The state budget crisis has caused the three schools on the Fremont Federation campus to make “devastating” cuts to their staffs and programs for next year.

The budget cuts are due to decreased enrollment at the three schools, which reduces the funding Fremont gets from the state. The budget crisis has gotten to the point where the school can no longer support many programs and pay many of its staff.

“Currently the schools are losing enrollment drastically and over the next few years, two of the schools are projected to be around 200 students and one at about 300,” said Matthew Duffy, the school district’s net-work executive officer of high schools who has been given the

A proposed gang injunction against members of the Norteños in the Fruitvale district is stirring up protests in the neighborhood around Fremont Federation of High Schools.

Under the proposed injunction, 40 members of the Norteños gang would be restricted from many activities within a "safety zone," which includes the Fremont campus.

The injunction was filed on Oct. 14 by City At-torney John Russo and the Oakland Police Depart-ment. The injunction would prohibit the 40 alleged gang members from hanging out in the safety zone from 10 p.m. to 5 a.m.

The safety zone would cover much of the Fruit-vale District, and would run between 21st Avenue, East 27th Street and Brookdale Avenue from High Street to the east and the waterfront to the south.

Those named in the injunction who violate the court order could be arrested, fined and jailed.

To take effect, the gang injunction must be approved by Alameda County Superior Court judge Robert Freedman.

This would be the second gang injunction set up by Oakland. The last injunction was passed on June 3, when Judge Freedman approved an injunction against 15 members of the North Side Oakland gang.

However, the Fruitvale injunction is drawing far more protests and many of the alleged gang members are using lawyers to fight their inclusion

March 2011 Volume 50, Issue 3

inside

– page 2

spike in teen HOMiCidesJump in homicides leaves some studentsconcerned for their safety at school

Students and teachers are reacting with anger, anxiety and curiosity to news that the small schools at Fremont Federation of High Schools will be combined in 2013.

Members of the Class of 2012 will be the last to graduate from Media College Prepara-tory High School, Mandela High School and College Preparatory & Architecture Academy High School.

That’s because the school board and the superintendent have decided to make the Fremont Federation of High Schools one school once again. The same is happening on the Castlemont Community. The district merged two schools back into McClymonds High School

District determines three small schools must be combined

youth together Media Academy students from Candice Valenzuela's English class protest the proposed Fruitvale district gang injunction in front of Fremont Federation of High Schools on March 3.

photo by Clarissa Cherry

see MERGE page 4

Leland MooreSports Editor

Luis ArroyoStaff Writer

shima kaid & kristell dantoc

this year.“I feel this new development

is unfair and unexpected but there is nothing we can really do,” said Laura Lem, a sopho-more at Media Academy.

When rumors started earlier this year that Media Academy might close due to low enroll-ment, Lem and other sopho-mores started a Public Relations Club. Members went to different middle schools to advertise the school and try to recruit more students.

“I prefer small academies personally because I’ve been in both environments and being in a small academy helps me focus more,” Lem said.

The reason the district de-cided to consolidate the small schools is because of budget cuts and declining enrollment.

job of combining the Fremont and Castlemont’s small schools.

Based on projected enroll-ment drops and a reduction in state contributions to public schools, all the schools on the Fremont campus will have to cut their budgets significantly.

Media Academy is losing the most funding, around $480,000. Media school officials say the school plans to make up for the loss in money by cutting teach-ing and administrative positions.

Staff members were told earlier this year that Media could lose its English Language Development and Español Para Hispanos (Spanish for Spanish speakers) programs. They were also told that a P.E. teacher, the case manager and school coun-selor’s jobs were at risk.

Some students were upset that classes such as EPH could

CpAA, Media & Mandela Academies will close by 2013, merge back into Fremont High school

Media College Preparatory High School, Oakland, CA

Staff Writers

in the lawsuit.Members of the Youth Together oppose the

injunction and protested outside of the Fremont campus during third period on Feb 28.

Among the protesters were Candice Valenzu-ela, a Media Academy teacher, and her third period English class. Valenzuela spoke out against the injunction during the protest, sharing her opinion on budget cuts and Oakland's education system.

“The budget sends the message to youth that they are not important [and] not valuable,” said Valenzuela. “That message informs their behavior, becoming a root cause of violence among local youth.”

Senior Carolyn Saephan supported the protest.“It‘s a good idea for youth to protest, especially

[if] they’re fighting for their rights,” she said.Junior Teresa Barajas sees problems with the

injunction.“Some students at Fremont have friends that may be affected by the injunction,” said Bara-jas. “[Students] might not be able to hang out with them in any part of the safety zone.”

However, Media Academy case manager Eric Dubois believes the injunction will make the streets safer for everyone by stopping gang violence.

“[The injunction] is a good idea because gangs terrorize the city, create violence, and threaten and harass people," said DuBois."They disrupt what could be a peaceful society."

Media senior Estella Garcia is focusing her se-nior project on gang injunctions.“You have to hear other people’s perspectives about it,” she said.

Against an injunction

Student protests grow over Fruitvale gang injunction

FreMOnt's gOt tALent Fremont grad gets ticket to Los Angeles to compete in the hit TV show America's Got Talent

– page 7

sOCiAL MediA key in revOLutiOn?Column praises how Web sites like Facebook and Twitter helped organize the Egyptian Revolution

– page 11

A DANgerouS DrINK– page 9

Budget cuts 'devastating' to school staffs, programs

see BUDGET page 4

4 news March 2011Green & Gold

Students will not get letters in the mail from the district informing families that Teach For America teachers were not “highly qualified" after all.

In December, Congress overturned a decision that prevented Teach for America teachers from being labeled highly qualified. The old decision would have forced school districts with intern teachers to send out letters letting parents know their children’s educator wasn’t considered highly qualified under the No Child Left Behind Act.

The reversal by Congress has been welcomed by many at Fremont Fed-eration of High Schools, including Giel Muller, a Teach for America participant at Mandela Academy.

“I don’t believe in generalizing and limiting someone’s capabilities because of the associations they have,” Muller said, adding that he is glad the law was overturned. “I don’t think it’s effective.”

Congress also saw major problems with the decision. At the end of Decem-ber, Congress changed the text of the No Child Left Behind Act to include intern teachers as highly qualified.

“[The] decision which reverses a previous court ruling…could cause sig-nificant disruptions in schools across the country,” said Sen. Tom Harkin (D-Iowa) in a press release. “[It might] have a negative impact on students.”

The earlier decision would have significantly affected California public schools. According to the Washington Post, one-fourth of all intern teachers in California work at minority schools.

Sarah Mazzotta, a former TFA teacher who teaches math and science at Media Academy, agrees with Congress’ decision to extend the label of "highly qualified" to TFA staff.

“I like the decision. [The more] you support first year teachers, the better,” said Mazzotta.

Muller believes TFA gives teachers much needed support.

"The ups are that you have a huge network of resources and support [at your

Intern teachers satisfied with ruling

TEACH FOR MANDELA Giel Muller is a Conceptual Science and Physics teacher at Mandela Law Academy. Muller is a Teach for America teacher who believes TFA teachers should be considered highly qualified.

BUDGET: Mandela may cut six teachers

MERGE: Committee working to keep the same small school environmentfrom page 1

disposal]," said Muller.Mazzotta thinks the program gives

both districts and new teachers more opportunities by giving the option to hire and work in low-income areas.

“TFA gets highly educated college graduates into inner-city schools and those aren’t usually the first places they’ll go to,” said Mazzotta.

Media Academy sophomore Arnice St. Remy thinks Teach for America teach-ers should not be treated any differently because they participated in program.

“They’re the same as any other teach-ers,” said St. Remy. “They can still teach the same material.”

Junior Jasmine Gaines also believes that Teach for America teachers are ca-pable of teaching material as well as any other teachers.

“I love them because they can talk to you like a teacher, but they can also talk to you like an individual, not a teacher,” said Gaines.

But many people oppose intern teacher programs because intern teachers tend to leave after a few years of teaching to pursue other careers.

However, Mazzotta thinks there’s a bright side to having intern teachers, even if they don’t stay in the system for long.

“Even if [intern teachers] don’t always stay in teaching, they bring the TFA ex-perience to the occupations they do after teaching,” said Mazzotta. “[That] experi-

photo by Shima Kaid

Enrollment at the three schools has dropped dramatically since 2004, when Fremont High School split up into six small schools. Life Academy left the Fremont campus for its own East Oak-land site in 2001; Youth Empowerment School moved in 2004, and the district closed down Paul Robeson School of the Visual & Performing Arts at the end of last school year due to low test scores and declining enrollment.

The district originally broke down Fremont, Castlemont and McClymonds into small schools with the hope that it would raise student achievement. From 2000 to 2005, the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation gave OUSD $14 million to create and support small schools. From 2005 to 2009, the Gates Foundation gave another $3 million for small schools. But the foundation has since decided to stop funding small schools.

