different areas while the CSU system requires no Subject Tests. If you still need to take, or retake, the SAT Reasoning Test or an SAT Subject Test, you have only two more chances, November 1 and December 6. If you want to take the ACT Assessment plus Writing, the last two test dates are October 25 and December 13. Be sure to register for your tests as soon as possible. As you are completing your college applications, if you need any ideas or help, there are many resources for you to use. The College Board website has several helpful tools for researching colleges, comparing your grades and scores to those accepted by colleges, and more. Also, explore individual college websites for information on their school, how to apply to their school, and application and essay help. Finally, the counselors at Valley have helpful tips and information on various schools, essays, and the entire application process. Utilize all these resources for the best, smoothest, and most enjoyable application experience, and one final tip for you: Do things as early as possible and stay organized.
Head to HeadBy Liz FlemingA&E Editor With so much focus on this year’s presidential campaign for the White House, anticipation has been slowly mounting as each passing day brings us one step closer to Election Day. The presidential mara-thon that began for candidates John Mc-Cain and Barack Obama almost two years ago has become a final-effort sprint in the last two weeks of their journeys. Both candidates and their respective running-mates continue rallying voters in battle-ground states such as Florida and Ohio, where both the Democratic and Republi-can parties rallied earlier this week. The nation’s eyes are following every move these candidates make, and in a cam-paign like this one, every decision, com-ment, or action initiated by either side has the potential to swing voters either way. A great deal of emphasis has been placed on the debates during this election. With the country in the midst of war, economic turmoil, and a great deal of controversy, it is not surprising that so much hinges on the candidates’ plans for action and policies regarding each topic. These Democratic-Republican showdowns have generated a lot of me-dia coverage, starting with the first presi-dential debate, held at the University of Mississippi in Oxford on September 26. Media buzz began even before either candidate touched down in Mis-sissippi. The McCain campaign had
See CANDIDATES page 4
4 THE WARRIOR NEWSOctober 17, 2008
The Economy – What Really HappenedBy Jacob RuizAssistant News Editor Risky loans, foreclosures, CDOs, Wall Street investors, depressed home val-ues, bailouts, mortgages, lenders, and two people named Freddie and Fannie: What does it all mean? The majority of adults in America don’t understand the current eco-nomic crisis and a recent poll shows that 9 out of 10 high school students don’t get it either. But it would be wise to at least know the gist of what caused this financial meltdown, what can be done about it, and how it will affect your family and future. There are numerous factors that ignited the current economic meltdown, but the greatest catalyst of all started with home loans. It goes something like this; a person wants to buy a house so they go to a bank or lender and ask for a loan. If lenders had some higher standards for acquiring loans, there wouldn’t be quite as nasty of a prob-lem, but loans were being handed out like candy to people with both good credit and bad credit. The interest rates on these home
loans were subject to fluctuation, and when rates spiked, homeowners began having trouble paying. Something to keep in mind is that when a person takes out a loan to pay for a house, if at some point they can’t afford the loan payments, they must hand over the house to the lender. Hundreds of thousands of these loans were made. Banks bundled them all together, started calling them CDOs (Collateralized Debt Obliga-tions), and began selling them to investors. Why would investors put money into these CDOs? That’s where companies like AIG come into play. AIG gave these bundles of loans AA and AAA ratings, meaning, its safe and a good idea to invest in them. House values were soaring up until early 2007 and so lenders, banks, and investors were carefree. It didn’t matter if the loan fell through with a borrower, they wouldn’t get the loan payments anymore but they would get a house that had risen in value. But when the housing market started go-
ing down dramatically in 2007, and peo-ple couldn’t afford their mortgage rates anymore, lenders like Washington Mutual and Countrywide Financial began taking the heat. An economic catastrophe ensued.Bailout Solution Having realized the free market couldn’t take care of itself this time, the government decided to step in and come up with a plan to rescue the economy. About a month ago, Uncle Sam gave AIG $85 bil-lion dollars and hoped to pronounce the cri-sis over. Now, a $700 billion dollar bailout plan is in the process of being put into ef-fect. Banks can’t sell their little bundles of loans anymore, and they have been hoard-ing cash and refusing to lend because they might need the money themselves. The bailout should unclog the system and allow banks to feel safe to start lending again. But no one knows for sure if it will succeed or how much it will really help. But it’s okay, the government’s gambling their own $700
billion, not yours. Oh wait, actually it is your $700 billion, derived from taxes! Everyone has begun to feel the pinch of the financial crises by now. The stock mar-ket has taken quite a toll. Stocks across the board have dropped significantly. David Barclay, currently running to be a coun-cil member for the town of Campbell, said, “My family and I are losing about $30,000 a day.” Not only are people’s stock invest-ments diving, but also traditional retirement plans such as 401Ks are steadily losing value. College savings funds are also being negatively affected. Another huge impact is the credit freeze. But you better not be thinking about taking out a loan for it be-cause no one is willing to lend right now. This ripple effect has led our nation into an economic quagmire, but don’t panic, this problem can be reversed and the econ-omy will see brighter days… hopefully.Sources: TIME magazine, San Jose Mer-cury News.
It was 3:30pm when I was let loose into the Da Vinci exhibit. A man with thick-rimmed glasses mechanically lifted the velvet rope, unblocking the current fea-ture event of the Tech Museum. His sparse goatee quite nicely framed his dismal ex-pression, which I quite reasonably attrib-uted to the circumstances of an individual who made a living sitting on what looked to be a rather uncomfortable stool from 9am-6pm listening to the incessant chatter of some 30 unruly children and their in-credibly tolerant chaperons. How the man hasn’t snapped by now is a testament to some quality of saintliness I cannot even begin to comprehend. Even I was breaking under the grueling pressure of what could only be described as eternity, or at clock value some fifteen minutes. There are only so many Spongebob and Zoey101 quotes I can handle to a sitting. I gave a silent sigh
of relief as I handed over my ticket, eager to dart into the dark exhibit and lose the children behind. Entering the exhibit I was greeted by a large orange wall proclaiming some-thing or other about the life of Leonardo Da Vinci; I assumed it was important but made a left and continued into the second room. I am not the most meticulous of museum observers, something about these places exhausts me. I can often be spot-ted sitting on the bench resting my legs. Delivering the impression that like some great athlete following a marathon, I have just accomplished the inexplicably arduous feat and require such an aid without which I’d likely collapse. Better pace myself I thought, no use wasting my energy stand-ing, reading something I can easily locate on the internet in the comfort of a chair. I approached a room featuring a
large (roughly 20 foot) replica of the Dome of the Florence Cathedral. I felt a sting of deceit. I had entered a Leonardo Da Vin-ci exhibit to find that the first room (with exception to his name written across the entrance wall) was completely devoid of any of his actual works. I walked further along, briefly reading about the various in-struments and machinery that were created during the period to aid the construction of such large works. Three-speed hoists, revolving cranes, light hoists, the scaled replicas were impressive but none carried the name I so anxiously sought. Perhaps I had been deceived? Leonardo had simply been the draw to an exhibit displaying only his contemporary’s works, he existing only in name. A meticulous ploy to swindle from those who failed to read the fine print. Entering the next room I was re-lieved to see the name Da Vinci coupled
next to several more simple construc-tions. It gave me hope, but looking around the room to see only more machines of a simpler nature I wasn’t inclined to foster my optimism just yet. Although my ini-tial reaction to the room lacked an abun-dance of interest I slowly continued from one mechanical device to the next, read-ing the small incorporated captions as I progressed. It would take me several more rooms to discover the importance of that room, as well as its predecessor in rela-tion to the rest of the museum. But slowly, gradually, the pieces would begin to fit into the larger puzzle. Leonardo sought to de-scribe those simple working machines, ob-serving their individual part’s movements and importance to the overall machinery. Beginning with the basic components
See DA VINCI page 5
Candidates Go Head-to-Headissued a statement that Senator McCain would not attend the debate unless Con-gress could come to an agreement on the $700 million bailout plan. Speculation was rampant, as the country waited out the fate of the economy, and the debate, through the week. No deal was met, but Senator McCain’s attempt to suspend his campaign failed, and he announced that he would attend the debate regardless. The presidential debate series commenced on September 26 as planned.The candidates traded shots at each other throughout the course of the night, and each struggled to assert his policy over the other. The attacks were consistent with the campaigns of each party. Senator John McCain slammed Barack Obama as some-one who “doesn’t understand” the major is-sues of the country. He repeatedly sought to convey the image as the more qualified and experienced candidate, while Senator Obama spent much of the night trying to tie McCain’s image to President Bush. Of-ficially, foreign policy was the central topic of the first presidential debate, but the can-didates spent half an hour heatedly discuss-ing the economy’s precarious situation too. It’s difficult to peg a clear winner from the first debate. Statistically speaking, round
1 went to Obama, who held the lead in the polls overall for the election race. But it’s not fair to say that Obama had a clear vic-tory in the debate. It’s simply that as the underdog, McCain needed to dazzle view-ers with a convincing performance in order to make up ground in the polls during the debate. While he certainly didn’t disap-point his loyal supporters, his performance just wasn’t spectacular enough to overtake Obama in the polls during the first round.Following the Oxford debate in Missis-sippi, attention turned to the highly an-ticipated vice presidential debate to be held on October 2 at Washington Univer-sity in St. Louis. In the days leading up to this debate, Governor Sarah Palin, the Republican VP candidate, faced hot criti-cism from the press. She proved to hold her own against Joe Biden and defended her reputation against skeptics; but the polls once again attributed the win the Democratic Party. Biden’s answers to moderator Gwen Ifill’s questions on ev-erything from economy to energy to for-eign policies proved to be more insightful and detailed, according to media analyses. The second presidential debate on October 7 soundly gave Barack Obama the upper hand. The McCain camp needed
a stellar performance to secure a victory and pos-sibly overtake Obama in the polls. While both candidates kept it rela-tively tame, McCain could have used some fire and zest to reignite the Republican Party. That just simply didn’t occur. In the final days of this push for the White House, both candidates appear battle scarred and weary. The end is in sight, but the outcome is still not clear. The Obama camp has a comfortable lead, but as has been characteristic of this race, one day can be enough to turn this all around for John McCain. In the meantime, America will eagerly watch the future of this nation unfold during this crucial, defining election.