School district officials have said the district can no longer afford to run the three school separately. Consolidating the schools will mean that the district can cut some positions. For example, the new school will only need one principal.

Matthew Duffy, a network executive officer of high schools for the district, has been put in charge of the transformation occurring to the Fremont and Castlemont campuses.

Here’s how Duffy described the new school in an e-mail to the Green & Gold:

“This one school would be centered around everything that is working at each one of the schools,” he wrote.

He said he would be facilitating school-based teams that would “do the bulk of the redesign.”

Sarah Mazzotta is one of the members

of the Fremont redesign committee. She and others on the committee started work not knowing the district would merge the schools.

“This was a hard decision to hear because everyone has worked hard devot-ing time and energy to the school,” said Mazzotta, a science and math teacher at Media Academy.”I feel for students be-cause they want a safe and stable place to go to school; it’s hard when the environ-ment is always changing.”

Many staff members at the campus are choosing to contribute to the upcoming change, and help the students in the com-ing years succeed.

“We’re going to work harder on mak-ing it the same as small academies,” said Mandela Principal Robin Glover. “As a big school, we’re going have to work harder to maintain the same environment as it was as small academies.”

Many teachers are apprehensive.“I’m a little disappointed because I

feel the staff works really well together,” said Beth Suddreth a Mandela High School teacher. "We know the students really well and we know the schools well."

Michael Jackson, a teacher who started Media Academy and has run it for

from page 1

gloria "Jack" MejiaOpinion Editor

Feds extend the label of "highly qualified" to coverteach For America interns

ence sparks discussions about education reform across the country.”

Though she is appreciative of Con-gress’ ruling, Mazzotta believes that there is still much left to do to fix the education system.

“In the end, I would love [students] to get a good education, no matter if it is [in the] inner-city or the suburbs,” Mazzotta said. “Making the best teachers, the best administrators and the best schools pos-sible would result in all students getting the best education.”

20 years, said he feels that the “history” of the academy is coming to an end.

“I am the last man standing,” said Jackson, who also teaches drama. “I put my life in the Media Academy and I don’t want it to go flushed down the toilet. Small schools were born here and they killed the dream to save money.”

Some students are so upset about the merge that they are considering transfer-ring.

“I’m going to transfer because it’s going to be crowded and the environment is going to change,” said Media Academy freshman Frank Hartwell. “There will be more fights and things will become more ‘messy’ between others.”

Tyiesha Burris, a freshman at Man-dela Academy, is planning to stay but is concerned.

“I like it better with the three different schools because it gives them the variety of schools to choose from,” said Burris. “There won’t be enough attention for each student when it becomes one big high school.”

Freshman Dominique White of CPAA is even more opinionated about what the school will become.

“It’s going to be crazy,” said White. “I feel it’s going to be more hectic."

Sky'S THE LiMiT Science and math teacher Sarah Mazzotta leads students on a hike in yosemite National Park in 2009, a tradition for sophomores at Media Academy. This is one of the many community building activities a large school might not be able to have.

be cut.“I would hate it because I wouldn’t

be that fluent in Spanish,” said junior Sandra Felix, who speaks Spanish as a first language.

During an interview in January, Media Principal Benjamin Schmookler said every staff member’s job could be com-promised.

“Anyone can get cut, from the case manager, to the counselor or even a teacher,” said Schmookler.

However, Schmookler refused to specify what cuts had been made in an interview on Feb.17.

A Media Academy staff member who did not want to be named said the rumored cuts would “devastating” to the school and they include top positions.

But Media is not the only school feel-ing the crunch—College Preparatory and Architecture Academy and Mandela High School must also make serious cuts to their budgets.

“We may have to cut 10-20 percent of our schools budget,” said CPAA Principal Daniel Hurst.

Hurst said he’ll have to cut classes not directly related to the core curriculum, stating that it would be a tough decision to decide what to cut.

At Mandela, the cuts could be even more severe.

“We may lose three to six teachers next year,” said Mandela Principal Robin Glover.

Glover says the school may lose up to six staff members to retirement and will not be able to replace them.

The cuts are a precursor to more cuts that are likely when the three small schools at Fremont merge in 2013. A united Fremont likely would have only one principal and larger class sizes.

photo by Lisa Shafer

" i like the decision. [the more] you support first year teachers, the better."

— sarah MazzottaMedia Academy teacher

2 news March 2011Green & Gold

not Just A numberSpike in teen homicides leaves students grieving for friends, family

in honor A sign to commemorate homicide victim Lovell Hadnot hangs in the Mandela High hallway on Jan. 11. Hadnot was shot and killed on Jan. 9.

photo by Jennifer Truong

Pearl Joy Balagot & rosemary Bustillos

Media Studies

The Dream Act may have been denied by the U.S. Senate, but many at Fremont Federa-tion still have hope that immigrant students who lack documents can get financial help to go to college and eventually receive citizen-ship in the only country many have known.

Their hopes are bolstered by words Presi-dent Barack Obama spoke a month after the Senate defeated the Dream Act.

"Let's stop expelling talented, responsible young people who can staff our research labs, start new businesses, and enrich this nation," said Obama in his State of the Union address on Jan. 25. "Some come from abroad to study in our universities. But as soon as they obtain advanced degrees, we send them back home to compete against us. It makes no sense."

Despite Obama's support, Jose A. Ochoa, a Media Academy senior, is still disappointed.

“It doesn’t surprise me that it was denied,” said Ochoa. “There has always been hatred and prejudice against immigrants.”

Jessica John, who works for Project SOAR to help students get into college, is frustrated with the failure of Congress to pass the Dream Act while Democrats were still in power.

“I am very upset because a lot of kids are going to miss out on education and financial opportunities just because of where they were born,” said John.

“It is a mistake,” said College Preparatory & Architecture Academy Principal Daniel Hurst. “Many people in the United States came here undocumented [and] unwillingly and those students should be given a choice.”

However, some students were relieved the Dream Act failed.

“It’s a good thing it got denied,” said one student. “[Giving immigrants residency] would have [negatively] affected the job market.”

May prom will be in San FranciscoJazmin Garcia

Features Editor

elizabeth Contreras Staff Writer

Dream Act denied; Obama says policymakes 'no sense'

It had been in the courtyard since most teachers could remember, so when Fremont Federation’s old slogan “The Friendly School” was taken down a few months ago, it came as a surprise to the Fremont staff.

Fremont’s staff guessed at the exact reason why the sign was taken down.

“I think it was because we’re not Fremont High School anymore,” said Media Academy case manager Eric DuBois. “We’re Media, Mandela Law Academy and CPAA. [The sign] was misinforming visitors.”

Benjamin Schmookler, Media Academy prin-cipal, said the sign had been up ever since he’d worked at Fremont, but had to be taken down.

“Somebody vandalized the sign and ripped a part of it down,” said Schmookler.

Schmookler doesn’t think the sign will be replaced.

Media Academy junior Martreca West sees the sign being taken down as something nega-tive for the school.

“People should know we’re a friendly school—taking it down gives a bad impres-sion,” said West. “If you don’t know why it’s taken down, you think the school is trying to make a statement.”

DuBois thinks that although the sign seemed ironic to some, its statement held true.

“We are a friendly school, but people choose not to be friendly at times,” said DuBois.

Kim Mejia-CuellarNews Editor

'Friendly School' sign vandalized, removed

dance.This year, the leadership club is in charge of

organizing the event and raising money to offset the cost.

Currently prom tickets are $65 for single tickets and $120 for couples, but they might go up in the future.

"I think prom is going to be cool because it's gonna be the last one for seniors," said College Preparatory & Architecture Academy senior Kelly Irvin. "Since seniors are planning it, they want the best for themselves."

Sandy Jackson, who was the leadership club advisor, said he hoped all the prom tickets would sell out because the more tickets the club sells, the more money the school would have for prom and the bigger and better it will be.

Juniors are also excited to experience prom in San Francisco

"Prom is the most known high school memo-ries," said Media junior Christina Nguyen.

A night under the Vegas lights — in San Francisco.

Fremont Federation of High Schools seniors and juniors voted for a Vegas night theme for the 2011 prom.

Prom, which will be held May 21 at the San Francisco Hilton, is an event that many seniors and juniors are looking forward to.

“I’m excited for prom because I’ve never been to prom and I want to experience it,” said Media Academy junior Sharon Saeteurn.

The leadership committee decided to hold this year’s prom at the San Francisco Hilton instead of the Concord Hilton, where most proms have been held in past school years.

Prom will cost an estimated $14,000. For that price, the San Francisco Hilton will serve free heavy d’oeuvres (snacks), lemonade and punch. The hotel will also be providing the music for the

Fremont, "the friendly school," is now a sad school.

That's because over the last 12 months, there has been a spike in teen homicides that have affected many on the campus.

For Fremont Federation of High Schools, homicides aren't just a number or statistic—they are family, best friends, brothers and sisters.

For school cafeteria manager Lawana Wy-att, the homicide numbers this year include a son. Wyatt's son, 19-year-old son Kerry Baxter Jr., was shot outside of Saint Anthony’s church on Jan. 17 near East 15th Street and 16th Avenue, according to sfgate.com.

Just eight days earlier, Mandela sophomore Lovell Hadnot, 15, was killed. In his honor, students and staff signed a poster commemo-rating his life.

His friends at Fremont were devastated and worried about their own safety.

‘‘It makes me feel as though I can be next,” said Earsy Jenkins-Crockett, a Mandela sophomore. “If it can happen to an innocent bystander, then it can happen to a baby play-ing outside.''

And these homicides are nothing new—last April, Media Academy sophomore Davante

Riley was shot and killed.Homicides are affecting people from all

over Oakland, not only Fremont students and staff.

Media freshman Frank Hartwell knew Jimon Clark, a student and star runner killed last August, just before he was to enter Sky-line High. Hartwell says he feels in danger.

“It feels like I can be next at any point, [for being] in the wrong place at the wrong time,” said Hartwell.

While the spike has hit teenagers hard this year, adults who have worked at Fremont have experienced the pain of losing students to murder for years.

“Every week someone is dying,” said Katie Riemer, a health educator at the Tiger Clinic. “It’s a cycle [that] leads to depression. People [feel] helpless about killings.”

Riemer said those who do feel helpless or depressed should come to the clinic for help.

Media Academy Principal Benjamin Schmookler said the deaths take a toll.

"In the 11 years I’ve worked here, I have lost five teens that I was close with, from ev-ery age and every grade,” said Schmookler.

"every week someone is dying."

— Katie riemer, Tiger Clinic

3newsMarch 2011Green & Gold

Nearly every morning before school, Fremont Federation students must get their backpacks checked and scanned with a metal detector if they want to enter school grounds.

Fremont began an on-campus search in December, partly due to fear that the death of former Mandela Academy stu-dent Lovell Hadnot would lead to anger and violence.

“[Since] students are outraged, they might cause more trouble,” said Noil Angelo, the head of security.

Officials say another reason for the heightened school security is violence non-students could bring on-campus.

School police officer Miguel DeLuna said that his department had arrested one student with a loaded firearm on campus.

But students also have been found

with guns. “[On] Jan.10 we had two non-students

that came on campus with firearms,” said DeLuna.

Despite the presence of weapons found, some students aren't taking the searches lightly.

“[I] feel offended by how the security

Searching for safety: Fremont beefs up its security

The debate team has had a semester of success – several members appeared on Channel 7, two won a trip to New York City and the whole team beat all other debaters the year's first league tournament.

Fremont’s debate team dominated the Bay Area Urban Debate League’s tournament on Feb. 12 on their home turf.

The debaters won the overall team competition known as the “sweepstakes.” Two-member teams from Media Academy took first, second and third place teams and individual debaters took the top six spots in the varsity competition.

Senior Cesar Sanchez and sophomore Diego Garcia won first place varsity team; juniors Kim and Gloria “Jack” Mejia-

Cuellar took second place team; and junior Jazmin Garcia and senior Juan Carlos Ramos cap-tured third place team.

Kim and Jack Mejia-Cuellar won first and second individual speakers respectively.

“It was very tiring, but I’d do it again next week if I had to,” said debate coach Laima Haider, who also teaches history at Media Academy. “My kids are amazing.”

Additionally, the Garcias, who are siblings, were chosen to compete for the Bay Area Urban Debate League in the National Urban Debate tournament in New York City in April. They will travel to the tournament with all expenses paid.

Besides Haider, the team is coached by Catherine Kuhn, a Skyline High School teacher who helped launch the debate team three years ago when she

Fremont students split over new backpack searches;officials say they're needed

Laudy CabezasStaff Writer

School suffers from rodents

on the air Members of Fremont's debate team meets the cast of the tV talk show 7 Live on Feb. 1. L-r: anchor Jennifer Jolly, Jack Mejia, Juan ramos, anchor Brian Copeland, Kim Mejia, Jazmin Garcia, debate coach Laima haider, and anchor Lizzie Bermudez.

photo by Tina Law

want to come in contact with them or their droppings.

“I think it’s really nasty,” said sopho-more Alex Toris. “The school should do something about it.”

His classmate Briauna Spragans agreed.

“That’s disgusting and it makes me not want to be in class because I don’t want mice in my stuff,” she said.

Some teachers point their fingers at students and the school for the rodent problem.

“I blame students who drop trash on the ground, and the school for not call-ing pest control,” said Media Academy English teacher Candice Valenzuela, who has dealt with rodents this year. “Some teachers' classrooms are dirtier than oth-ers because they do not clean up after

Every morning, Media Academy jour-nalism teacher Lisa Shafer has to pull out her cleaning spray and wipe down desks to get rid of mice droppings.

Shafer, along with many other teach-ers says that there has been a recent rise in rodents at the Fremont Federation of High Schools since winter break.

“It affects my morale,” said Shafer. “I feel like if the district doesn’t care about the mice, then they don’t care about our students or school.”

Shafer adds that rodents also affect Media Academy's appearance and appeal to new students.

“The [district] OUSD is pressuring us to bring enrollment up; I would love to show incoming students a classroom with no mice droppings,” said Shafer.

Students as well as teachers say rodents are a problem because they don’t

their students.” Media Academy history teacher Laima

Haider had a unique experience with rodents in her first year at the school.

"I had a box of debate food [I was storing] for a tournament," said Haider. "I opened the box to give a student a snack and found a box full of chewed food and rat poop."

However, Haider doesn't necessarily blame the school for the rodent problem.

"It's not that the school doesn't want to do something; it's that the district doesn't fund us enough the keep the school clean," said Haider.

Media Academy Principal Benjamin Schmookler said pests have always been a problem at Fremont.

“There has been a rodent problem since I’ve been here," said Schmookler.

Many teachers are frustrated by the rodents.

“I don’t like it [because] it’s not a good environment for the students,” said Sarah Mazzotta, a science and math teacher at Media Academy.

Students and staff can complain to Oakland Unified School District by filling out a Williams Case form.

Araceli Ramos& Devonyei Frazier

Media Studies

"I blame students who drop trash on the ground."

— Candice Valenzuela,

Media Academy teacher

treat us,” said Mandela senior Miguel Rocha.

But Media Academy junior Ruliver Santos said the searches are worth it.

“It’s good to make Fremont a safer school, that way students won’t have to worry about who has a gun or not,” he said.

School officials Benjamin Schmook-ler, Robin Glover and Emiliano Sanchez agreed to have all students searched because they believed the searches would make the community safer for students and school faculty.

“[Security measures] will change for the better,” said Mandela Principal Glover. She called the searches "a good thing, even though they’re a hassle.”

Students are not allowed on to school premises until they agree to be searched.

“We convince them to be searched or call the supervisor to talk to them,” said school safety officer Rahat Khan. “The last resort is to not let them in.”

School officials said that if students are being searched and are caught with an illegal weapon, they can face possible expulsion.

Katelyn Bauzon, Laura Lem & Cesar Sanchez

Media academy

Debate team triumphs on home turf

METS program needs recruits

Jazmin GarciaFeatures editor

The METS program is looking for new applicants.

Mills College Educational Talent Search (METS) is a program in many high schools, including Fremont Federa-tion. METS helps students learn about college, keep track of their grades and credits, and go on college tours.

"This is really helpful information. [METS is] beneficial to students who are actually interested in college," said Media Academy junior Linda Poeng.

METS is looking for more students to join their program this semester, especial-ly because low enrollment could cause the program to be cut.

"People should sign up because it would be bad to lose helpful programs [like] this one," said Media junior Leland Moore.

Anyone interested in joining the pro-gram can visit the METS office or e-mail Talaugon at ntalaugon@mills.edu.

was a science teacher at Fre-mont’s Paul Robeson Academy.

The coaches will go to New York with the debaters.

To go to New York, the Garcias had to write a letter convincing the league why they deserved to go to New York.

“I feel excited and proud of myself because they chose me and my brother from Fremont,” Jazmin Garcia said.

Ten days before the big championship win, the debaters made a trip to Channel 7.

On Feb. 1 and 2, the team and other members of BAUDL were special guests in the audience for the live talk show “7 Live.”

Debaters Cesar Sanchez and Juan Ramos, both Media Acad-emy seniors, were the only two debaters who were interviewed during the show.

The Garcias and Mejia-Cuellars were also part of the

audience. Haider took them to the studio.