An Inside Look: Da Vinci Revived at Tech MuseumBy Jon-Luke KvapilJunior A&E Editor
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Presidential candidates John McCain (top) and Barack Obama (bottom).
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5October 17, 2008A&E Arts andEntertainment
Artist FocusThe Warrior’s:
By Samantha VaradaStaff Writer
Over the past years menhavealwaysrepresentedJazz. Mostof the famous Jazz musicians whoare well known are males. Womenhavebeen trying formanycenturiestoachievetheirrightfulrespectintheJazzmusicindustry.ValleyChristianJazz students are no different. In Valley Christian’s JazzBand, men have always held themajority; however this year thingshave changed. The women havefinally begun to catch up with the menandhalfoftheJazzBandisnowmade up of women. These sevenvery talented students have workedhard to get where they are and eachhaveadifferentstoryandmotivationof how they became interested in Jazz. SeniorLina Palmer isthenewestmember to the Jazz Band this year and
is the band’s vocalist. “I wanted to beinvolvedinJazzbecauseitwassomethingnewandIhadneverdoneitbefore,”saidPalmer. This is Palmer’s first year in Jazz
and she enjoys the challenge. Senior Rebekah Woods playsthe guitar for the band. This isWoods’ fifth year in Jazz and she planstopursueitfurtherincollege.Senior Mikayla Reynaud,trombone, also plans to continueJazzincollegeandsaysshebecameinterested in Jazz because it wasmoreexciting toher thanconcert. OtherfemalejazzmusiciansinthebandincludeseniorChi Tranwhoplays the saxophone, sophomoreJoJo Ramirez on drums,sophomore Brianna Pritchet
on baritone saxophone and juniorMegan Jasso on Latin percussion. Some of these girls have been
involved for years, others for only afew months, but all of them have onething in common; their love for Jazz.
ByCJWryeSports Editor
Women Representing Jazz
Jarrett Volkoff,an exceedingly talentedfreshmaninMrs. IsaacsArt II class clearlyexpresses his advancedskillinthisstilllifeproject. Displayedinthestilllifesketchareavaseandamask.Hechosetousepencilashismediumtocreate thissimple,yetstunningworkofart.Theassignment required theart students to providetheir own props. Whenasked why he choseto use these particularprops, Volkoff answeredcandidly, “BecauseI forgot to bring myown.” So, he grabbedwhateverwaslyingaroundinMrs.Isaac’swell-stocked class. “I have done art my
wholelife,”Volkoffsaid,“Mydadtaughtme perspective when I was young.” Heexplained that his dad is an architect,
and an artist like himself. Jarrett Volkoffplans to take AP Studio Art next year.
Have you been in the mood forgreatMexicanFoodbutdonotknowwhereto find it? Look no further than La Victoria Taqueria indowntownSanJose,homeofthe famous Orange Sauce. La Vics, as itismore commonlyknown, is built insidean old Victorian style home, creating awelcomingenvironmentforalltoenjoy.AtthecornerofE.SanCarlosstand3rdst,LaVics is also easy to find, and in a very well known part of downtown. A favorite ofthestudentsfromlocalcollegecampuses,La Vics as become a San Jose special. Their menu consists mostly oftraditionalMexicanfood,andwhile therearemanyotherTaqueriasthatserveburritos,
tacos,andNachos,onlyLaVicsofferstheirhomemadeOrangehotsauce.Thatisthedifference maker. Considered by some tobe“gold inabottle,” thissauce justaddstotheperfectionofLaVicsfood.Arman Zadeh,ajunioratValleysaid,“TheOrangeSauceatLaVicscouldpossiblybetheverybestthingthathappenedtoMexicanFoodsince the flour tortilla. My friends and I go thereeverychanceweget,andsometimesweordersecondsjustsowehaveanexcusetohavemoreofthesauce.”ButsupersauceisnotallLaVicsisknownfor.Theirsuperburritosarestuffedfullofbeans,rice,freshsalsa, cheese, Guacamole, sour crème,andachoiceofeightmeats:CarneAsada,
pork, chicken, braised pork, ChileVerde,chorizo, al pastor, and even beef tongue.Their award winning Super Nachos areon The Wave Magazines’ “Hit List,” anawardgiventoonlythebestlocalcuisine. LaVicshasalsorecentlyopenednew restaurants on E. Santa Clara Streetand Almaden Express Way in San Jose,hoping to extend their service to beyondjustDowntownSanJose.Sonexttimeyouhaveacravingforaburrito,somenachos,or a couple of enchiladas, stop buy LaVictoria’s and don’t forget to get plentyof extra orange sauce! As you finish your first meal, you will be asking yourself, “Orange you glad you tried La Victoria?”
Tommy ZellnerStaff Writer
Traditional, Affordable Mexican Cuisine
The Jazz band practices during class time for one of their upcoming performances.