“It was a good experience, especially because I was on TV,” Sanchez said. “I like how we represented our school and our debate league.”

Haider gives students inter-ested in debate some tips to join the team.

“Come every Monday,” said Haider. “We’re ready to teach and train a batch of new debat-ers.”

“They will have to go to an adminis-trator, but usually [students who violate the rules] will get kicked out,” said Angelo.

Most Fremont students have grown used to being searched regularly before coming onto school grounds.

“The searches are not a waste of time,” said Media Academy senior Rico Allen. “The school is just trying to look out for students.”

Mandela senior Danny Lopez agrees that searches are for students' safety.

“It’s great that the security is more up-tight because it’s necessary,” said Lopez.

But some students are irritated. “It’s a waste of time because I don’t

have anything illegal,” said College Pre-paratory & Architecture Academy junior Sione Moli, who said he feels violated.

Even though the Fremont campus has gone through various problems this year, Angelo believes that this year can become better than last year in terms of security.

“After seeing so much happen, let’s make 2011 our greatest year,” said An-gelo.

GettinG SearChed Media academy junior ashley Parker gets her bag searched by security officer Carlton Johnson on March 2.

photo by Kim Mejia-Cuellar

5featuresMarch 2011Green & Gold

Show off your intelligence and impress colleges by doing well on your SAT.

For a group of students of Media Academy, taking the

SATs (Scholastic Aptitude Test) is one of the things they’re anxious to cross off their to-do list.

Typically, the SAT is taken during a high school student’s senior year. Some juniors at Media Academy are taking the opportunity to take the SATs this year so they can have a second chance at scoring a higher score their senior year.

The SAT is a standardized test for col-lege admissions. The SAT measures writ-ing and literary skills needed for college.

“I’m glad I’m taking the SATs early,” said junior Diana Le. “You can keep tak-ing it to improve your score.”

Le, along with Media Academy junior

aleanna santos

Juniors get jumpon test for college

Sabrina Lee took the SAT at Skyline High School on March 12.

"Overall, the test was okay," said Lee. "If you study befeore the test, it'll be a piece of cake."

Other Media Academy juniors, such as Christina Nguyen, and Linda Poeng are planning to take the SATs on May 7, which is the next available date to take the SAT.

Taking the SAT during your junior year can benefit you when you are a senior. If you get a low score, you have the opportunity to take it again and score higher. The higher your SAT score is, the higher chance colleges will consider ac-cepting you into their college.

Considering the SAT is one of the major tests that a student will take in their high school education, a lot of students put a lot of time into studying for it.

For some seniors at Fremont Federa-tion, it was quite stressful.

During testing hours, cell phones and electronics aren’t allowed to be permit-ted. The SAT is generally three hours and 45 minutes long, for some students it gets hard to focus on a nearly four hour test. Every section is timed and students are expected to complete it before time is up.

To prevent falling asleep and having a hard time to focus during the SATs, make sure you get enough sleep and eat breakfast.

“It wasn’t that hard for me to focus during the test because I made sure I was well rested and ate breakfast,” said Media Academy senior Jennifer Truong.

If you’re shooting for a high score on the SAT, make sure you study.

Media Academy counselor, Susheela Moonsamy helped some of the juniors to prepare for the SAT, giving them fee waivers and offering SAT prep booklets.

Students can go to www.collegeboard.com to take practice tests and get an SAT question e-mailed to them each day.

Staff Writer

Seniors who traveled to the University of the Pacific learned they have the option to still apply to this private school.

On Feb. 10, about 50 students from most high schools in Oakland went on a field trip to the University of the Pacific in Stockton.

The University of the Pacific has three campuses. One is located in Sacramento, the other in San Francisco, and the main one in Stockton. The school is ranked among the top 100 universities in the nation.

The college tour was organized by Project SOAR. The intention was for seniors to see themselves in college.

Seniors from Fremont, Oakland Tech, McClymonds, Castlemont and Skyline attended. Once on campus, students gath-ered to hear an admissions presentation and eat before being separated into small groups to get a tour.

The University of the Pacific is a private school. This college guarantees their students that they will graduate in four years.

A difference between this school and larger, public universities is that it has small classes. The maximum size of a

Students SOAR to University of PacificJorge Arambula

Staff Writer

issues.Exta also pointed out the house of the

president of the university. President Pamela Eibeck encourages

students to go to her office if they need help in any way, Exta explained. At times, Eibeck opens her house to students and sometimes walk saround campus.

Burns Tower caught the attention of many students. This tower used to store water before modern plumbing was installed back in the day.

However, now the tower doesn’t con-tain water, and the school doesn’t want

to take down the tower because of its beautiful glass windows.

Claudia Alvarez, a senior at Media Academy, was delighted when she first saw Burns Tower.

“It is very unique and tall, it is incred-ible that it use to be full of water,” said Alvarez.

Hollywood has even gone to “Pacific” to record some movies, including one of the Indiana Jones films.

“One time they even filmed a fake riot in campus and paid students just to show up,” said Exta.

class is 18 students. This means that stu-dents can get individual help from their professors, the tour guides said.

The admissions representative said that students get experience and career preparation by doing internships.

This college also offers Division I sports, club sports, a movie theater and a fitness center with indoor rock climbing facilities.

Emanuel Villareal, a senior at Skyline High School, said he really enjoyed the campus.

“It is really nice because it reminds me of my school due to all of the trees around the campus,” said Villareal.

Mercedes Flores, a senior at Castlem-ont, agreed with Villareal.

“The campus is very nice because of all the nature around, like the trees,” said Flores.

Ana Exta, who is a student at Pacific, gave the seniors of Fremont a tour.

She mentioned that a nurse line is available 24-hours-a-day just in case if students need assistance with any medical

UP CLOSE AT PACIFIC CPAA senior Conny Gomez, teacher Rosalind Makris and Jessica Jarin of Project SOAR listen to Ana Exta, a tour guide at University of the Pacific.

photo by Jorge Arambula

Many Project sOar seniors get a look at a private university during University of the Pacific trip

“It reminds me of my school due to all of the trees around the cam-pus."

—emmanuel Villarealskyline senior

6 FEATURES March 2011Green & Gold

Marcus RobinsonJose Ochoa & Luis ArroyoElizabeth ContrerasStaff Writer

Back in the day ...Teachers give the scoop on college life

CANDICE VALENZUELALoyola Marymount University

SUNNY CHANCalifornia Polytechnic University

ERIC DUBOISCalifornia State University, Hayward,

John F. Kennedy University

SARA CALDWELLClaremont McKenna

Jorge ArambulaStaff Writer

For most people, college is the best time of their lives. But Eric DuBois, Media Acad-emy case manager, hated it.

DuBois attended Califor-nia State University, Hayward, John F. Kennedy University and Diablo Valley College. He attended Diablo Valley Col-lege for five years.

“I was playing too much," said DuBois. “I wasn’t ready.”

DuBois went to a junior college instead of going directly to a four-year school because his GPA in high school was a 2.0.

"I wasn't smart enough" for the SATs and avoided it by going to a junior col-lege," said, DuBois.

Despite all his play, DuBois earned a master of arts degree in sports psychol-ogy.

“I studied psychology because I felt I could fix myself because I was broken, but it didn’t work,” said DuBois.

DuBois explained his worst memory in college was the day before he was sup-posed to graduate. It was terrible because a very important paper was in a computer and the computer blew up.

“I was up for 30 hours trying to re-write the paper,” said DuBois.

DuBois took a music listening skills class that was all about orchestra and symphony.

“I had to learn the difference between instruments and orchestra,” said DuBois.

He said the class made him look at music in a different way.

“It was such a good class I learned to appreciate music more,” said DuBois, who plays guitar. "I learned to really appreciate classical music and to feel the beauty of it."

DuBois explained his best memory in college was when he got to graduate. That moment was "walking out of col-lege, knowing I never had to go back ... until two years later [when] I decided to go back and get my masters in sports psy-chology because I was tired of living with the girl I was living with,” said DuBois.

DuBois realized he could do some-thing with his life than live with his girl.

“I literally woke up in the morning and said in two minutes I was going to get my degree,” said DuBois.

Staff Writers Staff Writer

Where does a teacher who received a perfect score on the Scholastic Assess-ment test work?

A) Skyline HighB) Media AcademyC) Piedmont HighD) None of the above.The answer is B, thanks to science

teacher Sunny Chan.Chan, who graduated from Skyline

High, scored 1600 on the SAT in 1997. That was before the College Board added an essay section to the exam, making a perfect score 2,400.

Chan's perfect test scores helped him get into California Polytechnic Universi-ty (Cal Tech), one of the most prestigious science universities in the country.

Cal Tech is a private research univer-sity located in Pasadena.

At Cal Tech, Chan was in the Excel Club in which he did community service projects.

“It was all right,” said Chan.Chan’s first priority, however, was

to do all his work and then go out with friends to have fun.

Chan majored in biology. “It helped us see the world from a

different point of view,” said Chan. “Every experiment helped us discover

new inventions that formed our lives, and made daily life easier,” he said.

Chan's grade point average through-out college was a 2.9. Chan explained that the GPA varied with the major—the average GPA of a student majoring in biology was a 2.9.

“My grades started out pretty bad, but roughly went up with all the hard work,” Chan said.

“I didn’t really do anything interesting through college,” said Chan. “But I re-ally enjoyed working on puzzles, during senior ditch day that we had for younger students to solve.”

There weren’t any bad experiences for him at all in college.

Chan’s social life was basically just hanging out with friends and watching movies.

Chan's overall experience at Cal Tech was good because he enjoyed working on science.

Sara Morgan Caldwell lives up to her college's motto — Once an Athena. always an Athena.

Athena is the Greek god-dess of wisdom and it's also

one of the mascots of Claremont McKen-na College, a private college in 35 miles east of downtown Los Angeles.

Caldwell, a first-year science teacher at Media Academy, explained how her college became one of the few in the country to have two mascots.

Until 1976, she said, Claremont McK-enna was an all men’s college and had only the mascot of a stag, a male deer. However, when women were admitted to the college, Claremont McKenna added another mascot — Athena.

Caldwell grew up in Oakland and at-tended Acalanes High School, where her father still is a teacher.

She loved going to college. "I felt so much freedom in college compared to my high school years,” she said.

Additionally, Caldwell said she felt more freedom to decide what she really wanted to study. She ended up getting a bachelor's degree in environmental economics.

Caldwell acknowledges that she had trouble deciding whether to go to Univer-sity of California, Berkeley, or Claremont McKenna, and that she became homesick her freshman year.

“I wanted to go home," she said, "but I had to learn not to be homesick."

Despite having a tough college choice to make and being homesick that first year, Caldwell says she is very satisfied with her decision.

Not only did Caldwell receive good grades, but she was also part of the col-lege swim team. She was on the team for all four years of college, helping her team win it's league every year.

About two weeks before her gradu-ation, Caldwell was upset, not wanting to leave a place where she had lived so many great moments. But those feelings faded away when she saw all of her fam-ily and friends on graduation day.

“It was an amazing day,” said Caldwell. “You can't even know how college really feels until you get there. It changes the way you look at yourself and at the world.”

I n college it is hard to escape from the hard, challenging work. However, it can be done with dedication and persistence. Can-dice Valenzuela is an example of

those who struggle alone, yet survive and endure the life in college.

Valenzuela, a third-year English teach-er at Media Academy, was accepted into Loyola Marymount University in Los Angeles, California. She was captured by its astonishing surroundings.

Valenzuela went to Locke High School for three years. Later, she moved to Hollywood with her sister because there were family problems at home.

“It sucked," said Valenzuela, "but I made new friends.”

Loyola Marymount’s size was just perfect for Valenzuela with a total num-ber of 5,667 undergraduates, 1,886 gradu-ates, and 1,319 law school students.

“I wanted a small school because I wanted to have one-on-one support from my teachers," said Valenzuela.

In her first year at Loyola Marymount, Valenzuela lived in dormitory. However, it was not as good as she expected.

Valenzuela said she disliked the per-son with whom she lived.

"We were two completely different people who had different backgrounds and ideas," said Valenzuela.

In Valenzuela's second year, she de-cided to move out with a group of people and she was able to save a little extra money.

College life was a hustle and a con-stant struggle between work and school, but Valenzuela was able to endure it.

Valenzuela had to work 40 hours a week in order to pay tuition, rent and other essential needs. Unlike many others students, she had no support from her family, so she was forced to make ends meet all on her own.

Her spare time was dedicated to her studies.

“I didn’t have much of a social life my first three years. The work was chal-lenging and I was busy between work and school. I studied in the mornings before work,” said Valenzuela.

Despite all the stress and difficulty, Valenzuela was able to get her degree in humanities.

7March 2011Green & Gold

Fremont grad to be on 'America's Got Talent'

Kim and Jack Mejia-CuellarEditors

ARLINGTON JONESphoto by Jack Mejia

Fremont Federation has graduated not just college-bound kids—it has also graduated a contestant bound for a spot on the hit NBC

show America’s Got Talent. Arlington Jones Jr. is a 48-year old

aspiring singer who graduated from Fre-mont High School in 1980. After Jones auditioned for America's Got Talent in Los Angeles last year, he found out that he'd qualified to go to the final auditions in Los Angeles. Unlike in the first audi-tion, Jones would perform in front of the show's host Nick Cannon and star judges Pierce Morgan, Sharon Osborne and Howie Mandel.

“At the end of my audition, I was told one word: perfect,” said Jones. “I've al-ways been told I needed to do something with my voice. My biggest aspiration is to get on America's Got Talent.”

Being a contestant on America's Got Talent will give Jones much needed exposure to pursue a professional singing career.

Last September when the show last aired, America's Got Talent had over 18.2 million viewers nationwide.

According to NBC.com, whoever wins the America’s Got Talent competi-tion will receive $1 million.

And Jones is already planning ahead in case he wins.

Alumni Arlington Jonesadvances to next round of popular NBC show

“The first thing I’d do is cry and be thankful,” Jones said. “I would pay off every debt that I have, but [most impor-tantly] I would give my mother $50,000 for all she’s done for me.”

"I want to be debt free, to establish myself as a real man taking care of his family," said Jones.

Jones' love of singing has been with him since childhood. His main inspira-tion has been James Brown.

But ultimately it was a friend who led Jones to truly begin singing seri-ously. That friend convinced Jonese to take up the karaoke scene in Nebraska, where he was living in 2000.

“I was involved in contests and I won a lot of money [for them],” Jones said.

However, Jones’ singing ended abruptly when he and his wife divorced in December of 2000. That’s when Jones decided to move back to the Bay Area.

“My singing was delayed,” Jones

said. “I was heartbroken.”Gradually, Jones resumed singing, but

didn’t pursue it full time.The Fremont High School graduate says

he has a great passion for music and thinks his talent only comes with practice.

“I’m always singing,” said Jones. “I’m singing when I don’t even know I’m singing. I don’t want to be caught off guard in case they call me back.”

Jones has changed a lot since his days at the Foothill Boulevard campus.

“I was a mischievous boy, a square,” said Jones about his high school self.

Jones thinks talent shows like America’s Got Talent are amazing opportunities for ordinary people who dream big and have extraordinary skills.

The shows "allow people to be recognized and not be seen as just a speck on the planet,” Jones said. “Giving someone a chance is one of the greatest gifts these shows give.”

Jones believes you can never be too old to dream and urges everyone to pursue what makes them happy.

“You have to put yourself out there and never give up hope, no matter what someone says,” Jones said.

"The Roommate" attempts to be a hot new thriller to hit the big screen. However, the movie itself will not reach the expectations of the millions of viewers.

Rebecca (Leighton Meester), a socially awkward girl, begins to start a friendship with her new college room-mate, Sara Matthews (Minka Kelly).

Over time, Rebecca craves Sara’s presence more and more, to the point of being obsessed. Rebecca begins to feel uncomfortable when Sara starts to make her own friends, causing her to go on a rampage. The obsessed room-mate begins to forcefully disconnect Sara from her social life.

When I saw the trailer of “The Roommate," I expected more gore and suspense. Unfortunately, it was easy for me to predict and anticipate the scenes of the movie.

I would rate the film two out of five stars. It has a quick few thrills, but it’s not worth the money. For an extended review visit www.mediagreenandgold.com.

Kristell Dantoc Staff Writer

Vertigo Entertainment

'Roommate' disappoints

"You have to put yourself out there and never give up hope, no matter what someone says.”

—Arlington Jones

SHARPENING SKILLS Laima Haider (right) helps debate students Kim Mejia (far left), Jack Mejia and Diego Garcia with some historical background for one of their arguments. Haider, a new teacher, is co-coach of the Fremont debate team.

Carolyn Saephan Staff Writer

With no actual policy debate expe-rience herself, first-year history teacher Laima Haider stepped up to take on the job of coach-ing Fremont Federation of High

School’s debate team after the former leader lost his teaching job due to budget cuts.

In just five months, Haider has learned how to coach the team, and some debaters even call her the best they’ve had in the three years of the program.

“I didn’t know what I did to deserve" being called the "best," said Haider. "But I’m glad they’re happy with me.”

Haider’s only other coaching experience was very different – she coached tennis and lacrosse at North-gate High School in Walnut Creek.

Catherine Kuhn, a former teacher at Paul Robeson and now a Skyline High teacher, has worked with Haider as a co-coach.