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Da Vinci RevivedContinued from pg. 4(i.e.screws,wheels,pinionsaxlesetc.)DaVincitookituponhimselftodescribehowthe relationships between these uniqueindividual pieces interacted with oneother;eventuallydevelopinghisawarenessto the infinite possibilities that such pieces createdinthepresenceofoneanother.Asthe museum progresses there is a feelingthat you begin to comprehend Da Vincinotsimplyasanengineerorartist,butasaperson throughhisgrowingphilosophicaloutlook on life. The shear creativeforce behind Leonardo’s mechanicalachievements began to instill me with asense of admiration. The intricacies andintelligentdesignbehindhiscompositions
arequitehonestly,astounding. The next stage of the exhibitfluidly segwayed these developing concepts throughLeonardo’sintellectualprogression.Understandingthemechanicsbehindsuchcomplexmachine-work,DaVinciquicklybegan to draw connections between theinner workings of such inventions, andwhat he would begin to believe were thefinest constructs in existence: people. Leonardo would become the first mantoconductautopsies,seekingtostudythe inner-workings of the human being.Althoughconsideredhereticalatthetime,DaVincieventuallybegantopiecetogethertheconnectionsandimportanceofthehumananatomy.ThesediscoverieswouldleadtoDa Vinci’s prevailing philosophy of life.Thebeliefthateverythingintheuniverse,be it animal, human, or part of nature(say treesor thewind), couldbe reducedto a simple set of prevailing laws whichallowed the universe to “flow,” through the predictable equilibrium known as nature. The exhibit very effectivelypresents Leonardo’s work in a fashionthroughwhichtheobservercannotonlyseewhatitwasthathehascreated,buttheideaswhichwouldpavethewayforhisinventionsand philosophies to come throughout hislife. In his final phase of development, Da Vincisoughttoreplicatetherealityoftheworldaroundhim.Hebelievedthatthroughpainting, he could recreate the beauty oflifewhichcouldneverbecapturedthroughwords; seeing life’s construction as themost important function of existence. Totheendofmyjourneythroughtheexhibit (inwhichIomitted twovideoroom trips, and many of his perspective/paintingdiscoveriesinadditiontoamyriadofassortedinventionsandachievements)Iwas instilled with a glowing inspiration.Never before had I understood fully thecritically acclaimed genius of LeonardoDaVinci.Perhapsinmypreviousexposureof his achievements I was too young tocomprehend the prevailing principals,but something in the exhibit makes itimminently clear what a rare, intelligent,creativeanduniqueindividualDaVincitrulywas.AlthoughIenteredtheexhibitwithaninitialreluctance,Ifullyencourageanyonewhocarriesanyinterestinart,engineeringormechanics,thehumananatomy,humandevelopment or even philosophy to bearpasttheseeminglydryintroductorystagesandtakeitonfaiththatonceyouperseverethe first several rooms, the exhibit hasalottorewardyouwith.
6 THE WARRIOR A&EOctober 17, 2008
Fireproof ReviewMovie Reviews
A troubled rugby player, Rick Penning (Sean Faris) has a couple of skeletons in his closet. After a game, he is caught with alcohol and drugs and sent to Juvenile Hall. Once he is released, Penning tries to get back on the right track with his team, friends and family.
The movie starts out when Penning is playing for a rugby team in Arizona. Later, he is sentenced to Salt Lake’s juvenile Center. Once his time is finished there, he begins to get back into the flow of life by playing for Salt Lake’s
Emotions is a student choreographed dance concert that is held every year at Valley Christian. The theme for the 2008 concert is Reflections. The show challenges the audience to reflect on the journey of life by witnessing dances filled with love and God in an entertaining way.
The Dance Department has been enduring countless hours of rehearsals to perfect their upcoming performance.
Every year, the Emotions dance show is a highly anticipated event at Valley Christian. Not only do the VC dancers get the opportunity to use their gifts of dance to impact an audience, the many VC student choreographers are able to showcase their work as well.
Over the years, Emotions has been a show of experimentation as the
Captain Caleb Holt is an old firefighter who lives by the old firefighter’s saying, Never leave your partner behind. But aside from his firefighting career, after a long seven years of marriage, his relationship with his wife Catherine is going downhill. Both of them seem to have stumbled upon pressures that neither of them can understand or talk to each other about, causing arguments and tension between them. As Caleb and his wife file for divorce, his father gives him the challenge to follow a 40-day test called, “The Love Dare.” But as Caleb starts the book, he notices that the daily challenges are related to his parents’ recently accepted faith, and this weakens his interest in the book.
On the verge of giving up on the test, he asks his father, “How am I supposed to love somebody who constantly rejects
Emotions: Reflections
me?” His father tells him that this is the love that God shows everybody and Caleb decides to make a commitment to love God and become a Christian. With his newfound faith and God guiding him, Caleb begins to understand that he truly loves his wife, but wonders if it is too late to “fireproof” his marriage. Fireproof is a touching and heart-felt movie to which many people can relate, not only from a perspective of a married couple, but also to the audience of the Christian faith. This movie really speaks about not only strengthening a human relationship, but a spiritual relationship with God and letting Him speak in hearts and minds of believers. With an excellent cast of actors, and very diverse character personalities, Fireproof is a great movie for the family to see.
Rated: PG
rugby team. At this point, Penning meets his new coach, Larry Gelwix (Gary Cole). The last game he plays with Lakeview High School he faces his browbeating father (Neal McDonough). Throughout the movie, penning grows stronger as a student, player and a person.
Many critics say that this film is a “not-so-original” sports film; it does have those qualities. But while the underlying theme is rugby, the truth of the movie is the fact that anyone can rebound from a tough situation in life. Rating: PG-13
ForeverStrong Review
PUMPKINS, CANDY, A MONTH OF CELEBRATION! JOIN WITH OTHERS TO
ADMIRE HIS CREATION! LAUGHNG AND JOKING, GOING FROM DOOR
TO DOOR, AND BEING WITH FAMILY, MAKING TIME WORTH MORE. ALL OF
US FRIENDS, WORKING HARD AS A TEAM, FROM THE
JOURNALISM STAFF, HAPPY HALLOWEEN!
By Tarah DuarteJunior Features Editor
By Darelle JonesStaff Writer
You cand hear “FOREVER STRONG” the title song by SINK TO SEE in the
highly anticipated Fall ’08 Release of FOREVER STRONG
students are given the chance to put on their own show, in a sense. All styles of dance are included from hip-hop to jazz and ballet.
Part of the VC Dance Department’s mission statement is to influence the world through dance. Emotions is one way in which to do this, as all the dancers and choreographers are hoping to truly reach out to the audience through their performance.
The show opens on Wednesday, November 19 at 7:29PM and runs until Saturday, November 22 with shows at 3:00PM as well as 7:29PM. Tickets are on sale now in the theater office; adults are $14, students and seniors are $12 and children (under 12) are $8. For ticket information call (408) 513-2437.
Make sure to attend Emotions: Reflections. You won’t regret it.
By Zayn KirkendollStaff Writer
7October 17, 2008FEATURESValley Christian Students Save LivesBy Arazue M. ZadehStaff Writer
By Alyssa BerdingEditor-in-Chief
Make Your Mark during Kindness Week
International Students SpotlightBy Clare LeeStaff WriterValley Christian students are
helping HIV-infected South African kids from across the globe by fundraising at the Valley Christian campus. STAK, or Save the African Kids, meets every Friday at lunch in Mr. Falkowski’s room to raise
money and think of new ideas to fundraise for less fortunate kids.
The club raises money for a group of children in Rustenburg, South Africa, a neighborhood in YWAM. These children are either infected with AIDS or have been emotionally affected by their parents who died from AIDS. The group this club is donating to is made up of 52 children. These kids are either orphans or child-led families. A child-led family is where the eldest child must take care of all their brothers and sisters because their parents have died. Currently, STAK is aiming to raise $1500 to complete a house that is being built in Rustenburg for 5 kids. Upon completing it, this child-led family will have a simple house with a bathroom, a bedroom, and a small kitchen.
STAK hopes to help more children like this family of 5 as the club continues.
Sophomore, Andrea Stickel, is the organizer, coordinator, manager, and founder of STAK. Toward the end of her freshman year, she had the idea to create
a club to save African kids. Stickel said, “Last year, over spring break, I met a girl who had just traveled to Africa and was helping children with AIDS. She also started a program at her school and it turned out to be a big hit! I was immediately inspired because I had always wanted to help children and this was a perfect opportunity.”
After the club was approved, Stickel anxiously held the first STAK
meeting on September 19. Although the first meeting was very mellow and uneventful, the beginning group of 4 students discussed what the hopes for STAK would be and what the club was trying to accomplish. As the word got around, by the second meeting there were 15 students participating in STAK! Currently, there are 23 members of STAK, all of which are sophomores. The members of STAK have high hopes for their club and for the children to which they are donating. The club has successfully gained about $350 in the past 3 weeks, a decent success. However, the club’s goal is to raise $1500 around December so the kids in Rustenburg will have a home to sleep in for Christmas.
However, Stickel said, “Any amount helps, but right now $500 feeds all the kids in this group for 2 months.” For the upcoming years, STAK has one main goal: to make a large impact on the kids’ lives and to be able to feed them and take care of them. After the original members graduate, Stickel hopes younger kids take over and continue STAK and hopefully STAK will become a huge program with many members. “Eventually, if we keep growing like we are now,” Stickel said, “then we might have the opportunity to travel to South Africa the summer of 2010 to meet the kids we are helping!” As the club continues to grow, Valley Christian students become more interested and eager to help the kids in South Africa.