Kuhn explained that the team has improved since Haider joined the coaching staff. For example, the team now has more novices attending practice and debaters are also winning more rounds at tourna-ments. Fremont as a team both won the December and January league tournaments.

Haider, on the other hand, praises Kuhn, a former high school debater, for what she has brought the team.“She’s a wonderful resource and great leader,” said Haider.

Haider also says her job is made easier because

photo by Carolyn Saephan

Coaching debate is an intense job; first-year teacher rises to challenge

Haider celebrated by debaters

her team members are great debaters. “It’s easy to be a coach of a team that’s already

amazing,” she says.Debater Diego Garcia of Media Academy is happy

to have Haider on board. “She’s the best coach I ever seen,” he said. “She really cares about us.”

As part of her duties, Haider takes students to the tournaments on time. But she also makes sure students are fed before tournaments.The earliest Haider had to get up to attend a tournament was 4:30 a.m. because she had to arrive at school by 6:30 a.m. to catch a bus to San Francisco. The latest she got home from a

tournament was at 10:30 p.m. “From making copies to generously providing

snacks, Ms. Haider has been a critical asset to our team. She has a great sense of humor and is always there to get the job done,” said Kuhn.

Second-year debater Cesar Sanchez appreciates Haider but believes that all debate coaches are great.

“Coaches have different styles in teaching, and I appreciate all of them equally,” said Sanchez.

The debate team practices every Monday after school in Media Academy portable B-1 for about two hours. It is open to all Fremont Federation students.

FEATURES

fashion TONY MAI

Media AcademyJunior

DIANA LEMedia Academy

Junior

POPE FOKETIMandela Academy

Junior

VANESSA CHAVARRIA Media Academy Junior

RAJIAH GRAYCPAA

Sophomore

It took the students about two and a half weeks to write the poem. They said they received a lot of help and support from Totten-Harris and their WriterCoach Connection coaches.

“I’m extremely proud of my sopho-mores. I think they nailed it,” said Totten-Harris.

Writer coaches, who worked with the students on their poems were equally proud of the performance and their hard work. They commented on a story already published at www.mediagreenandgold.com.

“What a thrill to see both students I coached get up and share their poem, using some of my suggested ideas to strengthen their personal poem,” wrote coach Irene Sardanis.

Others involved were glad to see the students deliver their poems.

“It was an honor to watch the students perform their poems,” wrote Karen Lar-son, director of the WritersCoach Con-nection program.

8 Arts March 2011Green & Gold

spring

photo by Shima Kaid

Skin art — no needles necessary

Shima Kaid, a Media Acad-emy junior, wears her fash-ion on her skin — without the use of needles.

She sometimes shows up to school with her hands decorated with henna, also known as Arabian tattoo.

Henna is worn temporarily and can be washed away with two to three weeks, but it can also be washed off seconds after applied to skin.

Colors are usually black and dark red.

sharon saeteurnStaff Writer

Media Academy juniorexplains henna's history

ARABIAN TATTOO Shima Kaid displays a recent henna design.

There are hundreds of stencil designs that are brought to the United States from the Middle East, explained Kaid.

Kaid gets her stencils from family mem-bers visiting from Yemen.

Henna comes from a Mignonette Tree (Lawsonia Inermis) in the eastern hemi-sphere. It starts off as bresa herbal henna powder and is mixed with water until it turns into a clay-like mixture. It's then ap-plied to the skin over the desired stencil, leaving a design on the skin once dried.

Henna is mostly worn during special events such as weddings or parties.

“In my family, we just do it mostly for parties,” said Kaid.

Although school isn’t much of a “party,” Kaid still wears henna during school.

“I think it looks good,” said Kaid.

Media sophomores dig deeply to present 'Yo Soy Joaquin' poems

During the fourth annual “Yo Soy Joaquin” presen-tations at Media Acad-emy, students expressed themselves through

poetry. Some laughed, many cried, and all clapped for classmates.

The sophomores recited their poems, based on “Yo Soy Joaquin” by Chicano-activist Rodolfo Gonzalez, to their audi-ence in portable B-9 on Dec. 16. In “Yo Soy Joaquin,” Gonzalez expresses the conflicts he faces with his identity.

"I am the cries of children seeing their parents and family members being taken away for being immigrants," wrote sophomore Ramon Arreola, one of the

Alma ramirez & ricardo Vargas-Esquivel

Staff Writers

student performers.Sophomore English teacher Sonja

Totten-Harris organized the event. Par-ents, teachers, writing coaches and other students came to the event.

Benjamin Schmookler, Media Acad-emy’s principal, watched the presentation and enjoyed it.

“It was great to just have the kids express themselves about how they felt and all the problems they had in life but still trying to make it through,” said Schmookler. “I think the presentations will become a tradition now.”

In the process of writing the poems, students got to learn about their cultures, their history.and themselves.

Students such as Ramon Arreola enjoyed the event because they received a lot of support from their peers and families.

“I had fun because I had friends that supported me and I got to go back in my history and find the inner me,” said Arreola, sophomore who presented his poem.

sophomores exploreculture, identity, conflictin Gonzalez adaptations

photo by Howard Ruffner

JO SOY GENTAIL Sophomore Gentail Richards participates in a Dec. 16 poetry reading organized by teacher Sonja Totten-Harris. Sophomores converted the dance studio into a "coffee shop." Parents, writing coaches, students and others attended.

9HealtHMarch 2011Green & Gold

California teens die after drinking Four loko

luis arroyoStaff Writer

photo by Linda Poeng

Plant, grow, cook, eat. Repeat.

Some Fremont students say they've enjoyed the drink,but now want to quit

Even after the popular drink Four Loko was pulled off the shelves due to health concerns, two California teenagers were found dead

with a can of the drink next to them.The bodies of 15-year-old Aaron

Saenz and 16-year-old Chelsea Taylor were found in a Huntington Beach apart-ment next to an empty can of Four Loko on Jan. 21, according to cbslosangeles.com. Police are still investigating if the drink, known as "blackout in a can," was responsible for the deaths. Some students at Fremont say they will rethink their own drinking habits after hearing about the dangers of the drink, but they don't think a ban is necessary.

“I think [Four Loko] should be for people who are of age,” said Reese Brown, a senior at Media Academy.

Brown said that minors should not drink Four Loko because they “don’t know how to control their drinking.”

Brown said she has decided not to drink the alcohol beverage any longer because of the possible dangers.

The well-known alcoholic caffein-ated energy drink has been banned by the government due to health concerns over the mixture of alcohol and caffeine. The combination of alcohol and caf-

feine in Four Loko equals the amount in five shots of vodka – enough to make many of those who drink it black out. The FDA ordered stores across America to remove Four Loko from their shelves on Dec. 7 due to health problems concerning alcohol and caffeine. A new version of it is set to come out, but it will be without caffeine, according to Four Loko manufacturer Phusion Projects.

The company plans to remove some ingredients in its product so that the ban can be lifted, according to FoxNews.com.

According to Quchronicle.com, mixing alcohol and caffeine affects the absorption and metabolism functions of the body, which results with higher levels of caffeine inside the blood stream and the longer lasting effects of caffeine in the central nervous system.

One senior interviewed did not want her name to be used but described her own experience with the drink.

She said she drank Four Loko before it was pulled off the shelf and that it gave her a bad hangover the first time she

A group of six Media Acad-emy students are getting some green for work in the school garden.

Matthew Green, a former journalism teacher at Media Academy who started the school garden in 2006, received two grants from Phil-anthropic Ventures Foundation and S.D. Bechtel, Jr. Foundation to run the after-school garden program. This also pays the students who participate.

The six students meet after school on Wednesdays from 1:50 to 4 p.m. to take care of the garden.

Garden Club member Kim Mejia, a junior, gets her own section where she grows lettuce, potatoes, flowers, onions and spinach.

“It’s a very unique opportunity to have a garden in our school,” said Mejia. “I think it’s important for students to know how to grow their own food.”

Once students have harvested their food, they cook what they have grown.

“Whenever the food is ready we make a healthy meal,” said Mejia.

The Garden Club, for example, cooked quesadillas in December, using kale and spinach from the garden.

They also get more than just a chance to cook and learn about gardening. The students receive a $100 stipend every

semester.“It’s nice to get extra money for doing

something I like,” said junior Jazmin Garcia.

Students in the Garden Club made their most recent meal on Feb. 16. They made spring rolls, quesadillas and salad.

This semester Garden Club members also have installed a composting bin and learned how to use the material inside it.

“Compost is when you take old scraps of food and dead plants and mix them to-gether then they turn into soil,” explained junior Jack Mejia.

The Garden Club will reuse the soil instead of continuing to buy soil from the store. Once the compost has become soil, it is a really rich source of nutrients.