Kindness Week is fast approach-ing and the Leadership Class is busy pre-paring for a successful week centered on service and encouragement. During the week of October 20, the student body will be challenged to step outside their own needs and focus on others. The theme for this year is “Make Your Mark.” The Leadership Class has a num-ber of fun activities planned for the week to encourage VC students to step out and make a difference on the campus. They are choosing to revisit the idea of the encour-agement notes throughout the week and al-low students to creatively encourage their friends. According to senior, Emily Von-
Raesfeld, this has been a favorite part of past Kindness Weeks for the student body. “I loved giving and receiving kindness notes last year,” said VonRaesfeld. “They not only made me smile, they made others smile as well.” The Leadership Class is still in the process of decided on the specific theme days for the week. However, according to their teacher, Mr. Smith, the class is plan-ning to include a “Be Sweet Day” where VC students can bring tasty treats to school for their friends, as well as an “Invisible Do-Gooder Day” where students are en-couraged to do something nice for their fellow students without expecting any re-wards in return.
Have you ever seen a van drive up to Valley Christian High School and 9 students jump out? That van is full of VCHS international students. The students who were in Valley Christian High School last year will recognize that the number of international students increased rapidly this year. This is also because of 9 GVCS students from Korea. Nine students, Clare Lee, Melissa Lim, Sonya Shin, Adora Choi, Mark Cha, Daniel Lee who are freshmen, and Kristi Yoon, Jane Park, Ki Oh who are sophomores, used to attend Global Vision Christian School which is a boarding school in Korea and a sister school of Valley Christian. All of them chose to attend VCHS and applied to Valley through GVCS. In May of 2008, each one had an interview with Mr. Scott Wessling in Korea. After everyone was accepted, they moved in 2 days before the orientation day. Since August 18, 2008 they have been living in one house in America with a Korean guardian family. Ki and the guardian family’s son are living on the second floor of the house as roommates and Mark and Daniel are rooming together. They were living in a dormitory just before they came to the United States, so they are used to living with others. However, they are mostly having fun and living an exciting life in the house. Adora said, “It’s really great that 13 people are living in one house, but sometimes I think we may get sick of each other, a little bit! We are spending almost 24 hours together, but I think that makes us to think of each other as real family, not only friends.” To some of them, it’s their first time to visit the United States. Mark said, “Actually, Korea is smaller than California. To me, who hasn’t ever visited this huge country before, I feel uncomfortable because we have to take the car every time!” And not all of them are sure about how long they will stay here, but Kristi is one who is sure about her plans in United States. She said, “I will graduate Valley Christian High School, and also I will go to a University in the United States, too. Maybe I can get a job too, which means I will live in the U.S. for 10 years at least. I’m worrying about it but I’m more excited than worried. ” Since they moved to the U.S. for their studies, their most important thing will be their school life. Jane said, “I love VCHS. All my friends and teachers are nice and I like this campus. Also I appreciate Mrs. Linda Kohlmoos and Mr. Wessling very much, for every help and care in VCHS.” Some will leave next summer, but everyone hopes to enjoy all the time they have left in the United States.
An African boy enjoys a bowl of oatmeal.
Students attenf the STAK Club meeting.
See STAK page 10 Children in Africa smile for a picture.
GVCS Students
Throughout the week, the Leader-ship Class hopes that the student body will also adopt a new appreciation for the work of Valley’s janitorial staff, as they will challenged their fellow students to “make their mark” on the school campus. This includes picking up their trash and helping out the janitorial staff in thoughtful ways. With high hopes for this year’s Kindness Week, senior Advanced Lead-ership Student Kelsey Byrd commented, “Kindness Week should be an exciting week that will encourage people to make a positive mark on others. The Leadership Class has been working hard to make it a very special week.”
By Christine ByrneFeatures Editor The Square Dance is approach-ing quickly! It is time for the girls to ask a boy to be their date before the dance on November 1. It is one of the best dances of the year because couples can dress up in matching costumes. Here are some ideas for how the girls can ask the boys in a cre-ative way to this wonderful dance: Bedazzle a basketball, baseball, or soccer ball (depending on which sport your potential date plays) with rhinestones. Then make a poster that says, “I’d be-dazzled if you went to the Square Dance with me!” Hand him the decorated ball and flash him the poster. Hopefully he will be-dazzled to go to the Square Dance with you, too! Go to the pet store and buy a
By Bryan TrieuStaff Writer Are you bored during lunch? Come join the Table Tennis Club to take a break from school and have some fun. Juniors Sam Mathison, Jimmy Bustamante, Jordan Kushel, and Nicky Slavich are the founders of the Table Ten-nis Club. Mathison is the president, Busta-mante is the vice president, Kushel is the secretary, and Slavich is the treasurer. The founders love to play table tennis and are excited to show their passion through this
As a new school year begins, dif-ferent clubs start to blast off into new cat-egories that Valley Christian has never ex-plored before. The Humanitarian Aid and In-ternational Awareness Club (H.A.I.A.) is one of the new clubs introduced this year. Seniors Anna-Kay Richards and Grace Anderson are the two student leaders of this club. Along with these two talented girls, Mrs. Lindsay Marshall facilitates and gives advice to the members. H.A.I.A. meets on Tuesdays and Wednesdays, but only on B-Days so it always alternates be-tween the two.
On the night of Hollow’s Eve, with All Saints Day right around the cor-ner, children and teens of all ages come out of their houses to celebrate the American nighttime tradition of receiving free candy. Halloween was a tradition that developed in the nineteenth century by Irish immigrants who carried versions of the nationwide cel-ebration all the way to North America. This tradition has been carried on to this very day. This year on Halloween, there will hopefully be a new goal; a challenge to make a difference. Across the globe, people of all ages can have the choice of participating in the new popular tradition called trick-or-treat for United Nation Children’s Fund, also known as UNICEF. This organization focuses on children in
STAKContinued from page 7
Although STAK has only recently begun, the members have already hosted a bake sale, had a guest speaker, and have be-gun fundraising! The bake sale, held on Oc-tober 2-3, raised a decent amount of money and greatly contributed to STAK. Kids swarmed into Myron Falkowski’s room to donate and have a bite of desserts at the same time! In addition to the bake sale, on October 3, Tony Freitas, a missionary and public speaker, visited STAK to discuss the importance of the poverty and diseases rag-ing in Africa right now. Freitas works with the Maasai people as a missionary in Tan-zania. He informed the members of STAK of the difficulties the people living with AIDS in Africa. From what he has experi-enced, Freitas explained that the people in Africa kick out family members with AIDS so they don’t catch the disease. Therefore, people diagnosed with AIDS do not tell anybody to save themselves from total iso-lation. However they just end up spreading HIV and AIDS in Africa, because nobody knows that they are infected. By the end of lunch, the students in Mr. Falkowski’s room heard many touching stories, learned important facts, and saw how missionaries and volunteers affect the lives of people in Africa. In addition to the bake sale and the guest speaker, STAK is slowly beginning to develop more activities and fundraisers. Stickel started the idea of selling glow-in-the-dark Livestrong bands with “STAK” written on it. “Hopefully, students will get the idea to buy them for [the Square Dance] so STAK can make lots of money to do-nate!” she excitedly said. As STAK continues to grow with members everyday and every Friday, Stick-el encourages Valley Christian students to join this fun and enjoyable club to fight for a real cause. If students who are not a part of STAK wish to participate and help the people dying from disease in Africa, stu-dents should donate to any organization or to STAK, which makes a huge difference to the kids’ lives. There is so much that high school students can do, and it’s good to know that Valley Christian students live up to their charitable, generous, caring name.
couple of gold fish that are all one color. Then buy a different gold fish that is either spotted or colored. Put the fish in a small plastic tank and make a poster that says, “Of all the fish in the sea, would you go to the Square Dance with me?” This is a very creative way to ask someone to the Square dance, because your date can keep the fish and think of you whenever he sees them! Decorate their car (if they have one) with a bag starbursts, window paint, and crepe paper. Make a poster to place on their windshield that says, “I’d burst if you went to the Square Dance with me!” Not only is this idea fun and easy, but it also gives your date a special treat to enjoy after they have been asked! A very easy way to ask your crush
to the Square Dance is by using chalk to write on their parking space, “Will you go to the Square Dance with me?” Make sure you know their parking space number and which day they have optional tutorial, so you have time to write your message. And remember to write your name at the bot-tom, so they know who asked them! This is another creative way to ask a boy, “I got a stuffed Kermit the frog doll, made a crown out of construction pa-per and taped it on. Then I made a card out of card stock and sharpies that read ‘Out of all the froggies in the lake, your the prince I want to take.’” One student asked someone to the Square dance in this exciting way; “When my boyfriend was at soccer prac-
tice I called his mom and asked her if it was cool if I came over and asked him to the Square Dance. I stopped by K-Mart on the way and bought a bunch of glow in the dark stars on the way and me and my sis and friends wrote, ‘Square Dance?’ on the ceiling with the stars. When he went to bed that night he was lying down and saw the stars. It worked really well!” This year, the Square Dance theme is “Wanted.” This dance will be held in the large gymnasium. The entire gym building will be decorated in the “Wild West Wanted” theme. There will be drinks, snacks, and lots of dancing! Be sure to grab a quick dinner with your date before you head off to the dance, so you will have lots of energy to dance the night away!
other countries and targets important issues such as HIV/AIDS protection, survival development, education, and gender equality. Instead of getting candy, kids are given the opportunity to col-lect spare change and give to children around the world. All children have the right to succeed, achieve goals, and demand a voice. No child should ever have to experience poverty, or die from preventable causes. UNICEF has been making over 140 million dollars for children since the beginning, 50 years ago. When Halloween comes to mind, people usually think of scary costumes and ghosts, but it does not have to be that way. UNICEF is giving people the ability to make a difference in a child’s life on Hal-
loween. Now, people have the chance to make Halloween count, and to take the century-old tradition of a scary night and to make it something great.
Give Coins Instead of Candy
H.A.I.A.’s purpose is for group members to figure out what’s happening in the world and how they can get involved to help. The members are really excited this year because they are focusing on how the global community is connected through similar problems and character traits. A part of their goal is to raise money to help the school in Kenya and other organiza-tions as well. They also do seasonal proj-ects such as a Christmas gift exchange for people who are not as fortunate. H.A.I.A. is also planning on having an international bazaar that is going to involve food from five different countries. This international bazaar is going to teach the members about
the different cultures and food. Currently, H.A.I.A. is working with Visible Grace, a ministry owned by Ashby Ranch, who is a friend of Marshall. Their task at hand with Visible Grace is that they are building homes and a school for orphans in Kenya. Marshall, the mentor of this group, has some great expectations for this year. She feels that there is so much that high school students can do to impact the world and that this year’s students can make a dif-ference. These students are very excited for this club and are looking forward to help-ing the international community through
H.A.I.A: Helping The World!
exciting and new club. Since there is only one table, pro-vided by the supervisor Todd Baldwin, the club is trying to raise money for more tables. Equipment, paddles and balls are already provided, but the leaders are en-couraging participants to bring paddles from home. Meetings are spent enjoying lunch, listening to music and playing table tennis. Even though there is only one table,
the participants still have fun. Club presi-dent Mathison came up with a game called “round robin” which involves everyone who attends. There are many people already coming to the meetings, but it is not too late to join. There is no need to sign up; just come to the small gym on Tuesdays and be ready to play. Everyone is welcome!
Table Tennis Club Meets Weekly
By Joyce Chen Photo Editor
By Erica ParkerPhoto Editor
UNICEF challenges people to make a difference and help the children of the world this Halloween season.
Marshall & Co. Climb to 5-0
11October 17, 2008
Girls Polo Rebuilds
SPORTS
Still to Come: Bellarmine, St. Francis
By Rachel ShenAssistant Sports Editor
The girls varsity water polo team started the league season with a tough match-up against the St. Francis Lanc-ers on Wednesday, October 1. Although they came out of the game with a loss, the girls fought hard through a strong Lancer offense. Senior Lisa McKin-ney had a big game to buoy the Lady Warriors’ offense with three of the Lady Warriors’ four goals against St. Francis. The preceding weekend the girls played in the Live Oak Tournament on Fri-day, September 26, and Saturday, Septem-ber 27. They lost the first game to a tough and competitive Live Oak Team, but went on to claim an exciting win over Santa Te-resa with a score of 9-6. In the third game, the girls continued to play hard but dropped the game to Monta Vista in a challenging contest against the Matadors’ speed and depth. McKinney and fellow senior Grace Anderson stepped up to contribute tremen-dously on the offensive and defensive sides of the pool and were given some help at the goal by senior goalie Rachel Esperanza. On Friday, September 3, and Sat-urday, September 4, the varsity team took a drive out to Watsonville for the Aptos Tour-nament. In their first game against Foothill, the girls loss a close match with a score of 4-6. The girls took on Harbor for their third game in the Aptos Tournament and played hard against the Pirates to claim a thrilling victory with a huge 8-2 win. Following this awesome triumph, the varsity team played their fourth and final game of the tourna-ment against Homestead. This concluding match-up ended in a disappointing loss but the overnighter at Aptos served as a great team-bonding opportunity for the girls. The girls have struggled a bit this season but they have bonded and are thoroughly preparing the up and coming sophomore and junior players. Tuesday, October 7, saw an ex-citing contest between the Valley Chris-tian Lady Warriors and the Saint Ignatius College Preparatory Wildcats at St. Ig-natius. This second league game for the girls proved to be a difficult competition between two very motivated teams. Again, McKinney played a key role on offense for VC by scoring four more goals of VC’s six total to continue to improve her WCAL standings as a leading scorer in the league. On Thursday, October 16, the girls played against Notre Dame Belmont High School and will play in the Los Ga-tos Tournament this weekend on Friday, October 17, and Saturday, October 18. Many say that you don’t remem-ber some of the great wins you achieve during high school; but you do remember the relationships and bonds that you make among your friends and your teamates.
In a match against Sacred Heart Cathedral the girls varsity tennis team was able to secure their first league win. On Thursday, October 2 the Warriors traveled to San Francisco for the match against Sacred Heart Cathedral. As the match-es started, the rain began to fall and the team had to battle through wet, slippery courts. Despite the weather, the Warriors pulled through. Singles one player, Joyce Chen, defeated her opponent easily 6-2, 6-1, while singles two, Alexis Whitaker, won 7-5, 6-2. Doubles one team, Leslie Nguyen and Katherine Sanine won 6-4, 6-3 and Doubles two team, Janna Oswald and CJ Wrye closed the match with a 6-1, 6-4 win. Singles four player Bernadette Fahmy was able to overcome her opponent in an 11-9 tie-breaker. The whole team was excited about the 5-2 win over the Irish. On Tuesday, October 7 the war-riors competed against Notre Dame Belmont at home. The girls knew this would be a close match, so everyone was preparing to defeat the Tigers. Unfortu-nately, the Warriors could not close the match and barely lost 4-3. Wins included: Chen 6-2, 6-3; Nguyen and Sanine 6-4, 2-6, 7-5; and Wrye and Oswald 7-5, 6-2. Singles one player, Joyce Chen,
received athlete of the month this sea-son and has continued to dominate her opponents on the court. The 2008 var-sity tennis team has showed a lot of im-provement this year and will continue
to improve and succeed in the future.
The Lady Warriors have been working very hard lately, and they look to see if their work will eventu-ally pay off and they have already seen it partially pay off through their well deserved wins achieved this season. In the next few games the girls will face Mitty, St. Ignatius and Sa-cred Heart Cathedral of San Francisco. The team will then take part in the tradition of the WCAL playoffs. Following the WCAL play-offs, the Lady Warriors will look to take a spot in the CCS playoffs which will truly measure the skill level of their team. The tennis team does prove to be very young though, flaunt-ing multiple sophomore aces on the team including, Chen and Whitaker. Because of these extraordi-narily talented sophomores, the Lady Warriors should have the ability to field excellent teams over the next few years.
Girls Tennis Wins Critical GamesBy CJ WryeSports Editor
Sophomore Alexis Whitaker winds up for an ace.