Besides building the compost area, the gardeners also have planted a side garden with baby plants this semester.

Garcia and her brother Diego teamed up to build a pea structure out of bamboo and string. The structure helps the peas grow without letting them invade other sections of the garden.

Anyone interested in the Garden Club can contact Green at Matthewgreen123@gmail.com.

had a can. Still, she said, she continued drinking it because her body got used to it. Although she liked to consume it, she might give it up for another reason

though – she recently found out that each can contains 660 calories and may be responsible for some added pounds she has put on.

Two teenagers were found dead in an empty apartment in Huntington Beach next to a can of Four Loko.

HOME GROWN Clockwise from top:

Sophomore Diego Garcia, junior Tony Mai,

freshman Luis Elias, and sophomore Pearl

Joy Balagot prepare spinach quesadillas

with fresh vegetables they grew in the school

garden; Balagot and junior Jazmin Garcia

enjoy their home grown meal in Lisa Shafer's

classroom; Elias adds straw to his garden bed.

He and others in the garden program earn

$100 stipends each semester for their work.

photos by Kim Mejia

Perks of school garden club?Great food, $100 stipends "It's nice to get extra

money for doing something I like."

—Jazmin GarciaMedia Academy junior

Reese BrownStaff Writer

Phusion Projects

OpiniOns

"i want Mr.Yacco’s class to stay because it's fun and you can learn new things."

"small schools are more valuable for our students because we are able to identify them and know their needs."

"Getting to know students as individuals."

“I would definitely like the media classes to stay because they’re really fun and help you out in other [subjects like] English.”

Christie Blakley CPAA teacher

Shout out What aspects of the small schools do you hope will stay when Fremont merges to a big school?

Fremont merging is a bad ideaEDiTORiAL

green & goldthe

The Green & Gold is a vehicle of student freedom of expression and a public forum for the Fremont Federation of High schools community.

We welcome feedback about our content and would also like to hear ideas you have for future coverage.

Our staff reserves the right to edit for language and space.

Letters or guest opinion col-umns may be dropped off to B-3 or to Lisa shafer's mailbox in the Media Academy office.

EDiTOR-in-CHiEFCesar sanchez

nEWs EDiTORKim Mejia

FEATUREs EDiTORJazmin Garcia

HEALTH EDiTORLinda poengAleanna santos, asst.

OpiniOn EDiTORGloria "Jack" Mejia

spORTs EDiTORLeland Moore

pHOTO EDiTORshima Kaid

MULTiMEDiA EDiTOR Jennifer Truong

WRiTERsJorge ArambulaLuis Arroyo Reese BrownLaudy CabezasClarissa CherryElizabeth ContrerasKristell DantocEdith EcheverriaJuan GrimaldoRosa Gonzalezsonia MaravillaTiffany MartinTimothy MartinJose OchoaChristian OlivaresAlma RamirezMarcus RobinsonCarolyn saephansharon saeteurn

ADVisERLisa shafer

"The small school environ-ment—being able to main-tain the one-on-one aspect of a small school and know-ing all [the] students on campus.”

Tiffany CouchSecurity Officer

Pearl Joy Balagot Media Academy sophomore

Joseph WilliamsMandela teacher

Diego GarciaMedia Academy sophomore

10 March 2011

Green & Gold

Fremont Federation of High Schools will become a large school again. Due to budget cuts and declining en-

rollment, the district has decided that in two years, Mandela High School, Media College Prepara-tory High School and College Preparatory & Architecture Acad-emy will close and then merge into a new school.

We, the Green & Gold staff, are disappointed and dissatisfied with this decision. Going back to a large school again will negatively affect students and staff alike.

In a big school, students will not be able to learn as well in larger classes. They are likely to fall through the cracks.

Take Media Academy sopho-more Laura Lem, for example, who transferred to Fremont's Me-dia Academy after spending her freshman year at Oakland High.

"There was a lot of drama," Lem said about her experience at the big school. "It was very over-whelming. Being at a big school, you feel like you have to fit in, dress a certain way to go along with the crowd. Academically, I got so caught up in being part of the crowd; I stopped worrying about my grades and started fail-ing some of my classes."

But transferring to Media Acad-emy allowed her to turn all of that around.

"I’ve been on the honor roll three times this year. I got a 4.0 GPA twice," Lem said. "I’m doing way better in a small school than I did at Oakland High."

A half million dollars is being cut from our own small school's budget next year, and it is ex-tremely unlikely the situation will improve by the time we return to a big school again. We fear there will be bigger classes with more students, creating a chaotic

environment in which it is more difficult for students to learn.

We understand that our declin-ing enrollment and the state bud-get crisis makes it difficult for the district to justify keeping us open when it could save a few hundred thousand dollars by cutting two principals, a few teachers and maybe some support staff.

But it is a mistake for the dis-trict to merge us into a small school only to save money. We have been successful as small schools; our test scores have gone up and our Academic Per-formance Index scores are tes-tament to the fact. The API was 444 the last year of Fremont High School; Media Academy's API is now 620 with the other schools close behind.

It might be more expensive to keep small schools, but it pays off for students and the community in the end. The district might actu-ally hurt what it is supposed to support—the students. It is unfair that Oakland students’ futures are on the line just to save the district money.

In reverting back to Fremont High, many of our students might fall through the cracks. We worry others will not be able to be aca-demically challenged and college

ready. Students need help, and, when Fremont was a big school, too many of them just weren’t receiving it.

In an ongoing poll conducted on mediagreenandgold.com to monitor people's attitude toward the merging of the three schools, nearly two-thirds say they think the move will change things for the worse at Fremont. Only 4 per-cent say things will improve.

That is why we encourage students and families to speak out against this decision, because ultimately, the power of education lies in the hands of the ones get-ting educated, and in the edu-cation system, the voice of the students sounds the strongest of all.

back to big school the friendly school sign in the courtyard was vandalized and taken down, but the sign still rings true. in two years, the remaining three small schools at Fremont Federation will merge back into a big school, and we fear it will not be best for students.

"Being at a big school, you feel like you have to

fit in ... Academically, I got so caught up in being part

of the crowd; i stopped worrying about my grades."

— Laura LemMedia Academy sophomore

on her experience as a freshman at oakland high

File photo

11

To Mandela's Siliveinusi Tomasi who made it to

the state wrestling championships

Paw & Claw

Students shocked about the harmful effects of 4LokoONLINE BUZZ

Social media leads to revolution

Tiffany MartinStaff Writer

It was very unnecessary for cell phone and Internet services to be disrupted. I think the gov-ernment did this to keep Egyp-tians quiet and keep them away from social networking. It’s ter-rible to abuse people and censor them at the same time. Police brutality caused thousands of Egyptians to be injured and hun-dreds to die only because they were standing up for their rights. It’s dehumanizing and inhumane for a legal citizen to be treated as an animal, to be subject to beatings and censorship; no one should be treated this way.

Better actions should have been taken to avoid the deaths and injuries of civilians and the damage caused to businesses and buildings. Instead of having the military protect the capital it should have a first priority to protect the injured protesters. According the United Nations, an estimated 300 deaths and 5,000 injuries had resulted from the protests since Jan. 25. Ac-cording to the Credit Agricole report, the disaster was cost the Egyptian economy $310 million a day.

Although the government tried to suppress them, the Egyptians were still able to get Mubarak to resign.

When you think of social media, you don’t think about

a revolution—but that’s exactly what drove Egyptians to inde-pendence.

It was a tremendous moment for the world when Egyptians gained their independence early this year. Egypt had been under the rule of President Hosni Mubarak for 30 years before Egyptian citizens were able to overthrow the government.

But this revolution would not have been possible if it were not for social media.

I found it amazing that the Egyptians reported their crisis through Facebook, Twitter and YouTube. Anti-government protests were organized of 10,000 demonstrators to demand Mubarak to resign.

Protests were organized through a Facebook page, where they decided to take a stand against torture, poverty, cor-ruption and unemployment that came with Mubarak’s rule.

I find it remarkable that the protesters held their own even when the government used violence and censorship to try to silence them.

According to Boston NPR News Station WBUR, thousands of Egyptian anti-government protesters clashed with Cairo police, who fired rubber bullets and used tear gas on the protest-ers. Some of the tear gas was fired into a nearby Mosque (an Islamic place of worship) and police beat demonstrators with batons when they tried to break through the police barrier.

I think the violence could have been avoided.

Under his control many Cop-tic Christians (Native Egyptian Christians) were attacked and few things were done to aid them. There was a growing anti-Copt harrassment. Some believe Mubarak is the reason for Coptic residence bombing.

I’m glad Mubarak retired, but not happy that all the protest-ers’ requests weren’t granted. It was terrible for Mubarak to give his power to the military. The military already has other needs to attend to. They must now deal with negotiating a new Egypt after the revolution. Currently, the military is overwhelmed with the problems at hand and controlling all of Egypt just makes their job harder.