By Jon LampkinJunior Sports Editor
Head Coach Mike Machado has rallied the troops led by senior RB Cameron Marshall and is now look-ing toward Valley Christian’s long time rivals. Both Valley Christian and their competitors for the number one spot in the WCAL have coasted through league so far, but face the biggest chal-lenge they will face all year; each other. Over the last 5 games, both Bellar-mine and VC have defeated various oppo-nents handily on both offense and defense, Valley only stuttering for a moment during the Serra game. But now, the two league favorites, VC and Bellarmine must finally face off. Analysts are considering this highly touted match up to be the game of the year, and the game will be featured across the board on multiple broadcasting platforms. Two exquisite, “vanilla” offenses will be showcased, which feature primar-ily Usua Amanan of Bellarmine and Mar-shall of Valley Christian. Both backs have risen to stardom over the past two seasons, being recruited nationally and both averag-ing eight yards per carry and two touch-downs per game. But the grit of both the Bells’ and Warriors’ lie in the rest of the backfield. On any given Friday night, you can find both Austyn Carta-Samuels of Bellarmine and Corry Gambello of Val-ley Christian firing precise passes into their sure-handed receivers. The rest of the VC backfield is rounded out by FB Anthony Olivares, RB Robert Fiscalini and speed-ster Daniel Johnson who is fresh off of an injury. Likewise, Bellarmine brings both speed and power to the table with both RBs
Michael Clay, and Kyle Ulgobode. Many are predicting the key to success of stop-ping Bellarmine’s powerhouse of-fense is to keep the ball out of Aman-an’s hands. Aman-an leads the team in rushing and if stopped, could provide the down-fall that the Bells are trying to avoid. V a l l e y Christian pro-gressed to 5-0 after recently defeating the currently 2-3 Junipero Serra Pa-dres. VC was led by Gambello who, during the game, had a clutch perfor-mance, complet-ing rifling passes caught by both senior WR Ryan Jones and WR Phil Thrappas. Thrap-pas had a spectacu-lar diving catch, landing on the one yard line. The defender was flagged for pass interferance but Thrappas was still able to make the catch as he was dragged down. The Warriors’ defense was able to
keep senior Greg Biddle to 5 catches during the game and they did keep him out of the endzone. Serra QB Cody Jackson had a tough night -
Senior Back Cameron Marshall blazes by defenders.
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12 THE WARRIOR
By Kaleb Tuttle and CJ WryeStaff Writer and Sports Editor
SPORTSOctober 17, 2008
Volleyball Fights Through WCALVarsity Takes Second in
Cupertino ClassicIn any successful season, there
will always be heartbreak along the way. The varsity volleyball team from Valley Christian High School is no exception to this universal law of sports. Whether you are the New England Patriots or Tiger Woods, disappointment will always be lurking around the corner, just waiting for you to slip up. But sheer determination always allows you to bounce back. The Warriors’ varsity volleyball team started out the season with high expectations, and continued to climb the rankings in the San Jose Mercury News. On Wednesday, October 1 the Warriors took on Notre Dame Belmont at Valley’s home courts. The girls started off strong at the net with crucial blocks by seniors Erica Turnlund and Kaylan Whitaker. The Warriors took the first game and prepared to dominate the courts for the win. However, Notre Dame’s offense picked it up and ended up defeating the Warriors in a close 3-2 game. The Warriors did not have any time to rest as they took the courts against Sacred Heart Prep the very next day, October 2. The Warriors had defeated them in a close match last year and were hoping to dominate again this time around. The girls played with heart, but were unable to gain a game off of Sacred Heart’s strong defense and lost in three games. The team had some unfortunate events take place that has hurt them this season. Seniors Liz Fleming and Alyssa Berding were injured during a game and were unable to play. Berding, starting center and captain, left the court against
Sacred Heart when she came down from a block and landed on her teammate’s foot. Berding is now on the injured list with a severely sprained ankle. Fleming also was unable to play for a game when she fell in a match, causing her knee to swell up. Fortunately, Fleming had no permanent damage and has been cleared. However, they were both missing when the Warriors went to the Cupertino Classic on October 4. The Warriors pushed through their bad luck and had an amazing day. The girls defeated Over Felt High School as well as Silver Creek and Independent High. The Lady Warriors then prepared to face off against Palo Alto in the championship. The girls played hard and left it all on the court. However, they fell slightly behind Palo Alto and were unable to come back, taking second in the tournament. Key plays by seniors Ally Russo and Whitaker and junior Rachel Alvey kept the Warriors in the game. Key senior, right side Fleming summed it up best when she said, “This is where we really get a chance to see what kind of team we are. For the first time this season, we’ve faced some major adversity and we’ve been struggling. We know who we are, and we just need to get back to the level we know we can play at.”
With morale low, and injuries taking their toll, the Warriors will regroup for the remainder of their season.
Every team goes through its trials, but in time the Warriors will bounce back and take the CCS championship!
Senior Alyssa Berding goes up for a spike.
Rachel Alvey sets the ball to Kaylan Whitaker.
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Senior Kaylan Whitaker bumps the ball to her teammate.
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Mackenzie Beveridge bumps the ball to Alvey.
Senior Erica Turnlund goes up for a kill.
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SPORTS October 17, 2008 13THE WARRIOR
Volleyball Fights Through WCALJV Warriors On The Rise
The JV girls volleyball team is off to a great start. They ended the nonleague games with very good results and promises to the future in the very rigorous WCAL where the team has to be ready to show up and perform at every game. The league is looking tough as it always does. This year the girls look ready to not only take it on, but take it on in force. They concluded the first part of the season with a seven win and one loss record. They give a lot of the credit to team effort. Lindsey Backlund, who is one of the team captains said, “Our team chemistry is amazing and we all have meshed really well together and that helps a lot. We have all gotten really close as a team.” This is going to be a vital part if the team wishes to keep up the success. The girls have the confidence to show up and display that kind of dominance over the West
By Steven FlowersGuest Writer
Catholic Schools. But it is not going to come easy though and that was proven at their first game. The Warriors suffered a defeat in two games to the Irish of Notre Dame. They were able to rally back from that and produce a much-wanted win against Scared Heart Prep and defend the home court. They then faced two really tough teams on the road, St. Francis and Presentation. They played tough in both games but the results were not what the Warriors were looking for. They were missing a key player, Nicci Reynaud who
plays opposite for the aggressive Warrior offense. They had people who stepped in to show the depth that this team has. Lauren
Sutton did a great job at this role. Along with the aggressive style of attack offence that the Lady Warriors run, they also have a solid defense. If this was missing they couldn’t even start to generate offense. Solidifying the defensive line is Lindsey Calabrese. She holds down the libero position for the Warriors for the second year in a row. She is not the only one who is capable of playing the back row; they also have a solid player in Julianne
The freshmen girls volleyball team has logged some valuable hours of experience in league play. Head coach John Haggerty and assistant coach Leisa Moore lead this young team in its first year of high school competition.
The girls launched their league season against Notre Dame Belmont on Wednesday, October 1, at home. Although the girls were not able to come out on top for this match, losing 0 games to 2, they learned a lot about how to play as a team and work together. These lessons proved to be key as the freshmen team was able to improve on their performance against the Tigers when they faced former-WCAL team Sacred Heart Prep at home on Thursday, October 2. Although this was not a league game, the freshmen girls still made it count with a rousing victory over the SHP freshmen and claimed a win of 2 games to
Freshmen Compete in Milpitas Spikefest
0. The following day, Friday, October 3, the freshmen team faced league powerhouse St. Francis at St. Francis High School. The next day, Saturday, October 4, the freshmen Lady Warriors competed in the Milpitas Spikefest at Milpitas High School. They played well and gained non-league experience during this weekend tournament before competing against cross-town rival Presentation on Tuesday, October 7. The girls went on to play against another league powerhouse on Wednesday, October 15, in a home game against the Archbishop Mitty Monarchs. They rematch the Presentation Panthers today at Presentation High School at 4:00 PM, then go to St. Ignatius to play the St. Ignatius Wildcats on Tuesday, October 21, before returning home to play the St. Francis Lancers the next day on Wednesday, October 22. This young but talented team will be one to keep your eye on as they add to their high school volleyball career.