Egypt’s whole government should be redesigned because there are many flaws in their system.

Egypt has had many struggles and a terrible leadership—but can Egypt really change if the military is in control?

To the KMEL on-campus concert

during lunch

To Fremont's Black Student Union for

holding a Black History Month assembly

The state for cutting the education

budget

To the district for forcing Fremont to merge back to a big school in two

years

Many newsworthy things happen on our campus, but we don't always have space to feature them in our newspaper. For that reason, the Green & Gold started a column to rate events on campus through the Paw & Claw. A paw is a shout out to students or staff who have done something admirable, and a claw is something that needs to be improved upon on. Let us know if you have ideas!

will put a hold on it, but it will not fully change everything. I think it [is] all about controlling oneself."

Anonymous

'Fremont’s ‘Friendly School’ sign disappears, thanks to unfriendly vandals'

The sign in the courtyard was taken down due to vandal-ism.

"I don’t think the vandals should have taken the sign down because before we were here the campus was Fremont High School. It’s wrong to take it down [even] though we are [different schools] we still represent Fremont."

Anonymous

"That sign had been there for many years and I don’t think

that it should be taken down. [A replaced sign] would show we are not all about negativity."

Clarissa CherryMedia Academy

Senior

'Students sneak out for food after school board closes Fremont campus'

This story was featured on-line and was about how closed campus lunch prompts many students to sneak out to eat.

This is a good way to show adults that they’re making things worse. When we had off-campus lunch we didn’t need to sneak out. Now there’s a possibility that we could get in trouble [just] to eat.

Kemish QuinteroMedia Academy

Sophomore

one can of Four Loko had the same amount of alcohol and caffeine as five shots of vodka, and thanks to this story, I know that now."

Aleanna SantosMedia Academy

Junior

"I didn’t know that Four [Loko] was banned. I feel bad for the people who blacked out, but, at the same time, it is your choice to either drink it or not. Also, I feel that it’s your responsibility [if you] consume something with alcohol to know what’s inside".

Anonymous

"People that know they cannot handle the alcohol and the caffeine combined should limit themselves. Even if it [is] banned, people can still con-sume it on the low. [Banning it]

"I think Four Loko shouldn't be banned, but it shouldn’t be sold to minors."

Rosa GonzalezMedia Academy

Junior

"I just think students shouldn’t be consuming so much alcohol. I didn’t know

Some of the stories in this issue of the Green & Gold were already posted on our Web site, www.mediagreenandgold.com, where have received some great comments! These are a select few:

'Four Loko banned, affecting some teens’ drinking habits'

This story was about the popular drink, Four Loko, now banned due to its powerful alco-hol substance. It is also on page X of this issue.

"I never knew that the Four [Loko] was that bad. Many people that I know are drinking it, but I’m going to tell them to stop drinking that because is very dangerous."

Ricardo Esquivel Media Academy

Junior

OPiniOnSMarch 2011

Green & Gold

"i didn't know one can of Four Loko

had the same amount of alcohol

as five shots of vodka."

—Aleanna SantosMedia Academy, Junior

it was very unnecessary for cell phone and internet services

to be disrupted. i personally think the government did this to keep

Egyptians natives quiet and keep them away from

social networking.

12SportS March 2011Green & Gold

The Fremont soccer team's season ended violently with fist fights on the field and bullets shot into the air outside the game by "fans" who were refused entrance into the match-up

against the Castlemont Knights.No one was seriously injured, but the violence

left many people frightened and disappointed.The game, which had been rescheduled to

Monday, Feb. 28, had high stakes in the Oak-land Athletic League. If the Knights had won, they would have needed another game against Skyline to determine the league champion. Fre-mont was seeking revenge for an earlier loss to Castlemont—its only defeat of the season.

Everything was going well for Fremont before violence erupted; the Tigers were ahead 2-0.

The first goal was scored by Eric Alvarado on a free kick. The Media Academy senior scored his goal for the Tigers in the 10th minute of the match.

Daniel Lopez, a Mandela senior, scored the second Tigers goal in the 20th minute of the match.

However, Lopez did not have a chance to cel-

Two sophomores reflect on basketball season

season ends in Foul Play

Violence erupts at gameA heated soccer game halteddue to fray of players and fans; outsiders shoot bullets into air

Kenay Anderson& Darnell Waters

Media Studies

Alexander has toughfirst season

CALMEr tIMES The Fremont Tigers soccer team practices on the athletic field early in the season. At its last game of the year, a fight broke out on the field, gunshots were fired by people trying to join in the fight, and the game was eventually called off. Nevertheless, the season was a success with the Tigers losing just one game.

Juan Grimaldo & ricardo Esquivel

Staff Writers

In a transition year, the Fremont Tigers played under a new head basketball coach with old con-nections to the campus.

Fremont High graduate Scott Alexander, known as “Coach Scott,” took the head basketball coach-ing job this fall, replacing Frank Knight, another Fremont alum.

Alexander faced many hardships upon his ar-rival. Expectations were low and the team didn't even have a schedule yet.

The Tigers finished 0-10 in the Oakland Ath-letic League and 4-20 overall.

Alexander, who graduated in 1985, coached at a junior college before he came to Fremont.

“I came to Fremont High School because I know that these kids have potential, and I would rather help them make it than see them out on the streets,” said Alexander.

Alexander was a good basketball player in high school, but said he didn’t get a lot of play time be-cause he didn’t listen to the coach. He didn’t like that the coaches wanted to put him into the game only at the end.

His own players view their coach positively.“I’m happy he’s my coach because he’s teach-

ing me a lot of things that I didn’t know. Also because he’s taking me on a trip out of town and letting me play on his travel team,” said Eric Love, a shooting guard and sophomore at Media Academy.

Players said that Alexander brings a new style of coaching to the school.

“Last year, Coach Knight made us run to Mer-ritt College, but Coach Scott only makes us run from Foothill to MacArthur,” said Taray Sanders, a small forward. “That’s better for us basketball players because we’re getting our exercise fairly and not being worked too hard.”

Leland Moore, a small forward, said the differ-ences extend to how the coaches techniques differ.

“Last year we did more general training but this year Coach Scott had us focus more on indi-vidual training and getting better within our role,” he said.

Players are optimistic that Alexander's second season will bring more victories.

"We will do better next year," said Melique Grimes.

1985 Fremont grad takes overas boys basketball coach

ebrate his goal because of pushing and shoving between players on the other side of the field.

"The refs let it get out of hand; it's just a game and people need to be safe," said Emiliano San-chez, assistant principal of College Preparatory & Architecture Academy who was at the game.

The referees called the game over due to the fighting, but that did not stop the violence from escalating. People in the crowd joined in the fighting, some defending the Tigers, others defending the Knights.

"Gang signs and shouts were exchanged," according to an e-mail sent to staff from Media Academy Principal Benjamin Schmookler.

Staff members and security from Fremont Federation of High Schools had to jump in to stop the violence.

Then, according to Schmookler's e-mail, "several cars of Castlemont supporters drove off and eight shots were fired outside of school. No one was shot."

The cars were described as a blue Honda, an orange Escalade and a purple Cadillac.

Members of the Oakland Police Department arrived after the gun shots were fired.

Meanwhile, the Tigers had fled to the gym for safety and stayed there until Athletic Director Darlene Miller said it was okay to leave.

Despite the traumatic ending to the season, the Tigers still were proud of finishing in second place in the OAL standings and losing just one game.

Skyline ended up winning the OAL title.

What is the team going to look like next year? A shocker to all the Oakland schools and the OAL. We will turn the OAL around.

What is your motiva-tion? My family and friends.

Fremont wrestler makes stateWrestler Tomasi Siliveinusi competed in the

California state tournament in early March. Siliveinusi competed in the 285-pound weight

class, the heaviest class at the state level. A Mandela junior, Siliveinusi was the only person representing Fremont in the tournament. De-spite competing hard, Siliveinusi lost both state matches.

He does have the opportunity to make a better run next year.

How was the season? The season did not go so well, but we'll be better next year.

What was your favorite moment? When we won our first game against Holy Names.

DEJANAY WAYNE VAMIA JOHNSTON

What is your favorite thing about basketball? Scoring; when the crowd cheers for you, it feels better than eating your favorite ice cream.

What are two interesting things about you? I don't watch girls bas-ketball and I shoot better without my glasses.

Which team do you most want to beat next year?Skyline.

What team would you really like to beat most next year? Skyline. What is the most interesting thing about you and basketball?I can do a lot of tricks and moves.

What do you like most about basketball?I like the drills and the conditioning part.

How far do you plan to take basketball?I'd like to make it my career and make it to the WNBA.

photo by Yearbook