By Rachael ShenAssistant Sports Editor
Kendrick. With talent like this at the passing positions they are able to get it in the hands of the very talented freshman setter and other team captain, Kristin Sato. She has more than capable hitters up front with opposite Reynaud and outside hitter Backlund, along with two middle hitters in Gabby Flores and Mackenzie McMillian. This is not the limit to the Lady Warriors’ talent. They have a lot of depth and look to gain from the experience of the first couple of league games and learn to from the good and the bad, and improve. Coach, Kristy Cabrera has a little saying for the ladies that goes, “Fake it till you make it.” If the Warriors keep the level of play up that they are playing at they will not have to fake it much longer!
Sophomores Mackenzie McMillan and Lauren Sutton go up for a block on the net.
Sophomore Arazue Moghtaderi-Zadeh plays it smart and tips the ball over.
Sophomore setter Elyse Hathaway sets the ball to her teammate.
Sophomore Lindsay Backlund takes a hard swing in the front row.
The JV Lady Warriors rely on their bench for encouragement and intensity.
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14 THE WARRIOR SPORTSOctober 17, 2008
The boys water polo team hasbeen working extremely hard of late.With morning workouts before schooland games or practice after school,their hard work in practices and non-league games has prepared them wellfor their tough opponents in the WCAL. They lost theirfirst leaguegametoatoughSt.Francisteam.Despitelosingtheirfirstgame,theboysarestillworkinghard in hopes of earning a spot in theCCSplayoffsandtheWCALplayoffsandpossiblywinningoneofthese.WithmakingCCSontheirmind,theWarriorsdefeatedSt. Ignatius in a thriller winning 10-8. After defeating St. Ignatius,the Warriors must win against the MittyMonarchsteamtoearnaplayoffbirthinCCS.ThisgamewilltakeplaceattheMonarch’spoolonMonday,October20at3:30P.M. IntheSouthValleyPoloFest,heldat Valley’s own pool on Friday, October10 and Saturday, October 11, the varsityboys came back to claim two extremelyexcitingvictoriesagainstSanBenitoHighSchoolandLelandHighSchool.Althoughtheystruggledalotinthefirsthalfofbothgames,theykeptplayinghardandworkingthrough frustrating mistakes to make upgoaldeficitsthatrewardedtheteam’sgreateffortwithaspotinthechampionshipgameofthetournament.TheywonthefirstgameagainstSBHS15-13andthesecondgameagainstLeland7-6. In the championshipgame, the boys took on league team St.Ignatiusbutcouldnotholdonforfirstplace.Theylostadisappointinggamebuthadalottobeproudofintheirsecondplacefinish.
On Monday, October 13, thevarsityteamfacedtheBellarmineBellsatBellarmineHighSchoolforanightgameunder the lights. VC was able to giveleague powerhouse Bellarmine a closefirstquarterbutcouldnotholdonfor theremainderof thehalf. Theywereable tocomebackfrombehindtoscoreanumberofthrillinggoalstoclosethegapbetweentheBellsandWarriorstoafinalscoreof16-10. When you go out and supporttheboys, lookfora fewkeyplayerswhohave been playing very well for them.Senior goalie Devin Valdez is keepingtheWarriors ingamesbecauseofhiskeysaves in crucial moments. Senior Alex Higginbotham is a dynamic goal scorerfortheWarriorswithhisquick,strongshot;heisverydangerousaroundtheperimeter.SophomoreCasey Flemingisadefensivespecialist for the Warriors. He has beenmarkingtheopposingteam’sbestoffensiveplayers and has also help create manygoalsoffofcounterattacksbecauseofhisimpressive speed. Also, senior Andrew Allen and sophomore Grant Douglas bringanaggressiveattitudeonbothoffenseanddefensebyplayingtoughintheirownzone and driving to the hole on offense. The boys water polo team isenjoying a great season and Valdezcommented on that by saying, “We arehaving fun and working hard. Thisseasonhasbeenone to remember formeand hopefullywe have a strong finish toour season.” Remember to come out andsupporttheWarriorsastheylooktomake
asplash in theWCALandCCSplayoffs.
Boys Water Polo Focus on MittyByDannyHittlerStaff Writer
By Priscilla ShenAssistant News Editor The JV boys water polo team isentering the last thirdof their intense fallseason.TheyareledbytalentedsophomoresMichael Lomio, Joseph Pratt, Nick Usher, Jared Oliva, and Kevin Dorn.
The guys contended in twocompetitive Bellarmine Tournaments onSeptember 20 and 27, playing aggressiveteamsfromMitty,Bellarmine,Davis,andSt.Francis.TheyalsostartedleagueplayonOctober1 against a strongSt.Francissquad.Itwasaclosegame,goingbackandforth between the Lancers and WarriorsuntiltheLancersmanagedtopullaheadinthesecondhalf.TheJVWarriorswerestillworkingonconditioningandwerefinallyworn down by the fast swimmers on theLancers’team.Itwasatoughlosstostarttheseasonwith,buttheguyslearnedalotandtheyoungplayersgainedmuchexperience.
They shook off the defeat andfocused on their next match-up, at homeandagainstagoodSt.Ignatiusteam.OnOctober 7, the JV boys water polo teamtook on a challenging Wildcats lineupin another close game. This time, theWarriors came back near the end andended up on top, winning five to four.
After this well-earned victory,
the guys prepared for their next gameand traveled to Bellarmine on October13, looking for a rematch for a difficulttournament loss to the Bells. Despitevaliant efforts by the JV guys, theBells captured the W Monday night.
Continuing league play, SerravisitedVC’s pool deck October 16. Theyoung but enthusiastic JV boys’ waterpolo team gained even more valuableexperience and played well Thursday.
Talented freshmangoalieDanny Buzzetta believeshisteamisdoingreallywellandhasfunworkingwithalltheguys.Buzzetta commented, “We work togetheras a team, and the sophomores teach thefreshmenwheneverweneedhelp.”Fellowfreshman Zach Marcus agrees and saysthesophomoresbothinspireandmotivatethe freshmen players to do well. Reed Starkey, another freshman, expressed,“Kyle [Kikuta,JVHeadCoach]isagood,anawesomecoach.Hehelpsusdowell.”
Next on the schedule for thisenergizedandpassionateteamistheMontaVista Tournament this weekend, October17-18.Alsobesuretocheckoutthisfun-to-watchsquadonOctober27whentheyhostSacredHeartPrepintheirlastleaguegame.
“Don’t Let Anyone Look Down on You Because You are Young...”
Continued from page 11Bells Follow
TheJVfootballWarriorsopenedleagueplaywithback toback impressivevictories. The team beat Serra 29-22 inanexcitingoffensiveshowingonOctober4 at VCHS. The game promised to beexcitingfromthestart,asbothteamshavedisplayedacommandingdominanceoftheWest Catholic Athletic League. While itheld its exciting expectations on offense,bothteams’defensesstruggledtostopthepassing game. Quarterback Joseph Jahnhad a huge game, completing passes alloverthefield.ReceiverBryan Fobbs alsohadabreakoutgame,catchingdeeppassesat critical moments throughout the game. While Valley’s passing gameprovedtobestrong,itwasstillastruggleto fend off Serra, as their passing gamewas also very potent. But while the
game was tied at 22, sophomore runningback Darelle Jones broke a 79-yard run.The Warriors came out on top 29-22. The Warriors followed up theSerravictorywithadominantperformanceagainsttheMonarchsofMitty.InfrontofalargecrowdatFoothillcollege,theteamdominatedbothsidesoftheball,yieldingonly62yards,while rackingupa seasonhigh 46 points. Tyler Eaton, Jerrick Morales and Darelle Jones all scoredoffensive touchdowns for the Warriors,and sophomore Bryan Fobbs returneda kickoff 95 yards for a touchdown.Defensive End Alan Chase returneda fumble for a touchdown to sealthe victory. Next up for the JVWarriors is tonight’s date with leaguepowerhouse Bellarmine College Prep.
JV Football: Great Start in WCALByTylerVerreyStaff Writer
JV goalie Danny Buzzetta gets ready for a shot on goal.
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The boys water polo team sets up a strong 6-on-5 to protect their goal while down a man.
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both passing and on the ground. Jackson, being a dual-threat QB was contained both ways by the Valley Christian defense. Mitty was able to contain Marshall better than Serra was, keeping him to just over 100 yards during the game, but Oliva-
res was able to step up and take a demanding role. Multiple FB Dives were run in a row in which Olivares was able to gain big yards. The Warriors finished off the game after a bit of a slow start and ended
up defeating the Mitty Monarchs 28-0.
Senior Back Cameron Marshall busts one up the middle.
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MLB World Series Ahead15THE WARRIORSPORTS October 17, 2008
By Dominic Taguinod and Ryan LoweStaff Writers With the major league base-ball season at an end, the National and American League playoffs got underway. Having a successful season, the Red Sox and Rays entered the American League Championship Series with hopes of leaving with the World Series title. Returning from an honorable postseason last year, the Boston Red Sox were favored to win the World Series. Before the year 2004 they were consid-ered under the Curse of the Bambino. This curse was a superstition, often used as a reason for the failure of the Red Sox to win the World Series from 1918 until 2004. This curse was “broken” after the surprising upset to the New York Yankees, coming back from an 0-3 game deficit. Since then, the Red Sox have been domi-nant in the AL east and outplayed the 26 time, World Series winning Yankees for the wild card spot. They have been very successful despite the trade to the Los Angeles Dodgers, losing one of their star players, Manny Ramirez. However, the Red Sox had the most experience coming into the ALCS against the Rays. According to ESPN, Jason Varitek, starting catcher for the Red Sox, stated, “We have experi-ence. That’s all. All you can say is we’re not going to quit, no matter what happens.” The Tampa Bay Rays could be described as the underdog of the MLB. Never being in the post season in franchise history, they are on top as the team with the
second best record in the AL, and tied for second best record overall in the league. But even having one of the best teams, they are still a very young ball club. Star play-ers such as outfielder B.J. Upton, pitcher Scott Kazmir, and third baseman Evan Longoria are all age 24 and under which is very young for a Major League Baseball player. Longoria came to the team mid-season as a third round draft. He showed his potential when teammate Willy Aybar got injured and Longoria was called up from AAA. He was considered the “best, pure hitter” among college players in the 2006 draft. He lived up to the expectations averaging a .272 batting average and 27 home runs. He also made the MLB all-star team and made an appearance in the home run derby. Being young didn’t stop them from be-ing a tough and hard team to beat. During the regu-lar season, the Rays went 10-8 against the Red Sox, giving them the season ad-vantage, but not necessar-ily the playoff advantage. The Dodgers and Phillies entered the Nation-al League Championship Series with the same hope: finishing their post-season with the World Series title.
J.V. Tennis Team Hones Skills
The Junior Varsity tennis team has been keeping busy lately, practicing and playing games to hone their tennis skills. The most recent was against Pre-sentation, and the team played 2 matches. Unfortunately, both matches were disappointing losses for these play-ers who are just starting out with tennis. The team is made up of mostly freshmen except for four players. The players are practicing all week except for Friday and the practices on average last an hour and a half. “I chose to do tennis be-cause it really teaches you to be a better team player, and I choose to play doubles because we can play with other people and help each other out in a match,” Cas-sidy Zimmerman said. Cassidy played the doubles match with Sarah Cruz. That match was a loss, but the two had quite a bit a fun. “Our coach is really work-ing us hard, and we can already see how it’s starting to pay off,” Zimmerman said. The team hopes to prog-ress in their skills throughout the year.
By Leanna BorelliStaff Writer
Freshmen FB Prepares for Bells
The freshmen football team en-tered the West Catholic Athletic League on Friday, October 3 at Serra High School, losing 27-7 to the Padres. The freshmen came off of a blowout 43-0 win against San Leandro, when they met rival power-house, Serra. Plagued by eleven turnovers, three of them inside of the fifteen yard line, the Warriors had key breakdowns at crucial moments. Serra, however, con-sistently drove down the field, scoring twenty-one points by halftime. The War-riors were not outplayed, however. The of-fense drove consistently deep inside Serra territory, but failed to capitalize. Coach Jeff Ullom thought new quarterback Mi-chael Deans played very well under the circumstances, only having two days to prepare for the game after a freak accident kept starter Sean Davis on the sidelines. Davis was weight lifting in his strength and conditioning class two days before the Serra game, when he dropped a weight on his finger, seri-ously injuring it. Doctors were able to repair it successfully and Davis should soon be able to return to the field. The Warriors then prepared for Saturday, October 11 to take on the Mitty Monarchs. The Monarch’s freshmen team looked to be tough competitors, beat-ing both Palo Alto and Riordan with an aggressive passing attack coupled with a “run it down your throat” run game. But the Warriors handled Mitty, 34-0. The freshmen Warriors face off with Bellarmine on the Bells’ field on Saturday, October 18 at 10:15AM.
By Tyler VerreyStaff Writer
The Valley Christian Cross Coun-try team has been training profusely this season toward their high hopes of winning CCS,WCAL and even State. Cross country is one of the most difficult sports in the as-pect of requiring great endurance. Seniors, juniors, sophomores and even freshmen run-ners have all come together as one team in this sport to compete against other schools. In the previous season, the var-sity team came close to winning CCS, only losing by one point. This is great motivation for the team as they train every day, running numerous amounts of miles in neighbor hoods and on many differ-ent school tracks. Ian Karlson, the star runner of the varsity team said, “The VC cross country team is very dynamic; even the boys JV team has a hardworking, tal-ented group of boys who are looking to make varsity.” Other great runners that make up the boys varsity team are junior and sophomore Ford Merrick and Evan Kennedy, and senior Jordan Osuna. The varsity girls team looks very promising this season. In the previous meet, they did exceptionally well. Defend-ing CCS runner, Jen Bergman, placed first in the senior division. Running in
the same meet was her sister Amy Bergman who placed tenth overall in the freshmen division in her very first high school meet. Another no-ticeable runner was Emily Blaha, who placed seventh in the sophomore category. Bergman humbly stated, “I definitely want to win State and CCS, and I want to win CCS as a team. That has been my goal in all of high school, to win as a team.” They all eagerly look forward to November 15, the day of CCS, in which all of their hard work pays off. With only 8 meets left in the season, the Cross Country team continues to train every day and look to become a better team with every step. The Valley Chris-tian Cross Country team has been overlooked for many years as has Cross Coun-try in the entire Bay Area. But through the rising programs such as VC and the extraordinary athletic talents
such as Bergman, Cross Country is final-ly receiving the recognition it deserves.
Cross Country Team On the RiseBy Dominic TaguinodStaff Writer
The Phillies celebrate after their win over the Dodgers. Next stop, the World Series!
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In an exciting series, the Phila-delphia Phillies closed out the NLCS on Wednesday night with a 5-1 victory over the Los Angeles Dodgers. The Phillies were able to take four out of 5 games from the NL West champions, and fin-ished with a strong performance from starting pitcher Cole Hamels. Hamels threw seven innings, and was named the MVP of the championship series. The Phillies now await the win-ner of the Boston-Tampa Bay series. This is the first National League Cham-pionship for the Phillies since 1993.
14 15 16HS Fall Drama PerformanceEnd of 1st QuarterVC vs. Bell
HS Picture Make- upsFootball Game vs. Mit-ty
HomecomingVC vs. Juni-pero SerraJV: 4:00Varsity: 7:00
VFootball Game vs. St. Francis
HS Minimum Day- PSAT Testing
No School:Staff In-sevice
30 31 1 2
“There is a time for everything, and a season for every activity under heaven...” Ecc. 3:1
HS Conser-vatory Col-lege Fair in SF
HS Golf Classic
HS Fall Drama Performance
HS Fall Drama HS Marching Band @ Santa Cruz Band Review
Football Game vs. SHC
HS Fall Drama Performance
HS Fall Drama PerformanceF&JVFootball Game vs. St. Francis
HS Fall Drama Performance
No School:ACSI
No School:ACSI
HS Jazz Band Fund-raiser @ Chevy’s
HS Square Dance
How To: Make a Caramel Apple
1. Prepare apples by washing and drying thoroughly.2. Remove stems and insert the wooden sticks into the stem hole until about half the stick is in the apple.3. Melt the caramels in a small saucepan over low heat, stir-ring constantly until smooth.4. Dip the apples into the hot caramel sauce, coating the apple completely.5. If you want, add nuts or candy to the coated apple.6. Place on greased cookie sheet, or wax paper.7. Store your caramel apples in the refrigerator.
Color Me
Ta- Ta for Now!The winds will blow their own freshness into you,
and the storms their energy, while cares will drop away from you
